Luk. 16.15 because they were but skin-deep and not heart-sprung therefore they were not a button the better for them God loves and looks for truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 he looks that men should do his will from the heart Ephes 6.6 and serve him in their spirits Rom. 1.9 In doing whereof there is great reward Psal 19.11 praemium ante praemium that Euge of a good conscience this the stranger medleth not with conceives not of the wealth of Gods pilgrims standing more in Jewels and gold things light oâ— carriage and well portable then in house and land His servants have that here that doth abundantly pay them for their pains afore-hand righteousnesse being it own reward and they knowing within themselves that they have in heaven a better and an enduring substance Heb. 10. But hereaster oh the rich recompence that God shall make them oh the heaped up happinesse of such at the last when these vain talkers in the text and all that are of their mind shall roar out Nos insensati We fooles counted their lives madnesse But now c. See more of this in the following Note on ver 16. doctr 5. what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance The Chaldee hath it Quod mammon adeptisumus what mammon or wealth have we gained Mammonists are all for gain their very godlinesse is gain still they have an Eagles-eye to the prey when they seem to sly highest toward heaven If they may not get by God they soon grow weary of his work What shewes soever they make of better sure it is their belly is their God they mind earthly tings These will follow the chase as Jonathan till they meet with the hony-combe or as a curr followes his master till he meet with a 〈◊〉 These come to Christ as that young Pharisee did hastily but the 〈…〉 because they consider not that with the Lord are durable rich's Prv. 8.18 and that godlinesse as it hath many crosse so it hath many conâ—â—â—ts against 〈◊〉 Virtus lecyâ—â—â—â— habet in malis like as no countly hath more venomous creatures then Egypt 〈…〉 Antidotes This there Sensualists having not the spirit understand not 〈…〉 hence their complaint of a disappointment casting a stirr upon Gods 〈…〉 as those spies did upon the promised land Num. 14. and ready to run back into Egypt toth air flesh-â—ots garliâ—k and onions there Lo this is the guise of 〈…〉 wath whom thâ— ' the best religion that brings greatest advantage 〈…〉 thiâ— life if the Ark bring a blâ—ling with it as it did to Ohed-Edom it 〈…〉 upon as worthy of entertainment but if a plague of poverty 〈…〉 these Philistines will be glad to â—id their hands of it The garishnesse of ho 〈◊〉 wealth and pleasures do so â—azle their eyes that they think it the only happinesse to have and to hold Such fooles they are and such great beasts if David may judge Psal 73.22 to fly a fooles-pitch and to goc hawking after that that cannot be had as Solomon faith Pro. 23.5 Or if had yet cannot be held as being of swisrest wing and 〈◊〉 soon gone as a post that passeth by Godlinesse hath the preomise of â—â—th lives and we read of some godly men in scripture that were richer then any other But God will have it sometims to be otherwise that godimesse might be adâ—â—â—â—d for it self and to shew that his people serve him not for 〈…〉 Iob 1.9 But that none serves God for nought no not so much as 〈◊〉 a dâ—â— or 〈…〉 See before ch p. 1.10 that 〈◊〉 have kept his ordinances which if they had done indeed they would never have thâ—â—â—â—gged much less blasphemed they would have accused themselves 〈…〉 livine providence they would have said with holy Ezra All this is come upon us for our â—vill deeds and for 〈…〉 and thou our God hast punished us less then our iniquities deserve Aâ—â—â—â—test thou not be justly angry with us till thou hadst consumed us so that there should the no remnant nor eseaping Ezr. 9 1â— 14. Thus the good wheat falls low at the feet of the fanâ—er when thâ— chaff 〈◊〉 and flyes at his face Thus the sheep when shorn Hâ—at and lookes downward whereas the hang rbit wolf lookes up and howlesagainst heaven Hypocrites use to wrangle with God and expostulate the unkindness of his non-acceptance of their services as Esay 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not wherefore have we aslicted our soule and thou takest no knowledge God was in their opinion far too short and much behind with them and therefore much to blame and they must give him the telling of it They do so and they have their answer So they shall have here in the following verses and the next chapter which ought not to be divided from this as some conceive They upbraid the Lord as with their observances so with their humiliations and that we have walked mournfully Or in black the habit of mourners whence that of the Heathen Oratour Athenienses non nisi atrati c. The Athenians are never so good as when they are all in black that is under some heavy affliction And a great Satesman of this kingdome had this verse written upon his study door Anglica gens est optima flens pessima ridens Great Brittain all in black is in its best condition But what is it to wear sackcloth 1 Kâ—ng 21.27 and walk softly with Ahab when he had sold himself to do wickedly what is an humbling day without an humbled heart not only an irreligious incongruity but an high provocation like Zimri's act when all the congregation were weeping before the dore of the Tabernacle Surely God may say to such pretenders as Isaac did to his father Behold the fire and the wood but wher 's the lamb for a sacrifice or as Jacob did to his sons that brought him the bloody coat Loe her 's the coat but wher 's my child your garments are black but your hearts and lives are much blacker Go cleanse your hands ye sinners and purisie your hearts you double-minded Be afflicted in good earnest and mourn to some purpose and weep soak and souce your selves in teares of true repentance let your sorrow for sin be deep and downright turn your laughter to mourning and your joy to heavinesse Jam. 4.8 9. And then come let us reason together saith the Lord. All these unkind contestations shall cease and all loving correspondencies shall passe betwixt us God had said as much as all this before to them verse 7 10 11. Sed surdo fabulam their adamant was too hard to be mollified Their bulrushes though bowed down for a day while some storm of trouble was upon them was now so pierkt up as if it would threaten heaven witnesse their continued contumacy their robustious language in the next verse also stouting it out still with God Verse 15. And now we call the proud happy Such
your day of grace the things that belong to your peace before the gate be shut the draw-bridg taken up the taper burnt out c. Behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 The Apostle after the Prophet Esay purposely beateth upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he should say Now or never sith thou mayest the very next minute be cut off by the stroke of death from all further time of repentance and acceptation Up therefore and be doing It is the Lord himself that thus saith Turn ye even to me Vsque ad me altogether as far as to me Stultitia sempâ—r in â—pâ—t vivere Sen. give not the half turn onely begin not to repent and then give over the work Some are ever about to repent but they can never finde time and hearts to set seriously about it to do it in good earnest Some wamblings they have as I may say and some short-winded wishes some kinde of willingnesse and velleity but it doth not boyl up to the full height of resolution to return The Prodigall changed many places ere he came home Many came out of Egypt that yet never came into Canaan with all your heart with the heart Jer. 4.14 Prov. 23.26 and with the whole heart in opposition to a divided heart Hos 10.2 a double heart Jam. 4.8 a heart and a heart Psal 12.2 This whole heart is elsewhere called a true heart Heb. 10.22 a perfect heart 2 Chron. 16.10 truth in the inwards Psal 51.6 where there is an unfained faith 1 Tim. 1.5 laborious love 1 Thess 1.3 sound and cordiall repentance as here undissembled wisdome Jam. 3.17 such holinesse as rendreth a man like to a chrystall glasse with a light in the middest of it doing the truth Job 3.21 and having his works full Rev. 3.1 2. being a true worshipper Joh. 4.24 an Israelite indeed Ioh. 1.47 God he knows to be just and jealous he will not endure corrivals or compartners in the kingdome His jurisdiction is without peculiar he will not divide with the Devil Be the gods of the Heathen good-fellows saith One the true God is a jealous God and will not share his glory with another He must be served truely that there be no halting and totally that there be no halving and with fasting weeping and with mourning with deep and down-right humiliation sutable to your sins as Ezr. 9.6 ye have inveterate stains such as will not be gotten out till the cloth be almost rubb'd to pieces Satan hath intrenched himself in your hearts and will not be gotten out but by fasting and prayer Fasting is of it self but a bodily exercise and meriteth nothing for religion consisteth not in meat and drink 〈◊〉 the belly full or empty Rom. 14.17 Col. 2.23 But fasting is a sinâ—ular furtherance to the practise of repentance and the enforcing of our prayers â—ee Ezr. 8.21 As full feeding increaseth corruption Ier. 5.7 8. so religious Aâ—stinence macerateth tameth and subdueth the Rebell Flesh 1 Cor. 9.27 giving it the blew-eye as there and 2 Coâ— 7.11 so that not the body so much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the soul is made more active by emptinesse Fasting dayes are soul-fatting dayes they fit men for conversion as here and make much to the humbling of the spirit hence they are called dayes of humiliation and of self affliction Levit. 16.31 and 23.37 and with weeping Drown your sins in a deluge of tears cleanse your wounds by washing in this precious water quench hell fire with it kill the woâ—m fetch out sins venome there 's a healing property in these troubled waters Tears of vine-branches are said to cure the leprosie and the Olive is reported to be most fruitfull when it most distil eth These April showers bring on May-flowers and make the heart as a watered garden or as some faces appear most oriently beautifull when most bedewed with tears Peter never lookt so sweetly as when he wept bitterly David never sung more pathetically then when his heart was broken most penitentially Psal 6. and 51. when tears in stead of gemmes were the ornament of his bed as Chrysostom speaketh Mary Magdalen that great weeper as she made her eyes a fountain to wash Christs feet in so she had his wounds as a fountain to bath her soul in yea she had afterwards the first sight of the revived Phoenix whom shee held fast by those feet that had lately trod upon the lion and the adder c. and with mourning This is added as a degree beyond the former Men may fast and yet find their pleasures Esay 58.13 weep out of stomack as Esau or complement as Phryne the harlot who was sirnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weep-laugh because she could easily do either and as among the Brasileans Magirus in Gâ—â—gr Vt flerent oculos erudi resuos Ovid. tears are for a present salutation and as soon gone as if they had said How do ye What is an humbling day without an humbled heart not onely a religious incongruity but an high provocation like Zimri's act when all the Congregation were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle Here therefore the Lord calleth to mourning funerallmourning Nudaque marmoreis percussit pectora palmis Ovid. In gloss margin as the word signifieth with tabring upon the breast Nah. 2.7 smiting on the thigh Jer. 31.19 beating on the head face and other parts sicut mulierculae in puerperio facere solent saith Luther there See Esay 32.11 and 22.12 Sorrow for sin must not be slight and sudden but sad and soaking the heart must be turned into an Hadadrimmon Zech. 12.10 11. where the Prophet seems in a sort to be at a stand for comparisons fit enough and full enough to set forth their sorrow who looking upon Christ whom they had pierced felt the very nails sticking in their own hearts as so many sharp daggers or stings of scorpions The good soul say the School-men seeth more cause of grief for sinning then for the death of Christ because therein was aliquid placens something that pleaseth but sinne is simpliciter displicens simply displeasing So that Gods mourners need not send for mourning women to teach them to mourn as Jer. 19.17 but rather have need to be comforted lest they should be swallowed up with overmuch grief 2 Cor. 2.7 and lest Satan get an advantage against them verse 11. by mixing the detestable darnell of desperation Act. Mon. with the godly sorrow of a pure penitent heart as Mr. Philpot Martyr speaketh Verse 13. And rent your heart and not your garments i. e. not your garments onely Schindler which was gestus perturbationis among the Jews a gesture usuall with them to set forth the greatnesse of their grief and displeasure as 1. At funerals and losse of friends Tumpius Aeneas humerâ—â— abscinaere vestem Auxilioque vocare Deos tendere palmas Virg. Aeneid as Gen. 37.2 In
case of blasphemy as 2 King 18.3 In time of common calamity Esth 4.1 Godly sorrow for sinne should exceed all other sorrows whatsoever both in intention and extension the whole soul sending continuall streams into it out of every faculty And hence it is that the Prophet here calleth upon them to Ront and as it were to discontinuate their hearts Cor integrum cor scissum the broken heart is the onely sound heart and to rent the garment and not the heart is as very a juggle as that of Players who seem to wound themselves but do not and make a shew of thrusting themselves thorow their bodies but the sword passeth onely thorow their clothes Stage-players can act to the life those whom they personate yea out-strip them in outward actions so do hypocrites the true Christian 2 Cron. 34.27 Doth good Josiah melt at the menaces of the law and weep and rend his clothes and humble himself wicked Ahab will also in like case 1 King 21.27 rend his clothes put sackcloth upon his flesh fast lie in sack cloth and go softly and heavily as sorrowfull men and mourners use to do Doth the Publican fix his eyes on the ground those hypocrites in Esay will hang down their heads as bulrushes Doth holy Timothy weaken his constitution with religious abstinence the false Pharisee will not onely weaken his constitution but wither and disfigure his complexion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he may appear to men to fast Matth. 6.16 Such pains men will be at for applause for a little stinking breath which yet cannot blow one cold blast upon them when they shall be frying in hell for their seemingnesse Rent therefore your hearts saith the Prophet break up your fallow-ground circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the filthy fore-skin of your hearts Jer. 4.3 4. wash them from wickednesse that ye may be saved verse 14. Be ye active and voluntaries in your sorrows for sinne Virtus nolentium nulla est Fained and forced grief is nothing worth Judas grieved confessed restored and yet miscarried He went not forth as Peter to weep bitterly he did not cast himself into heavinesse as Iam. 4.9 10. It was fired out of him as sweet-water out of roses It was squeezed out of him as Verjuice out of crabs Gods people are commanded to afflict themselves with voluntary sorrows Lev. 16. to loath themselves for all their abominations Rom. 8.13 Ezek. 16. to mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit to do it with their own hands and not to give over the practise of it till they feel their hearts to ake and quake within them yea to fall asunder in their bosomes like drops of water See all this done by David after he had numbred the people 2 Sam. 24.10 Some shadow of it we have in the example of Epaminondas the Theban Generall who the next day after the Victory and Triumph went drooping and hanging down his head and being asked Plutar. why he did so he answered Yesterday I felt my self too much tickled with vain-glory therefore I correct my self for it to day 2 Sam. 24.10 Expounded But we have a better example in holy David whose heart smote him saith the Text and made him smart inwardly He was not yet smitten either by Gods hand or the Prophets reproof as afterwards but his sanctified conscience did its office of a faithfull Monitour and houshold Chaplain his heart misgave him Bee-masters tell us that those are the best hives that make the greatest noise Sure it is that that 's the best conscience that suffers not a man to sleep in sin Davids heart smote him But for what for numbring the people It was for his own sin for a small for a secret sin for a failing in the manner only David knew that a man may dye as well of an inward bleeeding as of an outward hurt The good soul is oft afflicted for faylings in that holy duty which others applaud and extol And David said unto the Lord he could not rest till he had opened his mind unto him by confession and supplication and so got a vent to his troubled spirit as when a sore is opened there is ease immediately To God therefore he addresseth himself not to men as Judas did and Papists do and many amongst us being in pain of conscience will rather shark for ease then sue for pardon and acknowledgeth with aggravation the iniquity of his sin the sinfulnesse of it as Pauls expression is Rom. 7.13 Psal 32.3 for sin is so vile that he could call it no worse then by its own name I have sinned greatly in that I have done his sin swelled like a toad in his eyes and he spat it out of his mouth with utmost indignation He confesseth sorrowfully but not desperately as Iudas for he both cryes for pardon Take away the iniquity for as for the punishment how he stood affected see verse 17. Let thine hand I pray thee be against me and my fathers house and concludeth himself Gods servant yea proveth himself so as some godly learned think by those following words For I have done foolishly q. d. If I deserve not to be called Gods servant in regard of my late sin and indeed God calls him but plain David verse 12. Goe and say to David not to my servant David as at other times yet at least in regard of my later service of confession joyned with Reformation for now I see I have done very foolishly who once thought I had done wondrous wisely and politickly and turn unto the Lord your God Of turning to God see at large the Note on Zach. 1.3 Here it is prescribed as a remedy against Gods wrath and pressed again and again to shew the necessity of doing it or we are utterly undone So elsewhere Turn you turn you why will you dye except ye repent ye must needsly perish Aut poenitendum aut pereundum Either you must turn on earth Ioh. 3.3 or burn in hell be born again or ye cannot see the kingdome of God Heaven was too hot to hold the Apostate-Angel And although the devill could get into paradise yet no unclean thing ever gat into heaven No dirty dog may trample on that golden pavement The pure in heart only can see God as whole eyes can look upon the Sun-beames and as transparent bodies receive the light Turn you therefore unto the Lord If a man see a Lion or a burning fire before him he will make some shift to turn another way So here biasse for there is no safety in going forward sith our God is a consuming fire and as a roaring lion will tear and rent the cawle of our hearts in sunder Hos 13.8 if we rent not our hearts and turn unto him By turning may well be here meant Reformation that Repentance from sin as Humiliation before required is in scripture called Repentance for sin for it is not enough to mourn
3.56 thou heldest not thy peace at my tears Psal 39.12 quando fletu agerem non afflatu yea thou heardest the voice of mine affliction Gen. 16.11 Into thine holy Temple Whether we take it of the Temple at Jerusalem a type of Christ Jonah's prayer was accepted for Christs-sake and proved to no lesse purpose though made in the Whales belly then if he had been pouring it out in Gods holy Temple Or if we understand it of Heaven the habitation of Gods holinesse and of his glory his orisons were come up thither for a memorial before the Almighty Act. 10.4 and like pillars of incense pierced into his presence Can. 3.6 neither would they away without their errand but lay at Gods feet til he should cōmand deliverance out of Zion Verse 8. They that observe lying vanities That listen to sense and reason in matters of God and make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof as Ionah had done to his cost till having payed for his learning he descried them all to bee but lying vanities or most vain vanities emptie Nothings forsake their own mercy Are miserable by their own election because sinners in a speciall manner against their own souls as were Corab and his complices Num. 16.38 as was Pope Silvester who gave his soul to the Devil for seven years enjoyment of the Popedome and as are all those wilfull wicked persons that refusing to be reformed and hating to be healed chuse to spend the span of this life after the wayes of their own hearts though they thereby perish for ever These are those fools of the people that preferre an apple before Paradise a messe of pottage before the inheritance of heaven their swine before their Saviour turning their backs upon those blessed and bleeding embracements of his and cruelly cutting the throats of their own poor souls by an impenitent continuance in sinne so losing for a few bitter-sweet pleasures or paltry profits in this vale of tears for an inch of time that fulnesse of felicity at Gods right hand thorough all eternity It is written of them who tame the Tyger that when they have taken away the young one knowing that presently they shall be pursued by the old Tygresse they set looking-glasses in the way by which they flee whereunto when she cometh and seeth some representation of her self she lingreth about them a good space deceived by the shadow and detained in a vain hope to recover the young againe Mean-while the hunter most speedily posteth away with his prey Semblably dealeth Satan with the men of this world saith mine Authour He casts before them the deceitfull lusts of profit pleasure and preferment the worldlings Trinity those lying vanities being none other then shadows and semblances of good yet are men so delighted with these that they dote about them having no care to pursue the enemy for recovery of that image of God the Divine nature that Satan hath beguiled them of He setteth them to the tree of knowledge that they may not taste of the tree of life He putteth out their eyes with the dust of covetousnesse and shutteth their ears against the instructions of life lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their hearts and should be converted and God should heal them Mat. 13.15 In all which there is not any thing more to be lamented then this that people should love to have it so Jer. 6.31 be active in their own utter undoing Hos 13.9 wittingly and willingly forsake God the fountain of living waters their own mercies as he is here called and elsewhere Psal 144.2 and hew themselves out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water Jer. 2.13 Verse 9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving q. d. Let others do as they think good let them make a match with mischief till they have enough of it Let them walk till they have wearied themselves in the wayes of their hearts and in the sight of their eyes but let them know I speak it by wofull experience that for all these things God will bring them to judgement Eccles 11.9 The best that can come of sinne is Repentance and that 's not in mans power but in Gods gift 2 Tim. 2.25 If he had not melted mine hard heart and brought me back to himself with a strong hand I had pined away in mine iniquities and perished for ever But now having been so miraculously delivered from so great a death I will sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving I will set up my note and sing aloud unto God my Saviour who hath thus beyond all desert delivered such a miserable wretch rebell and runagate as my self I will sacrifice Heb. I will slay sc those birds and beasts in use for feasts and sacrifices at Jerusalem with the voice of thanksgiving Heb. of confession that is I will confesse and acknowledge God to be what he is to do what he doth and to give what he giveth Now to offer a sacrifice at such a confession or thanksgiving added much to the solemnity thereof and made it more honourable in it self and more acceptable to God To these gratulatory sacrifices the word slaying is attributed as here to shew that even in gratulation expiation must bee made and that by the blood and sacrifice of Christ all our offerings are accepted in heaven I will pay that I have vowed Not my generall vow onely as a Covenanter to devote my self to his fear and service all my dayes but those particular personall voluntary vowes made in my distresse such as was that of Jacob Gen. 28.20 Hannah 1 Sam. 1.11 David Psal 132.1 2 c. In affliction men are wondrous apt to promise great matters if they may but be delivered See Psal 78.36 Pliny in an Epistle to one of his friends that desired rules from him how to order his life aright I will saith he give you one rule that shall be instead of a thousand Vt tales esse perseveremus sani quales nos futuros esse profitemur infirmi That you be sure to be the same when well that you vowed to be when you were sick But this is few mens care See Jer. 34.10 11. Sonnes of Belial break these bonds as Sampson did the green withes and cast away those cords from them if they could at least being worse herein then those Mariners chap. 1 then Saul that made great conscience of violating his vow 1 Sam. 14. then Turks and Papists who are superstitiously strict this way Jonah knew it to be as bad if not worse then perjury to vow and not to performe Num. 30.3 and that God is the avenger of all such Deut. 23.21 He therefore not merely for fear of punishment but chiefly for hatred of that sinne saith I will pay that I have vowed The Hebrew word Ashallemah seemeth to imply two things First that his vow till paid was
the Angell of Gods presence and that went before the people in the wildernesse Such were those of the blood-royall and that succeeded David in the government but especially such were the Apostles Christs Mighties who should be endued with so many graces in majesty Authority Strength and truth that men should receive them Cornelius like as so many Angels of God yea even as Christ Jesus Gal. 4.14 Verse 9. I will seek to destroy I will make inquisition and diligent scrutiny I will draw them out of their lurking-places to execution as Saâ—l went to seek David upon the rocks of the wild-goats those high steep and craggy rocks 1 Sam. 24.2 which could not but be very tedious both to himself and to his souldiers to march in But he was set upon 't and would leave no place unsearched See his charge to the Ziphites to take knowledge of all the lurking-holes where he hid himself and to bring him word that he might seek him thorough all the thousands of Judah 1 Sam. 23.23 The Lord need not do so to find out his enemies for in him they live move and subsist Col. 1.17 they are everunder his view and within his reach He sitteth upon the circle of the earth Is 40.22 and can easily shake them out of it as by a canvasse Yea he sits in the height of heaven and wherein they deale proudly he is above them Exod. 18.11 disclosing their cabinet-counsels as he did Benhadads and blasting their designes to destroy all nations God stands not upon multitudes he takes not the tenth man but destroyes all nations be they never so many of them that come against Ierusalem that oppose or affront his people either with their virulent tongues or violent hands When a rabble of rebels shall set themselves against the Lord and against his Christ his mysticall Christ the Church he will utterly destroy them Mercer the word signifieth he will destroy them ut nihil reliquum maneat that there shall be no remainder of them Woe therefore to the Churches enemies for their destruction ever goes with the saints salvation Philip. 1.28 29. Esay 8 9. Prov. 11.8 Gods jealousie Zach. 1.14 and justice 2 Thess 1.6 will effect it surely severely suddely Verse 10. And I will pour upon the house of David Pour as by whole paile-fuls God is no penny-father no small gifts sall from so great a hand he gives liberally Iam. 1.15 and is rich to all that call upon his name Rom. 10.12 abundant in kindnesse Exod. 34.6 plenteous in mercy Psal 103.8 the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ hath over-abounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath overflowed all the banks 1 Tim. 1.14 indeed it hath neither bank nor bottom Oh pray for that blisse-full sight Eph. 1.18 and 3.18 19. that Spirit of wisdome and revelation of grace and of supplications Or deprecations of that utter destruction that shall befall other nations God will save his people but so as by prayer Psal 32.6 2 Chron. 7.14 Zach. 13.9 he will grace his own ordinance draw many suitours and derive many prayses to himself See Ezek. 36.37 Psal 50.15 and 116.2 Some render it a spirit of grace and of lamentations sc before the Lord when they felt the nailes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where with they had pierced Christ pricking their own hearts Act. 2.37 punctually pricking and piercing them and they shall look upon the whom they haue pierced Dacaru whom they have dâ—ggered or digged as Psal 22.16 him they shall look upon and lament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 1.7 Lam. 3. their eye shall affect their heart for the eye is the instrument both of sight and of sorrow and what the eye never sees the heart never rues The Sun looketh upon the earth draweth up vapours thence and distilleth them down again so doth the Sun of the understanding which till it be convinced the heart cannot be compuncted Sight of sin must precede sorrow for sin The The prodigall came to himself ere he repented of his loose practises men must bethink themselves or bring back to their hearts as the Hebrew hath it 1 King 8.47 ere they will say We have sinned and dealt perversely we have committed wickednesse See Ier. 8.6 Psal 38.18 An infant in the womb cryes not because he sees not but as soon as it comes into the light he sets up his note Get therefore your eyes anointed with eye-salve with this spirit of grace and supplications so shall you soon see saith Mr. Bradford martyr your face foull arrayed and so shamefull saucy mangy pocky and scabbed that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof It is the spirit that convinceth the world of sin neither can the waters till his wind bloweth Psal 147.18 A sigh is not breathed out for sin till the spirit imbreach the same into us and they shall mourn for him Or for it viz. for their crucifying the Lord of glory in their forefathers and having a great hand in it themselves sith their and our sins were thorns and nails that pierced him the lance that let out his heart-blood c. We bound him with cords we beat him with rods buffetted him with fists reviled him with our mouths nodded at him with our heads c. We were the chief actours and principal causes that set awork Judas Pilat c. Oh stand a while with the devout women and see him bleeding groaning dying by the wounds that we gave him and mourn affectionatly over him as here they shall mourn with such outward pomp and rites as are used at fune ralls as wringing the hands beating the breasts shaking the head and the like externall gestures and expressions of heavinesse and shall be in bitternesse by inwardnesse of extream grief as when Davids heart was leavened with it Psal 73.21 it was sowred with goodly sorrow and sowced in the teares of true repentance So Peter went forth and wept bitterly Mat. 26.15 waters of Marah flowed from Mary Magdalens eyes which were as a fountain for Christs feet here sorrow was deep and down-right producing repentance never to be repented of The sorrow we conceive for an unkindnesse offered to Christ must not be slight and sudden but sad and soaking like that of the Israelites met at Mizpeh when they drew water before the Lord 1 Sam. 7.6 whereunto the Prophet Jeremy seemeth to allude when he seriously wisheth that his head were waters c. Ier. 9.1 and David with his rivers of teares Psa 119.136 His heart was soft and soluble now softnesse of heart discovers sin as the blots run abroad and seem biggest in wet paper and as when the Cockatrice egge is crushed it breakes forth into a viper Isa 59.5 Now to make and keep the heart soft and tender the consideration of Christs dolorous passion must needs be of singular use and efficacy as the sight of Câ—sars bloody robes brought forth greatly affected the people of Rome and edged them to revenge The
hardest heart soundly soaked in the blood of Christ the true scape-goat cannot but relent and repent for such a horrid villany as one mourneth for his onely son for his first born sc with a funerall-sorrow such as was that of the Sunamite and of the widdow of Naim of Rachel who refused to be comforted c. There is an Ocean of love in a fathers heart as we see in Jacob toward Joseph in David towards Absolam in the father of the Prodigall c. Christ was Gods only son in respect of his divine nature he was also the first-born amongst many brethren And yet God so loved the world c. So how So as I cannot tell how for this is a Sic without a Sicut Even so should our sorrow be for having a wicked hand in his dolorous death The Prophet here seemes to be at a stand as it were whence to borrow comparisons to shaddow it out by Great is the grief of children for their deceased parents as of Joseph for Iacob Gen. 50.1 he fell upon his fathers face as willing to have wept him alive again if possible So our Edward the first returning from the warrs in Palestina rested himself in Sicily where the death of his son and heir comming first to his eare and afterwards of the king his father he much more sorrowed his fathers departure then his sons whereat King Charles of Sicily greatly marvelled Speed 646. and demanding the reason had of him this answer The losse of sons is but light because they are multiplyed every day but the death of parents is irremediable because they can never be had againe Thus He Howbeit love rather descendeth then ascendeth and Abraham could better part with his father Terah then with his son his only son Isaac whom he loved Gen. 22.2 Before he had him Lord God said Abraham what wilt thou give me so long as I gee childlesse Gen. 15.2 His mouth was so out of tast with the sense of his want that he could relish no comfort But now to be bereft of him and that in such a manner as he might conceive by that probatory precept Gen. 22.2 this must needs go to the very heart of him for though he had put on grace yet he had not put off nature Both Iacob and Iacobs father as Iunius understandeth that passage Gen. 37 35. wept savourly for Ioseph and would go down into the grave unto their sen mourning True it is that the losse of some wife may be greater then the losse of some son Abraham came from his own tent to Sarah's tent to mourn for her Gen. 22.2 and she was the first that we read of in scripture mourned for but the Prophet here speaketh of the mourning of husband and wife together and they can lose no greater outward blessing then their first-born if an onely-one especially Verse 11. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem Magnificabitur luctus so the Hebrew hath it their mourning shall be greatened their heavinesse heightened they shall rise in their repentance above all that is ordinary The Casuifts and Schoolmen affirme sorrow for sin to be the greatest of all sorrowes 1. In conatu the whole soule seemes to send springs into it out of every faculty 2. In extensione It is a spring which in this life more or lesse is continually dropping neither would God have the wounds of godly forrow to be so closed up at all as not to bleed afresh upon every good occasion 3. In appreciatione the true penitentiary doth ever judge that a good God offended a Saviour crucified should be the prime cause of greatest grief 4. In intensione for intension of displicence in the will there being no other things with which Adrian Scotus Soto or for which the will is more displeased with its self then for sinning against God There is more cause of grief say they for sinning then for the death of Christ because therein was aliquid placens but sin is simpliciter displicens But is it not godly mourning may some say unlesse it be so great I answer that other mourning may make more noise like a dashing shoure of rain or a land-flood that by a small shallow channel comes down from an hill When a man mourns for his onely son or the like this comes from God as a judgement it comes down hill as it were hath nature to work with it and nothing to hinder it but this mourning and melting over Christ is as a stream that goeth up hill and through many reeds and flagges M. Cotton as a Reverend man expresseth it as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon Where good Josiah was slain and where the people saw to their unspeakable grief and heart-break family Church and Common-wealth pluckt up by the roots in the losse of that one man who was the very breath of all their nostrils as Jeremiah sadly acknowledgeth in his Lamentations composed on that very occasion and when he died all their prosperity here died with him and themselves were no better then living Ghosts walking sepulchers of themselves a being they had but not a life those that before seemed to touch heaven with their finger fell down to the earth nunc humi de repente serpere siderates esse diceres as if they had been planet-struck as Budaeus speaketh of the French courtiers at the death of Lewes the twelfth When Augustus died orbis ruinam timueramus saith Paterculus we thought all had been lost and that the world would have fallen about our ears When our Edward the sixth that second Josiah was taken away Cardan sung this sorrowful Epicedion Flete nefas magnum sed toto flebitis orbe Mortales vestrûum corrit omnis honos Verse 12 13 14 And the land shall mourn Not the generality of the Jews unlesse it be at their last general conversion that resurrection from the dead as it is called Rom. 11.15 but the elect according to grace who are here called the land because more esteemed by God then all the other Jews besides for he reckoneth of men by their righteousnesse as he did of Lot at Sodom every family apart To shew the soundnesse of their sorrow the sincerity by the secrecy for Ille dolet verè qui sine teste dolet He grieves with a witnesse that grieves without a witnesse There is a worldly sorrow that hardeneth the heart and indisposeth it for repentance as did that of Nabal There is also an hellish sorrow a desperate grief for sin poenitentia Iscariotica as was that of Judas There is no birth without travel but some children die in the birth are killed with the pains of the labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 7 Lastly there is a sorrow according to God whereby we weep kindly after God inquiring the way to Zion with our faces set thitherward and renewing our covenant Jer. 50.4 5. Against thee thee onely have I sinned
family of Egypt So called from one Aiguptos a King there In the Hebrew it is called mostly Mizraim from one of that name Gen. 10.6 sometimes for its power and pride it is called Rahab Psal 87.4 and 89.11 Esay 51.9 The family of Egypt is here put for the whole Nation see the like Amos 3.1 because after the confusion of tongues especially Nations took their originall and denomination from the head of some family as did the Egyptians from Mizraim Chams second sonne go not up and come not But they did receive the Christian religion with the first had Christian schools Doctours and Professours after that Saint Mark had there planted a Church at Alexandria now called Scanaeroon This was fore-prophecred Esay 19.21 The Lord shall be known to Egypt c And the Lord shall smite Egypt he shall smite and heal it c. he shall cause them to passe under the rod and to bâ—â—g them into the bond of the covenant as it is Ezek 20.37 thâ—â— have no rain Others read it thus It shall not rain upon them For they also needed rain in some measure as well as other nations See Psal 105.32 though not so much by reason of the overslowings of the river 〈◊〉 which if it arise to a just height 〈…〉 sc of fifteen or sixteen cubits as Pliny â—ells us it 〈◊〉 the land very fruitfull so that they do but throw in the seed and have â—our 〈◊〉 harvests in lesse then four moneths S. H. Blant◠〈◊〉 Indeed where the Nile arrives not 〈◊〉 nothing they say in Egypt but a whitish fand bearing no grasse but two â—tile weeds colled Suâ—it and Gazul which burnt to ashes and conveyed to Venice make the finest thrystall-glasses The Chalâ—ee â—enders it Non cresâ—et ejus Nâ—ns God loves to confute men in their confidences to dry up their Nilusses See Ezck. â—â—◠〈…〉 9. Isaâ— 19.5 6. as he did for two yeers together in the time of Cloopatra a little before Christs birth and once before for nine years space there shall be the plague q.d. If they escape the forethreatened evil a worse thing abides them their preservation from famine is but a reservation to those everlasting burnings Verse 12. And though here they abound even to satiety and surfet the Egyptians were wont to boast that they could feed all men and feast all the gods without any sensible diminution of their provision yet at the last day they shall be cut short enough eat fire drink brimstone God himself uttering those or the like words Esay 65 1â— Behold my servants shall cat but you shall â—e hurgry â—ehold myservants shall drink but you shâ—ill be thirsty behold my servants shall rejoice but none shall be ashamed Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall howl for â—exation of spirit Verse 19. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment Or sin Indeed the sin of sins to slight Gods Ordinances and offers of grace and to neglect so great salvation as is tendred in and by Christ This very sin is it own punishment This is condemnation or hell asorehand John 3.19 This brought Capernaum down from heaven to hell Mat. 11.23 Pagans that never heard of Christ shall havean easier judgement then such Mat. 10.23 for they shall have a double condemnation One from the law which they have broken wherein Christ found them another from the Gospel for rejecting Christ and the bath of his blood to the which even the Prinâ—es of Sodoâ— are invited Esai 1.10 See Iohn â—2 48 Mat. 21.44 It is with such as with a malefactour that being dead in law doth yet refuse a pardon Danaeus observeth here that mention is made of the feast of Tabernacles especially 1. Because this least was now most solemnly kept among the Jews Neh. 8. And secondly because it was a most evident testimony of the first gathering together of the people of Israel that is of a free ordained Church Therefore it was better liked of the people and a more evident sign of their uniting or knitting together within themselves as is unto us the holy supper of our Lord Jesus Christ Verse 20. In that day shall there be upon the bels of the horses hang'd upon their heades or about their necks as Iudg. 8.26 the Midianitish camels â—ad rich collars and chains about their necks for ornament sake It was a witty conceit of a modern Divine D 〈…〉 that many deal with their Ministers as carriers do with their horses lay heavy burthens upon them and then hang bels about their necks they shall have harâ— work and great commendations but easy commons good words but slight wages This was better then that bald conceit of Theodoret 〈◊〉 others Lib. 1. hist cap. 18. Ruff. in lib. 1. c. 8. Socâ—at 1.1 that this Prophesie was then fulfilled when as Constantine the Great or hâ—â— mother 〈◊〉 for him caused the bits of his horse-bridle to be made of the nailes of the crosse of Christ I confesse the word is by some rendred bridles by others trappings Frontals collars 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read only here and hence this variety of interpretations Calvin renders it stables of horses which although they are but contemptible places and usually stink yet the Prophet saith they shall be â—â—ly to the Lord. Hereby the Prophet teacheth saith He that God shall so be king of the world as that all things shall be applied to his worship neither shall any thing be of so common and ordinary use that shall not change its nature and be sanctified to Gods service The comparison here is made betwixt things profane and the inscription on the high-Priests mitre which was Holinesse to the Lord. This is a manifest testimony of a godly mind when godlinesse runs thorough a mans whole life as the woose doth thorough the web whenordinary actions are done from a right principle and to a right purpose according to that old and good Rule Quicquid agas propter Deum agas Whether ye eate or drink or what soever ye do 1 Cor. 10.31 1 Tim. 4.14 Holinesse must be written upon our bridles when we warr upon our cupps when we drink Dr. Harris de all to the glory of God Receive every creature with thank sgiving in serving men serve the Lord Christ exercise your general calling in your particular do earthly businesse with heavenly minds Content not your self with a naturall use of the creature as bruit beasts do but tast the sweetnesse of God in all and in all thy wayes acknowledge Him depending upon him for direction and successe consulting with him and approving thine heart and life unto him This is to go the upper way Pro. 15.24 which indeed is both cleaner shorter and safer This is to be of that royall Priest-hood that hath for its posy Holinesse to the Lord. This is to be harmelesse and blamelesse the sons of God known by
he basely recalled into France whence they had been banished and admitted them into his bosom making Father Cotton his Confessour et sic probrose se gessit et rem confusione dignam admisit as here He both shamed and undid himself For she hath said I will go after my lovers Amasios meos My sweet-hearts Marbeck Act. Mon. those that have drawn away my heart from my husband But if that persecutour could say to the Martyr What a devil made thee to meddle with the Scriptures how much better might it be said to the Synagogue and so to all Apostates What a devill meant you to go a whoring from such an husband who is totus Cant. 5.16 totus desiderabilis altogether lovely even the chief of ten thousand after dumb idols and false Prophets who are their brokers proxenetae et proci and spokesmen Athenaeus brings in Plato bewailing himself and his own condition that he was taken so much with a filthy whore Adultery is filthinesse in the abstract Gelulim Ezek. 22.3 1 Pet. 4.3 so is also idolatry and therefore idols are called by a word that signifieth the very excrements that come out of a man a tearm too good for those dunghill-deities those abominable idolatries as Saint Peter expresseth it Mention is made in histories of a certain heathen people that punish adultery with death and with such a death as is suitable to the sin For they thrust the adulterers or adulteresses head into the paunch of a beast where lieth all the filth and garbage of it there to be stifled to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jude 7. Sodom and Gomorrha had fire from heaven for their burning lust and stinking brimstone for their stinking brutishnesse They are also thrown out as St. Jude phraseth it for an example suffering the vengeance of eternall fire And in the like pickle are the Beast and the false Prophet those Arch-idolaters for these both are cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone Rev. 19.20 And worthily Esay 3.9 sith they declared their sins as Sodom they hid it not And as this huswife in the text who said I will go after my lovers she did of wickedness forethought upon deliberation de industria ex consilio wilfully and of purpose impudently and without all shame of sin say I will go after This was shameles indeed They should rather have gone after her Deut. 23.18 then she after them Moses fitly compareth a whore to a salt-bitch that is followed after by all the dogs in a town And am I dogs-head said Abner to Ishbosheth 2 Sam. 3.8 that is Am I so given to lust lasciviousnes as dogs are that run after every salt-bitch But this harlot verified that saying in Ezekiel The contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms whereas none followed thee to commit whoredoms thou followest them and gloriest in thy so doing as Lots daughters did in their detestable incest naming their children Moab that is a birth by my father and Benammi that is begotten by one of my near kindred These all might have held their tongues with shame enough But such kinde of sinners are singularly impudent Jer. 3.3 infatuated Hos 4.11 and past feeling Ephes 4.19 And so are Idolaters wickedly wilfull and irreclaimable for most part See Jer. 44.16 17. 2.10 Esay 44.19 20. A seduced heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor say Is there not a lie in my right hand How stiffe are Papists to this day in defence of their Image-worship how severe against such as deface or but disgrace them Murther is not so hainous a sin c. That give me my bread and my water c. What can be more like to the doings of the Papists then this saith Danaeus Who knows not what suit they make and what thanks they return to their He-Saints and She-Saints and how they sacrilegiously transfer the glory due to God alone to the creature The Lord rightly resolveth the genealogy of corn wine and oil into himself verse 22. of this chapter And the Aposte tells us that it is He that filleth mens hearts with food and gladnesse Act. 14.17 Et cum charissima semper Munera sint Author quae preciosa facit This should make us lift up many an humble joyfull and thankfull heart to God well content if we may have offam et aquam bread and water and the gospel and vowing with Jacob Gen. 28.20 that if God will give us bread to eat and raiment to put on then shall he be our God and we will honour him with the best of our substance As for other gods whether Pagan or Papagan say we as that Heathen did Contemno minutulos istos deos modò Jovem mihi propitium habeam I care not for these petty-deities I trust in the living God who giveth us all things richly to enjoy All things I say both ad esum et ad usum for back and belly besides better things which is all that carnall people care for There be many too many that say and can skill of no other language Who will shew us any good who will give us bread Psal 4. water wooll oil c they look no higher know no heaven but plenty hell but penury God but their belly whereunto they offer sacrifice with Poliphemus and care for no more quam ut ventri bene sit ut lateri then that their bellies may be filled Epicur ap Hor. their backs fitted Let them have but plenty of victuals and the Queen of heaven shall be their good Lady Jer. 44.17 Base spirits look onely after low things gain and credit carry them any way They work for their peny a day and are like little children which will not say their prayers unlesse they may be promised their breakfast Whereas a true worshipper of God soareth aloft hath his feet at least where other mens heads are trades for higher commodities cannot be put off with mean matters When great gifts were sent to Luther he refused them with this brave speech Valde protestatus sum me nolle sic satiari Melch. Adam I deeply protested that I would not be put off by God with these low things The Papists offered to make him a Cardinall if he would be quiet He replied No not if I might be Pope They sent Vergerius the Popes Nuncio to tempt him with preferment and to tell him of Eneas Sylvius who following his own opinions Hist of Counc of Trent p. 73. with much slavery and labour could get no further preferment then to be Canon of Trent but being changed to the better became Bishop Cardinall and finally Pope Pius 2. The same Vergerius also minded him of Bessarion of Nice who of a poor Collier of Trapezond became a great renowned Cardinall and wanted not much of being Pope But what said Luther to all this Contemptus est a me Romanus et favor et
to cast them out of that good Land as evils tenants that should hold no longer for vers 3. he threateneth to plead against them non verbis sed verberibus with 〈◊〉 and with blood as Ezek. 38.22 to make them say as Isai 45.9 Wo to him that striveth with his Maker that hath him for his adversary at Law such a one is sure to be undone unlesse he agree with him quickly Mat. 5.25 whiles he is yet in the way with him and before he be brought to the tribunall For even our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 his tribunall also is of fire Ezek. 1.27 his pleading with sinners in flames of fire 2 Thes 1.7 the triall of mens works shall be by fire 1 Cor. 3.13 the place of punishment a lake of fire â—ed with a river of brimstone Isai 30.33 O pray therfore and prevent that God enter not into judgement with us for if so no man living shall be justified in his sight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods people may have and shall be sure to have the devil an adversary at Law against them as Saint Peters word signifies 1 Pet. 5.8 The accuser of the brethren he is called which accuseth them before God day and night Rev. 12.12 But him they may resist stedfast in the faith and recover cost and charges of him as I may so say for they have Christ to appear for them in heaven Heb. 9.24 as a lawyer for his client 1 Joh. 2.2 to nonsuit all the devils accusations The Spirit also as a Paracletus or Advocate maketh request for them to God in their hearts and helpeth them to make Apologies for themselves 2 Cor. 7.11 Again if a man sin against another the judge shall judge him saith old Eli to his wicked sons that is the Umpire may come and take up the controversie and put an end to the quarrell But if a man have sinned against the Lord 1 Sam. 2.29 who shall intreat for him who dare be his â—â—yesman no mediation of man can make his peace no reconciliation can be here hoped for but by running from God as a Judge to God as a Father in Christ Let men therefore be wrought upon by the reprehensions of Gods faithfull Ministers by whom he appealeth and impeacheth them If they stand out as the old world did against that Preacher of righteousness by whom he went and preached to those spirits now in prison because they would not take up the matter in time but futured and fooled away their own salvation he will break off his patience and say as Gen. 6.3 My spirit shall not alwayes strive with these men for that they also are flesh c. and are therefore the worse because they ought to be better Ideo deteriores quia me liores esse debebant therefore they shall fare the worse because they would be no better I have hewed them by my Prophets Hos 6.5 but can make no good work of them Like ill timber they fall to splinters and like ill stones they crumble all tto crattle They are therefore fitter for the high-way chimney corner then for my building My spirit shall therefore strive no more with these perverse persons either by preaching disputing convincing c. in the mouth of my ministers or in their own minds and consciences by inward checks and motions which they reject refusing to be reformed hating to be healed I will take away my spirit and silence my Prophets as he doth verse 4. of this chapter and resolve upon their utter ruine sith there is no good to be done upon them See Vers 17. of this chapter with the Note there Currat ergo poenitentia ne praecurrat sententia c. Because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the Land Lo here the charge and knowing the judgement of God you must needs say that those that commit such things are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 For if the word spoken by Angels the law given by Angels in the hand of Moses a Mediatour were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience that is every commission and omission received a just recompense of reward Heb. 2.2 〈◊〉 should these miscreants escape that had left off to do good and for evil they did 〈◊〉 both hands earnestly For the second table of the Law it is articled against them for matter of omission or defect that there was neither truth nor mercy in the land And for the first table that there was no sound knowledge of God there and consequently no care of God either inward or outward worship for there can be neither faith nor repentance nor due obedience yeelded to an unknown God Joh. 4.22 A Samaritane service there may be ye worship ye know not what but not a rationall service Rom. 12.1 such as whereof a man can render a reason Now God will not have a blind sacrifice Mal. 1.8 1 Chr. 28.9 It is nothing worth that men are vertuous unlesse they joyn to their vertue knowledge 2 Pet. 1.5 nor that they offer sacrifice if they bring the sacrifice of fools Eccâ—es 5.1 Those must needs be abominable and disobedient that are to every good work reprobate injudicious as the word signifies Tit. 1.11 and what marvell though men be alienated from the life of God or a godly life through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 But let us take the words in order There is no truth Here God declareth against them a Lawyers do against offendors in courts and not for trifles but first for want of truth or trustinesse in word and deed without which humane society is but funiculus ex arena a rope of sand or arena sine calce sand without lime it cannot hold together It was an old complaint of the Prophets that Truth was fallen in the streets Esay 99.14 Psal 12.1 and faithfulnesse failed from among the children of men When Varus was slain Augustus grieved excessively and that because non esset à quo verum audiret he had none about him that would tell him the truth of things and deal plainly with him Multis annis jam transactis nulla fides est in pactis c. Jeremy bewailes it in his treacherous country men that they bent their tongues like their bowes for lies but they were not valiant for the truth on the earth Jer. 9.3 they were mendaciorum loquacissimi as Tertullian phraseth it loud an leud lairs and as Egesippus saith of Pilat they were viri nequam et parvi facientes mendacium naughty men and such as made nothing of a lie But Gods people are said to be children that will not lie Esay 63. they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of truth which was the title of honour given to Arrianus the Greek historian when as of all other historians Vopiscus testifieth that there is none qui non aliquid est mentitus that taketh not the libertie to lie more or lesse And for
they flourished at this time in Court and Country they waxed fat and kicked The Priests are here accused of detestable ingratitude and of unsufferable pride and insolency As they were multiplyed or magnified they have sinned against me that is they have abused my gifts to my great dishonour Like fed hawkes they have forgot their master Nay like yong mules which when they have sucked turn up their heels and kick their dam so did these haughty and haunty Priests Psal 17.10 Psal 119.70 Their hearts were fat as grease they were inclosed in their own fat but they delighted not in Gods Law Cum ipsis opibus lascivire coepit Ecclesia saith Platina The Church began to be rich and wanton at once rich and riotous They had golden chalices but wooden Priests Repugnante contra teipsum felicitate tuâ as Salvian saith to the Church in his time thy prosperity is thy bane What would he have said if he had seen the Pope in his Princely State thundering from his Capitoll and heard their big-swoln titles of Padre benedicto Padre Angelo Archangelo Cherubino Seraphino c. Spec. Europ Ammianus Marcellinus a heathen historian inveiged against the Bishops of Rome even in those purer times for their pride and luxury Odi fastum illius ecclesiae saith Basil I hate the haughtinesse of that Western Church It caused the lamentable separation of the Greek Church from the Latine the other four Patriarches not without the like pride and stomack dividing themselves from the Bishop of Rome and at their parting using these or the like words Thy greatnesse we know thy covetousnesse we cannot satisfie thy encroaching we can no longer abide live to thy self And yet if they could have held them there and shunned those evils which they blamed in others walking humbly with God and committing themselves to him in well-doing they might have flourished to this day But wrangling away the truth and contracting rust with long ease and prosperity God was forced to scour off that their rust with bloody War by the Turks Of whom these Churches being in fear and danger fled to carnall combinations sent and subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome that they might have his help But all in vain for shortly after they were destroyed and lost all God covered them with confusion and turned their glory into shame So he hath done the Roman glory in part and will do more every day Parei Medullâ— Roma diu titubans varijs erroribus acta Corruet et mundi desinet iste caput God will cast dirt in the faces of proud prelates Isa 23.9 be will stain the pride of all glory cast upon them with ignominy reproach Prov. 18.3 crush their crown with a woe Esay 28.1 change their glory their dignitie and greatnesse wherein they gloried into shame not without much bitternesse in the change as the Hebrew word here used seemeth to import Miserum enim est fuisse felicem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 8. They eat up the sin of my people that is the sin-offerings as Exod. 29 14. This they might lawfully do Levit. 6. and 10.17 But they were greedy dogs and looked every one to his gain from his quarter Esay 5.6.11 They winked at the peoples sins and cared not what evils they fell into so that they would bring in store of fat and good expiatory sacrifices which made for the Priests advantage They ate that on earth which they were to disgest in hell they fed upon such diet as bred the the worm of conscience that never dyes Just so the Papists do at this day they teach the people though they sin yet by giving mony for so many Masses to be mumbled over by a greasie Priest or by so many indulgences and Dirges purchased of the Popes pardon-mongers they shall be delivered etiamsi per impossibile matrem Dei vitiassent I tremble to English it Tecelius told them so in Germany and got huge masses of mony for the Popes coffers The common sort of Papists for want of better teaching will say When we have sinned we must confesse and when we have confessed Specul Europ Psal 14. we must sin again that we may confesse again and make work for new indulgences and Jubilees But have these workers of iniquity no knowledge that eat up Gods people as they eat bread that drink up the blood of souls much more worth â—hen the lives that Davids men had jeoparded to procure him the water of the well of Bethlehem which therefore he durst not drink of This surely is that filthy lucre Ministers should be free from 1 Pet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5.2 Let all non-residents look to it that carry onely forcipes et mulctrum those instruments of a foolish shepherd Zech. 11.15 See the Note there feeding themselves but starving the flock an heavy account will they one day make to the Arch-shepheard of this their sacrilegious rapacity and they set their hearts on their iniquity Heb. they lift up their souls that is they not onely prick up their ears as Danaeus expounds it to listen after sins and sin-offerings but they greedily desire and earnestly look after such emoluments such belly timber being gulae mancipia slaves to their guts and wholly given up to gormandise See the same expression and in this sense Jer. 12.27 Deut. 24.15 Ezek. 24.25 and compare the practise of Popish Priests who make infinite gain of every thing almost as their ringing of Saints-bels places of buriall selling of licenses for marriage and meates selling of corpses and Sepulchres All things are saleable and soluble at Rome and the savour of gaine sweet though it come out of a stinking stewes or Jewes counting-house The Priests had a trick by wires to make their Images here wag their chaps a pace if some good gift were presented as if otherwise Act. and Mon. to hang the lip in token of discontent Verse 9. And there shall be like people like priest i. e. they shall share alike in punishment as they have done in sin neither shall their priesthood protect them any more then it did Elies two sons whose white Ephod covered foule sins A wicked Priest is the worst creature upon earth Who are devils but they that were once angels of light and who shall have their portion with the devill and his angels but those dehonestamenta cleri male monetae minstri bad-liv'd ministers It was grown to a proverb in times of Popery that the pavement of hell was pitcht with souldiers helmets and shavelings-crowns Letters also were framed and published as sent from hell wherein the devill gave the Popish clergy no small thanks for so many millions of soules as by them were daily sent down to him Matth. Paris ad Ann. 1072. The Priests might haply hope to be priviledged and provided for in a common calamity for their office-sake As Chrysostom saith that Aaron though in the same fault with Miriam Numb
others sensuall sins and fleshly lusts such as are here instanced whoredome and drunkennesse do war against the soule 1 Pet. 2.11 do take away the heart they besot and infatuate a man they rob him of his reason and carry away his affections c. Grace is seated in the power of nature Now these carnall sins disable nature and so set it in a greater distance from grace They make men that formerly seemed to give light as a candle to become as a snuff in a socket drowned in the tallow or as a quagmire which swallowes up the seed sown upon it and yields no increase Who are voyd of the spirit but such as are sensual Jude 18.19 And who are they that say unto God depart from us but those that dance to the timbrel and harp c. Job 21.11 They saw God and did eat and drink Exod. 24.11 that is say some though they had seen God yet they curned againe to sensuall pleasures as if it had reference to that eating and drinking and rising up to play upon the dedication of their calf Lib. de mirabil auscult which was presently after Aristotle writeth of a parcel of ground in Sicily that sendeth forth such a strong smell of fragrant flowers to all the fields and grounds there abouts that no hound can hunt there the sent is so confounded with the sweet smell of the flowers Let us see to it that the pleasures of sin take not away all sent and sense too of heavenly delights that the flesh as a Syren befoole not wisdomes guests and get them away from her Prov. 9.16 as Elian tels of a whore that boasted that she could easily get all Soâ—rates his Schollers from him but he could not recover one againe from her Indeed none that go unto her return againe saith Solomon Prov. 2.19 for she gets their hearts from them as David found and Solomon complained David was never his own worthy againe after he had moyled himself with that beastly sin And Solomon when he gave himself to wine and women though his mother had sufficiently warned him Prov. 31.3.4 he quickly took hold of folly Eccles 2.3 his sensualities drew out his spirits and dissolved him brought him to so low an ebb in grace that many question his salvation Bellarmine reckons him among reprobates but I like not his judgement Let ministers of all men this is spoken of the Priests chiefly as some think see to it that they fly fleshly lusts that they exhort the younger women with châ—sâ—â—ty as St. Paul bids Timothy and drink if any yet but a little wine for their beaâ—ths sake remembring that the sins of Teachers are teachers of sins and that their evill practises fly far upon those two dangerous wings of Example and Scandall Ministers should be no wine-bibbers or Alestakes 1 Tim. 3.3 nè magis solliciti de mero quâ—m de vero magis ament mundi delicias quam Christi divitias lest being lovers of pleasure more then lovers of God that should befall them that Solomon foretelleth Prov. 23.33 thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things Venter aestuans mero spumat in libidinem Hieron Aristot Ovid. 2. deremed Amor. A belly filled with wine foameth out filthinesse saith Hierom. Wine is the milk of Venus saith Another Vina parant animos Veneri saith a third Whoredome is usually ushered in by drunkennesse Hence they stand so close together in this text Verse 12. My people ask counsel at their stocks that is at their Images which are here called stocks in contempt as Hezekiah called the brazen serpent when it was idolized by the people Nehushtan or a piece of brass and as Julius Palmer martyr called the Rood in Pauls a Jackanapes Act. mon. and as the poet in contempt of his own God Priapus brings him in saying Olim truncus eram ficulnus Horat inutile lignum So the Prophet cryes shame upon the house of Israel See that graphicall description of their madnesse Esay 44.11 c. Rivet in loc for saying to a stock thou art my father and to a stone thou hast brought me forth Jer. 2.27 But to such senselesse practises men fall many times when they grow sensuall See 2 Thes 2.10 Rev. 17.5 Spiritull whoredome and bodily go usually together Rivet tels us here of a Noble-man that went out of the Church from hearing mass into the very next house where he kept a whore and said to the by-standers a lupanari ad missam unum tantum esse passum that there is but one step from the masse to a whore-house and their staff that is saith Kimchi their false-prophets upon whom they leane and by whom they are led as a blind man by his staff But I rather think it is meant of Rabdomancy a kind of odd way of divining by rods and staves as Nebuchadnezzar is brought in doing Ezek. 21.22 and was common in those Eastern parts Or else hereby are meant the Southsayers and Magicians rods as Exod. 7.12 Heb. 11.21 it is said that Jacob worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff and thereby lifting up his body to do reverence to God where the Vulgar text omitting the prepsition hath committed a manifest errour in saying that Jacob worshipped the top of his rod or staff as if there had been some picture there ingraven the Hebrew is towards the beds-head And it is certaine that Jacob worshipped none but God and bowed himself either towards the beds-head or leaning upon his staff to testifie his humility faith and hope which adoration how far it was from the worshipping of Images which the papists vrge from this place who seeth not for the spirit of whoredomes hath caused them to erre That unclean spirit Zech. 13.2 the devill who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius saith a delighter in idols drives them sataâ—ico impetu to commit whoredome both spirituall and corporall with strength of affection Now if that spirit of errour 1 Jon. 4.6 and of giddinesse Esa 19.14 cause men to erre and carry them with a vehement Impetus to idol-worship which indeed is devil-worship what wonder men that are that way bent know not of what spirit they are little think that they are acted and agitated by the devill O pray with David Psal 143.10 that that good spirit of God may lead us into all truth and holinesse and they are gone a whoring from under their God i. e. from under the yoke of his obedience they are gone out of his precincts and therefore also out of his protection as a whore that forsaketh her husband and is therefore worthily cast off Verse 13. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains and burn incense upon the hils c. as nearer to heaven and in an apish imitation of the Patriarches who before the Tabernacle was set up sacrificed in high places as Abraham on mount Moriah c. that their bodyes being mounted aloft they might
the better lift up their hearts and eyes to heaven saying as it were to all worldly cares and cogitations as Abraham did to his servants whom he left at the foot of the hill Gen. 22.5 Abide you here with the Asse Hierom upon this place hath this Note Israel saith he loveth high places for they have forsaken the high God and they love the shadow having left the substance But what could be more absurd then to think as they did that God who is omnipresent was neerer to them on hills and high places and further off them in vallyes See Esay 57.7 Ezek. 6.13 This they had partly also learned of the heathens from whom neverthelesse God had shut them up as it were in an Island so their land is called that having little commerce with them Esay 20.6 they might not learn their manners But our nature is very catching this way and doth as easily draw and suck Idolatry to it as the loadstone doth iron or Turpentine fire under oaks and Poplars and Elmes because the shadow thereof is good So they proceed from one evill to another for sin is infinite and when a man is fal'n down one round of Hels ladder he knowes not where he shall stop or how he shall step back These Idolaters as they had their high places in imitation of the Patriarks so their groves of shady trees consecrated to their Idols to strike reverence into their hearts as they conceited and for the greater solemnity Sin comes commonly clothed with a shew of reason Exod. 1.10 Come let us deale wisely say they yet every oppressour is a fool Prov. 28.16 It will so bleare the understanding that a man shall think he hath reason to be mad and that there is some sence in sinning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But especially will-worship hath a shew of wisdome Colos 2. ult or the reason of wisdome as the word there signifieth the very quintessence of it Hence the Papists write Rationals whole volumes of reason for their rites and ceremonies in Divine service the shadow is good say these therefore we get under trees And Iohn Hunt See Dr. Sheldons mark of the beast serm a blasphemous Papist in his humble Appendix to King Iames Chap. 6. was not afraid to say That the God of the Protestants is the most uncivil and evil-mannered God of all those who have borne the name of Gods upon the earth yea worse then Pan God of the Clowns which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all O tongue worthy to be pulled out cut in gobbets and driven down the throat of this hideous blasphemer for he could not but know the God of the Protestants as he scornfully termeth him to be the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Did not Rabshakeh rail after this rate upon good Hezekiah for taking down the high-places and Altars of God as he called them which yet God well approved of 2 King 18.22 Mr. Boroughs maketh mention of a Lady in Paris who when she saw the bravery of a Procession to a Saint shee cried out Oh how fine is our religion beyond that of the Huguenots They have a mean and beggerly religion but ours is full of solemnity and bravery c. The Catholikes in their Supplication to King Iames for a Toleration plead that their religion is inter caetera so pleasing to nature and so sutable to sense and reason that it must therefore needs be the right A proper Argument surely and not all out so convincing as that of Cenalis Bishop of Auranches who writing against the Christian Congregation at Paris and basely slandering their meetings as if they were to maintain whoredome Act. Mon. will in conclusion needfully prove if he could the Catholikes to be the true Church because they had bells to call them together but the Huguenots had claps of Harquebuzes or Pistolets for that purpose Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredome Impunè they shall do it and for a punishment of your Idolatry and in asmuch as you have prostituted your souls that is my spouse to the devil your houses shall be whorehouses to your utter disgrace and heart-break Certain it is that where there is most Idolatry there is most adultery as at Rome which is nothing else but a great brothel-house and hath fully made good that of the Poet Roma quod inverso delectaretur amore Nomen ab inverso nomine fecit Amor. Thus God punished the idolatrous Ethnikes by delivering them up to passions of dishonour or vile affections to Sodomitical practises which did abase them below those four-footed beasts which they adored Rom. 1.23 24 c. Some put off all manhood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 became dogs worse then dogs scalded in their own grease verse 27. and this is there called a meet recompense such as God here threatneth Mr. Levely a very learned Interpreter thinketh that when God saith here your daughters shall commit whoredome and your daughters in law for so he renders it shall commit adultery he meaneth it not of voluntary whoredome but of that which is forced according to that of Amos to Amaziah Chap. 7.17 Therefore thus saith the Lord the wife shall be an harlot in the City and they sonnes and daughters shall fâ—ll by the sword c. that is thy wife shall be ravished by the enemy Theodoret also is of the same judgement Verse 14. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredome q. d. I will not once foul my fingers with them or be at pains to correct them but they shall take their swinge in sin for me c. Origen in a certain Homily quoting this Scripture Hom. 8. in Exod. 20. saith Vis indignantis Dei terribilem vocem audire c. Will you hear the terrible voice of a provoked God hear it here I will not punish c. You shall be without chastisement for an argument that you are bastards and not sons Never was Jerusalems condition so desperate as when God said unto her My fury shall depart from thee I will be quiet and no more angry Ezek. 16.42 Feri Domine seri cried Luther Strike Lord strike and spare not Ferre minora volo nè graeviora feram There is not a greater plague can befall a man then to prosper in sinfull practises Bernard calleth it misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem a killing courtesie Ezek. 3.20 I will lay a stumbling-block before him that is saith Vatablus I will prosper him in all things and not by affliction restrain him from sin Job surely counts it for a great favour to sorry man Job 7.17 18. that God accompts him worth melting though it be every morning and trying though it be every moment And Ieremy calleth for correction as a thing that he could not well be without Correct me O Lord c. For themselves are separated with whores Rivet God seemeth to speak this to others by change of person
were both sensible of it but no otherwise then bruit beasts which when they are smitten or sick feel it and howl out but have not the reason to think whence the pain comes what may be the cause and cure of it Ephraim and Iudah make out indeed for help but they run to wrong remedies and refuges they turn not to him that smote them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts therefore is not his anger turned away but his hand is stretched out still Esay 9.12 13. If God be angry no other helps can relieve us no creature comfort us no combination with King Iareb secure us In a Mine if a damp come it is in vain to trust to your lights they will burn blew and dim and at last vanish you must make hast to be drawn upward if you will be safe So must men make to God fleeing from his anger to his grace Blood-letting is a cure of bleeding and a burn a cure against a burn and the running to God is the way to escape him as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow In a tempest at Sea it is very dangerous to strike to the shoar the safest way is to have Sea-room and to keep in the Main still c. Iareb cannot be a Defender according to the import of his name if God come against a people or person Brasse and Iron can fence a man against a bullet or a sword Esay 30.33 D Rainolds serm before Parl. Iuly 27. 1642. but if he were to be cast into a furnace of fire it would help to torment him if into a pit of water to sink him Now our God is a consuming fire and his breath a stream of brimstone c. as a Reverend man maketh the comparison Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and Iudah sent to king Iareb Or to the king of Iareb or to the king that should plead and revenge his cause and quarrell Ad Regem propugnaturum saith Iunius Help O king said she in the holy historie Kings should be Helpers Propugnatours Protectours Sanctuaries of safety to the oppressed whether Subjects or Neighbours such as the late king of Sweden was to the oppressed Princes of Germany And before him Queen Elisabeth to the Low-countrey-men whose protection when she undertook the king of Sweden that then was said Camd. that she had taken the crown off her own head and set it upon the head of Fortune But what a madnesse was it in Ephraim and Judab to call in the Assyrian to their help as they did 2 King 16.7 2 Chron. 28.16 21. but especially 2 King 15.19 20. 17.3 This was to invite the enemy into their kingdome and to shew gold-thirsty Babel where she might have her full draught Thus Judea was after the return from Babylon lost again to the Romans by their calling Pompey to decide the controversie betwixt the disagreeing brethren And such an ungain course was attempted by Iohn King of England when being overlaid in his Barons warres Heyl. Geog. he sent to the Monarch of Morocco for aid offering to hold his kingdome of him and to receive the law of Mahomet but he was rejected with scorne Afterwards he passed away his kingdome to the Pope in hope of help but had so little joy of it that he was heard to complain Postquam me ac mea regna proh dolor Rom. subjeci Ecclesia nulla mihi prospera sed omnia contraria advenerunt I never prospered since I subjected my self and my Kingdomes to the Sea of Rome No more did the Greek Churches as above hath been mentioned By iniquity saith Solomon shall no man be established Prov. 12.3 Shall they escape by iniquity Psal 56.7 saith David What no better means and wayes to help themselves by In thine anger cast down such a people O God It is not more a prayer then a prophecy and it was fulfilled upon this people Yet could he not heal you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medela nor cure you of your wound Kings have their names in Greek from healing they should be Physicians and binders up of wounds as Esay 3.7 see Corn. à Lapide on that Text But King Jareb proved a Physician of no value instead of healing the wound he made it wider instead of helping King Ahaz 2 Chro. 28.20 he distressed him saith the Text. The creature was never true to those that trusted to it Such are sure to be frustrated Jer. 14.3 subjected to Gods wrath Psal 78.22 cursed with a curse Jer. 17.5 6. pointed at as forlorn fools Psal 52.7 Verse 14. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion I that is my Assyrian the rod of my wrath will be as a lion or leopard a creature swift and fierce above measure Aelian de var. hist lib. 12. cap. 39. The Vulgar rendreth it a lionesse which saith Aelian is robustissimum bellicosissimum animal a most strong and stout creature Hence Semiram's gloried much when in hunting she had taken not a lion but a lionesse What is stronger then a lion said those Philistims to Sampson Judg. 14.14 See 2 Som 1.23 Prov. 30.29 The Lion but especially the young Lion that is in his hot blood fears no other creature falls upon his prey with great fury and teareth it carrieth it away when he hath done in his mouth or devours it in the place and fears no rescue If pursued he altereth not his gate though he die for it Some say that he is frighted at the crowing of a cock or the creaking of wheeles But the Lion of the tribe of Judah cannot be terrified by any thing or turned out of his track And Nebuchadnezzar his servant is oft compared to a Lion Esa 5.29 Jer. 41.7 Dan. 7.4 as being set awork by God to revenge the quarrell of his Covenant upon a perverse and perfidious Nation Hence that oft-repetition here of the pronoune I. I even I will tear and go away Tear the very kell of their heart in sunder tear them by the teeth of my terrible sword which shall devour flesh and drink blood yea be drenched and drunk in the gall of these ungodly wretches They have no way to help themselves better then to fall down flat before this Lion Satis est prostrasse leoni Plin. lib. 8. cap. 15. to rend their hearts and not their garments to break off their sins by repentance and to be abrupt in the work lest he tear them to pieces and there be none to deliver them If this be not timely and truely done God will go on in his wrath and of a moth and little worm become a ramping and a roaring Lion The little cloud though at first but as an handbredth will soon overspread the whole heaven yea as one cloud followeth thick upon another so will one judgement upon another if the Sun of Repentance do not interpose and disperse them Light afflictions not improved to this purpose
will be but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great storm as a crack forerunning the ruine of the whole building That is a known text If you will not yet for all this hearken unto me then I will punish you seven times more and seven times more and seven to that Levit. 26.18 28. Three severall times God raiseth his note and he raiseth it by sevens and those are discords in Musick Such saying will be heavy songs and their execution heavy pangs to the wicked Verse 15. I will go and return to my place To my palace of Heaven so the Chaldee rendereth it I will withdraw my Majestie and return into the habitation of my holinesse which is in heaven I will go from them that they may come to themselves with the Prodigal I will forget them that they may remember themselves I will trouble my self no further with them when God comes against sinners he is said to come out of his place and so to disease himself Esay 26.21 with Lam. 3.33 that they may be afflicted and weep and mourn after me Jam. 4.9 I will take my rest and I will consider in my dwelling place as Esay 18.4 I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be for they are a very froward generation c. Deut. 32.20 and they shall see that I will be as froward as they for the hearts of them Ps 18.26 I will gather them in mine anger and in my fury and I will leave them there Ezek. 22.20 that they may know the worth of my gracious presence which they have not prized by the want of it and be pricked on thereby to pray Return O Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants O satisfie us early with thy mercy c. Psal 90.13 14. Thus mothers use to leave their children or at least turn their backs upon them till they mourn and make moane after them Thus the Lion seems to leave her yong ones till they have almost killed themselves with roaring and howling but at last gasp she relieves them whereby they become the more couragious God also will return to his people when they once turn short again upon themselves and see their sin-guiltinesse and seek his favour This is Gods end 1 Cor. 11.32 and the happy effect of affliction sanctified 1 King 8.47 Till they acknowledge their offence Heb. Till they become guiltie till they plead guiltie and carry themselves accordingly blushing and bleeding in my presence Thus Saint James Be afflicted or be miserable Chap. 4.9 ye are so but see your selves to be so tremble and humble at Gods feet for mercy give glory to God my Son and confesse thy sin Josh 7.19 The viper beaten casts up her poison The traytour on the rack confesseth all He that in affliction acknowledgeth not his offence and seeketh Gods face is more hard-hearted then a Jew as is to be seen here and Psal 78.34 and 1 Sam. 7.6 In the year of Grace 1556. at Weissenston in Germany a Jew for theft was in this cruell manner to be executed He was hang'd by the feet with his head downward betwixt two dogs which constantly snatcht bit at him The strangenes of the torment moved Jacob Andreas a grave Divine to go to behold it Coming thither he found the poor wretch as he hung repeating verses out of the Hebrewes Psalms wherein he cried out to God for mercy Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsell him to trust in Jesus Christ the true Saviour of mankind Melch. Adam in vit Jac. Andreae the Jew embracing the Christian faith requested but this one thing that he might be taken down and baptized though presently after he were hanged again but by the neck as Christian malefactours suffered which was accordingly granted him Lat. Serm. Latimer reports a like story of one in his time who being executed at Oxford was cut down but not quite dead And means being used to recover him he came again to himself and then confessed all his villany which before he would not be drawn to do In the life of Master Perkins also mention is made of a lusty fellow at Cambridge who being upon the ladder and affrighted with the forethought of hell-torments was called down a gain by Master Perkins who prayed with him and for him so effectually as that the beholders could not but see a blessed change thereby wrought in the prisoner Master Fuller and Mr. Clark in Mr. Perk. his life who took his death with such patience and alacritie as if he actually saw himself delivered from the hell which he feared before and heaven opened for the receiving of his soul to the great rejoycing of the beholders How well might these men say with Themistocles Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone if I had not been undone David was brought home by the weeping-crosse Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod lib. 1. Alsted Cbroni pag. 325. 119.67 Affliction was a better Schoolmaster to Queen Elizabeth then Master Ascham Nocumenta documenta said Craesus when he was in the hands of his enemies The Burgundians well beaten by the Hunnes fled to Christ the God of the Christians and embraced his Religion and seek my face Out of a deep sense of their sin-guiltinesse This is the work of Faith as the former of Repentance God was not so gone from his people nor so far out of their call but that if they could find a praying heart he would find a pittying heart if they would acknowledge their offence he would forgive the iniquity of their sin Psal 32.5 If they would set their Faith a work as she in the Gospel did of whom it is said that when Christ would have hid himself it could not be for a certain woman whose daughter was diseased came and fell at his feet fetcht him out of his retiring-room Mark 7.24.25 he would break the heavens and come down from his place Isai 64.1 2. he would come leaping over all lets and impediments those mountains of Bether or of division to the relief of his people See this set forth Cant. 5. with the Notes there Provided that they seek not so much their own ease and ends as his face and favour the sense of his presence and light of his countenance the fear of his name and comforts of his spirit Thus David Psal 63.1 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and barren Land Carnall prayers in time of misery are but such as the dry earth or the hungry raven make They are the prayers of nature for ease not of the spirit for grace such as was that of Pharaoh when the rack made him roar the rod slatter See Zach. 7.5 6. with the Notes In their affliction they will seek me early Manicabunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. They will morning me so the Orginall hath it They will do it saith God
for he hateth the devil for sins sake and not sin for the devils sake Idolatry must needs be so much the more odious to him because therein the devil sets up himself in the place of God and requires men as once he did Christ himself to fall down and worship him See Deut. 32.17 1 Cor. 10.20 Rev. 9.20 So he dealeth by the poor Indians at this day compelling them to worship him with bodily worship and tormenting them if they do not worse if worse may be then the cruel Spaniards Sir Francis Drake World encomp 53. who suppose they shew the wretches favour when they do not for their pleasure whip them with cords and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning bacon The Hebrew word here used hath some letters more then ordinary in it to encrease the signification and to shew what a very horrible thing Idolatry is It is spurca pollutio Tremel in loc as Jer. 23.14 and worse See Jer. 2.11 12. and 18.13 and know that God doth not use to aggravate things beyond truth as men do witnesse Nebuchadnezzar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 3.14 Is it true O Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Or is it of set purpose so Buxtorf rendreth it Is it for the nonce to provoke me Num de industria Or Nunquid desolatio so Arias Moutanus As if he should say What you to oppose the command of a king If this be suffered what desolation must needs follow But this is not Gods way he layes no more words upon a thing then the matter amounteth to if he call Idolatry filth fornication abomination an horrible thing such as a man would start or stand agast at we may be sure it is so The Septuagint here render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things to be trembled at or shreeked at In Barbary 't is death for the Xeriffs wife when she seeth a man though but thorow a casement not suddenly to shriek out God is a jealous God and allows not his to look toward an Idol If they do he will soon see it and visit for it I have seen c. There is the whoredome of Ephraim Thus God looketh upon it as filthinesse and nastinesse which the people beheld as finenesse and neatnesse And the same do all that have the minde of God and senses exercised to discern betwixt good and evil judge of all the Popish pomp and palterment wherewith they bewitch the deluded vulgar as the serpent Scytale doth the fleeing passenger whom when she cannot overtake yet with her beautifull colours she doth so astonish and amaze him Plin. that he hath no power to passe away till stung to death Verse 11. Also O Judah he hath set an harvest for thee This is a very difficult Text and much vexed by Interpreters Et hic nisi Lyra lyrasset nos omnes delirassemus Lyra sets this sence upon the Text and I accord him Though thou Judah art also to be carried captive yet God hath set or provided for thee an harvest in thine own land when I shall have returned the captivity of my people viz. under the conduct of Zorobabel by the Decree of Cyrus Here then is a promise of a joyfull harvest to Judah who is not to be punished with like severity as Israel Chap. 1.7 and for the change of person when I returned for he shall have returned See Esay 29.19 Ier. 31.23 Zeph. 3. ult Psal 14. ult Simul Judae captivitas reditus praedicitur significanter admodum saith Hierom here Both the captivity and return of Judah is here very significantly foretold It is a very good Note that One giveth here sc that God in his chastisements ever sheweth himself mindfull of his Covenant after a long barrennesse Rive◠he setteth for his people a plentifull harvest and turneth again their captivity after that for a time he hath tried them His mercy also and faithfulnesse herein appeareth that he mingleth promises with threatnings and whiles he utterly destroyeth the kingdome of the ten Tribes he preserveth the Common-wealth of Judah wherein the Messias was to come and whereof there was not by the ancient prophesies to be a dissolution till Shiloh came Hence it is that promises of the restauration of Judah are ever intermingled lest any should doubt of the manifestation of the Messiah in the fulnesse of time CHAP. VII Verse 1. WHen I would have healed Israel c. Whereas Israel hearing of an happy harvest promised to Judah Chap. 6.11 and themselves excluded unus might complain of hard dealing God shews them here that Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit the fault was meerly in themselves God came with his healing medicines to have cured them but they hated to be healed and like mad-men railed and raged against the Physician spilt the potions would none of those slibber-sauses as they accounted them yea as if on purpose to crosse God then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered and the wickednesses malitia multiplex of Samaria Of so perverse a spirit were they and therefore in Solomons judgement Prov. 12.8 worthy to have been despised and let alone to perish in their corruptions In Hippocrates his time the Physicians were bound by oath to leave such under their wounds to perish by them as were unruly and would not be ordered We would have healed Babylon saith the Church but she would not be healed forsake her therefore saith God Jer. 51.9 Let them alone saith Christ Matth. 15.14 That that will die let it die A fearfull sentence Let them swelter and pine away in their iniquities Levit. 26.39 In their silthinesse is leudnesse their disease is complicate it is the leprosie in the head it breaketh forth in their forehead and my people love to have it so Jer. 5.31 but what will they do in the end thereof Ephraim here discovereth a headstrong wilfulnesse that was uncounsellable uncureable He runs away after conviction with the bit between his teeth as it were he runs I say upon the rock Am. 6.12 where he first breaketh his hoofes and then his neck Some grow desperately sinfull like those Italian Senatours that despairing of their lives when upon submission they had been promised their lives yet being conscious of their villany made a curious banquet and at the end thereof every man drank up his glasse of poyson and killed himself So men feeling such horrible hard hearts and privie to such notorious sins they cast away souls and all for lust and perish wofully because they lived desperately and so securely It is a fearfull signe of reprobation when Gods means and medicines do men no good but hurt rather when Physick which should remove the disease doth cooperate with it then death comes with the more pain and speed The stronger the conviction of sin is the deeper will be the wrath against it if it be not by repentance avoided for they commit falsehood They do not the truth 1 Joh. 1.6 but deal
such denunciations thereof And so must Gods Ministers c. Because they have transgressed against me This is a new degree of their Apostasie from God Wicked men and deceivers grow worse and worse and adde rebellion to sin As a stone will fall down to come to its center though it break it self in twenty pieces so will Apostates till they come to their own place with Judas they cease not till they become altogether filthy Psal 53.3 as the dog at his vomit or the sow in her slow 2 Pet. 2.22 It fareth with such as in that case Lev. 13.18 19 20. If a man had a bile healed and it afterwards brak out it proved the plague of leprosie Though I have redeemed them yet they have spoken lies against me All was done against God whence the word me is so often inculcated in this and the next verse God is as it were a sufferer in all the sins of the sonnes of men and this is no small aggravation of the evil of sin that it strikes at Gods face lifts at his throne makes to his dishonour Thou hast made me to serve with thy sinnes and wearied me with thine iniquities Esay 43.23 And to shew this to be so it was that the offendour was confined to the city of refuge during the High-priests life Godw. Antiq. Heb. p. 98. as being the chief God on earth Good David was very sensible of this and much humbled when he said Against thee thee onely have I sinned Psal 51.14 The trespasse was against Vriah but the transgression against God so gracious a God and there lay the pinch of his grief viz. the unkindnesse that was in his sinne Therefore also Moses in his swan-like-song sets on this humbling consideration Deut. 32.6 Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not hee thy Father and wilt thou kick against his naked bowels hast no where else to hit him but there Again Is not he thy Redeemer that hath bought thee and brought thee out of the iron furnace where thou labouredst in the very fire and wast wearied out with unsufferable servitude More hath he not made thee and dost thou rebell against thy Maker thy Master Or hath he not made thee that is exalted thee in which sence he is said to have made Moses and Aaron 1 Sam. 12.6 that is to have advanced them to that honour in his Church and so we say Such an one is made for ever Lastly hath he not established thee that thou mightest abide in his grace and remain unmoveable And dost thou yet evil requite him c. To render good for evil is Divine good for good is humane evil for evil is brutish but evil for good is devillish See how grievously God taketh it here Though I have redeemed them viz. out of the hands of their enemies in generall See an ample proof hereof Nehem. 9. and the whole book of Judges thorowout and in speciall as a late particular mercy to Ephraim I have delivered and prospered them in their warres under Ieroboam the sonne of Ioash 2 King 14.27 and therefore they should have given me their good word at least and spoken good of my Name yet They have spoken lies against me Ascribing the glory of their deliverances to their Idols or arrogating it to themselves or fathering their false worship upon me as the Authour or at least Abbettour thereof by my present prospering of them See Ier. 7.10 Verse 14. And they have not cried unto me with their heart Hitherto hath been said what they had done now what they had not done Omissions are sins as well as commissions Not serving of God not sacrificing is condemned Mal. 3.18 Eccles 9.2 Not robbing onely but the not relieving of the poor was the rich mans ruine Omission of diet breeds diseases and makes work for hell Luke 16. or for the Physician of our souls It is the character of a gracelesse man that he calleth not upon God And wee have too many of that profane Earl of Westmorelands mind who said that he needed not to pray at all Camd. Elisa for he had Tenants enow to pray for him Some wicked pray so as it is indeed they Cant or Charme rather then pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esay 26.16 they powred forth a charme when they chastening was upon them but they pray not with their heart Their hearts are exercised with covetousnesse 2 Pet. 2.14 and inhabited by the devil Acts 5.3 Simon Magus his heart was not right with the Lord Acts 8.21 How could it be when it was in the gall of bitternesse and bond of perdition 23. as every unregenerate heart is Hence though God be neer in their mouthes yet he is far from their reins Jer. 12.2 and though they honour him a little with their lips yet their heart is farre from him Matth. 15.8 A little artificiall breath they can give God and that 's all The breath that comes from life is warm as that from the body whereas artificiall breath is cold as that from bellows The deeper and hallower the belly of the Lute or Violl is the pleasanter is the sound the fleeter the more grating and harsh in our ears The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which comes from the depth of the breast Ephes 6.6 Do the will of God from the heart serve God in the spirit Rom. 1.9 Lift up hands and hearts to God in the heavens Lam. 3.41 Lip-labour is but lost-labour yea it is sin Prov. 15.8 Displeasing service is double dishonour as dissembled sanctity is double iniquity These men cried vociferabantur voce stentorea sonum edebant They did set up their note yea they howled upon their beds whereupon they had cast themselves being sick not of wantonnesse as once Ahab was but of want which made them howl as dogs do when tied up from their meat and hunger-bit but were no more regarded then a dog that howleth or then the Cuckow in June For why Jejelilu They howled indeed to some tune as they say the Hebrew word hath a letter more then ordinary to note as much It was the Heathen fashion to cry hideously to their gods as also the Indians do at this day So did these because kept short and held to strait allowance It is said of the Ravens of Arabia that when they are hungry they screech horribly And a Parrot when he is beaten utters an hoarse and harsh voice Esay 66.3 The songs of the Temple shall be howlings in that day Amos 8.3 Their sacrifices as the cutting off a dogs neck which is not done without much howling and yelling They assemble themselves sc To make publike supplication in their Idol-temples called beds before as some conceive because as corporall fornication is committed in beds so is spirituall in those places of superstition Here therefore they met not ad ruminandum as the vulgar Latine to feed as beasts nor to cut
and lance themselves as Baals priests did as the Septuagint and the Heathens in great afflictions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 14.1 But to howl for wheat for provender for provant Inops Senatus auxilij humani ad Deos populum vota convertit omnia delubra implent c. Liv. lib. 3. as now the Papists do in their sacra Ambarvalia and as of old the Pagans did in time of extream famine or other publike calamity But as the grashopper hops not much above the earth and as vapours exhaled and drawn up by the Sun do soon fall down again so do drossie and earthy hearts in prayers they seldom rise above corn and wine in their desires Si ventri bene si lateri as Epicurus in Horace If the belly may be filled the back fitted their own turns served it 's enough to them whose belly is their God and who mind earthly things onely Which when they have once got then they rebell against me they consume it upon their lust James 4.2 and so fight against God with his own weapons as Jehu did against Jehoram with his own men they abuse their store to his dishonour like corn-fed cattell they kick against their master or as the young Mulet that when shee hath suckt her fill kicks her damme or as the wild-asse that snuffes up the wind and cannot be taken Or secondly they rebell after they have assembled themselves and made a shew of no small devotion Jer. 2. when once the duty is over they go to their old courses again and undo all their prayers as Jerem. 5.3 as if now they had prayed they had purchased a license to live as they list Whereas duties should mightily ingage us against sin and deliverances command obedience Verse 15. Though I have bound and strengthened their arms Quum ego erudivi So Pagnine Polanus and others when I taught them or chastened them as verse 12. and strengthened their arms there is no and in the Originall it is an Asyndeton to shew that God had done both for them together and at once he had acted the part both of an Instructour and of a Chirurgion like as Rev. 3.18 he takes upon him the person both of a rich merchant and a skilfull Physician he had done all that could be done to do them good teaching their hands to war and their fingers to fight Psal 144.1 binding up their broken armes See Ezek. 30.24 and strengthning their feeble sinewes their hands that hung down Heb. 12.12 After I have scourged them I have re-established them but what thanks for my labour what Minerval or pay for my pains The worlds wages Hoc ictu ceu didactro accepto Linus mortuus est Buchol such as Hercules paid the Schoolmaster Linus whom he knockt on the head or as Agricola's scholars in Germany killed their master with their pen-knives or as Physitians and Surgeons are many times paid by their penurious patients of whom the Poet wittily Tres medicus facies habet unam quando rogatur Angelicam mox est cum juvat ipse Deus Owen Epigr. Ast ubi curato poscit sua munera morbo Horridus apparet terribilisque Satan yet do they imagine mischief against me All goes against God See the note on vers 13. Here they imagine mischief against him as before they spake lies against him vers 13. and acted rebellion against him vers 14. Thus they spake and did evil things as they could Jer. 3.5 and the reason of all was they imagined mischief cogitabant quasi coagitabant they were men of wicked devices Prov. 12.2 wholly made up of sinful projects and purposes they plotted and plowed mischief and that against God himself which is horrible David thought much that his enemies should machinate mischief against him though but dust and ashes and threatneth them sore for so doing Psal 62.3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man Ye shall be slain all of you as a bowing wall shall ye be and as a tottering fence he meaneth ye shall be surely and suddenly ruined What then will become of those Zamzummims that imagine mischiefe against the Lord and such a Lord as hath bound and strengthened their armes that had been broken by the enemies and sought their good every way puniendo muniendo malis bonis afficiendo c. If they had slipt into some small offence against him of infirmity and at unawares it had been nothing so grievous but to busie their braines and bend their wits and studies scientes volentes deliberato consilio to plot and practise mischief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Septuagint render it mischiefes against God for every transgression and disobedience is contrary to his most pure Nature and sacred Law and shall therefore receive a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 so gracious a God this is detestable ingratitude This is as if those in the Gospel should have railed against Christ for raising them from the dead it is like the matchlesse mischievousnesse of that monster Michael Balbus who that night that his Prince pardoned and released him Zonaras in Annal. gat out and slew him Omne peccatum est deicidium for although wicked men cannot reach God yet they reach at him shooting up their darts against heaven as the Thracians did once in a storm and saying in effect as Caligula did to his Jupiter Herodot Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either kill me or I will kill thee Vers 16. They return but not to the most High Gnal for Gnelion by contraction as Jah for Jehovah so afterwards Chap. 11.7 and 2 Sam. 23.1 Return they do or seem to do at least for it is their hypocrisie that is here described but not to the most High to whom then to idols or humane helps or any thing rather and sooner then to God Jehu went farre in the work of Reformation and made a great flaunt at first as if he would have done as much that way as ever Josiah did But he and his people came not up to the height turned not to the most High God honoured him not as a just and jealous God that can endure no corrivals They gave the half-turn but returned not with all their hearts Joel 2.12 they turned from west to north but not from west to east to the full counterpoint setting their faces toward God and having their backs towards their sins They had haply a kind of velleity some short-winded wishes and wamblings as I may so say but it boyled not up to the full height of a resolution for God they made beleeve they would cast away their transgressions but it was but as the mother makes her childe beleeve that she will cast him to the puttock or into the water when as she holds him fast enough and means him no hurt at all These faint essayes of returning are not worthy of the most High he delighteth not to be dallied with but requireth
fall of the house They shall sorrow much more hereafter when carried captive and made a scorn to the scum of the people See Deut. 32.42 Some read the whole verse Yea because they have hired among the nations now will I gather them together for they have begun a little because of the burden of the king of Princes And they thus paraphrase it Well may they bribe and hire but this will be the end The Israelites themselves shall fall by heaps the nations whom they hire shall come so tumbling in upon them as Esay told Ahaz Esay 8. Do you not see it pretily well begun already Look upon the late example that is yet now fresh and bleeding before your eyes so you will the better beleeve my threatning in that which is to come I mean the sacking and carrying away of the Tribes beyond Jordan by Pul and Tiglath-Pileser If you ask me the reason The calling of the Jews pag. 212. why God should be so angry with you It is because you are so foolish or so wicked rather to send presents and tributes to the king of Ashur who in the pride and vanity of his heart nameth himself the King of Princes the mighty and most potent King with the pilling polling and burdening of your Subjects Verse 11. Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sinne Because he hath multiplied altars against Gods expresse command Lev. 17.3 c. Deut. 12.5 c. Josh 22.22 Jer. 11.13 and that to sinne as if it were on purpose to crosse and provoke the Lord to anger by their superstitions and will-worship and to despite him with seeming honours for displeasing service is double dishonour therefore he shall have enough of it ere I have done with it He shall be given up to a reprobate sense that going on from one sin to another he may fill up his measure till wrath come upon him to the utmost Per quod quis peccat per idem punitur iâ—se Idolatry is sinne with an accent wickednesse with a witnesse 1 King 15.30 34. 16.2 1 King 12.30 13.35 and shall be punished accordingly for so the Chaldee paraphraseth here Because they have multiplied their altars for sin the altars of their idols shall be their ruine there is one Hebrew word for sin and punishment sinne hales hell at the very heels of it as One saith wittily Polanus upon this Text hath these three profitable Observations First that as in the old Testament one onely altar was set up by Gods command in the Tabernacle and Temple so also in the new Testament we have no other altar but Christ Heb. 13.10 Iren. lib. 4. contra haeres cap. 34. Secondly as the Israelites sinned in multiplying altars so do the Papists most grievously in that not content with Christ and his satisfactory sacrifice alone they set up other altars and bring in other expiatory sacrifices Thirdly as the Israelites made many altars to sinne though they pretended good intention and devotion So the Papists at this day multiply altars even hundreds in some one Church in Rome to sinne though they falsly pretend their good intention therein and the preservation and augmentation of Gods service Verse 12. I have written to him the great things of my Law Magnalia legis there are also minutula legis Mat. 5.22 both must be looked to for though the Civilian say of his Law De minutis non curat lex the law takes no notice of small faults yet it holds not true of the Law of God which is spiritual and must bee kept as the apple of the eye Prov. 7.2 and observed in every point and part nay in every punctilio and particle thereof But to come to the words Ephraim could not plead ignorance of Gods minde for their many altars and superstitions Deus enim jure quaerat queratur for God might very well say and complain as Prov. 22.20 Have not I written for thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge and in the verse next afore I have made known my minde this day to thee even to thee So here I have written sc by my Pen-men and Secretaries to him chiefly and for his better direction in my service that he might walk therein by rule and not at randome See Deut. 4.8 Psal 147.29 the great things or excellent documents the multiplicity or multiformity saith the Chaldee of my Law or of my doctrine sapientiall Prov. 13.14 which taketh in the Gospel too that Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 But they were counted as a strange thing As not pertaining to them as that wherein they were little or nothing concerned as the narration of forraign affairs Whereas men should read and regard the holy Scriptures as they do the Statutes of the Land holding themselves as much concerned and intended as any other threatning themselves in every threat binding themselves in every precept blessing themselves in every promise mingling the whole Word with faith in their hearts and resolving upon the obedience of faith as knowing that these are verba vivenda non legenda words to be lived not read onely and that they should indwell in us familiarly and yet richly Col. 3.16 and we should be as inwardly acquainted with them as any man is with his sister or nearest allies Prov. 7.4 All this the rather First because God is the Authour of the holy Scriptures both matter and words are his 2 Pet. 2.21 he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began and he guided their hands in writing the Bible How dare Papists then say that they wrote it injussi without command from God Secondly Luke 1. because God hath written his Law for us for our behoof and benefit Rom. 4.23 and 15.4 The Scripture is Gods Epistle to us saith Gregory It is a lamp to my feet Psal 119 1â—â— and a light to my pathes saith David Not a light that I see at a distance a great way off but a light held to my feet that I may see my way in this land of Chabul this dirty and dark world and not lift up one foot till I descry and finde sure footting for another as those Psal 34.6 Thirdly because he hath written for us the honorabilia legis honourable and precious things such as a man would fetch from China or the uttermost part of the habitable world upon his bare feet rather then be without David prefers it before gold and silver Psal 19.11 Solomon before pearls and rubies Prov. 3.15 Moses before all the learning of other Nations Deut. 4.6 The Scripture is the souls food saith Athansius the souls physick saith Chrysostome the invariable rule of truth saith Irenaeus It is saith Another the Aphorismes of Christ the Library of the Holy Ghost the divine Pandects the Wisdom of the Crosse the Cubit of the Sanctuary the Firmament of Faith the Touchstone of Errour c. What reason then had Darbishire Bishops Boners kinsman and Chaplain to
shall be upon such as it was upon Balaam Satans spelman they shall be a portion for foxes Psal 63.10 as those that Astutam vapido servant sub pectore vulpem because of their own counsels He that goeth to school to his own carnall reason is sure to have a fool to his master an ignis fatuus that will bring him into the bogges and briers The wisdome of the fiesh is enmitie to God Nemo laeditur nisi à seipso See the Note on chap. 10. vers 6. Vers 7. My people are bent to backsliding from me they have a principle of Apostacie in them as those Galathians had of whom the Apostle I marvaile that you are so soon removed unto another Gospell Gal. 1.6 and as those old Apostates in the wildernesse who so soon as Moses his back was turned almost cryed out to Aaron Make us golden Gods This people was before accused to be acted by a spirit of fornication a certain violent impetus a strong inclination to whoredome and to be apt to backslide with a perpetuall backsliding all their recidivations and revolts were but a fruit of the bent of their spirits which were false and unsettled not resolved whether yet to turne to God though they were beset with so many mischiefs they hangd in suspence and rather inclined to the negative then else Suspensi sunt so Calvin Pareus and others read this text My people are in suspence or in a mamering whether to turne to me or not they hang in doubt as the same word is rendred Deut 28.66 God liketh not that his people should stand doubtfull as Sâ—â—pticks and adhere to nothing certainly to be in religion as idle beggars are in their way ready to goe which way soever the staffe falleth but that they should strive to a full assurance in what they beleeve Luk. 1.4 to be fully perswaded as ver 1. and to a firm purpose of heart in what they should practise Act. 11.23 Irresolution against sin or for God can hardly consist with the power of Godlinesse be not off and on with him halt not hang not in doubt what to do but follow God fully as Caleb did come off freely as David who had chosen Gods precepts when he was solicited to have done otherwise Psal 119.173 And again I have chosen the way of truth thy judgements have I laid before me ver 30. I have waighed them and am resolved to keep them I am come to a full determination Mr. Deodate senseth the words thus They desire and expect that I should turn in favour to them and relieve them whereas they should turn to me by repentance which they will not do and herein he followeth Arias Montanus Thus those stiffnecked Jewes in Jeremy expected that God should still deale with them however they dealt with him according to all his wondrous works chap. 21.2 presuming and promising themselves impunity and thus Judas also had the face to ask Mat. 26.25 as the rest did Is it I as resting upon Christs accustomed gentlenesse and that he would conceale him still as he had done certain daies before though they called them to the most High They that is the Prophets as vers 2. called them with great importunity upon every opportunity to the most High to God in opposition to those Dii minutuli petty deities whom they doted on See chap. 7.16 to come up to him to have high and honourable conceptions of Him not casting him in a base mould as those miscreants did Psal 50.21 but saying as David and with a David-like spirit Thous Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods and there-hence inferring Ye that love the Lord hate evil Psal 97.9.10 I am God Almighty walk before me and be upright Gen. 17.1 The God of glory appeared to Abraham Act. 7.2 he so conceived of God and hence his unchangeable resolutions for God none at all would exalt him Heb. together he exalted not scarce a Hee a single man that would do it that would lift up his head to listen to such good counsel so some sence it or that would exalt and extol the most High who though he be high above all praise as Neh. 9.5 and cannot be praised according to his excellent greatnesse Yet is he pleased to account himself exalted and magnified by us when considering the infinite distance and disproportion that is betwixt him and us we lay our selves low at his feet for mercy we set him up in our hearts for our sole Soveraign 2 Sam. 18.3 we esteem him as the people did David more worth then ten thousand we give him room in our soules and with highest apprehensions most vigorous affections and utmost endeavours wee bestow our selves upon him as the only Worthy Now this is done but of a very Few and well done but of fewer yet so drossy and drowsy are mens spirits and so little is the Lord liâ—ted up by the sons of men See the Prophet Esay his complaint chap. 64.7 Vers 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim Here beginneth the second part of this chapter full of many sweet Evangelicall promises and here if ever Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cervix or treadeth on the very neck of it as St. James his word importeth chap. 2.13 The Lord seemeth here to be at a stand or at strife with himself about the destruction of this people fore-threatened which well might have been a gulf to swallow them up and a grave to bury them in for ever being most worthy to perish as were the Cities which God destroyed in his wrath Gen. 19. Howbeit God in the bowels of his mercy earning and taking pitty of his Elect amongst them for he had reserved 7000. hidden ones that had not bowed their knees to Baal spareth to lay upon them the extremity of his wrath and is ready to save them for his mercies sake Heare how father-like he melts over them how should I expose thee O Ephraim how should I deliver thee up O Israel How should I dispose the as Admah how should I set thee as Zeboim q. d. Justice requires that I should lay thee utterly wast and even rain down hell from heaven upon thee as once upon Sodom and her sisters But Mercy interposeth her four several How 's in the Originall two onely expressed but the other 2. necessarily understood and by Interpreters fitly supplied foure such patheticall Interrogations as the like are not to be found in the whole book of God and not to be answered by any but God himself as indeed he doth to each particular in the following words My heart is turned within me that is the first answer The second My repentings are kindied together The third I will not execute the fiercenesse of my wrath The fourth I wil not return to destroy Ephraim And why First I am God and not Man Secondly the Holy One in the middest of thee My heart is turned or
deed But God loves to help his people with a little help Dan. 11.34 that through weaker means his greater strength may appear His end here may seem to be the same as before in setting forth Jacobs meannesse to take down the haughtinesse of the people proud of their Founders and forefathers A Prophet he is purposely called and his name concealed 1. To shew that the work was done not by might nor by power but by Gods Spirit Zech. 4.6 2. To shew what God will do for his people by the prayers and for the sake of his Prophets when they are most shiftlesse and hopelesse 3. To let this unworthy people see how much God and done for them once by a Prophet how little soever now they set by such This is Cyrus observation Verse 14. Excusserunt ex suâ—vissimâ— pectore meo suevitatem Ephraim hath provoked him to anger most bitterly Heb. with bitternesses or unto bitter displeasure or with bitter things that is sinnes that imbitter Gods Spirit and put thunder-bolts into his hands As a Bee stings not till provoked so neither doth God punish till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 If Ephraim will provoke him to anger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he will not dare to do to his land-lord if he will put it to the triall whether God can be angry as those did Heb. 3.9 he shall know the power of his wrath Psal 90.11 he shall feel to his sorrow that it is an evil thing and bitter that he hath forsaken the Lord and that his fear is not in them Jer. 2.19 there will be bitternesse in the end Principium dulce est sed finis amoris amarus Amâ—r amaror Lust is a lie as Amnon proved Her end is bitter as wormwood though her lips drop as an honey-combe saith Solomon of sinfull pleasure Prov. 5.3 It is like Jonathans honey or Esau's pottage or Iudas his thirty pence which he would gladly have been rid of but could not Those that provoke God shall one day hear Do ye provoke me to anger Are ye stronger then I they shall be taught to meddle with their match and not to contend with him that is mightier then they Eccles 6.10 they shall cry out in the bitternesse of their souls as Lam. 3.15 He hath filled me with bitternesses he hath made me drunk with wormwood And God shall reply as Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee and this is thy wickednesse because it is bitter therefore shall he leave his blood upon him God shall bring upon him deserved destruction he shall bring him into the fire and leave him there Ezek. 22.20 the guilt of his sinne shall remain upon his soul and then punishment cannot bee far off See Ezek 24.7 8. with chap. 18.13 Josh 2.19 Or the enemy shall leave him all bloody and his reproach shall his Lord return unto him His Lord not the Assyrian as some sence it but his Liege Lord whom he hath reproached by changing his glory into the similitude of a calf and other corruptible things shall cry quittance with him as verse 2. cast utter contempt upon him according to 1 Sam. 2.30 Rom. 1.23 and make him know that he is his Lord. CHAP. XIII Verse 1. WHen Ephraim spake trembling Or there was trembling as there is among the beasts of the field when the Lion roareth Ephraim whiles innocent of the great offence spake with authority and none durst budge against him for he had great power in his hand Now as the Philosopher told Adrian the Emperour who challenged him to dispute Difficile est ei contradicere qui potest aqua igni interdicere vel adversus 〈◊〉 â—â—â—scribere qui potest proscribere It is dangerous medling with the Lions beard Nâ—â—uchadnezzars Majesty was such that all people nations and languages trembled and feared before him Dan. 5.19 wheresoever his commands or armies came there were very great heart-quakes and concussions of spirit Where the word of a king is there is power and who may say unto him What dost thouâ— Eccles 8.4 Job was no king and yet whiles hee was Jobab that is in a prosperous condition The young men saw him Gen. 36.34 and hid themselves the nobles held their peace and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth Job 29.8 10 The people feared Joshuah â— chap. 4.14 as they feared Moses all the dayes of his life for why the Lord had magnified him in the sight of all Israel Naturall conscience cannot but stoop to the image of God in whomsoever When Ephraim was first in the Throne he became formidable but when hâ—â—fell openly from God he grew feeble first he was a terrour and then a scorn But when he offended in Baal he died When by Jezabel who did all under her husband she was King and he Queen Baal-worship was brought in then Ephraim fell from his dignity then every paltry adversary trampled upon him as the Hare will do upon a dead Lion See how Benhadad insulted over Ahab 1 King 20. Thy silver and thy gold is mine thy wives also and thy children even the goodliest are mine And the king of Israel answered and said My Lord O king according to thy saying I am thine and all that I have Look how the worried Curre falls upon his back and holds up all four as craving quarter so did this sordid Idolater glad to crouch to his enemy when God was departed from him he was even as a dead carcasse Morti vicinus jam magis atque magis He that departeth from God who is his life by an evil heart of unbelief Heb. 3. subiecteth himself to all sorts of deaths Naturall Civil Spirituall and Eternall Verse 2. And now they sinne more and more Heb. They adde to sinne God in his just judgement hath given them up unto hardnesse of minde and to their hearts lust that for all this sudden change they repent not but run more and more into Idolatry Not content to worship Baal and such Heathen-Deities They make them molten images of their silver they laid their monies together to make the golden-calves or silver-shrines as Acts 19.24 and other idolatrous trinkets they lavished silver out of the bag and were at no small charge They multiplied their altars chap. 10. and abused Gods gold and silver to mysticall adultery chap. 2. All this they did Now saith the Text most unseasonably and as it were in flat opposition to God after he had sought to reclaim them both by counsels and corrections and had hang'd Ahab and his house up in gibbets as it were before them for their admonition Surely it is a just both presage and desert of ruine not to bee warned See chap. 7.1 with the Note And idols according to their own understanding i. e. according to their own inventions motu suo proprio forsaking the Rule of the Word they will needs be schollers to their own Rea2on though they are sure
knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath Psal 90.11 as who should say Let a man fear thy displeasure never so much he is sure to feel thee much more if once he fall into thy fingers Now a fearfull man can fancy vast and terrible fears as ramping lions ravenous leopards fire sword racks scalding lead burning pitch running bell-mettle all this in extremity and that to all eternity and yet all these are but as a painted fire in comparison of the unconceiveable and unsupportable wrath of God Verse 9. O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Heb. He or It hath marred thee O Israel that is either thy sin of self-exaltation and forgetfulnesse of me as verse 6. Or ty King in whom thou trustedst as verse 10. Or thy Calf whom thou worshippedst hath been the cause of thy confusion Or thy fained comforts Consolatie fictlitia as Aben-Ezra will have it thy soothing up thy self in sinfull practises Or One â—ath destroyd thee Or Somewhat hath undone thee but not without thee Whatever it is that hath done it it is not I what hard thoughts soever thou mayest have of me because I appear thus dreadfull to thee as in the former verse Fury is not in me but thou mayest thank thy self and fault thy sinne as the mother of thy misery as the cause of thy calamity thou hast destroyed thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thine own heart may say to thee as the heart of Apollodorus seemed in a dream to say to him when he was tortured by the Scythians It is I that have drawn thee to all this It is the observation of a great Politian England is a mighty Animal which can never die except it kill it self Answerable whereunto was the speech of the Lord Rich to the Justices in the reigne of Edward 6. Never forraigne power could yet hurt or in any part prevail in this Realm but by disobedience and misorder among our selves that is the way wherewith God will plague us Interest of Princes p. 55. if he minde to punish us c. We use to say No man is hurt but by himself Ye have not injured me at all saith S. Paul to the Galathians you cannot do it unlesse I will Act Mon. fol. 1186. Gal. 4.12 The devil can do nothing at us if we give not way to him And though there were no devil yet our corrupt Nature would act Satans part against it self it would have a supply of wickednesse as a serpent hath of poyson from it self it hath a spring of its own to feed it Nemo igitur sibi palpet de suo quisque sibi Satan est saith an Ancient And it was no ill wish of him that begged of God Domine libera me a malo homine meipso◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deliver him from that naughty man Himself for he knew that as in that first Chaos Gen. 1.2 were the seeds of all creatures so in mans heart of all sinnes and miseries that follow thereupon God made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Eccles 7.29 many shifts and sharking tricks Sinne and shifting came into the world together Gen. 3.12 The woman whom thou gavest me c. God must bear the blame of Adams sin so must his Decree of Reprobation still be alledged as the cause of mans perdition But this covering is too short for no man is destroyed because he is reprobated but because he is a sinner neither are any damned because they cannot do better but because they will do no better If there were no will there would be no hell and this indeed will be the very hell of hell Cesset voluntas propria non erit infernus that they have been self-destroyers The worme of conscience say Divines that never-dying worme is nothing else but a continuall remorse and furious reflection of the soul upon it's own willfull folly and now wofull misery but in me is thy help Heb. In me in thy help that is saith Drusius I am in thy help and thy help is in me whatsoever help thou hast I am in it We can easily undo our selves as a childe can easily break a glasse that all the men in the countrey cannot piece up again But God both can and will help his though never so shattered and repair that image of his lost in Adam that One that destroyed Israel Lord saith Augustine Ego admisi unde tu damnare potes me sed tu non amisisti unde salvare potes me that is I have done enough to undo my self for ever but with thee there is enough for my safety here and salvation hereafter God as he both can and will help his that cry Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man so he will then chiefely do it when they seem to themselves and others Psal 60.11 to be in an undone condition Thou hast destroyed thy self in me is thy help His holy hand is reserved for a dead lift Verse 10. I will be thy king Thine eternall king so Pagnine As I have been thy Prophet verse 4.5 so I will be thy king I will also be thy Priest and thy Redeemer verse 14 that so thou mayest hear my voice submit to my scepter and apply my death for thy deliverance from deaths dominion Or I will be thy king and not be born down by thy boysterousnesse who callest for another king and repinest against my righteous regiment Thou wouldst cast off mine authority but I will maintain it The Lord is king be the people never so unquiet Psal 99.1 he will raigne over rebels in spite of their hearts and those that will not be his subjects his willing people shall be his slaves his footstool The Geneva Bible reads it thus Psal 110.1 3. I am Where is the King that should help thee in all thy cities R. Aben-Ezra Calvin Oecolampadius and others go the same way onely they render it Ero I will be one and the same according to that name of mine I am that I am Exod. 3.14 and before Abraham was I am Ioh. 8.58 though you be off and on with me though you change often yet I am Jehovah I change not I will be What will he be The same that I said I would be thy Saviour thine Helper Or I will be a stander-by to see what will become of thee and how thy king in whom thou trustest will help thee this last is R. Solomon Jarchi's interpretation Pareus will have it run thus I will be what a lion a leopard a bear c. and nothing shall alter my resolution Where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities Thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsell and strength for warre I have a King and Princes and strong cities But alasse where are they Let them encrease their Army and come forth as he
all these fruits the fruits of Lebanon a most sertile mountain the valleys whereof were most rich grounds for pasture corn and vineyards as the dew unto Israel he shall blossom as the lilly Quot verba tot lumina imo flumina orationis This Prophet aboundeth with similitudes as is before noted See chap. 12.10 with the Note there He beginneth here with a Simile drawn from the dew of heaven a mercy very much set by in those hotter countreys especially where from May to October they had no rain The Chaldee Paraphrase and Hebrew Doctours understand this Text concerning Christ and his benefits Psal 73.1 Gal. 6.16 Ephes 1.3 Truely He is good to Israel to the pure in heart Peace and mercy sanctity and safety all spirituall benedictions in heavenly things in Christ shall be upon the Israel of God What the dew is to the herbs fields fruits that is Christ to his Israel 1. The dew comes when the air is clear so doth Christ by his blessing Aristot lib. 1. meteor cap. 10. Plin lib. 2. cap. 60. lib. 18. cap. 29. when the light of his countenance is lift up upon us 2. As the dew refresheth and cherisheth the dry and fady fields hence it is called the dew of herbs Esay 26.19 which thereby recover life and beauty so doth Christ our hearts scorcht with the sense of sinne and fear of wrath 3. As the dew allayeth great heats and moisteneth and mollifieth the earth that it may fructifie so Christ cooleth the Devils fiery darts and filleth his people with the fruits of righteousnesse He is unto them as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest Esay 18.4 and maketh their souls as so many watered gardens Jer. 31.12 4. As the dew falls in a narrow compasse without noise and is felt onely by those in the force of it on whom it descends so the grace of Christ watereth his faithfull onely secretly and sweetly insinuating into their hearts the stranger medleth not with their comforts See Joh. 14.17 The cock on the dunghill knows them not he shall grow as the lilly which hath its name in the Hebrew from its six leaves and serves here and elsewhere to set forth the great comelinesse Cant. 2.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sweet odour and true humility of the Church for the lilly groweth in vallies as Theophylact upon this Text noteth sweet it is but not great and the more it blossometh the more it shooteth upwards to teach us heavenly-mindednesse It is also of a perfect whitenesse to mind us of innocency Her Nazarites were purer then snow whiter then milk Lib. 21. cap. 5. Lam. 4.7 Lastly Lilio nihil est foecundius saith Pliny nothing is more fruitfull then the lillie Et lachrymâ suâ seritur saith the same Authour it is sown in its own tears Weeping Christians grow amain c. and cast forth his roots as Lebanon i. e. As the Cedars of Lebanon as the Chaldee Paraphrast interpreteth it or as the frankincense-tree which taketh very deep rooting so Cyril senceth it The lilly with its six white leaves and seven golden-coloured grains within it soon fadeth and loseth both beauty and sweetnesse Rom. 6.10 but so doth not Christ and his People He can as well die at the right hand of his Father as in the hearts of his Elect where he dwels by faith whereby they are rooted and grounded in love strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 17. so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against them Immoâ—a manet is the Churches Motto Nec fluctu nec flatu movetur which is the Venetian Motto They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever Psal 125. Winds and storms move neither Libanus nor the well-rooted Cedars thereof which the more they are assaulted the better they are rooted So fareth it with the Saints Plato compareth man to a tree inverted The Scripture oft compareth a good man to a tree planted by the rivers of waters that taketh root downward and beareth fruit upward 2 King 19.30 quae quantum vertice ad auras Virg. Aeneid lib. 4. Aethereas tantum radice ad tartara tendit Let us cast forth our roots as Lebanon stand fast rooted in the truth being stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord and with full purpose of heart cleaving close unto him 1 Cor. 15. ult being established by his grace Col. 1.11 Heb. 12.28 and 13.9 In the Civil Law till a tree hath taken root it doth not belong to the soil whereon it is planted It is not enough to be in the Church except like the Cedars of Lebanon we cast forth our roots and are so planted that we flourish in the Courts of our God and bring forth fruit in our old age Psal 92.12 13 14. Verse 6. His branches shall spread Heb. shall walk or expatiate shall reach out and stretch themselves all abroad so shall the Church be propagated all the earth over She shall flourish as the Palm-tree which though it have many weights hung on the top and many snakes hissing at the root yet it still saith Nec premor nec perimor I am insuperable I am like a green Olive-tree in the house of God I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever Psal 52.8 and his beauty shall be as the Olive-tree that goodly tree Lev. 23 40. that retaineth her greennesse in the depth of Winter yea in that Universall deluge Noahs Dove met with an olive-leaf The Lord hath called thy name saith the Prophet to the Church Jer. 11.16 A green olive-tree fair and of goodly fruit The Cypresse is fair but not fruitfull the fig-tree fruitfull but not fair and flourishing But the olive-tree is both fair and fruitfull her fruit also is of singular use to mankind both for food and physick and light for the lamp Exod. 29.20 Lev. 6.15 16. In one respect it is an emblem of peace it maketh the face shine Psal 104.15 and in the other it is an emblem of grace and spiritual gifts 1 Iob. 2.20 of increasing with the increase of God by the Spirit and of reigning with him in eternall glory and his smell as Lebanon Whereby is meant the sweet savour of the Gospel which spreadeth it self abroad in the ministery of the Word and in the lives of belcevers 2 Cor. 2.14 15. who besides their continuall offering up to God spirituall incense and services in prayers thanksgivings alms and good-works they perfume the very air they breath upon by their gracious and savoury communication Ephes 4.29 yea the very company they come into as a man cannot come where sweet spices and odours are beaten to the smell but he shall carry away the scent thereof in his cloathes Nihil nisi foetidain â—â— foedum exhalavit River When the spirit of Christ blowes upon them and grace is poured into their hearts then their
and that because of the disloyalty and treachery that is therein Other mens sinnes are rebellions against God but the saints sins are treacheries because against the covenant Let such therefore look to themselves and walk accurately or they shall be sure to rue it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 5.15 God will be sure to plow his own ground whatsoever becomes of the wast and to weed his own garden though the rest of the world should bee let alone to grow wild His own he will not fail to punish 1. In case of scandall as David 2. For sins unrepented of though not scandalous Oh the bloody wails that God hath left upon the backs of his own dear children for such sins Bastards may scape scot-free but sonnes shall pay for it Ingentia benesicio slagitia supplicia The punishing Angel is bidden begin at Gods Sanctuary Magdeb. Praefat. ad Cent. 5. Ezek. 9. He will be sanctified in all that draw neer unto him Levit. 10.3 Sanctified I say either actively or passively either in the sincerity of mens conversation or in the severity of their visitation at which time his Articles of enquiry will be very strict and criticall against his own professed people who are therefore worse then others and shall therefore speed worse because they ought to be better Verse 3. Can two walk together except they be agreed God permits his people to walk together with him in an humble familiarity but then they must take care that familiarity breed not contempt and that they conceit not that hee will connive at their iniquities or that their holy services will bear them out iâ— any known sinne He is just and jealous of his glory wherein he should be no small loser if he did wink at any besides involuntary sailings and unavoydable infirmities for which there is a pardon of course if sued out If I shall walk with you saith God as a father friend husband you must agree with me consent and conform to me idem velle idem nolle will and nill the same that I do or else I shall walk with you no otherwise then as a severe judge or cruel enemy Levit. 26.24 as a lion with the prey that he hath taken as the fowler with the bird hee hath caught or the hunter with the wild beast he hath gotten into his snare Verse 4. Will a lion roar in the forrest when c. It is said of the Lion that he sets up a double roar Pâ—ut lib. de indust anima first when he descrieth his prey next when he seizeth it Then saith Plutarch he roareth or rather belloweth like a bull that other beasts may come to him and take part with him It is not for nothing that the lion uttereth his voice much lesse that Almighty God thundereth and threatneth by his Prophets your sins without repentance will be your ruine according to those threatnings though you are so sturdy or at least so stupid as to fear them no more then Behemoth doth the iron weapons Jeb 40. which are esteemed by him as strawes or bull-rushes Shall the wrath of a King be as the roaring of a lion Prov. 19.12 and as the messengers of death Prov. 16.14 and shall Gods menaces be slighted will vile men imagine him a God of clouts One that howsoever he speaketh heavie words will not do as he saith intends them no otherwise then in terrorem for fray-bugs Surely they will finde it far otherwise and it must be concluded that being already sentenced either their beds are very soft or their hearts very hard that can sleep securely in so deplorable a condition Surely Gods predictions shall have their accomplishment 1 Sam. 3.19 15.29 Beleeve them therefore Stand in awe and sin not sith he that despiseth the word shall be destroyed but hee that feareth the commandement shall be rewarded Prov. 13.13 See the Note there Will a youg lion cry out of his den q. d. Is it for nothing that God so terribly threatneth Is there not a cause as David said in another case 1 Sam. 17.29 Surely as in the Revelation we never read that heaven opened but some great matter followed so here Hath the Lord spoken it and shall he not do it Never think it Oh think of God as of one not to be thought of as One whose wisdom is his justice whose justice is his power whose power is his Truth and all himself He is the God of Amen Psal 31.6 faithfull and true he can as soon die as lie neither can he be hindered or resisted as Angels men and devils may In the creature there is an essence and a faculty whereby they work as in fire is the substance and the quality of heat Now between these God can separate and so hinder their working as in the Babylonish fire In the Angels there is an essence and an executive power God comes between these oft and hinders them from doing what they would Not so in God who is most simple and entire armed with power irresistible to tame his rebels Every morning doth he bring his judgement to light he faileth not but the unjust knoweth no shame Zeph. 3.5 the fool passeth on and is punished Prov. 22.3 Verse 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth c Think you that all things are carried here by blind fortune and not by a particular providence as if mundo nullus inesset Rector incertâ— fluerent mortalia casu Will you say of the evils you have suffered in the language of Ashdod 1 Sam. 6.9 1 Cor. 10. It is a chance Is that Heathen-Idol Fortune any thing in the world more then a blasphemie spued out by the devil against the divine providence Can a sparrow fall to the ground or any the least bird into a snare upon the earth without your heavenly Father Matth. 10.29 Birds flying seeme to be at liberty yet are guided by an over-ruling hand They fall sometimes into a gin and do not you thereupon conclude that some fowlers hand is in it Lo you are insnared and insnarled by your enemies and can you not discern that it is the Lord who hath done it Lam. 3.37 38. Act. 17.25 28. Eccles 9.12 For man knoweth not his time nor his chance ver 11. as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly but providentially upon them Or shall one take up a snare from the earth c. No wise fowler will take up his nets till he have gotten his prey No more will God withdraw his hand or call off the enemy and the avenger till he have his designe till he hath either reformed or ruined you Verse 6. Shall a trumpet be blowen sc out of a watch-tower in time of war to sound an alarme and to say Hannibal ad portas the enemy is at hand the Philistines are
the Prophet Our forefathers were unweariable in making out after the meanes which we vilipend and make no reckoning of c. to drink water raine-water for in those countries as Hierome testifieth who lived there many yeares and therefore knew the scituation and nature thereof they have but few springs Mercer in verse 7. and no considerable rivers but only lordan and are therefore glad to keep raine-water in cisterns for all uses being much afflicted with thirst and drought if it raine not but they were not satisfied either because there was not enough to be had or by a singular curse of unsatisfiablenesse See Hag. 1.6 with the Note yet have ye not returned unto me usque ad me so far as me You have made some faint overtures and essayes of returning but they have not reacht out unto me they have not amounted to the full measure of a sound conversion Plectimur may you well say Salvian nec tamen flectimur corripimur sed non corrigimur c. God rained not upon us that we might return unto him and learn righteousnesse Esay 26.10 that we might powre out a prayer when his chastening was upon us verse 16.18 But we alasse have done nothing lesse we have turned every one to his own way and done what in us lies to defeat God and undo our selves by our incorrigiblenesse and uncureablenesse Verse 9. I have smitten you with blasting and mildews c. This by immoderate raine that by drought caused by an East-wind that ventus vrens exsiccans God cannot possibly want a weapon to tame a rebell when your gardens and your vineyards increased Or were trimmed and tricked up Taxat nimium eorum studium saith Mercer The Prophet here taxeth their overmuch paines taken and cost cast away in multiplying and dressing their hort-yards and Vineyards when in the meane while they neglected the sincere service of God and suffered their own hearts to lie like the sluggards field that was all grown over with thornes and briars Prov. 24.31 that is with lusts and sins under which lurketh that old serpent the palmer-worme which is worse then the locust as Hierom noteth for the locust feeds only on the tops of the eares of corne as he flies and thence hath his name in Greek but palmer-wormes stick close to the fruits or flowers they light on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and will not off till all be consumed It is the last and worst of evils saith He and leaves nothing behind it omnia corradit converrit makes cleane work See Ioel. 1.3 10 11 12. c. with the Notes yet have ye not returned unto me No not yet but have rejected the remedy of your recovery see verse 8. Verse 10. I have sent among you the pestilence that evill angell Psal 78.49 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eminent hand of God as Hippocrates calleth it that destruction that walketh in darknesse and wasteth at noon day as the Psalmist stileth it In prognost Psal 91.6 This God sent for it is a messenger of his sending an arrow of his shooting 2 Sam. 24.15 and may better be called morbus sacer then the falling sicknesse as being an extraordinary hand of God such as was that Sudor Anglicus in the dayes of Edward the sixth Sennert de febrib l. 4. c. 15. the sweating sicknesse that raged very violently for forty yeares together here in England as Sennertus testifieth and slew so many that strangers wondred how this Island could be so populous as to beare and bury such incredible multitudes No stranger in England was touched with this disease and yet the English were chased therewith not only here but in other countries abroad Life of Ed. by Sr. Io. Heyw. pag. 126. which made them like tyrants both feared and avoyded where ever they came So long as the ferventnesse of this plague lasted there was crying Peccavi Peccavi and some pretences of turning to the Lord. The Ministers were sought for in every corner saith Mr. Bradford oh you must come to my Lord you must come to my Lady c. Thus when he slew them then they sought him Psal 78.34.36 and they returned and enquired earely after God Neverthelesse they did flatter him with their mouth and lied unto him with their tongues As the fox when taken in a snare lookes pittifully but 't is only that he may get out as Ice melts in the day and hardeneth againe in the night or as Iron is very soft and malleable whiles in the fire but soon after returneth to its former hardnesse after the manner of Egypt In the way to Egypt so some reade it as you were trudging down to Egypt for help against enemies or for corn in time of famine for Egypt was the worlds granary I have stretcht my net over you Egypt hath gathered you up Memphis hath buried you Hos 9.6 But taking the words as we translate them After the manner of Egypt i. e. so as I plagued the Egyptians when you were amongst them See Exod. 12.29 Exod. 9.15 with mortality of men and murraine of cattel The plague of Athens is graphically described by Thucydides Lib. 2. bell Pelopon Metam l. 7. Georg. l. 3. whence Ovid and Virgil are thought to have borrowed their descriptions of the pestilence The plague of Italy is set forth in lively colours by Dionys Halycarnass lib. 11. Antiq. That of Constantinople by Nicephorus and Sigebertus your young men have I slaine with the sword Juvenes à juvando saith Varro because they are able and apt by armes to defend the commonwealth and to help it at a dead lift In Hebrew they have their name à delectu because they are chosen to fight and do businesse as fittest for the purpose Exod. 17.9 2 Sam. 6.1 These God had slaine with the sword which cutteth its way thorough a wood of men and heweth down the youngest and strongest spareth neither Lord nor loscll as they say is dispatched with confused noise and garments rolled in blood Esay 9.5 and I have made the stink of your campes by meanes of the slaine both men and horses that lye unburied and poyson the ayre See Ioel. 2.20 Esay 34.3 and yet have ye not returned Nec sic tamen Vide contumaciam saith Mercer here Obstinate men will sooner break then bend Monoceros interimi potest non capi Verse 11. I have overthrown some of you Some and not all thus in the midst of judgement he remembred mercy he did not stir up all his wrath Psal 78.38 he let fall some drops but would not shed the whole showre of it for he remembred that they were but flesh c. Some he hang'd up in gibbets as it were for example to the rest as St. Jude saith he dealt by Sodome and Gomorrah and the cities about them thrown forth for an instance of divine vengeance to all succeeding ages Jude 7. and as Herodotus telleth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 that the sparkles and ashes of burnt Troy served for a lasting monument of Gods great displeasure against great sinners See the like threatened to Babylon Esay 13.19.20 as God overthrew Sodom As Jehovah from Jehovah rained hell out of heaven upon them Gen. 14.24 De praepar Evang. l. 5. c 23. Vide Socrat. hist Eccles l. 2. c. 30. that is God the Son from God the Father and so Eusâ—bius observeth that the Father here saith of the Son that he overthrew Sodome and Gomorrah he condemned them with an overthrow 2 Pet. 2.6 he overthrew them and repented not Jer. 20.16 he overthrew them in a moment and no hand stayed on them Lam. 4.6 And yet worse shall be the condition of those that despise the grace of the Gospell which is the great sin of these last times Mat. 11.24 yea the devils will keep holy-day as it were in hell in respect of such sinners against their own soules and ye were as a sire brand Ambustus fumigans titio smutchy and smoaky and scarcely escaping with the skin of your teeth Iob. 19.20 as Lot out of Sodom as the man of Benjamine out of the army 1 Sam. 2.12 as the young man that fled naked away at Christs attachment Mar. 14.52 or as Hunniades narrowly escaping with his life from the battel of Varna where he had like to have fallen with that perjured Popish king as good Jehosaphat had for joyning with Ahab It is as if God should say There are not many of you that are left and have your lives for a prey howbeit they are ill bestowed upon you for any good use you have made of my forbearance Let favour be shewed to the wicked yet will he not learne righteousnesse Esay 26.10 and if thou deliver him once yet thou must do it againe and when all 's done that can be done A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment Prov. 19.19 and so to be sure of it shall a man of great stomach and stubbornnesse that refuseth to return as these of whom the fifth time it is here complained and yet ye have not returned c. O prorsus obstinati saith Tarnovius here Act. 7.51 Prorsus indurati et contumaces saith Mercer Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares do ye thus alwayes resist the holy Ghost will ye needs be like horse and mule uncounsellable untractable will ye after conviction needes run away with the bit in your mouths and take your swinge in sin c. If so resolved yet stay saith the Psalmist Psal 32.9.10 and take this along with you Many sorrowes shall be to the wicked your preservation from one evill shall be but a reservation to seven worse Lev. 26. as it fared with Pharaoh Senacherib and others God will surely subdue or subvert you Verse 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee o Israel Thus how Non nominat mala ut omnia timeant saith Ribera He tells them not how that they may feare the worst even all that is written and unwritten It was the very policy of Julius Caesar never to extenuate or deny to his souldiers the danger of an enemy but rather to raise up thoughts of valour by aggravating the contrary forces and this way he did not seldome hyperbolically rhetoricate saith the story Now the Lord need not do so sith his judgements are a great deep neither can any man know the power of his anger Psal 90.11 let a man feare it never so much he is sure to feel it a great deale more if he once fall into his fingers Is it nothing to drink the dregs of Gods displeasure when it is eternity unto the bottome Is it nothing to launch into an infinite Ocean of scalding leade and to swim naked in it for ever Oh do any thing rather then be damned and as Lewis King of France cast the Popes bulls into the fire saying Speed 496. he had rather they should burn then himself fry in hell for obeying them Or as Mary Q. of England restored againe all the Ecclesiasticall livings assumed to the crown Idem saying that she set more by the salvation of her own soule then she did by ten kingdomes So let the wicked forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord that he may have mercy upon him and to our God that he may multiply pardon Esay 55.7 and because I will do this unto thee which had I not wished thee well I would never have told thee Ideo minatur ut non puniat But God loves to fore-signifie and therefore threateneth evill that he may not inflict it he would gladly be prevented by our humble addresses unto him and by our entreaties of peace Heare him else prepare to meet thy God O Israel Turn and try thou canst not likely lose thy labour or if thou should'st yet thou hast lost many a worse Let Ephraim but bemoane himself and God will soon melt over him Ier. 31.20 Let Gods prodigals return to their mercifull father and he will meet them halfe-way and receive them with all sweetnesse Tantum velis Deus tibi praeoccurret Do as those Jer. 3.17 Alexanders Macedenonians being sensible of his displeasure laid by their armes put on their mourning attire Plut. in Alexandro came trooping to his tent where for almost three dayes they remained with loud cryes and abunance of teares testifying their remorse for offending him beseeching his pardon which at last they gained And Guicciardin tells us that Lewis 12. of France when he entred Genoa in his triumphant charret with his sword naked resolved to make a prey of their riches Guice lib. 7. and an example of many of the chief amongst them and to leave the rest to his souldiers mercies But beeing met first by the chief afterward by the multitude Parel Med. hist prof 754. making great lamentation for their folly with abundance of teares and cryes his wrath was appeased toward them The like we read of Henry 7. Emperour toward the citizens of Cremona of our Edward the third Daniel hist 240. toward the Inhabitants of Callice And in Cades conspiracy here after that 26. of the chief rebels were executed the multitude naked in their shirts met the king on Black-heath Speed 851. humbly praying mercy which they obtained Verse 13. For â—o He that formeth the mountaines c. q. d. If my mercy move thee not to an humble submission let my Majesty and for that end consider and tremble at my Nomen Majestativum my transcendent excellencies as they are here displayed descried and described for thy learning with a great deale of solemnity and state to the end that thou mai'st not expect evils but prevent them as Demosthenes counselled his countrymen He that formeth the mountaines At first doubtlesse with the rest of the Universe though some held they were cast up by Noahs flood see Psal 90.1 2. by his mere
your God See Esay 21.9 understand Mereury Verse 17. Therefore will cause you Idolatry is a land-desolating sin beyond Damascus and not only so but also beyond Babylon Act. 7 by the way of Damascus by Tiglath Pileser sent for by Ahaz for that purpose Es 8.4 King 15.29 CHAP. VI. Verse 1. In utramv is aurem dorin WOe to them that are at ease in Zion that lye sleeping on both sides and slighting the former menaces as Leviathan doth the iron-weapons Iob. 41.27 that live as if ye were out of the reach of Gods rod and as for all your enemies ye puff at them saying We shall not be moved we shall never be in adversity Psal 10.5 6. To these sleepers in Zion God here sends forth his summons the word Hoi signifieth as well Heus as Vae Ho as Wo Esay 55.1 Zach. 2.6 Ho ho come forth that were quiet and still Zach. 1.11 lulled asleep by Satan or rather cast into a dead lethargy Sampson-like their enemies are upon them and they fast asleep the while Ishbosheth-like they stretch themselves upon their beds of ivory till they lose not their precious lives onely but their immortall souls Security ushereth in destruction those that are at ease in Zion shall be raised by a dreadfull Woe rung in their ears that shall make their hearts fall down and their hairs stand upright In the froth of carnall security and sensuall delights is bred that worm of conscience that never dieth Mar. 9. and here begins to grub and gnaw like as while the Crocodile sleepeth with open mouth the Ichneumon or Indian Rat shoots himself into his bowels after which he never is at ease as having his entrails daily devoured so that one while he will be in the water and anon after on the land till life fails him and trust in the mountain of Samaria Are carnally confident and secure as good David also was when gotten upon his strong mountain Psal 30.6 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuag but was soon confuted Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled The best are apt by rest to contract rust and being full-fed to wax wanton Deut. 32.15 To affect more mundi delicias quam Christi divitias as One saith the worlds dainties then Christs comforts to trust in uncertain riches then to rely upon the living God who giveth them all things richly to enjoy This must be lookt to 1 Tim. 6.17 for it hath a woe hanging at the heels of it Jer. 17.5 6. Psal 52.7 9. which are named chief of the Nations Heb. expressely named declared notified celebrated chief the head or first fruits the head and height Principium id est praecipuum gentium So Amalec is called the first of the Nations Numb 24.20 haply they held themselves so Justin lib. 2. as the Egyptians afterwards boasted much of their Antiquity and the Chinois at this day do of their excellency and perspicuity above other Nations Many wicked ones are of great renown in this world Psal 73.4 6. and stand much upon their titles and termes of honour who yet in the next generation shall be utterly forgotten Psal 109.13 for that their names are not written in heaven Rev. 17.8 and look how much they have glorified themselves and lived deliciously so much torment and ignominy shall be given them Rev. 18.7 To whom the house of Israel came The whole house of Israel viz. the two tribes to Zion the ten to Samaria Vel sacrorum causà vel judiciorum saith Drusius as to places of worship and besies courts of Justice Others sence it thus The house of Israel came unto them that is the Israelites invaded those nations that once held Zion and Samaria and succeeded them therein not by any strength of their own but by Gods mighty hand and out-stretched arm which they ungratefull wretches acknowledge not but came in for themselves so Ribera rendreth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quasi sibi tantum nati se solos esse aliquid as if they were the onely proprietaries the sole owners of all and owed no service to any chief-Lord Such insolency grows from security See Job 21.23 Verse 2. Passe ye unto Calneh and see Take a voyage to and a view of those most famous bordering cities Calneh or Selencia in Mesopotamia on the East whereof see Gen. 10.10 the beginning of Nimrods Kingdom Hamath the great or Antiochia now Aleppo a famous Mart-town on the North. Then go down Southward to Gath of the Philistines which was of all the five satrapies potissima potentissima and is therefore called Metheg-Ammah 2 Sam. 8.1 with 1 Chron. 18.1 because being a town of great strength it was as it were the bridle whereby the whole countrey about was kept in awe It was afterwards known by the name of Diocaesarea Away to these neighbouring cities and see in them as in so many Optick-glasses how much more God hath done for you then for them in every respect the greater is your guilt and the deeper will be your judgement in the end for abuse of these rich mercies of a fertile soil a large Empire c. to security oppression and other detestable vices and villanies be they better then these kingdoms sc of Judah and Israel which were certainly multis nominibus laudatissima very fruitfull and pleasant countries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 8.7 8 9. Numb 14.7 8. whatsoever Strabo spitefully reporteth to the contrary Lib. 7. being therein worse then Rabshakeh Esay 36.17 Or their border greater then your border sc till the Babylonians Syrians and Assyrians took part of your countrey from you and cooped you up cut you short And now that you are so straitned for room doth not the Lord recompense you in multitudes of people Judea was not above 200. miles long and 50. miles broad say Geographers and yet what huge armies brought they into the field Observe then saith the Prophet the great things that God hath done for you above other Nations and walk accordingly or else take lessons out of their losses and damages and know that the case will be your own Aliorum perditio vestra sit cautio Learn by other mens harms to beware Verse 3. Ye that put farre away the evil day Wo to you that would do so if you could that fondly perswade your selves there is no such danger in evil-doing as the Prophets pretend but that all shall be hail and well with you though yee walk in the imagination of your hearts to adde drunkennesse to thirst Deut. 29.19 and to heap up sin as high as heaven Quae longinqua sunt non metuuntur Arist Rhet. l. 2. c. 5. Rev. 18.5 This cursed security and hope of impunity is the source of much wickednesse in the world See Prov. 7.19 20. Matth. 24.48 with the Notes It is a sad thing when men shall say as Ezek. 12.27 The vision that he seeth is for many dayes to come and he prophesieth of the times
above an hundred yeers since forsaken it and embraced instead of it partly Mahumetanisme and partly Idolatry and that by the most miserable occasion that might be viz. famine of the word of God for lack of Ministers For as Alvarez hath recorded at his being at the king of Habassia's court Hist Ethiop cap. 37. there were Ambassadours out of Nubia to intreat him for a supply of ministers to instruct their nation and to repair Christianity gone to ruine amongst them but they were rejected Verse 12. And they shall wander from sea to sea Trouble themselves to no purpose take pains as Esau did for venison but lost his labour run to all coasts and quarters to seek the word of the Lord. and shall not find it And why they despised it when it was in their power they rejected the counsel of God against themselves with those Lawyers Luk. 7.30 He would have gathered them but they would not be gathered he would have purged them but they would not be purged Ezek. 24.13 14. they are therefore miserable by their own election as Saul was who slighted Samuel whiles he was alive and would have been full glad of his counsel when he was dead He that would not once worship God in Samuel worships at length Samuel in Satan and no marvel Satan was now become his refuge and preacheth his funeral his Vrim now was darknesse his Prophet a ghost O woful condition But what should a parent do when the child loaths and spils his victuals snatch it from him and lay it out of his reach Samaria felt this worser famine when carried captive especially so did Jerusalem after Malachi whose prophecy the Jews fitly call Chathimath Chazon the sealing up of vision Bath Chol or the Eccho from heaven they had now and then after this time Mat. 2.17 Joh. 12.28 they had also the writings of Moses and the Prophets interpreted after a sort by the Scribes and Pharisees whom whiles they sat close in Moses chair and kept it warm men were bound to to hear Mat. 23.2 3. which because Dives did not he suffered hunger and thirst in hell for ever Luk. 16.24 And had he been granted the liberty of hearing again upon earth but one more sermon how farre would not he gladly have gone for it and how as for life would he have listned to it But this could not possibly be for out of hell there is no redemption Psal 49.8 9. and when the night of death once comes men can work no more Night is a time not of doing work but of receiving wages up therefore and be doing whiles it is yet day Joh. 12.35 36. seek ye the Lord while he may be found Esay 55.6 seek him seasonably seek him seriously Then shall ye seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart Jer. 29.13 That was a dismall doom that our Saviour passed upon those stiffe-necked Jewes and uncircumcised in heart and ears as Saint Steven rightly stiles them Act. 7.51 that were as good at resisting the Holy-Ghost as ever their fathers had been before them Ye shall seek me and yet shall die in your sinnes whither I go ye cannot come Joh. 8.21 Ye shall wander up and down for meat making a noise like an hungry dog and grudge that ye be not satisfied Psal 59.14 15. Do not the miserable Jewes do so all the world over to this day expecting their Messias quem tantis ululatibus exposcunt throwing open their windows to behold him and praying for the rebuilding of their Temple thus Templum tuum brevi valde citò Buxtorf Synag Ind. cap. 13. valde citò in diebus nostris citissimè nunc aedisica templum tuum brevi c. Merciful God great God bountiful God beautiful God sweet God mighty God thou God of the Jewes now build thy Temple do it shortly suddenly quickly very quickly very quickly very quickly even in our dayes now this day before the next c. Ah poor creatures they would not when time was know in that their day the things which belonged to their peace therefore to this day they are hid from their eyes and wrath is come upon them to the utmost Luk. 19.42 Alterius perditio tua sit cautio Let their harmes be our warning not to stand out the day of grace not to surfeit of the word lest we suffer a famine of it not to retain the snuffes of our sinnes lest they dim our candlestick a removal whereof except we repent may be as certainly foreseen and foretold as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven as once to Ephesus telling them so Rev. 2.5 And indeed it hath been the opinion and is still the fear of some not unconsiderable Divines that Antichrist before his abolition shall once again overflow the whole face of the West and suppresse the whole protestant Churches Now if ever this come to passe as justly we may fear it will what may we thank but our detestable lukewarmnesse and loathing of the heavenly Manna our not receiving the love of the truth that we might be saved for which cause if God shall send us strong delusions 2 Thess 2.10 1◠even the efficacy of errour that we should believe a lie that being infatuated we should be seduced and being seduced be damned as Austin glosseth that text whom can we blame for it Verse 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst When God depriveth a people of his Ordinances and so withdraweth his gracious presence from them what wonder though temporal judgements come rushing in as by a sluce Persecute and take him said Davids enemies for God hath forsaken him and there is none to deliver him Psal 71.11 The Philistins are upon me saith Saul for God hath forsaken me Behold I am cast out from thy presence said Cain that is from my fathers house where thine ordinances are administred and therefore every one that findeth me shall slay me Gen. 4.14 In that day of the want of the word in the day of spiritual famine and thirst behold aliud ex alio malum another thirst shall seise upon the choycest and fairest as flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes when they are cold and corrupt them Shall the fair virgins whom all men favour for their comelinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beauty is of it self lovely and attractive it needeth no letters of commendations but God is no respecter of persons and beauty abused is like a fair house with an ill inhabitant said Diogenes like a jewel of gold in a swines snout said Solomon Prov. 11.22 Some are Helena's without but Hecuba's within painted sepulchres Egyptian temples like Aurelia Orestilla of whom Salust saith that she had nothing in her praise-worthy but her beauty Fair she was and foolish not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beautiful and wise as it is reported of Aspasia Cyrus his concubine Athenaeus Now these fair maids together with the
therefore here a sinfull kingdome wholly given to Idolatry as Athens was Act. 17.16 which is that sin with an accent that wickednesse with a witnesse Exod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 32.21 1 King 12.30 and 15 3 30. that land-desolating sin Jer. 22.7 8 9. Psal 78.58 59 62. and I will destroy it See here the venomous nature of sin and shun it else we shall prove traytours to the state and have our hands if not upon the great cart-ropes yet upon the lesser cords that draw down vengance upon the land And here some one sinner may destroy much good Eccle. 9.17 how much more a rabble of rebbels conspiring to provoke the eyes of Gods glory saying that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob A remnant shall be left for royall use See Jer. 30.11 reliquas faciam reliquias and so make a manifest difference remembring my promise Lev. 26.40 which is a speciall text touching the rejection and conversion of the Jewes as is also this in some mens judgments For here say they is a threatening of extream desolation with some comfort enterlaced of a remnant to be reserved amongst whom it is further promised 1. that the kingdome of David thorough Christ shall be set up as glorious as ever it was before in the most flourishing times of David or Solomon ver 11.2 Next other nations shall joyne with them and be made partakers of one common inheritance ver 12. So doth James Act. 15.16 17. expound it 3. Thirdly there is promised the fruitfulnesse of their land ver 13. the inhabiting in their own countrey ver 14. and the perpetuity of their abode there ver 15. But all this others think to be optabile magis quà m opinabile little better then a golden dreame Verse 9. For lo I will command and I will sift the house of Israel It is not without Gods command and good leave that evill spirits and men can sift the saints as Satan desired to have done Peter He desired it as a challenger desireth one of the other side to combate with so he beg'd leave to sift Iob and so he tempted David to number the people but it was by Gods permission Up therefore and pray that ye enter not into temptation Luk. 22.31 46. or that ye may come cleer out of it Rom. 16.20 and more then conquerours even Triumphers the enemy is stinted yea Christ will tread him under your feet shortly and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations The ten tribes among the Assyrians who were Emperours of the whole East and whither since they are scattered whether into Shina Tartary West-Indies or other countries is not known The whole twelve-tribes those also that once instantly served God day and night Act. 26.7 are now wofully disjected and dissipated being cast out of the world Aug. in Psal 58. as it were by a common consent of Nations and generally slighted and hated The Romanes permitted other nations to call themselves Romanes after they had conquered them but so they would not suffer the Iewes upon any termes to do lest there should be some blot stick to the glory of the Romanes by that odious and sordid people The Pope useth them as spunges the Turk as slaves c. like as corne is sifted in a sieve Or by a fann to the same sense as that Zach. 13.9 for as here a sieve so there fire serveth to denote Affliction with the use of it sc to purge Gods people specially of those two troublesome choke-weeds High-mindednesse and Earthly mindednesse Cribratione Dei non perditur sed purgatur frumentum saith Zanchy Gods good corne is not lost but made cleane by the sifting they suffer Jer. 23.28 yet shall not the least grain Heb stone fall upon the earth As the chaf and dust shall Augustin Mat. 3.12 for what is the chaf to the wheate saith the lord Improbi nobiscum esse possunt in horreo sed non in area Christ hath his fan in his hand and will surely discriminate he will take out the pretious from the vile he will drive the chaffe one way and the wheat another and take care that not the least grain of weighty wheat that had good tack in it as a stone hath though but a little stone shall be lost He will turn his hand upon the little ones and secure them Zech. 13.7 Verse 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword The flagitious presumptuous persons Deut. 29.19 that blesse themselues when I curse them saying We shall have peace though we walk every man in the imagination of his heart and take his full swinge in sin Such sinners in Zion Esa 33.14 such sacrificing Sodomites Esa 1.10 such profligate Professours shall die by the sword either by the hand of the enemy or which is worse gladio spiritali saith Mercer by the spiritual sword being blinded and rejected by God so that their preservation is but a reservation to a greater mischief Whereas on the other side some of Gods elect might in a common calamity perish by the sword but then Josiah-like they died in peace though they fell in battle their death was right pretious in the sight of the Lord and a plentifull amends made them in heaven which say the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us Or for our sakes by our default If affliction do find us out yet we have not deserved it Begnaden◠propter nos common occurrences we cannot be against Thus the wicked man flattereth himself in his own eyes untill his iniquity be found to be hatefull Psa 36.2 In all my labours they shal find none iniquity in me that were sin Hos 12.8 Yet thou sayst Because I am innocent surely his anger shal turn from me behold I wil plead with thee because thou sayest I have not sinned Jer. 2.35 Ver. 11. In that day wil I raise up the Tabernacle of David A most sweet conclusion of the Prophesie by sundry Evangelicall promises after so many very severe and sharp menaces the Sun of righteousnesse liketh not to set in a cloud In that day that happy day whensoever it shall dawn that Christ shall come for the Prophets knew not the certaine time when but made diligent enquiry as far as they might with sobriety 1 Pet. 1.11 and well knew that the Law which they preached and explained was an introduction to a better hope Heb. 7.19 which they saw afar off and saluted Heb. 11.13 wil I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is the kingdome of the house of David saith the Chaldee Paraphrast meaning of the Messiah whom the sounder sort of Rabbines from this text call Ben Niphlei the repairer of the breach Galatin the restorer of pathes to dwell in Now the Church is here called the Tabernacle of David because that once stately Palace of David was by many desolations reduced to a tent as it were and that ready to drop
his God Mic. 4.5 These mariners or salt-men so called either because they dealt in that commodity or else because they rowed in the salt sea had their severall gods according to their severall countries and these they now called upon whom till now perhaps they little enough cared for sea-men aae not over-pious for most part And yet of the Turkish mariners I have read that every morning they salute the Sun with their generall shouts and a Priest saying a kind of Letany Blunts voy p. 76. every prayer ending with Macree Kichoon that is be Angels present the people answer in manner of a shout Homin that is Amen But it is remarkable that these in the text though they cryed every man to his God yet Serv. in Georg. lib. 1. lest they might all mistake the true God they awaken Jonah to call upon his God This uncertainty attending idolatry caused the Heathens to close their petitions with that generall Dijque Deaeque omnes But thirdly as they cried to their gods so according to that rule Ora labora they cast forth the wares that were in the ship Not doubting to sacrifice their goods to the service of their lives Skin for skin and all that a man hath c. so Act. 27.18 19 38. Let us lose any thing for eternall life Luk. 16.8 and 9.25 Mat. 18.8 suffer any hardship for heaven we cannot buy it too deare A stone will fall down to come to its own place though it break it self in peeces by the way so we that we may get to our center which is upward c. but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship Into the bottome of it bither he had betaken himself before the storm not considering that God had long hands to pull him out of his lurking-holes and bring him to judgement and he lay and was fast asleep It 's likely that he had not slept of many nights before through care feare and grief those three vultures that had been gnawing upon his inwards and therefore now sleepes the more soundly Or rather it was carnall security his heart being hardened by the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3.13 He had hardened his heart against Gods feare and wilfully withdrawn from his obedience hence this spirituall lethargy this deep sleep in sin not unlike that of the Smiths dog whom neither the hammers above him nor the sparks of fire falling round about him can awake though the water-pot and speare be taken from the bolster the secure person stirrs not though the house be on fire over his eares he starts not Their senselesnesse God will cure in his Jonas's by sharp afflictions Cold diseases must have hot and sharp remedies The lethargy is best cured by a burning ague God will let his presumptuous people see what it is to make wounds in their consciences to trie the preciousnesse of his balme such may go mourning to their graves And though with much adoe they get assurance of pardon yet their consciences will be still trembling as Davids Psa 51. till God speake further peace even as the water of the sea after a storm is not presently still but moves and trembles a good while after the storme is over Verse 6. So the ship-masâ—â— came unto him God might have come himself with his drawn sword as Baanah and Rechab did upon sleeping Ishbosheth and taken off his head or have sent an evill Angel to arouse him in a fright or have thrown him into the burning lake as Agrippa did his dormouse into the boyling caldron But such is not Gods manner of dealing with his people though he be deeply displeased Jer. 10.24 Correct them he will but with judgement not in his anger lest they be burnt to nothing Instruct them also he will Corrections of instruction are the way of life Pro. 6.23 by one meanes or other as he did here Jonas by a rude mariner and as long before he had done Abraham and Sarah by Abimelech an Heathen Prince to shame them what meanest thou O sleeper Heb. Gen. 20. what 's come to thee what a senselesse stupidity hath seised thee Are we all in danger and dost thou sleep as the Philosopher in danger likewise of shipwrack said to one that made light of it Do we all stand upon our lives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dost thou play the foole The spirituall sleeper in like sort may he be but warme in his own feathers regards not the danger of the house He is saith One a mere mute and cipher a nullity in the world a superfluity in the earth Jeremies rotten girdle good for nothing or like the branches of a vine Ezech. 15.3 arise call upon thy God For our gods will do nothing for us The gods of the heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands they have mouthes but speak not c. Psal 115.4 But if Gods Israel trust in the Lord he will be their help and their shield v. 9. Forasmuch as there is none like unto him Ier. 10.6 neither is their Rock as our Rock our enemies themselves being judges Deut. 32.31 if so be that God will think upon us The Chaldee hath it will be merciful unto us The Hebrew word signifieth will clear up and behold us with a serene countenance granting us a calme and taking care that we perish not So shall we acknowledge him to be Haelohim that God by an excellency Q. Elizabeth that Regina Serenissima for her merciful returning home certain Italians that were taken prisoners in the 88 Invasion was termed Saint Elizabeth by some at Venice who also affirmed to the English Embassadour there that though they were Papists yet they would never pray to any other Saint but that Saint Elizabeth Vers 7. And they said every one to his fellow when Ionas had now prayed and yet the tempest continued for we know that God heareth not sinners Joh. 9.31 no not a David or a Jonah if he regard iniquity in his heart Psal 66.18 how should the plaister prevaile whiles the weapon remains in the wound they resolve to try another course for the safegard of their lives Man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a creature that would fain live said Esop and what man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good saith David whereunto Austin answereth Quis vitam non vult Hom. 4. who would not be master of such an happinesse Come and let us cast lots And so put the matter into Gods hands Pro. 16.33 He disposeth of lottery so it be rightly undertaken not superstitiously curiously rashly but as trusting in God and not tempting him that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us Some extraordinary cause they knew there was of this extraordinary tempest Sinful men strike not their dogs much lesse their children without a cause A Bee stings not till provoked neither doth God punish his creatures till there be no other remedy 2
men averse from war There are a sort of such as delight in warre Psal 68.30 that make a sport of it as Abner 2 Sam. 2.14 that take more pleasure in it then in an Empire as Iustin saith of Pyrrhus king of 〈◊〉 David was none such and yet he wanted not for courage His motto was Nulli major ex imperio quam illiâ—x bello fuiâ— voluptar â—â—m for peace or as the Hebrew hath it I am peace He had seen the woe of warre and knew well the lawlesnesse of it The law is no more saith the Church in 〈◊〉 Lâ—mentations Chap. 2.9 Inter arma silent leges saith the Heathen The noise 〈◊〉 drowns the voice of lawes A reverend man hath well observed that as those three commandments Thou shalt not kill Thoss shalt not commit adultery Thou 〈…〉 are ranked together in the law so they are commonly violated together by unruly souldiers Esay 13.16 Their children also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes their houses shall be spoyled and their wives ravished These are the miseries of warre But what meant these miscreants to shed the blood of warre in peace 1 Kin. 2.5 to strip the innocent and therefore fearlesse passenger of his raiment as those theeves did him that went down from Ierusalem to Jericho Luk. 10.30 dreading no such danger neither to rob him onely but to ravish him too Ps 10. that they might sind all precious substance and fill their houses with spoyl And what meant the corrupt Rulers to suffer it so to be and not to brandish the sword of justice against such stigmatical Belialists Vers 9. The women of my people Or the wives once wives but now widdows and therefore calamatious friendlesse comfortlesse as a vine whose root is uncovered as a wandring bird or a nest forsaken Isai 16.2 have ye cast out from their pleasant houses where they had long lived with their husbands in love peace and much sweetnesse as good Naboths wife had This was barbarous cruelty God had taken order in the law that none should harm a bird sitting upon her own nest how much lesse a daughter of Abraham Widdows and Orphans are his clients Ps 146.9 from their children have ye taken away my glory i. e. My maintenance and that livelihood that I had allowed them for their better education which might have redounded to my great glory Whereas now being by you bereft both of friends and meanes gomunt fremunt vobis maledicunt clamantque vindictam in coelum saith Montanus they groan they moan they curse you they crie to me for vengeance c. Vers 10. Arise ye and depart Veteres migrate coloni make up your fardles and prepare for a deportation Virg. here 's no longer being for you unlesse ye were better Behold the land is defiled therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it and the land it self vomiteth out her inhabitants Lev. 18.25 This is not your rest As you falsly fancy and vainly vaunt binding upon the promise but not performing the condition It is the guise of gracelesse men to stuffe themselves with promises till they have made them a pillow for sinne Et sic prasumendo sperant sperando pereunt Byrn they presume till they perish as he did who died with this desperate saying in his mouth Spes fortuna Valete Farewell life and hope together Because it is polluted sc by your sinne which is of so sullying a nature that it defileth also the very visible heavens which are therefore to be purged by the fire of the last day like as those vessels that held the sin-offering were either to be broken if earthen or to passe the fire if of better mettal they must not think to rest that let sin lie unrepented of in the conscience But as a man that hath used himself to drink poison at the 1. 2. time he may do wel but the last it overcomes and destroyes himself so the next sin though lesse may set all the former aworking And as two poisons met in the stomack make a man restlesse so sin and wrath met in the conscience raise a great garboile there Neither must they think to dwell in Gods good land that will not live by Gods good laws Esa 1.19 Ps 107.39 40. they walk upon fireworks every moment ready to be blown up Euseb de vit Const lib 5. brimstone also is scaâ—â—ered upon their habitations that if the fire of Gods wrath do but lightly touch it they are suddenly consumed Eusebius telleth us of Dioclesian that bloody persecutour of the Church that giving over the Empire he decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly but he escaped not so For after that his house was wholly consumed with lightning and a flame of fire that fell from heaven he hiding himself for fear of the lightning died within a little after it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction Dissipatione roboratâ saith Calvin Perditione praecisâ saith Tremellius The land longs for a vomit to spue you out and it shall do it effectually Poyson given in wine works more furiously then in water Woe be to that people or person whom God will destroy with a violent destruction This he doth not willingly or from his heart Lam. 3.35 but mens sinnes compel him to it Surely as many a fowl is shot with an arrow feathered from her own boyd and as of the blackbirds slime is made the lime whereby he is taken so out of the dung of mens sinnes doth God make his limetwigs his judgements I mean to take them withal Long they might rest would they but let him rest but pollution is the forerunner of perdition Verse 11. If a man walking in the spirit c. Si vir ventosus so Junius rendreth it if a windy and false man lie saying c. Let a man but feed them with vain hopes and frothy fancies let him but make fair weather before them when the storm of Gods wrath is ready to break out upon them let him promise them plenty of all things and prophesie to them of wine and strong drink as the Popish Priests in Gersons time publikely preached to the people that if any one would hear a Masse he should not on that day be struck blind nor die suddenly nor want sufficient sustenance c. These call themselves the Spirituality or men of the Spirit as Hosea hath it as if all others to them were carnal and destitute of the spirit They also after the manner of those false prophets of old take to themselves big-swoln titles and as they increase in their pretended holinesse so they proceed in their titles from Padre benedicto to Padre Angelo Specul Europ then Archangelo Cherubino and lastly Cerephino which is the top of perfection But what is all this more then a light flask or a pillar of smoak which the higher it mounteth the sooner it vanisheth And what are all such vain boasters but
is false that some contend for sc that every man may be saved in his own faith be it right or wrong For none can come to the Father but by the Son Joh. 14.6 Neither is there any other name but His under heaven whereby men must bee saved Acts 4.12 See Joh. 17.3 and 6.40 Heb. 11.6 whatsoever the Huberians affirme of Universall Election or the Puccians of a naturall faith and we will walk in his paths which are all paved with mercy and love so that the saints run therein and faint not walk and are not weary Esay 40.31 They are all Peripateticks ever in action Gen. 17.1 they are Currists not Quaerists Ambros saith Luther elegantly they do not reason but run the pathes of Gods precepts Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia For the law shall go forth of Zion The law or doctrine as Prov. 13.14 Understand here the Gospel that Law of God Psal 19.7 that Law of Christ Gal. 6.2 that perfect law of liberty Jam. 1.25 a counter-pane whereof God putteth into the hearts of his people Jer. 31. whereby they become as it was once said of the Thracians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a law to themselves Herod as being transformed into the same image with the Gospel like as the pearl by the often-beating of the Sun-beams upon it becommeth radiant as the Sun and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Not from Africa at first as the brethren of the rosy-crosse would have it though 't is thought the Gospel was received and the Christian faith professed even from the Apostles time in that large region of Nubia in Africk But repentance and remission of sinnes was preached among all nations beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.41 The Jews were Gods Library-keepers and the Apostles sent and went from Jerusalem to plant Churches abroad the world and to gather into one the children of God that were dispersed Ioh. 11.52 Verse 3. And he shall judge among many people We had before Christs Propheticall Office here we have his Princely and elsewhere his Priestly This seems to have been the effect of that old prophecy among the Easterlings that Judaea profecti rerum potirentur some that came out ofâ— Jury should conquer all Vide Sueto in Vespas Tacit. lib. 21. wherein both the former are founded for he is the true Trismegist and Melchisedech was a right type of him He is the onely judge and needs no Vicar upon earth such as the Pope claims to bee Esay 33.22 no such Officers to see his lawes executed as the Ephori were among the Greeks and the Censores among the Romans The Lord that sent the rod of his strength out of Zion as verse 2. doth also give him to rule in the middest of his enemies whiles his people are willing in the day of his power in the beauties of holinesse Psal 110.3 willing that Christ should send forth judgement to victory Mat. 12.20 that is perfect his own work of grace begun in their hearts To which end as it here followeth He shall rebuke or convince strong nations Convince them I say by his Spirit of sinne of righteousnesse and of judgement â—oh 16.8 Of the lothesomnesse of sin of the necessity of getting righteousnesse by Christ and repentance from dead works that men may serve the living God and as much as in them is Acts 17.30 live peaceably with all And they shall beat their swords into plowshares i. e. their fierce and fell natures shall be mansuefied as Esay 11.6 7 8 9. and if they wage warre it shall be non nisi coacti either for the just punishment of Delinquents whom they cannot otherwise come at or for their own necessary defence and that they may establish peace with truth But if men would live by the lawes of the Gospel they need not wage warre or want peace either of countrey or of conscience but they might take for their Motto that of David Ani shallom I am peace and have for their portion that peace peace Esay 26.3 even a perfect sheer pure-peace a multiplied peace with God with themselves and with others this is a main piece of Christs kingdom upon earth Florus who is the Prince of peace and came in a time of peace viz. in the raigne of Augustus when as there was Totius orbis aut pax aut pactio saith Florus a generall peace or truce thorowout the whole world neither shall they learn warre any more To make a trade or a gain of it and so to earn a curse Deut. 27.25 to delight in it Psal 68.30 and make a sport of it as Abner did 2 Sam. 2.14 and Pyrrhus king of Epirots to wage it without weighty reason rashly If we Princes said our Hen. 7. should take every occasion that 's offered the world should never be quiet but wearied by continuall warres We may also here take warring as St. Iames doth chap. 4.1 for jarring and jangling for private discords and dissentions Now these the people or God are so farre from learning that they utterly lay them aside and are kinde one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake forgave them Ephes 4.32 Verse 4. But they shall sit every man under his vine seeding upon the fruit that shall even fall into his mouth saith à Lapide Sit they shall under Christ the true Vine saith Hugo and under the holy Ghost as a fig-tree whose fruit is farre sweeter then any honey But these are coynt interpretations saith Gualther I should rather expound this Text by that 91. Psalm wherein the safe and happy condition of the godly is at large described Vineyards and fig-yards were ordinary in those countreys and hence this proverbiall expression to set forth doubtlesse the spirituall security and that peace of conscience chiefly that is granted to Christs subjects a peace farre beyond that under Solomon which is here pointed at or that under our Queen Elizabeth not to be passed over without one touch at least upon that string which so many years together sounded so sweetly in the ears of our Fathers Then it was if ever that the mountains brought forth peace and the little hills righteousnesse Psal 72.5 The great ones defended their inferiours Westmer in Psal 72. and the inferiours blessed their superiours the Magistrate righted the subject and the subject reverenced the Magistrate and none shall make them afraid God they know will not hurt them man cannot he may take away their heads but not their crowns their lives but not their hopes for the righteous hath hope in his death his Posie is not onely Dumspiro spero but Dum expiro Let the wicked have a trembling heart and failing eyes while he lives Deut. 28.65 and when he dies crie out as a great man was heard to do Spes fortuna valete Farewell life and hope together The servant of Christ as he sits mediis tranquillus in undis all his life long
for his great goodnesse We are so joyfull that I wish you part of my joy c. The posy of the city of Geneva stamped round about their mony was formerly out of Iob Ibid. Post tenebras spero lucem After darknesse I look for light But the Reformation once settled amongst them they changed it into Post tenebras lux Light after darknesse Scultet Aunal Like as the Saxon Princes before they became Christians gave for their armes a black horse Cranz in Saxon. but being once baptized a white Verse 9. I will beare the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him The Church had sinned and God was angry with her So Zech. 1.12 Esay 57.17 What meane then the Antinomians to tell us that God is never angry with his people for their foule and flagitious practises no not with a fatherly anger nor chastiseth them for the same no not so much as with a fatherly chastizement Virg. Aeneid Is not this contra Solem mingere Godlinesse is on target against affliction Blind Nature saw this nec te tua plurima Pentheu Labentem texit pietas Onely it helpes to patient the heart under affliction by considering 1. That it is the Lord. 2. That a man suffers for his sin as the penitent theef also confessed Luk. 24.41.3 That the rod of the wicked shall not lie long upon the lot of the righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Say we then every one with David I know that thy judgements are right and thou hast afflicted me justly Psal 119.75 yea in very faithfulnesse hast thou done it that thou mightest be true to my soule And with that Noble Du-plessy who when he had lost his onely son a gentleman of great hopes which was the breaking of his mothers heart quieted himself with these words of David I was silent and said no word because thou Lord diddest it Psal 39. See my Love-tokens pag. 145.146 c. It shall be our wisdome in affliction to look to God and to reflect upon our sins taking his part against our selves as a Physician observes which way nature workes and helpes it until he plead my cause As a faithfull Patron and powerfull Avenger for though it be just in God that I suffer yet it is unjust in mine enemies who shall shortly be soundly paid for their insolencies and cruelties he will bring me forth to the light He will discloud these gloomy dayes and in his light I shall see light I shall behold his righteousnesse that is his faithfulnesse in fulfilling his Promise of deliverance in due time Meane-while I will live upon reversions live by faith and think to make a good living of it too All the wayes of God to his people are mercy and truth Psa 25.10 this is a soul-satisfying place of scripture indeed All the passages of his providence to them are not onely mercy but truth and righteousnesse they come to them in a way of a promise and by vertue of the Covenant wherein God hath made himself a voluntary debter to them 1 Joh. 1.9 Verse 10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it c. Not onely shall I behold his righteousnesse as before but mine enemy shall see it and feel it too to her small comfort They shall see it when 't is too late to remedy it as they say the Mole never opens her eyes till pangs of death are upon her And shame shall cover her when she shall see that thou hast shewed me a token for good that thou hast holpen me and comforted me Psal 86.17 which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God So laying her religion in her dish whereby God became interested in her cause and concerned in point of honor to appear for her The Church is no lesse beholden to her enemies insolencies for help then to her own devotions for God will right himself and her together See Joel 2.17 with the Note Mine eyes shall behold her and feed upon her misery not as mine enemy but as Gods nor out of private revenge but out of zeal for his glory Now shall she be trodden down as the myre of the streets Erit infra omnes infimos she shall be as mean as may be Nineveh that great city is now a little town of small trade Babylon is nothing else but a sepulture of her self Those four Monarchies that so heavily oppressed the Church are now laid in the dust and live by fame onely so shall the Romish Hierarchie and Turkish Empire All Christs enemies shall shortly be in that place that is fittest for them sc under his feet as was before noted he will dung his Church with the carcasses of all those wilde boars and buls of Bashan that have trod it down Verse 11. In the day that thy walls are to be built In the type by Nehemiah chap. 3. who did the work with all his might and having a ready heart made riddance and good dispatch of it Mar. 16.15 In the truth and spiritually when the Gospel was to be preached to every creature and a Church collected of Jews and Gentiles The Church is in the Canticles said to be a garden enclosed such as hath a wall about it and a well within it Cant. 4.12 See the Note there God will be favourable in his good pleasure unto Zion Psal 51.18 and build the walls of Jerusalem His spirit also will set up a standard in his Saints against strong corruptions and temptations and make them more then conquerours even Triumphers Esay 59.19 Rom. 8.37 2 Cor. 2.14 In that day shall the decree be farre removed That decree of the Babylonians forbidding the building of the Temple and City shall be reversed and those statutes that were not good given them by Gods permission because they had despised his statutes Ezek. 20.24 25. shall be annulled and removed farre away Some read it In that day shall the decree go farre abroad and interpret it by Psal 2.7 8. of the doctrine of the Gospel Verse 12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria To thee Ierusalem in the Type shall recourse be had from all parts as if thou wert the chief city of the world Pliny saith that in his time she was the most famous of all the cities of the East and Titus himself is said to have wept at the last destruction of it by his souldiers whom he could not restrain from firing the Temple To the new Jerusalem the Church of the New Testament in the Antitype from whence the Gospel was sent out to every creature which is under heaven Col. 1.23 and whereunto people of all sorts flowed and many nations came Mic. 4.1 2. with highest acclamations most vigorous affections and utmost indeavours bestowing themselves upon the Lord Christ Act. 2.9 c. Jerusalem in the Hebrew tongue is of the duall number in regard of the two parts of the city the upper and the nether town Or
conduct of Constantine carried it against them they shall lay their hand upon their mouth Be struck dumb as if they had seen Medusa's head they shall not be able to contradict the Gospell or to hinder the progresse of it Valens the Arrian Emperou comming upon Basil while he was in holy duties with an intent to do him hurt was not only silenced but so terrified that he reeled and had fallen Greg. orat de laud. Basil had he not been upheld by those that were with him their cares shall be deaf With the sudden bursting forth of Gods wonderfull and terrible works saith Mr. Diodate Verse 17. They shall lick the dust like a scrpent that is be reduced not only to extreme hunger and penury but to utmost vility and basenesse of condition so as to lick the very dust And whereas it is added like a sâ—â—pent he puts them in mind of that old malediction Gen. 3. and gives them to know that as like that old serpent they have lifted themselves up against God so will God cast them down again to the condition of serpents and abase them to the very dust See Psa 22.30 and 72.9 Es 49.23 they shall move out of their holes like wormes or creeping things of the earth They shall tumultuate and be all on an huddle as ants are when their molehill is thrown up with a spade The Hebrew word imports great commotion and bustle they shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall feare because of thee O God or O Church terrible as an army with banners Impiety triumpheth in prosperity trembleth in adversity and contrarily saith holy Greenham Since the fall we tremble before God Angels and good men What have I to do with thee thou man of God said She Art thou come to call to mind my sin and to kill my son At the siege of Mountabove in France the people of God within the wals ever before a sally sang a Psalme with which holy practise of theirs the enemy comming acquainted when they heard them singing would so quake and tremble crying they come Spee belli sal 282. they come as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them Verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee No God surely whether so reputed or deputed whether heathen deities heavenly Angels or earthly Rulers can compare with our God or come neare him for pardoning of sin Indeed none can do it at all but He as the blind Pharisees saw and could say Men may pardon the trespasse but God alone the transgression But say they could do something that way yet nothing like our God who maketh his power appear to be great Num. 14.17 in pardoning such offences as no God or man besides would pardon See Jer. 3.1 Neh. 9.31 he forgiveth iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 7. that is all sorts of sins to all sorts of sinners without excertion Mat. 12.31 This is the expresse letter of Gods covenant which we ought not either to obliterate or to interline but to beleeve it in the full latitude and extent We are apt to cast Gods pardoning-grace into a mould of our own and to measure it by our modell But against this we are cautioned Isai 55.8 God must be magnified in our thoughts his quarters there enlarged high and honourable conceptions are to be had of him or else we wrong him no lesse then we should do a King by respecting and receiving him no otherwise then we would do another ordinary man He is set forth here as a God imparallell and that not without an interrogation of admiration O! who is a God like unto thee Thy mercy is matchlesse thy grace aboundeth even to an overflow 1 Tim. 1.14 it is more then exceeding it hath a superpleonasme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle there Surely as the Sea swallowes up hugest rocks and as the Sun scattereth greatest mists so doth He pardon enormities as well as infirmities and blotteth out the thick cloud as well as the cloud Isa 44.22 Jam. 2 His mercy rejoyceth against or glorieth over judgment and is ready to say of a great sinner indeed Jam dignus vindice nodus The more desperate the disease is the greater glory redoundeth to him that cureth it Our Saviour gat him a glorious name by curing incurable diseases and gained greatest love by franckly forgiving Mary Magdalens and others sins Luk. 7.42 47. which were many and mighty or bony as the Prophets word signifies Amos 5.12 Adams Apostacie Noahs drunkennesse Lots incest Davids blood-guiltinesse Manasseh his idolatry and witch-crast Peters thrice denying and abjuring his master Pauls blasphemy and persecution All these sins and blasphemies have been forgiven to the sons of men neither can they commit more then he both can and will remit to the penitent Note this against Novatus that proud heretick and strive against that naturall Novatianisme that is in the timerous conscience of convinced sinners to doubt and question pardon for sins of Apostasie and falling after repentance and to say as those Unbeleevers of old Can the Lord prepare a table for us in the wildernesse So Can he forgive such and such iniquities so oft reiterated This is a question no question what cannot our God do in this kind who pardoneth sin naturally Exod. 34.6 and therefore freely as the Sun shineth or as the Fountaine casteth out waters who doth it also abundantly Isai 55.7 multiplying pardons as fast as we multiply sins and lastly Constantly Psal 130.4 Ioh. 1.27 Zach. 13.1 It is his perpetuall act and it should be as a perpetual picture in our hearts We should go on our way toward heaven as Sampson did toward his parents feeding on this hony-comb that pardoneth iniquity Heb that taketh away sheere away non ne sit sed ne obsit not sin it self but the guilt of it the damning and domineering power of it this David calleth the iniquity of his sin and saith that this God forgave him Psal 32.5 pronouncing himself and all such happy as are so dealt with verse 1.2 and passeth by the transgression Heb Passeth over it taketh no notice of it as a man in a deep muse or as one that hath hast of businesse seeth not things afore him his mind being upon another matter he neglects all else besides that As David when he saw in Mephibosheth the feature of his friend Jonathan took no notice of his lamenesse or any other defect or deformity so God beholding in his people the image of his son winks at all faults that he might soon find in them That which Cicero said flatteringly of Caesar is truly affirmed of God Nihil oblivisci solet praeter injurias He forgetteth nothing but the wrongs that are daily done him by his and as it is said of our Henry 6. that he was of that happy memory that he never forgat any thing but injury c. so here Daniel 198. of the remnant of his
heritage Not of all but of those poor few that confesse and forsake their sins Pro. 28.13 and in whose spirit there is no guile Psa 32.2 that are mortified persons Rom. 11.26 with Esay 59.20 It is a priviledge proper to the Communion of Saints he retaineth not his anger for ever Angry he may be and smite in his anger Esay 57.17 yea he may take vengeance of the inventions of those whom he hath pardoned Psal 99.8 temporall vengeance I mean but it soon repenteth him concerning his servants and a little punishment serveth turn for a great offence Jer. 31.19 20 21. David no sooner said I have sinned but he heard The Lord hath taken away thy sin 2 Sam. 12. because he delighteth in mercy And hence he pardoneth iniquity of free-grace ex mero motu out of his pure and unexcited love out of his Philanthropy and undeserved favour the sole impulsive cause of pardon What a man delighteth to do he will do howsoever If the Sun delight to run his race who shall stop him If God so delight in mercy that he will save for his Names sake and come in with his Non obstante as he doth Psal 106.8 who or what shall hinder him Verse 19. He will turne again he will have compassion upon us Here 's the pith and power of faith particularly applying promises to a mans self Say that sin hath separated betwixt us and our God Esay 59.2 and made him send us farre away into captivity yet he will turn again and yern toward us he will turn again our captivity as the streams in the South His compassions are more then fatherly Psal 103.13 motherly Esay 49.15 brotherly Heb. 2.12 This the Church knows and therefore cries after him Cant. 8.14 Make hast my beloved and be thou like to a Roe or to a young Hart which when it fleeth looketh behind it saith the Chaldee Paraphrast there And this that he will do she is bold to beleeve He will he will and that to us saith the Prophet here Lo this is that work of faith to wrap it self in the promises as made to us in particular 1 Tim. 1.15 and unlesse faith be on this sort actuated it is as to comfort as good as no faith Compare Mat. 8.26 with Mark 4.40 He will subdue our iniquities By force and violence as the word signifieth subjugabit pessundabit conculcabit Sin is sturdy and will rebell where it cannot reigne It hath a strong heart and will not easily yeeld But yeeld it shall for God will subdue it And this is a further favour as every former is a pledge of a future To pardon of sinne God will adde power against sinne to justification by Christs merit sanctification by his Spirit he will let out the life-blood of sin and lay it adying at our feet he will tread Satan with all his black train under our feet shortly Rom. 16.20 He will not onely turn us againe but turne his hand upon us and purely purge away our drosse and take away all our tinne Esay 1.25 In fine hee will so mortifie the deeds of the body by his Spirit that sinne shall not have dominion over us Rom. 6.14 shall not play Rex in us the traveller shall not become the man of the house as Nathans parable speaketh And thou wilt cast all their sinnes into the bottom of the sea Where-hence they shall never be boyed up again This the Prophet by an insinuating Apostrophe turneth himself to God and speaketh with much confidence Such is the nature of true faith sc to grow upon God and as I may so say to encroach as Moses did Exod. 33.12 13 c. to chap. 34.10 and as David did 1 Chron. 17.23 c. See how he improves Gods promise and works upon it ver 24 25. he goes it over again and yet still encroacheth and the effect was good chap. 18. We hinder our selves of much happinesse by a sinfull shamefacednesse Let us come boldly to the throne of grace Heb. 4. ult so shall we see our sins as Israel did the Egyptians dead on the shore Verse 20. Thou wilt performe the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham Heb. Thou wilt give for all is of free gift His love moved God to promise his truth binds him to performe 2 Sam. 7.18 21. For thy words sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these things Having made himself a voluntary debter to his people he will come off fairly with them and not bee worse then his word but better Hence Rev. 10.1 Christ is said to have a rainbowe upon his head to shew that he is faithfull and constant in his promises and that tempests should blow over the skie be cleared For this is as the waters of Noah unto mee saith the Lord for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee For the mountains shall depart c. Esay 54.9 10. God hath hitherto kept promise with nights and dayes Jer. 33.20 25. that one shall succeed the other therefore much more will he keep promise with his people which thou hast sworn unto our fathers And in them to us by vertue of the covenant So he spake with us when he spake with Jacob at Bethel Hos 12.4 and that the promises sworn to the Fathers of the old Testament belong also to us of the New See Luke 1.55 73 74. Now that God swore at any time to them or us hee did it for our sakes doubtlesse that by two iâ—â—â—â—table things in which it was impossible for God to lie wee might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us Heb. 6.17 18. See the Note there Gloria Deo in Excelsis A COMMENT OR EXPOSITION Upon the Prophesie of NAHUM CHAP. I. Verse 1. THE burden of Nineveh i. e. The burdenous prophesie See the Note on Malac. 1.1 It is a burden to wicked men to be told of their sinnes and foretold of their punishments To whom we may not unfitly apply that of the Civilian Perquà m durum est Vlpian sed ita lex scripta est If it be so tedious to hear of it what will they do to bear it Nineveh had fair warning before by Jonah and for present the unclean spirit seemed to be cast out of her but he returned soon after with seven worse as appears by this Prophesie and so their last state was worse then the former Mat. 12.45 Their bile half-healed breaking out again proved to be the plague of leprosie Lev. 13.18 19 20. such as shut them out of heaven God will do good to those that are good and continue so But as for those that turn aside unto their crooked wayes as all Apostates do the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity as cattle are led to the slaughter or malefactours to
is still the sinne of that nation as Gualther upon this text heavily complaineth and it is grown to a proverb the Drunken Dutch-man Of them the English much commended for their sobriety learned in the Netherland-warres to drown themselves by immoderate drinking Camâ—d Elis 231. and by drinking to others healths to impair their own so that in our dayes came forth the first restraint thereof by severity of lawes saith Camden who yet being so great an Antiquary could not but know that in the year 959. Edgar king of this land made an Ordinance for putting pinnes in cups that none should quasse whole ones And makest him drunk also Robbest him of himselfe and layest a beast in his roome The same Hebrew word Zolel signifieth a drunkard and a vile person filthy venemous creatures breed in those fennish grounds Ich 40.21 Behemoth lieth in them which Gulielmus Parisiensis applyeth to the Devil in drunken hearts whereas in dry places sober souls he walketh about seeking rest but sindeth none Mat. 12.43 Natal Comes Eâ—â—ist 84. daemon meridianus The very Heathen in hatred of this sinne fained that Cobali an hurtfull and pernicious kind of Devils accompanyed Bacchus and that Acratus or the intemperate Devil was their Captain Seneca calleth it a voluntary madnesse another a noon-day Devill no more a night-walker as once 1 Thes 5.7 The Lacedemonians punished it severely so do the Turks at this day powring ladle-fuls of boyling lead down their throats sometimes and at least bastinadoing of them on the bare feet till they are disabled for walking in haste again to their conventicles of good-fellowship Heyl. Geog. 793. Morat Bassa commanded a pipe to be thrust thorow the nose of a Turk which was found taking Tobacco and so in derision to be led about Constantinople Let men shun this shamefull sinne and be farre from drawing others to it for have they not sins enough of their own to answer for Must they needs go to hell in company Dives desired that his brethren and companions in sinne might not come to that place of torment Luke 16. This he did not out of any good will to them but because he knew if they were ever damned he should be double-damned That thou maist look on their nakednesse Those parts that nature would have covered are called nakednesse per Antiphrasin To look on them with delight is by some held a sinne against Nature the ground of their opinion is Gen. 3.7 To make men drunk for that purpose is worse But if for further abuse of their bodies to uncleannesse as Attalus the Macedonian dealt by Pausanias a young Courtier who afterwards slew King Philip Pansudam soâ—â—um mero Alâ—â—lus non â—uae tantuin verim convivarum libiâ—â—â— velut scorâ—â—m vrle subject ludiâ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 theat 〈…〉 viâ—â—uti sunâ—limus rigidae inn â—â—tiae Vell. lib. 2. because he would not punish Attalus for so doing that's worst of all and hath a woe woe woe hanging at the heeles of it Verse 16. Thou art filled with shame for glory Or more with shame then with glory That is thou shalt be filled shortly with ignominy for that glory wherein thou presently pridest thy selfe thy drunkenesse shall redound to thine utter disgrace as it was to Darius Alexander Autoninus Bonosus Trajan a good Emperor otherwise but a drunkard and a pederast as Dio Cassius reporteth him Yea Cato that most severe censurer of other mens manners to whom it was sometime objected how deservedly I know not quod nocturnis potationibus indulgeret that by night he would drink soundly This is a blurre to him if true and confutes that elogium given him by Paterculus that he was omnibus humanis vitiis immunis free from all vices and as like vertue her selfe as might be In Scripture the drunkards stile begins in lawlesnesse proceeds in unprofitablenesse ends in misery and all shâ—t up in that denomination of his pedigree A sonne of Belial Drink thou also Sith thou art so able at it sith thou hast so well deserved that infamous Epitaph of a certain drunkard Heus hic situs est Offellius Buratius Bibulus Qui dum vixit aut bibit aut minxit abi praeceps Joâ—nsi de Natur constant Drink another while of the cup of shame and sorrow take thy part of all manner of miseries Jer. 25.26 Obad. 16. Snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempost shall one day be the portion of thy cup For the righteous Lord loveth righteousnesse Psal 11.6.7 Yea he loveth to retaliate and will therefore make these drunkards drink also and those that made others drunk that they might look on their nakednesse to lie with their fore-skins uncovered to their perpetual reproach Uncircumcision was a shameful spectacle indeed among that people The cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned to thee Heb. turned about or shall turn it selse quia rerum omnium vicissitudo thy turn is now come to take off the dregs of Gods cup of calamity Ier. 25.15 that hath eternity to the bottome And shamefull spewing shall be on thy glory Kikalon a compound word the vomit of ignominy a fit punishment for filthy drunkards who break their heads as swine do their bellies over-charge their stomacks as dogges do their gorges and then disgorge themselves in a shamefull sort as Antonius did at Narbon amidst his guests at a feast and as Eccius Luthers great adversary whom he merrily called Ieccius from his casting as Tiberius was nicknamed Biberius shall be on thy glory The Hebrew word for glory properly signifieth weightinesse as the word twice here used for shame signifieth lightnesse an elegant opposition shewing that whatsoever the Babylonians gloried in and held themselves honourable for should be lightly accounted of and lie buried in the sheet of shame as in a dung-hill of filthy vomit Verse 17. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee Here for the comfort of Gods people which is the main scope of this prophesie he repeateth the chief causes of Babylons calamity viz. her cruelty to Lebanon that is to all Judaea a part being put for the whole Or else he speaketh of the violence done to the Temple which was built of the cedars of Lebanon as was likewise the Temple of Diana at Ephesus made of Cedar-wood The devil loves to be Gods ape This violence in firing the Temple and desolating the countrey shall cover thee all over as a garment doth the body yea it shall be as the shirt made for the murthering of Agamemnon where the head had no issue out and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid Men are here called beasts as the land Lebanon these were spoiled and terrified these were murthered and massacred by the Chaldeans who shall therefore be severely punished and this written as it were over their heads to signifie for what they suffer Because of mens blood and for the violence of the land of the city and of all that dwell therein See the
be in the Prophet Esays sense chap. 53.1 but thy preceding discourse in answer to my disceptation I have heard that the Babylonians will come and that my people must into captivity This was no pleasant hearing for we all naturally shrink in the shoulder when call'd to carry the crosse but those that do what they should not must look to hear and feel too what they would not and was afraid Fear is constrictio cordis exsensu mali instantis a passion of the soule shrinking in it self from some imminent evill The wicked heare and jeere or their feare driveth them from God as it did guilty Adam Contrarily the godly tremble at Gods judgements whiles they hang in the threatenings and draw nigh to him with intreaties of peace In this feare of the Lord is strong confidence and his children have a place of refuge Prov. 14.26 O Lord reviue thy work in the middest of the yeares i. e. Preserve alive thine Israel that work of thine hands Esay 45.11 together with thy work of grace in their hearts keep that spark alive upon the sea of tribulations and temptations The Angels saith a Reverend man are kept with much lesse care charge and power then we because they have no biasse no weights of sin hung upon them c. There is not so much of the glory of God saith Another in all his works of Creation and Providence as in one gracious action that a Christian performeth in the middest of the yeares make known sc thy power in perfecting thy glory and not forsaking the work of thine own hands Psal 138.8 It was Luthers usuall prayer Act. Mon. Confirm O God in us that thou hast wrought and perfect the work that thou hast begun in us to thy glory So be it So Q. Elisabeth when prisoner at Woodstock pray'd thus Look Lord upon the wounds of thine hands and despise not the work of thine hands Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand O read thine own hand-writing Engl. Elis pag. 134. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and save me c. But what meant the Seventy here to translate In the middest of two beasts which whiles Ribera striveth to defend he tells us a tale of the babe of Bethlehem born in a stable and laid in a manger betwixt two beasts an oxe and an asse It may very well be that the Church here prayeth for Gods grace and favour during the time of her captivity In wrath remember mercy In commotione irae when thou art most moved against us and hast as much adoe to forbear killing of us as thou hadst to forbear Moses when thou mettest him in the Inne then remember to shew mercy call to mind thy compassions which fail not Look then upon us and be mercifull unto us as thou usest to doe unto those that love thy name Psal 119.132 The wicked are threatned with an evill an onely evil without any mixture of mercy Ezek. 7.5 this the Prophet here deprecateth and beggeth mercy Per miserere mei tollitur iradei Verse 3. God came from Teman The Prophet alludeth to that of Moses in his Swan-like song Deut. 33.2 and alledgeth Gods benefits of old for his own and their present confirmation of faith without which prayer would be to no purpose hence effectuall prayer is called the prayer of faith Jam. 5.15 Faith is the foundation of prayer and prayer is the fervency of faith Whatsoever ye ask beleeving Mar. 7. Psal 55. yee shall receive saith our Saviour Cast thy burthen or thy request upon the Lord saith David To help us so to doe it is of singular use to consider what God hath done heretofore for thou hast thou wilt is an ordinary medium of Scripture Logick see Psal 85.1 2 3 4. There be six Hasts drawing in the next Turn us again c. ver 4. See also 2 Cor. 1.10 Gods Majesty might when he gave the Law in Sinai is here set forth to shew how easily he can if he please Psal 126.4 turn again the captivity of his people as the Streams in the south And the holy One from mount Paran Selah He that is Holinesse it self a title farre too good for that man of sinne that Merum Scelus the Pope Philip the Faire of France did him right in writing to him thus Sciat tua maxima Fatuitas c. Be it known to your Foolishnesse not to your Holinesse and that must be sanctified in righteousnesse Esay 5.16 mount Paran was contiguous to the mountains Sinai and Teman otherwise called Seir for its roughnesse Deut. 33.2 Selah This the Seventy make to be a musical notion rendring it Diapsalma It seemeth to import an asseveration of a thing so to be and an admiration thereat The Iews at this day use it in their prayers for Legnolam i. e. For ever or Amen It is probable that the Singers of the Temple came to a Selah which word is used 92 times in Scripture and onely in Psalmes and Songs they made a pause that the hearers might stay their thoughts awhile upon the preceding matter worthy of more then ordinary observation Hence Tremellius and Iunius expresse Selah by the adverbs Summe Maximè Vehementissimè Excellenter It was doubtlesse a singular mercy of God to his people of Israel that he came from Teman c. to speak with them from heaven and there to give them right Iudgements and true Lawes good Statutes and Commandements Neh. 9.13.14 This when he did His glory covered the Heavens and the Earth was full of his praise The Law was given in a most majestick manner see Exod. 19. partly to procure reverence to the doctrine of it partly to set forth the nature and office of it which is to terrify Offenders and to drive them to Christ and partly also to shew that God hath power and weapons enow to defend those that keep his Law and to punish such as would draw them off from their obedience thereunto That 's a pious meditation of a Reverend Writer if the Law were thus given how shall it be required Dr. Hall If such were the Proclamation of Gods Statutes what shall the Sessions bee I see and tremble at the resemblance c. Verse 4. And his brightnesse was as the light The glory of the Lord was as a devouring fire on the top of the mountain Exod. 24.17 the noon-day light the Sun in his strength was nothing to this incomparable brightnesse which was as the light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Sun sâ—e Iob 31.26 and 37.20 Hence the Heathens called Apollo or the Sun Orus which is the word here used Hence also the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to see He had 〈◊〉 coming out of his hand Or bright beams out of his side as the Sun hath The 〈◊〉 the Lord are in every place Prov. 15.3 Rev. 4.6 and every man before him is all 〈◊〉 Iob 34.22 the whole world is
a cry from the fish-gate called also the firstgate Zach. 14.10 whereat the Caldeans entred and caused a great hubbub as in such a case is usuall and an howling from the second Called by the Chaldee Paraphrast the bird-gate there was also one called the horse-gate Jer. 31.40 Some understand the text not of any gate Jerushalaijm but of the second part of the city for there was the upper town and the lower town whence Jerusalem is of the duall number and the tower of David on the hill of Zion Others of the Colledge where Huldad dwelt 2 King 22.14 a school of learning as the Chaldee interpreteth it and called Mishneh as you would say a place of repetition or of catechising the younger sort with whom nothing sticks but what is repeated to them over and over as the knife goeth over the whetstone Shanan Shanah repetire sicut in acuendo See Deut. 6.7 and a great crashing or shivering Heb. shebher from the hills Gareb and Goath Jer. 31.39 and the rest that were round about Jerusalem Psal 125.2 The Prophets scope is to shew that all places shall be full of tumult and out-cry upon the approach of the enemy They that would not listen to the sweet voice of God inciting and inticing them to repentance have now their ears filled with hideous and horrid notes and noises Verse 11. Howl ye inhabitants of Maktesh Or of the mortar or of the low and hollow place of the base-town where corn was brayed in mortars before Mills were in use These are here called upon to turn their laughter to mourning and their joy into heavinesse to weep and howl for the evils that shall come upon them Jam. 4.9 and 5.1 but especially for their sinnes the cause of those miseries for Gods judgements upon sinners are feathered from themselves as a fowl shot with an arrow feathered from her own body for all the merchant-people are cut down The merchant-men were wont to furnish the mortar-men such as dealt in corn spicery and the like These shall be cut down as being more like Canaanites a people devoted to destruction then Israelites a people saved by the Lord the shield of their help and the sword of their excellency Deut. 33.29 Vide Garol Paschalij legat cap. 7. p. 24. See Hos 12.8 with the Note He is a merchant the ballances of deceit are in his hand he loveth to oppresse See Amos 8 5 6. Mic. 6.10 11 12. Merchandise well managed is of great use to Kingdoms and States for many reasons 1. For descrying the counsels and strength of other Nations 2. For procuring the love and friendship of forreine Princes and people 3. for exchanging of commodities for non omnis fert omnia tellus 4. for gaining experience of many and great matters this caused Thales Hippocrates and Solon to exercise merchandise 5. It occasioned the building of many famous cities Massilia for one as Plutarch writeth Neverthelesse this honourable profession is much abused by those whom Nahum calleth cankerworms chap. 3.16 for their covetousnes luxury oppression bringing in unnecessary wares that emasculate and dissolve mens spirits and hereticall books that undoe their soules and lastly for their carrying out the wealth of their country to strangers yea to enemies sometimes Hence they are justly cut down by God and are to be ordered by the Magistrate according to Lev. 19.35 36. Deut. 25. Ezek. 45.9 10 11 12. all they that bear silver are cut off The rich traders that had marsupia plena and carried money in great burthens these shall be also cut off or silenced have nothing to say for themselves why they should not be destroyed with the rest as those that have been involuti argento as the vulgar translation hath it here so wrapped up in their money and affected to it as that it hath rather possessed them then they it Cor habent in aere non in athere their heart goeth after their covetousnesse Ezek. 33.31 Here they are called Portatores argenti silver-carriers sumpter-horses laden with thick clay Silver is that which the basest element yeeldeth the most savage Indians get servile apprentises work Midianitish Camels carry miserable muck-worms admire covetous Jewes swallow unthristy Ruffians spend c. It is to be wondred saith One that treading upon these minerals we cannot contemn them They lye furthest from heaven and the best of them are in India furthest from the Church and yet how many doth mony make to run quick to the devill on an errand and payes them home for their paines Verse 12. I will search Jerusalem with candles which yet he needs not do sith the darknesse hideth not from him but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are to him alike Psal 139.12 Confer Iob 34.22 Ier. 23.24 Deo obscura lucent muta respondent silentium confitetur Night will convert it self into noon before God and silence become a speaking evidence His eyes also are a flaming fire that needs no outward light but sees by sending out a ray c. but when Jerusalem is threatened to be searched with ligâ—ts the meaning is that it shall be set all upon a light fire and the inhabitants ferretted out of their lurking-holes their Princes and potentates pulled out of privies and sepulchers by the pursuing enemy as Hierome out of Josephus here affirmeth they once were Besides that they shall be brought to a particular and punctuall account for their sins God will be very exact and accurate with them that way setting all their evill deeds in order before their eyes Psal 50.21 and bringing wrath upon them to the utmost 1 Thes 2.16 This is fearefull Psal 130.3 and shall be fulfilled especially at the last day when wicked men shall give an account minutatim of all their Atheisticall thoughts Psal 14.1 ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Iude 15. with the whole world flaming about their eares 2 Pet. 3.7 10 12. 1 Cor 4.5 2 Thes 1.8 and punish the men that are settled on their lees Coagulati curded or thickened congealed and condensed that are habituated and hardned in their evill practises that have got a sward nay a hoof upon their hearts that have brawny breasts and horny heart-strings that stick stifly in the mire of their sins as Moab Ier. 48.11 and being deeply drowned in the world are desperately divorced from God whom they basely fancy to be a God of clouts one that howere he speak big words yet will do neither good nor hurt mibi haec mortalia curat that say in their hearts As that saplesse fellow doth Psal 14.1 Some set their mouths against heaven and shame not to utter their reasonings and resolutions of this kind These are Epicuri de gregiporci such as was Lucretius Diageras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herace with his credat Iudaeus apella Herat. serm Nonego namque deos didici secuum
pride Or in thine excellency as Psal 68.35 that is the thine external priviledges wherein thou hast hitherto so prided thy selfe as the onely people of God holy and beloved and thou shalt no more be haughty Stand upon thy tip-tees upon thy pantofles as if there were none such because of mine holy mountaine Ier. 7.4 The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord c. cryed they aloud that nothing cared for the Lord of the Temple So the Jesuites and their Romish crew cry the Church the Church the Catholike church ad ravim usque like so many oyster-wives but this is not the guise of Gods people He will purge his church of such Formalists Verse 12. I will also leave in the middest of thee an afflicted and poor people Poor and therein afflicted therefore despised Poverity is an affliction and makes a man trodden upon Men will be sure to go over the hedge where it is lowest Hence St. Nil habet insoelix paupertus durtus in se Quam quod ridiculos homines facit Paul ioyned them together I have leared to want and to be abased They that want must look to be abased This thy son saith He Luk 15.30 not this my brother he would not once own him because in poverty But though men will not yet God will Iam. 2.5 Rev. 2.9 I know thy poverty but that 's nothing thou art rich poor in spirit rich to God-ward glorying in nothing but this that thou understandest and knowest me and my will thy self and thy duty Ier. 9.23 and art therefore a rich Cargazon a full Magazine such as the world is not worthy of and they shall trust in the name of the Lord As having nothing else o trust to So St. Pauls widdow indeed being desolate and left aloue trusteth in God who whiles she had an husband trusted too much in him 1 Tim. 5.5 A noble-woman of Savoy mother to Iohn Galear Duke of Millaine after her huâ—bands decease caused a coyne to be made upon the one side whereof she drew these words Sola facta solum Deum sequor Being left alone I trust in God alone Verse 13. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity Sanctity and security are here promised to al the citizâ—ns of the Church Being justified by Christ they shall do righteousnesse and truth there shall no way of wickednesse be found in them Psal 139.24 they shall be kept from foule flagitious practises neither shall they wallow or allow themselves in any known sin unrepented of Their spot if any shall be the spot of Gods children Deut. 32.5 unvoluntary and unavoidable informity such as there is a pardon of course for onely they must sue it out by praying daily Forgive us our trespasses Nor speak lies For that 's a foule fault and raâ—ely found in a Saint Esay 63.8 For he said Surely they are my people children that will not lie So he was their Saviour Tho. Walsingh It was wont to be as currant an argument Christianus est non mentietur He is a christian he will not lie as afterwards it was Hic est frater ergo mendax This is a friar and therefore a liar Sophronius testifieth of Chrysostome nunquam eum mentitum fuisse that he was never heard to tell a lie Whereas of Pilat Egesippus telleth us that he was Vir nequam parvi faciens mendacium a naughty man and one that made little conscience of a lie it may seem so indeed by that scornfull question of his What 's truth Ioh. 18.38 neither shall a deceitfull tongue be found in their mouth Their pure lip ver 9. is not used to the language of hell their spirit without guile Psal 32.2 produceth speech without deceit for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Mat. 12.34 See the Note there for they shall feed and lie down shall have all that heart can wish or need require plenty safety security c. and none shall make them afraid So as to make them dec iniquity or speak lies as very good men when frighted have dared to do witnesse abraham Isaac Jacob but especially David deeply guilty of this sin 1 Sam. 21.2 8. and 1 Sam. 27.8 10. In the sense of which sin he prayeth Remove from me the way of lying Psal 119.29 we also should pray Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from that evill one the father of lies And having the shepheard of Israel to feed us and tend us we should not feare Psal 23.2 3. but chusing rather to dye then to lye to suffer then to shift commit the keeping of our souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creatour 1 Pet. 4.19 Verse 14. Sing O daughter of Zion shot O Israel Ioy is the just mans portion which the wicked may not meddle with Hos 9.1 In the transgression of an evill man there is a snare or a cord to strangle his joy with to cheek and choke all his comforts but the righteous sing and rejoyce Prov. 29.6 they are commanded so to do yea the command is doubled and trebbled here and elsewhere in both Testaments and it is a sin for such not to rejoyce as well as not to repent be glad and rejoyce with all the heart which no wicked man can do his mith is but the hypocrisy of mirth like a little counterfeit complexion It may smooth the face never cheer up the heart like a slight dash of raine that soaketh not to the root or a handfull of brush wood or seare thorns under the pot Eccles 7.6 As their humiliations are but skin-deep they rent-their garments and not their hearts they grieve in the face and not in the heart Mat. 6.16 so do they rejoyce in the face and not with all their heart 2 Cor. 5.12 Verse 15. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments i. e. He hath remitted thy sins removed thy punishments turned againe thy captivity as the streames in the south commanded his Prophets faying Comfort ye comfort ye my people c. Esa 40.1.2 tell her that all accusations and actions laid against her in the coury of heaven are non-suted and Gods wrath appeased This is the summe of all hte good news in the world this is a short gospell he hath cast out thine enemy As rubbish and sweepings of the house are cast out so hath God dealt by thine enemies corporall and spirituall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repurga re everrere significat that thou being delivered out of the hands of both might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all thy dayes Luk 1.74 75. the king of Israel even the Lord is in the middest of thee In the many testimonies of his powerfull and gracious presence yea he hath set him up a mercy-seat a throne of grace and bidden thee come boldly thereunto Heb. 4.16 thou shalt not see evill any more sc so long as thou retainest God with thee who is both a sun and a
chap. 14.21 returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith c. And ordaining Preachers every where for that very purpose for the increase of their knowledge for the strengthening of their faith for the help of their memories and for the quickening of their affections Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepè cadendo Gods tender plants need be often watered that they may spring and sprout Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit Primas and to the residue of the people Non enim sacris Eleasiniis quae in vulgus spargi nefas erat similia sunt oracula Dei saith an interpreter here Gods oracles are not to be hid from the common sort as Sibylla's were and as the Popish Doctours hold lest men should be made hereticks thereby that is right beleevers Grynaus It is heresy saith One of them to read the scriptures It was the invention of the devill saith Another An husbandman reading the scriptures was possest saith a third It is not needfull for the common sort to know more of Gods mind then the Articles of the Creed saith Aquinas Bellarmine c. Iohn Barclay in his Parenesis excusing the church of Rome for taking away the scriptures from the Vulgar saith thus Sed de his quoque providit Ecclesia concionibus in quibus Evangelia referuntur c. But for this the Church hath made sufficient provision by appointing Sermons to be made upon the Gospels for the day and by permitting books of devotion wherein much use is made of the holy Scriptures And for the historicall part of the old Testament saith he men may read Iosephus his Antiquities where it is set down more plainely and plentifully then-in the Bible c. But I am weary of raking in this foule channel Verse 3. Who is left amongst you that saw this house in her first glory Some such there were amongst them as is here implyed and these must needs be very old sixscore at least some say more Zorobabel might well be one of these for he was a chiefetaine in the first yeere of Cyrus Ezra 2.2 And Jehoshuah the high-Priest might be another for he came out of Babylon with Zorobabel at the same time Ezra 2.22 We see by experience that mens lives are daily shortened Naturall reasons whereof may be these 1. Untimely marriages 2. Cloying our bodyes with variety of meates and so digging our own graves with our own teeth 3. Much ease and delicacy The supernaturall reason may be that so the world may sooner come to an end God maketh hast to have the number of his Elect fulfilled and therefore dispatcheth away the generations shorteneth life for his Elects sake fetcheth home his pilgrims makes their dayes few though evill Gen. 49. takes them away from the evill to come c. Bern. death being to them arumnarum requies as Chaucers Motto was yea janua vitae porta coeli the day-break of eternall brightnesse and how do ye see it now It is a part of old mens prudence rightly to compare things long since past with things present and so to conjecture at things to come Thus the prudent person by discourse of reason foreseeth an evill and hideth himself when the yong foole passeth on and is punished is it not in your eyes that is in your thoughts for God taketh notice of the inward workings of the heart 1 Sam. 16.7 Psal 139.2 1 King 8.39 For he made the heart and must therefore know all that is in it as a watch-maker knowes all the wheels and motions of the watch He also will bring every secret thing into judgement Ecles 12.14 Therefore thought is not free as foolish folk dote either from the notice of his eye he had soon found out these Jows when they did but despise the day of small things in their hearts Zach. 4.10 or from the censure of his mouth Heb. 4.12 13. Rom. 7.14 the law is spirituall and meets with involuntary motions to sin ver 7. Or lastly from the stroke of his hand which is a mighty hand 1 Pet. 5.6 and falls very heavy Deut. 29.19 even for a root of bitternesse as it is there for vaine thoughts Ier. 4.14 how much more for mischievous murtherous covetous vainglorious and adulterous thoughts c. It were good therefore to write upon walles and windowes yea would it were written upon the tables of our hearts that short Motto which as short as it is yet our memories are shorter Cave Deus videt Take heed God looks on for he is omnipresent and omniscient is it not in your eyes in comparison as nothing A meer Non-ens or nullity not fit to be named in the same day with the former Temple For first Cyrus appointed the full proportion of this second House the height thereof threescore cubites and the bredth thereof threescore cubites Ezra 6.3 which was but one half so big as Solomous Temple Herod indeed Lib. 15. Ant. cap. 14. to curry favour with the Jews which yet would never be built upon Solomons foundation and bestowed a great deale of cost if we may beleeve Iosephus But so could not these Jews do that returned from Babylon for they were secondly but few and those also poor and though helped both by Cyrus and Darius yet they were glad to build the Temple of common stone and unpolished nothing like those precious carved stones wherewith Solomon built 1 King 6. Thirdly God hereby would draw their minds from the legall ceremonies and services the Sun of righteousnesse being now ready to arise upon them the day-spring from on high to visit them Howbeit because they could not have so glorious a Temple as the former they slighted it in their thoughts and would have neglected it Learne hence That men naturally account as nothing of Gods service if not accompanied with outward pompe and splendour The Israelites in the wildernesse would needs have a calf as the Egyptians had made of their Jewels and ear-rings Ieroboam would have two and those of gold Nebuchadnezzar dedicated a golden image with all manner of musick Dan. 3. The people wept when the foundation of this Temple was laid Ezra 3.12 because nothing so magnificent as the former And the Papists explode our religion in comparison of theirs because nothing so pompous and plausible to the rude people whom they deceive with apish toyes and trinkets shewes and pageants In their petition to King James they pleaded for their religion that it was more pleasing then ours and more agreeable to nature Iohn Hunt a Roman Catholike in his humble appeale to King James thus blasphemeth Chap. 6. the God of the Protestants is worse then Pan God of the clownes which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all Many like children like that book best that hath most babyes in it neither will they eate their milk but in a golden dish This proceedes
Iohn 10.30.38 and 14.23 2. As having the incommunicable names and attributes of God Iohn 8.58 and 20.28 Eternity Iohn 1.1 and 17.5 Infinitenesse Iohn 3.13 Omniscience Iohn 2.24 and 21.27 3. As doing the works of God such as are Creation Iohn 1.3 Conservation Iohn 5.17.3 miracles c. 4. As taking to himselfe divine Worship Iohn 9.38 and 20.28 and 14.1 This truth men must hold fast as their lives and be rooted in it getting strong reasons for what they beleeve The second ground wanted depth of earth The seed was good and the earth was good but there was not enough of it therefore the heat of the sun scorcht in up Christ is here called the Lord of Hosts and the Lord of glory Isay 6.1 with John 12.41 Jam. 2.1 Yet once it is a little while c. Adhuc unum pusillum This little little while this inch of time was the better part of five hundred years viz. Galatin lib. 4. cap 9 10. till Christ came in the flesh Heb. 12.26 the Jew-Doctours say no lesse A long time to us is but a little while to God A thousand years is but as one day to the Ancient of dayes His Prophets also being lifted up in spirit to the consideration of eternity count and call all times as indeed they are in comparison moments and points of time Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus could the Poet say D. Hall Peaâ—m What is that to the Infinite said a certain Noble-man of this Land to one discoursing of an incident matter very considerable but was taken off with this quick Interrogation So say we to our selves when under any affliction we begin to think long of Gods coming to deliver us What is this to Eternity of extremity which yet we have deserved Tantillum tantillum adhuc pusillum Yet a very little while and hee that shall come will come and will not tarry as in the Interim the just must live by faith Heb. 10.37 Gods help seems long because we are short We are short-breathed short-sighted apt to antedate the promises in regard of the accomplishment We also oft find it more easie to bear evil then to wait till the promised good be enjoyed Those beleeving Hebrews found by experience that the spoiling of their goods exercised their patience but staying Gods leysure for the good things he had promised them required more then ordinary patience or tarriance Heb. 10.36 Take we heed of prescribing to the Almighty of limiting the Holy One of Israel of setting him a time with those Bethulians and I will shake the heavens Not the earth onely as at the giving of the Law to purchase reverence to the Law-giver but the heavens also viz by the powerfull preaching of the Gospel whereby Satan was seen falling from heaven Luke 10.18 that is from mens hearts and the Saints set together in heavenly places or priviledges in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.6 For he that hath the Son hath life hee hath heaven aforehand 1. In pretio 2. In promisso 3. 1 Joh 5 1â— In primitiis Here then the Prophet encourageth these builders telling them that under this second Temple how mean soever it seemed he would first send Christ called the Desire of all Nations vers 7. and Peace vers 9. with Ephes 2.14 to grace it with his presence Secondly he would cause the Gospel to be preached in a pompous and powerfull manner I will shake c. Shake them to settle them not to ruine them but to refine them shake their hearts with sense of sin and fear of wrath that they may truly seek Christ For the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 And the end of this universall shake was to shew saith Chrysostome Hom. 14. in Matth. that the old law was to be changed into the New Moses into Messias the Prophets into Evangelists Judaisme and Gentilisme into Christianisme When Christ was born we know how Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him Matt. 2.3 What a quire of Angels was heard in the air at Bethlehem and what wondering there was at those things which were told them by the shepherds Luke 2.18 Eusebius tells of three Suns seen in heaven not long before his birth Orosius tels of many more prodigies The Psalmist foretelling our Saviours coming in the flesh breaks out into this joyfull exclamation Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulnesse thereof Let the field be joyfull and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousnesse and the people with truth Psal 96.11 Lib. 18. de C. D. cap. 48. 12 13. and Psal 98.7 8 9. This I know is by some but not so properly understood of Christs second coming to judgement And both Augustin and Rupertus construe this text also the same way But the whole stream of Interpreters old and new carry it against them and some of them tell us of sundry strange and stupendious commotions that fell out even according to the letter in heaven earth and sea about the time of Christs birth death resurrection and soon after his Ascension when he rode about the world upon his white horse the Apostles and their successours with a crown on his head as King of his Church and a bowe in his hand the doctrine of the Gospel whereby the people fall under him Psal 45.4 and he went forth conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 Vers 7. And I will shake all Nations First by the civil warres between the Triumviri not long before Christs Incarnation Secondly by the generall taxe Luke 2.3 when all went to be taxed every one into his own city Thirdly by the preaching and miracles of Christ and his Apostles whereby the Nations were shaken out of their sinfull condition and brought to the obedience of faith by effectuall conversion Thus a Lapide I will shake all Nations with wonder at so great a mystery with joy and with newnesse of life saith Sa. The Gospel saith Forbes on Revel 14. hath three degrees of operation in the hearts of men First it falleth to mens ears as the sound of many waters a confused sound which commonly bringeth neither terrour nor joy but yet a wondering and acknowledgement of a strange force and more then humane power Mar. 1.22 23. Luke 4.32 Job 7.46 This may be in the reprobate Act. 13.41 The second effect is the voice of thunder which brings not onely wonder but fear This may also be in a reprobate as Felix The third effect proper to the Elect is the sound of harping while the Gospel not onely ravisheth with admiration and shaketh the conscience with terrour but also filleth it with sweet peace and joy Hitherto He. Certain it is that the Gospel maketh a stirre where it cometh and brings an earthquake
resolve cases of conscience as they It was their office Levit. 10.10 11. Deut. 33.10 Mal. 2.7 See the Note there It was an evil time with Gods people when he was put to complain who is blind but my servant or deaf as my messenger that I sent Isay 42.19 Viu in Aug. de civ Dei l. 4. c 1. When the Prophet was a foole the spiritual man was mad for the multitude of their iniquity and the great hatred Hos 9.7 Varro upbraided the Roman Priests of old with their grosse ignorance of many things in point of their own rites and religions and Cicero brake a jest upon C. Popilius an ignorant Lawyer at Rome For when Popilius being called for a witnesse to some controversy answered Nihil se scire that hee knew nothing Cicero answered by way of jear Put as fortasse te de jure interrogari you mean perhaps that you know nothing in the law which yet you professe to have skill in What a shame was it for the Pharisees who took upon them to be guides of the blind teachers of babes c. Rom. 2.19.20 to be found blind leaders of the blind Mat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Enniâ—s 15 So is it for Divines being asked concerning the Law or will of God in such and such cases not to be able to answer discreetly and intelligently as he did Mark 12.34 as an egregie cordat us homo But so bungler-like and so farre from the purpose that it my well be seene that desiring to be teachers of the Low they underst and neither what they say nor whereof they affirme 1 Tim. 1.7 How like the motion of a puppet the language of a Parret is the discourse of such unlearned or uninteressed Casuists Every Minister of Gods making can truly say The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know to time a word to him that is weary he wakeneth morning by morning he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned Esay 50.4 See 1 Cor. 12.8 Tit. 1.9 Eph. 3.4 7.1 Cor. 2.13 Verse 12. If one bear holy flesh in the skirt c. problemes and parables are notable helps to the bolting out of the truth and conviction of the gainsayers For problemes see Mat. 21.25 Mat 22.42 c. For parables see Judg. 9. that of Jotham Mat. 21. Mat. 22. Mat. 13. of Nathan 2 Sam. 12. of the woman of Tekoah 2 Sam. 14. of our Saviour concerning the two brethren sent into the Vincyard the wedding of the Kings son the sower c. See the Note on verse 10. and the Priests answered and said no Roundly and readily without hacking and hewing without doubling and dissembling as those perverse priests those selfe-condemned Hierophants Mat. 21.27 that against their consciences answered Iesus and said We cannot tell The wit of gracelesse persons will better serve them to faulter and fumble deny or devise a thousand shifts to evade and elude the truth then their malice will suffer them to yeeld to it or professe it This is to detain the truth in unrighteousnesse Rom. 1.18 as Plato who had the knowledge of One God yet he dared not to communicate it to the vulgar and as some of the chief champions of Popery who held justification by faith alone but refused to say so lest their Dagon should down their Diana be despised Let every spiritual man but especially Ministers be ready as to every good work so to this of comparing spiritual things with spirituall that he may judge or discerne of all things 1 Cor. 2.13.15 according to the analogy of faith Rom. 12.6 the tenour of the Scriptures his sure Cynosura and laying up all in his heart Luke 2.18 he may have a treasure there of new and old a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge â—00 1 Cor. 12.8 both as a Teacher and as a Pastour to bring forth for common benefit Verse 13. If one that is unclean by a dead body with a ceremonial uncleannesse The Hebrew hath it thus If one that is unclean in soul that is in his whole person as every wicked man is totus totus pollutus wholly covered with corruption a lothsome leper from head to foot wholly set upon sin as Exod. 32.22 lying down in wickednesse or in that wicked one 1 John 5.19 sick of such a disease as the Physicians call corruptionem totius substantiae nay dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2.1 and can therefore doe no better then dead work at best Heb. 9.14 such as the living God will not be served with ibid. See the note on Mal. 3.16 doct 4. Use 1. He is unclean unclean and impureth all that hee toucheth according to that which followeth Verse 14. So is this people and so is this Nation before me Though pure in their own eyes Prov. 30.12 and to the world-ward unrebukeable as Paul the Pharisees Phil. 3. and those self-iustitiaries Luke 16.14 15. Ye are those that justifie your selves and have the worlds good word for you but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God Sordet in conspectu judicis quodfulget in conspectu operantis Splendida pecca u. Am. 6.13 Wicked mens services are but glistering sinnes they rejoâ—ce in a thing of naught as Amos hath it like as Leah rejoyced in that whereof She had cause to repent and said God hath given me my hire when she had more cause to say God I fear will give me my hire my payment because I have given my maiden to my husband Gen. 30.18 But she was in the common errour of measuring and judging of things by the successe as if God were not many times angry with men though they outwardly prosper or as if there were not here one event to the clean and to the unclean Eccles 9.2 Uutill the day that God shall separate the sheep from the goates whom for the glory of his name and the good of his people he suffers for present to goe one among another to make his own to stick the faster together and to their principles Shepheards say that it is wholsome for a flock of sheep to have some goats to feed amongst them their bad scent being good Physick for the sheep to keep them from the shakings Onely let Gods sheep take heed that they contract no corruption by conversing with goats which is soon done for sinne is catching and ill company is contagious Nemoerat sibi ipsi sed dementiam spargit in proximos saith Seneca No man erres out of the right way alone but drawes others along And multos sollicitat soâ—iet as nefanda saith Chrysostom evil company solliciteth many to sinke virtue is oft overcome by vice saith Nazianzen Orat. 1. Apolog as a little wormwood sooner imbittereth a great deal of hony then twice so much honey can sweeten a small deal of wormwood Or as one spoonfull of vineger will soon tart a great deal of sweet milk
but a great deal of milk will not so soon allay one spoonfull of vineger Remove but one stone and the whole river will rush downward but you can hardly stop the stream again with a strong damme Touch pitch and you shall presently be defiled but touch sope and you shall not presently be made clean without much rubbing and rinsing Meâ—entius the tyrant Corpora corporibus jungebat mortua vivis tyed living men to dead carcasses but the dead did notrevive by the living Virgil. the living rather putrified by reason of the dead He that bore consecrated flesh in the skirt of his garment and with his skirt touched bread or pottage or wine or oyle or any meat he made it not thereby holy But if an unclean person touched any of these he made it unclean The Donatists abused this Text to prove that Baptisme was defiled and vacated if administrated by an unregenerate Minister But Augustine again against Fulgentius the Donatist vindicateth the Text from their false glosses and asserteth from it the contrary truth May not clean corn bee sowed with foul hands and grow neverthelesse Aqua baptismatis haptizatos ad regnum coelestis mittit ipsa postea in cloacam descendit Greg in Evang. hom 17. May not a trumpet be well sounded by an impure breath And is not the water in Baptisme that clenseth the childe cast afterwards into the draught saith Gregory so is this people and so is that nation before me and so is every work of their hands and that which they offer c. Note the order of the Induction First themselves were unclean both people and nation there was a generall defection and defilement ranne thorough all sorts and sexes as the woof runs thorow the warp so that they were all together but one continued web of wickednesse as it were spun out and made up by the hands of the devil and the flesh an evil spinner and a worse weaver both root and fruit were naught as Esay 5.4 both head heart and foot was out of order Esay 1.5 6. and they are barely and boldly told of it by the Prophets Secondly the works of their bands were unclean for not onely the praying but the plowing of the wicked is sinne Prov. 21.4 all their naturall and civil actions also are abominable Whether they plow or play or eat or sleep corruption is like copres which will turn wine or milk into ink or leaven which turns a very Passeover into pollution or as the Sanies of a plague sore which will render the richest robe infectious Thirdly that which they offer there their sacrifices and all their religious performances were likewise unclean not in respect of God who commanded them nor of the matter for they offered clean beasts but of the manner of offering which makes or marres the action and of the men who were unregenerate and rested in the work done and drew neer to God with their lips thinking to put God off with an externall worship onely Ludentes cum Deo tanquam pueri cum suis puppis as Calvin hath it that is playing with God as children do with their babies Calv. in loc The Poets declaimed against this foppery as Persius and Another Non benè coelestes impia dextra colit Verse 15. And now I pray you consider Heb. Lay it upon your heart as chap. 1.5 See the Note there The often repetition of this precept sets forth 1. The necessity of the duty pressed 2. Their singular stupidity that were no more affected with such manifest marks of Gods wrath upon them no though hee had even snatched the meat out of their mouthes and kept them hunger-starved which is the way of taming the most untameable creatures from this day and upward To the end that when I shall have blessed you with greater plenty as verf. 19 ye may recognize your sinnes the cause of your calamities and remembring as Jacob did his baculinam paupertatem Gen. 32.10 your former penury you may thankfully cry out with that Noble Iphicrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From how hungry to how plentifull an estate am I raised Let a profane Demetrius attribute such a change as this to blinde Fortune saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But let all Saints sing with holy Hannah They that were full have hired themselves out for bread and they that were hungry ceased The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up c. 1 Sam. 2.5 7. from before a stone was laid upon a stone i.e. before there was any hand set to the work of rebuilding the Temple which was interrupted for many years after the return from Babylon See Ezr. 3.8 and 5.2 Vers 16. Since those dayes were Or as some read it Antequam essent in to opere Before they were about that work minding Gods house more then their own When one came to an heap of twenty measures that is where you expected twenty measures and experienced good-husbands can partly guesse at harvest how their corn will yeeld when threshed out there were but ten Gods hand was upon your increase not in the field onely but also in the floor so that you were defeated and your hopes frustrated and not in the barn onely but at the wine-presse too God hath cut you short This was that which was long before threatned but little regarded Deut. 28.20 Carnall men read the threats of Gods Law as they do the old stories of forraigne warres or as they behold the wounds and blood in a picture or piece of Arras which never makes them smart or fear This hasteneth their judgement and shews them ripe for wrath even then when they think themselves farre enough out of the reach of Gods rod. Vers 17. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail Pugnis pluvi colaphis grandinavi I have followed you close with one judgement upon another Perdidistis frucâ—um calamitatis c. Aug. and all to bring you back into mine own bosome that as ye had runne from me by your sinnes so ye might return to me by repentance but behold I have lost my labour and ye have lost the fruit of your sufferings which indeed is a very great losse were ye but soundly sensible of it These Jewes were sensible of their calamities and disasters abroad and at home but they did not wisely inquire into the cause thereof as David did into the cause of the famine that fell out in his dayes 2 Sam. 21.1 God had not hitherto give them an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear as it is Deut. 29.4 And as Esay 9.13 The people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of hosts But after their hardnesse and impenitent heart treasured up wrath c. Rom. 2.5 They could not but see themâ—elves grievously crossed and cursed in all the labours of their hands Lib. 3. de nat deor Neither were they so blind
word Prophet be to be referred to Zechariah 2 Chr. 22.15 or to Iddo is uncertaine That there was a Prophet Iado we read and Zechary might well be of his line after many descents He is here mentioned as also Ezr. 5.1 ut nepoti suo Zachariae nomen decus conciliet for an honout to his ab-nephew Zechary according to that of Solomon The glory of children are their fathers Prov. 17.6 to wit if they be godly and religious What an honour was it to Jacob that he could sweare by the feare of his father Isaac to David that he could say Psal 116.16 2 Tim. 1.5 Truly Lord I am thy servant I am thy servant the son of thine handmaid to Timothy that he had such a mother as Lois such a grandmother as Eunice to the children of the Elect Lady to the posterity of Latimer Bradford Ioh 8.33 Mat. 3.9 Ridley and other of those men of God who suffered for the truth If the degenerate Jewes so boasted of Abraham their father how much more might Zechary no degenerate plant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no bastardly brood as they were Mat. 12.39 boast and beare himself bold on his father Berechiah the blessing of God and his grandfather Iddo Gods Witnesse Confessour or Ornament sith he trod in their holy steps and was adorned with their gifts and virtues The Papists brag much of Peter and other Apostles their founders and predecessours But this is but an empty title to talk of personall succession which yet cannot be proved unlesse they could also shew us their gifts and graces as all the world may see they cannot We read of a painter who being blamed by a Cardinall for colouring the visages of Peter and Paul too red tartly replyed that he painted them so as blushing at the lives of their successours Verse 2. The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers Heb. He hath boyled against your fathers with foaming anger with height of heate There are degrees of anger see Mat. 5.22 and Deut. 29.28 The Lord rooted them out of their land in Anger and in wrath and in great Indignation Surgit hic oratio and the last of those three words is the same here used in the text noting an higher degree then the two former even such a fervour and fiercenesse of Gods wrath as maketh him ready to kill and cut off see 2 King 6 6. and note the affinity of that word with this like as he had much adoe to forbeare killing of Moses Exod. 4. when he met him in the Inne and as Nebuchadnezzar was not only angry but very furious and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon Dan. 2.12 Now if the wrath of a king be as many messengers of death Prov. 16.14 what shall we think of the foming and frothing wrath of God which burnes unto the lowest hell and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains Deut. 32.22 After which followeth in the next verse I will heape mischiefs upon them Deut. 32.23 I will spend minc arrowes upon them c. He had done so upon the Ancestours of these refractary Jewes who had been saepius puncti repuncti minimè tamen ad resipiscentiam compuncti ost punished but could never be reclaimed so incorrigibly flagitious so shamelesly so prodigiously wicked were they till there was no remedy This their vile stubbornnesse made him sore displeased with them and put thunder-bolts into his hands to destroy them For though Fury be not in God Isay 27.5 to speak properly he is free from any such passions as we are subject to yet if briars and thornes set against him in battle if a rabble of rebels conspire to cast him out of his throne saying We will not have this man to rule over us c. I would go through them I would burn them together saith he in the same breath Abused mercy turneth into fury Nothing so cold as lead yet nothing so scalding if molten Nothing more blunt then iron yet nothing so keen if sharpened The ayre is soft tende yet out of it are ingendered thunder and lightenings The sea is calme and smooth but if tossed with tempests it is rough above measure The Lord as he is Father of mercies so he is God of recompenses and it is a fearefull thing to fall into his punishing hands If his wrath be kindled yea but a little Heb. 10. Psal 2. woe be to all those upon whom it lights how much more when he is sore displeased with a people or person as here For who knoweth the power of thine anger saith Moses even according to thy feare so is thy wrath that is let a man feare thee never so much Psal 90.11 he is sure to feel thee much more if once he fall into thy fingers And this is here urged by the Prophet as a motive to true repentance sith by their fathers example they might see there was no way to escap◠the dint of the divine displeasure but to submit to Gods Justice and to implore his mercy men must either turn or burn For even our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 Verse 3. Therefore say thou unto them These Jewes saith Cyrill had neither seen their fathers wickednesses nor heeded their calamities mittitur ergo ad cos Zacharias quasi paedagogus Zachary therefore is sent unto them as a schoolmaster or Monitour that by considering what had been they might prevent what otherwise would be and redeem their own sorrowes thus saith the Lord of hosts A farr greater Lord and Potentate then that great King of Persia who was now their soveraigne True it is that they had been commanded by a former King to desist from building the city Ezr. 4.12 21. But there was no one word in that letter to forbid the building of the Temple There was also now another King set up and of another family They are therefore by this Prophet and by Haggai called upon again and again to turn to the Lord and to return afresh to their work Ezra 5.1 Wherein because they were sure to meet with many enemies therefore here and elsewhere eighteen severall times in that eight chapter there is frequent mention made of the Lord of Hosts for their better encouragement See the Note on Mal. 3.17 turn ye unto me saith the Lord of Hosts This is the great Doctrine of the Old Testament as Repent ye is of the New And this He purposely prefixeth as a preface and preparative to the other Prophesies both of Mercies and Judgements whereof the whole is fitly made up Sowr and sweet make the best sauce Promises and Menaces mixt make the most fruitsull discourse and serve to keep the heart in the best temper Hence Davids ditty was composed of discords Psal 101.1 I will sing of mercy and judgment and so be both merry and wise But to the words of the Text turn ye unto me c. By sin men run away
up and down when the deadly arrow sticks in their ribbes but not so easily shake it off Verse 6. Did they not take hold of your fathers Overtake and catch them as Huntsmen their prey or as one enemy doth another in flight 1 King 18.27 2 King 25.5 to drag them down to the bottome of hell A godly man as he hath peace with God with himselfe and with the creatures so he hath also with the Ordinances and may say as Hezekiah Good is the Word of the Lord which thou hast spoken Are not my words alwaies good saith God to them that walk uprightly Mic. 2.7 Excellently Augustine Adversarius est nobis quamdiu sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei Gods word is adversary to none but such as are adversaries to themselves Neither doth it condemn any but such as shall be assuredly condemned by the Lord Cor anima Dei Greg. in 3. Reg. for what is the Word but the heart and soul of God as Gregory saith And what saith the Essential Word of God who came out of the bosome of his father and knew all his counsell He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the some shall judge him in the last day Iohn 12.48 Oh consider this ye that forget God that slight his word as if it were but wind that bely the Lord and say It is not he neither shall the cvill foretold come upon us neither shall we see sword nor famine And the Prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them thus shall it bee done unto them Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts because ye speak this word and is there not such language of many mens hearts now-adayes Behold I will make my words not wind but fire and this people wood and it shall devour them Ier. 5.12 13 14. The Word of God in the mouths of his Ministers may well be likened to Moses his rod which whiles he held it in his hand it flourished and brought forth almonds but being cast upon the ground it became a serpent Semblably Gods words and statutes if laid to heart they yeeld fruit and comfort but if slighted or snuffed at as Mal. 1.13 serpent-like they will sting the soul and become a savour of death c. This contempt will also call for a sword to revenge the quarrel of the Covenant as it did upon these mens fathers for their instance and admonition It is reckoned by Daniel as a great aggravation of Belshazzars sinne Dan. 5.22 that hee was not sensible of his father Nebuchadnezzars pride and fall And thou his sâ—nne Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all this The sinne of these Jewes in the Text was the greater because their Fathers and Elders either out of sound conversion or at least out of clear conviction of conscience had confessed and remonstrated the truth and justice of God in threatening and executing his judgements upon themselves saying as Lam. 1.18 The Lord is righteous for we have rebelled against his commandements and as chap. 2.17 The Lord hath done that which he had devised he hath fulfilled his word he hath thrown down and hath not pittied c. Hear them in their own words here like as the Lord of hosts whose power is irresistible thought devised determined with himselfe Zamam and accordingly denounced by his Prophets to doe unto us who did not the words which he commanded us Ier. 11.8 according to our wayes which were alwaies grievous Psal 10.5 and according to our doings that were not good Ezek. 36.31 so hath he dealt with us for he loves to retaliate and to render to every transgression and disobedience a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Verse 7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month The third month after the former prophecy when the Jewes probably had practised the doctrine of Repentance so earnestly pressed upon them and had humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God who was now ready to lift them up by this and the seven following most comfortable Visions touching the restauration and reformation of the Church and State The Devill and his impes love to bring men into the briars and there to leave them as familiars forsake their witches when they have brought them once into fetters as the Priests left Judas the traytour to look to himself Mat. 27.4 and as the Papists cast off Cranmer after that by subscribing their Articles he had cast himself into such a wretched condition that there was neither hope of a better nor place for a worse Melch. Ad. in vita ut jam nec honestè mori nec vivere inhonestè liceret But such is not Gods manner of dealing with those that tremble at his word and humble at his feet Deijcit ut relevet premit ut solatia praestet He comforteth those that are cast down 2 Cor. 7.6 commandeth others to comfort the feeble-minded 1 Thes 5.14 and noteth those that do not with a black-coal Nigro carbone notar Job 6.14 See the workings of his bowels the rowlings of his compassions kindled into repentance toward his penitentiaries Jer. 31.20 Hos 11.8 Esay 40.1 2. See how he comforts them with cordials according to the time wherein he had afflicted them Psal 90.15 and in the very thing wherein he had abased them as he once dealt with their Head Philip. 2.7 8. Kerse 8. I saw by night The usuall time for such revelations It may note moreover the obscurity of the Prophecy whence also the mention of myrtle-trees low and shady and that in a bottom as Calvin conceiveth and all this that he might give a taste of good hope to the Jews by little and little and behold a man riding upon a red horse Not Alexander the Great riding upon his horse Bucephalus and translating the Empire from the Persians to the Grecians as Arias Montanus conceited it But the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 the Captain of the Lords Host Josh 4.14 and of our salvation Heb. 2.10 riding upon a red horse In the same sense saith One that this colour is given to his garments Esay 63.1 2 3. and to the Angels horse Rev. 6.4 The wild Bull saith Another of all things cannot abide any red colour Therefore the hunter for the nonce standing before a tree puts on a red garment whom when the Bull seeth he runneth at him as hard as he can drive But the hunter stepping aside the bulls horns stick fast in the tree as when David slipped aside Sauls spear stuck fast in the wall Such an hunter is Christ He lifted up upon the tree of his crosse had his garment dipt and died in his own blood as one that cometh with red garments from Bozra Therefore the Devil and his Angels like wild bulls of Bashan ran at him with all their force in that
then with any thing that befell himself It is said of Melanâ—thon that the miseries of the Church made him almost neglect the death of his dearest children and put him upon many prayers and tears which Idem in vita Melanch like musick upon the water made a most melodious noise in the ears of God When Luther in a certain Epistle checked him and chod him for his exceeding great care of the Churches welfare calling him pertinacissimam curarum hirudinem c. he meekly replied Si nihil curarem nihil orarem If I should not care so I should not pray so God seemeth sometimes to have lost his mercy as here How long wilt thou be unmercifull to Jerusalem and then we must find it for him He seems to have forgot his people we must remind him He seems to sleep delay we must waken quicken him with How long Lord Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come saith Daniel Psal 102.13 14 who is probably held to be the Pen man of that excellent Psal 102. Confer Dan. 9.2 and he speaks it with as much confidence as if he had been in Gods blessed bosom the while This also he spake not now by a spirit of prophecy or speciall revelation but by way of argumentation or necessary demonstration For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof They pity her and melt over her therefore thou Lord much more sith all their tendernesse is but a spark of thy flame a drop of thine Ocean against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten yeers There is much ado among Interpreters about Jeremies 70 and Zacharies 70 whether one and the same or different one from another That of Scaliger is most unlikely who reckoneth these yeers of the captivity from the first year of Xerxes with his father Darius unto the fourth year of Darius Nothus Lib. 6. de Emend Temp. How much better our countreyman Lydiat whom yet Scaliger so much scorned saying Quis est ille ex ultima Britannia Canis qui Ios Scaligerum audeat allatrare who concludes it to be 70 years from the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldees Lyd. Emend Temp. Anno M. 3485. to this second year of Darius Hystaspes wherein Zachariah prophecyed That of A Lapide upon this Text I cannot passe by Moraliter idipsum dicamus idipsum oremus obsecremus pro Anglia c. Let us say the same pray the same for England Scotland c. that the Angel here doth for Jerusalem How long Lord wilt thou not have mercy upon England where Heresie hath prevailed now these hundred years and upwards The English fugitives beyond-seas write upon their Colledge and Church-doors in great golden letters Jesu Jesu converte Angliam Fiat Fiat Jesu convert England Amen Amen Why yet this is somewhat better then that of Pererius the Jesuite upon Genes 15.16 If any man marvell saith He why England continueth to flourish notwithstanding the over-flow of heresie and cruel persecution of Catholikes just execution of Catholikes he should have said wee answer because their iniquity is not yet full God grant it Ier. 28.6 Sed veniet tandem iniquitat is complementum But the time is not far off and forbearance is no quittance c. Vers 13. And the Lord answered the Angel How should God do otherwise then answer his welbeloved Son with good and comfortable words sith he is all in all with the Father and can do any thing with him Father saith he Joh. 12. I know thou hearest me alwayes Did God hear Abraham for Ismael nay for Sodom Did David hear Ioab interceding for Absolom Acts 12.20 Did Herod hearken to Blastus making request for those of Tyre and Sidon with whom he was highly displeased And shall not God give ear to his Son praying for his people that are as dear to him as the apple of his eye Good and comfortable words he doth surely answer him such as were once those Joh. 12.27 28. when Christ had thus prayed Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour Father glorifie thy Name Then came there a voice from heaven Bath-chol the Rabbins call it saying I have both glorified it and will glorifie it again So when he shall say in his daily intercession for he ever liveth to make request for us at the right hand of the Majesty on high It irketh me that the whole earth is at rest and my Church at so much unrest Return O Lord Psal 90.13 how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants Save now I beseech thee O Lord Psal 118.25 O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity How can God do less then answer as Isa 33.10 Now will I arise now will I be exalted now will I lift up my self Or as in the words next following here which indeed are all along good words and comfortable words I am jealous for Jerusalem c. The Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem Yet for all the sorrow he shall do it Ier. 30.17 and for all that Others called her an outcast saying This is Zion whom no man seketh after and she her self concludeth her dolefull ditty with Thou hast utterly rejected us thou art very wroth against us Lam. 4.22 Verse 14. So the Angell that communed with me See the Note on ver 10. cry thou saying q. d. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God Speake ye comfortably to Jerusalem speake ye to her heart and cry unto her saying that her appointed time is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned and so the quarrell is ended for she hath received of the Lords hands double for her sins Nothing so much as I have deserved saith she Ezra 9.13 twice so much as she hath deserved saith He. O sweet contradiction O beautifull contention The same Hebrew word signifieth to repent and to comfort 1 Sam. 15.35 Esay 40.1 Gods care is to comfort those that are cast down His command to his Prophet is to cry comfort to the penitent with an extraordiny earnestnesse from the God of all consolation I am jealous for Ierusalem and for Zion with a great jealousie Love is strong as death zeal or jealousie for the same word signifieth both is hard as hell Cant. 8.6 Non amat qui non zelat saith Augustine He loves not that zeales not And Basil venturing himself very farr 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 When one desired to know what manner of man Basil was it is said there was presented in a dreame to him a pillar of fire with this motto Talis est Basilius Lo such an one is Basil It is certaine that our
igne ereptus newly snatcht out of the Babylonish furnace Psal 68.12 where they have long lain among the pots where they have been not only sullied but scorched and half-burnt should they then be cruelly cast again into the flames which they have strangely scaped like as the barbarous Persecutours ran Polycarp through the bowels with a sword when the beasts would not devour him nor the fire burn him Or as the bloody Papists in Queen Maries dayes Act. Mon. fol. 1392. cast the woman of Garneseys babe again into the fire that sprang and sprawled out of his mothers womb as she was in burning This was clean contrary to that Apostolical precept Of some have compassion pulling them out of the fire Jude 21. Ean 3.30 And far short of Nebuchadnezzars practises who taking the three worthies out of the burning fiery furnace promoted them to great honour and offices Verse 3. Now Joshuah was clothed with filthy garments The tottered rags of the old Adam the nasty filthynesse and superfluity of naughtinesse that yet remained in him though in part regenerate and intermingled with his best works Sin is the Devils excrement it defiles the soul worse then any jakes can do the body as the Hebrew word here signifieth and as our Saviour shews Mar. 7.20 or then the Sanies of a plague-sore doth a garment Hence that of the Church We are all as an unclean thing Esay 64.6 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags And that of Job If I wash my self with snow water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine own cloathes shall make me to be abhorred Job 9.30.31 1 Cor. 4.5 this is the same in effect with that of Paul I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby â—ustified but he that judgeth me is the Lord who when he coms to turn up the bottom of the bag as the steward did Benâ—amins he will manifest the hidden things of darknesse finde out our thefts that we dreamt not of open all fardles on that great fair-day Saccâ— soluto 〈◊〉 argentum Ambr. the day of judgement As in the meanwhile should Lord but break open that filthy sink of sin that is in the very best of us we should not onely be lothsome to God Zach. 11.8 and to good men Prov. 29.27 but even to our own selves also as Job was hap 42.6 Judas was not able to abide is own stench Mat. 27.4 5. Yea and some holy men as Mr. Lever for one when they have desired to see their utmost uncleannesse their corruptions in the most ugly colours God hath heard them But yet his hand therewith was so heavy upon them that they went alwayes mourning to their graves and thought it fitter to leave it to Gods wisdom to give them a sight of their sins and to mingle the the potion of sorrow then to be their own choosers See that excellent text Iob 15.14 15 16. And then stand aloof with the Leper and say I am unclean I am unclean yet Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean and stood before the Angel His filthy garments notwithstanding Though we cannot say our hearts are pure and our performances perfect yer if we wallow not in sin allow it not if with the daughters of Zion we look upon our former neatnesse as nastinesse and finenesse as filthinesse if we be in any measure purged from the love and liking of sin by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burnning Isai 4.4 Christ will neither abhor our presence nor reject our services Aaron was to bear the iniquity of the holy offerings Exod. 28.38 Christ is this Aaron c. And though there be an inequality of expressions in duty quoad nos in us yet there is a constancy of intercession by Christ propter nos for us Verse 4. And he answered and spake to those that stood before him i. e. to the Angels that waited upon him Est autem hoc humanitùs dictum saith Iunius This is â—â—â—ken after the manner of men for properly men are washed justified and sanctified by the Merit and Spirit of Christ alone 1 Cor. 6.11 But the Lord Christ speaketh thus to the created Angels his Ministers to shew that He who onely hath power to for give sins doth yet therein imploy the holy ministery for an instrument See 2 Cor. 9.18 and Iob 33.33 24. take away the filthy garments Those symbols of his sinfulnesse see the Note on verse 3. so his sins were pardoned in heaven But because it is small comfort to a condemned person to have a pardon granted him unlesse he know it and be assured of it therefore it followeth and unto him he said behold By whatthou hast seen in the Angels stripping of thee I have caused thine iniquities to passe from thee Transtuli peccatum as he once said to David I have taken away thy sin I have tranferred it upon my self speaking to my Father for thee as once Paul did to Philemon for his son Onesimus Philem. 18 19. if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought put that on mine account I will repay it This is the greatest happinesse that can befal a man in this world Psal 32.1 2 and could not but be a singular comfort to these poor Jews priest and people amidst their manifold afflictions A man that hath got his pardon is not troubled though he lose his glove or hankercheife nor though it should prove a rainy day Being â—ustified by faith we glory in tribulation Rom. 5.1.3 Feri domino eri nam a peccatis absolutus sum saith Luther Strike Lord strike while thou wilt my sins are pardoned I thank thee O Lord said Another in his great extremity for all my pain and I beseech thee if thou think good to adde to it an hundred-fold But behold a further honour as mercies seldom come single and I will cloath thee with change of raiment i. e. I will change thy rags into robes thy stained clouts into clean cloathing Thou shalt be arraied with the righteousnesse of the saints Rev. 19.8 that twofold righteousnesse imputed and imparted that of justification and this other of sanctification that as an undercoat this as an upper that clean and pure this white and bright both must be had from Christ who is made unto us of God not onely wisdom but righteousnesse sanctification and redemption 1 Cor 1.30 2 Cor. 5.19 Surely as our apparrel is not bred of us neither grows out of our bodies so neither doth this change of raiment in the Text. But the blessed Lamb of God cloatheth us with his own fleece which is long enough and large enough to cover all our defects and deformities and to set us forth to the admiration of Angels As he taketh upon him our sins so he putteth upon us his righteousnesse This is a blessed exchange indeed a sure pledge of our peace with him and with God by
simple means Spec. Erop yea by casual and crosse means this saith one is that miracle which we are in these times to look for For they shall rejoyce Or But they shall rejoyce or Nay they shall rejoyce nay they shall see viz. that which they despaired of ever seeing and were therefore much cast down about the perfection of the work and its glorious accomplishment And this shall be surely effected by Gods powerful and watchful providence called here those seven eyes of the Lord which run to and fro thorow the whole earth called elsewhere the seven spirits of God Rev. 5.6 and 1.4 and Gods spirit here Verse 6. so guiding and managing all affaires and occurrences that all the rayes and beames of providence issuing from those eyes might be seen to meet in the accomplishment of this as their ultimate ayme and scope See the Note on Chap. 3.9 Verse 11. Then answered I and said unto him No mean measure of understanding would content the prophet but he is still enquiring and incroaching upon the Angel so doth Moses upon God Exod. 33. He had not been long out of the Mount but he is asking God to shew him his glory which when he had seen yet he resteth not satisfied but must have more and yet more So David though deep-learned is ever and anon at it teach me thy statutes Spiritual learning is infused by degrees our hearts are as narrow-mouth'd vessels and God delights oft to hear of us Whither I go thou canst not come now but thou shalt afterwards Then shall ye know if ye follow on to know provided that ye beg and dig Prov. 2.3 4 5 and beat as the foul doth the shell to get out the fish and be discontentedly contented till ye come to see as ye are seen a spe ad speciem c. What are these â—w olives c. And. Verse 12. Joh. 13. Hos 6.3 What be these two olive-branches c. See the Notes on verse 3. and verse 7. Verse 13. Knowest thou not what c. See the Note on ver 5. Vers 14. These are the two anointed ones Heb. sonnes of oyl See the Note on verse 7. that stand by the Lord of the whole earth because by the candlestick and utensils of the Temple and Type of the Church which is at Christs right hand Psal 45. as he at his Fathers right hand Rom. 8. He is with all his to the end of the world and it is a part of his joy that we shall be one day where he is This Lord of the whole earth soveraigne over all but takes delight onely in such as Esther like he purifies and perfumes for royall use and these he loveth so affectionately as never any Lord did his subjects Zech. 3.17 He loves the gates of Zion more then all the dwellings of Jacoh Psal 87.2 CHAP. V. Verse 1. THen I turned me and lifted up mine eyes i.e. I prepared me to the receiving of a new vision nothing so comfortable as the former but no lesse necessary that the people by sense of sinne and fear of wrath might be taken off their wicked practises redeem their own sorrows and be accounted worthy to escape all those things that should otherwise come to passe as verse 11. and to stand before the Son of man at that dreadfull day This seemeth to bee the mind of the Holy Ghost Luke 21.36 in these two visions here recorded which while some Interpreters attend not in toto vaticinio neque coelum neque terram attingunt saith Calvin they are utterly out and behold a flying roll Or volume as Psal 40.10 or scroll of paper or parchment usually rolled up like the web upon the pin mi convolvuntur nostrae Mappae Geographicae as our Mappes are rolled up saith A Lapide and as in the publike Library at Oxford the Book or Roll of Esther an Hebrew Manuscript is at this day to bee seen D. Prid. Orat. 4. Amem Antibarb lib. 3. Volans velocissimum astionâ—s incursum significat Chrysost but here flying Not onely because spread wide open as Rabshakeh's letter 2 King 19.14 and as that Book of the Prophet Esaias Luke 4.17 but also as fleeting along swiftly like a bird ready to seiz on her prey Nemo scelus gerit in Pectore qui non idem Nemesin in tergo The Heathens thens named Nemesis their Goddesse of Revenge to take punishment of offend ours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because no man can possibly escape her They tell us also that their Jupiter writeth down all the sinnes of all men in a book or scroll made of a goatspelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word whereby Aquila and Theodotion two Greek Translatours do render the Hebrew of this Text. See Dan 7.18 Rev. 20.12 Symmachus turnes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Chapter or Abstract of a larger Book full of sinnes and Woes and yet it is of an unheard of hugenesse verse 2. and of very sad contents like that book of Ezechiel chap. 2.9 10. lamentation and mourning and woe or the first leaf of Bishop Babingtons book which he turned over every morning all black to inmind him of hell and Gods judgements due unto him for his sinnes Vers 2. What seest thou q. d. Mark it well and let thine eye affect thine heart let these things be oculis commissa fidelibus I see a flying book See the Note on verse 1. Some read it A double book according to the Chaldaick signification of the word as containing double that is manifold menaces and punishments of sinne But the Chaldee Paraphrast Septuagint and others render it flying as hasting and hovering over the heads of wicked persons the length thereof is twenty cubits c. Ten yards long and five broad Neither let men say that words are but wind as they did Jer. 5.13 For 1. Even wind when gotten into the bowels of the earth may cause an earth-quake as when into the bowels of the body an heart-quake 2. God threateneth those scoffers verse 14. that he will make that word which they tearmed wind to become fire and themselves fuel to feed it And as fire flyeth upon fuell fully dried Nah. 1.10 and consumeth it in an instant so Gods flying roll will lick up the evil-doers no otherwise then the fire from heaven after it had consumed the sacrifice the wood the stones and the dust licked up also the water that was in the trench 1 King 18.38 The threatnings of Gods Law the same with this Roll are as Erasmus saith of Ezek. 3.18 fulmina non verba lightbolts rather then words or if words yet they are as One saith Verba non legenda sed vivenda Words not to be read onely but lived at least not to be read as men do the old stories of forraigne warres wherein they are nothing concerned but as threatening themselves in every threat cursing themselves in every curse c. nor as
they read the predictions of an Almanack for wind and weather which they think may come to passe and it may be not but be confident of this very thing that God who hath denounced it will surely do it and that he will execute the judgement written in this roll Psal 149.9 yea every sicknesse and every plague which is not written in the book of this Law them will the Lord cause to descend upon the disobedient untill they be destroyed Deut. 28.61 Verse 3. This is the curse Or oath with execration and cursing Num. 5.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut Aâ— Graecè juramentum et execrationem significat Mercer Cursing men are cursed men and God hath sworn that swearers shall not enter into his rest that goeth forth yea flyeth verse 2. more swift then an eagle an arrow a flash of lightening Or if not yet Poena venit gravior quo magè sera venit over the face of the whole earth Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil but of the Jew sirst Ingentia beneficia flagitia supplicia who is therefore the worse because he ought 'to have been better and then Rom. 2.9 of the Gentile also Theodoret Lyra and Vatablus think that Iudaea is hinted in the measure of the book twenty cubites long and ten broad as being twice so long and somewhat more as it is broad witnesse Hierom in his Epistle to Dardanus Epist 129. But let the whole earth here be taken in its utmost latitude sith the Gentiles that sinne without the Law are yet liable to the punishments of the Law And some of them by the light of Nature saw the evil of swearing but all generally of stealing but especially of perjury and sacriledge here principally meant Confer Mal. 3.8 Neh. 13.10 for every one that stealeth shall be cut off By stealing understand all sins against the second Table as by swearing all against the first and so the sense is the same with that of the Apostle Every transgression and disobedience receiveth a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 And cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Gal. 3.10 Howbeit because these two sins were more frequently and more impudently committed in those dayes therefore are they by a specialty instanced The Jewes comming poor out of Babylon held it no great sin to steal for supply of their necessities and then to forswear themselves for the better hiding of their theft Give me not poverty said holy Agur lest being poore I steale and as one sin drawes on another I take the name of my God in vaine Prov. 30.9 See the Note there Hunger is an evill counsellour necessity an hard weapon a sore temptation when it comes to this Either I must steale or starve But then to this must be opposed that of the law Thou shalt in no case steals Thou must rather dye then do wickedly Aut faciendum aut patiendum Either obey the law or suffer the curse as on this side according to it i. e. According to the curse described in the rowle the thees shall be cut off as well as the swearer they shall speed alike The tares shall be bound up in bundles theeves with theeves and swearers with swearers and burnt in the fire Mat. 13.30 40. According to the prediction shall be the execution Whether on this side that is in Judea so some sense it or on that side in other parts of the world such persons appeare they shall have their payment and every one that sweareth Not only falsely as verse 4. but lightly vainely causelesly in jest and not in judgement whether by God or by creatures and qualities Judaeis Pharisaeis vulgare vitium saith Paraeus on Iam. 5.12 a common fault among the Jewes and Pharisees Mat. 5.34 35. and 23.16.18 See the Notes there Among the Christians in Chrysostomes time as appeares by his many sermons against it at Antioch And in these dayes if ever because of oaths the land mourneth God hath a controversie Hos 4.1 2. We have lived to see iniquity in the fulnesse of oaths and blasphemies unparaleled darted with hellish mouths against God and our Saviour so ordinarily and openly that some of them are become very interjections of speech to the vulgar and other some meer phrases of gallantry to the braver I knew a great swearer saith a great Divine who comming to his death-bed Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedinesse after that most gainelesse Bolâ—on and pleasurelesse sin that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could yet as though he had bin already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell he desperatly desired the standers by to help him with oaths and to swear for him Verse 4. I will bring it forth sc out of my treasuries or store-houses of plagues and punishments Deut. 32.34 Or That which thou hast seen in vision I will put in action I will produce it into the open light into the theatre of the world their faults shall be written in their foreheads their sins shall go before to judgement my visible vengeance shall overtake them and it shall enter into the house of the theef which he calleth his castle and where he thinks himself most secure as out of the reach of Gods rod as iâ— he could mot up himself against Gods fire But what faith Bildad His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle and it shall bring him to the king of terrours It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none of his brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation Iob 18.14 15. so that if the fire of Gods wrath do but touch it all 's on a light flame A. Gell. He will unkennel these foxes and drag acus out of his denn to his deserved punishment Dioclesian the Persecutour one of those Latrones publici Eusub de vit Const lib. 5. as Cato called them giving over his Empire after that he had sufficiently feathered his nest decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly But he escaped not so for after that his house was wholy consumed with lightening and a flame of fire that fell from heaven he hiding himself for fear of the lightening died within a while after and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name Hence Ribera gathereth that by the whole earth in the former verse is meant Judaea only because none but Jewes swore by the name of the true God who is indeed the proper object of an oath Esay 65.16 Ier. 12.6 Howbeit in lawfull contracts with an Infidel or Idolater oaths by false gods may be admitted and are binding As for perjury it is a provoking sin as containing three great evils 1. The uttering or upholding of a lie 2. The calling upon God to testifie and justifie a lie 3. The praying for a curse upon a mans self and beseeching God
returning are found by computation in that 〈◊〉 set down Ezra 3.64 as the Jew-Doctours have concluded There are that understand the words of the general conversion of all the Jews in the time of the Gospel and this may very well be for ought that I see to the contrary so will 〈◊〉 you Lest you should say in the language of Ashdod 1 Sam. â— 9 It is a chance I will do it saith God and ye shall be a blessing Not onely a name and praise as Zeph. 3.20 but a form to be used in blessing of others such as was that Ruth 4 11 12. And not altogether unlike is that prayer of David Psal 119.132 Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do unto those that love thy Name sow not but let your haâ—ds be strong Be not diffident but diligent in well doing in due season you shall reap Gal. â—â— if you faine not See the Note on verse 9. â—ase feare expectorates and unmans us banish it therefore or ye will be betrayed by it Verse 14. As I thought to punish you He had promised to make them of a curse a blessing and here he shews them the cause of this change namely Gods better thoughts of them and toward them upon their return unto him And because they might haply think that their Fathers had hard measure he tels them that their panishment was the fruit of their provocation And whereas they might expect that God should repent and relent toward them He shewes here that He had repented so long that He was even weary with repenting and that he therefore Jer 15.6 Crudelem â—medicum intemperans ager facit Mimus as implacable because he found them incurable Hence he resolved as Ezek. 24.13 and would not be altered Lo thou far these Jews had sound and felt Gods fingers and that in his menaces he had been as good as his word Verse 15. So again have I thought Sic conversus sum This change was not in God but in the people to whom He is now resolved to shew mercy and that from a gracious purpose and determination such as altereth not sear ye no Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear but awful dread it breedeth seedeth fostereth and cherisheth Verse 16. These are the things that ye shall do Heb. These are the words God will not so do all good for his people but that they should reciprocate and do somthing for him by way of thankfulnesse Particularly these are the words or commands that ye shall not onely know but do They are verba vivenda non legenda as lessons of Musick must be practised and a copy not read onely but written after speak the truth every man to his neighbour Let your words be few and ponderous Lie not in jest lest ye go to hell in earnest Let Socrates be your friend and Plato but the truth much more Rather die then lie for any cause execuse the judgment of truth and peace That is upright judgment pronounced or delivered with a calm and quiet minde not angry Jadicium pacis dâ—st placidum rite compositum Calv. Deut. 16.20 nor partial nor of any distempered or toubled affection such as hatred fear favour c. All that savours of self should be strained out and Iustice Iustice as Mâ—sâ—s speaketh that is pure justice wihout mud should run down as a river That Magistrate hath too impotent a spirit whose services like the Dial must be set onely by the Sun oâ— self and sinister respect He should have as nothing to lose so nothing to get he should be above all price or sale 2 Chro. 19.7 and 〈…〉 persons nor receive gifts Verse 17. And let none of you 〈…〉 7.10 Take notice here that as 〈…〉 proves one to he carnal Eâ—h 2.3 〈…〉 the root oâ— bitternesse Deut. 29.18 〈…〉 somthing in it that men are here 〈◊〉 to imagine evil in 〈…〉 particle in their hearts may seem 〈…〉 secret sins that lie conched in the 〈…〉 man of the heart and never shew themselves to the world men shall be accoâ—â—able See Heb. 4.12 Eccles 12.14 Jer. 6 1â— Rev. 2.23 The very want of good thoughts is a sin against that 〈◊〉 and great commandment 〈…〉 22.30 and concupiscence even before it come to consent is a sin against the last Commandement Rom. 7.7 But evil thoughts allowed and wallowed â—â— is a flat 〈◊〉 of every Commandment so vain is their plea that say Thought is fra◠〈…〉 thereupon lay the reins in the neck and run riot in vain and vile imaginations O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickednesse if thou meanest to be saved Jer. 4.14 How many alasse have we that professe large hopes of heaven whose hearts are no better then dens of darknesse dungeons of filthâ—nesse cages 〈…〉 clean birds brothelhouses slaughter-houses pesthouses of maicious 〈…〉 Atheistical proud covetous malicious and fraudulent projects 〈…〉 continually hammering and wherewith their wretched hearts are 〈…〉 haunted and pestered Contrariwise a godly man is said to 〈…〉 Prov. 12.5 holy imaginations Prov. 12.2 and that his desire 〈◊〉 onely good Prov. 11.23 or if worse croud in as they will he rids them 〈…〉 and will not let them lodge there Ier. 4.14 he boyls out that filthy 〈◊〉 Ezek. 〈◊〉 and purifieth himself of all pollutions of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 he both 〈◊〉 them Psal 119.113 and forsaketh them Esay 55.7 and love no false oath As not only he that maeth a 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 out of heaven but he that loves it though made by another â—akes it up and divulgeth it Rev. 22.15 So not onely he that taketh a 〈…〉 perswadeth another to it or that 〈…〉 is a Miosis lesse is spoken and more understood 〈…〉 God 's just hatred for all these are things that I hate saith the Lord And as the next effect of hatred is revenge he will not fail to punish such sinners against their own souls Verse 18. And the word See the of Note Verse 1. Verse 19. The fast of the fourth moneth wherein the city was taken 2 Kings 25 3. and the fast of the fift and the fast of the seventh See 〈…〉 and the fast of the tenth Wherein Jerusalem was first 〈…〉 25.1 This last mentioned was first taken up upon a like 〈…〉 Constantinople when the city was besieged by the 〈…〉 advertised of the enemies purpose for a general 〈…〉 mended the defence of himself and the city to the 〈…〉 Turk hist 〈◊〉 345. and prayer and afterwards appointed every Captain and 〈…〉 certain place of the wall for defence thereof shall be to the house of Iudah joy and 〈◊〉 God 〈…〉 into feasting all their sadnesse into gladnesse all their 〈…〉 their tears into triumphs and so gives 〈…〉 about Fasting after a larger and most 〈◊〉 preface 〈…〉 and making much more to their benefit and 〈…〉 main question proposed by them to the Prophet 〈…〉 this with them by way of 〈…〉 therefore love the truth 〈◊〉 〈…〉
their holinesse as Davids children were by their garments of diverse colours For as he that hath called them is holy so are they also holy and that in all manner of conversation and communion too even when they deale with carnal men and in common matters and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bowles before the Altar All this must be understood of the spirituall service which should be in the Christian church described by the ancient ceremonial service as Isa 60.7 and 66.23 Mal. 1.11 And it is to shew that the efficacy force and operation of the holy Ghost shall be far more plentifull through Christ in the Church of the Gospell then it was in times past under the law See Heb. 8.6 Eph. 3.5 Isa 44.3 4. Verse 21. Yea every pot in Ierusalem c. That is saith Danaeus God shall as God-like be worshiped of every faithfull person in his own house as he was of old in his Temple by the Jews Calvin adds ut quicquid aggrediantur homines sit sacrificium so that whatsoever good men enterprize shall be a sacrifice God shall smell a savour of rest from them they of life and peace from him there shall be no more the Canaanite The merchant saith the vulgar after Aquila and the Chaldee that is the Simoniack the Church-chopper such mony-merchants as Christ whipt out of the Temple Mat. 21.12 Ioh. 2.15 But better render it Canaanite The Phenicians those great merchants were Canaanites who were indeed great Merchants Hos 12.7 Ezek. 17.4 but here it stands for a wicked man an hypocrite that botch of Christian society Pura erit Ecclesia ab omnibus inquinamentis saith Calvin the Church shall be purged of all such Pests See Rev. 22.27 no such owles shall be seen flying in the Churches welkin God will by the due exercise of discipline and otherwise be daily purging out all scandals as such men are called Mat. 13.41 and causing the unclean spirit to passe out of the land Zach. 13.2 I conclude with Theodoret Dominus Omnipotens hanc vocem veram esse hoc tempore praestet c. God Almighty make good this promise unto us at this time that there may be no cursed Canaanite found amongst us but that we may all live according to the doctrine of the Gospell and expect that blessed hope and comming of the great God our Saviour Jesus to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be glory for ever Amen A COMMENT OR EXPOSITION Upon the Prophesie of MALACHI CHAP. I. Verse 1. THE burden that is the burdenous Prophecy as Tremellius renders it A burden as 1. enjoyned and imposed upon the Prophet to utter Lyra. Figuicr to cry aloud and not spare to life up his voice as a trumpet c. straining every vein in his heart to do it declayming lustily against sin and sinners and proclayming hell-fire for them in case they amend not This is a businesse of some burthen Chrysost onus ipsis etiam Angelis tremendum This was typified in the staff-rings that were made to continue upon the Ark the Kohathites shoulders felt wherefore If God had not helped those Levites they could never have borne the Ark 1 Chron. 15.26 St. Paul was very sensible of the ministeriall burthen rowling upon him daily 2 Cor. 11.28 And Latimer leaped when lighted of his Bishoprick 2. As burdening the people with their sins and breathing out threatnings for the same for sin how lightly soever accounted of hales hell at the heels of it and procures divine vengeance which is a burthen unsupportable It brake the Angels backs and made the son of God groan piteously 1 Pet. 2.24 then when he bare our sins in his body on the tree His soul was heavy therewith even to the death and had he not had the better shoulders had not God laid help on One that was mighty even the mighty strong God as he is stiled Esay 6.6 he had fainted and failed under his burthen David complaines that his sins were gone over his head and like a sore burthen were too heavy for him to bear Psal 38.4 That which comforted him was that no sooner he had said Peccavi I have sinned 2 Sam. 12. but the Prophet Nathan said Transtulit Deus peccatum tuum God hath translated thy sin upon Christ hath caused thy sin to passe over to him and as it were by a writt of Remove hath cast thy burthen upon his shoulders And this incomparable merey David afterwards celebrateth Psa 32 4 5. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me the guilt of finne and sense of wrath quelled him and killed him almost for his naturall moisture was turned into the drought of summer he was turned into a very skeleton or a bag of bones a bottle in the smoke wofully wanzed he was and wasted But for remedy I acknowledge my sin unto thee saith he I fled by faith to the true Scape-goat Christ Jesus on whom was laid as a burthen the iniquitie of us all Isai 53.6 Rom. 5.8 And thou presently forgavest the iniquity of my sinne that is the guilt of it that till then lay like a load of lead upon my conscience and as an obligation bound me over to condigne punishment Cam for want of this comfort ran roaring up and down my sinne Gen. 4.13 that is my punishment is greater then I can heave And a farre better man then Cain even holy Job with whom God was but in jest as it were cries out that his calamitie was havier then the sand of the sea Job 6.3 and that yet his stroake was heavier then his groaning Chap. 23.2 Those that have ever felt the misery of a laden conscience can tell what an evill and bitter thing sinne is Jer. â— Those that now run away with it and make as light of it as Sampson did of the gate of Gaza shall one day groan out Woe and alas when God shall set himself to load them with tortures in hell who do now load him with their sinnes and weary him out with their imquities Esay 43.24 For prevention oh that they would be perswaded to believe the Prophets that their souls might prosper to be sensible of sins burden that Christ might ease them to take upon them his burthen which is onus sine onere and would be no more burthen to them then the wings are to the bird whereby he is born aloft that they would imitate porters who being called and offered money to beare a burden will poise it and weigh it in their hands first which when they see they are not able to stand under no gain will entice them to undertake it Do we provoke the Lord to anger are we stronger then he Heb. 10. Is it not a fearfull thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God Is the the wrath of a King as the roaring of a lyon as the messengers of death surely they that tremble not in hearing
and Iacob-like 1 Pet. 1.17 when they see nothing but visions of love and mercy as he did at Bethel yet then to cry out How dreadful is this place Psal 130.4 There is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared unto you O Priests Whom I look upon as the chief of my children given me in lieu of Israels first-born the lot of mine own inheritance that stand ever before me and should by soundnesse of doctrine and holinesse of life vindicate my name from contempt and get me honour before the people Singular holinesse is required of ministers above others a double spirit they had need to wish for as Elisha Things in the sanctuary were double to those that were common as the shekel cubit c. Ministers are called Angels and they must walk as angels ne sit nomen inane crimen immane lest God renew his old complaint The leaders of his people have caused them to erre Isa 9.16 It was the complaint of Pope Pius the second In hist Austriaca that there was no notorious wickednesse committed in the Catholick Church cujus prima origo à sacerdotibus non dependeat the first beginning whereof arose not from Church-men John Hus cryes out of the priests of his time Multa quae illi ordinem dicunt c. Bel. Hussit p. 9 Many of those things that they call by the name of order have brought all things in Christendom out of order Cornelius à Lapide upon this text in his popish way bewaileth it that the ignorance and profanenesse of many of their priests had given occasion to Luthers heresie to spread the further We also have no lesse cause to complain that the insufficiency and impiety of some of our ministry hath opened the black mouth of Campian and his popish complices to bark out Ministris eorum nihil vilius Their Ministers are very base For prevention let the souls of ministers be purer then the Sun-beams as Chrysostom saith they should be and let their lives be so unblameable that no man may speak the least evil of them without a manifest lie c. that despise my name This is the crime they are directly and expresly charged with They had not honoured God as a Father feared him as a Master therefore they had despised and slighted him Not to do God right is to do him wrong not to reverence him is to rob him not to blesse him is to blaspheme him Job 1.5 That 's an excellent saying of Fulgentius Deum si quis parum metuit valde contemnit hujus qui non memorat beneficentiam anget injuriam i. e. whoso feareth God but a little slights him overmuch and he that maketh not honourable mention of his bounty doth him a great deal of injury The very not serving of God the not sacrificing to him is a crime Mal. 3.18 Eccles 9.2 How much more then a slubbered service a corrupt sacrifice There is a contempt in this latter which is worse then a bare neglect and displeasing service is double dishonour Hence the present contest with those greasie priests that despised Gods name the Septuagint hath it Ye that esteem my name at a low rate that misprise it as the French translateth it that have base and bald conceits of me and of my nomen Majestativum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Majestick Name as Tertullian termeth it that take me not into your hearts under the name and notion of an infinite Highnesse the great and mighty Maker and Monarch of the whole world Our safest eloquence concerning God is our silence saith Hooker But if we take in hand to say any thing of him Nullis vocibus tam plenè Deum significamus saith learned Scaliger quam its quae ignorantiam nostram praetendunt We can set forth God so fully by no words as by those that set forth our ignorance of his excellency The very heathens when they would swear by their Jupiter out of the meer dread and reverence of his name forbare to mention him The Jews would not pronounce the name Jehovah Suidas here used in the text The first among the Christians that pronounced Jehovah was Petrus Galatinus Psal 111. following the pronuntiation of the Syriacks and Greeks If at any time we take Gods holy and reverend Name into our thoughts and truly we should think of him almost at every breath we draw according to that Let every breath praise the Lord Remember to think of God as of One at all to be thought of Psal 150. as one whose Wisdom is his Justice whose Justice is his Power whose Power is his Mercy and all himself Good without quality great without quantity Everlasting without time Omnipresent without place containing all things without extent c. This is to magnifie God to make roomth for him in our hearts and the contrary is to despise his name And ye say wherein have we despised thy Name Loe the impudencie of these frontlesse Hypocrites They traverse their aceusation stand upon their justification and put God to his proofs How ordinary is it with people still to palliate their sinnes and plead their innocencie Hos 12.8 In all my labours they shall find none imquity in me that were sin that were a foul business But men have learned to draw a fair glosse upon a foule hand to cast a colour as the Calf-fish doth to deceive the fisher-man to hide their sinnes as Adam Job 31.33 by down right denyall as did Cain Gehezi Ananias and Sapphira or else by excusing and extenuating Gen. 4.9 2 Kin. 5.25 Acts 5.8 as Saul 1 Sam. 16.20 21. Or at least by a senselesse silence not acknowleging their sinnes or being affected with them but rather out facing as Judas John 13.21 with Mat. 2.24 Sinne and shifting came into the world together and so they continue Satan knowes there 's no way to purge the sick soul but upwards therefore he holds the lips close that the heart may not disburden itself and have ease Prov. 28.13 Verse 7. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar Bread that is Sacrifices and Oblations so Rabbi David expounds it out of Levit. 21.6 and Levit. 3.3 and Num. 28.2 For the Hebrews call all kind of meat by the name of bread though it be flesh of Oxe Lamb or Goat offered in sacrifice to God whom they made account that they feasted in their sacrifices Psal 50.13 Hence that of the Psalmist in the person of God will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the bloud of Goates Now the bread was reckoned polluted when it was neither lawfull nor acceptable but prohibited and therefore abhorred as much every whit as Ezekiels bread prepared with mans dung Cap. 4.13 of which he saith verse 14. Ah Lord God behold my soul hath not been polluted neither ever came there abominable flesh into my mouth What sacrifices God had flatly forbidden see Levit. 22.20 21 22 c. Take we heed that we despite not
sicknesse the choler within and not the waves without So the frowardnesse of men that quarrell with reformation and not the work it self which is Gods commandement as here the Prophet calls it Verse 2. If ye will not hear that your souls may live Isa 55.3 but forbear and so shew your selves a rebellious house Ezek. 2.8 so adding rebellion to your sinne If you will needs resemble the deaf adder which although by spitting out his poyson he might renew his age stoppeth his ears by applying one to the earth and covering the other with his tail lest he should hear the voyce of the charmer Or if ye do hear with that gristle that growes upon your head onely and will not lay it to heart Heb. upon your heart as a weight to keep it down from rising in rebellion against the Lord. If you esteem my command a light matter and instead of pondering it in your hearts with Mary cast it behind your backs Psal 50.17 or suffer it to run thorow you as water runs thorow a riven vessell Heb. 2.4 If thirdly you will not give glory unto my Name by confessing your sinnes Iosh 7.19 so submitting to my justice and imploring my mercy which will make much to my glory and redresling your wayes Psal 50.23 by breaking off your sinnes and bearing much fruit Ioh. 15.8 studying mine ends more then your own and drowning all self-respects in my glory If you will not observe and fulfill these three fore-mentioned conditions of exemption I will even send a curse upon you that evill Angel of mine that shall bring with him fiercenesse of anger wrath indignation and trouble Psa 78.49 The Vulgar Interpreter renders it I will even send poverty upon you a curse well suting with their covetousnesse and agreeable to that threatened by another Prophet As the Partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth riches and not by right as these Priests had done shall leave them in the midst of his dayes Jer. 17.12 and at his end be a fool A poor fool God will soon make of the covetous caitiff and reduce him to extream want than the which he knowes no greater hell no curse comparable But the Originall is more generall I will execrate you or pronounce a curse against you Howbeit Non nist coactus No otherwise then as compelled to it as that Emperour said laying his hand upon his mouth for a good while before he would pronounce sentence of death upon one that had deserved it Histories tell us of Augustus that it went as much against the heart with him as it did against the hair with the malefactour when he adjudged him to condigne punishment Vespasian wept over those he sentenced Nero in his first five years being to signe a warrant for execution of certain Malefactours said Act. Mon. O utinam literas nescirem O that I could not write Our King Edw. 6. could not be perswaded by all his Councill to put his hand to a warrant for the burning of one Ione Butcher that had well deserved it Our gracious God might well say As I live I delight not in the death of sinners but rather would they should convert and live Ezek. 33.11 why else doth he here in threatening a curse interpose condition of repentance why doth he warn before he wounds and premonish before he punish Well might the Heathen Historian say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 H redot God loves to foresig nisie Well might that Father say Minatur Deus ut non puniat God therefore menaceth misery that he may not inflict it And another Ideo prolata est sententia ut non fiat The sentence is therefore pronounced that it may not be executed Witnesse that we read Am. 4.12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee Thus how He nameth not how that they may fear the utmost as Ribera noteth and yet he addeth Because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Surely as a woman brings not forth without pain And as a bee usually stings not till much provoked so neither doth God curse his creature till there be no other remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 And then Patientia laesa fit furor abused mercy turns into fury If men will not accept of conditions of peace though never so fair and reasonable as here but pervert his mercies to wantonnesse his patience to presumption he will not alwaies bear with their evill manners but repenting him of his kindnesse so cast away upon those that prized it not as David repented of the good he had done unworthy Nabal 1 Sam. 25.21 he will make them know the worth of his blessings by the want of them I will curse your blessings saith He here I will recover mine own and be gone as Hos 2.9 I will cut off the meat from their mouths and blast all your hopes of abundance and destroy you after that I had done you good Iosh 24.20 Thus God dealt by his unfruitfull vineyard Esay 5.5 he puld up the hedges and let in the wild-bore Thus also he dealt by the unprefitable servant he took away his talent and turned him over to the tormentour And thus he deales by diverse now adayes in whom it is no hard matter to observe a waine and decay of their gifts and abilities upon their disuse or misuse thereof How many have we that are wofully fallen from the affections of prayer they were wont to find and expresse how many idle and therefore evil ministers rejected by God and laid aside as so many broken vessels whiles he causeth the night to come upon their divination puts out their right eyes and dryes up their right aermes Zach. 11.17 till at length they may say with Zedekiah When did the spirit depart from me Woe to me for I am spoiled Ier. 4.13 And in very deed what should a Prince do but take away a sword from a rebel what should a mother do but snatch away the meat from the child that marrs it And what can God do lesse then take away his corn Hos 2.5 9. wine and wooll from those that not only own him to it but go after other sweet-hearts with it yea I have cursed them already for a pledge of more malediction For as in blessings every former is a pledge of a future so in curses As one cloud followes another till the Sun disperse them so doth one curse succeed another till Repentance remove them No sooner doth that rain-bow appear in our hearts but God remembring his covenant clears up our coasts and lifteth up the light of his countenance upon us Take the bark from the tree and the sap can never find its way to the branches Take sin from the soule and God will soon be reconciled But if ye walk contrary unto me I will punish you yet seven times more and seven times Lev. 26. and seven to that till I have dashed you in pieces as Dagon never
left falling before the Ark till his neck was broke Sin doth as naturally draw and suck curses to it as the Loadstone doth iron or Turpentine fire The Chaldee and the Vulgar make these words but a repetition of the former for they read the Text thus Idem repetit in culcat à Lapide I will curse your blessings and I will curse them to intimate his peremptorinesse in the thing and that he was unchangably resolved upon it Now when God will do a thing who shall hinder it Nature may be resisted and hindred in its course as when the fire burnt not the three worthies when the Sun stood still in heaven yea went backward Men and devils though never so potent may want of their will and be crossed in their designes and desires But if God will have this or that to be done ther 's no gain-standing him If he have a mind to blesse his people they shall be blessed If he will have pitty for his own names sake which the house of Israel had prophaned Ezek. 36.21 If he will come in with his Non-obstante Neverthelesse he saved them c. and dealt with his servants not according to his ordinary rule but according to his prerogative who shall contradict him In like sort if he will redouble his strokes upon his enemies and not only curse them but curse them bitterly as the Angel did Meroz who can hinder or object against his proceeding in that behalf Judg. 5 His judgements are sometimes secret but alwayes just and if he once say I will curse yea that I will there is as little hope of altering him as there was of Pilate when he had once pronounced what I have written I have written It shall surely stand because ye do not lay it to heart As he had repeated their curse so he doth here their sin instancing in that branch of it that most offended him and that was their stupidity and senselesnesse either of their sin or danger This is a God-provoking evill oft complain'd of but especially when it proceeds from presumption as Deut. 29.19 Esay 22.12 13 14. Ezek. 24.13 The Lord cannot satisfie himself in threatening such as if the very naming of it had enraged his jealousie neither is he more absolute in threatening then he will be resolute in punishing Verse 3. Behold I will corrupt your seed And so mar your hopes of an harvest I will bring famine upon you that fore judgement worse then that of the sword Lam. 4.9 which yet is the slaughter-house of mankind and the very hell of this present world By this scourge God will tame his prodigals and starve their bodies Hag. 1.4 who by the contempt of his ordinances starve their own soules Either by immoderate drought God can cause a famine Ioel 1.10 Or by immoderate moisture Verse 17. The seed rotting under the clods c. to revenge the quarrel of his covenant Israel was plagued with famine for breaking their faith with the Gibeonites What may they expect that keep not touch with God 2 Sam. 21.1 David knew that the naturall cause of that famine was drought but he enquired though t were long first after the supernaturall As Jacob enquired who stood on the top of the ladder and sent the Angels to and fro so must we in case of publike calamities Gen. 28.13 ascend to the top of them and see who sends them and what is the cause of them that we may cast the traitours head over the wall and he may return and repent and leave a blessing behind him For till then we may look that he should cut off our provision and victualls as wise Princes use to do from their rebels whom they have gotten up into a walled town and spread dung upon your faces cast contempt upon you and cover you with confusion make you to stink above ground so that men shall shun and abhorr your company This is another fruit of sin and piece of the curse and many wicked men are more afraid of it then of the sin that causeth it as Chaereas in Terence not ashamed to deflour a virgin was yet ashamed to be seen in an Eunuchs habit the signe of that sin True it is that the best may have dung cast into their faces as St. Paul and his precious companions had 1 Cor. 4.13 We are faith he the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things The later word signifieth the dung-cart that goes thorough the city 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which every one brings and casts his filth to note that every foole had some filth to cast upon those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy And truely all publike persons that are faithfull to their trust had need carry a spare handkerchief to wipe off dirt and drivell which yet many times will hardly stick as dirt will not upon marble though it will upon a mud-wall The wise shall inherit glory when shame shall be the promotion of fooles Pro. 3.35 A fair promotion but good enough for them unlesse they were better If the precious sons of Zion comparable to fine gold be at any time esteemed as earthen pitchers as Lam. 4.2 or trodden in the dirt by the fat buls of Basan God will in due time make all his that have laine sullied and slurred among the pots to become as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with pure gold Psal 68.13 In the mean while they have the Euge of a good conscience which is better then the worlds Plaudite But profane and profligate persons with their spiritual nastinesse and super fluity of naughtinesse stink worse then these cityes of the plaine in the nostrils of God and all good men whiles they live according to that The name of the wicked shall rot And again Pro. 10.7 9 He that perverteth his wayes shall be known And when they dye they shall be carried thorough the dung-gate of death to the town-ditch of utter destruction At which time Iob. 20.6 7. that in Iob shall be verified of them Though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung they which have seen him in his flourish shall say Where is be Let those dehonest amenta Cleri look to this all idle and evill Ministers who as unsavoury salt are fit for no place but the dung-hill even to be buried in a dunghill as Bishop Bonner was and mean-while to be trodden under foot which is a thing not only calamitous but extremely ignominious Mat. 5.13 even the dung of your solemne feasts i. e. for the iniquity of your most solemn services which you have slubber'd over and made to stink I will make you also abject and abominable as the dung of sacrifices offered in great number on festivall dayes was carried into some by-corner and set out of sight And here it is
vobis erit damnosum Timeo itaquâ— damnum vestrum timeo damnationem meam Bern. de T. mp 99. mihi periculosum If I should not deale faithfully and freely with you it would be to your loss but to mine utter undoing Verse 10. Have we not all one Father Here begins a second contestation viz. with the people as the former was with the Priests for their unrighteous dealing where we have so many words so many arguments In brevitate verborum est luxuries verum How many Ones are here and all to perswade to unity See the like Eph. 4.3 4 5. Let those that take upon them to perswade others to equity and unanimity learn to marshall their matter handsomely and to fill their mouths with arguments such as may fall thick and prevail Iob 21.4 being seconded and set on with intimation of heartiest affection Oh that I could somewhere meet with you both together said Austin to Hierome and Ruffinus hearing of their differences I would fall down at your feet with much love and many teares I would beseech you for Gods sake for your own sakes Hei mihi qui vos alicubi invenire non possum c. for weak Christians sake c. not to suffer these dissentions to spread further So Mr. Bradford in a letter to a distressed Gentlewoman that was in a despairing condition I beseech you saith He I pray you I desire you I crave at your hands with all my very heart I ask of you with hand pen tongue and mind in Christ through Christ for Christ for his name blood mercy power and truths sake Act. and Mon. that you admit no doubting of Gods finall mercyes toward you howsoever you feel your self Oh that I could get words said Another holy man to his hearers to gore your very hearts with smarting pain that this doctrine might be written in your flesh By this One Father in the Text is meant Adam say the most Interpreters who was the common Parent of us all and the very stock and root from whence all mankind did spring It is therefore a sin against Nature it self and common humanity to deal treacherously against another or to hide thy self from thine own flesh Isa 58.7 This is to be more unreasonable then beasts birds and fishes which love their own kind and those that seed on flesh will not eat the flesh of their own kind But our Age over-aboundeth with unnaturall Man-eaters that not only fike a pickrell in a pond or shark in the sea devour the lesser fishes of another alloy but also eat up Gods people as they eat bread make no more conscience Psal 14.5 nay take as much content in undoing a poor brother as in eating a meals-meat when they are hungry they make but a breakfast of a whole representative Nation as those gun-powder-papists designed to do How oft are wicked Oppressours compared to hunters for their cruelty and fowlers for their craft to shew that they spare none that fall into their nets young old male female all go together into the bag This raised a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren those usurious Jews that had both robb'd and ravished them Psal 10.9 Nehem. 5.1 And what could they say for themselves but the same in effect with this in the text Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren our children as their children c have we not all one father hath not One God created us Here the Prophet riseth higher viz. from Adam to God out of whose mint when Man came first he shone most glorious for he was Gods own workmanship created unto love and good works Ephes 2.10 yea as iron put into fire seems to be nothing but fire so Adam come fresh out of Gods hands who is perfect love and goodnesse it self was no other then a very lump of love to God and kindnesse to his fellow-creatures But now alasse we may sit and sing O quantum haec Niobe c. how strangely are we altered and fallen from our first love and what great cause have we with those in Ezra to think of this Temple that was burnt and lament yea write Lamentations with Jeremy and say as He They ravished the women in Zion and the maids in the cities of Judah Princes are hanged up by the hand the faces of the Elders were not honoured c. Lam. 5. The wonder was the lesse because these that did all this were of a different reâ—â—ion â—â—â— for those that serve the same true God the Creatour of all to jarre and warre as we alasse do at this day this is lamentabile bellum and speaks a great decay and defect of the power of godlinesse true religion being of an uniting nature and the strongest tye Sanatior sane est copula cordis quam corporis This Iosephs brethren knew and therefore held it their best plea Gen. 50.17 And now we pray thee forgive the trespasse of the servants of thy fathers God They had one common father but as a better string to their bowe they had one common God The very Turks are found to be much braver souldiers upon the Christian Voyage into Leuant p. 89. then upon the Persian because they begin alate to be infected with Persianisme whom they acknowledge better Mahometans then themselves why do we deal treacherously Or fraudulently The Prophet puts himself into the number though innocent that his reproof might the better take with them That which he taxeth them for is their wrong-dealing in generall one with another whether it were by force or by fraud by violence or cunning contrivance which what is it else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but crimen stellionatus the very sinne of cousenage and hath God for an avenger 1 Thess 4.6 Now it is dangerous offending him whose displeasure and revenge is everlasting and who oft calls to reckoning after our discharges Take heed therefore of all sorts of injustice Curse not the deaf lay not a stumbling-block before the blind but fear the Lord Jehovah Lev. 19.14 And considering that to deal treacherously with another a brother especially is a sinne as hath been above-said both against nature and religion both against Race and Grace which teacheth righteousnesse as well as holinesse Tit. 2.12 and turning the leopard into the lamb c. causeth that none do hurt to or destroy another in all Gods holy mountain Esay 11.6 let us so carry our selves as that with blessed Paul we may glory and say We have wronged no man we have consumed no man we have defrauded no man c. 2 Cor. 7.2 by profaning the covenant of our fathers i. e. by degenerating from the promises and practises of our pious progenitours Of this see verse 8. A certain popish Prince said It is not amisse to make covenants but wo be to him that is necessitated to keep them He had learned belike of Machiavel fidem tamdiù servandam esse
of the Lord so we read 2 Chron. 31.4 that is that they might not follow their callings heavily for want of maintenance but cherefully bend themselves wholy to the service of the Lord. And here as Ferus once wished for the Romish synagogue I would we had some Moses said He to take away the evils of the times non enim unum tantum vitulum sed multos habemus for we have not one golden calf but many So have we of these times cause to wish we had some zealous Nehemiahs and Hezekiahs to stickle and stand for Christs Ministers not defrauded of their due maintenance only a signe of gasping devotion but trampled upon by the foul feet of the basest of the people as the filth of the world and the offcouring of all things Tythes they say are Iewish but if Melchisedech tythed Abraham by the same right whereby he blessed him Heb. 7. and if tythes by all lawes of God Nature Nations have been hallowed to God as Junius and other modern Divines alledge and argue and lastly if things consecratd to Gods service may not be alienated out of case of necessity Pro. 20.25 Gal. 3.15 it will appear to be otherwise Or if tythes be Jewish and yet Ministers must have a maintenance Christ having so ordained 1 Cor. 9.14 and that both honourable 1 Tim. 5.17 18. and liberall Gal. 6.6 how else shall they be given to hospitality 1 Tim. 2.2 if they be not hospitable they will be despicable how will men satisfie their consciences in the quota pars the particular quantity they must bestow upon them The scripture speaketh only of the tenth part Sed manum de tabula Enough of this if not more then enough Verse 9. Ye are cursea with a curse Vuig ye are cursed with penury and scarcity of victuals according to Deut. 28.23 c. and so great was this peoples poverty that they were forced for food to sell not their fields only but their sons and daughters Neh. 5. They had pinched on Gods side and he had paid them home in the same kind they thought in the famine to have kept the more to themselves and they had the lesse for keeping from him that which was his A just hand of God upon all church-robbers for most part they are alwayes in want and needy their wealth melting away as snow before the sun and their fields of blood purchased with the spoiles of Christ proving as unfortunate and fatall to them as the gold of the Temple of Tholose did to Scipio's souldiers of which whoever carried any part away never prospered afterward What get men by such a detiny that shall prove their fatall destiny Say they leave the gold behind them yet they are likely to carry the guilt to hell with them Iem 5.1 2. yea to cough in hell as Latimer phrased it unlesse they make restitution to disgest in hell what they have devoured on earth as Austin Because Pharaoh faith the river is mine own therefore faith God I will dry up the river Ezek. 29.3 9. The Merchant that denyeth to pay his custome forseits all his commodities so here for ye have robbed me And therefore I have cursed you God never punisheth people but there is just cause for it could they but see it but that the are hardly drawn to as here and Esay 26.11 the root of the matter is in themselves as job speakes in another case the plague of their own hearts 1 King 8 38. procureth them all the mischief and may say to them as the heart of Apoâ—â—â—â— us the tyrant seemed to say to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who dreamed one night that he was steaed by the Scythians and boyled in a caldron and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle It is I that have drawn thee to all this Let men therefore when under any misery lay their hand upon their heart thrust their hand into their besom with Moses they shall be sure to bring it out lepious let them turn short again upon themselves and say every man What have I done what evill have I committed or at least admitted what good have I omitted or intermitted Profane Esau beguiled of the blessing cryes out of his fathers store of his brothers subtlety not a word of his own prophanenesse in slighting and selling his birth-right he had forgot since he did eat and drink and went his way Gen. 25.4 The lerusalem-Paraphrast adds that he also despised his portion in the world to come and denyed the resurrection But this he never taketh notice of So Pompey beaten by Caesar out of the field blamed the divine providence for his ill successe when he should rather have faulted his own retchlesse security that he never considered into what place he were best to retire if worsted and especially his sacriledge not long before that defeat when he sackt Jerusalem and ransackt the Temple He might have considered what became a little before his time for the same offence of Alcimus 1 Maccah 9.54 55 56. 2 Maccah 3.24 25. and 4.39 41.42 and 5.15 16. and 13.4 8. and 15.30 34 Heliodorus Lysimachus Antiochus Menclaus and Nicanor all notorious Church-robbers and all hang'd u in gibbets as it were for example and admonition to all that should come after Sacriledge is a share saith Solomon Pro. 20.25 that 1. catcheth suddenly 2. holdeth surely 3. desroyeth certainly Cavete even this whole nation The disease was grown Epidemicall like that which Physicians call corruptio totius substantiae or that which he Prophet Esay also complaineth of chap. 1.5 6. The whole head is sick the whole heart is faint c. This sin of sacriledge was grown Nationall there was a conjuncture of all sorts in this wickednesse a rabble of rebels they were ripe for judgement yea though Gods judgements were upon them yet they persisted Neh. 13.18 and encreased wrath Ezra 9.13 God had smitten them but they sorrowed not Ier. 5.3 but to be revenged on him as it were for laying famine upon them they took away his tythes c. Verse 10. Bring ye all the tythes into the store-house All whether praediall or personall all and of every kind into the store-house the standing place for tythes as it is called Neh. 13.11 12 13. the tyth-barn as the Vulgar hath it that there may be meat in my house Tereph unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the English prey that there may be maintenance for my Ministers Cibus qui discerpi dividi disiribuiq polest enough not for themselves only but for to be distributed to those that are about them that they may not cat their morsels alone that they may not be slaves to others servants to themselves that they may not bite with their teeth and cry peace teach for hire and divine for money Mic. 3.5 11. that is be fain to maintain themselves with sordid and unworthy flatteries Balaam the false Prophet rode with his two men Num. 22.
he rebuked the red-sea and it was dried up Psal 105. and as he rebuked the winds Mat. 8.26 the fever Luk. 4.39 the devil Mat. 7.18 he will say unto them Abite 〈◊〉 hine Get you hence and that 's enough for they are all his servants Psal 119.91 He is the great Centurion or rather Lord of Hosts that faith to this creature Go and he goeth and to another Come and he cometh c. if he do but say Who is on my side who all creatures look out at their windows as ready prest to do his pleasure neither is there any so mean amongst them or so despicable that cannot if set on by him make the proudest on earth stoop and say This is the singe of God But of this see more in the 1. Dost on vers 18. of this Chapter Let all that look for Gods blessing either upon their persons or possessions make their peace with God the genealogie of corn and wine is resolved into him Hos 2.22 and bring him all his tythes into the store-house c. les hee blast their fair hopes out off the meat from their mouthes take his own and bee gone take away his corn in the time thereof and his wine in the season thereof c. Hos 2.9 The Jews in our Saviours time suis malis edosthi were punctuail in paying their tythes even to a potherb Marth 23. And at this day though not in their own countrey nor have a beviticall Priesthood yet those of them that would bee reputed religious Godw. Heb. Antiq p. 277. do distribute in lieu of tythes the tenth of their increase unto the poor being perswaded that God doth blesse their increase the more For their usuall proverb is Dectma in dives fias â—ythe and be rich Of the young Lord Harrington the last of that name it is reported by Mr. Stock who preached his Funerall that he constantly gave the tenth of his yearly revenue to pious and charitable uses And of reverend Mr. Will Whately Minister of Banbary it is likewise recorded in his life that he set apart and expended for many years before he died for good uses the tenth part of his yearly comings in both out of his temporall and ecclesiasticall means of maintenance and that he never thrived in his outward estate till he took that course Besides the sweet comfort that the spirits of his wealth thus distilled as it were brought to his conscience both in life and at death and the blessing of a good name left behind him according to that which follows next in the text And all nations c. Verse 12. And all nations shall call you Hessed viz. for the abundance of outward comforts and commodities by the which the Nations measured mens happinesse saying Blessed is the people that is in such a ease Psal 144.15 Cyprus was for this cause anciently called Macaria that is the blessed countrey as having a sufficiency of all things within it self and England was called Regnum Dci the kingdome of God or the Fortunate Island and Englishmen Deires as those that were set safe de ira Dei from the wrath of God In the time of Pope lement the sixth as Robert of Avesbury testifieth when Lewis of Spain was chosen Prince of the Fortunate Islands and for the conquest thereof was to raise an Army in France and Italy the English Agent at Rome together with his company departed and gat home as conceiving that the Prince was bound for England then the which they thought there was not a more fortunate Island in the world Of the Island of Lycia Sol nus saith Lyciam Horatius claram dicit that all the day long the sky is never so cloudy but that the Sun may be seen there Semper in Sole siva est Rhodos The Rhodes is ever in the Sun-shine saith Aeneas Sylvius And of Alexandria in Egypt Ammianus Marcellizus observeth that once in the day the Sun hath been seen to shine over it I confesse the same cannot be said of England I remember also what I have read of a certain Frenchman who returning home out of England and being asked by a countreyman of his that was bound for England what service he would command him into this countrey Nothing but this said the other When you see the Sunne Per duos enim menses quibus ibi fui Solem mihi videre non licuit Garincieres de tabe Anglica p 84. Vt finem atque initium lucis exiguo discrimine in ternoscas Nomentque ex eo sortitam Polyh c. 17. have me commended to him for I have been there two moneths and could never see him in all that space Belike he was here in the deep of winter For at Summer Solistice Tacitus in the life of Agricola hath observed that the Sun shineth continually in Britanny and neither setteth nor riseth there but passeth so light by us by night that you can searce say we have any night at all But if we speak of the Sunshine of Gods grace and favour either for spirituals or temporals as Delos is said by Solinus to have been the first countrey that had the Sun shining upon it after the generall deluge and therehence to have had its name so was England one of the first Hands that both received Christ and that shook off Antichrist And for temporall blessings all nations call us blessed and count us a delightsome land indeed a land of desires such as all men would desire to dwell in for the exceeding fruitfulnesse and pleasantnesse of it it being the Court of Queen Ceres the granary of the Western world as forreigne Writers have termed it the paradise of pleasure and garden of God as our own Chronicler The truth is We may well say of England as the Italians do of Venice by way of proverb He that hath not seen it cannot beleeve what a dainty place it is and he that hath not lived there some good space cannot understand the worth of it Our Mr. Ascham Schoolmaster to Q. Eizabeth had lived there some time and had soon enough of it for though hee admired the place he utterly disliked the people for their loose living And the like alasse may be too truly affirmed of us We live in Gods good land but not by Gods good lawes we eat the fat and drink the sweet but we sanctifie not the Lord God in our hearts we live not as becometh Christians Our hearts like our Climate hath much more light then heat light of knowledge then heat of zeal our lukewarmnesse is like to be our bane our sinnes our snuffes that dimme our candlestick and threaten the removall of it O si siat id in nobis saith One quod in Sole videtur qui quibus affulserit ijs etiam calrem colorem impertire solet O that the Sun of righteousnesse would so shine upon us as to warm us and transforme us into the same image from glory to glory as by his Spirit O
that he would set up his own kingdome here more and more amongst us then should were be more happy then the Israelites were under the raigne of king Solomon or the Spaniards under their Ferdinand the third who reigned 35. years in all which time there was neither famine nor pestilence in the land Lopez Gloss in prolog par 1 Vers 13. Your words have been stout against me Or reenforced or strongly confirmed Superant me verba vestra so some have rendred it By your hard and hatefull words you have been too hard for me as it were And it is as if God should say I have given you my best advice o break off your sinnes and to bring me my tythes that I might blesse you both with store and honour But I have lost my labour I see well my sweet words are worse then spilt upon you who are so hardened in your errour and blasphemy Prov. 23.8 Verba quid incassum non proficientia perdo Mal. 2.17 that you are still clamouring and casting out odious words against me Once before you had set your foul mouthes against me and like so many wolves that were wood you held up your heads and howl'd out these ugly words Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them c. was it possible that the wit of malice could devise so high a slander And now you are at it again creaking like doors that move upon rusty hinges nay clattering and blustering out such hellish and hideous blasphemies as at the hearing whereof it is great wonder if the heavens sweat not earth gape not sea roar not all creatures conspire not to be avenged upon you as the very stones in the wall of Aphek turned executioners of those blasphemous Aramites when as being but ignorant Pagans their tongues might seem no slander Your words have been stout against me Yea stouter and stouter your wickednesse frets like a canker and encreaseth still to more ungodlinesse 2 Tim. 2.17 Evil men and deceivers grow worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 as being given up by God Rom. 1.28 acted and agitated by the devil Ephes 2.2 serving diverse lusts and pleasures Tit. 3.3 which to satisfie is an endlesse piece of businesse Neither let any here say they were but words that these are charged with and words are but wind c. for words have their weight and are marvellous provoking Leviter volant sed non leviter violant You shall find some saith Erasmus that if death be threatned can despise it but to be belied they cannot brook nor from revenge contain themselves As a murthering-weapon in my bones saith David mine enemies reproach me Psal 42.10 Desperate speeches and blasphemies that impose upon the Lord any thing unbeseeming his Majesty a thing common among the Jews even at this day he can by no means away with See how God stomacketh such proud contumelious language Psal 73.11 and 94.4 5 6 7 c. Zeph. 1.12 Ezech. 9.9 See how he punished it in him that bored thorough his great Name Lev. 24.11 Ludovike commonly called St. Lewis caused the lips of blasphemers to be seared with an hot iron Philip the French King punished this sin with death yea though it were committed in a Tavern The very Turks have the Christians blaspheming of Christ in execration and will punish their prisoners sorely when as through impatience or desperatenesse they wound the ears of heaven Yea the Jews in their speculations of the causes of the strange successe of the affairs of the world Specul Europae assigne the reason of the Turks prevailing so against the Christians to be their blasphemies and among other scandals and lets of their conversion are all those stout words darted with hellish mouthes against God in their hearing so ordinarily and openly by the Italians especially who blaspheme oftner then swear and murther oftner then revile or slander Andrew Musculus in his discourse intituled The devil of blasphemy hath a memorable story of a desperate dice-player in Helvetia Anno 1553. at a town three miles distant from Lucerna Where on a Lords-day three wretched fellows were playing at dice under the town-wall One of them named Vlricus Schraeterus having lost a great deal of money swore that if he lost the next cast he would fling his dagger at the sace of God He lost it and in a rage threw up his dagger with all his might toward heaven The dagger vanished in the air and was seen no more five drops of blood fell down upon the table where they were playing which could never be washed out part of it is still kept in that town for a monument the blasphemer to say the best of him was fetcht away presently body and soul by the devil with such an horrible noise as affrighted the whole town The other two came to a miserable end shortly after The truth of this relation is further attested by Job Fincelius and Philip Lonicerus Theat histor pag. 142. yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee Chald What have we multiplied to speak before thee As if they should say â—t is not so much that we have spoken that thou shouldest make such a businesse of it Nothing more ordinary with gracelesse men then to elevate and extenuate great sins with them are small sins and small sins no sins when as every sinne should swell like a toad in their eyes and the abundant hatred thereof in their hearts should make them say all that can be said for the aggravation and detestation of it sith there is as much treason in coyning pence as bigger pieces because the supreme authority is as much violated in the one as in the other But this sin of theirs was no peccadillo as appeareth by the following instance Verse 14. Ye have said It is vain to serve God Vulg. He is vain that serves God Ye are idle ye are idle said Pharaoh to the Israelites when they would needs go sacrifice and to Moses and Aaron Ye let the people from their works Any thing seems due work to a carnall mind saving Gods service that 's labour lost time cast away they think But this is their want of spirituall judgement they see not the beauty of holinesse they taste not how good the Lord is they discern not things that are excellent they measure all by present sight sense and taste as do children swine and other bruit creatures And therefore they themselves are vani vanissimi as an Expositor here speaketh vain and most vain and that for two reasons and in two respects First for that they take themselves to be servers of God Secondly they stick in the bark serve him with the out-side onely honour him with their lips and not with their hearts to bring him vein oblations empty performances serve him wih shews and formalities which he delights not in nay he rejects them with infinite scorn as he did the Pharisees devotions
must not be written on any parchment but what is made of the skin of a clean beast nor read but in a clean place No man must touch it but with the right hand and not without a kisse of reverence they usually carry it in procession about their synagogue with many ornaments of crowns and scepters the children kissing it as it passeth by them No man must sit in the presence of it nor so much as spet before it c. Whereas the Gospel of grace they utterlly reject and abominate as a Volume of vanity That Italian Translation that they had of the New Testament is called in and taken from them Evangelâ—â—â— Aven gelaion Eliah in Thesh Rad gillaion Buxâ—orf syneâ— cap. 1 p. 4. for their horrible abuse of it this being still the twelfth Article of their Creed I believe with a perfect faith that the Messiah is yet to come No marvell if the Apestle would not have us ignorant that blindnesse in part is happened to Israel Rom. 11.23 That lesser part or rather particle of them that are proselyted to our religion they pretend that they are none other then poor Christians hired to personate their part Voyage into Levant And yet they give compleat dispensation to counterfeit Christianity even to the degree of Priesthood In the day of their expiation their Rabbi doth absolve them from all their perjuries and deceits used against Christians He also assures them that they are not bound to keep any oath but what is sworn upon their own Torah or Law of Moses brought out of their Synagogue Weemse to the reading whereof they depute one third part of their day and wherein they are generally so expert that they have it as ready as their own names The mischief of it is Facilius quâ—â— nomen soum recitat Joseph Cont Appion lib. 2. that they are too much affixt to it and will needsly be saved by it which the Law cannot do for them as being weak through the flesh Rom 8 3. The Law is a yoke of bondage as Hierome calleth it and they who look for righteousnesse from thence are like oxen who coil and draw and when they have done their labour are fitted for slaughter Luther fitly calleth such drudges the devils Martyrs they suffer much and take much pains to go to hell And in another place he saith Qui scit inter Logem Evangelium disting siere gratiâ—â— agat Dto sciat se esse Theologum He that can rightly distinguish between Law and Gospel hath cause to praise God and may well passe for a Divine Moses my servant A farre higher title then Sonne of Pharaohs daughter for this was to be Pharaohs God Exod. 7.1 and higher then the kings of the earch Psal 89.27 No marvell though Moses so esteemed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Nâ—â—â—t king of Romans an Heathen did and Augustus the Emperouâ— câ—â—igratius fuit 〈◊〉 pietatis quam potestatis saith Tertultian he preserred prety before Monarchy so did those three succeeding Emperours Câ—â—stantine 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 who called themselves Vassallos Christi the vassals of Christ as 〈◊〉 reporteth It was noted as a great both presage and desert of Dâ—â—ins his ruine when in his proud Embassie to Alexanaer he called himself the King of kings and Cousin of the gods but for Alexander he called him his servant That was worse in John Oneal father to the Earl of Tirone that rebell Anno 1398 who blasphemously inscribed himself in all places 1 great John Oneal Cousin to Christ friend to the Queen of England and foe to all the world c. Camd Eliz. 2 Pet. 2 What big bâ—bbles of words were these as Peter calls them His pretended Successour stileth himself the servant of Gods servants and one day in the yeer in an apish imitation of our Savtour washeth certain mens feet But he acteth as Dominâ—s â—â—gnorum munâ—i which is one of the Devils titles and can endure to be called by his Parasites Dominus Deus noster Papa Our Lord God the Pope Moses held it honour enough to be the servant of the Lord and yet he was Vir Dâ—o longe acceptissimus quo 〈◊〉 habuit antiqua aetas mitius sapientius sanctius highly accepted in heaven and the most meek wise and holy man that Antiquity ever had or mentioned as Bellarmine himself acknowledgeth which I commanded him in Horeb Moses then was not the Law-maker as Solon Lycurgus Zaleucus c. but onely Gods Minister to utter what he would have him deliver or at utmost a Mediatour Gol. 3.19 not of expiation for so Christ onely but of communication of the Law to all Israel Exod. 20.19 wherein he was faithfull in all Gods house as a servant Hob. 3.5 Famulus inginuus a servant of the better sort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of worship as the word there seemeth to import The place where Moses received the Law is mentioned Horeb the same with Sinai Act. 7.30 Exod. 19.1 18. to inmind them of the terrour of the Lord on that mountaine when God came down upon it with ten thousand of his Saints Deut. 33.2 from his right hand went a fiery law for them Heb. a fire of law And surely that fire wherein the law was given and shall one day be required is in it still and will never out Hence are those terrours which it flashth in every conscience that hath felt remorse of sinne Every mans heart is an Horeb and resembleth to him both heaven and hell The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15. to all Israel And it is reckoned as a singular priviledge to that people Neh. 9.14 Rom. 9.4 Prospers conceit was that Judaei were so called because they received Jus Dei the Law of God Josephus calleth their Common-wealth a Theocratie or God-government That of Philo is not so solid that their law was given in a wildernesse because it is to be learned in a wildernesse seeing there we cannot be hindered by the multitude But what a wretched conceit is that of the Jews at this day that the law of Nature shall bring to heaven those that observe it but the Hebrews unto whom the Law of Moses was peculiarly given by keeping it shall have a prerogative of glory How shall the Lion of the tribe of Judah roar upon them at that day and say Do not think that I will accuse you there is one that accuseth you Joh. 5.45 even Moses in whom ye trust Get you to him whom ye have chosen but cold comfort ye are like to have from him a very froward generation he ever found you children in whom is no faith Deut. 33.20 with the statutes and judgements that is with the Ceremoniall and Judiciall Law But what meant that false Rabbin to adde to this Text these following words Quamdiù non venit dies juâ—icy R. David Till the day of judgement comes as if men were bound till
would never be drawn to fear or stand in awe of For Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes but he that in a desperate boldnesse or Cyclopicall contempt of the divine Justice hardneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe q Prov 28 13 yea shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy r Prov. 29.1 In executing of which dreadfull sentence though the Lord be slow yet he is sure his forbearance is no quittance But although a sinner in high contempt of Gods heavy displeasure do evill an hundred times and his dayes through Gods infinite patience be prolonged yet surely I know saith Solomon that it shall be well with them that feare that Lord which fear before him Å¿ Eccles 8.12 That is that fear him in his ministers and deputies trembling at his judgments while they hang in the threatnings t Isa 66.2 melting as Josich u 2 Chr. 34 27 at the terrour of his menaces nay by the kindnesse of his mercyes which dissolves their good hearts as weake water doth some thin substances or as the hot â—un doth the hard ice An instance hereof ye have in that solemne meeting at Mizpeh where Israel which had found the misery of Gods absence is now resolv'd into teares of contrion and thankfulnesse when he was once returned and settled in Kiriath-jearim Then they mett together at Mizpeh and drew water and poured it out before the Lord w 1 Sam. 7 6. In signum expiationis iniquitatum juâ—ta Iob 11.15 R. Sâ—lomon dicit quod hâ—c feâ—erunt in signum humiliationis q d sicut aqua effusa ad nihi 'um valet ultra siâ—in conspectu tuo nihil sumus aut videmur 2 â—sal 86.11 Whether 't were teares out of their eyes or water out of their vessels as a ceremony or pledge of their hearty humiliation the difference is little Sure it was to testify the tendernesse of their hearts which having hang'd loose a long time from the Lord began now to unite again unto his fear* It is certaine that the mercies of God draw more teares from his children then his judgments do from his enemies who as in prosperity bec use they have no changes therefore they fear not God y Psal 55.19 so in adversity their hearts are the more hâ—rdâ—ed thereby from his fear z Is 63.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 1.7 as in Pharaoh and Ahaz till at last by long trading with the devil in the wayes of sin they come to lose with him all passive power also of being wrought upon and arrive at that that height of incurable hardnesse that neither ministry nor misery nor miracle nor mercy can possibly mollify Which is the greatest plague that can befall a man out of hell and the very next step into it But the second extreame standing in as full opposition to that fear of God we are treating of is that slavish and hellish fear and terrour that evill spirits and men conceive of God whom they look upon only as an implacable sin revenging judge or tyrant rather ready to teare the very kell of their hearts in suder a Hos 13 6. Quem metunnt Oderunt Ennius Odium timerem spirat Tert and to send them packing to their place in hell Hereupon follows an exulcerate hatred of God according to that of the Poet whom men fear they hate a desperate â—unning away from God with Cam Saul Ahrzath b 2 King 1.2 Quem quisque odit pernsse expetit Ennius c. A secret rising up against God and an inward desire that there were no such thing as God that so they might never be called to an Audit and account of their wicked wayes and sinfull courses as they are sure to be in that dreadfull day This the Devill and his impes beleeve and therefore tremble c Iam. 2.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek word seemes to imply such an excesse of fear as causeth gnashing of teeth like the clashing of armour or horrible yellings like the roaring of the sea * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est maris agnatio Hom Iâ—â—ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Eustach in locum Nullum maleficium sine formidine quia nec sine conscientia sai Tert. They have no rest day nor night Apoc. 14.11 The reason of which outrage is rendred by Terâ—uâ—iam No sinner saith he escapes fear of Gods wrath and all because he can never possibly shake off Conscience which being Mans spie and Gods overseer if it be not desperately feared or sealed up securely with a spirit of slumber against the day of slaughâ—â—r doth sting the evill-doer betwixâ— whiles d Rom. 2.15 with unquestionable conviction and horrour And thus it fares ordinarily with a wicked person But now t is otherwise with the godly when they are out of temptation for then you must know it is ego non sum ego with them they are not themselves neither can any right judgment as then be made of them But usually their hearts being purisied from an evill conscience e Heb. 10.22 through the blood of sprinkling f 1 Pet. 1.2 cast upon them by the hyssop bunch of faith g Rom 5 1 they have peace with god their reconciled father in Jesus Christ Whom therefore they love in fear and fear in love wishing nothing more then his being Let he Lord live h Psal 18.44 saith David as the principle of their well-being for it is good for me to draw neer to Jehovah i Psal 73.28 Into whose presence they therefore flee as the doves unto their windowes k Esay 69 8 I will come into thine house in the mulutude of thy mercies there 's his reverence l Psal 5.7 Loe this is the guise of a godly person whiles himself He feares and loves feares and hopes feares and prayes feares and feasts m Iude 12. feares and workes yea workes out his whole salvation with fear and trembling and all because he knowes that 't is not of himself but of God a most free agent that gives both to will and to worke and all of his own good pleasure n Philip 2.12.13 as the Apostle there enforceth it SECT III. Objections and Queries touching the Fear of God cleared and answered IF any object here that of Saint John Object Perfect love casleth out fear o 1 Joh. 4.18 That is Sol. Duo sunt timores Dei servilis amicalis Bedain Prov. 1 say we for abswer servile and base fear which love is perpetually purging upon For as for filiall and friendly fear it is never cast out no not in the state of perfection neither for the very angels cover their faces and feet before God p Esay 6.2 as knowing their distance But is the fear of Gods children here purely filiall without all mixture of that which is servile Quest No Ans nor need it be For first servile fear I
fear at large 〈◊〉 in the wicked such as were those mongrell Samaritans who feared the Lord and worshipped their own Gods after the manner of the nations h 2 Kin. 17.33 but this is rather a fright then a fear a spirit of restraint a pâ—nick terrour falling eftsoons upon the foulest hearts for the saâ—egard of the saints curbing even the rebellious from outrage that the Lord God may dwâ—ll upon earth i Psal 68.18 in his servants and subjects Which else these hard-hearted Labans and rough-handed Esatâ—'s would never suffer did not Fear of their father Isaac k Gen. 31.53 Lupus venit ad ovile quaerit invadere jugulare devorare Vigilant pastores latrant canes c. Lupus venit fremens redit tremens lupus tamen est fremens tremens Augâ—de verb. Apost serm 21. bridle them did he not put his hook into their noses and his bit into their jaws turning them back by the way they came out l Esay 37.28 This is thought to have been that hornel mentioned by Moses wherewith the Lord drave out the Hivite the Canaanite and the Hittite before the Israelite m Exod. 23.27 28 causing them by the furies of their own evil consciences wherewith they were haunted to fear their own shadows and to slre at a shaken leaf n Lev. 26.36 as a sparrow out of Egypt and as a dove out of the land of Ashur o Hos 11.11 Thus Zebul was terrified with the shadow of the mountains p Judg. 9.36 the Midianites with their own dreams and fancies q Judg. 7.13 the Syrians with an imaginary noise of charrets and horses r 2 King 7.6 French History History of the Councel of Trent Catilina non mediocriter solebat pertimescere si quid crepuisset the Burgundians about to give their enemies battle with the sight of long thistles which they thought to be launces Cardinall Crâ—sâ—â—ntius at his own conceits and phantasies For as he was writing to Rome from the Councel of Trent against the Protestants he thought verily he had seen the devil like a black dog walking in his chamber and at last couching under his table which cast the man into such a melancholy dump that he died of it This was a terrour from the Lord but this was not that fear of the Lord here mentioned in the seâ—t and wherewith few are acquainted For even of those that professe to fear the true God how very few are there found that do fear him in truth which is our second accusation and action laid against most men and comes now to be proved And first for the wicked of the earth it is most certain that they have greatest cause to fear of any men if they knew all for the direfull and dreadfull threats of Gods mouth are against them Sinne lies sculking at the door Å¿ Gen. 4.7 of their consciences like a ban-dog ready to worry them the devil stands watching to lay claim to them and to devour them t 1 Pet. 5 8 the rage of all the creatures though they little think of it is ever arm'd and addrest to seize upon them as traytours and rebels to the highest majesty and to drag them down into the bottome of hell In all which respects the sinners in Sion should be afraid fearefulnesse should surprize the Hypocrites Cause enough they have to run away with those desperate words in their mouthes who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who among vs shall dwell with everlasting burnings u Esay 33.14 Or rather which indeed were more to be wisht to grow to that conclusion of the Authour to the Hebrews Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire w Heb. 12.28.29 But how little alasse of this reverent fear and so consequently of any other saving grace whatsoever * Timor Dei est virtus viâ—tutu n custos Bucholcer Ps 36.1 2 3 4 expounded there is in the hearts of wâ—cked and unregenerate persons appears in their practise and that the Psalmist maketh good both in respect of evill to be avoyded and of good to be performed Psal 36 1 2 3 4. For evill first my minde gives me saith the Prophet and I am verily perswaded that there 's nofear of God in such a mans heart ver 1. But what 's the ground of this perswasion may it not be a rash and uncharitable censure you passe upon him Ob. No saith he for first for evill thoughts he makes no scruple no conscionce of them for he holds that thought 's free and therefore layes the raines in the neck Sol. and lets them rove any way yea even then when his reines should teach him better things in the night season x Psal 16.7 He deviseth mischief saith he upon his bed Psâ—l 36.4 Secondly for his words as to God they are stout y Malac 3.13 so to men they are slippery so that ye cannot tell where to have him neither how to beleeve almost any thing that he speaks the words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit ver 3. Thirdly for matter of deeds he abhorrs not any evill ver 3. well he may leave some sin but he loaths it not forbear it he may for some politick respects as fear of the law shame of the world and speech of people but 't is sure he hates it not in his heart A man may withdraw himself from some particular sin give it over seeme to be divorc'd from it yet have a monthes minde to it still As Ahashuerosh when the heat of his passion was over remembred Vashti and what was decreed against her z Esth 21. and could have wishe it otherwise Or as the husband of Michal who when she was taken from him yet he came weeping after her afar off a 2 Sam. 3.16 And this way a man may be as wicked in his fearfull abstaining from sin as in his furious committing of it But usually this generation of men that have not the fear of God before their eyes are so wedded to their wicked courses that they will at no hand depart from iniquity b Prov. 3.7 Malach. 3.5 but are wise and cunning to palliate and plead for that they doe Yea against all the terrours of the Lord casting handfulls of hell-fire into their faces in the ministry of his word which should make them tremble and sin not c Psal 4.4 they contrarily sin and tremble not Yea which is worst of all and sets them farthest off from mercy they please and blesse themselves d Deut. 29.19 20. in that iniquity of theirs which God and good men descry to be hateful Psal 36.2 not only not standing in awe of his judgements as they ought while they hang in the threatenings but fleshing and slattering themselves as if the bitternesse of death were past e 1 Sa. 15.32 because sentence
Cam guilty l Gen. 4.10 or if earth do not heaven will reveal the iniquity m Ier. 20.27 Servi ut taâ—eant jementa loquentur luvenal Yea the very beasts have a wordist to passe upon evill-doers as the asse upon Balaam n 2 Pet. 2.26 A bird of the ayre shall carry the voice and tell the matter o Eccle. 10 20 Or it all tlâ—ese should faile yet the eyes of the Lord run to and fâ—o beholding the evill and the good p Prov. 15 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mus Neither is he an 〈…〉 as the Epicures dreamt but he hath a revenging eye as the hrathen Poet. and hand to q Esa 5.25 as the holy Prophet assure us the remembrance whereof reyn'd in Ioseph from yeelding to the wicked motion of his wanâ— on mistresse though he might have commâ—tted that folly and the world have been never the wiser r Gen 39 9 Lastly it cleanseth also from secret sins such as the world never comes acquainted with for such as fear the Lord shall not be â—â—sited of evill Å¿ Prov. 19.23 It weeds by pâ—crisy t Iosh 24.14 out of the heart and pride and arrogancy and every 〈◊〉 way u Prov. 8.13 be it but in thought as is to be seen in Iob who durst not once 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ully upon a maid because God he knew saw his wayes and coumed 〈…〉 w Iob 31.1 1 Loe this was it that mâ—de him retrain wanton lookes and 〈…〉 wâ—ckednesse cleausing himself from all fi lt himsse of slesh and spirit so persâ—â—ling holâ—â—ss 〈◊〉 the fear of God x2 Cor. 7.1 Secondly this holy fear as it frames the heart to a shâ—â—ing of sin so it formes it no leâ—e to the dâ—ing of duty and that 1. toward God 2. toward men For God first it mâ—keth a man 1. beleeve him 2. â—â—â—y him First it trembleth all out as mâ—ch at the threats of God mouth as at the stâ—okes of his hand y Esay 66.2 as is to be seen in Habakkuk z Hab. 3 16 And the scripture noteth 〈◊〉 of the Patriarch Noah that moved with fear he beleeved a Heb. 11.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aâ—d the denvered Israeliâ—â—s possest with this filiall fear beleeved God and â—is servant Moâ—es b Ex 14. nlt. Thus it frames a mans heart to saith in Gods word c Prov. 13 13 And so it doth secondly to the obedience of his will for they that fear the Lord will keep his covenant d Ps 103.13.18 yea they will work hard at it e Act. 10.35 as afraid to be taken with their tasks undone Thus it orders us in point of duty toward God and no lesse toward men both our selves and others For others first this fear of the Lord teacheth both rich and poor their seve all duties The rich it teacheth 1. not to brow-beat or oppresse their poorer brethren f Gen 42 18 This do and live saith Ioseph for I fear God and that 's your secâ—â—â—ty As if he should say â—â—ntend you no huâ—t though ye are fallen into my danger for it stands nâ—t with that scar of God that hath taken up my heart And ought ye not to have walked in the fear of God g Nehem. 5.9 said Nehemiah to those mercilesse usurions Israelites that had engrated upon their brethren 2. To be hospitable and haâ—borous ready to relecve the necessitous such especially as are of the houshold of saith This we see in Obadiah h 1 King 8.12 13 for the old testament and Cornelius for the new he feared God saith the text and he gave much almes i Act 10.1 2 As on the other side to him that is afflicted saith Iob pitry should be shewed from his friend but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty k Iob 6.14 What cares Nabal the churle though worthy David dye at his doore so long as he may sit warme within eating of the fat and drinking of the sweet All his Logick is little enough to conclude for himself Shall I take my bread and my flesh that I have kill'd for my shearers and give it to men whom I know not whence they be l 1 Sam. 25.11 No why should he say but the fear of God would have taught the foole * Nabal is his name and folly is with him moe wit But Secondly as it formeth the rich to their duties so the poorer sort too whom it rendreth 1. Content with their pittance as knowing that Better is a little with the fear of the Lord then great treasure and trouble therewith m Prov. 17 12 2. Far from envying the rich sith God hath meted out to each one the portion of his allowance n Acts 17 26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with this condition that where much is given much shall be required o Luke 12.48 Let not thine heart envy sinners saith Solomon but for an antidote against that evil disease be thou in the fear of the Lord all day long p Prov. 23.17 Lastly for our selves in what estate soever the fear of the Lord will make and keep a man in prosperity 1. humble 2. thankfull as in adversitie 1. patient 2. confident In prosperity it teacheth 1. Humility according to that of the Wise-man By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches q Prov. 22.4 c. where you may observe a very close connexion of humility and the fear of the Lord set forth by an elegant asyndeton in the originall there being no grammaticall copulative set between them but such a near affinity intimated as if they were the very same thing and the one praedicated of the other as termes convertible 2. Thankfulnesse as appears in the example of Job and David and may be gathered out of that text in Jeremy Neither say they in their hearts Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain both the former and latter rain in his season c. r Jer. 5 2â— One would think he should rather blame them there for not saying Let us praise the Lord our God c. but that former includes this latter for he that truely feareth God will not fail to be thankfull Next in time of adversity the fear of God is of no small use and benefit for 1. It makes men patient willing to bear Gods hand and to wait his leisure to seek remedy onley in Gods wayes and to accept of it onely upon his termes Thus those holy women in Peter being under the crosse of unequall yoke-fellows might not seek to win their loves by plaited hair or garish attire but by a meek and quiet spirit and by a chast conversation coupled with fear Å¿ 1 Pet. 3.3 Adde hereunto in the last place that the fear of God keeps men confident in the evil day holds up their hearts from dejection and disquietment For it brings a man before God in prayer t Prov.
hearts nothing will work or take impression till out of the bottom of hell they roar and bewail their own madnesse with desperate and bootlesse teares SECT V. Use 2. admonition Let the wicked break off their sins that they lose not their services VVHich to prevent come we now to a second use of Exhortation Vse 2 And this we addresse unto two sorts of men 1. To all unregenerate and wicked people 2. To those truly religious that are thus highly accepted and favoured with Daniel c Dan. 9.23 in the court of heaven To the wicked first God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth so long as thou hatest instruction and castest my words behinde thee d Psal 50.16 17 even the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination saith Solomon how much more when he bringeth it with an evil heart e Prov. 21.27 As who should say though such a man have never so good a meaning to serve God in his sacrifice yet he doth worse then lose his labour when he doth his best for he committeth that which is abomination before the Lord and so in seeking to shun hell he doth but take pains to go to hell And to the same purpose another Prophet He that killeth an oxe saith he unlesse withall he kill his corruptions is as well-pleasing to God as if he slew a man He that sacrificeth a lamb unlesse he sacrifice his lusts too is as if he cut off a dogs neck he that offereth an oblation unlesse he present also his body a living oblation holy acceptable to God e Rom. 12.1 is as if he offered swines blood he that burneth incense if it stink of the hand that burneth it is as if he blessed an idol f Isai 66.3 Even your incense is abomination g Isai 1.13 saith the Lord to those sacrificing Sodomites h Isai 1.10 Lo there that precious perfume made up with so many sweet spices and fragrant odours stanck odiously in Gods nostrils he could not abide the scent of it * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nay not his smelling faculty onely is offended by the sinful mans services but the rest of his senses also For his taste their burnt-offerings of rams and fat of lambs he could not relish i ver 11. they delighted him not but were sowre to his palate For his feeling their new moons and appointed feasts were a burden to him he was weary to bear them And for his sight he tells them though they spread forth their hands he will hide his eyes And for his hearing when they make many prayers he will not hear 15.16.12 And for their whole service he demands who required this at your hands to tread in my courts As if he should say it were fitter a fair deal for you to be in your shops or in the alehouse or any where else then here unlesse ye were better This is the gate of the Lord the righteous shall enter into it k Psal 118.20 As for others thus saith the Lord will ye steal and commit adultery and swear and then come and stand goodly before me in this house l Jer. 7.10.11 Do ye think to expiate your sins by your prayers and set off with God by your good deeds for your bad No that 's not the way to get in with God and to be enfeoffed into his favour But what is may some say Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ease to do evil learn to do well c. Come now and let us reason together as friends when this is once well done to purpose saith the Lord. For then though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow m Isai 16 17 18. c. as till then it boots not to bow your selves before the most high with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oyl no not to offer your first born for your transgression the fruit of your bodies for the sins of your souls n Micah 6.7 Away therefore will the love and liking of every lust cast away all your transgressions throw all your sins out of service your beloved sin especially be it as an hand for ptofit off with it be it as an eye for pleasure out with it be it what it will and never so neer or natural to us if a sin say of it as Haman did of Mordecai what availeth me any thing if he yet live All that are Christs and none but such may appear before God in holy duties have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts o Gal. 5.24 David would not presume to compasse Gods altar till he had washed his hands in inocency p Psal 26.6 nor could he conclude that God would shew him mercy or receive his prayer till he had brought his heart to an utter disregard of whatsoever iniquity q Psal 66.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Achilis Homericus The lepers lips were to be covered according to the law and our Saviour would not admit of a fair word from a foul mouth r Mar. 1.25 The lip of excellency saith Solomon becometh not a fool ſ Prov. 17.7 and the best dish though never so well cookt is extreamly loathed if presented by a leper or brought to table by a nasty sloven so is any holy duty whether of piety or charity displeasing to the Almighty if performed by one that is yet in his pure naturals a stranger to the power of grace and unacquainted with the daily practise of mortification Hence that of Saint Iames Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you t Iam. 4.8.9 10. expounded ob Oh but we dare not come near the Lord neither can we serve him for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive our transgressions nor our sinnes u Josh 24.19 Sol. No be sure of that except ye confesse and forsake them x Prov. 28.13 Therefore wash your hands ye sinners saith the Apostle there neither so onely for Pilate washed his hands as if all the guilt had stuck in his fingers ends but cleanse your hearts ye double minded Yea Ob. but how must that be done for though thou wash thee with nitre and take thee much sope yet thy iniquity is marked before me saith the Lord God y Jer. 2.22 Sol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 miseri estote Par. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pas Curaeleves c. Afflict your selves saith the Apostle or as the word there signifies be miserable you are so but see your selves such and be sensible even unto godly sorrow and the tears of true repentance weep saith he or if ye cannot do that as some constitutions are naturally dry and do not yeeld tears and some sorrow is bigger then tears and above them yet mourn at least and that ye may not
answer to some Queries and Objections made by a misgiving heart SEcondly you that are possest of this priviledge to be ever at Gods elbow as his favourites and to have the royalty of the kings ear as you must admire at this mercy so labour and learn in the next place how to retain and keep your selves in this love of God e Jude 21. as Saint Jude exhorteth And that is done by keeping close and constant communion with this God All-sufficient walking before him continually as Abraham and being upright f Gen. 17.1 The Lord is with you saith that Prophet in the Chronicles while ye be wiâ—h him g 2 Chro. 15 2 He is with you in mercy so long as ye are with him in duty If ye seâ—k him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you The Lord is not so fond of his own children but if they forget him he may and sometimes doth forsake them in part h Psal 119.8 without breach of covenant If they prove unconstant and start aside from their station he can quickly and doth otherwhiles withdraw his grace to their thinking and the powerfull operation thereof in very deed for a time at least as in David relapsed and for a while deserted i Psal 51.11 12 He also seemes to frown upon their suites and shuts out their prayersifight against them with his own hand meets them as the angell did Balaam with a maked sword in his hand as if he meant to dispatch them out of hand and send them packing to hell Thus it fared sometime with David I thought upon God saithhe and was troubled k Psal 77.3 with Ethan thou compassest me about with terrours l Psal 88.16 17 with Jeremy I shout and he shuts out my prayer m Lam. 3.8 God turnes his back upon his Absoloms his Josephs when they grow proud presumptuous secure slothfull nay he turnes them into Bedlam when he findes them frantick and to all other their afflictions addes this that he will not once come at them call they never so long never so loud after him At such a time he seemes to have lesse good remembrance of his deare children then the Ostrich of her egges which she leaes loose in the sand n Job 39.14 15 or than the sea-monster of her young which resuseth not though cruell enough o draw forth her brests unto them o Lam. 3.3 He puts his Sion sometimes to that sorrowfull complaint the Lord hath forsaken me my Lord hath orgotten me p Esay 49.14 yea to that desperate conclusion of the church in the Lamentations First she prayes Turne thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned renew our dayes as of old But as if she had lst her labour in such a bootelesse suit she subjoynes this for a perclose of all But thou hast utterly rejected us thou art very wroth with us q Lam. 5.21 22. Now in such a pittifull strait in such a forelorne condition as this what can a poor soule do for the regayning of his God more then 1. make mone 2 make out in the use of the meanes and then 3. wait his return with patience First you must bewaile the want of Gods gratious presence and acceptance make like moane as Rouben for Ioseph r Gen. 37.30 Heu quid agam perijt puer ille puer puer ille as David for his Absolom Å¿ 2 Sam. 18.33 as Rachel for her children t Jer. 31.15 Sing no new song u Psal 137.4 till thou hast recovered him Do in this case of spirituall desertion as Mephibosheth in the absence and exile of his Soveraigne he neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes from the day the King departed untill the day he came againe in peace x 2 Sam. 19.24 Secondly set up a loud cry after him as Iacob after his Ioseph Elish a after Eliah Micah after his lost gods y Judg. 18.24 Say i th Absolom when out of savour Let me see the Kings face and if there be iniquity in me let me die z 2 Sam. 14.32 Returne O Lord How long and let it repent thee concerning thy servant a Psal 6.4 90.13 I had rather be thy door-keeper then of Sathans privie-chamber O Lord other lords besides thee have had dominion over vs but by thee only will we make mention of thy Name b Esay 26.13 Encline thine eares O Lord and hear open tine eyes O Lord and see c Esay 37.17 O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake O my God d Dan. 9 19 c. And then thirdly if God please to hold off longer refuse not to wait his leisure sustayning your selves in the meane with those two cordiall places who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant though he walketh in darknesse and have no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God e Esay 50.10 Again sine the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the eare neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him f Esay 64.4 In which waiting estate shouldst thou be taken away by death which seldome falles out saith one if thy heart be still set against sin and linger after the light of Gods countenance thou shalt be certainly saved because the spirit of truth faith blessed are all they that wait for him g Esay 30.18 Thirdly let such as have part and portion in this glorious priviledge of having open accesse and all assured acceptance with the most high in all their holy performances learn to improve this happy opportunitie by apprehending and making all best use of it for their everlasting advantage Is any among you afflicted saith St. Iames Let him pray Is any merry Let him sing plalmes h Jam. 5.13 Feare we any evill want we any good In nothing be carefull but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God i Phil. 1.6 Note that he bids us come with supplication and thanksgiving at once as intimating that we need not once doubt of good speed but have our thanks ready in our hand as sure of a gratious answer to our prayers After which the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall guard your hearts set them in as much safety as if they were in a tower of brasse or town of war Thus Esther after she had been with God took boldnesse to go to the king uncalled for without fear of death k Est 4.16 And thus our Saviour though at first afraid yet when he had conferred with his father by prayer arise let us go saih he behold he is at hand that betrayes me l Math 26.46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
with unbeleevers m Mat. 24.51 Luk. 12.46 What though they flourish awhile here and spread themselves like a gren bay tree n Psal 37.35 exorientur sed exurentur it is that they may be cut off for ever What is fairer then the corn-field a little before harvest then the vineyard a little before the vintage Thrust in thy siclke and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe and cast t into the great wine-presse of the wrath of God o Rev. 14.18 19. SECT V. Vse Let them therefore hasten out of the Devils danger and get into Gods service How that may be done KNowing therefore the terrour of the Lord Vse 3 we perswade men p 2 Cor. 5.11 And oh that we could perswade all unregenerate prsons first by this point to do as Saint Peter adviseth all in their case Repentye saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord q Act. 3.19 Bloted out I say and first out of Gods book of remembrance where they stand written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond r Jer 17.1 Secondly out of the book of their own consciences where they stand recorded for future time as ye may see in Josephs brethren Their own hearts condemned them and called them miscreants twenty years after the fact committed ſ Gen. 42.21 their consciences also bearing witnesse as saith the Apostle and their thoughts between themselves accusing one another t Rom. 2.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 formavit pinaeit Where it is remarkable that the Syriack translatour useth a word for conscience that signifieth a written or painted thing For the conscience now is as a table wherein are many things painted which sort of writting is fitly compared to that we write with the juice of an onion or lemmon hold it to the fire and it is legible So when the conscience is once put to the fire of Gods wrath all will out and old sins come to a new reckoning The onely way to spunge out this writing is by weeping upon it repentant tears that God may wash us throughly with the blood of his Son For if we confesse our sins against our selves with David u he is faithful and just to sorgive us our sins x 1 Joh. 1.7 9 and to crosse out of his debt-book the black lines of our sins and arrerages with those red lines of his sons blood I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins y Esay 43.25 And again I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses and their sins will I remember no more z Heb. 8.12 Lo if we but remmber our misdoings he will forget them if we reveale them with shame and sorrow he will cover them a Psal 32.1 if we but see them to confession we shall never see them to our confusion if we but acknowledge the debt he will cancel the bond blot out the hand-writting that was against us b Col. 1.2 14 and cast all our sins behinde him c Micah 7.19 as off-cast eidences that are past date into the depth of the sea so that we shall never see them again otherwise then the Israelites saw their enemies the Egyptians dead upon the shoare 2 Next doth the Lord so remember to requite the services of his people is there such a lively remembrance and ample recompence preparing for them how should this fire up the affections of all unregenerate persons to hire themselves out to God for servants d Rom. 6.13 to swear with David e Psal 119.106 to vow with Ioshua f Josh 24.14 to serve Iehovah renouncing the devils drudgery to whom they have hithereo damned themselves voluntary slaves to their inestimable disadantage It is a point I wot well they will not hear of that the devil is their good Lord that he sets them awork and will pay them their wages You know how ill the Jews took it to be told as much by our Saviour Christ g Ioh. 8.44 But that it is no better with them the scripture is clear and the joynt testimony of all Gods redeemed ones concurrent for we our selves also even I Paul and thou Titus were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving diverse lusts and pleasures h Tit. 2.3 hampered and enwrapt in the invisible chaines of the kingdom of darknesse being taken alive captive by the devil at his pleasure i 2 Tim. 2.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hurried about by him as Bajazei in his iron cage toiled out of all true comfort as Samson at his mill opprest with unreasonable tasks and insupportable burdens as hrael in the iron-furnace this is their work And for wages they are exposed to a world of plagues and curses armies and changes of sorrows and calamities here their whole life being but one continuate vexation k Eccles 2.17 besides the fear of death that upshot and center of evils to evil men making them subject to bondage all their life time l Heb. 2.15 And worthily for terrours take hold of them then as waters they make them afraid on every side m Job 27.20 18 19 Trouble and anguish make them afraid they shall prevail against them as a king ready to the battle n Iob. 15.23 24 Death seizeth upon them as a mercilesse officer o Psal 55.15 takes them by the throat as that cruel servant in the Gospel feedeth upon their flesh as a greedy lion p Psal 49.14 stings them to the soul as a fiery serpent q 1 Cor. 15.55 gripes them to the quick as a bear robbed of her whelps comes upon them with a firmae Ejectione as an inexorable Landlord carries them away as Gods executioner yea as the messenger and forrunner of the second death where the worm never dieth where the fire never goes out r Mar. 9.44 where they seek death but finde in no◠yea desire it but it fleeth from them ſ Rev. 9.6 It is reported of Roger somtimes Bishop of Sal shury the second man from king Steven that he was so tortured in prison with hunger and other calamities usually accompanying people in that case ut vivere noluerit mori nescierit live he would not die he could not How much more true think we is this of all those that are thrust into that outer-darknesse Nubrigensis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that darknesse beyond a darknesse as the word seems to import that utmost dungeon of the damned where there is nothing but weeping and wailing and gnaihing of teeth Weeping for extremity of heat and gnashing of teeth for extremity of cold Weeping is the expression of sorrow and sorrow cools the heart and cold makes the teeth to chatter Thus those miserable creatures do at some time freez and
Lord our God other lords besides thee have had dominion over us d Rom. 1.9 yet through thee onely will we make mention of thy name h Esay 26.13 e Psal 16.8 I finde a law in my members warring against the law of my minde that frame of holy thoughts and carrying me captive to the law of sin and of death i Rom. 7.23 The law truly is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin I consent to the law that it is good even then when I transgresse it and do that I would not Nay more I delight in the law of God after the inward man yea with the minde I my self serve the law of God then when with the flesh the law of sin Thus the regenerate part in a christian still hankers and hangs toward God as the sea-mans needle toward the North-pole as the miserable captive toward his own countrey as the distressed spouse toward him whom her soul loved she slept indeed but her heart waked k Cant. 5.2 all the while God is the proper and most pleasing object of a good mans thoughts and affections 14. as David often avoweth him in the book of Psalms 16. And though he be hard layed at somtimes ey 22. and not seldom seduced l Iam. 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hurried aside by armies and changes of evil thoughts noysome lusts satanical injections 25. and other grievous temptations both from within and without Yet for the main bent the general inclination and intention of his thoughts and affections he is still with God as David when I awake I am still with thee m Psal 17. saith he And oh how precious are thy thoughts unto me O God n Psal 139.17 how great is the sum of them in the multitude of my perplexed thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul And to like purpose the Church All this is come upon us yet we have not forgotten thee o Psal 94 19. neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy wayes Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death If we have forgotten the name of our God or stretcht out our hands to a strange God shall not God search out this for he knowes the secrets of our hearts p Psal 44.17 18 19 20 21 And that consideration as it kept their thoughts within compasse so it may well minister unto us a ground of good reasoh for the point in the first place SECT II. The Point proved and enforced by five reasons GOds people are much taken up in the thought of his name Reas 1 for they know that he knows the secrets of their hearts q Heb. 4.13 as he that makes a watch knoweth every turning and winding in the watch And that as he knowes them so he owes them too For 't is he that made us these spirits r All tings are for the outlide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked and for the inside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dislected quar terd clest thorough the back-bone as it were and therefore he requires to be served in our spirits ſ Ioh. 4.24 It is he that gave us our thinking faculties we cannot move no not with a motion of the minde but in him t Act. 17.28 Both the preparations of the heart and answer of the tongue is of the Lord u Prov. 16.1 And is it not reason therefore that he should have a tribute of our thoughts a thought-service also It is true our bodies with the members thereof must be offered up and presented to God as a living sacrifice x Rom. 12.1 But that sacrifice can neither be living nor well pleasing where the heart is wanting y Isai 29.13 Hence he so called of old for all the fat of the inwards in the sin offering z Exod. 29.39 and testified afterwards by David that he delighteth more in a broken heart then in all sacrifices a Psal 51 17 he rolles himself in it as in a bed of spices b Cant. 6.1 and seemes to say of it to the sonnes of men as sometimes Joseph to his brethren concerning Benjamin his brother or as David to Abner concerning Michol his wife ye shall not see my face except ye bring it c Gen. 43.3 He will have the heart d Prov. 23.26 Deut. 6.6 or nothing because it is the treasury of all our thoughts speeches and actions but first of our thoughts which are the next and immediate fruit and issue of the heart whence the services done him by them cannot but be most pleasing sith they are most spirituall and farthest off from pollution of hypocrily whereunto they cannot be so subject as outward services which are performed sometimes more out of respect to the Creature then to the Creator Hence the Church in that fore-alledged Psalme seeking to approve her selsto God pleades the sincerity goodnesse of her thoughts as a sufficient testimony of her truth integrity e Psal 44.17 c. But this is not all Gods people are thoughtfull of his Name not only moved with feare as the text here couples them Reas 2 because he searcheth out the secrets of their hearts and calles principally for their thoughts but also out of love and strength of affection as the spouse acknowledgeth the property whereof is to set the thoughts aworke upon the thing beloved according to that in the proverb the minde of a man is not where it lives but where it loves * Animus est ubi amet non ubi animat And so it is here Gods Name is as an oyntment powered out therefore the virgines love him f Cant. 1.3 They have tasted and seen how good the Lord is g Psal 34.8 They had often heard by the hearing of thee are but now their eye hath seen him h Iob 42.5 His good name hath been sweeter to them then a precious oyntment i Eccles 7.1 it hath filled their hearts as Maries Spikenard did the house k Ioh. 12.3 This maketh the virgines that follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth that stand with him upon mount Sion having his fathers name written in their foreheads l Rev. 14.1.4 to love him for the odour of his good ointments though they see him not m 1 Pet. 1.8 And out of the deare respect and love they bear unto his Name to be continually thinking upon that which their soule loveth The more they love the more they think and the more they think the more they love God having shed abroad his love that part of his Name in their hearts n Rom. 5.5 as a sweet oyntment by the Holy ghost that anointing that is given unto them and which teacheth them all things o 1 Ioh. 2.20 And that 's a third Reason Reas 3 why
eyes end as it were the main waight of our thoughts must be laid upon God and the advancing of his Name It is affirmed to his singular commendation of a worthy Divine of Scotland that he did eate and drink and sleep eternall life Whom that you may expresse and imitate harken lastly to the means of thinking fruitfully upon Gods Name These are two 1. Shun the hinderance 2. Use the helps to this duty SECT XI Directions to the means of fruitfull thinking on Gods holy Name where 4. hindrances to be avoided and 7. helps to be use THe hinderances are 1. pride and conceitednesse of a sufficiency in our selves to conceive of God or think of any thing else that 's good to good purpose a 2 Cor. 3.5 God imparts his secrets to none such b Psal 25.9 but leaves them commonly to dote and busy their brains about questions or vain disputations that tend to nothing but strife and ostentation c 1 Tim. 6.4 5 2. Passion He that is hasty of spirit well he may exalt folly d Prov. 14.26 saith Solomon but he shal not lift up many holy thoughts ' I le give him that gift For these require a heart meek and at rest from the confused hurry of troublesome passions 3. Impenitency a wilfull continuance in any known wickednesse For the pure in heart only see God e Mat. 5.7 sith there must be some proportion between the eye and the object so between our minds and God the object of our minds Of all the body the eye only receiveth the light and that because it is like the light so he that hath any sound hope of sceing God one day as he is in the mean time as we may must purify himself as God is pure f 1 Ioh. 3.3 But as black can take no other dye so an impenitent heart is uncapable of divine contemplation g 2 Tim. 3.6 4. Lastly Earthly-mindednesse this distracts and divides the heart and indisposeth it to thinking upon God and goodnesse h 1 Cor. 7.31 32. Indeed it eateth out the very heart of goodnesse by eating all goodnesse out of the heart It causeth that a man cannot care for the thing of the Lord i lb. minde and affect the things above k Colos 3.1 2 have our conversation in heaven attend upon the Lord without distraction for who can serve two masters c Remove the hinderances first rid thy heart of these evill guests And this done make use of the following helps Fist Accustome your selves to awak with God and forget not to begin the day with thoughts of him and his mercyes renewed upon you ever morning l Lam. 3.23 every moment This will sweetly season and supply the soul putting it into an happy and hevenly temper for the whole day following as it did Davids m Ps 108.1 2 3 And here remember to close up your heart at your down-lying at night and if possibly you can to fall asleep out of some heavenly meditation so shall your sleep be the more sweet n Prov. 3.21 24 25 and secure o Pro 6.21 22 Christian courseau Ars artium est regimen animarum Greg in Pastor and your heart in better plight whensoever you awake He that thus raketh up his fire ore-night shall finde fire in the morning Secondly keep your hearts with all custody the whole day thorowout 1. Countergard them continually from corruption within from infection without especially that which is drawn from those three poisonous objects mentioned by St. Iohn The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life p 1 Ioh. 2.16 that is pleasure profit and preferment the worldly mans Trinity as one fitly stiles them A heart scatered up and down with these vanities will be as far to seek when it should wait upon God as a wild horse turn'd up in a wide field tat cannot be taken when he should be sadled 2. Be often elevating and winding up your hearts as the weights of a clock that bear downwards naturaly and are yet drawn lower by the sin that doth so easily surround q Heb. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begirteth us and oppresse us as a talent of lead r Zach. 5.8 Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul saith David ſ Psal 25.1 and Nehemiah was often darting up some good desire to God whatsoever his emplyment was And our civill conversation also is in heaven t Philip. 3.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 15.24 The godly ma◠goeth an higher way then his neighbour even in the common businesse of this life Quicquid judet dicere pudet et cogitare Est tutissimum perjecium ut assuescat animus sollicita semper pervigili custodia discernere cogitationes suas ad primum animi motum vel probare vel reprobare quod cogitat vel bonas cogitationes a lat vel statim malas extinguat Hier in Epist ad Demetriad mens non cessat parere cogitationes tu autem malas evelle bonas excole Chrysost Dum in cogitatione voluptas non reprimitur etiam in actione dominatur saith Paul we exercise our generall callings in our particular and go about our earthly businesses with heavenly minds using common things as a stirrop to mount us up to things of an higher straine and exacting by a divine Alchymy heavenly meditaions out of earthly objects and occasions Thirdly examine your thoughts often and let not an idle motion flying fancy or sinfull dream pass without a sharp check a censure of the word There is a sharp eye to be set and a strict hand to be held over a mans thoughts if ever he will have good of them they being so infinite nimble slippery and in so secret a place free from the worlds censure Call them therefore often to a domesticall Audit cherish the good check the bad let them have the law if they be extravagants Remember that an evill thought uncontrolled may vex thee on thy death-bed as little and as light a matter as many make thereof Fourthly get a sound and clear judgment able to discern of things that be excellent and to prefer God and the things of God incomparably before all other things whatsoever Make those things above your treasure once and then your heart will be chiefly set and your thoughts will chiefly run on them u Mat. 6.21 Fiftly greaten your love to God and goodnesse for strong affections make strong impressions and cause great thoughts of heart A man cannot but think much of that he loves Oh how I love thy law saith David and as an effect of that love it is my meditation day and night x Ps 119.97 But especially love to be Gods servants on the sabbath day y Esay 56.6 let the entire concurrence of the whole man be his alone that day as much as may be so shall ye be the better able to think
their souls and healing to their state for this Sunne shall arise with healing under his wings that is in his beams See Psal 60.1 2. with 2 Chron. 7.14 3. Liberty for ye shall goe forth Calvin 〈…〉 to wit out of the strait prison the little-ease of Affliction and grow up or frisk about for joy so some render it as fat calves and young cattle in the spring 4. Prosperity ye shall grow up as the Palme tree notwithstanding your oppressions Vtaër percussus non loeditur imeâ—â—ne dividitur quidÌ„e sed refundit sese spissior redit Job à Woover ye shall break out and get up as blown bladders aloft all waters as the Sunne from under a cloud as the seed from under a clod 5. Victory for ye shall tread down the wicked and they shall be as ashes under the joles of your feet which erst rode over your heads and made you passe thorow fire and water Psal 66.12 But when shall all this be In the day that I shall do this saith the Lord q. d. Not so soon as your selves would for then it should be presently you would be pulling at the fruit afore it were ripe and plucking off the plaister afore the sore were healed nor so long hence as the enemies would Hoc esset poma acerba adhuâ— decerpere Cyp. for then it should be never but in Gods good time when he seeth fit who hath kept that key of times and seasons under his own girdle Not seldome in this life as when Constantine overcame and trampled upon Dioclesian Maximian Maxentius Licinius and other persecuting Tyrants according to that of Solomon The evil bow before the good Prov. 14.19 and the wicked at the gates of the righteous But most certainly at the day of judgement which is the third particular day of deliverance we have to speak to called that day by an appellative proper Then at utmost God will make up his jewels in much mercy and of this last day the most interpret it then will he both bring to light the hidden things of darknesse Vatablus Figuier Gualther c. Psal 83.3 and also those Hidden ones of his that are all glorious within though for the outside mean and despicable together with all their secret services and mental performances even the counsels of their hearts shall be made manifest and then shall every man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4.5 That is every jewel every Jew inwardly every Israelite indeed whose praise is not of men but of God shall be graced by the judge himself Rom. 2.29 before a world of men and angels For without the least mention of their sins Ezek. 18.22 Rev. 14.13 Their good parts and practises onely and amply shall be remembred and rehearsed And those not strictly censured for he will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him but onely produced as proofs and evidences of that effectual faith of theirs wherby they have a plentiful entrance further and further into the kingdom of God 2 Pet. 1.10.11 SECT VIII Comfort under publike Calamities For application the main vse of this point and that which the holy Ghost in this text chiefly drives at is Vse 1 Singular comfort and incouragement to all and every of Gods faithful servants both in regard of the Church universal first and themselves next in their own particular First then for the labouring church what can be a greater comfort to every good child of hers then to hear that God will have his time ere long to ease her of her adverâ—aries and avenge her of those her enemies that now revel in her ruines crying down with her down with her even to the ground Psal 137. Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox Ovid. Trist Cuique ferè paenam sumere paenasua est ib. Lam. 3.31.32 33. Ier. 30.7 2 Cor. 4.8 9. Niteris incassùm Christi submergere navem Cant. 2.2 This is the horrid and hideous voice of Babels brats and Edoms rufflers flesht in blood and used to the spoil as birds of prey But what saith the Oracle Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her that her set time is expired that her iniquity is pardoned and so the quarrel fairely ended for she hath received of the Lords hand double for all her sins So it hath seemed to him that waited all this while to shew her mercy and thought long of the time she was in misery as being himself afflicted in all her afflictions and bearing a part Surely it is not willingly or from his heart saith the original that he doth at any time afflict or grieve the Children of men said that church that was even then under the lash but though he cause grief such is our untowardnesse that will not else be ordered yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his merceies he will not cast off for ever This was her comfort and this may be ours when we hear how ill it fares with Gods people abroad and what preassures and grievances they groan under at home say This is the time of Jacobs trouble but he shall be saved out of it Troubled the Saints are on every side but not distressed doubting but not despairing persecuted but not deserted cast down but not cast off Tost the Church might be with Noahs Ark but not orewhelmed washt with Paul in the shipwrack but not drowned fired with Moses bush but not consumed pressed with Davids bay-tree but not oppressed prickt with Solomons lillie among thorns but not choaked growing in a bottom with Zacharies myrtle tree Chap. 1.8 Yet not overtopped a burdensome stone a torch of fire a cup of trembling in the hand of her enemies Zach. 12.2 3 6. who have but a time Dan. 11.24 39. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him saith the Psalmist for he seeth that his day is coming Psal 37.12 13. And thereupon afterwards he inferreth mark the upright man and behold the just for let his beginning or middle be never so troublesome the end of that man is peace God delighteth to make fools of his enemies and lets them bring their designes to the utmost and then defeats them 2 Chro. 32.21 Esther 7.10 1 Sam. 17.51 suffers them to proceed very far that they may return with the greater shame as Sennacherib that their high hopes may end in a haltar as Hamans that their own swords may be sheathed in their own throates as Goliaths When they are tumultuating and triumphing as if they day were their own and they were masters of the field with Gog and Magog then shall God come down as it were in an engin to rescue his saints and to dissolve the Gordian knots of all Antichristian power and policy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 112.4 2 Cor. 4 6 This he doth also for his
all the earth is thereby filled with the glory of the Lord as it is Num. 14.17 19 21. He maketh his wonderfull works to be remembred saith the Psalmist and that in nothing more then this that the Lord is gracious and full of compassion Psal 111.4 This makes his people sing and shout Hallelujah O praise the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever SECT IIII. NExt Reas 3 as they praise him for the present so they trust him for the future which is the greatest honour they can do him as the thistle in Ionathans parable could tell Iudg. 9.15 sith every former mercy is a pledge of a future and every old mercy draws on a new as the links do one another in a chain if we break not off their course by our unbelief and diffidence Psal 36.10 O continue thy loving kindnesse saith David It is in the Hebrew O draw out thy loving kindnesse to the full length Gods mercies to his are a continued series there is a concatenation a connexion between them Eccles 1.8 As a spring runneth after it hath run so doth God spare his after he hath spared them The eye is not weary of seeing nor the eare of hearing no more is God of shewing mercy Hence Gods servants have usually argued from what they have had to what they should have as David Paul and the church here in Micah She had praised God for his clemency in pardoning her sins and there hence confidently concludeth for power against sin If God will cover it certainly he will cure it The same mercy that moved him to pass by the transgression of his heritage will make him turne againe and have further compassion upon us say they in subduing our sins and casting them all as a stone into the mighty waters so that we shall see them no more any otherwise then the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead on the shore And all this he will do for his truth and mercies sake to Jacob and Abraham for his promise and covenants sake to our fathers of old Our father 's trusted in thee they hoped in thee and were not confounded Oh who is a God like unto thee c All nations will walk every one in the name of his God Mic. 4.5 we also will trust in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever And these are the reasons respecting God SECT V. 6. Reasons respecting the Saints themselves weo are 1. pure in heart 2. perfect in Christ A second rank of Reasons respect the Saints who are 1. Pure in heart 2. Perfect in Christ and therefore spared as a man spares his own son that serves him Reas 1 First Gods people are pure in heart they are washed they are justified 1 Cor. 6.11 Austin answered roundly when one upbraided him with the sins of his youth Quae tu reprehendis ego damnavi And when One twitted Beza with his youthly wanton poems he replied Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Christi Iedidiah 2 Sam. 12.25 they are sanctified by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God Now Yet God is good to Israel to the pure in heart Psal 73.1 Yet for all the sorrow Yet for all their faults and frailties which forasmuch as they disallow and disclaim bewail and out-grow therefore they are not laid to their charge Iob was a patient man yea he is set forth as a pattern of patience notwithstanding all his frowardnesse notwithstanding he made so many knots and brake his thread so oft as he did God accounts of him as if he had spun an even thread of patience all the time of his temptation David had his faults as great as another and yet because he was upright in the main God testifieth of him that he had followed him with all his heart and done only that that was right in his sight 1 King 14.8 Solomon at Gibeon climbes those disallowed hills the high-places and yet loves the Lord and is loved of him God will not see weaknesses where he seeth truth so pleasing a thing to him is sincerity in his service With one breath doth God report both these The high-places were not removed that was a great fault no doubt neverthelesse Asa's heart was perfect all his dayes Such is the mercy of our Gd to the pure in heart to those that study purity that he will not suffer our well-meant weaknesses to bereave us of his favour he rather pittieth then plagueth his children for the infirmities of upright hearts 2 Chro. 15.17 A slender service a small chare though but bungled at by child is much set by of the father And a bridegroom thinks nothing the worse of his bride for a little dirt she hath got being about some foul chare it being such especially as she may wash off at pleasure Zach. 13.1 1 Ioh. 2.1 We have a fountain alwaies open where we may wash and be clean and a dayly propitiation for dayly transgression even Jesus Christ the Righteous in whom SECT VII The Saints are perfect in Christ SEcondly our wants are covered and our works perfected and refined from all the filth and flesh that cleaves unto them Reas 2 For although the Saints are not so pure in heart but that their sanctification is still spotted and imperfect yet their justification by Christs righteousnes imputed is absolute and without blemish According to that He hath made him to be sinne or sinne-offering for us who knew no sinne 2 Cor. 5.21 that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Not that essentiall righteousnesse of God as Osiander vainly dreamt but that perfect obedience both active and passive of the Son of God performed unto his Father by whom he is made unto us wisdome 1 Cor. 1.30 Jer. 23.6 righteousnesse c. yea Jehovah our righteousnesse Which one Name of his would answer all our doubts and objections had we but skill to spell all the letters in it This righteousnesse of Christ made ours by imputation and acceptation is that white raiment Rev. 3.17 wherewith being clothed the shame of our nakednesse doth not appear for it is full broad large and wide enough to cover all our imperfections This is that broydered work and those bracelets wherewith the Church in Ezekiel being bedight and bedeckt became perfectly beautifull even to admiration These are those jewels of gold with studs of silver made us by the whole Trinity Cant. 6.9 that best robe of the prodigall that cloth of gold and needle-work-vesture of the royall daughter Psal 45.9 that fair mitre Zach. 3.4 5 and change of raiment of Jehoshuah the high-priest when the Lord took away his filthy garments and clothed him with better although Satan at the same time stood at his right hand had the upper hand of him because as some will have it his accusation was as true as vehement In short 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are the
righteousnesses of the Saints Revel 19.8 the pure Lamb of God having covered us with his own fleece and as it were exchanged suits with us clothing himself with our nature that he might again clothe us with the divine nature Daniels Hist of England so that Christ puts on us and we put on him as once Edmund Ironfide and Knute the Dane did by exchange of garments sealing up thereby a sure peace Christ becomes ours and we become Christs and both together make up but one mysticall Christ For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members being many are but one body so also is Christ that is mysticall Christ the Church 1 Cor. 12.12 Now to bring what hath been said home to the point in hand Look how that King could remember no hostility in Themistocles whiles he saw in his arms the smiling countenance of his own sonne and heir whom he had taken up And as David could discern no defect or deformity in lame Mephibosheth whiles he beholds in him the feature of his friend Jonathan so neither doth our heavenly Father regard our infirmities whiles he looks upon us in the face of Christ and finds us framed anew according to the image of Christ in whom he is abundantly well-pleased SECT VIII Let none suck poyson out of this sweet Point FOr Application Vse 1 Of this comfortable point we may well say as the Prophet doth in another case Esay 28.9 To whom shall we teach this Doctrine who is fit to hear and receive it This is meat for children not off all for dogs not draff for swine Let it therefore be limited to Gods children that fail of infirmity not laid hold on by his enemies that go on in iniquity And that they may not let us bound the point and mound it too that no beast break thorow to this mountain of mercy lest he be thrust thorow with a dart that no oxe nor asse fal into this pit by turning Gods grace into wantonnesse lest at length he fall into the bottomlesse pit that no spider suck poison out of this flower lest he burst and his bowels gush out with Judas Acts 1.18 and so he go to his place In a word that none stumble at this good word of God being disobedient thereunto 1 Pet. 2.8 lest he stumble and fall and never rise again Hos 14.9 Which to prevent two things would be considered First that though all men have their spots and therefore deserve not to be spared yet as wicked mens spots are not the spots of Gods children so neither is their speed For their spots first Hear what God saith of the one They have corrupted themselves their spots are not the spots of my children they are a perverse generation Deut. 32.5 Phil. 2.15 As of the other They are saith he blamelesse and harmlesse the sonnes of God unspotted in the midst of a wicked and wayward generation Where it is easie to observe a flat opposition a palable difference The naturall man is all overspread with the bright spot of sins-leprosie Spots they are and blemishes saith St. Peter in the abstract 2 Pet. 2.19 sporting themselves with their own deceivings having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease to sinne Such an habit and even necessity of sinne they have by long trading contracted that if the Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots then may they also do good that are inured to evil Jer. 13 23 Sinne is in such no otherwise then spots are in a leopard not by accident but by nature such as no Art can cure no water wash off For why they are not in the leopards skin but in the flesh and bones in the sinews and inwards And this to say truth is the case and condition of us all by nature Whence also it is that the just man slips seven times a day and Non datur malum punicum in quo nen inest granum putre dixit Crates 1 Joh. 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in many things we offend all saith St. James Apostles and all and that none can say his heart is clean Howbeit though a godly man sin yet he doth not commit sin he doth not sinne sinningly for his seed remaineth in him The oil of Gods Spirit wherewith such a one is anointed setteth the colours which are of his own tempering so sure on and maketh them cleave so fast together that it is impossible he should return to his own hue Christ also that offereth himself without spot to God his Father hath so purged their consciences from dead works that they thenceforth serve the living God acceptably lifting up their faces before him without spot yea they are stedfast and need not fear Job 11.5 Lo this is the comfortable condition of the children of God This is their spot on earth and this is their speed in heaven But now the ungodly are not so Neither their spot nor their speed is as that of the Saints For first the lepers lips should be covered according to the law their breath is infectious and offensive To the wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my statutes c. Psal 50.16 Quia non indigebat imn undorum laude Neque enim speciosa laus in ere peceatares Theophyl in Luc. 4. Psal 4.3 Psal â—6 â—6 In Graecorum sacris sacerdos exclamabat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis hic Respondebaut qui aderant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Erason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13.8 In fermento totajacet uxor Plaut Mic. 1.5 Tubulus quidam paulò supra Ciceronem praetor fuit homorâ—m projectè improbus ut ejuâ—â—omen non horrinis sed vitâ—â— esse videretur Lips antiq lect Our Saviour suffered not the devils to speak because he needed not the service of such high words befit not a fool saith Solomon Even David himself till thoroughly purged from his two more grievous sinnes was suspended from the comfort of the covenant and disabled for holy duties Psal 51.15 For know ye not saith He that the Lord hath set apart the godly man for himself And thence inferres the Lord will hear when as such a One I call unto him But if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me If I cast but a leering look toward some lust or have but a moneths mind to it If there be in me but an irresolution against any evil much more a deliberate purpose to run into it God that cannot see evil will not hear the prayers nor bear the manners of such a David How much lesse of gracelesse and profane persons whose whole lump is leavened whose whole hide is spotted whose whole frame is corrupted being evil onely evil and evill continually Who lastly are so transformed into sinne that it is even predicated of them according to that of the Prophet What is the transgression of Iacob is it not Samaria And what are the high-places of
Corsâ—etur Lutherus so esse Apostatam sed â—eatam sancium qui fidem diaâ—olâ— datam non servavit Athanasius was impeached by the Arrians of adultery Basil by his brethren of heresie Luther by the Papists of Apostacy Austere John is said to have a devil Sociable Christ to be a wine-bibber And it was the worse because from Scribes and Pharisees whose word must carry such credit with it as alone to condemn Christ We would not have brought him to thee were he not worthy of death And whose life must be a rule to others Do any of the Pharisees beleeve in him Take heed therefore what you hear and to whom you give credit But may I not beleeve mine own eyes Oâ—j judge the tree by the fruits Matth. 7. Not alwayes in matter of fact Sol. Our Saviour speaks there of heretikes and seducers and bids judge of them by their fruits that is by their doctrines and opinions that are corrupt and carnall But for point of practise the best tree doth not alwayes bear or not alwayes alike An apple-tree may have a fit of barrennesse as well as a crab tree or the fruit may be nipt sometimes by a frost God onely knows what sap is in the root what truth is in the heart and let him that knows it judge of it 2. Be favourable in sinnes strengthened by naturall inclination or by long continued custome which is not so easily broke off or by multitude of temptations and enticements The best minds when troubled yeeld inconsiderate motions as water that is violently stirred sends up bubbles and how often have carnall respects drawn weak goodnesse to disguise it self with sinne 3. Judge no man by that he is in a passion whether of grief fear or anger for these are violent and have made the holiest in their behaviour little â—esse then bestiall witnesse David in his sear of Sauls fury in his roaring over Absolom and rage at Nabal Passions like kine in a narrow passage ride one upon another and like heavy bodies down steep hills once in motion they know no ground but the bottom Oh how subject are Gods best Saints to weak passions and if they have the grace to ward an expected blow how easily are they surprized with a sudden foil Sometimes both grace and wit are asleep in the holiest and wariest brests and the wisest are miscaried by their passions to their cost What shiprack of his faith and patience had meek Moses well-nigh made against the Rock Rimmon As at another time how did he in a sudden indignation cast away the two-Tables and abandon that which he would in cold blood have held faster then his life But passion doth so bemist the cleerest judgement otherwhiles that a man shall bee apt to think there is sense in sinning and that he hath some reason to be mad 4. Censure not any to be either better or worse for some particular action but consider what his main bent is and accordingly conceive of him David that saith his sinnes were more then the hairs of his head saith also in respect of his generall resolution and full purpose of heart I have not declined from thy statutes neither is there any way of wickednesse in me Saint Iohn looked upon the Lady 2 Joh 1.4 and her children as elect because they walked in the truth though not without some particular stumblings and aberrations And Saint Paul was confident of the Thessalonians election 1 Thes 1.4 though so compassed with infirmities that he doubted he had laboured in vain and feared their Apostacy 1 Thes 3.5 Perswaded also he was better things of the Hebrews Heb. 6.9 and such as accompany salvation though he found them slow of foot and dull of hearing and frights them with the terrour of the Lord upon Apostates Who can promise himself freedome from grosse infirmities when Aaron that went up into the mount comes down and doth that in the valley which he heard forbidden in the hill Gods best children may not onely be drenched in the waves of sinne but lie in them for a time and perhaps sink twice to the bottom before they recover Sudden indeliberate out-bursts contrary to the generall bent and purpose break not the league betwixt God and his people as the robberies done by Pirates of either Nation do not betwixt King and King A good man is habitually good when actually evil and an evil man is habitually evil when actually good He that goes up a hill may have many slips and falls yet is still said to be going up the hill because his face is toward the top A sheep may slip into a dich as he is leaping over it yea lye there some time till the shepheard finde it and help it out Behold I even I will both search my lost sheep and seek them out saith the Lord. I will seck that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will binde up that which was broken Ezek. 34.11 12.16 Rev 24. Psal 119.176 and will strengthen that which was sick I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day Christ the good shepheard tiddleth his lambs dyed for their ignorance Heb. 7.7 bare their infirmities Esay 53. breeds a first love in his little ones and gives charge that none despise them much lesse discard them no though they go astray as David did like a lost sheep And mark his reasons God despiseth them not Math 18.10 but senthis son to seek them and sets his Angels to tend and look to them therefore let none set light by them SECT XIV Take comfort and courage notwithstanding infirmities and failings in the manner LAstly this doctrine methinks might make the servants of God everlastingly merry it should wonderfully clear up the countenances and cheer up the hearts of all Gods chosen it should banish and bar out of their blessed souls all their unnecessary scruples distrusts dejections and discouragements arising from the sense of their manifold defects distractions in duty indisposition ignorance forgetfulnesse omissions or failings in the manner All which so long as they are groned under grieved at and striven against Peccata nobis non nocent si non placent Augustin God will never impute unto them nay he will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him Now how that is they can well tell that are parents of towardly and tractable children that are good-natured and well-conditioned And yet they cannot neither be they never so tender and their children never so tractable sith there is no more comparison betwixt their mercy and his then is betwixt a molehill and a mountain nay the least drop of a bucket and the main Ocean Yea I dare be bold to say that all the mercies of all the fathers mothers husbands wives friends allyes in the world compared to his mercy are mere cruelty This makes the Prophet as having
wicked cannot pray 620. nor be heard ib. how to know our prayers are heard 837 Preaching what it is p. 84. twice a day 493 Pride 79 80. its picture 420. it precedes a fall 456 Prins stigmata Laudis p. 589 Processions popish p. 165 Procrastination is greatest folly p. 471. punished 944 Prodigies in heaven p. 210 Priviledges of saints p. 896. price of a saint 902. honour such ib. 108. their glory at the Resurrection 904 905. their priviledges privative and positive 925 926. Promises of God they shall be performed p. 636 637. they are a strong-hold 558. pray them over 848. mixt with menaces and why 566. Prophecy obscure p. 537 Prosperity no sure signe of piety p. 163 it causeth pride 170 420. slayeth the wicked 134 71 73 74 Providence of God Doubt not of it p. 424. see 882. He will preserve his and provide for them 878 Psalms book of Psalms praised p. 442 443 Publike most to be minded p. 476 Punishment waiteth upon sinne p. 59 217 531 535 545 670 843 punishment in kind 63. in all sorts of sinners 76. punishment insensible 87. one mischief after another 260 R RAin how taken in Scripture p. 603. it is from God 560 673 245. Doctrine resembled to it 246. rain of blood 210 Reformation was ever opposed p. 630. what Magistrates and Ministers are to do in it 631 Relapse not p. 587. let the relapsed return to God and how 28 Religion reproached as rebellion p. 272 273. otherwise reproached 455. mixtures in it 446. It is the beauty and bulwark of a land 512 Remission of sinne a great comfort p. 519 Christs righteousnesse imputed ib. Repentance the parts of it p. 27. the vertue of it 39. mercy leads to it 40. necessity of it 192. there is a naturall and morall repentance 321. Reformation is the best repentance 324. See Conversion Resemble God and wherein p. 922. Restitution is necessary p. 324 Resurrection it is sure p. 319. and will be glorious 562 904 905. Retract errours and evil practises p. 586 Revenge p. 226 Reward of righteousnesse is liberall p. 673. God remembreth and requiteth all his 839. and why ib. and 840 841. his service is very gainfull 842 843 849. See gain of godlinesse Righteousnesse of Christ imputed to us p. 932 Romish Edomites p. 610 Romish cruelty 347. Romes filth 611. its pride and downfall 65. avarice 66. 't is degenerate 206. must be burnt ib. Romes ruine 609. S SAbbath profaned p. 128. must be our delight 276. benefit of it ib. Sacrifices spirituall to be offered to God p. 625. our selves especially ib. Sacrilâ—dge a great sinne p. 215. punished 668 670 Saints are earthly Angels p. 608. their sinnes are most grievous 625. God will own them and honour them 895 896. despise them not for their outward meanenesse 906. their honour 907 Scandall to be shunned p. 239. scandalous Ministers 642. Professours 231 Scriptures commendation p. 120 121. See Word Seek God p. 146 Selah what it importeth p. 432 Seducers dangerous p. 584. they must be stigmatized 585. not tolerated 584. see 588. they are hardly ever recovered 587. Self-deniall to be studied p. 705 801 Self-seekers p. 137. self-ascribers 423 542 Sensuality p. 68 224 266 Septuagint translate amisse p. 629 620 628 Security fore-runneth ruine p. 263 427 Serve God with the best p. 615. not with slubbering service ib. 676. serve him with soul and body too 625. love Gods service 276 â—â—me devotion 618. honour of Gods service 687. he highly accepteth our performances 825 826 827 c. He rejecteth the services of the wicked and why 829 830. and that 's their misery 831 let them therefore repent ib. Blesse God for acceptance of our services 834. get into Gods service 846. and serve him earnestly 846. God how to bee served 917. serve God and why 937. He accepteth small services 938 939. how he is to be served 945. Setlednesse to be laboured after p. 618 Sicknesse fruit of sinne p. 378 379 Sight of sin is before sorrow p. 580 Silence in due season p. 257 Similies how to be used p. 164 Singing a Gospel-Ordinance p. 40 Sincerity accepted p. 98 Sinne a great burthen p. 606 607. It maketh God to disown people 634. to destroy them 23. remember it not with delight 42. the filth of sinne 78 518. hatefull to God 143. especially if iterated 223. 't is deceitfull 293. the greatest folly 317. hardly parted with 649. saints sinnes are most hainous 236. difference of their sins from other 933. adde not sin to sin 549 Sir whence p. 525 Slandering p. 85 86. make-bates 417 Sorrow godly p. 198. it follows upon sight of sin 580. 't is deep 581. greatest of all sorrows 581 582. 't is secret ib. forts of sorrows ib. Souls have no sexes p. 373. the worth of a soul 429. it comes from God and is like him 579. not propagated 653. precious ib. Spanish greatnesse p. 418 Spirits first work in the heart p. 852 Strength of a saint wherein p. 579 Stumbling at the word dangerous p. 642 Submission hath mercy p. 249 Suffer for God p. 144 Superstition pompous p. 70. prodigall 375 Supper Come prepared to the Lords Supper p. 616 Swearing a common sinne p. 532. dangerous 55 Sweating-sicknesse p. 247 310 T TEars powerfull with God p. 161 197 650 Temporals are to be slighted p. 24 25 saints oft have them 546 Temptation resist Satan p. 517. withstand first motions 544 Tempt not God p. 672 Thankfulnesse how it must be qualified p. 177. Think upon God and why p. 850 852. See Meditation Wicked think not on God 854 or not well 855 857 858 Thiâ—st corporall and spirituall p. 20 21 Thought not free p. 342 481 551. evil thoughts argue an evil man 856. earthly thoughts when they are naught 863 Threats shall be accomplished p. 643. wee should tremble at them 236 237. they are slighted 413. till felt 491 Time-servers p. 701 Tithings whence p. 345 Tythes to be payed p. 669 Tythe and be rich p. 673 674 Tongue order it well p. 383. an ill tongue destructive 407 Treachery to be avoyded p 646 Trinity of persons known of old p. 484 Truth little is to be found p. 53 't is ill taken 255. hated 256 274 Trust in God hath security p. 396 413. the triumph of Trust 420. Trust in Gods mercy 930 Tumults outragious p. 147 Turks Empire great p. 418. how they use their Asapi 420 Turn to God See Conversion and Repentance V Victory is of God and a great blessing p. 686. especially that over corruption ib. Vnity seek it p. 646. study it 462. Christian union 690 Vnsetlednesse in judgement p. 618 Vnthankfulnesse a grave p. 608 609. a great sinne 231. It exasperateth the Lord 572 Vnworthy Receivers p. 933 Vowes must be payed p. 318 W VVAit upon God p. 49 50 162 425 Walk exactly p. 520. worthy of God 706 Wantonnesse shun it p. 17 Warre the wo of it p. 566 595 148 153. desolation is by it
they regard not iniquity in their heart there is no way of wickednesse found in them Of the spirit of whoredomes see the Note on Chap. 4.11 And they have not known the Lord He knowes them well enough verse 3. and they shall know it Jer. 16.21 to their cost but they know not the Lord sc savingly and effectually for if they did they could not be so vile and vitious so loose and licentious A man is properly said to know no more of Gods minde then he practiteth like as of our Saviour it is said that he knew no sin that is 2 Cor. 5.21 he did none with an intellectuall knowledge he knew it how else could he reprove it but not with a practical and as it is said of Elies two sons that they knew not God because they obey'd him not Lo such was the ignorance of this people assected and acquired and this is peccatorum omnium fons et fomes the mother of all mischief and misery as hath been oft set forth in the Notes upon the former chapter Verse 5. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face Pride is the great master-pock of the soul it will bud and cannot be hid Ezek. 7.10 It is the grandiabolo that filthy spirit that is gotten into the midst of men into the very heart of the country as it were It is the leprosie of the soul that breakes forth in the very forehead and so testifieth to his face It proceeds from ignorance of God and his will of a mans self and his duty hence that connexion of this verse and the former They know not the Lord And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face The Laodiceans were therefore proud because ignorant thou knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor c. So those question-sick phantasticks in Saint Paul were proud knowing nothing 1 Tim. 6.4 And I would not have you ignorant of this mystery saith he to his Romans Chap. 11.25 lest ye should be puffed up in your own conceits Humble Agur though full of heavenly light yet vilifies and nullifies himself to the utmost Prov. 30.2 and so exemplifies that Proverb of Solomen with the lowly is wisdom Prov. 11.2 And as wisdom maketh the face to shine and humility rendreth a man lovely so pride on the contrary sitteth in the face and deformeth it The proud man flattereth himself in his own lies till his iniquity be found to be hatefull Psal 36.2 till his swelling break forth in loathsome ulcers Thus Miriams pride testified to her face and Vzziah's and Sodoms Esay 3.9 The shew of their countenance witnessing against them Pride is a foolish sinne it cannot keep in it will be above-board and discover it self by lofty looks big-swoln-words proud gate ridiculous gestures garish attire that nest of pride but especially by stoutnesse and stubbornnesse against God and his wayes as here in this Text it is to be taken When men commit sin with an high hand and as it were in despite of God and on purpose to crosse him Hence it is that God so hateth this sinne above other for whereas all other sins flee from God pride le ts flye at him nay flees in his face saying Who is the Lord that I should obey him Hence he will be a swift witnesse against such and a severe Judge Learned Mr. Leveley reads this Text thus The excellency of Israel that is God as Amos 8.7 2 Sam. 1.19 will testifie to Ephraims face give in evidence against them He will indeed be Index Judex Vindex to such for he resisteth the proud and delighteth to stain their glory to cast dirt in those faces of theirs that are so hatcht with impudence as to face the very heavens and to contest with Omnipotency Hence their fall with a violence with a vengeance Therefore shall Ephraim and Israel fall in their iniquity Corruet they shall fall with a push with a powther as we say and in their iniquity that 's worse then all the rest Ye shall die in your sinnes saith Christ to those rebellious Jews Ioh. 8.21 that was a great deal worse then to die in prison to die in a ditch or in the worlds disfavour Or in their iniquity that is for their iniquity which is indeed the cause of calamities At the losse of Calice when a proud French-man demanded of an English Captain When will you fetch Calice again he gravely replied Quando peccata vestra erunt nostris graviora When you sinnes shall weigh down ours Tarnov in loc If any man ask saith Tarnovius upon this 〈◊〉 Vnde hodiâ—â—anta passim in Germania vastitas efficit hanc peccatorum atrâ—â—itaâ— Whence so great desolations in Germany It is for the grievousnesse of our â—â—iquity 〈◊〉 â—his was better yet then the result of that consultation held once at Hambo◠〈◊〉 â—â— sâ—me of his Latheran fellow-Ministers Vol. 1. p. 465. concerning the cause and cure 〈◊〉 manies calamities They concluded saith Mr. Borougâ—â—â— on Hosea from the mouth of a Minister there who told it him with grief that it was because their 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 not adorned enough which therefore they 〈…〉 A sad husinesse Solomon would have told them that it is a mans pride that brings him low Prov. 29.23 And that before destruction the heart of a man is haughty â—ov 18.12 And that pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit 〈…〉 fall Prov. 16.18 If the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face the next news we â—â—â—all hear of him is that Israel and Ephraim are fallen in their iniquity A bulging wall cannot stand a swelling sore will shortly break This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of Hoasts The Lord will be terrible unto them for he will famish all the gods of the earth c. Zeph. 2.10 11. all those deunculi those pretty pictures that men so much dote upon which should not be suffered if for nothing else yet for the distraction they may cause in Divine worship In the Councel-chamber of the Lacedemonians no picture or image was suffered lest in consultation of weighty matters their mindes thereby might be distracted Irenaeus reproveth the Gnosticks for their pictures of Christ though made in Pilates time after his own proportion Austin denieth that images can be set up in Churches sine praesentissimo idololatriae periculo without exceeding great danger of idolatry In Psal 114. Epiphanius saith it is an abomination of desolation to set up pictures in the Churches of Christians Plutarch an Heathen saith Paul Jovius lib. 4. it is sacriledge And Solyman the great Turk when he had taken Buda in Hungary would not enter into the great Church there to give God thanks for the victory till all the images were cast out But this by the way onely Let us take heed by those mistaken Lutherans Esay 44.20 whom a deceived heart hath turned aside that we likewise
fall not from our own stedfastnesse lest Judah also fall with them Lest we be wrapt up in the same condemnation lest we follow Germany in her plagues as we began apace to do in her sins for the which we have also already severely smarted If Judah comply with Israel in false worship they shall fall with Israel God is not tied to any people but can well be without them The Lord is with you whilst ye are with him If ye seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you 2 Chron 15.2 But will the Lord be certainly found of them that seek him yes if they seek him seriously and seasonably in a time when he may be found Psal 32.6 Esay 55.6 and before he be utterly departed But here was the mistake and the mischief of it These Apostata's went to seek the Lord and they went with their cost but they came too late they had sinned away their God and wiped off all their comfortables as Saul had done before them The Philistims are upon me saith he and God hath forsaken me he answereth me no more neither by Prophets nor by dreams c. It is said 1 Sam. 28.15 1 Chron. 10.14 that Saul did not enquire of the Lord therefore he slew him He did and yet he did not because he sought him not with all his heart his devotion was fained and forced Now it is a rule in the Civil Law Ficta pro factis non habentur nec videtur fieri quod non legitimc sit Fained service is lost labour neither is that done to any purpose that is not orderly done And this was the case of these sacrificers in the next verse Sodomites God calleth them Esay 1.10 Verse 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their heards Cursitabunt they shall out up and down from altar to altar with all their stock as if they would buy off their sins redeem their sorrows with hecatombs and store of holocausts and then be ready to say as that Heathen Emperour did when he was to meet his enemie in the field Non sic Deos coluimus aut sic viximus ut ille nos vinceret Antonin Philosoph ap Vulcat Gallic in Avâ—â—io Cassio Mic. 6.7 we have not so served the gods or lived so that the enemy should have the better of us They thought they had merited better at Gods hands by their thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oil then to fall as in the former verse then to be relinquished by him as here Lo this is the guise of gracelesse hypocrites by their outward performances they think to oblige God unto them and by their good deeds to set off for their bad Thus Brunheldis that French Athaliah after many murders and much mischief wrought by her Anno 600. built many Colledges for Priests and Monks in Burgundy and Austria Eo scilicet beneficio maleficia sua expiavit saith the French Chronicler Epit. hist. Gal. pag. 25. Dan. hist. fol. 76. thereby thinking to satisfie for all her cruelty So here in King Stevens time there were more Abbeys built then in an hundred yeers before So the Papists at this day spend and are spent in their blinde devotions they lavish money out of the bag and run up and down from Saint to Saint with their cost They pray publikely in publike calamities Quarantoras Italico nomine istas preces vocant Polan in loc quem consule for fourty hours together by the Popes command that they may pacifie God and divert his displeasure For the same cause they make the same man in their greater Cities appointed to preach every day in Lent without intermission so as six dayes in the week he preacheth on the Gospel of the dayes and on the Saturday in honour and praise of our Lady as they call her Lo thus they go as they think Spec. Europ to seek God with their will-worship and work done c. but they finde him as little as they did here with their flocks and with their herds And why First they go to seek him they run but in a wrong way and so fulfill that sacred proverb He that hasteth with his feet sinneth for the faster he runs the farther he is out Next Prov. 19.2 they pretend to seek him but indeed they seek themselves they seek him but it is to be rid of his rod they do not so much serve him as serve themselves and their own turns upon him as those hypocrites in Zachary fasted to themselves Zech. 7. not to get off their sins but their chains Thirdly they go with their flocks c. not mine but theirs saith God he will not so much as own them though they were tendered to him in sacrifice because brought with a wicked minde Prov. 21.27 as Balac and Balaam did Num. 23.1 2. and as Cain did Gen. 4.5 to whom therefore God had no respect because he brought non personam sed opus personae not himself but his sacrifice as Luther hath it who also calleth all those Cainists that offer to God the work done but present not their bodies for a lively sacrifice Rom. 12.1 Hence he rejects their services with infinite disdain as Esay 1.11 12. and 66.2 3. though never so numerous and precious Mic. 6.7 Hos 8.13 And to set forth this as he calleth them here their flocks and not his so Fourthly he calleth them flocks and herds not sacrifices that was too good a name for them Thus Ier. 7.21 in scorn he calleth their sacrifice flesh such as was ordinary sold in the shambles And thus also Hos 9.4 speaking of the meat-offering appointed Lev. 2.5 he calleth it their bread for their souls or for their life and livelihood the bread for their naturall sustenance and saith it shall not come into his house he will none of it See Mal. 1.7 with the Note but they shall not finde him Non erit ipsis domi non favebit eis saith an interpreter here he will not be at home not within to open to them when they knock at his doore he will be as strange to them as ever they were to him because they bring him not that best sacrifice of a broken heart and because they come too late when the gate of grace is shut when the gale of grace is over when he hath fully resolved upon their ruine and will not repent when he hath withdrawn himself from them Heb. hath snatcht away himself hath thrown himself out of their company 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Peter threw himself out from the rude souldiers into a by-corner to weep bitterly Mark 14.72 Cum se proripuisset so Beza rendreth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When God is well pleased with his people they can no sooner cry but he will say Here I am Isay 58.9 And though they offer but small things unto him as Samuel did a sucking lamb 1 Sam 7.9 they are highly