the ropes or manage the oares c. The self-seeker the private-spirited man may he be but warme in his own feathers regards not the danger of the house he is totus inse like the snail still within doors and at home like the Squirrel he ever digs his hole towards the Sun-rising his care is to keep on the warme side of the hedge to sleep in a whole skin to save one whatever become of the many From doing thus Mordecai deterreth Esther by an heap of holy arguments discovering an heroical faith and a well-knit resolution At this time There is indeed a time to keep silence and a time to speak Eccl. 3.7 But if ever a man will speak let him do it when the enemies are ready to devoure the Church as Croesus his dumb son burst out into Kill not King Croesus For Zions sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest c. Esay 62.1 If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth c. Psal 137.5 6. That noble Terentius General to Valens the Emperour being bidden to ask what he would asked nothing but that the Church might be freed from Arians And when the Emperour Niceph. upon a defeat by the Gothes upbraided him with cowardise and sloth as the causes of the overthrow He boldly replied Your selfe have lost the day by your warring against God and persecuting his people Then shall their enlargement Heb. Respiration a day of refreshing should come from the Presence of the Lord. Confer Job 9.18 At present they could hardly breath for bitternesse of spirit And deliverance arise Heb. stand up as on its basis or bottome so as none shall be able to withstand This Mordecai speaketh not by a spirit of Prophecy but by the force of his faith grounded upon the Promises of Gods defending his Church hearing the cries of his afflicted arising to their relief and succour c. Mira profectò at omnibus linguis saeculis â—â—cisque commendabilis fides saith one A notable faith indeed and worthy of highest commendation Thorough the Perspective of the Promises those pabulum fidei food of faith a believer may see deliverance at a great distance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see it and salute it as those did Heb. 11.13 What though Sense saith It will not be Reason It cannot be yet Faith gets above and sayes It shall be I descryland Italiam Italiam laeto clamore salutar Virg. But thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed Here he thundereth and threatneth her if to save her self she shall desert the Church Mordecai's message like Davids ditty Psal 101.1 is composed of discords Soure and sweet make the best-sauce Promises and menaces mixed will soonest work God told Abraham that for the love he bare him Gen. 123. he would blesse those that blessed him and curse such as cursed him Their sin should finde them out and they should rue it in their posterity As one fire so one feare should drive out another And who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom There is often a wheel within a wheel Ezek. 1. God may have an end and an aime in businesses that we wot not of nor can see into till event hath explained it Let us lay forth our selves for him and labour to be publike-spirited such as fully satisfied him No man labour can be in vaine in the Lord. to see which way we may most glorifie God and gratifie our brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil 1.20 Verse 16. Thus Esther bade them returne Mordecai this answer A sweet answer and such as fully satisfied him No mans labour can be in 〈◊〉 in the Lord. Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is the wise mans counsel In the morning sow thy seed 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 thy 〈◊〉 for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this 〈◊〉 that or whither they â—ath shall be alike good Eccles 11.6 Mordecai had filled his mouth with Argument and now God filled his heart with comfort Esther yields and resolves to obey him whatever come of it only she will go the wisest way to work first seeking God and then casting herself upon the King Ora labora God hath all hearts in his hand and will grant good successe to his suppliants Verse 16. Go gather together all the Jewes Great is the power of joynt prayer it stirres heaven and works wonders Oh when a Church-full of good people shall set sides and shoulders to work when they shall rouse up themselves and wrastle with God when their pillars of incense shall come up into his Presence Rev. 14.1 and their voices be heard as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a great thunder Rev. 14. What may not such thundring legions have at Gods hands Have it they will have it Coelum tundimus preces fundimus misericordiam extorquemus said those primitive Prayer-makers Rev. 9.13 the prayers of the Saints from the foure corners of the earth sound and do great things in the world they make it ring It was the speech of a learned man if there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart how much more then a volley of sighs from many good hearts together it filleth the eares of God so that God heareth nothing else And fast ye for me Who am now upon my life and for ought I know am shortly to appear before the Lord who requireth to be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him and wherein I may not look to have leave to erre twice Non licet in bâ—llo bis â—rrâ—re D. â—â—all Point therefore your prayers for me with holy fasting that they may pierce heaven and prevail Abstinence meriteth not saith a grave Divine for Religion consisteth not in the belly either full or empty What are meats or drinks to the Kingdome of God which is like himself spiritual but it prepareth best for good duties Full bellies are fitter for rest Not the body so much as the soule is more active with emptinesse Hence solemn prayer taketh ever fasting to attend it and so much the rather speedeth in heaven when it is so accompanied It is good so to diet the body that the soule may be fattened And neither eat nor drink three dayes c. That is saith Drusius two whole nights one whole day and part of two other dayes See the like expression Mat. 12 40. Others lay that in those hot countreyes they might fast three dayes as well as we two in these cold climates Tully in one of his Epistles telleth us Epist 10â— that he fasted two dayes together without so much as tasting a little water For the Romanes also and Grecians had their Fasts private and publike whether it were by a secret instinct of Nature or by an imitation of the Hebrewes Faciunt vespae favos The
I am judged I am damned Pet. Sutor de vita Carth. This very much wrought upon the heart of Bruno saith he and occasioned him to found the Carthusian order Waldus a French Merchant was so affected with the death of one that died suddenly in his presence that he thenceforth became a right godly man and the Father of the Waldenses those ancient Protestants in France called also The poor men of Lions But oh the dead lethargy the spirit of fornication that hath so besotted the minds of the most that they can see death and yet not think of it they can look into the dark chamber of the grave and never make the least preparation for it if for present they be somewhat affected and have some good impressions yet they soon vanish as the water circled by a stone cast into it soone returns to its former smoothnesse as chickens run under the wings of the hen whiles the kite is over them or in a storm but soon after get abroad againe amd dust themselves in the Sun As Nebuchadnezzar had seen a vision but it was gone from him so here if men at the house of mourning have â—ome good motions they improve them not to resolutions or draw not forth their resolutions into execution c. Verse 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away Journyeth not their excellency with them so Broughton rendreth it By their excellency here some understand the soule called by David his glory A Philosopher said Favorium there was nothing excellent in the world but man nothing in man but his soul The Stoicks affirmed that the body was not a part of a man but the instrument or rather the servant of the soul Hence the Latines call the body Corpus or Corpor as of old they speak quasi cordis puer sive famulus And Plato saith Camer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that that is not the man that is seen of him but the mind of a man that 's the man And in the 19 verse of this chap. man is said to dwell in an house of clay that is the soul to inhabit the body The soul goes away with the name of the whole person the soul indeed is the man in a morall consideration and is therefore elsewhere called the inward man 2 Cor. 4.16 1 Pet. 3.4 and the hidden man of the heart the body compared to it is but as a clay-wall encompassing a treasure a course case to a rich instrument a leathern sheath to an excellent blade Dan. 7.15 or as a mask to a beautiful 〈◊〉 Now at death this excellency of a man departeth returneth to God that gave it Eclesias â— 7 His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish even the most excellent effects of his mind and spirit as the word signifieth Psal 146.4 And as that so all other excellencies go away at death Psal 39.11 and 49.13 even the whole goodlinesse of man Isa 40.6 whether it be the good things of the mind as wisedome science conscience judgment or of the body as beauty and health or of fortune as they call it as favour and applause together with plenty of prosperity No mans glory goeth down with him into the grave Psal 49.16 Where is now the flourishing beauty and gallantry of Caesar saith one his armies and honours his triumphs and trophies where are the rich fools great barnes Nebuchadnezzars great Babel Agrippa's great pomp c Have not all these made their bed in the dark leaving their excellency behind them Are they not many of them gone to their place as a stone to the center or as a foole to the stocks They dye even without wisdome Heb. They die and not with wisedome They die like so many beasts but for their pillow and bolster without any care to lay hold on eternall life 1 Sam. 3.33 they die as a fool dieth Not in wisedome that is in abundance of folly saith Pineda and this is most mens case their wit serves them not in this weighty work of preparing to die they put farre away the thoughts of it and hence they die tempore non suo Eccles 7.17 when it were better for them to do any thing rather then to die To live with dying thoughts is an high point of heavenly wisedome Psal 90.12 Deut. 32.29 How might one such wise Christian chase a thousand foolish and hurtfull lusts 1 Tim. 6.4 which drowne mens soules in perdition and destruction CHAP. V. Verse 1. Call now if there be any that will answer thee THe beginning of this chapter is hard saith Mercer till you come to the seventh or eighth verses and then all is plain and easie That which Eliphaz driveth at here is to drive Job out of all good conceit of his own condition and to perswade him that never any good man suffered such hard and heavy things as he or at least suffered them so untowardly and impatiently Call I pray thee saith he call over the roll look into the records of former Saints and see if thou canst find among them all such another knotty piece as thy self that needed so much hewing and made such a deale of complaining Was there ever the like heard of Call now if there be any one answerable to thee Broughton rendreth it Call now if there be any one that will defend thee that is be thy Patron or advocate in word or in the example of their lives And to which of the Sâ—â—nts wilt thou turn q. d. Thou art alone neither maist thou hope to meet with thy match in the matter or manner of thine afflictions unlesse it be among hypocrites and gracelesse persons as verse 2. The Septuagint read it To which of the Angels wilt thou look And the Popish Commentators think they have here an unanswerable ground for their Doctrine of invocation of Saints and Angels But did not the buzzards take notice of an Irony here and that Eliphaz assureth Job that it would be in vain for him to call to any Saint c Is it not plain or probable at least that he here meaneth the Saints living in this world or if not yet is Gregory the great of no authority with them who acknowledgeth none other to be called upon here meant but God and that the Saints are mentioned to Job in derision as if it were a ridiculous thing to call to them departed out of this life who cannot hear us Verse 2. For wrath killeth the foolish man Such as thou art Job hot and hasty pettish and passionate fretting thy self to do evil and so provoking God to fall soule upon thee as a just object of his wrath to thine utter ruine without repentance Surely with the froward God will show himself froward Psal 18.26 Neither hath ever any one hardened himself against the Lord and prospered Job 9.4 For why he is wise in heart and mighty in strength as it is there every way able to
of his Office as the Jebusites did out of the Fort of Zion or as the Devil out of the Demoniack Sâ—d voluntas Dei necessitâ—s rei he passeth because he can neither will nor chuse as they say Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away Eleganter vero mors notatur immutandi verbo saith one Elegant is death set forth by changing the countenance for death taketh away the faire and fresh colour of a man and makes him look wan and withered pale and ghastly It is easâ—e to see death many times before it come in the sick manâ—face in his sharp nostrils thin cheeks hollow eyes c. Facies Hippocratica those Harbingers of death whereby God sendeth for him and so sendeth him away extrudit amandet as once he did Adam out of Paradise Lavaters Note here is Propone tihi semper horribileus speciem mortis ut eò minus pecces Set before thy self alwayes the horrid face of death to restraine thee from sin Verse 21. His sons come to honour and he knoweth it not Whilst he lyeth sick Omnis in Ascanio chari statcura parentis Vir. he regardeth no earthly thing no not what becometh of his children formerly his greatest care whether they be advanced or impaired in their outward condition As when he is dead he can take no knowledge of any thing done in this world Isai 63.16 Eccles 2.19 and 96. be his children or friends rich or poor high or low he is both ignorant and insensible It was a base slander published by a Jesuit some years after Queen Elizabeths death That as she died without sense or feeling of Gods mercies Cambd. Eliz. Prefat so that she wished she might after her death hang a while in the Aire to see what striving would be for her Kingdome As for that opinion of some Papists That the dead do sometimes returne into the Land of the living that they know how things go here and make report thereof to those in heaven it is contrary to the whole Scripture Verse 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain That is say some But as long as he is living his body is afflicted with a thousand evils and though his soul by the condition of her creation be exempt from them yet she beares a part in them and becomes miserable with it A dying man hath sorrow without and sorrow within the whole man is in misery as Job here felt himself Others hold Aben-Ezra Mercer Deodate that this Poetical representation hath no other meaning but that the dead have no manner of communication with the living Broughtou rendreth it His flesh is grieved for it self and his soul will mourn for it self q.d. he takes no thought or care for his children or neerest relations CHAP. XV. Verse 1. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanice and said LApides locutus est In this second encounter Eliphaz falls upon Job not so much with stronger Arguments as with harder words reproving him sharply or rather reproaching him bitterly Facundiâ quadam caninâ with more Eloquence then charity So hard a thing is it saith Beza espetially in disputing and reasoning to avoid self-love as even in these times experience daily teacheth us He hinteth I suppose at the publick Conference betwixt himself and Jacobus Andreas at Mompelgard Lib. 35. Hist whereby the strife was rather stirred then stinted as Thuanus complaineth Or else at the Disputation at Possiacum wherein Beza Speaker for the Protestant party Hist of Counc of Trent 453. before the Queen Mother of France the young King Charles and many Princes of the Blood entring into the matter of the Eucharist spake with such heat unlesse the Historian wrongs him that he gave but ill satisfaction to those of his own side so that he was commanded to conclude Such meetings are seldome successeful saith Luther because men come with confidence and wit for victory rather then verity In this reply of Eliphaz to Job we may see what an evil thing it is to be carried away with prejudice and pertinacy which make a man forget all modesty and fall foule upon his best friends Here 's enough said to have driven this sorrowful man into utter despaire had not God upheld his spirit whiles he is fiercely charged for a wicked man Non affert ullaâ—â— consolationem non invitat eum ad panitentiam sed potiâ—â— ad desperationem complelas Lav. and hated of God neither doth any of his friends henceforth afford him one exhortation to repentance or one comfortable promise as Lavater well observeth Verse 2. Should a wise man utter vain knowledg Heb. Knowledg of the wind light frothy empty discourses that have no tack or substance in them but only words that are no better then wind a meer flash or Aiery nothing Solomon thinks a wise man should beware of falling into this fault lest he forfeit his reputation Eccles 10.1 Dead flyes cause the Oyntments of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour as spots are soonest observed in the whitest and finest garments and envy like wormes and moths doth usually feed on the purest cloth Neh. 6.11 A great many dead flies may be found in a Tar-box and no hurt done but one of them falne into a pot of sweet Odours or precious Perfumes may soone taint and corrupt them And fil his belly with the East-wind Per ventrem mentem intellige per ventum Orientalem vanam opinionem saith Vatablus By belly understand the mind and by the East wind a vain conceit or frothy knowledg blown forth out of a swelling breast to the hurt of others for the East wind is destructive to herbs and fruits Hos 12.1 Gen. 41.6 But doth not Eliphaz here by these bubble of words and blustering questions betraying much choler and confidence fall into the very same fault which he findeth with Job Doth not he also fill his belly with heat so the Vulgar rendreth this Text which kindling in his bosom blazeth out at his lips Doth not this angry man exalt folly and shew himself none of the wisest though he were the oldest in all the company Verse 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk Why But if he do should he therefore be thus rippled up and rough-hewed And not rather reduced and rectified with hard Arguments and soft words Man is a cross crabbed creature Duci vult trahi non vult Perswade him you may compel him you cannot A fit time also must be taken to perswade him to better for else you may loose your sweet words upon him The Husbandman soweth not in a storm The Mariner hoyseth not sail in every wind Good Physicians evacuate not the body in extremity of heat and cold A brother offendâ—d is harder to be 〈…〉 a strong City Prov. 18.19 This Eliphaz should have considered and not so rashly censured Job for a fool and his talk for trash but
cloathed with flesh or in the likenesse of man And here do but think with thy self though it far passe the reach of any mortal thought faith One what an infinite inexplicable happinesse it will be to look for ever upon the glorious body of Jesus Christ shining with incomprehensible beauty and to consider that even every vein of that blessed body bled to bring thee to heaven And that it being with such excesse of glory hypostatically united to the second Person in Trinity hath honoured and advanced thy Nature in that respect far above the brightest Cherub The whole verse may be read thus And after I shall awake though this body shall be destroyed yet out of my flesh shall I see God And being thus read it is a plainer and fuller confession of the Resurrection saith an Interpreter It is common is Scripture to compare death to sleep and Resurrection to awaking Dan. 12.2 Psal 17.15 The bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of Roses to ripen and mellow against the Resurrection and they write upon their graves as One did once Resurgam I shall surely rise again Moses his body hid in the valley of Moab appeared afterwaths glorious in Mount Tabor D. King This is matter of joy and triumph as it was here to Job and to those good souls who were to lose all Dan 12.2 and those Heb. 11.35 considering that God by rotting would refine their bodies and in due time raise them conformabley to Christs most glorious body the standard The forethought of this cheared up Davids good heart Psalm 16 9. and those in Isaiah chap. 26.19 and the good people in our Saviours time Beauchama John 11.24 I know saith Martha concerning her brother Lazarus that be shall rise again at the Resurrection at the Consolation saith the Syriack Interpreter Resurrection and Consolation then were termes equivalent Hence that great Apostle 2 Cor. 4.17 For this cause we faint not saith he For what cause Because we believe that be which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you And the same Apostle maketh this Doctrine of the Resurrection the Canon of Consolation 1 Thes 4.13 14. c. to the end Verse 27. Whom I shall see for my self He speaketh confidently as one full assured of a Resurrection which if it should not be how should there be a remuneration of the body Say not We cannot see how t is possible See we not a yearly Resurrection of grasse grain herbs flowers fruits every Spring tide Know we not that men can of ashes make glasses that a Chymist can of several metals mixt to get her Lavâ— in Job 14.12 extract the one from the other and reduce every metal to its own species or king Etiam animalula quaedam typi Resurrectiones sunt saith Lavater Some little living creatures are Types of the Resurrection He instanceth in Dormise which sleep all wintes and revive in the spring in Silk wormes which dying leave nothing behind them but a certain excrement which being born about in the bosomes of women takes heat and reviveth Wherefore if Nature do such things shall it be held havd for the God of Nature to raise the dead The keeping green of Noah Olive tree in the time of the flood the blossoming of Aarons dry Rod the flesh and sinewes coming to Ezekiels dry bones what were these but lively emblemes of the Resurrection And mine eyes shall behold and not anothers Here he maintaineth the identity of his flesh and body in the Resurrection an identity I say not specifical only but numerical or individual The self saâ—â— particular body which fell shall rise Tert de Resurrect lib. 2. This was denyed of old by the Marcionists Basilidians and Valentinians those Simi-Sadduces as Tertullian termeth them and after them Entuchius Bishop of Constantinople who as Gregory saith taught that men rising again should have ayery bodies and not fleshly yea more subtile then the Aire abusing that place of the Apostle It is â—â—wen a natural body it is raised again a spiritual body c. but his book was burnt as Heretical A spiritual body it is called for its great strength and activity wherewith it shalt be endowed and where by it is enabled to bear a weight of glory as also for that it shall have no need of food sleep or other natural helps but we shall be as the Angels of God Matth. 22 30. yet still the same men that now we are Let no man say with Nicodemus How can this be There is no difficulty to Omnipotency Phil. 3. 〈◊〉 Besides there is a substance still preserved even when the body is turned to dust and this shall be raised 〈◊〉 and reunited to the soul He that made man at first of nothing can easily remake him of something And what though his dust be scattered hither and thither and mixt with that of others The skilful Gardener having sundry sorst of seeds mixt together can soon sever them and shall not he who hath the whole earth in his fist discern the dust of his Saints one from another Little balls or pickles or Quick-silver being scattered on the ground mix not themselves with any of another kind But if any man gather them they run together into one of their own accord So it is here greg Nyssen saith a Father Though my raines be consumed within me Though from my skin outward to my raines inward all be wasted yet all shall be raised and restored The Vulgar rendreth these words thus This hope is laid up in my bosome and is by Burgensis expoundod thus This is the only thing that I do most earnestly wish and wait for viz. to see Christ in the flesh at the last day the raynes are the sent of strong desires Verse 28. But ye should say Why persecute we him This ye shall one day surely say Then shall ye return and discern betwixt the righteous and the wicked c. Nam â—lim dicitiâ— cur cum persequebamâ—r Tigur Mal. 3.18 Then shall it repent you it should do so now that ye have rated and reviled me for an by poerite viz. when God hath cleared mine integrity as he did chap. 42. or at the last day howsoever what time there shall be a Resurtection of names as well as of bodies Would ye but say so now it would be some satisfaction Queâ— panites precasse poene est innâ—cons You have heard by the confession I have made I am no miscreant no misbeliever but that I do hold fast the faithful Word The root of the mentor is in me Or the root of the Word the engrafied word of God that is able to save my soul hath taken deep root in me Jâ—n 1.21 I hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 this is the Cabinet that the Jewel hept therein And with what face can ye censure such an one for
I can freely and fearlesly go in and out See Psal 25.15 Vers 9. Have mercy upon mee O Lord Antiquum obtine Do now Lord as thou hitherto hast done For I am in trouble Overwhelmed with the terrours of death and ready to sink animus mihi pendet I know not what to do Mine eye is consumed with grief Computruit facies men mine eye â—itor oculi vet facies is gnawn away or worm-eaten Yea my soul and my belly Belly may be taken for the whole body which was pined away and infeebled with pensivenesse Votablus by soul understandeth the naturall appetite after meat and by 〈◊〉 the disgeâ—tion both which 〈◊〉 Vers 10. For my life is spaâ—â— with 〈◊〉 c. Which 〈…〉 of life and soon snappeth it in sunder 2 Cor. 7.10 See Prov. â—7 22 â—5 with the Notes My strength faileth So that I stumble and stagger 〈…〉 Because of mine iniquity Or My misery for 〈…〉 and the Scripture often confoundeth the names of the cause and of the effects And my bones are consumed Heb. Moth-eaten Vers 11. I was a repreach among all mine enemies Such as Shiâ—â—ti who now insulted lustily Leoni mortuo velmus insultat But especially among my mighbours My near-allies and friends such as Absolem and Abitophel these most vexed mee Ask a fear to mine acquaintance It is no new thing that those which should most love men do sometimes either for fear or flattery of others make least account of them They that see mee without or in the streets fled from mee To sâ—ift for themselves fith to own mee whom they could not help was bootlesse and besides perilous Vers 12. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind How soon dead men are forgotten even by those that promise to remember them longest of all experience teacheth trust not to protestations of best friends in that case I am like a broken Vessel Of which there is no further use or esteem Vers 13. For I have heard the slander of many Or as Calvin Mollerus and others render it Magnorum of the great ones such as take counsel so it followeth here which the Vulgar seldome do and their tongues oft are no slander as we say Fear was on every side Mager missabib Pashurs new name and doom Jer. 20.3 4. But good Davids condition at this time without were fightings within were feares While they took counsel together against mee See 2 Sam. 16.20 where we have an exposition of this verse Vers 14. But I trusted in thee O Lord In this distresse I acted my faith upon thy power and promises this was right and that which God aimed at for we can no way more honour him Hence it is that he is very jealous of our trust neither can he endure that any Idoll of jealousie should be set up in our hearts I said thou art my God In nearest relation and dearest affection whatever befalleth mee Vers 15. My times are in thy hand Both the time of my abode on earth and all those various occurrences of that time all is predetermined by Thee particularly how long I shall suffer and when I shall be delivered See 1 Chron. 29.30 Joh. 7.30 Deliver mee from the hand of mine enemies Oh command deliverances for mee for thou canst casily do it And here observe how David riseth in his requests He laid the Covenant for a foundation and then he well knew he might be bold to ask any thing Vers 16. Make thy face to shine c. Which by reason of the clouds of affliction clustering about mee I cannot for present perceive See the Notes on Psal 4.6 30.7 Save mee c. i.e. Deliver mee out of these dangers Vers 17. Let mee not bee ashamed i.e. Disappointed of my hopes Let the Wicked bee ashamed For they call not upon God but shame those that do Psa 14.4.6 Let them bee silent in the grave Let their big-spoken mouthes be stopped with a spade full of mould Vers 18. Let the lying lips bee put to silence Heb. The lips of alye 〈◊〉 artifices as Jer. â— 3 5. Among the Persians it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 held abase shame to tell a lye Oh that it were so among Christians when shall that golden age return Herod in Clio Xenoph. Cyrop Strab. lib. 15. that the argument may again proceed Sacerdoteâ—s ◠〈◊〉 fullet Christianus est non mentietur Hee is a Minister hee will not deceive Hee is a Christian therefore he will not lye Which speek grievous things Heb. An 〈◊〉 thing dara 〈…〉 durable and long lasting 〈…〉 such as stick and leaves scar though the wound bee 〈…〉 Such mouthes shall one day 〈◊〉 for it Jude 15. Proudly and contemptuously Heb. In pride and contempt It is Pride that caâ—â—eth contempt of others 〈…〉 Vers 19. Oh how great is thy goodnesse The Prophet venteth himself by way of exclamation as finding it unspeakable fitter to be beleeved than possible to be discoursed words are too weak to utter it What shall we say to these things quoth that great Apostle Rom. 8.31 Which thon hast laid up Heb. Hidden Besides that good which God worketh openly for his before the sons of men a great part of his wonderfull kindnesse is hidden from the world and in part also from themselves both in respect of the fountain 1 Joh. 3.1 2. Col. 3.3 the fullnesse 1 Cor. 2.9 and the inward sealing up thereunto 1 Cor. 2.11 12. Rev. 2.17 Prov. 14.10 For them that fear thee that trust in thee For faith must be actuated and when we have such a precious promise as this we must suck and be satisfied Isa 66.11 put on to get the goodnesse of God to work which is done by beleeving Catch hold as David did 1 Chron. 17.23 24 25 26. and make the utmost of Gods loving kindnesse laid up in a promise press it and oppresse it till the goodnesse be expressed out of these breasts of consolation Vers 20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence In the golden cabinet of thy gracious providence where they shall bee as safe as if they were in Heaven Thou shalt keep them secretly in a Pavilion A kind of speech taken from Princes retiring-roomes and withdrawing-chambers which are sacred places Diodatâ—â— From the strife of tongues From the Calumnies and contumelies of graceless tongue-smiters The Arabick rendreth it from the insurrection of Tongues Sedition is first in the tongue and then in the hand an unruly tongue setteth on fire Jam. 3. But the Saints have a promise that as no Weapon formed against them shall prosper so every tongue that riseth against them in judgement shall be condemned Isa 54.17 Vers 21. Blessed be the Lord This should always be in a Christians mouth as Deo gratias was in Austines He can never want matter and should therefore ever finde an heart For he bath shewed me his marvellous kindness Mirificavit bonitatem suam hath been farre better to me than my hopes
and prayer we can seek of God direction and protection as here we shall speed of both And for our little ones These should be a main part of our care to lay up prayers for them to commend them to Gods safe-keeping forasmuch as puerilitas est periculorum pelagus Little ones are liable to a thousand deaths and dangers And for all our substance Our stock and our store all the goods that we have got and gathered together Our English word Riches answereth to the Hebrew Recush Vers 22. For I was ashamed Heb I blusht and was abasht I knew not how to put on the face to do it neither could I bring my mind to crave a convoy though it might have been of great use to us lest the name of God should thereby be dishonoured and his excellencies questioned It is the ingenuity of Saints to study Gods ends more then their own and to be far more troubled when any thing crosseth him then when themselves are crossed or disappointed Propter te Domine propter te is the good mans Motto Choice and excellent spirits are all for God whatever becometh of themselves Vers 22. Because we had spoken to the King saying They had spoken good of Gods Name and amply set forth his power providence goodnesse and other Attributes being no whit ashamed so to do before Kings as Psal 119.46 so did Chrysostome Basil Latimer Lambert John Colet Dean of Pauls and Founder of the Free-school there He for the bold and faithful discharge of his duty in a Sermon before Hen. the eighth at the siege of Tournay was called to his trial by the Kings Counsellours but the issue proved happy for he gave so great content to the King M. Clark in his Life that he taking a cup of Wine said Deane I drink to you let every one take whom he will for his Confessour you shall be my Doctour Holy Ezra found no lesse favour with this might Monarch whom he had well informed in the manifold excellencies of God as appeareth by this and sundry other preceding passages The hand of our God is upon all them c. To hide them in the hollow of it till the indignation be overpast to hold them by their right hand and so to guide them by his Counsel that he may afterwards take them to his glory Psal 73.23 24. But his power and his wrath Id est His powerful wrath his anger armed with power for vanae sine viribus irae Psal 90.11 Jam. 4 10. But who knoweth the power of thine anger saith Moses even according to thy fear so is thy wrath Let him fear thee never so much he is sure to feel thee more if once he fall into thy fingers into that mighty hand of thine as St. James stileth it before which ten thousand Kings cannot stand Let God-forsakers therefore do as those Elders of Israel did 2 Kings 10.3 4 5. Is against all them that forsake him Such are all they 1. That forsake not their sins Job 20.17 Isa 55.7 2. That know not God Isa 1.3 4. Eph. 4.18 3. That trust to idols or creature-comforts arm of flesh 1 Kings 9.9 Josh 24.20 Jer. 2.13 4. Church-forsakers and Apostates Heb. 10.25 38. God hath against all these and will consume them after that he hath done them good Josh 24.20 Psal 73.27 1 Chron. 28.9 Jon. 2.8 Jer. 17.13 Deut. 31.16 2 Chron. 12.5 and 15.2 and 24.20 Verse 23. So we fasted They put their holy resolution into execution purpose without practise is like Rachel beautiful but barren And besought our God for this And they had it 2 Sam. 1.22 Verse 31. For fasting and prayer are like Jonathans bow and Sauls sword that never turned back or returned empty God is a liberal Rewarder of all such as in this sort diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 2 Chron. 15.2 He will turn their fasting into feasting their prayers into praises Ezek 36.37 Zech. 8.19 They shall have out their prayers either in mony or monies-worth either in the very thing they desired or at least strength to stay themselves upon God with good assurance that his grace shall be sufficient for them and that he will be their shield and their exceeding great reward Verse 24. Then I separated twelve I singled them and set them apart for this great trust vide cui fidas Sherebiah Hoshabiah Heb. With Sherebiah Hoshabiah men of known integrity Vers 18.19 and ten of their brethren with them four and twenty in all a complete company of faithful Trustees Verse 25. And weighed unto them Heb. I scaled it out unto them Cyrus taled it out to Zerubbabel Chap. 1.8 9 c. And his Lords Called Mighty Princes Chap. 7.28 see Isa 10.8 And all Israel there present Heb. There found at that time or that had found in their purses found in their hearts Verse 26. Six hundred and fifty talents of silver That is 243750 pounds sterling An hundred talents That is 37500 pounds sterling Verse 27. Of a thousand drammes 312 pounds and 10 shillings The Hebrew or rather Chaldee word here rendred a Dramme seemes to be taken from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And two vessels of fine Copper Ex orichalco praestante Of some choyce mixt mettle Auro contrâ non caro Verse 28. Ye are holy to the Lord Heb. Ye are holinesse unto the Lord and must sanctifie the holy God in righteousness Esa 5.16 The vessels are holy also Id est set apart to sacred uses and therefore to be kept carefully used respectively The Turks spare and keep better then ordinary Grand Sign Serag those very Asses of theirs that have been used for carriage to Mecha where their Mahomet lyeth buried Neither will they put paper to any base use because that both the Name of God and the Mahometan Law are written upon the like Verse 29. Watch ye with utmost care and solicitude as the word signifieth How much more should we watch and trebble watch as Luk. 12.37 38 43. to keep our vessels bodies in sanctification and honour Not in the lust of concupiscence c especially since Aug. Adversus majora vigilantibus quaedam in cautis minutiora surrepant and Satan worketh strongest on the fancy when the soul is sleepy or a little drowsy Watch ye therefore and keep This lesson had need to be often rung in our ears Verse 30. So took the Priests and the Levites The great charge committed to them and laid upon them did not weaken but waken their heroik spirits Tu non crede malis sed contrà audentior ito Verse 31. And of such as lay in wait by the way Enemies they had not a few when was it otherwise but some that purposely way-laid them M Clarks Lives but were defeated by a gracious providence So were the Manichees who lay in wait for Austin and those that pursued Jewel about the beginning of Q. Maries Raign as he was going from Oxford to London Both
these had been caught and made a prey to their Enemies but that they lost their way What saith the Prophet As Birds flying so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem like as when the young are in danger of the kite the Bird flies to save them defending also he will deliver it and passing over he will preserve it Verse 32. And abode there three dayes For necessary refreshment after so long a journey The body is the souls servant and must therefore be kindly and fairely dealt with Corpus sive corpor quasi cordis por id est paer sive famulus ut sit par negotio that it may be neither above not below its businesse but even with it meet for it Verse 33. Now on the fourth day Viz. of their fifth moneth After a short repose they set close to work To recreations God allowes men to stoop for their bodyes sake as the Eagle to the prey or as Gideons Souldiers to soop their handfull not to swill their belly full Verse 34. By number and by weight c. In reference to this Text Let thy confession be full saith a reverend man bring out thy sins as those in Ezra did the vessels of the Temple by number and by weight 1. By Number Lev. 16.21 Aaron was to confesse over the scape goat all the iniquities of the children of Israel 2. By weight he was to confesse all their trangressions in all their sins that is laying open how many transgressions were wrapped up in their several sins and their circumstances Verse 35. Also the children of those that had been In token of presenting their bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God their Deliverer Rom. 12.1 Let us that are freed from sins slavery become the servants of righteousnesse Rom. 6.18 and being delivered from the hands of our Enemies serve God without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our lives Luk. 1.74.75 Verse 36. And they furthered the people Heb. They gave them a lift lent them an helping hand not out of love to the work but for fear of the King and in pursuance of his commands and commissions Thus the Devil and his impes sometimes do Gods will though with an ill will Psal 119.91 They continue this day according to thine Ordinances for all are thy servants How much better were it to work from a right principle not by constraint but willingly not for fear of wrath but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 51 to love to be Gods servants taking hold of his Covenant Isai 56.6 and saying to him as the people did to Joshua Chap. 1.16 or as the Rulers and Elders to Jehu 2 Kings 10.5 We are thy servants and will do all that thou shalt bid us CHAP. IX Verse 1. Now when these things were done HEre are post maxima gaudia luctus Heavens joyes are without measure or mixture But this present life is overspred with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew Of good Ezra we may say as Pliny doth of Metellus Metellus infelix dici non debet felix non potest Lib. 7. c. 47. Unhappy we may not call him happy we cannot witnesse the dolefull discourse of this Chapter The Princes came unto me The better sort of them that were sensible of the abuses crept in and desired a Reformation For some of the Princes also and Rulers had their hands elbow-deep in the wickednesse complained of Verse 2. The people of Israel The Many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the common sort that shallow-braind but many-headed Beast that loves to follow the herd and do as the most do though thereby they be utterly undone for ever And the Priests and the Levites This was much for these knew the Law and made their boast of it Rom. 2.18.23 They could not be ignorant of the unlawfulnesse of this mixing themselves in marriage with Heathens not proselyted Now sins against knowledge and conscience are of a double dye of a crymson colour and make a great breach a deep gash in a mans spirit Esay 59.11 12. What was it that brought such roarings and troubles on them and that when salvation was looked for Our iniquities testify to our faces and we know them Have not separated themselves The separation of the Saints from the wicked is a wonderful separation Exod. 33.16 such as was that of light from darknesse in the creation God hath brought them out of darknesse into his marvellous light Why then should they be unequally yoked together with unbeleevers what communion hath light with darknesse c 2 Cor. 6.14 1 Pet. 2. Doing according to their abominations How should they chuse but do so when so matched and married what 's the reason the Pope will not dispense in Spain or Italy if a Papist marry a Protestant yet here they will but in hope thereby to draw more to them The brown bread in the Oven will be sure to fleece from the white not that from it So in married couples seldome is the worse bettered by the good but the contrary See Nehem. 13.26 Verse 2. For they have taken of their daughters Taken them for wives which was fllatly forbidden Deut. 7.3 and a reason given ver 4. from the evil effect of such unblest marriages This abuse Malachi complaineth of chap. 2.11 13. whom some make to be the same man with Ezra For themselves and for their sons Whom they herein helped to a cold arm-ful as Lycophron calleth a bad wife or rather to an unnatural heat worse then that of a quartan ague 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as said Simonides as bad as that of an evil spirit said another Heathen So that the holy seed Id est The children of Israel who were all federally holy at least Deut. 7.6 as are also all the children of Christian Parents 1 Cor. 7.14 Hath been chief in this trespasse Which they think audaciously to bear out with their big looks to obtrude and justify to the World this most malapert misdemeanour because it is facinus majoris abollae the fact of a great one Verse 3. Juvenal I rent my garments and my mantle In token of his deep and down-right humiliation indignation detestation of their dealings herein And pluckt â—ff the hair of my head and of my beard To shew how passionately grieved and offended he was The raging Turk did the like at the last assault of Scodra being extremely vexed at the dishonour and losse he had received there But what followed In his choler and frantick rage Turk Hist he most horribly blasphemed God whereas holy Ezra though he sat astonied till the Evening sacrifice yet then he poureth forth his soul in an heavenly prayer verse 5 6. And sate down astonied As one that hath neither life nor soul as we say that can neither say nor do for himself being wondrously amazed astonished or desolate as David had been Psal 143.4 The true Zealot as his love is fervent his desires
Children Anashim Venashim c. A Woman is a man cut short by the head 1 Cor. 11.3 Here was a general meeting of all Sexes and Sizes joyned together to cut sins cart-ropes And the people wept very sore They could not wash their hands in innocency they therefore washed them in tears they knew that as the sins of the old World so of this little World needeth a deluge Their sins therefore are as so many Hazaels to them◠their hearts as so many Hadad-rimmens the place they made to become a very Bechi◠they wept with a great weeping and so vented their sins at their eyes as sick people do their ill humours at the pores of their bodies Verse 2. And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel Egregie cordatus homo A prudent and a pious man one that had feeding lips and a healing tongue one that knew how to time a word Esay 〈◊〉 Prov. 25. ◠and to set it upon the wheels Answered and said unto Ezra Such words as were uttered more from the bowels then the brain and thereby proved so effectual We have trespassed against our God His father Jehiel had taken a strange Wife ver 18. 26. so perhaps had he himself or if not yet he might fear wrath because of the same body politike with those sinners against their own souls God he knew might well draw blood of the arm for the cure of the head as Theodoret saith he did when he slew Pharaohs first-born Yet now there is hope in Israel c. Hope that the people will repent and hope that God will have mercy upon their repentance Superest sperare salutem If it were not for hope heart would break God having opened a door of hope let us go holdly to the Throne of grace what should hinder Qui nil sperare potest desperet nihil Cast not away your confidence which hath so great recompense of reward but cast Anchor within the veil and wait for day as Paul did in the Ship-wrack See Esay 50.10 Verse 3. Now therefore let us make a Covenant And so tye our selves thereby to the better abearance that we slip not collar that we detrect not the yoke of Gods obedience Deut. 10.20 Cleaving to God with full purpose of heart will require swearing Broken bones must have strong bands to close them Tottering houses must be crampt with iron barres or they will soon down If the vowes of God be upon us if we be Covenanters it will help against the fickleness of our false hearts which cannot but know that if God shall be All-sufficient to us we must be Altogether his Cant. 2.16 His is a Covenant of mercy even the sure mercies of David ours is a Covenant of obedience to him in every part and point of duty To put away all the Wives This Jewes might do in this and some other cases So did Romanes also with this onely bill of divorce Res tuas tibi habeto Take what is thine own and be packing But Christians may not do thus because of difference in Religion 1 Cor. 7. ver 12. Whatever some late upstarts have printed and practised to the contrary And such as are born of them The children of those strange Wives persisting in their paganisme These children though disinherited yet were not to be altogether deserted but nourished and nurtured also in the fear and admonition of the Lord Eph. 6.4 Proving if perad venture God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth c. 2. Tim. 2.25 According to the counsel of my Lord Termes full of hearty respect and humble submission He calles Ezra My lord as Hannah did Eli with an eye to his dignity and authority both as a Priest and as a Commissioner from the King of Persia At Venice every ordinary Mechanike is called Magnifico At Vicenza in Italy the common title to a common Gentleman is Signor Conte as much as My Lord Earle But Ezra was every way honourable and deserving titles of honour were not worthy of him And of those that tremble at the Commandement of our God A periphrasis of a truly pious person sc such a one as feareth God and keepeth his Commandements And this is the Man alone that is fit to judge of cases of conscience and to comfort the feeble minded Now although the comfort given by Gods Ministers such as Ezra was be ordinarily most effectual as is the blessing of Parents who are in Gods Room yet others also that are consciencious and experienced persons that tremble at the Commandement of God as here may give excellent counsel and comfort in such a case But how like the motion of a Puppet the language of a Parret is the best discourse in this subject of conscience of the not-interessed man And let it be done according to the Law Which though it take no direct and expresse order in this case yet by due deduction and just inference it was determined both here and in Nehemiah chap. 9.2 that those strange Wives should be put away Verse 4. Arise Surge age Summe Pater said Mantuan to the Pope exciting him to take Arms against the Turk to the same sense Shechaniah here to Ezra or rather as Jehovah to Joshuah chap. 7.10 Get thee up why lyest thou here on thy face For this matter belongeth unto thee Who hast both an heart to do it as appeares by thine humiliation and also power in thine hand as witnesseth thy commission We also will be with thee Every man must shew himself forward to further the work of Reformation moving regularly within his own sphere and trading every talent for that end and purpose Be of good courage and do it These were verba non inflantia sed inflammantia And thus may one by his hearty good counsel become an Angel nay a God to another Senarclaeus in an Epistle to Bucer telling how John Diazius the Martyr discoursed unto him the Night before he was butchered by the appointment of his own Brother Alphonsus hath this notable expression Ego verò illius oratione sic incendebar c. I was so inflamed with his words as if I had heard the Holy Ghost himself speaking unto me Verse 5. Then arose Ezra According to the counsel of Shecaniah ver 4. How forcible are right words Job 6.25 One seasonable speech falling upon a prepared heart hath oft a strong and sweet operation as that similitude used by Peter martyr reading upon the first to the Corinthians had upon Galeacius Caracciolus that Noble Italian convert as some speeches of Staupicius had upon Luther who was likewise much confirmed and cheared up by conference with an old Priest at Erford who largely discoursed about justification by faith Life of Luther by Mr. Clark and explained the Articles of the Creed to him And made the chief Priests the Levites and all Israel to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An oath is a fence and added to a vow or covenant it doth notably conduce as a holy
irreconcilable adversaries Fire proceedeth out of their mouths c. Revel 11.5 And cover not their iniquity O fearful imprecation Surely if they onely are blessed whose sin is covered Psal 32.1 What shall become of those that are in a contrary condition If pardon of sin be such a voluminous mercy as having many other mercies bound up with it think what a misery it is to have sin imputed and get a cover speedily for that abominable filth and to God himself an eye-sore For they have provoked thee to anger c. This was it that Nehemiah so stomacked and that drew from him these dreadful imprecations viz. Gods glory and not any self concernment He hated and cursed non virum sed virium c. Verse 6. So built we the Wall This followed upon his prayer as a gracious answer to it the people were encouraged and the Wall finished Faithful prayer is never ineffectual Reproaching is an heart-breaking Psal 69.20 but so long as a Christian can pray he is not without his cordial I came for thy prayer Dan. 10.1 And all the Wall was joyned together Not with gold indeed as Cassiodorus saith the Walls of Susa in Persia were but with that which was better then gold faith in Gods goodnesse and zeal of his glory Vnto the half thereof Unto half the height for they could not do all at once neither can we in the spiritual building but grow up and increase with the increase of God Col. 2.19 For the people had a minde to work And the more minde because they met with so much opposition A free spirit is most seen saith one when there be most rubs in the way when he that moves by outward poyses will stick and be dull As when a bowle runs up an hill every rub slugs it but when down hill a rub quickeneth it Verse 7. And the Arabians and the Ammonites A rabble of Malignants meet and make head Sanballat by the help of Tobiah had now gotten a great band of souldiers and specially of Arabians Ammonites and Ashdodites to fight for him against this feeble folk but yet armed with God and that had him for their champion So we may see how readily one wicked man will be drawn to help another and how the wickednesse of one will infect another that will give eare to it Read Psalm 83.6 7 8. Rev. 16.16 17 c. Heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up Heb. That health or as the old Translation hath it a salve ascended upon the walls A Metaphor from Chirurgeons who when they heal wounds by salves or plaisters joyne the flesh together again which before was cut in sunder so the breaches of the walls which afore lay gaping open were joyned together and made sound as though it were one entire wall quasi tota moles in tantam magnitudinem ex unico ingenti lapide tam magnificè consurgeret Then they were very wroth That old enmity Gen. 3.15 stirred in them and they were soon kindled Satan being the boutefeau or kindle-coale See verse 1. Verse 8. And they conspired all of them together All of them and together and yet this was not Vnity but Conspiracy Such as is that among Devils Mark 5.9 among Antichristians Rev. 17.13 among Turks who have as little dissension in their Religion as any But well may that garment have no seame that hath no shape The army of Niniveh was quiet Nah. 1.12 no falling out nor complaining in their hosts hence their King marched on passed thorough But so did not these conspiratours because they met with those that were no lesse well combined and far better resolved then themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. l. 3. The Thebanes had a band of men they called Sacra Cohors consisting of such onely as were joyned in the bonds of love and resolved to live and die together These Jewes under the command of Nehemiah were none other and were therefore insuperable To come and to fight To turn their works into knocks And to hinder it Heb. To make an errour in it The Hebrew word is used both of the errour of the heart and of the foot Esay 63.17 Psal 119. ult It may be rendered here to hinder him to make an errour in him to make Nehemiah at a stand or rather to run away to creep into corners and give over the work Verse 9. Neverthelesse we made our prayer unto God Who is the Saints sanctuary of safety their present help in time of trouble Prayer to him is an anchor in all storms and a salve for all sores yea it healeth not only body and soul but even hard stony walls verse 7. Provided that we judge our selves in prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and commit our cause to God to be judged by him as the Hebrew word here importeth Euseb lib. 4. Ruffin lib. 2. cap. 23. Thus did the children of Reuben Gad and Manasseh when to fight against the Hagarens Thus did Jabiz and Jehosaphat and Constantine and Theodosius and that late victorious King of Sweden of whom it is storied in his life that he would pray a shipboard ashoare in the field in the middest of a battle as if prayer alone were the surest piece of his whole armour Mr. Clark And set a watch According to that of our Saviour Watch and pray Luke 21.36 and that of the Heathen Admota manu invocanda est Minerva Ora labora pray and then use best policy first conquer heaven and then presume of earths conquest Against them Or over-anent them at the workmens elbowes and in the face of the enemies Verse 10. And Judah said Here was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impedimenti domestici aliud ex alio malum a worse discouragement then the former Judah the chief labourers begins to murmur and mutiny to faint and fall off A perillous practise in such a dangerous time and enough to have undone all as one coward in an army breaking the array and running away may set the rest a running and the day be thereby lost Lo this was Judah whose scutcheon was a Lion but here unlike himself The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed Very specious reasons they alledge their shoulders aked their strength was gone there was no end of their pains-taking their work grew upon them c. The truth was deerat ignis deerat animus they were weary of well-doing and not valiant for the truth Jer. 9.3 More like they were to those fugitives of Ephraim Judg. 12.4 then the Lions of the Tribe of Judah Nehemiah therefore might well have said to them as Alexander once did to a faint-hearted souldier of his that was of his own name Either leave off the name of Alexander or be valiant So either hold out and bear up under your burdens or be Judah no more So that we are not able Never was any thing too hard for Alexander because he never held any thing impossible to be effected
expecteth that he shall have his prayers granted The Septuagint render it so be it or so it is The Apostle reckoneth it for a great losse when people either say not Amen to publike prayers or not heartily and affectionately as here 1 Cor. 14.16 Else When thou shalt blesse with the spirit how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen The Turks also when their Priest hath said his Letany such as it is make answer in manner of a shout Homin that is Amen With lifting up their hands And withall their hearts unto God in the Heavens Lam. 3.41 This Nazianzen judgeth to be optimum opus manuum the best work of the hands sc in Coelos eas extendere ad precesque expandere to stretch them towards Heaven and to hold them out in prayer This way David ennobled his tongue therefore called his glory and so men may their hands And they bowed their heads In token of the lowlinesse of their hearts These outward gestures as they issue from the fervency of a good heart so they reflect upon the affections and do further inflame them Onely note that these bodily exercises are not alwayes or absolutely necessary in Divine worship God looks chiefly at the heart and hateth all outside-service and heartlesse devotion Isa 1. and 66.3 and such as is that of the Jews at this day Their holinesse saith One is the outward work it self being a brainlesse head and soul-lesse body And the like may be said of the Papist and of the common Protestant whose body is prostrate but his soul bolt-upright within him Verse 7. Also Jeshua and Bani c. caused the people to understand the Law As the audience was great so great was the company of Preachers Psal 68.11 The people were too many to be taught by one therefore they made sundry Companies and Congregations and had several Teachers as had likewise those primitive Christians Act. 1. and 3. when once they grew numerous And the people stood in their places Heb. And the people upon their stand They kept their stations according to their divisions not shuffling or shifting from Preacher to Preacher but abiding and attending with utmost intention and retention Verse 8. Explanatè Junius So they read in the Book in the Law of God distinctly Expositè clarè vel cum expositione They read aloud and so treatably and plainely that all might know what they read Some stumble over the chapter so fast that few are the better And gave the sense Viz. by comparing place with place and interpreting one Scripture by another See the like done by St. Paul at Damascus Act. 9.22 he layd one Text to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Artificers do the several pieces of their work that they may perfectly agree the one with the other Causing the people to understand the reading Dabant intelligentiam per scripturam ipsam so Tremellius rendreth it Of the Law it may be said Et latet lâ—cet The Prophets are as so many expositours and explainers thereof they do excellently unfold and draw out that arras which was folded together before they give us Moses unveiled Search the Scriptures therefore and compare them Parallel texts like glasses set one against another do cast a mutual light like the Sun the Scriptures shew other things and themselves too Verse 9. Mr. Clarks Lives Part. 2. pag. 31. And Nehemiah which is the Tirshata Or Governour See Ezra 2.63 He had Jovianus the Emperours wished happinesse which was that he might govern wise men and that wise men might govern him And Ezra the Priest and Scribe See ver 3. And the Levites that taught the people That numerus nominum id est hominum mentioned ver 7. Men most happy in such melting hearers We now-adayes prevail as little as Bede did when he preached to an heap of stones This day is holy unto the Lord your God Your mourning therefore now is as much out of season as Sampson's Wives weeping was at her wedding All Gods worships were to be celebrated with joy Deut. 12.7 and sacrifices offered in mourning were abomination Hos 9.4 See Mal. 2.13 with the Note Mourn not nor weep Sc. Under sense of sin and fear of wrath This they were called to at another time Esay 22.12 Jam. 4 9 10. but every thing is beautiful in its season Eccles 3.3 For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law For like cause as Josiah did 2 King 22.11 19. His tender heart was troubled and terrified by the menaces of Gods mouth uttered against his and the peoples sins Hence some inferre that it was the Decalogue together with the malediction that was now read and applied and that made them weep so fast Get thee Gods Law saith holy Bradford as a glasse to look in so shall you see your face foul-arrayed and so shameful mangy pockey and scabbed that you cannot but be sorry at the contemplation thereof especially if you look to the tag tied to Gods Law which is such Serm. of Rep. pag. 20.26 27. as cannot but make us cast our currish tayles betwixt our legges if we beleeve it But oh faithlesse hard hearts O Jezebels guests rocked and laid asleep in her bed c. Verse 10. Then he said unto them Go your way A friendly dismission We must so reproove or admonish others as that we ever preserve in them an opinion of our good will unto them for this is that sugar that sweetneth all such tarter pilles Go your way eat c One being asked whether a good man might not feed upon sweet and delicate meat eat the fat and drink the sweet even the choysest Wines and chiefest viands answered Yes except God made bees onely for fools God freely permitteth to his best children the use of his best creatures even to an honest affluence on Thanksgiving-dayes especially provided that they feed with fear and keep within the bounds of sobriety And send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared That is to the poore the fatherlesse and the widdowes Deut. 16.14 Who have not their set meales nor certain dishes but as hard fare for their holy-day chear as Christs Disciples had once for their Sabbath-dayes dinner Matth. 12.1 For this day is holy unto the Lord An holy convocation Lev. 23.24 a day of blowing Trumpets a feast-day See Zach. 8.19 with the Note A more liberal use of the creature dilateth and exhilarateth the heart and so disposeth it to thankfulnesse Jam. 5.13 Psal 92.2 3. Eat that thy soul may blesse me Gen. 27.19 The idolatrous Israëlites sat down to eat and drink and then rose up to play Gods people should much more rejoyce in the Lord when refreshed by the creatures speaking good of his Name and serving him with cheerfulnesse in the abundance of all things Deut. 28.47 Neither be ye sorry No not for your sins now least it prove a sinful sorrow See ver 9. For the joy of the Lord
one with another to shew his liberality which yet he might better have bestowed in another way then in belly-chear and such openhouse-keeping to all comers without difference sith this is rather prodigality then bounty Seven dayes Too long together to be a feasting sith at such times men are so apt to exceed and out-last eating that on earth that they must digest in hell and drowning both bodies and souls in wine and strong drink as Richard the third did his brother Clarence in a Butt of Malmsey In the court of the garden In the banquetting-house or sub dio in the open aire in the garden where they had elbow-roome and all manner of delights fit to have beene seasoned and allayed with the sight of a sepulcher the Jewes built their Tombs a forehand in their gardens or else of a deaths-head as was the manner of the Egyptians at their great feasts to keep them from surfetting Verse 6. Where were white greene and blew hangings Rich and royal tapestry set forth with variety of colours pleasant to the eye Fastened with cords of fine linnen More precious then silk And pillars of marble To bear up the hangings that the guests might the better behold them and be defended by them from winde dust and heat The beds Whereon they sate at meat which was the manner of all those Easterne parts their bodies so composed as that the upper part thereof being somewhat bent and bowed the rest lay along Were of gold and silver The bedsteds were See Amos 6.4 2.8 Jer. 23.41 Vpon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble Or porphyry or crystal Haec sunt quae nos faciunt invitos mori All very costly and stately And these are those things that make us desirous to live longer here as Charles the fifth told the Duke of Venice who had shewed him his fair Palace richly furnished But what said Nugas the Scythian Prince to certaine Embassadours who brought him brave and rich presents Will these save a man from sicknesse Will they stave off death Do not these outward gawdes and gayeties carry away the heart from the love and care of better things Val Max. Christian Solomon saith as much in his sacred Retractations and Charles the fifth who besides other Territories and Dominions had twenty eight Kingdomes voluntarily gave over the Empire as a burden and cursing his honours in his old age Mornay his trophees riches royalties said to them all Abite hinc abite longè Be gone all of you get you hence Abi perdita bestia quae me perdidisti as Cornelius Agrippa said on his death-bed Delrio Disq Mag. to 3. l. 6. to his familiar Devil Be packing thou wretched beast that hast undone me for ever Verse 7. And they gave them drink Think the same of meat also but the whole feast hath its denomination in the original from drinking because at such times they drank freely Quia in conviviis largiter bibi solet Corn. Nepos in vit Alcibiad Xenoph Cyrop lib 8. Athenaeus and many times more then did them good The Persians are infamous for their intemperancy though they had Lawes to the contrary and Xenophon tells us that of old they were otherwise Onely once a year their King had licence to be drunk viz. when they sacrificed to the Sun In vessels of gold Beset with precious stones as Josephus addeth ad delectationem spectaculum The vessels being diverse one from another To shew the Kings store of them that there was not curta supellex but great plenty and variety of dishes and dainties And royal wine Choice wine and fit for a Kings palat Vinum Cos as they call it merrily at Lovain and Paris id est coloris oderis saporis optimi of the best colour smell and tast Beehive of Rome Pref. In abundance They swam in wine and the tables did even sweat with variety of dishes quicquid avium volitabat quicquid piscium natabat quicquid ferarum discurrebat c. to use Seneca's expression According to the state of the King For whom it was not unlawful to feast so to shew his liberality toward his Peeres and courtesie to his people But that which was blame-worthy in him was 1. His vainglory 2. His prodigality 3. His mis-spending of time 4. Merlin in loc His neglect of businesse 5. His contempt of the true God not once acknowledged by him or his guests Lastly their profane mirth and jollity without the least note of sanctity or respect to Gods glory Verse 8. And the drinking was according to the Law Prescribed by the King and it was but needful lest men should make his house a schoole of intemperancy and lest shameful spewing should be on his glory Habac. 2.16 And inasmuch as of evil manners come good Lawes it appeareth by this Edict of the King that the Persians were now degenerated from their ancient sobriety and moderation in meats and drinks So likewise were the Cretians when Minos made a Law that men should not drink one to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto drunkennesse And the same we may well think of the inhabitants of this Land when King Edgar made an ordinance for putting pins in cups to stint men how farre they should drink and that none should quaffe whole ones Quinetiam Spartae mos est laudabilis ille Vt bibat arbitrio pocula quisque suo None did compell Domitius the father of Nero slew Liberius an honest Roman because he refused to drink so much as he commanded him Sueâ—on Tiberius for his drunkennesse called Caldius Biberius Mero instead of Claudius Tiberius Nero made Novellus Tricongius Proconsul for that he could drink three pottles of wine together with one breath He preferred also L. Piso to the government of the City of Rome because he could sit drinking with him continually for two whole dayes and nights together Lyra upon this text declaimeth against this detestable healthing and carowsing too too common in all parts of Christendome and saith that it was brought up first by the Barbarians in Normandy who came and depopulated that Countrey And what a lamentable thing is it that at this day in such a State as ours the civil sober and temperate man shall be urged and it may be forced to swallow down needlesse draughts as a horse doth a drench by domineering drunkards The late good Act against drunkennesse if well executed will be some curb to our Roaring-boyes so they will needs be called by a woful Prolepsis Here for hereafter Oh that we could perswade such as Mahomet did his followers that in every grape there dwelt a Devil or that fire and brimstone storme and tempest this shall be the portion of the Drunkards cup. For the King had appointed to all the officers of his house He had appointed Heb. he had founded or stablished it for an inviolable Decree and officers on purpose Controulers of his house to see it
executed John 2.8 we read of a governour of the feast The Jewes had such Officers or Moderatours at their merry-meetings called the Eyes and Overseers of the feast that took care that none should over drink himself The Latines also had such Praesecti morum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gaudentius Casaubon Plautut calling them Dictatours The Greeks had their Symposiarchs but among these their power extended no further then to see that the feasters drank small draughts onely at first which by degrees they increased till they came to the height of intemperancy But these should have considered that which Anacharsis had told them that the Vine beareth three grapes The first of pleasure the second of drunkennesse Laert. and the third of misery and mischief That they should do according to every mans pleasure Drink what they thought good without stint or force It is reported of Romulus that being once invited to supper he drank not much because he had weighty businesse to do on the morrow after And when one said unto him Sir If all men should drink as you do wine would be far cheaper Nay Nam ego bibi quantum volut Gell. lib. 11. cap. 14. it would be dearer said he if every man should drink as I have done that is as much as he pleaseth to drink Verse 9. Also Vasthi the Queene made a feast for the women Heb. A feast or a compotation of women This was better yet then Heliogabalus his Senat of women with their ordinances correspondent as what attire each woman should use how they should take place when salute c. The Romans decreed in Senate that no women should drink wine What Vashti's practice was I know not but by her name she should be a Meribibula a wine-bibber as was noted verse 1. Conveniunt rebus nomina saepè suis Josephus and after him Lyra give her the commendation of a modest woman 'T is probable she had the Kings consent to feast the women because it was in the royal house and it added much to the Kings munificence But then she should have subdued her husband by obeying of him as Livia as great an Empresse did Augustus Dio reporteth of her that being asked how she got such a power over her husband she answered Multa modestiâ by my much modesty It is remarkable in this third feast that first Dio in Tiberio the women feasted within doores not in the open Court as their husbands did and next apart from the men Which whether it were of pride because Vashti would keep state by her self or of necessity because either the custome of the Countrey or the Kings jealousie would not allow her presence among so many of the other sex yet surely this may condemne as one well saith our most lascivious mingling of both sexes together in dancing and such like meetings where nothing is more usual then lustful looks filthy speeches uncleane touches Apage omnem hanc impudentiam shun all occasions of sinne that doth so easily beset us Lot feasting and drinking wine with his own daughters fell into the sin of incest The Israelites doing the like with the daughters of Moab were ensnared and subverted The dancing damosel so enflamed that old Goat Herod that like a mad man he sweareth to give her her desire to the halfe of his Kingdome In all mixt meetings of both sexes let the husbands eyes be eyes of Adamant which will turne only to one point lest some Circe enchant him having faculty attractive with the Jeat and retentive with the Adamant Let the wives also be like that Persian Lady who being at the marriage of Cyrus and asked how she liked the Bridegroome How saith she I know not I saw no body but my husband Verse 10. On the seventh day Here we have Luxuriosi convivii luctuosum exitum a sad end of a luxurious feast Sin usually endeth tragically On the six former dayes of the feast having farced his body with good chear like a wool-sack and inflamed it with wine wherein was excesse he bethinks himself of other pleasures Vina parant animos Veneri Aristophanes calleth wine the milk of Venus and fuell of lust Ovid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Lib. 1. de poenit c. 4. Ambrose saith that lust is fed with feasts nourished with delicacies kindled with wine set on flame with drunkennesse A belly filled with wine foameth out filthinesse saith Hierom. When the heart of the King was merry with wine The property whereof is to exhilarate the heart of man as the Scripture speaketh Pluto calleth wine the mitigater of mans misery Euripides saith Qui non hilarescit bibendo nihil sapit Judg. 9.13 Psal 104.15 In Cyclope But Ahasuerus his heart was over-merry the wine was so in that the wit was out drunkennesse had bereft this Polyphemus of his eye of right reason This is a vice hateful in all but in a Ruler most of all See Prov. 31.4 with the Note What mad work made Alexander the Great many times in his drunkennesse killing those then whom he would afterwards have revived if he could Plato ◠with his own heart-blood Therefore it was that the Carthaginians forbade their Magistrates all use of wine Solon punished drunkennesse in a Ruler with death And Ferdinand the first Emperour of Germany sharply reproved the Embassadours of the Electours and Princes sent to an Imperial Diet for their quaffing and carelesse performance of their trust Vol. Max. Christ 397. saying Abstinete à maledictâ ebrietate c. Abstaine for shame from this cursed drunkennesse which is neither good for body nor soul and look better to your offices He commanded Mehuman These should have advised him better for now drunkennesse had robbed him of himself and laid a fool in his roome wine had over-shadowed his wisdome Vino sapientia obumbratur lib. 23. cap. 1. Lib. 11. Antiq. cap. 6. as Pliny phraseth it and not have been so ready to execute his unreasonable and illegal commands For the Persians had a Law Josephus saith that Matrons should not be seen at feasts among men though Harlots might But Kings are never without their Court-Parasites who will humour them in any thing and whose song is Mihi placet quicquid Regi placet That which pleaseth the King pleaseth me howsoever Verse 11. To bring Vasthi the Queen before the King This was their errand and they went readily about it though it beseemed not their state as being chief about the King whether they envyed the Queen and so sought occasion against her as the Bishops did against Queen Katharine Parr or were in the Kings predicament and therefore desired fuel to their fire With the crown royal In all her best that nest of pride as one calleth it and incentive of lust To shew the Princes and the people her beauty And thereby to shew them all his own imprudence and impudence this he would not have done if sober for any good
wretched is our nature to endure no other Physick so justly doth God fit the Physitian to the Patient the helve to the hatchet so do the wicked help each other forward to their deserved destruction Ahasuorus his Courtiers and Counsellours become Brokers to his lusts neither is this any thing unusual with such Lenocinantur produnt blasphemant pejerant toxica miscent c. saith an Expositor here What is it that such Parasites and Sycophants will not do to ingratiate with great ones It was not therefore without good cause that the Primitive Christians prayed hard for the Emperour as Tertullian testineth that God would send him Senatum fidâ—lem a faithful Councel and free him from flatterers Verse 3. And let the King appoint officers Praeficiat praefectos Costly counsel this could not be done without much trouble and charge to the King Two or three years are spent in gathering purifying and preparing these choice Virgins for the impure bed of this Heathen Prince while he is following the chace of his ambition in the warres of Greece In all the Provinces of his Kingdome A large Commission they must have the whole Kingdome is their circuit and note that they went not to forreiners which those Princes that do while thereby they seek for greatnesse they many times misse of goodnesse while they labour to be strong abroad and so to have a stake in store as they say however the dice chance to turne they weaken themselves at home and while by forraine matcher they intend unity it proves an occasion both of intestine and forraine dissentions We of this Nation have had sad experience of these mischiefs That they may gather together This could not be done without the great grief and general discontent of the Kings best subjects nimiùm serviliter huic hirco subjectorum as one hath it thus bereft and despoyled of their dearest daughters the staves of their age All the fair young Virgins Beauty the best pearle in a carnal eye is all that 's here looked after que plerunqut virtute pudicitiâ caret which is oft without vertue and common honesty as where they meet it is a rare mixture The Heathen man saith Non est formosa mulier cujus crus laudatur aut brachium sed illa cujus universa facies admir ationem sing ulis partibus abstulit Now if this be true long enough might these commissionated officers look for fair young Virgins truly so called there being very few that are not peccant in some minnum some tittle of beauty or other It is a praise peculiar to the Vingin daughter of Zion to be all fair Cant. 4.7 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 5.26 such as in whom even Momus himselfe could sinde no errour Vtno Shushan the palace In which one place there might have been found choice enough without speaking further but that lust is unsatisfiable The eye is not satisfied with seeing and in such a multitude how could it be but that the Kings minde must needs be distracted which one to make choice of To the house of the women Such as is now the Turks Seragâ—â— See the description of the Grand Signiors Seraglio by Master John Grennes chap 4. Vnto the custody of Hege Who was their keeper or rather their Gaoler For what was this house of women but a perpetual prison to them clapt under hatches as it were and haply held in as great servitude as those in Barbary are at this day Heyl. Geog. where it is death for any man to see one of the Xeriffes concubines and for them too if when they see a man though but through a casement they do not suddenly screek out And let their things for purification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Abstersories to dry up the filth of the flesh and to cleanse natures infirmities that they might be six moneths purified with oile of myrre and six other moneths perfumed with sweet odours as verse 12. Here the maids were first purified before the King chose one But Christ first chuseth his Spouse and then purifieth her Eph. 5.26 Verse 4. And let the maiden Herein unhappy that the got her honour with the losse of her honesty and that so many maids are made miserable for her sake That pleaseth the King Heb. That is good in his eyes The eye is the lamp and ornament of the whole body and yet that most lightsome part doth oft-times draw the soul into utter darknesse whilest by those windows of wickednesse and loop-holes of lust Satan windeth himself into the heart and maketh it impudicitiae cloacam as Venus's temple on the top of Lebanon is called by Eusebius a very sink and jakes of all leudnesse and abomination Be Queen instead of Vasthi This was held a great businesse and a sufficient recompence The bramble held it a goodly thing to reigne over the trees Judg. 9. not so the vine and fig-tree And the thing pleased the King Because it added more fuel to the fire of his lust and that he may lengthen out his dayes in dalliance and wantonnesse ut libidine libidinem provocante nihil nisi muliebris fiat saith an Expositour here Feuardent that he might be the right successour of Sardanapalus who buried himself in the bosomes of his harlots and left behinde him this infamous Epitaph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Epitaph sit for an oxe saith Aristotle The Kings of Persia are noted for effeminate fitter for a Canopy then a Camp and affecting such sights â—bi Imperator Apparator lanx phalanx acies facies bella labella spicula pocula scutum scortum c. And he did so According to the counsel of those Court-parasites whose word is that of Stratocles Mihi placet quicquid Regi placet he walked in the wayes of his heart and in the sight of his eyes Plut. in vit Demetr little thinking that for all these things God would bring him into judgement But such Governours the wicked world deserveth Eccles 11.9 as being it self totus in maligno positus 1 John 5. When Phocâ—s that filthy traytour reigned at Constantinople Cedrinus saith that a certaine honest poor man was very earnest with God to know why such a man or rather monster was set up he was answered againe by a voice that there could not be a worse man found and that the sins of Christians did require it Verse 5. Now in Shushan the palace Not in Babylon as Josephus doateth There was a certaine Jew That had not returned to Jerusalem as he ought to have done and as another of his name did Ezra 2.2 Whose name was Merdccai That is Pure Myrre say some bitter contrition say others he is the son of contrition that must be the son of consolation This Mordecai was one of those few that both lived and died with glory being not taxed for any grosse sinne The sonne of Jair Happy father in such a sonne much more joy might
servants likely would ever have thought of doing Mordecai so great honour as Haman prescribed See here as in a mirrour how the Lord by a secret Providence bringeth about and over-ruleth the wiles of men their affaires times counsels words and speeches to the fulfilling of his own Will and Decree and this when they think least of doing Gods Will or serving his Providence Verse 6 So Haman came in Merry and jocund but went out sad and heavy-hearted These hoasts profit pleasure and preferment though they welcom us into our Inne with smiling countenances yet if we watch them not they will cut our throats in our beds It is observed of Edward the third that he had alwayes faire weather at his passage into France â—peed Walsingham and foule upon his return Pharaoh had faire weather till he was in the heart of the red sea The Sun shone-faire upon the earth that morning that Lot came out of Sodom but ere night there was a dismal change He that lives in the height of the worlds blandishments is not far from destruction And the King said unto him What shall be done c. Though the King knew of no difference betwixt Haman and Mordecai saith a grave Interpreter yet he suppresseth Mordecai's name and thus the Lord by his Providence brought it about that even Haman himself should Mr. Jackson to his greater vexation appoint the honours that should be done to Mordecai and that at a time when he was come to desire of the King that he might be hanged and with full assurance that he should have obtained his desire Now Haman thought in his heart Heb. said in his heart the language whereof God very well understood and here uttereth to the perpetual shame of this monstrous Ambitionist To whom would the King delight to do honour more then to my self Ambition as they say of the Crocodile groweth as long as it liveth and self-love like to a good stomack draws to it self what nourishment it liketh and casts off that which offends it It maketh men unreasonable and teacheth them to turne the glasse to see themselves bigger Herod l. 8. others lesser then they are Herodotus reporteth that after the Greeks had got the better of this Xerxes and his Persians and came together to divide the spoile when it was put to the question who of all the Commanders had deserved the best and chief reward none would yield to other but every man thought himself best deserving and second to none Aen. Sylv. In the battel at Belgrade where Mahomet the great Turk was beaten and driven out of the field Capistranus and Hunniades were the Chieftaines there And whereas both of them wrote the relation of that dayes work neither of them so much as once mentioned the other though both of them had done their parts gallantly but each one took the whole praise of it to himselfe Haman though altogether unworthy of the least respect yet holds himself best worthy of the greatest honours and therefore will be sure to be no niggard in advising those ceremonies of honour which he presumes meant to his own person Verse 7. And Haman answered the King After a short pause he had his answer ready but making a bridge of his own shadow he soon fell into the brook Ambition rideth without reines and like those horses Amos 6.11 runneth upon the rocks where first she breaks her hoofes and then her neck It seemeth by that which followeth that Haman aspired to the Kingdome why else did he ask the Crown-royal and the Kings horse c When David would declare Solomon his successour in the Kingdom he set him upon his own mule 1 Kings 1.33 But Haman little thought that those his high hopes should end in a rope So did Hanno's the Carthaginian and Roger Mortimers in King Edward the second his time and the false Edrick in King Knute's dayes and lastly Hadrian de Castâ—llo an Italian Legate made by King Henry the seventh Bishop of Hereford who conspired with Alphonso Petruccio and other sacred Cardinals to murther Pope Leo the tenth induced thereunto by the suggestion of a witch who foretold him that one Hadrian an old man of mean Parentage of great learning and wisdome should succeed in the Papacy Paul Jovius the man Haman-like thought it must needs be himself but another Hadrian Schoolmaster to Charles the fifth proved to be the man and this our Hadrian lost by deprivation all his promotions whatsoever for his life could not be come at for his nefarious attempt For the man whom the King delighteth to honour Heb. In whose honour the King delighteth And what will not delight do whether in good or evil See the Note on Micah 7.18 Verse 8. Let the royal apparel be brought c. This was very glorious and gorgeous Xenoph. l. 8 Plut l. 11. defort Alex. Luc de navig Dion â—rat de 〈◊〉 lib Curt l. 3. 6. as is to be seen in Xenophon Plutarch Lucian Dion Chrysostome and other good Authours The Persian Kings wore on their heads an upright Tiare or Turbant very sumptuous a Diademe also made of white and purple colour On their bodies a rich purple Stole or robe of State reacâ—â— down to the heeles this Curtius calleth pallam Persicam a Persian Pall beset with gold and precious stones great store and the pictures of wilde creatures and soules of the aire Curtius describing Xerxes his royal apparel saith that golden hawkes encountring one another with their beakes adorned his robe made of cloth of gold Besides they wore a rich Cassock called Candy bound to them with a golden girdle breeches also of scarlet reaching to their knees Ep. ad Fabiâ— called therefore by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hierome testifieth And the horse that the King rideth upon The King of Persia did alwayes ride either on horseback or in a charet and had one special horse proper to himself as had also David 1 Kings 1.33 Alexander Julius Caesar c. At this day the better sort in Persia fight buy sell confer and do all on horseback Cortâ—â—r travâ— 63. The difference between the Gentleman and the Peasant is that the Peasant never rides the Gentleman never goes on foot And the Crown-royal that is set upon his head This was monstrous ambition appoint him the Kingdom also might Ahashuerus have said Lyra noteth here that Haman aspired to the Kingdom because none but the King could have the Crown-royal set upon his head wherefore the King also in answering to the things propounded by him saith Take the robe and the horse as thou hast said but of the Crown he maketh no mention Some of the Hebrews by head here understand the horses head Nam apud Persas solebat equus deferre diadema regni the Kings horse was wont to carry the royal Crown Vatablus thinks this sense not unlikely because the Crown is not mentioned verse 11. and this might
diu toleratur They shall fall by the sword they shall be a portion for foxes Psal 63.10 The Spoiler shall be spoiled Esa 33.1 and he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword Rev. 13.10 See 2 Thess 1.6 And did what they would unto those that hated them Where it is to be hoped that they furbished the sword of justice with the oyle of mercy that they remembred that of the Philosopher Posse nolle nobile est that in some cases a man must not do all that he may do as there be some again wherein severity ought to cast the scale The Turks severity I can by no means like that will rather cut off two innocent persons then let one guilty man go free Zenecat obs polit Nor that of the Venetians who punish with death such as cozen the State of but one penny if it be proved against them Again care must be taken that justice be not executed whether in a civil or military way with a vindictive minde but all selfish actions carefully strained out Private revenge leaveth a stain upon a man some wayes innocent witnesse Jehu and puts an innocency upon the greatest offendour witnesse Abner Verse 6. And in Shushan the Palace One would wonder that any here should offer to stir against the Jewes so much favoured by the King patronized by Mordecai and well-appointed to withstand them But they were mad with malice against Gods people and ambitious of their own destruction Hamans death still sticks in their stomacks and they resolve to be revenged whatever it stands them in With like stoutnesse of stomack it was that Jezabel painted her face and tired her head when Jehu was come to Jezreel and looking out at a window said Had Zimri peace c. Herein certainly she shewed her great stoutnesse as if she would daunt Jehu and out-brave him in the midst of his pomp and triumph 2 Kings 9.30 31. Divine vengeance suffereth not wicked people to rest and to keep in their malice and mischief but that they must break out and run headlong like wilde beasts into the hunters toile or upon the spears point whereby they perish Verse 7.8 9. And Parshandatha and Dulphon and Vajezatha This Vajezatha was the youngest but most malicious of them all against the Jewes as their Doctours guesse and gather from the little Zain and great Vau found in his name Verse 10 The ten sonnes of Haman Of whom he had so boasted chap. 5.12 and bore himself bold as believing that being so full of children he should leave the rest of his substance to his babes Psal 17.14 These ten likely were ring-leaders to those Hamanists in Shushan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that durst appear in so bad a cause being evil egges of an evil bird Non enim fieri ullo modo potest ut ex me Agrippina vir bonus nascatur said Domitius the father of Nero Dio in Ner. It cannot be that of my self and Agrippina should come any good man Haman brought up his sonnes to bring down his house and was a Parricide to them rather then a Parent His darling Vajezatha he corrected not but cockered no wonder therefore that he proved to be of a gastrill-kinde disquieting his own nest of a viperous brood and therefore though not hanged together with his father and the whole family as the Apocryphal additions of Esther chap. 16.18 tell us but not truly yet slain in this insurrection at Shushan together with the rest of his brethren the good people crying out as once they did at Rome when the sonne of Maximinus the Emperour was put to death Ex pessimo genere ne catulum quidem habendum Let not one whelp be left of so evil a litter But on the spoile laid they not their hand Lest the King should be damnified or themselves justly taxed of covetousnesse and cruelty Give none offence neither to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 This is oft repeated in this chapter Non semper omnia quae licent sunt facienda Lavat to their great commendation that although by the Kings grant they might have taken the spoile chap. 8.11 yet they did it not 1. To shew that they were Gods Executioners not thieves and robbers 2. To gratifie the King for his courtesie towards them by leaving the spoile wholly to his Treasury 3. It is not unlikely Fâ—vard saith an Interpreter that Mordecai and Esther had admonished them how ill Saul had sped with his spoiles of the Amalekites and Achan with his wedge of gold which served but to cleave his body and soul asunder and his babylonish garment which proved to be his winding-sheet Verse 11. On that day the number of those that were slain This was done haply by some Malignants that would thereby have incensed the King against the Jewes Or else the King as became a good Shepherd of his people taketh an account of his slain subjects by diligent enquiry made thereinto Whereupon he might have repented him now in cold blood of his grant to Esther and the Jewes those forreigners against his natural subjects who had done nothing but by his command c. But God so ordered it that all this notwithstanding the King was well content with that which was done as supposing that Hamans sonnes and complices would be seeking revenge â—imiâ—iâ— sunt bâ—ni pâ—storiâ— boni regis opeâ—a Cyâ— 5. â—pud Xenoph. and plotting mischief if left alive He therefore goeth merrily into the Queen acquainting her with the number of the slain and giving her leave to ask of him whatever more she desired to be done This was the Lords doing all along Verse 12. And the King said unto Esther the Queen He would needs be the messenger himself as presuming the newes would be most welcome to her whom he desired to gratifie rather out of affection of love then desire of justice else he would never have so little respected the slaughter of his subjects armed by his own command What have they done in the rest of the Kings Provinces This he should have uttered with grief and regret accounting the blood of his subjects dear and precious and not making light of so many mens lives lost by his default But many Kings make as little reckoning of their subjects lives as Charles the ninth did of the Huguenots in the French Massacre or as the grand Seignior doth of his Asapi a kinde of common souldiers borne for most part of Christian Parents and used by him in his wars for no other end but to blunt the swords of his enemies or to abate the first fury and thereby to give the easier victory to his Janizaries and better souldiers Turk hist 317. This the Turkish Tyrants hold for good policy How much better that Romane General who said that he had rather save one Citizen then slay twenty enemies and Edward the Confessour who when
besides was smitten with fore boiles as hoping haply he would have cursed God therewith Only upon himself put not forth thy hand Meddle not with his outward or inward man He would fain have been doing with both and had done it now but for this mercifull restriction which to the divel was no doubt a very great vexation But how could he help it otherwise then as horses digest their choler by biting on the bridle The will of the Lord must stand and Job though he shall have his back-burden of crosses of all kinds yet they shall not be laid upon him all at once but piece-meal Acts and Mon. fol. 1579. and at several times Fidelis est Deus saith the Apostle and Father Latimer died in the flames with those sweet words in his mouth God is faithfull who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able c. but will surely proportion the burden to the back and the stroke to the strength of them that shall beare it See his gracious dealings with the Apostles at their first setting forth into the world and how by degrees he inured them to bear the Crosse of Christ Acts 2. 4. 5. 12. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord As thinking every houre two till he had sped his commission the divel descended like lightning upon the earth to search occasions to ruine Job and to triumph over his patience to touch all that he had and to touch him to the very quick This diligence of the divel in evil-doing how happy were it saith Mr. Beza if we could imitate in doing well But behold whilest Christs enemies watch and in the night set themselves in readinesse to take him his chief disciples do not only snort and sleep but cannot so much as be awaked in the garden Verse 13. And there was a day A dismal day it proved to Job a day of trouble and distresse a day of wastnesse and desolation a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknesse as Zeph. 1.15 That subtle serpent set upon mischief purposely picketh out such a time to do it as wherein such a sad and sudden change was least of all looked for and then laies on amaine as if he were wood with the hail-shot hell-shot of sharpest afflictions He knowes well that as mercies and deliverances the more unexpected they are the more welcome as Abrahams receiving his son Isaac after a sort from the dead Israels eduction out of Egypt when they were forsaken of their hopes Jonah his being drawn out of the belly of hell as he phraseth it chap. 2.2 so crosses the more suddenly they befall men the more they amate them and finding weak minds secure they make them miserable leave them desperate When his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine Wherewith if their hearts were overcharged and what more easie the divel foiled our first parents by inordnate appetite and finding it then so successfull a weapon he maketh use of it still that day might come upon them unawares Luke 21.34 That was Satans drift surely however it fell out and so to destroy body and soul together But it is to be hoped that he was disappointed of his aime and that death was sent in hast to Jobs children as an invitant to a better feast and that they might do as our Saviour did who being at a feast at Bethany fell into a meditation and discourse of his death and bâ—â—â—al John 12.7 8. Sure it is that although the wicked may die firming and shall die in their sins John 5.21 and so be killed with death as Jezebels children were Rev. 2.23 Yet Gods children shall not dye before their time Eccles 7.17 or till the best time till their work is done Revel 11.7 No malice of man or divel can antedate my end a minute saith one whilest my master both work for me to do It is the happinesse of a Saint that he is sure not to die till that time when if he were but rightly informed he would even desire to die Happy is he that after due preparation is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware as Jobs children were Verse 14. And there came a messenger A sad relater not a divel in the shape of a man as the Rabbines would have it let that passe for a Jewish fable but one of Jobs own servants or some other eye-witnesse to make Job believe belike that as an evill man he only sought rebellion sith such cruel messengers were sent against him Prov. 17.11 The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding c. i.e. We were none of us either idle or ill-occupied but taking pains and tending our cattle when this disaster befell us Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted Psalm 107.17 they create themselves crosses such as must therefore needs come with a sting in them See Gen. 42.21 But Jobs servants were honestly employed when plundered and assassined which sheweth that his losses were not penall but probationall And the asses feeding beside them Peter Martyr upon the first of Samuel Com. in 1 Sam. 12. wittily applyeth this text to prelates and non-residents who when put in mind of their duty would usually answer that they had substitutes and curates to do their businesse for them Itâ— labor aliorum est proventus ipsorum So that others took the paines and they the profit saith he and as it is in the book of Job The axen plow and the asses feed beside them Verse 15. And the Sabeans fell upon them i.e. Sabai apud poetas molles vocantur but Satan set them a work Bâ—eerw Enquir 135. The Arabians a theevish people that lived by rapine and robbery They are at this day called Saracens of Sarac to rob for they keep up their old trade and are not all out so good as those Circassians a â—ind of mongrell-Christians who are said to divide their life betwixt sinne and devotion dedicating their youth to rapine and their old age to repentance Yea they have slain the servants Heb. The young men for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈…〉 It was happy howsoever that they were taken away when in their lawful â—alling and about their honest employments Eliah chose to be taken in such a posture for he knew the very time and yet when the charriots of heaven came to fetch him up he was going and talking to his Scholar Elisha The busie attendance on our holy vocation is no lesse pleasing to God or safe for us to die upon then an immediate devotion Happy is that servant whom the Master when he cometh shall find so doing And I only am escaped alone to tell thee For no other cause escaped this one this single one but to adde to Jobs affliction There was no mercy in such a sparing It was that Job might have the ill newes brought him suddenly and certainly That old
the rod into his own hand I could better beare it but the tender mercies of that wicked one and his imps are meer cruelties For 1. this is as if the child should say If I might choose my rod I would not care to be whipt or the condemned Noble-man If I might chuse mine executioner I would not care to lose mine head 2. It is but one hand and many instruments that God smiteth us with Our enemies are but the men of Gods hand Psal 17.14 that can do no more then is given them from above John â—9 â—â— Gods Masons to hew us here in the Mount that we may be as the polished corners of the Temple Psal 144.12 Gods scullions to scowre up the vessels of his houshold that they may shine upon the celestiall shelf as that Martyr said 3. God ever reserveth to himself the royaltie of setting them their task limiting them their time and letting out their â—edder hitherto ye shall go and no further 4. If they exceed their commission as they are apt Gods jealousie will smoke against them Zech. 1.14 But save his life Heb. his soule put oft for the life the cause for the effect Satan shook his chain at Jobs soul and would have destroyed it but that he might not do scratch him he might with his pawes but not fasten his fangs in him Job could say for a season at least as that dying Saint did My body is weak my soul is well His afflictions as afterwards St. Pauls reached but to his flesh Col. 1.24 And see that thou save his life too saith God see how he chaineth up the divel who would faine have been sucking Jobs blood and swallowing him down his wide gullet Isa 57.16 1 Pet. 5.8 Save it that is spare it see that the Spirit faile not before me and the soul that I have made I have yet some further use of him though a lamentable Lazar. Gal. 4.13 14. You know how through infirmity of the flesh that is notwithstanding the infirmity and weaknesse of my body I preached the Gospel saith Paul and my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not Daniel though sick yet did the Kings businesse and Job though scabbed all over was yet of great use and reserved to great honour therefore Save his life saith God and the divel say the Rabbines was as much vexed and wounded with this restraint as Job was with all his wounds and ulcers It is surely a vexation to malice not to do its utmost Verse 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord The like is said of Cain when he meditated the murder of his innocent brother and went to put it in practice Malefactors amongst us we know are indited in this form For that thou not having God before thine eyes but moved by the instigation of the divel didst And smote Job He pretended to touch him only verse 5. but let every good man blesse himself out of Satans bloody fingers his iron entred into Josephs soule his stroke was very vehement upon Jobs body making totum pro vulnere corpus For he smote Job With sore boiles hot boyling boyles such as the Sorcerers of Egypt were smitten with Exod. 9.10 and afterwards the limbs of Antichrist Rev. 16.2 The Indian scab some say it was or the French disease a most filthy and odious ulcer it appeareth to have been sore and mattery why else should he so scrape himselfe with a potsheard as verse 8. such as whose sharp and pricking humour penetrated the very bone and put him to exquisite paine being worse to him then Augustus his tres vomicae briae carcinomata above-mentioned or Philip the second of Spain his loathsome and lousie disease whereof he died Anno 1598. Instit princip cap. 20. Carolus Scribanius thus describeth it This potent Prince for a long time endured ulcerum magnitudinem multitudinem acerbitatem foetorem c. i. e. Many great sharp and stinking ulcers which fastned him to his bed as to a crosse for a whole yeare before his death besides six years torture by the Gout an hectick fever with a double tertian for two yeers space feeding upon his bowels and the very marrow of his bones besides a most grievous flux for two and twenty dayes a continual nauseousnesse of his stomack an unsatisfiable thirst a continuall paine of his head and eyes abundance of matter working out of his ulcets quae binas indies scutellas divite paedore impleret besides a most loathsome stench that took away his sleep c. Alsted Chron. pag. 314. thus he Think the same and worse of Job the object of Satans utmost malice and that for a whole year say the Hebrewes for seven whole years saith Suidas chrysost de Laz. Chrysostome compareth him with Lazarus and maketh him to be in a farre worse condition Pineda sheweth that his sufferings were a great deal worse then those of the wicked Egyptians under all their ten plagues this was a boile an evil boile saith the text one of the worst sort the most painful and malignant that might be and this all over his body From the sole of the feet unto his crown It was all but one continued sore universall as the leprosie and therefore incurable threatned as an utmost plague an evil an only evil Dâ—ut 28.35 If any part were left untouched it was his tongue and mouth that it might be free to blaspheme God and that herein he was not smitten by Satan some have observed from chap. 19.20 I am escaped with the skin of my teeth having no sores there as I have all the rest of my body over Verse 8. And he took him a pot sheard a piece of a broken pot for want of better oyntments he had none nor baths to lenifie his sorenesse Physicians and friends were farre from him He looked on his right hand and beheld Psal 14.2.4 Beza but there was no man that would know him refuge failed and perished from him no man cared for his soule He had still a wife and servants and as some think his houshold-stuffe left him He should therefore by them have been helped but they helped on his misery jeering him and jesting at him as he afterwards complaineth Himself therefore in this necessity taketh a potsheard a piece of an earthen-pot thereby to mind himself saith Gregory that he was of the earth earthy For which cause also He sate down among the ashes or dust as repenting in dust and ashes chap. 42.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Jonah 3.6 Matth. 11.22 The Septuagint say that he sat upon the dirt or dung for want of a better cushion and that he was laid without the City as if for the stink and ill savour that came from him he was not suffered to be in the City as Vzziah afterwards being a Leper dwelt in a house by himself alone 2 Chron. 26.21 Disce hîc si aegrotas saith Lanater Learn here if thou be
him Eliah was most zealous for the Lord of Hosts when he slew 450 of Baals Priests Tantus tamen fulminator ad Jezabelis minas trepidat suctus seipso imbecillior saith one and yet this valiant Prophet flieth at the threats of Jezabel and heareth from heaven Bucholc What dost thou here Elias So Jeremy Peter Father Latiemr Pray for me saith he I say pray for me for I am sometimes so fearfull that I would creep into a Mouse-hole sometimes God doth visit me again with his comforts so he cometh and goeth to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity Thus he writeth to B. Ridley Acts and Mon. 1565. with whom he afterwards suffered at the same stake His last words were Fidelis est Deus c. God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able c. This was also Jobs comfort when himself doubtlesse for at this time it was Ego non sum Ego with him and God considered it for he knoweth our mould he remembreth we are but dust And cursed 〈◊〉 day Diom non Deum his day and not his God as the divell would have had it It was too much howsoever of that and Job should have opened his mouth to better purpose In the Revelation whensoever heaven opened some memorable matter followed when wisedome openeth his mouth she speaketh excellent things Prov. 8.6 When Asaph opened his mouth he spake parables Psal 78.2 When our Saviour did so he delivered that famous Sermon in the Mount Matth. 5.2 But Job alas in the extreme paine of his body and anguish of his soul openeth his mouth and curseth bitterly curseth his day in a most emphaticall manner and in most exquisite terms wishing all the evill to it that it was any way capable of Now the day that he here curseth is either the day wherein he suffered such a world of evils as Obad. 12. Isa 2.12 Or rather the day which gave occasion to his sufferings his birth-day as verse 3 Jeremy did the like by a like infirmity chap. 20 14 and some others but never hath any yet been heard to curse the day of his new-birth nor ever shall as whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these we might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and besides an entrance ministred unto us further and further into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.4 11. There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a multiplied happinesse in holinesse Verse 2. And Job spake and said Heb. answered and said Answered whom answered he The Jew-Doctors say he answered his friends who having hitherto said nothing to him and heard as little from him at length rupere silentia 〈◊〉 and asked him what he ailed others more probably conceive that Job answered here to some dispute in his own mind or rather with the divel Some take this verse for a transition only Others make it a preparation for Jobs future discourse to move expectation and win attention The discourse indeed is all along to chap. 42.7 Poeticall and very accurate made up in Hexameters as Hierome holdeth not by Job and his friends at the first uttering but afterwards by Job at better leisure or as some think Sic Jonas orationem suaÌ„ in ventre balanahabitum David plâ—rosque Psalmos c. by Moses whilest a shepherd in Midian for the comfort of his poore Country-men in Egypt Mercer saith that his predecessor Vatablus as he and heard had found out a way of scanning these Hexameters to others unknown and to all the more obscure because the verse causeth a cloud The first Hexameter that ever was made in Greek is said to be this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anno Mundi 2580 Prima vates Phemoâ—oi Aâ—â—ed Chronol 468. Birds bring your plumes and Bees your wax at once Verse 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born He curseth his birth-day which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning of a mans Nativity they call the begetting of his misery because he is non pâ—iùs natus quam dumnatus no sooner born but damned to the Mines of misery Job 14.1 Crying he comes into the world Aug. and before he speaketh he prophesieth and saith in effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Nasci pena labor vita necesse mori O that I had ne'r been born Wo worth th day That brought me forth and made me not away This whole life is orespread with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew or as Job was with his leprosie the anguish whereof together with his inward troubles so grieved and galled him that he not onely cryeth but which is naturall for a man to do but giving the rains wholly to his grief he roareth and rageth beyond all reason and had not the spirit held him back he would surely have run headlong into blasphemy and desperation which was Satans designe But in the Saints as the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and sometimes getting the upper ground as it were bears it down as here in Job at this present so the Spirit again lusteth against the flesh and a great bustle there is in the good soul as when two opposite things meet together cold salt-peter and hot brimstome there is a great noise and as when Paul came to Ephejus there was no small stirre about that way Acts 19.23 c. Gal. 5.17 so that ye cannot do the things that ye would saith the Apostle As Job cannot do and say the good that he would because of the flesh so neither could he do or say the evil that he would because of the spirit he curseth indeed his day but not his wise nor friends much lesse his God as those male contents did Isa 8.21 Nay so soon as God came into his mind verse 20. the flesh was thereby though not altogether quailed and quelled yet so farre daunted and damped that it kept it self within the compasse of weeping and wailing and God himself though he find fault with Jobs speeches for unadvised and sometimes ranging beyond the precincts of godlinesse yet acquitting him from all grosse sin he crowneth him with the garland of a famous vict0ory as Mr. Beza here well observeth Most wisely therefore and fitly doth Saint James warn us that in thinking upon Job we regard not so much what was done while the combate lasted as what end the Lord make Jam. 5.11 The Saints doe never more prevaile and triumph then when it seemeth otherwise See Rev. 13.7 with chap. 12.11 they gather strength by opposition and conquer in being conquered Senâ—â— Rom. 8.37 They repent of their our hursts as Job did chap. 42. And Quâ—◠〈…〉 he is little lesse then innocent who is afterwards penitent Ambr. in Psal Yea it is almost mere to repent of a fault saith a Father then to have been free
John 14.2 no setled abode some huts we have here rather then houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clayie cottages earthy tabernacles as Paul after Plato calleth mens bodies 2 Cor. 5.1 And so the most interpreters understand these words of Eliphaz concerning the body of man rather then of his house he dwells in here made up of clay and dust a little refined and sublimated by art or nature which is nothing else but a clod of clay neatly made up What is man saith Greg. Nazianzen out of Gen. 2.7 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cinis Gen. 3.19 Gen. 18.21 Hor. Carm. l. 4. Od. 7. soule and soile breath and body a puffe of wind the one a pile of dust the other no solidity in either Pulvis umbra sumus saith the Poet and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greeke Proverb Man is but an earthen pot The first man Adam was of the earth earthy 1 Cor. 15.47 And no better are the best quos ex meliore forsan luto finxit Titan who are made of the finest common mould but as the finer the metall the purer the matter of any glasse or earthen vessel the more subject it is to break so are they to die for why Their foundation is in the dust The house is but weak and yet the foundation weaker terra friabilis flying light unstable unmoveable dust that is soone wherried and whirled about with every puffe of wind Hence the Apostle calleth mans body not an house only in respect of 1. the comely and orderly workmanship thereof 2. The soule which inhabiteth it but a tabernacle which hath no foundation and is transportative 2 Cor. 5.1 opposing to it building which is firm and stable Hence David Omnis Adam est totus Abel saith hee Verily every man in his best estate when he is best founded and setled on his best bottome when he is under-layd on all sides and seemes set to live is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 12. So Psal 144.4 Adam is Abels compeere or man is like to vanity what can he be better when as They are crushed before the moth He saith not before the Lion but before the moth Now what a poor thing is man that a moth may crush him that a flie may choak him as it did Pope Alexander that a light bruise on his toe may kill him as it did Aemilius Lepidus Plin. lib. 7. cap. 53. that a poisoned torch may light him to his long home as it did the Cardinall of Lorrain I have known saith one death admitted in by a corn on the toe and though the hurt were so farre off the heart yet the man died upon it Purchas Another I knew who seeming to have conquered the elements the wide Ocean wilde wildernsse wilder beasts wildest men hottest climates after sixteen yeares absence returned home and died of an hurt in his thumb Mr. Terry a great traveller telleth of a Noble man in the great Mogols Court who sitting in dalliance with one of his women had an haire pluckt by her from his brest this little wound Lawl liberty in a Serm. at Pauls by Edm. Terry p. 21. made by that small and unexpected instrument of death presently festered and turning to an incurable Canker killed him God needs no bigger a launce then an hair to kill an Atheist as this dying man acknowledged But besides all ill accidents and casualties from without look how the garment breeds the moth and then the moth eates the garment so mans own distempered body breeds ill humors The New-lander cure pag. 23. they diseases and these breed death as one well observeth upon this Text. It is holden for certain that in every two yeares there is such store of ill humours and excrements ingendred in the body that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarce containe them Ipsa suis augment is vita ad detrimenta impellitur saith Gregory inde deficit unde proficere creditur Life weareth out by the very meat that maintaineth it and every man hath his bane about him Verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening Heb. They are beaten to pieces as in a mortar with one sorrow upon another till the very breath be beaten out of their bodies at length and all this from morning to evening all the day long or all their life long Per totum diem Drus which is here set forth for the brevity of it by an artificial day and such also as no man can be sure he shall have twelve hours to his day for how many are there whose Sun hath set at high-noon in the prime and pride of their dayes have they been suddenly snatcht away by the hand of death yea how many see we whose sun setteth in the very rising so that they are carried from the birth to the buriall Every houre surely we all yield somewhat unto death and a very short cut hath the longest liver of all from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave Eliphaz here seemeth to compare us to those creatures called Ephemerâ—bii which are young in the morning middle-aged at non Aristot and dead 〈◊〉 night they begin and end their lives in a day Mans life is a vapour saith St. James a bubble say the Heathens a blast a dream a shadow a dreame of a shadow c. They perish for ever That is they die once for all For if a man die shall hee live againe Job 14.14 No such matter In this warre as there is no discharge Eccles 8.8 so neither is it granted to any man to erre twice therefore Austin said that he would not for the gain of a million of worlds be an Atheist for halfe an hour because he knew not but God might in that time call for him and cuâ— him off from all time of repentance acceptation and grace for ever since he could die but once onely and after death judgment every mans deaths-day is his doomes-day Heb. 9.27 Without any regarding it Heb. putting sc his heart to it or laying it upon his heart as every man living should do Eccles 7.2 but that few or none so do See Isa 57.1 David did when hearing of his childs decease he said I shall go to him 2 Sam. 12.23 And Moses seeing the peoples carcasses fall so fast in the wildernesse prayed for himself and the rest So teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome Psal 90.12 Every dead corps is a Monitor a dumb preacher Etiam muta clamant cadavera Abel though dead speaketh but how few hearken to him Dives thought that if one came from the dead to fore-warn his brethren great matters would be done Petrus Sutorius telleth of one that preaching a funerall Sermon on a religious man as he calleth him and giving him large commendations heard at the same time a voice in the Church Mortuus sum judicatus sum damnatus sum I am dead
do gracelesse men that draw not their knowledge into practice but detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse it swimmeth in their heads but sinketh not into their hearts it maketh them giddy as wine fuming all up into the head but never coming at the heart to cheare it Such a man may cast out divels and yet be cast to the divel he may go to hell with all his unprofitable knowledge like as a Bull with a coronet and garland goes to the slaughter Unlesse a man heare and know for himselfe he shall find no more comfort of it then a man doth of the Sun when it shineth not in his own Horizon or then a traveller doth of the fatnesse of a farre Country which he only passeth through and taketh a light view of If therefore thou bee wise be wise for thy self Prov. 9.12 Let thy knowledge be not only apprehensive but affective â—illightning but transforming 2 Cor. 3 ult discursive but experimental and practical For hereby we know that we know him if we keepe his commanaments 1 John 2.3 CHAP. VI Verse 1. But Job answered and said ELiphaz thought he had silenced him and set him down with so much reason that he should have had nothing to reply yet Job desirous to disasperse himself and to clear-up his reputation answered and said For indeed Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat non solum arragantis est sed dissoluti saith one that is altogether to neglect what others think or speak of a mans self and not to make apology is the part not only of a proud but of a dissolute person â— silence sometimes argueth guiltinesse or at least it strengtheneth suspition Verse 2. Oâ— that my griefe were throughly weighed Heb. were weighed by weighing The word rendred griefe signifieth also Angâ—â— and is thâ— same with that wherewith Eliphaz began his speech chap. 5.2 where he saith Wrath killeth the foolish man pointing at Job as an angry man exalting folly Here therefore Job beginneth his refutation wishing that that anger or griefe of his so hardly censured were duely weighed in an even ballance for then it would appeare that there was some reason for his passion that he had enough upon him to cry for and that he had not complained without a cause We read of a certaine Philosopher who hearing of his sons death brake out into a loud lamentation for which being reproved Permitâ—â—â—e inquit ut homo sim suffer me I pray you said he to shew my self to be a man that is sensible of my sufferings And my calamity laid in the balances together That is that my calamity were accurately set against my grief my laments and my torments equally poised it would then appear that I have not yet grieved or complained up to the height or weight of those calamities which are upon mee Even to day is my complaint bitter saith he elsewhere in answer to Eliphaz too interpreting his complaints to be rebellion against God My stroake is heavier theâ— my groâ—ning chap. 23.2 Verse 3. For now it would bâ— heavier then the sand of the sea How light soever thou O Eliphaz esteemest it as being in a prosperous condition It is easie to swim in a warm bath and every bird can sing in a sunshine-day But grief lieth like a load of lead upon the soule heavy and cold afflicting it as an unsupportable burden doth the body It so oppressed the poor Israelites in Egypt that they had no mind to hearken to Moses Eâ—eâ—d 6.9 Solomon cryes out A wounded spirit who can beare Prov. 18. â—4 My soule is very heavy and exceeding sorrowful even unto death saith our blessed Saviour Matth 26.37 38. then when the Father made all our sins to meet upon him and be bare our griefs and carried our sorroweâ— Isa 13.4 12. Sure it is that had he not been God as well as man he had beene utterly crushed by that unconceivable weight of sin and wrath that he then groaned under Oh what will all Christ lessâ— persons do in hell where God shall lay upon them and not spare they would faine fly out of his hand Job 27.22 bur that cannot be Therefore my words are swallowed up Vix loqui possum vox faucibus haevet I want words which yet if I had them at will would be far too weak to utter the grief of my mind Broughton rendreth it Therefore my words fall short they are semesa saith Junius half-eaten before spoken I am as it were gagg'd with grief or my words are even smothered up with sighs and sobs Thus Job rhetoricates and yet thinkes himself greatly word-bound Verse 4. For the arrowes of the Almighty are within me What marvel then though his flesh had no rest but he was troubled on every side sith without were fightings within were feares 2 Cor. 7.5 The arrowes not of a mighty man as Psal 127.4 but of an Almighty God Troubles without and terrours within David felt these arrowes and complaineth of them heavily Psal 38.1 2. He shall shâ—ot as them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded saith he of those his enemies who had bent their bow and shot their arrowes at him even bitter words Psal 64.3 7. God will make his arrowes drunk with the blood of such persons Deut. 32.42 But the arrowes Job here complaines of were poisoned or invenomed arrowes The poison whereof drinketh up my spirits Dryeth them up and corrupts the blood in which the spirits are sprinkling in my veines a mortall poison working greatest dolour and destemper The Scrâ—hians and other nations used to dip their darts in the blood and gall of Asps and Vipers the venemous heat of which like a fire in their flesh killed the wounded with torments the likest hell of any other and hereunto Job alludeth The terrours of God do set themselves in array against me i. e. the terrible strokes of God who seemeth to fight against me with his own hand to rush upon me as the Angel once did upon Balaam with a drawn sword in his hand threatning therewith to cut off my head as David did Goliah's yea to send me packing to hell in the very suburbs whereof methinks I feel to be already and shall not I be suffered to complain a galled shoulder will shrink under a load though it be but light and a little water is heavy in a leaden vessel But the word here used for terrors noteth the most terrible terrors hellish terrors and worse for they are the terrors of God surpassing great 2 Cor. 5.11 which made Jeremy pray so hard Be not thou a terrour to me O Lord and then I care not greatly what befalleth me Whiles I suffer thy terrors I am distracted saith Hemun Psalm 88.15 Adde hereunto that these terrours of God had set themselves in array they were in a military manner marshalled and imbattailed against him as Jer. 50.9 God afflicted Job methodically and resolvedly he led up his army as a Reverend man phraseth it exactly
have been dumb because thou didst it But it is a faire step to perfection and victory when one can kisse Gods rod and say as Psalm 44.17 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee nor declined from thy way Job was not without his impatiencies but being he was right for the maine and at length bewailed them God looked not upon him as he doth upon those refractaries who to their impatience adde impenitence and to their passive disobedience active That thou set test a watch over me That thou surroundest me with sorrowes and wilt not suffer me to die Psal 191. â—sal 141.3 Here Job should have set a better watch over his lips then thus boisterously to have blustered against God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be called to an account for his proceedings like the raging sea or unruly whirle-poole He should have considered that the best men have somewhat of the sea in them that must be bounded and somewhat of the whale that must be watched and kept under and that God never layes more upon a man then there is need though he may think otherwise Verse 13. When I say my bed shall comfort me The bed was the most proper and probable meanes of refreshment but it is not the bed that can give sleep nor the couch ease Creatures are not able of themselves to give out the comforts committed to them their common nature must be assisted with a special word of blessing or else they do us no good Man liveth not by bread only c. God maketh the merciful mans bed Psalm 41.3 So he giveth his beloved sleep quiet sleep Shena with an Aâ—eph quiescent Psal 127. He is the God of all mercies and the Father of all consolation 2 Cor. 1.3 It is he that shines through the creature which else is but as the aire without light Look now the aire lights us not without the Sun nor fuel heats us not without fire so neither can any man or means comfort or content us without God My couch shall ease my complains Heb. Shall lift up or take away viz. the burthen of my cares and griefe some part of my load at least but it fell out otherwise for Verse 14. Then thou skarest me with dreames Extremam tentationem describit saith Vatablus and the divel doubtless had a great hand in this business for it was within his commission and he would not neglect any part of it but Job taketh notice of none but God the chief agent and to him he applieth himself His providence is exercised even about dreams which in melancholy people fall out especially when they are sick to be oftentimes very horrid and hideous as that they fall down from some high place commit some capital offence are slain torn in pieces by divels c. Bishop Foliots terrible night-vision was before mentioned Richard the third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews and Charls the ninth of France after the Parisian massacre had such dreadful dreams that they became a terror to themselves and to all about them But to instance in better men Beza in vitae Calvin in the year of grace 1562 being sick of the gout dreamed that he heard a great noise of drums beaten up most vehemently as they use to be in warlike marches Pareus also Anno 1618 saw in a dream the City of Heidelberg set on fire in may places and the Prince Electors palace all on a light flame this he set down the next morning in his day-book and added these words O Deus clementissime averte sinistrum omen c. Such fearful dreams cause a sick sleep and a worse waking This Job complaineth of here Philip. Par. in vita Patris and yet more fully in the next words Verse 15. So that my soul chuseth strangling i. e. Quamvis durissimam sed praesentissimam mortem any violent or ignominious death so it were a speedy death Hippocrates telleth us that may have been so affrighted with dreams and apparitions that they have hanged themselves leaped into deep pits or otherwise made themselves away Let those that either have not been so terrified or so tempted or so deserted of God bless him for that mercy And death rather then life Heb. Rather then my bones that is any kind of death rather then such a body which is no nothing else but a bag of bones or then such rotten bones full of sores and ulcers he maketh mention of his bones because his pain had pierced as farre as his very bones the putrefaction had sunk down into his marrow Verse 16. I loath it I would not live alway I loath or abhor it that is my life or I loath them that is my bones verse 15. I would not live alway that is Aug. de civitato Dei l. 9. c. 10. long in this world and in this condition Plotinus the Philosopher held it a special mercy of God to men that they were mortal and did not alwaies live to labour under the miseries of this wretched life Caâ—o professed that if he might have his age renewed as the Eagles so that he might be made young again he would seriously refuse it Cic. Cato Major How much better might Job say thus sith the righteous hath hope in his death and might well take up that of the Poet. Vsque adeóne mori miserum est The dayes of the best are so full of evil both of sin and pain that it is good they are not fuller of dayes if they should have length of life added to heaps of sorrows and perpetuity with all their misery how miserable were they Christ promiseth it as a point of favour to his that the dayes of trouble should be shortned Matth. 24.22 and that he may put an end to the world he dispatcheth away the generations with all the convenient speed that may be Therefore let me alone Some read thus I cannot live for ever or very long Quod citò cessat deficit Mercer in Pagnin therefore let me alone that is give over afflicting me and let me go quietly to my grave Psalm 39.13 Here one well observeth that the world and time while they continue are alwaies ceasing and therefore have their denomination from this word which signifieth to cease For my dayes are vanity Hebel a puffe of wind or a bubble on the water Mans body is a bubble his soul the wind that filleth it The bubble riseth higher and higher till at last it breaketh so doth the body rise from infancy to youth from youth to age c. till at length it cracketh and dissolveth The life of man is a vain life This Job often beats upon and why see the Note on ver 7. Verse 17. What is man that thou shouldst magnify him i. e. make so much adoe about him or look upon him as a fit match for the great God to grapple with Psalm 14.3 or to take care of his
his Majesty and resisting his fatherly visitation Verse 6. If thou wert pure and upright If thou didst lift up pure hands to God in prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. c. Pura Deus ment est purâ vuâ—t mente vocari Et puras jussit pâ—â—dus haberâ— preces The fountain of goodnesse will not be laden at with foul hearts and hands Jer 4.14 Jam. 4.8 Isai 1.15 16. Joh. 9.31 1 Tim. 2.8 〈◊〉 an heathen Philosopher being at sea in a great storm and perceiving many wicked wretches with him in the ship calling upon the gods Silete inquit ne Dii vos hic navigare sentâ—ant Hold your tongues said he pray not lest the gods take notice that you are here and we all perish for your sakes There are that take these words for Reformation as the former verse for Humiliation those two parts of true repentance if thou wert pure and upright as a right penitentiary would be if thou wouldst break off thy sins by repentance and especially thine hypocrisie which hath brought this punishment upon thee from the Lord. If thou wouldst not only repent for thy sins but also from thy sins and frame to lead a new life which is Optima aptissima poenitentia saith Luther the best and soundest repentance Surely now he would awake for thee Thou shouldst undoubtedly find speedy and unmiscarrying returns of thy prayers and all good acceptance of thy services he will hear thee for deliverance so the Septuagint render it he will up and do it he will arise and have mercy upon Zion Psalm 102.13 for now that she prayeth and purgeth her self from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit the time to favour her yea the set time is come I am come for thy words saith the Angel to Daniel chap. 10.12 And make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous i. e. He will blesse thy well ordered family and whatsoever thou dost therein shall prosper Psalm 1.3 Thy children and servants shall live together in peace and all good agreement thy stock also and thy store shall be increased He shall restore it to or repair it for thee as the Septuagint here render it peace plenty and prosperity shal be heaped upon thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. this is the import of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some of the Hebrews by habitation of righteousness here understand the soul in which dwelleth righteousness Others of them take it for the body the habitation of the soul wherein righteousnesse is seated But these senses are far fetcht Verse 7. Though thy beginning was small yet thy later end should greatly increase Thy late losses God will recompence with interest and the felicity which the prepareth for thee shall be far greater then that the losse whereof thou dost now regret for he will enrich thee to admiration thy later end shall be ineffable so the Septuagint have it such as none shall be able to utter or describe See chap. 40.10 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The day of small things is not to be despised Zech. 4.10 Every former mercy is a pledg of a future and to him that hath shall be given God delighteth to help his people with a little help at first to crumble his mercies to us as one phraseth it to give us his blessings by retail to maintain trading and communion between him and us So the cloud emptieth not is self at a sudden burst but dissolveth upon the earth drop after drop Verse 8. For enquire I pray thee Bildad speaks fair as Eliphaz had done whom he all along imitateth Above majori discit arare minor Of the former age The generations afore-going the Kadmonim as the Jews called their Ancestors and used this saying concerning them Cor priscorum fuit sicus porta c. the heart of our progenitors was as the gate of the porch of the Temple Rara datur longo prudentia temporis usu Talmud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rheto. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seris venit usus ab annis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diod. Sic. ample and beautiful but the heart of their posterity is as the eye of a needle narrow and of no receipt in comparison Of witnesses Aristotle witnesseth that the more ancient they are the more creditable because lesse corrupt Nihil mihi antiquius say the Latines Nothing is more ancient to me that is more highly reputed And New things are nothing say the Greeks Siculus maketh mention of an Egyptian Priest who said to Solon one of the Greek Sages you Grecians are very boyes ye are but of yesterday as it is in the next verse neither is there an old man that is a man versed in ancient histories or acquainted with antiquities to be found amongst you all Much of the ancient Divinity was traditional till Moses set pen to paper the mind of God was either immediately revealed or handed down and transmitted from father to son from generation to generation Hence Bildad here bids Job enquire of the former ages and thereto refers him for further information so doth Moses the Israelites Deut. 4.20 and 32.7 Antiquity so it be right is of no smal authority that 's a received rule Quod antiquissimum verissimum that is truest which is ancientest as we prefer the newest Philosophy so the ancientest Divinity The Papists boast much of Antiquity as the Gibeonites did of old shooes and mouldy bread but when they come to prove it they go no higher then to about a thousand years ago They scornfully look upon us as Novellers and ask where our religion was before Luther We answer them that our religion was alwaies in the bible where their religion never was This is the old commandment saith St. John which was from the beginning 1 John 2.7 Anâ— prepare thy self to the search of their fathers Or fit thy self fix thy mind upon it as Psam 100.1 We must not think to find truth but upon a serious search Prov. 2.3 Anaxagoras complained omnia esse ciâ— cumfusa tenebris that all things were full of darknesse Empedocles that the inlets of the senses were very narrow Democritus that Truth lay hid as it were in a deep pit that could hardly be fathomed St. Paul cryes out O the depth How unsearchable are Gods judgments and his wayes past finding out Prepare therefore to this search after God and pray as that poor man did that cryed after Christ and when he was asked what wouldst thou have Lord said he that mine eyes might be opened Verse 9. For we are but of yesterday Heb. We are yesterday that is yesterdays off-spring upstarts mushrooms novices of very small standing in the would And yet they were old men chap. 15.10 Eliphaz is esteemed to be an hundred and fifty Bildad and hundred and forty Zophar an hundred and twenty years old and yet in comparison of he fathers before the flood they were but of yesterday they had lived but a very little while
as was noted before on verse 5. But he is said to remember us when he relieveth us Psalm 136.23 and 9.18 1 Sam. 1.19 That thou hast made me c. viz. in those Protoplasts my first parents formed out of the ground Gen. 2.7 whence the Heathen Philosopher could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arian in Epict. that man is nothing else but a piece of clay weakly made up or thou hast wrought me like clay sc in the womb where thou hast framed and formed my body as the potter worketh his clay well-tempered into an earthen vessel Here then Job in-minds the Lord by the matter whereof he was made of the frailty vility and impurity of his nature Lutum enim conspurcat omnia sic caro to move him to a mitigation of his misery See Psal 103.14 and 78.39 Wilt thou bring me into the dust again viz. By those grievous torments Or And that thou wilt bring me into dust againe for so thou hast said to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 And it is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 Oh therefore that I might have some small rest and respite before I go hence and be no more seen Psal 39.12 13. Verse 10. Hast thou not poured me out as milk Or melted me that is made me of some such thing as liquid and white milke Generationem hominis describit Man is a very mean thing in his first conception modestly here set forth by the making of cheeses Vatab. Vnde superbit homo cujus conceptâ—o turpis Nasci poena labor vitâ— necesse morâ— Concerning mans formation in the womb see the Naturallists and Lactantius de Opificio Dei cap. 12. but especially Psalm 139. where and in this text there is enough spoken to satisfie us about this great natural mystery saith Mercer that is a good Moral that one maketh of it God strains out the motes of corruption from a godly-man while his heart is poured out like milk with grief and fear whereby the iniquity of Jacob is purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sinne Isa 27.9 And crudled me like cheese Siccastissimo ore elegantibus metaphoris saith an Interpreter Bodin theat natur 434. Arist de gen anim cap. 20. i. e. Thus in a most modest manner and with elegant metaphors doth Job as a great Philosopher set out mans conception in the womb Aristotle whose manner is obscurioribus obscura implicare as Bodin observeth hath some such expression as this but nothing so clear and full Verse 11. Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh Out of that soft and liquid substance the slime of my parents loins grossed first into a rude fleshy masse and consolidated Thou hast made not only a thin skin and firm flesh but also hard bones and knitting nerves and all this for a garment or guardment to those more noble inward parts the brain heart liver c. which Job here accounts to be the man when he saith Thou hast clothed me that is my vital parts with the upper garment of skin and with the under-garment of flesh all which and the rest of the parts both similar and organical are in their original but the same matter which God hath thus diversified and all by the book Psalm 139.16 Had he left out any member in his common-place-book thou hadst wanted it saith one And hast fenced me with bones and sinews Bones are the pillars of the body giving it stability straightnesse and forme The Rabbines say there are as many of them in mans body as there are affirmative precepts in the law that all his bones may say Lord who is like unto thee c Psal 35.10 By the sinews are the bones knit together that upon them man may move from place to place as he pleaseth Sense also and Motion is by these in their wonderful and inexplicable conjugations conveyed to the rest of the parts It is God alone that knoweth how the bones think the same of the sinews arteries veins gristles flesh and blood c. do grow in the wombe of her that is with child Eccles 11.5 The Anatomists find out every day almost new wonders and an Ancient stileth Man the miracle of miracles Besides what is seen Mr. Caryl God hath pack many rarieties mysteries yea miracles together in mans chest And surely saith one if all the Angels in heaven had studied to this day they could not have cast man into a more curious mould or have given a fairer or more 〈◊〉 edition of him Verse 12. Thou hast granted me life i. e. Into my body thus formed and organized thou hast infused a soul Vatab. that principle of life quickned me in the womb and brought me alive out of it which because it is a miracle of mercy therefore 〈◊〉 addeth favour thou hast granted me Heb. thou hast wrought with me life and favâ—â—â— Thou hast dealt life and goodnesse unto me that is thou hast given me life accompanied with thy goodnesse and blessings so Beza senseth it Some understand it of the reasonable soul others of the beauty of the body according to Isa 40 6. And thy visitation hath preserved my Spirit i. e. Thy good providence hath safe guarded me from innumerable deaths and dangers Puerilitas est periculorum pelagus children are apt to run into mischief and those of riper years are subject to a thousand disasters and evil-occurrences Gods special care is exercised over his as is sweetly expressed Psalm 121. and Psalm 23. Davids pastoral and Psalm 3. where David doubteth not of safety though asleep and in the midst of enemies because God sustained him when as Samson and Ishbosheth a sleep in the midst of friends were circumvented because deserted by him oh pray pray that the Lord Jesus Christ would be ever with our spirits visit him in duty that he may visit us in mercy Verse 13. And those things hast thou hid in thine heart Legendum hoc cum stomachâ— saith Mercer And hast thou indeed hid these things in thine heart What things meaneth Job his afflictions which God was long before preparing for him and now took his time to lay load upon him to be revenged on him at unawares and at greatest advantage If this be the fense of Jobs words as some would conclude from the next verses he was mightily mistaken and this was atrox querimonia a grievous complaint and unworthy of God who lieth not at the catch nor pretendeth fair when he intendeth otherwise A Cain may do so to Abel Esau to Jacob Absolom to Amnâ—n Joab to Amasa c. The Creator needs not daub or prevaricate thus with his creatures if Job thought he did with him Job was utterly out though for confirmation he adde I know that this is with thee I am sure that thou hast dealt thus closely and covertly with me and that thy plagues have surprized me O these still revenges Merlin and others understand by those thing hid
Verse 18. Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the womb Why but was not that a mercy David esteemed it so and gives God the glory Psalm 22.9 But discontent is an utter enemy to thankfulnesse The bird sings not till she have taken up her stand to her mind Some mens eyes are so bleared and glazed with tears for what they want that they cannot see what good they have cannot see mercies for blessings Job here in a distemper wisheth himself as he had done before chap. 3. Who can understand his errors Psalm 19.12 either unborn or presently dead without the distance of one day betwixt his birth and his burial In quo errorem erravit non levem vir alioqui pientissimus this was a worse wish then if he had desired that his life might be presently taken away from him for herein he sheweth himself unthankful to God for all his former benefits and not so only but angry with God for the good he had done him thus we have seen dogs in a chafe fly at their masters and children in a pelt strike at their parents But these were the voices of the flesh lusting against the spirit which afterwards being justly reprehended for them first by Elihu and then also by God himself he repressed and repented of in dust and ashes Psalm 42.6 Oh that I had given up the ghost and no eye had seen me sc with delight for what pleasure is there in seeing a dead corps especially a still-born child see Gen. 23.4 with the Note This text teacheth us saith an Interpreter what sad effects extreme grief and pain worketh in the very best it distempereth their spirits and so disturbeth them that their complaints look like the blasphemies of the wicked and they sometimes wish absurd things dishonourable to God and prejudicial to themselves Verse 19. I should have been as though I had not been Here he sings the same song as chap. 3. and 6. It is hard to say how oft a child of God may discover the same infirmity Our lives are fuller of sins then the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks I should have been carried from the womb to the grave He makes mention of the grave as a desirable place which yet in the two last verses he describeth as a place of darknesse and disorder Thus Job himself was in the dark and in his passion he throweth out words without wisedome Itaque solicitè orandus est Dius saith one here God is therefore to be earnestly intreated that when we are hard put to 't with pain and misery we may not give way to unruly passion nor suffer our tongues to out-lash as they will be apt to do See Psal 39.1 confer Psal 22.77.88 89. and we shall see David well nigh as far out as Job in his complaints and wishes but God can put a difference between the godly and sin in them as between poison and the box that holdeth it He can also pity them as we do poison in a man which yet we hate in a toad c. Verse 20. Are not my dayes few And oh that they might not be also evil sith I shall not much trouble the world oh that I might not find much trouble in the world What man is he that would fain see good dayes saith David Psalm 34.12 What man is he that would not saith Austin in answer to him Job and David joyn in one and the same suit for a truce from trouble sith their time here was so very short Psalm 39.13 and 89.47 Cease then and let me alone After he had vented his passions he fals again to his prayers Ye have done all this wickednesse saith Samuel to the people who had been over-importunate for a King yet turn not aside from following the Lord c. 1 Sam. 12.20 Whilest prayer stands still the whole trade of godlinesse stands still Saints though they have sinned yet must not restrain prayer but go home to God again with shame in their faces and tears in their eyes and he will speak peace only they must be sensible that their Father hath spit in their faces c. That I may take comfort a little A modest request the poor man speaks supplications begs a farthing They who are lowly make low demands Oh that I were but a door keeper oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight c. Verse 21. Before I go whence I shall not return Before I go out of this world never more to return hither to enjoy the comforts that are here to be had Death is a departure hence 1 Pet. 1.15 Luke 9.31 And so the Ancients Irenaeus Clement and others used to call it I shall change my place but not my company said that dying Saint who had here walked with God in uprightnesse Tertul. and was now to bid adieu to all worldly interests The old Romans were wont to say of a dead friend Abiit eversurus est He is gone and will come again It seems hereby that they had some darke notions of a Resurrection whence also their Poets called a dead body a soul animamque sepulchro condimus The Hebrews did the like Virg. Aeneid Numb 5.2 and 9.10 and 19.11 Hag. 2.14 as having a more sure word of Prophesie and Job was clear in this point firmly believing the resurrection of his body chap. 19.26 27. It must needs be therefore that he speaks here of not returning into this world See the like chap. 16.22 Psalm 39.13 2. Sam. 12.23 Even to the land of darknesse c. See the Note on verse 22. Verse 22. â—â—land of darknesse c. This is not a description of hell and of the state of the damned as some would have it for Job never meant to come there no more then Jacob did Gen. 37.35 and 42.38 But it is such an elegant description of the grave 〈◊〉 exceedeth the phantasie of Poets and the rhetorick of all heathen Orators There is something like it in Davids Psalms especially Psalm 88.11 12. where the grave is called a place of perdition a land of forgetfulnesse and of darknesse whereinto they who descend praise not God Psalm 115.17 In respect of their bodies they do not they cannot Isai 38.18 Hell indeed is much more a land of darknesse as darknesse it self it is that outer-darknesse a darknesse beyond a darknesse as the dungeon is beyond the prison and the pains of hell are the chains of darknesse now death is â—eâ—â—â—aâ—binger to the wicked and hence it is so dreadful in the apprehension and approach of it that mens hearts do even die within them as Nabals did through fear of death and they tremble thereat as the trees of the wood or leaves of the forrest with Ahaz Isai 7.2 Darknesse we know is full of terrour the Egyptians were sorely a frighted by their three dayes thick darknesse in so much as that none stirred off his stool all that while Exod. 10.23 and it was the more
day So man by nature is licentious running as his lusts carry him to all manner of sin and giveth not overrunning till he is weary he will not be held in by any reins or kept to do the work he should by any yoak which the Lord by teaching seeks to put upon him Surely saith another God is fain to deal with such Marbury as men do with frisking jades in a pasture that cannot take them up till they get them to a gate Theatr. hist pag 127.128 so till the hour of death c. Thomas Blaverus chief counsellour sometime to the King of Scots believed not that there was God or divel heaven or hell till he came to die and then cryed out he was damned so also died one Arthur Miller Sword against swear pag. 34. Hist of world and before him a desperate Dean of Pauls When death comes saith Sir Walter Raleigh which hates and destroys men that is believed But God that loveth and maketh men he is not regarded O eloquent death O mighty death whom none could advise thou art able to perswade c. Verse 13. If thou prepare thine heart viz. to meet God Amos 4.12 humbly submitting to his justice and heartily imploring his mercy The summe of what Zophar saith in the following verses is this if thou truely repent thou shalt prosper as if not thou shalt perish this he might have said more fitly to most of us who are deeply guilty saith Lavater then to Job who was nothing so sinful as we are and yet much more penitent But Zophar calls upon him to quarrel with his faults and not with his friends and to break off his sins by repentance without which if he should have peace it would be but like those short interims between the Egyptian plagues And stretch out thine hands towards him Heb. And spread thy palmes to him so in prayer for pardon of sin and power against sin for this stretching out or spreading of the hands is a prayer-gesture wherein Gods people come formâ pauperis holding out the hand to receive mercy as beggars do an alms or as men beg quarter for their lives with hands held up or lastly as he that is faln into a ditch or deep pit and cannot get out lifteth up his hands and cryeth out for help See Exod. 17.11 12. and 19.29 1 Kings 8.22 Psalm 141.2 It appeareth that the Ancients prayed not with their hands joyned together or a little way lifted up but with their arms stretcht abroad and the palms of their hands turned up towards heaven Verse 14. If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away Cast away all thy transgressions and throw thy lusts out of service Hands lifted up in prayer must be pure 1 Tim. 2.8 for the fountain of goodnesse will not be laden at with foul hands Isai 1.15 16. Good therefore is the counsel of Jeremiah chap. 4.14 and of St. James chap. 4.8 The Priests had their laver to wash in before they sacrificed and their brazen altar to offer on before they burnt incense He that comes to pray having not first purged himself of all filthinesse of flesh and spirit doth say the Jew-doctors as he that cometh to offer a clean beast but holds an unclean one in his hand By iniquity in the hand here Beza and others understand wrong-dealing either by fraud or force by strength or slight of hand and then Zophar presseth Job to restitution away with it saith he send it home to the right owner else you will cough in hell and the divels will laugh at you saith Latimer And let not wickednesse dwell in thy Tabernacles i. e. In thy family Josh 24.15 â—sth 4.16 and where-ever else thou hast to do I and my house will serve the Lord saith Joshuah I and my maids saith Esther Davids care for the reforming and well-ordering of his houshold and of his whole kingdom See Psalm 101. throughout Such a man is really as he is relatively Those Governors of families and countries shew themselves perfect strangers to the practice of repentance who make no other use of their servants and subjects then they do of their beasts whiles they may have their bodies to do their service they care not if their souls serve the divel This will lye heavy one day Verse 15. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot c. Repentance must be performed in faith or else it will prove to be poenitentia Iscariotica a Judas-like repentance Lord said that dying Saint cast me down as low as hell in repentance and lift me up by faith into the highest heavens in confidence of thy salvation Zophar that he may move Job kindly and rightly to repent promiseth him thereupon malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedome from evil and fruition of good And first thou shalt lift up thy face without spot i. e. Thou shalt be full of comfort and of confidence not casting down thy countenance as guilty Cain but looking up boldly and cheerfully as St. Steven did Acts 7.15 they saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Ibat ovans animis spe sua damna levabat Yea thou shalt be stedfast Or durable and compact as a molten pillar thine heart shall be established with grace thy mind with peace thine outward estate with a lasting felicity And shall not fear sc The losse of those enjoyments To be freed from the fear of evil is better then to be freed from evil and a great part of the Saints portion both on earth and in heaven lies in their deliverance from fear Luke 1.74 Psalm 112.7 See Zepb. 3.13 Isa 17.2 Repent and thou shalt fear no more a revolution of any thy troubles Verse 16. Because thou shalt forget thy misery There being no fear left or foot step thereof remaining to renew thy grief Gen. 41.30 Remember thy former trouble thou shalt with thankfulnesse for a better condition now but no otherwise all the marks of former affliction shall be worn out See Isa 65.16.13 so that thou shalt discount all the evil thou hast endured And remember it as waters that passe away As a land-flood soon gone as a light cloud quickly over or as Noahs flood which that good man thought upon when it was past with thankfulnesse to God offering sacrifice for his safety So shalt thou Job and as a man seldome thinketh how much water passeth by his habitation by day and by night or if he do yet it s no trouble to his mind no more shall the remembrance of by-past miseries be to thine Verse 17. And thine age shall be clearer then the noon-day The rest of thy life which thou givest for lost shall be the very prime part of thy time for glory Solid glory springeth out of innocency of life beneficence toward all men acts done valiantly and succesfully with justice and moderation of mind whereunto is added the constant applause of good men proceeding from an admiration
upright Job feareth not to reason with him upon the same ground John Hus and other Martyrs cited their persecutors to answer them by such a time before Gods tribunal And I desire to reason with God If he please So the Septuagint adde Sivoâ—â—erit and make out Jobs meaning as if he had used the like modesty and humility Neh. 2.4 Esth 5.4 as Nehemiah and after him Esther did in their suits unto the King of Persia when they said if it seem good to the King and if I have found favour in his sight Others think that Job here desireth to plead with God as with a party that had dealt too hardly with him c. that he challengeth God into the schools as it were there ro crack an argument with him and by reason to reduce him to milder dealing And indeed the Hebrew word here used signifieth to dispute 〈◊〉 and from it the Rabbines call Logick the Art of arguing This boldnesse is that say our large Annotations which both Elihu and God blame Job for in the end of the booke though neither of them condemn him for an hypocrite and that shewes that Job did speak amisse of God in his passion and is not altogether to be excused much lesse in every thing to be commended Verse 4. But ye are forgers of lies i. e. Ye create false maximes to judg me by ye gather up without any order and to no purpose whatsoever cometh in your way to strengthen and maintaine your false accusation against me You are not onely concinnatores Mendacia mendaciis assuitis forgers but compactores botchers such as by sowing one lye to another do patch up a false and frivolous discourse So David Psalm 119.69 The proud have forged or pieced together made it up as of many shreds a lie against me David saith of hypocrites that their tongue frameth deceit Psal 50.19 and of Doeg that his tongue devised mischief like a sharp razor doing deceit Psalm 52.2 Jeremiah saith of his country-men that they had taught their tongues to speak lies and were grown Artists at it chap. 9.5 yea that they had taken fast-hold of deceit and could not be got off without striving chap. 8.5 But these country-men of Job were none such for God said Surely they are my people children that will not lye Isai 63.8 And although every man be a liar either by imposture or by impotency yet it must be understood that these good men aimed at truth and intended not to deceive Job but to undeceive him rather They maintained errors but unwittingly they charged him also but unjustly with hypocrisie Merlin Hence this so severe a high charge ye are forgers of lies such as our Ruffians would revenge with a stab But we must know saith one that in those better times it was not so harsh a businesse in a serious disputation to call that a lie which was falsely alledged by an adversary as now-a-dayes it is in this corrupt age of ours wherein the greatest liars though taken in the manner yet take it extreme ill to be told of their fault Besides in the defence of Gods cause and the labouring truth plain-dealing even with our best friends is best so that the Apostles rule Eph. 4.31 be observed Let all bitternesse and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice Ye are all Physicians of no value Because you go to work upon wrong principles and minister mistaken physick Physicians he acknowledgeth them and that they came with a good intent to comfort him but for want of skill in stead of curing they had well-nigh killed him because they judged amisse of his disease and used corrosives in stead of cordials By the way observe that Gods word is not only the food 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeschyl but the physick of the soul and may farre more fitly be so called then the library of Alexandria was of old for as the diseases of the body are healed by physick seasonably and rightly used so are the distempers of the soul by Scripture-consolations neither shall we ever have cause to complain of them as Cicero did of Philosophical-comforts nescio quomodo c. I know not how it cometh to passe but this I find that the disease is too hard for the Physick or as the Romans did of Sylla's bloody government that the Remedy was worse then the Malady how forcible are right words said Job chap. 6.25 And fair words as physicians cure the mind distempered with passion saith the Poet. Once when Luther was in a great heat about something that had crossed him Melancthon pacified him by repeating this verse Vince animor trámque tuam qui caetera vintis But Jobs friends as they were botchers of lies so they were bunglers at healing him they did saith Laevater as a Surgeon who applieth a plaister to the hand of him whose grief is in his foot or as that Country-Mountebank in France who was wont to give in writing to his patients for curing all diseases Becan sumâ— Theol part 1. cap. 16. Si vis curari de morbo nescio quali Accipas herbaus sed qualem wescio nec quam Ponas nescio qua curabere nescio quando These verses are by one thus Englished Your sore I know not what do not foreslow To cure with herbs which whence I do not know Place them well pouncit I know not where and then You shall be perfect whole I know not when Such 〈◊〉 Siâ—â—â—s â—â—lliâ—ies in the world such no physicians such idols such extreme nothingnesses good for nothing as that rotten girdle in Jeremiah those vine-branches in Ezekiel chap. 15.3 That idol in Saint Paul 1 Cor. 8.4 Jer. 13.7 were Jobs friends to him miserable comforters chap. 16.2 adding to his affliction in stead of easing it and pushing at him as the whole herd of Deer doth at that one that is wounded Verse 5. O that you would altogether hold your peace Heb. In being silent would be silent q. d. I thought much at your seven-dayes-silence chap. 2.13 and now I am no lesse troubled at your speeches O that you had either continued your silence or else would frame to say something better then silence for hitherto ye have spoken much but said little I could heartily wish therefore that you would now stop your mouths and open your ears as verse 6. that you would be as mute as fishes sith I can hear nothing from you but what speaks you to be meer mutes ciphers nullities as verse 4. And it should be your wisedome For even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding Prov. 17.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As when the door is shut it cannot be seen what is within the house so the mouth being shut by silence the folly that is within lieth undiscovered and as in glasses and vessels so in men the sound which
desperation And the like is recorded of Mr. Rob. Bolton Psal 119.109 Aliqui suspicantur Jobum respondentem c. Pineda But of any good man that destroyed himself we read not Davids life was in his hand continually and he in daily danger of losing it yet have I not forgotten thy law saith he which flatly forbiddeth all the degrees of self-murther as the worst sort That Satan tempted Job to this sin some do probably collect from this text A man is to expect if he live but his dayes saith a Reverend Casuist to be urged to all sins to the breach of every branch of the ten Commandments and to be put to it in respect of every Article of our Creed Verse 15. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Though he should multiply my miseries and lay stroke after stroke upon me till he had dashed the very breath out of my body yet he shall not be so rid of me for I will hang on still and if I must needs die I wil die at his feet and in the midst of death expect a better life from him Dum expiro spero shall be my motto The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 yea his hope is most lively when himself lieth a dying superest sperare salutem my flesh and my heart faileth saith he but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psalm 73.26 True faith in a danger as the blood gets to the heart John 14.1 and if it self be in good heart it will believe in an angry God as Isai 63.15 16. the Church there thought she should know him amidst all his austerities yea in a killing God as here yea as a man may say with reverence whether God will or no as that woman of Canaan Matth. 15. who would not be damped or discouraged with Christs either silence or sad answers and therefore had what she came for besides an high commendation of her heroical faith But or neverthelesse I will maintain mine own wayes before him We have had the Triumph of Jobs trust here we have the ground of it viz. his uprightnesse the testimony of his conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had his conversation in the world 2 Cor. 2.12 This was his cordial without which grief would have broke his heart Psalm 69.20 this was his confidence even the clearnesse of his conscience 1 John 3.21 Uprightnesse hath boldnesse and that man who walks uprightly before God may trust perfectly in God Job was either innocent or penitent He would therefore either maintain his wayes before God and come to the light Quem poenitet peccasse pene est innocens Sen. Agam. that his deeds might be manifest that they were wrought in God John 3.21 Or else he would reprove and correct his wayes so the Hebrew word signifieth also that is he would confesse and forsake his sins and so be sure to have mercy according to that soul-satisfying promise Prov. 28.13 Verse 16. He also shall be my salvation So long as I judg my self God will not judg me 1 Cor. 11.33 Nay he will surely save me for God will save the humble person Job 22.29 Merlin in loc what is humiliation but humility exercised Non est igitur inanis electorum fides res evanida nec infirma saith an Interpreter here therefore the faith of Gods elect is no empty or vain thing but a light shining from the spirit of God and such as overcometh the very darknesse of death It is a sure testimony of Gods good will toward us and an infallible perswasion of our salvation such as slighteth the worlds false censures overcometh temptations of all sorts laugheth at death and through the thickest darknesse of affliction beholdeth the pleased face of God in Christ through whom we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him Eph. 2.12 For an hypocrite shall not come before him No that 's a priviledg proper to the Communion of Saints therefore I am no hypocrite as you have charged me to be chap. 4.6 and 8.13 for I dare both offer to maintaine my wayes before him to be upright for the maine and I doubt not but he will be my salvation and that I shall appear before him in heaven this no hypocrite shall ever doe How should he say when as he is an unclean caytiffe as the Hebrew word signifieth flagitiosus so Vatablus rendreth it a flagitious impious person a very juggle so the Septuagint a fair professor indeed but a foul sinner Caneph Corant Deo dolus non ingreditur moyled all over and even buried in a bog of wickednesse he is a wicked man in a godly mans cloaths saith one He doth but assume religion saith another as the divels do dead bodies without a soul to animate them He is like the painted grapes that deceived the living birds or the golden apples with this motto No further then colours touch them and they vanish He knowes that he is naught and that God knowes it too how then should he approach him or appear before his throne No he dare not for the very shew of his face doth testifie against him as the Prophet speaks in another case or if he do he shall not be able to subsist there Psalm 5.5 he shall not stand in judgment Psalm 1.5 but shall runne away with these or the like words in his mouth Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isai 33.14 Woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of this mighty God 1 Sam. 4.8 None Mat. 24.51 for he shall surely assign you a part with the divel and hypocrites when as the righteous shall give thanks unto Gods Name and the upright only shall dwell in his presence Psal 140.13 Verse 17. Hear diligently my speech Heb. Hearing heart that is incline your ears and hear as Isai 55.3 Mark and attend hear me not only but heed me too interrupt me not neither give me the slip as it may seem they were ready to do when they heard him professe such a deal of faith and hope under so many and heavy afflictions wherein they thought that either he was besides himself or at least besides the cushion as we say and utterly out See verse 6. and observe that it is but needfull often to stirre up our auditors to attention Job makes more prefaces then one to be heard so do the Prophets often Hear the word of the Lord Hear and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it So doth the Arch-prophet more then once Revel 2. 3. And Matth. 13.19 Who hath ears to hear let him hear All Christs hearers had not ears or if they had yet they were stopped or if open yet the bore was not big enough O pray that God would say unto us Epphata be opened for a heavy ear is a singular judgment Verse 18. Behold
drunkards that they deserve double punishments first for their drunkennesse and then for the sin committed in and by their drunkennesse so do all men deserve double damnation first for the corruption of Nature signified by those legall pollutions by bodily issues and then for the cursed effects of it Gen. 6.5 Rom. 7.8 But it may bee Job here had an eye to that promise made to Noah after the flood Gen. 8.21 where the Lord moveth himself to mercy by consideration of mans native corruption even from his child-hood for he knoweth our frame c. Psalm 103.14 that is as the Chaldee Paraphrast explaineth it he knoweth our evill figment or thought which impelleth to sin hee knoweth it and weigheth it See the like Isa 48.8 9. Wee may beseech the Lord to spare us when we act sin because our natures are sinful but let not any go about either to palliate or extenuate their acts of sinne by the sinfulness of their natures as those doe who being told of their evil pranks and practises plead for them saying Wee are flesh and blood c. Not one Fortes creantur fortibus bonis but no meer man can bring forth a clean child out of unclean seed Adam begat a son after his own image Gen. 5.3 Corruptus corruptum That which is of the flesh is flesh John 3. Sin is propagated and proceedeth from the union of body and soul into one man That phrase Warmedin sinne Psalm 51.5 is meant of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evil which is not so actually till the soul come But we should not be so inquisitive how sin came in as how to be rid of it like as when a fire is kindled in a city all men are more careful to quench it then to question where and how it began Now there is one only way of ridding our hearts of sinne viz. to run to Christ and to believe in him For if the Son make you free ye shall 〈◊〉 indeed and hereunto both the Chaldee Paraphrast had respect likely when he rendred this text Cannot One that is Cannot God As also the Vulgar Latine Nonne tu qui solus es Canst not thou alone sc by thy merit and Spirit according to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 Verse 5. Seeing his dayes are determined c. God hath set every man both his time whether shorter called here his dayes or longer the number of his months they have both their bounds which none can passe and also his task Acts 13.25 Hieron ep ad Fu. John fulfilled his course in brevi vitae spatia tempora virtutum multa replevit and he lived long in a little space he wrought hard as not willing to be taken with his task undone So verse 36. David after hee had served his owne generation and had done all the will of God fell on sleep See more of this on chap. 7.1 Thou hast appointed his bounds Heb. His statutes It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 once for all and for ever it is appointed and this statute is irrepealable Here then we see the cause why some likely to live long die soon and others more infirme live longer God hath set the bounds of each ones life to a very day Virg. The bounds may be passed which our natural complexion setteth the bounds cannot be passed which the providence and will of God setteth Stat sua cuique dies Verse 6. Turn from him that he may rest Heb. Look away from him i. e. from me look not so narrowly and with such a critical eye upon mine out-strayes thus to hold me still on the rack look not so angerly afflict me not so heavily but let me rest or cease from my present pressures and doleful complaints and spend the span of this transitory life with some comfort and then let the time of my departure come when thou pleasest Till he shall accomplish as an hireling his dayes That is saith the Glosse till I am as willing to die as a labouring man is to go to supper and to bed The word rendred accomplish signifieth properly to acquiesce and rest in a thing and vehemently to desire it The Saints when they die shall rest in their beds Isâ—i 57.2 they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 presently straight upon the stroke of death no sooner have they passed under the flaming sword of that punishing Angel but they are forthwith in Paradise Here they are seldome quiet but tossed up and down as the ball upon the racket or ship upon the waves and hence it is that they sometimes fret or faint as Job and speak unadvisedly with their lips these firm mountains are moved with earth-quakes these calm seas are stirred with tempests and truly whosoever hath set himself to do every dayes work with Christian diligence to bear every dayes crosses with Christian patience and is sensible of his failings in both libentèr ex vita qunsi pleno passu egredietur saith one he will be full glad to be gone hence and be as weary of his life as ever any hireling was of his work See the Notes on chap. 7.1 2. Verse 7. For there is hope of a tree c. Here Job setteth on his request verse 6. with a reason God loveth a reasonable service and liketh well that we reverently reason it out with him And for the literal sense all things saith Gregory are so plain that there is no need to say any thing to that it being no more then this either I shall have comfort in this world before I die or never here therefore grant me rest now This argument Job illustrateth 1. By a dissimilitude here 2. By a similitude Merlin verse 11 12. The dissimilitude betwixt a tree and a man is this a tree may be hewed and felled yet feel no pain Again succisa repullulat imbribus irrigata a tree cut down if well watered will spring and sprout up again But now man as he is very sensible of every stroke of Gods hand neither can he suffer sickness or other affliction without smart so when once cut down by death he can by no means be recovered he cannot revive without a miracle Verse 8. Though the roots thereof wax old in the earth And so the more unlikely to shoot forth again Trees also have their old age wherein they decay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the stock thereof die in the ground Heb. in the dust as it needs must when cut off from the root it lieth along on the earth It was by a miracle that Aaroâ—s rod flourished not only all the plants of Gods setting but the very boughs cut off from the body of them shall 〈◊〉 and be fruitful Verse 9. Yet through the sent of water it will bud Heb. from the smell of waters a sweet Metaphor saith Merlin sense being attributed to things senselesse as smelling to the fire Judg. 16.9 and
here to trees which are said to turn themselves and their roots after a sort to take in the smel of the water and thereby refreshed to bud and bring forth boughs like a plant This is check to those that live under the droppings of the ordinances and yet are like the Cypress-treâ— which the more it is watered proves the lesse fruitful and being once out down it never springs again whence the Romans who believed not a resurrection were wont to place a Cypresse-tree at the threshold of the house of death as Pliny and Serâ—iâ—s tell us Serv. in Virg. l. 4. Plin. lib. 16. cap. 32. Verse 10. But man dieth and wasteth away Heb. strong and lusty man Homo quantumvis rooustus Vat. dieth and wasteth away or is cut off sc worse then a tree for he growes no more or is discomfited vanquished as Exod. 17.13 and 32.18 sc by death and so carried clean out of this world Yea man giveth up the ghost Homo vulgaris plebeius All of all sorts must die whether noble or ignoble as Rabbi Abraham here observeth Job is very much in this discourse about death and surely as Nazianzen wisheth of hell so could I of death Vtinam ubique de morte dissereretur oh that it were more in mens minds and mouths then it is And where is he q. d. No where above ground or if he be putrefit teterrimè olet he putrifies and stinks filthily and as his life is taken away so is his glory yea being once out of sight he growes by little and little out of mind too little thought of less spoken of many times not so much as his name mentioned or remembred in the next generation Eccles 1.11 There is no remembrance of former things or men neither shall there be any remembrance c. So Eccles 2.16 and 8.10 and 9.5 Hence the state of the dead is called the land of forgetfulnesse Psalm 88.12 And Psalm 31.12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind Heathens also say the same Hor. lib. 4. Carm. 7. Cum somel occideris de te splendida Minos Fecerit arbitria Non Torquate genus non te facundia non te Restituet pietas Verse 11. As the water fall from the sea He sets forth the same truth by an elegant similitude drawn from the drying up of waters Look how these after some exundation of the sea or some great river are separated and left upon the reflux thereof behind the rest upon the land which cannot return for then they must ascend which is impossible to nature nor continue but do utterly dry up Sanctius Abbot and evaporate So c. verse 12. Others read it thus As when the waters from the feafail the flood decaieth and dryeth up so when mans life is taken away it returns no more while this world lasteth God hath made in the bowels of the earth certain secret wayes passages and veins through which water conveigheth it self from the sea to all parts and hath its saltnesse taken away in the passage Thence are our springs and from them our rivers but in hot countryes and dry seasons springs are dry and rivers want water exceedingly as at this time they do March 7. 1653. So when natural moisture decayeth in man he faileth and dieth the radical humor that supplement and oyl of life is dried up and can be no more renewed till the last day when yet it shall not be restored to the same state and moisture but instead of natural rise spiritual 1 Cor. 15. Verse 12. So man lieth down sc in the dust of death or in the bed of the grave his dormitory till the last day Vt somnus mortis sic lectus imago sepulchri And riseth not scil To live again among men so Psalm 78. Man is compared to a wind which when it is past returneth not again If it be objected that we read of three in the old Testament and five in the new raised from death to life besides those many that arose and came out of the graves after Christs resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52 53. It is answered 1. These few raised by Gods extraordinary power do not infringe the truth of what the Scripture here and elsewhere affirmeth of all mankind according to the ordinary course of nature 2. Even those men also afterwards died again and vanished no more to return or appear again in this world Till the heavens be no more i. e. Never say some interpreters to wit vi suâ by his own strength and to a better condition in the land of the living so the word until is used 2 Sam. 6.13 Matth. 5.26 and 1.25 ut piè credimus How sound and clear Job was in the point of the Resurrection we shall see chap. 19. and because he falls upon it in the words next following here some understand these words thus They shall not rise till the general resurrections when these heavens shall be changed and renewed Psalm 102.25 26. Isaiah 65.17 2 Peter 3.7.10 11. Rev. 21.1 They shall not awake Out of the sleep of death nor be raised viz. by the sound of the last trump till the last day But raised they shall be and sleep no more viz. when the heavens shall be no more And till that time the bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of down or of spices to mellow and ripen this is matter of joy and triumph Isa 26.19 Dan. 12.2 when they were to lose all so Heb. 11.35 The wicked also sleep in the grave Dan. 12.2 but shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt ib. their sick sleep shall have a woful waking for they shall be raised by vertue of Christs judiciary power and by the curse of the law to look upon him whom they have pierced and to hear from him that dreadful discedite Depart ye cursed c. Verse 13. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave As in a sweet and safe repository sanctuary Sepulchrum est quasi scrinium vel capsa in quam reponitur corpus my soul mean-while living and raigning with thee in heaven expecting a glorious Resurrection and saying How long Lord Holy and True The fable or fancy of Psychopannychia hath been long since hissed out though lately revived by some Libertines that last brood of Beelzebub our Mortalists especially who say that the body and soul die together But what saith the Apostle Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Now that Job thus woos death and petitions for the grave it is manifest that he saw some good in it and that he promised himself by it Malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedom from evil and fulnesse of good we should learn to familiarize death to our selves and put the grave under the fairest and easiest apprehensions think we hear God
Illuminatus And yet how many Learned able men hath his name misled in the point of Consubstantiation Vrsin was carried away with it a while till he read his Arguments which he found to be little better then Paralogismes Holy Greenham when pressed to conformity to the Ceremonies by the Bishop of Ely who urged Luthers approbation of them and are you wiser then Luther His sober and gracious answer was I reverence more the revealed will of God in teaching Luther so many necessary things to salvation then I search into his secret will why he hid his heart from understanding in things less necessary Verse 5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends As you my friends do to and for God in seeming to assert his justice in punishing me for my wickednesse so soothing and smoothing up the Almighty quod ipsum nibil aliud est quam falso Deo blaudiri saith Merlin and seeking to make the world believe by your great words that you are his great Champions whilst you go about to cleare up his righteousnesse by concluding me unrighteous See chap. 13.7 8. with the Notes The eyes of his children shall fail Not himself only shall smart while the Lord curteth off flattering lips and the deceitful tongue Psal 12.3 but his poor children shall rue for it They shall lye languishing at Hopes Hospital and after all be disappointed or their eyes shall fail with long looking after good but nothing comes They shall look for peace and there is no good and for a time of healing but behold trouble Jer. 14.19 God will destroy flatterers head and tail branch and rush like as the Thessalians once utterly destroyed the City called Hen. Steph. Apol pro Herod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Flattery Verse 6. He hath made me also a by-word of the people Here Job returnes to his old task of setting forth his own misery for what men are most sensible of that their tongues do most of all run upon Job is a by word or a Proverb to this day for we say As poor as Job as of old they said Iro panperior c. He was become a common proverb a publick mocking-stock yea he was pro cantione and tympanum trita as some sense the next words And aforetime or to mens faces I was or I am â— tabret They sing my miseries to the Tabret as a matter of mirth they compose Comedies out of my Tragedies and this greatneth my grief I am openly a Tâ—bret so Broughton reads it The Vulgar hath it I am an example before them The Chaldee Paraphrast I am at hell before them The Hebrew word in Tophet taken afterwards indeed for hell but not so in Jobs tâ—me The Septuagint I became a sport to them David met with the like measure Psal 69.19 11. and the Church Lam. 2.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Christ on the Crosse was matter of mirth to the malicious Jewes God had made Job all this He that is God hath made me c. his name he spares in reverence but every where he acknowledgeth God the Author of his troubles as Mercer here noteth The whole verse may be read thus He hath made me also a by-word of the people where as aforetime I was as a Tabret that is I am now a scorn to them who delighted in me in my prosperity Verse 7. Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow Not only is my good name blasted but my body also is wasted the nerves of mine eyes are contracted the visive faculty decayed Psal 6.7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief yea my soul and my belly R. Levi. Pagnin Vatab. Psal 1.10 Not the visive only but the vital powers â—re wasted see chap. 16.16 yea the intellective part as well as the sensitive understood by the formations in the next clause that is the cogitations say they according to Gen. 6.5 But I rather take it according to our Translation for the members of the body And all my members are as a shadow My membra are but umbra they look more like a Skeleton an Anatomy an Apparition then a true body nothing being left but skin and bone so much meager'd are all my members This is hyperbolica maâ—orum suorum amplificatio saith Merlin Verse 8. Vpright men shall be a stonied at this They shall silently admire and adore the fathomlesse depth of the divine administration when they see a man so upright to suffer such heavy pressures yet shall they not censure me as you do not condemn me for complaining sith there is a cause They cannot indeed see far into Gods secret intentions they do therefore mirari rather then rimari like as the old Romanes dedicated unto Victory a certain Lake the depth whereof they could not fathom And the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite He shall learn of me not to be baffled out of his sincerity to be mocked out of his integrity but to maintain and take comfort therein against all his false Accusers Opposition doth not weaken but waken Heroick Spirits 2 Sam. 6.21 22. They proceed so much the more vigorously in the wayes of Holiness like as Lime burns the more for the cold water cast upon it and as the Palm-tree which although it have many weights at the top and many snakes at the bottome yet it stirreth up it selfe and flourisheth taking for its Posie Nee premor nec perimor Nothing hurteth or hindreth me Verse 9. The righteous also shall hold on his way Stumble he may for a time at his owne calamity and worse mens felicity but as he that stumbleth and yet falleth not gets ground so fareth it with the righteous in this case Once David said Verily I have cleansed my heart in vaine and washed my hands in innocency For all the day long have I been plagued when had men have been prospered Hence he began to repent of his repentance and to miscensure the generation of Gods children as thrice miserable Psal 73.13 14 15. but after a while and upon better consideration he said This is mine infirmity yea he befooled and be beasted himself ver 22. for so saying And the like will all those at length do that belong to God though for the present offended at Gods proceedings and by their passions miscarried to their cost yet they return to their right minds forwards they may fall sometimes but not backwards for that were far more dangerous Lord to whom should we go saith Peter sith thou alone hast the words of eternal life John 6.68 Neither know we where to mend our selves by gadding about to change our way Jer. 2.36 The righteous shall hold on his way merdicùs tenebit he shall hold it toughly hold it as with tooth and nail not going aside a nailes bredth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall stick to it as the Greek hath it And he that hath clean hands Upright Innocent Righteous cleane handed these all are the good mans adjuncts and
Devil with a Writ of Habeas animam when the cold earth must have his body and hot hell hold his soul according to that of the Psalmist Let death seizâ— upon them and let them go down quick into hell for wickednesse is in their dwellings and among them Psal 55.17 The sad forethought hereof causeth many unutterable griefs and gripings perplexities of spirit and convulsions of soul a very hell above ground and a foretaste of eternal torments The word here rendred terror signifieth utmost affrightments such as put a man well nigh out of his wits and distract him R. Solomon understandeth it of devils others of furies such as the Poets fain Most certain it is Cic. Orat. pro Rosc Amer. that a body is not so tormented with stings or torn with stripes as a mind with remembrance of wicked actions and fear of future evils And shall drive him to his feet As they did Cain that Caitiff Qui factus est à corde sâ—â— fugitivus Tertul. who would fain have fled from his own conscience if he could have known whither and became a Fugitive and a Vagabond upon the earth Gen. 4.12 seeking to outrun his terrors which yet dogged him hard at the heels They shal presse him at his feet so Broughton readeth this Text. Verse 12. Fit famelicum robur ejus His strength shall be hunger-bitten Heb. His strength or wealth shal be famine Or Famine shall be his strength He who whilom having health and wealth at will fared deliciously and gathered strength shall be hunger-starved and hardly have prisoners pittance so much only as will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to dye See 1 Sam. 2.5.36 'T is as much faith Brentius as we use to say of an extreme poore or feeble person his wealth is poverty his strength weaknesse And destruction shall be ready at his side i.e. Shall suddenly and inevitably seize upon him there will be no running away from it for can a man run from his side The word signifieth not an ordinary calamity but a dreadful and direful destruction Some understand it of the Plurisie or Vlcers in the side of a man Others of ribrost as they call it tortures inflicted on condemned persons as Heb. 11.34 who are beaten with bats Verse 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin i.e. his bones which support his skin these destruction shall devour or swallow up at a bit as an hungry Monster The first born of death shall devour his strength i.e. The Devil say some that Destroyer Rev. 9.11 that old Man-slayer John 8.44 Prince of death Heb. 2.14 as Christ is called Prince of Life Act. 3.15 and first born of death as Christ is the first born of the Resurrection Col. 1.18 Others understand it De cruentissima at funestissima morte of the most tragick and cruel kind of death See Isai 14.30 Broughton readeth it A strange death shall cat the branches of his body judgments shal come upon thee in their perfection saith God to Babylon Isai 47.9 Verse 14. And his confidence shall be rooted out of his Tabernacle Whatsoever he trusteth in about his house shall be pulled up by the roots or grub'd up Thus it befel Doeg Psal 52.7 And this disappointment this broken confidence of his shall bring him or make him go to the King of terrors i.e. to death that most terrible of terribles Aristot as the Philosopher calleth it Or the Devil as R. Solomon interpreteth it that black Prince Eph. 6.12 to whom wicked men are brought by death which to them is not only Natures Slaughterman but Gods curse and hels Purveyour hence Rev. 6 8. death haleth hell at the heels of it Verse 15. It shall dwell in his Tabernacles because it is none of his Heb. Not his for why the King of terrors hath turned him out of it and taken it up for an habitation for himself Some render it thus nothing or have nothing that is want shall dwell in his Tabernacle his house shall be replenished with emptinesse scarcity shall be the furniture of his habitation Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation As is also threatned Psal 11.6 And as was executed upon Sodom and her sifters as also upon Dioclesian the Tyrant who giving over his Empire Euseb de Vita Const lib. 5 decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly But he escaped not so for after that his house was wholly consumed with lightening and a flame of fire that fell from heaven not without a sulphurous smell he hiding himself for fear of the lightning dyed within a little after Verse 16. His roots shall be dryed up beneath c. The meaning is saith Dâ—odate he shall be deprived of Gods grace which is the root of all happinesse and of his blessing which is the top of it Verse 17. His remembrance shall perish from the earth As a tree when root and branch is gone is clean forgotten and no man remembreth where it grew so shall it be with the wicked Mercer Non celebrabitur ejus nomon fama nise in malum Eccles 8. 10. It is reckoned as a great benefit to a wicked man to have his memory dye with him which if it be preserved stinks in keeping and remains as a curse and perpetual disgrace And he shall have no name i.e. no honourable Name no renowne A good name only is a name Eccles 7.1 as a good wife only is a wife Prov. 18.22 Every married woman is not a wife Zillah Lamechs wife was but the shadow of a wife as her name also signifieth In like sort those only have a name in the streets or publick places who are talked of for good as the Martyrs who have left their names for a blessing Isai 65.15 when as their wretched Persecutors have left a vile snuff behind their Lamps being put out in obscurity Verse 18. He shall be driven out of light into darknesse Heb. They shall drive him scil the devils shall drive him out of the light of life into outer darknesse as they did that rich wretch Luke 12.20 confer Mat. 8.12 and 25.30 The Dutch Translation readeth it Men shall drive him Others understand it of his troubles and sorrowes And chased out of the world As Tarquin was by Collatine as Phâ—â—as was by Heraclius kickt off the stage of the world as one phraseth it or as Job saith of some wicked buried before half dead chap. 27.15 Men shall chap their hands at him and shal hiss him out of his place verse 23. Verse 19. he shall neither have son nor Nephew c. A sore affliction to be written childlesse which yet is the portion of some good people as Abel many Prophets and Apostles for whose comfort that is written Isai 56.4.5 God as he will be to his childlesse children better then ten sons so he will give them in his house 1 Sam. 1.8 Isal 96.5 and within his wals a place and a name better then
of sons and of daughters the wil give them an everlasting name that shal never be cut off Not so the ungodly those men of Gods hand for though full of children they leave the rest of their substance to their babes Psal 17.14 yet it will prove to be but luctnosa foecunditas as Hierom speaketh they shall weep for their lost children and not be comforted because they are not Or if they survive they prove singular cuts and crosses to their wretched Parents who have cause enough to cry out as Moses sometimes did let me dye out of hand and not see my wretchednesse Num. 11.15 They are filled with â—â—medicinable sorrowes in the losse either of their children or of their estates by their wasteful children so that they praise the dead above the living and wish they had never been born Eccles 4.2 3. Nor any remaining in his dwellings When the souldiers slew the Tyrant Maximinius and his son at the siege of Aquilâ—ia they cryed out Ex pessima geneve ne catulum quidem habendum Of so ill a kind let not a whelp be kept alive Verse 20 Ther that come after him shal be astâ—â—ied at his day Future Ages hearing the relation of his dismal destruction shall stand agast as if they beheld the dirty ruines of some once beautiful City Happy they if in good earnest they could make that good use of it which Herodotus the Historian saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod men should make of the overthrow of Troy viz. to take notice thereby that great sinners must look for great punishments from God But Ham and his Posterity were little the better for the Deluge in their dayes not the adjacent Countries for Sodoms downfal As they that went before were afrighted scil His contemporaries and eye-witnesses of his calamity apprehended horror so the Hebrew hath it they took a fright which yet was little to the purpose without faith and repentance and unlesse their hearts fell down when their hairs stood upright Verse 21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked As sure as death 't is so and this is oft inculcated because hardly believed Bildad hints at Job in all this and therefore speaks of the wicked here in the singular number as who should say Thou art the man But Jobs innocency served him for an Heptabâ—ean Buckler And this is the place that is the state Psal 14.4 Of him that knoweth not God Periphrasis impii saith Drusius this is the character of a gracelesse man have the workers of iniquity no knowledg No none that they were a button the better for CHAP. XIX Verse 1. Then Job answered and said HE replyed as followeth to Bildads bitter and tanting invective His miseries he here setteth forth graphically and tragically grating to Bildad that he was dealt with no otherwise then if he were that wicked man described in the foregoing chapter and yet denying himself to be any such one by his lively hope of a joyful Resurrection such as would make a plentiful amends for all ver 26 27 28. For though Mercer make question of it yet I am out of doubt saith Beza that this is the true meaning of this place And surely the whole Scripture doth not yeild us a more notable or a more clear and manifest testimony to confirm unto us the Resurrection of our bodies then this This confession of his faith saith Lavater is the chief thing in this Chapter and therefore challengeth our best attention Verse 2. How long will ye vex my soul viz. with your furious and reproachful charges criminations Have I not misery enough already but you must lay more load of scorn and contempt upon me and so go on to trouble me by adding to my saddest sorrowes Hoccine est moestum consolari such as pierce to the very soul Call you this comforting an afflicted friend How long will ye break me in pieces with words Words also have their weight and if hard and harsh Leniter volant non leniter violant Like maules they break the heart in pieces like a rack they torment it Psal 42.10 As with a Murdering weapon in my bones mine enemies reproached me You shall find some saith Erasmus that of death be threatned can despise it but to be belyed reproached slandered they cannot brook nor from revenge contain themselves Job was a strong man both in faith and patience yet put hard to it by the hard words given him by Bildad and the rest who did rather hurt his eare by the loudnesse of their voices then helped his heart by the force of their reproofs Gods servants must not strive but be gentle 2 Tim. 2.23 24. shewing all meeknesse to all men Tit. 3.2 Jam. 3.17 Gentle showres comfort the earth when dashing storms drown the seed There is a two fold inconvenience followeth upon bitter and boisterous proceedings with a supposed offendour First the party looketh not so much to his own failing as to their passion Secondly As he is unconvinced so they are not esteemed but though they have the right on their side yet they lose the due regard of their cause and reverence of their persons Verse 3. These ten times have ye reproached me i.e. oftentimes Herein Job endured a great fight of affliction as the Apostle stileth it Heb. 10.32 33. a manifold fight as the word there signifieth Cate was two and thirty times accused publickly and as oft cleared and absolved Basil was counted and called an Heretick even by those who as it appeared afterwards were of the same judgement with him and whom he honoured as brethren Dogs in a chase bark sometimes at their best friends c. You are not ashamed that you make your selves strange to me Or Are you not ashamed that ye harden your selves against me Or That ye â—ter and jest at my misery Significat etiam emere vel componari Or That ye make Merchandise of me and take your peny worths out of me Beze agreeable to our Translation paraphraseth it thus Ye take me up so short as if ye dealt with a stranger and forrainer and not with a friend And so the word is taken Gen. 42.7 Verse 4. And be it indeed that I have erred Of humane frailty for that there is any way of wickednesse in me as you would have it I shall never yeeld But nimis angustares est nuspiam errare Involuntary failings I am not free from who knoweth the errors of his life Psal 19.12 What man is he that liveth and sinneth not It is the sad priviledge of mortality Euphorm saith one Licere aliquando peccare to have license sometimes to sin Mine error remaineth with my self q d. 'T is little that you have done toward the convincing me of any error in all this time and talk which until ye have done I must stil remain of the same mind Or thus You shall neither answer nor suffer for mine errour what need then all this hear and
and their money perish together Act. 8.20 Yea he shall be chased away By the displeasure of Almighty God he shall be driven or rather kickt out of the world As a vision of the night Phasma five Phantasma which passes sooner out of memory and is more transient then a day vision Verse 9. The eye also which saw him shall see him no more He shall be utterly out of sight out of mind Vnkent unkist as the Northern Proverb hath it See chap. 7.8 10. Where Job speaketh as much of himself and Zopher here twits him with it as if Sorex suo periisset indicio Job were an hypoctite by his own confession so ingenious is evil will Verse 10. His children shall seek to please the poor Tenniâ—res sunt ipsit tenuibus saith Junius shall be poorer then the poorest and full glad to comply with them and humour them to beg with them if not to beg of them A just hand of God upon Oppressors whose work it hath been to make many poor and now their posterity are brought to extreme poverty Such shame consult these men to their houses besides their sin against their own souls Hob 2.10 See the Note there Some read it thus The poor shall oppresse his children and how grievous that is see Prov. 28.3 with the Note A Heathen Historian observed that Dionysius Val. lib. 1. cap. 2 after his death paid deare for his Sacriledge in the disasters that befell his children And his hands shall restore their goods Or For his hands shall c. They should indeed restore their ill-gotten goods though to the impoverishing of their posterity though they left their children no more but a wallet to beg from door to door But such are rare birds most men will rather venture it then be drawne Zacheus-like to make restitution God must give them a Vomit as vers 20. or they will lay up nothing part they will not with those murthering morsels that riches of iniquity Luke 16.9 they have devoured but what they can neither will nor chuse as being compelled to do it either by Law or force either by justice or violence The right owners do not alwayes receive what was by wrench or wile gotten from them but these oppressors or their imps are many times rooked or robbed by others as bad as themselves as the usutious Jewes are at this day by the injurious Papists who use them as Spunges which they may squeeze at their pleasure God so disposing and ordering the disorders of men to his owne glory Verse 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth Fowl practises have so grown up together with some sinful people that they may say of them as the Strumpet Quartilla did of her Virginity that she could not remember that ever she had been a maid This hath been thy manner from thy youth that thou obeyedst not my voice Junonom meam iâ— atam habeam si unquam me meminerim Virgincâ—s Petron. Jer. 22.21 Then thou hadst no mind to it but now thou hast lesse thy heart being hardned by the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 3.17 Now in the froth of these youthful vanities unrepented of breedeth that worm of an evil conscience that never dyeth In the best they procure much ruth though not utter ruine The sweet wayes of my youth saith a man afterwards eminent for holinesse did breed such wormes in my soul as that my heavenly Father will have me yet a little while continue my bitter Wormseed because they cannot otherwise be killed Thus he Holy David prayeth hard Psal 25.7 Remember not against me the sins of my youth Austin was much in the same suit That age of mans life is very subject to and usually very full of sin yea reproachful evils jer 31.19 Fleshly lusts that war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.12 and like so many noisom diseases soak into the bones and suck out the marrow to the consumption and destruction of the whole man Which shall lye down with him in the dust that is saith Vatablus God will so forsake him that he shall never repent but shall dye in his sins which is worse then to dye in prison or to dye in a ditch for they that dye n sin shall rise in sin and stand before Christ in sin and how shall they be able to stand before him Verse 12. Though wickednesse be sweet in his mouth As poison swallowed in some pleasing meat or drink Agrippine in poisoning her husband Claudius the Emperor tempered it in meat he most delighted in Poison given in Wine works more furiously as did that Wassail the Monk drank to King John of England That wickednesse with a witnesse here meant is oppression and is said to be held in the mouth and hid under the tongue as some think because it is oft covered with godly speeches whereby he seeketh to circumvent and deceive his neighbour Others by these expressions will have understood continuance in sin and complacency therein rolling it under his tongue as a child doth a piece of sugar which he is loath to part with Arist Ethic. l. 3 Aelian var. bist l. 10. and retaining it a long thime in his mouth that he may taste it with more pleasure Philoâ—enus wished his neck were as long as a Cranes that he might the longer keep the taste of his sweet-meats and dainty morsels Such is the wicked mans wish and his practise is answerable for and his tongue is mischief and vanity Psal 1.7 He licks his lips with the remembrance of his former sins and so recommitteth them in his desires at least whilst he recalleth former acts with delight Thus the rebellious Israelites called to mind the Flesh-pots of Egypt and were moved and thus afterwards they multiplyed their whoredomes by calling to remembrance the dayes of their youth wherein they had gone a whoring in the Land of Egypt Ezek. 23.21 Verse 13. Though he spaâ—â— it and forsake it not This is the same in sense with the former verse and the second time repeated that Job might know that he was the man here meant Vt qui in malis artibus siti placaisset saith Merlin as one who took pleasure in raising himself upon anothers ruines And another good Note the same Author giveth here viz. That as any thing is more sweet and delectable to the sensual appetite so much the more should we suspect it as fearing a snare laid for us therein by that old man-slayer Vipera latet in veprecula Diabolus capite blanditur ventre oblictat 〈◊〉 light Divorce the flesh from the divel and then there is no no great danger But keeps is still within his mouth And will not be drawn to spet it out by confession and to carry it through the dung-port of his mouth into the brook Kedroâ— which was the Town-ditch Satan knowes there is no way to purge the sick soul but upwards He therefore laboureth to hold his lips close that the soul may not disburden it self
are of his mind who said He that will not venture his body will never be valiant and he that will not venture his soul will never be rich But what saith the Prophet He that getteth riches and not by right shall dye a poor fool Jer. 17.11 And what saith Zophar here He shall dye a plain beggar and leave no estate worth the looking after or suing for this falleth not out alwayes but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times it doth as is easily to be observed Verse 22. In the fulnesse of his sufficiency be shal be in straits The covetous man never hath a sufficiency but is as greedily gasping still after more as if he were not worth an half-peny much lesse a fulnesse of sufficiency a superfluity a superabundance What soever Esan pretended in his I have enough my brother Gen. 33.9 Jacob could indeed say truly I have enough ver 11. for godlinesse only hath an autarkie 1 Tim. 6.6 True piety hath true plenty and is never with out a well-contenting sufficiency wherein the good man is when is the fulnesse of straits See it in David 1 Sam. 30.6 in Habakkuk chap. 3.16 17. in Paul 2 Cor. 6.10 Phil. 4-11 he had nothing and yet possessed all things But that which Zophar here drives at is to shew that the Oppressour shall be ruinated when at highest and when he least looketh for it as was Nebuchadnezzar Haman Belshazzar Babylon the great Rev. 18.7 8. How was Alexander the Great surprized at a Feast Caesar in the Senate house many of the Emperors in their own Palaces c Every hand of the wicked shall come upon him Or Of the Labourer whose wages he hath detained Or of the poor oppressed whom he hath forced to labour hard for a poor living Broughton rendreth it Each hand of the injured and grieved shall come upon him and so he shall have many fists about his ears many ready to rifle him and to pull a fleece from him Verse 23 When he is about to fill his belly It appeareth by this expression that it was belly timber wherein the wicked man placed his sufficiency ver 22. his felicity Si ventri bone sit si lateri saith the Epicure in Horace If the belly may be filled the body fitted that 's all that these Lurcones these Losels look after Pelyphemus knew no other God but his belly There were belly-gods in Saint Pauls time such as of whom be could not speak with dry eyes Phil 3 18-19 Such are compared by Clemens Alexandrinus to the Sea-castle that hath his heart in his belly By others to the Locust the belly whereof is said to be joyned to his mouth and to end at his taile to the fish called Blax that is altogether unprofitable and to Rats and Mice good for nothing but to devour victuals When therefore such a Pamphagus is about to fill his belly and to pamper his panch or otherwise to gorge himself with the full messes of sins Dainties as the Viper lives on venemous things the Spider on Aconite the Sow on swill as Tartarians on Carrion holding them as dainty as other men do Venison then saith Zophar God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him Heb. He shall send forth c. He will no longer keep in his judgments in the chaines of mercy but give them their full forth upon this wicked Oppressor and that even very then when hee bids his heart make merry and assures himselfe of unchangeable happinesse For He shall rain it upon him that is reveal it from heaven against him Rom. 1. while he is eating As it befel chose Cormorants Numb 11.33 and the old world Luke 17. Matth. 24.38 Sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child Vel ut pluvia quae sereno coelo inopinantes opprimit Or as foul weather that comes unsent for and oft unlook'd for The Vulgar rendreth it And he shall rain his war upon him But this Zophar setteth forth in the next verse where he denounceth war and weapons Verse 24. He shall flee from the iron weapons i. e. whiles he seeks to shun one mischief he shall fall into another and when he thinks to run from death he runs to it God who can do what he will with his own bare hand is here brought in after the manner of men with sword and bow to shew that both at home and afar off he can tame his Rebels Neither boots it any man to stand out with God or to seek to save himself by sight or flight sith he is that King against whom there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 and if he be angry no other helps can relieve us Brasse and iron can fence me against an Arrow or a sword but if I were to be cast into a furnace of fire it would help to torment me if into a pit of water to sink me Now our God is a consuming fire and his breath a stream of brimstone Isai 30.33 Submit your selves therefore to God Jam. 4.7 Humble your selves therefore under his mighty hand and he shall lift you up in due season 1 Pet. 5. To run into God is the way to escape him as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoyd the blow And the bow of steel shall strike him through Or shall change him that is kil him Death is our great change and to the wicked a dismal change for they shal be killed with death Rev. 2.23 Then Balaam and his bribes Baltasar and his bowls Dives and his dishes Herod and his Harlots the Usurer and his bills the Merchant and his measures c. shall part asunder for ever But that is not the worst of it The word here used signifieth excision or cutting off and hence that of Bathsheba Prov. 31.8 Bene chaloph children of destruction answerable to that of our Saviour John 17.12 A son or child of perdition that is a man devoted to utter destruction Verse 25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body that is the Arrow out of the Quiver or the sword out of the sheath as the Vulgar translateth it By a like Metaphor the body is called the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 But I rather take it properly It cometh out of his body that is out of the wicked mans body who is under such a deep and deadly wound as Jehoram was whom Jehu shot through the heart and as William Rufus was by Walter-Tirrel who in hunting mistook him for a Dear Yea the glistering sword cometh out of his gall And so the wound must needs be mortal sith none can come at the gall to cure it The wicked shall be double slaine first with Gods bow and then with his sword rather then he shall escape How much better were it to fall down as Paul did Rom. 7. slaine with the sword of the Spirit Bernard told his brother a souldier that because he would not listen to the word of exhortation God would shortly
Arabian spoylers Fabric in descrip peregr Hierosol those wild-Asses who continue their old trade to this day catching and snatching vivitur ex rapto neither can they be repelled or restrained by reason of their multitudes and their incredible swiftness The wilderness yieldeth food c. Their pillage is their tillage their rapine their revenue whereby they maintain themselves and theirs as the wild-Ass picks out a living in the desart But shall they thus escape by iniquity Have they no other wayes to work no better Mediums Never think it In thine anger cast dawn the people O God Psal 56.7 He will do it for the words are prophetical as well as optative Treasure of wickedness profit nothing Prov. 10.2 Mammon of iniquity is the next odious name to the Devil and to the Devil it will bring a man 1 Tim. 6.9 English Hubertus a covetous Oppressor is said to have made this Will I yield my Goods to the King my Body to the Grave my Soul to the Devil Pope Sylvester 2. is said to have given his Soul to the Devil for seven years enjoyment of the Popedom And for their Children We have a profane and false proverb Happy is that Child whose Father goeth to the Devil O faithful drudge said a graceless Son once of such a Father who died and left him great store of ill-gotten goods Verse 6. They reape every one his corn in the field The poor oppressed are made by them to inn their crops and tread their vintages in the end of the year as the Hebrew importeth Serò colligunt without either meat or wages or so much as a cup of drink as the eleventh verse sets forth which is extreme cruelty and flatly forbidden Deut 24.14 15. and order taken that the mouth of the Ox that treadeth out the corn should not be muzzled Deut. 25.4 Quantum igitur judicium saith Brentius how great judgements of God then will light upon those who do that to men of the same flesh of the same faith of the same country with themselves which they ought not to do to the bruit creatures they make use of Quoâ— malum in Germania frequentâ—ssimum est Vâ— igitur Germaniae This saith he is a common sin in Germany woe therefore to Germany Think the same of England and take notice that this is one of those crying sins that entreth into the ears of the Lord of Sabboth Jam. 5.4 and he will hear for he is gracious Exod. 22.27 The words are otherwise sensed by some but this to me seemeth most sutable to the subsequent verses Verse 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing viz. By denying and detaining from them that they have earned wherewith they should provide them garments which are so called quasi gardments because they serve to guard mens bodies from the injury of the weather They cause them to lodge naked because they have no clothing so some reade the text they lay them open to the pinching cold of the night And what a misery it is to lye a cold and wet and not to have wherewith to keep us warm and dry in winter season especially who knows not Hîc disce Deo gratus esse saith Lavater Here then learn thankfulness to God thou that hast not only a warm and wholesome lodging-room but also good store of bed-cloaths and those of the better sort too Abuse not these blessings to pride and luxury lest God turn in upon thee spoylers and plunderers who may leave thee little enough leave thee nuaum tanquam ex mari as they did many in these late shredding and stripping times Ezek. 25.4 God threatneth to send the men of the East to dwell as so many Lord-Danes in their Palaces and to eate their milk c. When the Children play with their meat and cast it to the Dogs what can the Father do less than bid Take away Verse 8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains Wet they are but not at all refreshed as this word here only found in the Bible signifieth sometimes among the Rabbins Cold comfort they finde abroad and at home they dare not abide lest rich men should oppress them and draw them before the judgement-seats Jam. 2.6 or drag them to prison for refusing their drudgery Hence they are forced to live in the mountains and desart places in extreme misery And embrace the Rock for want of a shelter Like Conies or wild Beasts glad of any lurking place that may keep them out of the hands of unreasonable and wicked men What hardship have many worthy men in all ages suffered from persecutors and oppressors in Dioâ—lesians dayes especially driven out of house and harbour and glad to take up in any hole there to lie on the cold stone in stead of a warm bed as that good Dutchess of Suffolk with that noble Gentleman her Husband did in the Low-countries whiter they fled from the Marian persecution till In Loc. as Elias once under the Juniper they wish themselves out of the world Iterùm hîc discâ— gratias Deo agere saith Lâ—vater Here again learn to give thanks to God for this great benefit if thou maiest stay at home and not be forced to flie for thy life or for conscience-sake for home is home as we say and very desireable and the Apostle reckons it for a piece of his sufferings that he was 〈◊〉 and had no settled station 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no certain dwelling place 1 Cor. 4.11 Verse 9. They pluck the fatherless from the brest What can be more to be pitied than a fatherless suckling Who less to be molested or violenced than the Mother doing that office to her babe In the Parisian Massacre one of the murtherers took a little one in his arms who smiled upon him and plaid with his beard yet this barbarous wretch was so far from compassion that he wounded it with his dagger Act. Mon. and so cast it all gore blood into the River The story of the Infant of the Isle of Garriser thrown back into the fire out of which it had sprawled is well known Ibid. So is the savage inhumanity of that merciless Minerius the Popes Champion who at Merindolâ— in France cut off the Paps of many which gave suck to their Children Ibid. p. 868. which looking for suck at their Mothers brests being dead before died also for hunger Well therefore might our Saviour say Beware of men Mart. 10.17 It had been better the Indies had been given to the Devils of hell said those poor Natives than to those bloody Spaniards who dashed the Mother in pieces upon their Children as once at Betharbel Hos 10.14 And take a pledge from the poor Misery which should beget pity in them begetteth but audacity and inviteth them to ruine the poor and fill their houses with their spoyles Some render it thus They take the poor for a pledge sc putting them to their ransom and mean while
nor his mother so unnatural a son as vers 30 Thus Beza here Verse 22. He draweth also the mighty with his power i.e. He hath brought them by force under his girdle and compelled them to do him homage and service He riseth up In the fulnesse of his might as a King against whom there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 And no man is sure of life Which the Tyrant taketh away at his pleasure Or thus The Tyrant himself after he hath made all cock-sure as he may think is not yet sure of his owne life dare not confide in his best friends Dionysius for instance and our Richard the third The Hebrew is And he is not sure of life Verse 23. Though it be given him to be in safety Heb. It is given him to be in safety whereon he resteth His safety and prosperity was given him for a better purpose but as if God had hired him to be wicked he abuseth it to creature confidence leaning too hard upon the arm of flesh Yet his eyes are upon their wayes Neverthelesse God prospereth them according to Psal 34.11 Or as others sense it God eyeth their wicked wayes and designeth them to destruction And the next verse seemeth to make for this Interpretation Verse 24. They are exalted for a little while Or They are exalted but within a little while they are not This former part of the verse needeth no Exposition saith an Expositor And as for the later They are taken away as all other they are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn It may be understood of the like violence Velm frit-spica succiduâ—tur Trem. ex Varr. wherewith Tyrants shall be cut off by which they have cut off other mighty and great men as Thrasibulus King of Milesians by striking off with his staff certain ears of corn and Tarquin King of Romans by doing the like to certain Poppies in his Garden signified their minds to have diverse chief men beheaded which was accordingly accomplished So Mithridates King of Pontus V. l. Max. by one Letter caused the death of fourscore thousand Romans trading throughout Asia Now God loveth to retaliate as hath been said before See it exemplified in Adonibezeck Agag Haman and others Verse 25. And if it be not so now who will make me a Lyar Quis ementietur me Who shall disprove or confute what I have affirmed viz. That God doth many things the depth whereof we cannot fathom and that he lets wicked men many times spend their dayes in pleasure and end them without much pain this I will abide by and I would fain see the man qui ansit possit who can and will maintain the contrary CHAP. XXV Verse 1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said A Pithy and ponderous speech he here maketh though little to the purpose for he quite digresseth from the question in hand concerning the wickeds flourishing and Saints sufferings and chuseth to sing the fame song with his fellowes concerning the power and Purity of God above all Creatures See Job 4.18 and 15.15 Some men are of that mind that they will never be said or set down but strive to have the last word This was Peters vanity and the rest of the Disciples Math. 26.35 which our Saviour winked at till time should confute them as it also did soon after Verse 2. Dominion and fear are with him God is therefore to be feared because Lord over all If an earthly King be so Dread a Soveraign if an apparition of Angels hath so amazed the best men who would not fear that King of Nations sith to him doth it appertain Jer. 10.7 God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him Psal 89.7 Power and terror are with him so the Vulgar hath it here He that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell is surely to be feared yea therefore to be feared Matth. 10.28 If servants should fear their Masters because they have power over the flesh Col. 3.23 what should we do sith he can sooner undo us then bid it be done He maketh peace in his high places Or Among his high persons those heavenly Courtiers the Angels and Saints By an unchangeable Decree God keepeth all persons and things in the heavens both visible and invisible in a most firm and quiet condition so that there is no clashing but an happy harmony amongst them Senault He appeaseth saith One the differences of the Elements and obligeth them to force their own inclinations to preserve the quiet of the world He shakes all the heavens with so much evennesse that in the contrariety of their motions they never disorder themselves Finally He maintaines peace amongst the Angels and tempering his Justice with his Goodnesse he makes himself equally loved and feared of those blessed Spirits Therefore Job did ill saith another Interpreter to offer to make a disturbance there Mayer Job 23.4 as Bildad at least conceited he did where there was all peace Verse 3. Is there any number of his Armies God is Lord of Hostes and as the Rabbins well observe he hath his upper forces and his lower forces as his Horse and Foot ready prest The upper are here chiefly meant viz. the Angels and Stars as appeareth by the Context An est numerus expeditorum so Brentius rendreth it Tremellius turmariorum of his Troopers they are innumerable and yet no variance amongst them this is admirable The Army of Niniveh was quiet no falling out nor complaining in their hostes therefore did their King march on passe through Nahum 1.12 the Turks Military Discipline at this day is beyond that of all other Nations in the world besides yea beyond that of the old Greeks or Romans There is no quarrelling heard at any time amongst their many souldiers Cusp de Cas p. 475. no nor any words at all Perpetuum silentium tenent ut muti saith Cuspinianus There is perpetual silence kept and most ready obedience yeelded to the dumb signes and noddings of their Officers But all this is nothing to that in heaven Of Gods Hostes together with their number order and obedience see my Treatise called the Righteous Mans Recompence pag. 868.869 And upon whom doth not his Light arise that is his Sun that Prince of Planets but servant of the Saints as his Name importeth whose going forth is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof Psalm 19.6 It is called His Light because as he made it so he gathered into it as into a Vessel that first light which before was scattered here and there in the heavens Some there are that understand this Text of the light of Gods Omniscience others of his Benificence Quiâ— est quem non superet luce bonitate suae Merlin Who is it whom he overcometh not with the light of his
and such measures of grace Learn to distinguish between imbecility and nullity shew your selves faithful in weaknesse though but weak in faith There is an allowance to gold with which it may passe neither is it to be cast aside because it wanteth some graines and hath a crack Nec vinum rejicimus eâ—si facem habeat saith Spinâ—us Spin. de instit Christ God seeth nothing amisse in that man whose heart is upright 2 Chron. 15.17 He layes the finger of mercy on the sears of his peoples sins as that Limner in the Story He will not crush but cherish that worm Jacob. Nor my tongue utter deceit No for that were to speak wickednesse yea to speak your self wicked For the remnant of Isratl shall not by betraying the truth do iniquity nor speak lies neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth Zeph. 3.13 For he said Surely they are my people children that will not lye so he was their Saviour Isai 63.8 Verse 5 God forbid that I should justifie you scil By saying as you say viz. that I am an hypocrite and secretly guilty of some soule practises for which I that grievously suffer I know nothing of this Nature by my self God forbid Absit res profana sit mihi The Hebrew word signifies a profanation or profane thing It was the same they used when they rent their cloathes at blasphemy Till I die I wil not remove my integrity My perfection some render it and so God accounteth it when the bent frame and tendencies of the heart are for him though the mans wants be many and great This Job knew and would hold to Let not the Divel baffle us out of our integrity Verse 6. Mordicùs tenâ—bâ— My righteousnesse I hold fast As with tooth and nail yea though it be to the losse of my teeth as it befel that valiant Sir Thou as Challoner who served Cambd. Eliz. 66 when he was young under Charles 5 in the Expedition of Algier where being shipwrack't after he had swum till his strength and his armes failed him at the length catching hold of a Cable with his teeth he escaped not without the loss of some of his teeth And will not let it go scil Upon your perswasions or suspitions so long as the bird in my bosom continueth singing My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live His heart must needs reproach him who habitually doth evil what good shew soever he doth make before men and though he hide his wickednesse with no lesse subtle sleights then once Rachel did the Idols Rahab the Spies Conscience is Gods Spye and mans Overseer It is Inâ—â—â— Judex Vindex neither is a body so torn with stripes as a mind with remembrance of evil actions This Job knew and would therefore keep his conscience cleare This was also Saint Pauls greatest both care Acts 24.16 and comfort 2 Cor. 1.12 Verse 7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked q d. I need wish my greatest enemy no greater hurt then to be as the wicked for then he is sure to be wretched So far am I from saying that God favoureth the wicked or that he alwayes suffereth them to escape unpunished And he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous Or froward and perverse This is the same again in other words and it is well noted to be a popular manner of speaking wherein when men expresse an abomination of a thing they wish it so their enemies taking it for granted that the power of malice is so great that no man can expresse it in the wish of any particular evil See the like phrase 2 Sam. 8 32 1 Sam 25.26 Dan. 4.29 Verse 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite c. Here Job proveth himself to be no hypocrite by his and their different character and carriage especially under affliction Though God kill Job yet he will trust in him but what is the hope of the hypocrite c He that maketh a bridge of his own shadow must needs fall into the brook The common hope thinks it takes hold of God but it is but as a child that catcheth at the shadow on the wall which he thinks he holdeth fast in his hand but soon finds it otherwise so shall the hypocrite at death his hope shall be then as the giving up of the Christ and that is but cold comfort Whiles he was in health and had all well about him he nourished strong hopes of Gods favour and the rather because he gained and gathered wealth apace So bladder like is the soul that is filled with earthly vanities though but wind it growes great and swells in high conceitednesse but if pickt with the least pin of piercing grief how much more when struck with deaths dart it shriveleth to nothing and is ready to say as one rich wâ—â—ch did on this death-bed Spes fortuna valeta Life and hope adien to you both at once Though he hath gained Or When he hath been covetous raking together 〈◊〉 â—em quâ—cunque modo rem See this notably exemplified in that rich fool Luke 12. whose life and hopes ended together When God taketh away his soul Extrabet Shall pull it out by violence as a sword out of its â—eath when God shall make a breach upon their Cittadel come upon them by forcible entry turn them out of their cottages of day by 〈…〉 cut them in twain as he did that evil servant Matth 4. tear their bodies and souls asunder as a man teareth the bark from the tree or the shell from the fâ—sh leaving it naked Where then shall be the high hopes of the Hypocrite And O what a dreadful skreek giveth his guilty soul then to see it selfe lanching into an infinite Ocean of scalding lead and to consider that it must swim naked in it for ever Verse 9. Will God hear his cry Here 's another distinctive Note between a hypocrite and an honest man As many are said in Daniel to cleave to the better side by flattery so many false signes will come in and flatter a man when he is in health and prosperity and give their testimony speak the same thing that true evidences do but this will not alwayes hold When trouble cometh upon him Then the hypocrite will cry and make pitiful moans as a prisoner at the Bar begs for his life Then Joab and Adoniah will run to the hornes of the Altar who till then little cared to come there But with as ill successe they cry to God as Saul did 1 Sam. 28.15 and as other of Davids enemies did Psal 18.41 For either God answereth them not at all Ezek. 21.2 3. Or else he answereth them according to the Idols of their hearts Ezek. 14. gives them bitter answers as Judge 10.13 14. Or if better it is for the good of others and for a further mischief to themselves that he may snatch away his owne and he gone Hâ—l 2.9 and that he may consume them after he
and from above and from on high By all these expressions Job affecteth himself with the due apprehension of the divine Majesty that he may be wise and beware how he fall into the punishing hands of this living God The Lord your God saith Moses to the people is God of gods and Lord of lords a great God a mighty and a terrible Deut. 10.16 19. c. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts cut off and cast away that filthy foreskin shave your eye-brows as the Leper was to do pull out your right eyes c. So Joshua God saith he is an holy God he is a jealous God be will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins sc unless you will part with them though never so dear or delicious chap. 24.19 Verse 3. Is not destruction to the wicked yes that 's their portion their inheritance and so Job makes answer to his own question proposed in the verse aforegoing The ruine of impure souls is infallible unsupportable unavoidable if God hath aversion from all other sinners he hath hatred and horrour for the unchast such stinking goates shall be set on the left hand and sent to hell where they shall have so much the more of punishment as they had here of sensual and sinful pleasure as sowre sawce to their sweet meats Rev. 18.7 Not to speak of the miseries they meet with here which are not a sew in their souls hardness of heart or horrour of conscience in their bodies soul and lothsome diseases such as will stick to them when their best friends forsake them in their names indeleble reproach and infamy like an iron-mole which nothing can fetch out like the Leprosie which could never be scraped out of the walls in their estates poverty even to a piece of bread Prov. 6.26 Harlots are Poscinummia Crumenimulge suck-purses Luk. 15.14 In their posterity as Jericho was built so is uncleanness plagued bath in the oldest and youngest It goes through the race till it have wasted all Corpus â—pes animâ—n faman vim lumina Scortum Debilitat perdit necat anfert eripit what And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity Even such as is unusual and extraordinary as upon the Sodomites who going after strange flesh were thrown forth for an example as Juda hath it Verse 7. So those Benjamites Judg. 20. the Trojans the Lacedemonians at Lenctra Zimri and Cozbi Zedekiah and Ahab Jer. 29.22 Elies two sons Heraclius the Emperour Muleasses King of Tunes in Barbary bereft by his own son Amida another Absolom not of his Kingdom only but of his eyes too put out with a burning hoâ—iron those eyes of his that had been full of adultery and could not cease to sin In Hebrew the same word signifieth both an eye and a fountain to shew saith One that from the eye at a fountain floweth both sin and misery Verse 4. Doth he not see my wayes and count c yea sure he doth so and the conscience of Gods Omniscience who would soon take him tripping kept him from this great wickedness So it did Joseph but so it did not David who is therefore said to despise God and his commandement 2 Sam. 12.9 10. to do evil in his sight and this was no smal aggravation of his offence Ne peccar Dum ipsi vider I have seen the lewdness of thy whoredome Jer. 13.27 Even I know and am a witness saith the Lord Jer. 29.23 That should be a powerful retentive from 〈◊〉 Prov. 5.21 And count all my steps Doth not he cipher them up Hebeus 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 rate not my wayes only my counsels and cogitations but my steps also that is all mine outward attempts and actions A most needful and useful consideration 〈◊〉 to keep men within the compass of obedience See this doctrine of Gods singular providence plainly and plentifully set forth Psal 139.1 2 3 4. Verse 5. If I have walked with vanity As they do who disquiet themselves in vain in heaping up riches by evil arts by deceits and covin in bargaining by getting other mens means fraudmently c. The getting of treasures by an evil tongue or any the like indirect course is a vanity tossed so and fro of them that seek death Prov. 21.6 Eventually such do seek death though not intentionally they spin a fair thred to strangle themselves both temporally and eternally Such vain and vile wayes therefore Job carefully declined Furtum á Virg. vocatur inane Aencid 6. for he knew them to be both base and bootless Ephraim fed upon the wind the balances of deceit were in his hand if thereby he filled his purse with coyn yet he had emptiness in his soul Lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia filled he was with aire and that aire was pestilential too his breath and death he drew in together Job would none of that Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit If I have been nimble and active to go beyond and defraud another in any matter 1 Thess 4.6 which what is it else but crimen stellionatus the very sin of cozenage and this not only acted but arted after long trading in it as the words of walking and hasting seem to import Verse 6. Let me be weighed in an even balance Heb. Let him weigh me Examinet me saith Tremellius David with the like confidence Search me O God saith he Psa 139.23 24 and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me any course of sin that is grievous to God or man wherein I have walked or my foot hath hasted Job would not rest in his own hearts applause neither would he be borne down by his friends false charges but puts himself into Gods hands to be weighed and then makes no question but his present sufferings will be found heavier than his former miscarriages in his inter-dealings with men for matter of gain and that there is some other cause though what he knoweth not for which God doth so grievously afflict him See David doing the like Psal 7.4 26.2 That God may know mine integrity i.e. That he may make known mine innocency and upright-heartedness in this particular of commerce with others that I have not dealt deceitfully Otherwise if God should weigh the best that are in a balance they would be found too light if he mark iniquities no man living can be justified Psal 139.3 143.2 If he turn up the Bottom of the Bag all our secret thefts will out and come to reckoning It is an idle conceit of some ignorant folk That God will weigh their good deeds against their bad and they shall well enough set off with him by the one for the other This they have drawn as they have not a few other fopperies from that practise of Popish Priests to perswade people that when men are at point of death St. Michael the Archangel bringeth a pair of balances and putteth in one scale their good works
the clearing of Christs innocency and as Theophylact holdeth for the salvation of this womans soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the several sorts of dreams natural divine and diabolical see the Annotations on Gen. 20.3 Verse 16. Then he openeâ—h the ears of men He maketh the bore bigger as it were that good counsel may enter he calleth up the eares of the soul to the eares of the body that one sound may peirce both he saith as to him in the Gospel Epphata and together with his word there goeth forth a power as Luke 4.32 See chap. 36.10 15. And sealeth their instruction Or Their correction for they go together Psal 94.12 Prov. 3.12 13. 6.23 and God seâ—leth or setteth on the one by the other as when a School-master would have a lesson learned indeed he sets it on with a whipping Luther saith that many of St Pauls Epistles could not be understood but by the crosse Vexatio dat intellectum Another grave Divine giveth this good advice To find out the sin that God afflicteth for consider what truths have been pressed upon your hearts before the affliction for afflictions use to come as seals to instruction before they did not come with power to your hearts now God seals them Thus he Bernard saith concerning his brother when he gave him many good instructions and he being a souldier minded them not he put his finger to his sides and said One day a spear shall make way to this heart of thine for instructions and admonitions to enter The Tigurine translation is full and elegant Tunc aurem hominibus velliâ— disciplinam corum velut impresso sigillo consignat Then he pulleth men by the eare and consigneth their instruction as with a seal set unto it Verse 17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose Or rather practise Heb. Work that is evil work called a mans own work Heb 4.10 for when we do evil we work de nostro secundum hominem 1 Cor. 3.3 as when the Devil speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own Joh. 8.44 Now from such bad work God taketh men off by dreams sometimes as he did Abimelech Gen. 20.3 and Laban Gen. 31.24 but more frequently by corrections of instruction which are the way of life Prov. 6.23 Christianorum Theologia as Luther calleth it Virtutum officina as 〈◊〉 Bonorum omnium thesâ—â—rus as Breâ—â—ius upon this text And hide pride from 〈◊〉 Which else as a Master-pock will break out in his forehead and testifie to his face By Pride we may understand all other sins which God both covereth and 〈◊〉 in his penitent people but pride iâ— fitly instanced because it was one of the first sins and is still the root and source of all other sins God therefore humbleth all his under his mighty hand and preserveth them from the perilous pinacle of self exaltation as he dealt with Paul both when he met him on the way to Damascus and unhorst him as also when by that thorn in the flesh he let out the imposthumated matter of pride out of his heart which might else have broken forth into odious and lothsome practices Verse 18. He keepeth back his soul from the pit Or That he may keep back his soul that is his body as Psal 16.10 Lev. 21.1 from the pit i.e. from the grave or from the pit-fals made for him by his enemies A penitent person redeemeth his own sorrows and provideth for his own safety Psal 91. and accordingly some read it He shall keep back his own soul c. And his life from perishing by the sword Whether by the sword of God or man he shall be extra jactum out of the gunshot or danger of any death whether corporal or eternal The universal Antidote for all the judgements of God is our humble repentance Aaron escaped by it when Miriam was smitten with Leprosie Per miserere mei tollitur ira Dei This is the Rain-bow which if God see shining in our hearts he will never drowne our souls Jehosaphat by this escaped the edge of the sword David and his poor sheep the stroak of the punishing Angel all the crowned Saints now in heaven the damnation of hell c. Verse 19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed He is chastened or chidden for all diseases are vocal they are real reprehensions Coarguitur dolore As God is said to hold his peace when he punisheth not Psal 50.21 Isai 42.14 so to preach and reprove when he doth Isai 26.9 and 28.19 Thus God by chastening David instructed him every morning Psal 73.14 His reines also taught him in the night season Sicknesse saith one is the shop of vertue It is morum disciplina felicit at is meditatorium voluntatis Dei Schola saith another King Alfred found it so and therefore besought God to send him ever and anon some fit of sicknesse for that saith he I ever find my self best when worst best in soul when worst in body the sickness of this is a medicine to that And the multitude of his bones with strong pain Some read it Et lis est â—ssium ejus vehemens his bones rattle in his skin as we say Confer Psal 38.4 He is all over so ill at ease that live he would not dye he cannot his pain piercing even to his very bones and drinking up his marrow as Jobs did all this Discouse being exemplified in him save that we finde not that he kept his bed Verse 20. So that his life abhorreth bread Which is the staffe of mans life and by the Latines called Panis of the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were all in all This the sick man vâ—lut sordidum abominatur abhorreth as some filthy thing so the Original word here signifieth he nauseateth and cannot away with it though made of the Kidneyes of wheat as Mòses phraseth it he brooks it no better then if it were made of saw dust or mixt with gravel or made with mans dung as that in Ezekiel And his soul dainty meats Heb. Meats of desire Those Dainties which he once sought so passionately and fed upon so eagerly he finds no more relish in then in the white of an egge or a dry chip yea they are no lesse horrid to him then rank poison See a like description of a sick person Psal 107.18 which seemeth to be taken from hence Verse 21. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen He that was habilior paulo corpulent and well lined within as we say is so pined with long sickness that you can hardly know him for the same man and he may well cry out with the Prophet My leannessé my leannesse Of Christ it is said though not through sickness that he had no form nor comlinesse and yet he was the fairest amongst men Psal 45.2 through grief and sufferances neither was there any beauty left that we should desire him for his outside Isai 53.2 And of Mr. Fox the
Martyrologue it is reported that having with infinite paines finished that elaborate Work of his the Acts and Monuments of the Church in eleven years space never using the help of any other man Mr Clark in his Life he grew thereupon so leane and withered that his friends know him not Now if sorrow and hard study will so macerate a man what marvel if long and sharp sicknesse and thereby extreme stomacklesnesse cause leanness and deformity And his bones that were not seen But could hardly be felt for flesh and fat now they stick out as in an Anatomy so that you may count them as also the veines and sinewes his body is become a very bag of bones a skin-bottle in the smoak as David hath it Verse 22 Yea his soul draweth neer unto the grave His soul that is His body as ver 18. for Elihu was no Mortallist neither dreamt he of a Psychopannychia He is in the very confines of death and no wayes likely to recover he is free among the dead as the Psalmist hath it And his life to the destroyers Lethalibus malis to deadly evils saith Trâ—mellius Mortiferis i.e. Morbis to those messengers of death deadly Diseases saith Vatablus To those that kill viz. Gentiles multa de Parcis fabulati sunt to the Angels by whom God sometimes destroyeth men as 2 Sam. 24.16 17. saith Piscator To enemies say other Pollinctoribus to the Bier-carryers say the Tigurines and so Beza paraphraseth so that hee stands not in need of any remedy or help of any thing more then of those who should carry his carcass unto the grave Verse 23. If there be a messenger with him An Angel say some but one man may be an Angel to another as Bradford was to Dr. Taylor Martyr who usually called him That Angel of God John Bradford If some Prophet or Teacher sent of God See Judg. 2.1 Mal. 3.1 Rev. 1.20 to the sick man who seeth his face as the face of an Angel and receiveth him as an Angel yea as Christ himself Gal. 4. in whose stead he is 2 Cor. 5.20 bringing the Embassage of reconciliation ibid. then which what can be more acceptable An Interpreter scil Of Gods holy Will who may assure the sick party that it is God who visiteth him in very faithfulnesse that he may be true to his soul that he doth it in mercy and in measure not to ruine him but to reduce him by repentance from dead works and by faith in Christ Jesus c. who may also set him in a course and pray for him as James 5.16 Dr. Vsher tells us that even in the times of Popery amongst our forefathers the ordinary instruction appointed to be given to men upon their death-beds was that they should look to come to glory not by their own merits but by the vertue and merit of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ that they should place their whole confidence in his death only and in no other thing and that they should interpose his death betwixt God and their sinnes betwixt them and Gods anger Serm. on Eph. 4.13 This was right and considering the times admirable This was better then that blasphemous direction they give elsewhere to dying men to say Conjunge Dâ—mine c Conjoyn O Lord mine obedience to all those things which Christ suffered for me c. One among a thousand Vnus è millibus not Vnus è similibus as the Vulgar Latine hath it by a gross mistake such as that Translation hath many One among a thousand he is said to be for the scarcity of such as can time a word comfort the afflicted conscience and speak to the heart of a poor distressed Creature who laboureth under the sense of sin and fear of wrath O quam hoc non est omnium This very few can skill of Luther who was excellent at it himself telleth us That it is a work every whit as hard as to raise the dead to life again Go ye rather to them that sell said the wise to the foolish Virgins and those are rare scil such faithful and wise distributers of Gods grace Isaiah 50.4 as having the tongue of the Learned and being instructed for that purpose to the Kingdome of heaven can comfort the feeble minded shore up and support the weak c. such a choice man is worth his weight in gold and O how beautiful are his feet Angelicall his face To declare â—n o man his uprightnesse Or His Righteousnesse that is Either the righteousnesse of Christ who is his peace or His that is the righteousnesse of his own experience how he hath been raised and received to mercy Or His to clear up to him his spiritual estate and shew his evangelical righteousness consisting more in purpose then in practice in confession of our imperfection then in any perfection we can attain unto It is not so much our inherent righteousnesse in regard of the worth dignity and excellency of it much lesse purity and perfection in it but as it is a fruit of Gods love and token of his favour a signe of our Adoption and Justification and a pledge of our glorification that yeeldeth comfort And this it will do when skilfully made out to a poor soul by a godly Minister and set on by the hand of that holy Spirit whereby the Saints are sealed to the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 and 1.13 Verse 24. Then is he gracious unto him and saith If the sick man thus counselled and comforted repent and believe the Gospel delivering himself up to God and to that his Messenger by the will of God Mercy and Truth shall be with him he shall be cured on both sides as that Palsie man was Matth. 9.2 the Lord shall raise him up if it may stand with his eternal welfare But howsoever if he have committed sinnes it shall be forgiven him James 5.15 Both the guilt and filth of them shall be taken away so that he shall be able to look death in the face with everlasting comfort as being made to him â—anua vitae porta coeli a postern to let out temporal but a street door to let in eternal life Deliver him from going down to the pit Tel him from me that he shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord as Psal 118.17 Nay say to this righteous man tell him so from me that it shall be well with him and very well Isai 3.10 Redeem him from going down to the infernal pit that is declare that Redemption to him wrought for him by Christ and apply it to his conscience powre the oyle of grace into his broken vessel and assure him in mine name and by mine Authority that I am his salvation Whose sinnes soever ye my faithful Ministers remit they are remitted unto them and whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Matth. 18. â—8 Joh. 20.23 But all this ministerially and declaratively not absolutely and out
good prayers in answer whereunto one saith well Si magicae Deus non vult tales si piae non per tales God heareth not good prayers from a bad man as that State in story would not hear a good motion from an ill mouth or as wee cannot indure to hear sweet words from a stinking breath The bloud of a Swine might not be offered in Sacrifices though better to look upon than the bloud of a Sheep Vers 4. Stand in awe and sin not Be stirred or commoved or troubled Tremble and sin not But now adays the Word and the World too is altered for men sin and tremble not being arrived at that dead and dedolent disposition of those Heathens who were past feeling Ephes 4.18 19. St. Paul rather alludeth to this text Eph. 4.6 than citeth it as some think Commune with your own heart upon your bed Advise with your Pillow what you have to do in a business so important as the practice of Repentance whereunto I am now exhorting you Here then examine your selves prove your own selves as 2 Cor. 13.5 Sift you sift you Zeph. 2.1 Recoil turn short again upon your selves thrust your hands into your bosoms as Moses did and took it out again Leprous white as snow Take a review of your hearts and lives converse with your selves a wise man can never want with whom to discourse though he be alone But as it is a sign that there are great distempers in that Family where Husband and Wife go divers days together and speak not the one to the other so in that Soul that flyeth from it self and can go long without Self-examination A good mans business lieth most within doors and he taketh the fittest time night or day for the better dispatch of it though thereby he abridge himself of his Natural rest Mr. Bradford the young Lord Harrington and sundry others kept Journals or Day-books and oft read them over for an help to Humiliation And be still Selah Or make a pause dwell upon the work of self-examination till you have made somewhat of it till you have driven it up to a Reformation as Lam. 3.39 40. Let us try and turn The word signifieth Be dumb and hereupon all our Silentiaries have founded their superstitious opinions and practices such as were those old Monks of Egypt who saith Cassian were umbrarum morè silentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as speechless as Ghosts So the Carthusian Monks at this day who speak together but once a week Some kind of Anabaptists also will not speak a word to any but those of their own Sect. Vers 5. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness Confess your sins and slay them run to him who is the propitiation Jesus Christ the righteous present your bodies a living Sacrifice bring a contrite spirit to do good and to communicate forget not c. else you offer the sacrifice of fools as Eccles 5.1 and not of righteousness here The Chaldee hath it Domate concupiscenti as sacrifice and subdue your lusts And put your trust in the Lord It is well observed that God brings men home by a contrary way to that they fell from him We fell from him by distrust by having him in a jealousie as if he aimed more at himself than at our good Wee return to him by having a good conceit of him that he loves us better than we can love our selves and therefore that we ought to put our trust in him both in life and death Vers 6. There be many that say Who will shew us c. This is Vox populi the common cry Studium improborum vagum good they would have but pitch not upon the true good It was well observed that he who first called Riches Bona goods was a better Husband than Divine but the most are such Husbands O siquis daret ut videâ—mus bonum Who will help us to a good bargain a good estate c. but God the chief good is not in all their thoughts they minde not communion with him or conformity to him which is the Bonum hominis Mic. 6.8 the totum hominis Eccles 12.13 the one thing necessary though nothing is less thought upon What are these outward comforts so much affected and admired saith Plato but Dei ludibria banded up and down like Tennis Balls from one to another A Spiritual man heeds not wealth or at least makes it not his business What tell you me of Money saith Paul I need it not but to further your reckoning Phil. 4.1 And David having spoken of those rich and wretched people that have their portion herein all abundance Psal 17.14 concludeth I neither envie their store nor covet their happiness it is enough for me that when I awake so at the Resurrection of the just I shall be full of thine Image vers ult Christ who had all riches scorned these Bona scabelli earthly riches he was born poor lived poor dyed poor for as Austin observeth when Christ dyed he made no will c. and as he was born in another mans house so he was buried in another mans tombe And yet he was and still is God blessed for ever Cicero indeed writing to Atticus would have one friend wish to another three things only viz. to enjoy Health possess Honour and not suffer Necessity How much better Pauls with Grace Mercy and Peace or Davids desire here Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us One good cast of Gods countenance was more to David than all this Worlds wealth than a confluence of all outward comforts and contentments He had set up God for his chief good and the light of Gods loving Countenance was the guide of that way that leadeth to that good and hence his importunity he cannot draw breath but in that air nor take comfort in any thing without Gods gracious aspect and some comings in from Christ It is better saith one to feel Gods favour one Hour in our repenting Souls than to sit whole Ages under the warmest Sun-shine that this world affordeth Saith not David so much in the next words Vers 7. Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than c. Joys unspeakable and full or glory 1 Pet 1.8 We read of some godly men that they have been overwhelmed with Spiritual joy till they have cried out Hold Lord stay thine hand I can bear no more like weak eyes that cannot endure to bear the light Indeed Bain Letterâ— this is not every good mans case witness that saying of sweet Master Bain I thank God in Christ sustentation I have but suavities spiritual I taste not any And that of holy Rolloc Whiles I live I never look to see perfect Reformation in the Church or to feel perfect ravishing joys in mine heart But those Gods people have are far beyond all Carnal comforts Than in the time that their Corn c. These indeed are the precious fruits of the earth Jam. 5.7 but they seal not up
better of us but as there were many Marii in one Caesar so are there many Doegs and Absoloms in the best of us all As in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of a man to a man They flatter with their tongue The Apostle Rom. 3.13 rendreth it With their tongues they have used deceit And it is remarkable that in the Anatomy of a Natural man there he stands more on the Organs of Speech Tongue Lips Mouth Throat than on all the rest of the Members Vers 10. Destroy thou them O God Heb. Condemn them as guilty They were Gods enemies no less than Davids Tom. 8. in Enarr â—ujus precationis and implacable incorrigible and hence hee so prayeth against them Est Prophetia non malediction saith Austin Let them fall by their own counsel As it befel Ahitophel Haman the Powder-Traitors Or let them fall from their own counsels i.e. not be able to effect their evil designs but defeated frustrated Cast them out c. Let those who were once a terrour now be a scorn for they are even ripe for ruine as having added rebellion to their sin Job 34.37 For they have rebelled against thee And so are more thine enemies than mine which maketh me so earnest against them being swallowed up with a zeal of thy glory Vers 11. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce Joy is the just mans portion contra Hos 9.1 Isa 65.13 14. and according to the measure of his faith so is his joy 1 Pet. 1.8 Let them ever shout or shrill out set up their Note as a Peacock doth which hath his name in Hebrew from this root Because thou defendest them Heb. Velut pie tabernaculum R. David Thou over-coverest them with thy sure defence for upon all the glory shall be a defence And there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain Isa 4.5 6. The Ram-skins covering the Ark from the violence of wind and weather figured out Christs protecting his people Let them also that love thy name As all the Virgins do who have smelt Christs name as an Oyntment poured out Cant. 1.3 See the Note there Be joyful in thee Heb. exult and leap for joy as if they were dancing Levalto's Thus Dr. Taylor the Martyr fetcht a frisk and danced when he was near unto the place where he should be burnt Rabbi Zabdi Ben Levi repeated this verse when he was at point of death Mid. Tillin in Psal 5 Another that in Psal 32. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee A Third that in Psal 84. One day in thy Courts is better c. A Fourth that in Psal 31. O how great is thy goodness c. Vers 12. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous yea the righteous man shall abound with blessings Prov. 28. 20. yea God will bless all them that bless him Gen. 12.3 or that but give him a cup of cold water Mat. 10. With favour Or goodwill Qua praecedit nostram bonam voluntatèm saith Augustin Wilt thou compass him Or encircle him as with a Crown and so make them higher than the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 whose Crowns cannot keep their heads from aking but fill them with cares which made one King cry out Val. Max O vilis pannus c. and another spake this to his Crown Nobilis es fateor rutilisque onerata lapillis Innumeris curis sed comitata venis Quod benè si nossent omnes expendere neme Nemo foret qui te tollere wellet humo As with a shield A piked-shield such as doth circuire tres partes hominis compass about three parts of a man saith R. Salomon on this Text. Shields and Bucklers ' besides other Bosses for ornament had one great Boss in the middle with a sharp pike in it for use to pierce and wound the adversary See Job 15.26 God will be all in all to his People Crown Shield c. they may therefore well enough rejoyce shout leap as in the former verse PSAL. VI. TO the chief Musician on Neginoth See Psal 4. Title Upon Sheminith or upon the eight i.e. Intentissimo sono clarissimo voce Vatab. to be sung aloud An Eight is the highest Note in Musick See 1 Chron. 15.21 Others say that hereby is meant the Base and Tenor as fittest for a Mourner Vers 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger In this and some other Psalms David begins so heavenly ends so merrily that one might think they had been composed by two men of a contrary humour as Moulin observeth De L' amont Divin Every new man is two men Rom. 7. The Shulamite hath in her as it were the company of two Armies Cant. 6.13 The Lord also chequereth his Providences white and black hee speckleth his work represented by those speckled Horses Zach. 1.8 Mercies and Crosses are inter-woven Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure Chastened David desires to be as Jer. 10.24 1 Cor. 11.32 Heb. 12.7 8. But in Mercy and in measure 1 Cor. 10.13 Fury is not in me saith God however it may sometimes seem to be Isa 27.4 Of furious people the Philosopher giveth this Character that they are angry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against those whom they should not 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for matters they should not 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more than they should be But none of all these can be affirmed of God Anger is not in him secundum affectum but seemeth so to be secundum effectum when he chideth and smiteth as angry people use to do when there is no other remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 his anger is in Scripture put 1 For his threatnings Hos 11.9 Jon. 3.10 2. For his punishments Mat. 3.7 Rom. 2.8 But as God therefore threatneth that he may not punish Amo. 4.12 so in the midst of Judgement he remembreth Mercy and it soon repenteth him concerning his people Vers 2. Have mercy upon me O Lord As the woman in story appealed from Philip to Philip so doth David fly from Gods anger to Gods grace for he had none else in Heaven or Earth to repair to Psal 73.25 he seekes here to escape him by closing with God and to get off by getting within him For I am weak or crushed gnashed extreamly dejected with sickness of body and trouble of mind Basil expounds it of his soul sins into which he fell of infirmity and for which hee was threatned with Judgements by the Prophet Nathan O Lord heal me On both sides heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Psal 41.4 heal my body which is full of dolours and diseases Psal 107.18.20 for thou art Jehovah the Phisician Exod. 15.26 Heal mine estate which is very calamitous by reason of mine enemies who wish my death and would gladly revel in my ruines See Hos
on this Text Men that is broken crackt-creatures Morbis mortique obnoxii woful weights sorry and sickly Caitives This to know savingly is the beginning of true Humility saith Augustine here PSAL. X. VErs 1. Why standest then afar off O Lord As if thou-hadst forgotten what thou hadst promised thy people in the former Psalm which the Greek and Latine Versions make to be one and the same with this as having no title and tending almost to the same purpose Hence the difference in Numbers which holdeth almost to the end of the Psalter viz. to Psal 148. Why hidest thou thy self in time of trouble So God seemeth to do when he helpeth not presently neither doth any thing more trouble the Saints in affliction than the want of Gods gracious presence This maketh them thus to expostulate and lament after the Lord not quarrel as those Hypocrites did Isa 58.3 or revile as Caligula did his Jupiter taking up that Verse in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or with him little better in the holy History who said Behold this evil is of the Lord and what should I wait for the Lord any longer 2 King 6.33 The good Soul knows that God waiteth to be gracious and as he seldom cometh at our time so at his own which is ever the best time he never faileth Vers 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost The wicked in his pride doth persecute c. Heb. hotly pursueth and that out of his pride the true cause of Persecution whatever else is pretended And this is fitly here alledged and urged as an Argument to move God to make hast See Deut. 32.27 The Saints fare the better for the insolencies and outrages of their enemies whose ruine is thereby accelerated and somewhat God will do the sooner for his people lest the enemy exalt himself Psal 140.8 and say Our hand is high the Lord hath not done this Let them be taken in the devieâ—s c. As all Persecutors are sure to be In which regard Tertullian well adviseth Scapula Si nobis non parcis tibi parce si non tibi Carthagini If thou wilt not spare us Christians yet spare thy self or if not thy self yet thy City Carthage which else will smart and smoke for thy cruelty Vers 3. For the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire Though the Soul of the wicked desire evil Prov. 21.10 yet he glorieth in it as did that Thrasonical Lamech Gen. 4. and that Pyrgopolynices Nebuchadnezzar Isa 10.9 10 11 12. See Psal 5 Phil. 3.19 This the just and jealous God cannot bear as neither that which followeth He blesseth the Covetous Vt sapientem providum as a wise man and good Husband So they in Malachy who said And now we count the proud happy c. Felix scelus virtus vocatur Whom the Lord abhorreth smiting his hands with indignation at his dishonest gain Ezek. 22.13 like as Balac did at Balaam Senecaâ— with whom he was deeply displeased Numb 24.10 Vers 4. The wicked through the pride of his countendnce That is of his heart appearing in his countenance as a master-pock in his fore-head For Pride buddeth Ezek. 7.10 the pride of Israel testifieth to his face Hos 5.5 the thoughts are oft seen in the countenance and the heart is printed upon the face Isa 3.9 'T is a hard thing saith one to have a brazen face and a broken heart Will not seek He thinks it not necessary or worth the while and his practice is agreeable that is nought all over Pride in the Soul is like a great swelling in the body which besides that it is a dangerous Symptom unfits it for any good service and is apt to putrifie and to break and to run with loath some and soul matter So doth Pride disable the Soul from doing duty and at last breaketh forth into odious deeds abominable to God and men It is observed that the ground whereon the Peacock useth to sit is by that occasion made exceeding barren so where pride roosteth and reigneth no good groweth God is not in all his thoughts God is neither in his head as here nor in his heart Psal 14.1 nor in his words Psal 12.4 nor in his ways Tit. 1.16 he is wholly without God in the world Ephes 2. he studies Atheism and all his thoughts are There is no God so this Text may be read he would fain so perswade himself Vers 5. His ways are always grievous As he Pleaseth not God so he is contrary and vexatious to men Via ejus semper terrent so Aben-Ezra The Psalmist here noteth him for such an one as the Cyclops are set forth to have been by the Poets Thy Judgements are far above out of his sight He looketh not so high but reckoneth that quae supra nos nihil ad nos If he read them at any time he regardeth them as little as he doth the story of forein Wars wherein he is not concerned As for all his enemies he puffeth at them He holdeth himself man good enough to make his party good with them and that he can overthrow them all with a puffe He defieth them and domintereth over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost as the Greek renders it Vers 6. He hath said in his heart I shall not be moved So said a better man once Psal 30.6 but he was quickly confuted If a beleever conclude by the force of his faith that he shall never be moved from that good estate in which Christ hath set him this is the triumph of trust and not the vain vaunt of presumption For I shall never be in adversity The Chaldee hath it Quoniam non sum in malo and understandeth it of the evil of sin as Exod. 32.22 and then the sense is because the wicked man suffereth not the punishment of sin therefore he conceiteth that he is innocent and without sin See Hos 12.8 with the Note Vers 7. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit Such cursing men are cursed men and for such slippery and deceitful persons the Lord is the avenger of all such 1 Thess 4.8 Vnder his tongue is mischief that is in his heart which is by Nature placed beneath the Tongue making its use of it for much mischief Matth. 12.34 Jam. 3.8 The word Toch here rendred fraud signifieth properly the middle of any thing Quoniam fraus in modio cordis est saith R. David because fraud is in the middle of the heart and there-hence sent into the mouth Vers 8. He sitteth in the lurking-places c. A description of an High-way-robber saith Diodate under which name are meant all violent and fraudulent men and their actions Vers 9. He lieth in wait secretly as a Lion in his den See Job 38.40 with the Note When hee draweth him into his Net that is into his bonds debts morgages saith Chrysostome When a poor man is once gotten into these Nets wicked Oppressors do not only rob but ravish them coyning their mony
place Never was the Ark setled till set in Solomons Temple neither shall we till we come to Heaven David having described an Atheist in Psal 14. and finding but too many such in the bosome of the Church Politicians prophane Persons Hipocrites who profess that they know God but in works they deny him Tit. 1.16 He that dethroneth a King doth as bad as he that denieth him He therefore beggs of God to disterminate and put a difference between the righteous and the wicked by certain infallible distinctive Notes and Characters wherein men may surely rest without danger of being deceived sith his testimony is beyond all exception and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-credible Here then that grand and grave Question is propounded by David as a Prophet of God consulting with him and answered by God himself for more authority sake who is the true Citizen of Zion the free Denizon of the New Jerusalem who is a right member of the Church Militant and shall be at length of the Church Triumphant A reverend Divine said once to a poor Soul that told him he was troubled about his Salvation I tell thee said he it is able to trouble the whole World Sinners salâ— by Hooker pag. 2. Let a man but approve himself the party here described in desire at least and endeavour being humbled for his daily failings and he may be confident Who shall dwell in thine holy hill Heaven is aptly compared to a Hill Hell to a Hole Now who shall ascend into this holy Mount None but those whom this Mount comes down unto that have sweet communion with God in this life present whose conversation is in Heaven though their commoration be for a while upon earth who do here cate and drink and sleep eternal life Vers 2. He that walketh uprightly This is Gods answer for men are unsound and unfit to judge saith Calvin They judge according to opinion and appearance many times and send those to Heaven that can never come there as the Pope doth his Canonized Saints Mahomet those that dye in defence of Turcisme and Parasitical Preachers their irreligious benefactors But God only admitteth such as are righteously religious and religiously righteous such as through whose whole lives godliness runneth as the Woof doth through the Warp Hee then that shall be an inhabitant of Heaven must first walk uprightly or evenly Christians saith Tertullian are funambulones as those that walk on ropes if they tread but one step awry they are utterly gone they must be Sine terrena profunda fraude as R. David here glosseth without guile and unacquainted with the depths of the Devil Prov. 11.22 the upright in their way are opposed to the froward in heart And such only shall dwell with devouring fire that is with God Isa 33.14 15. The Arabick version for uprightly here hath without a cloud of vices And worketh righteousness This is wrought by faith Heb. 11.33 and such a man is acceptable to God Act. 10.35 But the whole life of unbeleevers is sin saith Austin neither is there any thing good without the chiefest good It was well said of Luther Walk in the heaven of the Promise but in the earth of the Law that in respect of beleeving this of obeying And speaketh the truth in his heart His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are all one he speaks as he thinks his speech is the lively image of his inward affection That was no commendation to that Pope and his Nephew of whom it was said that the one never spoke as hee thought the other never performed what he spoke Vers 3. Hee that backbiteth not with his tongue that trotteth not up and down for the purpose as the word signifieth Ragal when Regal a fooâ— Ruchil that walketh not about as a Pedlar with his pack as the word is Levit. 19.16 this is a bloody sin ibid. confer Ezek. 22.9 Many wayes a man may backbite with his tongue that unruly member Imponens augens manifestans in mala vâ—rtens Qui negat aut minuit tacuit laudatque remisse One observeth from this Text that there is also a slander of the heart that never commeth into the tongue sc hard conceits and evill surmises Some say that the word here signifieth to speak truth but with a mischievons mind to hurt another as Doeg dealt by David and is therefore accursed Psal 52. and called a lyer for his labour Psal 120. The smutting of another mans good-name in any kind behind his back is backbiting it is an irreparable wrong take heed of it The eye and the good-name can bear no jests as the Proverb hath it Nor dath evill to his Neighbour Neither by disparaging nor disprofiting him There is an elegancy in the originall that cannot be Englished Nor taketh up a reproach against his Neighbour Or receiveth Or indureth The tale-bearer carrieth the Devill in his tongue the tale-hearer in his ear Plautus wisheth that the one may be hanged by his tongue and the other by his ear the receiver wee say is as bad as the â—heef Not only he that maketh a lye but he that loveth it is excluded Heaven Rev. 22.15 It is evill to sow reports and slanders but worse to harrow them in The Heathen could say Hee that easily beleeveth slanders aut improbis aut puerilibus est moribus is either a knave or a fool Vers 4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned An abject a Reprobate as one rendreth it Josephus be he as high as Haman See Esthers Character of him chap. 7. 6. and Mordicaâ—'s slighting of him chap. 3.2 Bee he as great as Antiochus Epiphanes to whom the Samaritans excusing themselves that they were no Jews wrote thus To Antiochus the great God Daniel counted and called him a vile person chap. 11.21 So Elisha despised Jehoram the King 2 King 3.14 we also must despise the wicked yet non virum sed vitium salvo cuique loci sui honere giving honour befitting their places to whom honour is due Rom. 13. but shunning that partiality taxed by St. James chap. 2.3 4. The Burgesse of the new Jerusalem reprobes reprobat probos probat hee cannot flatter any man nor fancy such as in whom hee findeth not aliquid Christi something of the image of God A golden Colosse stuffed with rubbish hee cannot stoop to But hee honoureth them that fear the Lord As the only earthly Angells though never so mean and despicable in the Worlds eye Mr. Fox being asked whether hee remembred not such a poor servant of God who had received succour from him in time of trouble answered I remember him well I tell you I forget Lords and Ladies to remember such Ingo an ancient King of Draves and Veneds set his Pagan-Nobles at a feast in his Hall below and a company of poor Christians with himself in his presence Chamber Aeneas Sylv. cap. 20. entertaining them with the royallest chear and kingliest attendance that might be At
abased c. Bern. Sine Deo omnis copia est egostas In pleasant places From the delectable Orchard of the Leonine Prison Quis in Deo 〈◊〉 poâ—tio mea 〈◊〉 quasi in loco 〈◊〉 maeno R. David said that Italian Martyr dating his Letter Tua praesentia Domine Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit said that Ancient Thy presence Lord made Laurence his gridiron pleasant to him Yea I have a goodly heritage I have as much in content at least as hee who hath most The Bee is as well pleased with feeding on the dew or sucking from a flower as Behemoth that grazeth on the Mountaines The Lark when alost seeth further with a little eye than the Oxe on the ground with a greater Atque suum tirilitirilitiritirlire cantat Vers 7. I will blesse the Lord who hath given mee counsel David frequently consulted with God by Abiathar the Priest whom God by a sweet providence sent unto him with an Ephod for a comfort in his banishment 1 Sam. 22.20 Saul had slain those that ware the Ephod therefore God answered him not neither by dreams nor by Vrim nor by Prophets 1 Sam. 28.6 as hee did his Servant David who therefore blesseth him when the other runneth from him to the Witch for counsel and from her to the swords point My reines also instruct mee God hath not only illuminated mee whereby I shall bee the better able to endure a great fight of affliction Heb. 10.32 but hee hath also sanctified mee and honoured mee with holy inspirations and feeling of the Spirit of Adoption whereby mine internall thoughts and secret motions do dictate and suggest unto mee what I ought to do and undertake Methinks I hear a sweet still voice within mee saying This is the way walk in it and this in the night-season when I am rapt in rest and silence or night after night the Spirit is a continuall spring of counsel and comfort within mee prompting mee to make God my portion and to chuse this good part that shall never be taken away from mee In the night-seasons When commonly we are prone to evill Nox Amor c. Ovid. Illa pudore vacat c. and which is the wicked mans fittest opportunity Job 24.13 15 16. c. It must not content us that God by his word hath given us counsel but wee must labour to be inwardly taught of God A man may read the figure upon the Diall but hee cannot tell how the day goes unlesse the Sun shine upon the Diall Wee may read the Bible over and hear it opened and applied but can learn nothing till the Spirit shine into our hearts 2 Cor. 4. and so our reines instruct us c. Vers 8. I have set the Lord alwaies before mee Heb. I have equally set or proposed Ex Syro Serm. The Apostle translateth it I foresee the Lord alwaies before my face Act. 2.25 I set the eye of my faith full upon him and suffer it not to take to other things I look him in the face oculâ—irretorto as the Eagle looketh upon the Sun and oculo adamantino with an eye of Adamant which turns only to one point so here I have equally set the Lord before mee without irregular affections and passions And this was one of those lessons that his reines had taught him that the holy Spirit had dictated unto him Because hâ—e is at my right hand To help mee that I fall not saith R. David or as a thing that I cannot but remember as being of continuall use to mee It is as necessary to remember God as to draw breath saith Chrysostome I shall not be moved i.e. not greatly moved as Psal 62.2 though Satan stand at the right hand of a godly man to resist and annoy him Zech. 3.1 yet so long as God is at his right hand to assist and comfort him and hee at Gods right hand Psal 45.9 which is a place of honour and safety hee cannot bee moved The gates of Hell shall never prevail Christ our Sampson hath flung them off their hinges Vers 9. Therefore my heart is glad c. That is I am all over in very good plight as well as heart can wish or need require I do over-abound exceedingly with joy God forgive mee mine unthankfullnesse and unworthinesse of so great glory as that Martyr said In all the dayes of my life I was never so merry as now I am in this dark dungeon c. Wicked men rejoyce in appearance and not in heart Mr. Philpot. 2 Cor. 5.12 their joy is but skin-deep their mirth frothy and flashy such as wetteth the mouth but warmeth not the heart But David is totus totus quantus quantus exultabundus his heart glory flesh answerable as some think to that of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.23 Spirit Soul and Body were all over-joyed My flesh also shall rest or confidently dwell in hope Namely in this World as in a wayfaring lodging Diod. then in the grave as a place of safeguard and repose and at last in heaven as in its true and eternall mansion Vers 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell that is my body in the grave animamque sepulchro condimus or in the State of the dead Gen. 37.35 That Soul is sometimes put for a carcass or dead corps Virg. de Polydori funere Aeneid 3. See Job 14.22 Lev. 19.28 21. 1.11 Num. 5.2 6.6 19.13 which place is expounded Ezek 44.25 David can confidently write upon his grave Resurgam I shall rise against This many Heathens had no hope of 1 Thes 4.13 Cum semel occider is Non Torquate tuum genus aut facundia non te Restituet pietas c. Horat. lib. 4. od 7. Yet some Heathens beleeved both the immortality of the soul and therefore durst dye animaque capaces Mortis and the Resurrection of the body as did Zoroastes Theopompus Plato and as do the Turks at this day Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One c. that is the Messiah that is to come out of my loines and who saith to mee and all his Members 2s Isa 26.19 in effect Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust c. See the Note on the Title Michtam The former part of this verse seems to be spoken of David the latter of Christ like as Job 35.15 the former part is of God the latter of Job See the Margin Christs resurrection is a cause pledge and suerty of the Saints resurrection to glory for joy whereof Davids heart leapt within him Christs body though laid in the corrupting-pit could not see that is feel corruption It was therefore a pious errour in those good women who brought their sweet odours to embalm his dead body Luke 24.1 Vers 11. Thou wilt shew mee the path of life This being applied to Christ seemeth to shew that as man
the Greeks for like cause call it is the tenderest piece of the tenderest part the eye which is kept most diligently and strongly guarded by Nature with tunicles David therefore fitly prayeth to be so kept Hide me under the shadow of thy wings Another excellent similitude taken from Fowls which either cover their Young with their wings from the scorching heat of the Sun beams as doth the Eagle or keep them thereby from the cold or from the Kite as Hens do Gods love to and care of his poor people is hereby shadowed out as it was likewise by the out-spread wings of the Cherubins in the Sanctuary See Ruth 2.12 Deut. 32.10 Zach. 2.8 Psal 36.8 57.2 Matth. 23.37 Vers 9. From the wicked that oppress me Heb. That waste me i.e. that cast me out into banishment despoyled of all This hard usage of his enemies drove David into Gods blessed Bosom as Children misused abroad run home to their Parents From my deadly enemies Heb. My enemies against the soul i. e. the Life at least if not the soul which they would gladly destroy Some malice is so mischeivous that it would ruine Body and Soul together as that Monster of Millain the enemies of John Husse and Hierom of Prague whose bodies they delivered to the fire and their Souls to the Devil David elsewhere complaineth of his enemies that they did Satanically hate him Psal 55 4. Beware of men saith our Saviour Mat. 10. for one man is a Devil to another Vers 10. They are inclosed in their own fat See Job 15.27 with the Note They abound in all delights Adipem suum obesant Trem. and therefore spare not to speak proudly They have closed up their eyes in their fulsome fat ut non videant nec timeant te saith R. Solomon that they can neither see nor fear thee With their mouth they speak proudly Heb. in pride that is Palam plenis buccis openly and with full mouth they contemn God and men they belch out Blasphemies and do what they please Vers 11. They have now compassed us in our steps i.e. Me and my company so that we cannot stir any whither but we are in danger of them In all thy ways acknowledge God and he shall direct thy paths Prov. 3.6 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him c. Psal 37.5 Keep within Gods Precincts and thou shalt be under his protection He took order that a Bird should be safe upon her own Nest They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth i.e. Hoc unum spectant ut ruamus Junius They are earnestly bent and firmly resolved upon our ruine as one that fixeth his eyes upon another to mark him or to know him again or as Bulls ready to run at one set their eyes downward Vers 12. Like as a Lion that is greedy c. Cruelty and Craft are conjoyned in the Churches enemies as the Aspe never wandreth alone they say without his companion David here pointeth out some one special enemy Saul likely who should have been a Shepherd but proved a Lion As a young Lion lurking Therefore as we tender our safety keep close to God out of whose hands none can take us no not the roaring Lion of Hell Vers 13. Arise O Lord disappoint him Anticipa faciem ejus that is that raging and ravening Lion step between me and him and stop his fury defeat his purpose and disable his power Which is thy Sword As Assyria is called the Rod of his Wrath. Attilas stiled himself Orbis flagellum the wrath of God and the scourge of the World Turk Hist So Tamerlan was commonly called The Wrath of God and Terrour of the world Some render it by thy Sword i.e. or thy might and power See Job 40.41 or by thy Word execute thy judgement Vers 14. From men which are thy hand This saith one is Davids Letany From those men c. good Lord deliver me Gods hand they are called as before Gods Sword Titus Son of Vespasian being extolled for destroying Jerusalem said I have only lent God my hand but he hath done the work From men of the World Heb. A mortuis i. e. impiis qui sunt mortui in vits eorum R. Gion From Mortals of this transitory world qui sunt mundani mundum spirant sapiunt the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea as opposed to the Citizens of the New Jerusalem Rev. 12.12 such as having incarnated their souls as that Father speaketh are of the earth speak of the earth and the earth heareth them Job 3.31 mind earthly things only as if they were born for no other purpose Terrigene fratres animam habentes triticeam as those Stall-fed beasts in the Gospel Which have their portion in this life And they love to have it so saying with the Prodigal Give me the Portion that belongeth to me They crave it and they have it but with a vengeance Munera magna quidens misit sed misit in hamo As the Israelites had Quails to choke them and afterwards a King to vex them a table to be a snare to them c. By the way observe that wicked men have a right to earthly things a man must needs have some right to his portion what Ananias had was his own whilst be had it Acts 5. and it is a rigour to say they are Usurpers As when the King gives a Traitor his life hee gives him meat and drink that may maintain his life So is it here neither shall wicked men be called to account at the last day for possessing what they had but for abusing that possession As for the Saints who are heirs of the world with faithful Abraham and have a double portion even all the blessings of Heaven and of Earth conferred upon them though here they be held to strait allowance let them live upon reversions and consider that they have right to all and shall one day have rule of all Rev. 3. Mendicato pane hic vivamus annon hoc pulchrè sarcitur c. What though we here were to live upon Alms saith Luther is there not a good amends made us in that here we have Christ the bread of life in his Ordinances and shall hereafter have the full fruition of him in Heaven The whole Turkish Empire is nothing else but a crust cast by our Father to his Doggs and it is all they are likely to have let them make them merry with it Wilt not thou saith another bee content unless God let down the vessel to thee as to Peter with all manner of Beasts of the Earth and Fowls of the Air Acts 10.12 Must you needs have first and second course Difficile est ut praesentibus bonis quis fruatur futuris ut hic ventrem illic mentem reficiat ut de deliciâ—s ad delicias transeat ut in coelo in terra gloriosus appareat saith Hierom It is a very hard thing to have Earth and Heaven
that he cannot but cry out Who can understand c. O cleanse c. The most perfect Saints are the most sensible of their imperfections as the more delicate the Senses are the more sharply are they affected with what offends them Rom. 7.14 1 Cor. 15.9 10. Alas for us saith one good man Ipsa lachrymae sunt lachrymabiles we had need to weep over our tears sigh over our sobs mourn over our griefs c. Look how when we have swept a room never so clean saith Spinaeus if the Sun do but come into it at the windows De instit Christian we soon espy abundance of filthy motes mingled with the beams thereof so is it with our hearts when once illightned What a blinde buzzard then was he that said Non habeo Domine quod mihi ignoscas Lord I have nothing for thee to pardon And no wiser was Bellarmine that great Scholar but ill read in his own heart if that be true that is reported of him viz. that when the Priest came to absolve him he could not remember any particular sin to confess till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth Of Philip the Third King of Spain Val. Max. Christ 263. it is said that he lived so strictly that he never committed any gross Crime or wilful wickedness yet coming to dye he cried out O that I had never reigned O that I had lived a private life in the Wilderness that I might not have now to answer for not doing the good or hindering the evil that I might have done in my government Cleanse thou me from secret faults Secret from my self many of them sins of ignorance and of inadvertency secret from the world more of them heart sins but not secret from the Lord Psal 90.8 Heb. 4.13 These are of daily and hourly incursion involuntary and unavoydable infirmities yet are they sins properly so called and we must be cleansed from them by the Merit and Spirit of Christ they must be repented of in general at least and then there is a pardon of course for them and they do not usually distract and plunge the Conscience Vers 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins Heb. With-draw inhibit for we are naturally prone to the worst of sins even the best of us and to lye buried with the World in a bog of wickedness adding rebellion to sin and doing wickedly with both hands earnestly unless God reign us in and restrain us from such enormities Midrash Tillin in Psal 191. Pray we therefore as here Etiam â superbiis contine servum tuum Davids Murthering Vriah was a sin of this sort The Rabbins here observe how the Propher riseth in his request first for pardon of lesser sins and then for power against greater like as a Begger say they first craves a little water and then a Morsel of bread We should do so Let them not have dominion over me Sin will rebel but it must not reign in our mortal bodies it must not play Rex and bear sway in the soul Pray hard against that in chief Ne iniquit as victrix dominetur that our lusts be not our Lords that vice vanquish us not Then shall I be upright Then when I have gotten both pardoning and prevailing-grace to bee cleansed from infirmities and kept from presumptions and arrogancies which cum temerario ausu fastu fiunt contumaciter I shall bee upright in Gods account and entire in his obedience And I shall bee innocent from the great transgression That sin unto death 1 John 5. 16. that wickednesse with a witnesse for which there remaineth no more sacrifice Heb. 10.26 and unto which a way is paved by sins of presumption with an high hand committed against knowledge and conscience Vers 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations c. Sint ad beneplacitum verba c. Let both my words and thoughts as well as my life and actions bee to favourable acceptation let them be such as may suit with thy law and will Midrash 〈◊〉 lin O Lord my strength Heb. My Rock In Mare velin Marah velin hoc mundo say the Rabbines In the Sea of sorrow and all along the Wildernesse of this World And my Redeemer Or My near-kinsman who is Jesus Christ in whom we may look for all good from God by vertue of the Covenant This David well understood and therefore hee layeth all the weight on this O Lord my strength and my Redeemer PSAL. XX. A Psalm of David Or Concerning David so Kimchi Or for and on the behalf of David so Aben-Ezra David as a Prophet dictated this form of prayer to bee made by the people for himself their King when hee went forth to fight their battels probably against the Ammonites and Syrians or when hee fled from Absolom and was to help them from the City by his prayers 2 Sam. 18.3 as Aben-Ezra thinketh Vers 1. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble Great men though gracious as David have their distresses and must pray for themselves then not trusting to the prayers of others for them as did that prophane Earl of Westmorland Camden who said that hee had no need to pray sith hee had Tenants enough to pray for him The name of the God of Jacob defend thee Heb. set thee in an high place such as Gods name is Prov. 18.10 the righteous run thereto and are safe as in a Tower of brasse or Town of war By the name of God is meant Deus nominatissimus the most renowned God saith Junius and worthy to bee praised as Psal 18.3 And hee is called the God of Jacob here saith Another first because Jacob was once in the like distresse Gen. 32.6 7. secondly because hee prayed to the like purpose Gen. 35.3 thirdly because hee prevailed with God as a Prince and there God spake with us Hos 12.5 fourthly because God of Jacob is the same with God of Israel and so the Covenant is pleaded Vers 2. Send thee help from the Sanctuarie Or From his holy heaven saith Tremellius without which vain is the help of man God is all the Dooer in battels and whencesoever the sword comes it is bathed in Heaven Isa 34.5 whatsoever Ajax Timotheus Atheniensis and other Atheists think to the contrary God will send from Heaven and save mee saith holy David And strengthen thee out of Sion i. e. Out of the Assemblies of the Saints where they are praying hard for thy well-fare See Psal 76.2 3. with the Note Vers 3. Remember all thine offerines Before they went to war they were wont to offer sacrifices as did Saul though by his over-haste therein hee lost his Kingdome 1 Sam. 13.9 From the people of God the Heathens also had learned this course and custome Io Paean is in force Jehovah Peneh that is Lord look upon us The Devil Gods ape had taught the Athenians when they began the battel to use these words
a ship full of Frankincense and bade him sacrifice freely Vers 5. His glory is great in thy salvation He was at first slighted even by his own as a petty Prince and the Philistines came up to seek him that they might suppress him before he grew too strong for them in so much as he for fear of them went down to the Hold 2 Sam. 5.17 but soon after he became formidable to them and the rest of the neighbour-Nations whom he subdued and reigned over The like hereunto befell our Queen Elizabeth who how low soever at first became at length as her enemies confessed the most glorious Woman that ever swayed Scepter because Posuit Deum adjutorem suum Honour and Majesty hast thou laid upon him a growing weight of glory a load of it even before man The Saints when they come to Heaven shall have an exceeding excessive eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 such as if the body were not upheld by the mighty Power of God it were impossible it should ever bear it Vers 6. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever Heb. Thou hast set him to be blessings For as the wicked when destroyed by some horrible Judgment are examples to others of Gods curse Isa 65.15 Jer. 29.22 2 Pet. 2.6 Judaeus sim si fallam say the Turks at this day when they would assure any thing for a certainty so the godly when in a speciall manner blessed are Patterns of blessings to others that in them they may blesse themselves or others Psal 72.17 Psal 1 28. 4. Gen. 12.2 48.20 Ruth 4.11 12. See Psal 37.26 So here they shall say Tanto rerum successu polleas quanto David Maist thou bee as successfull as ever David was Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance One good cast whereof David long since preferred before all the worlds good Psal 4.6 See the Note there Vers 7. For the King trusteth in the Lord So then his joy was the joy of faith which is unspeakable and full of glory and hee must needs bee safe who relyeth upon God Isa 26.4 Hee shall not bee moved sc from the prosperous successe of his affaires and state the beauty and bulwark whereof is Gods never failing mercy Vers 8. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies Thine because ours for thou art in a league with us both defensive and offensive Now our enemies act as if they were out of the reach of thy rod but thou wilt easily hunt them down and root them out Pursued they shall bee by thee and overtaken run they never so farre never so fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 9. Thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven i.e. Thou shalt lay upon them grievous and exquisite miseries Lam. 5.10 Hee alludeth to the overthrow of Sodom saith Vatablus The Lord shall swallow them up As the fire doth the fuel Some think the Prophet here alludeth to that direfull kind of punishment which David inflicted upon the Ammonites whom hee made to pass thorow the brick-kiln 2 Sam. 12.31 perhaps the furnace of their Idol Moloch or Milcholm wherein they caused their Children to passe thorow the fire 2 King 16.3 23.10 And the fire shall devour them Hell-fire saith the Chaldee Paraphrast Vers 10. Nulla emolumenta laborum Juven Their fruit shalt thou destroy i.e. Their labour and that which comes thereof Prov. 21.16 31. they shall toil to no purpose the gains shall not pay for the paines And their seed For as personall goodnesse is profitable to posterity so on the contrary as in the second Commandement they are peremptores potius quam Parentes Bern. Vers 11. For they intended evill against thee Because against thy people Hee that wrongeth a subject is arraigned for injury done to the King his Crown and dignity And as a certain Gentleman of Normandy was executed for but intending only to kill Francis the second King of France which he discovered to a Priest sub sigillo confessionis not thinking ever to hear further of it again so here Vers 12. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back Who faced the very Heavens and ran as it were full butt against thee such was their impudence and insolence But thy wrath shall so meet them in the teeth wheresoever they turn that they shall bee forced to give over their chase and pursute of thy people Thou shalt make them turn their back Heb. their shoulder whence some sense the words thus Thou shalt bind them back to back and cast them into the Sea of perdition Some read the words thus Pones eos ut meram Kimchi Thou shalt set them as a Butt or Mark to shoot at and this agreeth best with that which followeth Against the face of them Which is elegantly campared to the white as their bodies to the whole mark or Butt Vers 13. Bee thou exalted Lord in thine own strength Finit Psalmum cum laude sicut incaepit saith Aben-Ezra Hee closeth up the Psalm as hee began it with praise and prayer that God would arise and destroy therest as hee had allready done some of their enemies Gods power and strength is in it self infinite and cannot be exalted or amplified but in respect of us it is said to bee exalted when exerted and put forth for the defence of his people So will we sing and praise thy power This they restipulate as knowing that it would please the Lord better than an Ox or Bullock that hath hornes and hoofs Psal 69.31 PSAL. XXII UPon Ajeleth Shahar Or The morning-Hart or stag such an one as the huntsman severeth out in the morning from the rest to hunt for that day It sheweth saith One Davids and Christs early and uncessant persecution and hunting by those doggs vers 16. till they came to their Kingdomes David had his share of sharp afflictions doubtlesse when hee penned this Psalm witnesse that graphicall description of his greatest grief in all parts and powers of body and soul Vers 14 15 16 c. But his mind and thoughts were by Gods holy Spirit carried out to Christs most dolorous and inexpressible sufferings to the which all his were but as flea-bitings as the slivers or chips of Christs Crosse and this was no small mitigation of his misery When the Jews offered our Saviour gall and vinegar hee tasted it but would not drink Therest hee left for his people and they must pledge him filling up that which is behind of his sufferings Col. 1.24 though for a different end as for exercise example triall witnesse of truth c. Vers 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee David had prayed Oh for sake mee not utterly Psal 119.8 In part and for a time hee knew God might forsake him to his thinking at least But what saith Austin Non deserit Deus etiamsi deserere videatur non deserit etiamsi deserat God forsaketh not his though hee leem sometimes to do so hee leaveth them sometimes
but forsaketh them never as in an eclipse the earth wanteth the light of the Sun but not the influence thereof David could at the same time call God his God thrice over which are words of faith and do plainly evince that this desertion under which hee groaned was neither absolute nor reall but only that hee was in a great distresse and perplexity Plat. in Phaed so that hee did beleeve and yet not beleeve Plato though a Heathen could say that a man may do so See the like Psal 31.22 Jon. 2.4 See the Note there Our Saviour in his deepest distresse on the Crosse when coping and conflicting with the wrath of his heavenly Father who beside the wrath of men and rage of Devills in that three houres darknesse especially fought against him with his own bare hand hee suffered more than can bee imagined took up this patheticall exclamation and as some think repeated this whole Psalm Then it was that hee felt in soul and body the horrour of Gods displeasure against sin for which he had undertaken Then it was that the Deity though never separated from his Humanity no not in death when soul and body were sundred for a season did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Father speaketh suspend for time the influence of its power and lye hid as it were neque vires suas exserebat not putting forth its force as formerly Hilary hath a good Note upon this part of Christs passion Habes conquerentem relictum se esse c. Here thou hast him complaining as forsaken of God this sheweth him to have been a man but withall thou hast him promising paradise to the penitent theef this speaketh him God Why art thou so farre from c. I roar and am not relieved as to ease God will have his people feel what an evill and bitter thing sin is Jer. 2.19 and therefore he holdeth them eftsoones long upon the rack Christ also under the deep sense of our sins for which hee suffered offered up prayers with strong crying and tears to him that was able to save him from death Heb. 5.7 Vers 2. O my God I cry in the day time c. This was a sore temptation that his heartiest prayers were not heard This might have made him jealous of God to have had hard conceits of him and heavy conceits of himself But saith hee in the following verses Thou art holy and thy Name is to bee sanctified though I bee not gratified And moreover Others have called upon thee and have been heard vers 4 5. though I now for mine unworthinesse am denyed For I am a worm and no man Vers 6. Thus it puts him not off that hee is not heard as others but humbles him It drives him not as is usuall with carnall people in like case to shifting courses as a dogg that hath lost his Master will follow after any one for relief A Christian never prevaileth so little by his prayers but that hee will take heart of grace to come again to God Silence or sad answers do not utterly dishearten him Hee ceaseth not wrestling till hee hath wrested the blessing out of Gods hand with Jacob and gotten matter of praise for his prayers granted as David here doth ere he had done the Psalm vers 24 25. Vers 3. But thou art holy And therefore to bee sanctified in righteousnesse Isa 5.16 whatever betide mee or my prayers I also will trust and try thee to the uttermost for thou waitest to bee gracious and being a God of Judgement thou best understandest when and how to dispense and deal forth thy favours to thy suppliants Isa 30.18 And if I ask good things of thee and misse it is because I ask amisse Jam. 4.3 If I bee straitned it is not in thee but in mine own bowels They that have Conduit-water come into their houses if no water come they conclude not the spring to bee dry but the pipes to bee stopped or broken If prayer speed not wee must bee sure the fault is not in God but in our selves were we but ripe for mercy hee is ready to extend it to us and even waits for the purpose O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel i.e. The Sanctuary where thou art continually praised by thine Israel who have the happinesse to receive thine answer to their sutes though I cannot Some render it O sancte sempiterne laudatissime Vers 4. Our Fathers trusted in thee They trusted and trusted and trusted they lengthened out their trust The Hebrew word for Hope or Trust signifieth also a line because thereby the heart is stretcht out as a line to the thing hoped for and hee that beleeveth maketh not haste And thou didst deliver them Never could any instance bee given to the contrary Let the successe of our forefathers confidence and hope unfailable flowing from faith unfeigned confirm our fiduciall dependance upon Gospel-promises Vers 5. They cryed unto thee Having first trusted It is the prayer of faith that does the deed And were not confounded Deo confisi nunquam confusi Vers 6. But I am a worm and no man David saith a learned man in the Arabick tongue signifieth a worm to which hee may here seem to allude I am a worm saith Hee I am dust and ashes saith Abraham less than the lest of thy loving kindnesses saith Jacob. Nos autem quid sumus saith Moses Thus the Saints expresse themselves in a low language as so many broken men Contrarily the wicked speak big words bubbles of words as Peter hath it ampullantur as Pharaoh who said Who is the Lord Nebuchadnezzar Who is that God that can deliver you Dan. 3. who is Lord over us c. Psal 12. Our Lord Christ of whom the greatest part of this Psalm must bee understood emptied and humbled himself to the utmost Phil. 2.7 8. that wee might bee exalted this San of Righteousness went ten degrees back in the Diall of his Father that hee might come unto us with health in his wings c. A Reproach of men Rejectamentum hominis nullificamen populi as Tertullian phraseth it So was Christ Isa 53. so were his Apostle 1. Cor. 4.13 wee are made the sweepings of the World the off-scourings of all things the very dung-cart into which every man casteth his filth to bee carried thorough the dung-port Why then should we think much to be slighted Vers 7. All they that see mee laugh mee to scorn Contemptus populi ludibriis opprebriis declaratur Luk. 22.63 The Apostle speaketh of cruel mockings Heb. 11.36 The Pharisees who were covetous derided him Luk. 16.14 and set his people on the stage as it were for mocking-stocks Heb. 10.23 Now post Carthaginem vinci neminem puduit saith the Historian If Christ David and other precious men were so disgraced and abused by the World what matter is it for us They shoot out the lip they shake the head God is sensible of any the least affront or offence done
Ark of the Covenant hitherto transportative into the place of its rest Psal 132.14 Certain it is that the Saints those living Temples of the Lord are here called upon to lift up their hearts in the use of holy ordinances yea therein to bee abundantly lifted up through faith with a joyfull and assured wel-come of the King of Glory who will thereupon come in to them by the ravishing operation of his love benefits and graces Vers 8. Who is this King of glory The gates are brought in as asking this question saith R. David This is the Angells admiration at the comming in of Christs humanity into Heaven saith Diodate Rather it is the question of the faithfull concerning the person of their King whom they hereby resist not but for their further confirmation desire to bee better informed of Him and his never-enough adored excellencies The Lord strong Jehovah the Essentiator the Eternall God the most mighty and puissant Warriour who if hee do but arise only his enemies are scattered and all that hate him flie before him Psal 68.1 Vers 9. Lift up your heads c. See Vers 7. And learn that in matters of moment wee must be more than ordinary earnest and importunate with our selves and others Vers 10. Who is this King of glory The best are acutè obtusi in the mystery of Christ crucified and must therefore by study and inquiry grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 praying for that Spirit of wisdome and revelation for the acknowledgement of him Ephes 1.17 The Lord of Hoasts Hee who hath all Creatures at his beck and check the Lord of Sabaoth Rom. 9.29 Jam. 5.4 where the word signifying hoasts or armes is used untranslated because well understood both by Jews and Gentiles as is also Hosanna Hallelujah Amen PSAL. XXV A Psalm of David An excellent Psalm the second of those seven called by the Ancients penitentiall and such as may well serve us for a pattern of our daily prayers Beza as wherein David beggeth three things answerable to those two last petitions in the Lords prayer first Pardon of sin secondly Guidance of Gods good Spirit thirdly Defence against his enemies It appeareth that this Psalm was made by David when hee was well in years vers 7. after his sin in the matter of Vriah that great iniquity as hee calleth it vers 11. saith Vatablus and some gather from vers 19. that hee framed this Psalm when Absolom was up in armes against him vers 19. compared with Psal 3.1 See also vers 15. 22. It may seem therefore that when hee came to Mahanaim a Sam. 17.24 27. where God shewed him marvellous loving kindnesse in a strong City Psal 31.21 and where-hence hee was at the peoples request to succour them or to cause them to bee helped viz by his hearty prayers for Gods assistance 2 Sam. 18.3 he composed this Psalm with more than ordinary artifice viz. in order of Alphabet as hee hath done also some few others both for the excellencie of the matter and likewise for help of memory for which cause also St. Matthew summeth up the genealogie of Christ into three fourteenes all helps being but little enough Nazianzen and Sedulius have done the like the former in his holy Alphabet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and the latter in his Hymn A Solis ortus cardine Beatus auâ—tor saeculi c. Vers 1. Vnto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul i. e. Praeparo cor meum Ad te orand non ad Idola saith R. Solomon My heart maketh its faithfull addresses to thee and not any other with strength of desire and delight with earnest expectation and hope of relief See Jer. 22.27 Deut. 24.15 Psal 86.5 Cyprian saith that in the primitive times the Minister was wont to prepare the peoples minds to pray Cyp. de orat by prefacing Sursum corda Lift up your hearts The Jews at this day write upon the walls of their Synagogues these words Tephillah belo cavannah ceguph belo neshamah That is Buxtorf abbreviar A prayer without the intention of the affection is like a body without a soul and yet their devotion is a meer out-side saith One a brainlesse head and a soulelesse body Spec. Euâ— Antiquum obtinent Isa 29.13 This people draweth nigh to mee with their lipps but their heart is farre from mee A carnall man can as little lift up his heart in prayer as a moul can flye A David finds it an hard task sith the best heart is lumpish and naturally beareth downward as the poise of a clock as the lead of a net Let us therefore lay aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily beset it and pray God to draw us up to himself as the load-stone doth the Iron c. Vers 2. O my God I trust in thee I pray in faith which is as the fire and my prayer as the flame that ariseth out of it Faith is the foundation of prayer and prayer is the fervency of faith Now David knew that the hand of faith never knocketh at the gate of grace in vain Let mee not bee ashamed Shame is the Daughter of disappointment This David deprecateth Quaeque repulsa gravis see Job 6.20 Let not mine enemies triumph over mee By saying that I pray to no purpose as Rabshakeh did Isa 35.6 I say saith Hezekiah I have words of my lipps prayer prayer but alasse what 's that more than empty words an aiery nothing Counsel and strength are for the battel Thus Hee Vers 3. Yea let none that wait on thee bee ashamed Be nosed and twitted with my disappointments as they are sure to be if I be repulsed by thee and worsted by mine enemies all thy praying people shall have it cast in their teeth and laid in their dish Let them bee ashamed which transgresse without cause Let shame bee sent to the right owner even to those that deal disloyally unprovoked on my part And so it was for Achitophel hanged himself Absoâ—om was trussed up by the hand of God and dispatcht by Joab the people that conspired with him partly perished by the sword and partly fled home much ashamed of their enterprize Oh the power of prayer what may not the Saints have for asking Vers 4. Shew mee thy wayes O Lord q. d However other men walk towards mee yet my desire is to keep touch with thee for which purpose I humbly beg thy best direction See Exod. 33.13 Isa 2.3 Teach mee thy paths Assues ac me inure mee to thy paths Sicut parvulus ad ambulandum assuetus saith Kimchi as a little one is taught to find his feet Vers 5. Lead mee in thy Truth and teach mee i. e. Assiduè doce urge David was a great proficient in Gods School and yet he would learn more so sweet is divine knowledge Four times together here prayeth David to bee further instructed See Moses in like
sins of thy poor penitents The high Heaven covereth as well tall Mountaines as small molehills The vast Ocean swalloweth up huge Rocks as well as little pibbles St. Paul was for the first table a Blasphemer and for the second table a Persecuter and injurious but I obtained mercy saith Hee and why that the grace of our Lord might appear to bee exceeding abundant even to an over flow 1 Tim. 1.13 14. and that the glory of free grace might be so much the more manifested Rom. 5.20 The more desperate was my disease the greater is the glory of my Physician who hath fully cured mee said Austin once to one who upbraided him with his former loose living Vers 12. What man is hee that feareth the Lord This question implieth first a paucity of such as Hos 14. ult secondly the felicity of such as out of a reverentiall fear of God sue to him for pardon of sin and seek to bee made his servants Vatah. Utitur exclamatione Mol. O quanta est felicitas istius viri O the heaped up happinesse of such a rare man David admireth it here and well hee may for hee hath close communion with God and sweet communication of Christs secrets as followeth Him shall hee teach in the way that hee shall chuse i.e. That the good man shall pitch upon God will direct him in all dealings to make a good choice and will give good successe This is not in a mans own power to do Jer. 10.23 But the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and hee delighteth in his way Psal 37.23 Hee was a pillar of fire and cloud to the Israelites Exod. 14.19 and carefully chose out their way for them not the nearest alway but yet the safest Vers 13. His soul shall dwell at ease Heb. shall lodge in good Conquiescet quemadmodum de nocte quie◠ci solet even then when his body happily is tossing on his sick bed and at great unrest One being asked how hee did answered My body is weak my soul is well Hee shall be freed from the Devill of discontent and have a blessed self-sufficiency such and better than hee had whom Horace describeth Ephod 2. Beatus ille qui procul negotiis c. such as good Jacob had when hee said I have enough my Brother c. Tremel Godlinesse only hath such a contentednesse 1 Tim. 6.6 And his seed shall inherit the earth Gods love dieth not with the Parents but reviveth in their posterity 2 Sam. 7.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theocr◠It would bee a great stay of mind to us if God should say of our Children as once David did of Mephibosheth and afterwards of Chimham I will take care of them and see them well provided for Hee doth upon the matter say as much and more to every Beleever Vers 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him It is neither learning nor labour that can give insight into Gods secrets those Arcana imperii Mat. 13.12 the Mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. ult these things come by revelation rather than discourse of reason and must therefore bee obtained by prayer Those that diligently seek him shall bee of his cabi net counsel shall know his soul-secrets and bee admitted into a gracious familiarity and friendship Joh. 15.15 Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you And he will shew them his Covenant As having no greater secret to impart to them than by shewing them the Covenant of Grace his good pleasure and purpose of their eternal Salvation to make them know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they may be filled with all the fulness of God Ephes 3.19 The Jews bragged much of Gods Covenant but here they are given to understand that only such as fear God are Covenanters Acts 13.16 Men of Israel and yee that fear God give audience Vers 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord I look him full in the face and confidently expect deliverance This he speaketh saith one in reference to the Army that he had sent out to meet Absolom 2 Sam. 18.1 nothing doubting of getting the day For he shall pluck my feet out of the net Of evil concupiscence saith Aben-Ezra rather of my foes those crafty and cruel Fowlers Vers 16. Turn thee unto me Heb. Face about towards me And have mercy upon me There being no such mercy as to have thy favour This is a voluminous mercy For I am desolate and afflicted As all Creatures flag and hang the head when the Sun is eclipsed Misery is an object of Mercy as it was to the compassionate Samaritan Vers 17. The troubles of my heart are enlarged Whereby my heart is sorely straitned so that I can hardly breath Oh hide not thine ear at my breathing at my cry R. Obad. Cor vix capax tribulationum mearum Vat. Lam. 3.56 En patet in curas area lata meas all afflictions enter into mine heart as by a wide gate Out of my distresses Where with I am pent up and pinched as afterwards Paul was pricked with the messenger of Satan Vers 18. Lóok upon mine affliction and my pain My griefs under which I groan and labour my concupiscence saith Aben-Ezra against which I strive but prevail not And forgive all my Sin Heb. Lift up take away lay them on the true Scape-goat on that Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the World Joh. 1.29 Vers 19. Consider mine enemies for they are many This was to David half a promise and a whole reason that he should be helped sith it was come to an extremity If God but look out of the pillar of Cloud upon the Egyptian Army it is enough for their utter confusion Exod. 14.24 And they hate me with cruel hatred Of their craft he had complained vers 15. now of their cruelty These are never sundred in the Churches enemies as the Asp they say never goeth without his mate See Esai 34.16 Vers 20. O keep my Soul The repetition of the self-same Petition argueth earnestness and is not always battologie Let me not be ashamed rendred scornful and scandalous Vers 21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me Integrity of Conscience and uprightness of conversation For I wait on thee viz. For the accomplishment of thy promise That with the upright thou wilt shew thy self upright Psal 18.11 Vers 22. R. David Redeem Israel c. In vita vel post mortem means Either whiles I live or after my death This is every good mans care and prayer None is in case to pray for the Church that hath not first made his own peace with God PSAL. XXVI VErs 1. Judge me O Lord i.e. Judge betwixt me and mine enemies not betwixt me and thee as R.
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comliness The Protestants at Lions in France called their publick meeting-place Paradise And the place where thine honour dwelleth i.e. Where thou thy self dwellest or thine Ark which is called Gods glory 1 Sam. 4.21 Psal 78.61 yea Gods self Psal 132.5 and Gods face Psal 105.4 Vers 9. Gather not my soul with sinners I have loved thy House which sinners never delighted in therefore gather not my soul with sinners so the Syriack senseth it Let me not dye the death of Sinners for I never cared for their company so the Rabbines See the Note on vers 5. Let me not share with them in punishment for I could never abide their practice Balaam would dye the death of the righteous but he liked not of their life Euchrites would be Craesus vivens Socrates mortuus Sir Walter Rawleigh would live a Papist there being no Religion like that for Licentious liberty and lasciviousness but dye a Protestant We have some that would gladly dance with the Devil all day and then sup with Christ at night live all their lives long in Dalilaes lap and then go to Abrahams bosome when they dye But this cannot be as David well understood and therefore both eschewed the life of a wicked person and deprecated his death Gather not or take not away c. The righteous is taken away Heb. gathered Isa 57.1 as men gather Flowers and candy them preserve them with such to be gathered David would hold it an happiness but not with sinners with sanguinaries for such are gathered but as house-dust to be cast out of doors Vers 10. In whose hands is mischief Wicked contrivance Here we have the true portracture of a corrupt Courtier such as Sauls were Vers 11. But as for me I will walk Whatever others do their example shall be no rule to me to deviate See my Righteous mans recompence D. 1. Redeem me c. For I am likely to suffer deeply for my singularity Vers 12. My foot standeth in an even place i.e. Mine affections are in an equal tenour A good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the scales of his minde neither rise up toward the beam through their own lightness or their over-weening opinion of prosperity nor are too much depressed with any load of sorrow but hanging equal and unmoved between both give him liberty in all occurrences to enjoy himself I will bless the Lord For performance of promises chiefly in that great Panegyris Heb. 12. PSAL. XXVII Vers 1. The Lord is my light That is my comfort and direction he that dissolveth all my clouds of serrours within and troubles without To these all hee opposeth Gods All-sufficiency as making for him and as being All in all unto him Light Salvation Strength of Life what not and there-hence his full assurance and such a masculine magnanimity as feareth not the power of men and Devils be they who they will and do what they can Animo magno nihil est magnum When a man can out of this consideration God is my light inthings of the minde and my Salvation in things of the body as Aben-Ezra expoundeth it contemn and reckon all things else as matters of small moment it shews he hath in truth apprehended God and this is true holy magnanimity The Lord is the strength of my life He that keeps life and soul together saith Aben-Ezra as the Spirits do soul and body and therefore Quis potest me interimere saith Kimchi who can do me to death Of whom shall I be afraid Faith fortifieth the heart against distrustful fears which it quelleth and killeth In a fright it runneth to the heart as the bloud doth and releeveth it setting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Gunshot of Creature-annoyances Expertus loquor for Vers 2. When the wicked even mine enemies came upon me Made impression upon me with utmost violence and open mouth as if they would have devoured me Cannibal-like or as a Lion doth a sheep inhumanissimè ferarumque more saith Junius barbarously and beastly They stumbled and fell Irritis conaitibus corruerunt they utterly lost their design as did those Amalekites who had sacked Ziglah 1 Sam. 30. and Saul often If a man stumble and fall not he gets ground but if after much blundering hee kiss the ground hefalleth with a force Davids enemies did so Corruerunt conciderunt they were irreparably ruined Vers 3. Though an Host should encamp against me See Psal 3.6 with the Note We should propound the worst to our selves the best will bring with it as wee say especially if we finde our faith to be in heart and vigour as here Davids was Though War shouldrise against me War is a complexive evil and is therefore called so by a specialty Isa 45.7 I make peace and create evil that is War Sin Satan and War have all one name saith a learned Divine evil is the best of them the best of sin is deformity of Satan enmity of war misery In this will I be confident In this In what In this one ensuing Petition saith Aben-Ezra or in this that I have said before The Lord is my light and my Salvation in this confident gloriation of mine which is such as an unbeleever is a perfect stranger unto Vers 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord One thing above the rest Every of Gods suppliants hath some one special request that he mainly insisteth on Ut cultu Del libeto legitimouti possit Jun. and King Davids was the liberty of Gods Sanctuary and enjoyment of his publick Ordinances Hoc primus petit hoc postremus omittit This was dearer to him than Wife Children Goods all This Sute he knew to be honest and therefore he began it and being so he is resolved never to give it over but to prosecute it to the utmost and to persevere in prayer which is a great vertue Rom. 12.12 till he had prevailed That will I seek after As Gods constant Remembrancer who loveth to be importuned and as it were jogged by his praying people Herein David shewed himself a true Israelite a Prince of God and as Nazianzen stileth Basil the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of desires flowing from the Spirit He knew well that a faint Suter doth but beg a denial That I may dwell in the House of the Lord i.e. In the place where was the Ark with the Prophets Priests Levites Asaph and his brethren c. with whom David desired to be taken up in the service of God free from Secular cares and delights at times convenient Pyrrhus told Cyneas that when he had finished his Wars once he would then sit still and be merry The Roman Generals when they had once triumphed over their enemies might take their ease and pleasure for ever after But good David resolves to improve his rest when ever God shall grant it him to perpetual piety That I may dwell saith he or sit in the house of Jehovah
of Hell as it were and doth therefore set up as loud a cry after God as once Micah did after his mawmets Judg. 18. and farre greater cause he had And to the Lord I made supplication He knew that the same hand alone must cure him that had wounded him neither was Gods favour recoverable but by humble confession and hearty prayer Some think to glide away their groans with games and their cares with cards to bury their terrours and themselves in wine and sleep They run to their musick with Saul to building of Cities with Cain when cast out of Gods presence c. sed haret lateri lethalis arundo but as the wounded Deer that hath the deadly arrow sticking in his side well he may frisk up and down for a time but still he bleedeth and will ere long fall down dead so it is with such as feek not comfort in God alone as make not supplication to Him for Him as return not to God who hath smitten them nor seek the Lord of Hoasts Isa 9.13 Vers 9. What profit is there in my blood c i.e. In my life say some q. d. To what purpose have I lived sith Religion is not yet settled In my death say others Diolat and better a violent death especially and out of thy favour Now all beleevers have ever abhorred such a kind of death before they were reconciled to God and had a true feeling of his grace Shall the dust praise thee c See Psal 6.6 with the Note Vers 10. Hear O Lord and have mercy upon me When faith hath once said to God what it hath to fay it will wait for a good answer relying on his mercy and expecting relief from the Lord as here David doth looking in the mean whiles through the anger of his corrections to the sweetneffe of his loving countenance as by a Rain-bow we see the beautifull image of the Suns light in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud Vers 11. Thou hast turned from mee my mourning c. Sustulisti luctum latitiam attulisti See the Note on vers 5. Ver. 12. To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee i.e. That my tongue oyled from an heart enlarged may exalt thee according to my bounden duty and thine abundant desert A good tongue that watcheth all opportunities to glorifie God and edifie others is certainly a mans great glory but an evill tongue is his foul shame Basil expoundeth glory by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spirit or soul The Chaldee Paraphrast Laudabunt to honor abiles mundi The glorious ones of the World shall praise thee O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Epiphonematica pathetica conclusio Davidi ex summis calamitatibus erepto familiaris He concludeth as he began ingaging his heart to everlasting thankfullnesse and therein becoming a worthy pattern to all posterity PSAL. XXXI A Psalm of David made say Vatablus and others at that time when Saul pursued David in the Wildernesse of Maon 1 Sam. 23.24 But by many circumstances and passages of this Psalm it appeareth more probable that it was as the former composed when Absolom was up 2 Sam. 15.10 c. See vers 11 12 22. of this Psalm with 2 Sam. 17.24 27. 19.33 Joseph Autiq. lib. 7. cap 9. Vers 1. In thee O Lord do I put my trust Hic Psalmus varia mixtus magna affectnum vicissitudine insignis est This Psalm is strangely mixt and made up of many and diverse passions and petitions according to the change of times and estate In the time of affliction he prayeth in the time of consolation he praiseth the Lord Ercles 7.15 In these three first verses is little said but what had been before said and is already opened Let mee never be ashamed i.e. Repulsed worsted defeated In thy Righteousnesse And not according to mine own Righteousnesse saith Kimchi or according to thy faithfullnesse Vers 2. 〈…〉 This repetition of his petition is no vain babbling as Mat. 6.9 but an effect and an evidence of greatest earnestneffe as Mat. â—6 44 For an house of defence Where the enemy can as little hurt mee as when I was in the Hold 1 Sam. 22.4 Vers 3. For thou art my Rock and my fortresse Such places David had been forced to fly to but stil he trusted in God Lead mee and guide mee Duc me deduc me A Metaphor from Captaines and Generalls who lead on their armies with greatest art and industry Vatab. Vers 4. Pull mee out of the net That noted net as the Hebrew hath it Nam Zâ— denet at rem notam omnibus saith Kimchi David was not caught in it but the enemies presumed he would be so selling the hide before the beast was taken as did likewife the proud Spaniards when coming against England in eighty eight they triumphed before the victory and sang Tu qua Romanas suevisti temnere leges Hispano disces subdere collajugo But blessed be God the net brake and wee escaped Psal 124.7 For thou art my strength As a tree is strongest at the root and a branch or bough next the trunck or stock and the further it groweth out from thence the smaller and weaker it groweth too So the nearer the Creature is to God the stronger and on the contrary Vers 5. Into thine hand I commit my spirit So did our Saviour so did St. Stephen and diverse of the dying Martyrs with these very words most apt and apposite surely for such a purpose But what a wretch was that Huberâ—â— who dyed with these words in his mouth I yeeld my goods to the King my body to the grave and my soul to the Devill Thou hast redeemed And so hast best right unto mee O Lord God of truth I know whom I have trusted Vers 6. I have hated them that regard lying vanities i.e. Idols or ought else besides the living God who giveth us all things richly to injoy 1 Tim. 6.17 See Jon. 2.8 with the Note Vanitates vanitatis Vatablus rendreth it and telleth us that some understand it of Astrology R. David doth so in this Note of his upon the Text Astrologos in cantatores in fuga mea non consului sed in Domino prophetis ejus confisus sum I have not consulted Astrologers and Soothsayers in my trouble but have trusted to the Lord and his Prophets Vers 7. I will be glad and rejoyce In the midst of trouble faith will find matter of joy as extracting abundance of comfort in most desperate distresses from the precious promises and former experiences Thou hast known my soul in adversity God knows our souls best Psal 1.6 and wee know him best in adversity Isa 63.16 the Church thought she should know him in the midst of all his austerities Vers 8. Thou hast not shut mee up c. i.e. Not given mee into their power See Psal 27.12 Thou hast set my feet in a large room So that
shark for ease rather than sue for pardon as the Prodigall first joyned himself to a Citizen then ate husks c. before he would resolve to return Satan had first seduced David and then gagg'd him as it were that he might keep silence But then God took him and set him upon the rack where he roared till he resolved to confesse And the like befell Bilney Bainbam Whittle and many other of the Martyrs who having first yeelded could never be at rest within themselves till they had publickly confessed their fault and retracted their subscriptions to those Popish Articles My bones waxed old i.e. My strength wasted and wore away I was in a pittifull plight per febrim for san saith an expositour by a feaver possibly the fruit of his inward affliction So bitter and burdensome is sin cloaked and close kept Through my rearing all the day long Like a wild beast Jun. belluinos potius quam humanos gensitus querimonias fudi I rather roared to the enfeebling of my body than repented to the easing of my conscience I cryed out for pain but prayed not for pardon As a Lyon in a snare roareth as a bird in a gin fluttereth so it fareth with Hypocrites under Gods hand and with better men too sometimes and for a season but especially in pangs of conscience they bellow like bulls in a net or swine when a sticking they beat the air with many brutish roarings and ragings which avail them no more than if an Ox should break out of the slaughter-house after the deadly blow given him the sting of conscience still remaineth Vers 4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon mee See what God can do when once he taketh a man to do Day and night hee had sinned against God therefore day and night he suffereth and glad he may be that he so scapeth and is not forced to undergo an eternity of extremity Some think that this Psalm and the sixth were made much about a time when David was newly recovered of some grievous fit of sicknesse It may be meant only of his inward terrours or chiefly at least his body suffering by Sympathy as having shared in his sin My moisture is turned into the drought of Summer My naturall radicall moisture that oyl that maintaineth the lamp of life is dryed up and become like a lump of clay the vigour also and verdure of my soul is quelled and consumed with the fire of thy fierce wrath God will bring his best people to this if they put him to it that they shall find it to be the greatest folly in the World to buy the sweetest sin at so dear a rate Selah I speak it feelingly Vat. O quantum tormentum c. O aridum exhaustuns me prae mastitia c. O my pittifull condition Vers 5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee Though it were long first yet thou broughtest mee to it The soul is ready to hang her comforts on every hedge to shift and shark in every by-corner for comfort rather than to repair to the right fountain Let should have escaped to the Mountaines at first but he would needs to Zoar which yet was soon too hot to hold him David should have acknowledged his sin ere this time he should speedily have cast up the poyson he had swallowed down before it got to the vitalls but he had no mind to it till he had tasted of the whip and then he agnized his sin unto the Lord he put himself into the hands of justice in hope of mercy The properties or conditions of sound Confession are these say the Schoolmen in this Tetrastich Sit simplex humilis confessio pura fidelis Atque frequens nuda discreta lubens verecunda Integra secreta lachrymabilis accelerata Fortis accusans se punire parata And mine iniquity have I not hid In confession wee must shew the Lord the iniquity of our sin the filthinesse of our leudnesse the abomination of our provocations Rom. 7.13 Wee must bring out our sins as they took the Vessells of the Sanctuary Ezra 8.34 by number and by weight laying open how many transgressions are wrap'd up in our sins and their circumstances See for this Levit. 16.21 I said I will confesse c. i.e. I resolved and purposed so to do but 〈◊〉 that could be done thou forgavest c. Gods ear was in Davids heart before his confession could be in his tongue So at another time he did but conceive a purpose to build God an house and God rewarded it with the building and establishing of Davids house 2 Sam. 7. And thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin The sting and stain of it the criminall and penall part ofit Vel peccatum peccati Utiâ—ur duobus vocabulis ad aggravandum peccatum suum Kimchi As we say terra pulveris or 〈◊〉 luti the worst thing that was in it not the fire only but the filth that was in it reserving still to thy self a power of fatherly corrections and medicinall miseries But the iniquity of sin is wiped off by the spunge of true confession Homo agnoscit Deus ignoscit Man no sooner acknowledgeth the debt but God crosseth the Book It is therefore good counsell that a Father giveth Fac confitendo propitium quem tacendo non facis nescium Confesse and find mercy sith by a senselesse silence thou canst not keep thy sins from Gods knowledge of them Let out that bad blood by opening a vein that good health may enter Per misereremti tollitur ira Dei Wot you what said Henry the eighth to the Duke of Suffolk concerning Stepâ—en Gardiner when he had confessed his Popery for which he should have been the morrow after sent to the Tower he hath confessed himself as guilty in this matter as his man Act. Mon. fol. 1177. and hath with much sorrow and pensivenesse sued for my pardon And you know what my nature and custome hath been in such cases evermore to pardon them that will not dissemble but confesse their fault c. Selah q. d. I speak it joyfully there being no such matter of mirth in all the World as the sweet sense of forgivenesse of sin O singularem inquit David hic Dei erga homines peccata sua agnoscentes gratiam benevolentiam Vers 6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee For this that thou hast so graciously done for mee the godly shall gladly perform these two duties the prayer of faith and the obedience of faith As I have been an example to them of sin which is now my grief so I shall be to them of good and that 's my comfort Where note first That every godly man is a praying man God hath no dumb children in his house Secondly That such will be making use of Gods dealing with others for their own instruction and comfort For this Thirdly That they will observe the fittest times to
be desolate for a reward a poor reward but such as sin payeth to her servants the wages of sin is death Sin payeth all her servants in black mony See Psal 35.21 The ward here rendred reward signifieth an heel It is as if the Prophet should say Let one desolation tread upon the heels of another â—ill they be utterly undone Vers 16. Let all those that seek thee rejoyce viz. When they hear of my deliverance The Saints have both their joyes and griefs in common with their fellow-members as being in the body Heb. 13.3 both in the body of Christ and in the body of sleth and frailty Vers 17. But I am poor and needy A stark begger neither will I hide from my Lord as once Josephs Brethren said to him when they came for com mine extream indigency my necessitous condition I am one that gets my living by begging Yee the Lord thinketh upon met Hee is the poor mans King as hath been said and Christ is 〈…〉 as Augustine hath it that is he gives with the Father and at same time prayes with the suter who must therefore needs speed Thou art my help and my deliverer make no tarrying Deliver mee speedily lest I perish utterly God saith One is sometimes troubled with too much help but never with too little we are sometimes too soon but he is never too late PSAL. XLI A Psalm of David Of the same sense with the four former Psalmes saith Kimchi Vers 1. Blessed is his that considereth the poor Heb. That wise by 〈◊〉 concerning the poor The poor weakling whose health is impaired whose wealth is wasted Austin rendreth it Qui praeoccupat vocem 〈◊〉 He that prevenreth the request of the poor begger wisely considering his case and not staying till he â—â—ave which possibly out of modesty hee may hee Ioth to do The most interpret it of a charitable Judgement passed upon the poor afflicted not holding him therefore hated of God because heavily afflicted as Jobs friends did At vobis 〈◊〉 sit qui de me quantumvis calamitoso rectius judicatis so Beza here paraphraseth Well may you fare my friends who censiâ—â—e better of mee though full of misery and deal more kindly with mee The word Masâ—hil signifieth both a prudent Judgement and a desire to do all good offices Faith One. It signifieth to give comfort and instruction to the weak faith Another wisely weighing his case and ready to draw out not his sheaâ— only but his soul to the hungry Isa 58.10 This is a blessed man presupposing him to be a Beleever and so to do it from a right Principle viz. Charity out of a pure heart of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 The Lord will deliver him i.e. The poor weakling and the other also that dealeth so mercifully with him both shall be delivere according to that of our Saviour Matth. 10.41 Delivered I say he shall be in due time supported in the mean while a good use and a good Issue he shall be sure of Kimchi Some make it Davids prayer The Lord deliver him c. Others the mercifull mans prayer for the poor-afflicted Vers 2. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive Life in any sense is a singular mercy Why is a living man sorrow full Lam. 3.39 if he be alive though afflicted he hath cause to be thankfull how much more if alive to Righteousness The Arabick here interpreteth it dabit 〈◊〉 filios in quibus post mortems vivat he will give him Children in whom he may live after his death And he shall be blessed upon the earth With wealth and other accommodations so that the World shall look upon him as every way blessed And thou wilt not deliver him into the hands of his enemies Heb. Do not thou deliver him This maketh Kimchi conclude that all this is but oratio visitantis consolatoria the prayer of him that visiteth the sick man for his comfort Vers 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing Whether through sicknesse of body as Isa 38.2 or sorrow of heart for in such case also men cast themselves upon their beds 1 Kin. 21.4 This God and not the Physicians will do for the sick man die septimo on the seventh day saith R. Solomon when he is at sickest Thou wilt make all his bed Heb. Thou wilt turn thou wilt stirre up Poâ—hers under him that he may lye at ease and this by the hand of those poor whom he had considered Or Thou wilt turn all his bed That is his whole body from sicknesse to health as Kabvenaki senseth it Vers 4. I said Lord be mercifull unto mee heal Heal mee in mercy and begin at the inside first Heal my soul of sin and then my body of sicknesse Heal me every whit These to the end are the sick mans words saith Kimchi And this is the Character of the Lords poor man to whom the foresaid comforts do belong saith Another For I have sinned against thee He cryeth peccavi not perit Sanat ionom in capite orditur he beginneth at the right end Vers 5. Mine enemies speak evill of mee Notwithstanding my pitty and devotion that 's no target against persecution Davids integrity and the severity of his discipline displeased these yokelesse Balialists they were sick of his strict government and longed for a new King who would favour their wicked practices such as was absolom whom they shortly after set up David they could not name because be did Justice and Judgement to all the people These â—bertines were of the Eâ—â—◠〈◊〉 loquaces ingeniesi in prafect 〈…〉 eulpam infamiam non effugiat such as loved to speak evill of dignities and could not give their governours how blamelesse soever a good word When shall be dye and his name perish Nothing lesse would satisfie their malice than utter extermination But David recovereth and his name surviveth when they lie wrapt up in the sheet of shame Vers 6. And if he come to see mee That is Achitaphel or some such hollow-hearted Holophanta Plaut Ore pro mea sinitate orant sed cordequaerunt malum Midrash Tillin He speaketh vanity Pretending that he is very sorry to see mee so ill at ease and letting fall some Crocodiles tears perhaps Has heart gathereth iniquity to it self As Toads and Serpents gather venom to vomit at you When be goeth abroad be telleth it Boasting to his treacherous Brotherhood of his base behaviour Vers 7. All thas hate mee whisper together against mee Heb. Mussitant they mutter as Charmers use to do These whisperers are dangerous fellows Rom. 1.29 like the wind that creepeth in by chinks in a wall or cracks in a window A vente percolato inimice reconciliato libera nos Demine saith the Italian Against mee do they devise Cogitant quasi coagitant Vers 8. An evill disease say they â—leaveth fast unto him Heb. A thing of Belial Omnes impietates quas perpetravit R.
is like the beasts that perish Fecoribus morticiuis saith Junius the Beasts that dye of the Murren and so become Carrion and are good for nothing Vers 13. This their way is their folly This their fond conceit of an immortality is an egregious folly fully confuted by every days experience for the longest liver dieds at last as did beside the Antediluvian Patriarches Jounnes de Temporibus Armour-bearer to Charls the Great who dyed Anno Dom. Asteds Chronol 475. Naucler Purchas Pilâ—â— p. 481. 1139 aged three hundred sixty one years So the old man of Bengala in the East-Indies who was three hundred thirty five years old when he came to the Portugals from whom for his miraculous age he received a yearly stipend till he dyed He that lived in our days till one hundred and fifty years or thereabouts yeelded at length to Nature and yet men doat and dream still of an immortality The first doom that ever was denounced was Death Thou shalt surely dye and the first doubt that ever was made was concerning Death ye shall not surely dye ever since which time there is something of the spawn of that old Serpent left in our natures prompting us to doubt of that whereof there is the greatest certainty and although every man granteth that he shall dye yet there is scarse any man that futureth not his death and thinketh that he may live yet and yet and so long this is folly in an high degree and we should be sensible of it labouring to become neither fond of Life nor afraid of Death Yet their posterity approve their sayings Selah Heb. Delight in their mouth are as wise as their Ancestors tread in their tract take up their inward thoughts ver 11. observe the same lying vanities and so forsake their own Mercies Jon. 2.8 Selah q.d. O wonderful for see the issue of their folly Vers 14. Like sheep they are laid in the Grave These fatlings of the World these brainless yonkers that will not be warned by other mens harms but walk on in the same dark and dangerous ways whatever cometh of it these chop into the grave as a man that walketh in the Snow may do suddenly into a Marl-pit and there be smothered or rather are there pent up as Sheep are thrust up in a stall or stable to be slaughtered there and in Hell their souls they lye as Grapes in a Wine-press pickled Herring in a Barrel Stones in a Lime-furnace Tiles in a Brick-kiln c. Tanquam pecudes like sheep saith the Psalmist here and Junius his Note is Morticinas puta in cloacis exquiliis vel puticulis project as 3 like sheep that dying of the Murrain are thereupon cast into Ditches Jakes Boggs Death shall feed on them They shall be meat for Worms yea they shall be killed with death Rev. 2.23 which is worse than all the rest sin as an heavy grave-stone presseth them to death c. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning i.e. at the Resurrection when the Saints shall share with Christ in his Kingdom when the wicked shall be his foot-stool and shall judge the World yea the Angels Others by morning understand suddenly or seasonably as Psal 46.5 And their beauty shall consume in the Grave All their pomp and bravery wherein they came abroad whiles alive as Agrippa and Bernice came to the Tribunal with a great deal of phancy Acts 25.23 and with which they affect to be buried in state Sic transit gloria mundi 1 Cor. 7.31 From their dwelling Whence they are carried to the Grave that dark house of all living Job 30.23 Some render the text thus Infernus habitaculum ipsis Hell shall be their habitation Tremellius thus Et formam corum consumat infernus receptam exhabit aculo ejus and Hell consume their shape that is their bodies now re-united to their souls received out of its House that is out of the Grave Vers 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave Heb. From the hand of Hell q.d. I am and shall be in far better condition both in life at death Spe bona Doâ—ab indoctis diâ—forunt disisâ— Chilo and after death than any of the Worlds darlings why then should I fear as vers 51. why should I envie their seeming happiness which will have so sad a Catastrophe as vers 14 I shall have heaven and that is more worth than all For he shall receive me Selah A notable Text indeed and well worthy of a Selah a clear testimony for the immortality of the soul and for a better life after this as is well observed He sunt parabola hac sunt anigmasa saith a good Interpreter These are those Parables and these are those dark sayings mentioned vers 4. riddles to the wicked but cordials to the faithful Vers 16. Be not thou afraid David was comforted and so he would have others to be for as it was said of a certain Bishop of Lincoln that he held nothing his own but what he had bestowed upon others Hoc babeo quodcunque dedi so the Saints think their comforts nothing so comfortable unless others may share in them and fare the better by them When the glory of his house is increased viz. By a numerous Off-spring stately building gay furniture great rents and revenues for as they say of the metal they make glass of it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest so are the wicked nearest destruction when at greatest lustre Vers 17. For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away Nothing but a Shrowd as that great Emperour caused to be proclamed at his Funeral He was a fool that on his Death-bed clapt a peece of Gold into his mouth and said Some wiser than some I will take this with me See Job 1.21 1 Tim. 6.7 with the Notes there His glory shall not descend after him No nor be able to breath one cold blast up-on him when he is burning in Hell O that wicked rich men would think of this before the cold Grave hold their bodies and hot Hell hold their souls Vers 18. Though whilst be lived he blessed his soul As that rich fool did Luk. 12. and that King of France who puffed up with the Marriage of his Sister to the King of Spain called himself by a new title Tres-bureuse Roy the thrice happy King but was soon after accidentally slain by the Captain of his Guard running at Tilt with him at the solemnizing of that same Marriage in the very beginning of his supposed happiness And men will praise thee when thou doest well to thy self Feathering thine own Nest and pampering thine own Carcass thou shalt bee sure of Parasites and Trencher-flies who will highly commend thee though against their own Consciences Rom. 1. ult The world generally admireth the happiness of such as live at full and ask what should such a one ayl The Irish ask what they meant to dye Vers 19. He
God whereby he was sealed to the day of redemption Ephes 4.30 and is therefore at a losse for comfort he had vilipended that patent of his pardon which God had passed under his hand and seal God therefore calleth for it home again into the pardon-office as it were that he may know the worth by the want A man may sin away not only the sense and comfort of his pardon but the evidence and knowledge of it as that place of Peter seemeth to imply 2 Pet. 1.9 Mountebanks who wound their flesh to try conclusions upon their own bodies how soveraign the salve is D. Sibbes Souls confl do oft feel the smart of their presumption by long and desperate wounds So God will let his Davids see what it is to make wounds in their consciences to try the preciousnesse of his balsam such may go mourning to their graves And though with much ado they get assurance of pardon yet their consciences will be still trembling till God at length speak further peace even as the waters of the Sea after a storm are not presently still but move and tremble a good while after the storm is over And upholdest moe with thy free Spirit Heb. firmly sustain mee with thy noble or Princely Spirit that may make mee steddy and ready to come off roundly in thy service Sin against conscience disableth for duty taketh away freedom to it and stability in it David therefore prayes God to fix his quick-silver to ballance his lightnesse to settle and fill that vain and empty heart of his with something that may stay and stablish it that may also free and enlarge it for where the Spirit of God is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 that he might yeeld prompt and present obedience to God in all things and with all might be apt and able to teach transgressors as he promiseth to do in the next words Vers 13. Then will I teach transgressors thy wayes Instruunts nos Patres tum docentes tum labentes saith Augustine Two wayes the Saints teach us First By their Doctrin Secondly By their Falles and Failings David had taught men this last way to his cost that it is triste mortalitatis privilegium licere aliquando peccare Now he promiseth by his example and instruction to teach transgressours those that are in the very bonds and hands of the Devill Gods wayes of mercy to the penitent and that they must either turn to God or burn for even in Hell And sinners shall be converted unto thee They shall give not the half but the whole turn and it shall appear by them The turning of a sinner from evill to good is like the turning of a Bell from one side to another you cannot turn it but it will make a sound and report its own motion Vers 14. Deliver mee from blood-guiltinesse O God Heb. From bloods in every drop whereof is a tongue crying for vengeance Besides if Davids adultery was a sin of infirmity he was preocoupated as Gal. 6.1 yet his murthering of Uriah and many others that fell together with him was a sin of presumption a deliberate prepensed evill done in cold blood and therefore lay very heavy upon his conscience Howbeit he gat pardon of this great sin also so that it never troubled him on his death-bed as some other did though not so great where of he had not so throughly repented 1 King 2. Thou God of my salvation By making choice of this so fit an Attribute he flirreth up himself to take better hold And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy Righteousness That is of thy faithfullnesse in performing thy promise of pardon to the penitent As Aarons golden bells sounded so should our tongues sound Gods praises and sing them aloud shrill them out Vers 15. O Lord open thou my lips Which now I find stopt and sealed up as it were with the sin that doth so easily beset mee so that whereas I promised before to sing aloud of thy Righteousnesse this I shall never be able to do without thy speciall furtherance nisi verba suppedites tanquam pracas unlesse thou please to supply mee both with affections and expressions as well as with matter of praise And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise David had not been dumb till now all the while he lay in his sin but all he did was but lip-labour and therefore lost-labour Daniel confesseth the like of himself and his people chap. 9.13 All this evill is come upon us yet made we not our prayer before the Lord â—ur God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth Prayed they had but because they turned not frons their iniquities they got nothing by their prayers or praises God is a Fountain and if he meet with a fit pipe as is an ordinance rightly performed there he usually conveyeth his grace but if he meet with a foul pipe and obstructed there he doth not conferre a blessing The Pharisees were not a button the better for all their long prayers because rotten ar heart Vers 16. For thou desiâ—â—st not sacrifice This is the reason why David restipulateth Praise if God will pardon his great sin vers 14. viz. because he well understood that God preferred praise before all sacrifices whatsoever provided that iâ— came from a broken spirit Vers 17. rightly humbled for sin and thankfully accepting of pardon See Psal 50.14 15 23. Thou delightest not in burnt-offering viz. Comparatively and indeed not at all without a contrite heart Una Deiest purum gratissinsa victima pectus Nazianz. Much lesse then doth God respect the sacrifice of the Masse that hath no footing or warrant in the word A certain Sorbonist finding it written at the end of St. Pauls Epistles Missa est c. bragg'd he had found the Masse in his Bible Bee-hive cap. 3â— fol. 93 94. Buxtorf And another reading Joh. 1.44 Invenimus Messiam made the same conclusion Some of them as Bellarmine for one would fain ground it upon Mal. 1.11 Others fetch the name Missa from the Hebrew Mass for tribute which comes from Masas to melt because it many times melteth away mens estates Rect è quidem saith Rivet per Missam scilicet pietas omnis liquefacta est dissoluta Vers 17. The sacrifices of God area broken spirit i.e. Such an heart as lyeth low and heareth all that God saith such a sacrifice or service as is laid on the low altar of a contrite heart which sanctifieth the Sacrifice Mr. Abbas such a person as with a self-condemning self-crucifying and sin-mortifying heart humbly and yet beleevingly maketh out for mercy and pardon in the blood of Christ this this is the man that God expects accepts and makes great account of A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise This is great comfort to those that droop under sense of sin and fear of wrath being at next door to despair Bring but a broken heart
c. but especially Wealth 1 Tim. 6.17 Trust not to that saith the Psalmist whether it be ill or well gotten unless you covet to be deceived for First he who getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the middest of his days and is his end be a â—ool a poor fool God will make of him Jer. 17.11 Male parta waâ—e dilabentur If riches increase Though by means lawful and laudable though they come in at the street door Policrat l. 8. c. 4. and not at a postern Non minimum felicitatis argumentum Metello fuit bona multa bono modo invenisse yet Set not your heart upon them Place not your felicity in them think not your selves simply the better or the safer for them Be not puffed up with outward things as a bubble with a Childes blast in a Walnut-shel when he hath in it a little Sope Wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly upon that which is not Prov. 23.5 An Eagle will not catch Flies that is no Game for her much less will she make a flight at nothing when there is no Game sprung at all He is the true rich man who loveth his riches poorly saith one Vers 11. God hath spoken once twice have I heard this The Septuagint have it thus Once spake God these two things have I heard that is say some in the Second Commandement where mention is made of Gods jealousie and mercy Exod. 20.5 6. Others Once and again spake God and I have heard it Or God spake once I heard him twice viz. by an after-deliperate meditation upon what I had heard I preached over the Sermon as it were again to my self and so heard it a second time That power belongeth unto God He is well able to punish the wicked Ezra 8.22 See the Note there Vers 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy viz. To set thy Power a work for the good of thy people And as these two Gods Power and Gods Mercy are the two Pillars the Boaz and the Jachin of every Beleever hence Job chap. 42.2 having spoken of his Power he speaketh of his thoughts of peace toward his people so they are sufficient proofs of the Doctrines before delivered and do evince the truth of that which followeth For thou rendrest to every man according to his work viz. Judgement to the wicked and Mercy to the righteous where the Syriack interpreter giveth this good Note Est gratia Dei ut reddat homini secundum opera bona quia merces bonorum operum est exgratia It is mercy in God to set his love on them that keep his Commandements Exod. 20.6 PSAL. LXIII WHen he was in the Wilderness of Judah That is of Idumea saith Genebrard which bordered upon the Tribe of Judah But better understand it either of the Forrest of Hareth 1 Sam. 22.5 or of the Wilderness of Ziph 1 Sam. 23.14 where David was In deserto desertus exul omnis ferè consolationis inops not only destitute of outward comforts but in some desertion of soul Et sic miserrimus calamitosissimus oberravit saith Beza Vers 1. O God thou art my God And that is now mine only comfort Divini mellis alvearium the Bee-hive of heavenly honey Early will I seek thee Now they who seek God early have a promise that they shall finde him Aben-Ezra rendreth it Cicut mercator gemmas inquiramte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercator I will diligently seek thee as a Merchant doth precious Stones My soul thirsteth for thee Thirst is Taclâ—th hattaavah say the Rabbines the perfection of desire The whole life of a Christian is nothing else but Sanctum desiderium saith Austin How many broken spirits spend and exhale themselves in continual Sallies as it were and egressions of affection unto God thirsting after not only an union but an unity with him My flesh longeth for thou Non habet haec vox socium saith Aben-Ezra this word is here only found It is a notable Metaphor saith another Interpreter R. Solomon Arescere exponit taken from Women with Childe to express the earnest affection that hee had to God-ward The Septuagint render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quam multipliciter His soul his flesh all was on a light fire as it were with ardent affection towards God In a dry and thirsty Land Where I am hardly bestead and at a great fault for outward accommodations but much more for sweet and Spiritual communion with thee in holy Ordinances there lieth the pinch of my grief Vers 2. To see thy power and thy glory To feel those heart-ravishing apprehensions of thine incomparable excellencies from thy self immediatly who canst bee to thy people in their banishment as a little Sanctuary Ezek. 21.16 and supply all their wants out of thine All sufficiency who art rich in mercy to all that call upon thy Name So as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Where were to be seen the house of God Exod. 25.8 Deut. 12.5 the throne of glory from the beginning Jâ—r 17.12 the Ark of the Covenant Exod. 25.22 the tables of the Covenant laid up in the Ark Exod. 28.21 the Mercy-seat Exod. 25.21 the Oracle 22. Numb 7.89 the ceremonies that shewed the estate of the faithfull both by nature and by grace and indeed were their Gospel and Christ in figure These were glorious sights and signals which therefore David dearly desired and more bewailed the want of them then of all outward comforts and contentments Vers 3. Because thy loving kindnesse is better than life Mr. Bradford being threatned by Stephen Gardiner then L. Chancellour answered I know to whom I have committed my life Acts Mon. fol. 1459. even into his hands which will keep it so that no man may take it away before it be his pleasure Therefore his good will be done life in his displeasure is worse than death and death in his true favour is true life This made him and the rest of the holy Martyrs that they loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12.11 The sight of God though but in that dark glasse of the ceremonies would have been better to David than life with the appurtenances those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 riches honours pleasures c. See Psal 4.7 8. My lips shall praise thee Gods love shed abroad in the heart can cause the lips of them that are a sleep to speak Cant. 7.9 Vers 4. Thus will I blesse thee while I live I will divide my time betwixt praises and prayers and so drive an holy trade betwixt heaven and earth See Psal 18.3 I will lift up my hands i.e. Fretus tuo auâ—â— c. pray as Psal 141.2 1 Tim. 2.8 In thy Name i.e. Cleaving to thy goodnesse and mercy Vers 5. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse Heb. As with fatnesse and fatnesse his ad corroborandum saith Aben-Ezra q.d. I shall be top-full of comfort animo adipe medullis sanctissimarum
my garment A fashion at solemn fasts among the Easterlings as if they thought the coursest cloathing too good for them and but for shame would have gone stark naked I became a proverb to them Dicterium They would say with mocking Michal How glorious was the King of Israel to day as one of the vain fellows 2 Sam. 6.20 Vers 12. They that sit in the gate Men of Authority and Dignity who should have shewed more grace and gravity The Saints are sure of enemies of all sorts David was traduced at publick and private meetings seriis ludicris sobriis ebriis And I was the Song of the Drunkards Heb. Of the drinkers of strong drink the Ale-stakes made Ballads on their Ale-bench de maeie mea miseria These Varlets tear and toss my Name as Curs do Carrion Vers 13. But as for me my prayer is unto thee O Lord So Saint Paul Being defamed saith he we pray Christ in like case committed himself to God in well-doing 1 Pet. 2. In an acceptable time Or there will be an acceptable time Fâ—ebile principiums melior fortuna sequeter Vers 14. Deliver me out of the mixe i. e. De civitate Gehennae saith the Hebrew Scholiast out of that deadly danger whereof he had complained Val. Max. Christ 41. vers 2. Alphonsus King of Arcagâ—â—â— by a gracious condescension helped a laden Asse out of the mire with his own hand and is renowned for it in History God helpeth his out full oft and little notice is taken of it Vers 15. Let not the water-floud over-flow me See vers 1. 〈…〉 Leave me not helpless and hopeless Viâ—ere 〈◊〉 facias qui moriturus eram Vers 16. Hear me O Lord for thy loving kindness is good It is not like the 〈…〉 that lighteth but hearteth not it is like the Summer-Sun that doth both Vers 17. And â—ids not thy face from thy Servant Who am devoted to thy fear and do therefore implore and expect thy favour For I am in trouble And so a fit object of thy pity Vers 18. Draw nigh unto my soul Who seemest to be afarre off so the flesh suggesteth when help is any whit deferred Because of mine enemies Who else will excessively insult Vers 19. Thou hast known my reproach That is enough for David that God taketh Cognizance of the injuries and indignities cast upon him for he will surely right him Vers 20. Reproach hath broken mine heart c. He knew his own innocency and yet it much grieved him to be so defamed for he knew that a good man should be as much as might be not only without fault but without suspicion of a fault as August us Caesar was wont to say of his house Howsoever it is happy that a true Christian hath always his cordial by him 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience c. And I looked for some to take pity Heb. To lament with me or to shake the head over me as Mourners use to do to run to my comfort and to condole with me Davids friends failed him in this office also But that was not all Vers 21. They gave me also gall for my meat Venenum vel sicutam and so shewed themselves miserable comforters And in my thirst they gave me vineger to drink This befel David in Figure but Christ in the Letter Mat. 27.34 It were happy if the Vineger given him might melt our adamantine hearts into godly sorrow Vers 22. Let their table become a snare before them Let them care their bane and drink their poyson whiles all their cates are sauced with the Wrath of God Quoniam hoc modâ— cibarunt me saith Kimchi because they have served me on this sort By table saith another Interpreter we are to understand all means of comfort and refreshing both of body and soul which turn to the ruine of the wicked even an odour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.15 16. And that which should have been c. Tremellius rendreth it Pro retributionibuâ—â— pro tendicula ipsis for recompenses for a trap to them Rom. 11.9 Others Pacifica in rete Others again Et ubi pacem sperant illic impingunt Where they hope for peace let them fall Vers 23. Let their eyes be darkned Let them be infatuated and besotted that they may go hoodwinkt to Hell And make their loyns continually to shake Ne fugiant saith R. Obadiah Gaon that they may not be able to fly or otherwise to help themselves for in the loyns and reins of a man lieth his strength Deut. 33.11 The Syriack hath it Lumbi eorum sint curvi viz. under their enemies burdens See Rom. 11.10 bow down their backs Vers 24. Pour out thine indignation upon them By Indignation saith Basil we are to understand speedy vengeance by Wrath durable This is befaln the Nation of the Jews to the utmos t 1 Thess 2. or to the end as some render it Vers 25. Let their habitation be desolate Heb. Their Palaces or Castles so named of being fair and high built in row and order It is here put not only for their Habitation but for their Function See Acts 1.20 And let none dwell in their Tents Lege 〈◊〉 saith one speaking of the mine of Jerusalem by the Romans Dio in Adrian 〈◊〉 Enquir under Velpasian and again 〈…〉 all Judea was left almost 〈…〉 upon pain of death to look toward their own Country At the day 〈…〉 be found in Jerusalem it self an hundred housholds of Jews Behold 〈…〉 of God of the contempt of Christ and his people Vers 26. For they perscute 〈◊〉 whom 〈…〉 Christ 〈…〉 of God and afflicted Isa 53.4 Him they persecuted to the death and abused when he was at the greatest under with bitter taunts and Satan 〈…〉 â—â—casmes so the Pagans and the Papist dealt 〈◊〉 the dying Martyrs and profane persons and 〈…〉 Dogge that worried and as when a Deer is shot the 〈◊〉 of the 〈…〉 their company so here Now if it could be said of Mishridates that 〈…〉 such as maliciously persecuted vertue forsaken of Fortune much more may we think doth God abhor such cruel Carâ—iâ—â—s spoken of See Isa 47.6 Obad 1. Zeeh. 1.15 And they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Narrâ—â—â—â—â—â—exuâ—â— they frame discourses to the grief of thy wounded ones pouring into their woundâ— not Oyl or Balsome but vineger or salt-water Heb. Thâ—â— number or cipâ—â— up the grief that is saith one they study and devise new waye of torturing them so that hee who would speak of them all must keep a remembrance of their number Vers 27. Adde iniquity unto their iniquity Punish one sin with another by giving them up to a reprobate sense to an incureable hardness and plague them soundly for their fin The same Hebrew word signifieth both sin and punishment these two are tied together with chains of Adamant And let them not come into thy righteousness i. e. Hold them not righteous
He chose it for his love and then loved it for his choice The word Tribe we borrow from the Romans who at first divided the multitudes into three parts called thereof Tribes The Hebrew name signifieth a rod or scepter and fitly agreeth to Judah Vers 69. Like high palaces Not places as some books absurdly have it Like the earth There shall be a Church to the Worlds end Vers 70. He chose David also God chuseth not as man doth 1 Cor. 1.26 yet Alexander the great advanced Abdolominus a poor Gardiner to be King in Sidon And took him from the sheep-folds The art of feeding cattle and the art of ruling men are sisters saith Basill Vers 71. From following the â—â—es So Saul from seeking Asses Agathocles from making pots Hist tripart lib. 9. Valentinian 〈◊〉 c. Plaâ—illa called upon her husband Theodosius the Emperour to remember from what mean estate God had called him to the highest honours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 72. So he fed them c. See vers 70. He was not malus vir bonus prâ—â—ceps as is said of our Richard the third but every way accomplished and active for the good of his subjects PSAL. LXXIX A Psalm Of like subject with Psalm 74. bewayling the same calamity of the Jews whether under Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus is uncertain but foreseen by Asaph or described by some other Prophet and committed to some of Asaphs successours to be sung Cantant justi etiam in adversis as birds in the Spring tune most sweetly when it raineth most sadly Vers 1. O God the Heathen Ex abrupto ordâ—tur q. d. canst thou endure it Is it not high time for thee to set in Lo they have filled the breadth of thy land O Immanuel Isa 8.8 that is O thou who art God with us who givest with the Father Cum parte dator inter nos petitor Aug. who prayest with the suitor and who in all our afflictions art afflicted The holy Temple have they defiled Spoliando funestando omnia profana impiaque munera obeundo See Psal 74.7 They have laid Jerusalem on heaps In rudera into an Orchard-keepers cottage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. saith the Vulgar An elegant Hypotyposis Vers 2. The dead bodies of thy Servants Either they denyed them the honour of buriall which is reckoned among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dues of the dead or else they mangled their dead bodies and exercised their rage upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the Papists did upon Husse and Zuinglius and many of the English Martyrs A barbarous practice as Pausanâ—as judged it in Herodot Callâ—ope The flesh of thy Saints c. Of thy beneficiaries whose souls are with thee in Heaven these have not so much as a burying-place on earth but lye like common carrion Morticina like cattle that dye of the murrain and are most ignominiously dealt withall And yet these are Gods Saints and in some sense Martyrs Vers 3. Their blood have they shed like water They made no more reckoning of it than of ditch-water and were ready to say as Hannibal did when he saw a ditch full of mens blood O formosum spectacutum O beautifull sight Contemptim vel abjecte And there was none to bury them Either none to bury them at all Immaniatis est Scythicae non sepelirâ— mortuos Sen. ad Maâ—tiam which the Jews accounted worse than death Eccles 6. and the Romans extreme cruelty Or none to bury them cum ritibus with the accustomed rites and ceremonies as Jacob was buried Gen. 50. but not Jeconiah Jer. 22.18 Vers 4. Wee are become a reproach to our neighbours To the Edomites Philistines Syrians Tyrians c. who do now compose comedies out of our tragedies A scorn and derision to them that are round about us Quorum opprobriis Iudibriis contumeliis sumus expositi This was more grievous to them than stripes or wounds saith Chrysostom because these being infflicted upon the body are divided after a sort betwixt soul and body but scorns and reproaches do wound the sould only Hebet quendam aculeum contumelia they leave a sting behind them Act. 5 in Ver. as Cicero observeth Vers 5. How long wilt thou be angry c Or How long wilt thou be angry for ever The Psalmist knew that the enemies were but Gods executioners and that if he were but once pacified they should soon be put out of office Shall thy jealousy viz. For our Idolatry Exod. 20. Vers 6. Pour out thy wrath c. Even the full vials of it That have not known thee More than by the book of the Creatures wherein there is indeed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of God manifested Rom. 1.19 20. even his eternal power and God-head rendring men without excuse but nothing of his goodness and patience leading them to repentance chap. 2.4 That have not called upon thy Name A note of prophaneness Psal 14.4 Vers 7. For they have devoured Jacob As Wolves and other ravenous creatures do the simple sheep His dwelling-place Or his cottage his sheep-coat Vers 8. O remember not against us former iniquities Or The iniquities of them 〈◊〉 were before us wherewith we also are justly chargeable the sin of the golden calf saith the Arabick here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diodor. Curt. lib. 7. an ounce whereof is in all our sufferings to this day say the Jews Alexander slew the Branâ—hidae and utterly destroyed their City because their Fore-fathers had long before indeavoured to betray Greece into the hands of Xerxes Speedily prevent us Lest they come too late for we are at last gasp Vers 9. Help us for the glory of thy Name A speeding argument God will do much for his own glory his wife as it were Purge away our sins Which nothing can do but tender mercy Vers 10. Where is their God See Psal 42.3 So Turks at this day when they have the better of Christians cry where is the Christians God We are the right Musalmans c. By the revenging of the blood of thy Servants c. For the which make thou inquisition and do justice Vers 11. Let the sighing of the prisoner c. It was lately in many places of this land a like difficult thing to find a wicked man in the enemies prisons or a godly man out of them The sights of such were shril in Gods ears Preserve thou those that are appointed to dye Heb. The children of death those that being destined to destruction seem to be as much in deaths power as children are in their Parents The Arabick rendreth it Redime filios occisorum Redeem the children of those who are slain lest the name of their Parents be blotted out Vers 12. Into their bosomes Full measure pressed down shaken together and running over Luk. 6.38 See Isa 65.6 7. Jer. 32.18 Wherewith they have reproached thee viz. In reproaching us who do quarter armes as
calleth it The heavenly Exchange betwixt God and his people they present dury he conferres mercy Luther saith he would not live in Paradise without the Ordinances as with them he could frame to live in Hell it self And a small village with a godly Pastor and a good people in it is an earthly Paradise saith He. If that Italian Martyr could date his letter From the delectable Orchard of the Leonine prison what may we think of the free use of the ordinances what of Heaven nam facile literatransfertur ad Spiritum Vers 2. My soul longeth As she did who said Give mee Children or else I dye His soul once longed for the waters of the well of Bethlehem but not so earnestly as now to draw waters with joy out of those wells of salvation My heart and my flesh Ut sit sanctitus in corde sanitas in corpore And for obtaining of this whole David cryeth aloud as a child when hungry cryeth every whit of him hands feet face all cry and then the Mother flings by all then she flyes and out-runs her self So here The desires of the Righteous shall be satisfied Prov. 10.24 Vers 3. Yea the sparrow Avis communissima haunteth about houses buildeth about windows and there chirpeth The Heb word ken for a nest hath the first letter bigger than the rest to note Gods providence in teaching birds to build Exclamatio pathetica ex abrupto Trem. And the Swallow a nest for her self c. She hath her name in Hebrew from her liberty to flye boldly and to nestle in mens chimneyes Prov. 26.2 Even thine Altars Or Oh thine Altars so some read it by a passionate exclamation importing strongest desires after them The want of Gods Ordinances should pinch us to the heart Vers 4. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house viz. Those Meniall-servants of thine the Priests and Levites who have their lodgings near thee and their imployment about thee This is still the happiness of Gods Ministers whose holy function and calling both in the preparation to it and execution of it leadeth them to God and holdeth them with him They will be still praising thee As having hearts full of Heaven and consciences full of comfort There cannot but be musick in the Temple of the holy Ghost Vers 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee i.e. Who is enabled by thee both in body and mind to come from the place of his aboad to the solemn feasts In whose heart are the wayes of them Here the old translation In whose heart are thy wayes is far better i.e. As he bringeth his body to the Ordinances so he hath thy wayes or laws ingraven in his heart Vers 6. Who passing thorough the valley of Baca That is of tears say some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. of Mulberry-trees say others the one are moist the other use to grow in more dry places Betwixt them both they may serve saith One to make up a more compleat emblem of this miserable World made up of woes and wants In hoc exilio saith Bernard in hoc ergastulo in hac peregrinatione in hac valle lachrymarum c. Make it a Well They are as chearfull in their travel to Gods house as if they had plenty of water all the way Finis edulcat media the joy of the Lord is their strength whereby they are carried on an end as they say to their journeys end the joyfull preconceit of appearing before God in Zion allaying their great thirst Vers 7. Pergunt tarmatini Beza They go from strength to strength i.e. Lustily and constantly turma turmae subinde sese adjungente one company comming this way and another that out of their several parishes and so they grow stronger and go more comfortably on together Some render it de doctrina in doctrinam vel de academia in academiam they grow til they come to a perfect knowledge of God Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God And then think their pains though never so great well bestowed though then they saw Gods face but obscurely in the dark glass of the ceremonies Popish pilgrims though used hardly and loose much of their estates yet satisfie themselves in this I have that I came for viz. the sight of a dumb Idol What then should not we then suffer to see God in his ordinances c. Vers 8. O Lord God of Hoasts hear my prayer Satisfie mine earnings pantings and inquietations of mind after the liberty of they Sanctuary verse 2. These very desires he calleth prayers Vers 9. Behold Not only Hear see Psal 34.15 with the Note Look upon the face of thine anointed Christi cujus festina adventum saith Kimchi do me good for Christs sake Vers 10. For a day in thy Courts Every Flower hath its sweetness so hath every holy duty its comfort I had rather be a Door-keeper As the Korites were to whom this Psalm was committed and for whose incouragement this might be spoken A Door-keeper is first in last out so would David be in holy assemblies Tardy hearers would be loath to beg this office out of his hand In the tents of wickedness Tentoriis vexationis Kimchi Vers 11. For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield An universal All-sufficient and satisfactory good proportionate to our necessities The Lord will give grace and glory One would think that were enough yea but then here is more than enough No good thing will he with-hold c. and thence is Davids desire so to be about him Vers 12. O Lord of Hosts c. Conclusio Epiphonematica PSAL. LXXXV VErs 1. Lord thou hast been favourable c. Gods free grace and favour is fitly premised as the Fountain and Mother of all the following Mercies This is that other Book Rev. 20 12. that hath our names in it and our pardon Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob Of old from Aegypt and alate from the Philistines who after Sauls death miserably tyrannized over Israel till David delivered them Some hold that this Psalm was composed at the end of the Babylonish Captivity Others conceive it may be a prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles who are brought in speaking the whole Psalm throughout Vers 2. Thou hast for given the iniquity c. This is worthily mentioned as a main mercy as a chief fruit of Free-grace Thou hast covered all their sin That that filthy thing may be no longer an eye-sore unto thee In the Original there are Six Homoioteleuta which is an elegancy not to be englished Vers 3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath Heb. Thou hast gathered it thou hast recollected it that we might not bear it when Sin is once remitted Wrath is soon removed Thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness c. Here are six Hasts drawing in the next Turn vers 4. God hath and therefore God will is a strong Medium of hope if not a demonstration of Scripture-Logicks See
his prime and pride Thou hast covered him with shame Selah Thou hast wrapped him up in the winding-sheet of shame Lord this is true Vers 46. How long Lord c. Here faith prevaileth against flesh and falleth a praying and at length a praising God Vers 47. Remember how short See Psal 39.5 Wherefore hast thou c. As thou mayest seem to have done unlesse they may chearfully serve thee and enjoy thee Vers 48. What man is he that liveth c q. d. Sith dye we must let us live while we may to some good purpose Selah q.d. Mark it and meditate well and oft on this savoury subject Vers 49. Lord where are c. q. d. Thou seemest to have lost them and we would fain find them again for thee Vers 50. Remember Lord Thou seemest to have forgotten us and our sufferings and we would fain remind thee Verse 51. The fool steps of thine anointed Heb. The heels or foot-soles that is his doings and sufferings The Chaldee and others render it tarditates mor as Christi tui the delayes of thy Christ in comming whom therefore they twit us with velut tar digradum vel loripedem claudum and say where is the promised Messiah Vers 52. Blessed be the Lord c. sc For a Christ or for adversity as well as for prosperity and this not formally and slightly but earnestly and with utmost affection Amen and amen PSAL. XC A Prayer of Moses Made by him belike when he saw the carkasses of the people fall so fast in the wildernesse committed to writing for the instruction of those that were left alive but sentenced to death Numb 14. and here fitly placed as an illustration of that which was said in the precedent Psalm Vers 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Vers 1. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place In all our troubles and travels thorough this wildernesse and before we have not been houselesse and harbourlesse Maon habitaculum tutum for Thou hast been our dwelling-place our habitacle of refuge as some render it We use to say A mans house is his castle The civile-law saith De domo sua nemo extrahi debet aut in jus vocari quia domus tutissimum cuique resugium atque receptaculum No man ought to be drawn out of his house at the sute of another because his house is his safest refuge and receptacle He that dwelleth in God cannot bee unhoused because God is stronger than all neither can any one take another out of his hands Joh. 10. Here then it is best for us to take up as in our mansion-house and to seek a supply of all our wants in God alone It was a witty saying of that learned Picus Mirandula God created the Earth for beasts to inhabit the Sea for fishes the Air for fouls the Heaven for Angels and stars Man therefore hath not place to dwell and abide in but the Lord alone See Ezek. 11.16.2 Cor. 6.8 9 10. Vers 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth And they were made at the creation not cast up by the Flood as some have held Moses first celebrateth Gods eternity Eccles 7.14 and then setteth forth mans mortality that the one being set over against the other as Solomon speaketh in another case God may be glorified and man comforted which is the main end of the holy Scriptures Rom. 15.4 and far beyond those consolatiunculae ◠Philosophicae Vers 3. Thou turnest man to destruction Ad minutissimum quiddam so Beza rendreth it to a very small businesse to dust and powder Others ad contritionem vel contusionem by turning loose upon him diverse diseases and distresses thou turnest him out of the World Eccles 1.13 And generally thou layest of all and singular sons of men Return ye Your bodies to the earth according to the decree Gen. 3.17 18 19. your souls to God that gave them Eccles 12.7 And here the course of mans life is compared saith One to a race in a Tilt or Turney where we soon run to the end of the race as it were and then return back again Intelligit Moses vit am humanam similem osse gyro saith Another Mans life is compared to a ring or round we walk a short round and then God gathers us in to himself One being asked what Life was made an answer answerless for he presently turned his back and went his way We fetch here but a turn and God saith Return yee Children of men This some make to be an irony as if God should say Live again if yee can Some apply it to the Resurrection others to Mortification and Vivification Vers 4. For a thousand years in thy sight c. q. d. Live men a longer or shorter space Serius aut citius thou endest their days and in comparison of thine Eternity Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus it is a small space of time that the longest liver hath upon earth 2 Pet. 3.8 Psal 39.5 Non multum sane abest à nihilo Some would hence inferre that the Day of Judgement shall last a thousand years sides sit penes authores When it is passed We judge better of the shortness of time when it is past And as a watch in the night Which is but three hours space for Souldiers divide the Night into four Watches and our life is full of the darkness of errour and terrour Vers 5. Thou carryest them away as with a floud Suddenly violently irresistibly by particular Judgements besides that general necessity of dying once Heb. 9.27 This is set forth by a treble comparison of Flouds Sleep and Flowers here and indeed the vanity and misery of mans life is such as cannot sufficiently be set forth by an similitudes See Vers 9 10. They are like a sleep Or dream the dream of a shadow saith Pindarus the shadow of smoke saith another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are as grass An ordinary comparison Isa 40.6 Jam. 1. Vers 6. In the morning it flourisheth So doth man in his prime and vigour his bones full of marrow his brests of milk In the evening it is cut down So is man by Deaths mortal Sythe which moweth down the Lillies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field In the evening grass will cut better and the Mowers can better work at it Vers 7. For we are consumed by thine anger Justly conceived for our sins ver 8. this is a cause of death that Philosophy discovereth not as being blinde and not able to see farre off and therefore cannot prescribe any sufficient remedy against the fear of death such as is here set down vers 12. but such as made Tully complain that the Disease was too hard for the Medicine and such as left men either doubtful Socrates for instance or desperate and devoyd of sense as Petronius in Tacitus Qui in ipsis atriis
see He saith formeth because there are many formes or species in the eye continually and as the optick vertue in thy eye seeth all and is seen of none so doth God much more All Davids wayes were in Gods sight all Gods lawes in Davids sight Psal 119.168 Vers 10. He that chastiseth the Heathen shall not he correct Qui totis gentibus non parcit vos non redarguet He that punisheth prophane Nations that know him not shall he spare you Amos 3.2 Shall not tribulation and anguish be upon the Jew first Rom. 2.9 The Chaldee thus paraphraseth He that gave a law to his people shall he not punish them when they transgresse it He that teacheth man knowledge Shall not be know is to be supplied to make sense The Psalmist seemeth so displeased at mens doubting or denying of this that he could not perfect his sentence through passion of mind Some causes indeed do give that which themselves have not as the lifelesse heaven inliveneth the dull whetstone sharpeneth But here it is far otherwise and woe be to such as act not accordingly Isa 29.15 Vers 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity Or worse that they are ever weaving spiders webs or else hatching Cockatrice eggs Isa 59.5 This sentence St. Paul allegeth against the Worlds wizzards 1 Cor. 3.20 who the wiser they were the vainer they were Rom. 1.21 As Austin writing to a man of great paris saith Ornari abste Diabolus quarit the Devill would fain bee tricked up by thee Vers 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest c. And thereby effectest that his vain thoughts lodge not within him Jer. 4.14 but that the wicked forsake his wayes and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return to thee c. Isa 55.7 Feri Domine feri said Luther strike whiles thou pleasest Lord only to thy correction adde instruction Vt quod noceat doceat See my Love-tokens And teachest him out of thy law Lashing him but withall lessoning him ut resipiscat serviat tibi corde perfecto saith Kimchi here that he may repent and serve thee with an upright heart for which purpose affliction sanctified is of singular use Crux voluntat is Dei schola morum disciplina felicitatis meditatorium gau dii Spiritus sancti officina breviter bonorum omnium thesaurus saith Brentius on Job 33.16 Vers 13. That thou mayest give him rest Here usually but hereafter certainly Mors arumnarum requies was Chaucers Motto those that dye in the Lord shall rest from their labours Mean-while they are chastened of the Lord that they may not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 Vntill the pit be digged for the wicked Untill the cold grave hold his body and hot Hell hold his soul Vers 14. For the Lord will not cast off his people Though he cast them into the furnace of affliction The wicked he bringeth into misery and there leaveth them to come off as they can Ezek. 22.20 29.5 Not so the Saints Zach. 13.9 Isa 43.2 Heb. 13.5 Nor for sake his inheritance Because His. Senecai Patriam quivis ama 〈◊〉 quia pulchram sed quia suam All love their own Vers 15. But judgement shall return unto Righteousness All shall be set to rights and every one have his due according to Rom. 2.6 7 8 9 10. if not sooner yet at the day of judgement without fail Some give this sense severity shall be changed into mercy the rigour of the law to the clemency of the Gospel Others thus judgement shall return to Righteousness that is to its own place licet defertur judicium non aufertur And all the upright in heart shall follow it viz. In their affections they are carried out after it earnestly desiring that dear day when God will unriddle his providences and clear up his proceedings with the sons of men Some read shall follow him that is God being brought home to him by their afflictions they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth Not so every loose ungirt Christian or profligate professor Vers 16. Who will rise up for mee q.d. But a very few fast friends find I at Court Jonathan excepted Some there are that will sprinkle mee with Court-holy-water as they say give glozing speeches but 't is little that they will do and yet lesse that they will suffer for mee Faithfull friends saith One are gone on pilgrimage and their return is uncertain Vers 17. Except the Lord had been my help He loveth to help at a pinch he usually reserveth his hand for a dead lift See 2 Tim. 4.16 17. My soul had almost dwelt in silence i.e. In the dark cloisters of death The Greek and Latin Translators render it In Hell Vers 18. when I said my foot slippeth I stand on a precipice and shall be down Hypotyposis est Thy mercy O Lord held mee I have subsisted meerly by a miracle of thy mercy by a prop of thine extraordinary pitty and patience Vers 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within mee My perplexed intricated insnarled intertwined as the branches of a tree cogitations and ploddings upon my daily sufferings when I know not what to think or which way to take to Thy comforts delight my soul The Beleever is never without his cordiall he hath comforts that the World wots not of The good Lantgrave of Hessen being held prisoner for a long time together by Charles the fift Emperour said that he could never have held it out so but that he felt the divine consolations of the Martyrs August Martyr etiam in catena gaudet c. saith Austin Crux inunct a est saith Bernard Godlinesse hath many crosses and as many comforts like as Egypt hath many venemous Creatures but withall many Antidotes against them Vers 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee Shall Tyrants and Oppressours who do exercise regiment without righteousness intitle thee to their wicked proceedings and go unpunished See Isa 36.10 with 37.36 the Throne or Tribunal is called The holy place Eccles 8.10 wo then to those that pollute it Which frameth mischief by a Law As did the Primitive Persecutors with their bloudy Edicts against Christians and the Popish Bishops or whose Laws that of Politian was verified Inventum Actiae dicuntur jura Draconis Vers est fama nimis nil nisivir us habent Some render it Praeter vel contra legem beside or against Law Vers 21. They gather together Heb. Run by troops as Theeves do Against the soul Which they would gladly destroy if it lay in their power This the Popish persecutors oft attempted but God hath better provided Mat. 10.28 Vers 22. But the Lord is my defence Heb. My high place where I am set out of their reach Vers 23. And he shall bring upon them c. See Psal 7.15 16. PSAL. XCV VErs 1. O come let us sing unto the Lord It is thought by this beginning that this Psalm was not
virtually as ost as we offend WhO crowneth thee with loving kindness c. Incircleth and surroundeth thee with benefits so that which way soever thou turnest thee thou canst not look beside a blessing See the Note on vers 3. Vers 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth Heb. Thy jaws so that thou art top full eating as long as eating is good God alloweth thee an honest affluence of outward comfortsâ— Open thy mouth wide and he will fill it Psal 81.10 So that thy youth is â—eâ—â—ed like the Eagles The Eagle is of all birds the most vegetous and vivacious renewing her youth and health they say at every ten years end by casting her old feathers and getting new till she be an hundred years old Aquisae senectus Proverâ—â— Augustins observeth that when her bill is overgrown that she cannot take in her meat she beateth it against a rock and so exâ—â—it 〈◊〉 roâ—â—â—i she striketh off the combersome part of her bill and thereby recovereth her eating That which hindreth our renovation saith he the Rock Christ taketh away c. See Isa 40.31 Vers 6. The Lord 〈◊〉 c. The words are both plural to shew that God will execute omnimodam justitiam judicium all and all manner of justice and judgement relieving the oppressed and punishing the oppressor to the sull Vers 7. He made known his wayes unto Moses Even right Judgements true Laws good Statutes and Commandements Neh. 9.13 14. The Rabbins by wayes here understand Gods Attributes and Properties Middoth they call them those thirteen proclaimed Exod. 34. after that Moses had prayed Exod. 33. Shew me thy wayes and the next words favour this interpretation Vers 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious These are Moses his very expressions Exod. 34.7 Theodoret calleth him worthily The great Ocean of Divinity c. His acts to the children His miracles in Egypt and all along the wilderness where they sed upon Sacraments Vers 9. He will not always chide His still revenges are terrible Gen. 6.3 with 1 Pet. 3.19 but God being appeased towards the penitent people will not shew his anger so much as in words Isa 57.16 Neither will be keep his anger for ever Much less must we Levit. 19.18 Eph. 4.26 though against his enemies God is expresly said to keep it Nab. 1.2 Vers 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins Heb. Our errors our involuntary and unavoidable infirmities According to our iniquities Heb. perversly committed for of these evils also the Saints are not free but God beaâ—eth with more than small faults especially if not scandalous Vers 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth How high the third heaven is cannot be conjectured But for the middlemost heaven wherein the Sun Moon and Stars are placed how exceeding high it is may be guessed and gathered in that the Stars whereof those of the first magnitude are said to be every one above a hundred and seven times as big again as the whole earth do yet seem to us but as so many sparks or spangles See Prov. 25.3 Eph. 4.10 So great is his mercy The heavens are exceeding high above the earth but Gods mercy to his is above the heavens Psal 108.4 The original word Gabbar here used is the same with that Gen. 7.20 used for the prevailing of the waters above the mountains Vers 12. As far as the East c. And these we know to be so far asunder that they shall never come together The space also and distance of these two is the greatest that can be imagined Deut. 4.32 Psal 113.3 Isa 45.6 So far hath be removed out transgressions The guilt of them whereby a man stands charged with the fault and is obliged to the punishment due thereunto See Isa 43.25 and 38.17 Mic. 7.19 Ezeck 33.16 Peccata non redeunt Discharges in Justification are not repealed called in again Vers 13. Like as a Father pitieth There is an ocean of love in a fathers heart See Luke 15.20 Gen. 33.2 13 14. and Chap. 4.3 how hardly and with what caution Jacob parted with Benjamin Sozomen maketh mention of a certain Merchant who offering himself to be put to death for his two sons who were sentenced to dye Lib. 7. cap. 24. and it being granted that one of the two whom he should chuse should be upon that condition delivered the miserable Father aequali utriusque amore victus equally affected to them both could not yeeld that either of them should dye but remained hovering about both till both were put to death So the Lord pitieth c. So and ten thousand times more than so For he is the Father of all mercies Parentela and the Father of all the Father-beeds in heaven and earth Eph. 3.15 Vers 14. For he knoweth our frame Our evil concupiscence saith the Chaldee Figulinam fragilem constitutionem nostram saith Junius that we are nothing better than a compound of dire and sin He remembreth thâ—â— we are dust Our bodies are for our souls are of a spiritual nature divinae particula aurae and sooner or later to be turned to dust again Vers 15. As for man his dayes are at grass The frailty of mans life intimated in the former verse is here lively painted out under the similitude of grass as likewise in many other Scriptures See Psal 37.2 and 90.5.6 c. As a slower of the field so be flourisheth Take him in all his gaâ—ety his beauty and his bravery he is but as a flower and that not of the garden which hath more shelter and better ordering but of the field and so more subject to heat weather pâ—lling 〈◊〉 or treading down Isa 40.6 7 8. Vers 16. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone Heb. It is not that is it neither continues any longer in being nor returns any more into being So here Job 14.7 8 9 10 11 12. And the place thereof shall know it no more Though whilst it stood and flourished the place of is seemed as it were to know nothing but it the glory and beauty of it drew all eyes to it c. Think the same of men in their flourish soon forgotten as dead men out of mind Psal 31.12 Vers 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting God is from all eternity and unto all eternity kind to all that fear him in what age of the world soever they live And his righteousness unto childrens children That is his kindness or bounty for so the word Tsedacâ—ah should be taken according to Psal 112.3 9. 2 Cor. 9.9 Vers 18. To such as keep his Covenant For else they shall know Gods breach of promise as it is Numb 14.3 4. Neither shall it benefit them to have been born of godly parents And to those that remember his Commandements That resolve to do them though in many things they fail Qui faciunt praetepta etiamsâ— non perficiant that wish well to that which they can never compass Psal
119.4 5. If they cannot open the door yet if they give a pluck at the bolt or a lift at the latch there is comfort Vers 19. The Lord hath prepared Or fixed founded firmed established Here God is further praised for his most excellent Majesty which appeareth first From the loftiness of his Throne secondly From the largeness of his Dominion Vers 20. Bless the Lord ye his Angels In stirring up the Angels to praise God he awakeneth himself and for this purpose Incipit à superioribus finit in infimis saith Kimcbi here he calleth in the help of all the creatures from the highest to the lowest and after all concludeth as he began with a saying to himself That excel in strength Heb. Giants for strength such as can prevail and do great exploits yet is all their strength derivative they have it from God who it Hagibbor the Mighty One Deut. 10.17 and hence the Angel Gabriel hath his name God is my strength Labour we to be like unto the Angels strengthened with all might c. Col. 1.11 walking about the world as Conquerors able to do all things through Christ who strengthneth us Philip. 4.13 That do his Commandements viz. Cheerfully speedily universally humbly constantly Let us do accordingly else we mock God when we pray Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Vers 21. Bless ye the Lord all his hosts That is all his creatures which are fitly called Gods hosts First For their number Secondly For their order thirdly for their obedience Yee Ministers of his Whether in State or Church Kings are Gods Ministers Rom. 13.4 6. So are Angels Heb. 1.14 like as Ministers are Angels Rev. 2.1 they have exchanged names their office is Angel-like to wait upon God to stand before him to serve in his presence and to bless his Name Vers 22. Bless the Lord all his works Whether living or liveless For all thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints bless thee Psal 145.10 Benedicite ter ad mysterium Triadis saith an Interpreter Bless the Lord O my soul Whatever others do let me be doing at it as Josh 24.14 15. PSAL. CIV Vers 1. Bless the Lord O my soul This was much in Davids mouth as Deo gratias was in Austines See Psal 103.1 and 22. after which this Psalm is fitly set There he blesseth God for his benefits to himself and the whole Church here for his works of Creation and Government common to the whole world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek and Latine Translations prefix this title David de generation Mandi Continet opera Bereshith saith Kimchi It is of the same subject with the first Chapter of Genesis the first five dayes works are here after a sort considered and celebrated as a mirror wherein Gods Majesty may be clearly discerned This Psalm is by some called Davids Physicks Thou art very great Non molis dimensionâ— sed virtutis rerum gestarum gloria Thou hast made thee a great Name by thy works of wonder Thou are cloathed with Honour and Majesty i.e. With thy creatures which are as a garment both to hide thee in one respect and to hold thee forth in another to bee seen Vers 2. Who coverest thy self with light That lovely creature that first shone out of darknes and is chief among all things sensible as coming nearest to the unapproachable glory of God like as the robe royal is next unto the King Herod upon a let day came forth arrayed in royal apparel in cloath of silver saith Josephus which being beaten upon by the Sun-beams dazled the eyes of the people and drew from them that blasphemous acclamation Act. 12.21 God when he made the world shewed himself in all his royalty neither can we ascribe too much unto him Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain The whole expanse or firmament is as a Canopy over Gods Throne or rather as a Curtain or Skreen betwixt us and the Divine Majesty the fight whereof we cannot bear Vers 3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters God as he hath founded the solid earth upon the fluid waters Psal 24.2 So the highest heaven upon those waters above the firmament Gen. 1.7 Psal 18.11 This notably sets forth the wisdome and power of this Almighty Architect sith Artists say In solido extruendum the foundation of a building should be hard and rocky and experience sealeth to it Who maketh the clouds c. These are his Charriot royal drawn or rather driven by the winds as his Charriot-horses Vers 4. Who maketh his Angels spirits Immaterial substances fit to attend upon the Father of spirits and with speed to move suddenly and invisibly into most remote parts His Ministers a flaming fire Seraphims they are called for their burning zeal like so many heavenly Salamanders as also for their irrestible power the Angel that destroyed Sennacheribs Army is held to have done it by burning them within although it appeared not outwardly as some have been burnt by lightning Vers 5. Who laid the foundations of the earth Heb. He hath founded the earth upon her bases See Psal 24.2 Job 38.4 6. with the Notes That is should not be removed for ever Neither can it be by reason of its own weightiness whereby it remaineth unmoveable in the center of the universe Say it should move any way it must move towards heaven and so ascend which is utterly against the nature of heavy bodies Vers 6. Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment Operueras Thou hadst at first covered it till thou for mans sake hadst made a distinction for else such a garment would this have been to the earth as the shirt made for the murthering of Agamemnon where he had no issue out The waters stood above the mountains As the garment in the proper use of it is above the body and so they would still did not God for our sakes set them their bounds and borders Vers 7. At thy rebuke they fled At thy word of command and angry countenance overawing that raging and ranging creature So Christ rebuked the winds and waves They hasted away They ran away headlong as for life Vers 8. They go up by the mountains They run any way in post hasle breaking through thick and thin and no where resting till imbodied in the Abysse their elemental place and station This is check to our dulness and disobedience If a man had been present saith One when God thus commanded the seas to retreat from the earth hee might have seen both a terrible and a joyful spectacle Vers 9. Thou hast set a bound c. A certain compass and course an argument of Gods singular and sweet power and providence See Job 38.10 11. with the Notes Vers 10. He sondeth the springs into the vallies God doth this he by certain issues or venâ—s sendeth forth the waters of the Sea which here and there break out in springs leaving their saltness behind them that
for in God we live move and have our being Act. 17. A frown of Augustus Cesar Camden proved to be the death of Cornelius Gallus Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellor of England dyed Sept. 20.1591 of a flux of his urine and grief of mind conceived upon some angry words given him by Q. Elizabeth Thou takest away their breath Heb. Thou gatherest it callest for it again viz. their vital vigour Vers 30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Virtutem vivificam They are created Others of the same kind are and so the face of the earth is renued whiles another generation springeth up This is matter of praise to their maker Vers 31. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever Or Let glory be to the Lord for ever so For his great works of Creation and Conservation The Lord shall rejoyce in his words As he did at the Creation when he saw all to bee good and very good so still is doth God good as it were to see the poor creatures feed and men to give him the honour of all Vers 32. He looketh an the earth and it trembleth This must be considered that God may be as well feared as loved and praised He toucheth the hills and they smoak It s therefore ill falling into his hands who can do such terrible things with his looks and touches Vers 33. I will sing unto the Lord Though others be slack to do God this right to help him to his own to give him the glory due to his Name yet I will do it and do it constantly so long as I have a breath to draw Vers 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet Or Let it be sweet unto him let him kindly accept it though it be mean and worthless through Christs odours powred thereinto I will be glad in the Lord Withdrawing my heart from other vile and vain delights or at least vexed at mine own dulness for being no more affected with such inexplicable ravishments Vers 35. Let the sinners be consumed c. Such sinners against their own souls as when they know God or might know him by his wonderful works glorifie him not as God neither are thankful Rom 1.21 but pollute and abuse his good creatures to his dishonor fighting against him with those lives that he hath given them Bless the Lord O my soul The worse others are the better be thou kindling thy self from their coldness c. PSAL. CV VErs 1. O give thanks unto Lord Some tell us that this and the two following Psalms were the great Hallelujah sung as solemn times in their assemblies But others say better that the great Hallelujah as the Hebrews called it began at Psal 113. and held on till Psal 119. which they at the Passover began to sing after that cup of wine they called Poculum bymni sen laudationis Call upon his Name Call upon the Lord whe is worthy to be praysed Psal 18.3 See the Note there Our life must be divided betwixt praises and prayers Vers 2. Sing unto him sing Both with mouth and with musical instruments Talk ye Or meditate ye Let your heart indite a good matter and your tongue be as the pen of a ready writer Psal 45.1 Vers 3. Glory ye in his holy Name Of his power and goodness See 1 Cor. 1.31 Alsted with Jer. 9.23 Non est gloriosier populus sub caelo quam Judaicus saith One there iâ— not a more vain-glorious people under heaven than the Jews But we are the circumcision which worship in spirit and glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Philip. 3.3 Let the heart of them rejoyce c. All others are forbidden to rejoyce Hos 9.1 and bidden to weep and howl Jam. 5.1 Vers 4. Seek the Lord and his strength That is his Ark at the remove where of to Jerusalem this Psalm was sung 1 Chron. 16.7 8. c. Called it is Gods strength and Gods face here yea even God himself Psal 132.5 It s as if he should say Frequent holy Assemblies as ever you desire to draw nigh to God and to have your faith in him confirmed Vers 5. Remember the marvellous works c. Deeply and diligently ponder both the works and words of God comparing the one with the other that ye may the better conceive of both Vers 6. O yee seed of Abraham c. Do thus or else your pedigree will profit you no more than it did Dives in the flames that Abraham called him Son An empty title yeeldeth but an empty comfort Vers 7. For he is the Lord Jehovah the Essentiator the promise-keeper therefore praise him He is also in Covenant with us and will we not do him this right His judgement are in all the earth His executions upon the Egyptians and Philistims are far and near notified and discoursed Vers 8. He hath remembred his Covenant I Chron. 16.15 it is Bee ye mindful alwayes of his Covenant God ever remembreth though we many times forget it and out selves The word which be commanded The conditions of the Covenant Vers 9. which Covenant be made with Abraham c. Whom hee found an Idolater Josh 24.2 he justified the ungodly Rom. 4.5 And his Oath That by two immutable things c. Heb. 6. Vers 10. And confirmed the same c. So God sealeth and sweareth to us again and again in every Sacrament that all doubts of his love may be taken away and out hearts lifted up as Jebosaphats 2 Chron. 17.6 in the way of the Lord. Vers 11. Vnto thee will I give the land of Canaan That pleasantest of all lands Eâ—â—k 20.6 a type and pledge of heaven to the faithful Vers 12. When they were but a few men in member Seventy souls at their going down into Egypt which yet say the Hebrews truly were more worth than the Seventy Nations of the whole world besides Howbâ—â—t God chose them not for their worth or number but loved them meerly because he loved them Deut. 7.7,8 Vers 13. When they went from one Nation to another There were seven several Nations in that Land wherein they sojourned flitting from place to place and having no setled habitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4.11 From one Kingdome Forced by Famine or other necessity See Gen 10.12 and 20.1 2 c. and 26.1 c. Vers 14. He suffered no man c. So as utterly to oppress them for otherwise they had their ill usages such as was the taking away of Sarah casting out of Isaac the rape of Dinah c. Strangers meet many times with hard measure Yea be reproved Kings Gen. 12.17 and 20.3 Kings and Queens must not think themselves to good to nurse Gods little ones yea to do them homage licking up the dust under their feet Isa 49.23 Vers 15. Touch not mine anointed c. This God speaketh not of Kings but to Kings concerning his people who have an unction from the Father being sanctified and set apart for his
both the vision and fruition of thy great goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.19 giving them a taste thereof aforehand as a few grapes of that promised Canaan Of thy Nation i.e. By this name Gods elect are here and elsewhere stiled and therefore the Jews have no reason to reproach us as they do by it calling us Goi and Maâ—zer goi bastard heathens Vers 6. We have sinned with our Fathers Adding to their heap and making up their measure Mal. 23.32 People think the example of their Fathers a sufficient excuse Jerom once but not well desired leave of Austin to erre with seven Fathers whom hee found of his opinion I will follow my forefathers saith Cicero although I fall together with them See Jer. 44.17 But so would not these good souls as neither Jeremy chap. 3.25 nor Daniel chap. 9.5 whose confession suting and symbolizing with this together with that we read vers 47. maketh some think that this Psalm was penned for the peoples use then when they were captives in Babylon We have committed iniquity c. Sin must bee confessed with utmost aggravation I le hear how full in the mouth these are against themselves laying on load whilst their sins swell as so many toads in their eyes Vers 7. Our Fathers understood not i.e. They weighed them not improved them not but as the dull earth is surrounded by the heavens yet perceiveth it not so were these with miracles and mercies yet understood them not Even at the red Sea Not only whiles they were on the bank they feared to enter but also even when they were passing and walking over that dry land made for them by a miracle they did still continue their murmurings and muâ—inings Vers 8. Nevertheless be saved them for his Names sake Here he comes in with a Non-obstante So Isa 57.17 Now if God will save for his Names sake wheat people is there whom he may not save That be might make his power to be known The Lord hath other things to look unto than presently to punish his people when they most deserve it Vers 9. He rebuked the red sea also Ingentia beneficia flagitia supplicia as appeareth in the subsequent verses So be led them through the depths Inter duas aquarum congeries betwixt two mountains of waters which stood on each hand of them as a wall and made a lane Every main affliction is our red sea which while it threatneth to swallow us up preserveth us Vers 10. And be saved them c. From Pharaoh that perfect enemy of theirs that pursued them with a deadly design but was happily prevented Vers 11. And the waters covered their enemies The preservation of the Church is ever accompanied with the destruction of its enemies that the mercy may appear the greater Not one of them was left Left alive to carry the news Vers 12. Then they beleeved his words Then for a flash whilst the memory of the mercy was fresh and warm but ere they were three dayes elder they murmured again It proved not so much as a nine dayes wonderment they were soon at old ward They sang his praise Exod. 15. A tempory faith and joy Vers 13. They soon forgat his works Heb. They made baste they forgat This is an aggravating circumstance See Gal. 1.6 Exod. 32.8 Deut. 9.16 They waited not for his counsel For the performance of what he had purposed and promised they were short-spirited and impatient Vers 14. But lusted exceedingly Heb. Lusted a lust See Num. 11. they had a sufficiency but must have superfluities as belly-gods not want but wantonness set them a lusting and that in the wilderness where they knew that in an ordinary way it was not to be had And templed God Whom they should have trusted rather sith he waiteth to be gracious and being a God of judgement knoweth best when to deal forth his favours Isa 30.18 and 49 8. Vers 15. Aug. And he gave them their request Deus saepe dat iralus quod negat propitius Munera magna quidem misit sed misit in bamo Martial Quales they had but to choake them as afterwards a King but to vex them c. But sont leaneness into their soul i.e. Into their bodies such a loathing as caused leanness Num 11.20 a plague upon their bodies a curse upon their souls Many men eat that on earth which they digest in hell It is dangerous seeding on sins murthering-morsels Vers 16. They envied Moses also Korah and his complices did and because the people punished them not they are all accused as guilty of that conspiracy and looked upon as a rabble of rebels against heaven And Aaron the Saint of the Lord Separated to the Priesthood The Rabbins tell us that they had chosen Dathan instead of Moses and Abiram for Aaron Vers 17. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan c. Korah is not here mentioned haply for his sons sakes who were famous Prophets and Musick-masters in Davids dayes As for On the son of Peleth one of the chief conspirators the Rabbins say that by the good counsel of his wise he repented and so escaped Vers 18. And a fire was kindled in their company It is both a just presage and desert of ruine not to be warned Let seditious persons and Schismaticks take heed for even our God also is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult The flame burnt up the wicked And among the rest Korah as some conceive Dathan and Abâ—ram are stigmatized for their stubbornness Num. 26.9 as was afterwards Abaz 2 Chron. 28.22 and before them all Cain Gen. 4.15 and Lamech 23 24. Vers 19. They made a Calf in Horch i. e. In the Country near to that mountain where they at same time saw visible tokens of Gods dreadful presence Well might Aaron say of this people that they were wholly set upon wickedness Exod. 3â— 22 This peece of Idolatry they had learned belike of the Egyptians who worshipped Apis in such a shape so catching is sin Lege Lactâ—nt 〈◊〉 1. de muab Scrip. cap. 15. and so dangerous is ill company Vers 20. Tous they change their glory i.e. Their God Rom. 1.23 the Creator for a contemptible creature Of an Oâ—e that eateth grass Tunâ— stercora egerit multam inquinatâ—r as R. Solomon here glosseth They pretended not to worship the Calf but God in the Calf as did also Jehu a King 10.16.29 2 Chron. 11.15 and as the Idolatrous Papiste do at this day See Exod. 32.5 yet the text here saith They worshipped the moâ—en Imago they changed their glory into the siâ—ilitude of an Oxe And although some of the Rabbins would excuse this gross Idolatry of their fore-fathers yet others more wise bewail us and say that there is an ounce of this golden Calf in all their present sufferings Vers 21. They forget God their Saviour This is often mentioned as the Mother of all the mis-rule amongst them
Manl. lecâ— com 78. that for three choice books hee gave thirty thousand silverlings or florens Now what were all his books to the Bible To blame then was that Anabaptist who said in Melancthous hearing that hee would not give two pence for all the Bibles in the World Vers 73 Thy hands have made and fashioned mee Plasmaverunt which Bazil interpreteth of the body curiously wrought by God Psal 139. as Made Formaverunt Firmaverunt of the soul q. d. Thou art my Maker I would thou shouldest bee my Master A body hast thou fitted mee Heb. 10.5 a reasonable soul also hast thou given mee capable of salvation I am an understanding creature still neither have I lost my passive capacity of thy renewing grace Give mee understanding And thereunto adde sincere affection v. 80. that these may run parallel in my heart and mutually transâ—â—se life and vigour into one another Vers 74 They that fear thee will bee glad c. As hoping that they shall also in like sort bee delivered and advanced Because I have hoped in thy word And have not been disappointed The Vulgar rendreth it super speravi I have over-hoped and Aben-Ezra glosseth I have hoped in all thy decree even that of afflicting mee as in the next verse Vers 75 I know O Lord that thy Judgements are right That is that I suffer deservedly To thee O Lord belongeth Righteousness c. Dan. 9. And thâ— thou in faithfulnesse hast afflicted mee That thou mayest be true to my soul and not suffer mee to run on to my utter ruine Or in faithfullnesse that is in measure as 1 Cor. 10.13 Vers 76 Let I pray thee thy mercifull kindnesse That I faint not neither sink under the heaviest burden of these light afflictions According to thy word to thy servant To thy servants in generall and therefore I trust to mee who am bold to thrust in among the rest and to put my name in the Writ Vers 77 Let thy tender mercies come unto mee c. Hee repeateth the same thing in other words and re-enforceth his request showing that hee could not live without divine comforts For thy Law is my delight Thou hast my heart and good will which sheweth that I am thy workmanship in a spirituall sense also Ephes 2.10 Oh look upon the wounds of thine hands and forget not the work of thine hands as Queen Elizabeth prayed Vers 78 Let the proud bee ashamed Theodoret thinks that David here prayeth not against but for his enemies quandoquidem confusio ignominia salutem procreat But that 's not likely For they dealt perversely with mee Writhing my words and deeds to a wrong sense Or they would pervert mee But I will meditate in thy Precepts Or I will speak of them and so stop their mouths and save my self from them Vers 79 Let those that fear thee These are fitly opposed to those proud ones as Mal. 3.13.16 Turn unto mee From whom they have shrunk in mine affliction And those that have known thy Testimonies Deum cognoscere colere to know and serve God is the whole duty of a man saith Lactantius Vers 80 Let my heart bee sound For the main though I have many failings Pray wee against Hypocrisie That I bee not ashamed As all dissemblers once shall bee Vers 81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation Saying as those good souls Jer. 8.20 The Harvest is past the Summer isended and wee are not saved Physitians let their patients blood sometimes etium ad 〈◊〉 deliquiâ—m till they swoon again Howbeit they have a care still to maintain nature so doth God the fainting spirits of his people by cordialls Isa 57.16 But I hope in thy Word Vivere spâ— vidi qui moritur◠〈◊〉 Vers 82 Mine eyes said God sometimes deferreth to help till meâ—â—have left looking Luk. 18.8 when the son of man commeth shall hee find faith hardly This hee doth to commend his favours to us and to set a price on them Saying When wilt thou comfort mee This is a Prosâ—popaia as if Davids eyes said thus whilst they earnestly expected comfort Vers 83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke Shrivelled wrinkled withered dryed up My body by long suffering is but a bag of bones and that black and sooty confer Psal 32.3 102.3 My soul in danger of being bereft of all spirituall moisture Yet dâ— I not forget thy Statutes Nay I do the rather remember them and fetch relief from them Vers 84 How many are the dayes of thy Servant i.e. Mine evil dayes Prov. 15.15 All the dayes of the afflicted are evill See Psal 37.12 and these soon seem many to us When wilt thou execute Judgement c. This is the voice of those Martyrs Rev. 6. who are thereupon willed to have patience till the number of their Brethren is fulfilled Vers 85 The proud have digged pits for mee The pride cruelty and craftiness of wicked Persecutors are fore-tokens of their utter destruction The Greek rendreth it they have told mee tales Prov. 16.27 An ungodly man diggeth up evill Which are not after thy Law Neither they nor their pits But what care they for thee or thy law and shall they thus escape by iniquity Psal 56.7 Vers 86. All thy Commandements are faithfull Heb. Faithfullness that is they are true sure equall infallible They have persecuted mee wrongfully For asserting thy truths and adhering thereunto Help thou mee The more eagerly men molest us the more earnestly should wee implore the divine help Vers 87 They had almost consumed mee upon earth In Heaven I shall bee out of their reach But this is their hour and the power of darknesse Luk. 22.53 But I forsook not thy Precepts No trouble must pull us from the love of the truth You may pull my tongue out of my head but not my faith out of my heart said that Martyr The Saints chuse affliction father than sin Vers 88 Quicken mee after thy loving kindnesse David under long affliction had his damps and dulnesses as the best faith if long tryed will flag and hang the wing Hee therefore rouseth up himself and wrestleth with God for quickening grace which hee promiseth to improve and not to receive the grace of God in vain so shall I keep the Testimony of thy mouth Vers 89 For ever O Lord thy word It is eternall and perpetuall neither can it bee vacated or abolished by the injurie of time or indeavours of tyrants The Bible was imprinted at the new Jerusalem by the finger of Jehovah and shall outlive the dayes of Heaven run parallel with the life of God with the line of eternity The Saints also and Angels in Heaven live by the same law as wee do here and we pray to bee conformed unto them Vers 90 Thy faithfullnesse is unto all generations Hee singleth out Gods word of promise and sheweth it to bee immutable and unmoveable as the earth is in the middle of Heaven by the word of Gods power See
body is sick my soul is well Vers 8 The Lord shall preserve thy going one c. Thou shalt have his safe 〈◊〉 publick faith for thy defence in 〈◊〉 enterprizes 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 together with good success in all thine affairs and actions Prov. 3.6 PSAL. CXXII VErs 1 I was glad when they 〈…〉 The flourish is the chief joy of the good Christian Hence the Evangelicall among the Protestant party Gregory Nazianzon writeth that his Father being an Heathen and often besought by his wife to become a Christian had this verse suggested unto him in a dream and was much wrought upon thereby 〈…〉 Dutch Martyr in Luâ—â—â—ing hearing the sentence of his condemnation to the fire Act. Mon. fol. 807. 〈◊〉 Psalm c. Let us go into the house of the Lord I will go also as Zech. 8.21 said holy David who was much a cheered at his peoples forwardnesse in Gods service and became their Captain Vers 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates Where the Ark whilâ—om transportative was now fixed this was their great joy so should it bee ours that the true religion is now setled amongst us and that wee are at a certainty Respons ad Staphyl Time was when good Melancthon groaned out Quâ—s fugiamus habemus quâ—s sequamur non intelligimus Wee know whom wee should flye viz. the Papists but whom to follow wee yet know not Vers 3. Jerusalem is builded as a City c. None such for uniformity of buildings or unanimity of Citizens There is no such â—â—â—nesse in all the World as amongst true Christians and this the very Heathens observed and commended As the curtains of the Tabernacle were joyned by loops so were they by love And as they stones of they Temple were so close cemented together that they seemed to bee all but one stone so was it among the primitive Saints Vers 4. Whither the Tribes go up Thrice a year all the Males appeared before the Lord in Sion the females also as many 〈◊〉 would as 〈◊〉 the Virgin Mary c. but they were not bound At which times there was such a generall meeting as no City could shew the like a type of that great Panegyriâ— Heb. 12.22 23. Unto the Testimony of Israel The Ark was so called in regard of the Tables of the Covenant kept therein as two letters of contract betwixt God and men saith Aâ—en-Ezra Exod. 25.16 those two tables are called the Testimony Vers 5. For there are 〈…〉 These are the two chief praises of any place 1 The exercise or Gods sincere service 2 The administration and execution of publick justice Vers 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Peace is a voluminous mercy and must therefore be prayed for peace both of conscience and of Country It is well with Bees when they make a noise in the Haâ—â— but with men when they are at quiet in Church and state Among the Persianâ— her that offered Sacrifice prayed not only for himself but for all his Country men and especially for the King Herodot lib. 1 They shall 〈◊〉 that love 〈◊〉 And out of love pitty and pâ—ay for thee Vers 7. Peace bee wit◠〈…〉 had no sooner admonished others of their duty but himself 〈…〉 Vers 8. For my Brethren and companions sakes David was not all for himself as the maâ—â—â—â— is in thâ—s◠〈…〉 spirit hee did 〈…〉 Vers 〈…〉 Where Davids heart was and wherein 〈…〉 unto him was Gods 〈…〉 â—ee into likeness of 〈◊〉 heavenly 〈◊〉 〈…〉 PSAL. CXXIII VNto thee life I up mine eyes Praying by them rather than by words mine afflictions having swoln my heart too bigge for my mouth See the 〈…〉 Psal 121.1 Vers 2. Behold as the eyes of servants For direction defence maintenance mercy in time of correction help when the service is over-hard c. so do our eyes wait upon the Lord our God viz. for direction and benediction Vers 3. Have mercy upon me O Lord have mercy This is preceâ— fundere calum tundere misericerdiem exterquert as Tertulliâ—n hath it to wring mercy out of Gods holy hands by out utmost importunity For we are exceedingly filled with contempt We are made the very scâ—â— and scorn of our proud imperious enemies This the nature of man is very impatient of and can hardly brook for there is none so mean but holdeth himself worthy of some regard and a reproachful scorn sheweth an utter dis-respect which issueth from the very superfluity of malice Vers 4. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorn of those that are at ease And there-hence insolent and unsufferable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fulness breedeth forgetfulness yea it maketh men scornful and wrongful to others PSAL. CXXIV VErs 1. If it had not been the Lord c. God may farre better say than our Hen. 8 Cui adhareâ— praest He whose part I take is sure to prevail But Christ hath ever been the Churches Champion and hence she is insuperable The Captain of the Lords Hâ—asts is Captain of our salvation Josh 5.14 Heb. 2.10 Vers 2. When men rose Monsters rather but such as think themselves the only men alive and us the only slaves and Zanies Vers 3. Then had they swallowed in up quick As the great Fish do the little ones as hungry Lions Gualth praef in Marc. R. Obad. Gaon in Psal 124. or Wolves raven up their prey Ptâ—lâ—mam Lathurus King of Aegypt slew thirty thousand Jews and compelled the living to seed upon the dead Adrian the Emperour made a Decree that hee who had not slain a Jew should himself be slain When their wrath was kindled against us Heb. in the flagrancies or 〈◊〉 of their anger Vers 4. Then the waters 〈…〉 us At once the red Sea did the Aegyptians or as the general deluge did the old world The stream 〈…〉 Neither could we have withstood it by any Art or industry Vers 5. Then the proud waters c. The same again to note the greatness both of the danger and of the deliverance And it may teach us not lightly to pass over Gods great blessings but to make the most of them Vers 6. Blessed be the Lord c. 〈…〉 thanks be to God was much in Austins mouth and should be 〈…〉 deliverance How was God blessed 〈…〉 As a prey to the 〈◊〉 Who meant to have made 〈…〉 and had already devoured us in their hopes but God 〈◊〉 them Vers 7. Our soul is 〈◊〉 c. 〈…〉 God 's opportunity See 〈…〉 The 〈…〉 c. God 〈…〉 net is broken Vers 8. 〈…〉 〈…〉 of infinite might and mercy and say as those good souls at Ebon-ezra Hitherto God hath helped us he hath and therefore he will c. PSAL. CXXV VErs 1 They that trust in the Lord shall bee as Mount Zion Great is the stability of a beleevers felicity Winds and storms move not a Mountain an Earthquake may but not easily remove it That mysticall Mount Sion the Church immota manet is unmoveable so is every
sing in a strange Land Quid nobis cum fabulis cum risu saith Bernard in hoc exilio in hoc ergastulo in hac valle lachrymarum Let us cast away carnall mirth and groan earnestly to bee cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 Vers 5 Iâ— I forget thee O Jerusalem As I might seem to do should I herein gratifie these Idolaters or otherwise obey them rather than God The Jews at this day when they build an house they are say the Rabbines to leave one part of it unfinished and lying rude in remembrance that Jerusalem and the Temple are at present desolate At least they use to leave about a yard square of the house unplaistered on which they write Leo Modena of the riâ—es of the Jews in great letters this of the Psalmist If I forget Jerusalem c. or else these words Zecher lechorban that is The memory of the desolation Let my right hand forget Fiat abalienata atque emortua Let it bee paralyticall and useless unfit to touch the harp Vers 6 If I do not remember thee Hi gemitus Sanctorum sunt gemitus Spiritus sancti these are the very sighs unutterable that precede joys unspeakable and full of glory Either our beds are soft or our hearts hard that can rest when the Church is at unrest that feel not our Brethrens hard cords through our soft beds If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Heb. If I cause it not to ascend above the head of my joy Christ in his Ordinances must bee our chiefest comfort overtopping all other and devouring all discontents whatsoever Vers 7 Remember O Lord the Children of Edom Those unbrotherly bitter enemies The Jews call Romists Edomites Rase it rase it Discooperite discooperite Diruite ex imis subvertite fundamentis Buchanan Darius hearing that Sardis was sacked and burnt by the Athenians commanded one of his servants to say to him thrice alwayes at supper Sir remember the Athenians to punish them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod Tâ—rp Vers 8 That art to bee destroyed Spoliatrix saith the Syriack Isa 33.1 Happy shall hee bee i. e. Well rewarded with wealth and good wishes Vers 9 That taketh and dasheth thy little ones So at the destruction of Troy Sed palam raptis heu nefas heu Nescios fari puerâ—s Achivis Ureret flammis etiam latentes Mâ—tris in alve Horat. l. 4. Od. 6. PSAL. CXXXVIII VErs 1 I will praise thee with my whole heart Which no Hypocrite can do though hee may pray in distress from the bottom of his heart A gratefull manis a gracious man viz. if hee come with a true heart as the Apostle hath it Heb. 10.22 Aben-Ezra Before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee That is before Angels who are present in holy assemblies 1 Cor. 11.10 as was represented by those Cherubines pictured in the Temple as also before Princes and Potentates see vers 4. Kimchi Vers 2 I will worship toward thy holy Temple Wheresoever I am the face of my soul shall turn like the needle of a Diall by sacred instinct Abbot towards thee in the Ark of thy presence in the son of thy love For thy loving kindness and for thy truth For thy grace and truth which come by Jesus Christ the Ark and Mercy-seat were never sundred Gods loving kindness in Christ moved him to promise his truth binds him to perform and hence our happiness For thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Or Thou hast magnified thy name in all thy Words Or Thou hast magnified above all things thy Name by thy Word that is Thou hast got thee a very great name by fulfilling thy promises and by setting on thy Word with power Vers 3 In the day when I cryed c. This hee worthily celebrateth as a singular favour a badge of grace Psal 66.18 and pledge of glory Act. 2.21 And strengthenedst mee with strength in my soul With strength in the inward man Ephes 3.16 20. with spirituall mettal with supporting grace keeping head above water My body is weak my soul is well said that dying Saint I am as full of comfort as heart can hold said a certain Martyr The Apostle speaketh of the new supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 the joy of the Lord is strengthening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neh. 8.10 Vers 4 All the Kings of the earth shall praise thee Such of them as shall read these Psalms of my composing or otherwise shall hear of thy gracious dealing with mee according to thy promise Such also as shall hereafter bee converted to the faith for though Not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1.26 yet some are and these shine in the Church like stars of the first magnitude Vers 5 Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord As having tasted the excellencie of the comforts of godliness far surpassing those of the Crown and Scepter and felt the power of Gods Word subduing them to the obedience of faith whereby they come to rule with God to bee faithfull with his Saints and to sing their songs Vers 6 Though the Lord bee high c. Even the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity Isa 57.15 See on Psal 113.6 7. Yet hath hee respect unto the lowly This maketh that Ancient cry out Videte magnum miraculum See here a great miracle God is on high thou liftest thy self up Aug. de Temp. and he flieth from thee thou bowest thy self down and hee descendeth unto thee Low things hee looketh close upon that he may raise them higher lofty things he knoweth a far off that he may crush them down lower The proud Pharisee pressed as near God as he could the poor Publican not daring to do so stood a loof of yet was God far from the Pharisee near to the Publican The Lord Christ is a door to Heaven Aug. in Johaâ— but a low door hee who will enter in thereby humiliet se oportet ut sano capite intrare contingat saith Austin hee must needs stoop to save his head-peece But the proud hee knoweth a far off As not vouchsafing to come anear such loathsome lepers For pride is like a great swelling in the body apt to putrifie break and run with loathsome and foul matter Hence God stands off from such as odious and abominable hee cannot abide the sight of them Superbâ—s à calo longè propellit as the Chaldee here paraphraseth he driveth the proud far enough off from Heaven yea hee thrusteth them into Hell to their Father Lucifer that King of all the children of pride as Leviathan is called Job 41.34 Vers 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble Even in the vale of the shadow of death so that I seem little different from a dead man Thou wilt revive mee That is restore mee from so great a death as 2 Cor. â— 10 Thou shalt stretch
they write that when shee would change her feathers shee falleth down into the Sea Vers 10 Even there shall thy hand lead mee i. e. Thy Power and Providence shall dispose of mee I shall flee but from thy hand to thy hand as guilty Jonas did Vers 11 The darknesse shall cover mee The Hebrew phrase is taken from Beasts that lye a squat saith Dâ—odat Nocte latent mende sed non Deum The guilty conscience sharketh up and down for comfort but getteth none Vers 12 Yea the darkness bideth not Heb. Darkeneth not from thee because thine eyes are fiery Rev. 1.14 such as need no outward light they are more light and radiant than the Sun in his strength The darkness and the light c. Deo obscura clarent muta respondent silentiâ—â— confitetur saith an Ancient Night will convert it self into noon before God and silence prove a speaking evidence Vers 13 For thou hast possessed my reins The seat of mine affections Thoughts kindle affections and these cause thoughts to boil they are causes one of another and both well known to God For who possesseth lands or houses but hee knoweth the right title and rooms thereof saith an Expositour T. W. Thou hast covered mee in my Mothers womb But not from thine all peircing eyes though in so dark a place and wrapt up in secâ—â—dâ—â—es Vers 14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made 〈…〉 operibus tâ—â—s saith Montanâ—s neither can I wonder enough at thy workmanship The greatest miracle in the World is man in whose very body how much more in his soul are miracles enow betwixt head and feet to fill a volume Austin complaineth that men much wonder at high mountains of the earth huge waves of the Sea deep falls of rivers the vastness of the Ocean the motions of the stars relinquunt seipsos nec mirantur but wonder not at all at their wonderfull selves Fernel de abâ—â—â— rerum cauâ—â— Galen a prophane Physician writing of the excellent parts of mans body and comming to speak of the double motion of the lungs could not chuse but sing an hymn to that God whosoever hee were that was author of so excellent and admirable a peece of work And that my soul knoweth right well That is so well as to draw hearty praises from mee to my Maker But for any exact insight hear Salomon As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all Eccles 11.5 Some read the words thus Thy works are wonderfull and so is my soul which knoweth right well q. d. my rationall and intelligent soul is an admirable peece indeed Nothing in the World saith one is so well worthy to bee wondred at as man nothing in man as his soul Vers 15 My substance was not hid from mee Ossatiâ— mea id est ossium 〈◊〉 tuum compages â—embles misâ—hief of ignor the structure of my bones and joynts But was not hee a wise man and yet wise enough otherwise who being asked upon his death-bed what his soul was seriously answered that hee knew not well but hee thought it was a great bone in the middle of his body Was not hid from thee For thou hast both the names and number of every part to a nerve or an artery Aquinas saith that at the Resurrection the bodies of the Saints shall bee so clear and transparent that all the veins humours nerves and bowels shall bee seen as in a glass T is sure that they are so to God when first formed in the womb When I was made in secret That is in the womb of my Mother As curious workmen â—â—de Lactant. â—â— Dei opificio â—alen de usu â—rt Cic. 2. de â—â—t dear when they have some choice peece in hand they perfect it in private and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at so here And curiously wrought Variegatus quasi acu pictus Embroidered and wrought as with the needle whence man is called a Microcosm or little World Bodine observeth that there are three regions within mans body besides all that is seen without answerable to those three regions of the World Elementary Etherial and Celestial His entrails and whatsoever is under his heart resemble the Elementary region wherin only there is Generation and Corruption 〈◊〉 Nâ—â— â—â—â— The heart and vitals that are divided from those entrails by the Diaphragma resemble the Ethereall Region as the brain doth the heavenly which consisteth of intelligible creatures In the lowest parts of the earth That is in my Mothers womb as before See Epâ—es 4.9 The Syriack interpreteth it but not so well when I shall dye and be buried and my bones turned to ashes yet thou shalt know them Vers 16 Thine eyes did see my substance Galmi est semen coagulatum ante formationem membrorum saith Kimchi when I was but an Embryo or hardly so much Disponit Deus membra culicis pulicis saith Austin how much more of man The word signifieth my wound-up or unwrought-up mass And in thy book all my members are written A metaphor from curious workmen that do all by the book or by a modell set before them that nothing may bee deficient or done amiss Had God left out an eye in his common-place book saith One thou hadst wanted it Which in Continuance In process of time and by degrees When as yet there was none of them But all was a rude lump This is a great secret of nature and to bee modestly spoken of How precious also are thy thoughts unto mee i. e. The thoughts of thy wisdome power and goodness clearly shining in these wondrous works of thine it does my heart good to think and speak of them How great is the summ of them viz. Of my works and of thy thoughts thereon I cannot count them much less comprehend them To blame are such as trouble not their heads at all about these matters Surely when the Lord made 〈◊〉 head with so many closures and coverings to his brain the seat of understanding hee intended it for some precious treasure Many locks and keys argue the price of the Jewell they are to keep and many papers wrapping a token within them the use of that token Vers 18 If I should count them c. q. d. They are infinite and innumerable Archimedes that great Mathematician bragged that hee could number all the sands in the habitable and inhabitable World but no man ever beleeved him See 1 Sam. 13.5 2. Sam. 17.11 Psal 78.27 When I awake I am still with thee Still taken up with some holy contemplation of thy works and wisdome These thoughts I fall asleep with and these I awake with As I take up my fire ore night so I finde it in the morning Vers 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked Those that traduce and slander mee
evil tongue See James 3. Psal 52. Psal 12.3 with the Notes Vers 3 What shall hee given unto thee c That is as Austin senseth it wâ—at remedy is there for thee q. d. None at all Contra sycophantarum morfum non est remedium saith Seneca But others better what gain gettest thou what profit makest thou of thy lying and slandering Hurt thou mayest another but not help thy self Thou art not like the Maid whom Avicâ—â— speaketh of who feeding her self with poyson was her self healthy yet infected others with her venomous breath But rather like the traitour of whom Augustus said I like the treason but hate the traitour The slander is oft applauded when the slanderer is abhorred Or what shall bee done unto thee Heb. Added Nihil prater plagas durissâ—â—â— aâ— as vers 4. Thou false tongue This he seemeth to say to Dâ—â—g who is here called a false fellow and a Lyar though he spake but the truth against the Lord Priests because not for any love to the Truth nor for respect to Justice nor for the bettering either of Saul or the Priests but only to prejudice these and to incense the other Vers 4 Sharp Arrows of the mighty Arrows sharp and shot with a force A false tongue is likened to a sharp razour Psal 52.4 to a sharp sword Psal 57.5 to sharp arrows Prov. 25.18 here it hath sharp for sharp as God loveth to retaliate and he is the Giant or mighty one here that shooteth these sharpest shaâ—ts that inflicteth most exquisite punishments on such as once on Dives whose tongue smoaked for it Quia lingua plus peccaverat as saith a Father because hee had so offended with his tongue With coals of Juniper Which being a â—at kind of wood of gummy or salty matter Flamma redardescit quae modo nulla â—â—it Theophrast Plin. maketh a very scorching fire and quick coals such as last long some say a month and more and smell sweet loc upon these coals will God broyl lying lips and a deceitful tongue pleasing himself and others in that execution Vers 5. Wo is â—e that I sojourn in Mesech that is in Muscoviâ— say some in Hetruria say others in Cappadocia rather Magâ—gs Country Ezek 38. any where out of the bosome of the true Church or as some sense it in the Church but among Israelites worse than any Israelites oâ— Pagans That dwell in the 〈◊〉 of Kâ—dar With Câ—darens or Saâ—acâ—â— as they were afterwards called Among these David was in danger Ne cum lupi◠〈◊〉 tandeâ— ipse 〈◊〉 Guilt or grief a good man is sure to get by being in bad company which maketh him cry O that I had the wings of a Dove c. or if that Oh will not set him at liberty then he taketh up this Waâ— is me to express his misery Piâ— vâ—re est 〈…〉 si dici 〈…〉 vitiis alienis tribulari 〈…〉 saith Austin It is hard and happy not to comply with ill company Vers 6. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace With Saul that implacable tyrant and with other 〈…〉 The very society of such oe they 〈…〉 to a good soul 〈…〉 Toads and other 〈…〉 it to a Saint to 〈…〉 Death-bed and 〈…〉 the wicked for thou 〈…〉 Vers 7 I am for 〈…〉 But it is not peace but paâ—â—y that many men mind 〈…〉 But when I speak they are for Warre They cry the alarm being 〈…〉 like they live in the fire of contention Scorpion-like that are always putting forth the sting Their spirits lye like that haven Act. 27.12 〈…〉 South-west and North-west two opposite points neither will they be otherwise but the more they are sought to the worse they are This is the guise of graceless persons PSAL. CXXI A Song of degrees Or of ascensions in singing whereof there should be ascensions in our hearts See Psal 120.1 Vers 1. I will life up 〈◊〉 unto the hills Not to your 〈◊〉 Psal 11.1 human helps and carnal combinations Jer. 3.23 much less to those mountains In quibus gentes idela sua cellâ—â—â— wherein the Heathens set and serve their Idols Deut. 12.2 but to Sion and Mâ—riah where Gods Sanctuary is Psal 87.1 or rather to heaven Psal 18.8 with 2 Sam. 22.8 where God himself is and so it followeth Vers 2. My help cometh from the Lord To whom therefore alone I must look for help Bodin theat Naturae 413. Sursuâ— corda sursuâ— etiam capita Nauralists tell us that of those twenty eight Muscles whereby the head is moved twelve lift up the head behind and two only before let it downward to teach us to contemplate Heaven more and Earth less Columb de re 〈◊〉 l. 5. c 9. Others advertise us that it is one main end why God hath set in mans eye a fifth Muscle whereas other Creatures have but four one to turn downward another to hold forwards a third to turn the eye to the right hand a fourth to the left hand but no unreasonable Creature can turn the eye upward as Man can that he may look up to God Which made heaven and earth And will rather unmake both again than his people shall want seasonable help Vers 3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved Not greatly moved Psal 62.2 an utter prâ—lapsion He that keepeth thee will not sâ—umber And if King Philip could say that he could sleep securely because his friend Antipater watched by him may not we be much more confident who have God to keep us Vers 4. Behold he that keepeth c. He repeateth that sweetest promise that we may roll it as sugar under our tongues that wee may suck and bee satisfied Isa 66.11 and setteth it forth with a Behold q. d. mark it and knâ—w than it for thy 〈◊〉 Job 5.27 Shall neither sâ—umber nor 〈◊〉 Shall not fetch one winâ—â— of sleep 〈…〉 wee slumber before wee sleep but God shall do neither His seven eyes Zâ—ch 3.9 aâ—â—ever open yea they 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 through the whole earth Zech. 4.10 scil 〈…〉 Howbeit hee looketh with speciall care and complacency on the godly Isa 66.2 Vers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 4.7 5 The Lord is thy 〈◊〉 His peace within thee and his poâ—eâ— without thee shall safeguard thee to his heavenly Kingdome The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand To 〈◊〉 and shield thee from all annoyances as the pillar of cloud did the Israeliâ—â—s in the wildernesse as the 〈◊〉 that Paris overmatcht by Meâ—â—laâ— in a duell 〈…〉 in a cloud and carried off Vers 6 The 〈…〉 So choice and 〈◊〉 is God of his children that 〈…〉 or pinching cold by 〈…〉 and all 〈…〉 of the 〈…〉 the Moon as the 〈…〉 day nor the Moon by 〈…〉 Pope and 〈…〉 Vers 7. 〈…〉 punishment from the hurt it not form the smart thereof Hee shall preserve thy soul Which is oft untoucht when the body is in durance A sick servant of Christ being asked how hee did answered my