Digitus because they put that finger to their mouth as at this day the Roman Dames do when they saluted any Charles the fifth is renowned for his courtesie when he passed by John Frederick the Elector of Saxony he ever put off his hat and bowed to him though he were his prisoner and had been taken by him in battle Parei Hist prosan Medul 90â— And when he had in his power Melancthon Poâ—eran and other Divines of the Reformed Religion he courteously dismissed them As hee 's the best Christian that 's most humble Peachams Compl. Gentle so is he the truest Gentleman that 's most courteous Your haughty upstarts the French call Gentle villains Vers 8. If it be your minde that I should bury my dead Alexander the Great lay unburied thirty dayes together His conquests above ground purchased him no title for habitation under ground So Pompey the Great Nudus pascit aves jacet en qui possidet orbem Ciaudiau Exiguae telluâ— is iâ—ops Vt cui modò ad victoriam terra defuerat dâ—esset ad sepulturam saith Paterculus So Wil. the Conquerors corps lay unburied for three dayes Daniels Chron. fol. 50. his interment being hindered by one that claymed the ground to be his Abraham therefore doth well to make sure of a place of Sepulture for him and his and this at Hebrâ—n which signifieth society or conjunction for theâ—e lay those reverend couples Abraham and Sara Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Leah c. These dyed upon the promised Land and being there buried kept possession as it were for their posterity as those that are dead in Christ do of heaven Veieres sepulchrum mortuorum domicilium credebant portum corporis appellabant Turnâ—b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Saints that survive them Sepulchrâ—s are symbols of the communion of Saints and of the Resurrection of the dead Hence the Hebrews call Church-yards Beth-chajim the â—ouse of the living Job also calls the grave the Congregation house of all living Job 30.23 As the Apostle after him calleth Heaven the Congregation-house of the first-born Heb. 12.23 The Hebrews call it guâ—lam hammà liachim the world of Angels and the Author to the Hebrews saith that the Saints are come by Christ to an inâ—umerable company of Angels Heb. 12. When godly moâ— dye they are said to be gathered to their people They do no more then repatriasse as Bernard hath it they are not put out of service but removed onely out of one room into another out of the out houses into the Presence-chamber D Presâ—â—â— They change their place but not their company as that good Doctor said upon his death-bed they are gathered by Christs hand as Lillies Cant. 6.2 and transplanted into the Paradise of God And this Plotinus the Philosopher had a notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synes Epist 139. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when breathing his last he said That in me that is Divine I resign up to the first Divine that iâ— to God As for the body it is but the case the cabinet the suit the slough the sheath of the soul as Daniel calleth it Scaligeri quodrâ—liquum est was Julius Scaligers Epitaph It returns to its originall dust and is sown as seed in the ground till the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.35 Vers 9. For a possession of a burying-place It is remarkable that the first purchase of possession mentioned in Scripture was a place to bury in not to build in The Jews also had their Sepulchrâ—â— hâ—wn out long before their deaths to minde them of their mortality Joseph of Arimathea had his tomb in his garden to season his delights with the meditation of his end The Egyptians had a deaths-head carried about the table at their feasts The Emperors of Constantinople had a Mason came to them on their Coronation day with choice of Tomb-stones and these Verses in his mouth Eligâ— ab his saxis ex quo invictissime Caesar Ipse tibi tumulum me fabricare velis Our first parents saith One made them garments of Fig-leaves D. Plays But God misliking that gave them garments of Skins So in the Gospell he cursed the Fig-tree which did bear onely leaves to cover our sin but commended the Baptist who did wear Skins to discover our mortality Vers 11. The field give I thee c. A brave speech of a bountifull spirit to a stranger especially and in that respect beyond that of Araunah the noble Jebusite to David his liege Lord All these things did Araunah as a King give to the King 2 Sam. 24.23 Indeed to give is a Kingly employment making men like to the Father of lights from whom comes every good gift and perfect giving Kings are stiled Benefactors Jam. 1.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diodoâ— Sic. l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epicur and of the ancient Kings of Egypt it is recorded and was rehearsed amongst other of their prayses that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willing to distribute ready to communicate which are the Apostles two words 1 Tim. 6.18 Gyrus took more delight in giving then possessing as his Souldiers could say of him in Xenophon It is not onely better but sweeter to do good then to receive good said Epicurus It is a more blessed thing saith our Saviour Titus would say when he had done none good he had lost a day molestiâ—s erat Severo Imperatori nihil peti quam dare Our Generall Norrice like that Bishop of Lincoln never thought he had that thing which he did not give Few such now adayes Vers 13. I will give thee money Full money as he had said vers 7. or as much money as it is worth Such is the care of the conscientious that they had rather lose of their own then usurp of anothers And that he gives a just price for the field was an act of great wisdome for hereby he provided that his posterity might not hereafter be put beside it Vers 16. In the audience of the sons of Heth Whom he takes to witness and so provideth for his security and quietness afterwards as did also Jeremy in the purchase of his Uncles field Wisdome and circumspection is to be used in Contracts and Covenants Currant with the Merchant It may well be said of Money-hoarders they have no Quick-silver no currant money Vers 19. And Abraham buried Sarah his wife The last office of love to bring the deceased Saints honourably to their long home to lay them in their last bed Eccles 12.5 Esa 57.2 Iob. 14.14 to put them into the grave as into a haven and harbor where they may rest from their labours till their change shall come This is to deal kindly with the dead Ruth 1.8 To shew mercy to them 2 Sam. 2.5 especially when the mourners go about the streets Eccles 12.5 when there is a great mourning made over them as for Steven Act. 8.2 and a great burning for them as for Asa 2
2.20 21 22. Verse 29. Behold I have given you By this Behold God stirs up them and us to confidence thankfulness and obedience to so liberall a Lord so bountifull a Benefactor And surely as iron put into the fire seems to be nothing but fire so Adam thus beloved of God Psal 16.12 was turned into a lump of love and bethinks himselfe what to do by way of retribution All other creatures also willingly submitted to Gods ordinance and mans service well apaid of Gods provision that great house-keeper of the world that hath continually so many millions at bed and board This is intimated in that last clause And it was so An undoubted argument surely of Gods infinite goodness thus to have provided for so divers natures and appetites divers food remedies and armour Psal 104. for men especially filling their hearts with food and gladnesse Act. 14.17 Verse 31. Behold it was very good Or extream good pleasant and profitable a curious and glorious frame full of admirable variety and skill such as caused delight and complacency in God and commands contemplation and admiration from us like as a great garden stored with fruits and flowers calls our eyes on every side Wherefore else hath God given us a reasonable soule and a Sabbath day a countenance bent upward and as they say peculiar nerves in the eyes to pull them up toward the seat of their rest besides a nature carried with delight after playes pageants masks Bodin Theas Naturâ— strange shews and rare sights which oft are sinfull or vain or at best imperfect and unsatisfactory Surely those that regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands God shall destroy and not build them up Psal 28.4 which to prevent good is the counsel of the Prophet Amos that upon this very ground Prepare to meet thy God O Israel For loe he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind c. Amos 4.12 13. when he had made man he made an end of making any thing more because he meant to rest in man to delight in him to communicate himselfe unto him and to be enjoyed by him throughout all eternity And notwithstanding the fall he hath found a ransome Job 33.24 and creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 he rejoyceth over his new workmanship with joy yea he rests in his love Roderit sanctii Hist Hisp p. 4. c. 5. â—xantiq Annalib and will seek no further Zeph. 3.17 But what a mouth of madness did Alfonso the Wise open when he said openly that if he had been of Gods counsell at the Creation some things should have been better made and marshalled Prodigious blasphemy CHAP. II. Verse 1. All the host of them HIs upper and nether forces his horse and foot as it were all creatures in heaven earth or under earth called Gods Host for their 1. number 2. order 3. obedience Kimchi These the Rabbines call magnleh cheloth and matteh cheloth the upper and lower troopes ready prest Verse 2. He rested That is He ceased to create which work he had done without either labour or lassitude Esa 4.28 He made all nutu non motu Verse 3. God blessed the seventh day i. e. made it an effectuall meanes of blessing to him that sanctifieth it as a rest from bodily labour and spirituall idleness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist 3. ad Magnesiâ—s Spec Europâ— as Ignatius exhorteth And sanctified it i e. Consecrated and set it apart for holy use as they sanctified that is appointed Kedesh for a City of refuge Josh 20.7 Verse 4. Jehovah God Moses first calls God Jehovah here when the universall creation had its absolute being This is the proper name of God The Jewes pronounce it not we profane it which is to them a great stumbling block The first among the Christians that pronounced Jehovah was Petrus Galatinus But if ye would pronounce it according to the own letters it should be Jahuo of Jarmuth Jagnakâ—b Verse 5. The Lord God had not caused it to rain And none but he can give raine Jer. 14.22 the meanes of fruitfulnesse which yet he is not tyed to as here The Egyptians used in mockery to tell the Grecians that if God should forget to raine they might chance to starve for it Verse 6. But there went up a mist The mater of raine And hereby God tempered the morter whereof he would make man as he did the clay with spittle wherewith he cured the blinde Ioh. 9. Verse 7. Zuinglius Formed man of the dust not of the rocks of the earth but dust that is soon disperst to note our frailty vility and impurity Lutum enim conspurcat omnia sic caro But why should so glorious a soul called here Neshamah of affinity to Shamajim Heaven whence it came dwell in this corruptible and contemptible body Lomb lib. 2. dist 1. For answer besides Gods will and for order of the universe Lombard saith that by the conjunction of the soul with the body so far its inferiour man might learn and beleeve a possibility of the union of man with God in glory notwithstanding the vast distance of nature and excellence the infinitness of both in God the finiteness of both in man And breathed into his nostrils Quidam volunt metaphoram sumptam à vitrorum formatione The greatest man is but a little ayre and dust tempered together Nazian What is man saith One but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soul and soyle Breath and Body a pile of dust the one a puffe of wind the other no solidity in either And man became a living soul Dicaearchus doubted of the soul â—usc quaest whether there were such a thing in rerum natura He could not have doubted of it without it as man cannot prove logicke to be unnecessary but by logick Verse 8. And the Lord God planted Had planted to wit on the third day when he made trees for mans pleasure a garden or paradise in Eden whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the upper part of Chaldea whereabout Babel was founded It was destroyed by the Deluge the place indeed remained but not the pleasantness of the place cecidiâ— rosa mansit spina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 1. Plin. l. 6. c 16 Donec à spâ— ad speciem transtret And yet that Country is still very fruitfull returning if Herodotus and Pliny may be believed the seed beyond credulity He put the man whom he had formed And formed him not far from the garden say the Hebrewes to minde him that he was not here to set up his rest but to wait till his change should come Verse 9. Every tree c. The Hebrewes think that the world was created in September because the fruits were then ripe and ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The tree of life also A symbolicall tree by the eating of the fruit whereof Adam should have had Gaius his prosperity his
horror Cicer. orst pro Ros Amer. For assuredly a body is not so tormented with stings or torne with stripes as a minde with remembrance of wicked actions Vers 13. My punishment is greater then I can bear Or Mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven In either sense he sins exceedingly and worse perhaps then in slaying his brother whether he murmur against Gods justice or despair of his mercy Mine iniquity is greater c. Mentiris Cain saith a Father Cain did not say so because it was so But it was so because he said so Despair is Satans master-piece it carries men head-long to hell as the Devils did the herd of Swine into the deep Act. Mon fol. 1908. Gellus in dialog secundo Chimaericâ— witness Guarlacus Bomelius Latomus of Lovain Johannes de Canis our English Hubertus a covetous Oppressor who made this will I yield my goods to the King my body to the grave my soul to the devil Vers 14. From the face of the earth That is of this earth this countrey my Fathers family which in the next words he calls Gods face the place of his publike worship from the which Cain was here justly excommunicated And surely Saint Judes wo will light heavy upon all such as going in the way of Cain and not willing to hear of their wicked ways do wilfully absent themselves from the powerful preaching of the Word They that will not hear the Word shall hear the Rod Mic. 6.9 Yea a sword shall peirce thorow their souls as it did Cains here in whom was fulfiled that of Eliphaz Job 15.21 22. A dreadful sound was in his ears lest in his prosperity the destroyer should come upon him He beleeved not that he should return out of darkness and he is waited for of the sword Every one that findes me Petron. shall slay me Quà m male est extra legem viventibus quicquid meruerunt semper expectant Fat Swine cry hideously if but touched or medled with as knowing they ow their life to them that will take it Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily Tacitus Whereupon Tacitus makes this good note Tandèm facinora flagitia in supplicium vertuntur As every body hath its shadow appertaining to it so hath every sin its punishment And although they escape the lash of the Law yet vengeance will not suffer them to live Acts 28.4 as the Barbariâ—â—â— rashly censured Saint Paul to live quietly at least Richard the third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews had fearful dreams and visions insomuch that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark and catching his sword which alway naked Daniels Chron. continued by Trussel 249. stuck by his side he would go distractedly about the chamber every where seeking to finde out the cause of his own occasioned disquiet Polydor Virgil thus writes of his dream that night before Bosworth-field where he was slain that he thought that all the devils in hell pulled and haled him in most hideous and ugly shapes and concludes of it at last I do not think it was so much his dream as his evil conscience that bred those terrors It is as proper for sin to raise fears in the soul as for rotten flesh and wood to breed worms That worm that never dyes is bred here in the froth of filthy lusts and slagitious courses and lyes gnawing and grubbing upon mens inwards many times in the ruffe of all their jollity This makes Saul call for aminstrell Belshazzar for his carrousing cups Cain for his workmen to build him a City others for other of the Devills anodynes to put by the pangs of their wounded spirits and throbbing consciences Thuan. lib. 57. Charles the ninth after the massacre of France could never endure to be awakened in the night without musick or some like diversion he became as terrible to himself as formerly he had been to others But above all I pity the loss of their souls who serve themselves as the Jesuite in Lancashire followed by one that found his glove with a desire to restore it him M. Wards Sermons But pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience he leaps over a hedge plunges into a Marle-pit behinde it unseen and unthought of wherein he was drowned Vers 15. The Lord set a mark c. Some say it was the letter Tau others some letter of Jehovah probably it was the perpetuall trembling of his hands Totum Cedreni opus est stabulum quisquiliarum c. Scalig. and whole body the very sight whereof made people pity him till at length he was slain say some by his nephew Lamech Cedrenus tells us if we may believe him that Cain took his death by the fall of a house in the year of the world 931. the next year after the death of his father Adam But however he dyed sure it is he had but an ill life of it He was marked ' Ne semel morte defungerctur sed ut atatem totam moriendo exigeret Philo. saith Philo but to his misery he might not be killed by any that he might every day be dying having a hell in his conscience and standing in fear of every man he met with He that would not harken to God so sweetly inciting and enticing him to doe well Lactan. Instit vers 7. hath now Pavor and Pallor for his gods as Lactantius reporteth of Tullius Hostilius who had prophanely derided the devotions of his predecessour Numa as here Cain had done his brother Abels Vers 16. And Cain went out from the presence c. But whiter could he goe from Gods Spirit or whither could he flye from his presence Psal 139.7 â—bi est Deus quid dixi miser sed ubi non est Bern. Act. 17. Coloss 1.17 From the presence of his power he could not for Entèr praesenter Deus hic ubique potentè God is not very far from any one of us saith St. Paul Not so far surely as the bark is from the tree for all things consist in him so that a wicked man cannot wag hand or foot without his privity But it was the presence of his grace and use of his Ordinances that this wretch fled from as did likewise Jonas in that as wise as he so going out of the grace of God into the warm sun as we say Jon. 1.3 God fetcht Jonas home again by weeping cross Jon. 2.8 and made him feelingly acknowledge for it had like to have cost him a choaking that they that observe lying vanities as he had done forsake their owne mercies But Cain seated himself in the land of Nod and there fell to building and planting in contempt as it is thought of the divine doom denounced against him Sigon or rather to drown the noise of his conscience as the old Italians were wont to do the noise of the heavens
And because it is said that so many souls came out of Iacobs body Augustine moves the question here whether souls also are not begotten as well as bodies Annon igitur animae propageâ—tur extraduce Argumenta post tridâ—um demum solve Melancthon Chemnitius And when the learned Father demurred and would not presently determine the point a rash young man one Vincentius Victor as Chemnitius relates it boldly censured the Fathers unresolvedness and vaunted that he would undertake to prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo by God For which peremptory rashness the Father returned the young men a sober reprehension But souls are doubtless here put for persons which the Latines call Capita Vers 27. Threescore and ten Saint Steven reckons 75. Act. 7.14 And so the Greek translateth here which Steven seemeth to follow as doth likewise Saint Luke for Cainâ—n Chap 3. 36. That translation being then received and they not willing to alter it The Iewes say that these seventy souls were as much as all the seventy nations of the world And Moses tells them that whereas their fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls now Iehovah had made them as the stars of Heaven for multitude Deut. 10.22 Vers 28. And he sent Iudah before him A good man guides his affaires with discretion Psal 112.5 Colos 2.5 doth all things decently and in order It was great joy to the Apostle to behold the Colossians order c. Vers 29. Presented himself unto him Joseph a Prince was no whit ashamed of the poor old shepherd his father afore so many his compeeres and other Courtiers that accompanied him and abhominated such kinde of persons Colonell Edmonds is much commended for his ingenuous reply to a countryman of his newly come to him into the low-countries out of Scotland This fellow desiring entertainment of him told him My Lord his father and such Knights and Gentlemen his cousins and kinsmen Peacham's compleat Gentlem. pag. 5. were in good health Quoth Colonell Edmonds gentlemen to his friends by believe not one word he sayes my father is but a poor baker whom this knave would make a Lord to curry favour with me and make you believe I am a great man born See the notes on Chap. 32. Vers 10. And he fell on his neck and wept c. For exceeding joy what then shall be the meeting of Saints in Heaven Christ shall say come ye blessed of my father As if he should say where have ye been all this while my dear brethren It was a part of his joy when he was on earth that we should be where he is to behold his glory Ioh. 17.24 And this he now prayes not but Father I will that they be with me â—ugieâ—dum ad â—lâ—â—issrmam pâ—triam ibi pater ibi omnia Aug. de civit Dci l. 9. c. 16. as that which he had merited for them And now what joy there will be to see them and suaviate them for whose sake he shed his most pretious blood through which they may safely saile into the bosome of the Father Surely if Plotinus the Philosopher could say let us make haste to our heavenly country there 's our Father there are all our friends how much more triumphantly may Christians say so If Cicero could say O praeclarum diem cum ad illud animorum concilium caetumque pro ficiscar ad Catonem meum c. Cic. de sen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.23 O praeclarum diem cum ad illum animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar c. O what a brave day will that be when I shall go to that councell and company of happy souls to my Cato and other Romane worthies dead before me How much more may Christians exult to think of that glorious night-less day as Nazianzen cals it when they shall be admitted into the congregation house of the first born as the Apostle calls Heaven and joyfully welcommed by Abraham David Paul c. Who shall be no less glad of their then of their own happiness Who can conceive the comfort of Jacob and Joseph Or of those two cousins Mary and Elizabeth at their first meeting But for the joyes of Heaven it is as impossible to comprehend them as to compass Heaven it self with a span or contain the ocean in a nut-shell They are such saith Augustine ut quic quid homo dixerit quasi gutta de mari quasi scincilla de foco Aug. de triplâ—ci habitu c. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 1.44 If the presence of Christ though but in the womb made Iohn to spring and dance a galliard as the word imports what shall it do when we come to Heaven Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est saith Chrysostom It 's fitter to be believed then possible to be discoursed saith Prosper Nec Christus nec coelum patitur hyperbolen saith another The Apostle after he had spoken of Glorification breaks forth by way of admiration into these words what shall we say to these things Rom. 8.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 4. these word-less words as he elsewhere phraseth it and ever uttereth himself in a transcendent expression as 2 Cor. 4.17 Where he calleth it a weight of glory such as if the body were not by the power of God upheld it were not able to bear Iacob could hardly hear the news of Ioseph and live but when once he saw him Now let me dye saith he c. Vers 30. Now let me dye What would this good old man have said had he sâ—en Christ in the flesh Optavit se videre potuisse Romam in flore Paulum in ore Christum in corpore Luk. 2.29 30. which was one of Augustines three with â—s how merrily would he have sung out his soul as Simem did who had long looked for the consolation of Israel and having now laid in his heart what he lapt in his armes cryes Nunc dimittas domine I fear no sin I dread no death as one englisheth it I have lived enough I have my life I have long'd enough I have my love I have seen enough I have my light I have served enough I have my Saint I have sorrow'd enough I have my joy Sweet babe let this song serve for a lullaby to thee and a funerall for me O sleep in my armes and let me sleep in thy peace Because thou art yet alive If this were so great a matter to Iacob what should it be to us that Christ was dead and is alive yea that he ever lives Act. 7.56 to make request for us and that he stands at the right hand of his father when any Steven of his is stoned as ready prest to interpose betwixt them and any hurt that may thereby come unto them If Seneca could say to his Polybius Fas tibi non est salvo Caesare de fortuna tua queri how much less cause have we to complain so
we have a more sure word of prophesie Gods blessed booke assures us of a third heaven 2 Cor. 12.2 called elsewhere the heaven of heavens the Paradise of God the bosome of Abraham the Fathers house the City of the living God the Country of his pilgrims A body it is for bodies are in it but a subtile fine spirituall body next in purity to the substance of Angels and mens soules It is also say some solid as stone but cleare as chrystall Rev. 21.11 Job 37.18 A true firmament indeed not penetrable by any no not by Angells Yates his Modell spirits and bodies of just men made perfect but by a miracle God making way by his power where there is no naturall passage It opens to the very Angels Job 1.51 Gen. 28.12 who yet are able to penetrate all under it The other two heavens are to be passed through by the grossest bodies Verse 8. And the evening c. Here 's no mention of Gods approbation of this second dayes worke Not for that hell was then ceated or the reprobate Angels then ejected as the Jewes give in the reason of it but because this dayes worke was left unperfected till the next to the which therefore the blessing was reserved and is then redoubled God delights to doe his workes not all at once but by degrees that we may take time to contemplate them peece-meal and see him in every of them as in an opticke glasse Consider the lillies of the field saith our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6.18 Prov. 6.6 Goe to the Pismire thou sluggard saith Solomon Luther wisht Pontanus the Chancellour of Saxony to contemplate the Starchamber of Heaven that stupendious arch-worke born up by no props or pillars Proponit contemplandam pulcherrimam coeli concamerationem Nullis pilis columnis impositam c. Scultet Annal. 276. and yet not falling on our heads the thicke clouds also hanging often over us with great weight and yet vanishing againe when they have saluted us but with their threatning lookes And cannot God as easily uphold his sinking Saints and blow over any storme that hangs over their heads An Artificer takes it ill if when he hath finished some curious piece of work and sets it forth to be seen as Apelles was wont to do men slight it and take no notice of his handy-work And is there not a woe to such stupid persons as regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands A sino quispiam narrabat fabulam Esay 5.12 at ille movebat aures is a proverb among the Greeks Christ was by at the Creation and rejoyced Prov. 8.30 Angels also were by at the doing of a great deale and were rapt with admiration Job 38.4 5 6. Shall they shout for joy and we be silent Oh how should we vex at the vile dulnesse of our hearts are no more affected with these indelible ravishments Verse 9 10. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered c. The water they say is ten times greater then the earth as is the ayre ten times greater then the water and the fire then the ayre Sure it it is that the proper place of the water is to be above the earth Psal 104.6 Saylers tell us that as they draw nigh to shore when they enter into the haven they run as it were downe-hill The waters stood above the mountains till at Gods rebuke here they fled and hasted away at the voyce of his thunder Psal 104.6 7. to the place which he had founded for them This drew from Aristotle Lib. de mirabil in one place a testimony of Gods providence which elsewhere he denyes And David in that Psal 104. which one calleth his Physicks tells us that till this word of command Let the waters c. God had covered the earth with the deepe as with a garment For as the garment in the proper use of it is above the body so is the sea above the land And such a garment saith the divine Cosmographer would it have been to the earth but for Gods providence toward us as the shirt made for the murthâ—ring of Agamemnon Psal 104.6 9. where he had no issue out But thou hast set a bound saith the Psalmist that they may not passe over that they turn not againe to cover the earth God hath set the solid earth upon and above the liquid waters for our conveniâ—nâ—y so that men are said to goe downe not up to the sea in ships Psal 107.23 See his mercy herein as in a mirrour and believe that God whose work it is still to appoint us the bounds of our habitations will not faile to provide us an hospitium Act. 17.26 a place to reside in when cast out of all as he did David Psal 27.10 and Davids parents 1 Sam 22.4 and the Apostles 2 Cor 6.10 and the English exiles in Queen Maries dayes Sculâ—et Aâ—â—al and before them Luther who being asked where he thought to be safe answered Sub Coelo and yet before him those persecuted Waldenses Rev. 12.15 after whom the Romish Dragon cast out so much water as a flood but the earth swallowed it and God so provided that they could travell from Cullen in Germany to Millain in Italy Cade of the Church p. 180. and every night lodge with hosts of their own profession The waters of affliction are often gathered together against the godly but by Gods gracious appointment ever under the heaven where our conversation is Tareus in loc Philip. 3.20 though our commoration be a while upon earth and unto one place as the Text here hath it The dry-land will appeare and we shall come safe to shore be sure of it Esay 26.4 The Rock of eternity whereupon we are set is above all billows washt we may be as Paul was in the shipwrack drowned we cannot be 1 Pet. 1.5 because in the same bottome with Christ and kept by the power of God through faith to salvation Verse 11.12 Psal 104. Let the earth bring forth c. Grasse for the cattle and herb for the use of man and both these before either man or or beast were created He made meat before mouthes He fills for us two bottles of milke before we come into the world Herbes and other creatures we have still ad esum ad usum Our land flowes not with milke onely for necessity but with hone too for delight Nature amidst all is content with a little Grace with lesse Sing we merrily with him Hoc mihi pro certo Georg. Fabricius Chemnicensis quod vitam qui dedit idem Et velit possit suppeditare cibum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 12. and the earth brought forth c. St. Austine thinks that thorns and thistles brambles and briars were before the Fall Aug de Gen. 〈…〉 cap. â— 8 though not in that abundance that now
raising of his Son Christ Eph. 1.19 to raise us from the death of sin and of carnall Esa 51.16 to make us a people created againe Psal 102.18 Doth he not plant the heavens and lay the foundation of the earth that he may say to Zion thou art my people Empty man would be wise saith Zophar Job 11.12 though man be born like a wild asse colt Mans heart is a meer emptiness a very Tohu vabohu as void of matter to maâ—e him a new creature of as the hollow of a tree is of heart of oake God therefore creates in his people cleane hearts Psal 50.10 and as in the first creation so in the new creature the first day as it were God works light of knowledge the second day the firmament of faith the third day seas and trees that is repentant tears and worthy fruits the fourth day Lightf Miscel the Sun joyning light and heat together heat of zeale with light of knowledge the fifth day fishes to play and foules to flye so to live and rejoyce in a sea of troubles and flye heaven-ward by prayer and contemplation The sixt day God makes beasts and man yea of a wild asse-colt a man in Christ with whom old things are past all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess 4. And to whom besides that they are all taught of God the very beasts Esa 1.2 and birds Jer. 8.7 doe read a Divinity Lecture Aske now the beasts and they shall teach thee and the foules of the ayre they shall tell thee Anton. Eremita ap Aug. lib. 1. de doctr Christ Niceph. l. 8. c. 40 Clem. Alex. Job 12.8 The whole world is nothing else saith One but God expressed so that we cannot plead ignorance for all are or may be book learned in the creature This is the Shepherds Callender the Plowmans Alphabet we may run and read in this great book which hath three leaves Heaven Earth Sea A bruitish man knows not neither doth a foole understand this Psal 9 29. They stand gazing and gaping on the outside of things onely but asknot Who is their Father their Creator Like little children which when they finde a Picture in their booke they gaze and make sport with it but never consider it Either their mindes are like a clocke that is over wound above the ordinary pitch and so stands still their thoughts are amazed for a time they are like a blocke thinking nothing at all Esa 40.28 or else they think Atheistically that all comes by nature but hast thou not known saith the Prophet hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creator c. or at best as the common passenger looks onely at the hand of the Diall to see what of the clock it is but takes no notice of the clock-work within the wheels and poises and various turnings and windings in the work so it is here with the man that is no more then a meer naturall 1 Cor. 2.15 But he that is spirituall discerneth all things he entreth into the clock-house as it were and views every motion beginning at the great wheel and ending in the least and last that is moved He studies the glory of God revealed in this great book of Nature and prayseth his power wisdome goodness c. And for that in these things He cannot order his speech because of darkness Job 37.38 39. he begs of God a larger heart and better language and cryes out continually with David Blessed be the Lord God the God of Israel who onely doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for ever and eâ—er and let the whole earth be filled with his glory Amen and Amen Plal. 72.18 19. Verse 26. And God said Let us make man Man is the master-peece of Gods handy-work Sun Moon and Stars are but the workâ— of his fingers Psal 8.3 but man the work of his hands Psal 1â— 9.14 He is cura divini ingenii made by counsell at first Let us make c. and his body which is but the souls sheath Dan. 7.15 Animae vagina is still curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that is in the womb Psal 139.15 with Eph. 4.9 as curious workmen 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 Thine bands have mude me or took speciall pains about me and fashioned me saith Job Thou hast formed me by the book saith David Psal 139.16 Job 10.8 yea emâ—roidered me with nerves veyns and variety of limbs miracles enough saith One betwixt head and foot to fill a Volume Man saith a Heathen is the bold attempt of daring nature the faire workmanship of a wise Artificer saith another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trismegist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Xâ—noph Miraculorum omnium maximum Stoici Gal. lib. 3. de usu partium Lib. 11. 1â— The greatest of all miracles saith a third And surely should a man be born into the world but once in a hundred years all the world would run to see the wonder Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt Galen that prophane man was forced upon the description of man and the parts of his body only to sing a hymn to the Creator whom yet he knew not I make here saith he a true hymn in the honour of our Maker whose service I beleeve verily consisteth not in the sacrificing of Hecatombs or in burning great heaps of Frankinsence before him but in acknowledging the greatness of his wisdome power and goodness and in making the same known to others c. And in another place Now is he saith Gallen which looking but only upon the skin of a thing wondreth not of the cunning at the Creator Yet notwithstanding he dissembleth not that he had tryed by all means to find some reason of the composing of living creatures and that he would rather have fathered the doing thereof upon Nature then upon the very Authour of Nature Lib. 15. And in the end concludeth thus I confesse that I know not what the soule is though I have sought very narrowly for it Favorinus the Philosopher Nibil in terra magnum prater bominâ—m nibil in homine praeter mentem Fav ap Gel. was wont to say The greatest thing in this world is Man and the greatest thing in man is his soule It is an abridgement of the invisible world as the Body is of the visible Hence man is called by the Hebrewes Gnolam haktaton and by the Greeks Microcosmus A little world And it was a witty essay of him who stiled woman the second Edition of the Epitome of the whole world The soule is set in the body of them both as a little god in this little world as Jehovah is a great God in the great world Whence Proclus the Philosopher could say that the
minde that is in us is an image of the first minde that is of God In our image after our likenesse That is as like us as may be to come as neare us as is possible for these two expressions signifie but one and the same thing and therefore vers 27. and chap. 5.1 and 9.6 one of them onely is used Howbeit Basil referreth image to the reasonable soule in man similitude to a conformity to God in holy actions Some of the Fathers had a conceit that Christ made mans body with his owne hands according to the forme and likenesse of that body which himselfe would afterwards assume and suffer in We deny not but that mans body also is Gods image as it is a little world and so the idea or example of the world that was in God from all eternity is as it were briefly and summarily exprest by God in mans body But far be it from us to conceive of God as a bodily substance to thinke him like unto us as we are very apt to doe God made man in his owne image Molinaeus de â—â—gu Dei and men of the other side quasi ad hostimentum would make God after their image It was seriously disputed by the Monks of Egypt Anno Dom. 493. and much adoe there was about it whether God were not a bodily substance Funcius Chron. in Commentar having hands eyes eares and other parts as we have For so the simpler sort among them were clearly of opinion Acutè obtusi And in the second Council of Nice under Irene John one of the Legates of the Easterne Churches proved the making of Images lawfull because God had said in this text Let us make man after our owne Image And it was there decreed that they should be reverenced and adored in as ample and pious manner as the glorious Trinity D. Heylins Geog. p. 53 3. But God is a Spirit Job 4.4 saith our Saviour who best knew for he came out of his Fathers bosome And mans soule is a spirit likewise indivisible immateriall immortall distinguisht into three poweâ—s which all make up one spirit Spirit signifies breath which indeed is a body Omâ—â—s 〈◊〉 Jebova â—â—era sunt spiritualâ—â— ut denâ—tâ—tur Deum esse spiritum Alssed But because it is the finest body the most subtile and most invisible therefore immateriall substances which we are not able to conceive are represented unto us under this name Such is the soule of man which for the worth of it the Stoicks called the whole of Man The body is but the sheath of the soule saith Daniel the shell of it Solam mentem digâ—am esse quae home appelletur Stoici statuunt Sic Plato scripsit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpus five corpor quasi cordis por i.e. puer five farmus Camerar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. vinculum sâ— anima Macrob. Som. Scip. l. 1. c. 11. said Zoroaster the servant yea the sepulchre of it say others Compared to the soule it is but as a clay-wall that encompasseth a treasure as a wodden box of a Jeweller as a course case to a rich instrument or as a mask to a beautifull face He that alone knew and went to the worth of soules hath told us that a soule is more worth then all the world besides because infused by God and stamped with his image and superscription Now if we must give to Cesar the things that are Cesars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 three articles for one in the former clause Matth. 22.21 Cur non nos animam nostram Dei imaginem soli Deo consignemus saith Gaspar Ens Why give we not our soules to God sith they are made in his image Verse 27. So God created man in his owne image There is a double image of God in the soule One in the substance of it whereof I have spoken in the former verse The other in the qualities and supernaturall graces of knowledge in the Understanding rightness or straightness in the Will and holiness in the affections In all these Man when he came first out of Gods mint shone most gloriously But now O! quvntum haec Niobe c. Ezra 3.12 Oh think of this burnt Temple and mourn as they in Ezra Eber candidissimum adhibito igne nigrescit Verse 28. Subdue the earth and have dominion Make it habitable by driving out the wild beasts that infest and annoy it Make it arable also and usefull to your selves and yours Psal 8. Qui dominari in catera pâ—ssit Natus homo est The creatures are mans servants and houshold-sluffe God hath put all things under his feet that he may raise himselfe thereby to God his Maker A wise Philosopher could say That man is the end of all things in a semicircle that is All things in the world are made for him and he is made for God to know and acknowledge him to serve and expresse him to say to him as David and that Sonne of David Lord a body a soul hast thou given me Heb. 10.5 behold I come to doe thy will O God The very Manichees that denyed God to bee the Author of the body fasted on Sundayes and in fasting exercised an humiliation of the body The Paternians are not worth speaking of Aâ—sted Chron. p. 387. who held this heresie in the yeare of Christ 387 that the lower parts of mans body were not made by God but by the devill and therefore allowing liberty of all wickedness to those parts they lived most impurely But if superstitious persons must reckon for it Coloss 2. ult that punish their bodies without commandement from God where shall those beasts appâ—ar that defile their bodies and damn their soule How shall all the creatures instead of serving them take up arms for God and serve against them yea rise up in judgement and condemne them for that when all other things keep their fit and proper places in the frame and observe their peculiar ends and uses whereunto they were created men onely as so many Heteroclites and Irregulars should prove unprofitable unusefull nay hurtfull to the whole frame causing vanity and misery to the poor creature which groans under it and so defiling the very visible heavens that they must be purged by the last fire as those vessells were in the Law that held the sin-offering Rom 8. As for those that are in Christ these are restored to the priviledges of their first creation as fellowship with God dominion over the creatures c. as appears by comparing Psal 8.45 with Heb. 2.6 7. c. where whatever is spoken of man is applied to Christ and so is proper to the Church which is Christ mysticall union being the ground of communion Christ is married to his people in faithfulness and as part of a joynture he hath taken and bound over the best of the creatures to serve them bring them in provision Hos
body should have been in health 3 Joâ— 2. as his soule prospered The tree of knowledge of good and evill So called not because it selfe either knew or could cause man to know but from the event God Forewarning our first parents that they should know by wofull experience unlesse they abstained what was the worth of good by the want of it and what the presence of evill by the sence of it In like sort the waters of Meribah and Kibroth Hattaavah or the graves of lust received their names from that which fell out in those places Verse 10. And a river went out Pliny writeth Plin. l. 2. c. 106. that in the Province of Babylon there is burning and smothering a certaine lake or bog about the bignesse of an acre And who knowes whether that be not a peece of Paradise now drowned and destroyed V. 11. Where there is gold Which though never so much admired studiously acquired is but the guts garbage of the earth Gold is that which the basest element yeelds the most savage Indians get servile Apprentices work Midianitish Camels carry miserable muck-worms adore unthrifty Ruffians spend It is to be wondred thatt reading upon the Minerals we canot contemn them They lye furthest from heaven and the best of them in Havilah furthest of all from the Church Adam had them in the first paradise In the second we shall not need them Money is the Monarch of this world and answers all things but in the matters of God money bears no mastery will fetch in no commodity Iob 28.15 Wisemen esteemed it as the stones of the street 2 Chron. 1.15 children of wisdome might not possesse it in their girdles Matth. 10.9 Medes cared not for it Esa 13.17 and divels were set to keep rich and pleasant Palaces verse 22. So subject these mettals are to ensnare and defile us that God made a law to have them purified ere he would have them used Num. 31.22 23. and appointed the snuffers and snuffe-dishes of the Sanctuary to be made of pure gold Exod. 25.28 to teach us to make no account of that that he put to so base offices and is frequently given to so bad men The Spaniard found in the mines of America more gold then earth D. Heyl. Geogr. p 774. Hasten we to that Country where God shall be our gold and we shall have plenty of silver Iob 22.25 Verse 15. To dresse it and to keepe it This he did as without necessity so without paines without wearinesse It was rather his recreation then his occupation He laboured now by an Ordinance it was after his fall laid upon him as a punishment Gen. 3.19 to eat his bread in the sweat of his nose God never made any as he made Leviathan to sport himselfe only or to do as it is said of the people of Tombutum in Affrick that they spend their whole time in piping and dancing â—ph 4.28 but to work either with his hands or his head in the sweat of his brow or of his braine the thing that is good and with how much the more cheerfulnesse any one goeth about his businesse by so much the nearer he commeth to his Paradise Verse 16. Commanded the man saying God hath given man dominion over all the sublunary creatures and lest he should forget that he had a Lord whom to serve and obey he gave him this command to keep Of every tree of the Garden thou maist freely eat The lesse need he had to have been so licorish after forbidden fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic adhibet quod miserecordiae est But stoln waters are sweet Nitimur in vetitum c. Verse 17. But of the tree c. An exploratory prohibition God knew well where we are weakest and worst able to withstand viz. about moderating the pleasures of our touch and taste because these befall us not as men Arist Ethic. l. 1. c. 3. but as living creatures Here therefore he layes a law upon Adam for the triall of his love which left to his owne free-will he soon transgressed Thou shalt surely dye Certissimè citissiméque morieris saith Zuinglius thou shalt surely and shortly or suddenly dye And without doubt every man should dye the same day he is born the wages of death should be paid him presently But Christ begs their lives for a season For which cause he is said to be the Saviour of all men not of eternall preservation but of temporall reservation 1 Tim. 4.10 In which respect also God is said so to have loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. It was a mercy to all mankind Iob. 3.16 that the Messiah was promised and provided sealed and sent into the world that some might be saved and the rest sustained in life for their sakes Symmachus renders it Thou shalt be mortall Verse 18. And the Lord God said Had said to wit on the sixth day when he made Man and there was not a meet help found for him Then God said It is not good c. and so created the woman by deliberate councell as before he had done the man Only there it was in the plural Let us make here I will make to shew the unity of the Essence in the Trinity of persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athenis in nuptiis dici solitum Zenod. Proverb It is not good for man to be alone It is neither for his profit nor his comfort Optimum solatium sodalatium I will make him a helpe meet for him or such another as himselfe of the same form for perfection of nature and for gifts inward and outward one in whom he may see himself and that may be to him as an Alter-ego a second-self Eph. 5.28 Such an one as may be a help to him both so this life 1. By continuall society and cohabitation 2. For procreation and education of children And for the life to come 1. As a remedy against sin 1 Cor. 7.2 Secondly As a companion in Gods service 1 Pet. 3.7 Nazianzen saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. in pat â—pitaph that his mother was not only a meet help to his father in matters of piety but also a doctresse and a governesse and yet he was no baby but an able Minister of the Gospel Budaeus that learned French-man had a great help of his wife in points of learning she would be as busie in his study Non tractat negligentius libros â—eos quà m liberos Daniels Chron. fol. 262. as about her huswifery Placilla the Empresse was a singular help to her husband Theodosius in things both temporall and spirituall And so was our King Edward the thirds Queen a Lady of excellent vertue the same that built Queens Colledge in Oxford She drew evenly saith the Historian with the King her husband in all the courses of honour that appertained to her side and seems a piece so just cut for him as answered him
first man that dyed dyed for Religion H. Broughton of the 10 patr exâ— Rab. Bochai In a witty sense saith Hugh Broughton Cain and Abel contain in their names advertisements for matter of true continuance and corruption Cain betokeneth possession in this world And Abel betokeneth one humbled in minde and holding such possession vain Such was his offering sheep-kinde the gentlest of all living beasts and therefore the favour of God followed him And the offering of Cain was of the fruit of the earth as he loved the possession of this world and the service of the body which yet can have no continuance and followed after bodily lusts therefore the blessed God favored him not Thus far he out of the Rabbines Another English Divine hath this note upon these words Yaâ—es his Model of Divin I have gotten a man from the Lord Jehovah Adam and Eve were all about the composition of Cain His soul was inspired pure and holy yet assoon as the vital spirits laid hold of it it was in the compound a son of Adam A skilful Artificer makes a clock of all his essential parts most accurately onely he leaves the putting of all parts together to his unskilful apprentise who so jumbles together the several joynts that all falls to jaring and can keep no time at all every wheel running backward-way So God most artificially still perfects both body and soul but our accursed parents put all out of frame and set every part in a contrary course to Gods will Sin is propagated and proceeds from the union of body and soul into one man That phrase Warmed in sin Psal 51.5 is meant of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evil which is not so actually till the soul come Vers 3. In process of time That distance of time between the Creation and the general Flood Varro the most learned of the Romans calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obscure or unknown because the Heathen had no Records of that which we now clearly understand to have been then done out of the holy Scriptures Cain brought of the fruit Godw. Hebr. Antiq. p. 27. They brought their sacrifices to Adam the high Priest of the family who offered them to God in their name So in the Levitical Law though a mans offering were never so good he might not offer it himself upon pain of death But the Priest must offer it And the Priest was to offer as well the poor mans Turtle as the rich mans Ox To teach that none may present his service to God how good soever he may conceit it but in the hand of the high Priest of the New Testament Jesus Christ Revel 5. the just one who will not onely present but perfume the poorest performances of an upright heart with his odors Vers 4. See Num. 18.12 Fat taken for the best of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 12.41 Mal. 1. Of the firstlings of his flock He brought the best of the best not any thing that came next to hand as Cain seems to have done holding any thing good enough as did those rich wretches that cast brass-money into the treasury But cursed be that couzener that hath a male in his flock and offereth to God a corrupt thing Offer it now to thy Prince will he be content with thy refuse stuff Behold I am a great King saith God he stands upon his seniority and looks to be honored with the best of our subâ—tance Mary that loved much thought nothing too much for her sweet Saviour John 12.9 She brought an Alabaster box of oyntment of great price and poured it upon him and he defends her in it against those that held it waste Among the Papists their Lady of Loretto hath her Churches so stuffed with vowed presents of the best Sir Edw. Sands Relation of West Relig. sect 〈◊〉 Turk hist. fol. 342. 1 Pet. 3.11 Isai 66.2 as they are fain to hang their Cloysters and Church-yards with them Shall not their supeâ—stition rise up and condemn our irreligion our slubbering services and dough-baked duties The Turks build their private houses low and homely but their Moschces or Temples stately and magnificent Had respect to Abel and his offering The eye of the Lord is still upon the righteous and his ears are in their prayers He looks upon such with singular delight with special intimation of his love he is ravished with one of their eyes lifted up in prayer Cant. 4.9 with one chain of their graces when as he was no whit affected with the offer of all the worlds glory Matth. 4. He saith of such to the wicked as the Prophet said of Jehosaphat to the King of Israel Surely 2 King 3.14 were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat King of Judah I would not look toward thâ—e nor see thee Cain here for instance Vers 5. But to Cain and his offering c. Because he brought non personam sed opus personae as Luther hath it Luth. in Decal who also calls those Cainists that offer to God the work done but do not offer themselves to God Works materially good may never prove so formally and eventually Luke 16. Levit. 11.18 That which is fair to men is abomination to God He rejected the Swan for sacrifice because under a white feather it hath black skin Sordet in conspectu Judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis saith Gregory A thing may shine in the night from its rottenness Vers 6. Why is thy countenance fâ—â—n Why dost lowre and look so like a dog under a door Vultu saepe laeditur pietas Cicer. orat pro Amerin Ovid. Metaâ— Difficile est animum non prodere vultâ— He was discontented at God and displeased at his brother He looks but sowre and suffen upon him and â—od takes him up for it He so loves his little ones that he cannot abide the cold wind should blow upon them The Sun must not smâ—te them by day nor the Moon by night Psal 121. Cantâ—◠〈◊〉 The North and South must both blow good to them Better a milstone c. then offend one of these little ones be it but by a frown or a frump Better anger all the witches in the world then one of Gods zealous witnesses Revel 11.5 For there goeth a fire out of their mouths to devour their enemies Vers 7. Resipiscenti remissio pertinaci supplicium imminet idque proximum prae entiss Jun. Nemeâ—s dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nemo eam effugere possit Sin lyes at the door Like a great ban-dog ready to pull out the throat of thy soul if thou but look over the hatch Say this dog lie asleep for a while yet the door is for continual pass and repass and so no fit place for any long sleep Your sin will surely finde you out saith Moses as a blood-hound and haunt you
Cavete ab hoc quem natura notavit is but a gold ring in a Swines snout as Solomon hath it or ornamentum in luto as another so it was in Alcibiades for a man and in Aurelia Orestilla for a woman yet surely where they meet they make a happy conjunction and draw all hearts to them as in Germanicus for a man in whom beauty and vertue strove for precedency and Artaxerxes Longimanus the son of Esther who is said to have been of all men the most beautifull and most bountifull So in Esther for a woman who obtained favour in the sight of all that looked upon her Esth 2.15 And Aspasia Milesia the wife of Cyrus who deserved to be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fair and Wise as Aelian relateth As on the other side in Vatinius deformity of body strove with dishonesty of minde adeo ut animus ejus dignissimo domicilio inclusus videretur saith Paterculus Vers 12. Therefore it shall come to passe c. Note here saith Pererius the raging affection of the Egyptians that made no conscience of murther to enjoy their lust 2. Their blindness that made less account of murther then adultery Note again saith Piscator that beauty exposeth a body to the danger of dishonesty and that as the Poet hath it Lis est cum formâ magna pudicitiae Let those therefore that have beauty look to their chastity and possesse their vessels in holiness and honour Thesaurum cum virgo tuum vas fictile servet Vt caveas quae sunt noxia tuta time Filthiness in a woman is most abominable therefore is a Whore called a strange woman Vers 13. Say I pray thee thou art my sister The truth was here not onely concealed but dissembled As the Moon hath her specks so the best have their blemishes A Sheep may slip into a slough as soon as a Swine and an Apple-tree may have a fit of barrenness as well as a Crab-tree Vers 14. The Egyptians beheld the woman Pleasure is blamed in Xenophon for this that she ever and anon looketh back upon her own shadow Decet haberâ— oculos continenter maâ—â—â— linguam and giveth her eyes leave to rove and range without restraint An honest man saith Plautus should have continent eyes hands and tongue Nihil enim interest quibus membris cinoedi sitis posterioribus an prioribus said Archelaus the Philosopher to a wanton yonker The eye that light of all the members is an ornament to the whole body And yet that lightsome part of the body draweth too too oft the whole soul into darkness Job 31.1 This Job knew and therefore made a Covenant to look to his looks â—â—th of looking came luâ—â—ing Charles the fifth when the City of Antwerp thought to gratifie him in a Mask Job Mauliâ— loc Com. p. 34â— Saepe claufit senestram nâ— inspicâ—râ—t formosiores â—â—â—miâ—â—â— c. De Carolo 5. Pâ—reuâ— hist pres medul pag. â—08 Matth. 5.28 29 with the sight of certain fair Maids brought in before him almost naked he would not once look at them The young Lord Harrington when he should meet with fair women in the streets or elsewhere would usually pull his hat over his eyes as knowing that of our Saviour He that looks upon a woman to lust after her c. whereupon immediately follows If thine eye offend thee c. Eckius was sharply rebuked at a feast by a modest matrone for his uncivill glances and carriages in these words as Melancthon relateth Es tu doctor Joh. Manlii loc com p. 32â— Non existimo te in honesta familia sed in lupanari educatum Thou a Doctour I do not believe thou wast bred any where else but in a brothel-house See the Notes on Chap. 6. Vers 2. Vers 15. The Princes also of Pharaoh c. Flattering Courtiers please Princes humours and serve their delights though to the procuring of their plagues as here and in young King Joash If a ruler hearken to lyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 3. saith Solomon all his servants are wicked Prov. 29.12 Aulicisunt instar spâ—â—uli saith One. And Mirifica est sympâ—thia saith another inter magnates parasitâ—s Herâ—dorus writeth that when Cambyses demanded of his Courtiers and Counsellours whether it were not lawfull for him to marry his own sister whom he greatly desired they answered That they found no law to license such a match but another law they found that the King of Persia might do what he would And the woman was taken into Pharaohs house Not for any worse purpose then to get her good will to become his wife Vers 16. And he entreated Aâ—ram well for her sake To the end that he might sollicite his sister to yeeld consent or might not be a back-friend at least out of displeasure because they had taken away his sister from him to the Court. So K. Hen. 8. advanced all Anne Bullens kindred c. Vers 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh Plagued him with plagues saith the Hebrew tormented him with torments or set him on the rack saith the Greek And for this he might thank his Court-parasites who put him upon this rape Chrysostome thinketh that Sarah was abed with the King and that in the bed God by his plague so restrained him that she remained untoucht But we cannot gather by the text that he intended to commit adultery sed quòd levitate vaga libidine peccavit but offended onely in going after the sight of his eyes a and lust of his heart as Solomon hath it Vers 18. What is this that thou hast done unto me God had reproved Pharaoh according to that Psal 105.14 He suffered no man to doe them wrong but reproved Kings for them and now Pharaoh reproves Abraham It is a sad thing that Saints should do that for which they should justly fall under the reproofe of the wicked we should rather dazle their eyes and draw from their consciences at least a testimony of our innocency as David did from Sauls when he said Thou art more righteous then I my son David Whose oxe have I taken saith Samuel And which of you can condemne me of sin saith Christ Now the life of a Christian should be a Commentary upon Christs life 1 Pet. 2. Ye are a holy nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 2.9 a peculiar people that ye should preach forth his vertues and not hang his picture his image and graces in a dark hole but in a conspicuous place Bucer so lived that neither could his friends sufficiently praise him nor his foes justly blame him for any miscarriage Act Mon. And Bradford was had in so great reverence and admiration for his holiness that a multitude which never knew him but by fame Ibid. 1458. greatly lamented his death yea and a number also of Papists themselves wished heartily his life But to have Egyptians jear us and that for sin is threatned as a
her and that of Paul Have not I also a master in Heaven Colos 4.1 But passion is head-long and like heavy bodies down steep hills once in motion rest not till they come to the bottome Look to it therefore in corrections especially Vers 9. Return to thy Mistress When now she had smarted she is in case to be counselled There 's great skill in the choice of a fit time for admonition It is not to give a man a purge in a fever-fit Submit thy self Heb. Afflict thy self or suffer thy self to be afflicted or humbled under her hands Jam. 4.9 The like counsell is given us all by St. James Be afflicted and weep and mourn c. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God and he will lift you up Vers 10. I will multiply thy seed Thus God contemneth not poor servants nay if they be faithfull Coloss 3.24 he will give them the reward of inheritance even a childs part as Hagar and her child had We read not that she cryed to God but her affliction spake for her and he is oft on t of his meer Philanthropie found of them that sought him not He heareth the young Ravens that cry to him onely by way of implication Pâ—al 147.9 The Lord hath heard thy affliction saith the Angel in the next verse Vers 12. And he will be a wild-man Heb. A wild-asse which is fierce untractable and untameable And such by nature is every mothers childe of us Job 11.12 A wild-asse-colt An Asse is none of the wisest creatures much less an Asses-colt least of all Vigimus inque vicem praebemus tela sagitâ—is a wild-asse-colt Lo such is man His hand will be against every man This was first accomplished in his person and thâ—n in his posterity For himself he was ferus pugnax ever quarrelling and contending Now a quarrelsome man is like a Cock of the game that is still blood with the blood of others and of himself As for his posterity the Saracens Mahomet the mischiefe of mankinde had his generation from this wild-asse And Sarai was utterly disappointed for these Agarens were ever enemies and so continue to be to her seed Vers 13. Thou God seest me This shews she had been well trained and tutored in her Master Abrams house Before she told the Angell the plain truth and lyed not vers 8 And here she thankfully acknowledgeth Gods goodness in looking upon her forlorn solitariness setting up a memoriall of that mercy to all posterity The greater was her sin again that being so well principled she should have any thoughts of returning to Egypt there to forsake her faith learn'd in Abrams family Have I also here looked Gen. 32.30 Exod. 24.11 Juâ—g 1â— 23 c. q. d. Have I found God here also in the wilderness as I had done oft before in my Masters house Or am I yet alive though I have seen God CHAP. XVII Vers 1. The Lord appeared to Abram AFter thirteen years absence and silence for ought we read so that Abram began to conclude that Ismael surely was the promised seed all the sons he was likely to have to inherit the land The Church then may erre when she cleaves not close to the word though God at length will direct her into the right way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here he did Abraham I am God All-mighty Or Al. sufficient Self-sufficient so Aquila Independent Absolute the Original Universall good Aben-Ezra interprets Shaddai a Conqueâ—or Others a Destroyer which a Conqueror must needs be Eundem victorem vastatorem esse oportet saith Cameron And to this the Scripture alludes when it saith Shod shall come from Shaddai Destruction from the Almighty Esa 13.6 Some there are that derive Shaddai of Shad a dug because God feeds his children with sufficiency of all good things as the loving mother doth the child with the milk of her breasts Hence the Heathen called Diana and likewise Ceres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mammosam as if she were the Nurse of all living creatures God is the onely satisfactory good proportionable and sitting to our souls as the dug to the childes stomach Walk before me Heb. Indesinentèr ambula Walk constantly step for step and keep pace with me Austin would not for the gain of a million of worlds be an Atheist for half an houre because he â—new not but God might in that time make an end of him Am. 3.3 For can two walk together and they not agreed saith the Prophet Ye cannot serve the Lord saith Joshua to the people that promised fair that is Jâ—sh 24.19 unless ye will serve him entirely walk uprightly as Abram here walk evenly without halting or halving with him Holiness must run thorough the whole life as the warp doth thorough the woof all the parts of our line of life must be streight before God As for such as turne aside to their crooked wayes as the Planets steal back by a secret slow motion of their own contrary to that of the Primum Mobile The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity with openly prophane persons Psal 125.5 when peace shall be upon Israel upon all that are Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile Surely as an unequall pulse shews a distempered body so doth uneven walking an unsound soul such as is not verily perswaded that God is All-sufficient able and ready to reward the upright and punish the hypocrite Vers 2. And I will make my Covenant This is now the fifth confirmation of the Covenant which shews that it is the prora and puppis the first second and third of our salvation and it is fit we should be well studied in it and assured of our interest For as the Mercy-seat was no larger then the Ark so neither is the Grace of God then the Covenant And as the Ark and Mercy-seat were never separated Exod. 25.10 to 17. so neither is his mercy from his people Vers 3. And Abram fell on his face T was sit he should now that God talked with him Such a posture of body befits us at the hearing of the word as may best express our reverence and further our attention Balac is bid to rise up to hear Balaams parable Eglon though a fat unweildy man riseth up from his seat to hear Gods message from Ehud Neh. 8.5 The people in Nehemiah stood to hear the Law read and expounded Constantine the Great Euseb would not be entreated to sit down or be covered at a Sermon No more would our Edward the sixth whose custome was also to take notes of what he heard Act Mâ—n which together with his own applications of the word to himself he wrote in Greek characters that his servants might not read them The Thessalonians are commended for this that they heard Pauls preaching as the word of God and not of man Had
it 1 Sam. â— 7 And Promotion cometh neither from the east nor west saith David nor yet from the south where the warm sun-shine is much less from the north for Ab Aquilone nihil boni But God is the Judge he puts down Laban and sets up Jacob he spoiled the Egyptians and enriched the Israelites with their jewels which yet proved a snare to them perhaps Exod. 32.13 in the matter of the golden calf as riches always do when sent in to men by Gods providence onely and not out of his favour as here to Jacob and by vertue of the promise Vers 10 11 12. I saw in a dream c. Of divine dreams such as this was see the Notes above upon Chap 20.3 Vers 12. I have seen all that Laban doth And am resolved to fleece him for thy hire Gain ill got will burn mens fingers and burn thorow their purses Yea the greater wealth the greater spoil awaits such Misers as a tree with thick and large boughs every man desires to lop him Vers 13. I am the God of Bethel c. Here God pulls Jacob by the ear as it were and mindes him of his vow which he had well-nigh forgotten But the Lord looked for a performance and afterward punished him for his slackness Most mens practice proclaims that having escaped the danger they would willingly deceive the Saint Sciapato il morbo fraudato il Sante And of those that vow against sin how many have we who when temptations like strong Philistims are upon them break all bonds of God whereby foul breaches are made into their consciences such as nothing can cure but the Blood of that great Votary that Nazarite Christ Jesus Vows are solemn services and they have much to answer for that care not either to make or keep them that dally and play with them as children do with nuts and gawds When the Cardinals meet to chuse a Pope they make a Vow Whosoever is chosen Sleid. Comm. he shall swear to such Articles as they make And Sleidan saith The Pope is no sooner chosen but he breaks them all and checks their insolencies as if they went about to limit his power to whom all power is given both in heaven and earth Is not this pretty collusion But God is the avenger of all such Vers 15. Are we not counted of him as strangers Isidor Pâ—lus lib. 3. cp 24. 1 Tim. 6.10 Well might that Father say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The love of money is the root of all evil as the Apostle hath it This Kyte-footed corruption wheresoever it seizeth and domineereth it blasteth and banisheth all nobleness of spirit natural affection humanity reason discretion manliness mutual entertainment intercourse of kindness and love so that for any fair dealing a man had as good converse with a Cannibal as with a â—ruely covetous caitiff Well might the Apostle set covetousness and want of natural affection together as signes of a reprobate sense Rom. 1.29 31. Laban sells his own daughters here and devours also their price Match 15. And the covetous Pharisees taught children to starve their parents to offer to the altar that is to their paunches and purses Vers 16. For all the riches c. Here they speak the truth but offend 1. In that they utter it passionately and with perturbation of spirit 2. In that they seem somewhat to obscure Gods blessing as though it were but their due as daughters In dealing with those that have done us wrong it is hard not to offend either in the matter or manner of our expressions Now then whatsoever God hath said c. Thus they prefer an husband to a father So did Michal though there was no great store of religion in her And so Nature had taught that daughter of women to do Dan. 11.17 Antiochus the Great gave Cleopatra his daughter to Ptolomee Epiphanes thinking to use her as an instrument to destroy him But she contrary to his expectation clave to her husband Vers 19. Rachel had stollen the images She was somewhat tackt with her fathers superstition though somewhat reclaimed Little children keep your selves from idols 1 Joh. 5. Nothing so natural to us as Image-worship Nothing so retained by us when once entertained After all that airing in the wilderness Micah's mother smels of Egypt and hath her molten graven gods Judg. 17.3 Rachel also had her Mawmets long time after this Gen. 35.2 4. The devil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Synesius and so he would have us Fence we therefore our selves and ours against this abomination the itch of it once got is hardly ever cured and clawed off Vers 20. And Jacob stole away Gods Saints are put upon the use of such means sometimes for their own safety as render them contemptible to worldly men All whose contumelies they can bravely bear so long as their consciences clear and chear them yea then can rejoyce and say It is a mercy they know no worse by me It is a great work of nature to keep the filth of the body when it is in man from being unsavoury to others But it is a greater work of God to keep the filth of the soul that is so unsavoury to him from the knowledge of those that wait all occasions to blaze and blaspheme us Vers 21. He passed over the river Euphrates and so declined the ordinary way that Laban might not overtake him which yet he did So God would have it that he might have the greater glory of Jacobs deliverance Vers 23. And he took his brethren The wicked may band themselves and bend their strength against the Saints but they are bounded by God He lets them have the ball on their foot many times till they come to the very goal and yet then makes them miss the game He lets out their tedder and then pulls them back again to their task Vers 24. Take heed thou speak not good or bad That is that thou seek not either by flattery or force by allurement or affrightment to bring him back They write of the Asp that he never wanders alone without his companion with him So the flattering promises of the Churches adversaries go ever accompanied with cruel menaces their tising tongues with their terrifying saws Heb. 11.37 None of them shall want their mate as the Scripture speaks of those birds of prey and desolation Isai 34.16 Vers 25. Iacob had pitched his tent Seeing Laban so neer he set himself in as good order as he could fearing the worst saith Musculus But God was better to him then his fears He spake for him and so he can and doth oft for us in the hearts of our enemies See Isai 41.9 Charles the fifth then whom all Christendom had not a more prudent â—rince Act. Mon. fol. 1784. nor the Church of Christ almost a sorer enemy when he had in his hand Luther dead and Melancthon Pomeran and certain other Preachers of the Gospel alive he
such men must die nor can their riches reprieve them Oh happie is he that with Jacob lays hold on the heavenly inheritance though with the loss of earthly possessions that cares not to part with his cattel so he may have his Crown with his swine so he may have his Saviour This is the wise merchant this is the true trades-man that traffiques for heaven looking upon the world as a great dung-hill with Paul Phil. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogs dung Vers 16. Every drove by themselves That Esau having occasion of viewing the present questioning the servants and hearing Jacob's submission might be somewhat mollified and his anger abated Be wise as serpents Vt fragilis glacies occidit ira morâ Vers 18. They be thy servant Jacobs A soft answer turneth away wrath Frangitur ira gravis quand◠est responsio suavis Prov. 15.1 but grievous words stir up anger And it is easier to stir strife then stint it Still rain softens the hard earth and though nothing be more violent then the windes Iidem tamen imbribus sopiuntur saith Pliny Lenis alit flammas grandior aura necat How daintily did Gedeon disarm the angry Ephraimites Judg. 8. 1 2 3. by a milde answer It is a present sent c. For a gift in secret pacifieth anger Prov. 21.14 This proverb in an abbreviature Godw. Heb. Antiq. ex Buxtorf after their manner the Jews wrote upon their Alms-box And behold also he is behinde us He sends not onely but comes after us himself to salute thee and offer his service unto thee Thus by all means he seeks to asswage the wrath of that rough man Vers 21. And himself lodged that night But lay upon thorns and had little rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The master is the greatest servant in the house and hath most business Jo. Manlii loc com This verse did so please Luther that he translated it in certain Dutch rhymes Vers 24. And Jacob was left alone Purposely for secret prayer so the Church gets her into the clefts of the rocks Cant. 2.14 Isaac into the fields Daniel to the rivers side Christ into the mount Peter up to the leads or house top that they might pour out their prayers and solace themselves with God in secret This an hypocrite may seem to do either of custom or vain-glory as the Pharisee went up to the Temple to pray solitarily as well as the Publican the Temple being then in regard of Ceremonial holiness the place as well of private as publike prayer But will the hypocrite delight in God Job 27.10 will he pray always There wrestled a man with him In a proper combat by might and slight to the raising of dust and causing of sweat as the word importeth This strife was not onely corporal but spiritual as well by the force of his faith Hos 12.4 Luke 22.44 Rom. 15.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as strength of body He prevailed saith the Prophet by prayers and tears Our Saviour also pray'd himself into an agony and we are bidden to strive in prayer even to an agony Nehemiah prayed himself pale Nehem. 2 6. Dan. 8.27 1 Sam. 1. 1 Kings 18.42 Daniel prayed himself sick Hannah prayed striving with such an unusual motion of her lips that old Eli looking upon her thought her drunk Elijah puts his head betwixt his legs as straining every string of his heart in prayer He prayed and prayed saith S. James and by his prayer James 5 17. he had what he would of God Whereupon also he infers as a Consectary that the effectual prayer of a righteous man James 5.16 avails much if it be fervent or working 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it be such as sets all the faculties awork and all the graces a work then it speeds Every sound is not Musick so neither is every uttering petitions to God a prayer It is not the labour of the lips but the travel of the heart Common beggery is the easiest and poorest trade but this beggery as it is the richest so the hardest A man can with more ease hear two hours together then pray half an hour Jude v. 20. if he pray in the holy Ghost as Saint Jude hath it He must strive with his own indevotion with Satans temptations with the worlds distraction he must wrestle with God and wring the blessing out of his hands as the woman of Canaan did Isai 64.7 2 Kings 4.30 Cant. 3.4 he must stir up himself to take hold of God as the Shunamite did of Elisha as the Church did of her Spouse and not let him go till he bless us This is to wrestle this is to threaten heaven as Gorgonia did thus to be modestly impudent and invincible as her brother speaks of her in beseeching God to besiege him and get the better of him as Jacob whose wrestling was by weeping and his prevailing by praying Vers 25. And when he saw that he prevailed not He that is the Angel Christ that redeemed Jacob from all evil Gen. 48.16 and here held him up with the one hand as he strove against him with the other and yeelded himself overcome by the Patriarch's prayers and tears Deus ipse qui nullis contrase viribus superari potest precibus vincitur saith Hierome He touched the hollow of his thigh That if he would needs have the blessing he might have somewhat with it that might keep him humble Victoria non fit fine vulnere luxat nobis semur immittit stimulum carni c. not ascribing the victory to his own strength Pride is a weed that will grow out of any ground like Missleto that will grow upon any tree but for most part from the best Like air in all bodies it will have a being in every soul and creeps into every action either in the beginning proceeding or conclusion Now therefore it is Gods care to cure his people of this dangerous disease as he did Jacob here and afterwards Paul who if he had not been buffeted had been exalted 2 Cor. 1◠and carried higher in conceit then ever he was in his ecstasie Vers 26. Let me go c Pugna suum finem cùm rogat bostis habet Jacob though lamed and hard laid at will not let Christ go without a blessing To teach us as our Saviour did by the parable of the importunate widow Luke 18.1 to persevere in prayer and to devour all discouragements Jcob holds with his hands when his joynts were out of joynt The woman of Canaan will not be put off either with silence or sad answers The importunate widow teacheth us to press God so far till we put him to the blush yea leave a blot in his face 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18.5 as the word there used signifies unless we be masters of our requests Latimer so plied the throne of grace with his Once again Act. Mon. once again restore
the Gospel to England that he would have no nay at Gods hands He many times continued kneeling and knocking so long together Ibid. that he was not able to rise without help His knees were grown hard like camels knees as Eusebius reports of James the Lords brother 2 Cor. 12. Paul prayed thrice that is often till he had his desire Nay Paulus Aemylius the Roman General being to fight against Perses King of Macedony when as he had sacrificed to his god Hercules and it proved not to his minde Sabellicus he slew twenty several sacrifices one after another and would not give over till in the one and twentieth he had descried certain arguments of Victory Surely his superstition shames our indevotion his importunity our faint-heartedness and shortness of spirit Surely as painfulness of speaking shews a sick body so doth irksomness of praying a sick soul Vers 27. What is thy name As if the Angel should say Thou art such a fellow as I never met withal Titles of honour are not worthy of thee Kneel thou down Jacob rise up Israel Thou art a conqueror Bucholc if ever any were Factus teipso fortior Creatore tuo superior O quà m hic honos noâ— est omnium Vers 28. No more Jacob but Israel That is Not onely or not so much Jacob as Israel Both these names he had given him of striving and strugling All Gods Israel are wrestlers by calling Eph. 6 Nuâ—quam bella boâ—â—s â—unquam discrimina desunt 12. and as good souldiers of Jesus Christ must suffer hardship Nothing is to be seen in the Shulamite but as the appearance of two armies maintaining civil broils within her The spirit would always get the better of the flesh were it upon equal terms but when the flesh shall get the hill as it were of temptation and shall have the winde to drive the smoke upon the eyes of the combatant and so to blinde him upon such a disadvantage he is overcome For it is not flesh and blood onely that we wrestle against whether we take the Apostles meaning for the weakness of our nature or the corruption of it but against principalities against powers c. against many mighty malicious adversaâ—ies spiritual wickednesses in high places that are above us and hang over our necks Wherefore we have more then need to take unto us the whole armour of God and to strengthen our selves with every piece of it whether those of defence as the girdle of truth Eph. 6.14 the brest-plate of righteousness the shooes of peace and patience the shield of faith the helmet of hope or those of offence as the sword of the spirit and the darts of prayer At no place must we lie open for our enemy is a serpent If he can but bite the heel he will transfuse his venom to the heart and head Gods Spirit in us sets up a standard Isai 59.19 The Apostle sounds the alarm Arm arm Eph. 6. The holy Scripture is our Armory Cant. 4.4 like Solomons tower where hang a thousand shields and all the weapons of strong men God himself is the' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that both ordaineth and ordereth our temptations with his own hand as he dealt with Jacob. And the Lord Christ stands over us Acts 7. as he did once over Steven with a crown upon his head and another in his hand with this inscription Vincenti dabo To him that overcometh Revel 2. will I give c. Fight but with his arms and with his armour and we are sure to overcome before we fight for he hath made all our foes our footstool and hath caused us to triumph 2 Cor. 2.14 Let therefore the assaults of our already-vanquished enemies not weaken but waken us let their faint oppositions and spruntings before death encourage us or rather enrage us to do them to death we are sure to be more then conquerours D. Ussier de Britan. Ecclâ—sâ— primord p. 332. and to have Victoriam Halleluiaticam as the Britains fighting for their Religion had once against the Saxons and Picts in this kingdom Vers 29. And he blessed him there That was a better thing to Jacob then to answer his curious request of knowing the Angels name So when the disciples asked our Saviour Acts 1.6 Wilt then at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel It is not for you to know the times saith he but ye shall receive the holy Ghost that 's better for you c. vers 8. God sometimes doth not onely grant a mans prayer but fulfil his counsel Psal 20.4 This if he do not because we sometimes ask we know not what yet some better thing we shall be sure of Zech. 10.6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and they shall be as if I had not cast them off and I will hear them Vers 30. I have seen God face to face Christ would not tell Jacob his name to lift up his minde above what he saw of him and to insinuate that his name was Wonderful his essence incomprehensible Judg. 13.17 18 And whereas Iacob said here he had seen God face to face he means onely praesens praesentem as Moses spake with God mouth to mouth Num. 12.8 He saw not Gods Majesty and Essence Isai 8.17 1 Tim. 6.16 for he is a God that hides himself and dwells in the light unapproachable But he saw him more apparently and manifestly then ever he had done before We can see but his back parts and live we need see no more that we may live God that fills all saith Nazianzen though he lighten the minde yet flies before the beams thereof still leaving it as it is able in sight to follow him draws it by degrees to higher things but ever interposeth between it and his incomparable Essence as many vails as were over the tabernacle Some created shape some glimpse of glory Jacob saw whereby God was pleased for present to testifie his more immediate presence but not himself Vers 31. He halted upon his thigh Yet had the blessing So Gods people are promised an hundred fold here with persecution that 's tied as a tag to the profession of Christianity No heaven can be had without tribulation Christ our Captain had a bloody victory of it Gal. 6. 1 Cor. 12. Joh. Manl. loc com 127. Paul bare in his body the marks or scars of the Lord Jesus and glories in these infirmities as he calls them These are Gods gems and precious ornaments said Munster to his friends pointing them to his sores and ulcers wherewith God decketh his children that he may draw them to himself This he said a little before his death At death saith Piscator God wrestles with his people laying hold on their consciences by the menaces of the Law They again resist this assault by laying hold upon God by the faith of the Gospel well assured that Christ hath freed them from the curse
larks while they gaze in a glass are taken in a day-net See the Notes on Chap. 6.2 and 26.7 Vers 3. And his soul clave unto Dinah He kickt her not out of doors as Amnâ—n did Tamar far sweeter to him in the ambition then in the fruition but to make amends as they call it by Marriage he seeks to go by the old Rule in that case Et dotet ducat Howbeit Marriage Gods ordinance is not to be entred into thorow the devils portal Vers 4. Get me this damosel to wife This is praise-worthy in Shechem as bad as he was that he correcteth his base-born love or lust rather by seeking to make her his wife not without consent of parents on both sides which in the Church of Rome is oft-times not regarded Children are a principal part of their parents possessions as Job's children were accounted by Satan yea a piece of themselves Matth. 15.22 Have mercy upon me that is upon my daughter Fit it is therefore that they should by the parents be disposed of in Marriage Vers 5. And Jacob heard To his very great grief and regret For she was his onely daughter a damosel of not above fifteen yeers of age The Hebrews say she was afterwards given to Job in marriage But that 's not likely for she is reckoned among those that went down to Egypt Gen. 46. And Jacob held his peace He felt Gods hand upon his back he therefore lays his own hand upon his mouth And herein he did better in ruling his own spirit then his sons did Prov. 16.32 Lam. 3.28 Levit. 10.3 Psal 39.10 that took the City vers 27. He sitteth alone and is silent saith the Prophet of the afflicted person So was Aaron so was David so was the Lord Christ as a sheep dumb before the shearer The Romanes placed the image of their goddess Angeronia upon the altar of Volupia with her mouth shut and sealed up Macrob. lib. 1. in Som. Scip. to signifie saith Macrobius that they that bridle their grief and say nothing shall by their patience soon attain to greatest pleasure Acts 19.35 16. Patience in the soul as the Town-clerk at Ephesus sends away mutinous thoughts as he did the many-headed multitude it quiets the boiling spirit as Christ becalmed the raging sea with Peace and be still it makes a David dumb a dumb shew but a very good one it says Cedamus leve fit quod benè fertur onus Vers 6. And Hamor the father of Shechem Unruly youth put their aged parents many times to much travel and trouble as Samson Shechem Paris c. Green wood is ever shrinking and warping whereas the well-seasoned holds a constant firmness Vers 7. The men were grieved Heb. exarserit cis nasus and very wroth A pair of unruly passions when combined especially they ride one upon the back of another as kine do in a strait passage and will make an Alexander kill his best friends such as he would afterwards have revived with the best and warmest blood in his own heart qui non moderabitur irae Infectum velit esse dolor quod suaserit mens Horat. Because he had wrought folly in Israel That is in the Church where fornication should not be once named much less committed Eph. 5.3 Sin is odious any-where most of all among Saints A thistle is unseemly in a garden filthiness in a vestal baseness in a Prince And yet by the malice of Satan there are many times more scandals in the Church then elsewhere such incest at Corinth as not among Heathens such folly in Jacob's family as not at Shechem or Seir. Sodom thy sister hath not done she nor her daughters as thou hast done thou and thy daughters Ezek. 16.48 This is lamentable Vers 8. And Hamor communed with them A fond father seeks to satisfie the lust of a loose son whom he should severely have punished Such parents are peremptores potius quà m parentes faith Bernard like apes that kill their young with culling them They shew their love as little as if by clapping their hands on their childrens mouthes to keep the cold winde from them they should strangle them to death A fair hand here maketh a foul wound when correction would be a kinde of cure Severitas tamen non sit tetra sed tetrica saith Sidonius For Sidonius lib. 4. Ep. 9. as a cur by tying waxeth fiercer and as new wine breaketh weak vessels so too much severity overthroweth and quite spilleth a tender minde Vers 9. And make ye marriages with us The world thinks we may do as they and what need we be so scrupulous and strait-laced But Saints must walk accurately by line and by rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as unwise but as wise having their feet where other mens heads are for the way of the wise is on high saith Solomon he goes a higher way to work then others he may not buckle and stoop to their base courses Singular things are conferred upon him singular things are expected from him An Israelite dare not yoke himself with any Sichemish heifer that bears not the yoke of Jesus Christ Those that stood with the Lamb had not defiled themselves with women c. Rev. 14.14 Nec aliunde noscibiles saith Tertullian of those Primitive Christians quà m de emendatione vitierum pristinorum Tertull. ad Scapulam They were distinguished from all others by their holy behaviour Vers 10. And ye shall dwell with us c. Thus the world tempts the Saints by offer of profits pleasures and preferments Sed surdo cantilenam For they answer the world as here We cannot do this thing vers 14. or as the children of Israel bespake the king of Edom Let us pass I pray thee thorow thy country We will not pass thorow the fields of profit or vineyards of pleasure c. we will go by the kings high-way chalked unto us in the holy Scriptures we will not turn to the right hand or to the left for any allurement or affrightment of thine until we have passed thy borders Num. 20.17 Vers 11 12 Ask me never so much dowry Heb. Multiply ye upon me vehemently Gen. 38.18 Unbridled affection spares for no cost so it may be satisfied Judah parted with his signet bracelets and staff to the harlot Herod that old fornicator bids the dancing damosel ask what she will Demosth to the half of his kingdom One there was that would not buy repentance so dear as the harlot demanded But those miscreants in Micah will give any thing for a dispensation to live in sin they offer thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil Micah 6.7 yea the sons of their body for the sins of their souls Vers 13. deceitfully and said Because he had c. Therefore they thought they had reason to do as they did Satan doth so bemist men many times that they think they
love of praise or fear of punishment but not without grief for inwardly he is scalded with boyling lust Whereas the chaste man like S. Pauls virgin 1 Cor. 7.34 is holy both in body and in spirit and this with delight out of fear of God and love of vertue Now if upon such a ground we can refuse proferred pleasures and preferments resolving rather to lye in the dust with Ioseph then to rise by wicked principles the triall is as sound as if we had indured the tortures of the rack Heb. 11. As she spake to Ioseph day by day Satan will not be said with a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor sit down by a light repulse A man must give him a peremptory denial again and again as our Saviour did and yet the tempter departed not but for a season He is called Beelzebub that is the Master-flye because he is impudent as a flye and soon returns to the bait from which he was beaten He will be egging us again and again to the same sin and try every way to overturn us Many times he tempts by extreams Mr. Perkins as he did Mr. Iohn Knox on his death bed first to despair by setting before him his sins and when foyled there afterwards to presumption and challenging of heaven as his due for his many good works and zeal in the Scottish Reformation So he dealt here by Ioseph he first set upon him on the left hand when he sold him for a slave And when this prevailed not he sets here a Dalilah to tickle him on the right side and to tye him with the green withes of youthful pleasures Sed pari successu but he lost his labour Ioseph was semper idem famous for all the four cardinal vertues if ever any were See here in this one temptation his fortitude justice temperance prudence in that he shuns the occasion for he would not only not lye with her but not be with her saith the Text And that a man is indeed that he is in a temptation which is but a tap to give vent to corruption Exod. 23.7 Prov. 5.8 1 Cor. 6.18 To lye by her or to be with her Keep thee far from an evil matter saith Moses Come not nigh the door of the harlots house saith Solomon Flee fornication saith Paul And flye youthful lusts Not abstain from them only 2 Tim. 2.22 but flye them as ye would do a flying Serpent These are Gods commandements and they are to be kept as the sight of the eye Prov. 7.2 The Nazarite might not only not drink wine but not taste a rasin or the husk of a grape The Leper was to shave his hair Numb 7. and pare his nailes 1 Thess 5. The good Christian is taught to abstain from all appearance of evil and to hate the very garment that is spotted by the flesh The Devil counts a fit occasion half a Conquest for he knows that corrupt Nature hath a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seed-plot of all sin which being drawn forth and watered by the breath of ill company or some other occasion is soon set awork to the producing of death Satan cozens us when he perswades us it s no conquest except we beat away the temptation yet keep the occasion by us God will not remove the temptation till we remove the occasion And in such case to pray Lead us not c. but deliver us from evil is to thrust our finger into the fire and then pray it may not be burnt A bird whiles aloft is safe but she comes not near the snare without danger Solomon thought himself wise enough to convert his wives not be corrupted by them 1 King 11.4 But it came to passe when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods c. He that can shun or remove the occasion of his own proper motion as Ioseph did hee 's the Man this is grace here 's a victory Vers 10. To do his businesse To look up his bills of account saith the Chaldee Idleness is the Devils opportunity the hour of temptation But let a man be never so busie about his lawfull employments he is to expect assaults As he is not idle so neither is Satan but walks about and spreads his snares for us in all places and businesses speaking a good word also in temptations that come from the flesh which are therefore called his messengers 2 Cor. 12.7 and by giving place to them we give place to the Devil Ephes 4.26 And there was none of the men of the house within Josephus saith that they were all gone forth to a feast and she only left at home as faining her self sick Sick she was as likewise Amnon with the lust of concupiscence which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disease 1 Thess 4.5 such as those which the Physitians say are corruptio totius substantiae the body and soul Quod sanitas in corpore sanctitas in corde Bern. are both tainted and rotted by it Other diseases consume only the matter of the body but this the holiness and honour of the body Other sicknesses sanctifie us but this profanes us and lets the divell into our hearts Behemoth lyeth in the fennes Iob 40.21 That is the divill in sensuall hearts Gul. Paris Ezek. 47.11 as Gul. Paris applyeth it And when the waters of the Sanctuary slowed the miry places could not be healed Vers 12. And she caught him by the garment By wanton touches and dalliance mentall adultery is oft committed He that toucheth his neighbours wife Prov. 6.29 shall not be innocent saith Solomon This is the offensive right hand that must be cut off Mat. 5.30 The harlot caught the silly simple and kissed him and with an impudent face said unto him Prov. 7.13 till a dart struck through his liver vers 23. cogit amare jecur And he left his garment in her hand This second time is Joseph stript of his garment before in the violence of envy now of lust before of necessity now of choyce before to deceive his father now his master Infamy and other misery he was sure to suffer but that must not drive from duty 2 Cor. 6.8 The Church comes from the wilderness Cant. 8.5 expounded that is through troubles and afflictions leaning on her beloved chusing rather to suffer then to sin The good heart goes in a right line to God and will not fetch a compass but strikes through all troubles and hazards to get to him It will not break the hedg of any commandement to avoid any piece of foul way The primitive Christians chose rather to be thrown to lyons without then left to lusts within Ad leonem magis quam lenonem saith Tertullian I had rather go to hell pure from sin saith Anselme then to Heaven polluted with that filth Mallem purus a peccato innocens gehennam intrare c. Potius in ardentem
excused for conforming him self to the Egyptians The place had somewhat tainted him and he might well take up that of the Prophet Isaiah Wee is me for I am a man of unclean lips and why for I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips Isai 6.5 Courts and great places are ill ayre for zeal to breathe in 't is hard for such not to remit somewhat of their former fervor and contract filth of sin which is as catching as the plague As sheep among thornes lose part of their fleece so do the Saints part of their goodness among the wicked Vers 16. By the life of Pharaoh surely c. See how easily sin entreth twice where it had once entred Be not overcome of evill Rom. 12.21 Some sweare and finde it not they would be sorry their excrements should pass from them and they feel it not Oh cross this ill custome and though ye cannot so soon turn the streame yet swim against it It is the devill that saith unto thee as those Iewes did to Pilate do as thou hast ever done Mark 15.8 God also will answer such when they plead for their swearing that they have got a custome and cannot leave it as the judg did that theefe that desired him to spare him for stealing had been his custome from his youth the judg replyed it was also his custome Barker on the command Iam. 5.12 to give judgment against such malefactours therefore he muâ—t be condemned Sweare neither by heaven nor by earth lest ye fall into condemnation saith Saint Iames to the converted Iewes This they had learned of the Pharisees to whom it was familiar to swear by creatures Hoc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a judaismo conversis tenaciter adbaerebat Pareus in lac 5.12 Mat. 5. 23. And though now converted they could not leave it but they must or be damned for it chuse them which as the Apostle there assures them And whereas such kind of oaths are now grown a piece of gallantry and such as cannot sweare them are thought to want their tropes and figures befitting a gentleman God will deal with such as that judg did with one that pleaded for his life that he might not be hang'd because he was a gentleman he told him that therefore You keep a good watch my Lord. Act. and Mon. he should have the gallows made higher for him So shall these have a deeper damnation because better bred and should have kept a better watch as that Martyr told the swearing Bishop Bonner Vers 17. En conclave aliquod ubi custoâ—iebantur Piscat Doctor Chetwind Deane of Bristow And he put them all together into ward three dayes Not into close prison but into some chamber or private roome where they might have opportunity of reflecting upon themselves and repenting I have heard of a grave Divine lately living that did much good upon many that came to him to â—ave almes by shutting them up in a room by themselves having first taken great pains with them by way of direction what to do to be saved joyning in prayer setting them in a course of better living and then providing for them fit services Vers 18. And Ioseph said unto them the third day So God after two dayes will revive his in the third day he will raise them up and they shall live in his sight Hos 6.2 Psal 125.3 The rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the righteous lest they put forth their hand to folly lest their spirits fail before him for others he cares not so much as for the choyce spirits of his faithfull people when we beat ordinary spices we care not for every dust but let some flye out and fall on the ground But if Bezoar-stone or some such precious stuff every little is lookt to So here For I fear God Deum illum saith Iunius that true God the proper object of fear and therefore you need not doubt of fair dealing See the Notes on Chap. 20.11 Learn here that confession of our faith is to be made as oft as thereby God may be glorified and our brethren edified Vers 19. Let one of your brethren be bound By binding Simeon he brought down Benjamin to himself So doth God by chastening our bodies save our souls Vers 20. But bring your youngest brother unto me So saith God to all his worshippers See that you bring your hearts with you whatever you leave behind you And as David sent to Abner Thou shalt not see my face 2 Sam. 3.13 except thou bring Michal Sauls daughter so here The poor widows heart being put to her mite gaue it weight above the greater but heartless largesses of the Pharisees Vers 21. We are very guilty c. See here the force of Conscience and fruit of affliction to bring old sins to a new reckoning Conscience though for a while still and seemingly asleep yet is faithful in recording and fearful in accusing It writes bitter things and will article against the sinner in the evil day Therefore as B. Latimer took special heed to the placing of his words in his examination before Bonner Act. Mon. when he heard the pen walking in the chimney behind the cloth and describing whatsoever he said So should we sith Conscience is not only Gods Spy but Notary And albeit it doth not alwayes execute the acts of accusing yet hath alwayes the habit of it And that we shall know when trouble overtakes us then shall we feel those darts of the Almighty dagging at the heart and those arrows of his drinking up the spirit Daniel chose rather to be cast into the den of Lions then to carry about a Lion in his bosome an inraged Conscience Vers 22. Spake not I unto you c. Fellows in sin oft fall out and then all comes to light Mahomet the great Turk had with great rewards procured two Turks to undertake to kill Scanderbeg These traytors came to Scanderbeg making such a shew of the detestation both of Mahomet his tyrannical government and vain superstition that they were both of Scanderbeg and others reputed to be indeed the men they desired to be accounted And so after they had learned the principles of the Christian Religion were by their own desire baptized But so it fell out by Gods good providence that these false traytors expecting nothing but opportunity to perform their devillish device upon some occasion fell at variance betwixt themselves and in their heat let some such words fall as being taken up by some there present drew them both into suspition And thereupon being straightly examined it was Turk hist fol. 400. at last by them confessed That they were sent for such a purpose for which they were both presently executed as they had well deserved Evill men are as glass that is soddered together as soon as the sodder is melted the glass falls in pieces and all is discovered Vers 24. And wept and returned
Mark 3.4 Intimating that not to save when we may is to destroy The Egyptians therefore put Joseph to it Money they had none but must have answered if now it had been required of them as those Inhabitants of Andros did Themistoâ—les Ingens telum Necessitas He being sent by the Athenians for tribute money told them that he came on that errand accompanied with two goddesses Eloquence to perswade and Violence to inforce them Whereunto the Andraeans made this answer that they had on their side also two goddesses as strong Piutarch necessity they had it not and impossibility whereby they could not part with that which they possest not Vers 17. And Ioseph gave them bread in exchange An ancient and yet usuall way of trafick with Savages and Barbarians especially as in Virginia c. Where they usually change as Glaucus did with Diomedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer II. lib. 6 Vers 18. We will not hide it from my Lord Confess we our pittifull indigence also to God and he will furnish us with food and feed Say with learned Pomeran Eltamsi non sum dignus nihi lominus tamen sum indigens Vers 19. Buy us and our land for bread It was their own desire therefore no injury Nay it was charity in Ioseph in remitting their services and taking only their ands yea liberallity in reserving the fifth part only to the King when husbandmen usually till for halfe the encrease And this the Egyptians thankfully acknowledg Vers 25. Vers 20. So the land became Pharaoh's Regi acquisivit imperium despoticum This the Egyptians would never have yielded unto but that stark hunger drove the wolfe out of the wood as the proverb is Philo Iudaeus reports of an heathenish people who in their warrs used only this expression to put spirit into their souldiers Dan. hist of Engl. Estote viri libertas agitur The contention was hot in this land between Prince and people for fourscore years together about liberty and property and ceased not till the great Charter made to keep the beame right bet wixt soveraignty and subjection was in the maturity of a judiciall Prince Edward the first freely ratified Vers 21. And as for the people he removed them So to alter the property of their land and to settle it upon Pharaoh who with his own money had bought it See his prudence and policy for his Lord and Master So Daniel though sick did the Kings business with all his might These were as the Philosopher saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 few such now a dayes Great need we have all to fly to Christ who dwels with prudence Prov. 8.12 as Agur did when he found his own foolishness It was he that made Aholiab wise-hearted Vers 22. Only the land of the Priests bought he not Ministers maintenance we see is of the law of nature Jezabel provided for her Priests 1 Cor. 9.13 Micah for his Levite Doe ye not know saith that great Apostle that they which Minister about holy things live of the things of the Temple â— and they which waite at the altar are partakers with the altar Where by holy things Saint Ambrose understands the law of the Gentiles by the Altar the law of the Iewes Before them both Melchizedec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tithed Abraham by the same right whereby he blessed him Heb. 7.6 As after them the Apostle rightly inferrs Even so hath the Lord ordained 1 Cor. 9.14 that they which preach the Gospell should live of the Gospell But where hath the Lord ordained it Mat. 10.10 The labourer is worthy of his meate saith Mathew of his hire saith Luke of both no doubt as the labourers in harvest who have better fare provided then ordinary and larger wages See Nehemiah's zeal for Church-maintenance Chap. 13.10 14. He knew well that a scant offering makes a cold Altar and that ad tenuitatem beneficiorum necessariò sequitur ignorantia sacerdotum Panormitan Heyl. Geog. pag. 504. as in Ireland where in former time some of the Bishops had no more revenue then the pasture of two milch-kine c. In the whole Province of Connaught the stipend of the incumbent is not above forty shillings in some places but sixteen shillings Melancthon complains of his Germany that the Ministers for most part were ready to say with him in Plautus Ego non servio Manl. loc coâ— 472. libenter herus meus me non habet libenter tamen utitur me ut lippis oculis Such use Micah made of his Levite more fit to have made a Gibeonite to cleave wood then to divide the word and yet he maintained him and doubted not thereupon to promise himself Gods blessing He is a niggard to himself that scants his beneficence to a Prophet whose very cold water shall not go unrewarded Many rich Mat. 10. refuse to give any thing to the Ministers maintenance because they cannot be tithed Perstringit tenaces Parâ—us But be not deceived God is not mocked saith the Apostle in this very case Gal 6.6 7. Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all his goods Such tribes as had more cityes in their inheritance were to part with more to the Priests such as had less with fewer Num. 35.8 The equity of which proportion is still in force The Iewes at this day though not in their own country nor have a Leviticall Priesthood yet those who will be reputed religious among them do distribute in lieu of tithes the tenth of their encrease unto the poor being perswaded that God doth bless their encrease the more Godw. Heb. Antiq. 277. according to that proverb of theirs tithe and be rich But how is both the word and the world now altered amongst us All 's thought by the most to be well saved that is kept from the Minister whom to deceive is held neither sin nor pitty Fisco potius apud multos consulitur quam Christo ac tonsioni potius gregis Episc Winton quam attentioni as one complaineth Covetous Patrons Virgill care not to sauce their meate with the blood of souls whiles by them Et succus pecori lac et subducitur agnis Besides they bestow their Benefices non ubi optimè sed ubi quaestuosissime being herein worse then these Egyptians shall I say nay then the traytour Iudas He sold the head they the members he the shepherd they the sheep he but the body they the souls like that Romish strumpet Rev. 18.13 of whom they have learnt it But let them look to it lest they rue their wages of wickedness with Iudas In the mean while let them give us a just commentary upon that Prov. 20.25 and tell us M. Harris who hath authority to take that from a Church shall I say nay from God that hath been once given him We can tell them a sad story of five servants of Cardinal Wolsey's employed by him in
The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power That is saith the Chaâ—â—ee Paraphralt Excellens principatu sacerdotio Both these he forfeited and fell from so cannot Chrâ—stians Rev. 1.6 Vers 4. Vastable as waters Easily drawn to sin and suddenly down from his dignity Reuben for a short sinful pleasure lost great priviledges and blessings So do all Epicures that lose heaven for a base lust their sonls for their sin As Ambrose reports of one Theotinus that having a diseased body and told by the Physitian that unless he lived temperately he would lose his eyes Vale lumen amicum said he if my eyes will not away with my lusts they are no eyes for me So here Men will have their swing in sin whatever come of it They may so and for a time hear no more of it as Reuben did not for almost fourty years after his incest was committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But quod defertur non statim ausertur The Heathen Historian could see and say That sooner or later great sins will have great punishments from Cod. Deus horrenda peccata horrendis poenis immutabiliter vindicat saith Paveus on this Text. He went up to my couch The fact was so odious to Iacob that abhorring the very thought of it he turneth his speech from Reuben to the rest Rom. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 5.3 Hate as hell that which is evil saith Paul And as for fornication and all uncleannesse let it not be once named amongst you Spit it out of your mouthes as the Devils drivel Vers 5. Simeon and Levi are brethren Nobile par fratrum Horat. Metaphora et la. tens Antanaclasis Piscat not more in nature then in iniquity Here Moses blancheth not over the blemishes of his progenitours but wrote as he was inspired by the inpartiall Spirit of truth If it could be said of Suetonius that in writing the lives of the twelve Caesaâ—s Eal bertate soriâ—sit Imperatorum vitas qua iâ—â—i vixâ—runt he took the same liberty to set down their faults that they took to commit them how much more truly may this be said of the holy pâ—nmen they spared not themselves much less their friends See my true treasure pag. 21. Mekerah alii relaumper Graecam â—â—con Machaerae â—â—ram Nonincommâ—â—e Pareus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dâ—o The world enâ—â—mp by Sr. Fr. Drake pag. 53. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations Or are their swords Barbarous and brutish persons they were skilfull to destroy Ezek. 21.31 Such a one was Drusus the son of Tiberius the Emperonr so set upon bloodshed that the sharpest swords were from him called in Rome ' Drusians The Spainards are said to try the goodness of their swords upon the bodies of the poor Indians and they suppose saith Sir Francis Drake that they shew the wretches great favour when they do not for their pleasure whip them with cords and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning bacon which is oâ—e of their least cruelties Vers 7. O my soul come not thou c. Iacob here meaneth that neither should any neither would he approve of their perfidie saith an Interpreter And yet Thâ—a us writes Thuah that the Pope caused the Massacre of Paris to be painted in his Pallace Another of them highly extolled in his Consistory the noble act of Clement the Monk that killed the King of France Iâ—cob Revins de viâ—is Pont. f. pag. 291. comparing it with the work of creation incarnation c. â—rier Garnet our chiefe powder plotter had his picture set among the rest of their Saints in the Iesuâ—â—es Church at Rome And Cornel. a Lapide upon Apocalyps 7.3 crowns this traytour with fresh Encomiasticks In their anger they slew a man Yea â—â—r r. Apol. contra lesuit many innocents and then cryed out O remregiam as Valesius did when he had slain three-hundred O pulchrum speaculum as Hannibal when he saw a pit full of mans blood Quam bonus est odor hostis mortui as Charles the ninth in the Massacre of Paris where they poisoned the Queen of Navarr pistold the Prince of Condee murdered the most part of the peereess Peeres of France their wives and children Answ to Cathol Supplic by Gab. Powell with a great sort of the common people in divers parts of the Realm 30000 in one moneth 300000 in the space of a year Mahomet the first Emperour of Turks was thought in his time to have been the death of 800000 men Selymus the second in revenge of the loss he had received at the battell of Lepanto would have put to death all the Christians in his dominion in number infinite Mithridates King of Pontus Ibid. 885. Val. Max. lib. 9. with one letter slew fourscore thousand Citizens of Rome in Asia that were scattered up and down the country for traffique-sake It was the cruel manner of Vladus Prince of Valachia Turle hist fol. 363. together with the offendours to execute the whole familie yea sometimes the whole kindred Did not these two brethren in sin do so and worse Vers 7. Cursed be their anger Of the mischiefe of rash anger and means to repress it See the notes on Chap. 34. vers 7. See my Common-place of anger I will divide them in Iacob A punishment suitable to their sin they conspired to do mischief and are therefore divided in Iacob Of Simeon Judas Iscariot is said to have come who tumbled as a stone till he came to his place Levi had his habitation among the other tribes and this curse was afterwards turned to a blessing when they were consecrated as Priests to preserve and present knowledg to their brethren Deut. 33.9 10. to teach Iacob Gods judgments and Israel his laws Vers 8. Judah thou art he whom thy brethren All this is chiefly verified in Christ and of him to be understood In him is beauty bounty goodness greatness and whatsoever else is praise-worthy Rev. 6.2 He goeth forth riding on his white horse conquering and to conquer Saint Paul his chief Herald proclaimes his victory with a world of solemnity and triumph 1 Cor. 15.56 and calls upon all his brethren to bow down before him Philip. 2.10 as they do Rev. 12.10 casting down their crowns at his feet Rev. 4. Apud Rom. siqui servati essent solebant Servato rem suum coronare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polyb. lib. 6 In inâ—â—diis In subsidiis ult and setting the crown upon his head as the manner was among the Romans that the saved should crown their Saviours and honour them as their fathers all their lives long being wholly at their service It was not without mystery that David did reverence to his son Solomon when he was newly crowned what would he have done think we to his Lord as he calls Christ Psal 110.1 had he been there in his Royalty Vers 9. Judah is a Lions whelp Many Lion-like
wash't in Christ's blood should bedabble his robe in the stinking puddle of the world And the Bat Cast awaie either thy wings or thy teeth saith one to a neuter and loathing this Bat-like nature D. Hall epist to W. L. bee what thou art either a bird or a beast Ver. 20. All fowls that creep So all mongrels in religion that like the planet Mercurie can bee good in conjunction with good and bad with bad that have religionem Ephemeram Hilar. fidem menstruam Ver. 22. The Locust c. All creeping fowls that go upon all four might not bee eaten except Arbe Soleam Chargol and Chargab names to us unknown Ver. 24. Whosoever toucheth the carcass This and the like signified that all even the least sins are to bee purged through Christ and carefully cast away Ver. 28. Shall wash his clothes As having committed a greater sin then hee that to ucheth a carcass onely All sin defileth not alike Ver. 29. And the Tortois Which hath it's name in Hebrew of a Coach or Wagon The thick shell wherewith it is covered is said to bee so hard that a loaden Waggon may go over it and not break it And such is a hard heart that cannot repent or relent never so little Ver. 30. The Chamaeleon A verie fearfull creature and therefore easily turning himself into sundrie colours Carnal fear put 's men upon unwarrancable shifts See Zeph. 3.13 Ver. 31. Touch them when they bee dead There is no kinde of living creature that is defiled whiles it is alive or that defileth whiles it is alive save man onely saith Maimonie Ver. 36. Nevertheless a fountain Becaus it would cleans it self and work out the uncleanness So will Faith Ver. 37. It shall bee clean Becaus of necessitie Ver. 39. Of which yee may Confer Psalm 49.12 pecoribus morticinis Tremel Ver. 40. Shall wash his clothes To teach them to hate even the garment spotted by the flesh Jude 23. all provocations and instruments of sin Ver. 44. Yee shall bee holie for I am holie Great men look to bee served like themselvs so the great God Ver. 45. That bringeth you up This is often inculcated God's blessings are binders and everie new deliverance cal's for new obedience Ver. 47. To make a difference Ministers also in their discourses should put a difference and take out the pretious from the vile Jer. 15.19 as did Zuinglius who when hee inveighed most vehemently against sin would usually com in with this claus Probe vir haec nihil ad te This is not intended to thee thou godlie man CHAP. XII Ver. 2. If a woman have conceived seed OR yielded seed Amam Antibarbar 575. as Gen. 1.11 Vrgendum hoc adversùs Anabaptistas qui ut suos de humanae Christi naturae origine errores stabiliunt foeminas semen habere praefractè negant Then shee shall bee unclean This signified that corruption of man's nature wherein hee is conceived Augustin Psal 51.5 being condemned assoon as conceived Damnatus antequam natus and the remedie wee have in Christ Ver. 3. And in the eighth daie See the Note on Gen. 17.13 14. Ver. 4. Shee shall touch no hallowed thing Preparation must go before participation of holie ordinances Hag. 2.13 Ver. 5. But if shee bear a maid-childe To intimate it may bee the womans beeing first in the transgression 1 Tim. 2.14 Vers 6. And when the daies of her purifying The Virgin Marie also observed this Law Luke 2.21 not in conscience of anie particular sin which in the conception of our Saviour shee was free from nor in shew to satisfie the law much less upon hypocrisie but in conscience of her natural corruption which by this oblation according to the Law shee did confess holily and religiously before God and his Congregation as one well observeth Ver. 7. And make an attonement Whereby her faith was confirmed that by Christ her sin was remitted and the curs removed 1 Tim. 2.15 Ver. 8. And if shee bee not able As the blessed Virgin was not Luke 2.22 24. who now can despise anie one for want when the mother of our Lord was not rich enough to bring a Lamb for her purification Wee may bee as happie in russet as in tissue CHAP. XIII Ver. 1. And the Lord spake SEE the Note on Levit. 7.22 Ver. 2. Like the plague of leprosie Leprosie is both an effect and type of sin which is such a sickness of the soul as those are of the bodie which Physicians saie are Corruptio totius substantia universal diseases tending to the issues of death It drie's up and draw's out the verie vital blood and life of the soul Ver. 3. The plague in the skin of the flesh That is the white bright spot vers 2. Confer Exod. 4.6 Numb 12.10 Is turned white This might note such as have continued long and are aged in anie wickedness Bee deeper then the skin of his flesh Compare Numb 12.12 2 Kings 5.14 Such are they whose wickedness is not onely acted by their hands but seated in their hearts and sunk into their spirits like the spots of the leopard which no art can cure no water wash off becaus they are not in the skin but in the flesh and bones in the sinews and most inner parts Ingrained diseases are not easily stirred much less destroied Ver. 4. Shall shut him up For further trial of truth that daughter of time Wee may not precipitate a censure but bee slow to speak slow to wrath The leper must bee shut up from week to week till the thing were certain So till mens perversness bee made manifest 2 Tim. 3.9 wee must suspend our censures Manie are like candles whose tallow is mixt with brine no sooner lighted but they spit up and down the room Ver. 5. Spred not in the skin So if men mend by admonition and take up in time if they refuse not to bee reformed hate not to bee healed as Babylon Jer. 51.9 as Ephraïm Hos 7.1 When I would have healed Ephraïm then the iniquitie of Ephraïm was discovered or brake out as a leprosie in his fore-head See Ezekiel 24.13 Ver. 6. It is but a scab Such as may bee the spot of God's children Deut. 32.5 Sin make's wicked men the object of Gods hatred the Saints of his pitie as wee hate poison in a toad but wee pitie it in a man And hee shall wash his clothes The best cannot wash in innocencie hee must therefore wash in tears Isa 1.16 God also will set in and wash such with the blood of his son Ver. 7. But if the scab spread So if sin bee gaining and growing still upon the sinner even after admonition or is scattered and spread to the infecting of others it is a verie ill sign Ver. 9. Hee shall bee brought unto the Priest Who was to discern it by the law of leprosie Rom. 3.20 7.7 so must wee finde out our sins by the moral law Rom. 3. The works of the flesh
much magnified Moses to them but for their envy We cannot devise to pleasure Gods servants so much as by despiting them Quisquis volens detrahit famae meae nolens addit mercedi meae saith Augustine He that willingly detracteth from mine honour doth though against his will adde to my reward Vers 8. And the similitude See the Note on Exod. 33.20 Vers 9. And he departed Yea wo also to them when I depart from them Hos 9.12 then all evills come in as by a sluce the final absence of God is hell it self Vers 10. Miriam became leprous How scaped Aaron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 3. ad Coloss for the dignity of the Priesthoost he was spared saith Chrysostom Rather he met God by repentance and so disarmed his indignation and redeemed his own sorrow CHAP. XIII Vers 1. ANd the Lord spake Yeelding to the peoples importunity and winking at their infidelity for he had before spyed out the land for them Ezek. 20.6 and searched it out Deut. 1.33 but that satisfied them not seeing was with them believing See Deut. 1.22 Vers 2. Every one a ruler amongst them That might be as Vriah and Zachariah Isai 8.2 Faithfull witnesses for lying lips become not a Prince Prov. 17.7 Vers 3. By the commandement of the Lord That is by his permission See the Note on vers 1. Gods command was that they should forthwith without any further search go up and possesse the land Deut. 1.21 Now wicked men are esteemed unjust because they act against Gods command though according to his decree like as believers are esteemed just not because they obey Gods decree but his command Vers 6. Caleb A hearty man according to his name as Bishop Hooper Martyr was called hearty Hooper and as one of our Richards was called Coeur Delion Vers 16. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua His name was now changed from save us O God to God shall save us Under the law which brings us as it were into a wilderness we may desire wish and pray that there were a Saviour but under the Gospell we are sure of salvation and that our Iehoshuah hath bound himself to fulfill all righteousness for us Vers 17. Go up into the mountain This was the great mountain of Seir which incloseth Palestine on that side Vers 22. Was built seven years before Zoan And so was one of the ancientest cityes of the world seeing it did contend with the Ancientest and chiefest city of Egypt Isai 19.11 Hebron signifies an association there lay buried those three reverend couples Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Leah Gen. 39.41 Here David began his raign over Israel 2 Sam. 2.1 and hither came Mary to visit Elizabeth Luk. 1.39 Vers 23. And they bare it between two Christum utrique portamus ut botrum Israelitae tum illi qui adventum Christi antecesserunt tum nos c. So Christ is born between the believers of both Testaments Vers 27. In vita Camilli And this is the fruit of it Plutarch tells of the Gaules that after they had once a taste of the sweet wine of the grapes that grew in Italy they enquired in what country such sweet wine was And after they had understood where such grapes grew they would never be at rest till they had got that country Sextus Rufus writing of Cyprus saith Cyprus famosa divitiis paupertatem populi Rom ut occuparetur solicitavit Cyprus by her wealth tempted the Romans to sieze it into their hands The pearles usually cast out with the floud In vita Caesar and gathered with the ebbe drew Caesars affection for the conquest of Britain as Suetonius saith God hath given us here a grape of the heavenly Canaan to edge our desires Vers 28. Nevertheless the people be strong Thus many amongst us wish very well to Heaven speak glorious things of it and could gladly go to it but there is a lyon in the way they complain with these Male-contents of the strength of the Anakims and the impossibility of the conquest It is a hard thing doubtless to watch continually against a Spirituall enemy to keep up the banks against the sea of lusts and passions to bear daily crosses without stooping to carry the cup of prosperity without spilling to climb the hill of good duties without fainting to go against the croud without sweating to bear the reproach of Christ without buckling c. But hard though it be should we be discouraged The sweetness of the honey makes the beares break in upon the hives contemning the stings The Merchant refuseth no adventure for hope of gain the hunter shrinketh at no weather for love of game the souldier declineth no danger for desire of spoil The sweetness of Gods face though to be seen only in the dark glass of the ceremonies cheared up those good souls in their hard and tedious travell to Zion Psal 84.6 c. CHAP. XIIII Vers 3. VVere it not better for us to return into Egypt How could that be better It is our wisest way to crush the very first insurrections of unruly passions do not great stormes rise out of little gusts to smoother the smoke thereof which else will fume up into the head and gather into so thick a cloud as we shall soon lose the sight of our selves and what is best to be done Vers 4. Let us make a Captain Thus they proceed from bad to worse Passions like heavy bodies down steep hills once in motion move themselves and know no ground but the bottome Whether this people did make them such a Captain for such a purpose is uncertain but howsoever their very intention of doing it is charged upon them as if they had done it Neh. 9.16 17. Vers 9. They are bread for us q.d. We shall make but a breakfast of them So that valiant Prince of Orange told his souldiers at the battell of Newport when they had the sea on the one side and the Spaniards on the other that they must either eate up those Spaniards or drink up that sea Vers 10. But all the congregation bad stone them This is merces mundi this is the fruit of Ochloeratie that rule of rascality as one calls it Vers 11. Ere they believe me Vnbeliefe is the root of rebellion and Apostacy Heb. 3.12 Vers 12. And I will make of thee a greater nation Here God offered Moses a private fortune which he prudently refuseth because God should be a loser by it And surely saith a Divine as God was displeased with Balaam for going though he bad him go so the Lord would not have taken it so kindly of Moses if he had taken him upon the offer he made in a time of his heate against his people Vers 13. Then the Egyptiuns shall hear it And they will soon make comedyes out of the Churches tragedies Vers 14. And they will tell it The proverb is Oculus fama non patiuntur jocos A mans eye and
the Lady Jane Gray whose excellent beauty adorn'd with all variety of vertues as a clear sky with stars as a Princely Diadem with jewels gave her the stile of Eruditionis pietatis modestiae delicium and Queen Elizabeth in whom besides her sex there was nothing woman-like or weak as if what Philosophy saith the souls of those noble creatures had followed the temperament of their bodies which consist of a frame of rarer rooms of a more exact composition then mans doth and if place be any priviledg we find theirs built in Paradise when mans was made out of it Besides in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female but all are one souls having no sexes and whosoever are Christs are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Gal. 3.28 29. Vers 11. A statute of judgment A standing law a standard for all cases of like kinde in that policy at least for we cannot consent to Carolostadius who contended in foro jus ex Mose dicendum esse that all other national and municipal laws were to be abolished and that all courts were now to pass sentence according to Moses's laws Hic non intellexit vim naturam Christianae libertatis This man knew not the extent of Christian liberty saith Melancthon Vers 12. See the land It was somewhat to see but oh how fain would he have entred the Land and could not we shall have in heaven not only vision but fruition we have it already in Capite-tenure in Christ our head and husband who will not be long without us it being part of his heaven that we shall be where he is Ioh. 17.24 and enjoy God which is heaven it self whence in Scripture God is called Heaven I have sinned against heaven Malim praesente Deo esse in inferno quam abseute Deo in Coelo Luth. in Gen. 30. And I had rather be in Hell and have God present then in Heaven and God absent saith Luther Vers 13. Gathered to thy people To that great Panegyris the general Assembly and Church of the first-born in heaven Heb. 12.23 to that glorious Amphitheatre where the Saints shall see and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as Chrysostome hath it Look yonder is Peter and that is Paul c. we shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob have communion with them not only as godly men but as Abraham Isaac and Jacob Vers 14. For ye rebelled Sin may rebel in the Saints but not raign neither is it they that rebel but sin that dwelleth in them dwelleth but not domineereth Vers 16. The God of the spirits of all flesh Thou Lord that knowest the hearts of all men Act. 1.24 See the Note there Artificers know well the nature and properties of their own work Deus intimior nobis intimo nostro CHAP. XXVIII Vers 2. MY offering He is owner of all and of his own we give him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said that great Emperour And my bread Called their bread for their souls that is the bread for their natural sustenance common bread when not rightly offered So Ier. 7.21 God in scorn calls their sacrifice flesh ordinary flesh such as is sold in the shambles So at the Lords Supper impenitent communicants receive no more then the bare elements panem Domini Aug. but not panem Dominum In their due season Which for 38. years they had intermitted Get a settlement or Sabbath of spirit or else God shall be but ill if at all served Vers 3. This is the offering See the Note on Exod. 29.38 39. Vers 9. And on the Sabbath day Every day should be a Sabbath to the Saints in regard of ceasing to do evil learning to do well but on the seventh-day-Sabbath our devotion should be doubled ' Debet totus dies festivus a Christiano expendi in operibus sanctis said Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln In decalog praecep 30. long since The whole Sabbath should be spent in Gods service Psal 92. titled a Psalm for the Sabbath mentions morning and evening performances vers 2. Variety of duties may very well take up the whole day with delight Besides God gives us fix whole dayes Now to sell by one measure and buy by another is the way to a curse Vers 11. And in the beginning of your moneths Thus they had their daily weekly monethly yearly addresses unto God that they might ever be in communion with him and conformity unto him by this continual intercourse On the new-Moons they rested Amos 8.5 feasted 1 Sam. 20.5 heard the Word c. 2 King 4.29 Vers 17 18 19 c. See the Notes on Exod. 12.18 and on Levit. 23.7 c. CHAP. XXIX Vers 1. ANd in the seventh moneth This Sabbath-moneth as it were had as many feasts in it as were celebrated in all the year besides So that as the Sabbath is the Queen of dayes so was this of moneths It is a day of blowing See the Note on Levit. 23.24 Vers 7. And ye shall have See Levit. 16.19 with the Notes Vers 12. And on the fifteenth See Levit. 23.34 35 c. with the Notes There the feasts were prescribed and here the sacrifices belonging to them are described Vers 17. And on the second day ye shall offer twelve c. In every of these seven-dayes-sacrifices one bullock is abated Hereby the Holy Ghost might teach them their duty to grow in grace and increase in sanctification that their sins decreasing the number of their sacrifices whereby atonement was made for their sins should also decrease daily Or it might signifie a diminishing and wearing away of the legal offerings c. as One well observeth Hac caeremoniâ significabat Deus gratiam suam de die in diem crescere it a nempe ut minuatur vetus homo novus augeatur c. saith Alsted till the very ruines of Satans castles be as most of our old Castles are almost brought to ruine Vers 18. After the manner That is in manner and form aforesaid The Manner is that that makes or marrs the action as a good suite may be marred in the making so a good duty there may be malum opus in bona materia Jehu's zeal was rewarded as an act of justice quoad substantiam operis and punished as an act of policy quoad modum agendi for the perverse end Yea David for failing in a ceremony only though with an honest heart suffered a breach instead of a blessing 1 Chron. 15.17 Idolaters also went on in their own manner Amos 8.14 as their idol-Priests prescribed The manner of Beersheba liveth that is the form of rites of the worshipping in Beersheba as the Chaldee paraphraseth CHAP. XXX Vers 1. ANd Moses spake unto the heads Because they were in place of judicature and had power either to bind◠men to their vowes or set them at liberty Vers 2. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord God is the proper object of a vow Psal 76.11 Papists vow