detestable decree of the Council of Trent is well known whereby the Apocryphaâ— is set cheek by joule as they say with the holy Canon the Vulgar Translation with the Original traditions with Scriptures and unwritten verities with those that are written This is intolerable presumption Jews and Turks do the like in their Talmud and Alchoran that I speak not of our Sect-Masters who boldly obtrude their Placits without just proof and require to be beleeved And the wall between me and them Which they have wretchedly set up by their sins to their singular disadvantage Esa 59.2 or they have come under my nose as it were to provoke me Or the nearer they were to Church the further from God Ver. 9. Now let them put away their whoredom So shall all be well betwixt us See Jer. 3.1 Isa 1.18 with the Notes Piscator ictus sapiat Some read it Now they will put away c. and so they did after the captivity but will not be yet drawn to worship the true God aright the Lord perswade their hearts thereto Fiat Fiat And the carcasses See on ver 7. And I will dwell in the midst of them for ever This is the same with that Mat. 28. I am with you to the end of the world Ver. 10. Shew the house Heb. that house sc which I have shewed thee in visions the idea of that Temple which shall shortly be set up its figure and dimensions That they may be ashamed Of having dealt so unworthily with a God so gracious And let them measure the pattern Vt metiantur universe that by a holy Geometry they may in the spirit of their minds take all the dimensions of it and be transformed into the likeness of the heavenly pattern These are those holy and heavenly Mathematikes which none can learn but those that are taught of God Scholae Platonis haec fuit inscriptio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without which none can be Christs Disciple like as none might be scholar to Plato that had not the grounds of Geometry Ver. 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done If they blush and bleed at heart for their iniquities Penitents are to be taught the truth which is according to godliness and all such are exactly to know and to do the whole will of God as had not rather be carnally secured then soundly comforted Ver. 12. Vpon the top of the mountain The Church is as a City on an hill seen far and near Mat. 5.14 and the members of it are still ascending from one degree of grace to another from strength to strength till they see the face of God in Sion Psal 15.1 Heb. 12.22 23. The whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy All the Lords people are so at least in profession inchoation honest endeavour divine acceptation and shall be so one day in all perfection Rev. 21.8 27. 22.14 15. Ver. 13. And these are the measures of the Altar viz. Of burnt offerings which was in the Priests court and not at all spoken of till now The cubit viz. That of the Sanctuary Even the bottom Heb. the bâ—som This shall be the higher place Heb. the back as that which bore all We have also an Altar Heb. 13.10 even Jesus Christ the just one who is both our Ariel Gods Lion Rev. 5.5 and our Harcel Gods Mount of four cubits as being preached unto the Gentiles in all parts believed on in the world received up into glory 1 Tim. 3.16 Ver. 14. And from the bottom upon the ground This so exact measuring of the Altar may import saith Polanus the faithful and perfect preaching of the Gospel by the Apostles and all faithful Ministers of Gods Word after them 2 Cor. 10.13 c. 1 Cor. 4.1 2. Rev. 11.1 Ver. 15. So the Altar Heb. Harcel the hill of God or the only place of sacrifices And from the Altar Ariel the Lion of God so called because the fire of this Altar devoured the sacrifices as a Lion doth the prey See Esa 29.16 Ver. 16. Square in the four squares thereof Christ the Christian Altar is compleat firm and fixed Ver. 17. And his staires shall look toward the East As leading to the Sun of righteousnesse and the light of eternal blessedness arising out of heaven Ver. 18. These are the ordinances of the Altar Christians also have their sacrifices though of another alloy to offer and must look to the ordinances of their Altar Ministers must especially Ver. 19. And thou shalt give to the Priests All this is to be understood spiritually as being figuratively spoken A young bullock Together with a goat and a ram ver 22 23 25. All that are Christs have crucified the flâ—sh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5.24 and are still doing at it Ver. 20. And thou shalt take of the blood Christ as Mediatour was consecrated and qualified for the work Ver. 21. Without the Sanctuary So Christ suffered without the gate Heb. 13.11 12. Ver. 22. And they shall cleanse the Altar To set forth how Christ clenseth and sanctifieth his people Heb. 9.19 24. Job 17.19 Heb. 9.13 14. Ver. 23. Thou shalt offer See on ver 19. Plato salâ—ominat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diu charis Nihil utilius sale â—c soâ—e Cael Rhodig l. 6. c 1. Ver. 24. And the Priests shall cast salt upon them Christians must have salt within themselves Mar. 9.50 and see to it that all their speeches be seasoned with the salt of mortification and discretion Eph. 4. so shall God make an everlasting covenant with them even a covenant of salt See Levit. 2.13 Ver. 25. Every day a goat Mortification must be a Christians dayly practice Ver. 26. They shall purge Thou and they together We must also sanctifie the Lord God in our hearts 1 Pet. 3.15 Ver. 27. It shall be upon the eighth day The services of mortified men shall be accepted on the eighth day especially the Christian sabbath in the holy Assemblies CHAP. XLIV Ver. 1. THen he brought me back From the Eastgate which was found shut to the Northgate where the Prophet received large instructions ver 4. Christ must be followed though he seem to lead us in and out backward and forward as if we were treading a maze Ver. 2. This gate shall be shut Is and shall be save only to Messiah the Prince Psal 118.20 and to whomsoever he as having the keyes of David shall open it This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter sc by that new and living way which Christ their forerunner Heb. 6.20 hath prepared and paved for them with his own blood Heb. 10.20 See Heb. 7.8 9 11 12 24. And no man shall enter in it No meer man unless it be by Emmanuel See Joh. 3.13 Ver. 3. It is for the Prince For Messiah the Prince so Christ is called Dan. 9. Or for the Chief Priest who as he had a singular priviledge herein above other Priests so
light of a Candle fed by base and stinking matter soon wasting and ending in an offensive snuffe The light of the wicked shall be put out and the spark of his fire shall not shine The light shall be dark in his Tabernacle and his Candle shall be put out with him Job 18.5 6. Ecquandone vidisti stammam stipula exertam claro strepitu largo fulgore cito incremento sed enim mater alevi Apuleius in Apolog. caduco ine endio nullis requiis Salomon compares it fitly to a handful of brush-wood or sâ—are thorn under the pot Eccles 7.6 Vers 10. Only by pride cometh contention Hebr dabit jurgium Pride if there be no cause of contention given will make it Transcendâ— non obedio perturbo is the Motto written upon prides tripple-crown A proud person is full of discontent nothing can please him c. Just like one that hath a swelling in his hands something or other toucheth it still and driveth him to out-cries Pride maketh a man drunk with his own conceits Hab. 2.5 The proud man is as he that hath transgressed by wine And drunkards we know are quarrelsome The Corinthians had riches and gifts and learning and carried aloft by these waxen wings they domineered and despised others 1 Cor. 4.8 they were divided and discontented 1 Cor. 3.3 and these over-flowings of the gall and spleen came from a fulnesse of bad humours Pride is a dividing distemper gowty swoln leggs keep at a distance bladders blown up with wind spurt one from another and will not close but prick them and you may pack a thousand of them in a little room But with the well-advised is wisdome The meeknesse of wisdome as St. James hath it Chap. 3.13 of the which we may well say as Tertullus said to Felix Acts 24.2 By thee we enjoy great quietnesse It was a great trouble to Hamaâ— to lead Mordecai's Horse which another man would not have thought so The moving of a straw troubleth proud flesh whereas humility if compelled to goe one mile will goe two for a need yea as far as the shooes of the Gospel of peace can carry it The wisdome from above is peaceable Jam. 3. Vers 11. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished De malè quasitio â—ix gauget tertius haeres Horat. Ill gotten goods fly away without taking leave of the owner leaving nothing but the print of talons to torment him Prov. 23.5 Many when they have a losse in their riches it is as it were raked out of their bellies Joh 20.15 A piece of their very heart goes with it But he that gathereth by labour shall encrease Howbeit sometimes it is otherwise Master we have laboured all night and taken nothing Behold Luke 4. is it not of the Lord of Hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity Hab. 2.13 There is a curse upon unlawful practices though men be industrious as in Jehojakim Jer. 22. Vers 12. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick Hope 's hours are full of eternity and how many see we lye languishing at Hopes Hospital as hee at the Pool of Bethesda Spes in terronis incerti nomen boni spes in divinis nomen est certissimi Heb. 11.1 Hope unfailable Rom. 5.5 is founded upon faith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 But when the desire cometh As come it will to those that wait patiently upon God for waiting is but hope and trust lengthened Deo confisi nunquam confusi The vision is but for an appointed time therefore wait Hab. 2.3 you shall be well paid for your patience Wee are apt to antedate the Promises and to set God a time as they Jer. 8.20 looked for Salvation at Summer at furthest We are short breathed short-spirited But as God seldome comes at our time so he never fails at his own and then he is most sweet because most seasonable Vers 13. Who so despiseth the Word shall be destroyed Bishop Bonners Chaplaine called the Bible in scorn his little pretty Gods Book Lindan paâ— lib. 1. cap. 9. Commonitorium Bell. Gifford and Rainold said it contained doctrinam peregrinam strange doctrin yea some things profane and Apocryphal The more modest Papists account Traditions the touch-stone of doctrin and foundation of faith And repute the Scriptures to be rather a kind of store-house for advice in matters of Religion We account them the Divine beam and most exact ballance Cor animam Dei the heart and soul of God as Gregory calleth them the best fortresse against errours as Austin c. though some of our sublimated Sectaries blaspheme that blessed Book as a dead letter and a beggerly element But he that feareth the Commandement That honoureth the Scriptures and trembleth at the Word preached as King Edward the sixth did that second Josiah and as Queen Elizabeth his sweet sister Temperance as he used to call her who when the Bible was presented to her as she rode triumphantly thorow London after her Coronation she received the same with both her hands and kissing it laid it to her breast saying that it had ever been her delight and should be her Rule of Government Vers 14. The law of the wise is as a well of life Or the Law to the wise is a fountain c. whence he may draw the best directions and helps to holinesse and happinesse It confines him to live in that element where hee would live as if one were confined to Paradise where hee would be though there were no such Law The wicked on the contrary leaps over the pale after profit and pleasure and falls upon the snares of death as Shimei sought his Servants lost himself Vers 15. Good understanding giveth favour See this exemplified in Joseph David Daniel Paul Acts 27.43 28.2 God oft speaketh for such in the hearts of their enemies who cannot but admire their piety and patience and spend more thoughts about them than the world is aware of as Darius did about Daniel when cast into the Den. Natural conscience cannot but doe homage to the Image of God stamped upon the natures and works of the godly when they see in them that which is above the ordinary nature of men or their expectation they are afraid of the Name of God whereby they are called Deut. 28.9 10. and are forced to say Surely this is a wise and understanding Nation Deut. 4.6 God is in this people of a truth 1 Cor. 14.25 Certainly this was a righteous man Luk. 23.47 But the way of transgressors is hard Or rough and rugged Satan is a rough harsh Spirit hence Devils are called Sheguirim hairy ones Levit. 17.7 Satyres Isa 34.14 So are all his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fierce heady high-minded 2 Tim. 3.3 4. living in malice and envie hateful and hating one another Tit. 3.3 Such were Ishmael Esau Saul Antiochus that little Antichrist the Pope that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our Richard the
behold the face of God the Father and of his Son here is one held forth in the next verse Vers 5. Every word of God is pure Oda septima Pind. tanta fuit admirationis apud Rhodios ut fuerit scripta in templo aure is literis c. Joh. Manl. loc Com. 414. he is a shield Albeit all the sacred sentences contain'd in this blessed book are pure precious and profitable yet as one star in Heaven out-shineth another so doth one Proverb another and this is among the rest velut inter stellas luna minores an eminent sentence often recorded in Scripture and far better worthy than ever Pindarus his seventh Ode was to be written in letters of gold Every word of God is pure purer than gold tried in the fire Rev. 3.17 purer than silver tried in a furnace and seven times purified Psal 12.6 Julian therefore that odious Apostate is not to be hearkened to who said there was as good stuff in Phocillides as in Salomon in Pindarus his Odes as in Davids Psalms Nor is that brawling dog Porphyry to be regarded who blasphemously accuseth Daniel the Prophet and Matthew the Evangelist Spec. Europae as writers of lies Os durum The Jesuits some of them say little less of Saint Pauls Epistles which they could wish by some means censured and reformed as dangerous to be read and savouring of heresie in some places Traditions they commonly account the touch-stone of doctrine and foundation of faith the Scriptures to be rather a Commonitorium as Bellarmine calls it a kind of store-house for advice Greg. in 3. Reg. then Cor animam Dei the heart and soul of God as Gregory calls them a Fortress against Errours Firmamentum contra errores Aug. in Johan 1. Tract 2. Possevin Appar sac verbo Pat. Antiq as Augustine The Apostle calleth concupiscence sin at non licet nobis ita loqui but we may not call it so saith Possevine the Jesuit The Author to the Hebrews saith Marriage is honourable among all men but the Rhemists on 1 Cor. 7.9 say that the marriage of Priests is the worst sort of incontinency Christ saith the Sin against the Holy Ghost hath no remission Bellarmine saith that it may be forgiven The Council of Constance comes in with a non-obstance against Christs institution Lib. 2. de Paeâ—it cap. 16. Montan. in 1 Cor. 14. withholding the Cup from the People at the Sacrament And a Parisian Doctor tells us that although the Apostle would have sermons and service celebrated in a known tongue yet the Church for very good cause hath otherwise ordered it Bishop Bonners Chaplain called the Bible in scorn his little pretty Gods book and judged it worthy to be burnt tanquam doctrina peregrina as strange doctrine Gilford and Raynolds said it contained some things prophane and apocryphal Others have stiled it the mother of heresie and therefore not fit to be read by the common people lest they suck poyson out of it Prodigious blasphemy Of the purity and perennity of the holy Scriptures See more in my True treasure pag. 85.139 He is a shield to them that put their trust in him See Gen. 15.1 with the note and Prov. 29.25 Buxtorf Tiberias Vers 6. Adde thou not unto his words As the Jews at this day do by their traditions which they arrogantly call Mashlamnutha Completio perfectio because they think that thereby the Law is compleated and perfected as the Artemonites Brightm upon Rev. p. 292. and after them the school-men corrupted the Scripture out of Aristotle and Theophrastus turning all into questions and quillets As Mahomet joyned his Alfurta his service book an horrible heap of all blasphemies to the three parts of holy Scripture as he divides them the Law Psalmes and Gospel As the Papists adde their humane inventions and unwritten verities which they equallize unto if not prefer before the book of God as appears by that Heathenish decree of the Council of Trent And when at the Council of Basil the Hussites denied to receive any doctrine that could not be proved by Scripture Jacob Revius hist Pontif. p. 235. Cardinal Cusan answered that Scriptures were not of the being of the Church but of the well-being and that they were to be expounded according to the current rite of the Church which if it change its mind the judgement of God is also changed Lastly such adde to Gods Word as wrest it and rack it making it speak that which it never thought causing it to go two miles where it would go but one gnawing and tawing it to their own purposes as the Shoo-maker taws his upper-leather with his teeth Tertullian calls Marcion the heretick Mus Ponticus of his arroding and gnawing the Scripture to make it serviceable to his errours Lest he reprove thee Both verbally and penally both with words and blows Lest he severely punish thee as one that addes to his will or imbaseth his coyn And thou be found a lier As all Popish forgers and foysters at this day are found to be God hath ever raised up such as have detected their impostures and vindicated the purity and perfection of the sacred Scriptures Vers 7. Two things have I required of thee Two special requests he had among many for our present condition is a condition of singular vanity and indigency we get our living by begging and are never without somewhat to bee required of God never without out wants and aylments and sutes for supplies Deny me them not See here both his familiarity with God in Prayer and his importunity for a lazie Sutâ—r beggs a denial Agur therefore re-enforceth his request it was honest else he would never have begun it but being so he is resolved to follow it So doth David with his one thing which hee did desire and he would desire Psal 27.4 he would never give it over So Jacob would have a blessing and therefore wrastles with might and slight and this he doth in the night and alone and when God was leaving him and upon one legge He had a hard pull of it and yet he prevailed Let me goe saith God No thou shalt not goe saith Jacob till I have my request It is not unlawful for us to be unmannerly in Prayer to be importunate and after a sort impudent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 11.8 Propter improbitatem Luke 18.8 Was not the Woman of Canaan so Matth. 15.22 Shee came for a Cure and a Cure she would have and had it too with an high commendation of her heroical faith Christ he was no Penny-father he had more blessings than one even the abundance of Spirit for them that ask it When poor men make requests to us we usually answer them as the Eccho doth the voyce the answer cuts off half the Petition if they ask us two things we think we deal well if we grant them one Few Naamans that when you beg one talent will force