Commentary on Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel Daniel

CHAP. XXVIII.

Ver. 1. WO to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim] Drunkenness is a sin, at the heel whereof hangeth many a Woe. Some think it is a dry drunkenness that is here threatened (that there is a dry drunkenness as well as a wet; see chap. 51.21. 2 Tim. 2.26. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that they may awake out of their drunken sleep ) a drunkenness with prosperity, which made them proud and dissolute, even the King of Israel and his Counselors also; not considering that in maxima libertate minima est licentia; It is not for Kings to drink wine, Prov. 31.4.

Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower] Or, and to the fading flower of his goodly gallantry. Some conceive that the Prophet here alludeth to the Etymology of the word Ephraim, whereof see Gen. 41.42. but Ephraim was now declining and decaying.

That are overcome with wine] Heb. smitten, beaten, overmastered, as Sisera was by Jaels hammer, which hath its name from the word here used, Judges 4.23. Tremellius rendereth it, Obtusis vino, to those that are blunted with wine, or beaten about ears with it.

Ver. 2. Behold the Lord hath a mighty and a strong One] viz. Shalmaneser King of Assyria. For whereas Ephraim might say, Who is there that can or dare pull off the flower of our goodly gallantry? God answereth that he hath at hand One that can do it; and do it with a turn of a hand, with little ado.

Ver. 3. The Crown of pride—shall be trodden underfoot] This noteth utmost ignominy. Finge ideam animo, saith one here: imagine you saw Salmantser pulling the Crown from the King of Israel's head, throwing it to the ground, and then trampling on it. What brave Rhetoric is here?

Ver. 4. As the hasty fruit] quasi primae & praematurae ficus, rath-ripe fruits much coveted and caught at.

Ver. 5. For a Crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty] so he was to Judah alled here the residue of his people ) during Hezekiah's days; a crown unfading or a garland made of Amaranth (as 1 Pet. 1.4.) which is, saith Clemens, a certain flower that being hung up in the house, yet is still fresh and green. And as God is thus to his people, so (enterchangeably) are they to him a crown of glory, Isa. 62.3. and a royal diadem, ib. his throne of glory, Jer. 4.21. The beauty of his Ornament, Ezek. 7.20.

Ver. 6. And for a spirit of judgment] A sagacity more then ordinary • : in regard whereof Solomon calleth the Kings doom a divination, Prov. 16.10. as is well observed.

And for strength to them, &c.] In this verse we have the description of an happy State, governed justly at home, and able abroad to resist any endeavor of the enemy.

Ver. 7. But they also have erred through wine] Judah had caught this disease of Ephraim, as the English are said to have done of the drunken Dutchmen. Sin is more contagious and catching then the plague. The Hebrew word importeth an alienation of mind, Prov. 20.1. Hos. 11. Jer. 23.9. Vino sapientia obscuratur, said Alphonsus King of Aragon.

They are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink] Errarunt propter Shecar: they are buckt in beer, they are drowned in drink; like as George Duke of Clarence was drowned in a out of Malmsey by his own election: Nam sicut athletico potore dignum erat, ut potando moreretur, elegit, saith mine Author; for being condemned to die by his brother King Edward the fourth, he chose that kind of death, as became a stout drunkard.

They err in vision] the Prophets do.

They stumble in judgment] the Priests do; for they were to interpret the law, and to decide differences. Drunkenness in Rulers is a capital sin, and maketh the land reel.

Ver. 8. For all places are full of vomit and filthiness, Vah, vah, vah: Cum tu Narbone mensas hospitum convomeres, said Tully to Antony; who was not ashamed likewise to write, or rather to spew out a book concerning his own great strength to bear strong drink, and to lay up others who strove with him for the mastery. Tully taxeth Julius Caesar for this soul custom: so doth Philo Caligula, and Suetonius Vitellius.

Ver. 9. Whom shall he teach knowledge?] Quem docebit scientiam? Doceo governeth two Accusative cases. Ministers must have 1. Quem, whom to teach: and 2. Quid, what to teach, sc. Knowledge. Isaiah had no want of knowledge, as being apt and able to teach, but he wanted a fit Audience, as having to do with a sort of drunken sots that were unteachable, uncapable. So Ezek. 47.11. when the waters of the Sanctuary flowed, the miry places could not be healed. Think the same also of those that are drunk with pride (as ver. 1.) and self-conceitedness, who make Divinity only a matter of discourse, or that come to sit as Judges or Critics on their Ministers gifts, &c. It will be long enough ere such will be taught anything. One may as good undertake to teach a young weanling void of understanding; and in some respects better; for these to their natural corruption and impotency have added habitual hardness and obstinacy, to their sinews of iron, brows of brass, Isaiah 48.4. and what hope can there be of working upon such?

Ver. 10. For precept must be upon precept] Children are of weak understanding, and of short memories; and Hebraei dicunt hisce verbis infantilitatem significari, they must also have short words and sentences prescribed unto them (such as are kau and flau ) and inculcated upon them, that something at least may stick: so must most of our Hearers, or little good will be done, Deut. 6.7. thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children, Heb. thou shalt whet or repeat them by often going over the same thing, as the knife goeth over the whetstone till it be sharp. But very many of our common hearers are not only unteachable, but untameable, deriding sound doctrine, and making a mocking stock of their godliest Ministers. And so some very good Expositors, haec 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 à Prophetadici tradunt, make these words here recited to be the scoffs and taunts of those profane mockers, ver. 14. & 22. which they put upon the Prophet; q. d. We have nothing but rule upon rule, precept upon precept, &c. Zaulazau, kau lakau, the very sound of the words carrieth a jear; like as scornful people by the tone of their voice and riming words, scorn at such as they despise: Thus this good Prophet became the drunkards song. Any man may be witty in a biting way: and those that have the dullest brains, have commonly the sharpest teeth to that purpose. Rightly said the Comedian,

Ver. 11. For with stammering lips, &c.] with a lisping lip, Heb. with scoffs of lip, or with language of mocks. Surely God scorneth the scorners, Prov. 3.34. for he loveth to retaliate and proportion choice to choice, Isa. 66.3, 4 device to device, Micah 2.1.3. frowardness to forwardness, Psal. 18.26. scoffing to scoffing, Prov. 1.25.26.

And with another tongue] lingua exotica, such as they shall be no whit the better for; see 1 Cor. 14.21. We read of John Elmar Bishop of London in Queen Elizabeth's reign, that on a time when he saw his Auditory grow dull in their attention to his Sermon, he presently read unto them many verses out of the Hebrew Text: whereat they all started, admiring what use he meant to make thereof: then shown he them their folly, that whereas they neglected English, whereby they might be edifyed, they listened to Hebrew whereof they understood not a word: and how justly God might bring in Popery again (with Latin service, blind obedience, and dumb offices) for their contempt of the Gospel.

Ver. 12. To whom he said, This is the rest] i. e. the ready way to find rest to your souls, as Mat. 11.28, 29. sc. by obeying my precepts, and embracing my promises.

Wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest] i. e. Me who am pressed by your sins, Amos 2.13. and wearied out with your iniquities, Isa 43.24. or your poor brethren tired with miseries, or your own souls laden with sin guiltiness.

Ver. 13. But the word of God was unto them precept upon precept, &c.] i. e. a derision, as ver. 10. therefore henceforth hearing they shall hear and not understand: Sic Sanniones Deus punit.

That they may go and fall backward] ut vadant & cadant retrorsum, tanquam turpiter ab host superati & resuperati, laid flat on their backs, brought to remediless ruin. This came of their obstinacy; though not intentionally, yet eventually.

Ver. 14. Wherefore hear the word of the Lord] Stand forth and hear your doom, ye that jear when you should fear, as if ye were out of the reach of God's rod.

Ye scornful men] Heb. ye men of mockage, ye who mock at the word of God by your words, deeds and gestures; quales sycophantas quotidie videmus, of which sort we find not a few now a days; such dust-heaps as these we have in every corner, men that have turned religion not only into a form but also into a scorn, accounting the wisdom of God foolishness. These Saint Peter calleth scoffers, or such as make sport with the word, 2 Pet. 3.3. And the Prophet here uno verbo multa peccata exprimit, dum Illusores nominat, in calling them mockers, calleth them all that naught is.

That rule the people] such as Shebna now was, and afterwards Tobiah, Neh. 2.19. Herod, Domitian, Julian, Sr. Thomas Moor, &c.

Ver. 15. Because ye have said] i. e. ye have thought and reckoned so, but without your host, as they say, Jer. 6.19. Hear O earth, behold I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts.

We have made a covenant with death] Nos ab omni malo sumus securissimi: Thrasonicae hyperbolae, we are shot-free and shall scape scot-free: Beckets friends advised him (for his security) to have a Mass in honor of St. Stephen, to keep him from the hands of his enemies: He had so, but it saved him not: As not to have been dipt in Lethe -lake, could save the Son of Thetis from to die, &c.

And with hell are we at agreement] Heb. we have made provision, or taken order, egimus cantum. The Prophets tell us a tale of death and hell, but we shall yet dance upon their graves; and for hell we fear it not. The Lyon is not so fierce as he is painted, nor the Devil so black as he is represented. Diabolo optime convenit cum lurconib us. Good-fellows shall have good quarter with the Devil, say our modern Atheists. But what a mad fellow was that Advocate in the Court of Rome mentioned by Bellarmine, who lying at his last gasp almost, and being called upon to repent and cry to God for mercy, prayed thus; O Lord, I have much desired to speak one word unto thee before I die, not for myself, but for my wife and children: ego enim propero ad inferos, neque est ut aliquid pro me agas; for I am hasting to hell, neither is there anything now to be done by thee for me? And this he spoke (saith Bellarmine who was by and heard it) with as much confidence, as if he were but travelling to the next town.

When the overflowing scourge shall pass thorough] to sweep away such as are drowned in drunkenness and dread no danger.

It shall not come to us] whatever the Prophets prate: let them say as they please, we will believe as we list.

For we have made lies our refuge] a poor refuge: for tenue mendacium pellucot, lies are so thin they may be seen thorough; but it may be that they called their false refuges lies, not because they held them so, but because the Prophets called them so: whereas to themselves they seemed prudent counsels.

Ver. 16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God] This is purposely prefaced for the support of the faithful, when they should hear the ensuing dreadful denunciations, and see them executed. We cannot beat the dogs but the children will be ready to cry.

For a foundation a stone] firm and fast, opposed here to the fickle stays and vain fastnesses of wicked worldlings: this foundation-stone is Christ, Rom. 9.33. & 10.11. not Hezekiah as the Jews would have it; or Peter, as the Papists: see Peter to the contrary, 1 Pet. 2.6. and Paul, 1 Corinth. 3.11.

He that believeth shall not make haste] viz. to help himself as he can, since God defers his help; as did faithless Saul, Ahaz, these Jews, ver. 15. those Bethulians that set him a time, and sent for him by a post as it were, David staid God's leisure for the Kingdom; those in Esther for deliverance, and those other in the Hebrews for the accomplishment of the promises, Heb. 10.36. Hold out faith and patience. We know not what we lose by making haste, and not holding up our hand as Moses did to the going down of the Sun.

Ver. 17. Judgment also will I lay to the line] Or, I will set out judgment by line, and justice by plummet; that is, I will proportion your punishments to your offenses, as it were by line and by level, that the wicked may have their due, and the godly sustain no damage. See 2 Kings 21.12, 13. Amos 7.8. Calvin saith, that by this expression borrowed from builders, the Lord here showeth that when the corner-stone before spoken off shall be laid, the Church of the faithful built thereupon, shall rise up to a fair and uniform built temple in the Lord, according to Ephes. 2.20.

And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies] Or shovel away, or quasi furcillis extrudet, shall fork away, or burn up your vain confidences; as he destroyed the Egyptians by hail mingled with fire.

And the waters] see ver. 15. & Mat. 7.27.

Ver. 18. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled] See ver. 15. God shall shoot at such with an arrow suddenly, Psal. 64.7. and when they shall say peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape, 1 Thes 5.3. Thus it befell the rich fool. Luk 12. Alexander the great, whom his parasites flattered into a fond conceit of an immortality: and Pope Sylvester the second, who dealt with the Devil for the Popedom, and was persuaded by him, that he should never die till he sang Mass in Jerusalem: but when he saw how he was cheated, and that he must die, he cried out,

Ver. 19. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you] this was opposed to their fond conceit of impunity, or at least immunity for a long season, ver. 15. the most secure are soonest surprised.

And it shall be a vexation, &c.] Vexatio dabit intellectum, Luther after the Vulgar rendereth it, sententiam Prophetae non male exprimens; See chap. 26.9. The Cross is the best Tutor.

Ver. 20. For the bed is short] Here the Prophet seemeth to some to threaten them for their lectulorum luxus, Amos 6.4. their beds of ivory, whereon, when well whittled, they once stretched themselves at full length, and slept out their drunkenness: but when brought to Babylon, the case should be otherwise with them. Diodate faith that these are figurative and proverbial terms, importing that all means and devices they can use will no way defend them. God's wrath is such as none can avert or avoid.

Ver. 21. As in Mount Perazim] See 2 Sam. 5.20. God usually sitteth amidst his people in his mercy-seat, or throne of grace: neither ariseth he to punish them till much provoked; and then he may possibly deal as severely with them, as he did with the Philistines at mount Perazim, or with the Amorites in the valley of Gibeon, Josh. 10.10. But then he doth his work his strange work, and brings to pass his act his strange act, i. e. that which is neither his wont nor his delight, Lam. 3.33. Mic. 7.18. Ezek. 33.11. To fall foul upon his people by his plagues and judgments, goeth as much against the heart with him, as against the hair with them. And besides by doing this his strange work he maketh way for the doing of his own proper work, 1 Cor. 11.32.

Ver. 22. Now therefore be ye not m • ckers] for those are the worst of men, ver. 14. Pests the Septuagint commonly render them: Abjects and castaways David calleth them; and yet they proudly disdain others (and far their betters) as thimbles full of dust, and the goodly braveries of their scorn. But shall they escape by this iniquity? shall they carry it away so? In no wise: for,

Their bands shall be made strong] their sorrows shall be multiplied, and they shall have more load of miseries and mischiefs laid upon them: though now they mock at God's menaces as uttered in terrorem only for fray-bugs, and at his Ministers as false Prophets. Among many other memorable examples of God's judgments upon such out of God's blessed book, the Acts and Monuments of the Church and other Histories, Nicholas Hemingius relateth a story of a lewd fellow in Denmark, Anno Christi 1550. which usually made a mock at Religion and the professors of it; and on a time coming into a Church where a godly Minister was preaching, by his countenance and gestures shown a great contempt against the Word: but as he passed out of the Church, a tyle fell upon his head and slew him in the place. How much more mercifully dealt Almighty God with that Miller in Lecestershire, who sitting in an Alehouse on a Sabbath day with one of his companions, said to him, I hear that bawling Hooker is come to Town, let us go and hear him, we shall have excellent sport; and accordingly they went on purpose to jeer him: But it pleased God, the Sermon so wrought upon him, that being pricked at the heart, he went to Mr. Hooker, entreating him to tell him what he might do to be saved; and afterwards went with him to New-England. By sins men's bands are made strong, as by repentance they are loosened: videte ergo ut resipiscatis mature.

Ver. 23. Give ear, and hear my voice, hearken, &c] Being to assure the faithful of God's fatherly care of their safety and indemnity amidst all those distractions and disturbances of the times, he calleth for their utmost attention, as knowing how flow of heart and dull of hearing the best are, how backward to believe, Luk. 24.25. and apt to forget the consolation, Heb. 12.5. See the Note on Mat. 13.3.

Ver. 24. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow?] Or, every day. Doth he not find him somewhat else to do besides? Sua sunt rebus omnibus agendis tempora, novandi, arandi, occandi, aequandi, serendi, metendi, colligandi & excernendi grani, & suae rations singulis. And shall not the only wise God afflict his people with moderation and discretion? yea verily; for he is a God of judgment, and waiteth to be gracious: chap. 30.18. We are no longer plowed then needs: and whereas we may think our hearts soft enough; it may be so for some grace, but God hath seeds of all sorts to cast in, the wheat and the rie, &c. and that ground which is soft enough for one, is not for another. God (saith Chrysostom ) doth like a Lutanist, who will not let the strings be too slack, lest they mar the music: nor suffer them to be too hard-stretched or screwed up, lest they break.

Ver. 25. When he hath made plain] laid it level and equal.

Doth he not cast in the fitches] See on ver. 24.

The appointed barley] Hordeum signatum. Whatsoever is sealed with a seal, is excellent in its own kind: so are all God's sealed ones, Eph. 4.30.

Ver. 26. For his God doth instruct him to discretion] Being a better Tutor to him then any Varro de Agricultura, Cato dere Rustica, Hesiod in his works and days, Virgil's Georgicks, or, Geonomica Constantino inscripta. Some read the verse thus, And he beateth it out according to that course that his God teacheth him, that is, according to the judgment of right reason. God is to be praised for the art of Agriculture. How thankful were the poor Heathens to their Saturn, Triptolemus, Ceres, &c.

Ver. 27. For the fitches are not threshed out, &c.] So are God's visitations diversely dispensed: he proportioneth the burden to the back, and the stroke to the strength of him that beareth it, sparing his afflicted as a man spareth his Son that serveth him. Thus Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto death, but not unto death, and why, see Phil. 2.27. Some of the sweet smelling- Smyrnians were in prison ten days and no more, Rev. 2.10.

Ver. 28. Bread-corn is bruised] yet not mauled or marred. That of Ignatius is well known, Commolor dentibus ferarum ut purius Domino panis fiam.

Because he will not ever be threshing it] As he is not ever sowing mercies, so he will not always be inflicting miseries.

Nor bruise it with his horsemen] Or, with his horses-hoofs.

Ver. 29. This also cometh forth from the Lord] As doth likewise 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Jam. 1.17.

Which is wonderful] qui mirificus est consilio, & magnificus opere.

Chap. XXIX.

Ver. 1. WO to Ariel, to Ariel] i. e. to the brazen altar, Ezek. 43.15, 16. called here Ariel or God's lyon, because it seemed as a lyon to devour the sacrifices daily burnt upon it. Here it is put for the whole Temple, which together with the City wherein it stood, is threatened with destruction.

The City where David dwelt] Both Mount Moriah whereon stood the Temple, and Mount Zion whereon stood the Palace: both Church and State are menaced with Judgments Temporal in the eight first verses, and Spiritual in the eight next. The rest of the Chapter is no less Consolatory then this is Comminatory.

Add ye year to year] i. e. feed yourselves on with these vain hopes, that years shall run on always in the same manner: See 2 Pet. 2.4. Ezek. 12.22.

Let them kill sacrifices] and thereby think (but falsely and foolishly) to demerit God to themselves; as that Emperor did, who marching against his enemy, sacrificed and then said, Non sic deos coluimus ut ill nos vinceret, we have not so served God that he should serve us no better then to give our enemies the better of us: see Isa. 58.3. Jer. 7.21. Hos. 9.1.

Ver. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel] though a sacred place. Profligate Professors are the worse for their privileges. The Jew first, Rom. 2.9.

And it shall be unto me as Ariel] i. e. it shall be full of slain bodies, as the Altar is usually full of slaughtered beasts, and swimmeth as it were in blood. So Jer. 12.3. Isa. 34.6. Arias Montanus giveth this sense; Jerusalem which once was Ariel, that is, a strong lyon, shall now be Ariel, that is, a strong curse or a rain of malediction.

Ver. 3. And I will camp against thee round about] I will bring the woe of war upon thee; a woe that no words how wide soever can possibly express: see this accomplished, 2 King. 25.4.

And will lay seige] As the Captain General of the Chaldees.

Ver. 4. And thou shalt be brought down] from those lofty pinnacles of self exaltation, whereunto thy pride hath peirhed thee.

And speak out of the ground] humillime & submissime, thou shalt speak supplicatione, with a low voice, as broken men, who wast wont to face the heavens, and speak in spite of God and men, speak big words, bubbles of words: See Jer. 46.22.

And thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit] cujus vox est gracilis, flebilis, hiulca, confusa, gemebunda.

Out of the ground] as the Devil at Delphi did.

Ver. 5. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers] thy foreign Auxiliaries these shall do thee no good, but be blown away as with a whirlwind.

It shall be at an instant suddenly] The last siege and sack of Jerusalem, was so by a specialty, as is to be read in Josephus. And some Interpreters understand this whole Chapter of the times of the New Testament: because our Savior and St. Paul do cite some places herehence, and apply the same to those their times; not by way of Accommodation only, but as the proper and true sense of the text, as Mat. 15.8, 9. Rom. 11.8. 1 Cor. 1.19.

Ver. 6. Thou shalt be visited— with thunder and earth-quake, i. e. fragosis, repentinis, vehementibus, & immedicabilibus plagis, with rattling, sudden, violent and unmedicinable miseries and mischiefs: as if heaven and earth had conspired thine utter undoing. Some apply this to the prodigies that went before the last devastation of Jerusalem; whereof see Joseph. lib. 7. cap. 12.

Ver. 7. Shall be as the dream of a night-vision] Both in regard of thee to whom this siege and ruin shall happen beyond all thought, judgment and expectation; as also in respect of the Chaldees themselves, who will never be satisfied with tormenting thee, as ver. 8. and yet shall fail of what they hope for too. Spes mortalium sunt somnia vigilantium, saith Plato.

Ver. 8. It shall be as when] See on ver. 7.

Ver. 9. Stay yourselves and wonder] Sistite gradum, stand still, and stand amazed at this people's stupendous stupidity and desperate security. Piscator rendereth the Text thus; Cunctantur, itaque admiramini: deliciantur, itaque vociferamini. They delay (to return) therefore wonder ye at it: they sport at it, but cry ye out, as lamenting their folly, Ezek. 9.4. where the Original is very elegant. Some translate the words thus, Obstupefacite vos ipsi, & sitis stupidi, & excoecate vos ipsi & sitis coeci; stupefy yourselves and be stupid; blind yourselves and be blind: do so I say; for ye will do so undoubtedly. And here begin their spiritual miseries; see ver. 1. confer chap. 6.9, 10.

They are drunk, but not with wine] but yet with that which is much worse, viz, with a spirit of stupidity, ver. 10. they are not only drunk with a dry drunkenness, but deadly sick of a lethargy; being dulled in their understandings, lulled asleep in their sinful practices, ready to fly in the face of one that shall offer to awake them. Other drunkenness a man may sleep out, sleep himself sober, as Noah did: not so here, as Nazianzen well observeth upon this Text.

Ver. 10. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep.] By a judiciary hardness ne hath rolled a stone upon your hearts, and given you up to a reprobate sense: He hath cast you into a dead lethargy, a dedolent disposition; so that because of the blindness of their hearts, this people are past feeling, Eph. 4.18, 19. and because they have willfully winked, he hath even dashed out their eyes; bereaving them of the light against which they rebelled, Job 24.13. so that they have neither sight nor light, lemosorum instar oculos mentis concretos habent: they are miserably benighted.

The Prophets &c.] A blind Seer is a monster: how could these thus blindly led avoid the ditch of destruction?

Ver. 11. And the vision of all is become unto you &c.] The Scriptures were so to the Scribes and Elders of the people; who although when Herod asked them of the Messiah, they could give such descriptions of him as agreed to none but the Babe of Bethlehem, Mat. 2.5, 6. yet would they by no means be drawn to believe in his name. And the like woeful obstinacy is found in the Rabbins and other Jews to this day. The like spiritual judgment hath befallen the Papists also, both the learned and unlearned; and yet one of them sticks not to tell us to our heads, that our damnation is so plainly and plentifully set down in our own English Bibles, that no man needeth to doubt of it who hath but a book, and can read English. Thus, who so bold as blind Bayard? who so blind as those that will not see?

Ver. 12. And the book is delivered to one that is not learned] Heb. knoweth not to read. By the learned is meant, say some, the Rulers in Church and State: by the unlearned, the common people: all were in a pickle. Nicodemus had oft read in this our Prophet, in Ezekiel, and elsewhere, of Regeneration, though not under that term; but how little he understood of it, see Joh. 3. And what a buzzard is Bellarmine himself in some such fundamentals as whereof it is a shame for a very child to be ignorant? I must needs confess, said a learned Papist to the Bishop of Cavaillon, that I have often been at the schools of Sorbon in Paris, where I have heard the Disputations of the Divines, but yet I never learned so much as I have done by hearing these young children at Merindol posing one another before the Bishop about points of religion. The poor men of Lions in France were enlightened, when the great Doctors were blinded and besotted in their superstitious Tenets and practices.

Ver. 13. Because this people draweth near to me &c.] For their putid hypocrisy, and outsideness in God's service, they were given up by him to be further hardened by the Devil, and to have their necks possessed by an iron sinew; see the Note on Mat. 15.8.

Their fear towards me] see on Mat. 15.9.

Ver. 14. Therefore behold I do a marvelous work] sc. by infatuating these Masters in Israel, and bereaving their wise men of their wisdom: this was a greater Marvel then to take sight from the eye, whiteness from the swan, sweetness from sugar, &c.

For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish] And worthily, since they either hid their candle under a bushel, or else their learning hung in their light, whilst it better served them to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth, then their pride would suffer them once to yield and acknowledge it. This the Prophet speaketh of the Pharisaical and Rabbinical wisdom: and the Apostle fitly extendeth it to the wisdom of the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 1.19. calling both the Pharisees and Philosophers Princes of this world for their learning; but yet denying that they knew anything to any purpose at all, 1 Cor. 2.8.

Ver. 15. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide] that carry two faces under a hood, as all Formalists and double-minded persons do, desirous to deceive the world, and if it were possible, God himself also, with their pretences and professions, and to cozen him of heaven.

To hide their counsel] their cunning contrivances, ut ita libere in omnes veneres & scelera ruant.

From the Lord] which cannot be, because he is All-eye, and the searcher of hearts; he is intimo nostro intimior nobis, and will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, 1 Cor. 4, 5.

Their works are in the dark] Out of sight, but not out of the light of his countenance, Psal. 90.8. Deo obscura liquent, muta respondent, silentium confitetur, all things are naked and open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do, Heb. 4.13. Sin not therefore in hope of secrecy; Si non caste tamen caute, will prove too short a covering.

And say, who seeth us? and who knoweth us?] God doth, (to be sure) whoever doth not, hold this fast against that natural Atheism which is in us all; See Ezek. 9.9. Rom. 3.18. with the Note.

Ver. 16. Surely your turning of things upside down] your denying the Divine Providence and Omniscience, whereby ye go about to pervert the whole course of nature, and to put all into a confusion.

Shall be esteemed as the Potters clay] Shall be confuted by a very familiar comparison. Calvin readeth it thus, Shall be esteemed as the Potters clay: i. e. is as easily effected as he maketh a vessel at his pleasure.

For shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?] It should say so upon the matter, by denying his knowledge of it. The Watch-maker knoweth every pin and wheel in it; so the Heart-maker knoweth every turning and winding in it, were they more then they are.

Ver. 17. Is it yet not a very little while?] Nonne adhuc paululum paululum] or an hundred years hence the Gentiles shall be called by the preaching of the Apostles (for here beginneth the Consolatory part of this Chapter; see on ver. 1.) and that's but a very small time with God. He speeds away the generation, that he may finish the calling of his elect, and so put an end to All.

And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field] Heb. Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel, the wide world, the wild waste of the Gentiles (confer Isai. 22.15.) the Elect amongst them shall be made God's husbandry or vineyard, Eph. 2.12. Rom. 11.17 & e contra, Carmelus fiet Libanus.

The fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest] The obstinate Jews with their seeming fruitfulness shall be rejected. Lo here is a turning of things upside down, that you dream not of; this is that marvelous work, ver. 14.

Ver. 18. In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book] i. e. the deaf and blind Gentiles being by the preaching of the Gospel drawn out of darkness into God's marvelous light, shall see and hear that which eye never saw, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of any natural man to conceive, 1 Cor. 2.9. They shall first be enlightened, secondly, accheared, ver. 19. so Act. 13.48. Rom. 14.17.

The words of the book] the holy Scriptures, that book which the proud would not read, the ignorant could not, ver. 11. & 12.

Shall see out of obscurity] see their Savior, as Simeon, see that blisful vision, Eph. 1.18, 19. See Joh. 9.39.

Ver. 19. The meek also shall increase their Joy in the Lord] All sincere Converts, such especially as have mastered and mortified their unruly passions, and are cured of the Fret; these shall add Joy, these shall have Joy upon Joy, they shall over-abound exceedingly with Joy, 2 Cor. 7.4.

The poor amongst men] the poor in spirit. These shall greatly rejoice, both for the mercy of God to themselves, and for the Justice of God exercised upon others, ver. 20, 21.

Ver. 20. For the terrible one is brought to naught] This is part-matter of the Just man's joy: where observe the contrary Characters given to the godly and the wicked: those are said to be lowly, meek, poor in spirit: these to be tyrants, scorners, sedulous in sin, catch-poles, incorrigible, such as turn aside the Just, &c. ver. 20.21.

And all that watch for iniquity] Surgunt de nocte latrones: they also break their sleep to devise mischief, Psal. 36.4. Mic. 2.1. but they should watch for a better purpose, Mar. 13.37. as Seneca also could say, and Pliny, qui vitam mortalium vigiliam esse pronunciat; who calleth man's life a watch.

Ver. 21. That make a man an offender for a word] when he meant no hurt: or by perverting and misconstruing his speeches. Thus they sought to trap Christ in his speeches: and thus they dealt by many of the Martyrs and Confessors. To say, The Lord, and not Our Lord is called by Stephen Gardner, symbolum haereticorum, a note of an Heretic. Dr. Stories rule to know an heretic was, they will say, The Lord, and We praise God, and The living God.] Robert Cook was abjured for saying that the blessing with a shoo-sole was as good as the Bishops blessing: Another for saying, that Alms should not be given until it did sweat in a man's hand. Mrs. Catismore for saying that when men go to offer to images, they did it to show their new gear; and that images were but Carpenters Chips; and that folks go on pilgrimage more for the green way then for devotion. Philip Brasier for saying that when any miracle is done, the Priests do noint the images, and make men believe these images sweat in laboring for them, &c. Every day they wrest my words, saith David of his enemies, Psal. 56.5. As the spleen is subservient to the liver, to take from it only the most putrid and feculent blood: so do Detractors pick out the worst of everything, to lay it in a man's dish, or allege it against him.

And lay a snare for him that reproveth] See the Note on Amos 5.10. Freedom of speech used by the Waldenses in blaming and reproving the vices and errors of great ones, offecit ut plures nefariae affingerentur eis opiniones, à quibus omnino fuerant alieni, made them hardly thought and spoken of.

Ver. 22. Who redeemed Abraham] sc. out of his Idolatry; that pulled him as a brand out of Up of the Chaldees, Josh. 24.2, 3. The Rabbins say that his Father Terah was a maker and seller of Images.

Concerning the house of Jacob] i. e. The calling of the Jews, confer Rom. 11.25.

Ver. 23. The work of mine hands] Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, Eph. 2.10. and now sanctifying God's name in their hearts and lives, and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost. Thus, as it were, ex prof • sso, doth the Prophet Isaiah here handle the doctrine of Regeneration; which and other like places, whiles Nicodemus had not noted, he was worthily reproved, Joh. 3.

Ver. 24. They also that erred in spirit] Erroneous opinions, and muttering against Ministers are here instanced as two special Opposites to effectual Conversion. Those that relinquish not these two evils, are far enough from God's Kingdom; and yet nowadays nothing more ordinary: hence so few Converts, so many Apostates.

CHAP. XXX.

Ver. 1. WOe to the rebellious children] Vae filiis desertoribus, vel Apostatis: so he boldly calleth the Politicians of his time, the Counselors of State, Shebna and others who gave good Hezekiah ill counsel to send to Egypt for help when Sennacherib invaded him. Well might St. Paul say, Isaiah is very bold, Rom. 10.20. Consurgens enim, Proceres inquit, quid hoc rei est quod occeptatis? male omnino factum! vae vohis, vae reip. toti! such another bold Court-preacher was Elias, Amos, John the Baptist, Chrysostom, Latimer, Deering, &c. See Latimers letter to King Henry the eighth after the proclamation for abolishing English Books, Act. & Mon. fol 1591. where we may see and marvel at his great boldness and stoutness (saith Mr. Fox ) who (as yet being no Bishop, so freely and plainly, without all fear of death, adventuring his own life to discharge his Conscience so boldly, to so mighty a Prince, in such a dangerous case, against the Kings Law and proclamation, set out in such a terrible time) durst take upon him to write and to admonish, that which no Counselor durst once speak unto him in defense of Christ's Gospel? &c.

That take Counsel, but not of me] Though I am the Wonderful Counselor, chap. 9.6. and though they profess to be my children; but unruly rebellious ones; I must needs say, they are such as like petty-gods within themselves, run on of their own heads, and lean to their own understanding, Prov. 3.5. as if I were nothing to them, or as if Consilii satis est in me mihi were their Motto. See the like folly, Josh. 9.14.

That cover with a covering] But it will not reach, chap. 28.20. God will make the strongest sinew in the arm of flesh to crack, and the fairest blossoms of human Policies to wither.

That they may add sin to sin] i. e. Thereby adding sin to sin, as Devt. 29.19. Job 34.37. See the Notes there.

Ver. 2. That walk to go down into Egypt] This they were flatly forbidden to do. But State-policy doth sometimes carry it against express Scripture, to the formalizing and enervating of the power of truth, till at length they have left us an heartless and sapless Religion, as One well observeth. This is no thriving course certainly: here we have a dreadful Woe hanged at the heels of it. The Grecian Churches first called in the Turks to their help, who distressed them, and then, through fear of the Turks, Anno 1438. sent, and subjected themselves to the Bishop of Rome, that they might have the help of the Latin Churches: but shortly after they were destroyed, their Empire subdued, &c. teaching all others by their example, not to trust to carnal Combinations, not to seek the association of others in a sinful way.

Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame] They that consult not with God, consult shame to their own houses, Hab. 2.10. and because they despise him, they shall be lightly esteemed, 1 Sam. 2.30. When any came to Bacon and Burleigh, Q. Elizabeth's gravest Counselors, with a project or design of raising her revenue, or promoting her interest, they would ask him how much reputation would redound unto her by it? Moses, who was faithful in all God's house, had the like care of God's glory, Exod. 32.10, 12. and is therefore renowned to all posterity. But these Apostates in the Text, for carnal policy and contempt of God, are justly branded and threatened with disgrace and disappointment.

Ver. 4. For his Princes were at Zoan] where Pharaoh kept his Court, and Moses had done his Miracles.

And his Ambassadors came to Hanes] This was, saith Jerome, a famous City in the utmost part of Egypt, toward Ethiopia: Oecolampadius saith it lay beyond Egypt: so far did these men travel and trouble themselves in seeking foreign help, when they might have staid at home to better purpose.

Ver. 5. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them] Either could not or would not, for fear of provoking the Assyrian so potent and formidable a Prince. When Queen Elizabeth undertook to protect the Netherlanders against the Spaniard, the King of Sweden, hearing of it, said, That she had taken the Crown off her own head, and set it on the head of fortune.

Ver. 6. The burden] i. e. the gifts and presents wherewith the Hebrews beasts were laden to carry southward, to hire help from Egypt. A man's gift maketh room for him, Prov. 18.10. Philip was wont to say, that he doubted not of taking any town or tower, if he could but thrust into it an ass laden with Gold. But these Jewish Ambassadors lost both their labor and their treasures, carried upon the shoulders of many young Asses, and upon the bunches of Camels to a very great quantity. See what a present was sent to a poor Prophet, even of every good thing of Damascus forty Camels burden, 2 King. 8.9. and guess by that what a deal of wealth went now to Egypt to procure help.

Into the land of trouble and anguish] that great and terrible wilderness of Arabia, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, Deut. 8.15. and other fell-creatures not a few: Thorough that waste howling desert, Deut. 32.10. that lay between Judea and Egypt, travelled these beasts with their burdens; but all was labor in vain, and cost cast away, because God was not of the counsel.

Ver. 7. For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose] Heb. in vanity and inanity; such are creature-comforts if relied on: a very magnum nihil.

Therefore have I cried] but could not get audience.

Their strength is to sit still] to bide at home, and behold the salvation of the Lord; for the Prophet here seemeth to relate to that, Exod. 14.14. Contented godliness is great gain saith the Apostle, 1 Tim. 6.6. and quiet godliness is great strength, saith the Prophet here; Their strength is to fit still: as good sit still (saith our English proverb) as rise and fall. The word here rendered strength, is Rahab, which signifieth pride and power, and is sometimes put for Egypt herself, Psal. 86. Hence the Vulgar translation here is, Superbia tantum est, quiesce; Egypt is but a flask or a piece of proud flesh: she is all in ostentation, but will not answer thine expectation: therefore keep home, and be quiet. Others rendering the Text as we do, set this sense upon it; your Rahab or Egypt is to sit still, and to hold you content: by so doing you shall have an Egypt: whatsoever succor you might think to have that way, you shall have it (and better) this way, si tranquillo & sedato sitis animo, if you can compose yourselves and get a Sabbath of spirit.

Ver. 8. Now go write it before them in a table, and note it in a book] He had proclaimed it before, ver. 7. but with ill success: now he is commanded to commit it to writing, for a testimony against them to all posterity; viz. that they had been told in two words what were their best course to take for their own security and safeguard; but they thought it better to trot to Egypt, then to trust in God. Now therefore if they suffer and smart (as they must) for their contempt and contumacy, the blame must be laid upon themselves alone: who else can be faulted when as they were so fairly forewarned?

Ver. 9. That this is a rebellious people] Isaiae concepta verba praeit Deus; God dictateth to the Prophet Isaiah what very words he shall set down. So he did to Moses, to Jeremy, chap. 36. to Habakkuk, chap. 2. to John the Divine, Rev. 14.13. the whole Scripture was inspired by God; not for matter only, but for words also, 2 Tim. 3.16. and is therefore more then a bare commonitory, as Bellarmine calleth it, a kind of storehouse for advice in matters of Religion. We account them the surest Rule of life, the divine beam and most exact balance. But the Papists see well enough, that whiles the authority of the Scriptures standeth, the traditions of their Popes cannot be established; which they account the touchstone of doctrine, and foundation of faith. And in favor of their unwritten verities, as they call them, they tell us (but falsely) that Christ commanded his Apostles to preach, but not to write.

Lying children] and therefore not God's children, chap. 63.8.

Ver. 10. Which say to the Seers, See net, &c.] strang impudency! but in thus reciting their words, the Prophet rather expresseth their spirit then their speeches: And yet it may be, that the Politicians of those times blamed the Prophets, Isaiah and the rest, •••• ragmatical, for interposing and meddling in State-matters, and pressing the Law so strictly: since in cases of necessity as now it was, they must make bold to borrow a little Law of the holy one of Israel.

Speak unto us smooth things] Heb. smoothnesses, toothless truths, and such as may speak you No-medlers.

Ver. 11. Get ye out of the way] If that be the way which you so much insist upon, warp a little, remit of your rigor, Religiosum opertet esse, sed non religentem.

Cause the holy one of Israel to depart from us] Desinat ill nos per Prophet as obtundere, let's hear no more of him: molest us not with so many messages from him; see Mic. 2.6.

Ver. 12. Wherefore thus saith the holy one of Israel] The Prophet doth on purpose repeat this title, so much disrelished by them, to cross them. Ministers must not be men-pleasers.

Ver. 13. Therefore this iniquity shall be unto you] q. d. your Commonwealth is tumbling down apace, and ye are hastening the utter ruin of it; as if ye were ambitious of your own destruction, which will be as sudden, so total, ver. 14.

Ver. 14. And he shall break it as the breaking of a Potters vessel] Collige ex hoc loco, saith Oecolampadius: Gather we may from this text, that remediless ruin will befall such as resist the Holy Ghost, and sin against light.

Ver. 15. The Holy one of Israel] A style much in the mouths of God's Prophets in those times. But how great arrogancy is it in the Pope to take unto him the title of His Holiness?

In returning and rest shall ye be saved] This is the same in effect with that before; ver. 7. Preachers must be instant, stand to their work, and not be baffled out of their unpleasing messages. The Septuagint here have it, Si conversus ingemueris, tunc salvaberis.

Ver. 16. But ye said, No] we will not return or rest. This is a golden rule of life, In silentio & spe fortitudo vestra: but these refractaries would none of it: they knew a better way to work then all that came to. Politicians are like tumblers, that have their heads on the earth, and their heels against heaven. Cross-gtain'd they are for most part to all good.

For we will flee upon horses] whereof Egypt was full, and for which it was famous of old, and so is yet, for the Mamalukes horses especially.

Therefore shall ye fly] but in another sense, sc. fusi, fugati{que} ab host, with the enemy at your heels.

Ver. 17. One thousand shall flee] See Deut. 32.30. with the Note.

Untill ye be left at a beacon] Heb, a mast; i. e. a very poor few, or all alone, shred of all you had. This was fulfilled when Sennacherib wasted the Country, even to the very walls of Jerusalem. Paucitatem salvandorum nobis insinuate, saith Oecolamp.

Ver. 18. And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you] This it a wonderful condescension; i. e. God tarrieth looking for thee to show thee mercy, as Mr. Bradford rendereth it; if thou wert ripe, he is ready. But never think that he will lay cordials upon full and foul stomachs, faith another grave Divine; that he will scarf thy bones before they be set, and lap up thy sores before they be searched. God chooseth the fittest times to hear and help his suppliants, Isa. 49.8. with Psal. 69.13. opportunitatem opitulandi expectat. Be patient therefore brethren, until the coming of the Lord, Jam. 5.7. Let your equanimity, your longanimity be known to all men: the Lord is at hand, Phil. 4, 5.

And therefore will he be exalted] He will get up to his tribunal or throne of grace, that if ye repent ye may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need, Heb. 4.16.

For the Lord is a God of jugdement] i. e. He is a wise God that knoweth best when to deal forth his favors, and where to place his benefits.

Blessed are all they that wait for him] Wait his leisure, & non cerebri sui sectantur consilia, and seek not to get off by indirect courses. Those though they should die in a waiting condition, yet cannot but be happy, because God hath said here, Blessed are all they that wait for him.

Ver 19. For the people shall dwell in Zion, &c.] Or, For thou, the people of Zion that dwell in Jerusalem, shalt weep no more;

At the voice of thy cry] Thou shalt pray; thou shalt also hear the word of God, ver. 20.21. and reform thy life, ver. 22. so shall good be done unto thee.

When he shall hear it, he will answer thee] yea before, chap. 65.24. before thy prayer can get from thy heart to thy mouth, it is got as high as heaven.

Ver. 20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity] Though he hold you to hard-meat, and give you but prisoners pitrance, so much as will keep you alive only, and that you eat your meat with the peril of your lives; emendicato pane hic vivamus, saith Luther; in our Fathers house is bread, God's plenty.

Yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner] Non alis se induent, they shall not take wing and fly from thee. The Ministry is a sweet mercy, under what misery soever men do otherwise groan and labor. Corporeal wants are not much to be passed on, so the spiritual food be not wanting: a famine of the word is the greatest Judgment. Amos 8. when the Gospel was first preached, there was great scarcity of bodily food, Rev. 6.6. Act. 11.28. but that was scarce felt by those holy souls who did eat their meat, such as it was, with gladness and singleness of heart, accounting that bread and cheese with the Gospel was good cheer.

Thine eyes shall see thy Teachers] A description of holy hearers; their eyes are intent on the preachers, their ears arrect, their whole course conformed to the rule, quando lapsus tam in proclivi est, ver. 21. their dearest sins abandoned, ver. 22. Oh for such hearers in these days!

Ver. 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee] Quum à tergo tuo dicent, when they shall say behind thee, viz. thy teachers: a Metaphor say some, from Shepherds driving their sheep, and whistling them in, when ready to stray.

When ye turn to the right hand or to the left] Heb. when ye right-hand it. and when ye left-hand it. It is hard to hold the Kings high-way chalked out in the word, without swerving; to walk accurately, and as it were in a frame: yet this must be done, and all exorbitancies carefully shunned: Hereunto the word preached is a singular help: God by his spirit also sends for us in our out-strays, and sets us right again: there will be upon any miscarriage, Singultus cordis, an upbraiding or rising of heart, as tis termed by Abigail, 1 Sam. 25 31. the spirit will come in with his secret and sweet voice, both correcting and directing pro re nata.

Ver 22. Thou shalt defile also the covering] Thou shalt pollute the idols which thou hadst perfumed. Such a change is wrought in people by the Word preached, as is to be seen in all the Reformed Churches: Cavete ab idolis.

Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth] Ut mulierem laborantem ex mensibus: Piscat.

Thou shalt say unto them, Get thee hence] A page, Abi in malam crucem. Men should heartily hate sin by them committed: dealing by it, as Amnon did by Tamar: and as heartily desiring to forgo it as to have it forgiven: to part with it, as to have it pardoned: See Hos. 14.8. with the Notes.

Ver. 23. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed] Or, for thy seed, or to thy seed. A figurative Description of God's superabundant blessings, viz. the spiritual blessing, saith Diodate. This was fulfilled in the Letter, under Hezekiah and Ezra: in the figure, under Christ.

In that day shall thy Cattle feed] This branch properly belongeth to the next verse. The Bible was not distinguished into verses till of late years: and it is not done very skillfully in some places, as this for one. Versuum in Scriptures sectiones pio quidem, at tumultuario Roberti Stephani stud o excogitatae, imperitissime plerun{que} textum dissecant.

Verse 24. Shall eat clean provender] Such plenty there shall be of corn, that the Cattle shall have of the best threshed out and winnowed. The Vulgar Latin hath it commistum migma, whereby is understood diversity of grains mingled together, as in Horse-bread.

Verse 25. R • verse and streams of waters] To moisten them and make them fertile.

When the Towers fall] i. e. Sennacherib's great Princes, who were as Towers and Bulwarks.

Ver. 26. Moreover the light of the Moon, &c.] i. e. Very great shall be your joy upon that slaughter of Sennacherib's army: the Sun and Moon also seeming to rejoice with you by their extraordinary out-shinings.

In the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach] Sunt Allegoriae sive similitudines quae instituto mire convenient.

Verse 27. Behold the name of the Lord cometh from far] That is, an Angel cometh from heaven to destroy the Assyrians: Or the Name of the Lord, that is, Majestas Dei Nominatissimi, the glorious and renowned God himself.

Burning with his anger] Or, at the Nose, which burneth with a grievous flame.

His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue, &c.] Est pulchra hypotyposis irae Dei, a gallant description of God's anger; which yet is nothing else but his most just will to punish sin. These things and the like are spoken concerning God 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : and must be understood 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Rash anger as it dispossesseth a man of his soul, wit and reason: so it dis-figureth his body with fieriness of the eyes, inflammation of the face, stammering of the tongue, gnashing of the teeth, a very harsh and hateful intention of the voice, &c. Hence angry men were counseled, in the heat of their fit to look themselves in a glass, &c. God is here brought in as thus angry, more humano: Let us take heed how we provoke him to wrath:

Verse 28. And his breath as an overflowing stream] God can blow men to destruction, Job 4.9. for they are but dust-heaps: yea his breath as an irresistible torrent beareth all before it. The Prophet had compared God's fierce wrath to a raging fire; Now he further compareth it here 1. To a flood. 2. To a Fan. 3. To a Bridle.

To sift the Nations with a sive of vanity] i. e. Ad perdendas gentes in nihilum, as the Vulgar here hath it, to destroy the Nations, and to bring them to nothing.

Verse 29. Ye shall have a song] As, after the Passover eaten, they sang an hymn; so after the Assyrian destroyed, there shall be a different sound heard in their several camps. Apud utrosque audietur sonus, & strepitus, sed diversâ admodum ration: so was fulfilled that of our Prophet, chap. 65.13, 14.

As in the night when an holy solemnity is kept] Pintus saith, that the night before some solemn sacrifice, the Jews usually spent in jollity and singing. They still conclude their Sabbath with singing or caterwawling rather, which they continue as long as they can, for ease of the defunct fouls.

Ver. 30. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice] Hence some gather that Sennacherib's soldiers were destroyed by the Angel, not without a mighty storm and tempest accompanied with dreadful thunder and lightening: See the like threatened to all wicked ones, Job 27.20, 21, 22.

Ver. 31. Which smote with a rod] Isa. 10.14. Now he is broken in pieces with God's iron rod, Psal. 2.9. Justissimae talionis exemplum.

Ver. 32. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass] virga fundata, seu infixa, God's rod or staff, wherewith he beateth the Assyrians, shall pierce their flesh, and stick in it, make deep wails, yea stick in their very bowels, as Ehud’s dagger did in Eglons gutts. And this shall be done with little ado too.

It shall be with tabarets and harps] quisi per ludum, non tormentis bellicis.

And in battles of shaking will he fight with it] levi quadam velitatione bellica, by skirmishings only.

Ver. 33. For Tophet is ordained] Heb. Tophteh, which some derive of Pathah to entice or seduce, because hell draweth customers; and is called also Infernus ab inferendo, from the great resort that is to it. But others fetch the name from Toph a drum; because those idolaters who sacrificed their children to Moloch or Saturn, in the valley of Hinnom, struck up drums to drown the cries of those poor tortured children. Hence it is here used for hell; together with that eternity of extremity which the damned there endure: and this the Assyrians are here threatened with, yea their very King whose preservation from the stroke of the Angel was but a reservation to a worse mischief here and hereafter: For potentes potenter torquebuntur, great men, if not good, shall be greatly tormented; and the more they have of the fat of the earth, the more they are sure to fry in hell. Such therefore had need to add true grace to their high places; else they shall prove but as an high gibbet to bring them to more disgrace in this world, and torment in the next.

Of old] Heb. from yesterday. Hence some infer that hell-torments are always fresh and new; as if they had begun but yesterday: and every sacrifice there is salted with fire, Mar. 9.49. that is, it burneth but consumeth not; fire being of a burning, but salt of a preserving nature.

He hath made it deep and large] capacious enough to receive a world full of wicked ones, Psal. 9.17.

The pile thereof is fire and much wood] Hell-fire is no Metaphorical thing, but a material, true, proper, real, and corporeal fire, Mat. 18.9. & 25.41. Luk. 16.23. for vehemency of heat, saith Austin, it exceedeth ours, as far as our fire doth exceed fire painted on the wall. That Friar said too little of it, who said that one might feel it burn seven miles of. Aetna, Vesuvius, Pietra mala, (which is a mountain in the highest part of the Apennines that perpetually burneth) come not near it. Some gross Papists have imagined Aetna to be the place of Purgatory: Odilo Abbot of Cluniacum persuaded Pope John the nineteenth, that he had there seen the tormented souls wailing: whereupon that Pope appointed the Feast of All-souls.

The breath of the Lord as a stream of brimstone] This formidable fire then is fed with most tormenting temper, rivers of brimstone: and kindled with the breath of the Almighty, throughout all eternity. Simile quiddam videmus in thermis, ubi sulphureae scaturigines magno fremitu effervescunt: some resemblance hereof we have in the hot baths, &c.

CHAP. XXXI.

Ver. 1. WO to them that go down to Egypt for help] The Prophet saw them set upon it to send down to Egypt; he therefore addeth another Woe to such refractaries, and layeth before them more reasons to dissuade them from doing so: a good president for Preachers. Oecolampadius rendereth it, O descendentes, O ye that go down to Egypt, &c. Oh ye are a wise company of you, and full well ye have done it!

But they look not to the holy one of Israel] They trust not God at all, that not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock, and another foot upon a quick-sand, will sink and perish as certainly as he that stands with both feet on a quick-sand. See Psal. 62.2, 5, 6.

Ver. 2. Yet he also is wise] yea he is the only wise God, whatever the worlds wizards think of Him, or of themselves. They counted, the voyage down to Egypt the wisest way; and to rest altogether upon God, to be altogether impolitique, as the case now stood. Egypt also they knew was famous for wisdom, chap. 19.11, 12. but considered not how God had fooled them, Exod. 1. and taken those foxes in their own craft, 1 Cor. 3 19.

And will bring evil] To those evil-Counselors especially,

Ver. 3. Now the Egyptians are men and not God] Poets fain that in the Trojan war one god fought against another,

But these Jews could not imagine that the Egyptians in whom they confided, were fit matches for God, and able to deal with him. Who would set those briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together, chap. 27.4.

And their horses flesh and not spirit] God is Lord of hosts: and as the Rabbins well observe, he hath his Cavallery and his Infantry, or his horse and his foot: his upper forces and his lower, ready pressed. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels, Psal. 68.17. and what can the Egyptian horse do against such worthy warriors?

Ver. 4. Like as the Lion, and the young Lion] That they may trust in God, and not in the arm of flesh, the Prophet setteth before them under two fit similitudes the power of God, ver. 4. and the mercy of God, ver. 5. These are the Jachin and the Boaz, the two main pillars and supports of Trust in God. Procopius here noteth that the Lyon when he preyeth, first roareth so terribly, that he thereby amazeth both the cattle and their keepers, and then he falleth upon them and teareth them in pieces: so doth God first roar, that is, threaten by his Prophets, and then he destroyeth such as obstinate themselves in a sinful course.

Ver. 5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of Hosts] This is the second similitude: the Eagle, when she flieth highest of all from the nest, and seemeth to set herself among the clouds, still keeps her eye on her nest, so that if any come near her young ones to offend them, she makes all possible speed for their defense. Such an Eagle is Almighty God, Deut. 32.11. such a hen is Jesus Christ, Mat. 23.37. see Psal. 91.1, 2. The Church is God's nest; who dare meddle with it? Sennacherib had threatened to destroy nest and young ones together, because he had done so elsewhere, and none durst wag the wing at him, chap. 10.14. but he found it otherwise here, chap. 37.33.

Ver. 6. Turn ye unto him] Vos Apostatae Judaei. He runs far that never turneth again, we say: ye have revolted and run away from God with all your hearts, doing evil as ye could: O Turn again to Him, ex profundo imo{que} cord ad illum redite, let there be a proportion betwixt your sin and your repentance. Turn ye unto me, usque ad me, all out as far as to me, give not the half turn only; with all your heart, Joel 2.12. Take heed left there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

Ver. 7. For in that day] Sc. of your effectual conversion, chap. 30, 22. or, when the Assyrian shall assault you, then you shall see the vanity of your Idols, and of all human helps: so chap. 2.20.22.

Ver. 8. Then shall the Assyrian fall] fall in his forces, flee in his person: but evil shall hunt that violent man to destroy him, Psal. 140.11.

Not of a mighty man] or of a mean man, but of an Angel.

And his young men shall be discomfited] Heb. shall be unto melting, they shall melt away, as 1 Sam. 14.16. Vide hic saith à Lapide, see here how this world is nothing else but a perpetual ruin of all kinds and conditions of men.

Ver. 9. And he shall pass over to his stronghold] To Nineveh, never thinking himself safe till he come thither.

And his Princes shall be afraid of the Ensign] lifted up by God's Angels in the slaughter of their fellows.

Whose fire is in Zion] Who keep; house there: sumpta Metaphora à re Oeconomica: there he had his fire and his chimney, sc. in the Temple from whence also came this destruction to the enemy: Psal. 76.2, 3. with the Notes there.

CHAP. XXXII.

Ver. 1. BEhold a King] Hezekiah in the type, Christ in the Antytipe.

Shall reign in righteousness] Regiment without righteousness, is but robbery with authority.

And Princes shall rule in Judgment] Not as Shebna, and those other (placed in by wicked Ahaz ) do now, whiles the King is young, and not so well able to weed them out. Evil under-rulers are a great mischief to a State. Nerva was a good Emperor, and so was Aurelian; but so bought and sold by bad Counselors and inferior Magistrates, that the people were in a worse case then when they were under Nero. Hezekiah would see to his Princes that they were right: Christ hath none about him but such: All his people are righteous, Isa. 60.21. his Ministers and Officers especially. These are Princes in all lands, Psal. 45 16. yea they are Kings, because righteous ones. Mat. 13.17. compared with Luk. 10 24. Ministers especially are Plenipotentiaries under Christ, Mat. 18. John 20.

Ver. 2. And a man shall be] i. e. Each man of those forementioned Princes: Or, that man, viz. Hezekiah: how much more the man Christ Jesus shall be a comfort to distressed Consciences, an absolute and All sufficient Savior? such as his people may trust unto for safety here, and salvation hereafter.

Ver. 3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim] Or, shall not be closed: they shall not wink or be willfully ignorant, shutting the windows lest the light should come in, or seeking straws to put out their eyes withal, as Bernard expresseth it.

And the ears of them that hear shall hearken] they shall listen to Christ's word as for life; they shall draw up the ears of their souls to the ears of their bodies, that one found may pierce both: they shall hear what the Spirit speaketh to the Churches.

Ver. 4. The heart also of the rash] Heb. of the hasty ones, such as are headlong and inconsiderate; that weigh not things, that say not, What shall we do in the end thereof?

And the tongue of the stammerers] that once did but bungle at holy discourse, pronouncing as it were Sibboleth for Shibboleth, and marring a good tale in the telling; as not understanding either what they say, or whereof they affirm, 1 Tim. 1.7.

Shall be ready to speak plainly] shall be forward to speak fruitfully, having an holy dexterity therein. The Corinthians are commended for their utterance, 1 Cor. 1.5. they could express themselves firly, and they would do it freely.

To speak plainly] Heb. neat or clear words: A Metaphor from clear or fair weather.

Ver. 5. The vile person shall be no more called liberal] Benefici & magnifici Domini. That sapless fellow Nabal shall no more be called Nadib, that is, Bountiful benefactor, or Gracious Lord. Of Arch-bishop Bancroft was made this Distich,

In Ahaz his time the worst of men gat honors and offices. Hezekiah would look to that. Dignity shall henceforth wait upon desert, and flattery shall be utterly out of fashion and request at Court. Our old English Bibles have it thus, A niggard shall not be called a gentle, or gentleman.

Nor the Churl said to be bountiful] The Hold-fast, whose Logic is all little enough to conclude for himself, shall not be cleped a Magnifico. The Vulgar Latin hath it, Neque frandulentus appellabitur major.

Ver. 6. For the vile person will speak villainy] Why then should he be advanced to great places? why should he be smoothed and soothed up with high titles? The adversary and the enemy is this wicked Haman, said Esther, chap. 7.6. Before, some had styled him Noble, others Great, and some perhaps Virtuous; only Esther giveth him his own: Pessimus iste, That most wicked Haman: so, Go tell that fox, saith our Savior; and God shall smite thee thou whited wall, saith St. Paul to Ananias, &c. Nomina rebus consentanta imponentur] a spade shall be called a spade, a fool a fool; there shall not be nomen inant, crimen immane, sedes prima & vita ima, ingens authoritas & nutans stabilitas, &c.

And his heart will work iniquity] Exegefis flagitiosi, the true portraiture of an evil Magistrate: Judex locusta civitatis est malus.

Ver. 7. The instruments also of the chur are evil] There is an elegancy in the Original, cujus lepos in vertendo perit. By his instruments or vessels are meant, say some, his evil arts and deceits of all sorts. Or, as others hold, his under-Officers and Teasors.

Even when the needy speaketh right] right or wrong, he is sure to be undone: the doing of anything or of nothing he findeth alike dangerous.

Ver. 8. But the liberal deviseth liberal things] Beneficus beneficia cogitat: munificentias consultat, & consulit, in opposition to the churl, ver. 7. He is of a public spirit, and studyeth how and where to do most good. Augustus Caesar was for this called Pater patriae; Charles the great, Pater orbis. Claudian thus bespake Honorius,

And by liberal things shall be stand] One would think he should fall rather: but he knows what he does; and that not getting but giving, not hoarding, but distributing is the way to thrive.

Ver. 9. Rise up ye women that are at ease] Secure sedentes, ye Court-ladies whose pride hath brought on the wars, chap. 3.25. Or, ye hen hearted Jews, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Or, ye lesser Cities and villages of Judah, rise up and rouse up yourselves, ad exhibendum honorem verbo Dei, in honor of God's holy word, as Judge. 3.20.

Ver. 10. Many days and years shall ye be troubled] A just punishment of your former security, which usually ushereth in destruction. Days above a year your calamity shall last, by the invasion of the Assyrians, but not two full years; take that for your comfort.

For the Vintage shall fail] War makes woeful work and waste.

Ver. 11. Tremble ye women] Adhortatio ad poenitentiam, saith Hyperius an exhortation to repentance: not unlike that of St. James, chap. 4.9, 10. Afflict yourselves, and weep and mourn, let your laughter be turned into mourning, your Joy into heaviness.

Ver. 12. They shall mourn for the teats] That it, for their Corn and wine. The Heathens called Ceres their goddess of plenty, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Mammosam, fullteated: some sense it thus, Let them (infants) mourn for the teats, denied them in this day of humiliation, as Jon. 3.5, 6. or so dried up that there is no milk for them: Others render it, Beating upon their breasts, plangentes pectora palmis.

Ver. 13. Upon the Land of my people shall come up thorns] Here the Prophet proceedeth to denounce the destruction of the Land, that should one day come by the Babylonians: and yet he foretelleth, that afterwards God shall receive them into favor, and restore unto them such a Kingdom as wherein righteousness and peace shall meet and mutually salute.

In the Joyous City] Or, revelling City: see chap. 22.2, 13. Zeph. 2.15.

Ver. 14. The multitude of the City shall be left] for, the City shall be left of its multitude.

The Forts and Towers] Heb. Ophel and Bachan. The Hebrews tell us that these were two high Towers in Jerusalem: now they were to be dismantled, and lie wast.

Ver. 15. Untill the Spirit be poured upon us from on high] Donec Dominus dignabitur suum favorem & gratiam denuo nobis impertiri, Till God shall please once more to impart unto us his grace and favor. So he sets them no certain time of restauration: as desirous thereby to stir them up to pray continually, and to bring forth fruits worthy amendment of life. This effusion of the Spirit upon all flesh, Joel 2.28. (that is, of the best thing upon the basest) is a very great mercy.

And the wilderness be a fruitful field] Heb. a Carmel: Such a change worketh the Spirit of grace; it maketh barren hearts fruitful, and manifesteth hypocrites (whatever they seem) to be no better than wild trees that bear no good fruit.

Ver. 16. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness] In this and the next Verse, he setteth forth the sweet effects of God's Spirit in the Saints, in hypocrites also when once they come to be converted; these are Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost, as Rom. 14.17. By Righteousness and Judgment there is to be understood the Righteousness of Faith, together with all those good works the fruits thereof, Obedience I mean, which Luther was wont to call fidem incarnatam. Faith incarnate.

Ver. 17. And the work of Righteousness shall be Peace. Peace both of Country and of Conscience: none other but this last, can last forever.

Quietnesse and assurance forever] Such as the world giveth not, such as the wicked meddleth not with; the Cock on the dunghill knoweth not the worth of this jewel; it is the new name that none knoweth but he who hath it. Oh this blessed quietness and assurance forever, this boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of him, Eph. 3.12. having a full certainty, Luk. 1.4. yea a confident glorying and boasting, Rom. 5.3. so as to stand upon Interrogatories, 1 Pet. 3.21. such as are those, Rom. 8.35, 36, 37. and to have God to make answer, as Isa. 43.25.

Ver. 18. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation] Great peace have all those that love God's Law, and nothing shall offend them, Psal. 119.165. Peace shall be within their walls, and prosperity within their Palaces. From this and the next Verse one well gathereth, that when the heart lieth lowest, it lieth quietest: in loco humili humilis erit civitas, sc Dei.

Ver. 19. When it shall hail, coming down on the Forest] When reprobates (here compared to a Forest, or tall wood) shall be hail-beaten that is, grievously plagued, as those Egyptians once were, Exod. 9.22, 26. it shall be hail or well with the Elect: the Church, as a City that standeth in a low bottom, is secure and safe: her afflictions also working together for her good. In humbling her, God remembereth her; for his mercy endureth forever, Psal. 136.23.

Ver. 20. Blessed are ye that sow besides all waters] Conclusionem texit ipse Propheta. The Prophet concludeth with an exclamation, as admiring the happiness of such as should live till the Common-wealth should be thus restored: but especially when Christ should come in the power and purity of his Ordinances, filling his people with the fruits of Righteousness, and fattening them for the purpose with those waters of the Sanctuary, as Nile doth the land of Egypt, &c. Oh the heaped up happiness of such! O terque quaterque beati! Say, they sow in tears, yet they shall reap in joy, Psal. 126.5. say, they send thither the feet of the Ox and the Ass, those laborious and useful creatures to ear the ground and fit it for receipt of seed, Psal. 144.14. they shall surely eat the fruit of their labors, Psal. 128.2. They shall reap in due time if they faint not, Gal. 6.9. His faecunda sine dubio messis indulgantiae orietur, saith Arnobius: their labor cannot be in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. 15. ult.

CHAP. XXXIII.

Ver. 1. WOe to thee that spoilest] Minatur vastationem vastatori Sennacherib, vel Antichristo, quem praesignat; Sennacherib and Antichrist are here threatened.

And thou wast not spoiled] Thou abusest thy present peace, and the riches of God's goodness and patience toward thee, to fall foul upon others unprovoked.

And dealest treacherously] This, some understand of Sennacherib, See 2 King. 18.14, 17. others of Shebna and other Traitours in Jerusalem, who dealt underhand with the enemy against Hezekiah, and might haply meet with the like meed, as he did who betrayed the Rhodes to the Turks, who flayed him and salted him: Or at least as Charles the fourths Agents did from Philip Duke of Austria, who paid them the sum he promised them, but in counterfeit money, saying that false coin is good enough for such false knaves as they had shown themselves.

Thou shalt be spoiled] Of Kingdom, and life, and all, by thy treacherous sons, Chap. 37, 38.

See Judge. 7.11. with the Note, and fear thou God, who loveth to retaliate, to pay wicked men home in their own coin, to fill them with their own ways, to overshoot them in their own bow, &c. Vae ergo vastatoribus: one time or other God will be even with such.

Ver. 2. O Lord, be gracious unto us] Brevicula sed pulchra precatio, a short but sweet prayer of the Prophet; teaching thereby the people to put the promise in suit, and to do it effectually: using a throng of strong arguments, as here is Much in few.

Be thou their arm] Here the Church seemeth to pray for her children, as they before had prayed for her. Plena est affectibus haec precatio.

Every morning] Heb. In the mornings] That is, speedily, seasonably, continually, and for Christ's sake, Voce enim matutinis allusum ad juge sacrificium, Exod. 29.

Ver. 3. At the noise of the tumult the people fled] i. e. The Assyrian Soldiers shall flee at the coming of the Angel with a hurry noise in the air for greater terror: but he shall give them their pasport. This their confidence was the fruit of prayer.

At the lifting up of thyself] If God do but arise only, his enemies shall be scattered; and all that hate him shall flee before him, Psal. 68.1. See the Note there.

Ver. 4. And your spoils shall be gathered] The spoil of the Assyrians Camp now become yours, as 1 Sam. 30.20.

Like the gathering of Catterpillars] Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repent disperguntur, which are soon rid, when men set themselves to destroy them.

Ver. 5. The Lord is exalted] He hath made him a name, gained abundance of honor.

For he dwelleth on high] Whence he can pour down plagues at his pleasure on his proud enemies, and fill Zion with Judgment and Righteousness.

Ver. 6. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times] Thy times O Hezekiah: but especially, O Christ: Or, the stability of thy times and strong safeguard shall thy wisdom and knowledge be: By his knowledge, that is, by faith in him, shall my righteous servant (Jesus Christ) justify many, Chap. 53.11. but these are also sanctified by him: the fear of the Lord is their treasure, they hold faith and a good conscience, which some having put away, concerning faith, have made shipwreck, 1 Tim. 1.19. See the Note there.

The fear of the Lord is his Treasure] The spirit of this holy fear rested upon Christ, chap. 11.2. and good Hezekiah was eminent for it, not for civil prudence only: this was flos regis the fairest flower in all his garland: this is solidissima regiae politiae basis, as one saith, the best policy, and the way to wealth.

Ver. 7. Behold their valiant ones] or their Heralds, Messengers, Heb. Hen Erelam Behold their Erel, or their Ariel chap. 29.1, 2. that is, their Altar, shall they (i. e. the Assyrians) cry without, sc. in mockery, twitting the Jews with their Sacrifices as no way profitable to them. So the profane Papists, when they murdered the poor Protestants at Orleans, sang in scorn, Judge and revenge my cause O Lord: Others, Have mercy on us Lord. And when in the late persecution in Bohemia divers godly Nobles and Citizens were carried to prison in Prague, the Papists insultingly cried after them, Why do ye not now sing The Lord reigneth?

The Ambassadors of peace] thar went for peace (having for their Symbol Pacem te poscimus omnes) but could not effect it.

Weep bitterly] so that they might be heard before they entered the City. Vide quam vivide, see here how lively things are set forth, and what a lamentable report these Ambassadors make of the state of the country, and the present danger of losing all.

Ver. 8. The highways lie waste] and by-ways are more frequented, through fear of the enemy.

He hath broken the Covenant] Irritum factum est pactum. He took the money sent him, but comes on nevertheless, though he had sworn the contrary, 2 King. 18.14, 17. It is said of the Turks at this day, that they keep their leagues (which serve indeed but as snares to entangle other Princes in) no longer then standeth with their own profit. Their Maxim is, There is no faith to be kept with dogs; whereby they mean Christians: as the Papists also say, There is no faith to be kept with Heretics, whereby they mean Protestants: But why kept not Uladislaus King of Hungary his Faith better with Amurath the great Turk? or our Henry the third with his Barons, by Papal dispensation? Vah scelus! vae perjuris.

He hath despised the Cities] and will not take them for his Subjects: he scorneth the motion.

He regardeth no man] He vilipendeth and slighteth all Jewels generally.

Ver. 9. The earth mourneth and langisheth] Or the land luget & languet: thus they go on in their doleful relation: Miserrima sunt omnia, atque miseranda. What sad work hath Antichrist made of late years in the Christian world? what desolations in all parts?

Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down, Sharon is like a wilderness] East, West, North, and South of the Land are laid wast by the enemy and the avenger: that boar out of the wood, that bear out of the Forest.

Ver. 10. Now will I rise, saith the Lord, now] Now, now, now, Emphasin habet ingeminatio vocis Nunc: This now, thrice repeated, importeth both the opportunity of time, and God's readiness to relieve. Cum duplicantur lateres, venit Moses, When things are at worst, they will mend, we say.

Now will I lift up myself] who have hitherto been held an underling; and inferior to the enemy.

Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble] Gravidi estis stramine, parietis stipulam; So did Pharaoh, Antiochus, Julian, &c. so doth Antichrist and his Champions, notwithstanding his bloody alarms to them; such as was that sounded out in the year 1582.

And that other to the King of France not many years since; exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes (the very words of the Popes Bull) that had any stable-room in France.

Your breath as fire shall devour you] shall blow up the fire that shall consume your chaff and stubble: Your iniquity shall be your ruin Ezek. 18.38. Turdus sibi malum cacat. Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti, this is a sword of thine own making, said the Soldier to Marius, when he ran him thorough with it.

Ver. 12. And the people shall be as the burning of lime] As hard chalk-stones which when burnt to make lime, crumble to crattle.

As thorns cut up] Sear-thorns, that crackle under a pot, and are soon extinct. The Hebrews tell us, that the Assyrian Soldiers were burnt by the Angel with a secret fire: that is, with the pestilence as Berosus cited by Josephus witnesseth: and our Prophet hinteth as much in many passages.

Ver. 13. Hear ye that are afar of] Longinqui, propinqui. God's great works are to be noted and noticed by all. The Egyptians heard of what God had done to the Assyrian Army; and memorized it by a monument, as Herodotus relateth.

Ver. 14. The sinners in Zion are afraid] At the invasion of the Assyrian: those that formerly fleared and jeered God's Prophets and their menaces, now fear, and are crest fallen, ready to run into an anger-hole, as we say. It is as natural for guilt to breed fear and disquiet, as for putrid matter to breed vermin. Sinners (especially those in Zion where they might be better, and are therefore the worse a great deal) have galled consciences, and want faith to fortify the • r hearts against the fear of death or danger; and hence those pitiful perplexities and convulsions of soul in the evil day: what wonder if when they see all on fire, they ring their Bells backwards? if instead of mourning for their sins and making peace with God (as they ought to do) they mutter and growl against him (as these hypocrites do) for his over-great severity?

Fearfulnesse hath surprised the hypocrites] The Jews were an hypocritical Nation, chap. 9. Epiphanius when he left Constantinople, said that he left three great things behind him, viz. a great City, a great Palace, & ingentem hypocrisin, and a great deal of hypocrisy. That facies hypocritic] of our Nation is that facies Hippocratica which Physicians speak of, of a spent dying man, that looks gastly: it is a mortal complexion, a sad prognistick. Oh that these frozen hearts of ours, since they must have a thew or it will be worse, might melt here, and be unfoldered from hypocrisy, that we might be saved, though so as by fire, rather then to be reserved to be thawed with everlasting burnings, the portion of hypocrites, Matth. 24. So might we dwell with everlasting burnings, that is, within the knowledge of God's terrible presence and sight of his great Judgments, whereof the hypocrites of the world are afraid, because this fire melteth off their paint, and threateneth to wash off their varnish with rivers of brimstone.

Who among us shall dwell] Or, who of us can but fear a devouring fire?

Ver. 15. He that walketh righteously] q. d. Though you cannot, yet there are those that can: viz. those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Surely to such there is no one condemnation, Rom. 8.1. Christ standeth as a screen betwixt the wrath of God and his Elect, for whose sake also this Paschal Lamb was once for all roasted in the fire of his fathers indignation, whereby they are not only delivered from the wrath to come, 1 Thes. 1.10. but also have boldness and access with confidence by the Faith of him, Eph. 3.12. & 2.18.

He that walketh righteously] Through whose whole life righteousness runneth as the woof doth through the web, as the blood doth through the veins, &c.

And speaketh uprightly] Heb. Evennesses, non blasphema, impudica, fescennina, not the language of Hell but of Canaan, see Jam. 3.2.

That despiseth the gain of oppressions] The Mammon of iniquity, wealth gotten by force or fraud. A public person (especially) as he should have nothing to lose, so he should have nothing to get: he should be above all price or sale, Nec prece nec precio should be his Motto.

That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes] He doth not only not do wrong, but not receive a gift, whereby he may be engaged or inclined to do it.

That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood] He not only not sheddeth it, but refuseth to hear any communing about such a business.

That shutteth his eyes from seeing of evil] Lest his heart should thereby be betrayed: for vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via, could an Heathen say: By the eyes evil getteth into the heart: by looking cometh lusting: and millions die of the wound in the eye.

Ver. 16. He shall dwell on high] Extra jactum, out of the gun-shot, the reach of evils and enemies. Or in heaven shall he dwell with God in safety: who is to the wicked a consuming fire, ver. 14.

His place of defense shall be the munitions of Rocks] Rocks within Rocks; Rocks beneath, above Rocks: Rocks so deep no Pioner can undermine them, so thick no Canon can pierce them, so high no Ladder can scale them, &c.

Bread shall be given him, his waters shall not fail] He shall have all that heart can wish, or need require.

Ver. 17. Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty] Hezekiah in his pristine state and luster: yea more glorious and renowned then ever before. Jerome understandeth it of Christ reigning gloriously in Heaven, and the Saints looking from thence should see the earth a far off as little and contemptible, and say,

Augustine wished that he might have seen these three things, Romam in flour, Paulum in ore, Christum in corpore, Rome in the flourish, Paul in the pulpit, Christ in the body of flesh. Venerable Bede came after him, and wished rather that he might see his King Christ in his beauty, as he is now at the right-hand of his Father far outshining the brightest Cherub in Heaven.

Ver. 18. Thine hearts shall meditate terror] But thou shalt now think of it as waters that are past, calling to mind what speeches amongst those late distractions had fallen from thee.

Where is the Scribe? Or the Muster-master of the Assyrian Army? Verba sunt insultantium & exsultantium, saith Piscator, they are the words of God's people insulting over the enemy now overthrown and dispersed. See the like done by the Apostle, 1 Cor. 1.10.

Ver. 19. Thou shalt not see a fierce people] Or, Look not upon a fierce people, or, as some render it, a barbarous people, of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand (such as are most of the School-men; seven years said one, are but sufficient to understand the barbarisms of Scotus upon Lombard. ) but rather look upon Zion.

Ver. 20. Look upon Zion the City of our Solemnities] where God is daily and duly served, and is therefore her shield and exceeding great reward, Gen. 17.1. If that Heathen King, hearing of his enemies approach whilst he was sacrificing, could answer 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I am serving my God's, and therefore fear not their force: how much more cause had Zion to be confident, and to sing as Psal. 46.1, 2, 3, &c. See Psal. 48.12, 13.

Ver. 21. But there the glorious Lord will be] The Church must needs be invincible, because the glorious Lord is her Champion, or will do gallantly for us, as the words may be rendered. Her name is Jehovah-Shammah, Ezek. 48.35. The Lord is there, and how many reckon we him at? He alone is a potent Army, Isa. 52.12.

A place of broad rivers and Streams] Such as Mesopotamia was, or the Garden of God. Or, he shall be instead of broad rivers, &c. even a river that shall not be drawn dry or sucked out (as Euphrates was by Cyrus when he took Babylon ) a river that shall not fail the dwellers by (as Nile, once at least, did Egypt, for nine years together;

Wherein shall go no gally — nor gallant ship] i. e. None of the enemies navies shall annoy it. England had the experience of this in that famous 88. when the Seas were turreted with such a Navy of Ships, as her swelling waves could hardly be seen: and the Flags, Streamers and Ensigns so spread in the wind, that they seemed to darken even the Sun: but the glorious God defeated them.

Ver. 22. For the Lord is our Judge] Ours in all relations, therefore we shall not die or do amiss. See Habak. 1.12. with the Note: Our Judge will do us right. Our Law-giver will give us the best direction, (See Nehem. 9.13. with the Note) Our King will see to our safety. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King, Psal. 149.2.

Ver. 23. Thy Tacklings are loosed] Thy shipping O Assyrian, is wracked and dissipated. Ubi per funes tentoria; per vela, vexilla intelliguntur. The Prophet elegantly expresseth the matter in Sea-men's terms.

Ver. 24. And the inhabitant shall not say I am sick] Sc. by reason of the long and straight seige. None shall be so lame, ver. 23. or sick and in pain (as here) but that he shall be in case to pursue and prey upon the enemies.

The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity] Jehovah Rophe, or the Physician shall heal them on both sides, make them whole every whit. This is a most sweet Promise, and highly to be prized by all that are heirs of the Promises.

CHAP. XXXIV.

Ver. 1. COme near ye Nations] In this Chapter and the next, the Prophet, for the terror of the wicked, and comfort of the godly, summeth up what he had said before concerning the destruction of the enemies, and the restauration of the Church. Eusebius (with many other Ancients) will have this Chapter to be understood of the end of the world and the last judgment: and further saith that Plato hath taken this place of the Prophet Isaiah into his writings, and made it his own, Litera vero hujus vaticinii de extremo judicio non loquitur: but this cannot be the literal sense of the text, saith Scultetus. The Jew-Doctors will needs understand these two Chapters as a Prophecy of their return into the holy land, when once Idumea shall be destroyed: and for this they allege, Lam. 4.22. which yet proveth it not.

Ver. 2. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations] Is or shall be upon all the Churches enemies, whether of former or latter time; even his boiling wrath, as the Word signifieth.

He hath utterly destroyed them] Or, he will make an Anathema of them, as ver. 5. the people of my curse, devoted to destruction.

Ver, 3. Their slain also shall be cast out) Buried with the burial of an Ass, Jer. 22.19. which Cicero somewhere calleth sepulturam insepultam: This may also befall such as for God's sake are slain all the day long: but to them it is no such judgment; Caelo tegitur qui caret urna.

And their stink shall come up out of their carcasses] They stink alive as Goats, as whited Tombes, as walking dunghills: and now their dead carcasses also shall stink above-ground.

And the mountains shall be melted with their blood] Juste omnino, because they moistened the earth with the blood of God's people, and dunged the land with their dead carcasses.

Ver. 4. And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved] Inusitati supplicii atrocitas sic designatur. So great shall be the slaughter of the Nations, that the heavenly bodies shall seem to be sensible of it, and amazed at it, and the whole heaven to be rolled together as a scroll, lest it should be forced to behold it. In a bloody fight between Amurath the third, King of Turks, and Lazarus Despot of Servia, many thousands fell on both sides: the Turkish Histories, to express the terror of the day, vainly say, that the Angels in Heaven amazed with that hideous noise, for that time forgot the heavenly hymns wherewith they always glorify God.

Ver. 5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven] Heb. drunk or drenched, i. e. In caelo decretum est ut inebrietur; whence-soever the sword comes, it is bathed in Heaven, hath its commission from God, Jer. 47.6, 7. See Jer. 46.9. and as a drunken man reeleth to and fro: so the sword, when once in commission, roveth up and down, and rideth circuit usually, Ezek. 14.17.

Behold it shall come down upon Idumea] i e. Upon the Edomites who were assidui & acerrimi hosts Judaeorum, bitter enemies to the Jews, though both Nations came of Isaac, both were circumcised: so are now the Romish Edomites to the Churches of Christ, with whose blood they are red all over, Rev. 17. The Hebrews understand here by Idumea, Rome.

Ver. 6. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, &c.] That is, it maketh clean work: as the blood and fat were in sacrifices consumed, Levite. 1.16, 17. and this execution was no less pleasing to God than some solemn sacrifice.

For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah] The Metropolis of Idumea: Ptolemy calleth it Botsra. And it prefigured Rome, saith Piscator; the chief City and seat of Antichrists Kingdom.

Ver. 7. And the Unicornes shall come down] Monocerotes, qui interimi possunt, capi non possunt, creatures of untameable fierceness: or Rhinocerotes, as the Margent hath it: he meaneth the Great ones.

Ver. 8. For the controversy of Zion] i. e. Of the Church both Jewish and Christian, saith Piscator: Confer, Rev. 18.2.

Ver. 9. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch] Like the Lake of Sodom which is near to Idumea; and whereof Josephus writeth, that an Ox, having all his legs bound, will not sink into it, the water is so thick and pitchy. Strabo, though a stranger to this Prophecy, attesteth the accomplishment of it. Lyra saith, that in some part of Idumea there is still ascending a smoke of fire and brimstone, as out of Mount Aetna in Sicily. And Hyperius thinketh that the Edomites are here further threatened with hell-torments. It should seem so by the next words.

Ver. 10. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke of it shall go up forever] See Revel. 14.11. and 18.18. and 19.3. And observe how John the Divine picks out the choicest passages of the Old Testament, and polisheth therewith his Revelation.

None shall pass thorough it forever] i. e. Incolendi animo, to dwell there: passengers did pass through it, and wondered at God's dreadful judgments thereon, Jer. 49.17.

Ver. 11. The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it] God cannot satisfy himself in saying what he will do to the Edomites, because they had dealt by revenge, and had taken vengeance with a despightful heart to destroy the Church, for the old Satanical hatred, as Ezek 25.15. He will turn in those animalia faeda, fera & terribelia, to dwell in their land; whereby is noted extreme devastation, which is here in many exquisite words (more propemodum Poetico) described.

And he shall stretch out upon it] So that men shall in vain think of rebuilding and repeopling it.

Ver. 12. They shall call the Nobles thereof to the Kingdom] The Venetians have Magistrates called Pregadi; because at first men were prayed to take the office, and to help to govern the State: but here were none left for such a purpose.

Ver. 13. A Court for Owls] Or, Ostritches: see on ver. 11.

Ver. 14. The wild beasts of the desert] Heb. Ziim & Jiim: See Chap. 12.21, 22. where these monstrous creatures are said to dance: whence Basil noteth, that men learned of devils to dance: And another saith, that a dance is a circle; the center whereof is the devil, the circumference, all his Angels.

And the Satyr shall cry to his fellow] Heb. the rough or hairy one. Chaldee. Daemones inter se colludent, the devils shall play among themselves, Satan is a rough harsh spirit, so are his, See Levite. 17.7.

Ver. 15. There shall the great Owl make her nest] Heb. Kippoz. The Hebrews themselves agree not what creatures these are here mentioned: so far are they fallen from the knowledge of the Scripture: Their tale about Lilits (once Adams first wife, but now a scriech-Owl or an evil spirit) is not worthy the mentioning.

Ver. 16. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord] Sciscitamini ex libro Domini, the Holy Bible: which Bishop Bonneri Chaplain called in scorn of the Martyrs, Your little pretty God's-book: Another Bohemian blasphemer for Biblia called it Vitlia: which in the Bohemian language signifieth Vomit. But let us search the Scriptures, (and particularly this Prophecy commanded to be written in a book, chap. 30.8.) and compare the truth of these predictions with the events.

None shall want her mate] Some write of the Asp, he never wandreth alone without his companion; and none of these birds of desolation want their mate: so craft and cruelty do ever go together in the Churches enemies.

Ver. 17. And he hath cast the lot for them] i. e. For those creatures of prey aforementioned.

From generation] i. e. For many generations.

CHAP. XXXV.

Ver. 1. THe wilderness, and the solitary place shall be glad for them] The Edomites, and other enemies have had their part: It hath been sufficiently said, Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. And now the Prophet is bidden to say to the Righteous (to tell him so from the Lord) that it shall be well with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him, Isa. 3.10, 11. The wilderness and the desert, that is, the poor people of God that have been oppressed and slighted in this world, shall be restored into a happy and flourishing estate: the Church shall have her Halcyons under Hezekiah, but especially under Christ, She shall have it both in temporals and spirituals, ver. 2.

Ver. 2. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel, &c.] Outward blessings shall be heaped upon God's people: even all that heart can wish, or need require.

They shall see the glory of the Lord] Spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus shall be conferred upon them also: even every good gift and perfect giving from the Father of lights,

Ver. 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands] q. d. Chear up, my hearts, be of good courage, and God shall strengthen your hearts, all ye that hope in the Lord. Comfort ye also one another with these words, and build up each other on your most holy Faith; and I will show you how, and in what terms you shall do it.

Ver. 4. Say to them that are of a fearful heart] Inconsideratis; to them that consider not the Promises, but forget the consolations, Heb. 12.5. so poring upon their sins, that they see not their Savior.

Behold your God will come with vengeance] He will tread Satan under your feet shortly, Rom. 16.20.

Even your God with a recompense] Diabolo par pari retribuet Christus, saith Jerome: Christ will be even with the devil: He had got one of Christ's Disciples (Judas:) and (to cry quittance) Christ gat one of his, Paul. Cyprian was wont thus to comfort his hearers, Veniet Antichristus, sed superveniet Christus, Antichrist will come, but Christ will not be long behind him.

Ver. 5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened] This was fulfilled corporally in cures wrought by Christ, Mat. 4.27. and 11.5. &c. and spiritually in the preaching of the Gospel by the efficacy of his spirit, Act. 26.18. and 16.14. Apollonius Tyanaeus could never do such miracles, nor any other. This showeth that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah.

Ver. 6. Then shall the lame man leap as an heart] As that impotent man did, Act. 3.8. and those Loripedes, Heb. 12.13.

And the tongue of the dumb sing] As good old Zacharias' did, Luk. 1. Not so much for his speech restored, or his son received, as for his Savior now at hand: and as did those that sang, He hath done all things well; he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, Mac. 7.37. yea to utter the great things of God, and to speak good of his name. Lo here, saith Luther, miracles to confirm the Gospel to be of God, against those that deride his Ministers, saying, They cannot make so much as a lame horse sound: For all they in whose hearts it taketh effect, of blind are made to see, of deaf to hear, of lame to go, and of dumb to speak.

For in the wilderness shall waters break out] This and that which followeth in the next verse, Junius maketh to be the matter of their song, viz. the grace of God abundantly communicated to his Church. See Joh. 7.38, 39. The Jews dream that when their Messiah cometh, the red sea shall again be divided and the rock cloven, much water gushing out, &c. Thus they work themselves into the fools Paradise of a sublime dotage, by misunderstanding this text.

Ver. 7. And the parched ground, &c.] See on ver. 6.

Ver. 8. And an high-way shall be there] i. e. In the Church of Christ: and a way] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Kings high-way to Heaven, arcta & ampla: latet & lucet.

The way of holiness] Or, the way of the Sanctuary.

But it shall be for those] Those Beneficiaries of Christ mentioned ver. 5, 6. the ransomed of the Lord, ver. 10.

The wayfaring men though fools] Simple Christians.

Shall not err] Misse their way, or miscarry in it.

Ver. 9. No Lyon shall be there] The Devil (that roaring Lyon) nor his actuaries, tyrants and heretics, shall haunt these holy high-ways: God will preserve his people from all deveratory evils (as Tertullian calleth them) 2 Thes. 3.3. that wicked one (the devil) shall not once touch them, 1 John 5.18. so as to thrust his deadly sting into them.

Ver. 10. And the ransomed of the Lord] Those happy ones, Deut. 33.29.

Shall return] To the Lord from whom they had deeply revolted.

With songs] As they were wont to do in their sacred solemnities.

And everlasting joy upon their heads] As an unfadable crown, 1 Pet. 1.5. and 5. 4. they shall pass from the jaws of death to the joys of heaven.

Joy and gladness] i. e. Outward and inward, say some.

And sorrow, and sighing] Their joys shall be sincere, and constant,

CHAP. XXXVI. and CHAP. XXXVII.

FOr these two Chapters, see 2 King. 18, and 19. with the Notes. See also 2 Chron. 32.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

Ver. 1. IN those days was Hezekiah sick] See 2 King. 20.1, 2. 2 Chron. 32.24. with the Notes.

Ver. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. See as before.

Ver. 9. The writing of Hezekiah] Scriptum confessionis, A song of thanksgiving set forth by Hezekiah, and here inserted by the Prophet Isaiah, as a public instrument, and lasting monument of God's great goodness to him in his late recovery: such a thankful man is worth his weight in the gold of Ophir. Heathens in such a case were wont to hang up tables in the Temples of their gods. Papists build Chapels, erect Altars, hang up Memories (as they call them) and vow presents to their he-Saints and she Saints. But amongst us (alas) it is according to the Italian Proverb, When the disease is once removed, God is utterly defrauded,

We may be wondered at, not without cause, as the Emperor Constantine marvelled at his people that were newly become Christians: I marvel, said he, how it comes to pass, that many of my people are worse now than before they were Christians.

Ver. 10. I said in the cutting off of my days] When I looked upon myself as a dead man. Here he telleth us what passed betwixt God and him whilst he lay desperately sick. The utmost of a danger escaped is to be recognized and recorded: This will both instruct the judgment, enlarge the heart, and open the mouth.

I shall go to the gates of the grave] He maketh the grave to have gates: either by a poetical fiction, or else by a proverbial expression. So the gates of death, Psal. 9. 13. & 107.18. See 1 Sam. 2.6.

I am deprived of the residue of my years] sc. that I might have lived in a natural course. Vox baec queritantis quidem est: Quis enim vult mori? prorsus nemo. Nature shunneth death as its slaughter-man.

Ver. 11. I said I shall not see the Lord] In the glass of his Ordinances; his love whereunto made Hezekiah so loath to depart: as also his delight in the Communion of Saints, and his desire to do more good amongst them on all occasions. This made good Paul in a strait also. Philip. 1.23, 24. I loved the man (said Theodesius concerning Ambrose ) for that when he died, he was more solicitous of the Churches welfare then of his own.

Even the Lord] Non videbo Jah Jah. I shall not see the Lord of the Lord, Deum Dei, vel Deum de Deo. That is, Christ in the flesh, as I had well hoped to have done: so some sense it. Others say He redoubleth the word Jah to express his ardent affection to God's service, and to intimate his desire of life to that purpose, Ver. 22.

Ver. 12. Mine age is departed] Or, my generation, or, my habitation: here I have no settled abode, no continuing City, but am flitting, as a shepherds shed.

I have cut off like a weaver my life] By my sins I have shortened my days, as Gen. 38.7.10. Or rather, God as a weaver that hath finished his web, cutteth me out of the Loom of life. We know what the Poets fain of the Fates,

He will cut me off with pining sickness] Or, from the thrum; for the same Hebrew word signifieth both; because of the thinnes, and weakness of it.

From day even to night] So that by night I shall be dead, as they story of the Ephemerobii; and as Aristotle writeth that the River Hypanis in Thracia every day bringeth forth little bladders, out of which come certain flies, which are thus bred in the morning, fledgd at noon, and dead at night.

Ver. 13. I reckoned until morning] And then, at utmost, I thought there would be an end of my life and pain together: for what through troubles without, and terrors within, he was in a woe case, even as if a Lion had broke all his bones. Hoc sentiunt qui magnis febribus aestuant, saith an Interpreter. Now whereas some say All die of a fever, let us take care we die not of a cold shaking fit of fear.

Ver. 14. Like a Crane or a Swallow, so did I chatter] Ita pipiebam; perapta sunt similitudines. Broken petitions coming from a broken heart are of singular avayl with God, Psal. 51.17. Ah Pater, brevissima quidem vox est, sed omnia complectitur, saith Luther, i. e. Ah Father, it a short prayer, but very complexive and effectual. So is the prayer here recorded.

O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me] Miserere mihi misero. Hezekiah though a most holy man, begged pardon at his death, and flieth to Christ his surety. So did Augustine (he prayed over the seven penitential Psalms) and Fulgentius, and Arch-Bishop Usher. Some render it Pertexe me, weave me out, lengthen my life to its due period.

Ver. 15. What shall I say?] This he seemeth to speak in a way of wondering at God's goodness in delivering him from so great a death. The like doth the Apostle, Rom. 8.31. What shall we then say to these things?

He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it] He no sooner bade me be well, but he made me so. Thus he attributeth his recovery to the most faithful promise of God, and not to the lump of figs, &c.

I shall shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul] Or, I shall go quietly and cheerfully all my years, after my souls bitterness. sc. when it is past and gone.

Ver. 16. O Lord, by these things men live] By thy promises so performed, the just do live by Faith, and live long in a little while: For life consisteth in action; and some live more in a day, then others do in a year. An Elephant liveth two hundred years, saith Aristotle: three hundred and fifty saith Philostratus: and yet man, though of much shorter a continuance, is not inferior to an Elephant. For this is not the best thing in nature, saith Scaliger, to live longest, but to live to best purpose. Now man's life is a way to life eternal. Other creatures have that they live for: Not so Man, whilst here.

And in all these things is the life of my Spirit] The godly esteem of life by that stirring they find in their souls: Else they lament as over a dead soul.

So wilt thou recover me] Or, hast thou recovered me?

Ver. 17. Behold for peace I had great bitterness] Mar Mar; the approach of death was to this good man bitter bitterness: and yet Christ had taken away from him the sting (or gall ) of death; so that he might better say then Agag did, Surely the bitterness of death is past, or then Lucan doth of the Gauls and Britones,

But thou hast in love to my soul] Or, thou hast embraced my soul out of the corrupting pit. Complectendi verbum, affectum plane paternum, & studium juvandi singular exprimit.

For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back] As an old oreworn evidence, that's out of date, and of no use. Here it is well noted, that we must set our sins before our face, if we would have God to cast them behind his back, Psal. 50.2 • . and 51.3.

Ver. 18. For the grave cannot praise thee] i. e. Palam & cum aliis, openly and exemplarily. See Psal. 6.5. with the Notes: David desires to live for no other end (and so Hezekiah ) then to be glorifying of God.

They that go down into the pit] Of the grave: so, of despair. It is a sin for any man to say I am a reprobate: for it keeps him in sin, and cuts the sinews of endeavor.

Ver. 19. The living, the living, he shall praise thee] Those that live the life of nature if withal they live the life of Grace, and so are living living, and not dead whilst they live: for the wicked cannot praise God: they can say God a thank, and that's all. But as it is with the hand-dial, the finger of the dial standeth at twelve, when the dial hath not moved one minute: so though their tongues are forward in praises, yet their hearts stand still. What they do this way is but dead work.

The Father to the Son shall make known] and for this end Parents may desire to live longer. Hezekiah did his part, no doubt, by wicked Manasseh, who also at length repented and was saved.

Ver. 20. The Lord was ready to save] Heb. The Lord to save. Servati sumus ut serviamus. Hezekiah was the better for his sickness: God had brought health out of it, as he doth out of all his, by bringing the body of death into a consumption.

Therefore we will sing my songs] Quales quae so illi? saith Scultetus, what kind of songs would he sing in the house of the Lord and in the hearing of all the people, as long as he bad a day to live? Surely this here recorded among and above the rest, though it set forth his queritations and infirmities: Deprimunt se sancti ut Deus exaltetur. The Saints gladly abase themselves, if thereby God may be exalted.

Ver. 21. Let them take a lump of figs] Commendatur hic usus Medicinae. The Patient must pray, but withal make use of means; trust God, but not tempt him. See the Note on 2 King. 20.

Ver. 22. See on 2 King. 20.8.

CHAP. XXXIX.

VErse 1, 2, 3, &c.] See 2. King. 20.12, 13, 14, &c. with the Notes thereon.

CHAP. XL.

Ver. 1. COmfortye, comfort ye my people] Hitherto hath been the Comminatory part of this Prophecy: followeth now the Consolatory: Here beginneth the Gospel of the Prophet Isaiah, and holdeth on to the end of the book. The good people of his time had been forewarned by the foregoing Chapter of the Babylonian Captivity. Those in after-times, not only during the Captivity, but under Antiochus and other Tyrants, were ready to think themselves utterly cast off, because heavily afflicted. See ver. 27. of this Chapter, with Lam. 5.22. Here therefore command is given for their comfort, and that Gospel be preached to the penitent: the word here used signifieth, first to repent, then to comfort, 1 Sam. 5. 35. 1 Sam. 12.24. This our Prophet had been a Boanerges, a thundering Preacher all the fore-part of his life (see one instance for all chap. 24. where Pericles -like, fulgurat, intonat, totam terram permiscet, &c.) Now toward his latter end, and when he had one foot in the grave, the other in Heaven, he grew more mellow and melleous, (as did likewise Mr. Lever, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Whately, and some other eminent and earnest Preachers that might be named) setting himself wholly in a manner, to comfort the abject and feeble minded; which also he doth with singular dexterity and efficacy. This redoubled Comfort ye, is not without its Emphasis: but that which followeth, ver. 2. is a very hive of heavenly honey.

Ver. 2. Speak ye comfortably] Speak to the heart, as Gen. 34.3. Hos. 2.14. Chear her up▪ speak to her with utmost earnestness, that your words may work upon her and stick by her: do it solidly, not frigidly.

That her warfare is accomplished] Militiam, not Malitiam, as the Vulgar hath it: The word signifieth also a set term of time, See Dan. 9.2. and Gal. 4.4. God hath limited the Saints sufferings, Rev. 2.10. Some by warfare here understand that hard and troublesome Pedagogy of Moses Law; that yoke importable, Act. 15.10. taken away by Christ.

That her iniquity is pardoned] Heb. her iniquity is accepted: Perfectam esse paenam ejus, so Piscator rendereth it. She might be under God's hand, though her sins were pardoned. The Palsy-man heard, Son, thy sins are forgiven thee, some while before he heard, Take up thy bed and walk.

That she hath received of the Lord's hand double] i. e. Abundantly and in a large measure, satis superque, so much as to her merciful Father seemeth over and above, more than enough. She hath received double for all her sins: and yet death is the just hire of the least sin, Rom. 6.23. But this is the language of God's compassions rolled together and kindled into repentings; Jerusalem herself was of another judgment, Ezra. 9.13. Our God hath punished us less than our sins: and yet he reckoneth that we fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, Col. 1.24.

Ver. 3. The voice of him that crieth] See Mat. 3.3. John 1.25. with the notes there: but Luke citeth this text more fully than the other Evangelists, applying it to the Baptist crying in the wilderness, sc. of Judea, where he first preached, or (as some sense it) in the ears of a waste and wild people. Hereby is meant the world, saith one, word of God's grace, barren in all virtue, having no pleasing abode, nor sure direction of any good way in it, being full of horror, and accursed.

Ver. 4. Every valley shall be exalted] Termes taken from the custom of Princes coming into a place; viz. to have their way cleared, and passages facilitated. See on Mat. 3.4.

Ver. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed] i. e. Jesus Christ (the Lord of glory, Jam. 2.1.) shall appear in the flesh. Some interpreters understand this whole Sermon ad literam concerning Christ and Redemption wrought by him: yet with an allusion to the Jews deliverance out of Babylon; for this was a type of that, like as Cyrus also was of Christ.

Ver. 6. The voice] Or a voice, sc. in vision.

What shall I cry? All flesh is grass] This is taught by every Philosopher, saith Sasbors • : but never is it taught effectually, till cried to the heart by God's Word and Spirit: for which reason also it is not uttered here without a Preparative, by way of Dialogue, to stir up to attention.

All flesh is grass] Not only as grass, but is grass: we are all but dying men; death hath already taken hold of us, and doth every day feed upon us insensibly. To live is but to lie a dying. The Jews at this day, when they return from burying a corps, cast grass over their heads; either to signify that all flesh is grass; or else, their hope of a Resurrection.

And all the goodliness thereof] Any thing eximious or excellent in man must needs vanish, when the glory of the Lord is revealed, ver. 5. The sight of God makes all else little.

As the flower of the field] Which is more apt to be blasted, cropped, or trodden down, then the flower of the garden.

Ver. 7. Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it] Or, when the breath of the Lord bloweth upon it. God can easily blow men to destruction, dissipate them as so many vile dustheaps, Job 4.9. and 34.14, 15. Psal. 104.29. Dan. 2.34, 35. Zach. 4.6.

Surely the people is grass] Have we not heard? have we not seen from the beginning? doth not every days experience seal to it, that all flesh is grass? yea hath not God oft heard our attestations? We shake our heads, we confess it is true, &c. and yet we lay it not rightly to heart, though so deeply assevered and assured us.

Ver, 8. But the Word of our God shall stand forever] q. d. Though the Elect also as well as others are grass, frail and fading creatures, yet the grace of God wrought in their hearts by the Gospel, is stable and lasting, See 1 Pet. 1.23. with the Note. And so necessary is this whole doctrine here delivered, that the Ministers of the Gospel are commanded here not to write it only, but to speak it: nor that only, but to cry it also, with all possible both affection and power of enforcement.

Ver. 9. O Zion that bringest good tidings] That Evangelist: The Gospel is the sum of all the good news in the world. Christ's Incarnation ( Bisher the word here used, cometh of Bashar, which signifieth Flesh ) was glad tidings of great joy to all people, Luk. 2.10.

Get thee up into the high mountain] Zion was itself an high mountain: yet is bidden to ascend into an higher, for the better promulgation of the Gospel.

Lift it up, be not afraid] Viz. for persecution which is Evangelii genius, the evil Angel that doggeth the Gospel at the heels, as Calvin wrote to the French King.

Behold your God] Behold the Messias, who hath been so long expected, is now exhibited.

Ver. 10. Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand] Or, The Lord God will come against the mighty: i. e. Christ against the Devil and his Agents; whom he shall vanquish, and give them their due. See 1 Joh. 3.6. Mat. 12.29. Joh. 12.31. Colos. 2.15. Heb. 2.14.

And his arm shall rule for him] Or, his arm shall rule over him: i. e. over Satan.

Ver. 11. He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd] That good Shepherd shall, the Lord Jesus, Joh. 10.11. See Psal. 23.1. with the Notes.

He shall gather the Lambs with his arms] The Lord hath a great care of his little ones: like as he had of the weaker tribes: In their march thorough the wilderness (in their several companies or brigades ) he put a strong Tribe to two weak Tribes; as Judah to Issachar and Zebulon: lest they should faint, or fail.

Ver. 12. Who hath measured the waters] Who but God alone? Totus est in hoc libro, ut confirmet nos in fide. God made Heaven, Earth and Sea, in number, weight and measure, as an Architect; therefore he wanteth neither power nor wisdom to work in, and for his people.

And comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure] In a teirce or in three fingers: for he spoke before of the hollow and span of God's hand.

Ver. 13. Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord] Who was then of his Counsel, when he made the Universe? None but his own Essential wisdom, Prov. 8.30. See Rom. 11.34.35. with the Notes.

Ver. 14. With whom took he Counsel?] See ver. 13.

Ver. 15. Behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket] Quota igitur es tu istius guttae particula? what a small parcel art thou then of that small drop? saith an Ancient.

As the small dust of the balance] That weigheth nothing: yea all men together laid in the balance with vanity itself, will ascend or tilt up, Psal. 62.9.

He taketh up the Isles as a very little thing] Or, he taketh up and throweth away the Isles as powder.

Ver. 16. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn] So infinitely great is God: so absolutely insufficient is man to give God satisfaction. Let those think on this, who talk of setting off with God, and of making amends, by their good deeds, for their bad.

Ver. 17. All Nations before him are as nothing] Agnosce ergo virium tuarum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . See therefore thine own nothingness; and learn to vilify, yea to nullify thyself before God, as Agur, Prov. 30.2. and as David, who was a worm and no man, Psal. 22.6. Rejectamentum hominis & nullificamen populi.

Ver. 18. To whom then will ye liken God?] A sin which the Jews were exceeding prone unto, and would be tempted to, when in Captivity at Babylon; here therefore they have an Antidote provided aforehand. The voice of the Gospel is, Little Children, keep yourselves from Idols, 1 Joh. 5.21. See the Notes.

Ver. 19. The workman melteth a graven Image] That may be afterward graved and gilded over.

And casteth silver chains] To fasten it to the place; Or, he raileth it in. Et nisi homini Deus placuerit, Deus non erit, saith Tertullian. Numa, second King of Romans, saw this great vanity, and therefore forbad Images of the gods in Temples: So do the Turks at this day, to the shame of Papists Idolomania.

Ver. 20. He that is so impoverished —chooseth a tree] Which therehence may well say,

He chooseth a tree that will not rot] Which yet is hard to do; the Cypress tree is most likely. But what goodly God's were those that could not keep themselves from rotting.

A cunning workman] Somewhat better than he who made the ugly Rood of Cockram, whereof when they complained to the Mayor of Doncaster, he advised them to clap a pair of horns on the head of it, and then instead of a god, it would make an excellent devil.

Ver. 21. Have ye not known? have ye not heard?] Both Jews and Gentiles went against the light; the former of the Word, the latter of their own consciences; in thus changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible creature, Rom. 1.23. Their ignorance was willful and affected: some render this text, Will ye not know? will ye not hear? Idolaters are brutish and blockish; they that make them, are like unto them.

Ver. 22. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth] As Sovereign, and is he fit to be portrayed? In Thebe a town of Egypt, they painted God in the likeness of a man blowing an egg out of his mouth: to signify, that he made the round world by his Word. Others set him forth as an Emperor with a Globe in one hand, and a Light-Bolt in the other. Pencer and others tell us, that if there were a path made round the circle of the earth, an able footman might easily go it in nine hundred days.

Ver. 23. That bringeth Princes to nothing] After their part acted here a while, they go off the stage of life, and are seen no more. Augustus Caesar said, that his life was nothing else but a kind of a Comedy: and that he had acted his part, as became him; and therefore, at his death, he called for a Plaudite.

Ver. 24. Yea they shall not be planted] They are like grass, that is neither planted nor well rooted: but as weeds that grow on the top of the water, vel tanquam podii folium, quod mane candidum, meridie purpureum, vespere caeruleum aspicitur.

And he shall blow upon them] Two fits of an ague shook to death great Tamerlan, in the midst of his preparations for the conquest of Turkey.

Ver. 25. To whom then will ye liken me?] See ver. 18, 19.

Ver. 26. Lift up your eyes on high] Who is there saith an Heathen, that looketh up toward Heaven, and presently perceiveth not that there is a God? we may well add, and an Almighty God? Why then should the vanities of the Heathen come in competition with Him? or why should Jacob say, My way is hid from the Lord, &c. as ver. 27. as if God neglected them, or were weary of helping them, ver. 28.

And behold who hath created these things] Without tool or toile, ver. 28. And shall the creature be worshipped rather than the Creator God blessed forever?

That bringeth out their host by number] As if he had them set down in his muster-roles. Astronomers take upon them to number and name the chiefest of the stars: reliquas nomenclationi Dei permittere coguntur. Abraham could not number them, Gen. 15.5. and yet Aratus and Eudoxus vainly vaunted, that they had done it.

Ver. 27. How sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, &c.] q. d. Fy for shame; what unbecoming language is this for such! Doth God know and order the stars, and hath he cast away the care of his people? never think it: let it be enough and too much for an Heathen to say,

And my judgment is passed over] q. d. I thought I should have had a day of hearing ere this: sed comperendinor.

Ver. 28. He fainteth not, nor is weary] Or, he is neither tired nor toiled: viz. as earthly Judges may be. And his own people, for thinking otherwise of Him, are here taken up as tartly, as those Idolaters before, ver. 21. with, Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard?

There is no searching of his understanding] Submit to Him therefore, as to the only wise God. This, the very Heathens taught men to do; as Plutarch.

Ver. 29. He giveth power to the faint] How then should he himself faint? or why should any good man's heart fail him? The Jews among their Benedictions (whereof they are bound to say an hundred every day) have this for one, Blessed be God who giveth power to the faint:

Ver. 30. Even the youths shall faint] All that trust to their own strength, shall tire out: like as the Hare that trusteth to the swiftness of her legs, is at length overtaken, and torn in pieces: when the coney that flieth to the holes in the rocks, doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her.

Ver. 31. Shall renew their strength] Heb. shall change, quotidie seipsis fortiores prodeuntes, by the new supplies of the spirit, Phil. 1.19. they shall pass from strength to strength, Psal. 84. They shall mount as Eagles. See Psal. 103.5. R. Saadias saith, that every tenth year the Eagle mounteth up to the Orb of the Sun, cingeth her wings there, and so reneweth her age, till she be an hundred.

CHAP. XLI.

Ver. 1. Keep silence before me O Islands] i. e. O Islanders (so the Hebrews called all that were beyond sea to them) with whom God, being about to contest, calleth for silence that he may be heard. The people of Rome could hardly digest a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Keep silence from their Emperor Adrian, as too severe: but when God thundereth it, men wriggle into their holes as so many worms.

And let the people renew their strength] Come as strong as they can into the Court, with their best Advocates and arguments; since they are to debate the cause concerning their Religion.

Let them come near together in Judgment] This is a wonderful condescension: En in quantum se demittat Deus!

Ver. 2. Who raised up the righteous man from the East?] Who but myself? which of your Idols can boast of such a man as Abraham was, like as I can?

Called him to his foot] Making him follow his call with a blind obedience: for he winked and put himself into God's holy hand to be led at his pleasure. He knew not whither he went, Heb. 11.8. nor much cared, so long as he had God by the hand, or might follow Him as a guide, step after step.

He gave the Nations before him] Gen. 14.14. his posterity also prevailed exceedingly. And thus God stoppeth the mouths of those Idolaters who insulted over the Israelites, because afflicted and subdued by other Nations: (as Cicero doth in his Oration for Q. Flaccus ) extolling therefore their Idols above the true God.

Ver. 3. He pursued them, and passed in safety] He gat an unbloody victory over the four Kings; not losing a man of all those unexpert Soldiers: this was a great mercy, if not a miracle. War is usually utrique triste: victory is oft like a golden fish-hook; which, lost or broken, cannot be paid for with that it taketh.

Ver. 4. Who hath wrought and done it?] Here the Gentiles should have answered for God: which because they did not, but were senselessly silent, therefore He answereth by a description of himself.

Calling the generations from the beginning] Giving them their Being; and having them at a Beck.

I the Lord, the First, and with the Last] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : This was anciently believed concerning God, as Plato testifieth. A te Principium tibi desinet.

Ver. 5. The Isles saw it] The Heathens were convinced by the former arguments, yet not converted: they were afraid, and yet they came together to confirm themselves mutually in their abominable Idolatries.

Yea they drew near] As it were to justify their Idolatries before the Lord. Such is the desperate obstinacy of obdurate sinners; Pharaoh menaced Moses, even during that palpable darkness. The Philistines were afraid when they saw the Ark of the Covenant brought into the field: and yet they encourage one another to fight against Israel, 1 Sam. 4.8, 9. The Thief on the cross was under the arrest of death, and yet railed. Felix trembled, and yet expected a bribe from St. Paul. There is a cold sweat sitteth on all the limbs of Antichrist at this day, and yet they repent not of their Idolatries, nor murders, nor sorceries, nor fornication, nor thefts, Rev. 9.20, 21. but defend them, all they can.

Ver. 6. They helped everyone his neighbor] Thus those desperate Idolaters did from the first; Eusebius telleth us, that in the seventh year of Abraham, Ninus the founder of Nineveh set up an Image of his father Belus, which was worshipped after his death: so did other Princes, by his example; not moved with God's mercies shown to Abraham who worshipped the true God alone, setting up altars to him where ever he came.

Ver. 7. So the Carpenter encouraged the Gold-smith] Because no small gain was brought hereby unto these crafts-men, Acts 19.24, 25. The Jew-doctors tell us, that Terah the father of Abraham was an Image-maker at Ur of the Chaldees, till God called him thence. Hyperius saith, that all these words are to be taken as pronounced with irrision and contempt, that so the vanity of Idols may the more plainly be perceived: since they have no more worth then is given them by their worshippers.

Ver. 8. But thou Israel art my Servant] And it was for thy sake, and for thy settlement, that I have dealt so long with these odious Idolaters: whom else I would not once look toward nor commune with, as he said 2 King. 3.14.

The seed of Abraham my Friend] This style was an higher honor to Abraham, then if God had engraven his name in the orbs of Heaven. See the Note on Jam. 2.23. Hushai was David's Friend: and Augustus vouchsafed to give Virgil the name of Amicus. This was a special favor: but not like that in the Text.

Ver. 9. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth] sc. in the loins of Abraham thy Progenitour.

And called thee from the chief men thereof] Called thee and culled thee out of the Grandees of the Chaldees, the rich, the potent and the honorable, separate from the common sort; setting thee above the Kings of the earth, Psal. 89.27.

Ver. 10. Fear thou not, for I am with thee] Cordialibus, ut ita dicam, verbis, Deus hoc eloquitur. As long as a child hath his Father by the hand, he feareth none. Quid timet hominem homo in sinu Dei positus? what should he who lieth in God's own bosom, fear any man alive? Is not God's presence security sufficient?

I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, &c.] I will, I will, I will: Oh the Rhetoric of God! Oh the certainty of the Promises!

With the right-hand of my righteousness] i. e. My righteous right-hand, that shall right all thy wrongs.

Ver. 11. Behold all that were incensed against thee] These and the following precious Promises the Jews misapply to the coming and Kingdom of their Messias; the Papists to their Hierarchy. Let every true servant of God take them home as spoken to himself: Every promise droppeth Myrrh and mercy.

Ver. 12. Even them that contended with thee] Heb. the men of thy contention, thy Contendents; such as this Eristical age hath more then a good many. By the Quakers wild fancies and rude practices, we may see how cross-grained these people are, in contradicting everything. Many men's spirits (saith One) now-adays, lie like that Haven, Acts 27.12. toward the South-West, and North-West, two opposite points.

Ver. 13. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand] As a tender father taketh his dear child by the hand, in dirty or dangerous ways especially, lifting him over; So the Saints are said to sit down at God's feet, Deut. 33.3. or to stand betwixt his legs, as little ones do.

Ver. 14. Fear not] This is oft inculcated, for better confirmation and comfort. Our Savior may seem to have hence his Fear not little flock. It is no easy matter to cheer up afflicted consciences: Luther saith it is as hard a matter as to raise the dead. Hence this frequent Fear not.

Ver. 15. I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth] Traham, aut tribulam in omnem partem probe dentatam. Such as those Eastern Countries did use, to mash in pieces their rougher and harder fodder for their cattle; or rather to thresh out their harder grain with, Chap. 28.25, 28. or to torture men with, 2 Sam. 12, 31.

Thou shalt thresh the mountains] Thy lofty and mighty enemies. This was fulfilled in the Maccabees: But especially in the Apostles, subduing the Nations to the obedience of the Faith: See 2 Cor. 10.4.

Ver. 16. Thou shalt fan them] But find nothing in them of any solidity: the heart of the wicked is little worth.

And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord] As the sole doer of all: for it is he that subdueth the people under us, and doth all our works for us, Chap. 26.12.

Ver. 17. When the poor] When such as are poor in spirit, sensible of their utter indigency, shall blessedly hunger and thirst after righteousness, showing themselves restless and unsatisfiable without it.

And there is none] None to be found in the doctrine of the Pharisees, Philosophers, or Friars.

Ver. 18. I will open rivers in high places] Rather work miracles, as once in the Wilderness, Exod. 17.6, 7. then my poor people shall want necessary support and succor.

Ver. 19. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, &c.] That is, saith Lyra, I will give variety of graces to my people.

And the Box-tree] That groweth of itself in wild places, saith Diodate: to signify that the Church will always have worldly wild plants, mixed and growing in it. Box is always green indeed and full of leaves: but its of an ill smell, & semen habet omnibus invisum animantibus, and of a worse seed.

Ver. 20. That they may see and know and consider] Heb. lay. 1. Lay it upon their heart: which natural men are very hardly drawn to do. The best are so backward, that an Ezekiel may hear, Son of man, behold with thine eye, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee, &c. chap. 40.4. and Hagget calleth upon the good people of his time to consider, and better consider, chap. 1.5, 7.

Ver. 21. Produce your cause, saith the Lord] He had dealt with the Heathens, and convinced them: now have at their God's: and their best proofs are called for.

Bring forth your strong reasons] Heb. your bony arguments, argumenta trabalia: but alas they had none such.

Saith the King of Jacob] Not the God of Jacob: for that was now the matter in question, whether he were God, or the Heathen deities. And because they were silent, and to seek of such arguments, he helpeth them to a couple.

Ver. 22. Let them bring forth, and show what shall happen] By such arguments as these, Cleanthes in Tully testifieth (though himself were an Heathen) that the deity might be known. And whereas it may be objected, that the Delphic devil had foretold things to come: it is answered, that the devil cannot foretell all future things, nor anything infallibly, and of himself: but either as it is revealed unto him by God, as was Ahab's fall at Rameth-Gilead: or as he forseeth it in the causes, signs, or Prophecies of holy Scripture, wherein he is not a little skilled.

Ver. 23. Shew the things that are to come] This first argument is much insisted on: God alone can properly predict; and Testimonium divinitatis est veritas divinationis. Cato Major was wont to say, that he wondered how one Diviner could look upon another and not laugh, as knowing themselves to be no better then deceivers of the people.

Yea do good or evil] good to your friends, evil to your foes: this is the second argument, and it is unanswerable. If it be objected, that this the Devil can do, and hath done: The answer is, 1. that Idols can do neither good nor evil. 2. No nor yet Devils: but the good they do their clients, is a mere juggle: and the evil they do to any, is by divine permission. See Cyprians fourth treatise de vanitate idolorum.

Ver. 24. Behold ye are of nothing] Hence Paul took that assertion of his, 1 Cor. 8.4. we know that an Idol is nothing in the world. For the matter of it, tis true, wood is wood, and stone is stone: but the relation and signification which is fastened thereunto, is nothing at all: all the being of an Idol is nothing but the Idolaters imagination.

And your work of naught] Or, of the Basilisk, or Viper: it will do you to death.

An abomination is he that curseth you] Papists therefore must needs be abominable Idolaters. Dr. Rainolds his work De Idololatria Romana is yet unanswered; Weston writes that his head aked in reading it.

Ver. 25. I have raised up one from the North] Here God beginneth to prove that He can do both those things, whereof the Heathen vanities could do neither. This One in the Text, is Cyrus, say some: Christ say others, by whom God here foretelleth, that he will punish his enemies, but do good to his Church and chosen.

He shall call upon my name] Or, proclaim my name.

Ver. 26. Who hath declared] Who, besides myself, ever did or could predict such a thing? If any other hath done it, we will do him right, clepe him a God.

Ver. 27. The first shall say to Zion] Or, I first said to Zion. I first brought her that good tidings by my Prophets.

Ver. 28. For I beheld, and there was no man] None to say anything for these dumb Idols, why I should not pass a definitive sentence against them. It is therefore this:

Ver. 29. Behold they are all vanity] Jer. 10.3, 15.

Their works are nothing] See ver. 24.

Are wind and confusion] Or emptynesse, Heb. Tohu, Nothing in themselves, and yet of sufficient efficacy to inflict vengeance on their worshippers.

CHAP. XLII.

Ver. 1. BEhold my servant] Cyrus partly, but Christ principally, Matth. 12.18. See the Notes there, with Philip. 2.7. A Servant he was, yet not Menial, but Magisterial: that he was one or other, is admirable, and well deserveth an Ecce.

Whom I uphold] That he faint not under the weight of his Mediatorship, and the importable burden of my wrath, which he must suffer for a season. Some render it whom I lean upon, see 2 King. 5.18. & 7.2, 13.

Mine elect] Or choice one.] Cyrus was so, chap. 44.28. & 45.3, 4. but Christ much more, chap. 43.10. Joh. 6.27, 29. & 10.36. See the Notes on Matth. 12.18. Cyrus was so singular a man, saith Herodotus, that no Persian ever held himself worthy to be compared unto him. And of his Court Xenophon hath this merable saying, that though a man should seek or choose blindfold, he could not miss of a good man: How much more truly may this be spoken of the Lord Christ, and his people?

In whom my Soul delighteth] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . God affected Cyrus, chap. 45.3, 4. & 44.28. but nothing so well as Christ, Matth. 3.17. & 17.5. Once God repented him that he had made man: but now it is otherwise.

He shall bring forth Judgment to the Gentiles] Who shall all cry Grace, Grace unto it, to see mercy rejoicing against judgment. See on Matth. 12.18.

Ver. 2. He shall not cry, nor lift up] See on Matth. 12.19. Cyrus was a very mild and gentle Prince, so that his Persians called him their Father, but his Son Cambyses their Lord, as Herodotus recordeth. Christ's government is much more gentle; he will not, by a loud and terrible voice affright broken spirits, or rule them with rigor, &c. Christians must likewise put away all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, Eph. 4.31, 32. This is to be like unto Christ; all whose actions, whether Moral or Mediatory, were either for our Imitation or Instruction.

Ver. 3. A bruised reed shall he not break] i. e. A contrite heart Psal. 51.17. in whom there shall appear to be anything of Christ, though never so little: that are faithful in weakness, though but weak in Faith, as He was who cried out Lord I believe, help mine unbelief: and Another, Invoco te fide quamvis languidâ, fide tamen. See on Matth. 12.20.

He shall bring forth judgment unto truth] Unto victory saith the Evangelist, after the Septuagint. Truth will prevail, sincerity proceed to perfection. The righteous also shall hold on his way: and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger, Job 17.9. Where there is truth of grace, there will be victory. Bernard never went from God