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

CHAP. VII.

Ver. 1. THe word that came to Jeremiah) A new Sermon, but to the same purpose as the former. See on chap. 1, 2. Toto libro idem argumentum sursum deorsum versat.

Ver. 2. Stand in the gate of the Lord's house] The East-gate, which was the most famous and most frequented of the people, and therefore fittest for the purpose.

And proclaim there this word] Stand there with this Word (as once the Angel with a terrible sword did at the porch of Paradise) to excommunicate as it were this hypocritical people: and do it verbis non tantum disertis sed & exertis, plainly and boldly.

Ver. 3. Amend your ways and your doings] Heb. make good your ways, sc. by repentance for and from your sins: and by believing the Gospel. Defaecantur enim mores, ubi medullitus excipitur Evangelium. Amendment of life, is an upright, earnest and constant endeavor to do all that God commandeth, and to forbear what he forbiddeth.

Ver. 4. Trust ye not in lying words] Or, matters, sc. that will deceive you. The ships Triumph, or Good-speed, may be ventorum ludibrium, and miscarry upon the hard rocks, or soft sands: so, fair shows and bare titles help not. Vatinius that wicked Roman professed himself a Pythagorean, and vicious Antipater wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence. This was virtutis stragulam pudefacere, said Diogenes wittily, to put honesty to an open shame.

The Temple of the Lord, the Temple—are these] i. e. These buildings, or these three parts of the Temple, viz. the most holy place, the Sanctuary, and the outer Court. To these are made the Promises of God's perpetual residence, Psal. 132.14. therefore we are safe from all danger, whilst here we take sanctuary. See Mic. 3.11. The Romish crew in like manner have nothing in their mouths so much as the Church, the Church, the Catholic Church: and therein, like Oyster-wives, they out-cry us. Many also amongst ourselves cry the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, who do yet nothing care for the Lord of the Temple. They glory in external privileges, and secure themselves therein, as the Jews fable that Og King of Bashan escaped in the flood by riding astride upon the Ark without. But what profiteth it

Esse Christianum grande est, non videri, saith Jerome. It's a great privilege to be a Christian, but not to seem only to be so. An empty title yieldeth but an empty comfort at last.

Ver. 5. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways] If ye thoroughly execute judgment] If ye be serious in the one, and sedulous in the other. See ver. 2.

Ver. 6. If ye oppress not the stranger, &c.] Turtures amat Deus, non vultures. See on Isa. 1.23.

Ver. 7. Then will I cause you to dwell in this place] Not else. God's Promises are with a condition; which is as an oar in a boat, or stern of a ship, and turns the Promise another way.

Ver. 8. Behold ye trust, &c.] See on ver. 4.

Ver. 9. Will ye steal, murder, &c.] Heb. will ye stealing steal, murthering murder, &c. i. e. drive a trade with the devil by these soul practices allowed and wallowed in, quasi examen malorum facinorum nihil obsit, modo domum Dei ingrederemini; as if you could set off with me, and make amends by your good deeds for your bad?

Ver. 10. And come and stand before me in this house] This was worse then to do as the Circassians (a kind of mongrel-Christians of the Greek-Church at this day, who as they baptize not their children till the eighth year, so they enter not into the Church (the Gentlemen especially) till the sixtieth year; but hear divine service standing without the Temple: that is to say, till through age, they grow unable to continue their rapines and robberies; to which sin that Nation is exceedingly addicted.

And say We are delivered] i. e. Licensed. Hoc idem dicunt qui cogitations inter peccato non numerant, saith Oecolampadius.

Ver. 11. Is this house which is called by my name] Is it become impiae gentis arcanum, as Florus afterwards spitefully called it? or a professed Sanctuary of roguery, as the Papists maliciously say of Geneva: Or a receptacle of all abominations, as Pompey's Theatre in Rome was once said to be.

Become a den of robbers] To such it should have been said by the Porters— Gressus removete profani. In the mystical sacrifices of Ceres no profane person was to be admitted: for the Priest going before uttered these words— 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that is, be packing every wicked person. So the Roman Priests had their procul ô procul este profani.

Ver. 12. But go ye now] Non passibus sed sensibus. Summon the sobriety of your senses before your own judgments, and consider what I did of old to Shiloh, a place no less privileged then yours; and wherefore I did it: and be warned by their woes. Alterius perditio, tua sit cautio. Seest thou another shipwrecked? look well to thy tackling. Reason should persuade, and therefore lodgeth in the brain: but when reason cannot persuade, example should, and mostly will.

Ver. 13. And now because ye have done] Worthily are they made examples to others, that will not take example by others; that will not alienâ frui insaniâ, make benefit of other men's miseries.

Rising early] As good husbands use to do; and as Plutarch reporteth of the Persian Kings, that they had an officer to call them up betimes, and to mind them of their business.

Ver. 14. Therefore will I do unto this house] Which ye fondly think that I am bound to hold, and uphold. The Disciples also seem to have had a conceit that the Temple and the world must needs end together: hence that mixed discourse of our Savior, now of one, and now of another, Mat. 24. See ver. 3. of that Chapter, with the Note.

V. 15. And I will cast you out of my sight] Heb. from against, or over against my face.

As I have cast out your brethren] For your instance and admonition, I hanged them up in gibbets, as it were at your very doors, but nothing would warn you.

Ver. 16. Therefore pray not thou for this people] For I am unchangeably resolved upon their ruin: and I would not have thy prayers (those honey-drops ) spilled upon them. Their day of grace is past: their sins are full, the decree is now gone forth, and it is irreversible; therefore pray not for this deplored people: there is a sin unto death: and who knows but their sin was such? sure it is the Prophet was silenced here, and that was a sad symptom.

Neither lift up cry] Verbum aptum precibus est: lift up is a very fit expression, and the word rendered cry comes from a root that signifieth clamare voice contentâ & efficaci, to set up the note to some tune, as we say.

Neither make intercession to me] Interdicit ti ne intercedat. Here and elsewhere God flatly forbids the Prophet to pray; See chap. 14.7, 11. and yet he is at it again, ver. 19, 20, 21, 22. So Exod. 32.11, 12, 13. Let me alone, saith God. The Chaldee there hath it, leave off thy prayer, but Moses would not. These were men of prayer, and could truly say of themselves as David once did, Psal. 109.4. but I gave myself to prayer. Where the Hebrew hath it, But I, prayer: as if he had been made up of it, and had minded little else. The Lord also, they knew, was a prayer-hearing God, Psal. 65.2. O thou that art hearing prayers, (so the Hebrew hath it) always hearing some, and ready to hear the rest. Our God is not like Jupiter of Crete that had no cares: nor as those other heathen-deities of whom Cicero sadly complaineth to his brother Quintus in these words, I would pray to the gods for those things, but that they have given over to hear my prayers. Jeremy could upon better ground pray, then ever he in Plato did,

Ver. 17. Seest thou not what they do] And hast thou yet an heart to pray for them? and should I yet have an heart to pity them? there is only this hope left sometimes, that something God will yield to the prayers of his people, even when he is most bitterly bent against them.

Ver. 18. The children gather wood] All sorts, sizes, and sexes, are as busy as bees:

Oh that we were so intent, with united forces, to the worship of the true God of heaven! Vae torpori nostro. Oh take heed of industrious folly, dispir • t not yourselves in the pursuit of trifles, &c.

To make cakes] Popana, cakes stamped with stars.

To the Queen of heaven] i. e. To the heavenly bodies, and (as some will have it) to the Moon in special. The Hebrews have a saying, that, God is to be praised in the least gnat, to be magnified in the Elephant, but to be admired in the Sun, Moon and Stars. And if the Jews in the text had stayed here, who could have blamed them? but to defy these creatures, was gross Idolatry, and an inexpiable sin. Epiphanius telleth us of certain heretics called Collyridians, that they baked cakes and offered them to the Virgin Mary whom they called the Queen of heaven: and do not the Papists at this day the very same, saying that hyperdulia is due unto her; not to speak of Bonaventure his blasphemous Lady-Psalter, Bernard Bauhusius the Jesuit hath set forth a book in praise of the Virgin Mary, by changing this one verse,

A thousand twenty and two ways, according to the number of the known stars: The Jesuits commonly write at the end of their books, Laus Deo & beatae Virgini; Praise be given to God, and to the blessed Virgin: but this is the badge of the beast. Let us say Soli Deo Gloria: and yet not in the sense of that Persian Ambassador, who, whensoever his business lay with Christians, was wont to have Soli Deo gloria very much in his mouth: but by Soli he meant the Sun, whom he honored for his God. Why the women here, and chap. 44. should be so busy in kneading cakes to the Moon, these reasons are given: 1. Because the Moon was a Queen. 2. Because the women at their labor were most beholden to the Moon, who by her great moisture mollifies the secundines, and makes the passage easy for their delivery. This custom of offering cakes to the Moon (saith one) our Ancestors may seem not to have been ignorant of: to this day our women make cakes at such times; yea the child is no sooner born, but called cake-bread. Add, that the Saxons did adore the Moon, to whom they set a day apart, which to this day we call Moonday. The same Author telleth us, that he who not long since conquered the Indies, persuaded the Natives that he had complained of them to their Moon, and that such a day the goddess should frown upon them; which was nothing else but an Eclipse which he had found out in the Almanac.

Ver. 19. Do they provoke me to anger] i. e. Hurt they me by their provocations? or hope they to get the better of me, and to cause me to lay down the bucklers first? Surely as Ulysses his companions said to him when he would needs provoke Polydamas, may we better say to such, as provoke the Almighty,

Or as the wise-man, contend not with him that is mightier then thou: meddle with thy match man.

Ver. 20. Mine anger and mine fury] A very dreadful doom, denounced against these daring monsters. Those that provoke God to anger, shall soon have enough of it. It is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God, Heb. 10. Oh keep out of them.

Ver. 21. Put your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh] Congerite, ingerite, digerite, egerite: take away all your sacrifices, wherewith ye fondly think to expiate your sins, and feast your carcasses with them: for I wot well that you offer them to me, ventris potius gratiâ quam internae pietatis, rather of gourmandise then good devotion. You have therefore my good leave to make your best of them: for I account them no other then ordinary and profane food, such flesh as is bought and sold in the shambles: So Hos. 9.4. their meat-offering ( Lev. 2.5.) is in scorn called their bread for their soul or life, that is, for their natural sustenance. And no better are the elements in the Lord's Supper to the unworthy Receiver, whatever he may promise himself by them.

Ver. 22. For I spake not unto your Fathers] I gave them not those holy rites as the substance of my service, or that ye should thus hold them up against my threats for your rebellions, as a buckler of defense. Sacrifices without obedience nec placent nec placant Deum.

Ver. 23. But this thing I commanded them] i. e. I principally commanded them: giving them therefore first the Decalogue, and then afterwards the ceremonial Law, which was, or should have been their Gospel.

Ver. 24. But they hearkened not nor inclined] So cross-grained they were, and thwart from the very first.

In the imagination of their evil heart] In sententia animi sui pessimi, Heb. aspectu cordis, ut Deut. 19.9.

They went backward, and not forward] As Crabfish do, as vise Apostates, in pejus proficiunt grow every day worse then other, being not only averse but adverse to any good, they daily grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, seipsit indies facti deteriores. Islebius first became an Antinomian (and the Father of that Sect) and then a Papist, and lastly Atheist and Epicure, as Osiander testifieth. Whilest he was an Antinomian only, he many times promised amendment (being convinced of his error) but performed it not. After that, he condemned his error and recanted it in a public auditory, and printed his Recantation: yet when Luther was dead, he not only licked up his former vomit, but fell to worse, as aforesaid.

Ver. 25. Since the day] The Church hath never wanted Preachers of the Truth. See my True Treasure, pag. 7, 8. Woe to the world because of this.

Daily rising up early] See on ver. 13.

Ver. 26. Yet they harkened not unto me] This God speaketh to the Prophet, as weary of talking to them any longer, since it was to no better purpose.

Ver. 27. But they will not hearken unto thee] Howbeit speak (whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear) for a testimony against them.

Ver. 28. This is a Nation] A heathenish Nation, such as they use to reproach with this Name Goi, and Mamzer Gojim, that is, bastardly Heathens.

Nor receiveth correction] Or, instruction.

Ver. 29. Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem] In token of greatest sorrow and servitude, Job 1.20. Esa. 15.2. Ezek. 27.31. Tu dum servus es comam nutris, said he in Aristophanes. The world here rendered hair is Nezir, which signifieth a crown, and there hence the Nazarites had their name, Num. 6. intimating hereby, haply, that their Votaries should be as little accepted as were their sacrifices, ver. 21.

And forsaken the generation of his wrath] Who are elsewhere called the people of his curse, and vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction.

Ver. 30. They have set their abominations in the house] So do those now that broach heresies in • ste Church.

Ver. 31. To burn their sons and their daughters] Haply in a sinful imitation of Abraham or Jephta: Or else, after the example of the Canaanites, Deut. 12.31. and other heathens, who thus sacrificed to the Devil, commanding them so to do by his Oracles: though Hercules taught the Italians to offer unto him rather men made of wax.

Ver. 32. It shall no more be called Tophet] Unless it be quasi Mophet, i. e. Portentum.

Nor the valley of the son of Hinnom] As it had been called from Joshua 's days, chap. 15.8.

But the valley of slaughter] Or Ge-haharegah: for the great slaughter that the Chaldees shall make there. Ecce congrua poena peccato, saith Oecolampadius.

For they shall bury in Tophet] It shall become a Polyandrion or common burial-place, till there be no place or room left.

Ver. 33. And the carcasses of this people] Their murrain-carcasses, as the Vulgar rendereth it.

Shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven] Whereby we may also understand the devils of hell, saith Oecolampadius.

Ver. 34. Then will I cause to cease] Laetitia in luctum convertetur, plausus in planctum, &c. Their singing shall be turned into sighing, their hollowing into howling, &c.

The voice of the bridegroom] No catches, or canzonets shall be sung at weddings; no Epithalamia.

CHAP. VIII.

Ver. 1. AT that time they shall bring out the bones] They shall not suffer the dead to rest in their graves, Maxim propter ornamenta in sepulchris condita, chiefly for the treasure, the Chaldees shall there look for: See 2 Chron. 36.19. Neh. 2.3. Joseph Antiq. lib. 13. chap. 15. Baruch 2.24. For extremity of despite also, dead men's bones have been digged up. Pope Formosus was so dealt with by his successor Stephanus the sixth: and many of the holy Martyrs, by their barbarous persecutors. Cardinal Paol had a purpose to have taken up King Henry the eighths body at Windsor, and to have burned it, but was prevented by death. Charles 5. would not violate Luther's grave, though he were solicited so to do, when he had conquered Saxony. But if he had, it had been never the worse with Luther: who being asked where he would rest? answered sub caelo: Caelo tegitur qui caret urnâ. Of all foul, we most hate and detest the crows: and of all beasts, the Jackalls (a kind of foxes in Barbary ) because the one digs up the graves and devours the flesh, the other picketh out the eyes of the dead.

Ver. 2. And they shall spread them before the Sun] Whom these Idolaters had worshipped whiles they were alive, and thought they could never do enough for, as is hinted by those many expressions in the text.

Whom they have loved, and whom they have served, &c.] Innuitur poena talionis, saith Piscator: their dead bodies shall lie unburied in the sight of these their deities, who could do them no good either alive or dead.

Ver. 3. And death shall be chosen rather then life] They being captives and sorely oppressed, shall sing that doleful ditty,

Oh how happy were they that perished, during the siege, or in the surprisal of the City! Life indeed is sweet, as we say: and man is a life-loving creature, said that heathen: but it may fall out that life shall be a burden, and a bitterness: how oft doth Job unwish it? and how fain would Elijah have been rid of it? so little cause is there that any good man should be either fond of life, or afraid of death.

Ver. 4. Shall they fall and not arise?] Or, when men fall, will they not arise]? Or, will not one that hath turned aside, return? To fall, may befall any man: but shall he lie there, and not assay to get up again? to lose his way may be incident to the wisest: but who but a fool would not make haste to get into the right way again? Errare humanum est: perseverare, diabolicum. And yet these stubborn Jews refuse to rise or return.

Ver. 5. Why then is this people of Jerusalem, &c.] Why else but because they are void of all true reason, and quite beside themselves in point of salvation? their pertinency or rather pervicacy in sinning is altogether insuperable. Monoceres interimi potest, capi non potest.

They hold fast deceit] They hold close to their false Prophets, or rather a false heart of their own hath deceived them, as ver. 11. a deceived heart hath turned them aside, as Esa. 44.20. See there.

Ver. 6. I hearkened and heard] Or, I have listened to hear; but could not yet hear them lisp out one syllable of savoury language.

No man repented of his wickedness] No nor so much as reflected, or turned short again upon himself to take a reveiw of his former evil practices: which yet is the very first thing in repentance, 2 Chron. 6.37. Luk. 15.17.

Saying, What have I done] The Pythagoreans once a day put this question to themselves. And the Orator thus bespoke his adversary Nevius, Si haec duo tecum verba reputasses Quid ago? respirasset cupiditas & avaritia paululum: that is, hadst thou but said those two words to thyself, What do I? thy lust and covetousness would thereby have been cooled and qualified.

Everyone turned to his course as a horse rusheth] Heb. rusheth with as much violence as an overflowing flood. Hinc apparet fructus liberi arbitrii, saith Oecolampadius: See here the fruit of free-will, and what man will do being left to himself. Carnal affections are forcible and furious: Plato himself saw, and could say as much, when he compared concupiscence to an headstrong horse, that runneth away with his rider, and cannot be ruled.

Ver. 7. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed time] These fouls, though wanting reason, know well when to change quarters: whether against summer as the stork, turtle and swallow; or against winter as the crane.

But my people know not the judgment of the Lord] Whether his summer of grace offered, or his winter of punishment threatened; to embrace the one, or to prevent the other. See a like dissimilitude and opposition, Isa. 1.3.

Ver. 8. How do ye say We are wise?] If ye were so, ye would never say so. Surely I am more brutish then any man, said holy Agur, Prov. 30.2. This only I know that I know nothing, said Socrates. Neither know I so much as this that I know just nothing, said a third. How could these in the text say, We are wise, when the fouls of the air outwitted them? confer, Job 35.11.

The Law of the Lord is with us] Vox est Pharisaeorum. So the Jesuits at this day (as of old the Gnostics ) will needs be held the only knowing men. The Empire of learning belongeth to the Jesuits, say they: a Jesuit cannot be an heretic; Jungantur in unum, dies cum nocte, lux cum tenebris, &c. i. e. Let day and night be jumbled together, light and darkness, heat and cold, health and sickness, life and death; so may there be some likelihood that a Jesuit may be an heretic, saith one of them. The Church is the soul of the world, the Clergy of the Church; and we, of the Clergy, saith another.

Lo certainly in vain made he it] i. e. The Law, for any good use, that this people or their leaders put it to. See Hos. 8.12. Rom. 2.17,—25.

Ver. 9. The wise men are ashamed] They have cause to be ashamed of their gross ignorance and folly, ver. 7, 8. and greater cause then ever humble Austin had to say Scientia mea me damnat, my knowledge undoeth me.

Lo they have rejected the word of the Lord] As to any holy practice: their knowledge is only Apprehensive and notional, not Affective and practical.

And what wisdom is in them] q d. None worth speaking of: they lose their civil praises, because not wise to salvation.

Ver. 10. Therefore will I give their wives] For a punishment of their rejecting my Word, which ought to be received with all reverence and good affection. The Turks do so highly respect the Quran (which is their Bible ) that if a Christian do but sit upon it though unwittingly, they presently put him to death.

For everyone, &c.] See chap. 6.13.

Ver. 11. For they have healed] See chap. 6.14.

Ver. 12. Were they ashamed] See chap. 6.15.

Ver. 13. I will surely consume them, saith the Lord] Texitur hic quasi tragoediae scena; here followeth a kind of Tragedy, saith an Expositor; God is brought in threatening, the Prophet bewailing, the people despairing, and yet bethinking themselves of some shelter and safeguard, if they knew where to find it, &c.

There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs] But instead thereof I will give them waters of gall to drink, ver. 14. Tremellius and Piscator read it thus, There are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, yea the leaves are fallen: that is, say they, there is no power of godliness found among them, no not so much as any profession, neither fruit nor leaf.

And the things that I have given them shall pass away] I will curse their blessings, Mal. 2.2. and destroy them after that I have done them good, Josh. 24.

Ver. 14. Why do we sit still] Here the people speak (see on ver. 13.) being grievously frighted upon the coming of the Chaldees; and thereupon consulting what course to take: but all would not do, ver. 16.

Let us be silent] Sic silent pavidimures coram fele.

For the Lord our God hath put us to silence] Hath expectorated our courage, and stopped our mouths.

And hath given us waters of gall to drink] Succum cicutae, our bane, our deaths-draught: so that now we know, by woeful experience, what an evil and bitter thing sin is: for a drop of honey we have now a sea of gall.

Ver. 15. We looked for peace, but no good came] Our false Prophets have merely deluded us. So poor souls, when stung by the Friers Sermons, were set to pennances and good deeds, which stilled them for a while, but could not yield them any lasting comfort. The soul is still ready to shift, and shark in every by-corner for ease: but that will not be, till it comes to Christ.

Ver. 16. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan] See chap. 4.15. this caused in the Jews hearts a motion of trepidation: confer Job 39.20, It is the privilege of believers in nothing to be terrified by their adversaries, Phil. 1.28. but with the horse spoken of Job 39.22. to mock at fear, and not to turn back from the dint of the sword.

Ver. 17. Behold I will send Serpents, Cockatrices] i. e. Chaldees, no less virulent then serpents, as violent as horses. Serpentum tot sunt venena quot genera, tot pernicies quot species, tot dolores quot colores, saith an Ancient: Serpents are of several sorts, but all poisonful and pernicious. The Basilisk or Cockatrice here instanced (the worst sort of serpents, say the Septuagint here) goeth not upon the belly as other serpents: but erect from the middle part, and doth so infect the air, that by the pestilent breath coming therefrom, fruits are killed, and men being but looked upon by it, and birds flying over it: stones also are broken thereby, and all other serpents put to flight.

And they shall bite you] There is an elegancy in the original.

Ver. 18. When I would comfort myself, &c.] Or, as some render it, O my comfort against sorrow, i. e. O my God; others, my recreation is joined with sorrow.

Ver. 19. Behold the voice of the cry] This was it that broke the good Prophets heart, the shrieks of his people.

Is not the Lord in Zion?] Thus in their distress they leaned upon the Lord, as Mic. 3.11. and inquired after him, whom in their prosperity they made little reckoning of.

Why have they provoked me to anger?] q. d. The fault is merely in themselves, who have driven me out from amongst them by their Idolatries.

Ver. 20. The harvest is past, the summer is ended] They had set God a time, and looked for help that summer at farthest: but the Lord, as he never faileth in his own time, so he seldom comes at ours. Let us think we hear our poor brethren in Piedmont, Poland, Pomeraenia, complaining to us in this sort, and be excited to help them, by our prayers and reliefs, &c.

Ver. 21. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt, I am black] Or, I go in black, mourner like: or I am denigrated and contemned for bewailing my people's misery, who neither feel nor fear hurt.

Ver. 22. Is there no balm in Gilead?] Yes surely, there or nowhere: in Gilead grew a balsom good to make salves for all sores, they say. This balsam grew there only in two large gardens, which belonged to the King. The nature of the tree could not abide iron but presently died, if cut never so small a depth: they used therefore glass, bone-knives, sharp stones, to get the gum out of the tree.

Is there no Physician there?] Or, no Surgeon there, where this medicinal simple so aboundeth? but this people's sorrow is immedicable, their disease desperate— doctâ plus valet art malum. The balm of the soul is Prayer, saith the Chaldee Paraphrast; is Repentance, saith Jerome • is Christ applied by faith, say we: Sanguis medici est curatio phrenetici. To this Almighty Physician, no disease can be incurable.

CHAP. IX.

Ver. 1. OH that mine head were waters] Mira sermonis transfiguratione utitur Propheta, A wonderful wish of this weeping Prophet, and to be taken up by God's faithful Ministers, considering the woeful condition of their perishing people, posting to perdition. Pia est illa tristitia, & si dici potest, beata miseria, saith Augustine; this is a sweet sorrow, a blessed misery. Such waters will be turned into wine, at the wedding-day of the Lamb; for which purpose also they are kept safe in God's bottle. Psal. 56.8.

And mine eyes a fountain of tears] That there might be a perennity of them. The same word in Hebrew signifieth both an eye and a fountain: both because the eye is of a watery constitution, and for that our eye should trickle down and not cease for our own and other men's sins and miseries. Athanasius by his tears, as by the bleeding of a chaste vine, is said to have cured the leprosy of that tainted age.

Ver. 2. Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place] Some sorry shed, such as those Worthies had who dwelt in dens and caves of the earth; Heb. 11.38. such as Athanasius had, who lived (say some) six years in a Well without the light of the Sun, forsaken of friends, and everywhere hunted by enemies: such as the ancient Hermits and Monks had: who because they lived in caves and subterranean holes, they were named Mandrites and Troglodites. A godly man desireth to converse as much as may be with God, and as little as may be with men, unless they were better. Lot had little joy of Sodom, 2 Pet. 2.7, 8. Aaron of the Israelites. Thou knowest, saith he to Moses, that this people is wholly set upon wickedness, Exod. 32.22. And indeed so is the whole world, 1 Joh. 5.19. with 2.16. Hence good men are oft put upon David's wish, Oh that I had the wings of a dove, &c! Or if that Oh will not set them at liberty, they take up that Woe of his to express their misery, Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshec, &c. Who will give me a travellers lodge in the wilderness that I might leave my people, whose wicked courses are a continual eye-sore and heart-break unto me?

For they are all adulterers] Both corporal and spiritual.

An assembly of treacherous] A pack of perfidious wretches; a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven, Isa. 1.4.

Ver. 3. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies] To the impeaching of others in their name, state and life. I read that in Italy at this day they have a pocket-stone-bow, which held under a cloak shoots needles with violence to pierce a man's body, yet leaveth a wound scarce discernible. Lo such is an evil tongue, and such mischief it may do a man.

But they are not valiant for the truth] Truth is no part of their profession: and courage in a good cause they have none. Of the most we may say as of Harts and Stags, they have great horns, but to little purpose; or as Themistocles said of the Eretrians, that they were like the sword-fish which hath a sword indeed, but not a heart to make use of it.

And they know not me saith the Lord] The low apprehensions men have of God, make their hearts work so poorly after him, Psal. 9.10.

Ver. 4. Take ye heed everyone of his neighbor] Since there is scarce any to be trusted. The Poets tell us that when Pallas had taught people to build an house, Momus found this fault with it, that it was fixed to a place and not set upon wheels: to the end that if men liked not their neighbourhood, they might remove at pleasure. A good neighbor is a rare bird.

And trust ye not in any brother] See Mich. 7.5, 6. with the Notes.

For every brother will utterly supplant] Singula verba hic habent pondus & pathos ingens: Here each word hath its weight: each syllable its substance.

Ver. 5. They have taught their tongues to speak lies] They are Artists at it, and can tack one lie to another very handsomely, Psal. 119.69. See the Note.

Ver. 6. Thine habitation is in the miost of deceit] i. e. Of deceitful persons: who have honey in their tongues, but gall in their hearts.

They refuse to know me] Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, they are willfully ignorant, 2 Pet. 3.3, 5. so wedded and wedg'd they are to their fraudulent practices.

Ver. 7. Behold I will melt them and try them] I will cast them into the fiery crucible of sharp affl • ction. A Metaphor from Metallaries. See chap. 6.29.

For how should I do for the daughter of my people?] i. e. How should I do otherwise? what can I do less to them though they are my people, since they are so shamelessly, so lawlesly wicked? an unruly Patient maketh a cruel Physician: a desperate disease must have a desperate remedy.

Ver. 8. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out] It is both a bow, ver. 3. and a shaft, and that a slaughtering shaft, as some copies have it here; coulter jugulans, a murthering-knife, some render it. So Psal. 42.10. As with a murdering weapon in my bones, mine enemies reproach me. Reckon thou, saith one, Sennacherib and Rabshakeh among the first, and chiefest Kill-Christ's, because ever an honest mind is more afflicted with words then with blows.

It speaketh deceit] See Psal. 52.2. with the Notes.

One speaketh peaceably — but in his heart he layeth his wait] Such a one was the tyrant Tiberius and our Richard 3. who would use most complements and show greatest signs of love and courtesy to him in the morning, whose throat he had taken order to be cut that evening.

Ver. 9. Shall I not visit them] See on chap. 5.9.

Ver. 10. For the mountains will I take up a weeping] Accingit se Propheta ad luctum. Jeremy was better at weeping then Heraclitus, and from a better principle. Lachrymas angustiae exprimit Crux: lachrymas poenitentiae peccatum: lachrymas sympathiae, affectus humanitatis, vel Christianitatis: lachrymas nequitiae, vel hypocrisis vel vindictae cupiditas. Jeremiah's tears were of the best sort.

Because they are burnt up] The Rabbin's tell us, that after the people were carried captive to Babylon, the land of Jury was burnt up with sulphur and salt. But this may well pass for a Jewish fable.

Both the fowl of the heaven] See chap. 4.25.

Ver. 11. And I will make Jerusalem heaps] So small a distance is there, saith Seneca, betwixt a great City and none. The world is as full of mutation as of motion.

And a den of Dragons] Because she made mine house a den of thieves, chap. 7.11.

Ver. 12. Who is the wise man that he may understand this?] This who, and who, denoteth a great paucity of such wise ones as consider common calamities in the true causes of them, propter quid pereat haec terra, for what the land perisheth, and that great sins produce grievous judgments: The most are apt to say with those Philistines It is a chance, to attribute their sufferings to Fate or Fortune, to accuse God of injustice, rather then to accept of the punishment of their iniquity.

And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken] q. d. Is there never a one of your Prophets that will set you right herein? but the dust of covetousness hath put out their eyes: and they can better sing Placentia then Lachrymae, &c.

Ver. 13. And the Lord saith] Or, therefore the Lord saith, q. d. Because neither yourselves know, nor have any else to tell you the true cause of your calamities, hear it from God's own mouth.

Ver. 14. But have walked after the imagination of their own heart] Then the which they could not have chosen a worse guide, since it is evil, only evil, and continually so, Gen. 6.5. See the note there.

Which their fathers taught them] See chap. 7.18.

Ver. 15. Behold I will feed them with wormwood] i. e. With bitter afflictions. Et haec poena inobedientiae fidei respondet. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, Prov. 14.14. he shall have his belly full of them, as we use to say. See chap. 8.14.

Ver. 16. And I will scatter them also among the heathen] As had been forethreatned, Deut. 28. Lev. 26. But men will not believe till they feel. They read the threats of God's law as they do the old stories of foreign wars, and as if they lived out of the reach of God's rod.

Ver. 17. Consider ye] Intelligentes estote: Is not your hard-heartedness such, as that ye need such an help? to do that wherein you should be forward and free-hearted. The Hollanders and French fast, saith one, but (without exprobration be it spoken) they had need to send for mourning-women, that by their cunning they may be taught to mourn.

And call for the mourning women] In planctum & omne pathos faciles, such as could make exquisite lamentation, and cunningly act the part of mourners at funerals, so as to wring tears from the beholders. These the Latins called Praeficas quia luctui praeficiebantur, because they had the chief hand in funeral mournings: for the better carrying on whereof they both sang doleful ditties, See 2 Chron. 35.25. and played on certain heavily-sounding instruments, Mat. 9.23. whence the Poet,

Ver. 18. And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us] Of this vanity or affectation God approveth not as neither he did of the Olympic games, of usury, of that custom at Corinth, 1 Ep. 15.29. which yet he maketh his use of.

Ver. 19. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled? ] Quis tragoediam aptius & magis graphice depingeret? what tragedy was ever better set forth, and in more lively expressions?

Ver. 20. Yet hear the Word of the Lord, O ye women] For souls have no sexes, and ye are likely to have your share as deep as any in the common calamity: you also are mostly more apt to weep then men, and may sooner work your men to godly sorrow then those lamentatrices.

Ver. 21. For death is come up into our windows] i. e. The killing Chaldees break in upon us at any place of entrance, doors or windows, Joel 2.9. Joh. 10.1. The Ancients give us warning here to see to our senses (those windows of wickedness) that sin get not into the soul thereby, and death by sin.

Ver. 22. Speak, Thus saith the Lord] Heb. Speak, it is the Lord's saying: and therefore thou mayst be bold to speak it. So 1 Thes. 4.15. For I say unto you in (or, by) the Word of the Lord.

And as the handful after the harvest man] Death shall cut them up by handfuls, and lay them heaps upon heaps.

Ver. 23. Let not the wise-man glory in his wisdom] q. d. You bear yourselves bold upon your wisdom, wealth, strength, and other such seeming supports and deceitful foundations, as if these could save you from the evils threatened. But all these will prove like a shadow that declineth, delightful but deceitful; as will well appear at the hour of death. Charles the fifth (whom, of all men, the world • udged most happy) cursed his honors, (a little afore his death) his victories, trophees, and riches, saying Abite hinc, abite longe, get you far enough, for any good ye can now do me. Abi perdita bestia quae me totum perdidisti, be gone thou wretched creature, that hast utterly undone me, said Corn, Agrippa the Magician to his familiar spirit, when he lay a dying. So may many say of their worldly wisdom, wealth, &c.

Let not the wise man glory] Let not those of great parts be head-strong or top-heavy: let them not think to wind out by their wiles and shifts.

Let not the mighty man glory] Fortitudo nostra est infirmitatis in veritate cognitio, & in humilitate confessio.

Nor the rich man glory in his riches] Since they avail not in the day of wrath, Zeph. 1.18. See the Note there.

Ver. 24. But let him that glorieth, glory in this] And yet not in this neither, unless he can do it with self-denial, and lowlymindednesse. Let him glory only in the Lord, saith Paul. The pride of Virginity is as foul a sin as Impurity, saith Austin: so here.

Ver. 25. That I will punish all them, &c] Promiscuously and impartially.

That are circumcised] Some read it, The circumcised in uncircumcision. Unregenerate Israel, notwithstanding their circumcision, are to God as Ethiopians, Am. 9.7.

Ver. 26. That are in the utmost corners] Heb. Praecisos in lateribus, polled by the corner: which was the Arabian fashion, saith Herodotus. See chap. 49.32.

For all these Nations are uncircumcised] sc. In heart, though circumcised in the flesh, as now also the Turks are.

CHAP. X.

Ver. 1. HEar ye the Word which the Lord speaketh] Exordium simplicissimum, saith Junius. A very plain preface, calling for attention. 1. From the authority of the Speaker. 2. From the duty of the hearers.

O house of Israel] The ten Tribes long since captivated, and now directed what to do, say some. The Jews, say others; and in this former part of the chapter, those of them that had been carried away to Babylon with Jeconiah.

Ver. 2. Learn not the way of the heathens] Their sinful customs and irregular religions, (mere irreligions.)

And be not dismayed at the signs of heaven] Which the blind heathens feared, and deified: and none did more then the Syrians, the Jews next neighbors. Of the vanity of judicial Astrology, see on Esa. 47.13. He who feareth God needs not fear the stars: for All things are yours, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3.21. Muleasses King of Tunis a great star-gazer, fore-seeing by them, as he said, the loss of his Kingdom and life together, left Africa, that he might shun that mischief: but thereby he hastened it, Anno 1544. God suffereth sometimes such fond predictions to fall out right upon men for a just punishment of their curiosity.

For the heathen are dismayed at them] Therefore God's people should not; if it were for no other reason but that only: See Mat. 6.32. Let Papists observe this.

Ver. 3. For the customs of the people are vain] Their rites confirmed by custom; their imagery, for instance, a very magnum nihil; whether ye look to the Efficient, Matter, Form, or End of those mawmets.

For one cutteth a tree out of the Forest] See Isa. 40.2. and 44.12.—17. which last place Jeremy here seemeth to have imitated.

Ver. 4. They deck it w • th silver and with gold] Gild it over, to make it sightly: goodly gods therewhile. See Esa. 4.4.

That it move not] Ut non amittat, saith Tremellius: that it lose not the cost bestowed upon it.

Ver. 5. They are upright as the Palm-tree] Which it straight, tall, smooth, and in summo prosert fructus, and beareth fruits at the very top of it.

Ver. 6. Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee] None of all these dii minutuli, these dunghill deities, are worthy to be named in the same day with thee.

Thou art great] God is great, Psal. 77.13. Greater, Job 33.12. Greatest, Psal. 95.3. Greatness itself, Psal. 145.3. He is a degree above the superlative. Think the same of other his names and attributes; many of which we have here mentioned in this and the following verses: which are therefore highly to be prized, and oft to be perused. Leonard Lessius a little before his death, finished his book concerning the fifty Names of Almighty God: often affirming that in that little book he had found more light and spiritual support under those grievous fits of the stone which he suffered, then in all his voluminous Commentaries upon Aquinas his sums, which he had well-nigh fitted for the Press.

Ver. 7. Who would not fear thee, O King of Nations?] Tremble at thy transcendent greatness, thy matchless Majesty, power, and prowess? See Mal. 1.14. Rev. 15.4. Psal. 103.19. with the Notes.

Forasmuch as among all the wise men of the Nations] Who used to defy their wise men, and their Kings.

Ver. 8. But they are altogether brutish and foolish] The wise men are, for that when they knew there was but one only true God (as did Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Seneca, &c.) they detained the truth in unrighteousness, and taught the people to worship stocks and stones, Rom. 1.21, 22, 23. The Nations are, because they yield to be taught devotion by images, under what pretext soever. Considerentur hic subterfugia Papistarum. Pope Gregory first taught that images in Churches were Laey-men's books. A doctrine of devils.

Ver. 9. Silver spread into plates] See Isa. 40.19.

Is brought from Tarshish] From Tarsus or Tartessus, Ezek. 27.12. from Africa, saith the Chaldee. Idolaters spare for no cost.

And gold from Uphaz] The same with Phaz, Job. 28.17. Or with Ophir, as some: Aurum Obzyrum.

They are all the work of cunning men] Quaerunt suos Phidias & Praxiteles: but how could those give that deity which themselves had not?

Ver. 10. But the Lord is the true God] Heb. Jehovah is God in truth, not in conceit only, or counterfeit.

He is the living God, and an everlasting King] See on ver. 6.

At his wrath the earth shall tremble] The earth, that greatest of all lifeless creatures.

And the Nations shall not be able] Less able to stand before him, then a glass-bottle before a Cannon-shot.

Ver. 11. Thus shall ye say unto them] Confession with the mouth is necessary to Salvation. This verse (written therefore in the Syriac tongue, which was spoken at Babylon ) is a formulary given to God's people, to be made use of by them in detestation of the Idolatries of that City.

The God's that made not the heaven and the earth] The vanity of Idols and heathenish-gods is set forth, 1. By their impotency. 2. Frailty. Quid ad haec respondebunt Papistae? aut qualem contradictoriae reconciliationem afferent?

Ver. 12. He hath made the earth by his power] Here we have the true Philosophy and right original of things: Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas. Almighty God made the earth, the main bulk and body of it. Gen. 1.1. He alone is the powerful Creator, the provident disposer, the prudent preserver of all things both in heaven and in earth: therefore the only true God.

Ver. 13. When he uttereth his voice] Again, when he thundereth ( Ps. 29.3.) it raineth a main, lighteneth in the midst of the rain (which is a great miracle) and bloweth for life, as we say, no man knowing whence or whither, Joh. 3.8. All which wondrous works of God may well serve for a Theological Alphabet, and cannot be attributed to any god but our God.

And he causeth the vapors to ascend] See Psal, 135.7. with the Notes.

Ver. 14. Every man is brutish in his knowledge] Or, Every man is become more brutish then to know: That was therefore an hyperbolical praise given by Philostratus to Apollonius, Non doctus sed natus sapiens, that he was not taught but born a wise man: See Job 11.12. Rom. 1.22. with the Notes. Every man is become brutish, for want of knowledge (so the words may be rendered) the heathen idol-makers especially; Brutescit homo prae scientia, so Vatablus 1. Every man is brutish, in comparison of knowledge, viz. of God's knowledge, whilst he goeth about to search into the causes of rain, lightening, wind, &c. which God only understandeth.

Ver. 15. They are vanity] Vanity in its largest extent, is properly predicated of them.

And the work of errors] Meer mockeries; making men to embrace vanity for verity.

In the time of their visitation] See on Isa. 46.1.

Ver. 16. The portion of Jacob is not like them] God is his people's portion; they are his possession: Oh their dignity and security! this, the cock on the dunghill understands not.

Ver. 17. Gather up thy wares out of the land] Make up thy pack, and prevent a plundering. Reculas tuas & sarcinas compone.

Ver. 18. Behold I will fling out the inhabitants of this land] I will easily and speedily sling them and fling them into Babylon: so God will one day hurl into hell all the wicked of the earth, Psal. 9.17.

And will distress them, that they may find it so] Just so as they were foretold it would be, but they could never be drawn to believe it.

Ver. 19. Woe is me for my hurt, my wound is grievous] This is the moan that people make when in distress, and they find it so. But what after a while of pausing?

Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it] i. e. Bear it off, as well as I may, by head and shoulders; or bear up under it and rub through it; wearing it out as well as I can: when things are at worst they'll mend again. Crosses, as they had a time to come in, so they must have a time to go out, &c. This is not patience but pertinaecy; the strength of stones, and flesh of brass, Job 6.12. it draweth on more weight of plagues, and punishments; God liketh not this indolency, this stupidity, this despising of his corrections, as he calleth it, Heb. 12.5. such shall be made to cry when God bindeth them (Job 36.11.) as here.

Ver. 20. My Tabernacle is spoiled] I am irreparably ruined: like as when a camp is quite broken up, not any part of a tent or hut is left standing.

Ver. 21. For the Pastors are become brutish] The corrupt Prophets and Priests, who seduced the people from the truth, were persons that made no conscience of prayer: hence all went to wrack and ruin.

Ver. 22. Behold the noise of the brute is come] This doleful peal he oft rung in their ears; but they little regarded it. See chap. 9.11.

Ver. 23. O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself] He is not master of his own way; but is directed and over-ruled by the powerful providence: even this cruel Chaldaan also, that marcheth against us.

It is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps] We know not what to do or which way to turn ourselves: only our eyes are toward thee. Behold we submit to thy justice, and implore thy mercy. This text doth mainly make against free-will, saith Oecolampadius: and yet the Pelagiam would hence gather, that man can by his own strength walk in the way to heaven: but he must be holpen say they, by God's grace that he may be perfect.

Ver. 24. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment] i. e. In mercy and in measure. Correction is not simply to be deprecated: the Prophet here cries Corret me: David saith, It was good for me: Job calleth God's afflicting of us, his magnifying of us, chap. 7.17. Feri Domine feri clementer: ipse paratus sam, saith Luther; Smite Lord, smite me, but gently: and I am ready to bear it patiently. King Alfred prayed God to send him always some sickness whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed and affectioned to Godward. Ecclesiastical history telleth of one Servulus, who sick of a palsy, so that his life was a lingering death, said ordinarily, God be thanked.

Ver. 25. Pour out, &c.] This is not more votum then vaticinium; a prayer, then a prophecy.

And upon the families] Neglect of family-prayer uncovers the roof as it were for God's curse to be rained down upon men's tables, meat, enterprises, &c.

CHAP. XI.

Ver. 1. THe Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord] To him it came, but to be imparted to other Prophets, say some, Priests of Anathoth, say others, ver. 2. which might be the reason why they were so enraged against him and fought his life, ver. 18, 19. as the Popish Priests did Mancinels, Savanarolas and other faithful Preachers, for exciting them to do their duties.

Ver. 2. Hear ye the words—and speak ye] Ye Priests whose ordinary office it is to teach Jacob God's judgments, and Israel his Law, Deut. 33.10.

Ver. 3. And say thou unto them] Thou Jeremy: whether the rest will join with thee, or not.

Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this Covenant] It is probable that Jeremy when he said thus, held the book in his hand, viz. the book of Deuteronomy, which the Rabbin's call Sepher Tochechoth, because of the many increpations and curses therein contained.

Ver. 4. From the iron furnace] Where iron is melted and a fierce fire required.

Obey my voice] See chap 7.23.

Ver. 5. A land flowing with milk and honey] With plenty of dainties. The City of Aleppo is so called by the Turks, of Alep milk: for if the via lactea were on earth, it would be found there, saith one.

So be it, O Lord] Amen, Fiat, Fiat. Oh that there were an heart in this people to obey thy voice; And oh that thou wouldest still continue them in this good land, &c. Our hearts should be stretched out after out Amen: and we should be swallowed upon God, say the Rabbin's.

Ver. 6. Hear ye the words of this Covevant, and do them] Else ye hear to no purpose; as the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not made hot by the fire; as the Ethiopian goeth black into the Bath, and as black he cometh forth.

Ver. 7. Rising early] i. e. endeavoring earnestly: See chap. 5.8.

Ver. 8. Yet they obeyed not] See chap. 7.24.

Therefore I will bring] Heb. and I brought upon them.

Ver. 9. A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah] A combination in sinful courses, this is not Unity but Conspiracy. See Ezek. 22.25. Hos. 6.9. such is the unity of the Antichristian crew, Rev. 17.13. The Turks have as little dissension in their religion as any: yet are a rabble of rebels conspiring against heaven.

Ver. 10. They are turned away to the iniquities of their forefathers] Showing themselves herein to be a race of rebels, as good at resisting the holy Ghost as ever their Fathers were, and are therefore justly chargeable with their iniquities: which needeth not.

Ver. 11. Which they shall not be able to escape] To avert, avoid or abide.

I will not hearken unto them] See Prov. 1.28. Zech. 7.13. with the Notes.

Ver. 12. Then shall the Cities of Judah — go and cry unto the God's] Or, Let them go, and cry unto them, q. d. Let them for me: This is one of those bitter answers that God giveth to wicked suitors, Ezek. 14. See Judge. 10.14. Or if he give them better at any time, it is in wrath, and for a mischief to them.

Ver. 13. For according to the number of thy Cities] See chap. 2.28.

And according to the number of thy streets] See Ezek. 16.31.

Ver. 14. Therefore pray not thou for this people] See on chap. 7.16.

When they cry unto me for their trouble] It is not the cry of the spirit for grace, but of the flesh only for ease; it is but the fruit of sinful self-love: In thee indeed it proceedeth from a better principle: but I am at a point.

Ver. 15. What hath my beloved to do in mine house?] i. e. Mine once-beloved people, which had the liberty of mine house, and was welcome thither; but is now discarded, and discovenanted; as if an husband should say to his adulterous wife, What maketh this strumpet in my bed, since she hath so many paramouts?

And the holy flesh] The sacrifices sanctified by the Altar.

Is passed from thee] Shall be wholly taken away from you, together with the Temple.

When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest] Thou revellest in thine impurities and sensualities, as dreading no danger, but slighting all admonition.

Ver. 16. The Lord called thy name a green Olive-tree] Green all the year long; fair, and fruitful; this was thy prosperous and flourishing condition: but now thy best days are over; For,

With the noise of a great tumult] Barritu militari, such as soldiers make when they storm a City.

Ver. 17. For the evil of the house of Israel] That evil by a specialty, that land-desolating sin of Idolatry.

Ver. 18. And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it] i. e. Of the treacherous plot of my country-men of Anathoth against me; who should never have dreamt of any such danger; Dius pro suis excubat.

Ver. 19. But I was like a lamb or an Ox] Harmlesse and blameless, busied in my function, and not in the least suspecting any such evil design against me. I send you forth as lambs amongst wolves, saith Christ; who himself being the Lamb of God was slain from the beginning of the world; his servants also are slain all the day long, and counted as sheep to the slaughter; Rom. 8.

Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof] Let us poison his food, so the Chaldee senseth it, Ponamus lignum taxi in sorbitiunculam. Others, let us destroy the Prophet and his prophecies together. Others, let us make an end of him either by sword or by famine, as the punishment threatened ver. 22. pointeth us to.

That his name may be no more remembered] Sic veritas odium peperit. So the Papists have given order that wheresoever Calvin's name is found, it shall be blotted out: and by a most malicious Anagram they have turned Calvin into Lucian. One of them lately took a long journey to Rome, only to have his name changed from Calvin to some other: and that out of devilish hatred of that most learned and holy man,

Ver. 20. But O Lord of hosts] Thou who art potentissimus & liberrimus, a most powerful and free Agent.

That tryest the reins and the heart] And so knowest with what mind I make this complaint and request.

Let me see thy vengeance upon them] A prophetical imprecation guided by God's Spirit, and not lightly to be imitated. So the Church prayed against Julian the Apostate, whom they knew to be a desperate enemy, and to have committed that sin unto death. So perhaps had these men of Anathoth.

Ver. 21. Of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life] Where shall a man find worse friends then at home? A Prophet is nowhere so little set by as in his own country, Mat. 13.57. Probatissimus & optimus quisque peregre vivit, saith Ennius in Tully.

Saying, Prophecy not in the Name of the Lord] A desperate speech, proceeding from an height of hatred, and coasting upon the unpardonable sin.

Ver. 22. Behold I will punish them] Sic tandem bona causa triumphat. The visible vengeance of God followeth close at the heels the persecutors of his faithful messengers.

Ver. 23. And there shall be no remnant] Behold the severity of God: their bloody design was to destroy Jeremiah's stock and fruit, stalk and grain together, ver. 19. God meteth unto them the self-same measure, leaveth them not a remnant. This is not ordinary justice; chap. 4.27. Isa. 1. and 10. A remnant shall be left, saith he: here not so. Let Rome that shambles of the Saints and Prophets especially, look to it; God is now coming to make inquisition for blood, &c.

CHAP. XII.

Ver. 1. RIghteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee] Or, though I should contend with thee. This the Prophet fitly premiseth to the ensuing disceptation, that he might not be mistaken. Thy judgments saith he, are sometimes secret, always just: this I am well assured of, though I thus argue.

Yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments] Let me take the humble boldness so to do, that I may be further cleared and instructed by thee.

Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?] Viz. Whilst better men suffer; as now the wicked Anathothites do, whilst I go in danger of my life by them. This is that noble question which hath exercised the wits and molested the minds of many wise men, both within and without the Church. See Job 21.7.—13. Psal. 37.1. and 73.1, 2,—12. Hab. 1.4, 5. Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Claudian against Ruffin, &c.

Wherefore are they all happy] Heb. at ease. Not all neither; for some wicked have their payment here, their hell afore-hand. To this question the Lord (who knoweth our frame, Psal. 103.) being content to condescend where he might have judged, calmly maketh answer, ver. 5. like as Christ in like case did to Peter, Joh. 21.21, 22.

Ver. 2. Thou hast planted them and they have taken root] All goes hail with them; they have more then heart can wish, Psal. 73.7. And in lieu of God's goodness to them, they profess largely, and pretend to great devotion: but that's all.

Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins] That is, from their affections, Tit. 1.16. Hypocrites are like that heap of heads, 2 King. 10.8. that had never a heart among them: they have vocem in chor • , mentem in foro; virtutem non colunt sed colorant. That Persian Ambassador (of whom before) when conversing with Christians, he had so oft in his moth, Soli Deo Gloria, made believe that he gave glory to the only true God, when as he meant the Sun, whom he worshipped as his God. The King of Bohemia when beaten out of Prague, was encouraged by some great Commanders about him, that he had many Princes his friends and allyes, that would readily assist him: to which he made no answer, but wrote the word Deus in great letters. But some thought he meant Denmark in D, England in E, Hungary in U, and the Swedes in S. God knows what his meaning was: but he will make all the Churches to know, that he searcheth the hearts and reins, and that he will kill with death all such as had rather seem to be good then seek to be so. If Jeremy had been one of those, he durst never have said

Ver. 3. But thou, Lord, knowest me, &c.] q. d. I can safely appeal unto thee, and take thee for a witness of mine innocence and integrity; that I have thee not in my mouth only, as they, but in my heart also, which is wholly devoted to thy fear, ut sit tecum, hanging toward thee, and • ankering after thee continually.

Pull them out as sheep] Punish some of them presently for an example of thy Providence; and reserve others of them till hereafter for an instance of thy Patience. See chap. 11.20.

Prepare them] Heb. Sanctify them, as Isa. 13.3. chap. 6.4. Fatted ware is but fitted for the shambles.

Ver. 4. How long shall the land mourn] For the sake of those wicked wretches aforementioned?

The beasts are consumed and the birds] See chap. 4.25, 26.

Because they said He shall not see our last end] God shall not; and so they deny his providence and prescience. Or, the Prophet shall not, though now he thunder out our punishment with so great vehemence: Confer chap. 11 23.

Ver. 5. If thou hast run with the footmen] Here God returneth an answer to the Prophets foregoing complaint, saith the Chaldee: partly checking him for his discontentedness, and partly exciting him to an humble submission, and a well knit resolution.

Then how wilt thou contend with horses?] If thy countrymen of Anathoth overmatch and overmaster thee, how wilt thou deal with those of Jerusalem who are a fair deal worse?

And if in a land of peace] These are proverbial speeches, both to one purpose:

How wouldest thou endure wounds for Christ, that canst not endure words? saith one; and how wilt thou fry a faggot that startlest at a reproach for the truth? Whilest William Cobberly Martyr was in durance, his wife also, called Alice, being apprehended was in the Keepers house the same time detained: where the keepers wife had secretly heated a key fire-hot, and laid it in the grass on the back-side; so speaking to Alice Cobberly to fetch her the key in all haste, she went with speed to bring the key; and taking it up in haste, did piteously burn her hand; whereupon she cried out. Ah thou drabbe, quoth the other, thou that canst not abide the burning of thy hand, how wilt thou be able to abide the burning of thy whole body? And so she afterward revoked.

Ver. 6. For even thy brethren] Let this comfort us in like case. Abel and John Diazius were butchered by their own unnatural brethren. Paul suffered most of all from his own country-men.

Yea they have called a multitude after thee] Or, with full mouth: as those did against Christ who cried crucify him crucify him: and those against Paul, Away with such a fellow from the earth: and those against the Primitive Christians, Christianos ad leones, to the Lions with them. In Rhodanum, in Rhodanum, cried many at Geneva against Farellus their faithful Preacher; into the River with him: but God preserved him from their fury, for the good of many other Cities after that converted by him.

Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee] Fair words make fools fain, we say: but be not light of belief: the worlds naught.

Ver. 7. I have forsaken my house] A man's house is dear to him; dearer his heritage; dearest his well-beloved wife: Jerusalem had been all this to God: but now for sin, abandoned by him.

I have given the dearly beloved of my soul] Or, my dearly beloved; my soul: i. e. My self, my second-self. Heb. the love of my soul. Gr. and Vulg. My beloved soul. God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth, Nah. 1.2.

Ver. 8. Mine heritage is unto me as a Lyon in the forest] Roaring against me, and revelling in the ruin of my messengers. Ubi affectus augetur in Antithesi verborum; Haereditas mea, & contra me. Sheep they were wont to be: now they are become Lions.

Ver. 9. Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird] As an owl say some, that soveth not the light; as a Peacock say others, proud and inconstant, all in changeable colors, as oft changed as moved. God that could not endure Miscellane seed, nor linsy-woolsy in Israel, can less endure that his people should be as a speckled bird, here of one color, and there of another; or as a cake not turned, Hos. 6.4, &c.

Ver. 10. Many Pastors have destroyed my vine-yard] Those who before were called Beast, ver. 9. are here called Pastors: viz. Nebuchadnezzar's Captains. See chap. 6.3.

Ver. 11. Because no man layeth it to heart] Heb. there is not a man putting it upon heart, that is duly and deeply affected with my menaces, so as to take a timely course for prevention, and their own preservation.

Ver. 12. For the sword of the Lord] i. e. Of the enemy set on by the Lord: for whencesoever the sword cometh, it is bathed in heaven, Isa. 34.5. See Ezek. 14.17.

Ver. 13. They have sown wheat] The Prophets have, say some, but to no profit.

They shall put themselves to pain] Or, they are sick, sc. for the affliction of Joseph, as Am. 6 6. See the Note there. Others interpret it of the Jews who sought to help themselves by this means & that, but lost their labors and their hopes together.

Because of the fierce anger of the Lord] Quo laeso nihil est illaesum, tutum, & fidum hominibus.

Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbors] These were the Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, &c. God also hath his evil neighbors; and this may be a comfort to us in like case.

Behold I will pluck them out, &c. And pluck out the house of Judah] This was a different plucking.

Ver. 15. After that I have plucked them out] sc. In both senses, ver. 14.

I will return] In the midst of judgment I will remember mercy.

And bring again every man to his heritage] To the Church: for in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness, shall be accepted with him, and have a child's part, even the reward of inheritance.

Ver. 16. If they will diligently learn] Heb. learning learn the ways of my people chalked out unto them in my word, and their conformity thereunto: for the lives of God's people are but the Word exemplified; they walk as patters of the rule, and are of exemplary holiness, as Luk. 1.6.

To swear by my Name] In righteousness, in truth and in judgment, as chap. 4.2.

Then shall they be built] i. e. Blest.

Ver. 17. But if they will not obey] The tartness of the threatening maketh us best taste the sweetness of the Promise; and a mixture of them serves to keep the heart in the best temper.

I will utterly pluck up and destroy that Nation] This is fulfilled to the utmost upon the Jews, especially since the last destruction of Jerusalem.

CHAP. XIII.

Ver. 1. GO, get thee a linen girdle] Or belt, or swath.

And put it not in water] Or lie, to wash it or whiten it; but take it as it is first made, us sord • ciem magis contrahat, to show, say some, that the Jewish Nation, when first chosen, was black by sin and nothing amiable; better skilled and exercised in making mortar and bricks in Egypt, then in the worship of God; and in good manners.

Or put it not in water] i. e. Keep it from being rotted, as a type of God's care of, and kindnesses to that people.

Ver. 2. So I got a girdle] God is to be obeyed readily, and without sciscitation.

Ver. 3. And the Word of the Lord came to me] Heb. Was to me. At sundry times, or piece-meal, God spake to his servants the Prophets, Heb. 1.1.

Ver. 4. Arise, go to Euphrates] A river which ran by Babylon, six hundred and fourscore miles from Jerusalem. The Prophets journey therefore thither seemeth to have been but visional, as was Isaiah 's going barefoot, Hosea 's marriage with a whore, Ezekiel's lying on one side three hundred and ninety days together; his journey from Chaldea to Jerusalem, chap. 8.3, &c.

Ver. 5. So I went and hid it by Euphrates] In the cliffe of a rock, where it might lie dry: never once asking the reason. This was simple and acceptable obedience; far beyond that of the Popish Novices, who yet if their Padres or Superiors send them to China or Peru, without dispute or delay they do presently set forward.

Ver. 6. And it came to pass after many days] See on ver. 3.

Ver. 7. Then I went to Euphrates] See on ver. 4. Those that are for an actual journey, allege, that Jeremy might do this without danger in the days of Jehoiakim, who was the King of Babylon's Vassal, and paid him tribute.

And behold the girdle was rotted, it was profitable for nothing] This shown that the Jews should in that Country lie rotting, as it were in baseness and servility and sin together, many years: so that God might justly have left them there still in misery, as a man leaves his rotten girdle to become dung.

Ver. 8. Then the word, &c.] Adaptat simile. See ver. 3.

Ver. 9. After this manner will I mar the pride] Their pomp and power, wherein they pride themselves.

Ver. 10. This evil people] Populus ill pessimus, these P • neropolitans, who are naught all over, nequitiâ cooperti.

Walk in the imagination of their heart] See chap. 9.13. and 11.8.

Ver. 11. So have I caused to cleave unto me] For nearness and dearness: the loins are the seat of strongest desires and affections.

And for a name and for a praise] That I might be magnified and glorified in them: and for them also, among other nations.

Ver. 12 Therefore] Or, Moreover.

Thou shalt speak unto them this word] This other paradigm • or parable: an excellent way of teaching, and much used in both Testaments.

Every bottle shall be filled with wine] Wine they loved well, and a great vintage they now expected. They shall have it, saith God; but of another nature then they look for; Their heads (not altogether unlike bottles for roundness, and emptiness of all good) shall be filled with a dry drunkenness: even with errors and terrors, a spirit of giddiness, &c.

Do not we certainly know, &c.] This they seem to speak insolently and jearingly, q. d. you should tell us some news.

Ver. 13. Behold I will fill] Heb. Lo, I am filling: but the l • quour is such as whereof you shall have small joy. See ver. 12.

Ver. 14. And I will dash them one against another] As so many earthen bottles, brittle and soon broken: Si collidimur frangimur, said those in the fable.

Ver. 15. Hear and give ear] Or, Hear and hearken, be not haughty. Here the Prophet calleth upon them again to repent, and to that end, to listen diligently, and to lay aside the highness of their hearts, and the stoutness of their stomachs, since it is the Lord that speaketh. The Lyon roareth: who can but fear? Am. 3.8. Repentance is the Removens prohibens, as being founded in humility, and wrought by the Word preached, Jonah 3. Act. 2.

Ver. 16. Give glory to the Lord your God] Confess your sins, Josh. 7.19. one part of repentance put for the whole. Jeremy was as constant a Preacher of Repentance, as Paul, and after him Austin, were of the free grace of God. The impenitent person robbeth God of his right: the penitent man sarcit injuriam Deo irrogatam, seemeth to make some kind of amends to God whom he had wronged, by restoring him his glory, which he had run away with, whilst he putteth himself into the hands of justice, in hope of mercy.

Before he cause darkness] sc. Of calamity and captivity. Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia.

Before your feet stumble] So, before ye fall upon the dark and dangerous cragges and precipices of eternal perdition. Which to prevent, work whiles the light lasteth: walk whiles it is yet day.

Ver. 17. My soul shall weep in secret places] Good men are apt to weep; Et faciles motus men's generosa capit. Good Ministers should be full of compassionate tears, weeping in secret for their people's unprofitableness, and their danger thereby. The breast and right shoulder of the sacrifice belonged to the Priest; to show that he should be a breast to love, and a shoulder to support the people, in their troubles and burdens.

Ver. 18. Say to the King and to the Queen] Or Madam, the Lady or Mistress: that is, to the Queen Regent, even to Necustah the mother of Jeconiab, say the Jews. When Beza, in the behalf of the reformed Churches in France, made a speech at Possiacum before the young King and the Queen-Mother, he spake so effectually, saith Rivet, that a great Cardinal who heard it, wished, that either he had been dumb that day, or that they had all been deaf. This King and Queen in the text might be as much convinced, though not thoroughly converted.

Humble yourselves, sit down] Heb. Humble, sit below.

For your Principalities] Or, your head-attires.

The crown of your glory] Or, your crown of glory, that is, your glorious crown: of which you shall have cause enough to say as Antigonus did of his Diadem, O vilis pannus, &c. Or, as another Monarch,

Ver. 19. The Cities of the South shall be shut up] i. e. The Cities of Egypt, whither ye think to fly, shall be shut up against you, through fear of the Chaldees.

Ver. 20. Lift up your eyes, &c.] Still he bespeaketh the King and the Queen.

Where is the flock that was given thee] Thee. O Queen Regent (for the Pronoun is Feminine ) or Thee, O State; Redde, Vare, legiones, said Augustus, bewailing the loss of so many gallant soldiers in Germany under the command of Varus, who was there also slain.

Thy beautiful flock] Heb. Thy flock of goodliness. See Prov. 14.28. with the Note.

Ver. 21. For thou hast taught them to be Captains, and as chief over thee] sc. By thy crouching unto them, and craving their help, thou hast made the Chaldeans masters of all thou hast: So did the British Princes Vortiger and Vortimer bring in the Saxons here: and the Greeks the Turks.

Ver. 22. Are thy skirts discovered] Thou art brought to most miserable shame and servitude; having scarce a rag to thy back, or a shoe for thy foot.

Ver. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin?] Proverbial speeches arguing a very great difficulty, if not an utter impossibility. Aethiopem abluo ut candidum reddam, said Diogenes, when he reproved an ill man to no purpose: I do but wash a blackmore. And the like said Nazianzen concerning Julian the Apostate. It is said that the Negro 's paint the devil white, as being a color contrary to their own, and which they less well affect. Will the Ethiopian change his skin? so the Hebrew hath it.

Or the leopard his spots] Sin is in us as the spots of a Leopard, not by accident, but by nature, which no art can cure, no water wash off: because they are not in the skin but in the flesh and bones, in the sinews and in the most inner parts. Where then is man's free-will to good, &c?

Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil] Custom in sin takes away the sense of it, and becomes a second nature: which though expeld with a fork as it were, will yet return again. It looks for continual entertainment where it hath once gotten a haunt, as humors fall toward their old issue. Can • s qui semel didicerit edere corium, nunquam desistet, saith Lucian: an evil custom is not easy left. Nothing so weak as water: yet let much water (so sin, Satan, and custom) be joined together, and nothing stronger. It was not for nothing therefore that the Cretans, when they would curse their enemies, with most bitter execrations, they wished that they might take delight in some or other evil custom; modestoque voti genere efficacissimum ultionis genus reperiunt, saith the Historian: by a modest kind of with, they sufficiently avenged themselves.

Ver. 24. Therefore I will scatter them] This was no small aggravation of their misery, that they should be thus severed one from another. So the Persecutors of the Primitive times relegated and confined the poor Christians to Isles and mines, where they could not have access one to another, for mutual comfort and support, as Cyprian complaineth.

Ver. 25. This is thy lot] Look for no better, since thou, by going after lying-vanities, forsakest thine own mercies, being miserable by thine own election.

Because thou hast forgotten me]

Ver. 26. Therefore I will discover thy skirts] Since thou hast discovered and prostituted thyself to other lovers, I will shame thee before all men.

Ver. 27. Woe unto thee O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean?] He closeth with this emphatical and most affectionate contestation, pressing them to hearty and speedy repentance, as he had done oft before, but with little good success. The cock crowed, though Peter still denied his Master. Peter knocked still, though Rhode opened not to him. He launched out into the deep, though he had labored all night for nothing. So did good Jeremy here, in obedience to God, and good will to his unworthy countrymen.

CHAP. XIV.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth] De rebus retentionum, that is, concerning the drought or dearth by restraint of necessary rain and moisture, unde frugum raritas, annon • caritas, fames, whereupon followed a famine: as there doth also a famine of the Word, where the divine influences are restrained. Junius rendereth it Super verbis cohibitionum, concerning the words of cohibitions; that is, saith he, concerning the prayers made by the Prophet and other good people, for the diverting of God's judgments, publicly denounced.

Ver. 2. Judah mourneth] The Prophets pitiful complaint, bitterly bewailing the common calamity, and laboring thereby to bring them to a sense of the true cause of it, their sins. See 2 Sam. 21.1. with the Note.

And the cry of Jerusalem is gone up] sc. To heaven for removal of this judgment: Confer chap. 36.9. with ver. 12. of this Chapter.

Ver. 3. And their Nobles] Who would be sure to have it, if it were to be had.

Sent their little ones] Their boys as they use to call their menial servants of the younger sort. See Mat. 14.2. with the Note.

To the waters] Such as were the waters of Siloam, which only fountain (saith Jerome) Jerusalem maketh use of, so long as it lasteth.

To the pits] Or cisterns, chap. 2.13.

They covered their heads] As close mourners do still.

Ver. 4. Because the ground is chapt] As our hearts also are and will be, when the heaven doth not hear the earth; as Hos. 2.21. It hath been before observed, that in the use of the Ordinances if we open our shells (our souls) the heaven will drop the fruitful dew of grace to the making of pearls of good works, and solid virtue.

Ver. 5. Yea the hind also calved in the field and forlook it] The loving Hind, Prov. 5.19. Alioqui studiosa sui partus, that is otherwise so exceeding chary and careful of her young.

Ver. 6. And the wild-asses] Sectores alias vagae libidinis in sylvis, that usually course up and down the woods, and can bear hunger and thirst a long while together.

Snuffed up the wind like Dragons] Quorum est vebementissima spiratio ac forbitio, who, in defect of water, can continue long by drawing in the air, as Aristotle likewise testifieth of the goats in Cephalonia, that they drink not for divers days together: but instead thereof, gape and suck in the fresh air.

Ver. 7. O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us] Though our guilty consciences bring in large rolles of inditement written against us within and without, and spread before Thee.

Do it for thy Names sake] Heb. Do. A short but pithy petition: so ver. 9. leave us not.

Ver. 8. O the hope of Israel, the Savior thereof] In prayer, to pitch upon such of God's Attributes, as wherein we may see an answer, is an high point of heavenly wisdom.

Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land] As a stranger at home, and as one that is loath to be too busy in aliena republica, where he hath least to do.

That turneth aside] Into some (diversorium) Inn.

Ver. 9. Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished] That knows not which way to take: first he goes one way, and by and by he returns again. Tremellius rendereth it, ut vir fatiscens, as one that fainteth, hath done his utmost, and can do no more.

Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us — leave us not] Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam. This was to stir up himself to take hold of God.

Ver. 10. They have loved to wander] Therefore now they shall have enough of it: yet not wander so wide as to miss of hell, Psal. 95.10, 11. what wonder that God seemed a stranger to them, who had so far estranged themselves from him?

Ver. 11. Pray not for this people] See on chap. 7.16.

Ver. 12. When they fast I will not hear their cry] At their fasts they were wont to pray earnestly, and to make their voices to be heard on high. Sed defuit aliquid intus: their hearts cried not.

Ver. 13. Ah Lord God] The Vulgar Latin hath it, A, a, a, Vide diligentissimam intercessionem. He seeketh somewhat to excuse the people, by laying the blame upon their false Prophets. Like whereunto were those Popish Priests in Gersons time, who preached publicly to the people that whosoever would come to hear a Mass, he should not be struck blind on that day, neither should he die a sudden death, nor want sufficient sustenance, &c.

But I will give you assured peace] Heb. Peace of truth. Thus, these deluders had learned to speak the language of God's true Prophets: of the high-soaring pretended spiritual language of Familists and some other Sectaries one saith well, That it is a great deal too high for this world, and a great deal too low for the world to come.

Ver. 14. The Prophets prophesy falsely in my name, &c.] These are certain signs of Impostors in the Church, in all ages: against whom, now if ever, the Temple-doors had need be well guarded; and the Pulpit-doors have written on them 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Let no unworthy wight presume to come here.

Ver. 15. Yet they say] Heb. they are saying; this is all their song; though the present famine doth in part confute them: but the people were willing enough to be deceived; and were therefore worthily punished. Being infatuated they were seduced: and being so seduced, they were justly judged, as Austin somewhere. The blind led the blind, and both fell into the ditch: though it befell the blind guides to lie nethermost.

Ver. 16. And the people to whom they prophecy shall be cast out] They shall be no more excused by their having been deluded, then he that in his drink committeth adultery or murder, is excused by his drunkenness. A drunkard, saith Aristotle, deserveth double punishment; first for his drunkenness, and then for the sin committed in, and by his drunkenness: so here. See on ver. 15.

Ver. 17. Let mine eyes run down] This the Prophet did doubtless in good earnest: like as Samuel mourned for the rejection of Saul, and our Savior wept over Jerusalem.

And let them not cease] Heb. be silent; for tears also have a voice, Psal. 39.12. and do oft prove very effectual Orators.

Ver. 18. If I go forth into the field,] The Prophet here sets forth the seige as present, though it was many years after: the more to affect the people.

Yea both the Prophet and the Priest go about into a Land that they know not] Or, go about the land ( sc. begging their bread, or flying these miseries) and men know them not, though men of such rank and quality.

Ver. 19. Hast thou utterly rejected Judah?] So as that I may not put up one prayer more for them? I cannot hold whatever come of it; Let not my Lord be angry if I shoot this arrow also after the former.

Ver. 20. We acknowledge O Lord, our wickedness] We, the better sort of us do so: and so the Saints have ever done in their interdealings with God: falling low at his footstool for pardoning and prevailing mercy.

Ver. 21. Do not abhor us for thy Names sake] This was to continue instant in prayer, Rom. 12.12. This was to pray on, and not faint, Luke 18.1. If thy suit be not honest, never begin it: and if it be, never leave it.

Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory] The Temple and the Ark in it. The Romans held the extinction of the Vestal fire a sign of the destruction of their City, be the cause thereof what it will. We may well think the same of the loss of God's Ordinances, which therefore we must deprecate, as here, with all our might: For as Bodin said well of obtaining, so likewise for retaining Religion, Non disputationibus sed regationibus, &c. the business will be the better effected by requests, then disputes. Pray therefore for the peace of Jerusalem, yea take no nay: Deus ipse qui nullis contra se viribus superari potest, pre • ibus vincitur, The invincible God is overcome by the power of prayer: there is a kind of Omnipotency in it, saith Luther.

Remember, break not thy Covenant with us] Lo this is to be God's faithful Remembrancer, Isa. 62.6, 7. suggesting unto him seasonable Items.

Ver. 22. Are there among the vanities of the Gentiles] i. e. The Heathen Idols wickedly worshipped by the Jews.

That can cause to rain?] Pluit, ningit: supple Deus. These Impersonals imply that the Ancient Romans looked upon Rain, Snow, &c. as God's work. Sure it is that they come by a Divine decree, Job 28.26. Not Jupiter 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (whatever the Poets fable) nor the Heavens themselves, without the Divine concurrence, can give rain: but it is God Almighty who both prepareth it, Psal. 147.8. and withholdeth it at his pleasure, Amos 4.7. the second causes do but serve the Divine Providence, in these common occurrence.

Therefore we will wait upon thee] For seasonabl • showers in this our great necessity: We will wait, or, if thou see fit, want of our will, so that thy will may be done: for that's best.

For thou hast made all these things] Both the constellations, and rain or drought caused thereby.

CHAP. XV.

Ver. 1. THen said the Lord unto me] In answer to my prayer, he replied, Thou hast well prayed; sed stat sententia I am set, I am inexorable.

Though Moses] That Chancellor of Heaven, as One calleth him; who not only ruled with God, but over-ruled, Exod. 32.11. • 14. Numb. 14.19, 20.

And Samuel] A mighty man likewise in prayer, See 1 Sam. 7.9. called therefore Pethuel (as some think) Joel 1.1. that is, a God-persuader. These two were famous in their generations for hearty love to, and prayers for that rebellious people, and did much for them. But (so the case now stood) if these favorites were alive, and should intercede their utmost for them, it should avail nothing. See Ezek. 14.14.

Yet my mind could not be to this people] This is spoken after the manner of men, q. d. I am implacably enraged, I am unchangeably resolved against them.

Cast them out of my sight] Tell them that I have utterly rejected them, and I will ratify and realize thy speeches: See on chap. 1.10.

And let them go forth] Or, let them be gone: q. d. I am the worse to look upon them.

Ver. 2. If they say unto thee] As they will be apt enough to do in a jeer.

Such as are for death] i. e. For the pestilence commonly called mortality, because it is so deadly a disease: Those at Genoa have lately found it so. And yet it is here reckoned first, as the least and lightest of all the four threatened Judgments; which must needs be had enough when the Pest is the best of them all. The Turks shun not the company of those that have the Plague; but pointing upon their foreheads, say, it was written there at their birth▪ when they should die, and of what disease. These in the text could as little avoid the deaths they were assigned to, as Aeschylus the Tragedian could his being knocked on the head. For when as he was foretold that he should die with a stroke coming from above, he shunned houses, and was wont to remain in the open air, but he was killed by a Torroise falling from the mouth of an Eagle upon his bald head, mistaken for a stone.

Ver. 3. And I will appoint over them four kinds] Heb. families or kindreds, i. e. quatuor cognata carnivera, dogs, birds, and beasts being added to the former four evils, ver. 2. quasi per Auxesin.

Ver. 4. Because of Manasseh] Because of his sins; Idolatry and bloodshed especially, wherein the people partaked and persisted, and were therefore justly punished.

The son of Hezekiah] but altogether degenerate: He was therefore the worse because he should have been better: and yet the worse again, because he was author publicae corruptelae, a ringleader of rebellion to others, as was Jeroboam.

Ver. 5. Who shall be moan thee?] Heb. who shall come out of his place to comfort thee? or who shall shake his head, in commiseration to thee?

Ver. 6. I am weary with repenting] Patiendo, ac parcendo, I have so oft revoked my threats, that unless I should wrong my justice, I can do so no more.

Ver. 7. And I will fan them with a fan] Not of Purgation, as chap. 6.29, 30. but of Perdition. Such as that, chap. 51.2.

In the gates of the land] As men use to winnow corn at a windy door; where the chaff is blown quite away.

Ver. 8. The widows are increased to me] Or, before me, or in my sight.

Above the sands of the seas] Hyperbole.

A spoiler a • noon-day] Nebuchadnezzar, that choice young man; for so some render the text; and so he was, when he came against Jerusalem, and burnt it; viz. in the eighteenth year of his reign.

And terrors upon the City] Or, terrors, even the City: that is, say the Sept. and Chaldee, the Army of the Chaldees, which for their numbers and order of pitching their Tents, seemed to be a City.

Ver. 9. She that hath born seven, languisheth] Jerusalem that ma • r multipara, a fruitful mother.

She hath given up the ghost] Heb. she putteth out her soul, as Job 11.20. We read of some mothers, who hearing of their sons to be slain in battle, have fain down dead in the place.

Her Sun is gone down] See on Amos 8.9. A Christian, when at worst, can sing, Non omnium dierum Sol occidit, I look for better days yet.

Ver. 10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast born me] sc. In such an age wherein I may not pray for my people, not can preach unto them to any good purpose. Buchanan bewailed it, that he was born nec coelo, nec solo, nec saeculo erudito: Jeremy lamenteth here for a worse matter. Surely be might well say for his manifold sufferings;

A man of strife and a man of contention] Generally opposed and quarrelled, for my free and faithful discharge of my duty. This is the worlds wages to godly Ministers, whom they usually make their but-mark. But God be thanked (saith he with Jerome) quod dignus sim quem mundus oderit, That I am worthy whom the world should hate. Lutherus pascitur convitiis, saith he of himself, Luther is fed with reproaches.

I have neither lent on usury] i. e. I have neither bought nor sold (as we say) meddled nor made with them. I have had as little to do with them any way as was possible. Usura praecipuum fomentum litium. I have kept myself close to my calling, and yet I cannot avoid their variance and virulencies. To preach, is to derive upon a man's self the hatred of the world, saith Luther.

Ver. 11. Verily it shall be well with thy remnant] Heb. if it be not well; q. d. then trust me no more: thy latter end shall be comfortable, Psal. 37.37. the end of that man is peace, be his beginning and middle never so troublesome.

Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well] Or, I will intercede for thee with the enemy. See this fulfilled, chap. 40.4. God can speak for his in the hearts of their enemies, and make their foes to favor them: as many of the Papists here did Wycliffe, and after him Bradford.

Ver. 12. Shall iron break the Northern iron and the steel?] That is, say some, shall these hard-hearted Jews be to hard for me? or, for thee Jeremy, whom I have made an iron-pillar and brazen walls against the whole land? chap. 1.18. Never think it. Brighten thee they may but not break thee. The Northern iron is noted for the best and toughest.

Ver. 13. Thy substance and thy treasure] This is spoken by an Apostrophe to the people, who are here told again what to trust to, for their national sins.

Ver. 14. And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies] Or, to serve thine enemies: for there is a double reading of the text.

Ver. 15. O Lord, thou knowest] Jeremy had begun a complaint, ver. 10. not without some tang and tincture of human infirmity. Invalidum omne naturâ querulum. God graciously interrupted him and came leaping over all those mountains of Bether, all lets and impediments, to his comfort and best satisfaction, ver. 11, 12. Nevertheless Jeremy hath not done, but goeth on as before: & humanum aliquid patitur.

Remember me, and visit me] He was full and speaks thick.

Take me not away in thy longsuffering] Whilst thou bearest with them, take care of me, that I perish not by their persidy and cruelty.

Know that for thy cause I have suffered rebuke] Se • debitorem compellat Deum, suaque adducit merita. He delivers himself as if he held God to be his debtor: This was not so well.

Ver. 16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them] I was well apaid of thy messages that came at first to me: and of that commission thou gavest me to be a Prophet: yea I took no small delight and complacency therein; and having found this honey, I ate it, as Prov. 25.16. but since I have met with much bitterness in this wicked world, for my plain-dealing. See Ezek. 3.3. Rev. 10.10. Herodotus writeth of the River Hypanis, that for five days journey the water of it runneth clear and sweet: and then, for four days journey further, bitter and brackish. The Ministry is an honorable and comfortable function, but hath its troubles and encombrances.

Ver. 17. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers] That scoffed and mocked at God's messages and menaces. Or, I have not sat in the assembly of those that make merry; sed serius fui, spiransque compunctionem, I came not at feasts and merry-meetings, since I became a Prophet.

I sat alone] As Moses in like case did, Exod. 33.7.

Ver. 18. Why is my pain perpetual, &c.] Here the Prophet over-freely expostulateth with God, as less faithful, or less mindful at least, of the promised preservation: This was in a fit of diffidence and discontent, as the best have their outbursts, and the greatest lamps have needed snuffers. The Milesians, saith the Philosopher, are not fools: yet they do the things that fools use to do: So the Saints do oft as wicked ones, but not in the same manner and degree.

Ver. 19. Therefore thus saith the Lord] Or, Notwithstanding, man's perverseness breaketh not off the course of God goodness.

If thou return] If thou cast out this devil of discontent: and (accounting distrust worse then distress) apply thyself cheerfully and constantly to the work of the Ministry, I will continue and confirm thee in thine office, notwithstanding thy present frailties and failings. So our Savior, presently upon their repentance for their shameful forsaking him at his apprehension, restored his Disciples to their Apostolical function, Joh. 20.21, 22, 23.

And if thou take forth the precious from the vile] i. e. The gracious from the vicious, preaching comfort to those, and terror to these; not giving, as he in the Fable did, straw to the Dog, and a bone to the Ass, but to everyone his proper portion, without fear or flattery.

Thou shalt be as my mouth] Speaking as a Prophet of mine, and as I myself would do, if in thy place.

Let them return to thee] i. e. Conform to thee, but do not thou chime in with them as the false-prophets do.

Ver. 20. And I will make thee] See on chap. 1.18, 19.

Ver. 21. And I will deliver thee] I will, I will: never fear it man: but go on courageously. Deal courageously, and God shall be with the good, 2 Chron. 19. ult.

CHAP. XVI.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord came also unto me] It is the Property of this Prophet to handle the same thing several ways, and by sundry effectual arguments. God's Ministers must turn themselves as it were into all shapes and fashions both of speech and spirit, to win People to God.

Ver. 2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife, &c.] It is very likely that this befell the Prophet in a vision. Or if otherwise, it was but for a sign, and in regard of the great calamity impendent, that he is here forbidden marriage, otherwise lawful enough, and, in some cases, necessary. The contrary doctrine (such as was that of the Tacian -heretics, and Popish Canonists) is a doctrine of devils, 1 Tim. 4.1.

Ver. 3. For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons—born in this place] i. e. At Anathoth, say some: but others better, at Jerusalem. So great and grievous shall be the calamity, that married people shall be ready to wish as Augustus did for another cause, Oh that either I had lived single, or else died childless.

Ver. 4. They shall die of grievous deaths] Heb. death of diseases or grievances, as did Jehoram, 2 Chron. 21.18. and Philip the second of Spain, &c. they shall die piecemeal, morte valetudinariorum, which is a misery; especially if the disease be slow, and yet sharp, as some are.

They shall not be lamented nor buried] Which are two of the usual Dues of the dead.

Ver. 5. Enter not into the house of mourning] Or banquets, whether at burials or bridals, as Am. 6.7. Of funeral-banquets, see Deut. 26.14. These the Greeks called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Latins Parentalia: See ver. 7.

Ver. 6. Both the great and the small shall die] Princes and pesants, Lord's and losels together.

Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald] Neque caedetur neque calvabitur. This they had learned of the heathen, and would needs use it, though flatly forbidden them, Lev. 19.27, 28. Deut. 14.1. Now they were told that they should have little either lust or leisure to do any such matter.

Ver. 7. Neither shall men tear themselves for them] Or neither shall they deal them bread in mourning to comfort any for the dead: Confer Ezek. 24.17. Of feasting at funerals mention is made by Herodotus, Cicero, Lucian, Pliny, Clemens and Chrysostom. See ver. 5.

Neither shall men give them the cup of consolation] i. e. The consolatory cup usually given at funerals to the disconsolate friends of the deceased. See on Prov. 31.6, 7.

Ver. 8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting] Ministers may lawfully go to feasts, Joh. 2. but not in times of common calamity: See Isa. 22.12, 13, 14. Pliny telleth us, that when as in the time of the second Punic war, one Fulvius Argentarius was seen at Rome, looking out at a window with a rose-garland on his head, the Senate sent for him, laid him in prison, and would not suffer him to come forth, till the war was at an end.

Ver. 9. Behold I will cause to cease] See chap. 7.34. with the Note.

Ver. 10. And they shall say unto thee, Wherefore?] This is still the guise of hypocrites, to justify themselves, and quarrel the Preacher that reproveth them. See chap. 5.19.

What is our iniquity?] Nature showeth no sin; it is no causeless complaint of a grave Divine, that some deal with their souls as others do with their bodies: when their beauty is decayed, they desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses, and from others by painting: so their sins from themselves by false glosses, and from others by excuses.

Ver. 11. Because your fathers] See chap. 2.5. and 7.24, 25.

Ver. 12. And you have done worse] See chap. 7.26.

For behold ye walk] See chap. 9.13. and 11.8. and 13.10.

Ver. 13. Therefore I will cast you] Chap. 10.18. Because ye have sinned willfully and willingly, ye shall be cast out of this land, though full sore against your wills.

And there shall ye serve other gods] Will ye, nill ye; (for a just punishment of your voluntary idolatries) being compelled by your imperious enemies so to do, except ye will taste of the whip, as now the Turks gally-slaves.

Where I will not show you favor] This was a cutting speech, and far worse then their captivity: like as that was a sweet promise, Zech. 10.6. They shall be as if I had not cast them off, and I will hear them.

Ver. 14 Therefore, behold] Or, notwithstanding, sc. these grievous threatenings, and extreme desolations. Thus the Lord still remembereth his Remnant, and the Covenant made with them. Ministers also must comfort the precious, as well as threaten the vile and vicious. Evangelizatum, non maledictum missus es: laudo zelum, modo non desideretur mansuetudo, said Oecolampadius to Farellus in a certain Epistle, Thou wert sent to preach Gospel and not Law only, to pour oil as well as wine into wounded consciences. I commend thy zeal, so it be tempered with meekness of wisdom.

That it shall no more be said] i. e. Not so much be said: the luster of this deliverance shall in some sort dim the luster of that; but both must be perpetually celebrated.

Ver. 15. But the Lord liveth, &c.] Or, let the Lord live, and let the God of our salvation be exalted, Psal. 18.46. See the Notes there. How much more then should our Redemption from Sin, Death and Hell by Jesus Christ obscure all temporal deliverance? See for this chap. 23.7, 8. Confer also chap. 3.16.

Ver. 16. Behold I will send for many fishers &c.] sc. To inclose in their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , large and capacious nets, whole shoales of them together. These were the Chaldees whom God sent for, arcano instinctu cordium, by putting it into their hearts to come up against Jerusalem: Howbeit, some by fishers understand the Egyptians, who lived much by fishing: and by hunters the Chaldeans, as Gen. 10.8, 9.

And they shall hunt them] Out of all their starting holes and lurking places: as the Romans afterwards pulled them out of their privies, &c.

Ver. 17. For mine eyes are upon all their ways] And though they hide me from themselves, yet can they not hide themselves from me possibly, nor from my hunters, who shall ferret them out.

Ver. 18. And first] i. e. Before I restore them.

I will recompense their iniquity, and their sin double] i. e. Abundantly, I will have my full pennyworths of them: not double to their deserts, as Isa. 40.2. and 60.1.

With the carcasses] i. e. With their Idolatries, more odious and loathsome then any stinking carcasses can be.

Ver. 19. My refuge] Better then those of the fugitive Jews, out of which they were hunted and murdered.

The Gentiles shall come to thee] By faith and repentance.

Ver. 20. Should a man make gods to himself?] Nonne res haec stupore digna? Is not this a strange sottishness? The Gentiles here see it: and yet the Papists will not.

Ver. 21. I will for this once] And this once shall stand for all. Affliction shall not rise up the second time, Nah. 1.9.

And I will make them to know] Effectu magis quam affectu.

My hand and my might] i. e. My mighty hand, mine irresistible power in their just punishment.

CHAP. XVII.

Ver. 1. THe sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron] The four first verses of this Chapter are left out by the Septuagint. Jerome saith they omitted them in gratiam & honorem populi sui, in favor and for the honor of their country-men the Jews, but that was no just reason. For ever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven, Psal. 119.89. though there were not a Bible left on earth; These sinners against their own souls had their Idolatry so deeply engraven on their hearts, that they could not get out the stamp: and the guilt thereof stuck so fast to their consciences, that they could hardly get off either the sting or the stain thereof.

It is graven upon the Tables of their hearts] Their sin lay there, where the law should have lain, Ezek. 31.33. Like as Queen Mary when she died told those about her, that the loss of Calais lay at her heart, a place far fitter for Jesus Christ.

And upon the horns of your Altars] Whereon the blood of your sacrifices are sprinkled; and so your sin proclaimed.

Ver. 2. While their children remember their Altars] Or, as they remember their children, so they remember their Altars and their Groves, sc. with greatest love and delight. The Greeks call children 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Comedian Charissima: so were their Idols to these Jews.

Ver. 3. O my mountain in the field] Or, O my mountain and field, i. e. O ye mountaneirs and fieldlings. Montani fere asperi sunt & inculti: molliores corpore atque moribus pratenses: they should all be spoiled one with another, for the sin of their high-places.

Ver. 4. And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue] Or intermit, sc. the tillage of thy land. See Exod. 23.11. with Levite. 26.33, 34. it shall keep her Sabbaths.

Ver. 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man] Disserit hic de summo bono, & de summo malo, saith one: here the Prophet discourseth of the chief good and of the chief evil. This later he pronounceth to be to depart from God, and to depend upon the creature for help: for such a man, seem he never so manly a man (haggheber) is accursed of God, whom he robbeth of his chief jewel, that which giveth him the sovereignty, and setteth, as it were, the crown upon his head. See Judge. 9.15. Psal. 78.22. and 52.7.

And maketh flesh his arm] i. e. His strength: for in brachio est robur. Now three ways, saith a Reverend man, we make flesh our arm, 1. By sitting down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair when we can see no second causes. 2. By rising up in a corky frothy confidence, when we see sufficient human help. 3. When we ascribe the glory of our good to it, sacrificing to our own net, Habak. 1. This is to pull the curse upon our heads with twisted wrath and indignation.

Whose heart departeth from God] He trusteth not God at all, who trusteth him not over all.

Ver. 6. For he shall be like the heath] Wild-myrice, that neither beareth fruit nor seed, and is good for little but to burn, or make beesomes: See Heb. 6.8. Bastard tamarisk some call it; others, Juniper.

But shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness] Such shall have no content or satisfaction. Confer Mat. 12.43. the unclean spirit cast out, walks in dry places, &c. not but that dry and wet is all one with him: but it importeth his extreme restlessness.

Ver. 7. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord] See on ver. 5. See also Psal. 25.12. and 32.10. and 34.8. and 84.12. and 125.1. and 146.5. where David having entered a Caveat against creature confidence, persuadeth people, by trusting in God alone, to provide for their own safety and happiness. See Nah. 1.7. Such shall have marvelous loving kindness from God, Psal. 17.7. above all that can be uttered, Psal. 31.19. See Prov. 28.25.

Ver. 8. For he shall be as a tree planted] It is plain that he here alludeth to Psal. 1.3. See the Notes there. The laurel, saith Pliny, is never thunder-struck. Sure it is, that he who trusteth in God taketh no hurt: his heart is fixed and immovable, Psal. 112.7, 8. to endure things almost incredible, Psal. 27.3. Isa. 14.32. confer Isa. 26.4, 5. True Trust will certainly triumph at length, as that which leaneth on the Lord, and the power of his might, the surest support.

By the river] The Hebrew here is Jubal: and the Jubilee saith one, had its name from this word, which signifieth a stream or watercourse: as carrying us to Christ who is the truth of this type, Luk. 18.19.

But his leaf shall be green] Neither falling nor fading.

And shall not be careful in the year of drought] A Metaphor setting forth the full assurance of faith that is in some good men, such as was that holy Martyr, who said I will henceforth be Carelesse according to my name.

Neither shall cease from yielding fruit] As they say the Lemmon tree doth not: but ever and anon sendeth forth new Lemmons, as soon as the former are fallen down with ripeness.

Ver. 9. The heart of man is deceitful above all things] The pravity and perversity of man's heart, full of harlotry and creature-confidence, deceiving and being deceived, is here plainly and plentifully described; and oh that it were duly and deeply considered. Deceitful it is here said to be above all things: no creature like it. Varium est, versutum, & versipelle; tortuosum est, anfractuosum & fallax, ideoque inscrutabile. It is full of turnings and windings, nooks and corners, wiles and slights. It deceived David (as wise as he was) and tripped up his heels (as the word here used importeth) Psal. 39.1, 2, 3. so it did Peter, Joh. 13.37, 38. Fitly doth the Prophet here call our hearts deceitful, in that word in the Original, from whence Jacob had his name▪ because our fleshly hearts do the same things to the spirit in doing of good, which Jacob did to his brother; supplant it, and catch it by the heel, while it is running the Christian race. As Jehu offered sacrifice to Baal, killing his Priests at the same time (and this he did in subtlety to circumvent them, 2 King. 10.19.) and as Hushai went to Absolom's company to overthrow him: so deal our deceitful hearts with us, &c. Neither is it deceitful only, but deep (so the Septuagint here render it) those that are still digging in this dunghill, do find it to be a very bottomless pit. Yea it is,

Desperately wicked] Desperately bent upon deadly mischief. So that he gave no evil counsel who said to his friend, Ita cave tibi, ut caveas teipsum: so see to thyself, that thou beware of thine own heart. Another prayed not amiss, Lord keep me from that naughty man, myself. Take heed of the devil and the world (said a certain Martyr in a letter to his wife) but especially of thine own heart:

We have a Trojan horse full of armed enemies in the cittadel of our hearts. We have Jebusites enough within us to undo us, quos nec fugere possumus nec fugare. It was no ill character therefore of a good man that is given by Epictetus a Heathen, that he carefully watcheth himself as his own deadly enemy.

Who can know it?] None but a man's self, 1 Cor. 2.11. nor yet a man's self neither; for nothing is more common then self-deceit, Gal. 6.3. Jam. 1.21. How much was Bellarmine (that great Scholar) mistaken? and how ill read in his own heart, when as the Priest coming to absolve him on his death-bed, he could not remember any particular sin to confess, till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth? had he but thrust his hand into his own bosom with Moses, he had brought it out leprous, white as snow. Had he looked well into his own heart, he would have found it to be a raging sea of sin, Isa. 57.20. where is that Leviathan (the devil) besides creeping things (crawling lusts) innumerable. This made blessed Bradford never look on any man's lewd life, but he would strait cry out, Lord have mercy upon me: for in this my vile heart remaineth that sin, which without God's special grace, I should have committed as well as he.

Ver. 10. I the Lord search the heart] Be it never so full of shifts and fetches, I cannot be deceived in it. The watch-maker must needs know every turning and winding in the watch. God is the heart maker, and the heart-mender, neither is there any creature (no not any creature of the heart) that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened before his eyes, Heb. 4.13. Naked for the outside, and opened for the inside: dissected, quartered, and as it were cleft thorough the back-bone, as the Apostles word there signifieth: so opened, as the entrails of a man that is anatomized, or of a beast that is cut up and quartered. The heart and reins are taken to be the seat of the thoughts and affections, yea of the strongest affection, namely that which is for generation. These are a man's inwardest and most remote parts: so that it is hard for food or Physic to come at them. Covered they are also with fat and flesh, &c. and yet they are not hid from God's eye, which is indeed a fiery eye, Rev. 1.14. and therefore needeth no outward light. Mans eye is like a candle, which is first lighted, and then extinct: The Angels eyes are like the stars which shine indeed, and in the dark too; but with a borrowed light: neither know they the thoughts of men's hearts, further then they are discovered. But God's eye is like the Sun, yea far brighter, and more piercing then that eye of the world: neither needeth he a window in man's breast (as Momus wisht) to look in at: for every man, before God, is all window, totus totus transparens & pellucidus, This, Thales and other Philosophers saw and confessed.

Ver. 11. As the Partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not] Because either she is taken in an evil net, or the eggs are marred by the male, or otherwise, before they can be hatched.

So he that getteth riches and not by right] That crieth

Right or wrong, many are resolved to be rich, but are usually crossed, or else cursed with a blessing: for treasures of wickedness profit not; but righteousness delivereth from death, Prov. 10.2. God sometimes giveth wealth to the wicked, as men put money into an earthen bottle: which that they may get out again, they break the bottle in pieces.

Shall leave them in the midst of his days] Either they shall leave him, or he them, to his unmedicinable grief and heart-break. A poor fool, God will be sure to make of him. He that trusteth in his riches (as every Mammonist doth) shall fall, Prov. 11.28. for although he bless himself (as well underlaid; and what should ail such an one? saith the world) yet the Lord abhorreth him, Psal. 10.3. so that he many times cometh in the midst of his days to an untimely end, as did Judas, Ahab, Achan, Balaam, Ananias and Sapphira, &c. And thus many a rich wretch spinneth a fair thread to strangle himself, both temporally and eternally: he by his covetousness not only killeth others, Prov. 1.19. but himself too.

Ver. 12. A glorious high throne from the beginning] Therefore its best to trust in God at all times, ye people, and to pour out your hearts before him; since God is a refuge for us, Psal. 62.8. All that do otherwise shall be ashamed, ver. 12. and worthily; because having so glorious a God resiant amongst them, they so basely forsake him, to serve and seek to Idols.

Ver. 13. Shall be written in the earth] i. e. Aeternâ morte damnabuntur, they shall be hurled into hell, as not having their names written in Heaven, Luke 10.20. where all that are written among the living in Jerusalem, Isa. 4.3. are enrolled, Heb. 12.23. non pro gloriosis sed pro probrosis habiti: See Psal. 17.14. Prudentius rightly saith, that their names that are written in red letters of blood in the Churches Calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's register in the book of life. As on the contrary, these Idolaters, whose sin was with an Iron-pen engraven on the tables of their hearts, as ver. 1. are justly written in the earth, i. e. cast to hell.

Ver. 14. Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed] viz. of that cordolium that my malicious country-men cause me. The Prophet was even sick at heart of their unworthy usages; and prays help and healing, ne totus & ipse labascat inter auditors deploratissimos, lest he should perish by them, and with them.

Ver. 15. Behold they say unto me] Heb. they are saying unto me: it is their daily dicterium or jear.

Where is the Word of the Lord?] Whereby thou so oft threatenest us with desolation. Thus profane persons flear when they should fear. See 2 Pet. 3, 4. Isa. 5.19. Amos 5.18.

Ver. 16. I have not hastened from being a Pastor before thee] I have neither rashly taken up the work of the Ministry, quo secundus abe te essem Pastor, wherein I have been thine under-shepherd, but was rightly called by thee thereunto, and have obeyed thy call: neither have I been over-hasty to rid my hands of this so troublesome and thankless an employment. Latimer, in one of his Sermons, speaking of a Minister who gave this answer why he left off preaching, because he saw he did no good, but got the hatred of many: This, saith He, was a naughty, a very naughty answer.

Neither have I desired the woeful day] The doleful or deadly day, sc. of their desolation, or my denunciation of it. God's Ministers take no delight to fling daggers at the faces of graceless persons (whatever they may think) or to terrify them causelessly: but as knowing the terror of the Lord they seek to affright them by the menaces of God's mouth from such sinful practices as will be their ruin: and hence they are hated

Thou knowest it] See chap. 12, 1. & 15.15. 2 Cor. 1.12.

Ver. 17. Be not a terror unto me] Let me have fair weather over head, how foul soever it be underfoot. If we have peace with God, though trouble in the world, we can take no hurt. If vapors be not got into the bowels of the earth, and stir not there, storms and tempests abroad cannot cause an earth-quake: so if there be peace within, &c. But like as all the letters in the Alphabet, without a Vowel, will not make one word: nor all the Stars in the firmament, without a Sun, will make a day: so neither can all this worlds good make one happy without God and his favor.

Ver. 18. Let them be confounded] A heavy imprecation: Let persecutors take heed how they move Ministers to make intercession to God against them, as Elias did against Israel, Rom. 11.2. as Jeremy here and elsewhere doth against the Jews; as the Christian Churches did against Julian the Apostate. God will set to his Fiat.

Let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed] Paveant illi & non paveam ego, So the Vulgar Latin hath it. But what a Lack-latin dolt was that Popish Priest, who alleged to his Parishioners this text to prove, that not he but they were to pave the Church-way? So Another of them, finding it written in the end of Paul 's Epistles, Missa est, &c. bragged he had found the Mass in his bible. So another reading Joh. 1.44, Invenimus Messiam, made the same conclusion.

Ver. 19. Go and stand in the gate of the children] The sheep-gate say some: whereof see Neh. 3.1, 32. & 12.39. or, as others, the water-gate whereof Neh. 3.26. a place it was of great resort and concourse, and therefore fittest for this new Sermon to be made in; first, though afterwards also he was to preach it in all the gates of Jerusalem, forasmuch as it was about a matter of greatest importance, even the serious sanctification of the Sabbath-day: Diem septimum Opifex mundi natalem sibi sacravit, & observari praecepit. That fourth Commandment saith Philo, is a famous precept, and profitable to excite to all kind of virtue and piety.

Ver. 20. Ye Kings of Judah] Magistrates being Lord-keepers of both the Tables of the Law, should carefully see to it, that both be duly observed. Our King Edgar made laws for the sanctification of the Lord's-day-Sabbath, as have also our present Governors, to their lasting renown. The first blow given to the German Churches was on the Lord's-day, which they carelessly observed: for on that day was Prague lost: as was likewise Constantinople, on Whit-sunday, as they called it.

Ver. 21. Take hede to yourselves] Break not the Sabbath, that ye fall not under the fierce wrath of God: who paid him home with stones, who but only gathered sticks on that day. Cavete, it concerns you much.

And bear no burden] See Neh. 13.15, 16, 19. with the Notes.

Ver. 22. Neither carry forth a burden] Let not the Sabbath of the Lord, that sanctified day of his Rest, be so shamefully troubled and disquieted. Make not Holy-day a Voider as some do, to the week aforegoing.

Ver. 23. But they obeyed not] See chap. 7.24, 26.

Ver. 24. But hallow the Sabbath-day] sc. By spending the holy time holily: else, God may sue us on an action of waste. Idlensse is a sin any day; but specially on the Sabbath-day; spiritual idleness then, is as had as corporal labor.

Ver. 25. Then shall there enter] Then shall all go well with you publicly and privately; ye shall have a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments.

Ver. 26. And they shall come] All the solemnity of the Temple shall continue, with the exaltation of all the neighbourhood. When the High-Priests would so workyday-like beg the body, seal the sepulcher, and set the watch on the Sabbath (called by an Irony the day that followed the day of the preparation, Matth. 27.62.) they forfeited all.

Ver. 27. Then will I kindle a fire] That furious Element, whereby God hath so oft punished this sin, as is to be seen in the Practice of Piety, Denison 's Wolf in Sheeps clothing, Mr. Clark 's Examples, &c.

CHAP. XVIII.

Ver. 1. THe word which came to Jeremiah] To show the just punishment of the people for disobeying the precept concerning the Sabbath, chap. 17. and other of God's Commandments: See on chap. 7.1.

Ver. 2. Arise and go down to the Potters house] Whether the Prophet was to go actually to the Potters house, or in vision only, it skilleth not. This we know, that our Savior did actually wash his Disciples feet: and at another time set a child in the midst of them, when they were striving about the primacy: expounding to them afterwards what he meant; and so it might well be here. It may not be amiss for us to go down oft with Jeremy to the Potters house in our meditations, to consider, I mean, our original. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as the first man Adam was of the earth earthy, so are we ex luto lutei.

Ver. 3. Then I went down to the Potters house] God's Commands must be obeyed without sciscitation. Jeremy saw that verbal teaching without signs would not work upon his hearers: he is therefore ready to do anything or to go any whither, for their eternal good.

And behold he wrought a work on the wheles] So the Poet,

Ver. 4. And the vessel which he made of clay was marred] Or, the vessel which he was making miscarried, as clay in the Potters hand.

Ver. 5. Then came the Word of the Lord unto me] See ver. 1. To the visible word, God always addeth the audible: as in the two Sacraments.

Ver. 6. O house of Israel, cannot I do with you] Make you or mar you at my pleasure: have I not an absolute sovereignty over you, that ye lift up the heel against me, and awake my power by your provocations?

As the clay is in the Potters hand] What then hath vain man to vaunt of? or why should any proud Arminian say, Quod potui, miserentis est Dei: quod volui, id meae est potestatis? That I can do good, is of God's mercy: that I will do it, is merely in mine own power? This man was sure his own Potter: and not willing to owe overmuch of himself to God.

Ver. 7. At what instant I shall speak] As God loveth to premonish: and he therefore threateneth, that he may not punish; for he would be prevented.

Ver. 8. Turn from their evil] If I may see such work amongst them, as at Nineveh God did, Joh. 3.10. He saw not their sackcloth and their ashes, but their repentance and works, those fruits of their Faith.

I will repent of the evil] Not by any change of my will, but by the willing of a change: mutatione Rei non Dei.

Ver. 9. And at what instant I shall speak] All is done as God the great Induperator commandeth, whether it be for or against a Nation, or a particular man only, Job 34.29.

To build or to plant it] As he did this kingdom of England; which was therefore anciently called Regnum Dei, and reckoned among the fortunate Islands.

Ver. 10. Then will I repent of the good] I will take away mine own, and be gone, Hos. 2.9. curse their blessings, Mal. 2.2. and destroy them after that I have done them good, as Josh. 24.20. and all this (whether for the better, or for the worse to a Nation) God usually doth on the sudden; At what instant, &c. Mercies the more unexpected, the more welcome: Judgments, the more sudden, the more direful they are.

Ver. 11. Behold I frame evil against you] As the Potter frameth his vessel on the wheel.

Return ye now] Currat poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia. Mitte preces & lacrymas, cordis legatos. Addresse yourselves to God, and be at peace: so shall good be done unto you. See chap. 3.12. & 7.3.

Ver. 12. And they said There is no hope] See the like desperate return, chap. 2.25. & 13.9. Actum est: vel desperatum est: vel expectoratum est: that is, we are at a point, and have made our conclusion: Thou mayest save a labor of further exhorting us: for we are as good as we mean to be, and shall nor stir from our resolution: Keep thy breath to cool thy broth, &c.

We will do everyone the imagination of his evil heart] As you forsooth please to count it and call it: though we reckon that we have as good hearts as the purest or proudest of you all.

Ver. 13. Therefore thus saith the Lord] God himself seemeth here to wonder at the desperate obstinacy of this people, as not to be matched again. Like as our Savior marvelled at the unbelief of the Nazarites, and could do for them no mighty work, Mar. 6.5, 6. See the Notes there.

The Virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing] A Virgin she is called, either by an Irony, or else because she should have been a pure Virgin, sincere in God's Service, but was nothing less. What this horrible thing was, see ver. 15. Confer chap. 2.13, 32.

Ver. 14. Will a man leave the snow of Lebanon] See chap. 2.13. which may stand for a Commentary on this Verse. The rocks of Lebanon were still covered with Snow: whence also it was called Lebanon, i. e. white. Now the Lord was to the Jews as this snow was to the thirsty traveler, cooling and comforting: and therefore in no wise to be left.

Or shall the cold flowing waters that come from another place be forsaken?] Heb. shall strange, cool, flowing water be forsaken? or fail?

Ver. 15. Because my people hath forgotten me] Not forsaken me only. Of all things God cannot abide to be forgotten: this is that very horrible thing, ver. 13. this is filthiness in Virgin Israel, which is most abominable.

From the ancient paths] Chalked out by the Law, and walked in by the Patriarchs and Prophets, Heb. paths of antiquity or of Eternity. Set a jealous eye upon novelties: and shun untrodden paths, as dangerous.

Ver. 16. To make their land desolate] Not intentionally so: but yet eventually. Idolatry is a land-desolating sin.

Ver. 17. I will scatter them] Wherry and whirl them up and down, as chaff before the force of the enemy.

I will show them the back and not the face] This was woeful, but just upon them for their unworthy dealing in like sort with the Lord, 2 Chron. 29.6. chap. 2.27. & 32.33. Ezek. 8.16. Every transgression and disobedience hath a just recompense of reward, Heb. 2.2.

Ver. 18. Then said they, Come let us devise devices] Words savouring of a most exulcerate spirit against God and his faithful Prophet, quem toto coelo hic explodunt, whom they shamefully slight, and desperately oppose, both with their virulent tongues and violent hands. Hence his ensuing complaint, and not without cause.

For the Law shall not perish from the Priest, &c.] As he would persuade us it shall. We shall have Priests, Sages, and Prophets still: berter then he is any: let us therefore stop his mouth, or make him away, there will be no great loss of him.

Come let us smite him with the tongue] By loading him with slanders, and laying false accusations against him. Some men have very sharp tongues. He that was famous for Abuses stripped and whipt, had nothing but his tongue to whip them with. Some render it, Let us smite that tongue of his; that is, tie it up and tamper it, that he reprove us no more. Or if he do; yet

Let us not give heed to any of his words] If we cannot rule his tongue, yet let us rule our own ears, and say, Tu linguae, nos aurium domini. And is not this the very language of the Romists? Non tam ovum ovo simile, &c.

Ver. 19. Give heed to me O Lord] Though they will not, yet do thou, I beseech thee. This is ordinary with good men, when wearied out with the worlds misusages, to turn them to God, and to seek help of him.

Ver. 20. Shall evil be recompensed for good?] q. d. That's greatest disingenuity and unthankfulness. To render good for evil is Divine; good for good is human: evil for evil is brutish • s: but evil for good devilish. Lo with such breathing devils had Jeremy here to do: and indeed what good man hath not? See 1 Sam. 24.17. Psal 35.12. & 109.5.

Ver. 21. Wherefore deliver up their children to the famine] He who had prayed so hard for them, could and did pray here as earnestly against them: yet not out of private revenge, but by a prophetic spirit, whereby he foretelleth their calamities auxesi verborum per hypotyposin. This is usual with the Psalmist, and other Prophets.

And let their men be put to death] Heb. be killed with death: See Rev. 2.23. with the Note.

Ver. 22. When thou shalt bring a troop] The Vulgar rendereth it Latronem, a thief or robber: viz. Nebuchadnezzar that arch-thief, whose Monarchy was grande latrocinium, and whose regiment without righteousness, was robbery by authority.

Ver. 23. Yet Lord, thou knowest all their counsel] Though I know it not, yet thou art privy to it, and canst prevent it; for wisdom and might are thine, Dan. 2.20.

To slay me] All malice is bloody.

Forgive not their iniquity] He knew their sin to be unpardonable: and therefore prayeth for vengeance upon them unavoidable. This was fulfilled upon the Jews by the Babylonians in respect of Jeremy, and by the Romans in respect of Christ.

Neither blot out their sin from thy sight] A heavy curse. Woe to such as whose debts stand uncrossed in God's book. Their sins may sleep a long time, like a sleeping debt, not called for of many years: as Saul's sin in slaying the Gibeonites was not punished till forty years after: as Joab's killing of Abner slept all David's days. Men's consciences also may sleep (in such a case) for a season: but their damnation sleepeth not: nor can their condition be safe till God have wiped out their sins for his own sake: till he have crossed out the black lines of our iniquities with the red lines of his Sons blood, and taken out of his coffers so much as may fully satisfy, &c.

CHAP. XIX.

Ver. 1. THus saith the Lord] By the former Type of a Potter and his Vessel, God had shown the Jews what he could do to them, viz. break them at his pleasure, and remake them upon their repentance. Here, by a like prophetical paradigme, is set forth what the Lord now will do to them: viz. break them so for their obstinacy, as that they should never be repaired, and restored to their ancient luster, and flourish. And this the Prophet Jeremy (fortissimus ill Dei athleta, as One calleth him) that valiant Champion of the Lord, telleth them freely, though he kissed the flocks and was well beaten for his boldness, chap. 20.2. Where it is worthy our observation, that as the Prophets task was more and more increased, so was his strength and courage. Deus gratiam multiplicat onere ingravescente. So it was with Athanasius, Luther, Latimer, Calvin, &c.

Go and get a Potters earthen bottle] Called in Hebrew Bakbuk: either from the emptiness and hollowness of it; or else from the gugling sound that it made when it was either filled or emptied. By a like figure it is said of the vulturine Eagle, Job 39.30. that they do glutglut blood.

And take of the ancients] Of both sorts for witnesses.

Ver. 2. And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom] See chap. 7.3. that where the Jews had sinned, there they might be sentenced.

Which is by the entry of the East-gate] Or (as others render it) Portam fictilem seu testaceam, the Potters gate (because the Potters dwelt near to it, and thereby carried forth their potsherds) called also the dung-gate, saith the Chaldee Paraphrase: an allusion being hereby made both to the pot he carried, and to the pieces of it when broken, which should be cast to the dunghill. Inde ad gehennam via erat. This was the way to Tophet: and thither Jeremy led them, said an Expositor, that considering their graves in that Valley, according to chap. 7.32. and that their bodies, those earthen vessels, should soon after be broken and carried out as dung into Tophet by the Chaldeans, and their souls into Hell by the devils, they might repent, and so prevent such a mischief.

And proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee] God took his own times to tell his Prophets what they should tell the people. The privilege of infallibility (saith a Divine) was perpetual to the Apostles: Prophetis vero saepius intervallatum, & fere non extra ipsos prophetandi paroxysmos durans, not so to the Prophets, but whilst they were prophesying only for the most part: neither knew they many times what they should Prophecy, till the very instant.

Ver. 3. Hear the Word of the Lord ye Kings of Judah] i. e. O King and thy counselors, who are so many little Kings, as King James was wont to say of the Parliament men.

Behold I bring evil upon this place] This he spake to all and with all authority; catholicam & miserabilem perniciem proclamans. It is credible that he spake it with as good a courage (or better) as Bishop Ridley Martyr did those comminatory words of his to Queen Mary and her servants, when they refused to hear him preach: He uttered them with such a vehemency, saith mine Author, that some of the hearers afterwards confessed the hairs to stand upright on their heads.

His cares shall tingle] For grief and fear; as if he had been stonied with a thunder-clap, or were ready to swoon.

Ver. 4. Because they have forsaken me] Chap. 16.11.

And estranged this place] Or, strangely abused it so as I scarce know it, or can find in my heart to own it.

Whom neither they, nor their fathers] sc. Quamdiu probifuerunt & pii, so long as they had any goodness in them, saith Jerome. Those afterwards that worshipped they knew not what (as those Samaritans did, Joh. 4.) are not worthy to be reckoned on, much less to be imitated. Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their Idols, Ezek. 20.18.

And have filled this place with the blood of innocents] Especially of Infants sacrificed to Moloch in Tophet, so filling up the measure of your sins.

Ver. 5. Which I commanded not] Reprobatur voluntarius cultus, & factitiae religiones. See chap. 7.31. and 32.35. 2 King. 23.10.

Ver. 6. This place shall no more] See chap. 7.32. Things are repeated, that they may be the better observed.

Ver. 7. And I will make void the counsel of Judah] As vain and empty as this earthen bottle now is. See on ver. 1. and take notice of an elegant Agnomination in the Original.

And their carcasses will I give] See chap. 7.33. and 16.4.

Ver. 6. And I will make this City desolate] See chap. 18.10.

Ver. 9. And I will cause them to eat the flesh] This as it was threatened, Lev. 26.29. Deut. 28 23. so accordingly accomplished, Lam. 2.20. and 4.10. Ptolomaeus Lathurus King of Egypt barbarously slew thirty thousand Jews, and forced the rest to feed upon the flesh of those that were slain.

Ver. 10. Then shalt thou break the bottle] That the eyes of the by-standers and beholders may affect their hearts. Non alia ratio Sacramentorum est.

Ver. 11. That cannot be made whole again] Heb. cured. No more was the Jewish Polity ever restored to its ancient dignity and luster, after the captivity: neither was Tophet ever repaired at all, but served for a charnel-house, a place to lay dead men's bones in.

Ver. 12. And even make their City as Tophet] Every whit as abominable and horrid: a very hell above ground.

Ver. 13. And the houses of Jerusalem] Wherein they had their chambers of imagery, and their private chapels for Idolatrous uses, (as Papists also have) Ezek. 8.12. Zeph. 1.

Because all the houses upon whose roofs] See on Zeph. 1.4.

Ver. 14. And he stood in the court of the Lord's house] A place of greatest concourse of people: and where he might meet with many hearers. Here he spread his net, that he might catch some souls; dilated his discourse at Tophet, whereof we have here but the short notes; minding them of their sin and punishment. And surely this Prophet should be so much the more regarded by us, for that he so freely and fully delivered the divine messages, omitting no part thereof, either for fear or favor. Ambrose bad Austin read the Prophet Isaiah diligently, for the confirmation of his faith. We may all very profitably read the Prophet Jeremy who is full of incitation to repentance and new obedience.

Ver. 15. Because they have hardened their necks] Which may seem possessed with an iron sinew, so stiff they are and sturdy, having manum in aure, aurem in cervice, cervicem in cord, cor in obstinatione, their hand on their ear, their ear in their neck, their neck in their heart, and their heart in obstinacy, &c.

CHAP. XX.

Ver. 1. NOw Pashur the son of Immer] i. e. One of the posterity of Immer, after many generations: See 1 Chron. 24.14.

Who was also chief Governor] Not high Priest as some have said, but a principal Priest, haply the head of the sixteenth course: or as Junius and others think, the High Priests Vicar, or second: such as was Eleazar to Aaron his father, Num 4.

Heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things] Or, heard Jeremiah prophesying; and having gall in his ears, as they say some creatures have, he was galled at the hearing of so smart a truth.

Ver. 2. Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the Prophet] Either with his fist, as Zedekiah did Micaiah, 1 King. 22.24. and as Bonner did Hawkes, and other Martyrs, pulling off part of their beards: or else with a staff, as they dealt by our Savior, Mat. 26.67. and as that Popish Bishop, degrading a Martyr-Minister, struck him so hard with his Crosier staff as he was kneeling on the stairs at Paul's, that he fell down backwards and broke his head. Atqui lapidand • sunt haeretici sacrarum literarum argumentis, saith Athanasius: but heretics are to be stoned with Scripture arguments: and men may a great deal sooner be cudgeled into a treaty then into a Tenet.

And put him in the stocks] As they did afterwards Paul and Silas, Act. 16. Clerinus the Martyr mentioned in Cyprians Epistles, Mr. Ph • lpot in the Bishop of London's coal-house; and that good woman, who suffering afterwards for the same cause, rejoiced much that her leg was put in the same hole of the stocks, where Philpots leg had lain before.

That were in the high-gate of Benjamin] Which might be a Prison like Lollards Tower in London, whereunto were sent the Martyrs many of them for their zeal and forwardness. Action and passion go together: Omne agent agendo repatitur; especially if men go a little faster then others do. They who will live godly in Christ Jesus (and be set upon it) shall suffer persecution: this gate-house might well be the Priests prison, whither they used to send such as they took for false Prophets.

Ver. 3. Pashur brought forth Jeremiah] To be judged, say some: but why then did he first smite him? an Officer should retain the Majesty of the Law, and not do anything passionately. To set him at liberty, say others; as perceiving that the Word of God could not be bound, nor a Prophets mouth stopped by a prison, as Pashur also shall well perceive ere Jeremy hath done with him. Bonner said to Hawkes the Martyr, A faggot will make you believe the Sacrament of the Altar. He answered, No, no, a point for your faggot: God will be meet with you one day: So true is that of the Poet,

The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur] That is black-mouth, as some derive it; or diffusing paleness, as others: but on the contrary.

Magor-missabib] i. e. Terror round about, or fear on every side: a Proverbial form of speech denoting extreme consternation of spirit, and greatest distress: such as befell Tullus Hostilius King of Rome, who had for his gods Pavor and Pallor: dign • ssimus sane qui deos suos semper haberet praesentes, saith Lactantius wittily, i. e. great pity, but this man should ever have had his gods at hand, since he was so fond of them: Our Richard 3. and Charles the ninth of France, a pair of bloody Princes, were Magor-missabibs in their generations: as terrible at length to themselves, as they had been formerly to others: and therefore could never endure to be awakened in the night without music, or some like diversion.

Ver. 4. I will make thee a terror] Heb. I will give thee unto a terror, i. e. I will affright thy conscience, and then turn it loose upon thee, so that thou shalt be à cord tuo fugitivus, and thy friends shall have small joy of thee, or thou help by them. See on ver. 3.

Ver. 5. Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this City] Thus Pashur prevailed nothing at all with good Jeremy, by imprisoning him, to make him give over menacing. But as Baruch wrote the roll anew that had been cut in pieces, and added besides unto it many like words, chap. 36.32. so doth Jeremy here: he will not budge to die for it. This was to show the magnanimity of a Prophetical Spirit.

Ver 6. There shalt thou be buried] In a dunghill perhaps, as Bishop Bonner was, and have cause enough to cry out as that great Parisian Doctor did from his heir, when brought to be buried,

Ver. 7. O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived] From hence to the end of the Chapter the Prophet, not without some tang and taint of human frailty, grievously quiritateth and expostulateth with God, about the hard usage and ill success he met with in the execution of his prophetical function. But as ex incredulitate Thomae nostra confirmata est fides, Thomas his unbelief serveth to the settling of our faith: and as Peters fall warneth us to look well to our standing: so when such a man as Jeremy shall miscarry in this sort, and have such out-bursts, oh be not high-minded but fear. Some render the text, Lord if I be deceived, thou hast deceived me: and so every faithful man, who keepeth to the rule, may safely say. Piscator hath it persuasisti mihi Jehovah, & persuasus sum. O Lord thou perswadedst me, and I was persuaded, sc. to undertake this Prophetical office; but I have small joy of it: some think he thus complained, when he was put in prison by Pashur.

I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me] This is the worlds wages. The Cynik said of the Megarians long ago, Better be their horse, dog, or Pander, then their teacher: and better he should be regarded.

Ver. 8. For since I spake, I cried out] i. e. Ever since I took upon me the office of a Prophet, I executed it vigorously, I cried with full mouth, as chap. 4.5. Isa. 58.1.

I cried violence and spoil] Sc. will surely befall you by the Chaldees, or I cried out of my misusages.

Because the Word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me and a derision daily] This was all the recompense I reaped of my good-will to this perverse people, and of my pains taken amongst them. Few sins are more dangerous then those of casting reproaches upon God's Word, as here: of snuffing at it, Mal. 1.13. of enviously swelling at it, Act. 13.45. of chatting at it, Rom. 9.19, 20. of stumbling at it, 1 Pet. 2.8. of gathering odious consequences from it, Rom. 3.8.

Ver. 9. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his Name] i. e. I will give over preaching: This, said Latimer in a like case, was a naughty a very naughty resolution.

But his Word was in my heart as a burning fire] Ex sensu malae conscientiae propter illud propositum. And here was the work of the Spirit against that carnal resolution of his. God's people cannot do the