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

CHAP. XXIX.

Ver. 1. IN the tenth year] The year before Jerusalem was taken, chap. 24.1.

In the tenth month] Called Thebeth, Estth. 2. and it answereth to our January, saith Bede, Chronology is the eye of Prophecy, as well as of History.

Ver. 2. Set thy face against Pharaoh] This was Pharaoh Ophra, whom Horodotus calleth Apryes, and saith, that he gave out that no God, how great soever could deprive him of his Kingdom. Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily also was wont to say, that his Kingdom was tied unto him with chains of adamant: but it proved otherwise. Noli gloriari.

And against all Egypt] Which held itself able to hold out against all the world, and is therefore here threatened at large in this, and the three next Chapters.

Ver. 3. The great dragon] Or Whale, or Crocodile, the figure of Pharaoh; whose Princes also and people are fitly compared to lesser fishes, and Egypt to waters, wherewith it aboundeth. These shall all suffer together, saith the Prophet: Principis enim calamitas, populi clades est. Confer Psal. 74.13, 14.

That lieth in the midst of his rivers] That lieth at ease in the swolen waters of his Nile, and battleth.

Which hath said My river is mine own] The river Nile watereth Egypt and maketh it fruitful beyond credulity. They do but cast in the seed, and have four rich harvests in less then four months, say travellers. Hence the Egyptians were generally proud, riotus, and superstitious above measure:

The most poisonous flies are bred in the sweetest fruit-trees. See on 1 Tim. 6.17.

And I have made it for myself] i. e. Useful and serviceable to my Country, with much pains and expense, by ditches, channels, water-courses, &c. These were cleansed and repaired by the command of Augustus Caesar, when he had subdued Egypt, and reduced it into a Province. Some render it Ego feci meipsum, I have made myself; a most arrogant speech!

Ver. 4. But I will put hooks in thy chaws] Speaking to Tyru • a Sea-town, Sea-Metaphors were made use of. Now he fetcheth them from waters and fishes, that he may frame himself to his hearers: A good precedent for Preachers.

To stick unto thy scales] Thy subjects shall all follow thee into the field, that there you may all fall together. Had they kept themselves in Egypt, they might have been far safer; for that Country could hardly be come at by an enemy. But they went forth to meet their bane, as if they had been ambitious of destruction. God had a holy hand in it.

Ver. 5. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness] As fish when they are caught are cast upon the dry land, and there they die: for how should a fish live out of his own element? It may be the Chaldees sought Pharaoh and his forces in the Wilderness, killed him and cast him out unburied; which the Heathens held a great unhappiness: for they thought their ghosts could not pass the river Styx, but must wander through Hels waste wildernesses, unless their dead bodies were buried.

I have given thee for meat] Whales flesh is no better worth.

Ver. 6. And all the inhabitants, &c.] Shall feel my power in their just destruction, though they think themselves insuperable.

Because they have been a staff of reed] See this fully expounded in the next words. See also on Isa. 36.6. Jer. 37.7, 8. Egypt was a reedy Country, as Pliny telleth us. Arando autem ipsa per se fluctuat, & in necessitate eludit.

Ver. 7. When they took hold of thee by thy hand] i. e. Made a Covenant with thee, and hoped for help from thee. See Job 8.20. The holy Scripture is its own best interpreter.

Thou didst break] So unfaithful are many friends: so uncertain are all human helps.

And madest all their loins to be at a stand] Thou leftest them in the lurch, as we say, to shift for themselves as they could.

Ver. 8. And cut off man and beast] With both which thou aboundest exccedingly: as being a very fruitful Country; populosa, & pecorosa.

Ver. 9. Because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it] With this proud speech he is twice twitted, see ver. 3. The Egytians so trusted in their river Nile, as if they needed no help from heaven.

And Lucan to like purpose: How much better might God have said to these Egyptians, then Vespasian did, Haurite à me tanquam à Nilo, Come ye to Me the fountain of living waters, and hew not out thus to yourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water! But they used in mockery to tell the Grecians, that if God should forget to rain, they might chance to starve for it: they thought the rain was of God, but not the river: God therefore threateneth hers to dry it up, and so he did: Ingratitude forfeiteth all. In the reign of Cleopatra, Nile overflowed not the banks for two years together, saith Seneca: he brings in Callimachus telling of a time, wherein it had not done so for nine years space. Hence Ovid, Thus their gold-flowing and fruit-giving river failed them, because they attributed too much to it. In Joseph 's time they had seven years famine.

Ver. 10. And against thy rivers] The Jealous God will down with the earthly idol, whatever it be: See on ver. 9.

And I will make the land of Egypt utterly wast] Heb. wast of wastes,

From the tower of Syene] i. e. From South to North.

Ver. 11. No foot of man or beast shall pass through it] This was solitudo solitudinis indeed; a dreadful desolation. When it fell out, no history mentioneth: but that it was so, is most sure. Oh the dismal effects of sin in all ages, as now in sundry parts of Turkey, utterly unpeopled, though once flourishing!

Ver. 12. In the midst of the Countries] Palestine, Moab, Edom, Judea, &c. See Jer. 46.

And her Cities] Which are said to have been 20000. in the reign of Amasis, the chief whereof were Alexandria, Thebes, Babylon, Memphis, &c.

Ver. 13. Will I gather the Egyptians] God loveth to help men that are forsaken of their hopes. Cyrus sent them home likely, about that time that he took Babylon; and his son Cambyses had somewhat to do to subdue them; so high they were soon grown and head-strong; humbled they were, but not humble: low, but not lowly.

Ver. 14. Into the land of Pathros] A part of the lower Egypt; a corner of the Country say some; but big enough to hold the remnant that returned.

And they shall be there a base Kingdom] Reditum & regnum illis promittit, sed humile, a Kingdom God promiseth them, but base and abject; because subject and tributary to the Persian, so that the Israelites shall no more lean upon it. God oft removeth occasions of sin from his people, taketh away their stumbling blocks, that they may not fall under his heavy displeasure.

Ver. 15. It shall be the basest of the Kingdoms] And worthily for their worshiping the basest creatures (See Rom. 1.23, 24.) but especially for their faithlesnesse to God's Israel.

For I will diminish them] As God hath likewise done the Persians at this day (who have undone their confederates, the Egyptians and Georgians ) and the Grecians no less; who have now lost their liberty, and are so degenerate by means of the Turkish oppression, that in all Greece is hardly to be found any small remembrance of the glory thereof.

Ver. 16. And it shall be no more the confidence] For I will cut them, and keep them short enough: I will pull their plumes, so that they shall not stretch their wings beyond the nest: they shall have nothing so many clients, and adherents.

Which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance] Creature-confidence is so hated of God, that it inmindeth him of former miscarriages also, and causeth him to plague men for the new and the old together.

Ver. 17. In the seven and twentieth year] Of Jeconiah 's captivity (as Ezekiel ordinarily counteth) or of Nebuchadnezzar 's reign, say the Jew-doctors: when as Tyre was overthrown, some part of Egypt wasted, Jeremy and Baruch taken into his protection.

The Word of the Lord came] This was Ezekil 's last sermon, his swan-like song: showing wherefore and whereby Egypt should be so laid waste.

Ver. 18. To serve a great service] For thirteen years together, as saith Josephus.

Every head was made bald] sc. By continual carrying upon their heads and shoulders, earth, wood, and stones (for which they were much laughed at by the Tyrian soldiers) to fill up that strait of the Sea, which separated Tyre from the Continent, before it could be taken.

Yet he had no wages] The Tyrians, when they saw they could hold out no longer, had sent much of their wealth away to Carthage, and other places: much of it also they cast into the Sea, saith Lyra; so that Nebuchadnezzar at his entrance found nothing but a bare rock, saith Jerome, out of an old Assyrian Chronicle.

Ver. 19. Behold I will give the land of Egypt] As pay for his pains at Tyre. God is a liberal pay-master, and his retributions are more then bountiful. Serve him therefore with cheerfulness.

Ver. 20. I have given him the land of Egypt] As the great Turk gave his soldiers the rich spoil of Constantinople: and as Tamerlan never forgot the good service of his servants, nor left the same long unrewarded; often saying that day to be lost, wherein he had not given them something.

Because they wrought for me] By mine instinct, though beside their own intent.

Ver. 21. The horn] i. e. The strength, power and authority, in the Kingdom of Christ especially, Luke 1.69.

The opening] Occasion to bless my Name.

They shall know] Nebuchadnezzar also and his Babylonians.

CHAP. XXX.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Woe worth the day] Ah de die ista. This shall be the voice much more of reprobates at that last day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgment of God, Rom. 2.5. Enoch foretold this dreadful day, before Noah the deluge: That day is longer before it comes: but shall be more terrible when it is come.

Ver. 3. A cloudy day] Heb. a day of a cloud; which was rarely seen in Egypt.

Ver. 4. Great pain] Heb. pain upon pain, as the throws in childbirth.

Ver. 5. Chub] Certain Africans, who shall be worse put toit then were those succeeding Africans, who had a prophecy (but not of like credit with this of Ezekiel ) that when the Romans sent an army into their country, Mundus cum tota sua prole periret, which made them think the world should then be at an end. But afterwards the Romans sent an army thither under the conduct of one Mundus, who in battle was slain together with his sons by the Africans, and discovered the illusion of the devil. The Septuagint render Chub Spaniards; which I like the better, saith Lavater, because Strabo saith Nebuchadonoser came with his victorious army as far as Spain.

Ver. 6. They that uphold Egypt shall fall] i. e. Their confederates; or as some, their Tutelar gods. Herodotus writeth that Cambyses wasted with the sword Egypt and Ethiopia: killed their god Apis, and defaced all their idols. This he did, doubtless, rather in scorn of all religion, then hatred of idolatry.

And the pride of her power shall come down] Tumbling down as a great and weighty bullet, from a very high and steep mountain.

From the tower of Syene] See chap. 29.10.

Ver. 7. And they shall be desolate] See chap. 29.10.

Ver. 8. And they shall know that I am the Lord] Men will not take knowledge of this till they have paid for their learning. Vexatio dat intellectum, smart makes wit.

When I have set a fire in Egypt] War is fitly compared to fire, it feeds upon the people. See Esa. 9.19. with the Note.

Ver. 9. In that day shall messengers go forth from me] i. e. The Chaldeans by an instinct from me, to subdue Ethiopia also.

In ships] For Nile was navigable:

To make the careless Ethiopians] Heb. confident Cush: Security ushereth in calamity.

As in the day of Egypt] That cloudy day, ver. 3. when clouds of blood were dissolved upon them: Or, that dismal day of old, when they perished in the red sea, Exod. 15.14.

Ver. 10. I will also make the multitude] Or the great noise and hurry. They shall have no more cause to complain that they are too many of them: so that they cannot one live by another.

Ver. 11. The terrible of the nations] Tyranni gentium. Homo homini lupus.

Ver. 12. And I will make the rivers dry] The Chaldees shall drink them up, as 2 King. 19.24. or I will dry them up for a punishment of your vain trust in them, and boasting of them, chap. 29.3, 9.

And sell the land] Passe it away utterly from you. The earth is the Lord's: he is the true Proprietary.

Ver. 13. I will also destroy their idols] He did so by Cambyses: See on ver. 6. he doth so still by the Turks; when they invade Popish countries, they break down their mawmets.

Out of Neph] Called also Moph, Hos. 9.6. afterwards Memphis (the Metropolis of idolatry; Nazianzen calleth it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the mad City, because mad-set upon idols; Apis especially) afterwards Babylon, and now Aleair: famous for its incredible greatness, fair situation, pillars and Pyramids. It was the seat royal of the Sultans, till taken by the Turks from Camson Gaurus and the Mamalukes, about the year 1515.

And there shall be no more a Prince] For forty years at least.

Ver. 14. And I will set fire] See on ver. 8.

On Zoan] Or Tanis; the inhabitants whereof are said to be those giants called Titanes.

And will execute judgments in No] Populous No, Nahum. 3.8. called afterwards Alexandria, now Scanderoen.

Ver. 15. And I will pour my fury upon Sin] Called afterwards Pelusium, and now Damiata.

The strength of Egypt] The key of the Kingdom.

Ver. 16. I will set fire on Egypt] See ver. 8.

Ver. 17. Aven] Called also Heliopolis, and Thebe.

Phibeseth] Or Bubaestis, called by Ptolemy, Her • um civitas.

Ver. 18. At Tehaphnehes] Or Daphne, the gate of Egypt, at which the Chaldees entered.

A cloud shall cover her] See ver. 3.

Ver, 19. And they shall know] See on ver. 8.

Ver. 20. In the eleventh year] The year wherein Jerusalem was destroyed; notwithstanding Pharaoh 's fair promises and proffers to relieve her.

Ver. 21. I have broken the arm] Ita ut nulla art vel ope, so that by no means or medicines it can be made whole again. Losses received in war can hardly be repaired.

Ver. 22. And will break his arms] I will utterly disable him, and drive the field of him: he shall neither be able to defend himself, or offend his enemy. See Psal. 37.17.

Ver. 23. And I will scatter the Egyptians] Send them captive into other countries, as by a whirlwind or Hurrican. This Metaphor we have oft met with. He was afterwards hanged.

Ver. 24. And I will strengthen the arms of the King of Babylon] God as he sends the sword, chap. 14.17. musters the men, Esa, 13.4. orders the ammunition, Jer. 50.25. renders the weapons vain or prosperous, Esa. 54. ult. so he strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party.

Ver. 25. But I will strengthen] See ver. 25.

And they shall know] See on ver. 8.

Ver. 26. See ver. 23. They would hardly believe it, and therefore are so oft assured it.

CHAP. XXXI.

Ver. 1. IN the third month] Two months after the former Prophecy; and a month before the City was taken.

Ver. 2. Speak unto Pharaoh] Unto Pharaoh-Hophra, chap. 29.2. Say unto him (though it will be to small purpose) Hear and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken it.

Whom art thou like in thy greatness?] q. d. Thou thinkest thyself the only one, and that there is none such; but what sayest thou to the Assyrian, whom yet the Babylonian hath now laid low enough?

Ver. 3. Behold the Assyrian was a Cedar] See chap. 17.3, 22, 23. Dan 4.10, 11. with the Notes. The cedar is a very tall, fair, shady, leavy and lively tree: Such was Esar-haddon King of Assyria: once a most potent Monarch: now, not the master of a mole-hill. Now therefore (by an argument from the greater to the less) if he so fell through his pride; shalt not thou much more?

Ver. 4. The waters made him great] He had a confluence of all prosperities. Watered he was, non aquis sed abyssis; est autem abyssus, inexhausta felicitas & rerum affluentia. He over abounded with all outward happiness: in wealth, victories, and triumphs, he gave place to no man.

Ver. 5. And his bought were multiplied] Amplissima ludit copia verborum.

Ver. 6. All the fowls] See Dan. 4.12.

Ver. 7. Thus was be fair in his greatness] Once again he setteth forth with how great power and glory God had adorned this first Monarchy.

Ver. 8. The Cedars in the garden of God] No Kingdom in the world was comparable to the Assyrian, for thirteen hundred years together.

Ver. 9. So that all the trees of Eden — envied him] Summa petit livor. The tallest trees are weakest in the tops: and envy always aimeth at the highest.

Ver. 10. Because thou hast lifted up thyself] Here he comes to describe casum & cladem, the downfall and destruction of this flourishing Empire: beginning with a short Apostrophe to Pharaoh. Be not high-minded but fear. Believe not him who said Decent secundas fortunas superbiae, pride well becometh prosperity: but rather believe what another saith, and experience confirmeth, Sequitur superbos ultor à tergo Deus, God punisheth the proud, surely and severely. A better author then either of them telleth us, that Pride goeth before destruction: and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, then to divide the spoil with the proud, Prov. 16.18, 19.

Ver. 11. I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one] Of Merodach Baladan, who of Governor, had made himself King of Babylon; and in the twelfth year of his reign, having overcome Esarhaddon son to Sennacherib and last Monarch of Assyria, he adjoined that whole Empire to the Babylonians; and reigned after that forty years.

He shall surely deal with him] Heb. In doing he shall do unto him, i. e. he shall do what his list with him: as Tamerlan since did with Bajazet: whom he carried about in an iron cage, using him on festival days for a footstool; and feeding him like a dog with crumbes fallen from his table. All which Tamerlan did, not so much for hatred to the man (saith the Historiographer) as to manifest the just judgment of God against the arrogant folly of the proud.

Ver. 12. And strangers have cut him off] The greatet wealth, the greater spoil awaiteth a man: as each one desireth to lop the tree that hath thick and large boughs and branches.

And his boughs are broken] i. e. His Vasals, homagers, and auxiliaries.

And all the people of the earth] Who once sheltered under his shadow. But the rule is,

And have left him] And joined themselves to the Babylonian.

Ver. 13. Upon his ruin shall all the fowls] His dead body shall want decent burial, as afterward did great Alexanders, great Pompeyes, our William the Conquerors, Richard the thirds, &c.

Ver. 14. To the end tha • none of all the trees] This is the use men should make of God's heavy judgments upon others. This man's father Sennacherib had a statue set up in Egypt, saith Herodotus, with this inscription: Let him that looketh upon my misery learn to be modest and to fear God.

Neither their trees stand up in their height] Neque stent in seipsis, neither stand in themselves, because of their height. Magna repent ruunt. In te stas & non stas, said the Oracle to Austin: thou standest on thine own bottom; thou wilt surely down.

For they are all delivered unto death] Without difference, pell-mell, lords and losels together, as the Poet also singeth;

Ver. 15. I restrained the floods thereof] I made them keep home, as mourners use to do.

And I caused Lebanon to mourn for him] Heb. To be black, i. e. in mourning-habit. Athenienses non nisi atrati sapiunt, said one.

Ver. 16. I made the Nations shake at the sound of his fall] As the earth seems to shake at the fall of some mighty Cedar.

Shall be comforted] In so noble a companion and partaker of their misery. Confer Esa. 14.

Ver. 17. They also went down into hell with him] It was wont to be said, that hell was paved with Kings crests and shavellings bald-pates: Henry the eight was told on his death-bed, that he was now going to the place of Kings. See Esa. 30.33. what a coile kept this Esar-haddon in his time, as being superstitibus terror, praemortuis laetitia, complicibus exitium, sui ipsius ruina?

Ver. 18. To whom art thou like] He fitly returneth to Pharaoh, applying all this discourse to him.

In the midst of the uncircumcised] Chap. 28.10.

This is Pharaoh] This is like that of the Poet,

CHAP. XXXII.

Ver. 1. IN the twelfth month] About a year and half after the City was taken.

Ver. 2. Take up a lamentation] i. e. A lamentable Prophecy, destructive to the Egyptians: and it is very likely that they heard of it, but heeded it not; tanquam monstra marina Dei verba praetereuntes.

Thou art like a young lion] For pride, fierceness and cruelty.

And thou art as a whale] Or Crocodile: thou domineerest over sea and land, far and wide: thou playest Rex.

Thou camest forth with thy rivers] With the arms of thy Nile into the Midland-sea: insanis bellis inquietans omnia, breeding a great bustle in the Countries near adjoining.

Ver. 3. I will therefore spread out my net] Thou shalt be taken in an evil net, when thou little thinkest of it. Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him, Psal. 140.11. Look how Leo cassibus irretitus ait, Si praescivissem: and as the whale enclosed by fishers is lugg'd to land, done to death, cleft in pieces with axes, his flesh being made a prey for birds and beasts, his blood far and near drenching the earth: so shall it fare with Pharaoh and his forces.

Ver. 4. Then will I leave thee upon the land] As whales are sometimes left by an ebb whilst they pursue lesser fishes: there was one so taken near Greenwich lately: a piece of whose flesh was shown unto me.

Ver. 5. With thy height] Celsitudine tua: with thy glory which thou holdest dearer then thy flesh or life.

Ver. 6. I will also water with thy blood] Instead of thy river Nile.

The land wherein thou swimmest] Egypt, where thou sportest, as the whale doth in the mighty waters.

Even to the mountains] A most elegant Hyperbole: the like whereto, see 2 King. 21.16.

Ver. 7. And when I shall put thee out] Or extinguish thee: who art for thy power and glory as one of the worlds great Luminaries.

I will cover the heaven, &c.] So great a fume, or rather so vile a snuff shall exhale, that the heavens shall seem to be muffled, &c. It shall be once again deep darkness over all the land of Egypt. Another Hyperbole.

Ver. 8. All the bright lights of heaven] See ver. 7. All this shall befall the world really and without an Hyperbole, at the last day, Mat. 24.29.

Ver. 9. I will also vex] Or grieve: See Eccles. 7.3. where the same word signifieth anger and sorrow. Nebuchadnezzar's growing greatness shall be a cut and a corrosive to them.

Ver. 10. When I shall brandish my sword] As fetching my blow at them too; and aiming where to hit them.

Every man for his own life] Which he knows he hath forfeited, and hath now great cause to fear: since his neighbors house is on fire.

Ver. 11. The sword of the King of Babylon] Here is that delivered plainly which was before parabolically.

Ver. 12. By the swords of the mighty] Or, of the Heroes, or Giants.

The terrible of the nations] Grassatores, as Munster hath it; inexpugnabiles, as the Vulgar: such as with whom there is no dealing.

Ver. 13. All the beasts thereof] Egypt a most moist and fat Country, was full of cattle.

Ver. 14. Then will I make their waters deep] There shall not be men lef to derive them by ditches and channels into their grounds and pastures, for the making of them fruitful.

And cause their rivers to run like oil] i. e. Smoothly, and silently.

Ver. 15. When I shall make the land — desolate] See here the sad effects of sin, and beware.

Then shall they know that I am the Lord] Pleràque supra habuimus: ideo sum brevior, saith Lavater on ver. 12.

Ver. 16. This is the lamentation] And this is the epilogue of this former Prophecy: the latter followeth; being of the self-same argument, viz. a funeral dirge and exequy over Egypt.

Ver. 17. In the fifteenth day of the month] i. e. Of the twelfth month, ver. 1. and about a fortnight after the former Prophecy. God loves to foresignify and to do it often.

Ver. 18. Wail for the multitude] Prophesy their destruction: but do it not without grief and regret.

Cast them down] Do thou foretell it, and I will not fail to fullfil it: (See Jer. 1.10. with the Note.) Let them know that hell gapeth for them: and here I give thee the keys thereof. So God doth to every faithful Minister, Matth. 16. not to Peter only, nor to his pretended successor the Pope; whom therefore Luther bravely slighted in these words of his, Contemptus est à me Romanus & favor & furor: I care neither for the Popes favor, nor frowns.

Ver. 19. Whom dost thou pass in beauty] What art thou better then other thy comperes and complices in sin? Thou must also dance, Down to hell, Down to hell, with the rest

Be thou laid with the uncircumcised] Strangers to the Covenant (whereof Circumcision was a seal) sinners the Chaldee here calleth them, such as the devil sweeps: they are his birds, saith Mr. Bradford Martyr, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach them and eat them, chaw them and champ them world without end, in eternal woe and misery.

Ver. 20. They shall fall] Carkeises have their names both in Greek and Latin from falling.

We wonder now and then at the sudden death of a man. In war many thousands exhale their breath without so much as Lord have mercy on us. Death heweth its way through a wood of men, in a minute of time, &c.

Ver. 21. The strong among the mighty] Who might have seen many fair summers, had they not been cut off by Pharaoh 's sword.

Shall speak to him out of the midst of hell] What they say to him, see Isa. 14.10. where we have the like Prosopopaeja Poetica.

Ver. 22. Ashur is there] To wit, in the belly of Hell, among the uncircumcised, as Lazarus and other Saints are in the bosom of Abraham the place of bliss. Slain they were with the sword: but that was but a beginning of their sorrows, a trap-door to eternal torment. Virgil, by a like figure, brings in Aeneas going down to hell, and there seeing Agamemnon, Dido, the Titans, Cyclopes, and other Tyrants.

Ver. 23. Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit] In the bottom of the burning Lake; which from the high top of a Kingdom is a foul fall. Their being there buried may import, that they shall never come out.

Which caused terror] As breathing nothing but blood and slaughter, raising a tempest wherever they came, so that they became terrores terrae, as dreadful as devils.

Ver. 24. There is Elam] The Persians, who in the reign of Cyaxares, had been subdued by the Scythians, and slain in great number, Jer. 49.34, &c.

Into the nether parts of the earth] Into hell, as that rich glutton, Luke 16.23. where our Savior seemeth to allude to this place.

Yet have they born their shame] Carried the matter of it to hell with them, where is perpetual shame and confusion: beside the vexing snuff they have left behind them upon earth.

Ver. 25. They have set her a bed] i. e. The devils have set the Persian multitude a bed, but an uneasy one, such as they set for that rich wretch, Luke 12.19, 20. who thought to take his ease, but was not suffered.

With all her multitude] The grave is the Congregation-house of all living, Job 30.23. Hell is of many dead, that die in their sins.

He is put in the midst] In the hottest fire of hell.

Ver. 26. There is Mesh • c and Tubal] i. e. Say some, the Cappadocians and Spaniards. Others, the Scythians and Sarmatians.

And all her multitude] See ver. 25.

Ver. 27. Which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war] They died not gloriously as Conquerors: nor were buried triumphantly with their arms under their heads (as valiant warriors were wont to be;) sed ingloria vita recessit, but they died like dogs, and were basely buried, and yet that was not the worst of it neither.

But their iniquities shall be upon their bones] They shall rue for their cruelty and bloodshed. These shall be as a murthering-weapon in their bones, Psal. 42.10. throughout all eternity.

Ver. 28. Yea thou shalt be broken] Thou O Pharaoh, shalt have a deeper degree of torment in hell. Potentes potenter torquebuntur.

Ver. 29. They shall lie with the uncircumcised] Though they were circumcised, as now the Turks are, yet that shall not profit them. Faciunt & vespae favos: &

Ver. 30. There be the Princes of the North] i. e. (saith Junius ) the Syrians, Tyrians, and others.

And all the Zidonian • ] All the Hunters, saith the Vulgar; taking the word appellatively.

Which are gone down] The same again; ad majus Pathos.

Ver. 31. Pharaoh shall see them] This is the Epilogue, or perclose of this doleful ditty.

And shall be comforted] This was a miserable comfort: the like whereto is that of some profane persons among us, who when threatened for their foul practices, use to reply, If we do go to hell, yet we shall have company.

Ver. 32. For I have caused my terror] By Pharaoh 's exemplary punishment. This will make good men tremble at my Judgments, and bad men beware how they come under my wrath.

CHAP. XXXIII.

Ver. 1. AGain the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying] A new commission to preach again to his Country-men: which he had not done, since chap. 24.27. See the Note there.

Ver. 2. Speak to the children of thy people] I say of thy people: for I can scarce find in my heart to own them, they be so • ad.

When I bring the sword upon a Land] The sword is of God's sending, chap. 14.17. and whencesoever it cometh, it is bathed in heaven, Isa. 34.5. Think the same of any other public calamity, Amos 3.6. and therefore frame to a patient and peaceable behavior under it. Among Philosophers the most noted sect for patience, was that of the Stoics, who ascribed all to Fate.

Ver. 3. He blow the trumpet] Hence the Ancients infer, that a Bishop must preach, and that Praelati officium est sollicitudo non celsitudo. He taketh upon him the office of a constant Preacher, saith Gregory, that undertaketh to be a Minister.

Ver. 4. His blood shall be upon his own] The blame shall rest wholly upon himself. Not to be warned is a just both presage and desert of destruction.

Ver. 5. But he that taketh warning] Praevision is the best means of prevention.

Ver. 6. He is taken away in his iniquity] This a dismal kind of death, far worse then that of dying in prison, or of dying in a ditch.

At the watch-man's hand] By whose treachery, or indiligence at least, he miscarried.

Ver. 7, 8, 9. See Notes on chap. 3.17, 18, 19.

Ver. 10. Thus ye speak] But not well, whilst ye have hard thoughts of God, and heavy thoughts of yourselves; as if your sins were unpardonable; and that ye were already ruined beyond relief: whereas true Repentance is a ready remedy, a plank after shipwrak, that would set you safe, and render you right again. This they had been told before, chap. 18. but to little purpose: the word was not mingled with faith in their hearts, and did therefore run through them, as water runs through a riven vessel.

And we pine away in them] Ita punimur ut per • amus. This the Prophet had threatened, chap. 24.23. and they still stomackfully object it to him: it lay as hard-meat, and they raise a cavil upon it: whereto the Lord answereth;

Ver. 11. As I live saith the Lord God, &c.] This is one of those precious places, those melliflous honey-combes, which we should go on, sucking, towards heaven, as Sampson once did toward his parents, Judge 14.9. Here, if anywhere, we may find strong consolation. God when he swears, desires certainly to be credited, saith Tertullian. O happy we, for whose sakes God vouchsafeth to swear: and O thrice-wretched we, if we believe not God, no though he swear to us! Oh (saith Theodoret here) who can ever sufficiently admire the Lord's great goodness, who being so shamefully sl • ghted by the sinful sons of men, doth yet swear his readiness to receive them graciously, who have revolted grievously? Well might Nazianzen say that God delighteth in nothing so much as in man's conversion and salvation: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Basil, i. e. he would we should fear him, not fall by his hand: redire nos sibi, non perire desiderat, (as Chrysologus phraseth it) return unto him, not perish from the way, Psal. 2.12

For why will ye die?] Turn ye must, or burn. See chap 18.31, 32.

Ver. 12. Say unto the children] The same as before; only with a Proviso of Perseverance in well-doing, for else all's lost. Non enim quaeruntur in Christianis initia sed finis, saith Jerome, The end is better then the beginning.

Ver. 13. When I shall say to the righteous] See on chap. 18.24.

If he trust to his own righteousness] As thinking that he hath thereby purchased a license to commit iniquity.

Ver. 14. Thou shalt surely die] Viz. Except thou repent; for that altereth the case. Poenitency is almost as good as innocence.

If he turn from his sin and do] These two parts make up true Repentance.

Ver. 15. Give again that he had robbed] Quod rapuit reddideret. The law for restitution see Num. 5.6, 7.

Ver. 16. None of his sins] This is point-blank against the doctrine of Purgatory.

Ver. 17. Yet the children of the people say] This was a second cavil of theirs. See ver. 10. and chap. 18.25. Archesilas was surnamed Cavillator: so might these well have been.

Their way is not equal] There is no equity at all in this causeless quarrel of theirs.

Ver. 18. When the righteous turneth] To set them down, if right reason would do it (and man should be mancipium rationis, a slave to reason) he repeateth what he hath said before.

Ver. 19. He shall live thereby] Provided that he rest not in his righteousness, but learn to live by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2.

Ver. 20. Yet ye say] But therein ye lie, which is not the guise of God's children, Isa. 63.8.

I will judge you everyone after his ways] And so wring a testimony, if not from your mouths, yet from your consciences, of mine impartial Justice; such as is that, Deut. 32.4. A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He.

Ver. 21. In the twelfth year] Some read the eleventh year: and indeed it was wonder that such ill news came no sooner; for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Sophocles.

That one that had escaped] This God had promised, chap. 24.26.

The City is smitten] i. e. Sacked and burnt. This man spoke much in few.

Ver. 22. The hand of the Lord] i. e. The Spirit of the Lord, which acted me and carried me out, 2 Pet. 1.21. See 1 Cor. 12.3.

And my mouth was opened] As God had promised, chap. 24.27. And this fell out before the messengers narration. This was much for the prophets honor.

Ver. 23. Then the Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 24. They that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel] Those poor few now left in the land, 2 King. 25.12, 22. Jer. 40.5, &c. Surely they are poor, they are foolish, they have lost the fruit of their affliction, miserrimi facti sunt & pessimi permanent (as Austin saith of some in his time) they are never the less wicked, for being wretched.

Speak] Bubbles of words. Antiquum obtinent; They are no changelings, not at all crest-fallen.

Abraham was one] And no such one, but that we may match him. Thus these proud hypocrites set up their counter for a thousand pound, and stand upon their comparisons, without all shame or sense.

The land is given to us] And here we will hold our own: for we are well worthy.

Ver. 25. Ye eat with the blood] Which wicked Saul would not do, 1 Sam. 14. much less would righteous Abraham have done it; since it was against the light and letter of the Law, Gen. 9.4. Levite. 7.26. Deut. 12.16. Nay ye do worse things: and are you Abraham's children, and heirs of the promised land, together with that faithful Patriarch? I trow not. See a like manner of reasoning, Mic. 2.7. Joh. 8.39: So the learned Linaker, having read our Savior's Sermon in the mount, and considering how little it is lived amongst us, brake out into these words, Certainly either this is not Gospel, or we are not right Gospellers.

Ver. 26. Ye stand upon your sword] Vivitur ex rapto, He that hath the longest sword carrieth it amongst you: ye are also very revengeful: ready to say with him in the Poet,

Ye work abomination] This R. Solomon understandeth de Venere obscaeniore. It is in the original, ye women work abomination, as prostituting yourselves to an unnatural filthiness, as the Casuists complain still of some Spanish Curtezans.

And shall ye possess the land] q. d. Ye shall be set up: what should you expect better then exilium & excitium, banishment and destruction?

Ver. 27. They that are in the wastes] Ver. 24.

Shall die of the pestilence] Or else of the famine, which is worse. When, where, and how this was fulfilled upon them, we read not: In Egypt likely, whither they went after Gedaliah 's death; if not sooner, at home, as Jeremy also had fore-prophesied, chap. 42, 43, 44.

Ver. 28. For I will lay the land most desolate] Heb. desolation & desolation. God made clean work there; there was not a Jew left in the Country: See Zach. 7.14.

Ver. 29. Then shall they know] By woeful experience.

Ver. 30. The children of thy people] These Captives in Babylon, no whit better then those in Jury.

Still are talking] Detracting from thee, and deriding thee.

By the walls] Susurros miscentes clancularios: fearing left any one behind them should hear them, they get the walls at their backs.

Come I pray you and hear] Thus they jear: and there are too many such scoffers at this day.

Ver. 31. And they come unto thee] Very goodly.

And they sit before thee] Very demurely, and (to see to) devoutly; taking up all the seats.

They hear thy Words] But they were as heartless in hearing, as they were listlesse in praying, ver. 10.

They will not do them] Of the Athenians also it was said of old, that they knew well what was good and right, but would do neither.

Their heart goeth after their covetousness] Their heart is on their half-penny, as we say: neither can the Load-stone of God's Word hale them one jot from the earth. It should be Sursumcorda: but when many men's bodies are in sacellis, their hearts are in sacculis, as Austin complaineth: as Serpents have their bodies in the water, their heads out of the water: so here. As those Gergesites, they more mind a swine-stye then a Sanctuary.

Ver. 32. As a very lovely song] Or a love-song. The word leaves no more impression upon carnal men's consciences, then a sweet lesson upon the Lute in the ear, when it is ended; for then both the vocal and instrumental sweetness dissolve into the air and vanish into nothing. Happy was Austin who coming to Ambrose to have his ears tickled, had his heart touched.

Ver. 33. That a Prophet] See on chap. 2.5.

CHAP. XXXIV.

Ver. 1. ANd the Word] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Prophecy against the Shepherds] Good Shepherds they should have been, but they were naught, Jer. 23. and naught would come of them, for their mal-administration.

Woe be to the Shepherds of Israel] Both to Princes and Priests, by whose evil government the people were so bad, as in the former Chapter is fully set forth: Qualis rex, talis grex, the Sheep will follow the Shepherd: the common people are like a flock of Cranes; as the first fly, all follow.

Should not the Shepherds feed the flocks?] Such flocks especially as have golden fleeces, precious souls? Oh feed, feed, feed, saith our Savior to Peter, Joh. 21.15. feed them for my sake (as the Syriac there hath it) rule them well, teach them well, go before them in good example, do all the offices of a faithful Shepherd to them, and be instant, or stand close to the work, 2 Tim. 4.2. Dominus prope, the Arch-shepherd is at hand.

Ver. 3. Ye eat the fat] Ecce, lac & lanam recipitis: this ye might do, if in measure; for the workman is worthy of his wages; see 1 Cor. 9.7. but ye gorge yourselves with the best of the best: & si ventri been, si lateri, as Epicurus in Horace, if the belly may be filled, the back fitted, that's all you take care for. In parabola ovis capras quaeritis, & vestrum maxim compendium spectatis, ye are all for your own ends, nourishing your hearts as in a day of slaughter, or of good cheer, Jam. 5.5.

Ye kill them that are fed] Heb. ye sacrifice them, so ye pretend, but mind your own fat paunches: See Prov. 7.14.

But ye feed not the flock] As being falsi & sicti imo picti pastores, mock-shepherds.

Ver. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened] Five sorts of sheep are here reckoned up that needed the shepherds best care and cure, but nothing was done; or, if anything, it was overdone: for with force and cruelty they ruled over them. See 1 Pet. 5.3.

Ver. 5. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd] None but an idol-shepherd, Zach. 11.17. a foolish shepherd, ver. 15. and the sheep being a foolish creature even to a proverb, and apt to wander into harms way, will never return to the fold, if not fetched back; but stick in the thorns, or die in a ditch, or run into the wolves mouth.

Ver. 6. My sheep wandered] Through the shepherds supine negligence, or bloody truculence. Surely, as the herd of Deer forsake and push away the wounded Deer from them, so did these cruel shepherds: being non pastores sed impostores, non Episcopy sed Aposcopi, non praelati sed Pilati; as Bernard wittily; sheep-biters rather then shepherds: greedy dogs, Esa. 56.10, 11. grievous wolves, Act. 20.29.

And none did search or seek after them] Nec erat qui quaereret aut requireret.

Ver. 7. Therefore ye shepherds hear the Word of the Lord] And oh that this Word might ever sound aloud in the ears of all shepherds, as the voice of heavens trumpet!

Ver. 8. As I live saith the Lord, surely because] God here seemeth to be in a great heat, in a perturbation of spirit, causing a kind of impediment in his speech: so thoroughly was he moved against these lewd shepherds, whose faults he rippeth up again to make better way to their sentence.

Because my flock became a prey] To the Chaldees, but especially to that old manslayer.

Because there was no shepherd] None but a company of Nominals, or rather Nullities.

Ver. 9. Therefore, O ye shepherds] See ver. 7, 8.

Ver. 10. Behold I am against the shepherds] Heb. Lo, I against: by an angry Aposiopesis.

And cause them to cease from feeding the flock] They shall be Officiperdae, Quondams, laid aside like broken vessels, as have been some Kings of this land in their several generations (one of recent remembrance) Popish Bishops not a few, Bonner and others outed and deprived..

Ver. 11. Behold I even I will both search] Ego ego reposcam & anquiram: rather then the work shall be undone, I will do all myself, and then 'tis sure to be well done. Aristotle telleth of a certain Persian, who being asked What did most of all feed the horse? answered, the Masters eye: And of a certain African of whom when it was demanded, What was the best manure or soil for a field? answered, the owners foot-steps, that is, his presence and perambulation. Praesul ut praesit & profit suis, ab iis non absit, Shepherds should reside with their flocks: the Archshepherd will not fail to do so.

Ver. 12. A • a shepherd] He prosecuteth the Allegory drawn from shepherdy all along; striking still upon the same string with much sweetness.

So will I seek out my sheep] Mat. 15.24. Psal. 119. ult. Esa. 40.11.

In the cloudy and dark day] i. e. In the time of their calamity and captivity. When things are at worst, God himself will set in: he reserveth his holy hand for a dead lift.

Ver. 13. And I will bring them out from the people] This they could very hardly believe: therefore he assureth them of it again and again. God will do the like for all his Elect, seem it never so impossible.

And feed them upon the mountains of Israel] Which are very high mountains: but the Church, God's hill, is higher, Isaiah 2.2. See the Note there.

Ver. 14. I will feed them in a good pasture] Daily and daintily; feed them among the Lillies, Cant. 2.16. Psal. 23.1, 2, 3. feed them with the flesh and blood of my dear Son, Joh. 6.

There shall they lie in a good fold] Having a blessed calm in their consciences, full of spiritual security, and freed from all annoyances, Mic. 5.5.

Ver. 15. I will feed my flock] Doing all the offices of a good shepherd for them: and charging mine undershepheards to do so too.

And I will cause them to lie dow • ] By giving rest to their souls, Mat. 11. together with many happy Halcyons, that they may serve me without fear, Luk. 1.74.

Ver. 16. I will seek that which was lost, &c.] As he did Peter, Paul, the good thief, Matthew, Zac • etu, the Disciples after their shameful flight, Austin; all us who like sheep were gone astray, &c.

But I will destroy the fat] P • nguem & petulcam, such as in whom fullness breedeth forgetfulness, as in Jeshurun, Deut. 32.15. Queen Elizabeth was told in a Sermon by Mr. Deering, that once she was Tanquam ovis, like a meek sheep, but now tanquam indomita juvenca, as an untamed heifer; and therefore wished her to meet God by repentance. Here good Oecolampadius complaineth (and cause enough he had) of some of Christ's fatter sheep, who were too too taunty and troublesome to their fellows. The Lutherans of Suevia he might well mean; who, in their Syngramma, used him very coarsely: and Luther himself in his book of private Mass, set forth An. Dom. 1533. passeth a very uncharitable censure upon his disease and death.

And I will feed them with judgment] Putting a difference, and dealing with them as it is fit.

Ver. 17. And as for you, O my flock] I have a saying to you also (such as are unruly especially) as well as to your shepherds.

Behold I judge between cattle and cattle] Between sincere Christians and hypocrites, sheep and goats: and can soon shed them, and show them to the world, who are fierce rams, and who are nasty goats: at last day howsoever, all shall out, and a separation shall be made: the precious shall be taken out from the vile.

Ver. 18. Seemeth it a small thing unto you] Extenuant hypocritae suam culpam honesto titulo. Hypocrites make the best and the least of their sins; which good men acknowledge with aggravation; but the works of the flesh are manifest: and here we have a lively picture of the Pop • sh Clergy, who eat up the best, and tread down the rest, & pro salutaribus aquis suam salivam hominibus obtrudunt, and for wholesome, obtrude brackish waters upon men, to quench their thirst.

Ver. 19. And as for my flock, they eat] The poor misled and muzzled people are glad to eat such as they can catch: they are fed with traditions, legendary fables, indulgences, vowed pilgrimages, pennances, &c. If Luther had not come in our way, say they, we could have persuaded the people to have eat grass.

Ver. 20. I even I will judge between the fat cattle] These are, saith Austin, those that presume of their own strength, and boast of their own righteousness: being proud, insolent, and void of charity.

Ver. 21. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder] i. e. With pretence of law on your side, and with power in your hand to do what you list; for who can withstand you?

And pushed all the diseased with your horns] i. e. With your excommunications, and persecutions: See Esa. 66.5.

Till ye have scattered them abroad] For how should they abide it? they drive them out of the fold, flock, pasture; so that they must either fly, or die.

Ver. 22. Therefore will I save my flock] Viz. By Christ the true Shepherd: who once found out him whom the Jews had unjustly excommunicated, Joh. 9.35. and gave him encouragement. He knows all his sheep by name, as Exod. 33.12, 17. and hath promised them safety here, and salvation hereafter, Joh. 10.27. It is not with the Saints, as Esa. 31.4. or as Amos 3.12. but as Jer. 31.10, 11, 12. See the places.

Ver. 23. And I will set up one Shepherd] Who indeed is the only Shepherd. Magistrates and Ministers are Shepherds: but Christ is the good Shepherd, Joh. 10.11. the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls, 1 Pet. 2.25. Heb. 13.20. the true Shepherd, above all for skill, love, and power: above Jacob, above David of whom he descended, and by whose name he is here called: so Jer. 30.9. Hos. 3.5. Ezek. 37.24.

Even my servant David] i. e. Christ the Son and successor of David, not David George; as that odious heretic who died at Basil blasphemously applied this text to himself as if he had been the man here intended. The Jews themselves confess that Messias is here meant.

He shall feed them] This is thus repeated, as that which containeth a world of comfort. It showeth also that Christ will do it to the utmost. Jacob was a sedulous Shepherd: Christ much more.

Ver. 24. And I the Lord will be their God] This is that Be-hive of heavenly honey we so oft meet with in the Old Testament; which therefore those Sectaries have so little reason to reject.

And my servant David a Prince among them] Captain of the Lord's hosts, Josh. 6.2. Captain also of his people's salvation, Heb. 2.10. Messias the Prince, Dan. 9.25.

Ver. 25. And I will make with them a Covenant of peace] Pactum pacis, pacis omnimodae, Jer. 31.13. Esa. 11.10. Joh. 14.27.

And will cause the evil beasts] That were wont to worry the flock. I will set them safe from Satan and his imps, his instruments; such as was Nero the lion, and bloody Bonner the Popes slaughter-slave here.

Ver. 26. And I will make them—a blessing] By blessing them with all spiritual benedictions in Christ Jesus, Eph. 1.3. so that they shall be felices & faecundi, happy and fruitful.

There shall be sh • wres of blessing] Or very large showers (2 Cor. 9.6.) of divine doctrine, Esa. 55.9. and of righteousness, Hos. 10.12.

Ver. 27. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit] There shall be a confluence of all comforts and contentments.

When I have broken the bands of their yoke] Freed them from the Babylonish bondage: but especially from the Tyranny of sin and terror of hell; when I have broke the devils yoke from off the necks of their souls.

Out of the hands of those that served themselves of them] As did the devil, whose drudges they were, and who had them wholly at his beck and check.

Ver. 28. And they shall be no more a prey to the heathen] As the Jews then were and are to this day, being used by the Papists as sponges. The Christian Hebrews also suffered with joy the spoiling of their goods: but then (for an allay to their grief) they knew within themselves that which did sufficiently support them, and make up their loss, Heb. 10.34.

Ver. 29. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown] i. e. Christ the true tree of life: Or the Church planted and rooted in Christ, and much renowned all the world over. Christ mystical is a vine covering the whole earth.

And they shall be no more consumed with hunger] They shall have enough of all good things, a sufficiency, though not a superfluity; a David's sat habeo, because the Lord hath heard the voice of my supplications, Psal. 116.1.

Neither bear the shame of the heathen anymore] God will bring them in credit with those which formerly slighted and reproached them. God fashioneth men's opinions, ruleth their tongues, promiseth to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: where the Saints shall shine as the Sun in his strength, Rom. 2.7. Mat. 13.43.

Ver. 30. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God, am with them] They shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord, Psal. 107.43. they shall know the salvation of their God, Psal. 50.23. they shall have a plerophory of faith, as Rom. 8.38.

Ver. 31. And ye my flock—are men] Sheep ye are, but rational sheep, having your spiritual senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil, Heb. 5.14. so that ye take and see my goodness, Psal. 34.8.

CHAP. XXXV.

Ver. 1. MOreover the Word of the Lord] Chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. Set thy face] Chap. 6.2.

Against mount Seir] Inhabited by the Edomites.

And prophecy against it] This had been done before, chap. 25.12. but not enough. God hath a further saying to them, and that for the comfort of his poor people who might thus object: Peace and security from danger is promised us in the foregoeing Chapter; but we have still many deadly enemies, and none worse then our near allies and next neighbors the Edomites. Here therefore they are heavily threatened with utter desolation for their malignity against Israel, and their blasphemy against God.

Ver. 3. Behold O mount Seir, I am against thee] Ecce ego ad te, have at thee.

And I will stretch out my hand against thee] I will have my full blow at thee.

I will make thee most desolate] Heb. desolation and desolation: I will make an utter end: desolation shall not rise up the second time, Nahum. 1.9. I will make short work, Rom. 9.28.

4. I will lay thy Cities waste] Even Theman, Dedan, Bozra mentioned in Scripture: besides many others mentioned by Geographers, Maresa, Rhinocorura, Raphia, Gaza, Anthedon, &c.

And thou shall know] To thy small comfort.

That I am the Lord] A Lord of Lord's, a God of God's, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward, Deut. 10.17.

Ver. 5. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred] An hereditary deadly feud against Israel; Heb. an enemy of ages, yea of many ages continuance; such as is (as we use to say of Runnet ) the older the stronger.

And hast shed the blood of the children of Israel] Ut diffluant, hast let out their life-blood: all malice is bloody.

In time of their calamity] Watching the worst time, to do them the most mischief.

In the time that their iniquity had an end] When I had in a manner done with them, yet thou hadst not done with them: but didst stir up Nebuzaradan to burn the City and Temple with fire. This was to help forward the affliction, Zach. 1.15. See the Note there.

Ver. 6. I will prepare thee unto blood] Thou shalt have blood thy bellyful, which thou hast so greedily sought and sucked. Satiabis te sanguine quem sitiisti, cujusque insatiabilis semper fuisti, as the Scythian Queen said to Cyrus 's head.

Even blood shall pursue thee] As a bloodhound: It shall, it shall, believe me, it shall.

Ver. 7. Most desolate] See ver. 3. Iterum repetit, ne excidisse videatur. I am in good earnest.

Ver. 8. And I will fill his mountains] Oh the woe of war! the Greek word for it signifies much blood.

Ver. 9. I will make thee perpetual desolations] For thy perpetual hatred, ver. 5.

And thy Cities] See ver. 4.

Ver. 10. Because thou hast said] Ungodly men must answer for their ungodly speeches also, Jude 15.

These two Nations] Israel, and Judah.

Shall be mine] Such was their avarice and ambition that they made account all was their own: they had in their hopes devoured these two Countries, which God had reserved for a better purpose. He kept the room empty till the rerurn of the natives; and the land kept her Sabbaths, resting from tillage, &c. And yet these miscreants added

Whereas the Lord's was there] Or, be it that the Lord is there, sc. to keep possession against us, we will out him, and have it, in despite of him. O tongues worthy to be pulled out, cut in gobbets, and driven down their throats, that did thus blaspheme.

Ver. 11. I Will do even according to thine anger] Let the Romish Edomites expect the like punishment: their malice and mischief will come home to them.

And according to thine envy] That quick sighted and sharp-fanged malignity, which none can stand before, Prov. 27.4.

Ver. 12. And that I have heard all thy blasphemies] Of both sorts: those in the first table against myself, and those in the second table, against my people.

They are said desolate] And we have helped after.

They are given us to consume] Heb. to devour; Nay, but stay till they be: and then know, that ye may devour that on earth, that ye shall digest in hell.

Ver. 13. Thus with your mouth ye have boasted] Heb. magnified, setting your mouths against heaven, your tongues also have walked thorough the earth, Psal. 73.9. See the Notes there.

And have multiplied your words against me] When it would have better become you to have multiplied your words before me in prayer and praises, as the Hebrew word here used (mostly) signifieth.

Ver. 14. When the whole earth rejoiceth] sc. For my people's deliverances. Or, when the whole land, sc. of Israel rejoiceth: as it is sometimes hail and well with the Church, when the wicked are in the suds. Judea was the world of the world, as Athens was the Epitome of Greece, the Greece of Greece.

Ver. 15. As thou didst rejoice] As thou wast sick of the devils disease, rejoiceing at other men's harms: so, by a strange turn of things, others shall rejoice at thy just destruction, and revel in thy ruins: and at the last day espcially, when thou shalt be awarded thy portion with the devil and his angels, 2. Thes. 1.6, 7, 8.

Thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir] This was accordingly effected shortly after by Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldees, as Josephus testifieth: and is daily executed on the Churches enemies, who shall all be ere long in the place that is fittest for them, sc. under Christ's feet.

And all Idumea, even all of it] The Edomites that thought of seizing on others lands, lost their own. They who covet all, do oft lose all: yea even the pleasure of that they possess; as a greedy dog swalloweth the whole meat that is cast him, without any pleasure, as gaping still for the next morsel.

CHAP. XXXVI.

Ver. 1. PRophesie to the mountains of Israel] Better things then thou didst to Mount Seir in the foregoing Chapter. See Isa. 3.10, 11. with the Notes.

Ye mountains] That is, ye Mountainers, qui fere asperi atque inculti. Sed

Ver. 2. Because the enemy hath said] The Church fareth the better for her enemies petulancies and insolencies against her.

Even the ancient high-places] Or the everlasting Altitudes. Judea lay high: the Church is much higher.

Are ours in possession] Thus the Edomites triumphed before the victory: So did the Spaniards in 88, and God heard them, as chap. 35.13. for he is All-ear, All-eye, &c. He is jealous for his people, Zach. 1.14. and jealousy is quick-sighted, quick-conceited.

Ver. 3. Because they have] Heb. Because and Because, importing earnestness and heat of indignation. So Levite. 26.43.

And ye are taken up in the lips of talkers] Heb. Ye are made to ascend upon the lip of the tongue, and upon the evil fame of the people. God takes it extreme ill, that his people should be traduced and diffamed; which yet hath been their lot in all ages; but he will not fail to vindicate them, and to avenge them.

Ver. 4. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to the mountains] For men there were hardly any left, or not very fit to be dealt with, See ver. 1.

Which became a prey] To those man-eaters, ver. 3. qui diruerunt & devoraverunt, who did eat up God's people as they eat bread, Psal. 14.4. making themselves merry with their misery.

Ver. 5. Surely in the fire of my jealousy] Jealousy is hot as hell, Cant. 8 6. it is implacable, Prov. 6.34, 35. and very vindictive. See Zech. 1.14. with the Notes. Here God swears he will be even with these Edomites.

Which have appointed my land] This the Lord hath never done with; so ill he took it.

Ver. 6. Say unto the mountains and to the hills] To those lifeless creatures he directeth his speech, to show that every creature groaneth and waiteth for the redemption of our bodies: It fareth the better also in this life present, for the Elects sake: as it was once cursed for man's sin, and hath lain bed-ridden, as it were, ever since.

Because ye have born the shame of the Heathen] This, the Lord could not bear with any patience.

Ver. 7. I have liftd up mine hand] Sworn solemnly. Men when they swear do so, as taking God to witness. Three fingers they do oft lift up and hold down two, to signify, saith Lavater, that God who is Three in One, hath prepared a place in heaven for such as swear rightly; but will thrust down to hell, those that forswear themselves.

They shall bear their shame] They shall be paid home in their own coin, be overshot in their own bow, be covered with their own confusion.

Ver. 8. Ye shall shoot forth your branches] Re-flourish and fructify: the Christian Churches (those spiritual mountains) shall especially, Rev. 22.2.

For they are as hand to come] To come home out of Captivity, or to return to God by repentance. The fall of Antichrist cannot be far off.

Ver. 9. For behold I am for you] Or I come to you, and I come with a Cornucopia in mine hand.

Ver. 10. All the house of Israel, even all of it] The Israel of God in the Kingdom of the Messiah, totum totum, quantum quantum, not one of them shall be missing.

Ver. 11. And will do better unto you] This must necessarily be understood of spiritual blessings by Christ: for temporals, they never had the like to those in the days of Joshua, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, &c.

Ver. 12. Thou shalt be their inheritance] Yea a type and pledge of that heavenly inheritance, 1 Pet. 1.4. Rev. 21. & 22.

And thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them] Provoke God to bereave them.

Ver. 13. Thou land devourest up men] sc. By pestilence, famine, sword, evil beasts: thou art an unlucky land, an unblest country, feral and fatal to thine inhabitants. Hesiod saith the like of his country Ascr • ; and Another, of St. David 's in Wales, that it is a place neither pleasant, fertile, nor safe. Strabo saith the like of Judea; but with a despightful mind, as ver. 5. Those malevolent Spyes said no less, Numb. 13.

Ver. 14. Neither bereave thy nations anymore] Either by consuming them, or spewing them out, as Levite. 18.28. & 20.22. & 26.20, 22. See what is said of heaven, Rev. 22.3, 4, 5.

Ver. 15. Neither will I cause men to hear] I will cut off all occasions: and remove all such stumbling-blocks as whereat the nations dash and split themselves.

Ver. 16. Moreover the word] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 17. When the house of Israel] Ubique Scriptura vindicate gloriam Dei, maxim autem hoc loco; This place of Scripture doth singularly set forth the glory of God's grace, whilst it showeth that man's destruction is wholly of himself, his help only of God.

As the uncleanness] As a menstruous clout, abhorred by all.

Ver. 18. For the blood which they had shed] These two gross sins are instanced, viz. murder, and idolatry; lest they should plead, as Jer. 2.35. I have not sinned, or as Hos. 12.8. In all my works they shall find none iniquity in me: that were sin.

Ver. 19. And I scattered them among the Heathen] Whose idols they had worshipped, and whose manners they had imitated.

Ver. 20. These are the people of the Lord] And these are the fruits of their religion. Are these the holy people? &c. Lactantius complaineth of his times, that God's Truth was evil spoken of by the Heathen, because Christians lived loosely and leudly. Whereupon Erasmus crieth out, O rem miseram! Oh lamentable! Even in those purer times the piety of Christians was so much abated, that the Gospel was therefore evil spoken of, for the evil lives of many that professed it. What marvel then, saith he, that Turks cry out upon us? that the banks of blasphemy are broken down in persons disaffected to the power of godliness?

Ver. 21. But I had pity for my holy name] So he hath still: or else it would be wide enough with us. Some render it I spared, or tendered mine holy name: and to free it from those imputations, I freely forgave my people and reestablished them.

Ver. 22. I do not this for your sakes] To do good without respect of desert, is royal; yea it is divine.

But for mine own holy names sake] God maketh our utter unworthiness a foil to set forth the freeness of his love, in maki • g us worthy whom he found not so.

Ver. 23. And I will sanctify my great Name] I will recover my reputation among the heathen, by declaring my justice in your punishment, and my mercy in your restauration. God, as he is moved by his own grace to do his people good, so he aimeth therein at his own glory.

Ver. 24. For I will take you, &c.] I will effectually call you out of darkness into my marvelous light, and cull you out from this wicked world. And this is the first thing that God here promiseth to his Covenanters. More then this, he promiseth them in the following verses, Justification, Sanctification, and Preservation, or Provision of temporal blessings, that nothing may be wanting to them that may make them happy. We should be oft counting of this coin, telling of this treasure.

Ver. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you] He alludeth to the legal purifications; especially that made by the ashes of a red cow mixed with running water, wherewith the people were sprinkled, and so cleansed from legal defilement, Num. 19. Semblably the Saints, sprinkled with Christ's blood from an evil conscience, by the byssop-bunch of faith, and so washed with clean water, ( Heb. 10.22.) in baptism (the saving virtue whereof is permanent, 1 Pet. 3.21.) are justified and sanctified, 1 Cor. 6.11. This blessed sprinkling David prayeth for, Psal. 51. The Baptist also and others sprinkled those whom they baptized: both to answer the •• pes of the Law, and this prediction of the Prophet, understood by Jerome of Baptism; which is a visible sign and seal of our being washed from the filth of sin by the merit and Spirit of Jesus Christ, Tit. 3.5.

Ver. 26. A new heart also will I give you] For the old heart will never hold out the hardship of holiness: the old fab • ike must be taken down, and a new set up. See chap. 11.19. a new man both in constitution and conversation one must be, or else he is no man in Christ, 2 Cor. 5.17.

And I will take away the stony heart] The natural heart, which is hard and refractary; to every good work reprobate. Hord is that which resisteth the touch. The old heart is inflexible to God's Spirit, insensible of his word and judgments, and impenetrable to his grace. Where then is man's freewill? Garriant illi, nos credamus: there is no such thing, believe it. Nature is wholly stony: it is God alone that of these stones raiseth up children to Abraham.

And I will give you an heart of flesh] i. e. Tractable and capable of Divine impressions, ready to every good work, Tit. 3.1.

Ver. 27. And I will put my spirit within you] Qui mulcendo & molliendo, who by melting and mollifying your hard hearts, shall bring you to a better obedience.

And cause you to walk in my statutes] Lex jubet, gratia juvat: God undertaketh for himself and his people too, viz. to work in them what he requireth of them. Therefore it is an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things: and the fruits of it are sure mercies, compassions that fail not, &c. See on chap. 11.20.

Ver. 28. And ye shall dwell in the land] i. e. In Judea, or rather in the Church, which began in Judea, saith the Jesuit well; the Church of Rome then is not the mother-Church; no, though we take it in its Primitive purity.

Ver. 29. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses] This is oft promised, because not easily believed. No article of our Creed it so much opposed by Satan, as that of the forgiveness of sin by Christ's merits: which is the very life and soul of a Church. All the former Articles of the Creed are perfected in this, and all the following articles are effects thereof: hold it fast therefore.

And I will call for the corn] I have it at my call: and a Mandamus from me will do it at any time. See Hos. 2.21, 22. with the Note.

And lay no famine] Which comes also at God Almighty his call, Psal. 105.16.

Ver. 30. That ye shall receive no more reproach] The heathen were oft twitting God's people with their outward wants and crosses, as if caused by their Religion. So the persecutors did by the Primitive Christians, and so the Papists still deal with the New-Gospellers, as they scornfully call the reformed Churches.

Ver. 31. Then shall ye remember] The goodness of God shall lead you to repentance: so many mercies heaped upon so undeserving, nay so ill-deserving creatures, shall bring you to a deep detestation of your iniquities.

Your own evil ways and your doings that were not good] There are some things, saith one, that we can hardly forget, viz. our sorrows and our pleasures, as Esau: some things we can hardly remember, as our faults, and our friends, as Josephs Butler. Augustine was famous (saith another) for two of his works; his Retractations, which are the confessions of his errors: and his Confessions, which are the Retractations of his life. See chap 20.43.

And shall loath yourselves] Or, ye shall look upon yourselves as worthy to be destroyed. Or, ye shall scold within yourselves against your iniquities.

Ver. 32. Not for your sakes] See on ver. 22.

Be ashamed] Abashed and abased, as was Ezra, chap. 9.6. Ephraim, Jer. 31.19. the Publican, Luk. 18.

Ver. 33. I shall have cleansed you] See on ver. 29.

I will also cause you to dwell] See ver. 28.

Ver. 34. And the desolate land shall be tilled] As now, blessed be God, it is in the Palatinate, and other parts of Germany, though now is no small danger of a new war: quod Dominus avertat.

Ver. 35. This land] Such a change can God soon make for worse or better. Fear him therefore: fear the Lord and his goodness, Hos. 3.5.

Ver. 36. Then the heathen] Haec jam ex parte facta sunt, saith Oecolampadius. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in our eyes: the ruined Churches are reedified, and the matter well amended by this blessed Reformation: and Rome knows it.

Ver. 37. I will yet for this be inquired of] i. e. Though I have promised my people all these boones, yet I look they should put my promises in suit, by praying them over. Prayer is an indispensable duty, and must not on any pretence whatsoever be neglected.

I will increase them with men like a flock] Plenty of men and store of children is a great blessing of God: yet some are ready to say of them, as that Rustic did of his afflictions, when he was told they were God's love-tokens, Ah quam velim alios amare, non me.

Ver. 38. As the holy flock] The sheep that came up for sacrifice, at the Passover especially: so will I multiply the sheep of Christ the true Shepherd.

CHAP. XXXVII.

Ver. 1. THe hand of the Lord] i. e. The force and impulse of the holy Spirit: fitly called the hand of the Lord, because holy men of old spake and acted as they were moved or carried out, by the holy Ghost, 2 Pet. 2. ult.

In the spirit] i. e. In a spiritual rapture.

And set me down] Not really but visionally.

In the midst of the valley] That same valley (some think) where (chap. the first) he saw that glorious vision. Prophecies were oft received; and prayers are best made in one and the same place.

Which was full of bones] So it appeared to him in his ecstasy.

Ver. 2. And lo they were very dry] Ex vetustate & carry. This added to the miracle.

Ver. 3. Can these bones live?] In the resurrection at the last day, he knew they should; for amongst the Jews that was generally believed, Joh. 11.24. But whether in this world, and at this time, that was the question: The Jew-doctors boldly but groundlessly answer that these dead bones and bodies did then revive: and that many of them did return into the land of Israel, and married wives and begat children. But this is as true as that other dotage of theirs, that the dead bodies of Jews in what Country so ever buried, do by certain under-ground passages, travel into Judea, and there rest until the general resurrection.

O Lord God thou knowest] And he to whom thou art pleased to reveal it. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The Russians in a difficult question use to answer, God and our great Duke know all this.

Ver. 4. Prophesy upon these bones] Be thou the interpreter of my Will, who by mine all-powerful Word do quicken the dead, and call things that are not as if they were, Rom. 4.17.

And say unto them, O ye dry bones] Together with God's Word, many times, there goeth forth a power, Luk. 5.17. as when he said Lazarus come forth, Joh. 11.43. So it is in the first resurrection, and so it shall be at the last, Joh. 5.25, 28, 29. See the Notes.

Ver. 5. Behold I will cause breath to enter into you] i. e. Into each number of you that belong to each body. Neither need the resurrection of the dead be held a thing incredible, Act. 26.8. considering God's Power and Truth. The keeping green of Noah's Olive-tree in the time of the flood, the blossoming of Aaron's dry rod, the flesh and sinews coming to these dry bones, and the breath entering into them, what were they all but so many lively Emblems of the Resurrection?

Ver. 6. And cover you with skin] Superindam; that the flesh may not look gastly. The word rendered cover is Chaldee, and found only here, and ver. 8.

And put breath in you and ye shall live] As when man was first created, Gen. 2. and cannot God as easily remake us of something, as at first he made us of nothing?

Ver. 7. So I prophesied] He might have said, why should I speak to these bones? will it be to any purpose? but God's commands are not to be disputed, but dispatched, without sciscitation.

And there was a noise] A rattle, perhaps a thunderclap.

And behold a shaking] Perhaps an earthquake, as was at Christ's resurrection. God will one day shake both the heavens and the earth. The heavens shall pass away with a great noise (2 Pet. 3.10.) the earth also and the works therein shall be burnt, and fall with a great crack. Then shall the Lord descend from heaven with a shout, &c. 1 Thes. 4.16. such as is that of Mariners in a storm, or of Soldiers when to join battle with the enemy.

Ver. 8. Lo the sinews and the flesh came up upon them] The body is the souls sheath, Dan. 7.15. the souls suit: the upper garment is the skin, the inner the flesh; the inmost of all, bones and sinews.

Ver. 9. And say to the wind] To the reasonable soul, that breath of God, Gen. 2.7. divinae particula aurae, as one calleth it. In this better part of man, he is not absolutely perfect, till after the resurrection: for though the soul do in heaven enjoy an estate free from sin, pain or misery, yet two of the faculties or operations of the soul ( viz. that of Vegetation and of sense ) are without exercise, till it be reunited to the body. Here we have a representation at least of the Resurrection: which the Hebrews call Gilgul, the Revolution.

Come from the four winds, O breath] i. e. From God that gave you, return again at his command, to your own numerical bodies, wherever they lie. And to this text our Savior seemeth to allude, Mat. 24.31.

Ver. 10. And the breath came into them] Deforas from without: as at first they were infused by God, so they are still. This, Austin sometime and for some space of time doubted of, and was therefore censured boldly but unadvisedly by one Vincentius Victor, as Chemnitz relateth it.

And they lived and stood up upon their feet] As life will show itself by sense and motion. Live things will be stirring. Arida etiam peccatorum corda Deus gratia vitali vegetabit.

Ver. 11. These bones are] That is, they signify and betoken. And here we have the Accommodation or Application of the preceding Parable or Type: where also we may soon see, that this chapter is of the same subject and method with the former: only that which is there plainly, is here more elegantly discoursed; viz. the deplorable condition of the Israelites in Babylon, together with their wonderful deliverance and restitution in this and the three next verses.

Our bones are dried] We lie in Babylon as in a sepulcher: we are buried alive, as it were; we are free among the dead, free of that company.

We are cut off for our parts] q. d. Let them hope as hope can: we have hanged up all our hopes now that the City and Temple are destroyed. Thus carnal confidence as it riseth up into a corky, frothy hope, when it seeth sufficient help: so it sitteth down in a faithless, sullen discontent and despair, when it can see no second causes.

Ver. 12. Behold O my people] God owneth them still, though they had little deserved it. Shall men's unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Rom. 3.3. Tumulos desperationis aperit, he openeth the graves of desperation, and lets in a marvelous light. So the Lord did for his poor Church, by this blessed Reformation begun by Luther: whose book de Captivitate Babylonica did abundance of good. As for that wrought here in England, a foreigner saith of it, that it is such as the ages past had despaired of, the present worthily admireth, and future ages shall stand amazed at. O beatos qui Deum ducem e spirituali Babylonia eos educentem secuti sunt!

Ver. 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord] Ye shall experiment it. The Reformed Churches have done so abundantly. Gloria Deo in excelsis.

When I have opened your graves] This is spoken over and over for their confirmation, who were apt to think, the news was too good to be true.

Ver. 14. And shall put my spirit in you] Even my Spirit of Adoption, that soul of the soul: this was more then all the rest. Thrice happy are they that are thus spirited; they shall live and live comfortably.

Ver. 15. And the Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 16. Take thee one stick] A cleft stick which is res vilis & exilis, a poor business in itself; but if God please to make use of so slender a thing, it may serve for very great purpose: as here by the uniting of two sorry sticks in the hand of the Prophet, is prefigured the uniting of Judah and Israel, yea of Jews and Gentiles in the hand of the Lord, that is in Christ Jesus who is the hand, the right hand, and the Arm of God the Father.

His companions] i. e. Benjamin and Levi, 2 Chron. 11.12, 13.

Ver. 17. And join them one to another into one stick] See on ver. 16. Man and wife are as these two branches in the Prophets hand, enclosed in one bark: and so closing together that they make but one branch.

Ver. 18. Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?] People though they should not be question sick, as some in St. Paul's time were, 1 Tim. 6.4. yet they should be inquisitive after truth according to godliness, Tit. 1.1.

Ver. 19. And make them one stick] Taking away the deadly feud that hath so long time been betwixt them, breaking down the partition-wall, &c. I will once more bring them all under one King, and make them of one mind. Religion is the only best bond of affection. The very heathens honored the Primitive Christians for their unanimity. See Cant. 6.9. with the Note.

Ver. 20. Shall be in thine hand before their eyes] That by this Chria publicly acted, they may be the better affected.

Ver. 21. Behold I will take the children of Israel] This was fulfilled when the Jews, and with them many of the ten tribes also returned to their own country, under Zerubbabel and Ezra: As for the rest of the ten tribes that returned not, they degenerated into Gentiles. The Jews say that they were shut up by Alexander the great in the Caspian mountains: and shall therehence break forth when the Messias appeareth. Of the Jews in general Tacitus hath observed, that they are very kind to their own countrymen: but to all others very cruel. This might haply move Alexander to serve them in that kind. There are that understand that text, Rev. 16.12. the Kings of the East concerning the ten tribes whom they place in China, which is called the land of Sinim (as Junius conjectureth) Isa. 49.12. And who knows, but that when all Israel shall be called, Rom. 11.26. raised from the dead, ver. 15. joined into one stick, as here, many of those poor Heathens in Asia and America may have part in the same resurrection?

Ver. 22. And I will make them one nation] Who were before at deadly feud, and fought many bloody battles. Solemur & nos hac promissione contra schismata, Let us also comfort ourselves with this promise against schisms, saith Oecolampadius. Christ will cause the false Prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land, Zech. 13.2. he will also so work in the hearts of his people, that they shall with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 15.6.

Ver. 23. Neither shall they defile] After the Captivity the Jews could never endure idolatry. The Popish image-worship is at this day a very great stumbling-block to them.

Out of all their dwelling-places] Where being mingled among the Heathen they learned their works, Psal. 106.35.

Ver. 24. And David my servant] i. e. Christ, who came to do the will of his Father in the shape of a servant, Phil. 2.7. See Isa. 42.1.

And they shall all have one shepherd] Even David their King is for his clemency here called a Shepherd (saith Jerome ) tending and tendering his people: See chap. 34.

They shall also walk in my Judgments] All Christ's subjects can say, as those Primitive Christians did, Nos non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus. Athenagoras in his Apology saith, No Christian is a bad man, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , unless he be a counterfeit.

Ver. 25. And they shall dwell in the land] So they did for six hundred years, or near upon: and in heaven (whereof Canaan was a type) they shall live and reign forever.

Ver. 26. Moreover, &c.] See chap. 34.25.

And it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them] With all the Israel of God.

And I will place them] sc. In the holy Land, saith Piscator: or else I understand not what this word place them, or give them, meaneth.

And will set my Sanctuary in the midst of them] i. e. I will indwel in them, and walk in them, &c. as a Cor. 6.16. The Jews pray earnestly for the rebuilding of their material Temple. Pray we as hard for the building up of the mystical Temple.

Ver. 27. My Tabernacle also] i. e. Mine Ordinances, those Testimonies of my special presence. See Rev. 21.3.

Ver. 28. Do sanctify Israel] i. e. Do set them apart for mine use: and will see to their safety.

When my sanctuary] Wherehence they shall have continual both direction, and protection.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

Ver. 1. AND the Word] This particle And showeth the dependence of this discourse upon the former. God's people shall be brought to their own country; The Lord Christ also shall sit upon the throne of his Father David: But betwixt these two great benefits the Church shall suffer much; and her enemies a great deal more, when once God takes them to do.

Ver. 2. Set thy face against Gog] i. e. Against those last enemies of the Church, before Skiloh come: the Kings of the lesser Asia and Syria before his first coming (see the books of Maccabees ) the Pope and Turk before his second coming: See Rev. 20.8. with the Note. Against these Ezekiel is commanded to set his face, that is, to prophesy with utmost intention of spirit, and contention of speech.

The land of Magog] Or, in the land of Magog, which some make to be Gogs country, and especially Hierapolis (for which they allege Pliny lib. 5. cap. 23.) a chief City of Syria. This Hierapolis had its name from the multitude of religious houses or idol-temples there erected. May not Rome, the Metropolis of idolatry, be rightly so called?

The chief Princes of Meshec and Tubal] People neighbouring upon the Syrians, and subject unto them, great enemies to Israel. See on chap. 27.13. In Meshec or Cappadocia, the Turks began to grow great and formidable. As for Tubal, Jerome and Josephus among the Ancients; Bellarmine and Gretserus among the Jesuits, understand it of the Spaniards. R. David and Ahen-ezra take Meshec for the Italians.

Ver. 3. Behold I am against thee O Gog] Ecce ego ad te, Have at thee Gog.

The chief Prince of Meshec and Tubal] These two are thus conjoined to show, as some think, that Turks and Popelings shall at length join their forces to root out the true religion: and that whilst they are tumultuating and endeavoring the Churches downfall, Christ shall come upon them and confound them. See on Rev. 16.14, 16. The Jews hold that this whole Prophecy shall be fulfilled at the coming of their long-looked for Messiah: and whilst they take all things therein according to the letter, they run into many very great errors.

Ver. 4. And I will turn thee back] As he did Antiochus Epimanes by the Jews: the Turks oft by Hunniades: the Popes forces by the Hussites in Germany, and lately by the Suedes. It hath been long ago foretold, and for many ages believed, and by the Turks themselves not a little feared, that the Mahometan superstition by the sword begun, and by the sword maintained, shall at length by the Christian sword also be destroyed, so that the name of Gog and Magog (saith the Historian) shall be no more heard of under heaven. A cold sweat also stands at this time upon the limbs of the Western Antichrist, by reason of the growing greatness of the Protestant Princes.

And put hooks into thy chaws] A Metaphor from those that catch Whales: Confer chap 29.4.

And I will bring thee] But, for an ill bargain.

Ver. 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya] A numerous army from all parts. The Church is against all the world, and all the world against the Church. Hic vir totius orbis impetum sustinuis, said One once, concerning Athanasius. A silly poor maid in the midst of many fierce and savage creatures assaulting her every moment, is a true picture of the Church, saith Luther.

Ver. 6. Gomer and all his hands] The Cymbrians or Cimmerians, saith Melancthon: the Galatians, saith Theodoret.

The house of Togarmah] The Phrygians, as some: the Armenians as others will. Of Antichrist his great power, See Rev. 9.1. —20. & 20.8. See on ch. 27.14.

Ver. 7. Be thou prepared] Comparator & comparate. Muster up all thy forces, and see to their safety. But canst thou ward of my blows? mote thyself up against my fire?

Ver. 8. After many days thou shalt be visited] sc. By mine heaviest Judgments: for shall not God avenge his own Elect? — though he bear long with them. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily, Luke 18.7.8.

In the latter years thou shalt come into the land] Antiochus, that little Antichrist, did, and made havoc. It is the opinion of some very grave Divines, that the great Antichrist before his abolition, shall once again overflow the whole face of the West: Quod Deus avertat.

Which have been always waste] i. e. A long while.

Ver. 9. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm] With great hurry and terror: but it shall soon blow over.

Thou shalt be like a cloud] Sed cito transibis.

Ver. 10. Things shall come into thy mind] Ascedent verba super cor tuum, thou shalt machinate mischief: but it shall fall on thine one pate. O pray, pray, said a holy man once, Pontifex enim Romanus & Concilium Tridentinum mira moliuntur, for the Pope and his Council of Trent are hatching strange businesses.

Ver. 11. I will go up to the land of unwalled villages] That care not to fortify their towns, but commit themselves to God, and think to escape us: but we shall soon show them their folly therein. The Hebrews have one and the same word for folly and confidence, Psal. 49.14. Eccles. 7.27. Psal. 78.7. Job 31.24. See on Job 4.6. But in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children (though their towns be unwalled) have a place of refuge, Prov. 14.26.

Ver. 12. To take a spoil] Heb. to spoil the spoil, and to prey the prey. The Antichristian rout are all for robbing and ravaging. What vast sums of money raked the Pope once out of England, which was therefore truly and trimly called by Pope Innocent the fourth, hortus deliciarum & puteus inexhaustus, his delicate garden, and pit that could not be drawn dry.

To turn thine hand] To plunder them to the very bones, as they say. Time was when the Popes receivers here left not so much money in the whole Kingdom, as they either carried with them, or sent to Rome before them, Of this Papal expilation King John heavily complained, and could get no remedy: but Henry the eighth would bear it no longer. England is no more a babe (said he in his Protestation against the Pope:) there is no man here but now he knoweth that they do foolishly that give gold for lead, more weight of that then they receive of this, &c.

Ver. 13. Sheba and Dedan] The Arabians, who lived by roving and robbing.

With all the young Lions] That lie in wait for gain, as Lions do for prey.

Art thou come to take a prey?] q. d. If thou art, we are ready to set in with thee, or to traffic with thee for it. Mahomet came of these Arabians: the Pope hath his money-merchants great store, Rev. 18.

Ver. 14. Prophecy and say unto Gog] Say it over again, that it may be the better considered, for the strengthening of the hands and hearts of my people.

Shall thou not know it?] sc. By thine Intelligencers, and wilt thou not think to make thine advantage of it? The Pope hath his Coricaei in every corner of Christendom: The Jesuits Colleges placed upon the walls of Cities afford them passage into the City, or abroad into the world at pleasure, to give or receive intelligence as occasion serveth.

Ver. 15. Out of the North-parts] Ab Aquilone nihil boni: from spiritual Babylon comes all mischief to the Church.

A great company and a mighty army] Such was the army of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Jews; of the Turk against Christians; of the Pope against the Hussites, Waldenses, &c. He deceiveth the Nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea, Rev. 20.8. He hath at his command the Italians, Walloons, Spaniards, whom Bellarmine rightly reckoneth among the soldiers of Antichrist.

Ver. 16. And thou shalt come up against my people] Oh happy they in such a privilege, maugre all thy malice, Deut. 33.29.

In the latter days] Before the coming of the Messiah, first and second.

And I will bring thee] But for thy bane.

Against my land] The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, Psal. 24.1. but that land where God is sincerely served, is his peculiar portion. It was said of old Anglia regnum Dei: It is now so much more.

When I shall be sanctified in thee] i. e. Glorified in thy just and utter destruction.

Ver. 17. Art thou he?] It is sure enough thou art he: for I cannot be deceived in thee, nor shall fail to suppress thee.

By my servants the Prophets] Enoch, Jude 15. Hos. 2. Joel 3. Dan. 11. Zech. 14. Rev. 20.8. 2 Thess. 2.

Which prophesied of thee] Though under another name.

Ver. 18. My fury shall come up in my face] Though it do not presently break forth. Ira Dei quo diuturnior, eo minacior.

God delighteth to make fools of his enemies; he lets them prevail a while, and carry the ball on the foot, as it were, that they may fall with the greater disappointment.

Ver. 19. For in my jealousy] God first kindleth, and then speaketh, and then shaketh the earth. His wrath is like Elijah 's cloud; which was at first but a small matter to see to: or as thunder which we hear at first a little roaring noise afar off: but stay a while, it is a dreadful crack: or as fire that at first burneth a little upon a few boards, but when it prevaileth, bursteth out in a most terrible flame.

Ver. 20. Shall shake at my presence] And wriggle into their holes; as worms do in time of thunder.

And the mountains shall be thrown down] Hyperbolical threats, to set forth the dreadfulness of God's fierce wrath, which burns as low as hell itself.

Ver. 21. And I will call for a sword] Against Antiochus by the Maccabees; against the Turk and Pope by the Christian Princes, Hunniades, Skanderbeg, Queen Elizabeth, the late and present Kings of Sweden, the English and French forces in Flanders now before Gravelin, after Dunkirk and Bergen taken from the Spaniard. Certain it is, that ere long the Beast and the false Prophet shall be taken, and all the fouls of the heaven filled with the flesh of those Kings and Captains, that fight against the Gospel, Rev. 19.19, 20, 21.

Ver. 22. An overflowing rain, and great hail-stones] As once at the general deluge, destruction of Sodom, discomfiture of the Kings of Canaan in Joshua 's days, chap. 10.11. Some think that these Judgments here threatened shall towards the end of the world be executed upon Antichrist and his adherents, according to the letter: See Rev, 16.21. See the Note there.

Ver. 23. Thus will I magnify myself] This end God proposeth to himself in all his works: and well he may; since he hath none higher then himself to whom to have respect. And let all this that hath been said comfort us against the rage and good success (if any such yet be) of the Antichristian rout; since these are but (as he said once of decaying Carthage ) the last sprunts and bites of dying wild beasts.

CHAP. XXXIX.

Ver. 1. PRophecy against Gog] Prophecy again against him, for my people's greater comfort. The Jews (noted ever to have been a light, aerial, and fanatical nation, apt to work themselves into the fools paradise of a sublime dotage) they expounding this Prophecy according to the letter, conclude that Christ is not yet come, because these things here foretold are not yet fulfilled. When he doth come, they say, he shall set up his kingdom at Jerusalem, gather all Israel out of all coasts unto himself there, send each one to his own Tribe, and that most certainly, by the operation of his holy Spirit. There they shall be no sooner settled, and the kingdom not yet fully stablished, but Gog and Magog shall bring a huge army against Jerusalem, where they shall fall by the sword, lie unburied, &c.

Ver. 2. And I will turn thee back] Convertam vel Conteram te: See ch. 38.3.

And leave but the sixth part of thee] Or, strike thee with six plagues, or draw thee back with an hook of six teeth, as chap. 38.4.

And will cause thee to come] This is much and oft inculcated, that it is God who brings in and drives out the Churches enemies. This is a quieting consideration.

Ver. 3. And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand] I will disarm thee: as Herodotus reporteth of Sennacherib and his Assyrians in Egypt, that their quivers, bowstrings and targets were gnawn to pieces by Mice and Rats in one night, so that they were forced to fly for their lives: And as our Chroniclers tell us that in the battle between Edward the third of England, and Philip of France, their fell such a piercing shower of rain, as dissolved their strings, and made their bows unseful.

Ver. 4. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel] Thither thou shalt come indeed (as Antiochus did into the Temple, Antichrist into the Church of God, 2 Thess. 2.) but there thou shalt take thy end.

Ver. 5. Thou shalt fall upon the open field] Heb. the face of the field, which thou shalt dung with thy dead carcass.

Ver. 6. And I will send a fire on Magog] So God will one day on Rome that Radix omnium malorum, Rev. 18.

And among them that dwell carelessly in the Isles] Who must not think there to mott up themselves against my fire.

Ver. 7. I will not let them pollute my holy Name] As if I were less able to deliver my people, or less mindful of my Promises.

Ver. 8. Behold it is come, and it is done] It is as good as done. So, Babylon is fallen, i. e. it will fall certainly, quickly, utterly.

This is the day] O dieculam illam! when shall it once be? O mora! Christ veni.

Ver. 9. And they that dwell] Hyperbolical expressions; though the Jews hold otherwise. See on ver. 1.

Shall set on fire and burn the weapons] Do not the Churches Champions so at this day, ever since they proclaimed and proved the Pope to be that Antichrist: burning up his weapons (his false doctrines and heresies) by the fire of God's Word, and giving their bodies to be burned for the testimony of Jesus?

And they shall burn them with fire seven years] i. e. Diutissime & saepissime! This seven years is not yet out. The Jesuits say, Satan sent Luther, and God sent them to withstand him. But there is a succession of Luther's to find them work enough still, and to burn up their weapons, that the Churches may be at rest.

Ver. 10. So that they shall take no wood] This must needs be Hyperbolical, as are also sundry other passages in holy Scripture. When Luther burnt the Popes decrees and decretals at Wittenburg, it was a fair fire doubtless, as Solon once said of the fire he caused to be made at Athens, of the bills and bonds of the Athenian usurers.

Ver. 11. I will give unto Gog a place there of graves] That's all the portion or possession he gets in the holy land.

On the East of the sea] The dead sea, or the lake of Sodom: a fit place for Antichrist to be buried in: he shall at last be cast alive into a worse lake, Rev. 19.20.

And it shall stop the noses of passengers] By reason of stench, or the mouths of passengers from speaking evil of God's people.

And they shall call it] For a lasting monument of God's great mercy, in ridding the country of such Pests.

Ver. 12. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them] That is, a long while: like as the Reformed Churches were in • ooting out Popery, those damnable doctrines, ceremonies, images, relics, bulls and books. Here in England, the Romish Religion stood a whole month and more after the death of Queen Mary, as afore. December 27. it was permitted that the Epistles, Gospels, ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer, Creed and Litany should be used in the Vulgar tongue. March 22. when the estates of the Realm were assembled by renewing of a law of Edward the sixth, was granted the whole use of the Lord's Supper; that is, under both kinds. June 24. the sacrifice of the Mass was abolished, and the Liturgy in the English tongue established. In July, the oath of Supremacy was ministered: and in August images were removed out of Churches, broken or burnt:

Ver. 13. And it shall be to them a renown] A Monument, or Trophie of their triumph. When the Suitzers, Anno 1443. had vanquished the Thuricenses in battle, they banquetted in the place where they won the victory; using the dead bodies of their adversaries instead of stools and tables.

Ver. 14. And they shall sever out men of continual employment] Viros quotidianos, men that shall stick to it, making it their business. So do our public Professors and others, to confute Popish Tenets, and to decry their customs. In doing whereof they are assidui & accubui.

Ver. 15. Then shall he set up a sign by it] A statue, pillar, or sepulchral monument, that the buriers may bury it. Oh that in like sort God would cause the Prophet (all relics and rags of Popery, and other heresy) together with the unclean spirit to pass out of our land, Zech. 13.2.

Ver. 16. And also the name of the City shall be Hamonah] i. e. Multitude or Tumult: and all to keep up the memory of that signal victory. Near unto the University of Cambridge, on the South-East side there appear aloft certain high hills called Gogmagog-hills; but wherefore I know not. But not far from them is Heretics-hill, so called by the Papists, because Bilney and Latimer were wont there to walk.

Ver. 17. Speak unto every feathered foul] A further explanation of that which had been said, ver. 4.

Assemble yourselves] Jer. 12.9. Rev. 19.17. See there.

To my sacrifice] To this great slaughter or enemies, whom I do sacrifice, as it were, to my justice.

Ver. 18. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty] Whose flesh may be, perhaps, more delicate.

And drink the blood] Blood royal, of a noble alloy. Sed nihil inde colligas, quam perpetuam eorum damnationem qui verbum Dei persequuntur, quique populum Israel spiritualem exagitant. It importeth the eternal damnation of Atheists and Antichrists.

Ver. 19. Of my sacrifice] Or of my good cheer: So God calleth it, to show how well pleased he is with the destruction of his Churches enemies.

Ver. 20. With horses and chariots] i. e. With men that ride on horses, and fight out of Charets.

Ver. 21. And all the heathen shall see my judgment] Antiochus did so, and Maximinus the Emperor, and other tyrants, when seized upon by such judgments of God as they could neither avoid nor abide.

Ver. 22. From that day and forward] Their experience shall breed confidence.

Ver. 23. And the heathen shall know] They shall be convinced of the equability of my proceedings, and the truth of my menaces.

Ver. 24. According to their uncleanness] I have not shown my sovereignty, or exercised tyranny towards them, but done them right.

Ver. 25. Now will I bring again] Three things he here promiseth his people, notwithstanding all the sorrow. 1. Effectual Vocation. 2. Justification here. 3. Glorification, ver. 29. The Sun of righteousness loves not to set in a cloud.

And will be jealous] Or zealous; the zeal of the Lord of hosts, his free grace, shall effect it.

Ver. 26. After that they have born their shame] Are become soundly ashamed of their sinful practices: hoc enim ingenium est verae fidei, saith Oecolampadius, for this is the nature of true faith, to blush and bleed for sins past.

When they dwelt safely in their land] And so settled on their lees through carnal security.

Ver. 27. And am sanctified in them] i. e. Have fully shown my sanctity and majesty, both by their punishment, and by their deliverance.

Ver. 28. And have left none of them anymore there] Here the Jews triumph and say, When was this promise ever fulfilled? and how then can the Messias be come already? Hereunto it is rightly answered that this Prophecy is to be taken partly literally, and so it was fulfilled at the return of the captives out of Babylon. See Ezra • .1. Partly spiritually; and so Christ will at the last day raise up every of his Elect (that Israel indeed) and gather them to himself; not one of them shall be missing.

Ver. 29. Neither will I hide my face anymore from them] They shall have beatifical vision and fruition forever. See on ver. 25.

For I have poured out my spirit] Have already, and will do yet more liberally in the days of the Gospel, Act. 2.27. Joh. 7.38.

CHAP. XL.

Ver. 1. IN the five and twentieth year, &c.] After the defeat of Gog and Magog cometh in these last nine Chapters a new Prophecy, aptly depending upon the former, concerning the Christian Church, and the spiritual state and constitution thereof: which is here prefigured by types of rebuilding the Temple, restoring the Levitical rites, and repossessing the promised land. To those Jews who herehence expect a most glorious Temple and State at the coming of their imaginary Messiah (and for whose sakes these high things are thus expressed) Christ may well say as afterwards he did to Nicodemus, Joh. 3.12. If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not: how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly? The wiser of their Rabbin's (as Galatinus testifieth ) convinced by good reasons, understand these chapters not of an earthly building according to the letter, but of an heavenly, and in a mystical sense. And John the Divine so interpreteth this Scripture, Rev. 21. & 22. viz. of the heavenly Jerusalem, that mother of us all. It is ordinary with the Prophets to speak figuratively of the amplitude, splendor, and magnificence of the Christian Church: as Isa. 54.11, 12. I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundation with Sapphires, &c. that is, I will erect and raise my Church and Temple among the Gentiles, and adorn and deck it with luster and variety of precious graces. Divines observe, that God here showeth Ezekiel a new Temple bigger then the old Jerusalem, and a new Jerusalem bigger then all the land of Canaan: (yea according to the account of some learned Rabbin's ) bigger then all the world; for chap. 48.35. it was round about eighten thousand measures, i. e. leucas say they. Now in opening of this Prophecy, it must not be expected that something should be said to every verse, as elsewhere hath been done: and yet we must know that there is nothing in holy Scripture that is not useful and profitable, 2 Tim. 3.16. though at first sight it may seem otherwise. Metals lie hid in hardest quarries: wholesome herbs are found oft in roughest places, and precious stones in barren sands. Hippocrates saith that in the faculty of Physic there is nothing small, nothing contemptible. Aristotle saith in all nature nothing is so mean, vile, and abject, that deserveth not to be admired. The Rabbin's have a saying that there is a mountain of sense hangeth upon every Apex of the Word of God, &c.

And brought me thither] sc. To Jerusalem (in vision) that valley of Vision. In the beginning of this book, the spirit carried him into the plain of Shinar, there to see a vision, purporting the destruction of the material Temple. Here, toward the close of it, he is by the same hand carried to Jerusalem to see a mystical Temple set up in the stead thereof, far more stately. The sufferings of this life are in no comparison worthy of the glory that shall be revealed, Rom. 8.18.

Ver. 2. Brought he me] i. e. The Spirit brought me, who is called God's hand, ver. 1. quia à Patre Filioque quasi manus dimanat: so he is called the finger of God, Exod. 8.19. that is, his power.

And set me upon a very high mountain] Moriah, where had stood the Temple which overlooked the City: and had been a kind of heaven upon earth, wherein the holy Priests and Israelites were as stars.

By which was the frame of a City] So the Temple seemed to him, for its many courts, walls, towers, gates, &c. So doth the Seraglio at this day.

Ver. 3. And behold there was a man] Christ the Sovereign Architect of his Church, as Rev. 11.1. This might well be brought in with an Ecce. He appeared after another manner in that first dreadful vision, chap. 1.

Whose appearance was like the appearance of brass] Bright and durable; importing Christ's purity and eternity.

With a line of flax in his hand] Christ's measuring-line is the holy Scripture, and the preaching of the Word; so is also his measuring rod here said to be of reed, but Rev. 11. of gold. Both these are in Christ's hand; to show that the power and efficacy of the Word read or preached is from him alone: See 1 Cor. 3 9, 10.— 18. & 2 Cor. 10.13.— 17.

Ver. 4. Son of man] A most kind compellation, holding forth Christ's Philanthropy or love to mankind. He calleth us sons of men, who for our sakes became the Son of Man, that we might become the sons of God. It is observed that Ezekiel with the Seventy is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the son of man, but, Christ is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that is, the son of Adam: he was the next and only other common-person.

Behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart, &c.] We should give all possible diligence and heed to a discourse of the new Jerusalem, that City of pearl; setting a work both our outward and inward senses, and those well exercised, to discern both good and evil, Heb. 5. ult.

Declare all that thou seest unto the house of Israel] For therefore hast thou seen it. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, 1 Cor. 12.7. And as any man hath received the gift, so let him minister the same to others, 1 Pet. 4.10. What use is there of candle under a bushel?

Ver. 5. And behold a wall on the outside of the house] Betokening God's Almighty Protection of his Church and chosen, Esa. 26.1. Zach. 2.9. Job 1. Psal. 125.1, 2. Psal. 46.1, &c.

Ver. 6. Then came he unto the gate] Henceforth we shall read of gates, greeces, posts, porches, courts, chambers, windows, &c. after the manner of Solomon's Temple now burnt to ashes. Concerning all which, various and very different are the opinions of Interpreters. We shall see hereafter the whole building in heaven: meanwhile, for many things here mentioned we must content ourselves with a learned ignorance, and not call it descriptionem insulsam, as that Popish Commenter blasphemed: or think that the holy Penman spake he knew not what. This was basely to speak evil of the things that he knew not. How much better those Rabbin's, who meeting with many things here, inextricable and inexplicable, say, Elias cum venerit solvet omnia?

Ver. 7, And every little chamber] Or Porters-lodge.

Ver. 8. He measured also the porch] This porch which had neither doors nor roof that we read of, was symbolum caeli: caelum enim undique conspicuum lateque patens significabat, saith Josephus, it represented heaven.

Ver. 9. And the porch of the gate was inward] Or, this was the porch of the inner gate.

Ver. 10. And the little chambers] Here lay the door-keepers, whose office was to keep out the unclean, 2 Chron. 23.19. Oh for such officers amongst us!

Ver. 11. And the length] That is, the height of the gate.

Ver. 12. The space also before the little chambers] Which space served either for seats, walks, or eaves rather at either end.

Ver. 13. Door against door] The one facing the other, in a direct line.

Ver. 14. Even unto the post] i. e. The height was the same everywhere. See these things best set forth by pictures at the end of Castalio 's and Lavaters Annotations on the Text.

Ver. 16. Narrow windows] i. e. Narrowed, the better to let in light: and so shadowing out that spiritual illumination and joy wrought in the hearts of the children of light. See Esa. 42.7. & 49.6. & 60.19, 20. Mic. 7.8. Luk. 2.32. Joh. 3.19. & 8.24. & 9.5. & 12.35, 36, 46.

Were palm-trees] As for ornament, so in token of Victory gotten by the Saints, who do over-overcome, Rom. 8.31. — 37. 1 Cor. 15.54, 55.

Ver. 17. Then brought he me into the outward court] In this Temple were more Courts and more Chambers then ever were in Solomon's. Heaven is large, and full of mansions, Joh. 14.

And a pavement made] More costly and stately then that of Ahasuerus, Esth. 1.6. God's people are said to be living stones, 1 Pet. 2. more precious then Sapphires, Esa. 54. firm as a pavement by faith, and low by humility; submitting to their teachers, Heb. 13.17. and obeying from the heart the form of doctrine delivered unto them, Rom. 6.17.

Ver. 18. Was the lower pavement] See on ver. 17.

Ver. 19. An hundred cubits] Square.

Ver. 21. Of the first gate] i. e. Of the east gate, first measured.

Ver. 22. And their windows] See ver. 16.

And they went up unto it by se •• steps] Whereby was noted the Saints progress in knowledge and holiness, Luk. 17.5. Rom. 1.17. Rev. 22.11. still climbing up toward the heavenly Temple, Psal. 84.7.

Ver. 31. And palm-trees] See on ver. 16.

Eight steps] See on ver. 22.

Ver. 35. And measured it according to these measures] Vilalpandus here noteth, that whatsoever is measured in one gate, the same is common to all the rest.

Ver. 38. Where they washed the burnt-offering] All must be pure and clean in God's Service.

This washing of the burnt-offering prefigured Baptism saith Polanus: as did the tables, ver. 39. the Lord's Supper, wherein Christ the Lamb of God is slain in out sight.

Ver. 39. Two tables] See on ver. 38.

Ver. 40. As one goeth up to the entry of the North] Hereby was signified, say some, that our corrupt affections must be mortified, and our lives laid down, if need be for the truths sake, seem it never so hard to be done: sicut à Septentrione venti flant aspexi, as North-winds are cold and comfortless.

Ver. 41. Four tables] Not Altars, nor yet Oyster-boards, as the Papists scornfully call our Communion-tables.

Ver. 42. Wherewith they slew the burnt-offering] The faithful Ministers of the Gospel do daily execute their Priestly offices, and have their instruments according. See Acts 10.13. Rom. 15.15, 16. Philip. 2.17. The Saints also, as spiritual Priests, &c. Rom. 12.1. 1 Pet. 2.9.

Ver. 43. And within were hooks] Where hung the beasts when they were slayed: and afterwards the Priests and offerers portions, till after the sacrifice, they were shared out.

Ver. 44. Were the chambers of the singers] These were to set forth, that Pastors should have all necessary help in their places by the other Church-officers. The Levites were singers and porters, 1 Chron. 23. & 26.

Ver. 45. For the Priests] Let none else intrude into them. See 2 Chron. 26.16.

Ver. 46. Which come near] Exod. 19.22. Levite. 10.3. & 21.17, 18, 21, 23.

Ver. 47. So he measured] Christ doth all things in his Church in number, weight and measure: by his Spirit he ordereth the length, breadth and depth of his spiritual house, and bestoweth his gifts by measure to each member, Rom. 12. 2 Cor. 10. Eph. 3. & 4.

Ver. 48. The porch of the house] Which was covered over head to keep them dry in foul weather. What Christ doth for all his: See Isa. 4.5, 6. & Isa. 25.4. with the Notes.

Ver. 49. The length of the porch was twenty cubits] After the cubit of the Sanctuary, the weights and measures whereof were twice as large as those of the Commonwealth: to show that God expects much more of those that serve him there, then he doth of others.

CHAP. XLI.

Ver. 1. AFterward] This Chapter is no less dark and difficult then was the former: which made Jerome ready to desist and give over commenting, but that he thought it better to say something then nothing, and was brought to know and say that the greatest part of those things he knew, were but the least part of that he knew not. What I do understand is good; so I think, is that I understand not, said Socrates once of a certain dark Author. We may be sure it is so here, and must mirari potius quàm rimari: waiting for more light, and praying to that purpose, as Ephes. 1.17, 18.

He brought me to the Temple] Who had hitherto been held in the Porch. There was a new Church to be now erected by the preaching of the Gospel: and this, the measuring of the house, chap. 40. of the Temple, 41. of the courts, 42. and of all the parts, noteth.

And measured the posts] Or Fronts, or Frontispiece, as the Vulgar hath it.

Which was the breadth of the Tabernacle] Made of old by Moses.

Ver. 2. And he measured the length there of] i. e. Not of the door, as Jerome would have it: but of the Temple, the body and Basilike thereof, called the first Sanctuary, Heb. 9.2.

Fourty cubits] This noteth, say some, the longsuffering and patience of the Saints: like as the breadth twenty cubits, doth their charity.

Ver. 3. Then went he inward] Toward the Holy of Holyes.

And the door] Which in the second Temple was but a veil, and rent at Christ's Passion.

Ver. 4. And the breadth thereof twenty cubits] So it was a just square, intimating the stability of the Kingdom of Heaven, a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, Heb. 12.28.

This is the most holy place] The Holy of Holyes, the Oracle, the house of the soul wherein the only firm hope of Israel resteth (so the Jews called it) the Adytum or inaccessible place, whither none might come but the High Priest only, and that but once a year. Pompy and Heliodorus, for presuming to press into it, were heavily plagued.

Ver. 5. He measured the wall] With the counter-forts added to it for strength, and ornament: these are commonly called Pilasters.

Six cubits] sc. In breadth.

Ver. 6. And the side-chambers were three one over another, and thirty in order] i. e. Three stories, and thirty in each story. Semblably, there is a threefold rank or order of the members of the Church; there are lowermost, midlemost and uppermost: these, as they have their several offices and gifts accordingly, so they must keep to their own stations, do their own business, live in love, and wait till called unto an higher room.

Ver. 7. And there was an enlarging and a winding about still upward] This might inmind God's people of heavenly-mindedness, whereby their hearts will be enlarged when got once above the world, as birds sing sweetly, when got aloft into the air.

Went still upward] Let there be continual ascensions in our hearts: Sursum corda.

Ver. 8. The foundations] Plus rei quam ostentationis habebant: The good soul rather seeks to be good, then seems to be so.

Ver. 9. And that which was left] Area pura, the void place.

Ver. 10. And between the chambers] Vulg. the treasuries] In the Church much more rome is taken up by such as are void of the treasure of God's grace, then by better men, rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom of Christ.

Ver. 11. Toward the place that was le • t] Which served the faithful, saith Jerome, for an Oratory, whither they went to pray.

Ver. 12. The separate place] The Temple, or, at least, some part of it.

Ver. 13. An hundred cubits] The Temple of Ephesus was 245 foot long, and 220 foot broad. Howbeit for spiritual employment, mystical signification, none ever came near this edifice.

Ver. 14. Also the breadth—an hundred cubits] Whereas Solomon 's Temple was but twenty cubits broad.

Ver. 15. An hundred cubits] See on ver. 13.

With the inner temple and the porches thereof] Summa & infima juxtà curat, nihil aspernatur.

Ver. 16. And the narrow windows — and the windows were covered] Here Jerome cries out O the depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! Here be windows, but narrow and covered: which shows that we see not yet, nor can see into heavenly things, but obscurely and obliquely. How little a thing doth man understand of God? The holy Place was without windows, only there burned lights perpetually: but in the most holy Place there was no light at all.

Ver. 17. By measure] Heb. measure. See on chap. 40.47.

Ver. 18. And it was made with Cherubims and palm-trees] Viz. Upon the partition-walls. This was to teach Christians, who are the Temples of God, 1. To live like Angels for holiness. 2. To suffer as Palm-trees, any pressures or pains for his sake with invincible patience. By their piety in their lives, and patience at their death, the Primitive Christians won much upon their their Persecutors.

Ver. 19. So that the face of a man] See chap. 1.10.

And the face of a young Lion towards the Palm-tree] The Palm-tree as it grew best in Judea, so it is probable that from the Temple at Jerusalem it came at first, that the Heathens put the Palm for a sign of victory, and that the picture of Victory amongst them had in the one hand a Palm, and in the other an Olive branch. Wisdom, (the praise of a man) and courage (the property of a Lion) zeal and discretion, as they make a good mixture, so they conquer and carry it.

Ver. 20. And on the wall of the Temple] Yet this is no warrant for the use of Pictures in our Churches; whether for worship as Papists, or for ornaments only as Lutherans. At a consultation held not many years since at Hamborough by Lutheran Ministers concerning the cause and cure of Germanies calamities, they concluded it was because their images were not adorned enough; which therefore they would procure done. A sad business!

Ver. 21. The Posts of the Temple] i. e. Of the doors of the Temple, were not round or arched, but square: as are at this day the doors of the Pantheon in Rome, saith Vilalpandus, built of old in honor of all God's: and now consecrated by the Pope to the honor of all Saints, with like superstition.

Ver. 22. The Altar] sc. That for incense, whereof see Exod. 30.6. but here of a much larger size: See on chap. 40.1. This altar of wood and foursquare was a Type of Christ (not of the Cross as Vilalpand doteth) in whom our prayers come before God as incense, and He is the propitiation for our sins, 1 Joh. 2.2. See Exod. 30 1. Psal. 141.2. Rev. 5.8.

This is the Table] One and the same Christ is All in All to his people, an Altar to sanctify them and their offerings: a Table also to feed and feast them with the most precious provisions: See Psal. 23.5, 6. & 36.9 & 65.5. Prov. 9.1, 2. Isa. 25.6, 7, 8.

Ver. 23. Had two doors] Understand hereby the Means of Grace, and Ministers dispensing the same, whereby souls are brough home to Christ.

Ver. 24. Two leaves] There are variety of Ordinances.

Ver. 25. Cherubimes and Palm trees] Let Ministers resemble Angels, and they shall be victorious, and well rewarded. The Palm is a symbol of constancy, and of a crown.

Ver. 26. And thick Planks] i. e. The heads or ends of thick beam • or joyses, supporting the rafters. We see what use there is of Architecture (among other Arts) in expounding Scripture. Vilalpand saith he bestowed two and twenty years study upon this fabrike of the Temple here described.

CHAP. XLII.

Ver. 1. THen he brought me forth into the utter Court] sc. Of the Temple, at both ends and on either side whereof there were spacious places, in manner of our Church-yards, saith One. Sequitur locus valde confusus & mulio impeditissimus, saith Castalio: this is a very dark and difficult Chapter, the sense whereof I would fain learn of some other: for I know not what to make of it: Thus He. Oecolampadius also to like purpose, (after R. Solomon ) and thus prayeth, Suggerat Dominus conanti quae ad gloriam illius, certe quae non officiant, precor, &c. i. e. The Lord help our honest endeavors, that we may do what may be for his glory, and not for the hurt of any Reader. That was an holy prayer of his Colleague Zwingli in like case; and may it be ours also, Deum Opt. Max. precor ut vias nostras dirigat, &c. I beseech Almighty God to direct our ways: and if at any time, ( Balaam -like) we shall obstinately resist the truth, let him set his Angel against us, who with the terror of his sword may so dash this asse (our ignorance I mean, and presumptuous boldness) against the wall, that we may feel our feet (that is, our carnal sense and reason) crushed and broken; that we no longer dishonor the name of our Lord God.

Ver. 2. Before the length of an hundred cubits] The measure mentioned in this Chapter, and whatsoever followeth touching the division of the land, the seats of the Tribes, the portions allotted to the Prince, Priests and Levites, the manner of their sacrifices and oblations, are all new; varying from that which is in Moses (though for their weakness by those outward things he shadoweth heavenly) to show both the abrogating of the legal ceremonies, and the establishing of a spiritual Christian Church: the magnificence whereof is here set forth to the Prophet by the Lord Christ, qui Mystagogus noster est, who is our God, and will be our Guide even unto death.

Ver. 3. Which were for the inner Court] Viz. Of the Temple, this was a figure of the Church invisible; as the outward Court, described in this Chapter, was of the visible and external.

The pavement which was for the utter Court] Which might signify that those who would enter into heaven, must keep themselves unspotted of the world, undefiled in the way, Psal. 15. & 24.

Ver. 4. A way of one cubit] A narrow way, but such as led them into spacious walks of ten cubits breadth inward. Strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto life eternal, Mat. 7.14. but they that hit it, hold it, shall once walk arm in arm with Angels, Zach. 3.7. See the Note there. Through many tribulations we must enter into God's Kingdom, Acts 14.22. but there, God shall set our feet in a large room, as Psal. 31.8. we shall walk at liberty on the everlasting mountains. Let it be remembered, that this narrow way is but short: it is but of one cubit, &c.

Ver. 5. Now the upper chambers were shorter] As being a kind of cock-lofts, and not so fit for habitation.

Ver. 6. Therefore the building was straitened] As the rules of Architecture direct, and as right reason required, left the building should shrink under its own burden.

Ver. 7, 8, 9, &c.] Here the Rabbin's call again for the help of their Elias: See on chap. 40.6.

Ver. 13. They be holy chambers] Or, cells of the Sanctuary, belonging to those that serve in the Sanctuary. God appointeth his Ministers their several stations; together with the bounds of their habitations.

Shall eat the most holy things] Ministers must eat as well as others (they are not of the Chameleon-kind, cannot live upon air:) and the Lord Christ hath ordained that as they which waited at the Altar were partakers of the Altar, so also should they that preach the Gospel, live of the Gospel, 1 Cor. 9.13, 14.

And the meat-offering, and the sin-offering] i. e. The Priests share out of them: For (besides their tithes, and gl • be or subburbs) the Priests had many rich revenues, and were far better provided for then now-adays Gospel-ministers are, however begrudged that little that is allowed them.

Ver. 14. Then shall they not go out of the holy place] Ministers may not leave their station, lay aside their holy calling, entangle themselves with worldly cares and businesses, but Hoc agere, make their Ministry their business; giving themselves wholly to it. Verbi Minister es, hoc age: this was Mr. Perkins his Motto. And, say to Archippus, Take heed to the Ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it, Coloss. 4.17.

But there they shall lay their garments] And not go amongst the people in them, lest they make themselves over-cheap, or the people superstitious, by placing holiness in their seeing or touching those holy vestments.

And shall put on other garments] Ministers, as in doing their office they must use all becoming gravity and authority, as the Ambassadors of Christ: so, at other times, they must familiarize themselves with their people, becoming all things to all men, in Paul 's sense, that they may win some.

Ver. 15. Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house] The inner part of the Church, the Church invisible is first and chiefly to be looked into, rather then the external adjuncts, as multitude, prosperity, clarity, antiquity, &c. the Substantials rather then the Accidentals. The Church of Rome borrows her mark from the market, Plenty or cheapness, &c. Vilissimus pagus, saith Luther, the mean stvilage seems to me to be an ivory Palace, if there be but in it a faithful Pastor, and a few true believers.

Ver. 16. Five hundred reeds] Loe here the large extent of the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. See the Note on chap. 40.1.

Ver. 17.18. He measured the North-side five hundred reeds] To show that many should come from all coasts and quarters to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven, Mat. 8.11. See the Note there.

Ver. 20. He measured it by the four sides] The Church is fair and firm, for it is quadrangular: so is every true member thereof homo quadratus, four-square, steadfast and unmovable, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , always abounding in the Work of the Lord, &c. 1 Cor. 15. ult. his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord, Psal. 112. He quits himself well in all estates, and comes of a gainer. Gold is purged in the fire, shines in the water: as, on toother side, clay is scorched in the fire, dissolved in the water. The new Jerusalem is said to lie four-square, Rev. 21.16. See the Note there.

CHAP. XLIII.

Ver. 1. AFterwards he brought me] Non nisi dimenso prius montis ambitu: The Prophet saw not the glory of God, till he had first seen the Mount measured, the Temple restored. Men must (usually) wait upon God in the use of means ere they see the King in his glory.

Even the gate that looketh toward the East] Men must awake out of the West of wickedness, and stand up from dead courses and companies, if Christ, the day-star from on high, shall give them light, Ephes. 5.14. Luke 2.78, 79.

Ver. 2. And behold the glory] i. e. The vision of the glory. God who by the East-gate had left the Temple and the City, chap 10. doth now the same way return, and filleth the house with the glory of his presence.

And his voice was like a noise of many waters] Importing the multitude of his attendants, and his irresistible power, in his Gospel especially, which is the power of God to salvation; and, like a mighty torrent, bears down all before it.

And the earth shined with his glory] How can it do otherwise, when the Sun of righteousness cometh in place, and irradiateth both Organ and Object, 2 Cor. 4.6. Into Solomon's Temple God came in a thick cloud; not so here. Light is now more diffused then ever: woe be to those that wink, or who seek straws to put out their eyes withal, as Bernard hath it.

Ver. 3. And it was according to the vision] Being so much the sweeter and the welcomer to me. Hence he so oft repeateth it: And the Jew-doctors observe that eight times in this one Verse. Visionis ac videndi vocabulum repetitur, the word for Vision and to see it is made use of.

When I came to destroy the City] i. e. To foretell the destruction of it, chap. 9.2, 5. from which time forth it was a done thing: See Jer. 1.10. with the Note.

And I fell upon my face] In reverence to his Majesty, in admiration of his mercy, and in the sense of mine own unworthiness. The nearer any one cometh to God, the lower he falleth in his own eyes; and the more doth rottenness enter into his bones.

Ver. 4. And the glory of the Lord] See ver 2.

By the way of the gate] The ordinary entrance into the Temple. There, if anywhere, God is to be found: where should a man be sought for but at his house? Say he be from home a while, yet thither he returneth: So here.

Ver. 5. So the Spirit took me up] Who was fain upon my face: The lowly shall be lifted up.

And brought me into the inner court] As being a Priest: so is every true believer, 1 Pet. 2.9. Rev. 1.6.

Filled the house] God's presence is the full glory of each good soul. See Hag. 2.7.

Ver. 6. And I heard him speaking unto me] The man Christ Jesus, standing by. Here then is a meeting and the mystery of the blessed Trinity: yea here is a double mystery to be taken notice of: viz. those two wonderful unions of three persons in one God, and of Christ's two natures in one person.

Ver. 7. The place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet] i. e. My Church, which is unto me instead of heaven and earth. Behold the place of my throne, &c. so some read it: others, as for the place of my throne, &c.

No more defile] But hallow: for negative holiness alone is little worth.

Nor by the carcasses of their Kings] i. e. Their idols; not unfitly called carcasses. 1. Because void of life. 2. Stinking stuff. See Levite. 26.30. Jer. 16.18. These were oft brought in, and countenanced by their Kings.

Ver. 8. In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds] By broaching falsehoods for truth, and setting human devices in competition with the good Word of God. That detestable decree of the Council of Trent is well known, whereby the Apocrypha • is set cheek by joule (as they say) with the holy Canon: the Vulgar Translation, with the Original: traditions, with Scriptures; and unwritten verities, with those that are written. This is intolerable presumption: Jews and Turks do the like in their Talmud and Quran: that I speak not of our Sect-Masters who boldly obtrude their Placits without just proof, and require to be believed.

And the wall between me and them] Which they have wretchedly set up by their sins, to their singular disadvantage, Esa. 59.2. or they have come under my nose, as it were, to provoke me. Or, the nearer they were to Church, the further from God.

Ver. 9. Now let them put away their whoredom] So shall all be well betwixt us: See Jer. 3.1. Isa. 1.18. with the Notes. Piscator ictus sapiat. Some read it, Now they will put away, &c. and so they did, after the captivity; but will not be yet drawn to worship the true God aright: the Lord persuade their hearts thereto. Fiat, Fiat.

And the carcasses] See on ver. 7.

And I will dwell in the midst of them forever] This is the same with that, Mat. 28. I am with you to the end of the world.

Ver. 10. Shew the house] Heb. that house, sc. which I have shown thee in visions: the idea of that Temple, which shall shortly be set up, its figure and dimensions.

That they may be ashamed] Of having dealt so unworthily with a God so gracious.

And let them measure the pattern] Ut metiantur universe, that by a holy Geometry they may, in the spirit of their minds take all the dimensions of it, and be transformed into the likeness of the heavenly pattern. These are those holy and heavenly Mathematikes, which none can learn but those that are taught of God; and without which, none can be Christ's Disciple: like as none might be scholar to Plato, that had not the grounds of Geometry.

Ver. 11. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done] If they blush and bleed at heart for their iniquities. Penitents are to be taught the truth which is according to godliness: and all such are exactly to know and to do the whole will of God, as had not rather be carnally secured, then soundly comforted.

Ver. 12. Upon the top of the mountain] The Church is as a City on an hill, seen far and near,