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

Some to everlasting life] Which is here first mentioned in the Old Testament. See Matth. 25.45. Joh. 5.29.

And some to shame and everlasting contempt] Christ shall shame them in that ample Amphitheatre, and doom them to eternal destruction. Graevissima paenarum pudor est, saith Chrysostom. Oh when Christ shall upbraid reprobates and say, Ego vos pavi, lavi, vestivi, &c. which way will they look? or who shall say for them? They shall look then upon him whom they have pierced and lament, but all too late: they shall be sore ashamed of their sinful practices which shall all be written in their foreheads: and this shall be as a bodkin at their hearts, that ever they turned their backs upon Christ's bleeding embracements, whilst they refused to be reformed, hated to be healed.

Ver. 3. And they that be wise] And withal do what they can do to wise others to salvation, as all wise ones will: for Goodness is diffusive of itself, and would have others to share with it: charity is no churl.

Shall shine as the brightness of the firmament] A good amends for their present sufferings, chap. 11.33. with Rom. 8.18. Solomon allowed little or no considerable reward to his workmen, Cant. 8.12. but Christ doth: For they shall shine as the firmament, yea as the Stars, yea as the Sun in his strength, yea as Christ himself shineth, they shall appear with him in glory, Colos. 3.4. Their souls shall shine through their bodies as the candle doth through the lanthorn: their bodies shall also be so light-some and transparent, saith Aquinas, that all the veins, humors, nerves and bowels shall be seeen as in a glass: for so the light pierceth the firmament and Stars. Let us therefore keep these bodies of ours clean and filth-free: that they may be fit vessels and receptacles of such a transcendent glory.

And they that turn many to righteousness] Heb that justify many, sc. Ministerially, as instruments in Christ's hand: for we preach Christ, yea we give what we preach: We give the knowledge of salvation for the remission of sins, Luke 1.17. we deliver men from hell, Job 33.24. we save the souls of them that hear us, 1 Tim. 4.16.

As the Stars frr ever and ever] What a glorious place is heaven then? Festinemus ad clarissimam patriam: corrigamus mores & moras, &c. What though Christ's Ministers be here slighted and slurred? they shall one day shine as stars, yea the meanest of them — velut inter stellas Luna minores. What then the Doctors Seraphici?

Ver. 4. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words] Since the full understanding of them is reserved to after-t • mes, and event will prove the best interpreter; as it doth in all Prophecies, which are as riddles till accomplished: and men must mean while be content with a learned ignorance. But what meant Jachid • es the Jew to give us this gloss upon the text, God sealed up the time of the coming of the Messias, revealing it only to Daniel; and that his coming might be accelerated by their deserts, like as for their sins, which are many, it is retarded? He concludeth well howsoever; God will one day give us a clear vision, viz. when he shall bring back our Captivity, then shall we understand things as they are.

Even to the time of the end] The time appointed, ver. 9.

Many shall run to and fro] For increase of divine knowledge they shall spare for no pains. care or cost: as the Queen of Sheba, the Ethiopian Eunuch, &c. See Prov. 18.1. Acts 17.11, 12. Increase of knowledge is promised only upon our industry, and it is especially promised to these latter times, Joel 2.28. wherein we find to be (as in our climate) much light, little heat: our heads are so big (like children that have the rickets) that the whole body fareth the worse for it. Bullinger thus interpreteth the text, that toward the end of the world men shall run to and fro, being certain of nothing, but destracted in opinion, variis se adjungent sectis, they shall join themselves to diverse sects. They shall run to and fro, saith Another Expositor, velut canes famelici, as hungry dogs, and there shall be much knowledge in the world, that is, there shall be innumerable opinions and sect • abroad, wherewith many being infected shall be at no certainty in the matters of salvation. For the confirmation therefore and comfort of the last ages of the World, wherein these things shall befall, shut up the words, and seal the book.

Ver. 5. Then I Daniel looked] As being as yet unsatisfied.

And behold there stood other two] Angels, on each bank of the river Tigris, by whose interrogation Daniel is further resolved about the vision.

Ver. 6. And one said] i. e. An Angel inquisitive about the affairs of the Church, for Daniel 's further information.

To the man clothed in linen] Of whom see chap. 10.5.

Which was upon the waters] See chap. 8.16.

How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?] i. e. The forementioned mysteries, viz. concerning the Saints sufferings, the end of the world, the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, life and death everlasting?

Ver. 7. And I heard the man] The Man Christ Jesus.

When he h • ld up his right hand and his left hand] Assuring and assevering the matter with both hands earnestly.

That it shall be for a time and times and an half.] i. e. For a time most certain with God, and by him determined; but to us uncertain and unknown. Broughton thinketh that this term of three years and an half showeth the term of Christ's persecution in the days of his flesh, which was just so many years. But there is more in it then so. See Revel. 6.11. a parallel text; and such (like glasses set one against another) do cast a mutual light.

When he shall have accomplished to scatter the power] When the Church shall be at the greatest under, when the number of the Elect shall be consummated, and they sorely afflicted by the Devil and his Agents, then shall Christ appear to their relief, as it were out of an engine. See 2 Thess. 2. 1 Tim. 4. Rev. 6.

Ver. 8. And I heard but I understood not] This he ingenuously confesseth: for the best know but in part, 1 Cor. 13. And if any man thinketh that he knoweth ought, he knoweth nothing yet as ought to know. 1 Cor. 8.2. Let this be noted by such as profess to know (beyond the periphery of human knowledge) all that is knowable. Any created Understanding is but (as Aeschylus saith of fire stolen by Prometheus) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a spark of the All-wise God's fire, The Prophets themselves understood not some things that were shown unto them, without a further light from the Father of lights: whose alone it is to illighten both Organ and Object, as Plato also could say.

What shall be the end of these things?] An end he much desired, and the Angel for him. ver. 6. But men must have patience, and wait God's end. Ye have need of patience or tarryance, (saith the Apostle, Heb. 10.36) that after ye have done the will of God (and suffered it too, grievous though it be for present) ye may receive the promise. Good men find it oft more easy to bear evil, then to wait till the promised good be enjoyed.

Ver. 9. And he said. Go thy way Daniel] q. d. Though dearly beloved, yet of some things thou must be content to be ignorant▪ It should suffice thee to be of God's Court, though not altogether of his Council: See ver. 13. There is a laudable and learned ignorance; as of Unnecessaries, of Impossibles, or of Unprofitables; such as are the term of our lives, the end of the world, the Reprobation of others▪ &c.

For the words are closed up] Viz. Till future ages, which are more concerned in them, and till which these things shall be concealed.

Ver. 10. Many shall be pur • fied and made white. &c.] q. d. It is enough for thee to know, (and that I should now tell thee) quales sint futuri homines postremi saeculi, what kind of folk there shall be towards the end of the world: Some shall be good people, and they shall meet with hard measure, but all shall be for the best unto them in the end: See chap. 11.35. Others shall be as bad, and so desperately set upon sinning, that they shall mind nothing else (no not when these Prophecies are fulfilled) but be destroyed for lack of knowledge, Hos. 4.6. Infatuaci seducentur, & seducti judicabuntur, being infatuated they shall be seduced, and being seduced they shall be judged, as Austin 's Note is on 2 Thess. 2.10.

Ver. 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away.] sc. By Antiochus, as hath been before said; and with the knowledge whereof I would have thee to rest satisfied.

There shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days] Which are the three years and a half mentioned before, saith Diodate, with thirteen days over, for some unknown reason. The Wonderful Numberer hath all in numerato. The Russians use to say in a difficult question, God, and our great Duke know all this. The Jews in like case say, Messias when he comes will tell us all things we desire to be informed of.

Ver. 12. But blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and five and thirty days] Here are forty five days more then in the former number: and Probably they were, from the restauration of God's service until the death of Antiochus (a blessed time to God's poor persecuted people, as was here the death of Queen Mary ) or else until some other signal mercy, as the victory that Judas Machabaus and his brethren had, about that time, over the Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, who thought to root Israel quite out.

Ver. 13. But go thou thy way] Here Daniel to his great comfort hath a fair and favorable dismission out of this life, before those great clashings and confusions should come, which had been foreshewn to him. So Austin and Pareus died a little before Hippo and Hidelberg were taken.

Till the end be] Whenever it shall be, sooner or later, thou shalt be sure to awake out of the dust of death unto everlasting life, as ver. 2. Yea thou shalt shine as the Stars forever and ever, ver. 3. All that thou hast to do now, is, to prepare for such an end, and to wait till thy change shall come, comforting thyself against death, with the hope of a blessed resurrection.

For thou shalt rest] Thy soul shall rest in Abraham 's bosom, thy body in the grave as in a bed of down, until the Resurection of the Just. Mors aerumnarum requies, was Chaucers Motto.

And stand in the lot] i. e. In thine own order, 1 Cor. 15.23. and in that degree of heavenly glory which shall be given thee as thy lot (in allusion to the promised land, divided amongst the Israelites by lot) and as the reward of a faithful Prophet, instrumental to the good of many, who shall bless God for thee throughout all eternity.

AN Alphabetical TABLE OF All the Principal things contained in this whole WORK.