TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL, Mr. Edward Stafford, of BRADFIELD in the Countie of BERK: Grace and glory.
SYR: It hath pleased GOD, since my departure from the Colledge, to visit me with continuall sicknesse, (I am the man that hath seene affliction in the rod of his indignation,) Lam. 3.1. a [Page]Burning-Feuer, hauing for these nine Moneths exhausted my body, and made it almost a Scheleton: All which time of my weaknesse, when my indisposition, by my cruell disease, would permit, my study was wholy in the Psalmes of Dauid; a Booke fit for one in my case, being full of Psalmes of humiliation vnder Gods rod: what comfort I found therein, I feele in my soule, I neede not, I cannot expresse. Among many other Psalmes of sad subiect, I was much affected with the 79. Psalme, the reporter and bemoner [Page]of Ierusalems destruction: an argument full of heauinesse, agreeable to my dull and sad disposition; on which Psalme I then conceiued some Meditations, which for some reasons, I am willing to impart to the world, and haue vowed in my selfe, if this first Essay be kindely accepted, to bestow now in my health, better paines vpon all the whole Booke of the Psalmes, and to make this Schedell a iust Volume. J present it to you as the first fruits of my actiue life, being moued thereto by duety [Page]and respect: and somewhat to incite you to make this Booke the obiect of your Contemplation.
Beleeue mee, Sir, other Bookes make men good Schollers, but aboue all, the Booke of the Psalmes maketh men good Christians. I doubt not of the acceptance of this poore Mite, or the imploiment thereof. God who hath giuen you in your youth, a sober and honest heart; giue also that by my vnworthy seruice, you may continue, increase, and grow olde in his Grace: so my study shall [Page]be euer profitable, and you blessed. Which I heartily wish, and remaine
HIERVSALEMS destruction.
SAint Hilarie, in his Prologue vpon the Psalmes obserueth, that to euery Psalme there belongeth proper Keyes; by which wee may open and enter into the sence thereof: and those Keyes are sayd to be twaine:
- 1 The Inscription.
- 2 The person to whom, of whom, against whom, the Psalme is indited.
1 The Title or Inscription of this Psalme, is, Psalmus Asaph, in [Page 2]Saint Hieroms translation Canticu [...] Asaph, the Song of Asaph, either because composed by Asaph, the sonne of Barachiah; or rather, because sung by that company of Leuites, or Singing-men, which were vnder Asaphs gouernement: for we finde, 1 Chro. 25. that there were three orders or formes of singing-men; some vnder Asaph, others vnder Idithun, and the third vnder Ethan.
2 The person of whom or against whom this Psalme is penned, according to the diuerse opinion & iudgement of the learned, is likewise diuerse: Lyran. some will haue the person to be Nabuchadnezzar, and the Babylonians, by whom the first Temple, Augustinus. Cassiodorus. built by Salomon, was defaced, and Hierusalem sacked. Others, Antiochus, sirnamed Epiphanes; vvho burnt Hierusalem, and polluted the second Temple, built by Zorobabel, after the captiuitie: and this opinion is most probable, for 1 Macca. 7.17. wee finde the third verse of this [Page 3]Psalme, (Their bloud haue they shed like water round about Hierusalem) applied to Antiochus his cruelty, by the ministery of Alcimus: Remigius. Some there be that vnderstand it of Ʋespatian and Titus, Iosephus saith that the Priests did first set fire on the Temple and afterwards came to yeeld themselues to Titus, who made them this answere, Decere sacerdotes, intirire Templo? What vse was there of Priests when there was no Temple? who made desolate the Citie Hierusalem, and burnt the third Temple, which was 40. yeres in building by Herod the first, sirnamed Asealonita, who slew the little children in the Gospell. But I doe not see how venerunt in haereditatem tuam may be verified of the Iewes vnder the Romanes, because they were now repudiated, and the Gentiles subrogated into their place.
But whosoeuer the person be against whom this Psalme was indited. Sure I am it is a meere Elegie and mournefull lamentation; literally of the Iewes, for the destruction of their Citie and Temple; Tropically of Christians, bewailing the deuastation of Christ his Church here on Earth by the malice of cruell persecutors, whether that Aper [Page 4]de syluâ, the Turke, or the Purple whore, the great Antichrist of Rome.
Verse 1. O God, the Heathen are come into thine inheritance, &c.
HEere is a patheticall exclamation, O God! and the reason thereof, the Heathen are come into thine Inheritance, &c.
O God! Let men be in prosperitie they seldome thinke of, or pray to God.
Men in prosperitie seldome need or vse Sacrifices at the Altar to purchase Gods fauour, but men in calamitie thinke they neuer doe enough. They were a stubborne people, Vt afflictio facit religiosos, rebus secundis nec Deus nee diuus quispiam nobis venit mentem. Erasm. in Naufr. of whom it was said, Clama [...]erunt ad Dominum cum tribularentur, yet their neckes being bended by tribulation, they bowed their knees and hearts likewise. On a Feast, or Marriage-day few talke of God, but [Page 5]if a house be on fire, or the pestilence in the Citie, all men hold vp their hands to Heauen. Fill their faces, O Lord, with shame, and they will seeke thy Name, saith the Prophet Isay. It is said of Ionas, Zeno Episc. ver. lib. 2. Ser. 38. Ʋigilat in ceto qui stertebat in naue. Mira res. A wonderfull matter! Hee that slept in the Ship is broad-waking in the Whales belly, praying vnto God so zealously as if hee would force Heauen with his prayers.
2 The cause of the exclamation, The Heathen are come into thine inheritance.]
Idolaters, who know not thee to be the true God, haue inuaded, yea, possessed as their owne, yea rauaged and forraged in thine inheritance. The Gentiles, cursed, abhorred Gentiles, dogs, wilde Oliues, if not Brambles rather, of whom thou saydst, Lamen. 1.10. They should not enter into thy Church, haue with the foot of pride and disdaine troden vpon thine Altars, prophaned thy sacred Temple, slaine thy Priests, and done violence to the [Page 6]Apple of thine owne eyes. (Custodiu [...]t quasi pupillam oculi sui, Deut. 32.10.) The Chaldaeans, or Antiochus, or the Romanes, haue broken downe the hedge of thy Vineyard, thy people, that thy people, whom thou louedst as thine own soule (Dedi dilectam animam meam in manus inimicorum, Ierem. 12.) haue they in miserable captiuitie. O God! Deus! ah Deus! aspicis haec?
Thy holy Temple haue they defiled.] Whether that of Salomon, if you vnderstand this Psalme of the Chaldaeans, or that of Zorobabel; if of Antiochus, or that of Herod; if of Ʋespatian and Titus: Thy Temple they haue defiled, coinquinated, prophaned, eyther by ouerthrowing thine Altars, and demolishing the Temple it selfe; or by exportation of the holy vessels into prophane banquets, Dan. 5. 1 Mac. 1.57. Stupris & alijs immandicis illud polluerunt. Haymon Remegius. or by placing in thy Temple the Image of Iupiter Olympius, or by abusing our wiues and daughters in thy Temple: either by some or all these wayes haue they defiled thy Temple.
Thine inheritance, thy Temple. Haue regard to thine owne worship: defend thine owne Altars: sauegard thy Priests: keepe thine owne house, I doe not say from Buyers and Sellers, but from the inuasion of theeues, who are already entred therein, and haue made thereof a Den of theeues. The zeale of thine house hath eaten mee vp, and forceth me to say once againe, O God! Deus! ah Deus! aspicis haec?
And made Ierusalem heapes of stones.] Ierusalem, famous for her first Founder, Melchisedech, King of Salem, a notable type of Christ: for her Antiquitie, builded in the dayes of Abraham: for her situation and forme, being the platforme and type of heauen: for her Temple, all of golde, euen to the Snuffers: for the Kingdome and Priesthood both resident in her: for her name, Ierusalem, the vision [Page 8]of peace; where the God of peace was to seale the couenant of peace, and whence was to be sent abroad the Instrument of our peace, the Gospell of Reconciliation. This Ierusalem, the Citie of God, the holy Citie, the Citie of the great King the Schoole of our Faith, the cradle of our Saluation, the bed in which the life of the world slept, rose againe, and ascended into heauen; this Ierusalem is now made in Pomorum custodiam, as a lodge in a Vineyard, or Garden of Cucumbers: nay, in a lodge there is fashion of orderly building, in aceruum lapidū, heapes of stones, Mat. 23. not one stone left vpon another in orderly building.
Is this the Citie that men call the perfection of beautie, and ioy of the whole earth? Lam. 2.15.
O God, the Heathen are come into [Page 9]thine inheritance, Tollebant manus prae admiratione. Thomas. O quanta i [...] tatio rerum! Rupertus. thine holy Temple haue they defiled, and made Ierusalem heapes of stones, &c.
Why God should thus forsake his inheritance, and not remember his Foot-stoole, in the day of his Wrath. The causes I take to be two:
- 1 His loue to his People.
- 2 His hatred to the sinne of his people.
His loue to his people: Whom God loueth he correcteth, You onely haue I knowne of all the Nations of the earth, therefore I will visit you for all your iniquities, Amos 3.2. hee scourgeth euery sonne whom he receiueth: the more his anger, the greater is his loue. His best people, chosen and culled out of all the nations of the earth, tasted almost of an Anniuersary Captiuitie. (Ierusalem taken 1 By Iebusites. 2 By Dauid. 3. 4. By Nabuchadnezzar. 5 By Sesack, King of Aegipt, in Roboams time. 6 By Alexander the great. 7. 8. By Antiochus. 9 By Pompey. 10 By Herod. tenne times, before her desolation by Vespatian and Titus,) often captiuated, yet neuer extinguished; yea, God hath reserued a remnant of Israell to be saued in the end of the world, after their so [Page 10]long dispertion. Moab is therefore more full of sinne, because neuer dealt withall as Ierusalem, neuer remoued from her lees, neuer poured from vessell to vessell, saith the Prophet. While God striketh vs, it argueth hee hath his face towards vs, and not his backe, which is the greatest iudgement of all, when God goeth from vs as if not caring for vs. I will not visit your daughters when they are harlots, nor your spouses when they are whores, Hos. 4.14. My wrath is departed from mee, I will cease, and be no more angry, Ezek. 16. Nolo istam misericordiam: I will none of that mercy (saith S. Bernard.) Ser. super Cant. Misericordia puniens: & parcens crudelitas. Aug. This pittie is beyond all wrath: Hîc vrat, hîc secet, dùm parcat in aeternum; let him cauterize, let him vse incision in this life, so he spare in the life to come. Ex hoc intelligimus, nos Deo curae esse, quoniam cùm peccamus irascitur: By this (saith Lactantius) wee know that God careth for vs, because when we sinne hee is angry.
The bitter pill of afflictions is no way to be shunned of a good Christian.
1 Because they come from GOD, howbeit sometime inflicted by Sathan, Gods instrument. Behold it shall come to passe, that the Diuell shall cast some of you into prison, that yee may be tryed, and yee shall haue tribulation tenne dayes. Be thou faithfull vnto the death, and I will giue thee the crowne of life. Reu. 2.10.
2 Because they worke for our good: We are chastened of the Lord, because wee should not be condemned with the world. 1 Cor. 11.32. Amarasalubria: bitter Potions are wholesome.
3 Because they assimilate vs to Christ: Hee suffered and so entred into his glory. Hee went to heauen by weeping Crosse, and we must follow him the same way. It were monstrous there should be delicata membra sub capite spinoso, saith Saint Bernard.
4 Because howbeit they be grieuous, [Page 12]yet they be but short, for a little while haue I forsaken thee, but with great compassion will I gather thee: for a moment, in mine anger, I hid my face from thee for a little soason, but with euerlasting mercy haue I had compassion on thee, Isa. 54.7.8. The Sunne is not alwayes ouercast with a cloud; It is not euer winter; Mariners feele not alwayes the fury of Windes:
Euery affliction hath [...], 2 Cor. 2.10. a forth, Intermissa gratior libertas, ac reddita quàm seruata. Petr. or an escape: Sorrow and mourne ô Daughter Zion! like a woman in trauaile, for now thou shalt goe and dwell in the field, and goe into Babell, but there shalt thou be deliuered, Micha 4.10. [...], Hee hath, hee doth, and yet hee will deliuer vs, There befalleth vs no other temptations, 1 Cor. 10.11. but such as befall men. [Page 13]According to our weakenesse, God proportionateth his cup of affliction: therefore I thinke called a Cuppe of affliction, Matth. 20. because no Physitian more carefully assigneth a potion for his Patient, nor waigheth out more accurately ounces and drams, then God doth afflictions for his children.
2 His hatred to the sinne of his people: Puto, (saith Titus) if the Romanes had not come vp against them, they wold haue bin swallowed vp of the earth, or perished in another Noës-floud, or haue bin burnt with lightning. Ios. surely had not Ierusalem beene so sinfull God vvould neuer haue dealt so hardly with his owne inheritance. Hee would neuer haue taken the girdle from his loynes, and said; Non es populus meus; thou art not my people. It is their owne confession, capti sumus in iniquitatibus nostris: and it was Gods profession, Israel, si in viâ Dei ambulâsses, habitâsses vti (que) in pace super terram. Numb. 31.16. Balaam knew that if Balak could but make the people of Israel sinne, that God would eftsoones forsake them, and therefore he aduised him to put stumbling blocks before them, euen that great stumbling [Page 14]blocke of the world (Quid non mihi faemina praestas?) These caused the children of Israel, through the counsell of Balaam, to commit a trespasse against the Lord. Iud. 5. The garish beautie of lasciuious women [...] a Cosby to tempt Zimry. And Ach [...]or (in the Story of Iudeth) telleth Holoferues, that if the Iewes were guiltie of any great sinnes, then they should easily conquer them, for God would forsake them; if not, si non est offensio populi huius coram Deo suo, all would be but in vaine they should attempt. When Calice was taken by the French, vnder Charles the 7. and the French-men, in scorne asked the English when they would come for Calice againe; a wise Captaine made answere; Cum peccata vestra erunt nostris grauiora, when your sinnes shall be more then ours: intimating that for sirme God giueth ouer a Kingdome, or a Citie to the spoile of enemies.
Now the sinnes for which Ierusalem is indited in the Booke of God, and so often found guiltie, are especially three:
1 Idolatry: According to thy [Page 15]Cities are thy Gods ô Israel! They serued Chemosh, and Melcome, and Astheroth, and Baalim: and indeed they were insatuated with this sinne. You know of olde they said to Aaron, fac nobis Deos? Make vs Gods. Ab homine exigunt vt Deos faceret, they require a man to make them a God What stocke or stone would euer haue made such a foolish petition?
2 Crueltie towards the Prophets and Seruants of God, Ierusalem, Ierusalem, which killest the Prophets, &c.
3 And aboue all, the sacrilegious parricide of our blessed Sauiour: other sinnes caused onely their transportation into Captiuitie, this their finall desolation. The anger of the Lord hath scattered them hee will no more regard them, Lam. 4.16. (Of the Romanes) out of their hands, I will not deliuer them Zach. 11.6.
Verse 2. The dead bodies of thy seruants haue they giuen to be meate vnto the Fowles of the Heauen, and the flesh of thy Saints to the Beasts of the earth.
Verse 3. Their bloud haue they shed like water round about Ierusalem, and there was none to bury them.
THE Iewes first bemone the wrong done to God, and to his Temple; [they haue defiled thy Temple;] now they lament their owne calamitie: they were slaine with the edge of the sword; but yet if they might be interred in their Fathers Sepulchers, or but buried at all, their misery would be so much the lesse; Sence in Deel. Quid in morte miserius quàm sepeliri non posse? What is more grieuous in death, then not to be buried? But behold Buriall is denyed them: Zenacherib commanded Tobiah to be slaine for burying the Iewes. Tab. 1. Antiochus saith, Macc. 2.9. that the Iewes are not worthy of buryall, [Page 17]but to be left to be eaten vp of rauenous Birds, and wilde beasts: and vnder Titus the slaughtered bodies were so many, they could not be interred, (there died by the Famine, Sword and Pestilence, eleauen hundred thousand: Ioseph.)
It is a true saying of S. Augustine, Lib. 1. de Ciuit. Dei. cap. 12. The care of our Funerall, the manner of our Buriall, the exequiall pompe, all these Magis sunt viuorum solatia quam subsidia mortuorum, are rather comforts for the liuing, then any vvay helpes for the dead. To be interred profiteth not the party deceased, his body feels it not, his soule regards it not; and we know that many holy Martyrs haue beene excluded from buriall, who in a Christian scorne thereof bespake their persecutors, in their words which were slaine at Pharsalie.
But yet there is an honesty which belongeth to the dead bodie of man. Quisquis hon [...] tumuli. Virg. 10. Aen. Iehu commanded Iezabel to [Page 18]be buried. Dauid thanked the people of Iabes Gilead, for burying of Saul. Peter that commanded Ananias and Saphira, those false abdicators of their patrimonie to die, commanded to haue them buried being dead. Eccles. 7. It is an axiome of charitie, Mortuo non prohibeas gratiam: withhold not kindnesse from the dead. It shewes our loue and regard to men in our owne flesh to see them buried; it manifesteth our Faith and Hope of the Resurrection; and therefore when that bodie, which is to rise-againe, and to be made glorious and immortall in Heauen, shal be cast to the Foules of the aire, or Beasts of the Field, Ier. 22.11. it argueth in God great indignation against sin. (Of Iehoiakim, Hee shall be buried as an Asse is buried, and cast forth without the gates of Hierusalem:) in man inhumane and barbarous crueltie.
I onely dislike these three things in buriall.
1 The ambitious desire of vngodly men to be buried in the [Page 19]Church; of some, if superstitiously affected, in the Quier nay vnder the Altar: and to purchase this, thy giue a great legacie, whereas Constantine the great thought himselfe not worthy to be buried in the Church, but at the Church dore whence, I take it is that Saint Chrisostome called him Petri piscatoris ianitorem. S. Hom 66. ad Pop. Antioch. Peter the Fishermans porter Our Sauiour condemned sitting in the first place in men aliue, & will he approue of the like contention in the dead?
2 The superfluous pompe of Funerals; to be attired with rich apparell in stead of a winding sheet; to be spiced with Balmes, Mirre & Aloes, to feast the wormes withall; to haue a long blacke armie of mourners; to haue their Armes carried in triumph before them; to haue a sumptuous and tedious banquet after the exequies; as if men who neuer care to follow Christ in their liues, would emulate him in their deaths: and because it is said and was fulfilled of him, Erit Sepulchrum [Page 20]eius gloriosum, Isay 11. Therefore their Funerals shall be glorious also. Yet I know there is a state which belongs to Princes, below which, as they might not liue, so neither may they die.
3 The cost and magnificence of their Sepulchres, matchable with Artemisias Mausoloeum, and the Egyptian Piramides, when (mee thinkes) it should be enough for vs Christians, who in this last age of the world are in continuall expectation of a sudden resurrection, to be couered with a bed of thinne earth, I may say, Vt quid perditio haec? Sure I am, it were better if not for their bodies, yet for their soules, and for occasioning of a blessing vpon their posteritie, that this cost had beene bestowed to Charitable vses.
Verse 4. We are a reproach vnto our neighbours, a scorne and derision to them that are about vs.
TO haue a good Neighbour is a good purchase, and therefore [Page 21] Themistocles being to sell his Field, [...]. Hes. commaunded the Crier to adde among other commodities, that it had a good neighbour. But our Iewes haue not onely enemies from farre, Chaldaea and Rome, but in vicinia, round about them; in their dwelling, Moabites, Ammonites, Idumaeans, Philistins, who were so far from helping them against the enemie, that they did not pittie them; from pittying of them, that they did reproach, scorne, and deride them. Totus iste textus a Principio crescens schema istud nobilissimum facit, quod vocatur Auxesis. Cassiod. in hunc vers.
It is misery enough to be in aduersity, but greater misery not to finde comfort in distresse, but to be scorned in stead of comforted is a waight of misery, able to make the stoutest heart heauie to death. I do thinke the mocking of our Sauiour with Aue Rex Iudaeorum, and vah qui destruis Templum, was more bitter to him then the Sponge of Vinegar hee tasted off on the Crosse. Homines contumeijs magis mouentur quam verberibus (Plutarch. in Timoleon.) Men are more moued with [Page 22]contumely then with stripes. Saint Chrysostome giues the reason thereof: Because the feeling of a stripe is equally distributed between soule and body, but the sence of reproach seazeth only and immediatly vpon the soule: And Tullie in his fift against Ʋerres, Habet quendam aculeum contumelia quem pati prudentes & viri boni difficillime possunt; contumelie hath a sting with it, which makes to bleede the heart of wise and good men, Leuiter volat, sed grauiter vulnerat; leuiter animum penetrat, sed non leuiter exit, &c. saith Bernard: It is a good rule, Afflicto non est danda afflictio. We must haue a hand to helpe not a foot to keepe downe men in affliction.
Verse 5. Lord, how long wilt thou be angry? for euer? shal thy iealousie burne like fire?
ENemies are cruell, Neighbours are scornefull and what hope or helpe is there but in thee, O Lord? [Page 23]and thou art angry too: how long wilt thou be angry, for euer? Spare vs now at length, deliuer vs from our enemies: It is time that the Lord haue mercy vp [...]n Zion, yea, the time is come. Psal. 102.
Wee haue endured 70. yeeres vnder Nebuchadnezzar, 3. yeeres vnder Antiochus, many hundreds of yeres since our crucifying of Christ, and vsque quo! How long Lord wilt thou be angry? for euer? (Will hee keepe his anger for euer? will hee reserue it vnto the end? thus hast thou spoken, but thou doest euill euen more and more, Ierem. 3.5. Ye haue kindled a fire in my anger, which shall burne for euer.) Lord, how long wilt be angry? shall thy iealousie burne like fire? Domine & zelus tuus. Lord, and thy Iealousie: they imply God to haue beene the Author of all the euils which haue befallen them. The [Page 24]Lord hath troden the Winepresse vpon the virgin, the daughter of Iudah, La. 1.15. Who gaue Iacob for a spoile, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord? because we haue sinned against him, Isa. 42.24. Not how long will Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus bee angry? They indeed haue done this vnto vs but as thy instruments, as thy rods. The Sabeans robbed Iob of his substance, yet he perceiued a higher hand, Dominus abstulit, the Lord hath taken; and Shimeis toung was the whip by which God scourged Dauid, Sinite Shimei vt maledicat Dauid, Dominus praecepit ei. Euils which befall vs in this life are of two sorts:
- 1 Malum Culpae. & Poenae.
- 2 Malum Culpae. & Poenae.
God is not the Author of the first euill of sinne, but the Diuell tempting, and man consenting; but of the latter of Malum ponè peccatum, as the Schoolemen speake, God is [Page 25]the Author punishing iustly what sinfully we haue committed: that defileth a man, this but chasteneth and afflicteth him, that is euill in doing, this but in suffering; that in nature, this but in feeling: Si erit malum in Ciuitate & Dominus non fecerit? Amos 3.6. Messana a Spaniard paraphraseth it thus: Erit poenae malum in Ciuitate quod Dominus non fecerit, sed casus, fatum, fortuna vel hostis?
Verse 6. Poure out thy wrath vpon the Heathen that haue not knowne thee, and vpon the kingdomes that haue not called vpon thy name.
VVEE, howbeit we be a wicked seede, yet are wee semen Abrahae, of Abrahams race and linage: Mali filij, filij tamen, euill sonnes, yet sonnes; but the Heathen are not of thy houshold, they are strangers from the Couenant of grace, and without God in this world. Wee, howbeit miserable sinners, [Page 26]doe know and inuocate thee onely for our God; they are ignorant of thee, and doe not desire the knowledge of thy wayes, therefore Poure out thy wrath vpon the Heathen, &c. Non optamus sed prop [...]etamus, wee wish it not out of desire of particular reuenge, Minuet vindicta dolorem. nor any way to ease our griefe, by their Taliation. (It was the speech of an Heathen man, to goe to hell with him:
Philosophers; Chrysipp [...]s, Thales, Plato: sure I am, Christ Iesus taught otherwise, not to returne euill for euill: Take heede, Rom. 12. see to it, that no man returne euill for euill: nay, more patience then so, 1 Thes. 1. not to resist or repell euill, but to giue both cheekes to the nippers. Wee must leaue vengeance to him whose it is; Deut. 32. Heb. 10.30. Vengeance is mine, I will repay) but prophesie, [Page 27]and denounce, and consent it should be so. Wee know where it is written hee will reuenge the bloud of his Seruants, Deut. 32. Dico vobis quia citò faciet vindictam illerum. Now shall not God reuenge his Elect, which cry day and night vnto him, yea, though hee suffer long for them? I tell you hee will auenge them quickly, Luke 18.7 8. And it is the Apostles Oracle, Hee that doth wrong shall receiue for wrong he hath done, Col. 3.25.
That wee may pray for reuenge vpon our and Gods enemies, it appeareth hence, otherwise the soules vnder the Altar would neuer cry: How long Lord, righteous and true? Reuel. 6.10. otherwise Paul would neuer haue imprecated vpon Alexander the Copper-Smith. 2 Tim. 4.14. All men grant it is lawfull to pray for temporall euils against our enemies, that they may worke their conuersion; and I thinke for eternall likewise, if they be Gods enemies also; and his Church cannot possibly haue peace vnlesse [Page 28]these members of Sathan and Antichrist be cut off. See Zanch. de redempt. in 3. praecept. Cal. in Gala. c. 6. Buc. in Psa. 16.
Verse 7. Comederunt Iacob:] For they haue deuoured Iacob.]
O Lord, let there remaine some holy seede, let thy Church not wholy perish from the face of the earth.
The Catholike Church consisting of all Nations, places, and times cannot be deuoured; but some part thereof, an arme or a legge may be in the Dragons mouth. (As a Shepheard taketh out of the mouth of the Lion two legs and a piece of an eare, so shall the Children of Israel be taken out, Amos 3.12.
Particular Churches are sometime more conspicuous then other. Ierusalem Templum Domini, Templum Domini, was once the most glorious visible Church of GOD: and shee, if euer any, was the Citie [Page 29]seated on a hill, which could not be hid: and yet all vision is now ceased, there is no Prophet, nor Altar, nor Sacrifice, nor Temple, nor Citie, all being buryed vnder ashes: and let Rome exalted vpon seauen hils, who brags so much of the glory & splendor of her church, beware least her Sunne loose not his beames, and grow darke at noone-day (too much prosperitie, or confidence at least thereof, is euer attended with an vnexpected ruine.) Ab altitudine dicitimebo (saith the Psalmist.) And a King of Aegypt spake out of experience, concerning the neuer interrupted felicitie of Policrates, Herod in Thaliâ. Tam diuturnus foelicium rerum cursus, animum meum aliquantisper habet sollicitū, quippe qui sciam, quam inuidiae secunda fortuna obnoxia sit. And I nothing doubt but that the mysticall Babilon, who is already fallen in Gods decree, and in her type, shall fall from, or be pluckt out from her chaire of pride, by the forcible armes of Christian [Page 30]Princes. The Woman in the Reuelation, after the Ascension of her Sonne, was driuen into the wildernesse, and then it was true to say, Ecce in deserto est Christus; for, caput est in corpore suo: and in the time of the tenne persecutions, shee was intrusa antris, shut vp in caues, or in priuate houses, and then it was true to say, Ecce in penetralibus est Christus. The Sunne it selfe is ouer-cast with a cloud, and Eclipsed by the darke body of the Moone, and when he is gone downe to the other Hemisphere, he seemes to be lost to vs. And what wonder then if Tabernaculum in Sole positum, so much vrged by our Aduersaries of Rome, be sometimes so ouer-cast and darkened that vvee cannot see it?
Verse 8. Remember not against vs our former iniquities, &c.
EIther done by our Fathers, for it is iust with God to visit the sinnes of the Fathers vpon the children, [...]. vnto the third and fourth generation. God, thou recompensest the iniquities of the Fathers into the bosome of their children after them. Ier. 32.18. Our fathers haue sinned, and are not, and wee haue borne their iniquities, Lam. 5.7. And the question in this sence was well asked Iohn 9. That this man is borne blinde, who hath sinned? bee, or his Parents? God doth punish the sinnes of the Fathers vpon the children in things temporall, in their bodies & goods which they receiued from their Father: to wound the Father at the heart, hee layeth his rod vpon the Sonne as being the tenderest part in which he could affect him.
But God doth neuer punish the Sonne to his condemnation for his Fathers sinne: for the saying is expresse, Ezek. 18.20. Filius non portabit iniquitatem patris, to wit, to the danger of his saluation: and so Thomas accordeth Moses and Ezekiel, that Moses speaketh of temporall, Ezekiel of eternall punishment; but yet I doubt not but God who is debter to no man, moued onely by occasion of the Fathers sinne, doth detaine his grace from the Sonne, and leaue him to the conduit of his owne sinfull will, [...]. and to the power of Sathan, to worke in him pertenacie and obduration of heart, that at length hee may be a marke for the exercise of his iustice. Or in their imitation by vs: eyther in our youth, (Ʋicina est lapsibus adolescentia, saith Ambrose:
or in our stronger age: O Lord! wee were conceiued, and haue growne vp in sin from our cradles: [Page 33]wee haue done all wee can to fill vp the measure of our Fathers iniquities. O Lord! accept of our humble, ingenuous, and penitent confession of our sinnes, and Remember not against vs our former sinnes.
Verse 9. Deliuer vs, and be mercifull vnto our sinnes.
THE order should haue beene thus; Be mercifull vnto our sins, and deliuer vs. For if sinne was the cause of their miserie, no deliuerance thence till our sinnes be expiated: therefore, O be mercifull vnto our sinnes. Non operuised aperui vt operires, I haue not couered, but vncouered, that thou maist couer my sinne. I know if I would haue vse of the Physitian, I must open my disease vnto him; for quod ignorat medicina, non curat (saith Hierome.) The Heathen (saith S. Augustine, wonder that wee teach, sins committed in deede, to be purged in word; actually, to be done away [Page 34]verbally, Potest qui homicidium fecit homicida non esse? but such is the power of humble confession, that it obtaineth pardon and release; yea, full expiation for all sinne. Dauid guiltie of two foule sinnes, after the confession of his sinnes, was as white as the Snow in Salmon; O quantum valent tres Syllabat, Ambros. Pecc [...]i? a word of three Syllables is able to doe all this. God made the World of nothing, and mee, a man, of dust the worst of anything, and is he not able to make mee of guiltie, innocent?
Verse 10. Wherefore should the Heathen say, Where is now their God?
BY our misery and affliction the Heathen discredit our faith and confidence in thee. It is their perswasion, true Religion should euer be prosperous (accedit vtilitas quae maximè homini diuos asser it, Symmac. lib. 10. epist. 54.) nam cum ratio omnis in operto sit, vnde rectuis quam de [Page 35]memoria atque documentis Rerum secundarum cognitio venit numinum? and this heathenish opinion hath infected the Church, which calieth her selfe Catholicke, Bell. lib. 4. de eccles. Milita. cap. vlt. makes temporall felicitie a note of the true Church. They neuer will beleeue Electos Dei pia agere & crudelia [...]olerare, as S. Gregorie speakes, that Gods elect doe well and suffer ill, & therfore Tullie proues the Iewes to be hated of God, because they were so miserable. Miseriae Iudaeorum testantur quam non sint chari Deo pro Flacco. The miseries of the Iewes doe testifie against them that they are not beloued of God: and no doubt, but the Turkes at this day are more confirmed in their Mahumetan impictie, by reason of their good successe against Christians: and therefore, O Lord, to free thy name, stop the mouth of this blasphemie, pull thy hand out of thy bosome, let them at length perceiue that thou carest for thy Church. Verse 11 Remember the bloud of thy slaine seruants. Remember gemitus [Page 36]& compedes, the sighings of the prisoners yet aliue, but children of death, aiudged and destinated for death. Antiochus felt the effects of this imprecation, 2 Mac. 9. &c. for lying on his death-bed, wormes crawling out of his bowels, howbeit he did promise to set free Hierusalem, to make the Iewes equall to the citizens of Athens, and to rebuild and adorne the Temple which he had spoyled and to allow for sacrifices out of his owne reuenues; nay himselfe to become Iew, to glorifie that GOD whom he did now feele to haue offended, yet God would shew him no mercy.
Verse 12. And render to our neighbours seauenfolde the reproach wherewith they haue reproched thee O Lord.
FOrget not, good LORD, our neighbour-enemies; let Ismaels mocking of Isaac be remembred: remember the children of Edom, [Page 37]how in the day of Hierusalem they sayd, Downe with it, downe with it, euen downe to the ground. Let the Moabites taste of thy rod as well as the Chaldaeans, let them haue no mercy from thee that had no mercy for vs.
Verse 13. So wee thy people, and sheepe of thy pasture, shall praise thee for euer, and from generation to generation will set forth thy praise.
THey promise thankefulnesse, and (because primum Senescit beneficium, & nihil facilius quam amor putrescat. Sen.) this thankefulnesse to be perpetuall in themselues and their posteritie. They haue nothing else to returne God for his cup of saluation, but the kindnesse of their lips; which, if vnfained, Psal. 50.15. is the best and sweetest incense: Call vpon me in the time of thy tribulation, and I will deliuer thee, and thou shalt glorifie mee.
The summe of all, is, Anfer iniquitatem, dabonum, & reddemus vitulos labiorum nostrorum. Hos. vlt. Pardon our sinnes, returne vs prosperitie, so will we render the calues of our lips.
To the Reader.
THus hast thou (gentle Reader) the literall Exposition of this whole Psalme, there is behinde the Exposition according to the Trope, the destruction of spirituall Hierusalem, the Church militant, by the Turke and Pope. Priuata iniuria maior quam Deus & pietas, & defendenda cruore religio? Mantuanus Tom. 1. Exhort ad Reg. This latter I intended first, but that building could not well bee without this foundation. It grieueth me, that the Citie where our saluation was wrought, should be in the power of Infidels. God forgiue it them that haue beene the cause thereof, Quis ferat obfuisse (reip.) ecclesiae priuata certamina? Symmachus. While Maximilian [Page] wars against the Swissa [...] Baiazel makes his impression vpon the Venetians; while Charles the fift is busie to recouer Milan from the French, Solyman takes Belgrada. Ierusalem shall be troden vnder foote of the Gentiles vntill the time of the Gentiles be ful [...]d. Luke 21.24. Wee Christians fight one against another as in the day of Madian, and that Homo ferus aduanceth his victorie by our discords. If we cannot, or it may be, may not regain the holy city, yet let vs keepe the holy Church from the rage of the wilde Boare, and from the Beast in the Reuelation, who, what wrong they haue done, shall appeare in my next, of which I send this only as a Prodromus. Pray for my health, and I will labour and pray for thy spirituall profit.