CHAP. I. Verse 1. In the beginning]

A Beginning there was then; Ar. Physic. l 8. Vide Sharpei symphon. p. 11. Plin. lib. 1. c. 1. Veritatem qua rit Philosophia invenit Theol [...] ­gia, &c. Jo. Picus Mi­rand. D. Prid. e. Cathedra. Whatever Aristotle fancied of the Worlds eternity. So true is that of a learned Italian, Phi­losophy seeks after Truth, Divinity onely findes it, Religion improves it. But the Philosopher would be yet better satisfied. He had read (say some) this first of Genesis, and was heard to say thereupon, [...]regè diei [...] domine Moses, sed quomodo probas? Well said, Sir Moses; how prove you, what you have so said? An Ancient [Page 2]answereth, Credo, non pro bo, Augustin. Piscatoribus cre­dimus, non Dia­lecticis. Amb. Multò melius credendo intelli­guntur, quàm in­ [...]ellig [...]ndo cre­duntur fidei Christianae my [...]ria, Ru­pert. Abbas Tu [...]rie [...]sis. Theologia non est argumenta­tiva, Alsted. Aristotelis oc­ [...]a, seu Theolo­gia, sophistica est [...]mnium, quae li­teris unquam mandatae sum, maximè [...]lulta, maximeque im­ [...]ia: Ramus in Theolog. Job 35.10. Psal 1.9.1. Eccles. 12.1. Moses was read every Sabbath, Acts 15.21. with a Lecture cut of the Pro­phets. Acts 13.15. Psal. 53.6. [...]. Suidas. [...]. In P [...]mandro. N [...]m b [...] pro­pria est H [...]brai verbi significa­tio. Jun. Irride [...] Galenus Mosen, eò quod dicat, Deum ex nulla praexistente materia [...]ondidisse mundum. Buchol. 1 Cor. 2.14. [...]. I beleeve it, I need not prove it. Another, We believe the holy Penmen, before Heathen wisemen. A third, The mysteries of Christian. Religion are better understood by believing, then be­lieved by understanding. But best of all, the Apostle, Through Fa [...] [...] understand, that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God; so that things which are seen, were not made of things which do appear, Heb. 11.3. Divinity doth not use to prove her princi­ples (whereof this is one.) No, not Aristotles own Divinity (his Metaphysicks, I mean,) wherein he requires, to be believed upon his bare words Albeit, (if Ramus may be judg) those, fourteen Books of his, are the most idle and impious piece of Sophistry, that ever was set forth by any man. Thus, Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Rom. 1.22. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them? Jerem. 8.9. God created.] Heb. Dii creavit. The Mystery of the blessed Tri­nity, called by Elihu, Eloah Gnoscai, God my Makers; and by David, The Makers of Israel; And remember thy Creators, saith Solomon. To the same sense, sweetly sounds the Haphtara or por­tion of Scripture, which is read by the Jews, together with this of Moses, viz. Isai. 42.5. And that of the Psalmist, By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them, by the breath (or Spirit) of his mouth: That is, God the Father, by the Son, through the Holy Ghost, created all. This, Trismegist an ancient Egyptian (for he flourished before Pharaoh) acknow­ledged, and thence had his name. The Hebrews also of old, were no strangers to this Mystery, though their posterity understood it not. R. Solomon Jarchi writing on that, Cant. 1.11. We will make, &c. Interprets it, I and my Judgment-hall. Now a Judg­ment-hall in Israel consisted of three at least, which in their close manner of speech, they applyed to God, who is Three in one, and One in three. Created] Made all things of nothing, in a most marvellous and magnificent manner, as the word signifieth. This Plato doubts of, Aristotle denies; Galen derides, as a thing im­possible, because, with Nicodemus, he cannot conceive how these things can be. The natural man (the meer animal, whose Reason is not elevated by Religion) perceiveth not these things of the Spirit of God: They are foolishness unto him. The Cock on the dunghil meddles not with these matters. Well might Saint Paul tell the [Page 3]men of Athens, (and yet Athens was the Greece of Greece, [...] Athenaeus. Acts 17.23, 24. Somniaverat Deum non cog­noverat. Instit. l. 5. c. 14. and had in it the most Mercurial wits in the world,) That God, that made all things of nothing, was to them the unknown God: And Lactantius fitly sayth of Plato (who yet merited the stile of Divine amongst them,) that he dreamt of God, rather then had any true knowledg of him. He no where called God the Creator, but [...], the Workman; as one that had made the World of a praeexistent Matter, coeternal to himself. There were four Errors (saith a late learned man) about the Creation: Some affirmed, Zanch. that the world was eternal; some, that it had a material begin­ing, and was made of something; some held two beginners of things: That one beginner made things incorruptible, and another made things corruptible. Lastly, Some said, God made the superior creatures himself, and the inferior by Angels. This very first verse of the Bible confutes all four. In the beginning, shews the world not to be eternal. Created, notes that it was made of nothing. The heaven and the earth, shews, That God was the onely beginner of all creatures. God created all: This excludes the Angels. In the government of the World, we grant they have a great stroke, Ezek. 1.5, 6, &c. Dan. 10. & 11. Not so in the making of the World, wherein God was alone, and by him­self, Isai. 44.24. And lest any should imagine otherwise; the creation of Angels is not so much as mentioned by Moses, unless it be tacitely intimated in these words, The heaven and the earth. [...]. Aristot. de Mundo. c. 2. Matth. 24.36. Gal. 1.8. Yates his Model of Divinity.The world and all things that are therein, Acts 17.24. Things visi­ble and invisible, (Colos. 1.16.) Whether they be thrones or domini­ons, &c. called elsewhere, Angels of heaven; because (probably) created with, and in the highest Heaven; as Christs soul was created with, and in his body, in the Virgins womb, the self-same moment. The highest Heaven, and the Angels were of necessity (say some) to be created the first instant, that they might have their perfection of matter and form together; otherwise, they should be corruptible. For whatsoever is of a praeexistent matter, is resolvable, and subject to corruption. But that which is imme­diately of nothing, is perfectly composed, hath no other change, but by the same hand to return to nothing again.

But if this were the Heaven, Quest. what was the Earth here men­tioned?

Not that we now tread upon (for that was not made till the third day.) But the Matter of all, Answ. that was after­wards [Page 4]to be created; being all things in power, nothing in act.

Vers. 2. And the earth was without form, and voyd.] That is, as yet it had neither essential nor accidental perfection. The Lord afterward did form it into Light, the Firmament, the Water, and the Earth: So beginning above, and building downwards (in the new Creature he doth otherwise;) and in three days laying the parts of the World; and in other three days adorning them. The Rabbins tell us, Alsted. Lexic. Theol. p. 111. that Tohu and Bohu, do properly import Materia prima and privatio: and others of Tohu, derive Chaos; whence the ancient Latines called the World Chohus, and borrowed their word Incho [...], &c. And darkness was upon the face of the deep.] That is, [...]. not of Hell, as Origen expounds it, but of the deep waters (see the like, Luke 8.31.) Which, as a garment covered the earth, and stood above the mountains, Psal. 104.6. This darkness God created not, for it was but the want of Light. And to say, That God dwelt in darkness, till he had created Light, was a devil­ish sarcasm of the Manichees; as if God were not Light it self, and the Father of lights: 1 John 1.5. James 1. Or, as if God had not ever been a Hea­ven to himself, Ere ever he had formed the earth and the heavens, Psal 92.2. What he did, or how he imployed himself before the Creation, is a Sea, over which no ship hath sailed; a Mine, into which no spade hath delved; an Abyss, into which no bucket hath dived. D. Preston of Gods Attri­butes, p. 34. Our sight is too tender to behold this Sun. A thousand yeers (saith a great Divine) are to God but as one day, &c. And who knoweth what the Lord hath done? Indeed, he made but one World to our knowledg; but who knoweth what he did be­fore, and what he will do after: Thus he. As for Saint Augustine,

Excellently another, Cuff his Differ. of Ages, p. 22. who wanted no wit: As in the eliament of fire (saith he) there is a faculty of heating and inlightning; whence proceedeth heat and light, unto the external neer bodies: And besides this faculty, there is also in it a natural power to go upward; which when it cometh into act, is received into no other subject, but the fire it self: So that if fire could, by abstractive imagination, be conceived of, as wanting those two transient operations, yet could we not justly say it had no action; foras­much as it might move upward, which is an immanent and in­ward [Page 5]action: So, and much more so, though we grant that there was no external work of the Godhead, until the making of the World, yet can there be no necessary illation of idleness: Seeing it might have (as indeed it had) actions immanent, included in the circle of the Trinity: This is an answer to such as ask, what God did, before he made the World? Plotin. Eun [...]d. 3. lib. 2. c. 2. God (saith Plotinus the Platonist) not working at all, but resting in himself, doth, and performeth very great things. And the Spirit of God moved, &c.] Or, hovered over, and hatched out the creature, Ferebatur super aquas non per­vagatione, sed potestate, non per spatium loco­rum, ut Sol su­per terram, sed per potentiam sublimitatis suae. Eucberius. Psal. 145 9. as the Hen doth her chickens; or, as the Eagle fluttereth over her young, to pro­voke them to flight, Deut. 32.11. Or, as by a like operation, this same holy Spirit formed the childe Jesus in the Virgins womb, in that wonderful over shadowing, Luke 1.35. The Chaldee here hath it, The Spirit breathed: and David saith the same, Psal. 33.6. He became to that rude dead mass, a quickning, comforting Spirit. He kept it together, which else would have shattered. And so he doth still, or else all would soon fall asunder, Heb. 1.3. Psal. 104.29. were not his conserving Mercy, still over (or upon) all his Works.

Verse 3. And God said, Let there, &c.] He commanded the light to shine out of darkness: He spake the word, and it was done. 2 Cor. 4.6. Psal. 33.9. & 148.5. Creation is no motion, but a simple and bare emanation; which is, when without any repugnancy of the Patient, or labor of the Agent, the work or effect, Dei Dicere eft Efficere. doth voluntarily and freely arise from the action of the working cause, as the shadow from the body. So Gods irresistible power made this admirable Work of the world, by his bare word, as the shadow and obscure representa­tion of his unsearchable wisdom, and omnipotency. And there was light.] This first light was not the Angels, as Augustine would have it; nor the Element of fire, as Damascen; nor the Sun, which was not yet created; nor a lightsome cloud, or any such thing; but the first day, which God could make without means, as Galvin well observeth. This light was the first orna­ment of the visible World, and so is still of the hidden man of the heart, the new Creature, Acts 26.18. The first thing, in Saint Pauls commission there, was to open mens eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, &c. To dart such a saving light into the soul; as might illighten both Organ and Object. In which great work al­so, Christs words are operative together with his commands in the mouths of his Ministers. (Know the Lord, understand O ye [Page 6]bruitish among the people, &c.) There goes forth a Power to heal, as it did, Luke 5.1 [...]. Or, as when he bade Lazarus ari [...]e, he made him to arise: So here, the Word and the Spirit go together; and then what wonder, that the spirit of darkness falls from the hea­ven of mens hearts, Ephes 5 8. [...] 1 Pet 2 9. as lightning, Luke 10.18. So as that, they that e [...]st were darkness, are now light in the Lord, and do preach forth the praises of him, who hath called them out of darkness, into his marvellous light?

Verse 4. And God saw the light that it was good.] Praeviderat autèm; [...]sberellus. so one rendereth it: he saw this long before, but he would have us to see it; he commends the goodness of this work of his to us. Good it is surely, and a goodly creature: Sweet, saith Solo­mon, Eccles. 11.7. Comfortable, saith David, Psal 97.11. Which when one made question of; [...]. Aristot. Beatum [...]ss [...] ho­minem Deo fru­entem, sicut ocu­lus luce. August. de Civitat. Dei. l. 8. 2 Cor. 6.14. 1 Thes. 5. [...], 6, 7. [...]. 2 Pet. 1.13. Lactant. That's a blinde mans question, said the Philosopher. What is it then to enjoy him, that is Light Essential? The Platonists (who were blinde in divinis, and could not see far off, yet they) could say, that he was a blessed man, who enjoyed God, as the eye doth enjoy the light. And God divided the light, &c.] Let not us confound them, and so alter Gods order by doing deeds of darkness, in a day of Grace, in a Land of Light. What make Owls at Athens? or such spots among Saints, as count it pleasure to riot in the day time? It was a shame that it should be said, There was never less wisdom in Greece, then in the time of the seven wisemen of Greece. It was a worse shame, that it should be said to the Corinthians, That some of them had not the knowledg of God; 1 Cor. 15. 1 Cor. 5.1. 2 Cor. 6. and that such Fornication was found among them, as was not heard of among the Heathen. For what fellowship hath light with darkness? Surely none. Our morning shadows fall as far as they can toward the West, Evening toward the East, Plutarch. Noon day toward the North, &c. Alexander having a souldier of his name that was a coward, he bade him either leave off the name of Alexander, or be a souldier.

Verse 5. And God called the light Day, &c.] He taught men to call them so, Day, from the noise and hurry; Night, from the yelling of wild beasts. [...] Darknesse he created not, but onely by ac­cident; and yet not that, without some notable use. Much lesse that darknesse of affliction which he is said to create, Esa. 45.7. Ʋn­to the upright there ariseth light in darknesse, yea light by dark­nesse, Psal. 112.4. as to Paul, whose bodily blindnesse opened the eyes of his minde. Opera Dei sunt in mediis co [...]trariis, saith Luther, [Page 7]Gods workes are effected usually by contraries, [...]. Nazi [...]nz. Laer [...]ius. And the evening and the morning &c.] Thales (one of the seven Sages) had learned this truth, by going to Schoole in Egypt. For being asked whe­ther was first the Day or the Night? he answered, that the Night was sooner by one Day. As who should say, afore God had crea­ted the light, it must needs be confessed that out of him, there was nothing but darknesse. Evening seperates by darknesse, morn­ing by light: so the one dis-joynes day from night, the other night from day. Onely this first evening seperated not, because light was then uncreated. Yet was it of God appointed (even then) to stand betwixt light and darknesse. In the first Evening was Heaven and Earth created, and in the first Morning the light, 2 Cor. 11.25. both which make the civill day, called [...] by the Apostle. And this (which doubtlesse is the naturall order of reckoning the day, Pli [...]. lib. 2. c. 7 from evening to evening) was in use among the Athenians, and is to this day retained by the Jewes, Italians, Bohemians, Si esians, and o­ther Nations. Our life likewise is such a day, and begins with the darke evening of misery here; but death is to Saints the day-breake of eternall brightnesse. Morning lasteth but till morning: Nay, Psal. 30.5. not so long; for, Behold at even-tide trouble, and before the morning he is not, Esay 17.14. It is but a moment, yea a very little moment, and the indignation will pertransire be overpast, saith the Prophet; Esa. 16.10. [...]. Heb 6.10.37. so little a while as you can scarce imagine, saith the Apostle. If it seem otherwise to any of us, consider; 1 That we have some lucida intervalla, some respites, interspiriates, breathing whiles. And it is a mercy that the man is not alwayes sweating out a poor living, Gen. 3. Rom. 6.23. the woman ever in pangs of child-birth, &c. 2 That this is nothing to eternity, of extreamity which is the just hire of the least sin. 3 That much good accrues unto us hereby, Heb. 12.10. Yea this light af­fliction which is but for a moment,2 Cor. 4.17.worketh out unto us that far most excellent and eternall weight of glory. Oh pray, pray, that the eyes of our understanding being enlightned by that Spirit of wisdome, and r [...]vellation, we may know what is the riches of the glory of his inheri­tance in the Saints, &c. Eph. 1.17, 18.

Verse 6. Let there be a firmament.] Yet not so firme, but it shall be dissolved, 2 Pet. 3.11. That it is not presently so; that those windowes of heaven are not opened, as once in the deluge, (having no better a bar then the liquid ayre) and we suddenly bu­ried in one universall grave of waters, see a miracle of Gods mercy, and thanke him for this powerfull word of his, Let there be a fir­mament.] [Page 8]Bartholinus tells us, that in the yeare of Christ, 1551. a very great multitude of men and cattell were drowned by a terrible tempest, the clouds suddenly dissolving, and the wa­ters pouring downe againe, Barthol lib. 2 de meteoris. with such a strange stupendious violence, that the massie walls of many Cities, divers Vine­yards, and faire houses were utterly destroyed and ruined. Clouds, those bottles of raine, are vessells as thin as the liquor which is contained in them. D. H. Conte [...]p. There they hang and move, though weighty with their burdens. How they are upheld (saith a Re­verend Divine) and why they fall here and now, we know not, and wonder, Job 26.8. They water our lands, as we doe our gardens, and are therefore called our heavens, Deut. 33.28.

Verse 7. Waters which were above the firmament.] That is, the clouds, and watery meteors above the lower region of the ayre, where Gods pavillion round about him is darke waters, Psal. 18.11. Jer. 10.13.and thicke clouds of the skies. These he weighes by measure, not a drop falls in vaine, or in a wrong place, Job 28.15. And this is the first heaven: As the second is the starry skie, which is firme and fast, as a molten looking-glasse, Job 37.18. To this heaven, some that have calculated curiously, have found it 500 yeares journey. Others say, that if a stone should fall from from the eight sphere, and should passe every houre an hundreth miles, Burton of Me­lancholly. [...]. De C [...]lo, tex [...] 99. Deut. 10.14. Luke 22.42. Luke 16.22. Job. 14.2. Heb. 12.22. Heb. 11.14. it would be 65 yeares or more, before it would come to ground. Beyond this second heaven, Aristotle acknowledgeth none other. Beyond the move­able heavens (saith he) there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor Vacuum. But we have a more sure word of prophesie. Gods blessed booke assures us of a third heaven, 2 Cor. 12.2. called else­where the heaven of heavens, the Paradise of God, the bosome of Abraham, the Fathers house, the City of the living God, the Coun­try of his pilgrims. A body it is (for bodies are in it) but a subtile, fine, spirituall body: next in purity to the substance of Angels and mens soules. It is also, say some, solid as stone, but cleare as chry­stall, Rev. 21.11. Job 37.18. A true firmament indeed; not pene­trable by any (no not by Angells, Yates his Mo­dell. spirits, and bodies of just men made perfect) but by a miracle, God making way by his power, where there is no naturall passage. It opens to the very Angels, Job. 1.51. Gen. 28.12. who yet are able to penetrate all under it. The other two heavens are to be passed through by the grossest bodies.

Verse 8. And the evening, &c.] Here's no mention of Gods approbation of this second dayes worke. Not for that hell was [Page 9]then ceated, or the reprobate Angels then ejected (as the Jewes give in the reason of it;) but because this dayes worke was left un­perfected, till the next; to the which therefore the blessing was re­served, and is then redoubled. God delights to doe his workes, not all at once, but by degrees, that we may take time to contemplate them peece-meal, and see him in every of them, as in an opticke glasse. Consider the lillies of the field, saith our Saviour. [...] Matth. 6.18. Prov. 6.6. Goe to the Pismire, thou sluggard, saith Solomon. Luther wisht Pontanus, the Chancellour of Saxony, to contemplate the Starchamber of Hea­ven (that stupendious arch-worke) born up by no props or pillars, Proponit con­templandam pul­cherrimam coeli concamerationem Nullis pilis & columnis imposi­tam, &c. Scultet. Annal. 276. and yet not falling on our heads: the thicke clouds also hanging often over us with great weight, and yet vanishing againe, (when they have saluted us but) with their threatning lookes. And can­not God as easily uphold his sinking Saints, and blow over any storme, that hangs over their heads? An Artificer takes it ill, if when he hath finished some curious piece of work, and sets it forth to be seen (as Apelles was wont to do) men slight it, and take no notice of his handy-work. And is there not a woe to such stupid persons, as regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the opera­tion of his hands? A sino quispiam narrabat fabulam,Esay 5.12.at ille movebat aures, is a proverb among the Greeks. Christ was by at the Crea­tion, and rejoyced, Prov. 8.30. Angels also were by at the doing of a great deale, and were rapt with admiration, Job 38.4, 5, 6. Shall they shout for joy, and we be silent? Oh how should we vex at the vile dulnesse of our hearts, are no more affected with these indelible ravishments!

Verse 9, 10. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered, &c.] The water, they say, is ten times greater then the earth, as is the ayre ten times greater then the water, and the fire then the ayre. Sure it it is, that the proper place of the water is to be above the earth, Psal. 104.6. Saylers tell us, that as they draw nigh to shore, when they enter into the haven, they run as it were downe-hill. The waters stood above the mountains, till (at Gods rebuke here) they fled, and hasted away at the voyce of his thunder, Psal. 104.6, 7. to the place which he had founded for them. This drew from Aristotle, Lib. de mirabil. in one place, a testimony of Gods providence, which elsewhere he denyes. And David in that Psal. 104. (which one calleth his Physicks) tells us, that till this word of command, Let the wa­ters, &c.] God had covered the earth with the deepe, as with a gar­ment; For as the garment in the proper use of it is above the body, [Page 10]so is the sea above the land. And such a garment, (saith the di­vine Cosmographer) would it have been to the earth, but for Gods providence toward us, as the shirt made for the murth [...]ring of Agamemnon, Psal. 104.6, 9. where he had no issue out. But thou hast set a bound, saith the Psalmist, that they may not passe over, that they turn not againe to cover the earth. God hath set the solid earth upon and above the liquid waters, for our conveni [...]n [...]y: so that men are said to goe downe (not up) to the sea in ships, Psal. 107.23. See his mercy herein, as in a mirrour, and believe, that God (whose work it is still to appoint us the bounds of our habitations) will not faile to provide us an hospitium, Act. 17.26. a place to reside in, when cast out of all, as he did David, Psal. 27.10. and Davids parents, 1 Sam 22.4 and the Apostles, 2 Cor 6.10. and the English exiles in Queen Maries dayes, Scul [...]et A [...]al. and before them, Luther, (who being asked where he thought to be safe? answered Sub Coelo) and yet before him, those persecuted Waldenses; Rev. 12.15. after whom the Romish Dragon cast out so much water as a flood, but the earth swallowed it; and God so provided, that they could travell from Cullen in Germany to Millain in Italy, Cade of the Church, p. 180. and every night lodge with hosts of their own profession. The waters of affliction are often gathered together against the godly, but, by Gods gracious appointment, ever under the heaven (where our conversation is, Tareus in loc. Philip. 3.20. though our commoration be a while upon earth) and unto one place, as the Text here hath it. The dry-land will appeare, and we shall come safe to shore, be sure of it. Esay 26.4. The Rock of eternity (whereupon we are set) is above all bil­lows; washt we may be, as Paul was in the shipwrack, drowned we cannot be, 1 Pet. 1.5. because in the same bottome with Christ, and kept by the power of God, through faith, to salvation.

Verse 11.12. Psal. 104. Let the earth bring forth, &c. Grasse for the cattle, and herb for the use of man,] and both these, before either man or or beast were created. He made meat before mouthes. He fills for us two bottles of milke before we come into the world. Herbes and other creatures we have still ad esum & ad usum. Our land flowes not with milke onely for necessity, but with hone too, for delight. Nature amidst all is content with a little, Grace with lesse. Sing we merrily with him,

Verse 12. and the earth brought forth &c.] St. Austine thinks that thorns and thistles, brambles and briars were before the Fall, Aug de Gen. [...] cap. [...].8. though not in that abundance that now. Basil thinks otherwise, and that till sin came in, the rose was without prickles. Its likely, there were such shrubs at first created, non ut laederent hominem non pec [...]antem, sed peccaturum, saith Pareus. Now since the Fall, all creatures are armed against man: as that sword which Hector gave Ajax; which, so long as he used against men (his enemies) served for help and defence: But after he began to abuse it to the hurt of hurtless bea [...]s, it turned into his own bowels. yielding fruit after his kind.] So that men doe not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. Luk. 6.44. Jam. 3.12. Can a fig-tree, saith St. James, bear olive-berries; or a vine, figs? that were monstrous. And should not every man, in like man­ner, bear his own fruit (proper to his kinde, to his calling?) doe his own work? weed his own garden, Psal. 101.2. walk within his own house with a perfect heart, till God come unto him? Come he will, and look for fruit in its season. When he comes, he will turn up our leaves, and look that, like the tree of life, Rev. 22.21. we bear fruit every moneth: or that we be like the lemmon-tree, which ever and anon sendeth forth new lemmons, assoon as the former are fallen down with ripeness. Or the Egyptian fig-tree; Ʋnde pomum decirpscris, alte­rum sine mora protuberat Sol. in. Polyhist. cap. 45. Plin. lib. 10. which, saith Solinus, beareth fruit seven times in a year: pull off a fig, and another breaks forth in the place, shortly after. Now if we be found, like the barren fig-tree Luk. 13. that had leaves onl [...]: or the Cypress-tree which is said to be fair and tall, but altoge­ther fruitless: Or the Cypar it-tree, of which Pliny affirmeth, that it is natu morosa, fructu supervacanea, baccis parva, foliis amara, odore violenta, ac ne umbrâ quidem gratiosa; what can we expect, but that he should set down his basket, and, taking up his axe, hew us down, as fewel for the fire of hell? In Hispania ni­hil Ig [...]avum, [...]i­hil sterile Solin. Spain is sayd to have nothing barren in it, or not some way useful; and why should Christs orchard, the Church? John 15.2. [...], he pares and prunes our leaves and luxuriancies: Yea cuts and slashes where need requires; and all, that we may bear more fruit. Sincerity alone will not comfort a man, unless it grow up to fruitfulness; which, springing from the exercise of grace, Isa. 38.3. 2 Pet. 1.3. hath a sweet reflection on the soul, as in sick Hezekiah; and sweetly seals up our calling to glory and vertue, as the budding of Aarons rod, did his calling to the pr [...]esthood: whereupon One [Page 12]well observeth, that not only all the plants of Gods setting, but the very boughs cut off from the body of them will flourish. Quest.

Here some demand, were the trees so created at first, that if sin had never entered, they had ever flourished, laden with fruit? Answer is made by a worthy Divine, Answ. Brightm. on Rev. that the allusion▪ Rev. 22.2. seems to intimate some such matter. And perhaps Christ would else never have cursed the fruitless fig-tree, sith the time of figs was not yet come, Mark. 11.13.

Verse 14.15. Let there be light] The Sun, Moon, and Stars, are, as it were, certain vessels, whereinto the Lord did gather the light, [...] of [...] Chald. Ministra­vit. Psa. 19.5. which before was scattered in the Heavens. The Sun, that prince of planets, but servant to the Saints of the most High (as his name imports,) cometh out of his chamber, as a bride-groom; and rejoyceth, as a strong man, to run a race. This he doth with such a wonderful swiftness, as exceedeth the Eagles flight, more then it goeth beyond the slow motion of a snail: and with such incomparable sweetness, Eccles. 11.7. that Eudoxus the Philoso­pher professed, Plutarch. that he would be willing to be burnt up by the Sun presently, Herodot. Chrysost. Hom. 8 ad pop. Anti­och. so he might be admitted to come so neer it, as to learn the nature of it. Aeternùm atri et tetri sunto & habentor, qui non tam cute, quàm corde Aethiopici, Solem, quò magis luceat, eò ma­gis execrentur. Chrysostome cannot but wonder; that whereas all fire tends upwards, the Sun should shoot down his rayes to the earth, and send his light abroad all beneath him. This is the Lords own work, and it ought to be marvellous in our eyes. Deut. 4.19. It illuminates and beautifies all the orbes and heavenly bodies about it, yea it strikes through the firmament, in the trans­parent parts, and seeks to bestow its beauty and brightness, even beyond the Heavens. Bolt. walk. with God. It illightens even the Opposite part of Heaven, (gliding by the sides of the earth,) with all those glorious stars we see shining in the night. Yea, it insinuates into every chink and cranny of the earth, and concurres to the make­ing of those precious metals which lye in her bowels, besides those precious fruits brought forth by the Sun, and the precious things thrust forth by the Moon; Deut. 33.14. For as the Sun by warmth, so the Moon by moisture, maketh the earth fruitful: whence also she hath her name in the Hebrew, [...] Jareach, from re­freshing the earth with her cool influences. She is here called a light, and a great light: therefore She hath some light of her own, (as the stars also have) besides what she borroweth of the [Page 13]Sun, though not strong enough to rule the night without light from the Sun. Galileus used perspectives to descry mountaines in the Moone; and some will needs place hell in the hollow of it. It is easie to discerne that her body is not all alike lightsome (some parts being thicker, and some thinner then others) and that the light of the Sun falling on her, is not alike diffused through her. It is sufficient that the Church looketh forth (at first) as the morn­ing or day-dawning, she shall be faire as the Moon at least (in regard of sanctification) and (for justification) cleare as the Sun, Cant. 6.10. and therefore to the devill and his angels terrible as an Army with banners. Clouded she may be or eclipsed, but not utterly dark­ned, or denyed of light. Astronomers tell us, that she hath at all times as much light as in the full; but often-times a great part of the bright side is turned to heaven, and a lesser part to the earth. God seems therefore to have set it lowest in the heavens, and nearest the earth, D. Hackwels Apolog. Preface that it might daily put us in minde of the con­stancy of the one, and inconstancy of the other; her selfe in some sort partaking of both, though in a different manner; of the one in her substance, of the other in her visage.

Verse 16.17. He made also the stars,] To be receptacles of that first light, (whence they are called, Stars of light, Psal. 148.3.) and to worke upon inferiour bodies, which they doe by their mo­tion, light and influence, efficiendo imbres, ventos, grandines, pro­cellas sudum, &c. by causing foule or faire weather, as God ap­points it. Stars are the store-houses of Gods good treasure, which he openeth to our profit, Deut. 38.12. By their influence they make a scatter of riches upon the earth, which good men gather, and muck-wormes scramble for. Every star is like a purse of gold, out of which God throwes downe riches and plentiounesse into the earth. The heavens also are garnished by them, Job 26.13. they are, as it were, the spangled curtaine of the Bride-groomes chamber, the glorious and glittering rough-cast of his heavenly palace, the utmost court of it at least: from the which they twinckle to us, and teach us to remember our and their Creator, who in them makes himselfe visible, nay palpable, Psal. 19 1. Haba [...]. 3.3. [...]Act. 17.27. his wisdome, power, justice, and goodnesse, are lined out unto us in the browes of the firmament; the countenance whereof we are bound to marke, and to discerne the face of the heavens, which therefore are somewhere compared to a scroll that is written. The heavens, those Catholicke Preachers, declare the glory of God, &c. [Page 14]Their line, saith David, their voice (saith Paul, citing the same text) is gone out throughout all the earth; [...] Rom. 10.8. [...] 2 Pet. 2.16 they are reall postills of his Divinity. These (nay far meaner creatures) teach us, as Ba­laams Asse did that mad Prophet: to this Schoole are we now put backe, as idle truants, to their ABC. Onely let us not, as children, looke most on the babies on the backside of our bookes; gaze not, as they doe, on the guilded leaves and covers, never look­ing to our lessons; but as travellers in a forreigne Country, observe and make use of every thing; not content with the naturall use of the creature, as bruite beasts; but marke how every creature reads us a Divinity Lecture, from the highest Angell, to the lowest worme.

Verse 21. And God created great Whales,] In creating where­of, Plin. l. 9. c. 3. Ad quas nautae appellentes non▪ nunquam mag­num incurrunt discrimen Heid. Plin. 32. c. 1. Cur piscos vo­cat reptile? Re­pere communiter dicuntur omnia [...], vel quae habent pedes brevieres, ut n [...]ures, &c. creavit Deus vastitatus & stupores. For, as Pliny writeth of them, when they swim and shew themselves above water, annare insulas putes, they seem to be so many Islands, and have been so esteemed by sea-faring men, to their great danger and disadvan­tage. Into the Rivers of Arabia, saith Pliny, there have come Whales 600 foot long, and 360 foot broad. This is that Leviathan that playes in the sea, besides other creeping, or mooving, things in­numerble, Psal. 104.25. This one word of Gods mouth, Fiat, hath made such infinite numbers of fishes, that their names may fill a Dictionary. Philosophers tell us, that whatsoever creature is upon the earth, there is the like thereof in the sea, yea many that are no where else to be found; but with this difference, that those things that on the earth are hurtfull, the like thereunto in the waters are hurtlesse; as Eeles, those water-snakes, are without poyson, &c. yea they are wholesome and delicious food. Pis [...]is comes of Pasco: And in Hebrew the same word signifieth a pond or fish-pool, [...] and blessing. Many Islands are maintained, and people fed by fish; besides the wealth of the Sea. The ill-favoured Oyster hath sometimes a bright pearle in it. In allusion whereunto, we have our treasure (that pearle of price, the Gospell) saith S. Paul, [...], 2 Cor. 4.7. in Oyster-shells. And albeit now every creature of God is good, 1 Tim. 4.3. and to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe, yet under the Law, those fish onely were reputed cleane, Lev. 11.9. Deut. 14.9. Bern. Serm. 1. in die Sancti Andr [...]ae. that had fins and scales. So, saith St. Bernard, are those onely cleane in the sight of God, qui squammas & loricam habent patientiae, & pinnulas hilaritatis, that have the scales of patience, and sins of cheerfulnesse. And every winged foule.] Birds were [Page 15]made of all foure clements, yet have more of the earth, Gen. 2.19. And therefore that they are so light, and doe so de­light in the ayre, it is so much the more marvellous. They sing not at all till they have taken up a stand to their minde, nor shall we praise God till content with our estate. They use not to sing when they are on the ground, but when got into the ayre, or on the tops of trees. Nor can we praise God aright, unlesse weanedly affected to the world. It was a good speech of Heathen Epictetus, Si luscinia essem, facerem quod luscinia. Cum autem, Epist. Enchirid.homo ratio­nalis sim, quid faciam? Laudabo Deum, nec cessabo unquam, vos vero▪ ut idem faciatis, hortor. But concerning the crea­tion of birds, Macrob. l. 7 c. 16 there is in Macrobius a large dispute and disquisi­tion, whether were first, the egge or the bird? And here Reason cannot resolve it, sith neither can the egge be produced without the bird, nor yet the bird without the egge. But now both Scripture and Nature determine it, that all things were at first produced in their essentiall perfection.

Verse 22. Be fruitfull and multiply.] By bidding them do so, he made them do so, for his words are operative. Trismegist saith the selfe same things in effect that Moses here doth. God, saith he, Morneu [...] de ve­rit. relig. cap. 9. cryeth out to his works by his holy word, saying, Bring yee forth fruit, grow and increase, &c. Note the harmony here (and in twen­ty more passages) between Mercury and Moses. God hath not left his truth without witness from the mouthes of heathen wri­ters. We may profitably read them, but not for ostentation. That were to make a calfe of the treasure gotten out of Egypt.

Verse 24.25. Let the earth, &c.] Loe here the earth, Act. 16.8. in it selfe a dead element, brings forth, at Gods command, living creatures, tame, wild and creeping: Why then should it be thought a thing in­credible, that the same earth, at Gods command, should bring forth againe our dead bodies restored to life, at the last day? Surely if that speech of Christ, Joh. 11.43. Lazarus come forth, had been directed to all the dead, they had all presently risen. If he speake to the rocks, they rent; if to the mountaines, they melt; if to the earth, it opens; if to the sea, it yeelds up her dead; if to the whole host of heaven, they tremble, and stand amazed, waiting his pleasure. And shall he not prevaile by his mighty power, the same that he put forth in the raising of his Son Christ, Eph. 1.19. to raise us from the death of sin; and of carnall, Esa. 51.16. to make us a people created againe, Psal. 102.18? Doth he not plant the heavens, and [Page 16]lay the foundation of the earth, that he may say to Zion thou art my people? Empty man would be wise (saith Zophar, Job 11.12.) though man be born like a wild asse colt. Mans heart is a meer emptiness, a very Tohu vabohu, as void of matter to ma [...]e him a new creature of, as the hollow of a tree is of heart of oake. God therefore creates in his people cleane hearts; Psal. 50.10. and, as in the first crea­tion, so in the new creature, the first day, as it were, God works light of knowledge; the second day, the firmament of faith; the third day seas and trees, that is, repentant tears, and worthy fruits; the fourth day, Lightf. Miscel. the Sun, joyning light and heat together, heat of zeale, with light of knowledge; the fifth day, fishes to play, and foules to flye; so, to live and rejoyce in a sea of troubles, and flye heaven-ward by prayer and contemplation. The sixt day, God makes beasts and man, yea, of a wild asse-colt, a man in Christ, with whom old things are past, all things are become new, 2 Cor. 5.17. [...]. 1 Thess 4. And to whom (besides that they are all taught of God) the very beasts, Esa. 1.2. and birds, Jer. 8.7. doe read a Divinity Lecture. Aske now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the foules of the ayre they shall tell thee, Anton. Eremita ap. Aug. lib. 1. de doctr. Christ. Niceph. l. 8. c. 40 Clem. Alex. Job 12.8. The whole world is nothing else, saith One, but God expressed, so that we cannot plead ignorance; for all are, or may be book learned in the creature. This is the Shepherds Callender, the Plowmans Alphabet; we may run and read in this great book, which hath three leaves, Heaven, Earth, Sea. A bruitish man knows not, nei­ther doth a foole understand this. Psal. 9 29. They stand gazing and gaping on the outside of things onely, but asknot, Who is their Father, their Creator? Like little children, which when they finde a Picture in their booke, they gaze, and make sport with it, but never consider it. Either their mindes are like a clocke that is over wound above the ordinary pitch, and so stands still; their thoughts are amazed for a time; they are like a blocke, thinking nothing at all; Esa. 40.28. or else they think Atheistically, that all comes by nature; (but hast thou not known, saith the Prophet? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator? &c.) or at best, as the common passenger looks onely at the hand of the Diall to see what of the clock it is, but takes no notice of the clock-work within the wheels, and poises, and various turnings and windings in the work: so it is here with the man that is no more then a meer naturall. 1 Cor. 2.15. But he that is spirituall discerneth all things; he entreth into the [Page 17]clock-house, as it were, and views every motion, beginning at the great wheel, and ending in the least and last that is moved. He studies the glory of God revealed in this great book of Nature, and pray­seth his power, wisdome▪ goodness. &c. And for that in these things He cannot order his speech, because of darkness▪ Job 37.38, 39. he begs of God a larger heart and better language, and cryes out continual­ly with David, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who onely doth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever and e [...]er, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. Plal. 72.18, 19.

Verse 26. And God said, Let us make man.] Man is the master­peece of Gods handy-work. Sun, Moon, and Stars, are but the work [...] of his fingers, Psal. 8.3. but man the work of his hands, Psal. 1 [...] 9.14. He is cura divini ingenii, made by counsell at first, Let us make, &c. and his body, which is but the souls sheath, Dan. 7.15. Animae vagina. is still curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, that is, in the womb, Psal. 139.15. with Eph. 4.9. as curious workmen, when they have some choice peece in hand, they perfect it in private, and then bring it forth to light for men to gaze at. Thine bands have mude me (or took speciall pains about me) and fashioned me, saith Job. Thou hast formed me by the book, saith David, Psal, 139.16. Job 10.8. yea em [...]roidered me with nerves, veyns, and variety of limbs, mi­racles enough, saith One, betwixt head and foot to fill a Vo­lume. Man, saith a Heathen, is the bold attempt of daring nature the faire workmanship of a wise Artificer, saith another; [...]. Tris­megist. [...] Eurip. [...]. X [...]noph. Miraculorum omnium maxi­mum Stoici. Gal. lib. 3. de usu partium. Lib. 11. & 1 [...]. The greatest of all miracles, saith a third. And surely should a man be born into the world but once in a hundred years, all the world would run to see the wonder. Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt. Galen (that prophane man) was forced upon the description of man, and the parts of his body only, to sing a hymn to the Crea­tor, whom yet he knew not. I make here, saith he, a true hymn in the honour of our Maker; whose service▪ I beleeve verily, consisteth not in the sacrificing of Hecatombs, or in burning great heaps of Frankinsence before him, but in acknowledging the greatness of his wisdome, power and goodness; and in making the same known to others &c. And in another place, Now is he, saith Gallen, which looking but only upon the skin of a thing, wondreth not of the cunning at the Creator? Yet notwithstanding, he dissembleth not that he had tryed by all means to find some reason of the com­posing of living creatures; and that he would rather have fathered the doing thereof upon Nature, then upon the very Authour of [Page 18]Nature. Lib. 15. And in the end concludeth thus; I confesse that I know not what the soule is, though I have sought very narrowly for it. Favorinus the Philosopher, Nibil in terra magnum prater bomin [...]m, nibil in homine praeter mentem, Fav. ap. Gel. was wont to say, The greatest thing in this world is Man, and the greatest thing in man is his soule. It is an abridgement of the invisible world, as the Body is of the vi­sible. Hence man is called by the Hebrewes Gnolam haktaton, and by the Greeks Microcosmus, A little world. And it was a witty essay of him, who stiled woman, the second Edition of the Epitome of the whole world. The soule is set in the body of them both, as a little god in this little world, as Jehovah is a great God in the great world. Whence Proclus the Philosopher could say, that the minde that is in us, is an image of the first minde, that is, of God. [In our image, after our likenesse.] That is, as like us as may be, to come as neare us as is possible; for these two expressions signifie but one and the same thing, and therefore vers. 27. and chap. 5.1. and 9.6. one of them onely is used: Howbeit Basil referreth image to the reasonable soule in man, similitude to a conformity to God in holy actions. Some of the Fathers, had a conceit that Christ made mans body with his owne hands according to the forme and likenesse of that body which himselfe would afterwards assume and suffer in. We deny not, but that mans body also is Gods image, as it is a little world, and so the idea or example of the world, that was in God from all eternity, is, as it were, briefly and summarily exprest by God in mans body. But far be it from us to conceive of God as a bodily substance, to thinke him like un­to us, as we are very apt to doe. God made man in his owne image, Molinaeus de [...]gu. Dei. and men of the other side, quasi ad hostimentum, would make God after their image. It was seriously disputed by the Monks of Egypt, Anno Dom. 493. (and much adoe there was a­bout it) whether God were not a bodily substance, Funcius Chron. in Commentar. having hands, eyes, eares, and other parts, as we have? For so the simpler sort among them were clearly of opinion. Acutè obtusi. And in the second Council of Nice under Irene, John one of the Legates of the Easterne Churches proved the making of Images lawfull, because God had said in this text, Let us make man after our owne Image. And it was there decreed that they should be reverenced and adored in as ample and pious manner as the glorious Trinity. D. Heylins Geog. p. 53 3. But God is a Spirit, Job. 4.4. saith our Saviour, who best knew, for he came out of his Fathers bosome. And mans soule is a spirit likewise, indivisible, im­materiall immortall, distinguisht into three powe [...]s, which all make [Page 19]up one spirit. Spirit signifies breath, which indeed is a body. Om [...]s [...] Jebova [...]era sunt spiritual [...], ut den [...]t [...]tur De­um esse spiritum, Alssed. But because it is the finest body, the most subtile and most invisible, therefore immateriall substances, which we are not able to conceive, are represented unto us under this name. Such is the soule of man, which (for the worth of it) the Stoicks called the whole of Man. The body is but the sheath of the soule saith Daniel; the shell of it, Solam mentem dig [...]am esse quae home appelletur Stoici statuunt, Sic Plato scripsit [...] Corpus five cor­por quasi cordis por. i.e. puer five farmus. Came­rar. [...] quasi [...]. i.e. vinculum s [...], anima Macrob. Som. Scip. l. 1. c. 11. said Zoroaster; the servant, yea the sepulchre of it, say others. Compared to the soule, it is but as a clay-wall that encompasseth a treasure, as a wodden box of a Jeweller; as a course case to a rich instrument; or as a mask to a beautifull face. He that alone knew, and went to the worth of soules hath told us that a soule is more worth then all the world besides, because infused by God and stamped with his image and superscription. Now if we must give to Cesar the things that are Cesars, [...], (three ar­ticles, for one in the former clause Matth. 22.21.) Cur non & nos animam nostram, Dei imaginem, soli Deo consignemus, saith Gaspar Ens? Why give we not our soules to God, sith they are made in his image?

Verse 27. So God created man in his owne image.] There is a double image of God in the soule. One in the substance of it, whereof I have spoken in the former verse. The other in the qua­lities and supernaturall graces, of knowledge in the Understanding, rightness or straightness in the Will, and holiness in the affe­ctions: In all these, Man, when he came first out of Gods mint, shone most gloriously. But now O! quvntum haec Niobe, &c. Ezra 3.12. Oh think of this burnt Temple, and mourn, as they in Ezra, Eber, candidissimum, adhibito igne, nigrescit.

Verse 28. Subdue the earth, and have dominion.] Make it ha­bitable by driving out the wild beasts, that infest and annoy it. Make it arable also, and usefull to your selves and yours. Psal. 8. Qui dominari in catera p [...]ssit. Natus homo est. The crea­tures are mans servants and houshold-sluffe. God hath put all things under his feet, that he may raise himselfe thereby to God his Maker. A wise Philosopher could say, That man is the end of all things in a semicircle; that is, All things in the world are made for him, and he is made for God; to know and acknowledge him, to serve and expresse him, to say to him as David, and that Sonne of David. Lord, a body (a soul) hast thou given me; Heb. 10.5.behold I come to doe thy will O God. The very Manichees, that denyed God to bee the Author of the body, fasted on Sundayes, and in fasting exer­cised an humiliation of the body. The Paternians are not worth [Page 20]speaking of, A [...]sted. Chron. p. 387. who held this heresie (in the yeare of Christ, 387) that the lower parts of mans body were not made by God, but by the devill; and therefore allowing liberty of all wickedness to those parts, they lived most impurely. But if superstitious persons must reckon for it, Coloss. 2. ult. that punish their bodies without commandement from God, where shall those beasts app [...]ar that defile their bodies, and damn their soule? How shall all the creatures instead of serving them, take up arms for God, and serve against them? yea rise up in judgement and condemne them, for that when all other things keep their fit and proper places in the frame, and observe their pe­culiar ends and uses whereunto they were created, men onely (as so many Heteroclites and Irregulars) should prove unprofitable, un­usefull, nay hurtfull to the whole frame, causing vanity and misery to the poor creature which groans under it, and so defiling the very visible heavens that they must be purged by the last fire, as those vessells were in the Law that held the sin-offering? Rom 8. As for those that are in Christ, these are restored to the priviledges of their first creation, as fellowship with God, dominion over the creatures▪ &c. as appears by comparing Psal. 8.45. with Heb. 2.6, 7. &c. where whatever is spoken of man is applied to Christ, and so is proper to the Church, which is Christ mysticall, union being the ground of communion. Christ is married to his people in faithfulness; and as part of a joynture, he hath taken and bound over the best of the creatures to serve them, & bring them in provision, Hos. 2.20, 21, 22.

Verse 29. Behold, I have given you] By this, Behold, God stirs up them and us to confidence, thankfulness and obedience to so li­berall a Lord, so bountifull a Benefactor. And surely as iron put into the fire, seems to be nothing but fire, so Adam, thus beloved of God, Psal. 16.12. was turned into a lump of love, and bethinks himselfe what to do by way of retribution. All other creatures also wil­lingly submitted to Gods ordinance and mans service, well apaid of Gods provision, that great house-keeper of the world, that hath continually so many millions at bed and board. This is intimated in that last clause, And it was so. An undoubted argument surely of Gods infinite goodness, thus to have provided for so divers natures and appetites divers food, remedies, and armour, Psal. 104. for men especially, filling their hearts with food and gladnesse, Act. 14.17.

Verse 31. Behold, it was very good] Or, extream good, pleasant and profitable, a curious and glorious frame, full of admirable va­riety [Page 21]and skill, such as caused delight and complacency in God, and commands contemplation and admiration from us; like as a great garden stored with fruits and flowers, calls our eyes on every side: Wherefore else hath God given us a reasonable soule, and a Sab­bath day, a countenance bent upward, and, as they say, peculiar nerves in the eyes to pull them up toward the seat of their rest? be­sides a nature carried with delight after playes, pageants, masks, Bodin. Theas. Natur [...]. strange shews and rare sights; which oft are sinfull or vain, or at best, imperfect, and unsatisfactory? Surely those that regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, God shall destroy, and not build them up, Psal. 28.4. which to prevent, good is the counsel of the Prophet Amos, & that upon this very ground, Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel: For loe, he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, &c. Amos 4.12, 13. when he had made man, he made an end of making any thing more, because he meant to rest in man, to delight in him, to communicate himselfe unto him, and to be enjoyed by him throughout all eternity. And notwithstanding the fall, he hath found a ransome, Job 33.24. and creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works, Eph. 2.10. he rejoyceth over his new workmanship with joy, yea he rests in his love, Roderit. sanctii Hist Hisp. p. 4. c. 5. [...]xantiq. An­nalib. and will seek no further, Zeph. 3.17. But what a mouth of madness did Alfonso the Wise open, when he said openly, that if he had been of Gods counsell at the Creation, some things should have been better made and marshalled. Prodigious blasphemy!

CHAP. II. Verse 1. All the host of them.]

HIs upper and nether forces, his horse and foot, as it were, all creatures in heaven, earth or under earth, called Gods Host, for their, 1. number, 2. order, 3. obedience. Kimchi. These the Rabbines call magnleh cheloth and matteh cheloth, the upper and lower troopes ready prest.

Verse 2. He rested] That is, He ceased to create, which work he had done, without either labour or lassitude, Esa. 4.28. He made all nutu non motu.

Verse 3. God blessed the seventh day] i. e. made it an ef­fectuall meanes of blessing to him that sanctifieth it, as a rest [Page 22]from bodily labour and spirituall idleness, [...]. Ignat. Epist. 3. ad Magnesi [...]s. Spec Europ [...]. as Ignatius exhorteth. And sanctified it] i e. Consecrated and set it apart for holy use, as they sanctified (that is, appointed) Kedesh for a City of refuge, Josh. 20.7.

Verse 4. Jehovah God] Moses first calls God Jehovah here, when the universall creation had its absolute being. This is the proper name of God. The Jewes pronounce it not, we profane it, which is to them a great stumbling block. The first among the Christians that pronounced Jehovah, was Petrus Galatinus. But if ye would pronounce it according to the own letters, it should be Jahuo, of Jarmuth, Jagnak [...]b.

Verse 5. The Lord God had not caused it to rain] And none but he can give raine, Jer. 14.22. the meanes of fruitfulnesse, which yet he is not tyed to, as here. The Egyptians used in mockery to tell the Grecians, that if God should forget to raine, they might chance to starve for it.

Verse 6. But there went up a mist] The mater of raine: And hereby God tempered the morter whereof he would make man, as he did the clay with spittle, wherewith he cured the blinde, Ioh. 9.

Verse 7. Zuinglius. Formed man of the dust] not of the rocks of the earth, but dust, that is soon disperst; to note our frailty, vility, and impurity. Lutum enim conspurcat omnia, sic & caro. But why should so glorious a soul (called here Neshamah, of affinity to Shamajim, Heaven, whence it came) dwell in this corruptible and contemptible body? Lomb lib. 2. dist. 1. For answer; besides Gods will, and for order of the universe. Lombard saith, that by the conjunction of the soul with the body (so far its inferiour) man might learn and beleeve a possibility of the union of man with God in glory, notwithstand­ing the vast distance of nature, and excellence; the infinitness of both in God, the finiteness of both in man. And breathed into his nostrils] Quidam volunt metaphoram sumptam à vitrorum formatione. The greatest man is but a little ayre and dust tempe­red together. Nazian. What is man, saith One, but [...], soul and soyle, Breath and Body, a pile of dust the one, a puffe of wind the other, no solidity in either? And man became a living soul] Dicaearchus doubted of the soul, [...]usc. quaest. whether there were such a thing in rerum natura. He could not have doubted of it, with­out it, as man cannot prove logicke to be unnecessary, but by logick.

Verse 8. And the Lord God planted] Had planted (to wit, on the third day, when he made trees) for mans pleasure, a garden or paradise in Eden (whence [...]) in the upper part of Chaldea, whereabout Babel was founded. It was destroyed by the Deluge; the place indeed remained, but not the pleasantness of the place, cecidi [...] rosa, mansit spina. [...] Herod l. 1. Plin. l. 6. c, 16 Donec à sp [...] ad speciem transtret And yet that Country is still very fruit­full, returning (if Herodotus and Pliny may be believed) the seed beyond credulity. He put the man whom he had formed] And for­med him not far from the garden, say the Hebrewes; to minde him, that he was not here to set up his rest, but to wait till his change should come.

Verse 9. Every tree, &c.] The Hebrewes think, that the world was created in September, because the fruits were then ripe and ready, [...]. The tree of life also] A symbolicall tree; by the eating of the fruit whereof Adam should have had Gaius his pro­sperity, his body should have been in health, 3 Jo [...]. 2.as his soule. prospered. The tree of knowledge of good and evill] So called not because it selfe either knew, or could cause man to know; but from the event, God Forewarning our first parents, that they should know by wofull experience, unlesse they abstained, what was the worth of good, by the want of it; and what the presence of evill, by the sence of it. In like sort the waters of Meribah, and Kibroth Hattaavah, or the graves of lust, received their names from that which fell out in those places.

Verse 10. And a river went out] Pliny writeth, Plin. l. 2. c. 106. that in the Province of Babylon, there is burning and smothering a certaine lake or bog, about the bignesse of an acre. And who knowes, whether that be not a peece of Paradise, now drowned and de­stroyed?

V. 11. Where there is gold] Which (though never so much admired & studiously acquired) is but the guts & garbage of the earth. Gold is that which the basest element yeelds, the most savage Indians get, servile Apprentices work, Midianitish Camels carry, miserable muck-worms adore, unthrifty Ruffians spend. It is to be wondred, thatt reading upon the Minerals, we canot contemn them. They lye furthest from heaven, and the best of them in Havilah, furthest of all from the Church. Adam had them in the first paradise: In the second, we shall not need them. Money is the Monarch of this world, and answers all things: but in the matters of God, money bears no mastery, will fetch in no commodity, Iob 28.15. Wise­men [Page 24]esteemed it as the stones of the street, 2 Chron. 1.15. children of wisdome might not possesse it in their girdles, Matth. 10.9. Medes cared not for it, Esa. 13.17. and divels were set to keep rich and pleasant Palaces, verse 22. So subject these mettals are to ensnare and defile us, that God made a law to have them purified, ere he would have them used, Num. 31.22, 23. and appointed the snuffers and snuffe-dishes of the Sanctuary to be made of pure gold, Exod. 25.28. to teach us to make no account of that, that he put to so base offices, and is frequently given to so bad men. The Spaniard found in the mines of America more gold then earth. D. Heyl. Geogr. p 774. Hasten we to that Country where God shall be our gold, and we shall have plenty of silver, Iob 22.25.

Verse 15. To dresse it, and to keepe it] This he did as without ne­cessity, so without paines, without wearinesse. It was rather his recreation then his occupation. He laboured now by an Ordi­nance, it was after his fall laid upon him as a punishment, Gen. 3.19. to eat his bread in the sweat of his nose. God never made any, as he made Leviathan, to sport himselfe only; or to do as it is said of the people of Tombutum in Affrick, that they spend their whole time in piping and dancing; [...]ph. 4.28. but to work either with his hands or his head (in the sweat of his brow, or of his braine) the thing that is good; and with how much the more cheerfulnesse any one goeth about his businesse, by so much the nearer he commeth to his Pa­radise.

Verse 16. Commanded the man, saying] God hath given man dominion over all the sublunary creatures; and lest he should for­get that he had a Lord whom to serve and obey, he gave him this command to keep. [Of every tree of the Garden thou maist freely eat] The lesse need he had, to have been so licorish after forbidden fruit. [...] hic adhibet; quod miserecordiae est. But stoln wa­ters are sweet, Nitimur in vetitum, &c.

Verse 17. But of the tree, &c.] An exploratory prohibition. God knew well where we are weakest, and worst able to with­stand; viz. about moderating the pleasures of our touch and taste, because these befall us not as men, Arist. Ethic. l. 1. c. 3. but as living creatures. Here therefore he layes a law upon Adam, for the triall of his love; which, left to his owne free-will, he soon transgressed. Thou shalt surely dye] Certissimè citissimé (que) morieris, saith Zuinglius, thou shalt surely and shortly or suddenly dye. And without doubt e­very man should dye the same day he is born: the wages of death [Page 25]should be paid him presently. But Christ begs their lives for a season. For which cause he is said to be the Saviour of all men, not of eternall preservation, but of temporall reservation. 1 Tim. 4.10. In which respect also, God is said so to have loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, &c. It was a mercy to all mankind, Iob. 3.16. that the Messiah was promised and provided, sealed and sent into the world, that some might be saved, and the rest sustained in life, for their sakes. Symmachus renders it, Thou shalt be mortall.

Verse 18. And the Lord God said] Had said, to wit, on the sixth day when he made Man, and there was not a meet help found for him. Then God said, It is not good, &c. and so created the woman by deliberate councell, as before he had done the man. Only there it was in the plural, Let us make, here, I will make; to shew the unity of the Essence in the Trinity of persons. [...]. Athenis in nup­tiis dici solitum. Zenod. Proverb. It is not good for man to be alone] It is neither for his profit, nor his comfort. Optimum sola­tium sodalatium. I will make him a helpe meet for him] or, such another as himselfe, of the same form for perfection of nature, and for gifts inward and outward; one in whom he may see himself, and that may be to him as an Alter-ego, a second-self, Eph. 5.28. Such an one as may be a help to him both so this life, 1. By conti­nuall society and cohabitation. 2. For procreation and education of children. And for the life to come, 1. As a remedy against sin, 1 Cor. 7.2. Secondly, As a companion in Gods service, 1 Pet. 3.7. Nazianzen saith, [...] Naz. in pat. [...]pi­taph. that his mother was not only a meet help to his father in matters of piety, but also a doctresse and a governesse; and yet he was no baby, but an able Minister of the Gospel. Budaeus (that learned French-man) had a great help of his wife in points of learning; she would be as busie in his study, Non tractat negligentius li­bros [...]eos quàm liberos. Daniels Chron. fol. 262. as a­bout her huswifery. Placilla the Empresse was a singular help to her husband Theodosius in things both temporall and spirituall: And so was our King Edward the thirds Queen, a Lady of excel­lent vertue, the same that built Queens Colledge in Oxford. She drew evenly (saith the Historian) with the King her husband in all the courses of honour, that appertained to her side, and seems a piece so just cut for him, as answered him rightly in every joynt.

Verse 19. To see what he would call them] If he had been per­mitted to name himself, it should have been probably, Luke 3. ult. the Sonne of God, as he is called by St. Luke in regard of his creation. But God, to humble him, calls him first Adam, (and after the fall) [Page 26] Enosh, that is, frail, sorry man, a map of mortality, a masse of misery.

Verse 20. Adam gave names] A sign of his Soveraignty, Num. 32.38, 41. an argument also of his wisdome, in giving them names according to their natures, as Hebricians well know. But for Adam there was not found, &c.] God set all the creatures be­fore him, ere he gave him a wife: 1. That seeing the sexes, he might desire to have a help in his kinde, and nature also. Men should not marry, till they finde in themselves the need of a wife. Vt ei commenda­tius esset Dei donum. Pet. Martyr. 2. That seeing no other fit help, he might the more prize her.

Verse 21. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep] It may be thought that Adam, observing that among all the creatures there was no meet match found for him, prayed in this deep sleep, or ex­tasie, Gen. 24.63. that such a help might be given unto him. This is Peter Martyrs note upon the text. Isaac went forth to pray, when he had sent forth for a wife; Prov. 19.14. A bad wise is but the image of a wife, or (as Lam [...]chs wives name was) a shadow of a wife, tsilla, um­bra ipsius. Mr. Gatak. and it was but reason, For a prudent wife is from the Lord. And he that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, saith the Wise-man. A wife, that is, a good wife; for every married woman is not a wife, unlesse she be a help to her husband, in the best things especially. The Heathen well saith, that every man when he marrieth, brings either a good or an evill spirit into his house, and so makes it either a heaven, or a hell. And it is a de­vice of the Rabbines (but the morall is good) that in the names of Ish and Ishah is included Jah, the name of God; and that, if you take out Jod and He, whereof that name consists, there remains no­thing Esch, Esch, fire, fire; the fire of dissention and brawl, which burneth, and consumeth to the fire of hell. It is not evill therefore to marry, but it is good to be wary, to marry in the Lord, as the Apostle hath it. He that marrieth in the Lord, marrieth also with the Lord; and he cannot be absent from his own mar­riage. A good wife was one of the first reall and royall gifts be­stowed upon Adam; and God consults not with him, to make him happy. As he was ignorant while himself was made, so shall he not know, while a second-selfe is made out of him; both that the comfort might be greater then was expected, as also, that he might nor upbraid his wife with any great dependence or obligation; See Yates his Modell. he neither willing the work, nor suffering any pain, to have it done. The rib can challenge no more of her, then the earth can of him. And he tooke one of his ribs] The woman was made of a bone [Page 27](saith a Reverend Writer) and but one bone, Ne esset ossea, B. Kings Vitis Palatina. lest she should be stiffe and stubborne. The species of the bone is ex­prest to be a rib (a bone that might be best spared because there are many of them) a bone of the side, not of the head; (the wife must not usurp authority over her husband) nor yet of the foot; she is not a slave, but a fellow-helper. A bone, not of any anterior part, she is not praelata, preferred before the man: neither yet of any hinder part, she is not post-posita, set behind the man; A yokefellow standing on even ground with thee, though draw­ing on the lest side. Gatak. but a bone of the side, of the middle and indifferent part; to shew, that she is a companion, and the wife of thy covenant, Mal. 2.14. A bone she is from under the arm, to put man in mind of protection and defence to the woman. A bone not far from his heart, to put him in mind of dilection and love to the woman. A bone from the left side (as many think likely) where the heart is, to teach, that hearty love ought to be betwixt married couples:

Vers. 22. And the rib which the Lord God had taken,] Matter, in the beginning of time, was taken from man, to make a woman: And matter, in the fulness of time, was taken from a woman to make a man, even the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim. 2.5. And as out of the side of sleeping Adam, Eve was formed; so from the blood issuing out of the side and flesh of dying Christ, came his Spouse the Church. Ephes. 5.26. Diabolus per costam tanquam per scalam, ad cor Adami as­cendit. Mor. l. 3. c 5. Sic Phoroneus apud Bruson. l. 7. c. 22. Requirit vir costam suam, re­quirit soemina sedem suam. Hinc Ruth 3.1.9. Annon [...] quaererem tibi requiem? Aben- [...]zra. His chief care therein was to sanctifie and cleanse his Church, and therefore he came by water and blood. So should it be every husbands; then would not the devil so oft break his head with his own rib; or as Saint Gregory hath it, Climbe so oft by h [...]s rib to his heart, as by a ladder. A good wife doth him good, and not evil, all her days. But this is not every mans happiness. Sylla faelix, si non habuisset uxorem. So Job and Moses, quorum conjugium, conjurgium. There is in most, a propension to the nup­tial conjunction. The man misseth his rib (say the Rabbines;) the woman would be in her old place again, under the mans arm or wing. Then Naomi her mother in law, said unto her, My daugh­ter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? Ruth 3.1. [Made he a woman,] Heb. builded, That is, created with special care, art, and fit proportion, in the manner of a house. A body hath God given the woman more capacious and room­thy, both for the conceiving and containing of her young babe, which dwells in her womb, as in its house; and hath all its [Page 28]houshold-stuffe, as it were about it, till time produce it into the light of life. Adam was formed, Eve builded; her frame consists of rarer rooms, of a more exact composition then his doth. And if place be any priviledge, we finde, saith one, hers built in Paradise, when his was made out of it. [And brought her unto the man] Marriage then is of divine institution. The Saturnilian hereticks sinfully said, that it was of the devill. And the blemish will never be wiped off from some of the Ancients, who to establish their own doll of I know not what Virginity, have written most wickedly and basely against marriage. Three things we have here out of Moses to say for it against whatsoever opposite, viz. Gods 1. Dixit. 2. Duxit. 3. Benedixit, Gen. 1.28. God the Father or­dained it. God the Son honoured it with his first miracle. God the Holy Ghost did the like, by overshadowing the betrothed Virgin, Papists and others that disgrace it, appear herein more like Devils then Divines, if S. Paul may be judge, 1 Tim. 4.2 or Ignatius, who saith, Habet inbabita­torem Draconem Aposta [...]a [...]. Ignat. Epist. ad Philad. If any call marriage a defilement, he hath the Devil dwel­ling in him, and speaking by him.

Verse 23. This is now bone of my bone, &c.] This sentence (saith Tertullian, and after him, Beda) is the first Prophesie that was e­ver uttered in the world. And it is uttered in a way of admiration, which they that are taken with, do commonly use a concise kinde of speech; especially, if overjoyed as Adam here was upon the first sight of the woman; whom he no sooner saw but knew, and there­upon cryed out, as wondring at Gods goodness to himself, [This now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.] Luther, the night be­fore he dyed, was reasonably well, and sate with his friends at table. The matter of their discourse was, whether they should know one another in heaven or no? Luther held it affirmatively, and this was one reason he gave. Melch. Adam. Adam as soon as he saw Eve, knew what she was, not by discourse, but by divine revelation; so shall we in the life to come. All the Saints shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, having communion with them, not only as godly men, but as Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. And if with them, why not with others? S. Chrysostome saith we shal point them out, and say, Lo yon­der is Peter, [...]. and that's Paul, & there are the Prophets, Apostles, &c. [She shall be called Woman] Or Manness, of Man, as Ishah of Ish. He gave her her name, from his own, by taking away one nume­rall letter that stands for ten, and adding another that stands for five; to note her infirmity, and duty of submitting to her [Page 29]husband, whose very naming of her notes her subjection.

Vers. 24. Therefore shall a man leave, &c.] Whether these are the words of God, Adam or Moses, it is uncertain, and not much material. The husband is bound more to love his wife then his parents, in regard of domestical communion, Paraus ad lo­cum. adh [...]sion and cohabitation, not in regard of honor, obedience and recompence. [And they two shall be one flesh.] Two in one flesh, not three or four, as the Patriarks of old through ignorance, or inobservance of that plain prohibition, Levit. 18.18. It is possible they might mistake the word (sister) for one so by blood, which was spoken of a sister by nation, as those clauses (to vex her) and (during her life) do evince.

Vers. 25. They were both naked, and not ashamed,] Neither needed they. Sin and shame, as Papists say, hops and heresie, came in together. Cloaths are the ensignes of our sin, and covers of our shame: To be proud of them is as great folly, as for a beg­ar to be proud of his rags, or a thief of his halter. As the pri­soner looking on his irons, thinketh on his theft; so we, looking on our garments, should think on our sins.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. Now the Serpent was more subtil, &c.]

ANd so a more fit instrument of that old Serpent the Devil, [...] Theodotion. Cui Paulus [...] Cor. 11.3. [...] oppo [...]it, quam mundus vocat Sillmess, sheep­ishness. Revel. 12.9. Authoramentu [...] majoris infide­litatis. Ter [...]ul. Isai. 55.3. Plin. l. 8. c. 25. that deceiveth all the world. Good natural parts abused, prove rather as press-money to impiety (as he phraseth it,) and their wisdom Culpae suasoria, as Ambrose speaketh. Wit un­sanctified, is a fit tool for the devil to work withal: Neither is there a likelier Anvil in all the shop of Hell, whereon to forge mischief, then one that is learned and leud, ingeniosê nequam, Wittily wicked. [And he said,] That is, the Devil in the Ser­pent, as the Angel in Balaams Ass. Satan istius primae fabulae Poetafuit, serpens histrio. By the ear he brought death into the world: And God, to cross him, brings life in by the same door: For it is, Hear and your souls shall live. The Dragon bites the Elephants ear, and thence sucks his blood: Because he knows that to be the onely place, which he cannot reach with his trunk to defend. So here, that great red Dragon delt with miserable man­kinde, [Page 30]setting first upon the woman as the weaker vessel (where the hedg is lowest, there the beast leaps over) and so climbing by Adams rib to his heart, as by a ladder; as I said before, out of Saint Gregory. [Yea, hath God said,] In the Chaldee, Is it true that God hath said? Vide simile Ruth 2.21. in Hebraeo, & 1 Sam. 14.30. A concise expression, implying, That this was not the first of their discourse: Something had been said before. It is not safe parling with the Devil. Satan etsi semel videatur verax, millies est mendax, & semper fallax. Halter him up there­fore, [...] and stop his mouth soon, as our Saviour did. Or do, as the French say in their Proverb, When the Spaniard comes to parley of peace, then double bolt the door. The Hollanders are said to make no conditions with the Spaniard, but such as are made at Sea, and sealed with great Ordnance, Spec. bel. sacr. Greenbam. &c. He shoots with Satan in his own bowe, that thinks by parling with him to put him off. [Hath God said, Ye shall not eat.] Here, he began his assault upon our first-parents; here, upon Christ, Matth. 4.3. with 3.17. and here, he doth still upon us: Endeavoring to elevate the truth and certainty of Gods Word, and to weaken our Faith in his pre­cepts, promises, and menaces. And here, if he take us out of our trenches, if he can but wring this sword of the Spirit out of our hands, he may do what he will with us. Get but the Heretickes (said that subtil Sophi [...]ter) out of the paper-walls of the Scri­ptures, Bristow his Motives. into the open field of Fathers and Councils, and ye shall soon do well enough with them.

Vers. 3. Neither shall ye touch it] This is of the womans own addition, and of a good intention doubtlesse. For afterwards, when she had drunk in more of the Serpents deadly poyson, Hausis virus peritura, & pe­ritur [...]s paritura. Bern. from gazing upon the fruit, she fell to gaping after it, from touching to tasting. He that would not feed on sins meat, must beware of the broth; keep thee far from an evill matter, saith Moses, Exod. 23.7. A good man dare not come near the train, though he be far off the blow: He dare not venture on the occasion, lest his tinder should take fire. Circa serpent is antrum po [...]itu [...] non eris di [...] illa­sus. Isidor. It is ill playing upon the hole of the Aspe, or coming too near Hell-mouth: For by so doing, you may beseem to drop in. Watch therefore, and pray too, that ye enter not into temptation, saith our blessed Saviour; and mark his reason, The spirit is will­ing, but the flesh is weak. q. d. Though the Spirit purpose other­wise, the flesh will faulter, and be foyled: Witness the woman here with her left ye die. She held the precept in the utmost extent of it: But that which she failed in, was, That she minced the [Page 31]matter, and opposed not the commination to the temptation; And see how the Devil works upon her weakness, as he watch­eth for our haltings, and where to have us on the lip.

Vers. 4. Ye shall not surely die,] He saith not, Dying ye shall not dye; or, Surely ye shall not die: This had been too plain a contradiction to that word of God, that had threatned assured death. But, Ye shall not die in dying; That is, It is not certain ye shall die. And this latter is more nice and ambiguous. She seems to doubt of the certainty of what God had said. He plainly, and yet clearly impugnes it: Whereas had Gods Word abidden in her, she had overcome that wicked one, 1 John 2.14. The word is compared to mustard seed, which being mixt with vinegar, is (they say) a soveraign medicine against Serpents.

Vers. 5. For God doth know, &c.] Picherellus in Cosmopaea. Id quod cuns Deum non lateat, sibi cavet. It is remarkable, that the devil here chargeth God with envy, which is his own proper disease: For ever since, he himself fell from Heaven, he cannot abide that any should come there; but of pure spight hindereth them, all that may be. Here he envyed that God should be served by man, and that man should be gifted and graced by God. So that he paints out and points out himself, in saying, That God envyed man the gift of Wisdom. There is nothing more usual with the wicked, then to muse as they use, and to suppose that evil to be in others, that they [...]inde to be in themselves. Die in Calig. Act. & Mon. fol. 1441. Caligula (that impure beast) would not beleeve there was any chast person upon earth. And, I dare say (said Bonner to Hawks the Martyr) that Cranmer would re­cant, if he might have his living. So judging others by himself: For Papists apply themselves (said our Protomartyr Mr. Rogers) to the present state; yea, if the state should change ten times in the yeer, they would ever be ready at hand to change with it, and so follow the cry, and rather utterly forsake God, and be of no Religion, then that they would forgo lust, or Living for God or Religion. [Then your eyes shall be opened.] There is an open­ing of the eyes of the minde to contemplation and joy: There is also an opening of the eyes of the body to confusion and shame. [...]. 2 Cor. 1 King. 22.15. Cioesus Halyn p [...]s ma [...] ­nam di [...]p [...]d [...]s [...]pum vim. Herod. He promiseth them the former, but intends the latter, and so cheats them, as he doth thousands now adays, by the cogging of a Dye, (as Saint Paul hath it) giving them an apple in exchange for paradise. Thus of old he couzened A [...]ab and Croesus with promises of victory; which when it fell out otherwise, he had a [Page 32]hole to creep out, and save his credit by an equivocation. Thus of latter time be gulled Pope Silvester the second, assuring him that he shou [...]d never dye till he came to say Mass in Jerusalem; He, resolving never to come there, made no reckonin [...] but to live a long time. But it f [...]ll out somewhat otherwise: For as he was saying Mass in a certain Church in Rome called Jerusalem, fearing no­thing, [...]unc [...]ius in C [...]ronol Intelligit [...]e a di­abolo, amphibol [...] vocis, circumven­tum, auimadver­tit sibi morien­dum esse pen­sum (que) Sata [...]ae reddendum, &c. the Devill claymed his due, and had it. For he was there, and then taken with a strong feaver, and lying on his death bed, he sent for all his Cardinais, and declaring before them what a wret­ched bargain he had made with the devill (selling his soul for the Popedome, and deceived [...]by him with promise of long [...]lfe) he bit­terly bewayled his own folly, and advised them to beware by his example. And was not Leoline the second, Prince of North-Wales, as finely cheated? For consulting with a Witch he was told, that it was his destiny to ride through London with a crown on his head. Hereupon he growing burdensome to the English borders was in a battle overthrown. His head fixt upon a stake, and adorn­ed with a paper-crown was by a horseman triumphantly carried through London: Heylins Geog. p. 493. and so the prophesie was fulfilled, Anno Dom. 1282. [And ye shall be as Gods] The Serpents Grammar first taught (saith Damianus) Deum pluralitèr declinare, eritis sicut Dii This the woman understood of the Trinity, as appears, vers. 22. but the Devill might mean it of the Angels, (so our Chaldee Pa­raphrast translates it) which had sinned, and now had wofull ex­perience of the good which they had lost, and the evill wherein they lay.

Verse 6. And when the woman saw] At this Cinque-port the devill entred. How many thousand souls have dyed of the wound of the eye, Ovid. and cryed out, as Eve might here, ut vidi, ut perii! If we do not let in sin at the window of the eye, or the door of the ear, it cannot enter into our hearts. Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via, saith Quintilian. Wherefore if thine eye offend thee, pull it out. In Barbary, 'tis death for any man to see one of the Xoriffes concubines; and for them too, if when they see a man (though but through a casement) they doe not suddenly screek out. Quintil. declam. [She took of the fruit thereof] Whatever it were, whether an apple (as Ber­nard, Heyl. Geog. p. 196. P [...]rrexit Pomum & surripuit pa­radisum. Bern. and others; gather out of Cant. 2.3.) or a fig, as Theodorot; or a pomegranate, as Mahomet in his Alchoran; or a peach) (malum persicum) or Pomum Paradisi, as the Syrians call a kinde of fruit common amongst them: God created us of nothing, and we of­fended [Page 33]him for a matter of nothing. All the legions of the repro­bate devills, saith one, entred into one beast, and, Yates his Me­dell. by the Pitho and Suada of that viperous tongue, crept into the bosome of [...]ve, as it were by all the Topick places in Logick, figures in Rhetorick, and other engines of guile and deceit, till they had brought her into a fools paradise, with the loss of the earthly, and hazard of the hea­venly. [And gave it also to her husband] It is probable (saith the same Author) that Adam stood by all the time of the disputation, therefore his sin was the greater, that he rebuked not the Ser­pent, &c. And again, I cannot believe, saith he, but that the de­vills in the Serpent did as well tempt Adam as Eve, though first they began with her, as a further means of enticing him. Others are of another minde, as that the tempter set upon the woman a­lone and apart from her husband, as she was curiously prying into the pleasures of the garden. Paraeus. That the Serpent crept into Paradise unseen of Adam, who was to keep beasts out of it; Cartw. Catach. that he remain­ed there without being espied of him, and crept out again when he had done his feat: That when she gave him the fruit, she gave him also a relation of the Serpents promise, concerning the force of that fruit, that it would make them wise as God, knowing good and evill, &c. whence he is said to have harkned to her voice, vers. 17. And surely, every Adam hath still his Eve, every David his Bathsheba, a tempter in his own bosome (his own flesh) where­by he is eftsoons drawn away, and enticed as a fish by the bait, (beauty is a hook without a bait, [...] Jam. 1.14.15. [...]. as one saith) till when lust hath conceived (as here it did in Eve) it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Sathan hath onely a perswa­ding sleight, not an inforcing might. It is our own concupiscence that carrieth the greatest stroke.

Vers. 7. They knew that they were naked] Bereft of Gods blessed Image; no more of it left, then, as of one of Jobs messengers, to bear witness of our great loss. I call it ours, because we were all in Adam, as Levi was in Abraham, or as the whole Country is in a Parliament man. He was our head; and if the head plot treason, Hos. 13.9. all the body is guilty. Hence the Prophet Hosea; O Israel, One hath destroyed thee, but in me is thy help. So some read it. Had we been by when this wretched One destroyed us all: had we seen him stand staggering betwixt Gods Commandment, and Eves allure­ment, not yet resolved which way to incline, and could have fore­seen the danger hanging over him and our selves, we would surely [Page 34]have cryed out to him Cave miser, Augustine. Take heed thou wretch. And why do we not the same to our selves, when sollicited to sin? Alterius perditio tua sit cautio, saith Ifidore: and cavebis si pave­bis, saith Another. There is a practical judgment still practised in our hearts. On the one side, is propounded the commodity of sin; on the other, the offence, whereby we provoke God. So that in the one end of the ballance, is laid God, in the other sin, and man stands in the midst, rejecting the command of God, and accepting the pleasure of sin. What is this, but to prefer Paris before Paradise with Cardinal Burbon, Barabbas, before Christ, a thing of nought before Heavens happiness? Our first parents were born with the royal Robe of Righteousness (as those Por­phyrog [...]niti in Constantinople,) Purchas Pil­grim. but the devil soon stripped them of it (the same day, as some think) and so they became fore ashamed of their bodily nakedness, which therefore they fought to cover, by making themselves Aprons, to cover their Pri­vities.

But why did they (and do we still) so studiously hide those parts, Quest. rather then their eyes and ears, which they had abused to sin with?

Because sin is become natural, Answ. Psal. 51.7. Gen. 5 3. and derived by generation. Therefore circumcision was also on that part of mans body; to shew, That that which was begotten thereby, deserved in like maner, as execrable and accursed to be cut off, and thrown away by God. Here some ground their opinion, That it is a sin against nature, to look on the nakedness of another. A foul shame it was for old Noah to lye so uncovered in the midst of his Tent: but far fouler for those worshipers of Priapus, (which Jerome and Isidore make to be that Baal-Peor, Num. 25.5.) that shamed not to say, Empedoclis vo­cab. apud Arist. Nos, puabre pulso, stamus sub Jove, coleis apertis, &c. But in mans soul is now a [...] the seed of all sin, though never so hainous or hideous: Neither by nature is there ever a better of us; but as in Water face answereth to face, so doth the heart of a man to a man, Prov. 27.19. And as there were many Marii in one Caesar, so are there many Cains and Caiaphasses in the best of us all. Totus homo est inversus decalogus. The whole man is in evil, and whole evil is in man. As the Chaos had the seeds of all Creatures, and wanted onely the Spirits motion to produce them: So our corrupt nature hath all sins in it, and wants but the warmth of Satans temptation to bring them into [Page 35]act, if God restrain not. Sure it is, we can stay no more from sinning, then the heart can from panting, and the pulse from beating. The first man defiled the nature, and ever since the na­ture defiles the man. As poyson put into a cup of wine disperseth it self, and makes it deadly: so Original sin polluteth and p [...]son­eth our whole man. And as the whitest ivory turns with the fire, into the deep [...]st black, the sweetest wine becomes the sowrest vineger: So here. The more unnatural any quality is, the more extream will it be, as a cold wind from the south is intolerable, &c. So Adam, being in honor, was without understanding, Psal. 49. ult. and is now in worse case then the very beasts that perish: Pecoribus morticiuis, saith Tremel: The beasts that die of the murrain, and so become carrion, and are good for nothing.

Vers. 8. And they heard the voyce of the Lord.] Either speak­ing something by himself of that which Adam had done against his command; as who should say, Hath he served me so indeed? or else, calling to Adam in a mighty thunder, as to Pharaoh, Exod. 9.28. or in a terrible whirlwind, as to Job, Chap. 38.1. the better to humble him, and prepare him for a Sermon of mercy and for­giveness. God poureth not the oyl of his grace, save onely into broken vessels. Christ came to cure not the sound, but the sick with sin: Isai. 35.7. & 44.3. The Holy Ghost is poured out upon thirsty souls one­ly, that are scorched and parched with the sense of sin, and fear of wrath. As the way to Sion was by Sinai, so, unless we desire rather to be carnally secured, then soundly comforted, we must pass by Baca to Berachah, by a sight of our sin and misery, to a sense of Gods grace and mercy. [Walking in the Garden in the cool of the day.] God did not meet the man angerly, Exod. 4. as he did Moses in the Inn, when he had much ado to forbear killing him; nor as the Angel did Balaam, with a drawn sword in his hand to destroy him: Neither did he rush upon him, as David ran upon Goliah, and cut off his head. But with a soft and slow pace, [...] Gressu gralla­torio. Isai. 28.21. [...]. Ad vesperam dici. (as if he had no minde to it) he comes walking toward them, to do this his work, his strange work, of sentencing sinners; and that in the cool of the day too, or towards the evening, as Saint Ambrose hath it after the Septuagint. Whereas to shew mercy, behold, he comes leaping upon the Mountains, skipping upon the Hills. Lo, this is the voyce, and the pace of my beloved. Cant. 2.8. God was but six days in making the whole world, yet seven days in destroying one city Jericho, as Chrysostom long since observed. He scourgeth [Page 36]not his people, Isai. 42.14. till there be no remedy, 2 Chron. 36.16. He for­bears us, though he cry like a travelling woman, to be delivered of his judgments. [And Adam and his wife, hid themselves.] Their covering of figleaves then, was too short; for, here they run with their aprons, into the thicket, to hide from God. A poor shift, God wot, but such as is still too much in use. If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, Job 31.33. or after the maner of men, saith Job, then let this and this evil befal me. The bad heart runs from God, and would run from its own terrors, as the wound­ed Deer from the deadly Arrow that sticks in his side; Facti sunt à cor­de suo fugitivi. Tertul. but re­fusing ordinary tryal, it is in danger to be prest to death inevita­bly. We have no better refuge, then to run from God to God. Blood-letting is a cure of bleeding, a Burn of a burn: To close and get in, avoyds the blow, &c.

Vers. 9. Where art thou,] Not, as if God knew not; for he searcheth Jerusalem with lights; Jam. 1.17. yea, himself is the father of lights, the great eye of the world, to whom the Sun it self, is but a snuff. Zach. 3.9. 2 Chron. 16 9. Heb. 4.13. exp. He hath seven eyes upon one stone; yea, his eyes run to and fro through the earth, and all things are naked and open: Naked (for the outside,) and open (for the inside) before the eyes of him, with whom we have to deal. Simple men hide God from themselves, and then think they have hid themselves from God; like the Struthiocamelus they thrust their heads into a hole, Plin. when hunted, and then think none seeth them. But he searcheth (so one may do, yet not finde) and knoweth, Psal. 139.1. He seeth (so one may do, yet not observe) and pondereth, Prov. 5.21. Though men hide their sins, as close as Rachel did her idols, or Rahab the spyes: Though they dig deep to hide their counsels, God can and will detect them, Prov. 15.11. with a wo to boot, Isai. 29.15. For hell and destruction are before him; how then can Saul think to be hid behinde the stuff, or Adam behinde the bush? At the voyce of the Lord he must appear, will he nill he, to give ac­count of his fear, of his flight. This he doth, (but untowardly) in the words following.

Vers. 10. I heard thy voyce,] So he had done before his fall, and feared not. Are not my words good to the upright? Micah 2.7. Excellently Saint Austin, Adversarius est nobis, quamdiú sumus & ipsi nobis: Quamdiú tu tibi inimicus es, inimitum habe­bis Sermonem Dei. Yea, but I was naked, and therefore hid my self. This also was non-causa pro causa. There was another pad [Page 37]in the straw, which he studiously conceals; viz. The conscience of his sin. Hic verò non factum suum, Excusando se­ipsum accusat. Gregor. Prov. 19.3.sed Dei factum in semetipso reprehendit, saith Rupertus. He blames not himself but God, for making him naked; and so verifies that of Solomon, The foolish­ness of man perverteth his way; and then (to mend the matter) his heart fretteth against the Lord. O silly simple!

Vers. 11. Who told thee.] His own conscience awakened and cited by Gods voyce, Joh. 4. told him (as the woman of Samaria said of our Saviour) all that ever he did. Before and in the acting of sin, we will hear nothing; but afterwards, Conscience will send forth a shrill and sharp voyce, that shall be heard all the soul over; such as was that of Reuben to his brethren. Did not I warn you, saying, Sin not against the childe, &c. The Books of our Consciences are now sealed up, and the woful contents are not read by the Law: They remain as Letters written with the juyce of Oringes or Onions, which are onely to be made legible by the fire of Gods wrath. Then shall the wicked run away (but all in vain) with those words in their mouthes, Isai. 33.14. Who amongst us shall dwell with this devouring fire? Who shall abide by these everlasting burnings? Then shall they tire the Mountains with their hideous out-cryes, Fall upon us, hide us, crush us in pieces, grinde us to powder. But how can that be, when the Mountains melt, and the Rocks rent asunder at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob?

Vers. 12. The woman whom thou gavest.] Here he rejects the fault upon the woman, and thorow her, upon God, who gave her to be with him, or before him; or such another as himself, (with reference to that Lenegdo, Chap. 2.20.) or a help meet for him. This she might have been to him, had he been (that he ought to her) a manly guide in the way to Heaven. He should have rebuked her, as Job did his wicked wife, for transgressing Gods Law, and tempting him to the like. Then had her sin been personal, rested upon her self, and gone no further, had not he hearkned to her voyce. But he not onely not did thus, but insteed of agnizing his fault, seeks to transfer it upon God: That sith he could not be like unto God in the divinity, which he aymed at, he might make God like unto himself in iniquity, which was to fill up the measure of his sin, that wrath might have come upon him to the utmost; but that Gods mercy was then, and is still over all his own good, and our bad works.

Vers. 13. And the woman said, The Serpent.] Thus the Flesh never wants excuses: Nature need not be taught to tell her own tale. Sin and shifting came into the world together; never yet any came to Hell, but had some pretence for coming thither. It is a very course Wool that will take no Dye: Sin and Satan are alike in this; they cannot abide to appear in their own colour. Men wrap themselves in excuses, as they do their hands, to defend them from pricks. This is still the vile poyson of our hearts; that they will needs be naught, and yet will not yield, but that there is reason to be mad, and great sence in sin­ing.

Vers. 14. And the Lord God said to the Serpent.] The Serpent was not examined, because God would shew no mercy to him: But presently doemed, Hestod. because of meer malice, he had offended. The Heathens called certain Devils [...] quasi [...] ‘ [...].’ Evil befel him, that evil bethought him: As Balaam that ad­vised evil against Israel, was slain by the sword of Israel. The Serpent also hath his part in the punishment, because instrument­al to the Devil. Both Authors, Actors, and Abettors of evil, shall rue it together. The Serpent here, is, first cut shorter by the feet, and made to wriggle upon his belly; secondly, confined to the dust for his dict; which is also, saith an Ancient [...] the Devils diet: For your Adversary the Devil (that Ruler of the darkness of this world) as he dwells in dark hearts, Ephes. 6.12. as so many holes and caverns. Job 40.10. So, Behemoth-like, he cats grass as an Ox; yea, dust as a Serpent, continually seeking whom he may devour, 1 Pat. 5.7. And is therefore cursed above all Creatures. He hath swallowed down souls, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly, Job 20.15. He sinneth every day the sin against the Holy Ghost, and shall lye lowest in Hell. Every foul that he drew thither by his temptation, shall be as a milstone hang'd about his neck, to hold him down in the bottomless lake.

Vers. 15. And I will put enmity,] Instead of that amity and familiarity, thou hast lately had with the woman. And here begins the Book of the Lords wars: His hand is here upon his Throne, he hath solemnly sworn, That he will have war (not with Amalek onely, Exod. 17.16. but) with the whole Serpentine seed, from generation to generation. There is also a capital antipathy [Page 39](saith Bodinus) between the woman and the Serpent: Bodin. Theat. lib. 3. So that in a great multitude of men, if there be but one woman amongst them, he makes at her, and stings her about the heel. Plin. lib. 2. cap. 63. & lib. 7. c. 2. Pliny also tells us, That the fasting-spittle of a man, is deadly to Ser­pents; and that if a Serpent wound a man, he is no more en­tertained by the earth, or admitted thereinto. Others tell us, Sphinx Philos. That a Snake fears and flies from a naked man, but pursues him when clothed or covered. Put on Christ, and thou art safe. His blood, as Polium, is a preservative against Serpents, Revel. 12.9. Plin. lib. 2. c. 2 [...]. [It shall bruise thy head.] And so kill thee quite; as a Serpent is not killed dead, till knockt on the head; which he therefore care­fully saves with the hazzard of his whole body. To elude, or elevate at least, this sweet promise (this grand Charter of our Salvation) the Devil, no doubt, devised, and by his Factors, the Poets divulged that frivolous fable of Hercules his clubbing down the Lernaan Serpent, and cutting off his many heads. But Christ alone is that stronger man, that, drawing the Dragon out of his Den, hath crackt his crown, destroyed his works, made him to fall as lightning from the heaven of mens hearts, and will tread him also under our feet shortly, as he hath already done under his own, when spoyling these principalities and powers, Rom. 16.he made a shew of them, openly triumphing over them on his cross, Colos. 2.15. As in the mean while, till this be fully done, nibble he may at our heel, but cannot come at our head. Achilles is said to have taken his death, by a wound in his heel. But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one (the De­vil) toucheth him not, 1 John 5.18. That is, Tactu qualitative, saith Cajeta [...], with a deadly touch; he thrusteth not his sting so far into him, as to do him to death. For Christ (who is our life, Colos. 3.4) can assoon die at the right hand of his heavenly Father, as in the heart of a faithful Christian; fith our life is hid with Christ in God; his life is bound up in his Childes life. He shall make the broken horns of Satan to be the Trumpets of his glory, and the Cornets of our joy. [Thou shalt bruise his heel.] Not both his heels, but one onely: So that he shall stand upon one, though hurt in the other; or if overthrown, yet he shall rise again, and be more then a conqueror, [...]. Rom. 8. or over overcome him that overturned him. He is the Victor, that breaketh the head: When as he that bruiseth the heel (though he be an enemy) yet he lyes along, and can do no great mischief there. And hereto [Page 40]the Prophet seems to refer, when he saith, Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels (that is, when the punishment of mine iniquity that reacheth but to the heels) shall compass me about? God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, Psal. 49.6, 16. I conclude with that memorable saying of a holy Martyr: Bradford. If we had a lively feeling of the Serpents poyson, we could not but rejoyce in our Captain, who hath bruised his head. What though the Serpent shoot his sting into our heel, and make us halt, Heb. 12.2, 3.yet let us go on, though halting to Heaven; Yea, run with patience the race that is set before us; looking at Jesus, the Author and finisher of our Faith, &c.

Vers. 16. I will greatly multiply thy sorrow,] The greatest of sorrows this is, as we are given to understand, both out of di­vine, Decie [...] in bello mori mallem quam parere vel semel adhuc. Euripid. and humane Writings. I had rather dye in battle ten times over, then bring forth but once onely, said Medea in the Tragedy. But we have a better example in the Ecclesiastical History, of a Roman Lady, called Sabina; Who being great with childe, was cast in prison for the Profession of Christs Truth. Now when the time came, that she should be delivered, and she cryed out for extremity of pain; the Keeper of the prison asked her, Job. Manlii, loc. com p. 124. Why she made such a stir now? And how she would, two or three days hence endure to dye at a stake, or by the sword? She answered, Now I suffer as a woman, the punishment of my sin; but then, I shall not suffer, but Christ shall suffer in me. In peace-offerings there might be oyl mixed, not so in sin-offerings. In our sufferings for Christ, there is joy, not so, when we suffer for our sins. [In sorrow thou shalt bring forth.] And in sorrow shalt thou bring up, Liberi sunt dul­ci [...] acerbitas, seu us Tertul. loquitur, amariss. voluptas. after the birth, as Gen. 50.23. Chil­dren are certain cares, but uncertain comforts. Eve had a great catch of it, when she had got a manchilde of the Lord, she called him Cain, a possession, as David did Absolom, his Fathers peace. But ‘Fallitur augurio spes bona sape suo.’ Excellently Saint Gregory, Ante partum liberi sunt onerosi, in partu dolorosi, [...]post partum laboriosi. [And he shall rule over thee.] Yet not with rigor. She must (though to her grief and regret) be subject to all her husbands lawful, both commands and restraints. But he must carry himself as a man of knowledg towards her; and make her yoke as easie as may be. It is re­markable, Colos. 3.19. That when the Apostle had bid Wives submit to your [Page 41]own husbands, &c. He doth not say, Husbands, rule over your wives, (for that they will do fast enough without bid­ing,) but husbands love your wives, and be not bitter unto them.

Vers. 17. Because thou hast hearkned to the voyce of thy wife.] Our English Historian, relating the deadly difference that fell out betwixt those two noble Seymours (the Lord Protector, Sir Johu Hey­wood in the life of K. Edw. 6. p. 84. and the Admiral his Brother, in Edward the sixt time) thorough the instigation of their ambitious wives, passionately cryes out, O wives! The most sweet poyson, the most desired evil in the world, &c. Woman was first given to man for a Comforter, saith he, not for a Counsellor, much less a controller and director. And therefore in the first sentence against man, this cause is expressed, Because thou hast obeyed the voyce of thy wife, &c. [Cursed is the ground for thy sake.] [...] & Ar­vuum ab Heb. [...] Hence the Greeks and Latines bor­row their words for ground of the Hebrew word that signifieth cursed. The curse of emptiness and unsatisfyingness lyes upon it, that no man hath enough, though never so much of it. The curse also of barrenness, or unprofitable fruits, whose end is to be burned, Heb. 6.8. The whole earth and the works therein, 2 Pet. 3.10. shall be burnt up. It was never beautiful, nor chearful, since Adams fall. At this day it lyes bed-rid, waiting for the coming of the Son of God, that it may be delivered from the bondage of corruption, Rom. 8.20.

Vers. 18. Thorns also and thisties,] Ʋbi veritas dixit, quod terra homini spinas & tribulos germinaret subintelligendum fuit, ait Petrareha, & rusticos tribulis omnibus asperiores. Petrarch. de re­med ver. fort. Dial. 59. Judg. 8.7-16. The Clowns of Midian drove Jethroes daughters from the water they had drawn. Rudeness hath no respect, either to sex or condition. Those Churls of Succoth, were worthily threshed with thorns of the Wilderness, and with bryars, and thereby taught better manners. [Thou shalt eat the herb of the field.] And no longer feed on these pleasant fruits of Paradise, which by thy sin thou hast forfeited. Thus man is driven from his dainty and delicate dyet, to eat husks with hogs, as the Prodigal, or at least, grass with the Ox, as Nebuchadnezzar, and be glad of it too; as our Ancestours, who though they fed not at first on acorns, as the Poets fable, Hi [...]c holus quisi. [...]. yet if they could get a dish of good green herbs, they held themselves as well provided for, as if they had all.

Verse 19. Picherellus in Cosm [...]p. In the sweat of thy face] Or, of thy nose, as One rendreth it, that sweat that beginning in thy brow runs down by thy nose, through thy hard labour. This is a law laid upon all sorts to sweat out a poor living, to humble themselves by just labour, to sweat either their brows or their brains (for this latter also is a sore occupation, Eccles. 1.13. and the Ministers toyl is compared to that of those that cleave wood, or work hard in harvest, 1 Thess. 3.5. Math. 10.1 [...] 1 Cor. 9.14. See my true [...]ealure. [...] &c.) [Shalt thou eat bread] Not herbs onely as vers. 18. And here take notice of an elegant gradation, to­gether with a mercifull mitigation of mans misery. Thou shalt▪ eat earth, ver. 17. herbs, vers. 18. and now here, Thou shalt eat bread, that stay and staffe of mans life under his hard labour. Panem dictum volunt à [...] Isidor. 1.20. [Ʋntill thou returne unto the ground] O earth, earth, earth, bear [...] the word of the Lord, i.e. Earth by creation, Earth by corruption, Earth by resolution. This is the end of all men, and the living should lay it to heart. J [...]. 22.29. In this third of Genesis we find Mans Exodus. This is the first text of mortality, and all comments, yea all dead corpses con­cur to the exposition of it. Etiam mut [...] cl [...] ­mant cadav [...]a. Basil. [For dust thou art] Think on this, and be proud, if thou canst. We were created [...], but now we live [...] saith Agapetus. Had we so sweet a generation as that little creature Scaliger speaks of, Exercit ad ad Cardan. that is bred in sugar, we might have had some ground of boasting; but now we may sprinkle the dust of humility on our heads, as the Ancients used to do, in token that they had deserved to be as far under, as now they were above ground. [And to dust thou shalt return] By this limitation God restrains mans death here threatned, to that earthy part of him, his body. The forest death is when a man dyes in his sins, as those Jewes did, Joh. 8.21. (better dye in a ditch a fair deal) when he is killed with death, as Jesabels children, Rev. 2.23. this is the second death. The condemned person comes out of a dark prison, and goes to the place of execution; so do many from the womb to the tomb, nay to that tormenting Tophet, to the which death is but a trap-door, to give them entrance.

Verse 20. And Adam ca [...]ed his wives name Eve] That is, Life, or Living. Not, per antiphraesim, as some would have it, much less out of pride and stomack, in contempt of the divine sentence denounced against them both, that they should surely dye, as Ru­pertus would have it; but because she was to be mother of all li­ving, whether a naturall or a spirituall life; and likewise for a testimony of his faith in, and thankfulness for that lively and life­giving [Page 43]oracle, vers. 15. [...] i. e. [...] [The mother of all living] Have we not all, as one father, Mal. 3.10. so, one mother? did we not all tumble in a belly? why, do we then deale treacherously every man against his brother? ib. This one consideration should charm down our rising and boyling spirits one against another, as it did Abrahams, Gen. 13 8.

Verse 21. Coats of skins and clothed them] God put them in leather, when yet there was better means of cloathing, to humble them doubtless, and draw them to repentance. Whether God created these skins anew, or took them off the backs of sheep and goats killed for sacrifice, to mind man of his mortality and mor­tification, it much matters not. Our first parents, who even after the fall were the goodliest creatures that ever lived, went no bet­ter cloathed: no more did those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. 11.37. And surely, The dogs that kept Vulcan [...] temple would tear those that came in tatte­red clo [...]thes. Hospinian. howsoever our con­dition and calling afford us better array, and the vulgar like a Bo­hemian cur fawn upon every good suit. (purpuram magis quam De­um colunt,) yet we must take heed that pride creep not into our cloaths, those ensignes of our sin and shame, sith our fineness is our filthiness, our neatness our nastiness. It is a sure sign of a base minde, though in high place, to think he can make himself great with any thing that is lesse then himself, and win more credit by his garments, then his graces. St. Peter teacheth women, (who many of them are too much addicted to over much fineness) to garnish themselves not with gay cloathes, but with a meek and quiet spirit as Sarah did, and not as those mincing dames, 1Vestium curiosi­tas, deformitatis mentium & mo­rum indicium est. Bernard. Pet. 3.3, 4. whose pride the Prophet inveighs against, as punctually as if he had viewed the Ladies wardrobes in Jerusalem. Esa. 3. Rich apparell are but fine covers of the foulest shame. The worst is Natures garment, the best but follies garnish. How blessed a Nation were we, if every silken suit did cover a sanctified soul: or if we would look upon out cloathes, as our first parents did, as love-tokens from God;

How could they but see it to be a singular favour that God with own hands should cloath them, (though he had cast them out of Paradise for their nurture) a visible Sacrament of his invisible love and grace concerning their soules, in covering their sins, and so interresting them into true blessedness, Psal. 32 1, 2.

Verse 22. The man is b [...]come as one of us] A holy irrisionof mans [Page 44]vain affectation of the Deity. Quod Deus loquitur cum risu, tu l [...] ­gas cum fle [...]u. Aug. de Gen. ad [...]eram. 1.11. c. 3 [...]. Howbeit St. Aug. is of opinion that God speaks thus, not by way of insulting over Adam, but deterring others from such proud attempts. Discite justitiam moniti, &c. [And take also of the tree of life] And so think to elude the sentence of death pronounced upon him by God; which yet he could not have done, had he eaten up tree and all. He should but have added to his sin and judgement by abuse of this Sacrament; which would have sealed up life unto him, had he held his integrity. Multi etiam hodie propter arborem scientiae amittunt arborem vitae: Aug.In ter­ris manducant quod apudinferos digerunt.

Verse 23. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth] He gently dismissed him, as the word signifies, placed him over against Pa­radise in the sight thereof (as Stella observeth out of the Septua­gint) that, Stella in Luc. 7 by often beholding, the sorrow of his sin might be in­creased, Iisdem, quibu [...] videmus, [...]culis flemus. Lam. 3. 2 Cor. 2.7.11. that his eye might affect his heart. Yet lest he should be swallowed up of over much sorrow, and so Satan get an advantage of him (for God is not ignorant of his devices) Christ the pro­mised seed, was by his voluntary banishment, to bring back all be­leevers to their heavenly home; to bear them by his Angels into Abrahams bosome, and to give them to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God, Rev. 2.7. Our whole life here is nothing else but a banishment. That we like it no worse is, because we never knew better. They that were born in hell, saith the Proverb, think there's no other heaven. The poor posterity of a banished Prince take their mean condition well-aworth; Moses counts Egypt (where yet he was but a sojourner) his home; and in reference to it calls his son, (born in Midian) Gershom, that is, a stranger there. Oh how should we breath after our heavenly home, A [...] Paradisi Gesner. groaning within our selves like those birds of Paradise, Na­turalists speak of! stretching forth the neck, as the Apostles word importeth, waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of our bo­dies, [...] Rom. 8.Rom. 8.23. glorifying God. (mean-while) with our spirits and bodies, devouring all difficulties, donec à spe ad speciem trans­eamus, till Christ, who is gone to prepare a place for us, returne and say, This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.

Verse 24. So he drove out the man] The Hebrews say, God led Adam gently by the hand, till he came to the porch of Para­dise, and then thrust him out violently, who hungback, and plaid loth to depart. That he went out unwillingly, as I wonder not, so [Page 45]that he should strive with God about his going out, I believe not. This garden planted meerly for his pleasure, and all the benefits created for his use and service in six dayes, he lost in six houres say some; in nine, say others; the same day he was made, say All, al­most: What cause then have all his sinfull posterity to distrust themselves? And how little cause had that blasphemous Pope to set his mouth against heaven, Ju [...]ius 3. when being in a great rage at his Steward for a cold Peacock not brought to table according to his appointment; and desired by one of his Cardinals, not to be so much moved at a matter of so small moment, he answered: If God were so angry for an apple, that he cast our first parents out of Paradise for the same; why may not I, being his Vicar, be angry then for a Peacock, sith it is a greater matter then an apple? Act. & Mon. fol. 1417. Is not this that mouth of the Beast that speaketh great things and blasphemies? Rev. 13.5.

CHAP. IV. Verse 1. I have gotten a man from the Lord]

OR, that famous Man the Lord, as if she had brought forth the Man Christ Jesus. These were verba spei, non rei; for Cain was of that wicked one, the Devill, 1 Joh. 3.12. as all reprobates are, 1 Joh. 3.10. Cain the Authour of the City of the World, saith Augustine, is born first, and called Cain, that is, a possession, be­cause he buildeth a City, is given to the cares and pomp of the world, and persecutes his brother that was chosen out of the world. But Abel, the Authour of the City of God, Aug. de civit. D [...]i. l. 15. c. 1. is born se­cond; called Vanity, because he saw the worlds vanity, and is there­fore driven out of the world by an untimely death; so early came martyrdome into the world: the first man that dyed, dyed for Religion. H. Broughton of the 10 patr. ex [...] Rab. Bochai. In a witty sense (saith Hugh Broughton) Cain and Abel contain in their names advertisements for matter of true continu­ance and corruption. Cain betokeneth possession in this world: And Abel betokeneth one humbled in minde, and holding such possession vain. Such was his offering, sheep-kinde, the gentlest of all living beasts, and therefore the favour of God followed him. And the offering of Cain was of the fruit of the earth; as he loved the possession of this world, and the service of the body (which [Page 46]yet can have no continuance) and followed after bodily lusts; therefore the blessed God favored him not. Thus far he out of the Rabbines. Another English Divine hath this note upon these words, Ya [...]es his Model of Divin. I have gotten a man from the Lord; Jehovah. Adam and Eve were all about the composition of Cain. His soul was inspired pure and holy; yet assoon as the vital spirits laid hold of it, it was in the compound, a son of Adam. A skilful Artificer makes a clock of all his essential parts most accurately; onely he leaves the putting of all parts together to his unskilful apprentise; who so jumbles together the several joynts, that all falls to jar­ing, and can keep no time at all, every wheel running backward­way. So God most artificially still perfects both body and soul: but our accursed parents put all out of frame, and set every part in a contrary course to Gods will. Sin is propagated and pro­ceeds from the union of body and soul into one man. That phrase, Warmed in sin, Psal. 51.5. is meant of the preparation of the body, as an instrument of evil, which is not so actually, till the soul come.

Vers. 3. In process of time] That distance of time between the Creation, and the general Flood, Varro the most learned of the Romans calleth [...] obscure or unknown, because the Hea­then had no Records of that, which we now clearly understand, to have been then done, out of the holy Scriptures. [Cain brought of the fruit.] Godw. Hebr. Antiq. p. 27. They brought their sacrifices to Adam, the high Priest of the family, who offered them to God in their name. So in the Levitical Law, though a mans offering were never so good, he might not offer it himself, upon pain of death: But the Priest must offer it. And the Priest was to offer as well the poor mans Turtle, as the rich mans Ox: To teach, that none may present his service to God, how good soever he may conceit it, but in the hand of the high Priest of the New Testament Jesus Christ, Revel. 5. the just one, who will not onely present, but perfume the poorest performances of an upright heart, with his odors.

Vers. 4. See Num. 18.12. Fat taken for the best of all things. [...], Mark 12.41. Mal. 1. Of the firstlings of his flock.] He brought the best of the best, not any thing that came next to hand, as Cain seems to have done holding any thing good enough, as did those rich wretches that cast brass-money into the treasury. But cursed be that couzener, that hath a male in his flock, and offereth to God a corrupt thing. Offer it now to thy Prince, will he be content with [Page 47]thy refuse stuff? Behold, I am a great King, saith God; he stands upon his seniority, and looks to be honored with the best of our sub [...]tance. Mary that loved much, thought nothing too much for her sweet Saviour. John 12.9. She brought an Alabaster box of oyntment of great price, and poured it upon him, and he defends her in it against those that held it waste. Among the Papists, their Lady of Loretto hath her Churches so stuffed with vowed presents of the best, Sir Edw. Sands Relation of West. Relig. sect [...] Turk hist. fol. 342. 1 Pet. 3.11. Isai. 66.2. as they are fain to hang their Cloysters and Church-yards with them. Shall not their supe [...]stition rise up and condemn our irreligion, our slubbering services, and dough-baked duties? The Turks build their private houses, low and homely, but their Moschces or Temples stately and magnificent. [Had respect to Abel and his offering.] The eye of the Lord is still upon the righ­teous, and his ears are in their prayers: He looks upon such with singular delight, with special intimation of his love; he is ravish­ed with one of their eyes lifted up in prayer, Cant. 4.9. with one chain of their graces; when as he was no whit affected with the offer of all the worlds glory, Matth. 4. He saith of such to the wicked, as the Prophet said of Jehosaphat to the King of Israel. Surely, 2 King. 3.14.were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat King of Judah, I would not look toward th [...]e, nor see thee: Cain here for instance.

Vers. 5. But to Cain and his offering, &c.] Because he brought non personam sed opus personae, as Luther hath it; Luth. in Decal. who also calls those Cainists, that offer to God the work done, but do not offer themselves to God. Works materially good, may never prove so, formally and eventually. Luke 16. Levit. 11.18. That which is fair to men, is abomination to God. He rejected the Swan for sacrifice, be­cause under a white feather, it hath black skin. Sordet in conspectu Judicis quod fulget in conspectu operantis, saith Gregory. A thing may shine in the night from its rottenness.

Vers. 6. Why is thy countenance f [...]n?] Why dost lowre and look so like a dog under a door? Vultu saepe laeditur pietas: Cicer. orat. pro Amerin. Ovid. Meta [...].Dif­ficile est animum non prodere vult [...]. He was discontented at God, and displeased at his brother. He looks but sowre and suffen upon him, and [...]od takes him up for it. He so loves his little ones, that he cannot abide the cold wind should blow upon them. The Sun must not sm [...]te them by day, nor the Moon by night. Psal. 121. Cant [...] [...]. The North and South must both blow good to them. Better, a mil­stone, &c. then offend one of these little ones, be it but by a [Page 48]frown or a frump. Better anger all the witches in the world, then one of Gods zealous witnesses: Revel. 11.5. For there goeth a fire out of their mouths to devour their enemies.

Vers. 7. Resipiscenti re­missio, pertinaci supplicium im­minet, idque proximum & prae entiss. Jun. Neme [...]s dicitur [...], quod [...]. nemo eam effugere possit. Sin lyes at the door.] Like a great ban-dog ready to pull out the throat of thy soul, if thou but look over the hatch. Say this dog lie asleep for a while, yet the door is for continual pass and repass, and so no fit place for any long sleep. Your sin will surely finde you out (saith Moses) as a blood-hound, and haunt you like a hell-hag, as the Heathen could say, Nemo crimen gerit in pectore, qui non idem Nemesin in tergo.

Vers. 8. And Cain talked with Abel.] What talk they had, is not set down. The Septuagint and vulgar Versions tell us Cain said, Let us go out into the field. The Chaldee addeth that he should say, There was no judgment, nor judg, nor world to come, nor reward for justice, nor vengeance for wickedness, &c. Certain it is, That those that are set to go on in sin, do lay hold upon all the principles in their heads, Rom. 1.18. and imprison them in unrighteous­ness, that they may sin more freely; they muzzle the mouths of their consciences, that they may satisfie their lusts without con­troul. But had Zimri peace that slew his master? or Cain that slew his brother? hath any ever waxed fierce against God and prospered? Job 9.4. [Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew.] So, Cain was the devils Patriark, and Abel the Churches Protomartyr. Act. & Mon. fol. 814. It is not long since Alphonsus Diazius a Spaniard, an Advocate in the Court of Rome, came from Rome to Neoberg in Germany, to kill his own brother John Diazius, a faithful Pro­fessor of the Reformed Religion, and a familiar friend to Bu [...]er, who gives him an excellent commendation. But it is worth the observing, Bucbolc. saith One, That the first quarrel about Religion arose propemodùm inter media sacrificia, in the midst of the sacrifices almost. These Theological hatreds (as I may call them) are most bitter hatreds, and are carried on for most part, with Cain-like rage, and bloody opposition. No fire sooner breaks forth, none goes out more slowly, then that which is kindled about matters of Religion: and the nearer any come to other, the more deadly are their differences, and the more desperate their designes one 'gainst another. The Persians and Turks are both Mahometans, and yet disagreeing about some small points in the Interpretati­on of their Alchoran; Turk, hist. the Persians burn whatsoever Books they finde of the Turkish Sect. And the Turks hold it more merito­rious [Page 49]to kill one Persian, then seventy Christians. The Jew can better brook a Heathen then a Christian; they curse us in their daily devotions, concluding them with a Maledic Domine Naza­raeis. The Pope will dispense with Jews, but not with Protestants. See D. Day on 1 Cor. 16.9.Lutherans will sooner joyn hands with a Papist then a Calvinist. And what a spirit had he, that in a Sermon at Norwich, not long since, inveighing against Puritans, said, If a cup of cold water had a reward, much more a cup of such mens blood? Bucholcer.Mort [...] est Cain, sed utinam ille non viveret in suis filiis, qui clavam ejus. sanguine Abelis rubent [...]m, ut rem sacram, circumferunt, adorant & venerantur. The place where Cain slew Abel, is by some thought to be Damascus in Syria, called therefore Damesec, that is, a bag of blood.

Vers. 9. I know not: Am I my brothers keeper?] As if he had bid God, go look. Let not us think much to receive dogged answers and disdainful speeches, from profane persons. When they have learned to think better, they will speak better. As till then, pity and pray for them. These churlish dogs will be bark­ing.

Vers. 10. What hast thou done?] Here God appeals to the murderers conscience, which is insteed of a thousand witnesses. As oft as we feel the secret smitings of our own hearts for sin, think we hear him that is greater then our hearts, saying to us as here, What hast thou done? And that there is no good to be done by denying or dawbing, for he knoweth all things, 1 John 3.20. and requireth that we should see our sins to confession, or we shall see them to our confusion. [The voyce of thy brothers bloods] The blood of one Abel had so many tongues as drops; and every drop, a voyce to cry for vengeance. Give them blood to drink, Revel. 16.6.for they are worthy. Charls the ninth of France, Author of that bloody massacre of Paris, died of exceeding bleeding. Mr. Camdens Elisab. 165. Richard the third of this Kingdom, and Q. Mary, had the shortest raignes of any since the Conquest; according to that, Psal. 55.23. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. Anno 1586. Walsh Bishop of Ossery in Ireland, a man of honest life, with his two servants, were stabbed to death by one Dulland, Ibidem 241. an Irish old Souldier, whilest he gravely admonished him of his foul adulte­ries; and the wicked murtherer escaped away, who had now committed fourty five murthers with his own hand. At length, revenge pursuing him, he was by another bloody fellow Donald [Page 50]Spaniah shortly after slain himself, and his head presented to the Lord Deputy of Ireland.

Vers. 11. And now thou art c [...]rsed.] The Pope contrarily blesseth and sainteth Traytors to their Countrey, and murtherers of their natural Soveraigns; as Ravilliac, and other his Assasines, those sworn sword men of the Devil. Bucer in Pra­sat ad Senar­claei hister. de morte Diar. Lonicer. Alphonsus Diarius, who killed his own brother for the cause of Religion, as above said, fled to Rome, and was there highly commended for his zeal, and largely rewarded, as Bucer reporteth. But, driven thereto by the terrors of his own guilty conscience, like another Judas, he after­wards hanged himself upon the neck of his own Mule, for want of a better Gallows.

Vers. 12. A fugitive and a vagabond, &c.] The Patriarks were Pilgrims, and staid not long in a place. The Apostles also were hurried about, 2 Cor. 4.11. Rom. 15.19. and had no certain dwelling place. But first, God numbred their flittings, Psal. 56.8. He kept just reckoning of them in his Count-book. Secondly, Their hearts were fixed, trusting in the Lord, Psal. 112.7. They could call their souls to rest, when they had no rest in their bones: And flie up to Heaven with the wings of a Dove, when hunted on Earth as so many Patridges. Facti sun [...] a corde suo fugi­tivi, Tertul. So could not Cain the caytiff. He was not more a fugitive in the Earth, then in his own conscience: Fain he would have fled from the terrors of it, but could not, he was langold to it, and must abide by it. Hence the Greek translates this Text, Sighing and trembling shalt thou be on the earth; and so the word here used is applyed elsewhere, to the trembling of the heart, Isa. 7.2. to the walking of the lips, 1 Sam. 1.13. to the shaking of the Forest by a violent wind, Isa. 7.2. to the leaping of the Lintel at the presence of the Lord, Isai. 6.4, &c. And this (in all proba­bility) was that mark, that God set upon him, v. 15. Not a horn in his forehead, as the Jews fain, but a hornet in his conscience, such as God vexed the Hivites with, Exod. 23.28. stinging them with unquestionable conviction and horror. Cicer. orst. pro Ros. Amer. For assuredly a body is not so tormented with stings, or torne with stripes, as a minde with remembrance of wicked actions.

Vers. 13. My punishment is greater then I can bear.] Or, Mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven. In either sense he sins ex­ceedingly, and worse perhaps then in slaying his brother, whether he murmur against Gods justice, or despair of his mercy. Mine iniquity is greater, &c. Mentiris Cain, saith a Father, Cain did [Page 51]not say so, because it was so: But it was so, because he said so. Despair is Satans master-piece; it carries men head-long to hell, as the Devils did the herd of Swine into the deep; Act. & Mon fol. 1908. Gellus in dia­log. secundo Chimaeric [...]. witness Guar­lacus, Bomelius, Latomus of Lovain, Johannes de Canis, our English Hubertus, a covetous Oppressor, who made this will, I yield my goods to the King, my body to the grave, my soul to the devil.

Vers. 14. From the face of the earth] That is, of this earth, this countrey, my Fathers family; which in the next words, he calls Gods face, the place of his publike worship, from the which Cain was here justly excommunicated. And surely, Saint Judes wo will light heavy upon all such, as going in the way of Cain, and not willing to hear of their wicked ways, do wilfully absent themselves from the powerful preaching of the Word. They that will not hear the Word, shall hear the Rod, Mic. 6.9. Yea, a sword shall peirce thorow their souls, as it did Cains here; in whom was fulfil­ed that of Eliphaz, Job 15.21, 22. A dreadful sound was in his ears, lest in his prosperity the destroyer should come upon him. He beleeved not that he should return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. [Every one that findes me, Petron.shall slay me] Quàm male est extra legem viventibus: quicquid meruerunt semper ex­pectant: Fat Swine cry hideously, if but touched or medled with, as knowing they ow their life, to them that will take it. Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent, that he protested to the Senate, that he suffered death daily: Tacitus. Whereupon Tacitus makes this good note, Tandèm facinora & flagitia in supplicium vertuntur. As every body hath its shadow appertaining to it, so hath every sin its punishment. And although they escape the lash of the Law, yet vengeance will not suffer them to live, Acts 28.4. (as the Barbari [...] rashly censured Saint Paul) to live quietly at least. Richard the third, after the murther of his two innocent Nephews, had fearful dreams and visions; insomuch, that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark, and catching his sword (which alway naked, Daniels Chron. continued by Trussel. 249. stuck by his side) he would go distractedly about the chamber, every where seeking to finde out the cause of his own occasioned disquiet. Polydor Virgil thus writes of his dream that night before Bosworth-field, where he was slain, that he thought that all the devils in hell, pulled and haled him in most hideous and ugly shapes; and concludes of it at last; I do not think it was so much his dream, as his evil conscience, [Page 52]that bred those terrors. It is as proper for sin to raise fears in the soul, as for rotten flesh and wood to breed worms. That worm that never dyes is bred here in the froth of filthy lusts and slagiti­ous courses, and lyes gnawing and grubbing upon mens inwards, many times in the ruffe of all their jollity. This makes Saul call for aminstrell, Belshazzar for his carrousing cups, Cain for his workmen to build him a City, others for other of the Devills anodynes, to put by the pangs of their wounded spirits, and throb­bing consciences. Thuan. lib. 57. Charles the ninth, after the massacre of France, could never endure to be awakened in the night without musick, or some like diversion; he became as terrible to himself, as former­ly he had been to others. But above all, I pity the loss of their souls, who serve themselves as the Jesuite in Lancashire, fol­lowed by one that found his glove, with a desire to restore it him. M. Wards Ser­mons. But pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience, he leaps over a hedge, plunges into a Marle-pit behinde it, unseen and unthought of, wherein he was drowned.

Vers. 15. The Lord set a mark, &c.] Some say it was the let­ter Tau; others, some letter of Jehovah: probably, it was the per­petuall trembling of his hands, Totum Cedreni opus est stabulum quisquiliarum &c. Scalig. and whole body; the very sight whereof, made people pity him, till at length he was slain, say some, by his nephew Lamech. Cedrenus tells us (if we may believe him) that Cain took his death by the fall of a house in the year of the world, 931. the next year after the death of his father Adam. But however he dyed, sure it is, he had but an ill life of it. He was marked, 'Ne semel morte defungerctur, sed ut atatem totam moriendo exige­ret. Philo. saith Philo, but to his misery; he might not be killed by any, that he might every day be dying; having a hell in his consci­ence, and standing in fear of every man he met with. He that would not harken to God, so sweetly inciting and enticing him to doe well, Lactan. Instit. vers. 7. hath now Pavor and Pallor for his gods, as Lactantius reporteth of Tullius Hostilius, who had prophanely derided the devotions of his predecessour Numa, as here Cain had done his brother Abels.

Vers. 16. And Cain went out from the presence, &c.] But whi­ter could he goe from Gods Spirit? or whither could he flye from his presence? Psal. 139.7. [...]bi est Deus? quid dixi miser? sed ubi non est? Bern. Act. 17. Coloss▪ 1.17. From the presence of his power he could not: for, ‘Entèr, praesenter, Deus hic & ubi (que) potentè.’ God is not very far from any one of us, saith St. Paul. Not so far surely as the bark is from the tree, for all things consist in him: so [Page 53]that a wicked man cannot wag hand or foot, without his privity. But it was the presence of his grace, and use of his Ordinances that this wretch fled from; as did likewise Jonas (in that, as wise as he) so going out of the grace of God into the warm sun, as we say. Jon. 1.3. God fetcht Jonas home again by weeping cross, Jon. 2.8. and made him feelingly acknowledge (for it had like to have cost him a choaking) that they that observe lying vanities, as he had done, forsake their owne mercies. But Cain seated himself in the land of Nod, and there fell to building and planting in contempt, as it is thought, of the divine doom denounced against him; Sigon. or rather to drown the noise of his conscience, as the old Italians were wont to do the noise of the heavens in time of thunder, by ringing their greatest Bels, and letting off their greatest Ordnance.

Vers. 17. And he builded a City] So, many drown themselves either in secular businesses, or sensull pleasures, and all to put by their melancholly dumps, and heart-qualms, as they call them; in­deed, to muffle up the mouthes of their horribly guilty consciences: So Nicephorus Phocas, when Zimri like, he had killed his master, he laboured like Cain, to secure himself with building high walls: After which, he heard a voice telling him, [...]. Cedren. that though he built his walls never so high, yet sin within the walls would undermine all. Besides that, one small drop of an evill conscience troubleth a whole sea of outward comforts and contentments: a confluence whereof would no more ease conscience, then a silken stocking would doe a broken leg. Silly are they that think to glide away their groans with games, and their cares with cards, &c. [Called the City after the name of his son Enoch] That he might be stiled, Lord Enoch of Enoch. This is the ambition of worldly men; their names are not written in heaven; they will propagate them there­fore upon earth, as Nimrod by his tower, Absolom by his pillar, Cain by his city, Enoch (which St. Augustine fitly maketh a figure of Rome, because both of them were built by a parricide.) Psal. 49.11. Their inward thought is, saith the Psalmist, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; and therefore, they call their lands after their own names. De mali quaes [...] vix gaudet ter­tius baeres. Lucian [...]. They seek to immortalize themselves upon their possessions; but the third heire seldome ever owns them. Hence houses and lands, shift masters so oft; (Olim eram Menipi, nunc Speusippi, &c. said that house in the Apologie.) God justly crosseth these inhabitants of the earth, Rev. 12. Philip. 3. as they are called, in opposition to the Saints, whose conversation is [Page 54]in heaven, whereof they are Fellow-citizens. These know that they have here no abiding City, they look for one therefore above, not Henochta, but Heaven, Whose builder and maker is God, Heb. 11.10.

Vers. 19. And unto Enoch was born Irad. &c.] Cain had a numerous off-spring. Seven generations of his are here reckoned: Se [...]h is not yet born, that we hear of. The wicked are ful of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes, Psal. 17.14. They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. Job. 21.11, 12, 13. They dance to the timbrell and harp (as here Jabal and Jubul did) but they suddenly turn into hell, and so their merry dance ends in a miserable downfall.

Vers. 19. Lamech took unto himself] As his own lust led him, not caring for consent of parents: Lamech polyga­mus unam co­stam in du [...]s di­visit. Hier. And two wives; as little caring for the com [...]and of God▪ that two, and no more, should be one flesh, Gen. 2.24. yea though he had the residue of the spirit, and so could have made many wives for Adam, yet made he but one, saith the Prophet. And wherefore one? but that he might seek a godly seed. Solomons polygamy was punished with barreness. Mal. 12.5. We read not of any son he had but one, Heroum filii noxae. (and, he none of the wisest neither) Rehoboam. This great King hath but one son by many house-fulls of wives, when many a poor man hath an house Full of children by one wife. Erasmus tels astory of a certain poor English creeple, lame on both legs, that married a blinde woman, Procreatis ex ist [...] conjugio 12. fratrib [...], nul­o (que) naevo defor­matis. De instit. Matr. Deni duodeni (que) unam uxorem ducebant. De morib. gent. [...].1 [...] cap. 1. Vt cui (que) libitum fuerit, pecudum more lasciviunt. Twini Com­ment. de reb. Britan. ex H [...]ron. Act & Mon. fol. 791. and gave this reason, We shall the better agree, when neither can hit other in the teeth with our severall defects and deformities. Nec f [...]fellit hominem judi­cium, saith he, It prooved a happy match. They lived lovingly and cheerfully together, and God Almighty blessed them with a dozen lusty boyes, that had not the least deformity about them. Sardus tels us, that the old Britains would, ten or twelve of them take one woman to wife: Belike women were scarce amongst them. But yet that was better then the old Scots, of whom St. Hierome reports, that they took no wives; but satisfied their lusts up and down as they listed, and wheresoever they liked, after the manner of bruit creatures. I have somewhere read, that not many hundreds of years since, they had a custome kept up amongst them, that the Landlord might demand the first night of his Te­nants wife, as a chie [...]e rent. And Mr. Fox relates, that the Friars in Germany were grown to that height of impudency, as to re­quire the tenth night of every mans wife, as a tithe due to them. [Page 55]Which to prevent, the Helvetians, when they received any new Priest into their Churches, they bargained with him before, to take his Concubine, lest he should attempt any misuse of their wives and daughters. How much better were it, for the avoyding of fornication, if every man of them had his owne wife, 1 Cor. 7. saith Paul. Not so, saith Cardinall Campeius: for if comparison should be made, much greater offence it is, a Priest to have a wife, Ibid. 790. then to have and keep at home many harlots. For they that keep harlots, (saith he) as it is nought that they do, so doe they acknowledge their sin. The other perswade themselves they doe well, and so continue without repentance, or conscience of their fact. A fit reason for a carnall Cardinall. Such another was his brother, Car­dinalis Cremonensis, who after his stout replying in the Councel of London, against the married estate of Priests; Ibid. 1065. exclaiming what a shamefull thing it was, to rise from the sides of a whore, to make Christs body, the night following was shamefully taken with a notable Whore. This was bad enough: but that was worse in Johannes a Cassa, Dean of the Popes chamber, Ibid. 14 17. who so far forgot humanity and honesty, that he set forth a book in Italian meeter, in commendation of Sodomitry, saying, that he never used any other. This might better have become a Turk, then a Bishop. Blunts Voyage, p. 79. Ibid. 14. Sodomy in the Levant is not held a vice, so debauched they are grown. The Turkish Bashaws, besides their wives, whereof they have ton at least, each Bashaw hath as many, or likely more Cata­mites, which are their serious loves. For their wives are used but to dresse their meat, to Laundress, and for reputation. Onely when the great Turk gives his daughter or sister to any Bashaw to wife, 'tis somewhat otherwise: For he giveth her at the same time a dagger, saying, I give thee this man to be thy slave and bed­fellow. If he be not loving, obedient, and dutifull to thee, Heyl. Geog. p. 583. I give thee here this cun [...]hare or dagger to out off his head. Yet can she not forbid him to marry more wives to vex her, (Levit. 18.18.) and to fret her, as Peninnah did Hannah, yea to make her to thunder, as the word there signifies: For Turks may take as many wives, 1 Sam. 1.6. as they are able to maintain. Hence it is that in jealousie they [...]cend Italians; making their women go mo [...]ed all but the eyes; [...] 106. and not suffe [...]ing them to go to Church, or so much as looke out at their own windows.

Vers. 20. Adah b [...] a Jaba [...]] Jabal a good husband, I [...]al a merry Greek, whence the word Iubilo in Latine, and our Eng­lish [Page 56] Jo [...]iall. Jaball that dwelt in tents and tended the herds, had Juball to his brother, the father of ha [...]d [...]nd wind musick. Jaball and Juball, frugality and mirth, good h [...]sbandry and sweet content dwel together. Virgil makes mention of a happy husband­man in his time, who

Vers. 22. And Zillah bare Tubalcam] Perhaps the same that the Poets call Vulcan. He was a cunning Artificer in brasse and iron. To oles they had before, and instruments of iron: how else could they have plowed the accursed earth? Vide Natal. Com. Mythol. l. 2. c. 5. But this man, artem jam inventam excoluit ornavitque, saith Iunius; and is therefore called, A whetter or polisher of every Artificer in brasse and iron. They had the art of it before: but he added to their skill by his invention, he sharply and wittily taught Smiths-craft; and is therefore by the heathens fained to be the god of Smiths, saith another Interpreter.

Vers. 23. And Lamech said unto his wives] Who it seems were troublesome to him with their domesticall discords, and led him a discontented life. He therefore gives them to understand in this set speech, what a man he is, if molested by them or any other; and what slaughters he can make, if provoked by an adver­sary. I would slay a man, if but wounded, &c. This revenge he counts man-hood, Plutar. in Pe­lopid [...]. which indeed is dog-hood rather. So Alexander Phereus consecrated his javelin, wherewith he slew his uncle Polyphron (as a monument of his man-hood) and called it his god Tychon. Ne memoria tam pr [...]larae rei dilueresur. So Sylla caused it to be registred in the publicke Records, that he had prescribed, and put to death foure thousand and seven hundred Romanes. So Stokesly Bishop of London, comforted himself upon his death bed with this, Act. & Mon. that in his time he had burned fifty Heretickes as he called them. Phil. 3. Is not this to glory in their shame, and to have damnation for their end? Is it not the Devill that sets men a worke to do thus, as he did Saul to seek Davids life, and Lamech to domineer in this sort over his wives, New-Engl. first fruits. p. 4. seeking so to represse their strife? A certaine Indian comming into a house of the New-English, where a man and his wife were brawling, and they bidding him sit downe, he was welcome: he answered, he would not stay there; Hobomack, that is the Devill, was there; and so de­parted.

Vers. 24. If Cain shall [...]e avenged sevenfold, &c.] Thraso­nicall Lamech brags, and goes on to out-dare God himself. For it is as if he should say, If God will take vengeance on them that contemne him, why may not I on those that contemne me, wives or other? Nay, though God will forgive evills against him, yet will not I evills against me. Ile have the oddes of him, seventy to seven; so Iunius interprets it. A desperate expres­sion, and somewhat like that of Pope Iulius the third, above-mentioned in the last note upon the former Chapter; whereunto may here be added, that the same Pope being forbidden by his Ph [...]sitian to eat Swine flesh, as being noysome and nought for his gout, he called to h [...]s Steward in a great rage, and said, Act. & Mon. fol. 1417. Bring me my pork-flesh, al despito di dio, In despite of God. O wretch!

Vers. 25. She bare a son, and called, &c.] Virgil. The Duke of Florence gave for his Ensign, a great tre [...] with many spreading boughes, one of them being cut off, with this Posie, Vno avul­so, &c. Sic uno avulso non de­ficit alter Aureus. Dead bones may revive, and out of the ashes of a Phoenix, another Phoenix spring. Jana jacet Phoenix nato Phoe­nice, &c. The two witnesses that were killed, received the spirit of life from God againe, Rev. 11.11. Iobn Baptist revivet [...] in our Saviour, (qui huic succentu [...]iatus est) and Steven in Paul: John Hus in Luther (the Goose in the Swan) and the suppressed Waldenses in the Protestants. The Papists gave out that when Luther dyed, all his sect would dye with him: and when Queene Elisabeths head was laid, we should have strange worke in England. A false Jesuit in a scandalous libell published it, that she wished that she might after her death, hang a while in the ayre, to see what striving would be for her Kingdome. But she both lived and dyed with glory: Camdens Elisab. her rightfull successour came in peaceably, not a dog moving his tongue at him: The true Reformed Religion was established, and is hitherto main­tained amongst us, maugre the malice of Rome and Hell. It was the Legacy left us by our Ancestours: the blood of those blessed Martyrs was the seed of our Church, of which I may say, as he of his City,

When the Devill and his Imps had got Abel into his grave, and saw Adam without another in his room for an hundred and thirty years space, or near upon, what a deal of joy was there, think we, amongst them, and sending of gifts? But God in due time sets [Page 58]up a Seth, instead of Abel, and so cuts the devils comb, confutes his confidence. He will have a Church, when all's done. The Pope could tell the Turk so much in a message,

Vers. 26. Then began men to call upon, &c.] Publikely, and in solemn assemblies to serve the Lord; and to make a bold and wise profession of his name: [...], Phil. 2. shining as Lamps amidst that per­verse generation of irreligious Ca [...]nites, who said unto God, De­part from us, &c. Job 22.17. This Job speaks there of these wick­ed, which were cut down out of time, their foundation was over­flown with the flood, Vers. 16.

CHAP. V. Verse 1. This is the Book of the generations.

SEpher, [...] a ciphering up of their names, acts, and accidents; that we might know, first, who were Christs Progenitors; second­ly, by whom the Church was continued; thirdly, how long the old World lasted, viz. one thousand six hundred fifty and six yeers. Whence some have grounded a conjecture, that the yeer of Christ one thousand six hundred fifty and six, will bring forth some strange alteration in the world. Alsted. Chron. p. 494. Others, think the world will be then at an end, and they ground upon this Chron [...]gramme, MƲnDI Conf Lagrat Io. [In the likeness of God made he him.] This is much inculcated, that it may be much observed, and we much humbled, that have parted with so fair a patrimony; striving as much as may be, [...]. Heb. 1.3. to recover it in Christ, who being the express Image of his Fathers Person, is both apt and able to re­new that lost Image of God in us, by his Merit and Spirit, by his Value and Vertue.

Vers. 2. Blunts Voyage, p. 122. Male and female, created he them.] The Jews at this day have base conceits of women: as that they have not so divine a soul, as men; that they are of a lower creation, made onely for the propagation and pleasure of man, &c. And therefore, they suffer them not to enter the Synagogue, but appoint them a gal­lery without. Matth, 22. Thus they err, not knowing the Scriptures. See the Notes on Chap. 2. v. 22.

Vers. 3. Adam lived one hundred and thirty yeers, and begat] This was a great tryal to his faith, to wait so long for a better issue, when the Cainites spred amain, erected cities, and perhaps meditated Monarchies. [After his own image] Corruptus cor­ruptum: For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, Job 14.4. John 3. saith Job? That which is of the flesh is flesh, saith our Saviour, and we can say no better of it. This is hard to perswade men to; for each one is apt to think his own peny good silver: And a dead woman will have four to carry her forth, as the Proverb hath it. The Pharisee, bad enough, though he be, yet is very brag of his good estate to God-ward: And Novatus cryes out, Non habeo, Domine, quod mihi ignoscas. How much better Saint Augustine, Ego admisi, Domine, unde tu damnare potes me; sed non amisisti, unde tu [...]salv [...]re potes me. One hath destroyed me, but of thee is my help; my safety here, and salvation hereafter. Lord I am Hell, but thou art Heaven, as that Martyr once said, &c. B. Hooper. Psal. 42.One depth calleth upon another; the depth of my misery, the depth of thy mercy. Heaven denyes me, earth grones under me, Hell gapes for me: Help Lord, or thy servant perisheth, Psal. 51 2. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and purge me from my sin; whether that im­puted to me, inherent in me, or issuing from me.

V. 4. He begat sons and daughters.] Philo and Epiphanius give him twelve sons, Beda thirty sons, and as many daughters.

Vers. 5. Nine hundred and thirty yeers,] Till the fifty sixt yeer of the Patriark Lamech. In all which time, he (doubtless) in­structed his good nephews, in all those great things, which him­self had learned from Gods mouth, and proved in his own ex­perience, what that good, and holy, and acceptable Will of God was. Moreover, out of his mouth, as out of a Fountain, Rom. 12. [...]. flowed whatsoever profitable Doctrine, Discipline, Skill and Wisdom, is in the world. [And he dyed.] This is not in vain so often itera­ted in this Chapter; for there is in us by nature, a secret conceit of immortality, and we can hardly be beaten out of it. That all must dye, every man will yield; but that he may live yet, a day longer at least, there is none but hopeth. We can see death in other mens brows, but not in our own bosomes. It must make forcible entry, and break in violently: [...], Matth. 24.51. 2 Cor. [...].4. God must cut men in twain, and tear their souls from their bodies, ere they will yield to die. The best are too backward, and would not be unclothed, but clothed upon, if they might have their will. Moses himself [Page 60]prayes, Psal 9 [...].12. Lord teach us so to number our days, that we may apply, (or, as the Hebrew hath it,) that we may cause our hearts to come to wisdom: Cause them to come, wh [...]ther they will or no; for naturally they hang off, and would not come to any such bargain. How needful is it therefore to be told us, that Adam died, that Seth, Enos and C [...]inan died, &c. That this may be, as a hand­writing on the Wall, to tell us, That we must also dye, and come to judgment.

Vers. 9. Enos begat Cainan.] Enosh, that is, Sorry man be­gat Cainan; i. e. A man of sorrows. Thus the Fathers, though long-lived, were not unmindful of their mortality and misery.

Vers. 20. Nine hundred sixty and two yeers.] Rabbi Levi, citante Genebrardo, Genebr. Chron.long aevitatem patriarcharum opus providentiae, non naturae appellat. Their children also, that they waited so long for, were not more the issue of their bodies, then of their faith.

Vers. 23. All the days of Enoch, were three hundred sixty and five yeers.] So many yeers onely lived Henoch, as there be days in the yeer. But what he wanted in the shortning of his time, was made up in his son Methuselah the longest liver: Besides that, God took him to a better place, transplanted him, as it were out of the Kitchin-garden into his heavenly Paradise; Cant 6.2. To gather Lil­lies, i. e. To transplant his people into Heaven. which was not more to his own benefit, then to the comfort of the other Patri­arks, that survived him, against the fear of death, and the crosses of life: Sith in Henoch (what discouragement soever they had in Abels death) they had an ocular demonstration, that there is a re­ward for the righteous, and that it is not altogether in vain to walk with God.

Vers. 24. And Enoch walked with God.] And so condemned the World: First, Heb. 11. by his life; secondly, at his death. By his life, in that he kept a constant counter-motion to the corrupt courses of the times; not onely not swimming down the stream with the wicked, but denouncing Gods severe judgment against them, even to the extream curse of Anathema Maranatha, Jude 14. as Saint Jude tells us. Secondly, By his death he condemned them: In that so strange a Testimony of Gods grace and glory, in his won­derful translation, did not affect and move them to amend their evil manners. The Heathens had heard somewhat afar off, concern­ing this Candidate of Immortality, Alsted. Chron. p. 85. as the Ancients call him, and thence grounded their Apotheôses. Eupolemon saith, That their [Page 61] Atlas was Henoch, as their Janus was N [...]ah. Gentes sunt An­t [...]brislus [...]um suis asseclis. Pa [...]aeus. Jac. Rev [...]i hist. Pontif. Rom. p 309. And how fitly are the Papists called Heathens by Saint John, Revel. 11.2. Sith be­sides their Atlas of Rome, on whose shoulders the whole Church (that new heaven) must rest; there was at Ruremund in Gilder­land a play acted by the Jesuites, Anno 1622, under the title of the Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius.

Vers. 27. And all the days of Methuselah.] He lived longest of any, yet wanted thirty one yeers of a thousand. Nemo patriar­charum mille annos complevit, qu [...]a numerus iste typum babe­at perfectionis. [...]ic nulla per­fectio pietatis. Occolampad. Oecolampa­dius thinks there was a mystery in this, that they all dyed short of a thousand, which is a type of perfection; To teach us, saith he, that live we never so long here, and grow we never so fast in Grace, we cannot possibly be perfect, till we get to Heaven. Henoch lived long in a little time; and foreseeing the flood, named his son Methuselah; that is to say, He dyeth, and the dart (or flood) cometh. And so it fell out; for no sooner was his head laid, but in came the flood. Isai. 57.1. The righteous are taken away from the evil to come: And their death is a sad presage of an imminent calamity. Hippo could not be taken, whiles Augustine lived, nor Heidelberg while Paraeus. Semen sanctum statumen terrae, Isai. 6.13. Junius. The holy Seed upholdeth the State. Tertul. Absque stationibus non staret mun­dus. The innocent shall deliver the Iland, and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands alone, Job 22.30. When, one sinner de­stroyeth much good, Eccles 9.18. Paulin. Nolan. in vita Ambros. De Fabio Cun­ctatore, Silius. Ambrose is said to have been the Walls of Italy. Stilico the Earl said, That his death did threaten destruction to that Countrey.

Vers. 29. This same shall comfort us.] Herein a figure of Christ. And Peter Martyr thinks that Lamech was in hope, that this son of his would have been the Christ: A pardonable error, proceeding from an earnest desire of seeing his day, whom their souls loved, and longed for: Saluting the promise afar off, [...], Heb. 11.Heb. 11. and waiting for the consolation of Israel, Luke 2.25.

Vers. 32. And N [...]ah begat Sem, Ham, and Japheth.] Twenty yeers he had heard from God, That the world should be destroy­ed, before he had any childe. Revel. 14. Here was the Faith and patience of this Saint. At length he hath Japheth first; though Shem be first named, because he was in dignity preferred, before his brother, to be grandfather to the Messiah. Now any relation to Christ, en­nobleth either place or person. If it were an honor to Mark to have been Barnabas his sisters son, what is it then to be allyed to [Page 62]the son of God? Mic. 5.2. Matth. 2.6. Bethlehem where he was born, though it were least, saith Micah; yet it was not the least, saith Matthew, among all the cities of Judah, because out of it should come Christ the Governor.

CHAP. VI. Verse 1. When men began to multiply.]

NOt good men onely, but bad men too; who therefore took them more wives then one, that they might multiply amain. A numerous off-spring is no sure signe of Gods special favor. It is well observed, That when God promised children as a blessing, he said, Psal. 118.3. Psal. 104.15. Judg. 9.13. The wife should be as the vine, and the children as olive plants: Two of the best fruits, the one for chearing the heart, the other for clearing the face; the one for sweetness, the other for fatness. Blessed is the man that hath his quiver full of such, as are as the arrows of a strong man. Whence it follows, That they must have more in them th [...]n nature; for arrows are not arrows by growth, but by art: So they must be such children, the knottiness of whose nature is refined and reformed, and made smooth by Grace. This workmanship of God in the hearts and lives of children, is like the graving of a Kings Pallace, or the pollished corners of the tem­ple. Psal. 144.12. This preserves Jacob from confusion, and his face from waxing pale. This makes religious parents to sanctifie Gods name, even to sanctifie the holy One, and with singular en­couragement from the God of Israel, Isai. 29.22, 23. It never goes well with the Church, but when the Son marries the Mother, Isai. 62.5.

Vers. 2. That the sons of God saw the daughters.] Sons of God, such as had called themselves by his name, Chap. 4.26. his peculiar professant people, called Sons of Jehovah, Deut. 14.1. yea, his first-born, and so higher then the Kings of the earth, Psal. 89.27. Dan. 7.17, 18. Hence Dan. 7. after mention made of the four Monarchies, a greater then them all succeedeth; and that is the Kingdom of the Saints of the most high. Saints at large he meaneth; all that have made a covenant with him by sacrifice, Psal. 50.5. Now we read of sacrificing Sodomites, Isai. 1, 10. sinners in Sion, Isai. 33.14. profligate professors, Matth. 7.23. That, though called [Page 63] Israel yet, are to God as Ethiopians, Amos 9.7. Such were these Sons of God. [Saw the daughters of men, that they were fair.] Beauty is a dangerous bait, and lust is sharp-sighted. It is not safe gazing on a fair woman: How many have died of the wound in the eye? No one means hath so enriched hell, as beauti­ful faces. Take heed our eyes be not windows of wickedness, and loop-holes of lust. Make a covenant with them as Joh: Job 31.1. Pray against the abuse of them with David, Psal. 119.37. and curb them from for­bidden objects, as Nazianzen, who had learned [...] to nurture his eyes, as himself tells us. See the Note on Chap. 3.6. [They took them wives.] Of their own heads with­out Gods license, or parents consent, as Esau did: And of all which they chose, that is, That they liked and loved. Thus, Amor sormae ra­tionis est oblivio, insaniae proxi­mus, turbat cou­silia, altos & gencrosos spiri­tus frangit. Jerom. Eccles. 11. as some marry by their ears, upon meer hear-say; others, by their fingers ends, for money: so these gallants married by their eyes, they were led by the lust of their hearts, and sight of their eyes, as Solomons yonker; not considering that favor is deceitful, beauty, vanity, &c. And that many a woman is like Helen without, but Hecuba within, or an Earthen potsherd covered with silver-dross, Prov. 26.23.

Vers. 3. My spirit shall not alway strive.] That is, I'll consult no longer, but resolve to ruine them (as some gloss it:) Or, I'll pull the sword out of the sheath, the soul out of the body; as others gather out of the Hebrew word here used. Sunt qui dedu­ctum volunt à Nadan Vagina. But they do best (in my minde) that sense it thus: My Spirit, wh [...]reby I hither­to went and Preached, by Noe and other Patriarks, to those spirits (once in pleasure, now) in prison, but prevailed not, 1 Pet. 3.18, 19. shall not al­way strive with perverse men by preaching, disputing, convincing, in the mouths of my servants, whom I have sent unto them; nor in their own mindes and consciences, by inward checks and motions, which they have made no good use of. Delicata res est spiritus Dei. Grieve it once, and you may drive it away for ever. Ideò det [...]riores sumus, quia meliores esse d [...] ­b [...]mus. Sa [...]v. It bloweth where it listeth, and will not be at your whistle. [For that he also is flesh,] He is therefore the worse, because he ought to be better. God expects singular things from his people, and takes it ill, when they are carnal and walk as men, 1 Cor. 3.3. They should be higher then others by head and shoulders, as Saul was; and all that is in them, or comes from them, should be as the fruit of the trees in Paradise, fair to the eye, and swe [...]t to the taste. [Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty yeers.] It shall be so [Page 64]long ere I destroy. 1 Pet. 3.19, 20. 2 Pet 2.5. This long-suffering of God is celebrated by St. Peter, and well it may; for had he not been God, and not man, he could never have held his hands so long. Neither indeed did he; for so extream was the provocation, that he cut them off twenty yeers of this promised count: That all the earth might know to their wo, Numb. 14.34. his breach of promise.

Vers. 4. There were Gyants.] Gigantes, quasi [...], Earth­sprung. John 3.31. They were of the earth, they spake of the earth, and the earth heard them. Heard them. I say, and fell before them; as the beasts of the field do before the roaring Lyon. Hence they are called in Hebrew Nephilim; [...] such as being faln from God, fell upon men, Job 1.15. and by fear and force, made others fall before them. Thus they sought to renown and raise themselves, by depressing others, and doing violence. But this was not the way: For now they lie shrowded in the sheet of shame. To do Worthily in Ephrata, is to be famous in Bethlehem, Ruth 4.11. To be patiently perseverant in well-doing, is to seek for glory and honor; yea, to attain immortality and eternal life, Romans 2.7.

Vers. 5. The wickedness of man was great in the earth.] Which was now grown so foul, that God saw it but time to wash it with a flood; as he shall shortly do again with streams of fire. He destroyed the world then with water, for the heat of lust, he shall destroy it with fire, for the coldness of love, as saith Ludolfus. Devita Christi. l. 2. c. 7.[And that every imagination of the thoughts,] Omne figmentum cogitationum: The whole fiction, or every creature of the heart, as the Apostle hath it, Hebr. 4.13. speaking there of the thoughts, All the thoughts exten­sively are inten­sively onely evil, and proten­sively continu­ally. and intents of the heart. There is a general ataxy, the whole frame is out of frame. The understand­ing dark as hell, and yet proud as the devil. The will cross and overthwart. The memory slippery and waterish, to receive and re­tain good impressions; but of a marble firmness, to hold fast that which is evil. The affections crooked and preposterous. The very tongue a world of wickedness, what then the heart? Si trabes in oculo, strues in corde. The operations thereof are evil, onely evil; Every day evil, saith this Text: And assigneth it for the source of the old worlds wickedness. David also resolves his adultery and murther, into this pravity of his nature, as the principle of it, Psal. 51.5. so doth Job, Chap. 40.4. Paul, Rom. 7.24. Isaiah, Chap. 6.5. The whole Church (Isai. 64.6.) cryes out, [Page 65] Ʋnclean, Ʋnclean; and Chap. 53.6. Lev. 13.45. Esa. 1.3. All we like sheep have gone astray. Now as no creature is more apt to wander, so none less able to return, then a sheep. The Oxe knoweth his owner, the Asse his masters crib. The very Swine accustomed to the trough, if he goe abroad, yet at night will finde the way home again: Not so the Sheep. Loe such is man. Quintilian therefore was quite out when he said, It is more marvell that one man sinneth, then that all men should live honestly: sin is so against the nature of man. But he erred, not knowing the Scripture. For doe ye think, Jam. 4.5. saith St. James (alluding to this text) that the Scripture saith in vaine, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? The civill mans na­mans nature is as bad as the worst, not changed, but chained up: Truely said Tully, Cum primùm nascimur in omni continuò pravi­tate versamur. We are no sooner born then buried in a bog of wickedness.

Vers. 6. And it repented the Lord, &c. and it grieved him] These things are spoken of God, [...], after the manner of men; but must be taken and understood [...], as it beseemeth God. Perkins. When Repentance is attributed to God (saith Mr. Perkins) it noteth onely the alteration of things and actions done by him, and no change of his purpose and secret decree, which is im­mutable. M. Gataker. Gods repentance (saith another learned Divine) is not a change of his will, but of his work: Repentance with man, is the changing of his will: Repentance with God, is the willing of a change: Mutatiorei, non Dei; effectus, non affectus; facti, non consilii.

Vers. 7. I will destroy man] See here the venemous and mis­chievous nature of sin: It causeth God to make a World, and again to unmake it: it sets him against Man his Master-piece, and makes him (though he be [...]) not onely to devise, but to delight in the destruction of his owne creature, to mock at, and make merry in his calamity, Prov. 1.26. to deliver the beloved of his soule into the hands of the destroyer. Time was, when Christ, being by at the Creation, Jer. 12 7. rejoyced in this habitable part of Gods earth, & his delights were with the sons of men, Prov. 8.31. But since the Fall it is far otherwise; Haba [...]. 1. for he is of more pure eyes the [...] to be­hold sin with patience: He hates it worse then he hates the Devill: for he hates the Devill for sins sake, and not sin for the Devills sake. Now the naturall and next effect of hatred, is revenge. Hence he resolves, I will destroy man. [Both man and beast, the [Page 66]creeping thing, &c.] Why, what have those poore sheep done? They are all undone by mans sin, and are (for his punishment) to perish with him, as they were created for him. This is a piece of that bondage they are still subject to; and grievously groan under, waiting deliverance, Rom. 8.21, 22.

Vers. 8. But No [...]h found grace] Because in Covenant with God; who of himself was a childe of wrath, and saved by grace onely, though just and perfect in his generation. The Mercy-seat was no larger then the Arke; to shew, that the grace of God ex­tends no further then the Covenant: As all out of the Arke were drowned, so all out of the Covenant are damned.

Vers. 9. Justitia Impu [...]a [...]a, Impertita. Noah was a just man] By a two-fold justice, 1. Im­puted. 2. Imparted By the former he was justified; by the latter sanctified: and note, that he found grace in Gods eyes, before he was either of these; for Grace is the foundation of all our felicity, and comprehends all blessings, as Mannah is said to have done all good tastes. Ecclesiasticus. [Perfect in his generation] At best in those worst times, which is a singular commendation; and perfect, that is, up­right; [...] Heb. 13.18. ayming at perfection, willing in all things to please God; and yet not more desiring to be perfect, then hating to seem onely to be so. Or, Noah was perfect, compared to that sinfull genera­tion; which yet gloried in the title of the sons of God, and chil­dren of the Church. But was not Judas called Friend, and Dives Son? Matth. 26. Luk. 16. Hath not many a Ship been known by the name of Safeguard and Good-speed, which yet hath dashed upon the rocks, or miscar­ried by Pirates? Externall priviledges profit not, where the heart is not upright, but increase wrath. It was an aggravation to Solo­mons sin, That God had appeared unto him twice; and that he had been timely forewarned by his mother to beware of wine and women, 1. King. 11.9. Prov. 31.3.4. Prov. 31. both which he was afterwards, neverthelesse, most inordinately addicted to, Eccles. 2.

Vers. 11. The earth also was corrupt before God] Or, rotten, putrid, and stanke againe. Sin is an offence to all Gods senses; yea to his very soul, as he complaines, Esa. 1.1. to 16. Oh that it were so to ours then would we not hide it under our tongues (as a childe doth sugar) and harbour it in our hearts; yea let it eat of our meat, and drink of our cup, and lye in our bosomes, as the poor mans lamb did in Nathans parable. Lust was but a stranger to David, 2 Sam. 11.3 as the Prophet there intimates, vers. 4. At other times, and when himself, I hate vain thoughts, saith he, Psal. 119, 113. [Page 67] yea every false way, 104. as the vomit of a dog, as the devils ex­crements, as the putrifaction of a dead soul, dead in trespasses; dead and rotten, as here, stinking worse before God, [...]. Job. 11. then Lazarus did or could doe, after he had lain four dayes in the grave.

Vers. 12. All flesh had corrupted his way] Generall defection precedes generall destruction; as here all sorts and sexes were fallen from God. All kinde of sins were common amongst them. In the family promiscuous lusts, unlawfull marriages, &c. In the State tyranny, violence, injustice: In the Church contempt of Gods word, abuse of his patience to presumption; of his bounty to secu­rity in sin. For they eat, they dranke, they married, they planted, they builded, &c. And all this they did constantly and pleasantly, passing from eating to drinking; from drinking to marrying; (for Venus in vinis, and gluttony is the Gallery that wantonnesse walks through) from marrying to planting, for the use of poste­rity, as St. Luke [...]weetly sets forth by an elegant Asynd [...]. [...], &c. Luke 17.27. All this they did, and God was silent, therefore their hearts grew fat as brawn, and they knew nothing, saith our Saviour, nor would know, till the very day that the flood came: Into such a dead le­thargy were they cast by their sins, which were therefore grown ripe, and ready for the sickle.

Vers. 13. The end of all flesh is come before me] I will surely, Certissimè ci­tissimeque. and swiftly destroy them. A like threatning there is used, Ezek 7.2, 3, 6. against Israel, when once their sins were full ripe, and hang'd but for mowing, as we say. The end is come, is come, is come, and so some ten or twelve times, is come, is come, q. d. destruction is at next doore by, and Noah must know it too: Not by his skill in Astrologie, as Berosus belyes him, but by divine praemoni­tion. Gen. 18.17. Psal. 25.14. Amos 3.7. For shall I hide from Noah (from Abraham) that thing which I doe? No surely; they shall know all: they shall be both of Gods Come and Co [...]ell; For the secr [...] of the Lord is with them that feare him. And the Lord will doe nothing (of this nature) but he will first reveal it unto his servants the Prophets. And even to this day, the more faithfull and familiar we are with God, so much the sooner, and better do we foresee his judgements, and can foreshew them to others; as those that are well acquainted with men, know by their looks and gestures that which strangers understand not, but by their actions. As finer tumpers are more sensible of the changes of weather, &c. [I will destroy them]: I [Page 68]will corrupt them (so the Hebrew hath it) I will punish them in kinde, pay them in their own coyn, corrupt them from the earth, as they have corrupted themselves in the earth, which also now is burdened with them, and cryes to me for a vomit to spue them out.

Vers. 14. Make thee an Ark] Or chest, or coffin. And indeed by the description here set down, the Arke, in shape, was like to a coffin for a mans body, six times so long as it was broad, and ten times so long as it was high: And so fit to figure out (saith an Interpreter) Christs death and buriall, Mr. Ainsworth. and ours with him, by mor­tification of the old man: as the Apostle applies this type to baptisme, 1 Pet. 3.20, 21. whereby we are become dead and buried with Christ, Rom. 6.3, 4, 6.

Vers. 16. A window shalt thou make] The Arke had little outward light, so the Church, till she become triumphant. There could not but be much stench among all those creatures, though shut up in severall rooms; Heb. 5. ult. so here, there is much annoyance to those that have their senses exercised to discern good and evill. Com­pare the estate of Prince Charles, in his Queen-mothers womb with his condition at full age, in all the glory of his fathers Court, there is a broad difference. And it may fitly resemble (saith One) the difference of our present and future estate; while the Church doth here travell of us, we are pent up in darke cloysters, and annoyed with much stench of sinne, Baines Lett. both in our selves and others; but when we come to heaven, we shall see and enjoy the light of life, our feet shall be as hindes feet, upon the everlasting mountaines.

Vers. 17. And behold I, even I] Verba stomachantis, & confirmantis veritatem comminationis suae. Abused mercy turnes into fury. Mimus. God will not alway serve men for a sinning-stock. Crudelem medicum [...] intemperans ager facit. [Every thing, that is in the earth, shall dye] A dismall doom; and God is now absolute in his threatning, because he will be resolute in his execution: Oh tremble and sin not; Psal. 4. while others sin and tremble not. Kisse the Son, lest he be angry; Who knoweth the power of his anger? Surely according to our fear, Psal. 90.11.is his wrath. It is a just presage and desert of ruine, not to be warned. God hath hang'd up the old world in gibbets, as it were, for our admonition. Worthily are they made examples, that will not take them. Who pities the second Captaine, consumed by fire with his company, 2 King. 1. sith he had a fair [Page 69]warning, but would not beware by it. Mal. 4.1. Behold the day of the Lord commeth, that shall burne as an Oven. This last day was foretold by Enoch, before the deluge was by Noah. Longer it is before it comes, but shall be more terrible when it is come.

Vers. 18. Thou and thy sons] Yet Ham, soon after, degenera­ted: for the present he concealed his wickedness from men, from God he could not. He beares with hypocrites in his visible Church for a season, till the time of separation. Augusti [...]. Matth. 3.12. Zach. 14.21. In area nobiscum esse possunt, in horreo non possunt. He will throughly purge his floore. The Canaanite shall not be in the land any longer; nor the uncleane spirit, Zach. 13.2. O faelicem illam dieculam▪

Vers. 20. Two of every sort shall come unto thee] For they are all thy servants, saith David, they wait upon thy word. Psal. 119.91. This Noah might make good use of, and did, no doubt. See how sequacious these poor creatures are to God their Centurion. If he bid them come, they come; if go, they go. And shall not I obey God, and follow his call, be there never so many Lions in my way?

Vers. 21. Take thou unto thee of all food] God could have kept them alive without either food or arke. But he will have us serve his providence, in use of lawfull means; and so to trust him, as that we do not tempt him.

Vers. 22. Thus did Noah, according to all, &c.] The wicked world could not slout him out of his faith; Heb. 11.7. but that moved with fear, he preacheth, and buildeth, and finisheth; He preached without prea­ching saith Ba­sil of Selucia. every stroke upon the Arke, being a reall Sermon (as Nazianzen hath it) to forewarn them to flee from the wrath to come; which yet they did not: No not the very Ship-wrights that made the Arke, but were all buried together, in one universall grave of waters.

CHAP. VII. Vers. 1. For thee have I seen righteous before me]

NOt onely before men, as Pharisees, Luke 16.15. and civill Justitiaries, Rom. 2.29. but before me who see the inside, and love truth in the hidden man of the heart. Psal. 51.6. 1 Pet. 3.5. And here Noahs sin­cerity prevailed with God for his safety, as did likewise Lots, [Page 70]whom God hid in Zoar; and Abrahams, to whom God was a shield to save him from the deadly thrusts of destruction, when he pursued the four Kings and foyled them, because he walked before him, and was upright, Gen. 15.1. with Gen. 14.15, So true is that of Solomon, Prov. 10.9. Prov. 14.26. Isai. 26.3.He that walketh uprightly, walketh safely, as if he were in a tower of brass, or town of war. And again, In the fear of the Lord is strong considence, and his children have a place of refuge. The old Rock is still ready to relieve them. [In this generation.] 2 Pet. 2.5. Called by Saint Peter, a world of ungodly ones, far worse, no doubt, then those in Henochs days. The greater praise was it to Noah, that (by an holy Antiperistasis) he kindled from their coldness, and became nothing the worse, but much the better (as it is the nature of true goodness) by their oppositions. It was an invincible Faith, whereby he both conquered the world, and condemned it. What else could have carried him over so many difficulties, as he must needs encounter? Well might the Apostle say, Heb. 11.7. By faith he prepared an Ark. For if he had been led by sense, he would have fled as far as Jonas did, ere ever he had gone about it.

Vers. 2. Of every clean beast, thou shalt take by sevens.] Three pair for generation, and a single one for sacrifice, after the flood was past, as Chap. 8.20. God must have a moyet [...], and good rea­son. But that two onely of a sort, of the unclean hurtful crea­tures, were preserved, note his fatherly providence. To this day we see, though sheep and birds be so killed up for mans use, yet there are far more of them, then of other unserviceable or cruel creatures. Besides, the weaker creatures go in herds together, the stronger and savager go alone. For if they should go in mul­titudes, no man, nor beast could stand before them. This you shall finde set down to your hand, Job 37. Psal. 104. Ammianus Marcellinus writeth, That in Chaldaea there are a huge number of Lyons, which were like enough to devour up both men and beasts, throughout the Countrey. But withal, he saith, That by reason of the store of water and mud thereof, there breed yeerly an innumerable company of gnats, whose property is to flee into the eye of the Lyon, as being a bright and orient thing: Where biting and stinging the Lyon, he teareth so fiercely with his claws, that he puts out his own eyes: And by that means many are drowned in the rivers, Bo [...]in. in Thea­tro. lib. 3. others starve for want of prey; and many the more easily killed by the inhabitants. Bodin telleth us, That [Page 71]the Wolf never seeth his sire, his dam, nor his young: For that, the herd of Wolves sets upon, and killeth that Wolf, which by the smell they perceive to have coupled with the she-wolf; which unless they did, what a deal of mischief would be done by them every where among cattle?

Vers. 4. For yet seven days, &c.] God could have destroyed them by water, or otherwise, in a far shorter space: But, of his Free-grace, he gives them yet seven days further, and then rains upon the earth fourty days, as not willing that any should eter­nally perish, but that all should come to repentance, 2 Pet. 3.9. The Hebrew Doctors (as they are very injurious to Noah, because we read not that he prayed for the old world, but onely took care of himself, and his own family, censuring him therefore of self-love and hard-heartedness; so they judg very uncharitably of those that perished in the flood; sending them all to hell, and wresting some Scriptures thereunto: As, that in this present verse, God saith, He will destroy them, or blot them out; That is, R. Menachem, in loc. (say they) out of the land of the world to come, the land of the living. I deny not, but many of their spirits are in prison, so saith Saint Peter, 1 Pet. 3.19. But withal, in the next Chapter, the same Apostle tells us, That for this cause, the Gospel was preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. Compare these words with those 1 Pet. 3.18, 19, 20. and it will appear, the Apostle speaks of these Antediluvians. All were not saved that were in the Ark, nor all damned, we may well think, that were out of it. Could they see their foundation overflown with a flood (as the phrase is, Job 22.16.) and not lay for themselves a good foundation by laying hold on eternal life? 1 Tim. 6.19. Saint Am­brose conceiveth, that Noah was seven days in the Ark, afore the flood came: That as God was six days in creating the world, and rested the seventh; so these perishing persons, admonished by the number of the days of the Creation, Eccles. 12.1. might remember their Creator, and make their peace. Nunquam serò, si seriò.

Vers. 5. And Noah did according unto all.] This (All,) is a little word, but of large extent, He doth not his masters, but his own will, that doth no more then himself will. A dispensatory conscience is an evil conscience. God cryes to us, Quicquid prop­ter D [...]m fit, aqualis or fit. [...]. He will have universal obedience, both for subject and object. We must be entirely willing in all things to please God, or we[Page 72]utterly displease him. Herod did many things and was not a but­ton the better. Jehu's golden calves made an end of him, though he made an end of Baals worship. He that doth some, and not all Gods wills, [...], Acts 13.22. with David (in desire and affection, at least) doth but as Benhadad, recover of one disease and die of another: yea, if he take not a better course for himself, he doth but take pains to go to hell. Psal. 119.6. Then shall we not be ashamed, when we have respect (at least) to all Gods Commandments.

Vers. 7. And Noah went in and his sons, &c.] Not till he was compelled by the coming in of the flood, say the Jews: Of no good will, but because there was no other remedy. Thus they belye the good old Preacher. Let no man think much to be mis-judged. Jo. Woove [...]ius in Polymath. Novit sapiens ad hoc scomma se productum, ut depugnet cum iis, qui maledictis aluntur, ut venenis capreae.

Vers 9. There went in two and two,] Of their own accord, by divine instinct. Noah was not put to the pains of hunting after them, or driving them in. Onely he seems to have been six days in receiving, and disposing of them in their several cells, and fetch­ing in food. When God bids us do this or that, never stand to cast perils; but set upon the work, yield the obedience of Faith, and fear nothing. The creatures came into Noah, without his care or cost. He had no more to do, but to take them in, and place them. The Prophet all [...]des hereto, [...]sai. 11.6, 7. all bloodi­ness and rapine laid aside.

Vers. 10. The waters of the flood were upon the earth,] God is as faithful in his menaces, Zeph. 3.5. as in his promises. The wicked think them but wind, but they shall feel them to be fire, Jere. 5.14. Your fathers where are they? Vexatio dat in­tellectum.Did not my words (though never so much slighted) lay hold upon them? And they returned (that is, changed their mindes, when they smarted) and said, Like as the Lord thought to do unto us, so hath he delt with us, Zach. 1.5, 6. There wanted not those in the old world, that held all the threats of a flood to be interrorem onely; and, when they heard Noah thundering, Luke 20.16. put off all, as those in the Gospel with, God forbid. We cannot get men to believe, that God is so just, or the devil so black, or sin so heavy, or hell so hot; till it hath even closed her mouth upon them. Prov. 14.16. Prov. 12.3. The fool rageth and is confident, passeth on and is punished, and will not be better advised. But what said the Martyr, Br [...]dford. They that tremble not in hearing, shall be crusht to [Page 73]peeces in feeling. Gods wrath is such as none can avert or avoyd.

Vers. 11. In the second moneth] In April, as it is thought; then when every thing was in its prime, and pride, birds chirping, trees sprouting, &c. nothing less looked for then a flood; then God shot at them with an arrow suddenly, as saith the Psalmist: Psal 64.7. 1 Thes. 5.3. So shall sudden destruction come upon the wicked at last day, when they lest look for it. So the Sun shone fair upon Sodom the same day, wherein, ere night, it was fearfully consumed. What can be more lovely to look on, then the corn-field a day before harvest, or a vineyard before the vintage? Nos quasi medi­os inter duo s [...] ­pulchra posuit. [All the fountains of the great deep, &c.] So, we live continually betwixt two deaths, the waters above and below us. Serve the Lord with fear.

Vers. 13. In the self same day.] Things are repeated, that they may be the better observed, and the greatness of the mercy the more acknowledged; that God should single out so few, and save them, &c.

Vers. 16. And the Lord shut him in.] A mean office, one would think, for God to shut the door after Noah. He could not well do it himself, (the door doubtless being great and heavy,) and others that were without would not do him so much service. God therefore doth it himself, and therefore it could not but be well done indeed. In a case of necessity, we need not question Gods readiness, to do us any good office, so long as we keep close to him in a holy Communion. In a Letter of B. Hoopers, 2 Chron. 15.2. to certain good people, taken praying in Bowe Church-yard, and now in trouble, thus he writes. Read the second Chapter of Luke; there the shep­herds that watched upon their sheep all night, assoon as they heard Christ was born at Bethlehem, by and by they went to see him. They did not reason, nor debate with themselves, Act. & Mon. fol. 1347.who should keep the Wolf from the sheep in the mean while; but did as they were com­manded, and committed their sheep to him, whose pleasure they obeyed. So let us do; now we be called, commit all other things to him, that calleth us. He will take heed that all things shall be well; he will help the husband, comfort the wife, guide the servants, keep the house, preserve the goods: yea, rather then it shall be undone, he will wash the dishes, and rock the cradle. Cast therefore all your care upon God, &c. Thus he.

Vers. 17. It was lift up above the waters.] Afterwards, it went upon the face of the waters; till at last, the highest hills [Page 74]were covered with waters, the Ark floting upon the surface of them, and not swallowed up by them. In reference whereunto David prayes, Psal. 69.15. Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up. The true Christian may be tossed on the waters of affliction, yea, dowced over head and ears: and as a drowning man, sink twice to the bottom; yet shall up again, if out of the deep, he call upon God, as Jonah did. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, Jonas 2.4. (there you may take him up for dead) yet I will look again toward thy holy Temple, (there he revives, and recovers comfort:) yea, though Hell had swallowed up a servant of God into her bowels, yet it must, in despight of it, render him up, as the Whale did Jonas; which, if he had light upon the Mariners, would have devoured and disgested twenty of them in less space.

Vers. 19. And all the high hills.] So high, some of them, that their tops are above the clouds and winds. And yet as high as they were, they could not save those from the flood that fled to them. Surely, (might they say) in vain is salvation hoped for from the mountains, Isaiah 3.23. Well for them, if (taught by their present distress and danger) they could go on with the Church there, and say, Surely, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Happy storm, that beats us into the Harbor!

Vers. 21. And every man died.] Now these mockers behold that Ark with envy, that er'st they beheld with scorn; they wish themselves in the darkest corner of it, that lately laughed at it; and perhaps did what they could, Veris [...]mile est non abstinuisse manus ab opere turbando. Piscat. to hinder the finishing of it. Yea some, likely, to save them from drowning, caught at and clang as fast to the outside of the Ark, as Joab for the same cause, did to the horns of the Altar. But all in vain: For

Vers. 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life died, of all that was in the dry land.] This last clause exempteth fishes; though the Jews would needs perswade us, that these also died; for that the waters of the flood were boyling hot. But rain­water useth not to be hot, we know; and therefore we reject this conceit as a Jewish fable.

CHAP. VIII. Vers. 1. And God remembred Noah]

HE might begin to think that God had forgotten him; having not heard from God for five months together; Fuit in arca per annum integrum & decem dies. Piscator. and not yet seeing how he could possibly escape. He had been a whole year in the Arke, and now was ready to groan out that dolefull Ʋsque­quò Domine: Hast thou forgotten to be mercifull, &c? But for­getfulness befalls not the Almighty. The Butler may forget Joseph, and Joseph, his fathers house: Ahashuerosh may forget Mordecai, and the delivered City, Eccles. 9.15. the poor man that by his wisdome preser­ved it: The Sichemites may forget Gideon; But God is not unfaith­full to forget your worke and labour of love, saith the Apostle. Heb. 6.10. And there is a book of remembrance written before him, Mal. 3.16. saith the Pro­phet, for them that feare the Lord. A metaphor from Kings that commonly keep a Callendar or Chronicle of such as have done them good service; as Ahashuerosh and Tamerlain, Esth. 6.1. who had a catalogue of their names and good deserts, which he daily perused, oftentimes saying that day to be lost, Turk. hist. p. 227. wherein he had not given them something. God also is said to have such a book of remem­brance. Not that he hath so, or needeth to have: for all things both past and future, are present with him: he hath the Idaea of them within himself, and every thought is before his eyes, Psal. 139.16. so that he cannot be forgetfull. But he is said to remember his people (so he is pleased to speak to our capacity) when he sheweth his care of us, and makes good his promise to us. We also are said to be his remembrancers, when we plead his promise, Esa. 62.6. and presse him to per­formance. Not that we perswade him thereby to do us good, but we perswade our own hearts to more faith, love, obedience, &c. whereby we become more capable of that good. [God made a wind] So he worketh usually by means, though he needeth them not. But many times his works are, as Luther speaketh, in contra­riis mediis. As here he asswageth the waters by a wind, which na­turally lifteth up the waves thereof, and inrageth them, Psal. 107.25. [...]. Jon. 1.4. God worketh by contraries, saith Nazianzen, that he may be the more admired.

Vers. 2. And the raine from heaven was restrained] These four keyes (say the Rabbines) God keeps under his own girdle; 1. Of [Page 76]the Womb: 2. Of the Grave: 3. Of the Rain: 4. Of the heart. Revel. 3. He openeth, and no man shutteth; he shutteth, and no man openeth.

Vers. 3. And the waters returned continually,] Or, hastily. Heb. [...] In going and returning; or, heaving and shooving, with all possible speed to return to their place, at [...]ods appointment. See a like cheerfulness in Gods servants, Zach 8.21. Isai. 60.8. Psal. 110.3.

Vers. 4. Mountains of Ararat.] On the tops of the Gordaean Mountains (where Noahs Ark rested) we finde many ruines, The Pre [...]bers travels by Job. Cartwright. p. 32. Joseph. Antiq lib. 1. cap. 5. and huge foundations (saith the Preacher in his travels) of which no reason can be rendered, but that which Josephus gives; That they that escaped the flood, were so astonished and amazed, that they durst not descend into the Plains, and Low Countries, but kept on the tops of those Mountains, and there builded.

Vers. 5. The waters decreased.] Not all on the sudden, but by little and little, Isa [...]. 28.16. for exercise of Noahs faith. He that beleeveth, maketh not haste. God limiteth our sufferings for time, maner, and measure. Joseph was a prisoner till the time came. Smyr [...] was in tribulation for ten days. Physick must have a time to work, and Gold must lye some-while in the fire. In the oppor­tunity of time, [...]. 1 Pet. 5.6. saith Peter, God will exalt you. Prescribe not to him, with those Bethulians in Judith: but wait his leasure, and let him do what is good in his own eyes. He waits a fit season to shew us mercy, Isai. 30.18. and thinks as long of the time, as we do.

Vers. 7. And he sent forth a Raven] Which when it is made tame, though it delights in dead carcases, whereof Noah knew the earth was now full; yet doth not easily forget its station, but returns thereto, when nature is satisfied. [Which went forth to and fro.] Fluttered about the Ark, but kept out of it. Manet foris cum voce corvina, qui non habet simplicitatem columbinam, August.

Vers. 8. Also he sent forth a Dove.] A bird that being swift and simple, [...]ai. 60.8. willingly flies back to his Windows, through [...]ove and faithfulness to his mate and young. Besides, he fleeth a long while together, and very near the ground, and so was fitter for this service. Josephus saith, That he came into the Ark with his feet and wings, wet and dirty, which could not but be good news to Noah.

Vers. 9. Psal. 38.10. My heart pa [...]t [...]th [...], as Merchants run from Countr [...]y to Couan [...]y. Buch [...]l [...]. And the Dove found no rest] No more doth mans soul (Gods Turtle) till it rest in God. Domine, (saith Saint Augustine) fecisti nos ad te, ideoque cor nostrum inquietum est, done [...] requieverit in te. Hic finis nostrae formationis, saith another, ut homo sit templum Dei, & Deus ara hominis. How oft doth the good soul cry, Oh that I had the wings of a Dove, &c. Or, if that Oh will not set him at liberty, she takes up that (wo) to express her misery: Wo is me that I sojourn in Meshec, &c.

Vers. 11. In her mouth was an olive-leaf.] The olive never casteth her leaf, and is greenest in the spring, saith Pliny. It might very well continue so under water, during the flood. It may also very well, by an allegory, set forth that Grace and Peace by Jesus Christ, brought in the mouth of his Ministers in this Evening of the World, Rom. 10.15. The Dove returned at first without her errand; but sent again, she brought better tidings. [...]. 2 Tim. 2.24. [...]. Epictet. The Man of God must not onely be apt to teach, but patient, in meekness in­structing those that oppose themselves; proving, if at any time God will give them repentance. All are not sent into the vineyard at the same hour of the day. Holy Melancthon, being himself new­ly converted, thought it impossible for his hearers to withstand the evidence of the Gospel. But after he had been a Preacher a while, 'tis said he complained, That old Adam was too hard for young Melancthon. And yet, he wanted not afterwards the Seal of his Ministry. For, among many others converted by him, was that sweet Saint, George Prince of Anhalt, whose house was Ecclesia, Academia, Curia; Melch. Adam. and whose heart was so upright with God, his life so laudable amongst men, that Melancthon once, (publikely defending the certainty of our future felicity by this Argument, that godly men must be hereafter rewarded, wicked men punished,) he named this pious Prince, Scultet. ex ore Bucholceri, qu [...] Melancthonis fuit auditor. as an unquestionable example of such a man, as might assuredly expect the promised Crown of Life eternal, which God the righteous Judg will give to all his, 2 Tim. 4.8.

Vers. 16. Go forth of the Ark] Learn we of this holy Pa­triark, to do all by Gods direction, and not dare to attempt any thing without his warrant; approving our selves to him in our comings in, and goings out. Psal. 91. He hath charged his Angels with us so long as we keep the Kings high way: Jere. 20.7. But if we go out of his precincts, we go out of his protection. Take counse [...] at his mouth, and then we may safely say, Lord, if I be deceived, thou [Page 78]hast deceived me. This, as at all times we have need to do, so now especially, when there is (as 2 Chron. 15.5) [...] peace to him that goeth out, nor to him that cometh in, but great vexation upon all countries. Nation being destroyed of Nation, and City of City, &c.

Vers. 19. Every beast after their kinde.] Heb. after their families: That is, not confusedly and pell-mell (as we say) but distinctly and in order: The Lyon with the Lyoness, &c. every male with his female, the clean by themselves, and the unclean by themselves. And as these latter came to the Ark unclean, and unclean they departed; so do millions now-adays, to the Ordi­nances. A Preacher hath as much joy to see them there, as John Baptist had to see the Pharisees thronging to his Baptism, when he cryed out, Matth. 3. O generation of vipers, who sent for you? who hath forewarned you, &c?

Vers. 20. And Noah builded an altar to the Lord.] This was his first care, and so it was Abrahams where-ever he came. It must be also ours, after great deliverances especially. Gods mer­cies are binders: Beneficium post [...]lat officium. He is content we have the comfort of his blessings, so he may have the praise of them. This Pepper-corn is all the rent he looks for. O cover we Gods Altar with the calves of our lips, Heb. 13.15. Psal. 69.31.giving thanks to his name. This will please him better then an ox that hath horns and hoofs. Onely let it be done, the first thing that we do, after the receipt of a benefit, which else will soon wax stale and putrifie as fish. No part of the thank offering might be kept unspent to the third day. Hezekiah wrote his song the third day after his recovery. Noah was no sooner out of the Ark, but he offered on his new-built Altar; as well for testification of his thankfulness, as for con­firmation of his Faith, in that Lamb of God, slain and sacrificed from the beginning of the world. 2 Cor. 5.19. God was now also in Christ reconciling this new world to himself.

Vers. 21. And the Lord smelled a sweet savor,] Heb. a savor of rest. —Minimo capi­ [...]ur thuris honor [...] Deu [...]. [...]. Isai. 1. Greek, [...], which the Apostle followeth, saying, That Christ gave himself for us an offering, and a sacrifice to God, for a small of sweet savor, Ephes. 5.2. All our sacrifices are accept­ed for this of Christ, which otherwise would be turned off, with who required these things at your hands? The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination to the Lord; yea, though he should bring thousands of rams, Micah 6.7.and ten thousand rivers of oy [...], with those mis­creants in Micah, that by their munificence would fain have pur­creants [Page 79]chased a dispensation to sin: whereas Noah with his Oxe, Ram, Propter anima­lia multa vel grandia non pla­cuit. Peter. [...]. He-goat, Turtle, and young Pigeon, laid in for him by God him­self for this same purpose, is highly accepted in that beloved One, as Christ is called, Eph. 1.6. [The Lord said in his heart] All his promises are heart-sprung, the issue of a most faithfull and righteous will, void of any the least insincerity and falshood: whatsoever he speaks, he speaks from his heart; we may write upon't. The Eternity of Israel cannot lye, 1 Sam. 15.29. [I will not again curse the ground, &c for the imagination of mans heart] As who should say, Man doth but his kind now, in committing evill before me. He hath by his fall brought upon himself a miserable necessity of sinning, so that he cannot but doe wickedly with both hands earnestly; which though it be no excuse, Mic. 7.3. but an aggravation rather of his actuall sin (that he doth it out of the pravity of his nature) yet I will not take advantages to deal with him after his deserts; for then there would be no end of making worlds, and unmaking them againe. I will not curse, I will not smite any more. Esa. 9.13. Where note, That Gods smiting his creature, is a fruit of sin, and a peece of the curse. And unless men returne to him that smiteth them, all that they suffer here, is but a typicall hell. Here the leaves onely fall upon them, the trees will fall upon them hereafter.

Vers. 27. While the earth remaineth] Heb. All the dayes of the earth. The earth then (though Solomon in some sense say it endu­reth for ever) hath its set and certaine number of dayes appointed it by God. For the earth also, and the works therein shall be burnt up, 2 Pet. 2.10. And this the Heathen had heard of, and hammered at; as Lucretius who disputes the matter out of naturall causes. So doth Tully, de nat. Deorum, lib. 1, 2. And Ovid. Metamorph. 1. Esse quoque in fatis meminit, &c. There he hath also a large relation of the generall flood in Deucalions dayes; so he calleth Noah. Lucian hath the like in his book, de Dea Syriae. And Plutarch speaketh of the sending forth of the Dove, Dialog. de in­dustr. animal. and of her return unto Deucalion into the Ark. But we have a more sure word of Prophesie. [Cold and heat, and summer and winter, &c.] Lopez de Gomar [...], saith that the Kings of Mexico, when they are consecrated, Lopez de Gom. use to take their oath after this manner: I swear that the Sun, during my life shall bold on his course, and keep his wonted glory and brightnesse and that the clouds shall send down rain, the rivers shall run, and the earth bring forth all manner of fruit, &c. But can any of the vanities of the Heathen give rain, &c?

CHAP. IX. Vers. 1. Be fruitfull and multiply]

HEre God reneweth the world by the same word wherewith he had created it; and being reconciled to mankinde, he bles­seth them in like manner, as before the Fall. Sin once pardoned, is as if it never had been committed. Christ tells his returning Shula­mite, that she was as amiable in every point as she had been before her relapse, Cant 7.1. Chap. 4.1. her haire, teeth, temples, all as faire, and well featured as ever.

Vers. 2. And the feare of you, &c.] Timor, quo à bestiis timea­mini, & terror quo bestias terreatis. Piscat. This is a peece of Gods Image yet remaining in man, that every nature of wild beasts, birds, Jam. 3.7. Monoceros inte­rimi potest, capi nan potest Solin.creeping things, and things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of the nature of man.

Vers. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you] God of his goodness grants here to mankinde, after the flood the use of flesh and wine, that the new and much-weakned world might have new and more strengthning nourishment. For it is not to be doubted, but that by the deluge, a great decay was wrought both in the earth with its fruits, and also in mans nature. Divers wales and scarres as it were, of Gods wrath and malediction did abide and appear in the earth. Sundry maladies also and infirmities befell mans body, not felt before the flood. God therefore in great mercy provides, penu quoddam & pharmacopolium mundo senescenti, new food and physick for the languishing world. Every moving thing that liveth, &c. Onely, as the green herb have I given you all things. That is, as you may use them as freely as you used to do herbes, so you must use them soberly, and without curiosity; taking such things as are at hand, and eating to live, not living to eat, as the rich glutton, that fared deliciously every day; ‘Ingluvies, Horat.& tempestas, barathrumque macelli.’

Vers. 4. But flesh with the life thereof, the blood] Blood was forbidden, First, as not so wholsome food. Secondly, lest by being flesht in blood, they should become bloody minded. Thirdly, blood, the organ of life, is holy to God the authour of life (who was also to be pacified by the blood of his Son) and therefore they should not pollute or prophane it, by devouring thereof.

Vers. 5. Your blood of your lives will I require] i. e. I will punish it either by the Magistrate, or (if he faile to do his office) by mine own immediate hand; as he did in David, Flac. Illyric.Charles the ninth of France, Richard the third of England, Felix Count of Waterburg, and others, that either were above Law, or escaped the lash of it. See for this, The Thunderbolt of Gods judgements, lib. 2. cap. 4, 5, 16. Richard the third, Daniels Chro. continued by Trussel. used the instruments of his bloody plots, as men do their candles; burn the first out to a snuffe [...] and then having lighted another, tread that under foot.

Vers. 6. Who so sheddeth mans blood] Some are of opinion, that before the flood, the punishment of murther and other capitall crimes, was onely excommunication, and exclusion from the Church and their fathers family. And that now first, God made murther to be a matter of death. The first-born had power, at first, over their own families, to bless, curse, cast out, dis-inherit, yea and punish with death, Gen. 38.24. even in case of adultery, Godw. Heb. Antiq. as some will have it thus among the people of God. But what a madness was that in the Egyptians to make no conscience of murther, that they might enjoy their lust? And what a blindness to make less account of murther then adultry? Gen. 12.13. The Preachers Travels by Jo Cartwright. I have seen (saith the Preacher in his travels) the King of Persia many times to alight from his horse, onely to do justice to a poor body. He punisheth theft and man-slaughter so severely, Les ombres des defuncts sciurs de Villemor & de Fonta [...]ues. pag. 46. that in an age a man shall not hear either of the one, or of the other. A severity fit for France; where within ten years, six thousand Gentlemen have been slain, saith he, as it appears by the Kings pardons.

Vers. 9. And I, behold I establish my Covenant with you] This Covenant God had made with them before the flood; but here he renews it for their further confirmation; for he knows our in­firmities, and therefore seals againe. This Covenant is said to be made with an oath, Isa. 54.9. yet we finde no such thing here ex­pressed, because Gods bare word, is as sure as an oath. So God is said to have sworn to Abraham, that which he said to him onely, Exod. 32.13. with Gen. 12.7.

Vers. 10. And with every living creature, &c.] Note this a­gainst Anabaptists, who exclude Infants, for that they want the use of reason. And yet that was but a foolish reason of the Canonist, that Infants are therefore to be baptised, Sphinx Philos. pag. 229. because the Disciples brought to our Saviour, not the Asse onely, but the Foal also.

Vers. 12. This is the t [...]ken of the Covenant, &c.] See here the antiquity of confirming mens faith, by outward signs, as by the two trees in Paradise: and here, the Word and Sacrament go to­gether. And as God, in Noah, made a Covenant with his poste­rity also, and confirmed it with a sign, so doth he in Christ with the Church, and ratified it with the Sacraments; besides, witnes­ses we have three in heaven, and three in earth, &c.

Vers. 13. I doe set my bow in the cloud, &c.] There it was be­fore, but not till now as a token of the Covenant; as still it is ap­plyed for a sign of grace from God to his Church, Rev. 4.3. and 10.1. Ezek. 1.28. It is planted in the clouds, as if man were shooting at God, and not God at man. This bow with both ends downward, and back to heaven, must needs be an emblem of mer­cy; for he that shooteth, holdeth the back of the bow from him. Of Gods bow we read, Ambros. but not of his arrows, saith Ambrose on this text. Psal. 7.12, 13. He hath bent his bow, and made it ready, saith David but if he ordain his arrows, it is not, but against the perse [...]tours. If he shoot at his servants, it is as Jonathan shot at his friend David; to warn them, not to wound them. They are arrows of the Lords deliverance, 2 King. 13.17, 19. Psal. 32.7. which therefore he multiplyes, that they may compass him about with songs of deliverance. If he bend his bow like an enemy. Lam. [...].4. yet in wrath he remembreth mercy.

Vers. 14. The bow shall be seen in the cloud] In this heaven-bow, there are many wonders: First, the beautifull shape and va­rious colours; In which respect Plato thinks the Poets feign Iris, or the Rainbow, to be the daughter of Thanmas, or admiration. The waterish colours therein signifie (say some) the former over­throw of the world by water. The fiery colours, the future judge­ment of the world by fire. The green, that present grace of free­dome from both, by vertue of Gods Covenant, whereof this bow is a sign. Next, the Rainbow hath in it two contrary significati­ons, viz. of rain, and fair-weather; of this in the evening, of that in the morning, saith Scaliger. Adde hereunto, that whereas na­turally it is a sign of rain (and is therefore feigned by the Poets to be the messenger of Jun [...], and called imbrifera, or showry) yet it is turned by God into a sure sign of dry weather, and of restraint of waters. Let us learn to look upon it, not onely in the naturall causes, as it is an effect of the Sun in a thick cloud; but as a Sacra­mentall sign of the Covenant of Grace; Esa. 54.9, 10. a monument of Gods both Justice in drowning the world, and Mercy in conserving it [Page 83]from the like calamity. The Jews have an odd conceit, That the name Jehovah is written on the Rainbow. And therefore, as oft as it appeareth unto them, they go forth of doors, Maimo [...]y. hide their eyes, confess their sins, (that deserved a second deluge▪) and cele­brate Gods goodness, in sparing the wicked world, and remem­bring his Covenant. Set aside their superstition, and their practice invites our imitation. Bern. Tam Dei meminisse opui est quam respirare.

Vers. 15, 16. I will remember] That is, I will make you to know and remember by this visible Monitor.

The Rainbow is a double Sacrament, answering both to Baptism and the Lords Supper; and declares by its colours (saith One) how Christ came by water and blood, 1 John 5.6.

Vers. 17. This is the token of the Covenant.] This is often re­peated, that it may be the better observed, and we full assured; Deut. 6.7. Exacues ea, i [...] est, accuratè & commodissimè inculcabis. Bux­torf. Lexic. as Pharaohs dream was for this cause doubled. God goes over the same thing often with us, as the knif doth the Whetstone, which is the Scripture-allusion. He well knows how slow of heart we are, and how dull of hearing; and therefore whets and beats things of high concernment upon us, that we may once apprehend and embrace them, Revel. 10.1. Revel. 10.1. exp. Christ is said to have a Rainbow on his head, to shew that he is faithful and constant in his pro­mises, and that tempests shall blow over. Let us see Gods love in his corrections, as by a Rainbow we see the beautiful image of the Suns light, in the midst of a dark and waterish cloud.

Vers. 20. And Noah began to be an husbandman] Veteres si quem virum, bonum colonum appellassent, amplissime laudasse ex­istimabant. Cic. Nunquam vilior erat annona Romae, referente Pliuio, quàm cum terram colerent iidem qui Remp. regerent; quasi gauderet terra laureato vomere, scilicet, & Aratore triumphali. See 2 Chron. 26.10. [And he planted a vineyard.] Hence Bero­sus, and the Poets call him Janus Oenotrius. Janus, of the He­brew iajin vinum, and Oenotrius of [...], whence our English word Wine.

Vers. 21. And was drunk.] For his own shame, but our learn­ing. Instruunt nos patres tum docentes tum labentes. Augustin. The best have their blemishes, and a black-part, as that cloud had, that conducted Israel out of Egypt; Heb. 12.1. which while the Egyptians fol­lowed, [Page 84]they fell into the Sea. [And was uncovered within his tent.] Operta recludit. One hours drunkenness bewrayes that, which more then six hundred yeers sobriety had modestly concealed. Well might Solomon say, Wine is a mocker: For it mocked Noah with a witness; and exposed him to the mockage of his own bosom-bird.

Vers. 22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw] The Hebrews say, That Canaan first saw it, and then shewed it to Ham his father, who looks upon it with delight, Ʋt vultures ad malè olentia feruntur, saith Basil, As carrion-kites are carried after stinking carcases. [And told his two brethren without.] Sic & impii hodiè ex Ecclesiae tragoediis comoedias componunt. How glad are the wicked, if they can but get any hint to lay hold on, where­by to blaspheme, Jere. 20.10. and blaze abroad the Saints infirmities. Report, say they, and wee'l report: yea, rather then want matter against Gods people, they'll suck it out of their own fingers ends. But if such a thing as this fall out, that Noah be drunk, though but once in an age, the banks of blasphemy will soon be broken down, and the whole race of Religious persons must rue for it; among these Canaanites some also will be found to excuse them in it, as Scaliger doth Ham.

Vers. 23. And Sem and Japhet took a garment.] Ham had no hand in this good work; Constant. Mag. Theodoret. lib. 1. Eccles. hist. [...]ap. 11. which shews, what a good one he was, and how far from being of that good Emperors minde, who said, That if he should finde a Bishop committing adultery, he would rather cover that unclean act with his imperial cloak, then suffer it to come abroad to the scandal of the weak, and the scorn of the wicked.

Vers. 24. And Noah awoke from his wine.] And returned no more to it. Once was enough: the time past may well suffice, to have walked in excess of wine, 1 Pet. 4.3. saith Peter. Wee'l buy repentance so dear no more. It is expresly noted of Judah, that he knew Tamar again no more. Gen. 38.26. And we may be well assured, That Noah was never drunk again. Prov. 23.35. Solomons drunkard cryes, When shall I awake! I will seek it yet again. As Swine break their bellies, so do such men their heads, Hos. 4.11. Malle se vitam quam vinum cripi. August. de temp. serm. 131. with filthy quaffing; yea, Whoredom and wine, and new wine, take away the heart, saith the Prophet: They besot and infatuate, yea, rob a man of himself, and lay a beast in his room. Our drunkards say, as the Vine in Jothams parable. Non possum relinquere vinum meum. Take away my liquor, you [Page 85]take away my life.Mr. Harris his drunkards cup.How often (saith a grave Divine) have I seen vermine sucking the drunkards blood, as fast as he that of the grape and mault, yet would he not leave his hold, or loose his draught! Some be buckt with drink, and then laid out to be sun'd and scorn'd. [And knew what his yonger son had done unto him.] It is probable, That finding himself covered with a cloke, he asked his wife and children how he came covered? Piscator. and that then Sem and Japhet told him all the matter; which moved him to bless them. It is our wisest way, to do what good we can to others. And though they, for present, being drunk with malice, or rash anger, know it not, yet a waking-time may come, when they may see the good, and bless us for it, as David did Abigail, 2 Sam. 25.33. When he had slept out his drunken passion, he saw cause to bless God, to bless her, and to bless her counsel. Master Gilpins plain-dealing with the Bishop of Durham how well it succeeded; See his life written by Bishop Carleton, pag. 58.

Vers. 25. And he said, Cursed be Canaan.] Because an imitator, and abbettor of his fathers sin: Neither good egg, nor good bird, as they say. God himself hath cursed such caytiffs with a curse. Prov. 30.17. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother; the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. Now they are cursed with a witness, Effossos oeidos voret atro gut­ture corvus. Catul. Per coacervatos poreat domus im­pia luctus. Oedip. apud Ovid. Daniels Chron. pag. 112. whom the Holy Ghost thus curseth, in such emphatical maner, with such exquisite terms. Their parents also through their un­naturalness are compell'd to curse them, as Noah here: As Oedi­pus of old, and our Henry the second, who seeing a few hours before he died, a list of their names, that had conspired with the King of France, and Earl Richard (his son and successor) against him; and finding therein his son John to be the first, falls into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons, and the day wherein him­self was born; and in that distemperature, departs the world, which so often himself had distempered. The causeless curse in­deed (though from a parents mouth) shall not come, Prov. 26.2. Such as was that, that befel Julius Palmer Martyr, who when he asked his mother blessing, Thou shalt, said she, have Christs curse and mine, wheresoever thou goest. He pausing a little, as one a­mazed at so heavy a greeting, at length said, O mother, your own curse you may give me, which God knoweth I never deserved; but Gods curse you cannot; for he hath already blessed me, and I shall be [Page 86]blessed. As for money and goods, said she, which thou suest to me for, as bequeathed thee by thy father, I have none of thine. Thy father bequeathed nothing for hereticks: Faggots I have to burn thee; more thou gettest not at my hands. Mother, said he, where­a [...] you have cursed me; I again pray to God to bless and prosper you, all your life long. And so he departed, and shortly after, valiantly suffered for the truth, Act. & M [...]n. fol. 1755. & 1761. The wilde Irish inflict an heavy curse on all their posterity, if ever they should sow corn, build houses, or learn the English tongue. Heyl. Geog. 508. Camdens E­lisab. p. 116, 117. at Newbury in Barkshire, having sometimes been Fellow of Magdalen Colledg in Oxford; and all King Edwards days an obstinate Papist. Thus for the causeless curse of parents. But where it is just, it lights heavy. The very complaint of a parent makes a loud cry in Gods ears, Judg. 9.56. It is said, That God, by cutting off Abimelech, rendred the wickedness that he did to his father. And who can read with dry eyes that pitiful sup­plication of the old Emperor Andronicus, to his young nephew of the same name, Turk. hist. fol. 172? But when it proceeds to a corse, lamentable effects have followed. Leonard son of the Lord Dacres (one of the Rebels in the North against Queen Eli­zabeth) whose father prayed God upon his death-bed, to send him much sorrow for his disobedience, drew forth a most poor life in the Netherlands, whither he escaped, living upon a very slender pension from the Spaniard. That Rebellion (like the bubbles which children blow up into the ayr,) was no sooner blown up, then blown out; and fell into the eyes of those, which with the blasts of ambition, and superstition held it up. But most remarkable is that, and apposite to our present purpose, that Manlius reports of a certain mother, J [...]. Manlii. loc. co [...]. 228. Invole [...] in te diab [...]us. whom he and many others had seen leading about her miserable daughter, who was possessed by the devil upon her cursing her, and bidding the devil take her. Luther and others prayed publikely for the Girl; and when Luther said to the Devil, Increpet te De­m▪ The Lord rebuke thee Satan, the Devil answered, muttering through the Maids lips, Increpet, increp [...]t. Another like example, the same Author hath, of a certain angry old man, Idem ibidem. in the Town of Friburg in Misnia; Who bidding his son do some business for him, and he making no hast to do it, nor stirring from the place he stood in; the father cursed him, and wished he might never stir alive from that place. God said Amen to it: and although he lived seven yeers after, yet there he stood, leaning upon a desk while he slept, eating little, and speaking not much. When he was asked how he did? he would answer, That he was chastised justly by God, in whose hand it was, what should [Page 87]at length become of him here. But of his eternal salvation by the merits of Christ alone, he nothing doubted; being chastised of the Lord, that he might not be condemned with the world. The prints of his feet are to be seen in the pavement, where he stood to this day, saith the Historian. After seven yeers suffer­ing, he departed in the true Faith of Christ, with good hopes of a better estate in Heaven, September the eleventh, Anno 1552. [A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren:] In which title, the Pope of Rome (not without the providence of God) will needs be his successor. A servant of Gods servants, he will by all means be called. And yet he stamps upon his coyn, That Nation and Countrey that will not serve thee, shall be rooted out. What pride equal to the Popes, making Kings kiss his Pantofles, (upon which he hath Christs Cross shining with Pearls and precious stones, Ʋt plenis faucibus crucem Christi derideat?) Sands his Re­lation of West. relig. sect. 12. What humility greater then his, shriving himself daily to an ordinary Priest? One while he will be filled, Servus servorum Dei; another while, Dominus regnorum mundi▪ which is one of the Devils titles; yea, Dominus Deus noster Papa, Johan. 23. i [...] Extravag. taking upon him a power to excommunicate the very Angels also; yea, lifting up himself above Christ, who is called Pontifex Magnus, Hebrews 4.14. but the Pope calls himself Pontifex maximus. Gregory the Great was the first that stiled himself, A servant of servants; in opposition forsooth, to that proud Prelate of Constantinople, who affected to be called Ʋniversal Bishop. But after the death of Mauricius, Ph [...]cae adular [...] suppariseri, &c. Ut suam po [...]sta­tem per favorem parricidae ex­tenderet. Revii hist pontif. p. 45. when Phocas the Traytor came to be Emperor, this Gregory clawed him shame­fully, and all to attain that dignity and dominion, that he so much condemned in another. The Pope of Constantinople could not bear a superior, nor the Pope of Rome an equal. The one sought to subdue to himself the East, the other East and West too; and thence grew all the heat betwixt them. See the like ambition under the colour of zeal for their Religion in Selymus the Turk and Hismael the Persian, Turk. histor. foli [...] 515.

Vers. 26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.] Shem seems to have been the chief actor and perswader of that reverent behavi­or; and therefore, as he is first named, Vers. 23. before his elder brother Japhet; so here he hath the first and chief blessing. It is good to be first in a good matter, yea, prompt and present to [Page 88]every good work, [...], Tit. 3.1. as Paul hath it. [And Canaan shall be h [...]s servant.] This curse was not fulfilled of many hundred yeers after; till the sins of the Amorites were grown full, and then it was accomplished. Gods forbearance is no acquittance. He can also turn a curse into a blessing, as he did this to Araunah the Jebusite, 2 Sam. 5.7. of the worst and most stubborn of the Canaanites: For they held the Tower of Jebus from the posterity of Sem, after all the rest had yielded: Yet he became a godly Proselyte, and gave as a King his free-hold to King David, to build an Altar on, 2 Sam. 24.18. And this deed of his was long after remem­bred. Zach. 9.7. The like may be said of the Gibeonites, who are called Nethinims in Ezra and Nehemiah. They were made ser­vants to the Shemites, drawers of water to the Temple, as a kinde of punishment. God made this Cross a Mercy. Their employ­ment so near the house of God, gave them fit occasion to be par­takers of the things of God. And the Lord, we see, did wonder­fully honor them; the nearer they were to the Church, the nearer to God. It is good getting into his house, though to be but a door-keeper with David, or a tankard-bearer, with these Gibeonites. Stand but in Gods way as he passeth, and thou shalt be preferred.

Vers. 27. God perswade Japhet,] Formone else can do it. Men may speak perswasively, but to perswade, is proper to God alone. He speaks to the heart, Hos. 2.14. we to the ear onely. He per­swadeth and allureth not onely by a moral perswasion, but by an irresistible inward drawing, Acts 11.17. In the Hebrew there is a sweet Agnomination, q. d. God shall perswade the perswasible. He shall draw them to faith and obedience, Monendo potiùs quàm minando, docondo quàm ducendo, saith Saint Austin, by in­forming not inforcing. He brings in his Elect by a merciful vio­lence. He sent forth at first not swordmen, but fisher-men; and prevailed by them in those places, Britannorum inaccessa Roma­nis lo [...]a, Christo tamen subdit [...]. Tertul. where the Romans could never come with all their forces. Elisha could do more with a kiss then his man could do with a staff, in raising the dead childe. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, Cant. 1.2. And then follows, Draw me, we will run after thee. [And he shall dwell in the tents of Sem.] The Churches abode here, is but in tents: She hath no continuing City on earth, Heb. 13.14. 1 Tim. 3.16.but seeks one to come. This, whether pro­phecy or prayer, was fulfilled when God manifested in the flesh, was preached unto the Gentiles, and beleeved on in the world, some [Page 89]thousands of yeers after. The Gentiles were converted by vertue of this prayer (as Paul was by Saint Stevens,) and as we enjoy the Gospel by Latimers yet once more, and the prayers of other Martyrs.

Vers. 28, 29. And Noah lived after the flood, &c.] This man, if ever any that was born of a woman, had a long life, Job 14.1.and full of misery. He saw the tenth generation after him before his death. But oh how oft was he occasioned to get under the Juniper-tree with Elias, and desire to dye? Before the flood, what a deal of wickedness and disorder beheld he in family, Church, and Com­mon-wealth, and all this punished by the deluge to his unspeak­able heart-break? Soon after, he was mockt by his own son, and despised by almost all the rest of his posterity; whose unheard-of hardiness in building the Tower of Babel, he was nolens volens, forced to see and suffer; and then shortly after, the confusion of tongues as their just punishment. What should I speak of their so many and so great cruelties, insolencies, tyrannical usurpations, effusions of innocent blood, wars, stirs strifes, superstitions, and abominable idolatries under Nimrod, Jupiter Belus, Semiramis, Vix mihi persua­deo virum ex homi [...]e miserio­rem natum fu [...]sse quam Noah. Funccii Chron. fol. 17.Zoroaster, (the Magick-Master,) and other Emims and Zam­zummims of the Earth? Of all which, and a great deal more, this good old Patriark was, to his sorrow, not onely an ear but an eye-witness? All which considered, it must needs be granted, that, living so long, never any Martyr or other, out of Hell, suffered more misery then Noah did. And the like may be said of Athanasius, of whom Master Hooker witnesseth, That for the space of fourty six yeers, from the time of his consecration to succeed Alexander Archbishop of Alexandria, till the last hour of his life in this world, his enemies never suffered him to enjoy the comfort of a peaceable day. Was not he to be reckoned a Martyr though he dyed in his bed? Erasm. in vitae Chrysost. Cur veriar Chrysostomum ap­pellare Martyrem? saith Erasmus. And why may not any man say as much of Luther, &c.

CHAP. X. Vers. 5. By these were the the Isles of the Gentiles]

THat is, [...] en [...], & [...], quasi dila [...]atio. [...] Ignis Domini. Q. Curtius saith of Darim, that he called upon the sacred and e­ternall fire. the Countries of Europe and Asia the less, inhabited by Japhets posterity. Europe hath its name, in Greek, from the latitude, and large surface of it; which answers well to the name of Japhet (signifying inlargement) who together with his off-spring, was by Gods appointment, to rule there far and wide toward the West and North. Asia hath its name from two Hebrew words that signifie the fire of the Lord, which in Persia and other parts thereof, they superstitiously deified. Asia the less, was so called first by Attalus King of Pergamus; who being the last of that name, and race, made the Romans his heyrs by will. They turned his Country into a Province, and called it Asia by the name of the Continent; as devouring, doubtless, in hope, that whole part of the world, by this small beginning. Hence, likely, came that first distinction of the lesser Asia.

Vers. 8. Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one] His name signi­fies a Rebell: he was the chiefe Babel-builder, and there began to be a mighty one, a Giant, saith the Greek (such another as Goliah was in his generation, 1 Sam. 17.51. where the same word is used) a Magnifico, a Grandio, such a one as sought to make himself great even to a proverb, vers. 9. But there is a double greatness: First, Genuine. Secondly, Belluine. This latter is no such commen­dation; a beast in this may, and doth exceed us; as in the latter, we exceed our selves, and others.

Vers. 9. He was a mighty hunter] Of men, whose lives he sacrificed to his lust, not of beasts for sacrifice to the Lord, as Aben-Ezra will have it, and takes occasion thereupon highly to commend him. Epiphan. heres. 38. But there wanted not those that commended Cain also for killing his brother, and were therefore called Cainites. Of others we read, that extolled the Sodomites, Core and his complices, Judas the Traytor. Yea there was one Bruno found, that wrote an Oration in commendation of the Devill, who hath given him his Guerdon, no doubt, by this, unless he recanted that monstrous madness.

Vers. 11. Out of that land went forth Assur] Either because wickedness dwelt there, Zach. 5.11. for Ashur was a son of Sem; [Page 91]and might have so much goodness in him, vers. 22. Or else he was hunted there-hence by Nimrod, who made himself the first Monarch, and had Babel, in the land of Shinar, or Chaldea, for the beginning of his Kingdome.

Vers. 12. The same is a great City] As consisting of three Cities, and having more people within the walls, then are now in some one Kingdome. See the greatness of this City set forth in the, Preachers Travels, pag. 89. The greatest City in the world at this day, is said to be Quinsai in Tartary, Paul. Venet. which is a hundred miles about, as M. Paulus Venetus writeth, who himself dwelt therein, Turk. hist. fo. 75 about the year 1260. Cambalu the Imperiall City, and seat of the great Cham of Tartary is in circuit twenty eight miles about. Nineveh was three dayes journey in Jonah's dayes: Now it is de­stroyed (as was long since prophesied by Nahum) being nothing else then a sepulchre of her self, a little Town of small trade, Nah. 2. & 3. where the Patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his seat at the devotion of the Turk. As Susa in Persia, once a Lilly (as the name signifies) for the sweet scite, and so rich, as afterwards is reported, (cap. 11. Preachers Tra­vels, 88. vers. 30) is now called Valdac of the poverty of the place.

Vers. 20. These are the sons of Ham] More in number, and more sweetly situated, then the posterity of either Shem or Japheth [...] thirty sons and nephews of cursed Ham are here recited and re­gistred; when of blessed Shem we finde but six and twenty, and of Japheth, but fourteen. And for their Countries, Canaan hath the navell of the world (Sumen totius orbis, as one calls that Country) a land that floweth with milk for necessity, and hony for delight; where the hardest rocks sweat out hony and oyl, Deut. 32.13. Exod. 3.17. Nihil mollius c [...]lo, nihil uberius solo, L. Flor. l. 1. c. 16 See Deut. 8.7, 8, 9, & cap. 11.11, 12. as Florus saith of Campania; a land that God had spied out among all lands for his own peculiar people, yea for himself to dwell in. Lo this was Hams possession; when his two better brethren, dwelt in the more barren waste Countries of the East and West. God deals by his people here, as the host doth by his guests, who lets them have the best meats, and fairest lodgings, but reserves the inheritance for his children. The Lord holds his servants to hard-meat many times (but then they have it of free-cost) whereas the wicked eat of the fat and drink of the sweet, but their meat in their bowels is turned into the gall of [...]spes, God shall cast it out of their bellies, Job 20.14, 15. In fatting them he doth but fit them for de­struction, as he did these Canaanites, whose pleasant land he after­wards [Page 92]made a spoyl to his own Israel. They grew a burden to that good land, which therefore for their wickedness spued them out, Lev. 18.25. after they had filled it from corner to corner, with their abominable uncleannesses, Ezra 9.11.

Vers. 25. Peleg, for in his dayes was the earth divided] Eber (of whom came the Ebrews or Israelites, Exod. 1.15.) that he might have before his eyes a perpetuall monument of Gods just displeasure against the ambitious Babel-builders, [...]alls his sonne Peleg, or Division, because in his dayes was the earth divided. It is good to write the remembrance of Gods worthy works whether of mercy or justice, upon the names of our children, or otherwise as we can best, to put us in minde of them; for we need all helps, such is either our dulness or forgetfulness. What was it else that made David so often to put the thorn to his breast? Psal. 103.1, 2, 3. And why would God have the plates of the censers of those sinners against their own souls, to be a covering to the Altar, but to be a memoriall to the children of Israel, that no stranger come near to offer incense, that he be not as Corah and his company, &c? Numb. 16.38, 40.

Vers. 26. Jok [...]an begat Almodad, &c.] This man with his sons may seem to have seated in the East-Indies. But fallen from Hebers faith to Hethenisme, they are written in the dust: there's little mention of them in the Scriptures. They have lost their Genealogie, as those degenerate Priests, who in the time of the captivity took scorn to be in the register, and were therefore wor­thily afterwards rejected by the Tirshata. [...]ra 2.61.

CHAP. XI. Vers. 1. And the Whole earth was of one language]

UNity without verity, is no better then conspiracy. A legion of Devills could accord to get into one man; and, though many, yet they speak and act as one in that possession. That infer­nall Kingdome is not divided against it self. A shame for Gods Saints to be at difference: What should sheep do snarling, like dogs, one at another? The children of this world are wiser, a fair deal, in their generation; they can combine and comply, as here, though their society be as unsavoury as the slime and filth that [Page 93]is congealed, when many Toads and other Vermine meet to­gether.

Vers. 2. In the land of Shinar] Which was a part of the gar­den of Eden, as most Geographers think, fat and fruitfull still above beliefe, Herodot. l. 1. c. 193. Plin. l. 6.26.

Vers. 3. And they said one to another] One broached this counsell, and the rest soon consented. Heb. 3. [...]. Act. 18.5. Intùs & apud se aestuabat prae [...]el [...] ardore. Let us consider one another to whet on to love and good works: One live-coal may set a whole stack on fire. When Silas came, Paul burned in spirit, and preached lustily. [Let us make brick▪ &c.] Thus, wanting stones they devised matter for their cursed building. Good cause hath the Church to be as ingenious and sedulous in building Stair-cases for heaven, as the Devill and his Imps, in digging descents to hell. Apud Babylonem Trajanu [...] Imp. vidit lacum bi­tumi [...]is, ex quo moenia Babylonis aedificata suerant Cujus tanta vis est, ut permixtum cum lateribus, quovis saxs sit aut ferro poten­tius. Dio in vita Trajan. Jam cum Jove de divitiis licet certetis, Cassiod l. 7. Var. [...]pist, 15. Habac. 2. Matth 11.12. Diri [...]iunt, me­tapb, à castris aut arc [...] quapiam, quae irrumpeutib. ho­st [...]bu [...] diripitur. H [...]lar. [And they had brick for stone and slime for morter] And yet though the walls were high and huge, this City was taken first by Cyrus, afterwards by Alexander, and plundered at severall times by many other enemies. Shusa in Persia was first built by Tithonus and his son Memnon, who was so exceeding prodigall, that, as Cassidorus writeth, he joyned the stones together with gold; so rich it was, that Aristagoras thus cheared up his souldiers that besieged it: This City if you can take, you may vye with Jove himself for wealth and riches. Here Alexander found 50000. talents of gold, besides silver. But what is all this to the heavenly Jerusalem, whose pavement is pure gold, and her walls garnished with all pre­tious stones [...] Rev. 21.19. Why do we then labour in the fire, to load our selves with thick clay? Why doth not this Kingdome of heaven suffer violence by us, sith the violent take it by force, or make a prey, a prize of it (so Hilary rendreth it) as souldiers do of a City they have taken? Oh that we could say of heaven, as Sixtus Ruffus doth of Cyprus, Cyprus famosa divitiis paupertatem populi Rom. ut occuparetur, sollicitavit! This Island was anciently called, Macaria: Heaven more truly.

Vers. 4. Let us build us a City and a Tower] This Tower rai­sed a head of Majesty, 5164. paces from the ground, having its basis and circumference equall to the height. The passage to goe up, went winding about the outside, and was of an exceeding great breadth; there being not onely room for horses, carts, &c. Hey! Geog. to meet and turn, but lodgings also for man and beast, and (as Ver­stegan reporteth) grasse and corn▪fields for their nourishment. [Let us make us a name] This is a disease that cleaves to us all, to [Page 94] receive honour one of another, and not seek the honour that cammeth from God onely, Joh. 5.44. A rare man he is surely, that hath not some Babel of his own, Dr. Prid. contra Eudamon Joh. whereon he bestows pains and cost, onely to be talked of. Hoc ego primus vidi, was Zabarelles [...]. Epicurus, would have us believe, that he was the first that ever found out the truth of things. Secum literas esse natas, & mori [...]uras, Suc­ton. Aug. de Civit. D [...], l. 16. P [...]lamon gave out, that all learn­ing was born, and would dye with him. Aratus the Astrologer, that he had numbred the Star [...], and written of them all. Archi­medes the Mathematician, that if he had but where to set his foot. he could move the earth out of its place. Herestratus burnt Diana's Temple for a name: And Plato writes of Protagoras, that he vaunted, Plat [...] in Me [...] Tusc. 3. Pro Archi [...] Pocta. that whereas he had lived sixty years, forty of them he had spent in corrupting of youth. Tully tells us, that Gracchus did all for popular applause; and observes that those Philosophers that have written of the contempt of glory, have yet set their names to their own writings, which shews an itch after that glory, they perswaded others to despise. These two things (saith Tully somewhere of himself) I have to boast of, Epist. famil. l. 7. Optima­rum artium scientiam, & maximarum rerum gloriam, my learned works, and noble acts. Julius Caesar had his picture set upon the globe of the world, with a sword in his right hand, a book in his left, Gabriel Sim [...]on in Symbo [...]is. Dion Cass in Tyberto. with this Motto, Ex utroque Caesar Vibius Rufus used the chair wherein Caesar was wont to sit, and was slain; he married also Tullies widow, and boasted of them both, as if either for that seat he had been Caesar, or for that wife an Oratour. When Maxi­mus dyed in the last day of his Consulship, Caninius Rebilus pe­titioned Caesar, O vigilantem Consulem qui tuto consulat [...] sui tempore, som­num non vidit. for that part of the day, that he might be said to have been Consul. So many of the Popish Clergy have with great care and cost procured a Cardinals hat, when they have lain a­dying, that they might be entituled Cardinals in their Epitaph, as Erasmus writeth. But for mens enobling themselves by building, those seven wonders of the world were made meerly for a name. Pharos a watch-tower in Egypt (being one of the seven) was built by Ptolomie Philadelph, all of white marble; the chief Architect was Sostratus of Gnidos, who engraved on the work this inscripti­on, Sostratus of Gnidos, son of Dexiphanes, to the Gods protectours, for the safeguard of Saylors. Heyli [...]s Geog. 750. This Inscription he covered with plaister, and thereon engraved the name, and title of the King the founder: that (that soon wasted and washed away) his own that was written in marble, might be eternized to posterity. This Tower, [Page 95]saith Wickam, is a known story. B. God wines Catalogue. And Phidias the famous carver so cunningly enchased his own countenance into Minerva's sheild at Athens, That it could not be defaced, but the sheild it self must be disfigured. Heyl. Geog. pag. 140. The Hague in Holland hath two thousand housholds in it. The inhabitants will not wall it, as desiring to have it counted rather the principle Village of Europe, then a lesser City. And Sextus Marius, being once offended with his Neighbor, invited him to be his guest, for two days together. The first of those two days he pulled down his Neighbors Farm­house; the next, he set it up again, far bigger, Dio in Tiberio. and better then be­fore. And all this for a name, that his Neighbors might see and say, What good or hurt he could do them at his pleasure.

Vers. 5. And the Lord came down] Non motu locali, sed actu judiciali. To see the City, &c. that so his sentence grounded not upon hear-say, or uncertain information, might be above all cavilla­tion or exception. A fair president for Judges. Caiaphas first sentenced our Saviour, and then asked the Assessors what they thought of it? The chief captain first commanded Paul to be scourged, and then examined, Acts 22. This was proposterous. God though he knew all before, yet is said to come down to see. Let his actions be our instructions. No man must be rashly pro­nounced a Leper: And the Judges must make diligent inquisiti­on, Deut. 19.18. as flints they must carry fire, but not easily ex­press it. Potiphar was too hasty with Joseph, and David with Mephibosheth. Aeneas Sylvius tells us of some places, Aene. Sylvius. Europ. cap. 20. where theeves taken but upon suspition, are presently trussed up, and three days after, they sit in judgment upon the party executed. If they finde him guilty, they let him hang, till he fall. As if not, they take down the body, and bury it honorably at the publike charge. This is not God-like, nor a point of wisdom; for Ner­vus est sapientiae non temerè credere. [Which the children of men builded.] Nimrod chiefly, with his fellow Chamites. But that some of Shems and Japh [...]ts posterity had a hand in it, is more then probable, by their common punishment, the confusion of tongues, Heber and his, had nothing to do with them; and there­fore retained the Hebrew tongue, called thenceforth the Jews Language, Isai 36.11. Until they were carried captive to Baby­lon, where grew a mixture amongst them of Hebrew and Chal­dee: Whence came up the Syri [...]k tongue common in our Savi­ours time, as appears by many Syriack words in the Gospels.

Vers. 6. Behold the people is one, &c.] This benefit they abused to their pride and ambition, which they should have used to the help of humane society, and common intercourse. They built, and God bare with them for a time, that he might make fools of them in the end. And this he doth daily.

Vers. 7. Go to, let us go down] Go to, say they: Go to, saith he. Let us build to Heaven, say they: Let us go down and see it, saith he. Let us make us a name, say they: Let us confound their Language, that they may not so much as know their own names, saith he. Lest we be scattered, say they; Let us scatter them abroad the world, saith he. Thus God words it with them, and con­futes their folly from point to point. Thus he sets himself in bat­tle-ray against the proud, [...], Jam. 4.7. as Saint James hath it, and overthrows them in plain field. He delt more severely with David for num­bring the people, then for the matter of Ʋriah. He turned Ne­buchadnezzar a grazing among beasts, for pruning and priding himself upon this Babel. Is not this great Babel, that I have built? Why no, Nimrod built it, and Ninus, and Semiramis: Nebuchadnezzar onely beautified it, or, at utmost, inlarged it. But pride detracts from God and man, and is therefore justly hated and scorned of both. [And there confound their Language.] When men began once [...], they were compelled by God [...].

Neither is there any better understanding and agreement among the Babel-builders at this day, (Babylon enim altera, nempe pro­pinquior atque recentior adhuc stat, citò itidem casura, si essetis viri, said Petrarch long since) witness their many sects and deadly dissensions among themselves, De rem. utri­usque fort. dial. 118. of which, read the Peace of Rome, Rhemes against Rome, and divers other English Treatises to the same purpose. Bellarmine teacheth, That the bread in the Sacra­ment is not turned into Christs body productivè, but adductivè. And this saith he, Cade of the Church. 247. is the opinion of the Church of Rome. This Suarez denyes, and saith, It is not the Churches opinion. Thus these great master-builders are confounded in their Language, and understand [Page 97]not their own Mother. The greatest Clarks amongst them, can­not yet determine how the Saints know our hearts and prayers: Whether by hearing or seeing, or presence every where, or by Gods relating or revealing mens prayers, and needs unto them. M [...]tons Ap­peal lib. 2. cap. 12. sect. 5. All which ways some of them hold, as possible or probable; and others deny and confute them as untrue.

Vers. 8. So the Lord scattered them abroad] Which was the evil they [...]eared, and by this enterprize, sought to prevent. But there is neither counsel, power, nor policy against the Lord. The fear of the wi [...]ked shall come upon him, Prov. 10.24. As it befel those wretched Jews. Iohn 11.48. The Romans shall come, &c. and come they did accordingly. Pilate for fear of losing his Office, delivered up Christ, and was by Caius kickt off the bench.

Vers. 9. The Lord did there confound the Language.] A sore cross and hinderance of interchange of commodities between Nation and Nation. This great labor also hath God laid, hereby, upon the sons of men, that a great part of our best time is spent about the shell (in learning of Language) before we can come at the kernel of true wisdom; Scripture-wisdom especially. Our Saviours Epitaph written in Hebrew, Greek and Latine, as it sets forth Christ unto us to be, First, The most holy (for the Hebrew tongue is called the holy Tongue.) Secondly, Lashon hacca­dosh. The most wise (for in Greek, is all humane wisdom written.) Thirdly, The most powerful (for the Latines were Lords of the earth, and propa­gated their tongue amongst all Nations.) So it signifies that God would have the dignity and study of these three tongues, to be retained and maintained in the Churches of Christ to the worlds end. Hebricians (saith Reuchlin) drink of the Fountains, Hebraei bibunt fontes, Graeci rivos. Latini paludes. Reuchl. Joh. Man [...]i. loc. com. p. 130. Greci­ans of the Rivers, Latinists of the standing pools onely. There were that mocked at the multitude of tongues, Acts 2.13. And the Monks were mad almost at such Camilli literarii, as chased out barbarism, and brought in the learned Languages. But let us ac­knowledg it a singular gift of God, as for the gathering of the Church at first, Acts 2. Ephes. 4.13. So still for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come unto a perfect man, to speak the Language of Canaan, in the Kingdom of Heaven. [And from thence did the Lord scatter them.] The Hebrew Doctors say, R. Menahem in Gen. 11. That at this dispersi­on there were seventy Nations with seventy sundry Languages. Epiphanius saith, That their one Language was divided into [Page 98]seventy two; for so many men were then present, and each man had his several dialect, and went his several way with it. Cleopatra is famous in history for her skill in tongues: She could give a ready answer to Ambassadors that came; whether they were Ethiopi­ans, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, or Parthians: Yea, she could tune and turn her tongue, as an instrument of many strings (saith Plutarch) to what language soever she pleased. [...]. Plut. This mindes me of those cloven tongues, and of that utterance the Spirit gave them, Acts 2. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, heard the Apostles, speak in their own tongue the wonderful works of God, to the singular advantage of the Church, that was then out of all Nations to be collected, and that by a like means, as these Rebels were scattered.

Vers. 11. And She [...] lived after he begat, &c.] He saw ten generations, and lived till Isaac was fifty yeer old, who might well be his Pupil; which (if Shem were Melchisedech) is so much the more likely. Heber also lived till Abraham was dead; a singular blessing to them both. This comfort the Patriarks had of their tiresome and tedious pilgrimage; that as Shem saw Lamech, so L [...]mech saw Adam, and Isaac saw Shem. Now, ipse aspectus viri boni delectat, saith Seneca. How much more, when they that fear the Lord, speak often one to another, Mal. 3.16. for mutual edification and encouragement. This the mad world calls faction, and caprichiousness. Tert. Apel. ad­vers. geutes, cap. 39. [...]. 520. But what saith Tertullian to it? Cùm boni, cum probi coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda, sed curia: Et è contrario illis nomen factionis accom­modandum est, qui in odium bonorum & proborum conspi­rant.

Vers. 28. And Haran died before his father Torah.] The Hebrews say he died a Martyr, being burnt with fire by his Countrymen the Chaldees, because he would not worship the Fire, which they had made their god. Martyrdom came early in­to the world, as we know in Abel; who as he was the first that died, so he died for Religion. Now if this be true of Haran, as the Jew Doctors will have it; then he had, for ought we know, the maidenhead (as a certain Martyr phrased it) of that kinde of Martyrdom. The first that were burnt for Religion, since the Reformation, are said to be Henry and John, two Augustine Monksat Brussels, Anno 1523. under James Hogostratus the [Page 99] Domician Inquisitor. The executioner being demanded, whether they recanted in the flames, he denyed there was any such thing: But said, That when the fire was put to them, they continued sing­ing the Creed, and T [...] Deum, Erasm. lib. 24. E [...]ist. 4. till the flame took away their voyce. All this Erasmus testifieth, though he were no Lutheran; and thereupon maketh this good, but wary note, Damnari, disse­cari, suspendi, exuri, decollari, piis cum impiis sunt communia: da [...]ere, dissecare, in cruoem agere, exurere, decollare, bonis judi [...]i­bus cum piratis ac tyrannis communia sunt. Varia sunt hominum judicia, ille faelix qui judice Deo absolvitur. Our Protomartyr in Queen Maries days was Reverend Master Rogers; he gave the first adventure upon the fire. His wife and children, being eleven in number, ten able to go, and one sucking at her brest, Act. & M [...]n. fol. 1356. met him by the way, as he went toward Smithfield. This sorrowful sight of his own flesh and blood, could nothing move him, but that he constantly held out to the death, and so received a crown of life. Neither hath God left himself without witness among the very Heathens. For in the City of Lima in Mexico, not two moneths before our coming thither (saith Captain Drake) twelve persons were condemned by the Spaniards there, The world en­compassed by S. Fr. Drake. p. 59. for profession of the Gospel: Of which, six were bound to one stake and burnt; the rest remained yet in prison, to drink of the same cup within a few days.

Vers. 30. But Sarai was barren.] Till she had prayed for a childe thirty yeers, and then she had him with abundance of joy. At first she beleeved not the promise, but laughed at the unlikely­hood and was checkt for it. But when she had better bethought her self, Through faith she received strength to conceive seed, be­cause she judged him faithful who had promised, Heb. 11.11. She was, (when past age) delivered of a childe; who was not more the childe of her flesh, then of her Faith. Whether she were that Iscah spoken of in the verse next aforegoing, the Doctors are divided. Some say, Ea quae clavum administration is tenes. that Iscah in Chaldee signifieth the same that Sa [...]ai in Hebrew. Others more probably make Sarai another woman, and the daughter not of Haran but of Terah: How else could Abram say of her, That she was the daughter of his father, [...] not of his mother? Gen. 20.12.

Vers. 31. And Terah took, &c.] Being admonished of the Divine Oracl [...], Act [...] 7.12 [...] by his son Abraham, he rebuked him not, neither charged him, upon his blessing, to abide in his native [Page 100]Countrey, as many a father would have done (for, what? was he wiser and better then his forefathers?) but abandoned his idols, and went as far as his old legs cou [...] carry him toward the Coun­trey that God should shew them. Heb. 11. For as yet they went forth, not knowing whither they went. Instar caeci ocu­los claufit. vo cantemque Deum secu [...]us est. Bu­cholcer. But having God by the hand, they knew they could not go amiss. This was a blessed blinde obedience, not to dispute but to dispatch; to wink, and put themselves into Gods hand, to be led about at his pleasure, to follow him without sciseitation.

CHAP. XII. Verse 1. Now the Lord had said to Abraham]

BUt was not this to command him to do that which was against nature? No, but onely against corrupt nature, which must be denyed, and mortified, or there is no Heaven to be had. Father and friends must be hated, (that is, not loved, as Esau have I hated) where they hang in our light, or stand in our way to keep us from Christ, Matth. 10.37. [Get thee out of thy Countrey] This is a hard saying to flesh and blood, for Nescio qua natale solum, &c. But hard, or not hard, it must be done, because God bids it; and difficulty in such a case, doth but whet on heroick spirits, making them the more eager and resolute. It pleased David well to be set to fetch a hundred foreskins of the Philistims. Gods Kingdom must be taken by violence. It is but a delicacy to dream of coming thither in a Feather-bed. Too many with Joseph dream of their preferment, but not of their imprisonment. He that will be Christs Disciple here, and coheire hereafter, must deny himself; that's an indispensable duty. A­braham was old-excellent at it. [And from thy kinred, and fathers house] Who set out fair with Abraham, as did likewise Orphah with Ruth: But setled in Haran, which was also in Chaldea, not far from Ʋr, and would go no further, after the old mans death. There they had feathered their nests, gathered substance, and got souls, that is servants, vers. 4. and therefore, there they would set up their staff, and afterwards turned again to Idolatry, Gen. 31.30, 53. Joshua 24.2. Many follow God as Sampson did his parents, till be light upon a honycomb; or as a dog doth [Page 101]his master, till he meet with carrion; and then turn him up. De­mas forsook God, and embracing this present world, became afterwards a Priest in an Idol-Temple, as Dorotheus tells us. [Ʋn­to a land, that I will shew thee.] Yet told him not whither, Dorotheus. till he was upon the way, but called him to his foot; that is, to follow him, and his direction, Isai. 41.2. Magnus est animus qui se Deo tradidit; saith Seneca. Eundum quocunque Deus vocarit, saith Another, Etiamsi in ea loca migrandum esset

Vers. 2. And I will make of thee a great Nation.] Pareus in Rom. 11.25. See my true Treasure. [...] 297 Why then should the scornful Jews call us Nations or Gentiles in contempt? yea, Heathen-bastards, Heathen-dogs, as they do at this day? Surely, either themselves are of this great Goi or Nation here men­tioned, or else they have not Abraham to their father; chuse them which. [I will bless thee] As a father his children, with all spi­ritual comforts and earthly contentments; Eph. 1.3. Judg. 1. with the blessings of the right hand, and of the left; with the upper and nether springs, as Caleb blessed his daughter Achsah. He will give grace and glory, and (if that be not enough) no good thing will he withhold, &c. Psal. 84.11. Hence Moses cryes out, Happy art thou O Israel: Who is like unto thee, &c. Deut. 33.29. [And make thy name great] A great name then is a great blessing. So David took it, 2 Sam. 7.9. And it was no small comfort to him, that whatever he did, pleased the people. Blessing and praise (or good name) is ex­pressed, by one and the same word in both Testaments, Prov. 27.21. Onely (as it is in the same Text) it then proves a blessing, [...]. when it is to a man as the fining pot for silver, and furnace for gold; when it melts us, and makes us better; when it works in us a care to walk worthy of the praise is given us, to purge our selves from all filth, that we may be as pure vessels, meet for the Masters use, fit to be set upon the celestial shelf, as that Martyr phrased it. Act. & Mon. Since thou hast been precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, Isai. 43.4. Ver­tue is insteed of a thousand Escucheons. [And thou shalt be a blessing.] That is, in a high degree blessed; Vir bonus est commune bonum. or a common blessing to all, whereever thou comest, who shall fare the better for thee. Or, a publike pattern of blessing (so some Hebrews expound it.) Those that wish well to themselves, or others, shall pray God, that [Page 102] Abrahams blessedness may befal them. The contrary hereunto is now befaln his unhappy posterity for their obstinacy. A curse they are become among the Gentiles, In execrationi­bus dicunt Ju­daeus sim si fallo. Sanct. as was foretold them, Zach. 8.13. Sanctius upon that text tells us, That all over Turkey they have taken it up for a curse, I would I might die a Jew then: And let me be a Jew if I deceive thee.

Vers. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee] Some there are, that will curse those whom God blesseth, but nothing so many as they that will rise up and call them blessed. These are expressed here in the plural number, those in the singular onely. For who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good, 1 Pet. 3.13. But say there be some Balaams that would curse Gods Israel, or some Esaus that could wish them unblest again; yet God will turn Balaams curse into a blessing, Neh [...]. 13.2. (which is reck­oned as a great favor,) and he will tell Esau (if not in his ear, yet in his conscience) that Jacob is blest, and he shall be blest. If Isaac, Gen. 27.33. drawn aside by natural affection, would go about to reverse the blessing, God will cause him to tremble very exceedingly, and so over-aw him, that he shall not be able to do it. But see here (as in a mirror) the wonderful love of God to his children: So dear they are unto him, that he cannot but love all that love them, and bless those that bless them. They have a powerful speech in Spain, He that wipes the childes nose, kisseth the mothers cheek. Surely, as natural parents take the kindnesses and unkindnesses, shewed to their children as done to themselves, so doth God. [And in thee shall all families, &c.] That is, In thy seed, as it is interpreted, Acts 3.25. Gal. 3.9, 16. Gen. 22.18. To wit, In Christ that shall take flesh of thee, as both Peter and Paul expound it. Hence Christ is called the gift. John 4.10. and the benefit, 1 Tim. 6.2. by an excellency; and the desire of all Nations, Haggai 2.7. sent a purpose to bless us, in turning every one of us from our iniquities, Acts 3.25.

Vers. 4. So Abram departed,] He had now enough, having such precious promises, though he had had nothing else. He part­ed with his friends and kindred, but is now become the friend of God, and akin to Christ. Let their money perish with them, who esteem all the gold in the world worth one days society with Jesus Christ, and his holy Spirit, said that Noble Marquess Ga­leacius Caracciolus, His life set forth by Master Crashaw. who being Nephew to Pope Paul the fifth, and a Prince of great wealth and power, left all for Christ, living [Page 103]and dying a poor exile at Geneva, that he might enjoy the liberty of his Conscience, and serve God according to the truth of the Gospel. Remarkable is that which Calvin writes of him in his Dedicatory Epistle to him, set before his Commentary upon the first to the Corinthians. Etsi neque tu, &c. [And Lot went with him] Herein Abraham was more happy then Caracciolus. For he being converted by Peter Martyrs Lecture on the first Epistle to the Corinthians, and resolving thereupon to leave all, and go to Geneva, opened his minde to some of his most familiar friends, and wrought upon them so far, as they promised and vowed to accompany him, &c. But when they came to the borders of Italy, and considered what they forsook, they first looked back with Lots wife; and then, without any intreaty, went back as Or­phab; so going out of Gods blessing, into the worlds warm Sun, Ibid. p. 11. as they say, which yet they long enjoyed not: For they were after taken by the Spanish Inquisition, and forced to abjure Christian Religion, being neither trusted nor loved of one side nor other. [And Abraham was seventy five yeers old when he departed] So he continued a Pilgrim for a hundred yeers together, Gen. 25.7. having ten sore tryals, and every one worse then other.

Vers. 5. And Abraham took Sarai his wife] The faithful companion of all his travels and troubles, One that did him good, and not evil all her days: Prov. 31. And although she suffered much hardship with him, and for his sake, and was oft put too't, yet she was not afraid with any amazement, as many a woman would have been, 1 Pet. 3.6. A valiant woman she was, and no less vio­lent then he, for Gods Kingdom, whereof Canaan was but a type.

Vers. 6, 7. And the Canaanite was then in the Land. And the Lord appeared to Abram.] The sight of those wicked Canaanites might discourage him, and unsettle his faith. But then the sight of God relieved him, (he is the first man that God is said to ap­pear to) and the promise unto thy seed will I give this Land, could not but put spirits into him, and make his good old heart to dance L [...]valtoes in his bosom. When the poor soul even sinks sometimes at the sight of these Canaanites (corruptions) and despairs almost of a Conquest, God lets in a beam of his own Light, and com­forts it with some cordial promise, which is as Boaz was to Naomi, A restorer of his life, and a nourisher of his old age, Ruth 4.15.

Vers. 8. And there builded he an altar to Jehovah] Although the Canaanite was then in the land. God hath promised when he cleanseth his Church, that the Canaanite shall be there no more, Zach. 14.21. Philip. 2 15. But while they are there, we must shine as lamps amidst a crooked and cursed generation, Holding forth the word of life, as an ensign, bearing up Gods name as a badge, or beacon; wearing his mark in our foreheads, Rev. 9. the place of open pro­fession; setting up an altar even amidst Idolaters as Abraham, and calling it Jehovah Nissi, The Lord is my banner, as Moses, Exod. 17.15. Some that seemed to wish well to Edmund. Allin Martyr, bid him keep his conscience to himself, and to follow Baruchs coun­sell. Act. & Mon. fol. 1796. Chap. 6. wherefore when ye see the multitude of people wor­shipping them behinde and before, say in your hearts, O Lord, it is thou that oughtest onely to be worshipped. These had more of Nico­demus in them, then of Nathaniel.

Vers. 8. And he removed from thence] Because his building altars to Jehovah was offensive to the Canaanites: Indeed it was a wonder they stoned him not; but God restrained them. [And there he builded an altar to the Lord] This was still his first care, where ever he came, and should be ours. We are a Kingdome of Priests, and have an altar, Heb. 13.10. which is Christ, who sancti­fies the offering, Matth. 23.19. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, Heb. 13.15. Imo altare ex­truamus non lapideum, sed carneum in cordibus.

Vers. 9. Going on still toward the South] As toward the Sun, whereby may be figured, saith an Expositor, his progresse in faith and grace, as Prov. 8.14. 2 Cor. 3.18.

Vers. 10. Abram went down into Egypt] Which the Hebrews much condemn him for, saying that it was out of distrust, and that for this fault of his, the Israelites suffered so long and hard bondage in Egypt. But that's but a rash judgement, and as weak an argument: For God, though he must be trusted, yet he may not be tempted. But tempted he is, First, when men are too much addicted to the means, as Thomas. Secondly, when they reject them, as Ahaz, who would not ask a sign, though offered him; it was not diffidence, but obedience in Abraham to go down to Egypt (that Granary of the world) when now by the want of food in Canaan, he found it was Gods will he should seek out.

Vers. 11. Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman] And [Page 105]yet she was now sixty five years of age; wherein she was a figure of Jerusalem the mother of us all, Gal. 4.26. with Cant. 1.14. and 4.1. Sarahs chief beauty was that of the hidden man of the heart, as saith St. Pet. 1 Pet. 3.4, 6. But outward beauty is very lovely and attractive. Plato calls it the principality of nature: Aristotle, a greater commendation then all Epistles: And being asked, whether beauty were amiable? He answered, [...]. That's a blinde mans question. The Poet could say, Gratior est pulchro ve­niens in corpore virtus,

Howbeit, Seneca saith, he was out in that saying; Ipsa magnum sui decu [...] est, & cor­pus suum conse­crat. Sen. Epist. 67. for that Vertue needs no ornament more then she hath of her own, but beautifies her self sufficiently, and consecrates the body, wherein she dwels. But by the leave of so great a Philosopher, I am of the Poets minde: And although I grant that favour without grace, Salvian. Gu [...]us praeter formam nihil unquam, bonus laudavit. Salust. [...]. Dio. Artax omnium hominum pul­cher. ait. Aemil. Prob. Aelia [...] var. hist. l. 12. c. 1. Cavete ab hoc quem natura notavit. is but a gold ring in a Swines snout, as Solomon hath it, or ornamentum in luto, as another (so it was in Alcibiades for a man, and in Au­relia Orestilla for a woman) yet surely, where they meet, they make a happy conjunction, and draw all hearts to them, as in Germanicus (for a man) in whom beauty and vertue strove for precedency: and Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Esther, who is said to have been of all men the most beautifull and most boun­tifull. So in Esther (for a woman) who obtained favour in the sight of all that looked upon her, Esth. 2.15. And Aspasia Milesia the wife of Cyrus, who deserved to be stiled [...], Fair and Wise, as Aelian relateth: As on the other side in Vatinius, deformity of body strove with dishonesty of minde, adeo ut animus ejus dignissimo domicilio inclusus videretur, saith Paterculus.

Vers. 12. Therefore it shall come to passe, &c.] Note here (saith Pererius) the raging affection of the Egyptians, that made no conscience of murther to enjoy their lust. 2. Their blindness, that made less account of murther then adultery. Note again (saith Piscator) that beauty exposeth a body to the danger of dishonesty, and that, as the Poet hath it, ‘Lis est cum formâ magna pudicitiae.’ Let those therefore that have beauty, look to their chastity, and possesse their vessels in holiness and honour;

[Page 106]Filthiness in a woman is most abominable; therefore is a Whore called a strange woman.

Vers. 13. Say I pray thee, thou art my sister.] The truth was here not onely concealed, but dissembled. As the Moon hath her specks, so the best have their blemishes: A Sheep may slip into a slough as soon as a Swine, and an Apple-tree may have a fit of bar­renness, as well as a Crab-tree.

Vers. 14. The Egyptians beheld the woman] Pleasure is blamed, in Xenophon, for this, that she ever and anon looketh back upon her own shadow, Decet haber [...] oculos continen­ter. ma [...] & linguam. and giveth her eyes leave to rove and range without restraint. An honest man (saith Plautus) should have continent eyes, hands, and tongue. Nihil enim interest, quibus membris cinoedi sitis posterioribus an prioribus, said Archelaus the Philosopher to a wanton yonker. The eye (that light of all the members) is an ornament to the whole body. And yet that light­some part of the body, draweth too too oft the whole soul into darkness. Job. 31.1. This Job knew, and therefore made a Covenant to look to his looks; [...]th of looking came lu [...]ing. Charles the fifth, when the City of Antwerp thought to gratifie him in a Mask, Job. Mauli [...] loc. Com. p. 34 [...]. Saepe claufit sene­stram, n [...] inspic [...] ­r [...]t formosiores [...]mi [...] &c. De Carolo 5. P [...]reu [...] hist. pres medul. pag. [...]08. Matth. 5.28, 29 with the sight of certain fair Maids brought in before him almost naked, he would not once look at them. The young Lord Harrington when he should meet with fair women in the streets, or elsewhere, would usually pull his hat over his eyes, as knowing that of our Saviour, He that looks upon a woman to lust after her, &c. where­upon immediately follows, If thine eye offend thee, &c. Eckius was sharply rebuked at a feast, by a modest matrone, for his un­civill glances, and carriages in these words (as Melancthon relateth) Es tu doctor? Joh. Manlii loc. com. p. 32 [...].Non existimo te in honesta familia, sed in lupanari educatum: Thou a Doctour? I do not believe thou wast bred any where else but in a brothel-house. See the Notes on Chap. 6. Vers. 2.

Vers. 15. The Princes also of Pharaoh, &c.] Flattering Cour­tiers please Princes humours, and serve their delights, though to the procuring of their plagues as here, and in young King Joash. If a ruler hearken to lyes, [...]. Herod. l. 3. saith Solomon, all his servants are wicked Prov. 29.12. Aulicisunt instar sp [...]uli, saith One. And Mirifica est symp [...]thia, saith another, inter magnates & parasit [...]s. Her [...]dorus writeth, that when Cambyses demanded of his Courtiers and Counsellours, whether it were not lawfull for him to marry his own sister whom he greatly desired? they answered: That they [Page 107]found no law to license such a match: but another law they found, that the King of Persia might do what he would. [And the wo­man was taken into Pharaohs house] Not for any worse purpose, then to get her good will to become his wife.

Vers. 16. And he entreated A [...]ram well for her sake] To the end, that he might sollicite his sister to yeeld consent; or might not be a back-friend, at least, out of displeasure, because they had taken away his sister from him to the Court. So K. Hen. 8. advanced all Anne Bullens kindred, &c.

Vers. 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh] Plagued him with plagues, saith the Hebrew: tormented him with torments, or set him on the rack, saith the Greek. And for this, he might thank his Court-parasites, who put him upon this rape. Chrysostome think­eth that Sarah was abed with the King; and that in the bed, God by his plague so restrained him, that she remained untoucht. But we cannot gather by the text, that he intended to commit adul­tery, sed quòd levitate & vaga libidine peccavit, but offended one­ly, in going after the sight of his eyes, a and lust of his heart, as Solomon hath it.

Vers. 18. What is this that thou hast done unto me] God had reproved Pharaoh (according to that, Psal. 105.14. He suffered no man to doe them wrong, but reproved Kings for them) and now Pharaoh re­proves Abraham. It is a sad thing, that Saints should do that for which they should justly fall under the reproofe of the wicked: we should rather dazle their eyes, and draw from their consciences, at least, a testimony of our innocency, as David did from Sauls, when he said, Thou art more righteous then I my son David: Whose oxe have I taken, saith Samuel? And which of you can condemne me of sin, saith Christ? Now the life of a Christian should be a Commentary upon Christs life, 1 Pet. 2. Ye are a holy nation, [...]. 1 Pet. 2.9.a pe­culiar people, that ye should preach forth his vertues, and not hang his picture (his image and graces) in a dark hole, but in a conspi­cuous place. Bucer so lived that neither could his friends suffici­ently praise him, nor his foes justly blame him, for any miscarriage. Act & Mon. And Bradford was had in so great reverence and admiration for his holiness, that a multitude which never knew him, but by fame, Ibid. 1458. greatly lamented his death; yea and a number also of Papists them­selves wished heartily his life. But to have Egyptians jear us, and that for sin, is threatned as a grievous misery, Hos. 7.16.

Vers. 19. Why saidst thou she is my sister?] He might have [Page 108]answered, because I was afraid. His fear it was that put him upon this exploit. So it did David when he changed his behaviour, and Peter when he denied his Master, &c. Men should rather dye then lye. Firmus Episc. Togastensis. Nec prodam, nec mentiar, said that good Bishop in St. Au­gustine. And that was a brave woman in St. Hierome, that being on the rack resolved, and answered the tormentour, Non ideo ne­gare volo, ne peream, sed ideo mentiri nolo, ne peccem. The Chamae­leon, saith Pliny, is the most fearfull of all creatures, and doth therefore turn into all colours, to save it self. So will timorous persons, See Zeph. 3.13. Let us fortifie our hearts against this cowardly passion.

Vers. 20. And Pharaoh commanded] Thus God comes as it were out of an Engine, [...]. and helps his people at a pinch. Abraham had brought himself into the briars, and could finde no way out. Many a heavy heart he had, no doubt, for his dear wife (who suffered by his default) and she again for him. God upon their repentance provides graciously for them both: She is kept undefiled, he greatly enriched for her sake; and now they are both secured, and dismissed with the Kings safe conduct. Oh who would not serve such a God, as turns our errours and evill counsells to our great good, as the Athenians dreamt their god­desse Minerva did for them.

CHAP. XIII. Vers. 1. And Abram went up out of Egypt]

THere must be likewise daily ascensions in our hearts, out of the Egypt of this world, to the heavenly Canaan, where Christ our altar is. The Church is compared to pillars of smoke ascending, Cant. 3.6. Black she is as smoke in regard of infirmities, yet hath a principle to carry her upwards. Who is this that ascends out of this Egypt below with pillars of smoke, elationibus fumi, that is, with her affections,, thoughts, desires, upward, heavenward? Our Edward the first had a mighty desire to go to the holy land; Act. & Mon. and because he was hindred, he gave his son a charge upon his death-bed, to carry his heart thither, and prepared 32000. pound to that purpose. The children of faithfull Abram, though their bodies be on earth, yet they take much pains, and are at great [Page 109]charge to get up their hearts to heaven. Matth. 14.28. Cant 7 4. Hence they are called Eagles for their high-soaring, and are said to have noses like the tower of Lebanon. for their singular sagacity in resenting and smelling after Christ the true all quickning carcasse.

Vers. 2. And Abraham was very rich] All rich men therefore are not rejected of God, though it be hard for such to hit on hea­ven. Poor Lazarus [...]lyes in the bosome of rich Abraham there. Riches neither further nor hinder in themselves, but as they are used: As a cypher by it self is nothing, but a figure being set be­fore it, it encreaseth the summe. Wealth, if well used, is an orna­ment, an incouragement to duty, and an instrument of much good: All the danger lyes in loving these things. Have them we may, and use them too as a traveller doth his staffe to help him the sooner to his journeys end; but when we passe away our hearts to them, they become a mischief, and (as the word here rendred rich, signifies in the originall) a burden. Let not therefore the bramble be King: let not earthly things bear rule over thy affecti­ons; fire will rise out of them that will consume thy Cedars; Judg 9.15. emas­culate all the powers of thy soul, as they did Solomons, whose wealth did him more hurt then his wisdome good. How many have we now adayes, that when poor, could pray, read, &c who grown rich, resemble the Moon, which grown full gets furthest oft from the Sun, never suffers eclipse but then, and that by earths in­terposition. Socrates diviti [...]s comparabat tu­nicis talaribus. Quis generum meum ad gladi­um alligavit? Cic. Dio in Augusto. Herodot. Let rich men therefore take heed how they handle their thorns; let them gird up the loyns of their mindes, lest their long garments hinder them in the way to heaven: Let them see to it, that they be not tyed to their abundance, as little Lentulus was said to have been to his long sword: that they be not held prisoners in those golden fetters, as the Kings of Armenia was by Anthony, and so sent by him for a present to Cleopatra; lest at length, they send their Mammon of unrighteousness, as Craesus did his fetters, for a present to the Devill, who had deluded him with false hopes of victory.

Vers. 3. And he went on his journeys] Many a weary step, and rested not, till he came to his old altar at Bethel. Lo here a patern of great piety and singular zeal, in Father Abram. Egypt with all her plenty and pleasure, had not stoln away his heart so as not to hold his own in the promised Land. Neither had he so laden himself with thick clay, but that he went from strength to strength (as those good souls did, Psal. 84.7.) he took long [Page 110]strides, perexit per profectiones suas, as it is here, He went journey after journey, till he appeared before God at his altar, there to sanctifie that good he had got in Egypt, and to give God thanks for it; yea to consecrate all to him the bestower of it. Oh let us shew our selves children of Abraham indeed, by walking in these steps of our father Abraham, Rom. 4.12. Otherwise our outward profession and priviledges will profit us no more then it did Dives in hell, Luk. 16. that he could call Abraham, Father.

Vers. 4. Ʋnto the place of the altar, &c.] There he had found God to his comfort, and there he looks now to finde him so again. It will be some help to us, for the strengthning of our faith in prayer, to hol [...] our selves to the same place, to have a set Or [...]ory.

Vers. 5. And Lot also which went with Abram] So he lost not all, by leaving friends and means, to go with Abram. They that fide with the Saints, shall thrive with the Saints. God had pro­mised to bless Abram, and he did it; for it is the blessing of God that maketh rich. God had promised again, to bless them that blessed Abram, or wished well to him, and did him any favour or furtherance. [...] pecudes, & posteà synec­dochicōs opes significant. Let Lot speak now whether this were not made good to him in those flocks and herds of his (that is, in all kinde of riches) and tents, that is, servants dwelling in tents? Jer. 49.29. 1 Chron. 4.41.

Vers. 6. And the land was not able to bear them] This was sowre sawce to their sweet meat, lest they should surfet of their abundance. All earthly comfort [...] are dissweetned with crosses, and there are pins in all the worlds roses. It is seldome seen that God allows any, though never so dear to himself, a perfect content­ment. Something they must have to complain of, that shall give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels, that they may long after heaven. It could not but be a great cut to this good couple, to be now at length sundered, and deprived of mutuall society.

Vers. 7. And there was a strife between] How oft do servants set masters at variance? But the devill is in it, when good folk fall out especially. He is restless himself, and doth what he can to disquiet others. He loves to fish in troubled waters; and well knows out of his divelish wisdome (saith St. James) that where envying, and strife is, Jam. 3.15, 16. there is confusion, and every evill work. But what was it that made the herdsmen fall out, but penury of pasture? [Page 111]and what bred penury of pasture, but plenty of cattle? Great riches many times breed great brabbles. This the Heathen found, and therefore feigned that Mars was the son of Juno, Natalis Comes. because Juno is the goddess of riches, which prove the cause of strife, and stirs amongst many. [And the Canaanite and the P [...]rizite was then in the la [...]d] This is added, either as a cause of their being straitned of fit pasture, because the Canaanites possessed the better grounds: Or else, to set forth how unseasonable and unsavoury it was, for such men to jar, and so to expose themselves to the scan­dall and scorn of such wicked neighbours, Nisi Lyra [...]y rasset. &c. as desired no better sport then to see them falling out. This latter is Lyra's glosse, and I like it well. One of the main scandals the Jews take at this day from Protestants, is their dissentions. Scultet. Annal. Cyprianus inex­piabilem discor­dia maculam martyrii sangui­ne ablui, & passione purgari negat. Error condonari potest, modo fides adsit in Christum: discordiam, ne (que) si sanguinem fundamus, expiabimus, said Reverend O [...]lampadius in a letter to the litigi­ous Lutherans of Sueveland.

Vers. 8. And Abram said to Lot] Speech endeth anger, Si­lence nourisheth it. Much malice and grudge would be avoided, and the very poyson of it drawn out, did we but give it a vent at first, by reasoning with the party that wronged us, and expo­stulating the injury, which, most times, is but a meer mistake. Now many (on the contrary) harbour this viper in their bo­somes, till it hath eaten to their hearts; Eph. 4.26. they not onely let the Sun go down, but go its whole round upon their wrath, and cannot finde time from one end of the year to the other, to utter their mindes, and compound their discords. Not onely Abraham, but Aristippus shall rise up in judgement against such Pseudo-Christians, and condemn them. For when Aeschines and he had been at long debate; and there was, I stout, and thou stout, and neither could find in their hearts to go to other; Aristippus went at length to Aeschines, and said unto him, Shall we not agree to be friends, Plutarch. de co­bib. ira. Laer. l. 2. before we make our selves a common scorn to the whole Country? Whereunto when Aeschines answered, that he was content to be friends with all his heart; Aristippus replied, Remember then, that although I were the elder, and the better man, yet I first sought unto thee. In very deed, said Aeschines, Thou art a far better man then I; for I began the quarrell, and thou hast been first in making up the breach. And thus, these two became fast friends for ever. [For we are brethren] This is a cooler; and should be like the Angell that staid Abrams hand, when the blow was comming.

Vers. 9. Is not the whole land before thee] Abraham chuseth rather to take wrong then to strive for his right, which he here parts with for peace sake. They that do otherwise, though they think they do bravely, and get the [...]tter of their adversary, yet (if St. Paul may judge) they sit down by the loss. For he purposely disgraceth their contentious courses, in standing for their utmost right, without respect to peace and quietness, by a word that signi­fieth disgrace, [...]. or loss of victory, 1 Cor. 6.7. Now therefore there is utterly a fault, or a d [...]fect of true manhood amongst you, because yee goe to law one with another: Why doe yee not rather take wrong? [...] E [...]hic. why do ye not rather suffer your selves to be defrau­ded? Aristotle by the dim light of nature, could see and say, that it is better to suffer wrong then do it. It was a brave speech of Calvin, Though Luther call me Devill, yet I will honour him as a servant of God. And when a fierce Frier, in dis­pute with Beza and his colleagues, called them Foxes, Apes▪ Ass [...]s, &c. Beza answered no more but this, Nos non magis credere, quàm Transubstantiationem. In rixa is i [...]feriorest, quì victor est saith Basil. And Demosthenes when he was reproached by One, thought it sufficient to say, Interdum dis­junctio meliu [...] alit amic [...]iam, &c. Buchol [...]. Nolim tecum in hoc genus certaminis descendere, in quo quivincitur ipso victore est melior. [Separate thy self I pray thee from me] Sometimes, and betwixt some natures, separation one from another better nourisheth friendship then nearer familiarity. There are that can never fadge together. [If thou wilt take the right hand, &c.] As who should say, We will not be far asunder, though we cannot be together) but still helpfull one to the other, Pe [...]erius. as the right hand is to the left.

Vers. 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes] This was the lust of the eye, The leper sha­ved [...]his eye­brows to teach us to mortifie the lust of the eyes. St. John speaketh of, 1 Ep. 2.16. as he afterwards fell into the lust of the flesh, Chap. 19.33. his incestuous posterity into the pride of life. We have heard of the pride of Moab, and the am­bition of Ammon, Jer. 48, and 49. Lot might not be suffered so much as to look at Sodome, whiles it was burning, as Abram might. God knew his weakness, and so prevented the temptati­on. He should have had the good manners to let his Uncle chuse first; but the dust of covetousness had put out his eyes, that he saw not what beseemed him for present▪ as afterwards he did, when God so crossed him, De Triboniano, Procopius. in that which he chose and so blessed Abram in that which was left him. Lot was a good man, but this, [...], somewhat obscured his vertues. [That it was well [Page 113]watered every where] And so fruitful. Hence the inhabitants, Psal. 66.12. Psal. 107.33.35. through abuse of their plenty, became wholly drowned in fleshly delights. It faring with them in this respect, as with the Inhabitants of Oenoe, a dry Iland besides Athens, who bestowed much labor to draw into it a River to water it, and make it more fruitful. But, when all the passages were opened, Una est ex te­trapoli Attica. Steph. 1 Tim. 6.9. [...]. It [...] immergunt, ut in aquae sum­mitate cursu [...] [...]on [...]bulliant. and the receptacles pre­pared, the water came in so plentifully, that it over-flowed all, and at the first tide, drowned the Iland, and all the people. They that will be rich, saith the Apostle (that are resolved to rise in the world, by what means it matters not, these) fall into temptation, and a snare, as Lot, (that's the least evil can come of it) and into many foolish and noysom lusts, as his neighbors the Sodomites did, which desperately drown men in double destruction. [Like the land of Egypt.] Which was called of old publicum orbis horreum; The worlds great granary. A Country so fair and fertile, that the Egyptians were wont to boast, they could feed all men, and feast all the gods without any sensible diminution of their pro­vision.

Vers. 13. But the men of Sodom were wicked, &c.] See their chief sins set down, Ezek. 16.49, 50. The Chaldee Paraphrast here translateth, they were first unrighteous with their Mammon, and secondly, sinners with their bodies, before the Lord. [...]. That un­nameable sin had its name from them, who against nature were scalded in their lust, one toward another, Rom. 1.27. The Apostle there gives it in of the Heathen Philosophers, many of whom were patrones of this abhorred filth; Sen [...]ca delecta­batur exol [...]is, &c. Dio in Nerone. Jam. 1.17. as Cicero complains of Plato; and Socrates was shrewdly suspected, to be no honester then he should be with Alcibiades; nor Seneca with Nero. The wisdom from above is pure, saith Saint James; and in this wisdom is truth and purity, saith Solomon, Prov. 8.7. whereas all worldly wisdom is stained with error or leudness. God punisheth the pride of all flesh with some foul sin, and so sets a Noverint uni­versi, as it were, upon the worlds wisards, That all men may know them to be but arrant fools. [And sinners before the Lord ex­ceedingly] They were grown so debauched, and impudent in evil, That neither fear of God, nor shame of men could restrain them. Though God looked on, they were no whit abashed or abased be­fore him. God found not out their sins by secret search, Jere. 2.34. he needed not to search them with lights. Zeph. 1.12. For the shew of their countenance did witness against them; they could [Page 114]blush no more then a sackbut: shamelesness sat in their foreheads, they declared their sins, even to a proverb, Isai. 3.9. They se [...] them in open view upon the cliff of the rock, Ezek. 24.7. They faced the Heavens, and held their heads aloft, as if they deserved com­mendation, rather then else. This is a high degree of sin, and an immediate forerunner of destruction.

Vers. 14. After that Lot was separated from him] Till Lot was departed and the strife ceased. God appeared not. He is the God of peace; and hates contention; which as it indisposeth us to holy duties, 1 Pet. 3.7. so it keepeth God from us by his com­forts and influences. They say of Bees, that stir and strife amongst them, is a signe their King is about to remove, to leave the hive, and to be gone some where else. God refuseth to be served till the matter be agreed, Matth 5.24. [Lift up now thine eyes,] Gods comforts are therefore most sweet, because most seasonable. Abram had now parted with Lot, to his great grief. God makes up that loss to him in his own gracious presence and promise: which he here repeateth, to teach us moreover, that the countinual weakness of man needeth continual comfort from God.

Vers. 15. For all the land which thou seest is thine.] God gave him no inheritance in it, Acts 7.5. no not so much as a foot bredth; yet he promised, that he would give it to him: And that Abram took for good free-hold. Men use to reckon their wealth, not by what ready money they have, onely, but by the good Bonds and Leases, they can produce. A great part of a Christians estate lyes in Bonds and Bills of Gods hand.

Vers. 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth] Afterwards, Gen. 15.5. God promiseth that his seed shall be as the stars of heaven. Moses his choice by Mr. Burr.Abrahams seed, saith One, are of two sorts: Some are visible members of a Church, yet have earthly hearts: Others are as the stars of Heaven, for spiritual Light, motion, and influence.

Vers. 17. Arise, walk through the Land.] Thus God rewards contented Abram with the whole Countrey. He never suffers any man to lose by an humble remission of his right, in a desire of peace. Matth. 5.5. The meek shall inherit the earth, and have Heaven to boot; which was the cheif thing here promised to Abraham, in this survey, Heb. 11.10, 16.

CHAP. XIV. Verse 2. That these made War.]

VVAr is the slaughter-house of mankinde, and the hell of this present world. It hews it self a way through a wood of men, and layes heaps upon heaps, (as Sampson did, Judg. 15.16.) not with a jaw-bone of an Ass, and one after ano­ther, but in a minute of time, and by the mouth of a murdering peece. Alphonsus D. of Ferrara, Peachams Val­ly of varieties. had two of these Cannons of a wonderful bigness; the one whereof he called Archidiabalo, the other, the Earthquake. Revel. 9 17. Fire, smoke and brimstone seem to note out the Turks Guns and Ord­nance. For the drawing of that Gun that Mahomet used in besi [...]ging Constantinople, seventy yokes of Oxen, and two thousand men were em­ployed. Deut. 2 20. The Turks battered the Walls of the Rhodes, with twelve Basilisks, so aptly named of the Serpent Basiliscus, who (as Pliny writeth) killeth man or beast, with his very sight. But before these bloody instruments of death were heard of in the world, men could finde means to slaughter one another in war; witness these five Kings, that came with Chedar­laomer, and smote the Rephaims or Gyants, the Zuzims, or Zamzummims, and the Emims or terrible ones, as their name importeth. These they slew by the way, besides what they did in the vale of Siddim, where they joyned battle with the five Kings, and cut off many. If we may judg of one battle by an­other, hear what was done in a bloody fight between Amurath the third, King of Turks, and Lazarus Despot of Servia. Many thousands fell on both sides; the brightness of the Armor and Weapons was, as it had been the Lightning; the multitude of Launces and other Horsemens Staves, shadow the light of the Sun. Arrows and Darts fell so fast, that a man would have thought, Turk bist. fol. 200. they had poured down from Heaven. The noyse of the instru­ments of War, with the neighing of horses, and out cryes of men, was so terrible and great, That the wilde Beasts in the Mountains, stood astonied therewith; and the Turkish Histories, to express the terror of the day, vainly say, That the Angels in Heaven, amazed with that hideous noyse, for that time, forgot the heavenly Hymnes, wherewith they always glorifie God. In conclusion, Lazarus was slain, and Amurath had the victory, but a very bloody one, and such as he had no great joy of. For he lost a­bundance of his Turks; as did likewise Adrian the Emperor of his Romans, when he fought against the Jews, and had the better: [Page 116]but with such a loss of his own men, that when he wrote of his victory to the Senate, Dio in Adriano. he forbore to use that common exordium, that the Emperors in like ease were wont to use, Si vos, liberique vestri valeatis, bene est: Ego quidem & exercitus valemus. There was no such thing, beleeve it, nor but seldom is there. But as the Dragon sucks out the blood of the Elephant; Plin. and the waight of the falling Elephant oppresseth the Dragon, and both usually perish together; so doth it many times fall out with those, that undertake war. These four Kings beat the five; but ere they gat home, became a prey to Abraham and his confederates. The Low-Countrey-men are said to grow rich, Heyl. Geog. pag. 253. (whereas all other Nations grow poor) with war. But they may thank a good Queen, under [...]od (Queen Elisabeth, I mean) who first undertook their protection against the Spaniard. An [...]o 1585. Camdens E­lisab. For the which act of hers, all Princes admired her fortitude: and the King of Sweden said, That she had now taken the Diadem from her head, and set it upon the doubtful chance of War. Dulia sanè est Martis alea, ne [...] rarò utrique parti noxia, saith Bucholcerus. And I cannot but (as the case stands with us, Bucholc. Chro [...]. p. 583. especially at this present, by reason of these unnatural, un­civil Wars stirred up amongst us,) go on, and give my vote with him. Ideo pons aureus (ut vulgato proverbio dicitur) hosti fugienti extruendus est, & magno precio, precibus, pati­entia ac prudentia, alma pax redimenda, ne infoelicitatis portas, pacis tempore clausas,Dulce bellum in­expertis.infaustum bellum aperiat. War is sweet, they say, to them that never made tryal of it. But I cannot sufficiently wonder at Pyrrhus King of Epirus, Nulli ma orem ex imperio quàm Pyrrho ex bello voluptatem fuisse. Tit. 1.12. of whom Justin witnesseth, That he took as much pleasure in War, as others do in Supream Government. He might have learned better of his own Prophets (so Saint Paul calleth their Poets.) Homer (the Prince of them) ever brings in Mars, as most hated of Jupiter, above any other god, as born for a common mischeif, and being right of his mother Juno's dis­position, which was fierce, vast, contumacious, and malignant. We that are Christians, as we cannot but, with the Prophet Isaiah, count and call War a singular evil: So we must ac­knowledg with him, M [...]lum per [...] ut b [...]llum quia minim [...] b [...]ll [...]m per autiphrasin. that it is an evil of Gods own creating, Isaiah Chap. 45. vers. 7. I make peac [...], and create evil, that is, War. I, is emphatical and exclusive, as who should say, I and I alone. Whence-soever the Sword comes, it is bathed [Page 117]in Heaven, Isaiah Chapter 34. verse 5. God is pleased for this, to stile himself A man of war, Exodus 15.3. The Chaldee expresseth it thus, The Lord and Victor of wars, Gen. 17.1. Eundem vict [...] ­rem & vasta­torem esse opor­tet.Genesis 17.1. God elsewhere calleth himself, El Shaddai. Aben-Ezra in­terpreteth Shaddai a Conqueror. And indeed the Hebrew word Shadad signifieth to dissipate and destroy: both which, he must needs do that becomes a Conqueror. Gods seems to glory much in his workings, about warlike affairs. Hence Psalm 24.8. Who is the King of glory? Psal. 24.8.The Lord strong and mighty; the Lord mighty in battle. He is in Scripture said to send the Sword, Ezekiel 14.17. To muster the men, Isaiah 13.4. To order the Ammunition, Jeremiah 50.25. To bring up both van and rear, Isaiah 52.12. To give wisdom, valor, and victory, Psalm 144.1. Ezekiel 30.24. Ecclesiastes 9.11. The whole battle is his, 1 Samuel 17.47. And he oft thereby re­vengeth the quarrel of his Covenant. Levit. 26. So he hath done already upon the Jews and Germans: so he is now doing, alass, upon Ireland and England. And here I cannot but insert that which I finde observed by a prime Preacher of our Kingdom. The late battle at Edge-hill, was fought in a place called, The Vale of the Red Horse; as if God had said, I have now sent you the Red Horse, to avenge the quarrel of the White, Revel. 6.2, 4. The blood spilt at Edge-hill the same day of the moneth, in which, the Rebellion brake out in Ireland, the yeer before, October 23. Yea, and upon the self-same day (if our Intelli­gence be true) in which, that bloody battle was fought neer Leipsick in Germany: This Conjuncture is a sad Presage, That England is to drink deep in Germany's and Irelands Cup. Father, if it be thy will, let this Cup pass from us. A Cup of trembling it is, surely, to my self, among many others; such as maketh my Pen almost to fall out of my fingers, whiles I write these things: and affecteth me no otherwise (when I consider of the many fearful convulsions of our Kingdom, tending doubtless to a deadly consumption,) then the siege of Rome did Saint Jerome. For hearing that that City was besieged, Hieron. Conn. in Ezekiel. Pr [...]oem. at such time as he was writing a Commentary upon Ezekiel, and that many of his godly acquaintance there were slain; he was so astonished at the news, That for many nights and days, he could think of nothing. When I think of what should move the Lord to make this breach upon us, and notwithstanding that [Page 118]he hath been so earnestly besought; yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, Haec s [...]ri [...]si cor­d [...]cit [...]s do o [...]s August. 21. 1643. but his hand is stretched out still: that of Cajetan comes before me; who then Commenting upon Matthew, when the French Souldiers having broken into Rome, offered all maner of abuse, and violence to the Clergy, inserts this passage into his N [...]s on Matth. 5.13. Te are the salt of the earth, as my former Author alleadgeth, and rendereth him. We the Prelates of Rome, Mr. Arrowsmith. ub [...] suprà. [...]p.do now finde the truth of this by woful experience, being become a scorn, and a prey, not to Infidels, but Christians, by the most righteous judgment of God, because we, who by our places, should have been the Salt of the Earth, had lost our savor, and were good for little else, but looking after the rites and revenues of the Church. Evanuimu [...], a [...] ad nibilum uti­les, nisi ad ex­tern [...] caeremo­nias, externaque bona, &c. Heyl. Geog.Hence it is, that together with us, this City comes to be trodden under foot, this sixth of May, 1527. That City, till it became idolatrous, was ever victorious: But since it hath been the nest of Antichrist, it was never besieged, but it was taken and sacked. The God of Hea­ven purge out of our Church, daily more and more, that Land­desolating sin of Idolatry, Zach. 14.11. and masse good his promise, That there shall be no more the Can [...]ite in the house of the Lord of h [...]stes, no evil spirit left in the Land. Fiat, Fiat. For of England we may now well say, Tacit. bist. lib. 1. cap. 1. as he once did of Rome: Nunquam magis justis judiciis approbatum est, non esse curae De [...] securitatem nostram, esse vindict [...].

Vers. 8 And there went out the King of Sodom, &c.] These five neighboring Kings, were combined against the four Kings that invaded them. It was not then a civile Dissension (that worst of Wars) such as was that of France, (and is now, alass, Hist. of Coun [...]. of Tre [...]t. 647. of England,) wherein the sons fought against their Fa­thers, and Brothers against Brothers; and even women took Arms on both sides for defence of their Religion. That was not more monstrous, Heyl. Geog. pag. 289. That the Snevi [...] women threw their young children at the Romans, their enemies, instead of darts, then that other was pitio [...]s, between the Romans themselves, those that were for Vitellius, and the other for Vespasian; That when the women brought the Vitellians victuals by night, into the Camp, they not onely refreshed themselves, but their adver­saries also, with meat and drink. Each man called to his adver­sary by name, Dio in vit [...] visellii. and said, Accipe, micommillto, ede: Non enim tibi gladium praebeo, sed panem. Accipe rurs [...]m & bibe: Non [Page 119]euim tibi scutum, sed poculum trado: ut sive tu me interficias, sive ego t [...], moriamur facilius: atque ut ne me, enervatâ atque imbecillâ manu occidas, aut ego te. Hae nostrae sunt exequi [...], no­his adhuc viventibus. Thus they greeted over night, [...]. Dio. and the next day dispatcht one another; they gave wounds and took wounds; they slew, and were slain, as the same Author hath it. Which as oft as I think on, I cannot but highly commend that Speech of Oth [...] the Emperor to his Souldiers, a little afore he took his end: I hate civil wars, though I were sure to overcome. [...]. Dio. In vita Otho­nis. Daniels Chr [...]n. continued by Yrussel. fol. 249. Om [...]e bellum sumitur facilè, caeterum aeger­rimè desinit. Non enim in ejusdem potestate est initium belli, ejusque finis. Salust, [...]n Jugu [...]. I know not why any Englishman should love it; that shall call to minde, that in the civil Dissentions between the Houses of York and Lancaster, there were slain ( [...]re the quarrel ended) fourscore Princes of the Blood Royal, and twice as many Natives of England, as were lost in the two Conquests of France. War is easily taken up (saith the Wise Historian) but not so easily laid down again: Neither is the beginning and the end of a War, in any one mans power. If the Scots should come in on the one side, and the French or Irish on the other, What an Acheldam [...] should we soon become; what an Ire-land, a seat of Wrath, because a seat of War? It is never to be for­gotten by us, That the Dissension between England and Scot­land consumed more Christian blood, wrought more spoil and destruction, and continued longer then ever quarrel we read of did, between any two people of the World. Our Edward the first, adjured his Son and Nobles, That if he dyed in his jour­ney into Scotland, they should carry his Corps about Scotland, and not suffer it to be interred, till they had absolutely subdued the Countrey. A desire more Martial then Christian; a de­signe of revenge beyond his life: Such spirits are raised in men that delight in war, Psalm 68.30. O pray for the peace of Jeru­salem. So saith David, Psalm 122.6. And so doth David in the next verse, Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy pallaces. The Athenians, when they had gotten the better at Sea of the Lacedemonians, were so overjoyed, Tum primùm arae Paci pub­licae sunt factae, eique Deae pulvi­na [...] inst [...]tutum. Cornel. Nepos. Psal. 85.9, 10. Luke 1.74. That they then first s [...]t up Altars to the Publike Peace; and appointed a Cushion to be laid thereon, for that godess to rest upon. Oh would the Lord, but once more grant us, that Righteousness and Peace might kiss each other, and Mercy and Truth meet in our Land; How happy should we hold our selves; how infinitely [Page 120]oblieged to sing Servati sumus, ut serviamus! How should we prize our restored Peace, and improve it as Abraham did here, to the paying of Tithes, in token of thankfulness; yea, to the set­ing up of Altars (not to Publike Peace, as those Heathens,) but to the God of peace, as Abraham after this did, when he had con­cluded a peace with King Abimelech, and his General Phicol? Gen. 21.32, 33.

Vers. 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slime-pits.] Chosen therefore on purpose by the five Kings, who fled and fell there; or (as some understand the Text) made haste to fall down there; Celeritèr se dejecerunt. Piscat. Eo co [...]silio ut hostes ignari locorum, &c. Idem. sculking and scouting, till their enemies should pursue them, and so perish in those Pits. But their cunning failed them: For as they had travelled with iniquity, and conceived-mischief, so they brought forth a lye. They made a Pit and digged it, but fell into the ditch, that themselves had made, Psal. 7.15, 16. The way of this world (saith One) is like the vale of Siddim, slimy and slippery, full of Lime-pits, and Pit-falls, Springs, and Stumbling­blocks, laid by Satan to maim or mischieve us, to procure our ruine or ruth. To defeat him therefore (as these four Kings did the five,) Let us tread gingerly, st [...]p warily, lift not up one foot, till we finde sure footing for the other: Let us look ere we le [...]p. Alioqui saliens antequam videat,Bern. de bon. deser.casurus est antequam debeat, as Saint Bernard hath it.

Vers. 11. And all their victuals.] Ezek. 16.49. Amos 4. Fulness of bread was a part of their sin; and now cleanness of teeth is made a piece of their punishment, in Gods just judgment.

Vers. 12. And they took Lot] God passeth not by the sins of his dearest Saints, without a sensible check. Lot for his affecting the first choyce, had soon enough of it. Strong affections bring strong afflictions, as hard knots require hard wedges. Earthly things court us, that they may cut our throats: These Hoasts welcom us into our Inne with smiling countenance, that they may dispatch us in our Beds. Beware of the worlds cut throat kind­nesses; consort not with Sodomites, lest ye partake of their plagues. Hamath lyes nigh to Damascus in place, and fares the worse for its neighborhood, Zach. 9.2. Lot loseth his goods and liberty, 2 Chro. 18.31. & 19.2. Jehosaphat had well-nigh lost his life, for loving those that hated God.

Vers. 13. And there came one that had escaped] A Sodomite likely, but a servant to Gods good providence, 2 Pet. 2.9. Eph. 4. Psal. 126 4. for Lots rescue. The Lord knoweth how to deliver his, &c. He that led captivity captive, can turn our captivity as the streams in the South.

Vers. 14. He armed his trained servants] Or, catechised, such as he had painfully principled both in Religion, and Military Dis­cipline, tractable, and trusty, ready prest for any such purpose. It is recorded to the commendation of Queen Elisabeth that she provi­ded for war, even when she had most perfect peace with all men. Camdens Elis. fol. 164. Darts foreseen are dintless.

Vers. 15. Smote them, and pursued them] Abram came upon them as they were, secure, sleepy, and drunken, as Josephus wri­teth. So did David upon the Amalekites, 1 Sam. 30.16. and Ahab the Syrians, 1 King. 20.16. The division of his company, and taking benefit of the night, wacheth the use of godly policies and stratagems.

Vers. 16. And he brought back all the goods] The five Kings were deprived of the whole victory, because they spared not a man whom they should have spared. One act of injustice, oft loseth much that was justly gotten. Beware (saith a Reverend Writer hereupon) of swallowing ill gotten wealth; Mr. Whatelyes Archetypes. it hath a poysonfull operation: and like some evill simple in the stomack, will bring up the good food together with the evill humours. [And also brought again his brother Lot] Many a crooked nature would have thought of the old jar, and let Lot taste of the fruits of his departure. In a friends distress, let former faults be forgot­ten, and all possible helps afforded. [And the women also, and the people] The hope of this might haply move that officious mes­senger to address himself to the old Hebrew, vers. 13. little set by, till now that they were in distress. Generall Vere told the King of Denmarke, Spec bellisacri. 253. that Kings cared not for souldiers (no more did the King of Sodome for Abraham, and his Reformado [...]s) untill such time, as the Crowns hang on the one side of their heads.

Vers. 18. Melchizedek King of Salem] Who this Mel­chisedek was, is much controverted, Some would have him to be the holy Ghost. Others, the Lord Christ in the habit of a King and Priest. The Jerusalem Targum saith, Hu Shem Rabba. This was Shem the Great; and of the same opinion are not a few of the Hebrew Doctours, and others. But what should Shem do in Ca­naan; which Country fell not to him, but to his brother Ham? [Page 122]To this they answer; That by the instinct of the Holy Ghost, he left his own posterity now fallen away, for most part, to Ido­latry, and came to the land of Canaan, a type of Heaven, and the place from whence peace and salvation should be preached to all people. If this were so, it might very well be, that Amraphel, who was of Shems lineage, Dr. Prideaux L [...]t, de Melchis. p 95. and his fellow-souldiers, moved with reverence of this their great Grand-father Shem, might forbear to molest him at Salem, or invade his territories, when they wasted and smote all the neighbour-nations. But then, on the other side, if Melchisedek were Shem; why doth not Moses calf him so▪ but change his name? 2. Why did not Abram, dwelling so near, visit him all this while, that was so near allyed to him, and so highly respected by him, as it was meet? 3. Why did Melchisedek the Grand-father, take tithes of his Nephew, to whom he should ra­ther have given gifts and legacies? 2 Cor. 12.14. Most likely, Melchisedek was a Canaanite of the Canaanites; yet a most righte­ous King and Priest of the most High God, and so a pledge and first-fruits of the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge and obedience of Jesus Christ, of whom he was a lively type, Heb. 7.2. [Brought forth brend and wine] This he did as a King; as a Priest he blessed Abraham; which latter therefore the Apostle pitcheth upon, Heb. 7.1. as being to treat of Christs Priesthood. The Papists think to finde footing here for their unbloody sacrifice in the Masse. Melchisedee, say they, as a Priest offered bread and wine to God; for he was a Priest of the living God. So they render it, Tert. de Prae­scrip. advers. haeret. or rather wrest this text, to make it speak what it never meant. Caedem Scriptuarum faciunt ad materiam suam, they mur­ther the Scriptures to serve their own purposes, saith Tertullian. Where can they shew us in all the Book of God, that the Hebrew word Hotsi here used, signifieth to offer? But any thing serves turn, that hath but a shew of what they alleadge it for. A Sor­bonist, finding it written at the end of St. Pauls Epistles, Missa est, Bee-hive of Rom. Church, chap. 3. fol. 93. Nelancthon orat. de encom. elo­quentiae. Pref. to his book of the Sa­craments.&c. brag'd he had found the Masse in his Bible. So another reading, Joh. 1.41. Invenimus Messiam, made the same conclusion. A third, no whit wiser then the two former, speaking of these words I now write upon, Rex Salem panem & vinum protulit, fell into a large discourse of the nature of Salt. Agreable where­unto Dr. Poynes writes, that it was foretold in the Old Testament, that the Protestants were a Malignant Church, alleadging 2 Chron. 24.19. Mit [...]batque prophetas, ut r [...]v [...]r­terentur [Page 123]ad Dominum, quos [...]rotestantes illi audire nolebant.

Vers. 19. And he blessed him] Lo here an instance of the communion of Saints: Melchisedek doth all good offices to Abraham (a beleever, though a stranger) not of curtesie onely and humanity, but of charity and piety.

Vers. 20. And he gave him tithe of all] Not of the Sodomites goods, which he restored wholly, ver. 23. but of the other law­full spoyle he had taken from the foure conquered Kings; in testimony of his thankfulness to God the giver of all victory.

Vers. 21. And the King of Sodome said] He, that a few dayes since, faced the heavens, and cared not for foure Kings, can now become suppliant to a forlorn forreigner. Affliction will tame and take down the proudest spirits; they buckle in adversity, that bore their heads on high in prosperity. In their moneth you may finde these wild-asses. [Give me the persons] Abram did so, Jer. 2.24. and yet they were no whit amended by their late captivity, or former servitude; from both which now they are freed by Abra­ham, but still held captive by the Devill, who owes them yet a further spite, as we shall see Chapt. 19.

Vers. 22. I have lifted up my hand] A swearing gesture, Dan. 12.7. Rev. 10.5.6. Neither doth he this rashly, but for very good reason; First, that by this oath, as by a buckler, he might fence himself against all covetous desires of the spoyle. Secondly, to shew that he did seriously remit of that which was his right, and went not to war for wages. Thirdly, hereby to profess his faith and Religion, in opposition to their superstitious vanities, &c [The possessour of heaven and earth] The true and rightfull proprietary, whose tenants at pleasure we all are, Philo. as Philo from this text well observeth. And here take notice how Melchisedek and Abraham concut in the very termes of professing their faith, The most high God possessour of heaven and earth. Whereunto Abram addes Je­hovah, by which name Melchisedek happily knew not God as yet; like as Apollos was ignorant of many needfull truths, till bet­ter instructed by Aquila and Priscilla, Act. 18.26.

Vers. 23. That I will not take from a threed] Melchisedek from God had made Abram heir of all things; for saith he, I am the Priest of the most High God, possessour of heaven and earth, who hath sent me with this bread and wine, as by turfe and twig, as by an earnest, and a little for the whole, to give thee possession of both. Now therefore when the King of Sodome, presently after [Page 124]offers him the goods he had taken, Abraham would none; he was grown too great to accept of such an offer; God was his ex­ceeding great reward, Chap. 15.1. Aquila non captat muscas. [Lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich] Occasion must not be given to any to speak the least evill of us, lest Christ be dishonou­red: For every Christian quartereth arms with Christ. And if Abram do any thing unbeseeming himself, Abrahams God shall be blasphemed at Sodome.

Vers. 24. Let them take their portion] In things indifferent, we may abridge our selves, we may not prescribe to others, as if they must needs be just of our make. My brethren be not many masters, Jam. 3.1. as Magistri nostri parisienses. See 1 Cor. 9.14, 15.

CHAP. XXV. Vers. 1. Fear not Abram]

EIther as Daniel feared upon sight of a like vision, Dan. 10.7, 8. Or as Jacob feared after the sack of Shechem, lest he should be set upon by those whom he had lately discomfited. Or, fear not lest thou shalt dye childless; which seemeth to be that that chiefly affrighted and afflicted him at this time. The heart is not in case to receive promises, till freed of false fears. These are quelled and killed by faith onely. [I am thy shield] From the envy of thy neighbours, and enmity of others, whom thou hast lately van­quished; yea I will deliver thee from all danger, as I have done from this. See a like promise to all beleevers, Psal. 115.9, 10, 11. The shield is betwixt the body, and the thrust; so is God betwixt his and harm. He beareth them as on Eagles wings: The Eagle fleeth with her young on her back; Deut. 32.11. Aquilae pullos suos in ali [...] por­tant; alites reli­qui [...]ter pedes. Munster. in Scho. ex Rab. Salom. there's no shooting them but through her body: no more can any devoratory evill (as Tertul­lians phrase is) befall the Saints, but through God. [And thy ex­ceeding great reward] So that thou shalt lose nothing, by refusing the King of Sodoms offer. God is a liberall pay-master, and his retributions are more then bountifull. A hundred fold here, and heaven hereafter. Not onely Caleb shall have Hebron for his va­lour; but Nebuchadnezzar shall have Egypt, as his pay, for his pains at Tyre. Never ask with Peter, What shall we have? you [Page 125]shall have whatever heart can wish, or need require. The world gives hard wages; but Gods reward is exceeding great. He will also recompence our losses for his sake, as the King of Poland did his noble servant Zelilaus; having lost his hand in his wars, Cromerus. he sent him a golden hand for it. So Caius gave Agrippa that had been imprisoned for his sake, a chain of gold as heavy as his chain of iron had been.

Vers. 2. Lord God, what wilt thou give me, &c.] Dominator Johovah. Adonai cum Camets sonat Dominator: A stately stile. We must magnifie God, when we have got him into our hearts, and inlarge his room there, when we conceive of him, as much as may be: Do our utmost, and then say, Claudicat ingenium, Lucr [...]t.delirat linguaque, mensque. [Seeing I goe childless] He had no great joy of his former victory, or the present promise, because childless. His mouth was so out of taste with the sense of this want, that he could relish no comfort. This was his fault, and is often ours: Like children, if we have not that peece we would have, we grow sullen, and will have none. Had not God been to Abraham in­stead of ten children? Is he not All in All to his? [And the steward of my house] Filius discursitationis, vel derelictionis domus m [...]ae He that now runs about my business, and to whom I am likely to leave all. A faithfull steward he was, and fearing God, Prov. 22.29. Gen. 24.2, 3. &c. and therefore might look not to live long in a low place. [This Eliezer of Damascus] Or Eliazar, as Exod. 6.25. Whence Lazarus, said in the parable to be in Abrahams bosome, Luke 16.23. as dear to him, and set next him in heaven.

Vers. 3. And Abram said, Behold to me, &c.] He harps a­gain upon the same string; when we fall upon crosses, we adde, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, we are eloquent above mea­sure, and beyond truth sometimes. But how comes Abram to speak thus to God once and again? In former visions God onely spake, here Abram answers It appears he grew in an holy fami­liarity with the divine Majesty, and an humble boldness, as Cajetan here observeth.

Vers. 4. And behold the word of the Lord &c.] Abrams Behold of griefe, is answered with Gods Behold, of grace. The Greek rendreth it, And straightway. God was straight at hand to help Abrams infirmity, and to raise up his faith that began to flag and hang the wing, as the best faith will, if long put to't. Adeò nihil est in nobis magni, quod non queat minui.

Vers. 5. And he brought him forth abroad] Abram having prayed a good part of the day within, Joh. 16.24. 1 Thes. 5.16, 17 is now drawn forth at night to receive the promise. Pray that ye may joy, saith Christ: And, if ye will rejoyce evermore, Pray continually, saith the Apostle. [If thou be able to number them] Then maist thou number thy posterity; and they, their priviledges. It is God onely that counteth the stars, and calleth them all by names, Psal. 147.4. No man can number them, Jer. 33.22. And yet Aratus and Eu­doxus vainly vaunted (saith St. Augustin) that they had cast up the stars, Aug de Civ. Det. l. 16. and could call them all by their names.

Vers. 6. And he beleeved] When thus the promise was repea­ted. So needfull it is, that the word should be often preached, and the sweet promises of the Gospell beaten to the smell; that Gods name being as an oyntment poured out, The Virgins may love him, beleeve in him, Cant. 1.3. 1 Pet. 1.8.and rejoyce with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. [And he counted it to him for righteousness] This imputative righteousness the Papists scoffe at, calling it putative, or imaginary. This the Jews also jear at, to this day, as their Fathers did of old, Rom. 10.2, 3. so do they. For being asked, whether they beleeve to be saved by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them? they an­swer, That every Fox must pay his own skin to the Fleaer. But is not Christ called, Jer. 23.6. in their law, Jehovah our righteousness? And how so, but by means of that imputation so often hammered on by the Apostle? Rom. 4. adding after all, that what is said here of Abram, is not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we beleeve on him that raised up Jesus, &c. Rom. 4.24. If Adams sin be mine, though I committed it not; why should it seem so strange, that the merit of Christs intire obedience should by the like means be mine, though I wrought it not? See Rom. 5.19. 2 Cor. 5.19. If he hath wronged thee ought, reckon that to me, said Paul to Phi­lemon, Philem. 18. concerning Onesimus; saith Christ to his Father, concerning us. And (to stop the Papists mouth.) If another mans faith may benefit Infants at their Baptisme, as Bellarmine affirmeth; why should it seem so absurd, that beleevers should be benefited by Christs righteousness imputed?

Vers. 7. I am the Lord that brought thee] Let the remembrance of what I have done for thee, confirme thy confidence, sith every former mercy, is a pledge of a future. God giveth after he hath given, as the spring runneth, after it hath run: And as the eye is [Page 127]not weary of seeing, nor the ear of hearing, no more is God of doing good to his people. Draw out thy loving kindness, Psal. 36.10. saith David, as a continued series or chain, where one linke draws on another to the utmost length.

Vers. 8. Lord God whereby shall I know] He desires assign, not that he beleeved not before, but that he might better beleeve. How great is Gods love in giving us Sacraments, and therein to make himself to us visible, as well as audible?

Vers. 9. Take me an heifer, &c.] Here God commands him abusie sacrifice, and then casts him into a terrible sleep; the better to prepare him to receive the ensuing oracle, and to teach him, that he may not rashly rush upon divine mysteries. Heathens could say, Non loquendum de Deo absque lumine; that is, Pythag [...]ra [...]. without prae­meditation and advised consideration.

Vers. 10. Divided them in the midst] In signum exitii foedi­frago eventuri. This was the federall rite both among Jews, Jer. 34.18, 19. and Gentiles, as is to be seen in Virgil, Aeneid. l. 8. describing the covenant of Romulus and Tatius. [...] God also threatneth to cut the evill servant in twain; that forgetteth the Covenant of his God, Matth. 24. These dissected creatures are the oppressed Israelites; the parts laid each against other, signifie, that God will make them up again, though dis [...]jected; the fowls that came down upon them, are the Egyptians; Abrams huffing of them away, is their deliverance by Moses after foure hundred years, signified by those foure kindes of creatures, as Luther interpreteth.

Vers. 12. And when the Sun was going down] Heb. when he was ready to enter, to wit, into his Bride chamber, Psal. 19 6.

Vers. 13. Know of a surety that thy seed] Must first suffer, be­fore they can enter; and so be conformed to Christ their Captain, Heb. 5.9. who was perfected by sufferings, and came not to the Crown, but by the Crosse. Dissicile est ut prasemibus bonis quis fruatur & futuris; ut hic ventrem, illi [...] mentem resiciat ut de delici [...]s ad delicias transeat; ut in coelo & in terra gloriosus appareat, saith St. Hierome. Erigito tibi sca­lam Aco [...], & solus ascen [...]ito. Constant. Mag. Through many tribulations we must enter into heaven. He that will goe any other way, let him (as the Emperour said to the H [...] ­retick) erect a ladder, and go up alone.

Vers. 14. Afterward they shall come out, &c.] All the Saints abasements, are but in order to their advancement. As God brought forth his Israel with jewels, and other wealth; so the afflicted Church, and tossed with tempest, shall build her walls, [Page 128]and lay her foundations with Sapphires, and Agates, Esa. 54.11, 12. See Esa. 62.3.4.

Vers. 15. Thou shalt go to thy fathers] The spirits of just men made perfect; all the court of Heaven shall meet thee and welcome thee into their society, that brave Panegyris, Heb. 12.22, 23. [In peace] So Josiah did, Bellum, cui nos instamus pax est, non bellum. Zuingl. apud Melch. Adam. Prov. 16.31. though he dyed in battle, according to the promise, 2 Chron. 34.28. God made war to be peace to him [In a good old age] Heb. With a good hoar head, which is a Crown, when found in the way of righteousness.

Vers. 16. The iniquity of the Amorites, &c.] A metaphor from a large vessell filled by drops; as elsewhere, from an harvest ready for the sickle, and from the vine ripe for the wine-press. Pererius the Jesuit writing upon this text saith, Perer. in loc. If any marvell why England continueth to flourish, notwithstanding the cruell persecution of Catholikes there? (just execution of Cacolikes he should have said) Answers because their sin is not yet full. (God grant it, Jer. 28.6.) Sed veniet tandem iniquitatis complementum, saith he. Ezek. 7.6, 7, 10 A true Prophet, I fear me. That terrible text rings in mine ears, An end is come, the end is come, it watcheth for thee, behold it is come, it is come.

CHAP. XVI. Vers. 1. Now Sarai Abrams wife bare him no children]

GOd had foretold him of his childrens affliction, and yet gave him no child, but holds him still in suspense. He knows how to commend his favours to us by withholding them, Citò data citò vilescunt; we account it scarce worth taking, that is not twice worth asking. [A handmaid, an Egyptian] One of those maids, belike, that were given her in Egypt, Gen. 12.16.

Vers. 2. The Lord hath restrained me] She faults herself, not her husband, as many a crank dame would have done. [It may be that I may obtain children by her] Heb. Be builded by her, as God made the midwives houses; that is, gave them children, for their mercy to the poor children, Exod. 1.21. and as he promised to make David an house, 2 Sam. 7.11, 12 that is, to give him seed to sit upon his Throne. Saraies ayme was good here, but the means she used naught. She was too hasty, Abram too facile, both to blame for [Page 129]want of faith, and violation of wedlock. Albeit this might be a sin of ignorance in them, as was also polygamy. God had pro­mised a seed to Abram, but not expresly as yet unto Sarai. Now, Ainsworth. by the Law, bond-servants children were their masters, Exod. 21.4. And among the Heathens, Stratonice the wife of King Diotarus being barren, Plutarch. gave secretly her maid Electra unto her husband, by whom she had an heir to the Crown.

Vers. 3. After Abram had dwelt ten years] The Rabbines tell us of a tradition that the Hebrews grounded from hence; That if a woman had no child in the first ten years, she might be held barren, and another wife taken. But this is like one of their ill glosses that marr'd so many good texts, Matth. 5. and refuted by our Saviour the Law-giver, who best understood his own meaning.

Vers. 4. Her Mistress was despised in her eyes] Heb. Allevata est, sive elevata est, and so she was beaten with her own rod, and yet complains. Neither is it any wonder; For, for three things the earth is disquieted, saith Agur, and two of them are, Prov. 30.21, 23For an odious woman, when she is married, and a [...] handmaid that is heir to her mistress. Asperius nihil est humili dum surgit in altum. Set a beggar on horse-back, and there's no hoe with him.

Vers. 5. My wrong be upon thee] The greatest wrong-doers are the greatest complainers commonly, as Exod. 2.13, 14. guilti­ness is ever exceptions, and clamorous. Here be verba stomachant is atque imprecantis. Or as some think rather, verba implorantis vin­dictam divinam seque consolantis spe defensionis divinae. Take it which way you will, as a passionate person she powrs out foolishness, and (besides the false charge she layes upon her husband) takes Gods name in vain. Fret not thy self to do evill. Prov. 15.2. Psal. 37. [The Lord judge] He must be sent for all in haste, to decide the controversie; who if he had come, you may soon see which of them would have had the worst of it. The best, we see, have their domesticall con­tentions; some houshold words will now and then pass betwixt them: we match not with Angels, but men and women. Two flints may assoon smite together, and not fire come forth, as two persons meet in marriage, and not offences fall out: Pub. Rubius Celer was held a happy man among the Romans, that commanded it to be engraven upon his grave-stone, That he had lived three and forty years and eight months with G. Ennia his wife, sine querela, without the least quarrell. Another I have read of, that com­plained that his conjugium, was a continuall conjurgium; and when [Page 130]he dyed, Legitur id Roma citante Phil. Camerar. cen [...]. 1. [...]. 51. gave order it should be written upon his tombe, He [...], Vi [...]ter, miraculu [...]! hic vir & uxor non litigant, &c. This to prevent, Alphons [...] King of Arragon was wont to say, that to pro­cure a quiet life, the husband must be deaf, and the wife blinde. But they say better that advise to a mutuall forbearance, lest no offence be given on either side; or if given, yet not taken; the second blow makes the fray, we say. Be not both incensed together. If Abraham were to blame in conniving at Hagars contempt of her Mistress, (as it may be he was somewhat) yet it was his wisdome to bear with Sarah when she was in her passion. Let two fires meet, and it will be hard quenching them. A cholerick couple be­ing asked how they agreed so well? the husband made this answer, When my wives fit is on her, I bear with her (as Abraham did with Sarai) and when my fit is on me, Greenham. she bears with me; and so we never chide together, but asunder. Those unkinde husbands had much to answer for, Malach. 2.13. that caused their wives to cover the Louds altar with tears, with weeping, and with cry­ing out, so that he regarded not the offering any more. And those wi [...]es can never answer it to God, that live customarily in the sin of frowardness, or rebellion against their husbands. Amongst all the infirmitie [...] noted in any godly woman in the Scriptures, there is no example of any that did so. This of Sarah is but of one onely fact: And for that of Zipporah, the errour seems to be as much in her judgement, as in her affections. Those couples that are even warbling, can neither be at peace within themselves, 1 Cor. 7.15. nor pray as they should do to God, 1 Pet. 3.7. which if they did often, as Isaac and Rebecca did, they could not disagree. For either praying together would make them leave jarring, or jar­ring, will make them leave praying; which the Apostle accounts no small hindrance.

Vers. 6. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, &c.] Here that of Solomonis verified, A soft answer pacifieth wrath. Hard to soft doth no hurt, as a bullet against a wooll-sack. Ʋxoris vitium aut tollen­dum, aut tollerandum, said Varro, [...] The woman is the wants, [...]. and hath many provocations among children and ser­vants, that the man me [...]t [...] not with. This must be considered, and all bitterness abandoned. [...]. pracep▪ [...]. The Heathens when they sacrificed at their marriage feasts, used to cast the gall of the beast sacrificed out of doors. [...]. 7. Viper [...] virus, ob venerationem nuptiarum, [...]v [...]mit (saith St. Basil): & in d [...]ritiem animi, in feritat [...]m, tu crudelitatem ob [Page 131]unionis rever [...]utiam non deponis? What kin art thou to him whose name is Wormwood? Rev. 8.11. [And when Sarai dealt hardly with her] Beat her, belike: For a servant will not be corrected by words, Prov. 29.19. and then he must have blows, and be buf­feted, 1 Pet. 2.20. Not so a wi [...]e. M. Aurelius the Emperour, though a Heathen, could say to the shame of many Bedlams a­mongst us: Ʋxor admonenda persapt, reprehendendararo, violentis manibus tructanda nunquam. [She fled] This was her fault, Eccles. 10.4. But our natures are refractory, and will sooner break then bend, till God subdue them.

Vers. 7. In the way to Shur] Which lay between Canaan and Egypt. So she was hying homewards to her own country. Oh that our afflictions might drive us heaven-ward!

Vers. 8. Hagar Sarai's maid] This was a good item to her, that she was out of her way, because out of her place. [Whence camest thou? and whither wilt t [...]] Such is the sweet and secret voyce of Gods Spirit (that Angelus Tutelaris, as I may say) in our hearts, when extravagant; So that we cannot do the evill we would, Gal. 5.17. [I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai] Who haply had over-done, as we are all apt to do, when we are judges in our own causes, and concernments. She should have thought of that of Job, chap. 31.15. Did not he that made me in the womb▪ make her? and that of Paul, Have not I also a master in Heaven? Colos. 4.1. But passion is head-long, and like heavy bodies, down steep hills, once in motion, rest not till they come to the bottome. Look to it therefore, in corrections especially.

Vers. 9. Return to thy Mistress] When now she had smarted, she is in case to be counselled. There's great skill in the choice of a fit time for admonition. It is not to give a man a purge in a fever-fit. [Submit thy self] Heb. Afflict thy self, or suffer thy self to be afflicted or humbled under her hands. Jam. 4.9. The like counsell is given us all by St. James, Be afflicted, and weep, and mourn, &c. Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God, and he will lift you up.

Vers. 10. I will multiply thy seed] Thus God contemneth not poor servants: nay, if they be faithfull, Coloss. 3.24. he will give them the re­ward of inheritance, even a childs part, as Hagar, and her child had. We read not that she cryed to God; but her affliction spake for her; and he is oft (ont of his meer Philanthropie) found of them that sought him not. He heareth the young Ravens that [Page 132]cry to him onely by way of implication. P [...]al. 147.9. The Lord hath heard thy affliction, saith the Angel in the next verse.

Vers. 12. And he will be a wild-man] Heb. A wild-asse, which is fierce, untractable, and untameable. And such by nature is every mothers childe of us, Job 11.12. A wild-asse-colt. An Asse is none of the wisest creatures, much less an Asses-colt; least of all, Vigimus, inque vicem praebemus tela sagit [...]is. a wild-asse-colt. Lo such is man. [His hand will be against every man] This was first accomplished in his person, and th [...]n in his posterity. For himself, he was ferus & pugnax, ever quarrelling and contending. Now a quarrelsome man is like a Cock of the game, that is still blood, with the blood of others, and of himself. As for his posterity, the Saracens, Mahomet, the mischiefe of mankinde, had his generation from this wild-asse. And Sarai was utterly disappointed; for these Agarens were ever enemies, and so continue to be to her seed.

Vers. 13. Thou God seest me] This shews she had been well trained and tutored in her Master Abrams house. Before, she told the Angell the plain truth, and lyed not, vers. 8▪ And here she thankfully acknowledgeth Gods goodness in looking upon her forlorn solitariness, setting up a memoriall of that mercy to all posterity. The greater was her sin again, that being so well principled, she should have any thoughts of returning to Egypt, there to forsake her faith learn'd in Abrams family. [Have I also here looked, Gen. 32.30. Exod. 24.11. Ju [...]g. 1 [...].23.&c.] q. d. Have I found God here also in the wilderness, as I had done oft before in my Masters house? Or, am I yet alive, though I have seen God?

CHAP. XVII. Vers. 1. The Lord appeared to Abram]

AFter thirteen years absence and silence, for ought we read; so that Abram began to conclude that Ismael surely was the pro­mised seed, & all the sons he was likely to have to inherit the land: The Church then may erre, when she cleaves not close to the word; though God at length will direct her into the right way, [...], Aquila. [...], Plato [...]. as here he did Abraham. [I am God All-mighty] Or Al. sufficient, Self-sufficient (so Aquila)▪ Independent, Absolute, the Original, Universall good. [Page 133] Aben-Ezra interprets Shaddai, a Conque [...]or: Others a De­stroyer, which a Conqueror must needs be. Eundem victorem & vastatorem esse oportet, saith Cameron. And to this the Scripture alludes, when it saith Shod shall come from Shaddai, Destruction from the Almighty, Esa. 13.6. Some there are that derive Shaddai of Shad a dug, because God feeds his children with suffi­ciency of all good things, as the loving mother doth the child with the milk of her breasts. Hence the Heathen called Diana (and likewise Ceres) [...] & Mammosam, as if she were the Nurse of all living creatures. God is the onely satisfactory good, proportionable and sitting to our souls, as the dug to the childes stomach. [Walk before me] Heb. Indesinentèr ambula, Walk constantly, step for step, and keep pace with me. Austin would not, for the gain of a million of worlds, be an Atheist for half an houre, because he [...]new not but God might in that time make an end of him. Am. 3.3. For can two walk together and they not agreed, saith the Prophet? Ye cannot serve the Lord (saith Joshua to the people that promised fair) that is, J [...]sh. 24.19. unless ye will serve him entirely, walk uprightly, as Abram here; walk evenly, without halting or halving with him. Holiness must run thorough the whole life, as the warp doth thorough the woof: all the parts of our line of life must be streight before God. As for such as turne aside to their crooked wayes (as the Planets steal back by a secret slow motion of their own, contrary to that of the Primum Mobile) The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity, with openly prophane persons (Psal. 125.5.) when peace shall be upon Israel, upon all that are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile. Surely, as an unequall pulse shews a distempered body, so doth uneven walking an unsound soul, such as is not verily perswaded that God is All-sufficient, able and ready to reward the upright, and punish the hypocrite.

Vers. 2. And I will make my Covenant] This is now the fifth confirmation of the Covenant; which shews that it is the prora and puppis, the first, second and third of our salvation; and it is fit we should be well studied in it, and assured of our interest. For as the Mercy-seat was no larger then the Ark, so neither is the Grace of God then the Covenant. And as the Ark and Mercy­seat were never separated; Exod. 25.10. to 17. so neither is his mercy from his people.

Vers. 3. And Abram fell on his face] Twas sit he should, now that God talked with him. Such a posture of body befits us at the hearing of the word, as may best express our reverence, and further our attention. Balac is bid to rise up to hear Balaams parable. Eglon though a fat unweildy man, riseth up from his seat to hear Gods message from Ehud. Neh. 8.5. The people in Nehemiah stood to hear the Law read and expounded. Constantine the Great, Euseb. would not be entreated to sit down or be covered at a Sermon: No more would our Edward the sixth, whose custome was also to take notes of what he heard, Act & M [...]n. which (together with his own applications of the word to himself) he wrote in Greek cha­racters, that his servants might not read them. The Thessalonians are commended for this, that they heard Pauls preaching as the word of God, and not of man. Had Samuel thought it had been God that called to him (and not Eli) he would not have slept, but fallen on his face before the Lord as Abram here, who was no novice, but knew well, that though God loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience, yet he takes state upon him in his Ordinances, and will be trembled at in his word and judgements.

Vers. 4. As for me] Ego ecce. An abrupt speech, to shew what haste God made to comfort and confirm Abram, now fallen at his feet. [Thou shalt be a father of many nations.] The Israelites, Ismaelites, Edomites, Keturites, &c. besides all Beleevers, Gal. 3.28, 29.

Vers. 5. Neither shall thy name any more, &c.] This is recko­ned for an high favour by those holy Levites, Neh. 9.7. The Jews say, that for honours sake; God inserted one of the letters of his own incommunicable name Jehovah into the name of Abram, now Abraham. Sure it is, that by stiling himselfe the God of Abra­ham, he doth him more honour then if he had ingraven the word Abraham upon the firmament, or in the clouds in letters of gold.

Vers. 6. I will make thee exceeding fruitfull] Heb. Foecundabo te valdè valdè: And as oft as thou thinkest upon thy new name, thou shalt remember my promise, and rest assured of my perfor­mance. See how God of his grace, condescends unto us, and ac­commodates us.

Vers. 7. For an ever lasting Covenant] Circumcision, the out­ward sign of it, was temporary, and changeable into baptisme; [Page 135]but the Covenant of grace, thereby then, and by baptisme now sealed up unto us, is eternall; being stablished and ratified by the death of the Testatour, by the blood of the Arch-shepherd, Heb. 13.20. Here it must be considered, that there is a twofold Co­venant; 1. Single, such as God makes with children, when baptized; viz. If ye will repent, believe and walk with me, ye shall be saved. Now if they break the condition, God is freed, D. Preston of Gods Attrib. he is not bound any further. 2. Double, such as God [...]kes with his elect onely; and that is to perform both parts, sc. If you will beleeve, repent, obey, ye shall be saved. And further, I will give you a new heart, so that you shall repent, beleeve, &c. and be saved. Thus God undertakes for both parts, and so it becomes an everlasting Covenant; such as hath the sure or unfailable mercies of David. And here those, that are thus in Double-Covenant with God, [...]. are fitly compared to them that are gone in at a Church-door: some are further in then others, but yet all are in. So, though the weak in faith be not so forward, yet they may be in, though not so far in. [And to thy seed after thee] See the Note on the next Verse.

Vers. 8. All the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession] And yet now, for their inexpiable guilt, in putting to death the Lord of life, they are utterly dispossessed of that pleasant land. In Jerusalem it self there are not to be found a hundred housholds of Jews. Adri [...] the Emperour drove them utterly out of Jewry, Breerewood and commanded them by proclamation not so much as to look to­ward it, from any Tower or high-mountain: Yea long before this, the Lord, for their wickedness, counted them but usurpers, Funceiu [...]. and called them sojourners in that land, Ezek. 20.38. and 11.15. If men forfeit their priviledges, God may, at his pleasure, take the forfeiture and dis-priviledge them, as he did Saul, and Judas, who by transgression fell from his office, that he might go to his own place, Act. 1.25. [I will be their God] This is a singular comfort for all beleeving parents. Their greatest care is for their poor little ones, what they shall do another day: why, cast them upon God, their God as well as thine: for is not he in Covenant with them too? It would be a great stay of minde, if God should say to us for our children, as David said to Mephibosheth, or to Barzillai for his son Chimham; Chimham shall go with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee, and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that I will do for thee. Behold God saith all this and more to us, 2 Sam. 19.38. when he saith, I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee. I [Page 136]remember a sweet passage of Mr. Saunders the Martyr in a Letter to his wise: Act. & Mon. 1364. Though we do shortly depart hence, and leave our poor Infant (to our seeming) at all adventures, yet shall he have our gra­cious God to be his God: For so hath he said (and he cannot lye;) I will be thy God, and of thy seed. Yea, if you leave him in the Wilder­ness, desti [...]u [...]e of all helps, being called of God to do his will, either to die for the confession of Christ, or any work of obedience; that God which heard the cry of the little poor Infant of Hagar, and did succor it, will do the like to the children of you, or any other fearing him, and trusting in him.

Vers. 9. Thou shalt keep my Covenant.] This is the stipulation on Abrahams part, by receiving the Sacrament of Circumcision, to avouch God to be his God, Deut. 26.17. Now to the making the Lord to be our God, it is required that with highest estimations, most vigorous affections, and utmost endeavors we bestow our selves upon him. Thus if we chuse God for our God, Psal. 73.25. We shall be assured, that he hath chosen, and avouched us for his people, 1 John 4.19.

Vers. 10. Every man-childe amongst you.] Infants were cir­cumcised, to signifie that we had better be flayed, and have our skin quite stripped off, then to have it as a skin-bottle hanging in the smoke of filthy desires, and blown full of unclean motions with the breath of Satan. That wretched Renegado that betrayed the Rhodes was well served. For his promised wife and portion were presented: but the Turk told him, that he would not have a Christian to be his son in law, Spec. bol. sac. p. 157. but he must be a Mussle-man, that is, a beleeving Turk, within and without. And therefore he caused his baptized skin (as he called it) to be fleyed off, and him to be cast in a bed, strawed with Salt, that he might get a new skin, and so he should be his son-in-law. But the wicked wretch ended his life with shame and torment.

Vers. 11. It shall be a token of the Covenant.] It seals up no­thing then to those that are not in Covenant. Circumcision to such is but as a seal to a blank. Unregenerate Israel was to God as Ethiopia, Amos 9.7. Circumcision of it self, avails nothing, if the heart be uncircumcised. The Apostle distinguisheth of Cir­cumcision, Colos. 2.11. and tells us that the true Circumcision is made without hands, and is that of the heart in the Spirit, and not in the Letter, [...]. Rom. 2.29. It is a wonderful work of the Spirit, wrought by the Word, upon the Saints in their first Conversion, [Page 137]whereby corruption of nature is wounded, beloved sins cast away with sorrow, and the sinner received into an everlasting commu­nion with God, and his Saints. Labor this, or you are not a button the better for your Baptism. A man may go to Hell with Font­water on his face, if not baptized with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Circumcision seals not up any Covenant of Grace to Turks, as it did not, of old, to Ismaelites, Edomites, and Midianites, who yet would needs be circumcised.

Vers. 12. And he that is eight days old.] This warrants our baptising of Infants of both Sexes. See the Notes on Chap. 9. Vers. 10.

Vers. 13. He that is born in thy house,] Housholders must see to it, that their families fear God: They walk not in a perfect way, that do otherwise, Psal. 101.2. that look not ‘Aedibus in propriis, quae prava, aut recta gerantur.’ [My Covenant shall be in your flesh.] That is, the signe of my Covenant (by a Metonymy of the Subject) seem it never so simple, and prove it never so painful and shameful. The foolishness of God is wiser then men, that cry Credat Judaeus Apella, &c.

Vers. 14. That soul shall be cut off.] From the Common-wealth of Israel: So shall those be from benefit by Christ, that are un­circumcised in heart; As hateful to him, as Goliah was to David. Pray therefore, that God will thrust his holy hand into thy bo­some, and pull off that abominable fore-skin. He had much ado to forbear Moses, when he met him in the Inne; and we know why, Exod. 4.24.

Vers. 15. Thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah.] The Chaldee Sarai, is made Hebrew Sarah: One of the four Letters of Jehovah being also added (as before in Abraham) that she may be absolutely a Lady or Princess.

Vers. 17. Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed.] Not as doubting, much less deriding, Rom. 4 19. but as rejoycing and ad­miring the goodness and power of God. The narrow mouthed ves­sel of his heart not quickly capable of so great comfort, (for Tarda solet magnis rebus inesse fides) he fell upon his face and laughed.

Vers. 18. Oh that Ishmael might live.] The life of grace here, and of glory hereafter: That he be not killed with death when he dies, as Jesabels children were, Revel. 2.23.

Vers. 19. I will establish my Covenant with him.] This was a far greater favor, th [...]n that bestowed on Ismael in the next verse. [Page 138] Twelve Princes shall he beget. Nothing so ennobleth, as Christ, Graces, being in the Covenant, &c. Isai. 19.25. Assyria is the work of Gods hands, but Israel his inheritance.

Vers. 20. And as for Ismael, I have heard thee.] Faithful prayer may have any thing at Gods hands. It is but ask and have with Abraham: As Zedekiah said to his courtiers glosingly, God saith to his servants seriously; The King can deny you nothing. Let this encourage to pray for our selves and children; for by prayer we may take out of Gods treasury, plentiful mercy for our selves and ours.

Vers. 21. But my Covenant.] This is the thirteenth time that the Covenant is named in this Chapter, saith an Interpreter; and hereby is meant the promise of Christ and salvation by him. A subject so sweet to every sanctified soul, that Saint Paul cannot come off it. He names the Lord Jesus Christ, ten times together in ten verses, 1 Cor. 1.1. to 10. It was to him Mel in [...]re, melos in aure,Bernard.jub [...]lum in corde.

Vers. 22. And he left off talking with him.] As a man with his friend. Mr. John Hol­land, Bach. of Divin. See my True Treas. p. 373. Such honor have all his Saints. O speak it when I am gone, and preach it at my funeral, God dealeth familiarly with man, said that heavenly Spark, how ready to be extinct. Saint Paul calls prayer [...], an entreparlance with God, 1 Tim. 2.1. and [...], the confident intergatory or rejoyndre of a good con­science toward God, 1 Pet. 3.21. The Persian Monarks held it a piece of their silly glory, to secret themselves from their greatest subjects, Esther 4.11. And Jupiters Image at Creet was made without ears. Plutarch gives the Reason, Non enim convenit audiri ab eo quenquam, qui omnium rerum sit Dominus at que prin­ceps. A pretty plea for Baal. He is too great to talk with men. Our God thinks not himself so. He sollicites suitors, and loves to be, interchangeably, sollicited by them.

Vers. 23. Abraham took Ismael.] To make the other more willing. [Circumcised the flesh.] Not regarding the affliction, danger, scandal, shame of the action in the eyes of the world.

Vers. 26. In the self same day.] To shew his prompt and pre­sent obedience, without shucking and hucking, without delays and consults.

Vers. 27. All the men of his house.] Faciles se praebent in re ardua & ridicula. An excellent pattern of a well ordered family.

CHAP. XVIII. Vers. 1. And the Lord appeared unto him]

1. UT praeludium incarnationis. 2. Ex Philanthropia: his de­light is in the habitable part of Gods earth, Prov. 8.31. [And he sate in the tent-door] He dwelt in a tent (let us be content though we dwell not to our minds) yet kept a good house. A very hearty housholder he was. [In the heat of the day] The usuall time of rest and repast, when travellers wax faint and hungry.

Vers. 2. And he lift up his eyes and looked]. As pursuing hospitality (that's the Apostles expression, Rom 12.13.) and wai­ting an opportunity of doing good. Charity is no churle. The liberall man deviseth liberall things, Aug. in Psal. 103. [...] Usibus non ne­cessitatibus. Ne­quis existimet prius non succur­rendum proxime quam ad necessi­tatem fit reda­ctus. Act & Mon. so. 1369. Ibid. 1388. Cicero. Esa. 32.8. he considereth the poor and needy, Psal. 41.1. Praeoccupat vocem petituri, as Augustin expounds it; he stayes not till he is asked a good turn, he ministreth to the uses, not onely to the necessities of the Saints, as the Apostles word is, Rom. 12.13. And as Bishop Hoopers, and Dr. Taylours practise was. The one had his boord of beggars sent for, and served every day with whole and wholesome meats, ere him­self sate down to dinner. And the other went once a fortnight at the least to the Almeshouse, and other poor men that had many children, and were sick, to see what they lacked, and to supply them. [And bowed himself toward the ground] Piety is no enemy to courtesie; it doth not remove, but rectifie it, that it be not onely complementall and ridiculous. Potest Augur Augurem videre & non ridere? So it may it be said of our common cringers.

Vers. 5. For therefore are ye come to your servant] He meaneth not, that they therefore came to him to taste of his chear; but that God by his providence, had so ordered that he should see them passing, and invite them to his house. How glad was this good man of an occasion to shew kindness, acknowledging Gods good providence! And how improvident are we for our selves, that will not offer a sacrifice, when God sets up an altar before us? [So do as thou hast said] The Angels needed not his courtesie, yet kindly accept of it. Good offers or offices, even from inferiours, are not to be rejected, but regarded, yea rewarded.

Vers. 6. Make ready quickly] Habent aulae suum Ci [...]ò, Ci [...]ò, saith One. So had Abrahams house here. He, she, the boy, and [Page 140]all hasted, and had their severall offices. The very expression it self here used, is concise and quick: Much like that of the Prophet in the case of returning to God, If ye will enquire, enquire; return, come. Esa. 21.12. Silius. ‘Praecipitatempus; mors atra impendet agenti.’ [Three measures of fine meal] Three pecks, for three mens din­ners; and the best of the best too, fine meal, the fat calf, butter and milk, Gods plenty of all, and hearty welcome; the good-man himself standing by, and bidding them, Go to: which shews his humanity, and his humility also.

Vers. 9. Behold in the tent] David compares a good woman to the vines upon the walls of the house, because she cleaveth to her house. Others to a snail, that carrieth her house on her back. St. Paul reckons it for a vertue in a woman to keep at home; Tit. 2 5. Prov. 7.11. and Solomon for a sign of a lewd huswife, that her feet abide not in her house.

Vers. 10. According to the time of life] That is, when this time shall return again; this time twelve-moneth. See vers. 14. with the Note to it. [Sarah heard it in the tent door] She was listning, out of womanish curiosity. Yet some think, the Angel asked for her on purpose, that she hearing her name mentioned might listen.

Vers. 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old] So, when we were altogether without strength, according to the time of life, Christ dyed for the ungodly, Rom. 5.6.

Vers. 12. Sarah laughed] Gods promises seem absurd and ridiculous, many of them, to humane reason, which therefore must be silenced, and shut out, as Hagar was; for it will argue carnally, as that unbeleeving Lord, 2 King. 7.2. storms at Gods offers as Naaman at the message, looks upon Gods Jordan with Syrian eyes, as he, and after all, cryes out with Nicodemus, How can these things be? measuring God by its own modell, and casting him into its own mould. [After I am waxed old, shall I lust?] Old and cold, [...]. is our English proverb; and the Greek word for an old body signifies one, in whom naturall heat is exstinct. It is a most undecent thing to see the pleasures of youth prevailing in times of age, among old decrepit goats. Were it not monstrous to behold green apples on a tree in winter? [My Lord being old also] This was the onely good word in the whole sentence: God takes no­tice [Page 141]of it, and by St. Peter records it to her eternall commendation, 1 Pet. 3.6. yea, he was so well pleased with her subjection to her husband, whom she here in her heart calleth Lord, that he is con­tent to forgive her great sin of unbeliefe.

Vers. 1.3. Said to Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh?] The wives sin reflects upon the husband. But Solomon shews that some wives are so intemperate and wilfull, that a man may as well hide the wind in his fist, or oyl in his hand, as restrain them from ill­doing, Prov. 27.15, 16. Liberum arbitrium, Hcidfeld.pro quo tantopere contenditur, viri amiserunt, [...]xores arripuerunt, saith One wittily.

Vers. 14. Is any thin [...] [...]oo hard for God] He can do all things pessi [...]le and honourable. He cannot lye, dye, deny himself, for that implyeth impotency. He could not do any mighty work in his own Country because of their unbeleef, Mark 6.5, 6. He could not, because he would not. He can do more then he will, as of stones raise up Churches, Matth. 3.9. Call for legions, Matth. 26.53. Create more worlds in an instant. But whatsoever he willeth, that he doth in heaven and earth, and none can sa [...], What doest thou? Our God can deliver us, Dan. 3.17. Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, Matth. 8.2. &c. [I will re­turn to thee according to the time of life] He returned not personally, that we read of; but virtually he did, by making good his promise at the appointed time. That of Doctour Sands, afterwards Bishop of Worcester, is wonderfull, and worth relating. He departing the land for fear of Q. Mary, took his leave of his Host and Hostess who was childless, and had been married eight years. When the wind served, as he went toward the ship, he gave his Hostess a fine hand-kerchief, and an old royall of gold in it, thank­ing her much, and said, Be of good comfort, Act & Mon. fol. 1874. ere that one whole year be past, God shall give you a child, a boy. And it came to pass, that day twelve-moneth, lacking one day, God gave her a fair son.

Vers. 15. I laughed not, for she was afraid] And well she might; for as every body hath its shadow, so hath every sin its fear. Her sin she saw was detected, and her conscience she felt was troubled; hence her fear. [Nay, but thou didst laugh] A lye must be roundly reproved, and the truth asserted. She laughed but within her self, but as good she might have laughed out aloud; for God searcheth the heart. I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my say­ing, [Page 142]when I was in my Country? Jon. 4.2. No, Jonas, it was not thy saying, it was onely thy thinking: but that's all one before him, who understandeth thy thoughts afar off, Psal. 139.2.

Vers. 16. To bring them on the way] A special piece of courtesie, and much spoken of in Scripture, 3 Joh. 6. Acts 20.38. & 21.5. Ram. 15.24. 1 Cor. 16.11. Tit. 3.13.

Vers. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham.] My bosom-friend. He shall be both of Gods Court, and his Councel. His secret is with them that fear him. The Kings of Israel had some one Courtier, called the Kings Friend by a specialty; to whom they imparted arcana Imperii, State-secrets. Such an Office had Abra­ham about God, who calls him Abraham my Friend. See what our Saviour saith to all his, John 15.15. This honor have all his Sai [...]as.

Vers. 18, 19.] Seeing that Abraham, &c.] Gods first mo­tive here is, from his own antecedent love to Abraham, as the second from his consequent.

Vers. 19. For I know him.] God hath a quick eye to see our good works. He weighs and rewards every circumstance. Christ could tell, that the people had come from far to heat him; that they had fasted three days; John 6. that they went in a Wilderness, where they could not cater for themselves; that if they should be sent home, so, they would faint by the way. What was it that he took not knowledg of? I know thy works, and thy labor, in doing them, Revel. 2.2. [That he will command his children, &c.] A good housh [...]der, whatsoever he gets abroad, he brings home to his family, Prov. 10.21. as Bees bring all their hony to the hive. The lips of the righteous feed many, those under his own roof especially. Wel­fare Popery for that. Old folks will tell us, that when, in those days, they had holy bread given them at Church, they would bear a part thereof to those that did abide at home. The way to get more, it to communicate that we have, according to that, H [...]benri dabitur. No man hath received ought from God for private use: Neither is any one born for himself, much less new-born. He that kid his talent, was soon shred of it.

Vers. 20. Because their sin is very grie [...]o [...].] Or, very heavy, such as the very ground groans under: The A [...]le-tr [...]e of the [...]arth is ready to break under it. Sin is a burden to God, A [...]. 12. It was so to Christ; he fell to the ground when he was in his agony. It was so to the Angels, who sunk into Id [...]ll under in. It was so to [Page 143] Kore, and his company, the earth could not bear them. It was so to the Sodomites; [...]. James 1.23. they were so clogged with this excrement of naughtiness (as Saint James calleth it) that God came from Hea­ven, to give their land a vomit.

Vers. 21. I will go down now, and see, &c.] The Sodomites sin­ed as freely and securely, as if God knew nothing. Now therefore he is come to know, that is, to give them to know, that he knew all, as well as if he had been in their bosoms.

Vers. 22. Abraham stood yet before the Lord] And without such to stand and pray, the world could not stand: they bear up the pillars of it. Oh the price with God, and profit to men, of praying persons! God will yield something to such, when most of all enraged, Matth 24.20. or resolved. Lot was saved for A­brahams sake, when all the rest perished.

Vers. 23. And Abraham drew neer] A priviledg proper to [...]uch, as have a true heart, full assurance of Faith and a good con­science, Heb. 10.22. The hypocrite shall not come before him, Job 13.16. He must stand without as a vagrant at the gate, that knows not whether the master is providing for him an alms, or a cudgel. But the upright comes into the [...]arlor; yea dwells in Gods presence, Psal. 140.13. In the light of his countenance. [Wilt thou also destroy the righteous?] Single suites speed not: we must back them with sound Arguments, and Reason the case with God concerning his judgments, Jere. 12.1.

Vers. 24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous] Charity pre­sumes the best, hopes the best. The Disciples could not imagine that Judas was so very a Traytor: each one suspects himself soon­er then him: And when our Saviour said, What thou doest, do quickly; they thought he had meant of making provision, or giving something to the poor.

Vers. 25. Shall not the Judg, &c.] He fills his mouth with Arguments. Let us also: This will encrease Faith and Fer­vency.

Vers. 26. If I finde fifty righteous] The Saints are the Salt of the earth, that keep the rest from rotting and putrefying.

Vers. 27. Which [...] but dust and ashes] G [...]aphar veephar, [...] & cinis: None so humble as they that have nearest communion with God. The Angels that stand before him, cover the [...] [...] with two wings, as with a double scarie, Isaiah, Chap [...] 6. verse 2.

Vers 29. Alsted. And he spake unto him yet again] Cùm in colloqui­um descendimus cum Deo, replicemus licet, duplicemus, triplice­mus, & quadruplicemus. The bolder we make, the better wel­come.

Vers. 30. I will not do it, &c.] If God so yielded to Abra­ham interceding for wicked Sodom, will he not hear us for his laboring Church? Joa [...] never pleased David better, then when he sued to him for Absol [...]m. What shall we think of God in like case? How angry is he with those that help forward the anger? Zach. 1.15. How ready to answer those that speak to him for his Church, with good words, and comfortable words? Zach. 1.13. Yea, should there be no praying Christians amongst us (as there are many thousands,) yet there is hope, if any of another Kingdom make intercession for us, as Abraham here did for Sodom, to the which he was a stranger.

Vers. 32. Peradventure ten shall be found there] Lo, all that slavery and misery they had sustained, hath not yet made ten good men in those five bad Cities. Till God strike the stroke, and work upon the heart, afflictions, Gods hammers do but beat upon cold Iron. The wicked are no whit better by them, but much the worse, as water becomes more cold after a heat, and naughty boyes more stubborn and stupid after a whipping.

Vers. 33. And the Lord went his way] Abraham hucked with the Lord so long, till he had brought him down from fifty to ten: And mark, that he left begging are God left bating. Let us finde praying hearts, and he will finde a pittying heart.

CHAP. XIX. Verse 1. Lot sate in the gate]

NOt as a Judg (as the Hebrews will have it,) nor as a Merchant; much less as a Noveller, but as a good housholder, looking for his herds, and as a good house-keeper looking for guests.

Vers. 2. Nay, but we will abide in the street] They would have done so, Luke 24. but for Lots importunity. So our Saviour would have gone further, but that the two Disciples constrained him to stay. This was no simulation; or if so, yet it was onely exploratory without deceit or hypocrisie. And if Solomon sinned not in [Page 145]making beleeve he would do that which was unlawful to be done. 1 King. 3.24. It can be no sin to do the like in things indiffer­ent.

Vers. 4. Both old and young] Nulla aetas erat culpae immunis, ideò nec exitii, Ambros. Sin spreds as leaven, and is as catching as the plague; like the Jerusalem Artichoke, plant it where you will, it over runs the ground, and chokes the heart.

Vers. 5. That we may know them] O faces hatcht with impu­dency! They shroud not their sin in a mantle of secrecy, but hang out these sowre Grapes to the Sun to ripen.

Vers. 6. Lot went out] So he exposed himself, to save his strangers, hoping to save them from that abominable violence. The right of strangers is so holy, that there was scarce ever any nation so barbarous, that would violate the same. When Steven Gardiner had in his power the Renowned Clark Peter Martyr, then teaching at Oxford, he would not keep him to punish him: but when he should go his way, as it is reported, gave him where­with to bear his charges. But these Sodomites had not so much humanity left in them. They had put off the man, and were be­come dogs and worse, Deut. 23.18. The price of a dog, that is, of a buggerer, saith Ju [...]ius and Deodatus, on that Text. And, Am I a dog, saith Abuer; that is, 2 Sam. 3.8. so given as dogs be to lust?

Vers. 7. Do not so wickedly] They were the first that fell into this foul sin, and were therefore worthily hanged up in gibbets by God for a terror to others; and besides, they suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, Iude 7. The Pope pretends to be Christs Vicar, and presumes to assume the title of Holiness. But how far he is from expressing God to the World, appears by his (if not commit­ing, yet conniving at) this detestable sin of Sodomy. To speak no more of that debauched villain Johannes a Casa (that Printed a Poem in commendation of this wickedness, Act. & Mon. 417. Caesar B [...]rgis buggerd a grave Bishop by force. Ignat. concl. 58. Heyl. Geog. pag▪ 2 [...]3. being at the same time Dean of the Popes Chamber, and Bishop of Beneventum.) One Petro Alvegi Faruesis committed an unspeakable violence on the person of Cosmus Chaerius, Bishop of Fanum, and then poy­soned him. For which execrable action, he received no other chastisement of his father, Pope Paul the third, then Haec vitia, me non commonstratore, didicit; He never learned these tricks of his father. But whom did the Cardinal of Saint Lucia learn it of? J [...]cob. Revius de vis. Pontif. To whom and his whole family Pope Sixtus quartus permit­ed, [Page 146]by license, the free use of this fil [...]hiness, for the three hotter mo [...]eths of the year, June, July, and August; with that Apostilla of his, Fiat ut petitur. Lupanar etiam utriusque veneris Romae [...], Ibid. p. 119. saith Agrippa. In the time of Pope Nicolas the second (when Priests marriage was termed the heresie of the Nicolaitans) Inva [...]s [...]mentèr Sodomiticum scel [...], saith mine Author; So­domy was held no sin (as at this day it is not among the Turks.) Blounts Vey­age. p. 79. In [...] and those parts, Whoredom and Sodomy, those Spanish ver [...]u [...]s, are common without reproof. The Popes pardons being more rife there, then in any part of Europe, for these filthinesses, whereout he sucketh no small advantage. Notwithstanding, the Indians abhor this most loathsom living; The World en­compassed by Sir Fr. Drake. p. 58. shewing themselves in respect of the Spaniards, as the Scythians did in respect of the Grecians; whom they so far excelled in life and behavior, as they were short of them in learning and knowledg. God hath deliver­ed up these Pagans (as he did those Pagans, Rom. 1.) to repro­bate sense, to vile affections, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, for that they have worshipped, and served the creature more then the Creator, Vers. 24, 25, 26. Hence it is, that Rome is called Sodom in the Revelation. Revel 11.8.

Vers. 8. Behold now, I have two daughters] This was an in­considerate motion, such as the best mindes easily yield, when once troubled. It was proper to the Lord Christ to be subject to natural passions and perturbations, yet without sin: as a Chrystal Glass full of clear water remains still pure, howsoever it be shaken. The Hebrews think, That for this sinful offering to prostitute his daughters, he was given up by God, to commit incest with his daughters.

Vers. 9. Stand back, &c.] They set up the bristles at Lots admonition, a sure fore-runner of destruction, as in Elies sons.

Vers. 10. But the men] Thus Lot is rescued at a dead lift: that's Gods opportunity, who knows how, &c. 2 Peter 2. vers. 9.

Vers. 11. With blindness] Subite scotomate, saith Junius: With blindness both of body and minde, saith Aben-Ezra: Such as tormented their eyes, as if they had been pricked with thorns, as the Hebrew word signifies. And yet they continue groping for the door, as if they were ambitious of destruction, which now was at next door by. Dous quem destruit dementat. So Pharaoh, [Page 147]when under that palpable three days darkness, rageth against God, and threatneth Moses with death. Though doomsday should be to morrow next, wicked men must and will serve their lusts. Vale lumen amicum, said Theotimus in St. Ambrose, who chose rather to lose his sight then his sin.

Vers. 12. Hast thou here any, &c.] It is something for safety, to be Lots Kinsman. So the Kenites in Sauls time, receive life from Jethro's dust, many ages after his death, 1 Sam. 15.6. and favor from his hospitality.

Vers. 13. For we will destroy this place] Even the good Angels are Gods executioners. And the first execution they did in the world, that we read of, was upon these filthy Sodomites. So will it be (likely) at the last day. And Saint Peter seems to say as much, 2 Pet. 2.9. The Lord reserves the unjust to the day of judgment, to be punished, But chiefly them that walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness. Mark that (chiefly.)

Vers. 14. But he seemed as one that mocked] Sed fuit habitus tanquam jo [...]abundus. Graceless hearts jear when they should fear, and are senceless and secure, as if they were out of the reach of Gods rod, and needed not to fear his wrath. Ridetur cum suo Jehoua: sed risus impiorum est Sardonius. Par. Lot here is counted but a Lob, of his own sons in law. Wonder not, if we meet with the same measure.

Vers. 15. Left thou be consumed] So Revel. 18.4. Come out of her, that ye receive not of her plagues. Musculirui [...]is immin [...]n­tibus pramigrant, & aranei cum telis primicadunt, saith Pliny. Plin. lib 8. cap 28. [...]. Septuag. Swine live home, afore a storm.

Vers. 16. And while he lingred] Or distracted himself with much business, which David did not, Psal. 119 60. [The Lord being merciful unto him] What is he then to us, in delivering us from the [...]th to come? 1 Thes. 1.10, Acts 2.40 Why save we not our selves from this unto ward generation? Why see we not his mercy to us in our losses and crosses? His hand laying hold on us, when he takes away that, that may hinder us from Heaven?

Vers. 17. Look not behinde thee] As loth to depart. Non minùs difficultèr à deliciis Sudemorum abstrabimur, quàm canis ab uncto cori [...].

Vers. 18. O [...] not so my Lord] But who shall, prescribe to the Almighty? Or limit the holy One of Israel? Are we wiser then he▪ Have we a trick bey [...]nd him? He lets us sometimes have our way but to our wo at last.

Vers. 19. Behold now thy servant, &c.] We can receive and commend Gods favors, but be backward enough to obey him.

Vers. 20. Is it not a little one?] Let no man use this plea for his sin. [...]. Arist. Rhet. lib. 1. Even the Philosopher tells us, That the smallest errors prove many times most dangerous. It is as much treason to coyn pence, as bigger peeces.

Vers. 21. I will not overthrow this City] Zoar, of all the five Cities, was preserved by Lots prayers, saith Jerome. See Deut. 29.23. Isai. 15.

Vers. 22. For I cannot do any thing] Not that the execution of the divine decree, depended simply upon Lots remove to Zoar; but upon another decree, for Lots remove ere Sodom were destroyed.

Vers. 23. The Sun was risen upon Sodom] But ere night, there was a dismal change. Nescis quid serus vesper vehat.

Vers. 24. Then the Lord rained, &c.] Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodom, but Sodom was soon taken out of the world. The wicked are reprieved for the godlies sake; who, but for them, would suddenly be ruined. Isai. 30.33. [Rained upon Sodom, &c.] Rained, not sprinkled; and not fire onely, but brimstone and fire for in­crease of torment, and for an Hell above ground, and afore­hand, Jude 7. Hot fire they had for their burning lusts; and stinking brimstone for their stinking brutishness. Charls the second, King of Navarre, was much given to sensual pleasures, which so wasted his spirits, that in his old age, he fell into a kinde of Le­thargy. To comfort his benummed joynts he was bound and sewed up naked in a sheet, Hryl. Geog. pag. 42. steeped in boyling Aqua vitae: The Surgeon having made an end of sewing him, and wanting a knife to cut off the thred, took a wax candle that stood lighted by him. But the flame, running down by the thred, caught hold on the sheet; which, according to the nature of the Aqua vita, burned with that vehemency, that the miserable King ended his days in the fire.

Vers. 25. Lib. 5. de bell [...] Jud. Omne carcus vita in profun­dam mergitur, squid vivum arte alique im­merseri [...] super enibis. And he overthrew, &c.] Some footsteps of this overthrow, are to be read of in Solinus and Tacitus. Josephus tells us of the mock-apples of Sodom, and saith, That an Ox, having all his Legs bound, will not sink into the lake of Sodom, the water is so thick.

Vers. 26. But his wise looked back] Whether out of curiosity, or foolish pity, or as loth to leave so sweet a Countrey, she turn­ed [Page 149]her about, and she was turned. Some think she was a Sodomite, and some tell us her name was Tytea. Her sin, Tyteam dictam volunt uxorem Loti, &c. He [...]delf. seem it never so light, was a compound of many sins. And her punishment was part of the plague of Sodom, which was Brimstone and Salt, so that it became a Sea of Salt, Deuter. 29.23. And all this to Season us, saith Augustine; to Caution us, saith our Saviour, that we look not back. The Fable of Eurydice, lost by her husbands looking back upon her, was devised by the devil to elude this holy History.

Vers. 27. And Abraham gat up] So sollicitous he was for Sodom, that (as Luther thinks) he could not sleep all night. Lot was delivered by his prayers, though Abraham knew it not.

Vers. 28. And he looked] Abraham might look upon the smoke of Sodom, Lot might not; because it would work more on Lots heart, then on Abrahams, who had more grace. [The smoke of the countrey] Nothing else was now to be seen of that fair and fruitful Plain. Sic transit gloria mundi. When we most greedily grasp earthly things, we embrace nothing but smoke, which wrings tears from our eyes, and soon vanisheth into nothing.

Vers. 29. God remembred Abraham, &c.] And shall he forget us, who have Christ to intercede for us?

Vers. 30. Lot went up out of Zoar, &c.] So he should have done at first; and so he had obeyed God, saved his wife, and pre­vented that sin of incest with his daughters.

Vers. 31. And the first born, &c.] Its dangerous to live in a wicked place: For though thy self mayst escape infection, thy children may be tainted, as Lots were.

Vers, 32. Come let us make our father drink.] So the great Whore cometh forth with a Cup. Revel. 17. She knew too well, that Venus est in venis, ignis in igne furit. It is like they had wine from Zoar: they sinned against conscience; and therefore intoxicated their father, who now forgets that he is a father, and does that in a drunken pang, that Heaven and Earth were after­wards ashamed of.

Vers. 33. Nor when she arose] There is a tittle extraordinary in the Hebrew, to note that this is a thing incredible, Appungunt de­super quasi in­credibile; quaest. in Genes. Coire quempiam nescientem. Cajetan and Pererius conclude it possible, and give Reasons for it. Calvin saith best, That it was not so much his wine, as a spirit of slumber sent upon him from God, for a scourge of his intemperance. Luther addes, No nos abeamus in securitatem, That we may watch against security.

Vers. 35. [...]. Athenaus. And they made, &c.] Decepit ebrietas Lotum, quem Sodoma non decepit, saith Origen. Well might Athenaeus call drunkenness the metropolis of mischief.

Vers. 37. Called his name Moab] That is, the begotten of my father: So Benammi, that is, begotten of one of my near kinred, viz. her father. Isai. 3.9. Thus they declared their sin as Sodom, they hid it not, but gloried in their shame. It is as hard to come from Sodom, and not taste of the sap of such a soyl, as to walk bare­fac'd in the hot Sun, and not be tanned.

CHAP. XX. Vers. 1. And Abraham journeyed from thence, &c.]

EIther as grieved at the sight of Sodom; or annoyed by the ill ayr thereof; Inde tàm gravis halitus manat, ut cum nulla animalia perferant, cujus solo [...]lfactu in­tereant. Hom. Odyss. or as loathing Lots incest; or driven out by a famine; or desireous of doing good to many. Whatever it was that occasioned his remove, we finde him ever and anon journey­ing from one place, and sojourning in another. Gods people are a brood of travellers. This was Abram the Hebrew, of Heber, which signifieth, Pilgrim or stranger. They look toward Heaven in their home, as Vlysses is said to do toward Ithaca, as a bird looks to her nest on the highest Rocks.

Vers. 2. She is my sister] This is the second time he thus sinned, both against Piety by distrust, and Charity, in exposing his wife to other mens pleasure, and his neighbor thereby to Gods displea­sure. 2 Chron. 19.2. & 20.37. So Jehosaphat was twice taken tardy in Ahabs amity. Jonah twice reproved for Rebellion, and John for Angel wor­ship. Judg. 15.20. & 16.1. Sampson, twenty yeers after he had loved the Philistim-woman, goes down to Gaza, and went in to Dalilah. Lot committed incest two nights together. Indeed the orifice of his lust was not yet stopped by repentance. But Jonas had surely repented of his former frowardness; and so had Sampson, Jehosaphat, Non dubium, quin Abram poenitudire ductus, &c. Pareus in Gen. 12.16. and Abraham too, of his former dissimulation; which made the Lord to move Pharaoh to deal kindly with him, so that he had sheep and oxen, &c. Gen. 12.16. But what shall we say to that example of the Apostles, Luke 22.24. Amongst whom there was a strife who should be accounted the greatest? And this was not the first, but the third time they had thus [Page 151]offended by ambition; and ever, after our Saviour had discoursed unto them of his Cross. But this last time, most absurdly, and unseasonably, after that he had foretold his Passion to follow within two days; had taught them that he was anoynted by the woman against the day of his burial; had administred to them the Sacrament, that Seal of Mutual Love; had washed their Feet, to teach them Humility and Charity, &c. Oh the incredi­ble perverseness of corrupt Nature! How strongly do the best still smell of the old cask, taste of the old stock, though ingraft­ed into Christ, and though poured from vessel to vessel? And this have ye done again, saith the Lord, Mal. 2.13. John 5.14. A great aggravation; as numbers added to numbers, are first ten times more, and then a hundred, and then a thousand. Psal. 78.40. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desart? A regenerate man may fall into the same sin again that he hath truly repented of: Nor can we define how oft, and into how hainous; but surely, not oft into the same, that is hainous and scandalous. That's a graceless person that hath eyes full of adul­tery, and that cannot cease to sin, 2 Peter 2.19. An enemy to God, that goeth on in his trespasses, Psal. 68.21. It is expresly noted of Judah, Gen. 38.26. that he knew Tamar again no more. [And Abimelech King of Gerar] A fit name for a King; and a common name to the Kings of this Countrey: It signifies Father-King. I was a father to the poor, saith Job. Job 29.16. And Kings shall be nursing fathers to the Church, saith Isaiah. Isai. 49.23. [...]. Dio. Ibi [...]. in vita. Bucholc. in Indice Chronol. Orbis amor & deliciae. Corculum appel. latut est. Tusc. quast. l. 1. Parei Medul. Hist. pro [...]an. p. 482.Augustus was stiled 'Pater Patriae. And Trajan gloried most in his title Optimus. He desired more to be loved, then honored, and counted it a greater dignity, Prodesse quàm praeesse. He tare his own Garment to binde up therewith the wounds of his Souldi­ers; and professed, That he would so carry himself to private persons, now that he was Emperor, as he wished, when he was a private man, that the Emperors should carry themselves to­ward him. Titus, for his sweet nature and carriage, was called the Worlds darling. Scipio the Cities Sweet-heart. Julian the Apostate, as he came not short of the greatest Philosophers for learning; so neither of Titus for Lenity, of Antoninus for Clemency, of M. Aurelius for Moderation, setting aside his Satanical hatred of Christian Religion. Queen Elisabeth ever accounted Devotion and Mercy, Camd. Elis. 494. the brightest Stars in the Sphere of Majesty. She always thought it more fit to offend a man, [Page 152]then to hate him, saith Master Camden. In the yeer 1579. a young man discharged a peece out of a Boat, and shot one of the Barge-men in the Queens Barge (where she was then) through both his arms; who was soon apprehended, and led to the Gallows for a terror to him. But whereas he religiously affirmed, That he did it unwittingly, and thought no hurt, he was discharged: Idem ibid. fol. 205. The Queen many times, saying, That she could beleeve nothing of her people, that Parents would not beleeve of their children. This made her so beloved at home, and admired abroad. Queen Elisabeth was the most glorious and happy woman that ever ware a Crown, said that thrice Noble princess Anna Atestina, Thuan. hist. lib. 129. [...] Dio. the Mother of the Dukes of Guise and Nemours, as Thuanus hath Recorded it. Her Subjects were ready to say to Her, as the Senate said to Severus, All is well with us, so long as thou rulest well over us.

Vers. 3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream] Dreams are either natural, or supernatural. Natural dreams are not much to be regarded, Eccles. 5.7. Diviners and Dreamers we are forbid to hearken to, Jere. 27.9. Cicero confutes them that do, in his Books de Divinatione. Somnia ne cures, nam mens bu [...]a­ [...]a quod optat, &c. That use there is of them, is in Physick, to discern our temperatures in Divinity, our beloved sins. Super­natural dreams are sent by God, and his Angels; and that either to comfort us, as Matth. 2.19. or to chasten us, Job 7.13, 14. And these are, first, usually repeated, till they are regarded, as Pharaohs, and young Samuels dreams: Secondly, they do much affect us, and leave a certain perswasion, an inward sence of Gods presence in the soul; as Daniels, Josephs, and Pareus his dreams. In the Calends of April (saith he, in his domestical Diary or Day-Book,) 1618. I had a terrible dream at four of the clock in the morning. Vidi Heidelber­gam totam oc­culto incendio undiquaque fu­migantem, &c. Philip. Par. in vita Davidis Parei, operib. ejus praefina. For me thought, I saw all Heidelberg on a thick smoke, but the Prince his Pallace all on a light fire. O Deus clementissime averte sinistrum omen, & serva Sareptam tuam a vastatione hostium intùs & foris. Thus that good man dream't, and thus he pray'd: but the decree was passed, and shortly after executed, according to his dream. There are also dreams diabolical. Eusebius tells us, that Simon Magus had his dream-haunting Devils, [...], his familiars by whom he deluded men in their dreams, and drew them into the admiration of himself. [Page 153]These devilish dreams are either meer illusions, as that of Eliphaz is thought to be no better, Job 4.12, 16, 17. Marbury of Re­pent. Or else they tend to sin, as nocturnall pollutions, and other evill dreams; whereby the devill sometimes fasteneth that sin upon the Saints when asleep, that he cannot prevail with them to commit whiles awake. As for Pilats wives dream, some Divines think it was from the de­vill, seeking thereby to hinder the work of our Redemption. [For she is a mans wife] Adultery, even in Kings, is punishable by death. Emperors and Popes have been cut off by the just hand of God, in, and for this filthy sin. Society and the purity of po­sterity could not otherwise continue amongst men, if this crime were not capitall. Moritur Paulu [...] 4. nimto Veneris usu &c. Valen­tinian. Imp. Heyl. Geog. At Geneva they punish fornication with nine dayes fasting; Adultery with death. God appointed that such should be stoned. He stoneth them, howsoever, with the stone in the heart, Hos. 4.11. Prov. 7.22. Hetfer the Anabaptist was put to death for this sin at Constance: He being a learned man, and a Preacher, insinuated himself into the familiarity of many women of good ranke and repute, and defiled them; when he came to ex­ecution, he confessed that he would many times have repented of that foul sin, but could not; Joh. Manlii lec. com. p. 322. so fast was he held in the devills bonds: and that now he was willing to dye, and accept of the chastisement of his iniquity. Howbeit, Ibid. 487. it is an opinion held and maintained by the Anabaptists, that Adultery is not to be punished by men, because the Scripture saith, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Others would prove the same from those words of our Saviour (Joh. 8.11.) to the woman taken in adultery, Neither do I condemne thee. But they may as well say, That inheritances are not to be divided betwixt brethren, because Christ would not di­vide them, when required thereto, Luke 12.14.

Vers. 4. But Abimelech had not come near her] Being hindred by sickness, vers. 17. Well might St. Ambrose call siekness, Morbos virtu­tum officinas vo­cat Ambros. Nuper me amici▪ cujusdam lan­guor admonuit opimos esse not dum in [...]irmi su­m [...]. Plin. Epist. 26. l. 7. Manl. loc. com. p. 667. The shop of vertues. When men are fastened to their beds, and their bones made to rattle in their skin, lust will be laid asleep, and little leisure left for luxury. This made King Alured pray God to send him alwayes some sickness, whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed & affectioned to God-ward. If it be painfull to the vine to bleed, 'tis worse to wither. Better be pruned to grow, then cut up to burn. Otho tertius, Imperator, dictus miraculum mundi, amoribus periit. How much happier he that sang, Periissem nisi Periissem? [Lord wilt thou slay also a righteous Nation?] For [Page 154]he knew, that whole Nations had smarted for the sins of their Rulers; this sin of Adultery especially, as we read of Shechem, Troy, &c. How wore the Greeks plagued for the rape of Chrysis? and the Lacedemonian Common wealth utterly overturned by Epaminendas in the battle of Leuctra, for a rape committed upon the two daughters of Scedasus by a couple of Spartan Gentle­men, traveling to Delphos: This might make Abimelech afraid, lest for his fault, wrath should fall upon his people also.

Vers. 5. Said he not unto me, She is my sister, &c.] Here Abraham and Sarah, Rom. 4. 1 Pet. 3. though both famous, he for his faith, and she for not being afraid with any amazement, 1 Pet. 3.6. yet here they shew some trepidation. Sense (saith One) fights sore against faith, when it is upon its own dunghill, I mean in a sensible danger. Natures retraction of it self from a visible fear, M. Vines his Fast-Sermon. Elias fulminator ad Jezabalis minas trepidat. may cause the pulse of a Christian that beats truly and strongly in the main point, (the state of the soul) to intermit and faulter at such a time. [In the integrity of my heart] Great is the boldness of a clear con­science, be it but in some one particular, as here in Abimelech; a man that was magis extra vitia quàm cum virtutibus (as Tacitus saith of Galba) rather not evill then good; one whose nature was not changed, Tac. l. 1. c. 12. but chained up onely. Civill men are but Wolves chained up, tame Devils, Swine in a fair meadow; and yet these are the worlds honest men, and as high a price set upon them, as was once upon a cab of Doves-dung in the famine of Samaria. But these Abimelechs, these Catoes, these civill Justiciaries, they want sincerity in the first Table, and integrity in the Second; for they stand not upon the inward corruptions, nor lesser breaches of the Law. Abimelech (for all his confidence here) was to blame for his wandring rash lust. And Cato, that mirror of mo­rality, was a griping Usurer, prostituted his wife, and slew himself. Hist. lib. 2 And yet Paterculus will tell you, that he was, Homo virtuti simillimus, & per omnia virtute Diis quàm homini­bus propior, &c.

Vers 6. Yea I know that thou didst this, &c.] God takes his excuse, and yet chastiseth him; to teach us, saith Calvin, Non prorsus vacare culpâ qui humane modo puri sunt. He can finde flawes in that, for which we may look for thanks. This makes Nehemiah. crave pardon of his zealous reformations; and David cry [...]s out, Enter not into judgement, &c. Sordet in conspect [...] judi­cis, [Page 155]quod fulget in conspectu operantis, saith Gregory. Ye are they that justifie your selves before men (saith Christ to the Pharisees) but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God, Luke 16.15. A thing which I see in the night may shine, and that shining pro­ceed from nothing but rottenness. But be not deceived (or if ye be, yet) God is not mocked. Sacco soluto ap­paruit argentum. Ambro [...]. When he comes to turn the bottome of the bag upwards (as the Steward did Benjamins) all our secret thefts will out, all our collusions come to light. His Law is a Law of fire, Deut. 33.2. His tribunall of fire, Ezek. 1.27. His pleading with sinners, in flames of fire, Esa. 60.15, 16. The triall of our works shall be by fire; and God before whom is a consuming fire, Heb. 12.29. Happy are they that are here purged by that Spirit of judgement and burning, Esa. 4.4. These shall stand in judgement, yea dwell with everlasting burnings, Esa. 33.14. [For I also with held thee] Either by sickness, as aforesaid, or by a spirit of restraint, a gift that God gives to men, yea to the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell amongst them, Psal. 68.18. in his Religion and worshippers; which else the wicked would never suffer. Thus God chained up Laban, and made Saul to melt over David, &c. Now many take this poor counter, (that is, I am not as some others are, so bad as the worst) and set it down for a thousand pound. Our Saviour indeed is said to have looked upon the young Pharisee, and to have loved him, Mark. 10.21. because he saw him to be a tame man, free from foule crimes, and fit to live in a Commonwealth: But no otherwise then as we love pictures, which are pretty things to look on, and that's all they are good for. A better nature, if rested in, is but a beautifull abomination, a smooth way to hell. And yet, say what we can, this kinde of men grow crooked and aged with good opinions of themselves, and can seldome or never be set straight again. They will trust in Moses, Job. 5.45. and when they have sick fits and qualms of con­science, lick themselves whole by their repentance, and so rest in it: Which made Austin say, that Repentance damneth more then sin. They seek not to be saved by the righteousness of faith, neither see they any necessity of growing from faith to faith. No, they are set, they are as good as ever they mean to be; they that outstrip them are too forward, they that fall short of them, are deeply censured.

Vers. 7. Now therefore restore] Let knowledge reforme what [Page 156]ignorance offended in. The times of ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every where to repent, Act. 17.30. As a Ma­ster, when he sets up his servant a double light, expects more work and better. We have a priviledg not onely above the blinde Eth­nicks, but above the Church of the Old Testament. The sea about the Altar was brazen, 1 King. 7.23. And what eyes could pierce thorough it? Now our sea about the Throne is glassie, Rom. 4.6. like to Chrystall, clearly conveying the light and sight of God to our eyes. God hath destroyed the face of the covering cast over all people, Esa. 25.7. And we all with ope [...] face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, must see to it, that we be changed into the same image from glory to glory, 2 Cor. 3.18. If those good souls passed from strength to strength, Psal. 84.7. travelling many a weary step, to see the face of God in Sion, in the obscure glass of the Ceremonies; vae torpori nostro, wo to us, if now, that such a light is sprung up, we walk not as children of that light! To know hea­venly things, is to ascend into heaven, Prov. 30.3, 4. And to know our masters will is a great talent; of all other, there is a much in that, Luke 12.48. But then, not to do his will so known, is to be beaten with many stripes. None so deep in hell, as your knowing men, because they imprisoned the truth (which is as a Prophet from God) in unrighteousness, Rom 1.18. they kept it in their heads, as rain in the middle region, Sapientes sapien ter descendunt in infernum. Bern. not suffering it to warm their hearts, or work upon their affections; therefore came wrath upon them to the utmost. None are oftner drowned then they that are most skilfull in swimming. So none sooner miscarry then men of grea­test parts. [For he is a Prophet, and he shall pray for thee] The proper work of a Prophet, Jer. 27.18. If they be Prophets, let them intreat the Lord; they shall be heard, when others shall not, as the fathers blessing is most effectuall; as the child could not be raised till Elisha came himself, nor the sick be healed, till the Elders of the Church be called for, Jam. 5.14. The Apostles divided their time betwixt praying and preaching, Act. 6.4. So did the Priests of the Old Testament, Deut. 33.10. They shall teach Jacob thy judge­ments, they shall put incense before thee. As with every sacrifice there was incense, so should every Ministeriall duty be performed with prayer. St. Paul begins his Epistles with prayer, and pro­ceeds and ends in like manner. What is it that he would have every of his Epistles stamped with by his own hand, but prayer for all his people? 2 Thess. 3.17, 18. [Thou shalt surely dye] So dear [Page 157]to God are his Saints, that he grievously punisheth, even Kings for their sakes; as Jehoram in his bowels with an incurable disease, 2 Chron. 21.18 Non desunt qui ad phthiriasin re­ferunt, quo av [...]s quoque ipsius Herod. mag. pe­riit. Beza An­not. in Act. 12. Oro [...]ius. He protested, si­quam sui corporis partem Lutheri­anismo sciret in­sectam revulsu­rum illicè, ne longiùs serperet. Sleid. Com­ment. l. 9. Act & Mon. 1914. the two Herods by the lousie malady. Maximinus the Emperor, a cruell persecutor, cast upon his bed of sickness by God, was glad to crave the prayers of the Church, as Eusebius relates it. Valens being to subscribe an Order for the banishment of Basil, was smitten with a sudden trembling of his hand, that he could not: Afterward he was burned to death by the Gothes, whom he had corrupted, by sending them Arrian teachers. The putting out of that French Kings eyes, which promised before with his eyes to see Anne du Bourg (one of Gods true servants) burned, who seeth not to be the stroke of Gods own hand? Then, his son Francis not regarding his fathers stripe, would needs yet proceed in the burn­ing the same man. And did not the same God, give him such a blow on the ear, as cost him his life? As for Charles the ninth, author of the French massacre, though he were wittily warned by Beza to beware (upon occasion, of that new Star appearing in Cassiopeia, Novem 1572. which he applied to that Star at Christs birth, and to the infanticide then) with, Tu verò, Camdens Elis. sol. 165.Herodes sangui­nolente, time; yet because he repented not, God gave him blood to drink, as he was worthy; for the fifth moneth after the vanish­ing of this Star▪ Constans fama est illum, Act. & Mon. fol. 1949.dum è variis corporis partibus sanguis emanaret, in lecto saepe volutatum, inter terribilium blasphemiarum diras tantam sanguinis vim projecisse ut, paucas post horas, mortuus fuerit. This Charles the ninth, in the massacre of Paris, beholding the bloody bodies of the butchered Protestants, Spec. bel. sac p. 248. and feeding his eye upon that wofull spectacle, is said to have breathed out this bloody speech, Quam bonus est odor hostis mor­tui! Another great Queen, seeing the ground covered with the naked carcasses of her Protestant Subjects said, M. Newcom [...]n Fast Serm. 27. Like Hannibals O formosum spe­ctaculum. De Alexandra Josephus. Act & Mon. fol. 1 901. that it was the bravest peece of Tapestry that ever she beheld; but it was not long that she beheld it. Our Queen Mary, though non naturâ sed Ponti [...]iciorum arte ferox (Ipsa solùm nomen regium ferebat, caterùm [...]mnem reg [...]i potestatem Pharisaei possidebant) dyed of a Tympany, or as some (by her much sighing before her death) supposed, she dyed of thought and sorrow, either for the loss of Callice, or for the departure of King Phillip. This King going from the Low-countries into Spain by Sea, with resolution never to remove thence, fell into a storm, in which almost all the Fleet was wracked, his houshold-stuffe of very great value lost, [Page 158]and himself hardly escaped. Hist. of Coun. of Trent. 417. He said he was delivered by the singular providence of God, to root out Lutheranisme, which he presently began to do; protesting that he had rather have no Subjects, then Lutheran Subjects. Whether it was this Phillip or his successor▪ I cannot certainly tell. But Carolus Sexiba [...] tells a lamentable story of one of those two Phillips: Hear him else, Ʋlcerum magnitudinem, multitudinem, acorbitatem, fatorem, lecto tanquam durae cruc [...], [...]o integra, affixionem, ut in nullam prope commoveri partem possit, acres continuosque ann [...]r um sex po­dagrae dolores, febrim [...] cum dup [...]ici per an [...]os [...] intima,Carot. S [...]rib [...]n. Instit. princip, c. 20.adeoque & ossi [...] medullas depascentem gravissimam 22. dierum dysenteriam, qu [...] n [...]c moram dar [...]t, nec detersion [...]m admitte­ret, perpetua stoma [...]hifastidia, nullo po [...]u sitim medicandam, capitis & oculorum insanos dolores, ingentom puris ex ulcaribus redundan­ti [...] ▪ quae binas indie [...] scutellat divite padere impleret: Inter her, malignissimi oder is gravitat [...], quae om [...]em illi sou [...]um ademerat; hac, inquam▪ Rex potentissimus longo tempore perpessus est. So true is that of an Ancient. Potentes pot [...]utèr torquebuntur. Be wise now therefore▪ Psal. 2.10. O ye Kings: Kiss the son, lest he be angry. He can soon break men with his iron Mace, and dash them in peeces as a potters vessell. Ingentla, heresicia, ingentia slagitia, ingentia supplicia, as the Centurists have it. Christ shall raign, when Kings and Kesars shall lye in the dust. Rev. 19.16. ex­pounded. His name is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; and this name is written upon his Vesture (that all creatures may see his power) and upon his Thigh, to shew the eternity of his Monarchy, in his children and posterity. This ever­lasting Father shall have an endless government, Esa. 6.6,7. He shall see his seed (the fruit of his thigh;) he shall prolong his daye [...], and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands, Esa. 53.10. I shut up this Discourse with the story of Ladislaus King of Bo­hemiae and Hungary, who most unjustly had caused Ladislaut, son to Hunniade [...], to be beheaded; and together with many other Popish Princes, had conspired to root out the true Christians in Bobemia; which should have been put in execution at the time of hi [...] ma [...]riage: immediately before, in the midst of his great prepa­ration [...] he sell sick, Bu [...]ru [...] and within thirty six hours dyed of a postilent sore in his gro [...]. Paul. [...]. Like as Attila [...] that King of Hunnes, and scourge of Christendome, had dyed before, being suffocated in his own blood, at such time as he celebrated his wedding, having distempered his body with excess in wine and venery, adeò ut pro­verbio [Page 159]deeo dictam fit, eum per eandem partem animam profudisse,Jacob. Revius.per quam accepera [...]. He went out of the world the same way that he came into it, and sent his soul, as a harbinger to the devill, to provide room for his body

Vers. 8. Therefore Abimelech rose early, &c.] He made hast [...], and delayed not to keep Gods Commandments, Psal. 119.60. This is check to out dulness, whom so many exhortations and menaces of Gods month move not to amend. Some are semper victur, as Seneca saith, they defer so long till the Draw bridge be taken up, till the gale of Grace be blown over, till the Bridegroom go by, and so are shut out with the foolish Virgins, for their lingring and futhring. Nol [...]te vero tempus in [...]gis ter [...]e, vel Crus, ut ille, [...]. Vox crat Archiae illi­us Thcban [...]rum praefecti.Seria, rejectis in hilari compotatione, literis indiciis hodie [...], proteliere. At the next pu [...]e of breath thou mayst blow away thy life; or, by not discerning thy time, thou mayst lose thy soul, as Saul did his Kingdome. Opportunities are headlong. [And cul­led all his servants] Nature taught Infidels to take [...]re of their own famillies. Socrates is said to have called Philosophy down from heaven to earth; that is, W [...]l [...] in Tili­ani [...]. Philo­soph. to have directed men to be good at home, and setting aside other studies, chiefly to minde, ‘Aedibus in propriis quae prava aut recta gerantur.’ Cato said that he could pardon all mens faults, [...] Dio in vita. Suetou in Aug. c. 65. save onely the faults of his own family. And Augustus, when he went about to re­strain garish attire, and looseness of life in others, was scared and upbraided at Rome, with the excesses and enormities of his own houshold. He had three untoward children whom he was won [...] to tearm tres vomicas, tri [...] carcinomara. So many mattery im­postumes, ulcerous sores. His wife Livia was thought to be too familiar with her friend and Physitian, Endemus; Pliny calls him her Paramour. Tacitus saith, he was specie artis, frequens se­cretis. All this might be without his fault, but not without his reproach. The malicious Pharisees could object it to our Saviour; Thy Disciples wash not, thy Disciples fast not, &c. As if he were much to blame for suffering such things. And surely, he is not a compleat Christian, walks not in a perfect way, Psal. 101.2. that is not good at home, that is not relatively good. The fifth Commandement is called by Philo, [...], a mixt Commandement, and made a part of the first Table. It is therefore set betwixt both Tables of the Law, saith Another, because all we get from God or men, we bring it home to our houses (as Abimelech here relates his divine [Page 160]dream to his servants) the place of well-employing it. [And the men were sore afraid]. This fear freed them; for according to mens fear, Bradford of Repent. so is Gods displeasure, Psal. 90. Cavebis si pavebis, Rom. 11.21. But they that tremble not in hearing, shall be crushed to peeces in feeling, said that Martyr. This was a sign that the Israelites feared God, when they beleeved God, and his ser­vant Moses, Exod. 4.31. The best way of prevention is to tremble at Gods judgements, whiles they hang in the threatnings. But frequentissimum initium calamitatis, securitas, saith Patercu­lus. Sola igitur securit as est, nunquam esse securum, sed semper pavidum & trementem, R. Grostbead. Coloss. 3.23. saith another. Should servants fear their masters, because they have power over the flesh, and not we fear God, &c?

Vers. 9. 'What hast thou done unto us, &c.] Some warmth must be in a reproof, but it must not be scalding hot. Words of reviling and disgrace, Aegros, qu [...]s potus fortis non curavit, ad salu­tempristi [...]am aquatep [...]us rev [...] ­eavit. Greg. they scald as it were; but words that tend to stir up the conscience to a due consideration of the fault (as here) they be duely warm, and tend to make the physick work more kindly. How could Abraham resist this sweet and sovereign reprehension? How could he but be much ashamed, that he should give occasion to it? No oratory is so powerfull with good natures as that of mildness. Remember to reprove with modesty and moderation.

Vers. 11. Surely the fear of God, &c.] The onely best curb to restrain from evill, and spur to incite to good. All honesty flows from this holy fear. It is a problem in Aristotle, why men are credited more then other creatures? The answer is, On [...] Man onely reverenceth God, therefore you may trust him, therefore you may commit your self to him. Sed quia alitèr facere non po­tuit. Velleius. He that truely feareth God is like unto Cato, of whom it is said, He never did well that he might appear to do so, but because he could do no otherwise. You need not fear me, said Joseph to his brethren, for I fear God, and so dare do you no hurt. Ought ye not to have feared God, said Nehemiah to those usurious Jews? Neh. 5.9.

Vers. 12. And yet indeed] See the Notes on Chapt. 11.29.

Vers. 13. When God caused me to wander] Cum facerent Dii, when they, even God, caused me. The mystery of the Trinity, though Calvin interpret it of the Angels; Mysterium Tri­ados. Jun. as Cartwright like­wise doth that of Solomon, which Junius conceiveth to be spoken of the blessed Trinity, There bee higher then they, [Page 161]Eccles. 5.8. sc. That Three in One, and One in Three.

Vers. 14. And Abimelech took oxen] Great men should be bountiful to good men. Aeneas Sylvius was wont to say of learning (how much more may it be said of grace?) Popular men should esteem it as silver, Noblemen as gold, Princes prize it as pearls. Arcadius the Emperor gave his Schoolmaster Arsenes, (a holy man) the revenues of all Egypt, desiring him to pray for him. Pecuni [...] none­gere, quòd mundo jampridèm mor­tuus esset. Par [...]i hist prosau. medul. pag. 495. Rom. 12.17. Arsenes promised him his prayers, but refused his rich offer; saying, that he wanted no mony, as being long since dead to the world.

Vers. 16. I have given thy brother] Not thee, to avoyd suspi­tion. Provide, we must, things honest in the sight of all men: and not onely keep a good conscience, but a good name as much as may be; learning this of the unjust Steward, by lawful (though he did it by unlawful) means. For our Saviour noted this defect, when he said, The children of this world, &c. Luke 16.8. It was good counsel that Livia gave her husband Augustus, [...]. Dio in vita.It behoveth thee not onely, not to do wrong, but not to seem to do so, &c. We must shun, and be shy of the very shew and shadow of sin, if either we tender our credit abroad, or comfort at home. The Church took it ill, that her veil was pulled off, and that she was judged to be a dishonest woman, Cant. 5.7. As in the first Chapter, She prayes her Spouse to tell her where she may come to him: for why should she be as one that turneth aside, or as one that was veiled or cover­ed, a signe of lightness and dishonesty, Gen. 38.14, 15. She was willing to eschew all appearance of evil. Some sense the Text thus: I have given thy husband mony to buy thee a veil, to cover thy face that all may know thee to be a married woman

Vers. 17. So Abraham prayed, and God healed Abimelech] Here was that of Saint James verefied. Jam. 5.15. The prayer of faith shall save the sick; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgotten him. So he is healed on both sides. Melch. Adam in vita Luther. The story of Luther is well known, how by his prayers he recovered Theodorus Vitus of a Consumption, after the Physicians had given him up for dead. The Saints are Gods favorites, they may have any thing of him. Sejanus found Tiberius so facile, that he needed onely to ask, Life of Sejanus by P. M p. 5. and give thanks. He never denyed him any thing, and oft-times pre­vented his request. What shall we think of Gods good-will to his faithful servants and suppliants?

Vers. 18. For the Lord had fast closed up all, &c.] In quibus [Page 162]peccamus, in iisdem plectimur. God oft takes notice of the offend­ing member. Dives was tormented most in his tongue, Quià linguâ plus peccaverat, Ev [...]g. lib. 1. saith Cyprian. Nestorii lingua vermibus exesa. Archbishop Arundel was so smitten in his tongue, that he could neither swallow nor speak, for divers days before his death. Atque id multi tum fieri putabant, Tho. Gascon. in Diction. Theolog. Acts & Mon. 1622. Zonaras.quòd verbum Dei alligasset, ne suo tempore praedicaretur, saith the Historian. The like is re­ported of Steven Gardiner, Fertur Heraclius Imp. inguine sur­sùm converso faciem suam perminxisse, nisi urina (tabellâ imo ventri appositâ) averteretur. Idei accidisse creditum, ob incestum cum fratris filia coitum.

CHAP. XXI. Verse 1. And the Lord visited Sarah]

GOd payes not his people with words onely, Plutarch. as Sertorius did his Souldiers. He fools them not off with fair promises, as Ptolomee (sirnamed therefore [...]) did his favorites. Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest. But is real, yea, royal in his promises and perfomances. Of many pro­misers it may be said, as Tertullian of the Peacock, All in change­able colours; as oft changed as moved. Italians all; as Aeneas Sylvius said of Italy, Novitate quadam, nihil habet stabile. Not so their Ancestors, the Romans. They had a great care always to perform their word. Insomuch, that the first Temple built in Rome, was dedicated to the godess Fidelity. Great mens words, saith One, are like dead mens shooes: he may go barefoot that waits for them. Not so good men, they will stand to their oath, though it tend to their loss, Psal. 15.4. They are children that will not lye, Isai. 63.8. Tit. 1.2. Isai. 65.16. Their Father is a God, that cannot lye. He is the God of Amen, as Isaiah calleth him; and all his promises, are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, the faithful and true witness, 2 Cor. 1.20. Revel. 3.14. Judah would not break promise with the Harlot, lest he should be shamed, Gen. 38.23. One of the laws of the Knights of the band in Spain was, That if any of them broke his promise, he went alone by himself, and no body spake to him, nor he to any. When God serves any so, let him be so served. But the promises are ancient, Tit. 1.2. And not any tittle of [Page 163]them, as yet, ever fell to the ground. Wherefore, gird up the loyns of your mindes, and trust perfectly on the Grace that is brought unto you, 1 Peter 1.13. Faithful is he that hath promised, who also will do it. 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. vers. 24.

Vers. 2. For Sarah conceived] By the force of her Faith, though at first she faltered, Heb. 11.11. [And bare Abraham a son, in his old age] Beatae senectutis & emeritae fidei filium, Buc hole. as One well calleth Isaac. St. Paul for this saith, he was born after the Spirit, Gal. 4.29.

Vers. 3. And Abraham called the name, &c.] A ridiculous name, but such as God had imposed. All Gods wayes are foolishness to the World, Christ and all. But (as old men use to say to young) They think us fools; we know them to be so. It will not be long ere they shall wail and howl out; Nos insensati, Wisd 5. we fools held their life madness, &c. Say therefore with David, If this be to be vile, wee'l be more vile. God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal. He is a fool, we say, that would be laughed out of his coat; but he is a double fool that would be laughed out of his skin, that would hazard his soul, because loath to be laughed at. Caligula socerum Scyllanum, molestum ei propter virtutem & affinitatem, ad mortem sibi consciscendam ludibriis adegit. More fool him.

Vers. 4. And Abraham circumcised his Son] At Circumcision (so as now at Baptisme) names were given. Let them be such as are significant, and may immind us of some good, either person or thing; all will be found little enough, Optima nomina, Columel. [...]e re rust. l. 1. c. 7. Ho [...]at. Epod. 2.non appellan­do, mala fieri, Alphius foenerator dixisse verissimè fertur. We read of a good woman, that had named her three daughters, Faith, Hope, and Charity. And when she was to be condemned by Bonner; My Lord, said she, If you burn me, I hope you will keep Faith, Hope, and Charity; no by my troth, will I not, quoth the Bishop; Act & Mon. 1798. keep them who will, Ile take no charge of them. We read also of another, that courting an harlot, asked her name: she answered, Mary; whereupon, remembring Mary Magdalen that penitent harlot, he repented him of his evill purpose; and advising the curtisan, to repent by her example, departed, and lived honestly. St [...]a [...]ge Viney. in Palest. We cannot have too many monitors to mind us of our duty.

Vers. 5. And Abraham was an hundred yeers old] After twenty yeers praying, and waiting the fulfilling of the promise; besides, thirteen of those yeers silence, for ought we read, after [Page 164]the promise of a childe. This was a sore tryal; but God knew him to be armor of proof, and therefore tryed him thus with Musket-shot. Heb. 10.36. Well might the Apostle say, Ye have need of pati­ence, that after ye have done the will of God (and suffered it too) ye might receive the promise. The spoyling of their goods required patience: but this waiting much more. Good men finde it casier to bear evil, then to wait till the promised good be enjoyed. This waiting is nothing, Importuno tem­pore poma decer­ [...]unt. Cyprian. but hope and trust lengthened. Which they that cannot do, like children, they pull Apples afore they are ripe, and have Worms bred of them; as those hasty Ephraim­ites, that set upon the Philistims, and were slain in Gath. They had indeed a promise of the Land, but the time was not yet come: See my Love­tokens, pag. 94. They were weary of the Egyptian bondage, and would have thus got out; but they were too hasty. Fugientes erg [...] fumum, incidebant in ignem, 1 Chronicles 7.21, 2 [...]. Psalm 78. v. 9.

Vers. 6. Prov. 10.1. God hath made me to laugh] A wise son maketh a glad father. Monstri autèm simile est, quandò pro risu sunt fletus, sunt flagellum. And yet this is many a good mans case. How many parents are put to wish Moses his wish, Num. 11.11. Lord, If I have found favor in thy sight, kill me, that I behold not my misery. Had he lived to have seen, what ways his grand-childe Jonathan took, what a grief would it have been unto him! Judg. 18.30. Ac proinde stu­dio inseruisse literam Nun, suspensam ta­men; in fignum, [...]am adesse vel abesse posse, ut fit & filius [...] vel [...] istius prosapiâ, hujus imitatione. Bux­torf. Tiber. [...]. Euseb. Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, &c. In the best Hebrew Copies, Nun is suspended in that name: where­upon the Hebrews descant, that this Gershom was the son of Moses; but because he and his posterity walked not in the wayes of Moses, but rather of Manasses, 2 King. 21. and did his works; therefore the Penman of this Book, would not so far disgrace Moses, as to make him his son, as indeed he was, Exod. 2.1 Chron. 23.14. but rather of Manasses, whom he imitated and resembled. How much better and happier had it been for them both, if they had expressed their fathers maners, as Constantines sons did: of whom it is said, That they had put on whole Con­stantine, and in all good things did exactly resemble him.

Vers. 7. That Sarah should have given children suck] So she had a double blessing, of the belly, and of the brests. Milk she had at those yeers, and great store of it too: whence she is said to give children suck, not a childe onely. She could have nursed another for a need, besides her own. Note, that though she were a [Page 165]great Lady, yet, she was a nurse. Let it not be niceness, but neces­sity that hinders any mother from so doing; lest she be found more monstrous then the sea-monsters, that draw out their brest, and give suck to their young, Lam. 4.3. If the childe must be set out, let a fit nurse be looked after. Quidam scrofae lacte nutritus cum esset, Sphinx Philo­soph. p. 235.in coeno sese identidem volutabar.

Vers. 8. And Abraham made a great feast] A laudable custome, saith Cajetan, That the beginning of the eating of the first-born, should be celebrated with a feast. St. Augustine observeth here, That this solemnity at the weaning of Isaac, was a type of our spiritual regeneration: at, and after which, the faithful keep a continual feast. Let us keep the festivity, or holy-day, saith Paul, [...]. 1 Cor. 5.7. [...]. Diog. ap. Plu­tarch. that feast of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined, Isai. 25.6. proceeding from milk to stronger meat, Heb. 5.12. and being to the world, as a weaned childe. His mouth doth not water after homely provisions, that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance.

Vers. 9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar mocking] At that mystical name Isaac, as a gaud, or laughing-stock. At the feast also, made upon such a frivolous occasion. As who should say, What care I, though this ado be made now about Isaacs weaning? I am the first-born, and beloved of my Father, who will not deny me the inheritance. This Sarah had soon spyed, or over-heard, Libe­rorum curiosi sunt parentes. The mother especially observeth the wrong done to the childe. And besides, Dislike soon spies a fault. Textor. epist. A fault it was no doubt, and a great one too. Otherwise, the Apo­stle would not have called it persecution: Gal. 3. nor God have punished it with ejection. Machiavel, that scoffing Atheist, rotted in the prison at Florence. Jearing Julian had his payment from Heaven. Sir Thomas Moor (qui scopticè & scabiose de Luthero & Religione Reformata loquebatur) lost his head. Another lost his wits for mocking at James Abbes Martyr, as a mad man; for that, Act. & Mon. fol. 1904. having no mony, he gave his apparel to the poor; some to one, some to another, as he went to the stake. What's truth? Joh. 18.38. said Pilate to our Saviour, in a scornful prophane maner. Not long after which, he became his own deaths-man. Appian scoffed at Circumcision, Joseph [...]. and had an Ulcer at the same time, and in the same place. Surely, God is the avenger of all such: he calls it blasphemy in the second Table, and shews his wrath from Heaven against it, as that which proceeds from the very superfluity of malice (as here in Ismael) [Page 166]and tends to murther. The Hebrew word here used, signifies, that he not onely mocked Isaac, but also made others to mock him.

Vers. 10. Cast out this bond-woman] Who had been (likely) either an Author or Abbettor of her sons sin, in ambitiously seek­ing the inheritance. Out they must therefore together: as all Hypocrites one day must be cast out of Gods Kingdom. Heaven is an undefiled inheritance: no dirty dog ever trampled on that Golden pavement. There is no passing è coeno in coelum. Heaven would be no Heaven to the unregenerate. Beetles love dunghils better then oyntments; and Swine love mud, better then a garden. Paris ut vivat, Horat▪ epist. 2.regnetque beatus Cogi posse negat.—

Vers. 11. And the thing was very grievous, &c.] See; there's grief sometimes betwixt the best couples, as abovesaid, Chap. 16.5. But why was it so grievous to cast out Ismael, when in the next Chapter, it seems no such grief to him, to slay Isaac? Surely for that, here, he hears onely his wives voyce: there he well under­stood it to be the will of God. Baldassar in epist. ad Oeco­lamp. Veniat, veniat verbum Domini, & submittem [...] illi, sexcenta si nobis essent colla, said that Reverend Dutchman. When Abraham came to know is was Gods will, as well as Sarahs, he soon yielded.

Vers. 12. In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, &c.] The wife then is to be harkned to, when she speaks reason. Sampsons mother had more faith then her husband: And Priscilla is sometimes set before Aquila. Pauls hearers at Philippi, were onely women at first, Acts 16.13. And Saint Peter tells Christian wives, that they may win their husbands to Christ, 1 Pet. 3.1. by their chaste conversation coupled with fear. The Scripture is said to say, what Sarah here saith, Gal. 4.30.

Vers. 13. Because he is thy seed] So bountiful a master is God, so liberal a Lord; that he blesseth his servants in their seed too. We count it a great favor, if an earthly lord give an old servant a coun­trey cottage, with some small annuity for life; but Gods love ex­tends beyond life: as Davids love to Jonathan preserves Mephi­b [...]sheth from the Gallows, yea, promoteth him to a princely allow­ance, Act & M [...]. [...]ol. 1481. and respect at court. Your children shall finde and feel it, double and treble, (said that Martyr) whatsoever you do or suffer for the Lords sake.

V. 14. And Abraham rose up early] He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but set upon the execution of Gods will with expedition. Voluntas Dei, necessitas rei. A godly man sayes Amen [Page 167]to Gods Amen, go it never so much against the hair with him: He puts his Fiat, his Placet to Gods; and saith, as Acts 21.14. The will of the Lord be done, which was Vox verè Christianorum, as One saith.

Vers. 15. And the water was spent in the bottle] All creature­comforts will fade and fail us; as the brook Cherith dryed up whiles the Prophet was drinking of it; as those pools about Jeru­salem, that might be dryed up, with the tramplings of horse and horsemen, 2 King. 19.24. But they that drink of Christs water, shall never thirst: For it shall be in them (as the widows oyl, or Aarons oyntment) a well springing up to eternal life, Joh. 4.14. [She cast the childe, &c.] Whom till then, she had led in her hand, faint, and ready to dye for thirst; who erst lived at the full in his fathers house, but could not be contented. God loves to let us see the worth of his favors by the want of them: Carendo p [...]tiùs quàm fruend [...]. To chasten mens in­solency with indigency, as he did the prodigal in the Gospel.

Vers. 16. Let me not see the death of the childe] This, Babington. saith an Interpreter, was but poor love. Give me a friend that will not leave in the instant of death, Gen. 46.4. [She lift up her voyce and wept] As Hinds by calving, so we by weeping cast out our sorrows, Job 39.3.

Expletur lathrymis, egeriturque dolor.

Vers. 17. And God heard the voyce of the lad] Weeping hath a voyce, Psal. 6.8. And as Musick upon the Waters sounds far­ther and more harmoniously then upon the Land, so Prayers joyn'd with Tears. These, if they proceed from Faith, are showres quenching the devils cannon-shot; a second Baptism of the soul, wherein it is rinsed anew, nay, perfectly cured: As the tears of Vines cure the Leprosie, as the lame were healed in the troubled waters. Whether Hagars and Ismaels tears were for sin, Lachrymas an­gustiae, exprimit crux; Lachrymas poenitentiae, peccatum. or for the present pressure onely, I have not to say. But God is so pitiful, that he hears and helps our affliction, as he had done Hagars once afore, Gen. 16.11. And as our Saviour raised the young man of Nains, though none sought to him, meerly because he was the onely son of his mother, a widow, the stay of her life, and staff of her old age. See a sweet place, 2 King. 14.26, 27.

Vers. 18. For I will make him a great nation] A Nation by himself, as he had promised to Abraham. This had not come to pass, had not she missed of her way to Egypt, and wandred in this wilderness. God, by his providence, ordereth our disorders to his [Page 168]own glory. Gregor. Divinum consilium dum devitatur, impletur: Humana sapien [...]ia dum reluctatur, comprehenditur.

Vers. 19. God opened her eyes▪ &c.] The well was there before; but she saw it not till her eye, were opened. So till God irradiate both the Organ and the Object, we neither see nor suck those brests of consolation, Isai. 66.11. We turn the back, and not the palm of the hand, to the staffe of the promises.

Vers. 20 And God was with the lad, &c.] The fountain of Hagar (saith a Divine) lying between Bared and Kadesh-barnea, was afterward called the well of the living God; and seemeth my [...]i­cally to represent Baptism, the laver of regeneration. For the Church like Hagar, with her son Ismael, travelling through the wilderness of this world, is pressed with a multitude of sins and miseries, &c. Wherefore they joyning together in Prayer, crave to be refreshed with the water of life. For Hagar signifieth a Pil­grim. Itinerar. script. fol. 95. Ishmael, a man whom the Lord heareth; who travelling together with her Mother the Church in this World, fighteth against the enemies thereof, and shooteth the Arrows of Faith against all infernal and cruel beasts and lusts. Thus he.

Vers. 21. And his mother took him a wife] Adeò est juris non gentium, sed ipsius naturae, ut parentes matrimonia liberis procurent. Children are a chief part of their parents goods; therefore to be disposed of by them in marriage. When Satan had commission to afflict Job in his goods, he fell upon his children: Yet in the Church of Rome, Parents consent is not much regarded.

Vers. 22. God is with thee in all that thou doest] Natural con­science cannot chuse but stoop to the Image of God stamped upon the Natures and Works of the godly. When they see in them that which is above ordinary, they are afraid of the name of God called upon by them. Deut. 28.9, 10. Their hearts even ake and quake within them.

Vers. 23. Swear unto me here by God, &c.] This visit, we see, was more of fear then of love (there can be no hearty love indeed, but between true Christians.) Kings then have their cares, Crowns their crosses: Thistles in their arms, and Thorns in their sides. This made one cry out of his Diadem, O vilis pannus, &c And Canutus set his Crown upon the Crucifix. Frederick, the Elector of Saxony, is said to have been born with the signe of a Cross upon his back: S [...]et. Aunal. and the next night after that, Rodulphus Rufus was crowned Emperor of Germany, An. Dom. 1273. over the Temple, where the Crown was set upon his head, a golden Cross was seen [Page 169]to shine, like a Star, to the admiration of all that beheld it. These were the same Emperors Verses concerning his Crown Imperia [...],

Vers. 24. I will swear] Abraham quickly consents to so reason­able a request, from so honorable a person. The wisdom from above is easie to be intreated. The churl Nabal holds it a goodly thing, Jam. 3.17. Matth. 6. to hold off. It is but maners to reciprocate: very Publicans can finde in their hearts, to do good to those that have been good to them.

Vers. 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech] Inferiors may reprove their superiors, so they do it wisely and modestly.

Vers. 26. I wot not who hath done this thing] A fault it might be in Abraham, not to complain to the King. For many a good Prince, is even bought and sold by his Officers and Councellors, as it was said of Aurelian the Emperor; who might know nothing but as they informed him. As of another German Prince it was said, Esset alius, si esset apud alios. Bucholc.

V. 27. Abraham took sheep and oxen] In token of true and hearty reconciliation. Reconciliatio [...]es, saith Menander, Menander.sunt lupina amici­tiae Let it be so among heathens. But we have not so learned Christ.

Vers. 31. They sware both of them] Or, they were sworn. [...] The Hebrew is passive: To shew, that an oath is not rashly to be un­dertaken, but by a kinde of necessity imposed. It comes of a root that signifies to satisfie; because he, to whom we swear, must therewith be contented. An oath is an end of strife, Heb. 7. saith the Apostle: The Greeks call it [...] quasi [...], a hedg, which a man may not break.

Vers. 32. A Covenant] Foed [...]s [...]. Sic fidus [...]

Vers. 33. Abraham planted a grove] That he might have a pri­vate place, for prayer and meditation. And thus he improved and employed that late place, he had made with Abimele [...]h. Oh that God would once more try us, and trust us with the blessing of peace! How should we now prize it, and praise him for it. Bona à tergo formosissima.

Vers. 34. Many days] Twenty five yeers at least: for so old was Isaac when he went to be sacrificed. Some Halcyons God vouch­safes to his afflicted, and tossed with tempest: Isai. 54.1 [...]. Some rest and repose to his poor Pilgrims. Laus Deo.

CHAP. XXII. Vers. 1. God did tempt Abraham]

TEmptation is twofold; 1. Probationis. 2. Perditionis. The former is of God, the latter of the devill. God is said to tempt, when he puts us upon the triall of our faith and obedience, that he may do us good in the latter end, Deut. 8.26. Satan ever seeks to do us hurt. He, when he comes to tempt, comes with his sieve as to Peter. Christ with his fan, Matth. 3.12. Now a Fan casteth out the worst, and keepeth in the best; a Sieve keepeth in the worst, D. Playfere. and casteth out the best. Right so Christ (and histrials) purgeth out corruption, and increaseth grace: contrarily the Devill, if there be any ill thing in us, confirmeth it; if faith, or any good thing in us, he weakneth it. Now the temptations of Satan are either, 1. Of seducement, Jam. 1.15. [...]r 2. of buffetting and grievance, 2 Cor. 12.7. In seducement we are pressed with some lesser or darling corruption, whereto our appetites by nature are most propense. And here Satan hath his machinations, 2 Cor. 2.11. methods, Eph. 6.11. depths, Rev. 2.24. darts, Eph. 6.16. fiery darts pointed and poysoned with the venome of Serpents, which set the heart on fire from one lust to another. In buffettings we are dogg'd with foulest lusts of Atheisme, self-murther, &c. such as Nature startleth at, and abhorreth; and these, if we resist, and be meerly passive, are onely our crosses, Satans sins. For before a temptation can be a sin, it must have somewhat of coveting in it. And trialls are onely taps to give vent to corruption.

Vers. 2. Take now thy son, thine onely son Isaac, &c.] This was the last of Abrahams ten trialls, and the forest. All our troubles to this, are but as the slivers and chips of that cross, upon which this good Patriarch was crucified. Origen hence perswades parents to bear patiently the loss of their children. Laetus offer filium Deo, esto sacerdos animae filii tui, &c. Abraham was not onely to kill his onely son (which yet was more then to have tome out his own heart, with his own hands) but to cut him in peeces, to lay him orderly on the Altar, after the manner of a sacrifice, and to burn him to ashes; himself making and tending the fire, and putting him in, piece after piece, when any was out. A hard and heavy task; especially, since it directly crossed the promise, that in Isaac [Page 171]all nations of the earth should be blessed; and seemed to involve the utter ruine of all mankinde. Here Reason was at a stand: It was faith onely that could extricate the perplexed Patriarch, by giving him to know that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, Heb. 11.19. Hoc, Abrahamum fecit, [...]. This was it that kept him from tripping. [Get thee into the Land of Moriah] Both Abrahams great temptations began with one strain vade tibi, Get thee gone, Gen. 12.1. Gen. 22.2 Here God led Abra­ham into temptation, but delivered him from evill. Have you not been tempted (saith a Holy man) in this or that kinde? It is be­cause God in mercy would not lead you into temptation. Baines Letters. Yea this is in some sort more to be acknowledged then victory, when you are tempted. For not to be tempted is more immediately from God, and less in mans power then to prevail against temptation: Sith nothing doth overcome us against our will: but without our will God doth lead us into triall: for he knoweth we would taste little of these if we might be our own carvers.

Vers. 3. And Abraham rose up early, &c.] To shew his prompt and present obedience. He neither consulted with his wife, nor with his own reason. Exod. 4. She might have haply hung upon him and hindered him, as Zipporah did Moses to the hazarding of his life. He captivates all the powers of the soul to his Creator, goes after him without sciscitation, and so shews himself to be renewed in the spirit of his minde; that is, in his naturall reason: for that like an old Beldam, is the mother and nurse of all our distempers and outstrayes. Cassianus tells us of a young man that had given himself up to a Christian life: And his parents, Cassianus. misliking that way, wrote letters to disswade him from it; which when he knew, he would not once open them, but threw them in the fire. Let us do so, by the suggestions of flesh and blood, and the counsell of carnall friends, or we shall never rest and feast in Abrahams bosome. I know not by what reason (said Borthwick the Scotch Martyr) they so called them my friends, Act & Mon. fol. 1157. which so greatly labou­red to convert me (as they called it:) neither will I more esteem them, then the Madianites, which in time past called the children of Israel to do sacrifice to their Idols.

Vers. 4. Then on the third day] A great while for him to be plodding, ere he came to the place. But we must conceive that his brains were better busied, then many of ours would have been therewhile. We must not weigh the cross, for then it will prove[Page 172]heavy: we must not chew the pill, but swallow it whole, else it will prove bitter. We must not plod too much, but ply the Throne of Grace for a good use and a good issue of all our trialls and tribulations.

Vers. 5. Abide you here with the Asse] This the Hebrews use for a proverb, against such as are dull and uncapable. Zophar saith, That man is born as a wild-asses-colt. As an Asses foal for rudeness, and a wild-asses for unruliness. Job. 11.11. It imports that he is untamed and untractable, till a new heart be put into him. Agur had not the un­derstanding of a man, till he spake to Ithiel and Ʋcall for it, Prov. 30.1, 2. He wants the totum hominis, that doth not fear God and keep his Commandements. Eccles. 12.13. Tu & Asinus unum estote, Alex. Cook. his Abatement of Popish brags. Epist. will not do it, which was the counsell given to a young Novice, entring a Monastery. [And come again to you] Nesciens formam rei futurae, prophetavit sciens de eventu, prophetavit quod ignoravit, saith Amb.

Vers. 6. And laid it upon Isaac his son] Who was herein a lively type of Christ, bearing the cross, whereon he was offered up. [...], saith Plutarch, speaking of the Roman fashion of crucifying malefactors. And surely it was by a wonderfull providence of God, that the Jews brought our Saviour to Pilate to be put to death; sith they hated nothing more then to confirm or countenance the Roman tyranny among them, by any means. Hence Gamaliel gave counsell to dismiss the Apostles, Act. 5.38. And hence the chiefe Priests and Rulers took it so exceeding haynously, that Paul was taken out of their hands, by the chiefe Captain, Act. 23. But God had a hand in it, that this and other types and Scriptures might be ful­filled, that foretold the very manner of his death on a tree. Let the Jews stumble now at the cross, and fall backward. Let the Gentiles jear us, [...] (borreo dicere) [...] In vita peregr. Omnis hom [...] aut est cum Christo regnaturus, aut cum Diabolo cruciandus. Aug. Justin. l. 18. as Luci [...]n doth, for that we deny the multitude of their gods, and yet believe in a crucified God. Let us desire to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified; and if ever we desire to be Kings in heaven (and every man must be aut Caesar, aut nul­lus, a King, or a caytiffe.) Let us seek by the eye of faith to see the Sun of righteousness in the West (as Stratoes servant taught him:) Let us look upon Christ hanging on the cross, dying on that Altar, and we shall live for ever.

Vers. 7. Where is the Lamb, for a burnt offering] Isaac was not to be told now, what belonged to a sacrifice. He had been [Page 173]long since taught by his father, what was to be done in the service of God. When I was young, my father taught me, saith Solomon, Prov. 4.4. so did his mother also, Primas in Phi­lip. Greg. Moral. l. 27. c. 14. Prov. 31. in her Lemuels lesson. Plantas tenellas frequentius adaquare proderit, saith Pri­masius.

Vers. 8. God will provide himself a Lamb] A pious and preci­ous Proverb; much to be mused on, and made use of, Qui finxit alas papilioni, is cu­rabit omma. when we are in an exigent, and see not whither to turn us. Then say, Deus vi­derit▪ God will with the temptation also give an issue, 1 Cor. 10.13. Necesse est adesse divinum, ubi humanum cessat auxilium, saith Philo. Sciat etiam Celsitudo vestra (saith Luther in a letter to the Prince Elector of Saxony;) S [...]u [...]tet. Ann. I would your Highness should well know, that businesses are far otherwise carried, and concluded in heaven then at the Diet at Norinberg, &c. And to Phillip Me­lancthon he writes thus: Si nos ruemus, ruet Christus unà, ille reg­nator mundi: & esto ruat, &c. Sed scribo haec frustrà, quia tu,Scu [...]tet. Annalse­cundùm philosophiam vestram, has res ratione regere▪ hoc est, ut ait ille, cum ratione insanire pergis, & occidis teipsum; nec vides prorsus extra manum tuam & consilium positam esse causam, etiam extra curam tuam velle agi.

Vers. 9. And they came to the place] Mount Moriah where the Temple was afterwards built. This was a little from Salem, 2 Chron. 3.1. as Mount Calvary also, was a little from Jerusalem. [And bound Isaac his son] Who strugled not, neither resisted, though able for his age (being twenty five year old, as Josephus makes him; others thirty three) to have overmastered his old father. He was acquainted with Gods counsell, saith Luther, wherein he rested. Yet he was bound, 1. For that the rite of sacrifices so required. ( [...]ee 2 King. 10.12.) 2. Lest any involuntary motion by pangs of death, should be procured. Whence divers of the Martyrs, as Ridley, Rawlins, &c. desired to be bound fast to the stake, lest the flesh should play its part. R [...]ins)▪ when the Smith cast a chain about him at the stake, I pray you, good friend, said he, Knock in the chain fast; for it may be, Act. & Mon. [...]ol. 1415. that the flesh would strive mightily. But God of thy great mercy give me strength and patience, to abide the extremity. N [...]ture at death will have a bout with the best, whether he dye as Elis [...]a, slowly, or as Eliah, suddenly.

Vers. 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, &c.] What Painter in the world can possibly express the affection of Abra­ham, [Page 174]when thus he bound his son, and bent his sword? Surely that Painter that set forth the sacrificing of Iphigenia, Aspi [...] vulius ecce meos, uti­ [...]amque [...]culos in pectora po es In­ser [...]re. Sol Phe­tonti, apud Ovid 1 Cor. 3. would here also have drawn Abraham, as he did Agamemnon, with his face veyled; as not able to delineate his unconceivable grief. But a man in Christ is more then a man, and can do that that other men, cannot reach unto. It was a matter of blame to the carnall Co­rinthians, that they walked as men: And our Saviour looks for some singular thing to be done by those that pretend to him, Matth. 6.47. Abraham had denyed himself in his beloved Isaac, and therefore went an end with his work, hard though it were. Another that hath not done so, shall finde a heavy business of it, an unsupportable burden. Sozomen tells of a certain Merchant, whose two sons being taken captives, Sozom l. c. 14. and adjudged to dye, he offered himself to dye for them; and withall promised to give the Souldiers all the gold he had. They pitying the poor mans cala­mity, admitted of his request for one of his sons (which he would) but let them both scape they could not, because such a number must be put to death. The miserable man therefore, looking at and lamenting both his sons, could not finde in his heart to make choice of either (as overcome with an equall love to them both) but stood doubting and deliberating, till they were both slain. At the siege of Buda in Hungary there was among the German Cap­tains a Noble-man, called Erkius Raschachius, whose son a vali­ant young Gentleman being got out of the Army without his fa­thers knowledge, bore himself so gallantly in fight against the enemy, in the sight of his father and the Army, that he was highly commended of all men, and especially of his father that knew him not at all. Yet before he could clear himself, he was compassed in with the Enemy, and valiantly fighting, slain. Raschachius ex­ceedingly moved with the death of so brave a man, ignorant how near he touched himself, turning about to the other Captains, said, This noble Gentleman, whatsoever he be, is worthy of eter­nall commendation, and to be most honourably buried by the whole Army. As the rest of the Captains were with like com­passion approving his speech, the dead body of the unfortu­nate son rescued, was presented to the most miserable father; which caused all them that were there present, Tu [...]kish hist. to shed tears. But such a sudden and inward grief surprized the aged fa­ther, and struck so to his heart, that after he had stood a while speechless, with his eyes set in his head, he suddenly fell down [Page 175]dead, Anno Dom. 1541. Heb. 11. [And took the knife to slay his son] The Apostle saith▪ He did offer him up a slain sacrifice. God took it in as good part as if indeed he had done it, because he would have done it. Every man is so good before God, are he truely desires to be. Bernard. In vitae libro scribuntur omnes, qui quod possunt faciunt, etsi quod debent, non possunt, saith one Father. And another, Augustin. Basil. Tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est. Ambulas, siamas. Non enim passibus and Deum sed affectibus currimus. Tantùm velis, & Deus tibi praeoccurret, saith a Third.