Commentary on Prov Ecc SoS Isa Jer Lam Eze Dan, Jeremiah · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII.
Ver. 1. THe ſin of Judah is written with a pen of iron] The foure firſt verſes of this Chapter are left out by the Septuagint. Hierom ſaith they omitted them in gratiam & honorem populi ſui, in favour and for the honour of their country-men the Jews, but that was no juſt reaſon. For ever, O Lord, thy Word is ſetled in heaven, Pſal. 119.89. though there were not a Bible left on earth; Theſe ſinners againſt their own ſouls had their Idolatry ſo deeply engraven on their hearts, that they could not get out the ſtamp: and the guilt thereof ſtuck ſo faſt to their conſciences, that they could hardly get off either the ſting or the stain thereof.
It is graven upon the Tables of their hearts] Their ſin lay there, where the law ſhould have lain, Ezek. 31.33. Like as Queen Mary when ſhe dyed told thoſe about her, that the loſſe of Callice lay at her heart, a place far fitter for Jeſus Chriſt.
And upon the hornes of your Altars] Whereon the blood of your ſacrifices are ſprinkled; and ſo your ſin proclaimed.
Ver. 2. While their children remember their Altars] Or, as they remember their children, ſo they remember their Altars and their Groves, ſc. with greateſt love and delight. The Greeks call children foreign, the Comedian Chariſſima: ſo were their Idols to theſe Jews.
Ver. 3. O my mountain in the field] Or, O my mountain and field, i. e. O ye mountaneirs and fieldlings. Montani fere asperi ſunt & inculti: molliores corpore atque moribus pratenſes: they ſhould all be ſpoiled one with another, for the ſin of their high-places.
Ver. 4. And thou, even thy ſelf, ſhalt diſcontinue] Or intermit, ſc. the tillage of thy land. See Exod. 23.11. with Levit. 26.33, 34. it ſhall keep her Sabbaths.
Ver. 5. Curſed be the man that truſteth in man] Diſſerit hic de ſummo bono, & de ſummo malo, ſaith one: here the Prophet diſcourſeth of the chief good and of the chief evil. This later he pronounceth to be to depart from God, and to depend upon the creature for help: for ſuch a man, ſeem he never ſo manly a man (haggheber) is accurſed of God, whom he robbeth of his chief jewel, that which giveth him the ſoveraignty, and ſetteth, as it were, the crown upon his head. See Judg. 9.15. Pſal. 78.22. and 52.7.
And maketh fleſh his arm] i. e. His ſtrength: for in brachio eſt robur. Now three wayes, ſaith a Reverend man, we make fleſh our arm, Mr. Caſe.1. By ſitting down in a faithleſſe ſullen diſcontent and deſpair when we can ſee no ſecond cauſes. 2. By riſing up in a corky frothy confidence, when we ſee ſufficient humane help. 3. When we aſcribe the glory of our good to it, ſacrificing to our own net, Habak. 1. This is to pull the curſe upon our heads with twiſted wrath and indignation.
Whoſe heart departeth from God] He truſteth not God at all, who truſteth him not over all.
Ver. 6. For he ſhall be like the heath] Wild-myrice, that neither beareth fruit nor ſeed, and is good for little but to burn, or make beeſomes: See Heb. 6.8. Baſtard tamarisk ſome call it; others, Juniper.
But ſhall inhabit the parched places of the wilderneſſe] Such ſhall have no content or ſatisfaction. Confer Mat. 12.43. the unclean ſpirit caſt out, walks in dry places, &c. not but that dry and wet is all one with him: but it importeth his extream reſtleſneſſe.
Ver. 7. Bleſſed is the man that truſteth in the Lord] See on ver. 5. See alſo Pſal. 25.12. and 32.10. and 34.8. and 84.12. and 125.1. and 146.5. where David having entred a Caveat againſt creature confidence, perſwadeth people, by truſting in God alone, to provide for their own ſafety and happineſs. See Nah. 1.7. Such ſhall have marvellous loving kindneſs from God, Pſal. 17.7. above all that can be uttered, Pſal. 31.19. See Prov. 28.25.
Ver. 8. For he ſhall be as a tree planted] It is plain that he here alludeth to Pſal. 1.3. See the Notes there. The laurel, ſaith Pliny, is never thunder-ſtruck. Sure it is, that he who truſteth in God taketh no hurt: his heart is fixed and unmoveable, Pſal. 112.7, 8. to endure things almoſt incredible, Pſal. 27.3. Iſa. 14.32. confer Iſa. 26.4, 5. True Truſt will certainly triumph at length, as that which leaneth on the Lord, and the power of his might, the ſureſt ſupport.
By the river] The Hebrew here is Jubal: and the Jubilee ſaith one, had its name from this word, which ſignifieth a ſtream or watercourſe: as carrying us to Chriſt who is the truth of this type, Luk. 18.19.
But his leaf ſhall be green] Neither falling nor fading.
And ſhall not be careful in the year of drought] A Metaphor ſetting forth the full aſſurance of faith that is in ſome good men, ſuch as was that holy Martyr, who ſaid I will henceforth be Careleſſe according to my name.John Careleſs Act. & Mon. fol. 1743.
Si fractus illabatur orbis,
Impavidum ferient ruinae.
Neither ſhall ceaſe from yeilding fruit] As they ſay the Lemmon tree doth not:Theoph. Plin. but ever and anon ſendeth forth new Lemmons, aſſoon as the former are faln down with ripeneſſe.
Ver. 9. The heart of man is deceitful above all things] The pravity and perverſity of mans heart, full of harlotry and creature-confidence, deceiving and being deceived, is here plainly and plentifully deſcribed; and oh that it were duely and deeply conſidered. Deceitful it is here ſaid to be above all things: no creature like it. Varium eſt, verſutum, & verſipelle; tortuoſum eſt, anfractuoſum & fallax, ideoque inſcrutabile. It is full of turnings and windings, nooks and corners, wiles and ſlights. It deceived David (as wiſe as he was) and tripped up his heels (as the word here uſed importeth) Pſal. 39.1, 2, 3. ſo it did Peter, Joh. 13.37, 38. Fitly doth the Prophet here call our hearts deceitful, in that word in the Original, from whence Jacob had his name▪ becauſe our fleſhly hearts do the ſame things to the ſpirit in doing of good, which Jacob did to his brother; ſupplant it, and catch it by the heele, while it is running the Chriſtian race. As Jehu offered ſacrifice to Baal, killing his Prieſts at the ſame time (and this he did in ſubtilty to circumvent them,See Dike of the deceitfulneſs of the Heart. 2 King. 10.19.) and as Huſhai went to Abſoloms company to overthrow him: ſo deale our deceitful hearts with us,foreign. &c. Neither is it deceitful only, but deep (ſo the Septuagint here render it) thoſe that are ſtill digging in this dunghil, do find it to be a very bottomleſſe pit. Yea it is,
Desperately wicked] Deſperately bent upon deadly miſchief. So that he gave no evil counſel who ſaid to his friend, Ita cave tibi, ut caveas teipſum: ſo ſee to thy ſelf, that thou beware of thine own heart. Another prayed not amiſs, Lord keep me from that naughty man, my ſelf. Take heed of the devil and the world (ſaid a certain Martyr in a letter to his wife) but eſpecially of thine own heart:
— Non longe ſcilicet hoſtes
Quaerendi nobis, circumſtant undique muros.
We have a Trojan horſe full of armed enemies in the cittadel of our hearts. We have Jebuſites enough within us to undo us,foreign. Enchirid. cap. 72. quos nec fugere poſſumus nec fugare. It was no ill character therefore of a good man that is given by Epictetus a Heathen, that he carefully watcheth himſelf as his own deadly enemy.
Who can know it?] None but a mans ſelf, 1 Cor. 2.11. nor yet a mans ſelf neither; for nothing is more common then ſelf-deceit, Gal. 6.3. Jam. 1.21. How much was Bellarmine (that great Scholler) miſtaken? and how ill read in his own heart, when as the Prieſt coming to abſolve him on his death-bed, he could not remember any particular ſin to confeſſe, till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth? had he but thruſt his hand into his own boſom with Moſes, he had brought it out leprous, white as ſnow. Had he looked well into his own heart, he would have found it to be a raging ſea of ſin, Iſa. 57.20. where is that Leviathan (the devil) beſides creeping things (crawling luſts) innumerable. This made bleſſed Bradford never look on any mans lewd life, but he would ſtrait cry out, Lord have mercy upon me: for in this my vile heart remaineth that ſin, which without Gods ſpecial grace, I ſhould have committed as well as he.
Ver. 10. I the Lord ſearch the heart] Be it never ſo full of ſhifts and fetches, I cannot be deceived in it. The watch-maker muſt needs know every turning and winding in the watch. God is the heart maker, and the heart-mender, neither is there any creature (no not any creature of the heart) that is not manifest in his ſight: but all things are naked and opened before his eyes, Heb. 4.13. Naked for the outſide, and opened for the inſide:foreign. diſſected, quartered, and as it were cleft thorough the back-bone, as the Apoſtles word there ſignifieth: ſo opened, as the entrailes of a man that is anatomized, or of a beaſt that is cut up and quartered. The heart and reines are taken to be the ſeat of the thoughts and affections, yea of the ſtrongeſt affection, namely that which is for generation. Theſe are a mans inwardeſt and moſt remote parts: ſo that it is hard for food or Phyſick to come at them. Covered they are alſo with fat and fleſh, &c. and yet they are not hid from Gods eye, which is indeed a fiery eye, Rev. 1.14. and therefore needeth no outward light. Mans eye is like a candle, which is firſt lighted, and then extinct: The Angels eyes are like the ſtars which ſhine indeed, and in the dark too; but with a borrowed light: neither know they the thoughts of mens hearts, further then they are diſcovered. But Gods eye is like the Sun, yea far brighter, and more peircing then that eye of the world: neither needeth he a window in mans breaſt (as Momus wiſht) to look in at: for every man, before God, is all window, totus totus tranſparens & pellucidus, This, Thales and other Philoſophers ſaw and confeſſed.
Ver. 11. As the Partridge ſitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not] Becauſe either ſhe is taken in an evil net, or the eggs are marred by the male, or otherwiſe, before they can be hatched.
So he that getteth riches and not by right] That cryeth
—Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem,
Ʋnde habeat nemo quaerit, ſed oportet habere.
Right or wrong, many are reſolved to be rich, but are uſually croſſed, or elſe curſed with a bleſſing: for treaſures of wickedneſs profit not; but righteouſneſs delivereth from death, Prov. 10.2. God ſometimes giveth wealth to the wicked, as men put money into an earthen bottle: which that they may get out again, they break the bottle in pieces.
Shall leave them in the midſt of his dayes] Either they ſhall leave him, or he them, to his unmedicinable grief and heart-break. A poor fool, God will be ſure to make of him. He that truſteth in his riches (as every Mammoniſt doth) ſhall fall, Prov. 11.28. for although he bleſſe himſelf (as well underlaid; and what ſhould ayle ſuch an one? ſaith the world) yet the Lord abhorreth him, Pſal. 10.3. ſo that he many times cometh in the midſt of his daies to an untimely end, as did Judas, Ahab, Achan, Balaam, Ananias and Sapphira, &c. And thus many a rich wretch ſpinneth a fair thred to ſtrangle himſelf, both temporally and eternally: he by his covetouſneſs not onelyonly killeth others, Prov. 1.19. but himſelf too.
Ver. 12. A glorious high throne from the beginning] Therefore its beſt to truſt in God at all times, ye people, and to pour out your hearts before him; ſith God is a refuge for us, Pſal. 62.8. All that do otherwiſe ſhall be aſhamed, ver. 12. and worthily; becauſe having ſo glorious a God reſiant amongſt them, they ſo baſely forſake him, to ſerve and ſeek to Idols.
Ver. 13. Shall be written in the earth] i. e. Aeternâ morte damnabuntur, they ſhall be hurled into hell, as not having their names written in Heaven, Luke 10.20. where all that are written among the living in Jeruſalem, Iſa. 4.3. are enrolled, Heb. 12.23. non pro glorioſis ſed pro probroſis habiti: See Pſal. 17.14. Prudentius rightly ſaith, that their names that are written in red letters of blood in the Churches Calendar, are written in golden letters in Chriſts regiſter in the book of life. As on the contrary, theſe Idolaters, whoſe ſin was with an Iron-pen ingraven on the tables of their hearts, as ver. 1. are juſtly written in the earth, i. e. caſt to hell.
Ver. 14. Heal me O Lord and I ſhall be healed] viz. of that cordolium that my malicious country-men cauſe me. The Prophet was even ſick at heart of their unworthy uſages; and prayes help and healing, ne totus & ipſe labaſcat inter auditores deploratiſſimos, leſt he ſhould periſh by them, and with them.
Ver. 15. Behold they ſay unto me] Heb. they are ſaying unto me: it is their daily dicterium or jear.
Where is the Word of the Lord?] Whereby thou ſo oft threateneſt us with deſolation. Thus prophane perſons flear when they ſhould fear. Ʋbi eſt? i. e. nuſquam eſt. Piſcat.See 2 Pet. 3, 4. Iſa. 5.19. Amos 5.18.
Ver. 16. I have not haſtned from being a Paſtor before thee] I have neither raſhly taken up the work of the Miniſtry, quo ſecundus abe te eſſem Paſtor, wherein I have been thine under-ſhepheard, but was rightly called by thee thereunto, and have obeyed thy call: neither have I been over-haſty to rid my hands of this ſo troubleſom and thankleſſe an employment. Latimer, in one of his Sermons, ſpeaking of a Miniſter who gave this anſwer why he left off preaching, becauſe he ſaw he did no good, but got the hatred of many: This, ſaith He, was a naughty, a very naughty anſwer.
Neither have I deſired the woful day] The doleful or deadly day, ſc. of their deſolation, or my denunciation of it. Gods Miniſters take no delight to fling daggers at the faces of graceleſſe perſons (whatever they may think) or to terrify them cauſeleſly: but as knowing the terrour of the Lord they ſeek to affright them by the menaces of Gods mouth from ſuch ſinful practiſes as will be their ruine: and hence they are hated — an expectes ut Quintilianus ametur?Juven.
Thou knoweſt it] See chap. 12, 1. & 15.15. 2 Cor. 1.12.
Ver. 17. Be not a terrour unto me] Let me have fair weather over head, how foul ſoever it be under foot. If we have peace with God, though trouble in the world, we can take no hurt. If vapours be not got into the bowels of the earth, and ſtir not there, ſtorms and tempeſts abroad cannot cauſe an earth-quake: ſo if there be peace within, &c. But like as all the letters in the Alphabet, without a Vowel, will not make one word: nor all the Stars in the firmament, without a Sun, will make a day: ſo neither can all this worlds good make one happy without God and his favour.
Ver. 18. Let them be confounded] A heavy imprecation: Let perſecutours take heed how they move Miniſters to make interceſſion to God againſt them, as Elias did againſt Iſrael, Rom. 11.2. as Jeremy here and elſewhere doth againſt the Jews; as the Chriſtian Churches did againſt Julian the Apoſtate. God will ſet to his Fiat.
Let them be diſmaied, but let not me be diſmaied] Paveant illi & non paveam ego, So the Vulgar Latin hath it. But what a Lack-latin dolt was that Popiſh Prieſt, who alledged to his Pariſhioners this text to prove, that not he but they were to pave the Church-way? So Another of them, finding it written in the end of Paul's Epiſtles, Miſſa eſt, &c. bragged he had found the Maſſe in his bible. So another reading Joh. 1.44, Invenimus Meſſiam, made the ſame concluſion.
Ver. 19. Go and ſtand in the gate of the children] The ſheep-gate ſay ſome: whereof ſee Neh. 3.1, 32. & 12.39. or, as others, the water-gate whereof Neh. 3.26. a place it was of great reſort and concourſe, and therefore fitteſt for this new Sermon to be made in; firſt, though afterwards alſo he was to preach it in all the gates of Jeruſalem, foraſmuch as it was about a matter of greateſt importance, even the ſerious ſanctification of the Sabbath-day: Diem ſeptimum Opifex mundi natalem ſibi ſacravit, & obſervari praecepit. That fourth Commandement ſaith Philo, is a famous precept, and profitable to excite to all kind of virtue and piety.
Ver. 20. Ye Kings of Judah] Magiſtrates being Lord-keepers of both the Tables of the Law, ſhould carefully ſee to it, that both be duely obſerved. Our King Edgar made laws for the ſanctification of the Lords-day-Sabbath, as have alſo our preſent Governours,Jer. Dike of Conſc. Eſtine in lib. Sentent. diſtinc. 11. cap. 2. to their laſting renowne. The firſt blow given to the German Churches was on the Lords-day, which they careleſly obſerved: for on that day was Prague loſt: as was likewiſe Conſtantinople, on Whit-ſunday, as they called it.
Ver. 21. Take hede to your ſelves] Break not the Sabbath, that ye fall not under the fierce wrath of God: who paid him home with ſtones, who but only gathered ſticks on that day. Cavete, it concerns you much.
And bear no burthen] See Neh. 13.15, 16, 19. with the Notes.
Ver. 22. Neither carry forth a burden] Let not the Sabbath of the Lord, that ſanctified day of his Reſt, be ſo ſhamefully troubled and diſquieted. Make not Holy-day a Voider as ſome do, to the weeke aforegoing.
Ver. 23. But they obeyed not] See chap. 7.24, 26.
Ver. 24. But hallow the Sabbath-day] ſc. By ſpending the holy time holily: elſe, God may ſue us on an action of waſte. Idlenſſe is a ſin any day; but ſpecially on the Sabbath-day; ſpiritual idleneſſe then, is as had as corporal labour.
Ver. 25. Then ſhall there enter] Then ſhall all go well with you publickly and privately; ye ſhall have a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments.
Ver. 26. And they ſhall come] All the ſolemnity of the Temple ſhall continue, with the exaltation of all the neighbourhood. When the High-Prieſts would ſo workyday-like beg the body, ſeal the ſepulchre, and ſet the watch on the Sabbath (called by an Irony the day that followed the day of the preparation, Matth. 27.62.) they forfeited all.
Ver. 27. Then will I kindle a fire] That furious Element, whereby God hath ſo oft puniſhed this ſin, as is to be ſeen in the Practice of Piety, Deniſon's Wolf in Sheeps clothing, Mr. Clark's Examples, &c.