The Prophecy of Haggai Interpreted and Applied, Frontispiece – To the reader
See heer, th 'effigies, louely, lively face,
Of reverend Rainolds, full of fayth & Grace;
Oxfords renowned Doctor of the Chaire,
Acute, mellifluos Oratour, moſt rare!
T. Croſs ſculp
THE PROPHESIE OF HAGGAI, Interpreted and applyed in ſundry SERMONS
By that Famous and Judicious Divine, JOHN RAINOLDS, D. D.
Never before printed, Beeing very uſefull for theſe Times.
HAGGAI Chap. 1. verſe 7, 8, 9.
Thus ſaith the Lord of Hoſts, Conſider your wayes. Goe up to the mountaine, and bring wood, and build the houſe, and I will take pleaſure in it, and I will bee glorified, ſaith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and loe, it came to little: and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it: Why, ſaith the Lord of Hoſts? becauſe of mine houſe that is waſt, and ye run every man unto his own houſe.
LONDON, Printed by W. W. for William Lee, and are to be ſold at the Turkes-head neere the Miter Taverne in Fleetſtreet. 1649.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
Reader,
I Shall promiſe a few words concerning both the Authour and worke. For the Authour of it, it was Doctor JOHN RAINOLDS, a man eminent both for learning and piety. No man mee thinkes (ſaith *Dr. Hall De Cade Firſt Epiſt. 7.one) is happy on Earth to him that hath grace for ſubſtance and Learning for ornament. This verſe is written about Dr. Rainolds Air picture, In…ertum eſt fuerit, doctior an melior. It is doubtfull whether He were more learned or pious. When Bellarmine came out firſt, both the Vniverſities choſe one in each Academy to confute him. Oxford (for I muſt ever give that the preheminence) choſe Doctor Rainolds for their Champion. Cambridge, Doctor Whitaker for theirs. Whitaker was more nimble, for hee went over a great part of Bellarmines Controverſies, and ſo ſolidly conſuted him, that it is credibly related by ſome Engliſh-men that travelled into Italy, that Bellarmine himſelfe procured his Picture out of England, & placed it in his ſtudy, ſecretly admiring him for his great learning; and when hee was asked by another Jeſuite his friend and companion, why hee would have the Picture of that Heretick, hee was wont to anſwer, that although hee was an Heretick, and an adverſary, yet hee was a learned Adverſary. Whitaker, that Honour of our Schooles, and Angell of our Church, Learned Whitaker, then whom our age ſaw nothing more memorable; Dr. Hall ibid.what clearneſſe of judgment? what ſweetneſse of ſtile? what gravity of perſon? what grace of carriage was in that man? who ever ſaw him without reverence, or heard him without wonder? Doctor Rainolds (whom a very reverend Divine compares to a pen too full of inke) thought at the firſt, that in two or three yeares he ſhould have been able to have gone over all Bellarmin… Controverſies, but he was 7 yeares about the very fir… of … de … bris Apocryphis, which yet he finiſhed not neither, inſomuch that one Mr. Walter Travers jeſted with him, and told him, he was ſo long in reading the Apocrypha here, that he would read the Canon…cals in Heaven. Yet his conference with Hart▪ & that worke together, doe amply diſcover his great abilities, and he Parkerus in praefat. ad lib. de deſcenſu C… ad Inferos.is juſtly ſtiled by one of our owne writers, Pontificiorum malleus, & patriae ſuae dulciſſimum decus, the hammer of the Papiſts, and moſt ſweet ornament of his owne Country. Doctor Rainolds alone was a well furniſht Library, *Dr. Hall ubi. ſupra. Rainoldus fuit, doctrinae & omne genus eruditionis Oazophylacium dix…ris. Scriptores opinor omnes, prophanos Eccleſiaſticos, ſacros▪ concilia, Patres, Hiſtorias evolver…t; Li…guarum quae cunque Theologo, vel adjumento ſunt, vel ornamento, callentiſſimus: Ingenio acer agiliſque, judicio gravis & maturus: labore magis quam Adamantius ipſe in defatigabi…is: ſic in omni diſciplinnarum genere verſatus, quaſi in ſingulis operam ſuam omnem poſuiſſet. Crakanth▪ Defenſ. Eccleſ Anglic. C. 69.full of all faculties, of all ſtudies, of all learning: the memory, the reading of this man were neare to a miracle. For this worke of his, it was reviewed and perfected by that Reverend Divine Maſter William Hinde, ſometimes Preacher of Gods word at Bunbury in Cheſhire, whoſe intention was to have printed it in his life time, hee having ſet forth ſome other of the ſame Authors workes, as that on Obadiah, theſe Sermons immediately following thereupon, to bee handled in the Doctors ordinary courſe of Preaching, as appeares in the firſt page of theſe Sermons. This Copy therefore being left with mee (by Maſter Nathaniel Hinde, a Miniſter in Staffordſhire, and Sonne to the forementioned Maſter William Hinde) with a deſire alſo of the publication of it: I thought good to preface thus much in the behalfe both of the Author and worke. It is (I ſuppoſe) the beſt Copy that is extant; and though he wholly finiſhed not the ſecond Chapter of Haggai, yet becauſe the maine ſubject of that Booke is the building of the Temple, it will not ſeeme unſeaſonable for theſe times, wherein Reformation ſhould bee the aime of all; and in another reſpect alſo this worke may bee ſuitable to the preſent ſeaſon, becauſe this learned and religious Author in this Book ſeemes to favour the Presbiterian way. What ever it bee, I commend it and thee to Gods bleſſing, and reſt,
Thy hearty well-wiſher, EDVVARD LEIGH.