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Isa. 28.14.15. &c. Hear the Word of the Lord ye scornf•••• men, that rule my people, which are in Jerusalem; be∣cause ye have said, We have made a Covenant wit•• Death, &c.
IN this Chapter, is laid down the woes denounce•• against Israel, for their hardned securitie, and con¦tempt of the Promise of God in the Messiah; where unto, through fulnesse they were fallen. For fulnes••
begot Pride, and that made them even drunk as with wine: and so carelesse and secure.
1. He pronounceth the woe, and then shews their present estate.
1. Under pretence of their priviledges, they were lif∣ted up in Pride.
2. Besotted with VVorld and sensual pleasures, as men drunk with wine, and hardned in all. Two things made them proud,
1. Their priviledges of being Gods people.
2. The fulnesse of the VVorld and long peace, & this defection was grown general.
1. The People, they were lifted up with a singular conceit.
2. The Priests and Prophets were grown drunk and b••sotted.
3. Their Princes were high minded, and scorners: And so at last; in these VVords he proceeds to judge∣ment against Israel; shewing what shall befall them, ••nd so Prophesies of the Captivity following: In which, ••e declares formally as in all Courts of justice, for the defence of the King his Crown and Dignity: For ••herein the cryme being notorious in the Countrey, ••nd appearing so before the inferiour Officer: they are ••eferred to the judge, specially sent by the King: before whom they are to receive their final tryal and judge∣ment according to desert: VVhere, 1. They are called ••o the Bar, then the Judgement preferred, and sound witnesses produced: so judgement and execution. So ••oth God here. He calls them to the Bar: by their names, scornful men, that rule Israel. He prefixes the ••nditement against them, because they had cast off the VVord of the Lord by carnal confidence and securitie, ••nd so were hardened against God: VVhich confidence ••ppeared in three particulars, wherein they promise sa∣••ety, though God had threatned the contrary. 1. From Death. 2. From guilt, and Hell. 3 From the Crosse, to∣••ether with the ground thereof, vanity and falshood.
Three VVitnesses he needed not, for they out of their
hardnesse confesse: He proceeds to judgement: wherein he, 1. He layes down the safe estate of Sion, the Church: in that he hath there laid the Foundation and Corner∣stone, Jesus Christ: and the safety of all that build thereon, He that believes, &c.
2. And then the judgement of the enemies, as 1, That they shall have right judgement by him. 2. That he will disannul all their hopes of safetie, &c. 1. Note their present condition, and what had brought them to it, viz. Their fulnesse, and peace, and conceit of their pri∣viledges above others; So, that had made them now scorners of Christ, & his Word, by the Prophets. So that,
Long peace, and plentie, ease & fulnesse in the World covered with a conceit of Redemption by Christ; doth usually harden man against God, and cover man from himself, that Christ and his promise: his wayes and Religion are despised and little set by: Which, for the most part brings a heavy day in the end.
Thus the old World mocked at Noah, and Psal. the•• 10. Tush, there is no knowledge in the most high, let him do his Word, that we may see it: Thus the Pharise•• being full, despised the righteousnesse of God, & mad•• a mock of Christ; See what end it brings, Prov. 1. Be∣cause they despised my counsels, &c. Therefore shall th•• eate the fruit of their own wayes. As in Constantine time, when the Church enjoyed rest from their ene∣mies: and that they had peace through the Christia•• World: Men became wanton in knowledge, and fe•• from the truth of Christ, into foul errors, to the ve•••• denying of Christs Godhead, and the Holy Ghost. S•• in times of peace and fulnesse, Religion is made but matter of discourse not of practise.
1. For two things make all things esteemed, Neces¦sity, Delight: But when the heart is fatted up with th•• World, he feels no want of Christ. And for delight, h•• hath none: for he never felt the sweetnesse of his Lor•• and Reconciliation.
2. For the fulnesse of the World embraced, eats o•••• the life of Religion: As the thorny ground choked th••
seed & Davids high Mountain: And Christ saith, How hardly doth these enter into Heaven. So that, though the World laugh and seems pleasant for the present; yet in the end, it is a miserable comforter. For, though Israel was now full, and despised the honny Comb of Christs death; yet afterwards, were carried captive; they were forced to sit by the waters of Babel weeping, and drink their own tears: as those, Psal. 37. Who had what they desired, yet were they set in slippery places: and sud∣denly went down to hell.
1. This is too plain in experience, peace and plenty have been our portion many a day: We feed of the fat∣test, & baist our selves before the fire; we feel no smart, as do others; nor are we pinched with famine, nor hear we the fearful noise of the drum: nor are we affrighted with the terrors of an army. We dwell safe under our Vines, and are not driven from our habitation, as other our neighbours; who are glad to forsake house and harbour, lands and riches, to save their own lives. We play with our Wives and Children, and sport our selves with them for company, when others hearts are broken with cries and lamentation of Wife and Infants: and knowes not how to save them from that approaching destruction that is coming: And yet, what effect hath this wrought: even like those in Zephaniah 1.12. which say; Tush, God will neither do good nor evil; and tush, we shal feel no evil.
2. But look for it, for where this goes before, the other will follow after. If Sodom mock at Lot, through fulnesse of bread, yet God will meet with them. And if the Pharisees stumble at this stone, and will not have this man to reign over them, yet the falling on them, shall crush them to pieces, and destroy those his enemies: But Israel would never believe warning, till it fell upon them.
3. To be crossed then in the World, & to suffer want reproach & persecution: is a safer way than prosperity. For, by the one man is driven to G••d; for want drove the Prodigal to his Father: and hereby, the flesh is weakned and crucified, but by ful••esse made strong and
no Judgement nor bondage so great as this Security & Hardnesse and Slavery to our own Passions. But woe and alace to the poor World, who have not the World, and yet despise Christ most of any; For they are left to their own dissolute Wills and Lusts, and want educa∣tion in Gods Fear as much as meat: And therefore it were to be wished, that the course begun might be continued.
4. But it is a fearful thing to make a mock of Christ, and set lightly by his Word, and to be so far in love with the World, that we esteem not his Word: it ar∣gues we find little good therein, and little comfort by the Promise: For what we find any good in, we highly esteem of: and what would pull us from our pleasant pleasures, we cannot endure: Therefore was the word of the Prophets so unwelcome to Israel, so to us, For first,
1. The doctrine of Faith, we count foolishness and uncertain.
2. The doctrine of the Cross, impossible.
3. The doctrine of Obedience, bondage & needlesse.
4. The doctrine of Death, most unwelcome. Yea, what account do we make of the World, what care & contending about it, and yet how lightly we passe over Christ and his Word? But take heed, for this grows from setting light to scorning, and then to persecuting of it.
5. Pray we then with David, that we fall not into presumptuous sin: For this is that Word that must save thee, and that Christ, that must redeem thee: and tha•• Promise that must comfort thee.
And thou little knows what thou scornes, even that, which at Death must be thy best friend: but how ca•• we look for him to be a friend at Death whom we have despised and scorned all our life.
Because ye have said. Here was their carnal confi∣dence, Presumption, and Fools-Paradise; wherein they blessed themselves under the shelter of Vanity a•••• Falshood, they would not hear of Sin, Guilt, & Death and the Cross: but thought they had a device in wit & the world to put off all these. So that,
All men naturally labor, by all wit and inventions to put off the evil day far from them, and security and presumption: to give rest to their restlesse hearts, rather than to feel the evil in themselves, that they may find rest through mercy in another.
S•• the rich fool, much goods for many dayes, so Da∣vid blessed himself in his high mountain, and Israel by the Ark. Thus the Pharisees covered all under pretence of Holinesse, but all in vain: Nay, all cry, Peace, peace.
1. For man is lothe, to see any evil approaching to himself.
2. And mans mind must have something to bear it up, if not Christ, he runns to vain shifts.
3. Man is fa••len into an evil estate of heart, which all creatures are not able to help, and he put to his shifts to keep it off as long as he can, For the fear of Hell and Death, is a little bell: These three evils pursue men, fi••st.
1. Guilt and Fear of Hell, l••ke a worm, gnaws daily: and but for these, man would live merrily in the world: Thus he makes a covenant with either, by forgetting or by flattering the Law, and stablishing a Righteousnesse of his own, or presuming of mercy a far off.
2. The evil of Death presseth upon us, and threatens to make an end of all Joy, Pleasure, & Riches, & leaves no Hope to man: thus we put off many dayes, & think we shal yet live long, when men of our age are gone & forgotten: but it hasteth upon us daily.
3. The evil of Adversity pincheth daily, now this Crosse, that Losse, this Sicknesse, that Want and Trouble: this we hope to prevent and recover, & bow down in fear and basenesse, and husband all so well hereafter, that we shal enjoy better dayes, when it is impossible to order all things according to mans mind.
So that, all these are but vain shifts and falshood: But the only way is with Christ, to take the evil day ••nd crosse upon us.
1. For guilt to see it, and bear the indignation of the Lord, and with the Prodigal cry out dayly, We have sinned, &c. And wait on Him that hath overcome Hell
and Darknesse, and now saith, O Death where is thy sting? Hell where is thy victory?
2. And for Death, no Covenant to be made with it: but seeing the vanity of the World, to meet it joyfully, and say, Thou canst do me no hurt, but take the World and the Life which I esteem not, and open a door to that life which I shal enjoy.
3. And for the Crosse, no way to escape it; But Pa∣tience and subjection to the Fathers will, who knows, what is best to tame our proud hearts, and to crosse us in that wherein we dote. And herein appears his love, that he will suffer us to enjoy nothing that will hurt us; but even this shall turn to our good.
Thus we all strive to put evil far off, & to shufle over the fearful dayes. We now think lightly of them, and play with wasters, but when we come to graple with death, we shal find it no play game, Look for it, for an evil day is coming: and happy he that is prepared for that d••y. Take heed, lest at any time our hearts be op∣pressed with cares of this life, or luke warmenesse.
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in Sion. Here, He first layes the fou••dation of rest in the Church, that though it fare ill with his enemies: yet is his Church built upon the foundation of free mercy in Christ, and his truth revealed by him shall stand against all storms So that,
God hath laid in his Church, & conveyed to his People a foundation of rest in Jesus Christ, which shall pre∣serve them against all crosse of Death and Hell, and n•• storm shall be able to overthrow it, Psal. 125. They th•• trust in the Lord, shall be as Mount Sion. Mat 7. They that build upon the Rock, shall abide the Tempest.
David calls him a Rock of Stone, and Peter, the Cor∣ner-stone.
For this is prophesied of him, Isa. 9. His Name shall 〈◊〉〈◊〉 called Wonderful Counsellor, The mighty God, the Prin•• of Peace, &c. Other Foundation, can no man lay.
1. Thence it is said, Heb. 11. That faith is the grou•• of things hoped for: because Christ, whom faith ot•• ••ests on, is unchangeable to his.
2. And the promise in him, is, Yea, & Amen: Though in us oftentimes it is Nay.
3. This is that, whereby Adam was restored, and first laid in him: whereby Abraham was preserved, and Paul delivered in greatest extremity.
This foundation is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God; Lord of the Covenant, the ingraved form of his Image, given of the Father for the Restauration of man; to whom he hath given all power in Heaven and in Earth: and hath hid in him the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge: and the heart of man built on this foundation by saith thereon, cannot fail.
But the Church of Rome hath translated this founda∣tion from Christ to the Church: from head to mem∣bers; from that, Mat. 18. Super hanc Petram: and so they have the determination of all truth; & it to be received and believed, because of their testimony.
And so, that Christ is to be believed because of the Church; and not & contra. And thus they pervert one Article of the Creed, to bring all mens heads under their girdle, and that they may sit in the Consciences of men, and do what they list, without controle. They say, We are not only to believe the Church to be, but to give credit to it. To understand the difference, note Austins distinction of Faith; in regard of the object.
1. Credere in aliquid, to believe and put confidence in one.
2. Credere alicui, to believe, or give credit to one.
3. Credere aliquem, to believe that one is; or after this manner.
To believe in one, hath reference to God only: be∣cause, the object thereof must be both verum & bonum.
To believe or give credit to one, hath relation to his object; as to objectū formale, a principle for whose sake.
To believe one to be, hath relation, as ad objectum materiale.
The first, we agree in. And as for the second, we say, The testimony of to Church is of all humane the grea∣test, and can never err in the whole, nor fundamentally.
They say, Crede Ecclesiae, as to the formal cause, for whose sake, we are to believe all Truth: and some of them, that was inserted, tanquam meum, cum omnia alia credendi. And so, they make it a foundation of faith: upon whose credit, they wholly depend. And this is the difference, and this we deny.
1. Because, the Grammatical Constructions will not bear it: Credere, being taken to give credit, is put with a Dative Case, and an Accusative Case: as in the Creed.
2. Because, there is no such certainty in their Church for man to depend on; but that which must be the foundation of Faith, must be a thing certainly known and determined what it is: not the word but the thing. For saith is not verbal but real: But according to their own assertions, the Church is a thing to them not cer∣tainly known or determined what it is.
Their Doctors divide the Church into the Church
And of these we agree not, which is the Church, on which we must depend. Some will have the Essential, as Tride. Catech & Gloss. upon Gratians Decrees, which are Popes own law.
2 Chap. 24 4.1. Some others, seeing this could not be, because it could not be known; conclude it to be re∣presentative, as Bellarmine, Herson, &c.
3. But the Jesuits of late, fearing this would prejudice the Popes Supremacy too much: concludes it is the Church Vertual, the Pope only or alone.
And so while they boast of the Church: their Mother: they mean nothing else but the Pope, their Father. What foundation can there be here for man to rest on?
But we have a sure word of the Prophets, and a sure foundation, Jesus Christ, than which none other ca•• be laid.
1. The ground then of all uncertainty in all thing••
is, because we build without this foundation: One man layes a foundation in the World: another, in Wisdom: another in righteousnesse: and uncertain in all.
2. Take heed of stumbling at this stone.
1. Either at his sufferings, as Peter: & the Disciples, at his death.
2. Or, at his poverty and low estate, as the Wordling, Matthew 19. and 21.
3. Or at his mercy and love, as the Pharisees that judged him.
4. Or at his Holiness, crossing our lusts.
3. See the certainty of believers. 1. They have a sure foundation, a tryed stone that abides the storm: a pre∣cious stone, full of treasure: a corner-stone, that joyns altogether in love.
He that believes, makes not haste: or shal not be con∣founded: For he seeks no vain shifts, but sits in death & darknesse, by faith, waiting and sticking to this founda∣tion, till the light shine out of darknesse. So that,
The only rest to man in all straits, is the sticking to Christ by faith: and waiting on the promise which shall be fulfilled in time.
Abraham waited four hundred and thirty years, Israel, seventy in Babylon, Isa. 30. Your strength is to sit still.
1. For God hath set a time appointed for every work: like a nurse which hides her self from the child: till it thinks it hath lost her, yet still hears its cryes, and comes in time.
2. God knowes it is best for a man to keep him un∣der as yet, till his will be subued and lust abated.
1. But the blind World will needs run before their guide, and will now have it, and so forsake God and his Promise.
2. Weaklings, who would have rest assoon as they feel any disquietnesse.
3. Others that will see things before they fall, and stumble for the present.
4. Wait thou weary heart, make no haste: Fly not off
to any other shifts; nor fix on none other foundation. This will be able to keep thee from drowning: he that hath kept thee hitherto, is able to keep thee still; and he that cometh, will come, and will not tarry.