Behold and see if there be any sorrow, like unto my sorrow3, says here also, I am the man, that hath seen affliction, by the rod of his wrath. But because there are some other passages in this chapter, that are not conveniently appliable to Christ, (it is not likely that Christ would say of himself, That his Father shut out his prayer, even then when he cried and shouted; not likely that Christ would say of himself, That his Father was to him, as a bear in the way, and as a lion in secret places; not likely that Christ would say of himself, That his Father had removed his soul far from peace) therefore this chapter, and this person cannot be so well understood of Christ. Others therefore have understood it of Jerusalem itself; but then it would not be expressed in that sex, it would not be said of Jerusalem, I am the man. Others understand it of any particular man, that had his part, in that calamity, in that captivity; that the affliction was so universal upon all of that nation of what condition soever, that every man might justly say, Ego vir, I am the man that have seen affliction. But then all this chapter must be figurative, and still, where we can, it becomes, it behoves us, to maintain a literal sense and interpretation of all Scriptures. And that we shall best do in this place, if we understand these words literally of Jeremy himself, that the minister of God, the preacher of God, the prophet of God, Jeremy himself, was the man; the preacher is the text, Ego vir, I am the man: as the ministers of God are most exposed to private contumelies, so should they be most affected with public calamities, and soonest come to say with the apostle, Quis infirmatur, Who is weak, and I am not weak too, who is offended, and I am not affected with it? When the people of God are distressed with sickness, with dearth, with any public calamity, the minister is the first man, that should be compassionate, and sensible of it. In these words then, (I am the man, &c.) these are our two parts; first the burden, and then the ease, first the weight, and then the alleviation, first the discomfort, and then the refreshing, the sea of afflictions that overflow, and surround us all, and then our emergency and lifting up our head above that sea. In the first we shall consider, first, the generality of afflictions; and that VOL. V. 3 Lam. i. 12. +2 Cor. xi. 29. X first in their own nature, and then secondly in that name of man upon whom they fall here, Gheber, Ego vir, I am the man, which is that name of man, by which the strongest, the powerfulest of men are denoted in the Scriptures; they, the strongest, the mightiest, they that thought themselves safest, and sorrow-proof, are afflicted. And lastly, in the person, upon whom these afflictions are fastened here, Jeremy the prophet, of whom literally we understand this place: the dearliest beloved of God, and those of whose service God may have use in his church, they are subject to be retarded in their service, by these afflictions. Nothing makes a man so great amongst men, nothing makes a man so necessary to God, as that he can escape afflictions. And when we shall have thus considered the generality thereof, these three ways, in the nature of affliction itself, in the signification of that name of exaltation Gheber, and in the person of Jeremy, we shall pass to the consideration of the vehemency and intenseness thereof, in those circumstances that are laid down in our text, first, that these afflictions are ejus, his, the Lord's, and then they are in virga, in his rod, and again, in virga iræ, in the rod of his wrath. And in these two branches, the extent and the weight of afflictions, and in these few circumstances, that illustrate both, we shall determine our first part, the burden, the discomfort. When we shall come at last, to our last part, of comfort, we shall find that also to grow out into two branches; for, first, vidit, he saw his affliction, (I am the man that hath seen affliction) affliction did not blind him, not stupify him, affliction did not make him insensible of affliction, (which is a frequent, but a desperate condition) vidit, he saw it; that is first, and then, ego vir, I am the man that saw it, he maintained the dignity of his station, still he played the man, still he survived to glorify God, and to be an example to other men, of patience under God's corrections, and of thankfulness in God's deliverance. In which last part we shall also see, that all those particulars that did aggravate the affliction in the former part, (that they were from the Lord, from his rod, from the rod of his wrath) do all exalt our comfort in this, that it is a particular comfort that our afflictions are from the Lord, another that they are from his rod, and another also, that they are from the rod of his wrath. First then in our first part, and the first branch thereof, the generality of affliction, considered in the nature thereof: we met all generally, in the first treason against ourselves; without exception all; in Adam's rebellion, who was not in his loins? And in a second treason, we met all too; in the treason against Christ Jesus, we met all; all our sins were upon his shoulders. In those two treasons we have had no exception, no exemption. The penalty for our first treason, in Adam, in a great part, we do all undergo; we do all die, though not without a lothness and colluctation at the time, yet without a deliberate desire to live in this world for ever. How loth soever any man be to die, when death comes, yet I think, there is no man that ever formed a deliberate prayer, or wish, that he might never die. That penalty for our first treason in Adam, we do bear. And would any be excepted from bearing any thing deduced from his second treason, his conspiracy against Christ, from imitation of his passion, and fulfilling his sufferings in his body, in bearing cheerfully the afflictions and tribulations of this life? Omnis caro corruperat'; and thou art within that general indictment, All flesh had corrupted his way upon earth. Statutum est omnibus mori; and thou art within that general statute, It is appointed unto all men once to die". Anima quæ peccaverit, ipsa morietur: and thou art within that general sentence, and judgment, Every soul that sinneth shall die, the death of the soul. Out of these general propositions thou canst not get; and when in the same universality there cometh a general pardon, Deus vult omnes salvos, God will have all men to be saved, because that pardon hath in it that ita quod, that condition, Omnem filium, He scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, Wouldst thou lose the benefit of that adoption, that filiation, that patrimony and inheritance, rather than admit patiently his fatherly chastisements in the afflictions and tribulations in this life? Beloved, the death of Christ is given to us, as a hand-writing 10: for, when Christ nailed that chirographum, that first hand-writing, that had passed between the devil and us, to his cross, he did not leave us out of debt, nor absolutely discharged, but he laid another chirographum upon us, another obli 5 Gen. vi. 12, 6 Heb. ix. 27. Heb. xii. 6. 7 Ezek. xviii. 4. 10 Col. ii. 14. gation arising out of his death. His death is delivered to us, as a writing, but not a writing only in the nature of a piece of evidence, to plead our inheritance by, but a writing in the nature of a copy, to learn by; it is not only given us to read, but to write over, and practise; not only to tell us what he did, but how we should do so too. All the evils and mischiefs that light upon us in this world, come (for the most part) from this, Quia fruimur utendis11, because we think to enjoy those things which God hath given us only to use. God hath given us a use of things, and we set our hearts upon them. And this hath a proportion, an assimilation, an accommodation in the death of Christ. God hath proposed that for our use, in this world, and we think to enjoy it; God would have us do it over again, and we think it enough to know that Christ hath done it already; God would have us write it, and we do only read it; God would have us practise the death of Christ, and we do but understand it. The fruition, the enjoying of the death of Christ, is reserved for the next life; to this life belongs the use of it; that use of it, to fulfil his sufferings in our bodies, by bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life. For, Prius trophæum crucis erexit, deinde martyribus tradidit erigendum12; First Christ set up the victorious trophy of his cross himself, and then he delivered it over to his martyrs to do as he had done. Nor are they only his martyrs that have actually died for him, but into the signification of that name, which signifies a witness, fall all those, who have glorified him, in a patient and constant bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life. All being guilty of Christ's death, there lies an obligation upon us all, to fulfil his sufferings. And this is the generality of afflictions, as we consider them in their own nature. Now, this generality is next expressed, in this word of exaltation, Gheber, Ego vir, I am the man; it was that man, that is denoted and signified in that name, that hath lain under affliction, and therefore no kind of man was likely to escape. There are in the original Scriptures, four words, by which man is called; four names of man; and any of the others, (if we consider the origination of the words) might better admit afflictions to insult 12 Ambrose. 11 Augustine. At first, man is upon him, than this, Gheber, vir, I am the man. called Ishe; a word, which their grammarians derive à sonitu, from a sound, from a voice. Whether man's excellency be in that, that he can speak, which no other creature can do; or whether man's impotency be in that, that he comes into the world crying, in this denomination, in this word, man is but a sound, but a voice, and that is no great matter. Another name of man is Adam, and Adam is no more but earth, and red earth, and the word is often used for blushing. When the name of man imports no more but so, no more but the frailty of the earth, and the bashful acknowledgment and confession of that frailty, in infinite infirmities, there is no great hope of escaping afflictions in this name, Adam. Less in his third name, Enosh: for Enosh signifies ægrum, calamitosum, a person naturally subject to, and actually possessed with all kinds of infirmities. So that this name of man, Enosh, is so far from exempting him, as that it involves him, it overflows him in afflictions: he hath a miserable name, as well as a miserable nature, Put them in fear, O Lord, (says David) that they may know they are but men 13; but such men, as are denoted in that name of man, Enosh, (for there that name is expressed) weak and miserable men. Now, (to collect these) as man is nothing but a frivolous, an empty, a transitory sound, or but a sad and lamentable voice, (he is no more in his first name Ishe). As man is nothing but red earth, a mouldering clod of infirmities, and then, blushing, that is, guilty, sensible, and ashamed of his own miserable condition, (and man is no more, as he is but Adam). As man is nothing but a receptacle of diseases in his body, of crosses in his estate, of immoderate griefs for those crosses in his mind, (and man is no more, as he is but Enosh) so there is no wonder, why man in general should be under affliction, for these names import, these names enforce it: as Adam gave names to the creatures according to their natures, so God hath given names to man, according to his nature, miserable names, to miserable wretches. But when man is presented in this text, in this fourth and great name, Gheber, which denotes excellency, excellency in virtue, (his mind rectified) excellency in wealth, (his estate enlarged) excellency in power, (his authority 13 Psalm ix. 20. |
