John Trapp on Lamentations 5

CHAP. V.

Ver. 1. REmember, O Lord, what is come upon us] This laſt Chapter is a brief Recapitulation of what had been ſaid in the four former,Propheta per [non-Latin text not transcribed] repetit omnia mala ſupra commemorata, & remedium petit à Domino. Figuelr. that they might be the better remembred and conſidered by the Reader. The ancient Greek and Latin Bibles ſtile it Jeremies prayer. Herein the Prophet, or rather the Church layeth open, as a Lazar, her ſores and ſufferings: and beggeth to be remembred and conſidered of God. Not that either forgetfulneſſe or inobſervancy can be found in him (for All things both paſt and future are preſent with him) but theſe are Metaphorical expreſſions, and He alloweth us to be his Remembrancers.

Conſider and behold] Heb. behold and ſee: Affectum cum effecta conjunctum ſignificat.

Our reproach] This is that which mans nature is moſt impatient of: to the Saints it is ſo much the more grievous, becauſe they do quarter Arms with Chriſt.

Ver. 2. Our inheritance is turned to ſtrangers] So the Jews called all other Nations, as the Greeks, Barbarians. From hence to ver. 19. there are ſo many verſes, ſo many ſeveral complaints. Whiles we are in this vale of miſery and vally of tears, we are ſure of many ailements, and ſtill to have ſomewhat to cry for.

Ver. 3. We are orphans and fatherleſſe] And ſo are become thy clients: juſt objects of thy pitty, Hoſ. 14.3.

Offic. 1.Ver. 4. We have drunk our water for money] Fire, water, and air, are common good, quae jure naturae ſunt omnium & ſingulorum, ſaith Cicero. Lyſimachus paid dear for a cup of water when he parted with his Kingdom for it. Dives would have done as much in hell for a drop, and could not have it.

Our wood is ſold to us] This was ſtrange to them (who had enough of their own growing, or might have it from the Commons for fetching) but juſt upon them for their abuſe of it to the ſervice of the Queen of heaven, Jer. 7.18.

Ver. 5. Our necks are under perſecution] For that we would not ſtoop to the ſweet yoke of thine obedience, but held it heavy, now we are under an intolerable yoke of extreme ſlavery.

We labour and have no reſt] Who once troubled Gods holy reſt by bearing burdens and working thereon, Jer. 17.21. In many places amongſt us, Gods Sabbath is made the voyder and dunghil for all refuſe buſineſſes. The Sabbath of the Lord the ſanctified day of his Reſt (ſaith a Reverend writer) is ſhameleſly troubled and diſquieted. B. K[illegible: 1 letter]ng on Jo[illegible: 1 letter]. Lec. 7. The Sabbath was never ſo profaned (ſaith ſuch another Reverend man yet living) with heart, hand, foot, tongue, pen and Preſſe, as of late. And is it not juſt with God that thoſe who would juſtle his religious Reſt out of its right,Mr. Ley his Faſt. Serm. before Parl. April 26. 1643. ſhould be reſtleſſe in their condition? as Lam. 5.5. Thus He. All wicked men acted and agitated by the devil day and night, may well cry out as here, We labour and have no reſt: but they are not ſenſible of this woful ſervitude.

Ver. 6. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Aſſyrians] Enemies to the Chaldaeans, no leſſe then they were to us: but hard hunger (that driveth the wolf out of the wood) hath made us glad to be beholding to them for bread: ſo ill have the cruel Chaldees relieved and rewarded us for our work.

Nobis ſoret jucundius ſemel emori, quam vitam in vitam vivere.Ver. 7. Our fathers have ſinned and are not] They had their payment, but not comparable to ours: who have out-ſinned them, and do therefore juſtly bear the puniſhment of both their ſins and our own too.

Ver. 8. Servants have ruled over us] And they are uſually moſt inſolent; as was Tobiah the ſervant, Neh. 2.19. Cicero, after the defeat given to Pompey, complaineth in a certain Epiſtle, Lords we could not away with, and now we are forced to ſerve our fellow-ſervant. This was Canaans curſe to be a ſervant of ſervants, Gen. 9.25. See the Notes there.

Ver. 9. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives] So did our good Anceſtors the bread of life, whilſt their Preachers alſo were glad to do as Jotham did, Judg. 9.21. when they had delivered what they had to ſay, run away, and fly for their lives. See 2 Sam. 23.17.

Becauſe of the ſword of the wilderneſſe] Where rovers and robbers lay in wait for us: neither could we paſſe them without apparent peril.

Ver. 10. Our skin was black like an oven] Or, at a chimney, Iſa. 31.9. being ſtill beaten upon with the fire that is within it.

Becauſe of the terrible famine] Propter procellas famis, becauſe of the tempeſts of famine, which, like a violent ſtorm, beareth down all before it.

Ver. 11. They raviſhed the women in Zion] Heb. they humbled, i. e. they diſhoneſted: although Virgo invita vexari quidem poteſt, violari non poteſt. The Chaldee Paraphraſeth thus, The wives were raviſhed by the Romans, and the maides by the Chaldees: for the Jew-doctours do underſtand this book of the Lamentations concerning both the deſtructions of Jeruſalem.

Ver. 12. Princes are hanged up by the hand] Made to dye a dogs death,Calvin. and (as ſome will have it) by their own hands, [non-Latin text not transcribed].

The faces of the Elders were not honoured] Magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia cani: Inque ſuo precio ruga ſenilis erat.Ovid. But now it was otherwiſe with the Jewiſh Elders, who haply were not worthy of their years, as we ſay: like as the Princes had done wickedly with both hands earneſtly, and were therfore not undeſervedly hanged up by the hand: But if Quakers amongſt us might have their way, our families (ſaith One) would ſoon be like the cabbins of the Leſtringonians in Sicily, where every body was at liberty, and none regarded or reverenced their Seniours or Superiours.

Ver. 13. They took the young men to grind] i. e. To do any baſe and abject buſineſſe, Exod. 11.5. & 12.29. Fruſtra enim hic Hieronymus & alii Sodomiticum quid cogitant.

And the children fell under the wood] Being not able to ſtand under ſuch unreaſonable burthens as were laid upon their backs.

Ver. 14. The Elders have ceaſed from the gate] Where they were wont to ſit, Gen. 34.20. to judge between party and party.

The young men from their muſick] From their ordinary and honeſt recreations and diſports.

Ver. 15. The joy of our heart is ceaſed] Heb. keepeth Sabbath, i. e. is vaniſhed, and that becauſe we made not Gods Sabbath our delight, as Iſa. 58.13.

Ver. 16. The crown is fallen from our head] i. e. All our glory both of Church and State, becauſe we refuſed to ſerve God, which indeed is to reign in righteouſneſſe. Now neither is all this, nor any of this ſpoken to exaſperate or exulcerate peoples hearts to fret againſt God, or to faint under their preſſures, but to put them upon the practice of true humiliation that ſo they may not loſe the fruit of their Afflictions: whence the following paſſage,

Woe unto us that we have ſinned] Which as it runneth ſweetly and rythmically in the Original: ſo it pointeth us to that ſavory and ſoveraign practice of lamenting our ſins more then our miſeries; and humbling our ſelves to the utmoſt under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift up in due ſeaſon.

Ver. 17. For this, our heart is faine] Ponit ſymbolum vere contritionis, we are ſin-ſick even at heart: our ſins are as ſo many daggers at our hearts, or bearded arrows in our fleſh.

For theſe things our eyes are dim] we have well-nigh wept them out: whereby nevertheleſſe out minds have been illightened.Lachrymae ſunt ſuccus cordis contriti, ſeu liquores animae patientis.

Ver. 18. Becauſe of the mountain of Zion which is deſolate] q. d. Next unto our ſins (which are our greateſt ſorrow) nothing troubleth us more then this, that the publike exerciſes of Piety are put down: Sion, the ſeat of Gods Sanctuary is deſolate.

Ver. 19. Thou O Lord remaineſt for ever] Alioqui totus totus deſperaſſem, as that good man ſaid once in like caſe: Otherwiſe I ſhould have but ſmall joy of my life. But thou art everlaſting and invariable in eſſence, truth, will and promiſes: This is mine Anchor-hold.

Thy throne from generation to generation] i. e. Thy moſt equal and righteous ordering of all things, utut nobis quaedam confuſiuſculè currere videantur, though ſome things may ſeem to us to be ſomewhat confuſedly carried, and even to run on wheels, yet it ſhall one day appear that there was a wheel within a wheel, Ezek. 1. that is, an over ruling and all-diſpoſing Providence.

Ver. 20. Wherefore doſt thou forget us?] Sith thy Covenant runs otherwiſe? 2 Sam. 7.14. See on ver. 1.

And forſakeſt us ſo long time] Heb. to length of dayes, as Pſal. 23, 6. Not for Seventy years only, but to the end of the world: till wrath is come upon us to the utmoſt, as 2 Theſ. 2.

Ver. 21. Turn thou us unto thee] That thou maiſt turn thee to us, as Zach. 1.3. Let there be a through-reformation wrought in us: and then a gracious reſtauration wrought for us.

Eſt Apoſiopeſis ad pathos.Ver. 22. But thou haſt utterly rejected us] This is a ſad Cataſtrophe, or cloſe of this doleful ditty. Sometimes Gods ſuppliants are put hard to it in the courſe of their Prayers: the laſt grain of their faith and patience ſeemeth to be put into the ſcale. When the Son of man cometh with deliverance to his praying people, ſhall he find faith in the earth? Hard and ſcarce: And yet he comes oft when they have even done looking for him: he is ſeen in the Mount, he helpeth thoſe that are forſaken of their hopes: Hallelujah. Sure it is that God cannot utterly reject his people whom he hath choſen, Rom. 11. Tremellius rendreth it, and ſo the Margin of our Bibles hath it (and I think better) For wilt thou utterly reject us, or be extreamly wrath with us? ſc. ſupra modulum noſtrum, according to thine infinite power, and above all that we are able to bear? I cannot think it, neither doth it conſiſt with thy Covenant.

Here (as alſo at the end of Eccleſiaſtes, Iſaiah and Malachy) many of the Hebrew Bibles repeat the foregoing verſe, Turn thou us unto thee O Lord, &c. yet without pricks, left any thing ſhould ſeem added thereby to the holy Scriptures. The reaſon here of read in the end of the Prophecy of Iſa. This is alſo here obſerved by the moſt renowned Mr. Thomas Gataker, whom for honour ſake I name, and to whoſe moſt accurate and elaborate Annotations upon Iſaiah and Jeremy I have been not a little beholden, all along. Theſe he finiſhed not long before his death, to the great glory of God and good of his Church:Fretum Magellanicum. And of him, and this worthy Work of his I may fitly ſay as a learned man doth of Magellanus the Portingal (that great Navigator) that the Strait or Sea now called by his name, unâ navigatione ſimul & immortalem gloriam & mortem ei attulerit, Boxhorn. hiſtor. univerſal. was both his death, and his never-dying Monument.

1 Sam. 7.12. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.