John Trapp on Malachi 1:4

Verſe 4. Whereas Edom ſaith we are impoveriſhed] Or, thruſt out of houſe and home, and reduced to extreme indigency: yet we will return, and build the deſolate places. We will do it all, deſpito di Deo (as that prophane Pope ſaid:) if it be but to croſſe Gods prediction, and to withſtand his power and providence. Thus theſe earthen pots will be daſhing themſelves againſt the rocks, againſt thoſe mountains of braſſe (ſo Gods immutable decrees are called Zech. 6.1. Thus Lamech will have the oddes of God ſeventy to ſeven (ſo Iunius interprets it) Gen. 4.24. Thus, when God had threatened to root out Ahab and his poſterity, he would try that: and to prevent it, took more wives, and ſo followed the work of generation, that he left ſeventy ſons behinds him, 2 Kin. 10.1. Thus Pharaoh (that ſturdy rebel) holds out againſt God to the utmoſt, and ſends away his ſervant Moſes, threatning death to him, even then when he was compaſſed on all hands with that palpable darkneſſe. Thus the Philiſtin Princes (while ſome plagued) gather themſelves together again againſt the humbling Iſraelites at Mizpch:1 Sam. 7. and ſo rum to meet their bane. Thus the proud Ephraimites Iſai. 9.10. The bricks indeed, ſay they, are fallen down, but we will build it again with hewen ſtones. The The wilde ſigtrees are cut down, but we will change them into Cedars. Thus the Phariſees and Lawyers rejected the counſel of God againſt themſelves Luk. 7.30. yea would needs be found fighters againſt God, Act. 5.39. as Gamaliel truly told them. Thus thoſe primitive perſecutours would needs attempt to root our Chriſtian religion; the Jews by the leave and help of Iulian, to deſpite the Chriſtians, would reedifie their city and Temple,Job. de Columna in Marihiſtor. but were hindred from heaven. Otho the Emperour would make the city of Rome his Imperial ſeat (which was long before pointed and painted out for the Neſt of Antichriſt) but could not effect it. The [illegible: 1 letter]eſuits would fain heal the Beaſts wounded head, and reeſtabliſh their kingdom of Idolatry, But this they muſt never look for. Chriſt ſhall raign, and all his foes ſhall be his footſtool; The Romiſh Edomites ſhall come to rume.

thus ſaith the Lord, They ſhall build, but I will throw down] Ruit alto à culmine Roma, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen: her downfal is ſure, ſore, and ſudden, Verſa eris in cineres quaſi nunquam Rema ſuiſſes, ſaid Sibylla of old. And there was ſomething ſurely in that which we have read, that when the wars began in Germany Anno 1619. a great braſſe image of the Apoſtle Peter (that had Tu es Pet rus &c. fairely imboſſed upon it) ſtanding in Saint Peters Church at Rome, there was a great and maſſie ſtone fell down upon it, and ſo ſhattered it to pieces, that not a letter of all that ſentence (whereon Rome founds her claime) was left whole ſo as to be read; ſaving that one piece of that ſentence Aedificabo Eccleſiam meam, I will build my Church, which was left fair and entire. Surely when popiſh mountains and Monaſteries ſhall be deſolated and demoliſhed, when the Pope (who was wont to ſay that he could never want mony as long as he was able to hold a pen in his hand) ſhall be miſerably impoveriſhed, Rev. 16.12. and his Euphrates of revenues dryed up, the mountain of the Lords houſe ſhall be ſet above all the mountains,Ezek. 21.29. and the Lord Chriſt alone ſhall reign in glory: he ſhall overturn, overturn, overturn all Antichriſtian power and policy: he will utterly deſtroy thoſe crows-neſts (as Henry the eighth called the religious houſes that he pulled down) ne iterum ad cohabitandum convolent, Sanderus. leſt thoſe unclean birds ſhould build again.

they ſhall build but I will deſtroy] It is the Lord then that both plants and puls up kingdoms, nations and peoples: that makes and deſtroyes States publike or private at his pleaſure: they are all in his hand and done by him, and fall not out by any fortune, or fatal revolution, and viciſſitude. Dan. 2.21. Luk. 1.52.

And they ſhal call them the border of wickedneſſe.] Chiefly for their inſulting over the people of God in their affliction, Obad. 10. That wicked one, the Pope, is groſſy guilty of this Edomitiſh inhumanity. What feaſting and ſending of gifts was there, when the two witneſſes were ſlain? What joy and jollity when the Waldenſes (thoſe ancient Proteſtants) were worſted in battel? What proceſſions and bone-fires at Rome upon the news of the Pariſian maſſacre? Thuanus tels us, that the Pope cauſed it to be painted in his Palace: and that the Cardinal of Lorrain gave him that brought the firſt tidings of it to Rome, thirty thouſand crowns for a reward. I do the rather parallel the Edomites and Romiſts, becauſe the Rabbins uſually by Edom, underſtand Rome: and the Thargum renders O daughter of Edom, Lam. 4.21. thus; Romi Reſhignah, O wicked Rome, which is anſwerable to this in the Text, The border of wickedneſſe, that is, the land of wickedneſſe, haply called the border, or limit, as the Non ultra of impiety, Philip of Macedony aſſembled all the infamous and wicked perſons into a certain city of Thracia and then called it Poneropolis The Preachers travels, 106. of imparallel impiety: Or elſe becauſe men ſhall onely come to the bounds and borders; and ſtanding there aloof off, as abhorring to go further, ſhall as it were point and ſay, Ah, wicked, Ah, wicked place, Terra de diables, as the Spaniards call one countrey in America, or the Mouth of hel, as another place is named. Italy is at this day little better; a ſecond Sodom. M. Aſcham, Queen Elizabeths Tutor, was but ſeven dayes in Venice, but he ſaw more wickedneſſe there, then he had ſeen in ſeven years in London. As for Rome (that Radix omnium malorum) that once faithful city is now become an harlot; yea the great harlot, Rev. 17. yea the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, verſe 5. tota eſt jam Roma lupanar, it is turned into a great brothelhouſe, the habitation of divels,Petrarch. and the hold of every foul ſpirit, Rev. 18.2. Bethel is become Bethaven; the houſe of God, the border of wickedneſſe: Har hamiſhcah, is become Har-hamaſchith, the Mount of Unction, the mount of Corruption, 2 King. 23.13. What is the tranſgreſsion of Iacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Iudah? Are they not Ieruſalem? Micah 1.5.

And the people amongſt whom the Lord hath indignation.] The people of Gods wrath, Iſay 10.6. and of his curſe (ſo Idumea is called) Iſa. 34.5. And ſuch a people was Amalck, with whom God (laid his hand upon his throne, and) ſwore that he would have perpetual war for their ill uſage of his Iſrael Exod. 17.16. He charged alſo his people never to forget them, Deut. 25.19. Neither did they: Saul was ſent to make an utter end of them, 1 Sam. 15. And wherein he failed of doing it, God ſtirred up the Simeonites in Hezekiah's dayes to ſmite the reſt of the Amalakites that were eſcaped, 1 Chron. 4.42, 43. The like judgement whereunto is befallen the Edomites long ſince: their very name is extinct, no memory of them being left in poſterity. The deſtiny of Doeg their countreyman is come upon them, Pſal. 52.5. God hath beaten them down for ever: he hath taken them away, and pluckt them out of their dwelling place, and rooted them out of the land of the living. Selah. It is ill angring the Ancient of dayes. His wrath laſts longer then the coals of Juniper, Pſal. 120.4. his judgements are ſevere and durable; as we uſe to ſay of winter, they never rot in the skie, but ſhall fall; if late, yet ſurely, yet ſeaſonably. He that ſaith, Vengeance is mine, I wil repay, repayeth oft times when we have forgiven, when we have forgotten; and calls to reckoning after our diſcharges, as he did Nabal. It is dangerous offending any favorite of him who can have (as here) indignation for ever: whoſe wrath and revenge is (as that of the Athenians is ſaid to be) [non-Latin text not transcribed], Everlaſting, whoſe deſtructions are perpetual.