John Trapp on Malachi 3:12

Verſe 12. And all nations ſhall call you Heſſed] viz. for the abundance of outward comforts and commodities, by the which the Nations meaſured mens happineſſe ſaying, Bleſſed is the people that is in ſuch a eaſe, Pſal. 144.15. Cyprus was for this cauſe anciently called Macaria, that is, the bleſſed countrey, as having a ſufficiency of all things within it ſelf: and England was called Regnum Dci, the kingdome of God, or the Fortunate Iſland, and Engliſhmen Deires, as thoſe that were ſet ſafe de ira Dei, from the wrath of God. In the time of Pope lement the ſixth (as Robert of Avesbury teſtifieth) when Lewis of Spain was choſen Prince of the Fortunate Iſlands, and for the conqueſt thereof was to raiſe an Army in France and Italy; the Engliſh Agent at Rome, together with his company departed and gat home, as conceiving that the Prince was bound for England, then the which they thought there was not a more fortunate Iſland in the world. Of the Iſland of Lycia, Sol nus ſaith,Lyciam Horatius claram dicit. that all the day long, the sky is never ſo cloudy, but that the Sun may be ſeen there. Semper in Sole ſiva eſt Rhodos, The Rhodes is ever in the Sunſhine, ſaith Aeneas Sylvius. And of Alexandria in Egypt, Ammianus Marcellizus obſerveth, that once in the day the Sun hath been ſeen to ſhine over it. I confeſſe the ſame cannot be ſaid of England: I remember alſo what I have read of a certain Frenchman, who returning home out of England, and being asked by a countreyman of his that was bound for England, what ſervice he would command him into this countrey? Nothing but this, ſaid the other; When you ſee the Sunne,Per duos enim menſes quibus ibi fui, Solem mihi videre non licuit. Garincieres de tabe Anglica. p 84. Ʋt finem at que initium lucis exiguo diſcrimine in ternoſcas. Noment que ex eo ſortitam. Polyh. c. 17. have me commended to him: for I have been there two moneths, and could never ſee him in all that ſpace. Belike he was here in the deep of winter. For at Summer Soliſtice Tacitus (in the life of Agricola) hath obſerved, that the Sun ſhineth continually in Britanny, and neither ſetteth nor riſeth there; but paſſeth ſo light by us by night, that you can ſearce ſay, we have any night at all: But if we ſpeak of the Sunſhine of Gods grace and favour, either for ſpirituals or temporals: as Delos is ſaid by Solinus, to have been the firſt countrey that had the Sun ſhining upon it, after the generall deluge, and therehence to have had its name: ſo was England one of the firſt Hands that both received Chriſt, and that ſhook off Antichriſt. And for temporall bleſſings, all nations call us bleſſed, and count us a delightſome land indeed, a land of deſires, ſuch as all men would deſire to dwell in, for the exceeding fruitfulneſſe and pleaſantneſſe of it: it being the Court of Queen Ceres, the granary of the Weſtern world, as forreigne Writers have termed it, the paradiſe of pleaſure, and garden of God, as our own Chronicler. The truth is, We may well ſay of England, as the Italians do of Venice, by way of proverb: He that hath not ſeen it, cannot beleeve what a dainty place it is: and he that hath not lived there ſome good ſpace, cannot underſtand the worth of it. Our Mr. Aſcham, Schoolmaſter to Q. Eizabeth, had lived there ſome time, and had ſoon enough of it: for though hee admired the place, he utterly diſliked the people for their looſe living. And the like (alaſſe) may be too truly affirmed of us. We live in Gods good land, but not by Gods good lawes: we eat the fat and drink the ſweet, but we ſanctifie not the Lord God in our hearts, we live not as becometh Chriſtians. Our hearts (like our Climate) hath much more light then heat; light of knowledge, then heat of zeal; our lukewarmneſſe is like to be our bane, our ſinnes our ſnuffes, that dimme our candleſtick, and threaten the removall of it. O ſi ſiat id in nobis (ſaith One) quod in Sole videtur, qui quibus affulſerit, ijs etiam calrem & colorem impertire ſolet! O that the Sun of righteouſneſſe would ſo ſhine upon us, as to warm us, and tranſforme us into the ſame image from glory to glory, as by his Spirit! O that he would ſet up his own kingdome here more and more amongſt us! then ſhould were be more happy then the Iſraelites were under the raigne of king Solomon, or the Spaniards under their Ferdinand the third, who reigned 35. years: in all which time there was neither famine nor peſtilence in the land.Lopez Gloſſ. in prolog par. 1