John Trapp on Micah 7:8

Verſe 8. Rejoyce not againſt me, O mine enemy] Here's the triumph of faith, in the fail of outward comforts, in the middeſt of the worlds inſultations and irriſions. Ne laeteris de me. O daughter of Babylon that art to be deſtroyed, thou that art victrix gentium, captiva vitiorum (as Auſtin ſaid of Rome in her pride) thou that for preſent carrieſt the ball upon the foot, and none can come neer thee: Rejoyce not againſt me, as forlorn and hopeleſſe: ſay not, This is Zion the outcaſt, whom no man ſeeketh after. Jer. 30.17. For aſſure thy ſelf, The right hand of the Lord will change all this, and Flebile principium melior fortuna ſequetur.

When I fall, I ſhall ariſe] Becauſe fall I never ſo low, I cannot fall below the ſupporting hand of God, which will help me up againe Pſa. 37.24. The wicked fall and never riſe Am. 8.14. they ſhall drink of the cup of Gods wrath, and be drunken, and ſpue, and fall, and riſe no more Jer. 25.27. their carcaſſes ſhall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handfull after the harveſt-man, and none ſhall gather them Jer. 9.22. This is fearfull. If Haman fall before Mordecai the Jew, he ſhall not eaſily ſtop, or ſtep back. Eſth. 6.13. A Jew may fall before a Perſian and get up and prevaile. But if a Perſian or other perſecutor begin to fall before a Jew, he can neither ſtay, nor riſe. There is an inviſible hand of Omnipotency that ſtrikes in for his own, and confounds their oppoſites.

when I ſit in darkneſſe, the Lord ſhall be a light unto me] He can lighten the greateſt darkneſſe: as he did the dungeons to the Martyrs.Acts &. mon. 857. From the delectable Orchard of the Leonine dungeon: ſo Algerius an Italian Martyr dated his heavenly Epiſtle. I am now in the Biſhop of Londons Cole-houſe (ſaith Mr. Philpot) a dark and ugly priſon as any is about London: but my dark body of ſin hath well deſerved the ſame: and the Lord now hath brought me into outer darkneſſe, that I might be the more lightned by him: as he is moſt preſent with his children in the middeſt of darkneſſe. And in his letter to the Lady Vane, I thank the Lord,Ib. 166 ſaith He, I am not alone, but have ſix other faithfull companions, who in our darkneſſe do cheerfully ſing hymnes and praiſes to God for his great goodneſſe. We are ſo joyfull, that I wiſh you part of my joy &c. The poſy of the city of Geneva ſtamped round about their mony was formerly out of Iob,Ibid. Poſt tenebras ſpero lucem, After darkneſſe I look for light. But, the Reformation once ſettled amongſt them, they changed it into Poſt tenebras lux. Light after darkneſſe.Scultet. Aunal. Like as the Saxon Princes, before they became Chriſtians, gave for their armes a black horſe;Cranz. in Saxon. but being once baptized, a white.