John Trapp on Zechariah 1:4

Verſe 4. Be ye not as your fathers] Man is a creature apt to imitate, to be led more by his eyes then by his eares: and children think they may lawfully Be as their fathers. St. Peters converts had received their vaine converſation from their fathers, as it were ex traduce, or by tradition 1 Pet. 1.18. And St. Steven tells his perverſe hearers that they were as good at reſiſting the Holy Ghoſt as their fathers had been before them Act. 7.51. They uſed to boaſt much of their Anceſtours Ioh. 8.33. and to bind much upon their example and authority Ier. 44. 17. Mat. 5.21. They thought they were not much to be blamed, becauſe they did but as their fathers had done before them. The Prophet therefore dehorts or rather deterrs them from that folly: ſerting forth both the crime and doome of their forefathers, whom they ſo much admired, and ſo ſtifly imitated, and this he oſt repeateth that they might once conſider it, and be wrought upon by thoſé domeſtick examples.

have cryed] Loudly and luſtily;Eſ. 58.1. according to that, Cry aloud, ſpare not, Lift up thy voice like a trumpet: ſic clames ut ſtentora vincas, A miniſter ſhould be a Simon Zelotes, a ſon of thunder: as Baſil was ſaid to thunder in his preaching, lighten in his life; as Hierome for his vehemency was called Fulmen Eccleſiaſticum, the Churches light-bolt: as Harding, before his ſhamefull Apoſtaſy, wiſhed he could cry out againſt Popery, as loud as the belles of Oſeney: and as Farellus (that notable French Preacher) whoſe voice when the envious Monks ſought to drown by ringing the bells as he was preaching at Metis, he lifted up his voyce adravim uſque: and would not ſuffer himſelfe to be outroared. The Saints-bell (as they called it) Pierius uſeth for an hieroglyphick of a preacher, who muſt not ſpeak the word onely, but ſound it out into all the earth, Rom. 10.18. not preach it onely, but cry it, as the Apoſtles word ſignifieth, 2 Tim. 4.2. clangite, clamate, Jer. 4.5. Boâte, vociferate, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Boantis, Vociferantis. Mat. 3.3. Miniſters have to doe with deafe men, dead men, living carcaſſes, walking ſepulchers of themſelves. Now therefore as our Saviour lifted up his voice when he ſaid, Lazarus come forth: ſo muſt they ſtand over men and cry aloud, awake thou that ſleepeſt, and ſtand up from the dead, that Chriſt may give thee light, Eph. 5.14.

turne you now from your evil wayes &c.] This was the conſtant cry of the Prophets as here, and Apoſtles as Acts 26.18. to open mens eyes (naturally cloſed up that they cannot ſee the evill of their wayes, Ier 2.35. Rev. 3.15.) to turn them from darkneſſe to light, and from the power of Satan to God.

and from your evill doings] Heb. Deſignes, geſts, or exerciſes enterprized adviſedly, and proſecuted ſtudiouſly, of natural diſpoſition and inclination as Prov. 20.11. and 1 Sam. 25.3. This St. Iohn uſually calleth committing of ſinne. 1 Epiſt. 3.4, 8, 9. Iohn 8.34. this is to adde rebellion to ſinne, Iob 34.37. impudence to impotence, browes of braſſe to iron ſinewes, Iſa. 48.4. This is wickedneſſe with a witneſſe, which if men could but ſee in its native colours, and curſed conſequents, they would ſoon be perſwaded to turn from it. As the eye cannot but be offended with a lothſome object: ſo neither can the underſtanding. Take rats-bane, it looketh not evil: bu[illegible: 1 letter] when a man feeles it boyle, burn, torture him, &c. he hates it extremely. So he ſhould doe ſinne: he will doe elſe at length, when it is too late. For prevention: take the counſell of a Martyr, get thee Gods law, as a glaſſe to look in — So ſhal you ſee your faces foul-arrayed, and ſo ſhamefull, mangy, pocky, and ſcabbed,Bradfords ſerm. of Repent. p. 20.26, 27. that you cannot but be ſory at the contemplation thereof, and ſeek out for cure: Eſpecially if you look to the tag tied to Gods law, the malediction: which is ſuch, as cannot but make us to caſt our curriſh tailes between our legs, if we beleeve it. But O faithleſſe hard hearts! O Iezabels gueſts, rocked and laid aſleep in her bed! O wicked wretches &c.

but they did not hear] Though the Prophets cryed, and ſpake loud enough to bee heard and heeded. An heavie eare is a ſingular judgement, Iſa. 6.10. An hearing eare, a precious mercy, Prov. 20.12. God muſt bee intreated to boare our eare Pſal. 40.6. and to make the boare ſo big that the word may enter; to ſay as Iſa. 42.18. Hear ye deaf, and looke ye blind, that ye may ſee.