C,Ap;3. before the birth ofthrift. ion her mothers chamber,thereby is fignified(this darknes driven away) divineworfhip fhould be no more interruWred , untill Chrift came in the flefh. The Church is faid tobring Chrift into this chamber, becaufe he defcended into it and took our nature upon him for her fake , for he is faid to do any thing, for whole caufe it is done.Then from the time of the Maccabees to the commingof the Meffi,u, the courfe of Religionwas confiant, which no common calamitie in- terrupted. Not,but thufe timesWere aloft corrupt. But in the middrff; thereof, was free leave to worfhip God -rightly, whereby the Church might no.urifh her faith, and might cherith her fell, with the fweet familiar acquaintance of Chrift. V.5.I charge you,0 ye dasghters,of Ierufalem,by the Rocs and by the hindes ofthe field, thatyoufir Hot up, nor awake my love fallf;c ?leap. This verle fheweth that there fhould be no great trouble in the Church from the time of the Maccabees, till the birth ofChrilf,as was faid in the end ofthe former verfe. Now there.fhould be filence and a tolerable reft, whereby the Saints might be defended (in their trueundies ) from fear of their enemies which are here noted by Roes and hiedes ofthe field.For though they werecome home,out of the enemies land and felled in their own properfeats:yet they found at home , all places full of enemies. Now the Romanes oppreffed them, and Herod: tyranny bridled them. ,Thefe'wildeRoes caufed Gods people to worfhip him more diligently, and to be the more carefull,left with any norfe-of apparant impiety (whichonly difturb- eth our beloved fromhis ref) fhe fhould lofe the enjoyingof howfoever. V.6.whe is this tbatcometh out o f the tì'ildernes likepillars offmoak, perfumedWith ryrrhe:d-frankincenfe With allpoWdersofthe merchant. Hitherto path beenChewed, the condition of the Churchbefore The birth.,of Chrift ; Now what it fhould be while he lived on the earth. This defcription containeth a prophefie , efpecially of things,done from the conception of Chrift untill thirty yeers of his _age.: when the beautie ofthe Churchshould caufe admiration in the .beholders. Who is this ? ( fay they ) which feem tobe the words of ;the legali Church,wondring at the excellent finell ofthenewSmoke furred up. For at this time, the Church inoutward formwastwo fold. The legali continued yet, and the Evangelical) was new b-- gun. Her threefold propriety was,her admirable comingout of the defart;her fmokie enlarging and increafe; and Willy her fweet finell. She came firfc out of the defart , by themeffage of the Angel to the virgineMary living then inNazareth of Galilee : a folitary place in F Miff refpe:I
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