after be put
out; the nobility, some cruelly murdered, some shamefully led away
captives; and finally, the whole seed of Abraham rased, as it were, from
the fate of the earth. The prophet, I say, fearing these horrible
calamities, doth, as it were, sometimes suffer himself, and the people
committed to his charge, to be carried away with the violence of the
tempest, without further resistance than by pouring forth his and their
dolorous complaints before the majesty of God, as in the 13th, 17th, and
18th verses of this present text we may read. At other times he valiantly
resists the desperate tempest, and pronounces the fearful destruction of
all such as trouble the church of God; which he pronounces that God will
multiply, even when it appears utterly to be exterminated. But because
there is no final rest to the whole body till the Head return to judgment,
he exhorts the afflicted to patience, and promises a visitation whereby
the wickedness of the wicked shall be disclosed, and finally recompensed
in their own bosoms.

These are the chief points of which, by the grace of God, we intend more
largely at this present to speak;

_First_, The prophet saith, "O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have
ruled us."

This, no doubt, is the beginning of the dolorous complaint, in which he
complains of the unjust tyranny that the poor afflicted Israelites
sustained during the time of their captivity. True it is, that the prophet
was gathered to his fathers in peace, before this came upon the people:
for a hundred years after his decease the people were not led away
captive; yet he, foreseeing the assurance of the calamity, did before-hand
indite and dictate unto them the complaint, which afterward they should
make. But at the first sight it appears, that the complaint has but small
weight; for what new thing was it, that other lords than God in his own
person ruled them, seeing that such had been their government from the
beginning? For who knows not, that Moses, Aaron, and Joshua, the judges,
Samuel, David, and other godly rulers, were men, and not God; and so other
lords than God ruled them in their greatest prosperity.

For the better understanding of this complaint, and of the mind of the
prophet, we must, _first_, observe from whence all authority flows; and,
_secondly_, to what end powers are appointed by God: which two points
being discussed, we shall better understand, what lords and what authority
rule beside God,