Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
Ver. 28. God give thee of the dew.] For that country was dry and thirsty. They had rain, say some, but twice a year; the former in seedtime, and the latter rain in May. The blessings here bestowed are plenty, victory, domestical preeminency, and outward prosperity. Esau likewise hath the like, but not with a God give thee. But beyond all these, "some better thing" was provided and promised. Erant enim speculum, et pignus coelestium. The Church of Rome borrows her mark from the market plenty, or cheapness, &c.; she vaunts of her temporal felicity, and makes a catalogue of the strange victories which the Catholics have had. Immo vix unquam fuerunt Haeretici superiores, quando iusto proelio dimicatum est, saith Bellarmine. a Upon one of the Easter holidays, saith George Marsh, martyr, Master Sherburn and Master More sent for me, persuading me much to leave mine opinions, saying, all the bringers up and favourers of that religion had ill luck, and were either put to death, or in prison, and in danger of life. b Again, the favourers of the religion now used, had wondrous good luck and prosperity in all things. These wizards, these "disputers of this world," as the apostle calls them, 1Co 1:20 either knew not, or believed not, that the Church is the heir of the Cross, Ecclesia haeres Crucis, as an ancient speaketh; that opposition is, as Calvin wrote to the French king, Evangelii genius, - the bad genius that dogs the gospel; that truth breeds hatred, c as the fair nymphs did the ill favoured fawns and satyrs, and seldom goes without a scratched face. Some halcyons the Church hath here, as in Constantine's time (Repugnante contra temetipsam tua faelicitate, saith Salvian, in his first book to the Catholic Church); but grace she shall be sure of here, "with persecution"; and glory hereafter without interruption. As for outward things, aut aderunt sane, aut non oberunt; either she shall have them, or be as well without them. God shall be her cornucopia; her All-sufficient; her "shield and exceeding great reward." Sine Deo, omnis copia est egestas.
a Bell., tom. ii. lib. iv. cap. ult.
b Act. and Mon., fol. 1421.
c Veritas odium parit. - Ter.