And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.
Ver. 5. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her] i.e. Converted; and so a daily accession made to the Church of Christ, as it was by Peter's sermon, &c., and now so many nations: Behold, the world is gone after him, said these envious Pharisees, John 12:19; and the Papists grudge as much at the late glorious Reformation, begun by Luther, wherein so many rejoice, and shall do to all eternity. Bucholcerus blesseth God that he was born in the days and was bred under the discipline of holy Malancthon, Luther's colleague:
Divisae his operae, sed mens fuit unica; pavit
Ore Lutherus oves, flore Melancthon apes.
Beatus Ludovicus would be called Ludovicus de Pissiaco rather than take greater titles, because there he became a Christian. He thought no birth equal to a new birth in Christ; no parentage to that of God to his Father, the Church to his mother, Christ to his elder brother, &c. Some apply this text to the places of holy men's birth, and tell us, that he loves the very ground his servants tread on, the very air they first breathe in, their walls are continually before him, Isaiah 49:16 , he thinks the better of the houses where they dwell.
And the highest himself shall establish her ] So that the gates of hell shall not unsettle her. Other states and polities have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin; not so the Church.