Zechariah 11:5

Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed [be] the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

Ver. 5. Whose possessors slay them] Flaying their skin from off them, eating their flesh, breaking their bones, &c., Micah 3:3; feeding themselves, and not the flock of God, Ezekiel 34:2, as if they had been "lords over God's heritage," 1 Peter 5:3. Owners and possessors, as here, vel pretio vel paemio; and as the Pope and his, Curia Romana quae non vult ovem sine lana, The papal court which did not want the as the sheep without the fleece, old proverb was.

And hold themselves not guilty] Non peccant. They fault not themselves; they are not found guilty by others. Such an unlimited power over God's people they have usurped, as if they might use them at their pleasure, and never be once questioned or punished for the same; but escape scot free. This was the extremity of tyranny; such as the cruel Spaniards exercise over the poor Indians: they suppose they show the wretches great favour, when they do not, for their pleasures, whip them with cords, and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning bacon; which is one of the least cruelties they inflict upon them.

And they that sell them] Sell them for slaves (whom they ought to redeem rather with their own blood), and grow rich by them; being greedy of filthy lucre, not without foul blasphemy against God, whom they entitle to their riches sacrilegiously and most thievishly gotten; while they say,

Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich] Deo gratius, blessed be God is a very good saying, and was much in Austin's mouth. But as the fountain of goodness will not be laden at with unwashed hands; so fair words from a foul mouth are infinitely displeasing to him that "inhabiteth the praises of Israel," Psalms 22:3. Hypocrites are not unfitly compared to monkeys, that have the gravest countenances of all creatures, but are incessantly doing mischief; or to the harpies, a that are said to have virgins' faces, vultures' talons. Mel in ore, verba lactis; Fel in corde, fraus in factis. Words of milk are honey in the mouth; gall in the heart is fraud in the making. Pharisees, under pretence of long prayers, devoured widows' houses, Matthew 23:14; while their lips seemed to pray or praise God, they were but chewing and champing some sweet morsel snatched from the flock, but sauced with the wrath of God, Job 20:15. See how our Saviour sets them out in their colours, Matthew 23:15,16; Matthew 23:23. Such fair professors but foul sinners were their predecessors, Isaiah 66:5, who, when they had done evil as they could, thought to salve all by saying, Let the Lord be glorified. And such also are their successors, the Pope and his followers. Verba tua Dei plane sunt, facta vero diaboli (said one once to Pope Innocent III, preaching peace but sowing discord), you speak like a God, but do like a devil; wherefore you shall receive the greater damnation. When one of our persecuting bishops read the sentence of excommunication against a certain martyr, and began, as the usual form was, In the name of God, Amen, the martyr cried out, You begin in a wrong name. And it grew to a common proverb, In nomine Dei incipit omne malum. All mischief begins on that manner. Gentilis, that impious anti-trinitarian, gave out that he suffered for the glory of the most high God. Becket, the arch-traitor, pretended to submit to his sovereign, but with this false reserve, Salvo honore Dei. Iam am saved by the honour of God. The Swenckfeldians entitled themselves the confessors of the glory of Christ. And Conradus Vorstius's late monster hath De Deo concerning God in the front, and atheism and blasphemy in the text.

And their own shepherds pity them not] Which yet they ought to have done, had they had never so much right and reason to destroy them. A shepherd hath his name from friendly feeding; in Greek, from earnest desire and love to the sheep. David, when he was hunted from Samuel the prophet, he fleeth to Ahimelech the priest; as one that knew justice and compassion should dwell in those breasts that are consecrated to God and his people. But these shepherds, through want of God's holy fear, Job 6:14, had brawny breasts, horny heart strings; their hearts, first turned into earth and mud, did afterwards freeze into steel and adamant; cursed children they were, having their hearts exercised with covetousness and cruelty, 2 Peter 2:14 .

a A fabulous monster, rapacious and filthy, having a woman's face and body and a bird's wings and claws, and supposed to act as a minister of divine vengeance. ŒD