Wicked Men Compared to Eagles

    WICKED MEN COMPARED TO EAGLES

    "He shall come as an Eagle against the House of the Lord," Ho 8:1. Some understand this Eagle signified Nebuchadnezzar; others, the Assyrian, &c.

    "Our persecutors are swifter than the Eagles of heaven," &c., La 4:19.

    Tyrants and cruel persecutors are compared to Eagles.

    PARALLELS.

    I. EAGLES are.very swift in their flight, and that especially when they pursue their prey. So cruel persecutors are swift to shed blood: "They haste like eagles to the prey," Isa 5:26.

    II. Eagles are quarrelsome creatures, preying, devouring, envious, proud, lofty, the plague and tormentors of all other birds or fowls of heaven, as naturalists observe. Gesner reports, that in a certain Eagle's nest were found three hundred ducks, one hundred and sixty geese, forty hares, and many fishes, &c. In these respects Wicked Men, or bloody persecutors, may fitly be compared to them: they are very quarrelsome, always seeking occasion against the innocent; envious, proud, and lofty, as appeared in Pharaoh, and others. They are the very plague and torment of all their neighbours. How many hath the Roman Eagle destroyed! How many thousands, nay, hundred thousands of the sheep and lambs of Jesus Christ have been found in her nest! as I may so say. "In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth," Re 18:24.

    III. The Eagle is a subtle and crafty creature: she will fill her wings with dust, and get upon a stag's horns, and by beating the dust and sand into his eyes she blinds him, and then soon conquers him. She also carries shell-fishes on high, letting them fall upon a rock to break them, which sets forth her great subtlety, &c. How crafty have many persecutors been to destroy the godly! "Come," saith Pharaoh, "let us deal wisely with them." Their common practice is, to put the saints into wolves' skins, and then set the dogs upon them, to worry them. Christ was accused for being an enemy to Caesar; and the apostles, "as movers of sedition," Ac 24:5. Thus the cruel Papists dealt with the good lord Cobham, and many other Christians, viz., accused them with treason and rebellion, that so they might with the better colour take away their lives.

    IV. An Eagle is an unclean creature, and therefore God would not have it to be offered up in sacrifice; though she be accounted the king of birds, yet God rather chose the dove upon this account, and refused the Eagle; so wicked men are unclean, and their prayers and sacrifices, yea, their best performances, are an abomination in the sight of the Lord, Pr 15:8-9.

    V. An Eagle is no comely bird, she hath no sweet voice, nor is she good for food: so Wicked Men are not comely, but contrary-wise, very fulsome and ill-favoured in God's sight, neither is their voice sweet in his ears. Christ takes great delight to see his people, and in hearing their voice. "Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely, Song 2:14. But thus he speaks not of the ungodly: their persons and prayers are no ways delightful to the Almighty. "God had respect to Abel, and his offering; but unto Cain, and his offering, he had not respect," Ge 4:4-5.

    DISPARITY.

    AN Eagle hath many and excellent properties, wherein there is a great disparity between her and ungodly men; and upon this account the Lord Jesus is compared to an Eagle, and his saints to Eagles. See Christ an Eagle.