plead Gods quarrel most thoroughly Therefore he leaves this challenge at the dore of their own conscience as that which in due time would speak out an answer to that question shall I count them pure 8. It is a great signe of wickednesse in any person to imploy the power God hath given them above others to wicked ends for the rich men thereof that is of the City ver 9. or of the land are full of violence Because they are rich therefore they are violent and beare it out 9. Violent oppression and deceitfull circumvention are equivalent sins in Gods estimation as tending both to one end to gather riches with wronging of others and flowing from the same fountain being onely fitted for diverse times and according to the diverse conditions of the wicked for if they be powerfull they are violent and if not they supply that defect by deceit Therefore is it joyned with the other the inhabitants thereof or all ranks almost of the land have spaken lies and their tongue is deceitfull in their mouths that is as oft as they speak they bring out fraud and deceit Ver. 13. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee in making thee desolate because of thy sins Lest by sparing these hypocrites they might think he was such a one as themselves therefore he gives out sentence and threatens them explaining what the rod was whereof he gave them warning He threatens that by striking and making them desolate he will make them sick that is not so much send bodily sicknesse which is a particular judgement of it selfe Lev. 26.16 with their desolation as generally that as they by oppression made others faint so he would crush them by judgements and make them as weak as a sick man Doct. 1. Sin will lay a land desolate and leave a people helplesse and friendlesse and without comfort against crosses so much do the words hold forth 2. Sin is most of all to be looked unto in our desolations and afflictions as having a greater hand therein then the power of enemies Therefore doth he mention onely sin as the cause of desolation because of thy sins 3. Judgements for sinne will not onely affect the afflicted man but be ready to make him faint and succumb for saith he I will make thee sick in smiting thee They whose hearts are effeminate with love to sin Ezek. 16.30 will prove feeble in bearing the punishment of sin Ezek. 22.14 Ver. 14. Thou shalt eat but not be satisfied and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee and thou shale take hold but shalt not deliver and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword 15. Thou shalt sowe but thou shalt not reap thou shalt trend the olives but thou shalt not anoint thee with oile and sweet wine but shalt not drink wine Followeth a particular enumeration of these judgements whereby he would make them sick and desolate The first stroak is famine flowing not from scarcity of provision but from the Lords withdrawing of a Blessing Lev 26.26 Hos 4.10 Whence learn 1. Threatenings giving out of old against sin stand in force against the same sins in all generations for the threatenings of the Law of Moses are declared to be in force in Michas dayes 2. God hath so immediate an hand in feeding men by the creatures that when he withdraweth his blessing the creatures though given in never so great abundance will not feed for thou shalt eat and not be satisfied 3. It is just with God to let such as provoke him in gathering together outward things know how far they wrong themselves while they do it on the creature forgetting the Creator Therefore against such as provoked him by gathering of wealth he threatens that all of it should not so much as keep them from starving The second stroak is their casting down to be in the midst of them that is they shall be exhausted in their own land and with intestine evils although they were secure of forreign enemies or of captivity by them Teaching that as instine troubles are a fore judgement and sharp punishment for sin so the Lord can reach a person or people in the midst of all their contentments and can abase them as low by his secret curse as by any outward enemy thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee The third stroak is that there shall be no possibility of exemption from his plagues when they shall essay all meanes to preserve what is precious to them as wives children treasures c it shall be to no purpose for what escapes at one time shall be cut off at another Whence learn 1. Humane endeavours will not exempt men from divine judgements pursuing them for sin thou shalt take hold to wit that thou mayest hold fast or pull out of danger but shalt not deliver 2. When wicked and impenitent sinners are preserved from one stroak it is onely that they may be reserved for a greater for what thou deliverest will I give up to the sword The fourth stroak threatened is their being deprived of laboured-for comforts the land being given as a prey to their enemies who should devour their provision as they had bereft others of the fruit of their labours so should the enemy or other instruments of Gods wrath deal with them they should not reap much lesse eat of what they had sowed they should not as in times of joy anoint themselves with the oile they had trodden out nor drink of their own wine See the like threatenings Deut. 28.38 39 40. Amos. 5.11 Zeph. 11 13. and the contrary promises Isay 62.8 9. Amos 9.13 14. Doct. 1. Sin provoketh the Lord however he be long-suffering and slow to execute to make mans endeavours for his own subsistence to be vaine whereof he will give proof when the cup of iniquity is full Thou shalt sowe but thou shalt not reap c. 2. The Lord doth so in deep wisdome contrive the way of his judgements as they may give the sorest dash to the wicked and may repay their sin Therefore as they by oppression and deceit reaped where they sowed not so now he will make them sowe and not reap yea he lets them sowe and tread the olives and sweet wine that having employed their paines and being filled with expectation their disappointment may be the greater Vers 16. For the statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the house of Ahab and ye walk in their counsels that I should make thee a desolation and the inhabitants thereof an hissing therefore ye shall beare the reproach of my people Here we have another cause of Gods rod and a further accusation for their idolatry which being set up by Omri and Ahab his son who beside the golden calves worshipped Baal 1 Kings 16.25 30 31 32. was followed by the people of Israel and by Judah also by reason of the affinity that was betwixt the two Kings at that time 2
allowance of comfort but judgements full of bitternesse and calamity for here Strangers carry away their forces enter the gates by force and cast lote upon Jerusalem or divide their prey by lots as Joel 3.3 Nahum 3.10 2. However the Lord in great feverity punish his people yet he hath an eye upon the carriage of every instrument of their calamity to requite them accordingly and would have his humbled people comforted in believing that his love is such as to do so for whereas it might have been thought that the Lord when he was afflicting Judah had cast of all pity towards them yet afterwards he reckons with Edom for his behaviour as that which he had narrowly marked and revealeth this Doctrine to the Church for her comfort 3. An idle beholder or on-looker on the people of Gods distresse as not concerned or affected with it is in Gods account an enemy especially being one who is obliged to do otherwise for it is a part of Edom's violence and cruelty that He stood on the other side staid aloof looked on and came not near to condole as the same word in the Original is used Psal 38.11 4. It is horrible wickednesse before God and will be especially remarked by him when false brethren not only countenance but actively concur and partake with enemies in oppressing the Church of God Even thou wast as one of them in all their hostility and a remarkable one as being not only a brother and they but strangers and forreigners but a most active instrument setting on the rest Psal 137.7 Ver. 12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distresse Ver. 13. Thou shouldst not have entred into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity yea thou shouldst not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity Ver. 14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the cross way to cut off those of his that did escape neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distresse Edoms violence is yet further described by shewing negatively what he ought not to have done and yet did to wit that in the day of Judah's calamity by the Caldeans he a brother who is borne for adversity Prov. 17.17 ought not to have looked on their condition with delight nor insulted and spoken blasphemously against God and his people as this is expounded Ezek. 35.12 13. not entred the City with the enemies and spoiled them of their goods nor have laid wait for such of the Jewes as fled to cut them off or deliver them into the enemies hand Doct. 1. The houre of the Churches trial and conrection is a very sharp dark and violent blast It is a day of calamity destruction and distress a day wherein he becomes a stranger That is not dealt with as a priviledged people but as strangers and sent to a strange Country in exile and were exercised with strange lots The Churches heinous sins and Gods jealousie over his confederate people causeth this and withal the Lord mindeth to haste over the Churches affliction and therefore sends it thick on 2. The Church of God suffering much must not therefore think to be exempted from more trial but must by what they suffer be taught submission to yet further exercise if the Lord will For Judah in their distresse and calamity must yet have more from Edom. 3. However wicked men walk after the lusts and passions of their own hearts and stick at nothing which they will and have power to effect yet the Lord will let them know that they stand obliged by a Law to duty the violation whereof he will remark aggravate and punish For though Edom satisfied himself and his passion in what he did against Jacob yet the Lord tells him thou shouldest not have done thus and thus but wast obliged by the Law to do otherwise being both a brother and a neighbour 4. To adde affliction to the afflicted is great cruelty especially when it is done by those from whom comfort might in reason be expected Thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger c. This adds to Edoms sin that he chose such a time wherein to let out his hatred 5. As a careless or greedy look on the affliction of the people of God as it were a pleasant spectacle is a further degree of their triall and affliction So it is Esau-like and the badge of a reprobate condition to take pleasure in such a sight For it is twice marked that hee looked on the day of his brother as an evidence of his cruelty in adding that to their affliction See Ps 22.17 6. As rejoycing of enemies and their blasphemies against God his truth and his peoples priviledges in him is an usuall and sore triall of the Church when she is in affliction So it is the badge of wicked men to become insolent with successe and a cause wherefore God will plead with them For it is another challenge as for great cruelty that Edom rejoyced over Judah in the day of their destruction and spoke proudly in the day of distresse 7. The Lord will not forget the least injures done by any to the Church even when greater wrongs are in doing to them which might seem to hide the lesser For albeit the Caldeans were now bringing all to ruine yet the Lord takes notice of an insolent eye proud looks entering into the gate and laying hands on substance 8. Apostates and false brethren are most cruel enemies and persecuters of those whom they desert For Edom the brother beside all his insulting and joyning with the enemy did yet more and stood in the crosse way to cut off those that did escape and delivers up the remnant when it seems the Caldeans had given over 9. Even when God is afflicting his Church and letting loose the reins to the fury of men against them yet he doth not quit his interest in them For in the midst of all this storm from the Chaldean and Edom the Lord gives them the Covenant-title My people as not onely standing unrepealed but forth-coming for much sympathie from God and a reason why he thus pleads their cause Sin may procure affliction but every provocation will not make void the Covenant Ver. 15. For the day of the LORD is neer upon all the heathen as thou hast done it shall be done unto thee thy reward shall returne upon thine ownâ— head 16. For as ye have drunk upon mine holy mountain so shall all the heathen drink continually yea they shall drink and they shall swallow down and they shall be as though they had not been The
out a great winde into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken Followeth Jonah's correction The Lord by a violent tempest likely to break the ship pursues him till he bee found guilty and cast into the sea Whence learn 1. A storm will sooner or later overtake them who rebel against God though they were his own people for Jonah went on in his way but the Lord sent out a great wind c. 2. God is Sovereign Lord of the winds and in the sea as well as the dry land and can arm any creature he pleaseth against a rebel for The Lord sent out a great wind and caused a mighty tempest in the sea 3. To be in company with wicked men or with men in a wicked way of rebellion against God is dangerous and may involve the society in hazards with them for the ship was like to be broken and all the rest in danger of perishing with Ionah Ver. 5. Then the Mariners were afraid and cryed every man unto his god and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep In the next place we have some effects and consequences of this tempest by which at last Gods purpose in it is brought forth The first effect upon the Mariners is fear stirring them up to do all that is usual in such desperate cases for their own relief both such means as they accounted divine in calling on their gods and such as were humane in casting out of their commodities to lighten the ship all which is amplified from Jonah's security who in the mean time was sleeping Doct. 1. God can shake and by trouble will shake the hearts of stoutest men and make them fear for the Mariners otherwise stout at sea are afraid 2. Men may be afraid and much exercised about troubles whom yet the Lord intends not to hurt by them for the Mariners are afraid of the storm sent out to pursue Ionah and not them however they had their own gross sins 3. Even natures light may teach men to ascribe singular effects to the hand of a Sovereign Lord and that without acknowledging thereof there can be no safety in eminent dangers for so doth these Pagans practice teach us while in their fear they cried every man to his god 4. As natures light in corrupted man will mislead him in taking up the true God so when men turn their back upon the true God and the knowledge of him they become vain in their imaginations and endless in their seeking out of false gods and confidences therefore among Pagans even in one ship there are more false Gods then one worshipped They cryed every man to his god There is no certainty when the true God is forsaken 5. Although men ought not to be unwilling to yeild up their life to God when or wheresoever he in his providence shall bee pleased to call for it yet life is so precious that nothing worldly beside is too dear to be employed for preservation of it Natures light teacheth this to these Mariners who cast out the wares that were in the ship to essay if that could be a means of preserving their life 6. Ordinarily those who are most guilty and whom affliction is pointing at are most secure under it for all this while Jonah the guilty man was fast asleep 7. The conscience of a renewed man may after it is wounded by a grosse sin be a very dead and stupified conscience for a time for Ionah flying from his Master in the midst of the storm lay fast asleep and was gone down to the fides of the ship for that end 8. It is ordinary for guilty consciences to think to shift and sleep away challenges without essaying the true remedy for Ionah in his rebellion was gone down to the fides of the ship to sleep away his trouble Ver. 6. So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him What meanest thou O sleeper Arise cal upon thy God if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not To the end the Lord may discover the guilty man and cause of this tempest as he made the Mariners sensible themselves so the Shipmaster is set on work to waken Ionah to try his interest with his God whom they knew not yet to be the true God if possibly he had more power or good will to such as worshipped him then theirs had Which is the first step to his discovery Doct. 1. A childe of God may sometimes miscarry so far through infirmity negligence and tentation that even a Pagan by natures light may see him reproveable and blame-worthy for so is Ionah reproved by the shipmaster What meanest thou c. 2. It is deeply censurable and absurd even to natures eye to be secure in trouble What meanest thou O sleeper arise c. 3. Variety of false Gods hold men in great suspense and incertainty therefore every man having cryed to his god ver 5. yet they are not setled but will have Ionah to essay his God if he be better then the rest Arise call upon thy God so much also doth that doubtful speech if so be that God will think upon us c. import in this place in part 4. Natures light will acknowledge that he who is the true God hath power to deliver in most extreme dangers for in this great tempest they assert it If God think on us we will not perish 5. Howsoever in a calme day nature conceit and boast of merit yet in a strait even natural men are forced to have their recourse onely to the favour of God for these Pagans have no ground of hope that they shall not perish but in Gods thinking or being bright and shining as the word signifies that is looking favourably on them Ver. 7. And they said every one to his fellow Come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us So they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah The second effect of this tempest tends to a further discovery of Jonah to be the guilty man Hee being awaked and not confessing his sin the tempest continues notwithstanding all they had done Therefore the mariners in stead of searching every man into himselfe that all might take with guilt and finde favour begin to suspect that God was pursuing some notorious guiltinesse in some of them and none voluntarily confessing it they resolve with common consent to seek it out by an extraordinary way of lots Wherein whatever fault there was yet Gods providence ordered it so as the lot fell on Jonah to awake his conscience Doct. 1. Nature may lead men so far as in great difficulties to take up sin to be the cause thereof for so much doth this consultation import which however it was true in this case
and it be alwayes true that sin is the root affliction springs from yet nature uses not to goe so far as to lead men to lay sin to heart in common and ordinary crosses or to look on common and ordinary sins as provocation sufficient to bring on saddest tryals for they must seek some singular cause here far lesse to look on afflictions as tryals of faith or for preventing of sin 2. Men in nature use not so much to take up and be sensible of sin from the law of God having authority in their heart as grope it in some tryal and difficulty Therefore they of whose sense of guilt we heare not before do now in their trial begin to think for whose cause this evil is 3. Prayer never so much essayed in a day of distresse will not availe till sin procuring it be searched out and taken with so much do these Pagans acknowledge while with the former meanes of prayer they set themselves to seek out the guilty and to knowe for whose cause this evill is upon them 4. Afflictions sharply pursuing may have such efficacy as to put men otherwise carelesse to it to seek out sin and not let them sleep on who gladly would and have been insensible of sin for these men are so put to it as they are willing to have the quarrel sought out and to submit themselves to a lot for that effect They said every one to his fellow Come and let us cast lots that we may know c. Afflictions will command men to turn from iniquity who would not hear such a charge in any other language Job 36.10 5. The Lords all-seeing eye perceives every secret sin and his providence over-rules most contingent and uncertain events and holily ordereth the rash actions of men so as to bring about his own purposes by them For these men acknowledg that the guilty is known though not to them and that the determination of a contingeâ—â— lot over-ruled by a Deity is a true evidence for whose cause this evil is And albeit it was a fault in them not to search every man himselfe or to consult by lots without special warrant yet God over-ruleth the lot to discover Jonah 6. The Lords controversie is sometime greater and more severely prosecuted against his own children for their miscarriages then against Pagans and gross Idolaters among whom they may be Therefore the lot guided by God fell upon Jonah signifying his rebellion to be the cause of all their danger rather then their Idolatry though openly practised in the height of their streight for 1. Rebellion is as Idolatry 1 Sam. 15.23 and so much the grosser as it is in a child 2. Albeit they worshipped that which was no god yet none of them had so behaved themselves toward a supposed Deity as he had done toward the true God Jer. 2.10 11. 3. God may wink at sin in Pagans but will not let his own child go on unreclaimed Amos 3.2 it being mercy to pursue them for their folly and amend them Ver. 8. Then said they unto him Tell us we pray thee for whose cause this evil is upon us What is thine Occupation and whence comest thou What is thy Country and of what people art thou The guilty man being now discovered by God is examined by the Mariners to find out the particular fact but very discreetly as supposing that possibly the sin might be somewhat whereof his Nation and people were guilty and not any particular guilt of his own And therefore concerning himselfe they enquire of his calling and journey if so be they might be unlawful and of his countrey and people if so be they were accursed Doct. 1. Men have need of full information before they give out sentence upon any for though Jonah was taken by a lot and these men not knowing him might in passion shortly have rid themselves of him who had been the occasion and cause of their trouble yet they will farther informe themselves and that very meekly tell us we pray thee c. 2. Charity even in refined nature doth not easily admit of an hard construction of any or without sure grounds Therefore they first enquire tell us for whose cause this evil is upon us as desiring to be more particularly informed and not being willing to hold him for a wicked man in his own person till they should heare further 3. As in mens callings employments country and people there is hazard of sin so by those circumstances much of mens faults may be found out Therefore is Jonah posed concerning all these For beside unlawful callings and places where it is not lawfull to haunt every particular countrey and people have their own tentations to particular sins from which sins of a generation or calling it is hard to keep free 4. Men do oftentimes following their own ends engage in courses without all consideration till a day of trouble set them to trace them back and make enquiry For these Mariners minding their own gain put none of these questions to Jonah when they tooke him aboard till the storm led them to see their folly and rashnesse 5. The Lord in pursuing for sin knowes how to order challenges so as may make sin most bitter to the guilty Therefore doth he order the Mariners moving of these questions What is thine occupation c. every one of which might be a sting to Jonah's conscience that he a Prophet should be fleeing from God coming from the holy land and the Church should be rebellious and pursued rather then Pagans that he should be on a way and not have a warrant from God for it c. Ver. 9. And he said unto them I am an Hebrew and I feare the LORD the God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him Why hast thou done this for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD because he had told them Ionah's confession in answer to their question cleers up the matter of fact for which God was pursuing him whereat these Idolaters being dazled with the apprehension of the Majesty of God are astonished through fear admiring at and reproving his presumption Hence learn 1. God will not suffer iniquity how well soever concealed to lurk but will bring it out to light especially where he hath a purpose of mercy to the sinner Therefore is Jonah pursued till he confesse his sin even before Pagans He told them that he fled c. 2. Sin is not barely to be confessed but ought to be aggravated by every person that would be approved as sensible of it For so much doth this speech I am an Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven c. implie and it was a great sin in him a member of the Church to dallie and that with such a great God 3. The true God is to be commended by all his children and set forth as they
made a rehearsal of his whole condition for the edification of others 2. Great afflictions or tempeations arising from them are so far from being just cause of discouragement to hinder our praying that they ought to stir us uâ— to more fervency and earnestnesse for Jonah cried by reason of affliction when he was straitned on every hand as the word signifies that he could not flee or finde relief he took it as a Call to seek inlargement in God and turn to him and as a whet-stone to sharpen his otherwise sluggish desires yea Out of the belty of hell he cryed when he was buried quick and put as it were under the dominion of death in the â—â—shes belly and when he felt the angeâ— of God in all this as an hell on earth yet faith directs him to God and when hee was as far to his owne sense from God and his favour as hell is from heaven hee looked on that but as an argument to move him to cry the lowder 3. As God can help in greatest distresses so the prayers of the children of God in their deep afflictions flowing from real indigence and need will get a good answer for Jonah's faith strengthned of God saw the one when in affliction and out of the belly of hel he cryed and in his experience he found the other that he prayed not in vaine He heard me Prayer speedeth best when felt necessity instructs the sincerity of it and when it is spoken out of the dust then faith will by prayer bring help from heaven to one little better then in hell 4. The Lords seasonable answering of his peoples needy desires in their extremity will not onely ease their griefes but be refreshfull afterward to think much upon it as appeareth in his repeating and dwelling upon this mercy I cryed and he heard me twice over and the oftner he lookes on it sees the more in it That his voice should be heard from the belly of bell and the more it be thought on it ought to inlarge our hearts the more with affection toward God as is imported in his directing of his speech at last to God Thou heardest my voice as one overcome with the kindnesse of God in it Ver. 3. For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me Jonaâ— is not content to have spoken so briefly of so rich a purpose but to the end that he may glorifie the grace and mercy of God in supporting him in his strait and delivering him from it and that he may edifie the Church hee enlargeth the Narration and speakes more particularly of every step of it And first he sheweth the greatnesse of his tryall in that he had to doe with an angry God pursuing him in anger who had taken and cast him into the sea and into the depth and midst of it where waves of seas without and of tentations within overwhelmed him Hence learne 1. Serious thoughts and apprehensions of trouble are needfull not onely when we are in it for stirring us up to prayer but when delivered also to set forth the greatnesse of mercy for all this variety of expressions in setting out his trouble Thou hast cast me into the depth in the midst of the seas c. tend to this purpose to shew that it had set him on edge I cried for thou hadst cast me c. And to shew from how great danger he had been delivered and what a mercy he thought it to be heard of God even when hee was so dealing with him 2. Much of God seen in our trouble will hide those from being too much eyed who have been most instrumental and active in it therefore there is no word of the Mariners but Thou hadst cast me into the deep 3. Unto the childe of God afflictions are nothing to beare in comparison of Gods displeasure who afflicts and of the tentations which looking on him as a party doth raise for his affliction is imbittered with this Thou being angry hadst cast me into the Sea all thy billowes and thy waves not onely raised by thee in the Sea to pursue me a rebel but tides of tossing tentations begotten by the sense of thy displeasure passed over me so that hee could doe no more then be overwhelmed and run downe with one of them after another 4. It may comend the rich mercy of God toward his children and furnish rich matter of praise to him that he suffers them not to quit him out causeth them to follow him when he seemeth to forsake them and flee in to him when he is pursuing in hot displeasure for the scope of all this account of his trial and tentation tends also to set forth the grace of God that had enabled him to cry to him in all this extremity it being the admirable power of faith supported by grace that he durst call on an angry God durst follow after him when he went away durst lay hold of him when hee smorte and pray him to desist from anger when he was threatning him with worse and durst look and seek for better tidings when he was run downe with the current and tide of tentations Ver. 4. Then I sayd I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look againe toward thy holy temple He rehearseth further his exercise upon this trial that there was a conflict betwixt unbeliefe and despair concluding his rejection from Gods favour and care any more and faith looking to God in heaven and the Covenant made in Christ with the Elect a signe whereof was his presence on the Mercy-seat in the Temple at Jerusalem toward which the godly were to direct their prayers 1 Kings 8. which gave him yet ground of hope Doct. 1. It is the usual lot of the Lords children to have not onely outward afflictions to wrestle with but spiritual tentations and sad conclusions gathered from their troubles which are â—orer to endure then many simple afflictions for so was it with Jonah while he was in the sea 2. The children of the Lord in their troubles may be so tossed and divided betwixt hope and despair that faith and unbelief will be taking word about for so doth Jonahs experience teach I said I am cast out yet wilt I looke again 3. In a time of tentation unbeliefes word is ordinarily first out till faith come and correct it ordinarily what is said in haste is unbeliefes language and to be un-said again for this comes first out I am cast out of thy sight 4. A child of God may not only be assaulted with fits of despaire but for a time be overcome with it and yield to it and yet for all that recover his feet again for Jonah once concluded and said I am cast out of thy sight 5. As it is ordinary under tentation to judge of all Gods respect care and love by our sense of his present dealing so
dealt with but ought to be looked on by others as matter of sympathy and by the body of a people as matter of their affliction in diminishing of their number and leaving them who are left behind weak and contemptible for this is the cause of baldnesse and sorrow to the body of the people for thy delicate children for they are gone into captivity from thee CHAP. II. IN the first part of this Chapter the Lord prosecutes his controversie against his people for several sins and first he accuseth them for assiduousness in sin especially covetousnesse and oppression ver 1 2. and threatens them with insuperable and lamentable difficulties and casting them out of their Land ver 3 4 5. 2. He threatens and expostulates with them for their opposition to his Messengers ver 6 7. 3. He again accuseth them for cruel robbery not sparing so much as women and children ver 8 9. and threatens them with exile ver 10. 4. He accuseth them for their approbation of and delighting in false Prophets v. 11. In the second part of the Chapter he comforts believers with promises of restitution by Christ ver 12 13. Vers 1. WO to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds when the morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hand THe judgment of God is declared to be already upon them and yet further to be inflicted for their assiduousness and activity in plotting and practising of evil hereby learning us how to discern a condition plagued of God and which without repentance will be pursued with more plagues for this Wo implies both that such a case is a plague of it self and that it will be plagued of which there are these evidences 1. When evil wayes become habitual to men so as they are never out of them but by night as well as by day carried away with them for it is on their beds when they should rest or examine themselves Ps 4.4 or be instructed by their reines Ps 16.7 or meditate on God Ps 63.6 c. as well as in the morning when they should direct their prayer unto God Ps 5.2 and goe forth to their lawfull callings Ps 104.22.23 that they are thus imployed their sin sleeps not 2. When men not onely sin through infirmity being surprised and made to stumble in a fit of tentation but their wits are bended to project and plot sin for Wo to them that devise iniquity 3. When mens spirits are so taken up with wickednesse that they delight themselves with acting it in their owne imaginations Wo to them that work evil on their beds that is are so transported that their spirits and fancy imagine themselves as acting those wickednesses which they cannot for present get really acted and thus think to delight themselves 4. When mens hearts are so farre engaged in their premeditate wickednesse that without taking leisure betwixt their deliberation and practise to bethink themselves what they are doing they run eagerly about the execution of their purposes which is the wofull fruits of giving sin too much roome in the heart that being Master there it violently and effectually commands our practise for Wo unto them who having devised iniquity when the morning is light they practise it See Jer. 8.6 Eph. 4.19 5. When men ill-affected have power to effect their desires and that they succeed with them God laying no impediment in their way to stop their progresse in sin for it is Woe upon them that it is in the power of their hands to practise the ill they have devised 6. It is also an evidence of wo upon and coming upon men when having power and wanting external restraints they have no inward principle or tendernesse of conscience to make them loath an ill way as Joseph had Gen. 42.18 but count everything right enough which they are able to effect and goe on as far as their power will reach for They practise it because it is in the power of their hands Ver. 2. And they covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away so they oppresse a man and his house even a man and his heritage He gives an instance of that general challenge ver 1. and what were the evils they plotted and acted in that when they saw houses and fields that lay commodiously for them they did covet them and violently deprive the true Owners of them whereby not only a mans self but his family and posterity were oppressed by taking away not some of his means only but his very heritage which belonged unto him by the Law of God and man Doct. 1. Covetousnesse is a root of much evil and wickednesse and will embark men in desperate and violent courses for They covet and take by violence 2. It is an high aggravation of oppression when the oppressor is not straitned with necessity and want driving him on such courses but his covetous disposition is the only cause of all his miscarriage for here the quarrel is that because they covet therefore they take by violence 3 Covetousnesse given way unto and entertained in mens hearts will drive them beyond all bounds and moderation for They covet fields and houses every thing they get serves but as a bait to draw them on further so dangerous is it once to transgress the bounds of contentment prescribed by God 4. Albeit covetousnesse be a lawlesse sin and Oppressors think every thing good purchase which they can compass yet in Gods account violent usurpation is no right for however they take away yet it is stil the mans heritage 5. Not only the wants of such as are presently oppressed but all the wants of their posterity will be laid to the Oppressors charge and cry to God against them for they oppress a man and his house they ruine him and his family and off-spring by taking away his houses and heritage which are a constant livelihood Ver. 3. Therefore thus saith the LORD Behold against this family do I devise an evil from which ye shall not remove your necks neither shall ye go haughtily for this time is evil The Lord pronounceth sentence against them for these sins and explains that Wo which he had threatned ver 1. shewing that the Lord is about to bring on such a judgement and sad time as should effectually and irresistibly seize upon them and lay their pride and bring them down Whence learne 1. In times of violent oppression the Lord is not to be looked on as one misregarding or as an idle Spectator but as a Lord ready to appear for the oppressed in a remarkable way for Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold c. 2. The Lords Word ought to be received and believed as a sure evidence that he will so appear albeit the performance seem to be delayed for Thus saith Jehovah we ought to judge according to what he saith and not according to what we think 3. The Lord will recompence all
which might seeme to stand in the way of it for whereas it might be objected How could she expect that God would be her light seeing she by sin had provoked him to anger and to cast her into these troubles and so was her party She answers that she submissively stooping and accepting in these troubles the punishment of her iniquity out of his hand did expect that in due time the Lord whom she had provoked to afflict her would plead her cause against her enemies who unjustly oppressed her and plague them and would restore her to her ancient glory and in publick view give her to enjoy the effects of his bounty and fidelity Doct. 1. The Lord may have fatherly indignation against his people for their sins and may testifie the same by inflicting of outward calamities and yet not reject their persons for this cause is the godlies trouble called here the indignation of the Lord though men were instruments See 2 Chron. 19.2 2. It is the duty of the godly when God is angry and chastiseth to be sensible of their sin procuring the same to stoop humbly under his afflicting hand and to bear it patiently and submissively accepting the punishment of their iniquity I will bar the indiguation of the Lord because I have sinned against him saith she 3. Sense of sin and of its great demerit will make men submissive and stoop patiently under the rod who otherwise would repine more for this is the reâ—son of her bearing the rod because I have sinned This is the cause wherefore men get so many rods dipped in their own guilt because they bear not cleanly reds patiently there being no crosse so humbling as a sinful crosse See Lam. 1.18 4. True patience and submission unto God in affliction ought to preâ—scâ—ibe no term-day unto it self but to refer all to his will I will bear until he plead 5. Such as humble themselves before God and patiently stoop under a procured affliction may expect that God will take their part against all the instruments having hand in the same trouble and clear their righteous cause in respect of those who sought only their own ends in afflicting them and their humility and patience ought to be seasoned with this hope He will plead my cause saith she who bears his indignation See Isa 47.6 Zech. 1 15. 6. The Lord will not only clear his peoples right against their oppressors by pronouncing sentence in their favour in his Word but will accordingly put his sentence to execution for so doth she expound his pleading He will execute judgement for me 7. The Lord having by affliction humbled his people for sin and exercised their patience and faith will restore unto them their wonted priviledges and as it were in publick view and make manifest that they are his therefore saith he He will bring me forth to the light that is not only comfort but publickly own and honour me and I shall behold or enjoy to my satisfaction his righteousness or the wonted effects of his fidelity in keeping Covenant notwithstanding this seeming interruption Vers 10. Then she that is mine enemie shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the LORD thy God mine eyes shall behold her now shall she be troden down as the mire of the streets This hope for deliverance is further commended from the effects thereof upon the Churches enemies to her satisfaction she is heâ—e directed to professe her hope that her enemies who mocked her faith should be confounded at the sight of her deliverance and be ignominiously cut off to her great joy and satisfaction Doct. 1. God seeth it fitting sometimes to make his peoples happinesse conspicuous to the world yea even to their enemies that it may make them a sore heart for then she that is mine enemie shall see it to wit her deliverance See Rev. 3.9 Psal 112.10 2. Faiâ—h in God and adhering to the true Religion hath been an old subject of derision to the Churches enemiâ—s when she was in trouble for they said unto me Where is the Lord thy God 3. Scorning of saith and piety whatever disadvantage seem to follow it shall resolve into the scorners shame and confusion by seeing God to do for his people according as they expected from him for mine enemie shall see it and shame shall cover her she shall be utterly confounded with it who said unto me Where is the Lord thy God 4. When the Lord hath tried his people then the cup is put to the head of the wicked and the enemies of the Church and mockers of her considence will be destroyed as contemptible things for now shall she be troden down as the mire of the streets 5. It will be a comfortable sight to the people of God to see Gods justice against their enemies and his good-wil toward them cleared and made manifest after long trials for saith she mine eyes behold her Otherwise to take pleasure in the calamity of others though enemies is not lawful Prov. 24.17 further then in that God is hereby glorified in the execution of his justice and clearing of his keeping Covenant with his peoples See Ps 58.10 11. Vers 11. In the day that thy walls are to be built in that day shall the decree be far removed 12. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria and from the fortified cities and from the fortresse even to the river and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain A second ground of encouragement and comfort is held forth in Gods promise to his Church confirming her formerly professed hope wherein he assures her of restitution and of deliverance from the yoke of strange authority and their cruel decrees whereby they had been scattered among the Gentiles oppressed by tyrants and the work of God obstructed amongst them as when the building of the Temple was discharged Ezra 4.5 6 21 22 23 24. And he assures them further of the enlargement of the Church of Israel not only by their returne from all the parts where they had been scattered and detained Isa 27.12 13. but by the Conversion of many Nations who should joyne themselves to the Church from Assyria and from Egypt and from all the quarters of the world This decree may also without wronging of the text be safely understood of the Doctrine of the Gospel called a decree Psal 2.7 which after the restauration of the Jewes should be sent through the world for promoting of this promised enlargement whereby both Jewes and Gentiles should be gathered to the Church as by the decree of Cyrus the Jewes were set at liberty to return to their countrey from all quarters where they were scattered Doct. 1. The Church endeavouring to comfort her self with hope in God in her troubles will abundantly be confirmed therein by God for after her professed hope v. 8 9 10. the Lord confirmes her here by a promise See Psal 27.14 2. The Church may procure
endue them with excellent qualifications and give them safety v. 11 12 13. and would furnish them with ample matter of joy v. 14 15. and of serving God without fear v. 16. considering his power and love v. 17. and what he will do for recovering their broken and desperate estate v. 18.19 20. Vers 1. WO to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing City 2. She obeyed not the voice she received not correction she trusted not in the LORD she drew not neare to her God The Lord having by his Prophet used all the former meanes for reclaiming his people but in vain he comes now to pronounce his last sentence against the body of that nation and threatens Jerusalem with a wo the general causes whereof were her pollution through oppression and violence and her contempt of warnings from the Word her not being bettered by corrections her not trusting in God but in other things and her not entertaining communion with him who offered himself to her in the Covenant Doct. 1. As Gods anger declared against a people portends misery enough to them though there were no other evidences of it so he will not spare nor exempt his own people when they provoke him especially such as being most obliged to him yet do prove eminent in defection therefore as he threatens other Nations so also his own sinful people and names Jerusalem for all because she was chiefe in the defection who should have been holy and a Sanctuary to God and under this wo comprehends all the evils which afterward pursued that people 2. Injustice and oppression is an abominable and filthy sin especially in the Church and the riches gathered that way do not give any splendor but make men and places vile in Gods sight and obnoxious to his curse for the oppressing City is filthy and polluted as the crop or gorge of a ravenous bird where all unclean things are heaped together or as one made a publick spectacle of infamie as the word imports and therefore wo to her 3. As disobedience unto the Lord revealing his mind by his word is ground sufficient for a quarrel and as contempt of the authority of God in his word is the cause of mens boldnesse in sinne so it will be a great aggravation against sinners that warnings from the Word do not reclaim them for Wo to her that is filthy she obeyed not the voice 4. As rods sent upon the Church will either make her better by instructing and humbling her under Gods hand or ripen her yet more for Gods wo so obstinacy in sinne under corrections is a sad aggravation thereof for Wo to her that is filthy she received not correction or instruction by her correction as the word imports 5. God is so willing to be the stay and confidence of his people that it is a quarrel when they will not lean all their weight on him and as want of faith in God drives men to sinful and wrong courses so this is a great iniquity before him for Wo to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing City she trusted not in the Lord and this also is the cause why the word or rod works so little 6. As the neglect of keeping communion with God turneth the heart loose to all sinful wayes and snares so the cause of little dependance on God in straits is because men cannot be at paines to keep neer God that so they may reap the fruit of faith for Wo to her that is filthy she drew not neer to God and she trusted not in the Lord because she could not rake paines to draw neere to God 7. The Lords gracious condescendence and offering of himself to the visible Church to be approached unto in all cases and her profession of having an interest in him doth aggravate her sault in not making use of him nor taking hold of such an advantage for it is an addition to her sin that she drew not neer to her God that is to God who was hers in offer and visible covenant and in whom she gloried as hers Ver. 3. Her Princes within her are roaring lions her Iudges are evening wolves they gnaw not the bones till the morrow The Lord denounceth this wo upon Jerusalem more especially for the sins of her State-Rulers her Princes and superiour Magistrates who ought to have been for the praise of well-doers a comfort and Protectors to the Subjects were a terrour cruel as lions and that not against enemies but Subjects in the midst of the City and her Judges or inferiour Magistrates were no better then they but as cruel and unsatiably greedy as hungry wolves who coming out in the evening having fasted all day do not only eat the flesh of their prey but so do gnaw the very bones as they leave nothing till the morrow See Prov. 28.15 Doct. 1. As a land doth not ordinarily degenerate but when Mag strates of all ranks are also corrupt so the sins of Rulers have an especial hand in drawing judgements on a land for when the city is filthy and polluted c. v. 1. then Princes and Judges are lions and wolves and because of this wo is denounced 2. It is a great iniquity and abuse of Gods Ordinance of Magistracy when the hearts of men in power are lifted up above their brethren and when they employ all their power for their own ends and against those for whose good they should employ it this was the sin of Princes and Judges They are roaring lions within her and evening wolves 3. It is a judgement and a presage of ruine to come on a land wheu their Rulers are not men hating â—â—vetousnesse but hungry greedy men are entrusted with affairs whereby they who in their private stations could not poorly bite and oppresse are enabled by their power and place to play the lion and wolfe such was Judahs case Her Judges were evening wolves they gnaw not the bones till the morrow or they leave not the bones to be gnawed or continue not to gnaw the bones till the morrow but presently devoure up all Ver. 4. Her Prophets are light and treacherous persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have done violence to the law The Lord subjoynes the sins of Church-officers as a further cause of this judgement and chargeth their false Prophets who pretended to an extraordinary calling with prophaneess and levity in their carriage and inconstancy in their doctrine fitting it to all humours and parties which was great perfidiousnesse and their Priests or ordinary Ministers with prophaning the Sanctuary and holy things in ministring unto the Lord and with perverting the true sense of the law in their ordinary doctrine and teaching of the people Doct. 1. When God reckons with a land for sin it is no strange thing to see them who should be meanes of reclaiming people that they may flee from the wrath to come accessory to the guilt of the land and partakers in
times are we little the better but do sit downe in bitterness as if all felicity were lost if we find it not where we expected it and thus do we neglect the true remedy of our gievances and do provoke God to consume our dayes in vanity and our years in trouble Psal 78.33 How great cause then have wee to admire and lament the folly of the children of men who do so farre mistake and upon their mistake do forsake their own mercy whereunto they are led by the discovering of the emptinesse of all things beside God who do quarrell with the wise and holy dispensations of God whereby a foundation might be laid for much good if they were wisely considered when yet their quarrellings can availe or help them nothing and who doe not improve such dispensations for the end for which they are appointed but either sit downe stupidly under them or grow the worse that paines are taken on them or at least doe pine away under the punishment of their iniquity and do howle upon their beds for corne and wine and oyle but return not to the most High Hos 7.14.16 And on the other hand we have cause to admire the mercie of God toward his own chosen ones in that he will so to say make them happy against their wils and when they would destroy and deceive themselves with a vaine shew he in mercy to them wil famish their idols and drive them from snares as he did Lot out of Sodome And when the Lord hath dealt so hardly with them as many times in their bitterness they want language to express it yet he wil let them see their mistake by giving them meat even out of that eater and by setting them on work to mind their country more and to see the Commandments exceeding broad when they have seene an end of all perfection Psal 119.96 And he will discover the riches of his grace and fulness of his spiritual comforts by making his people bless him and acknowledg the mercy of these dispensations which somtimes they so much startled at Psal 119.71 75. and causing the voice of rejoycing and salvation even in the pilgrime tabernacles of the righteous Psa 118.15 Herein Madam your Ladiship hath cause to observe the loving kindness of the Lord toward you who from your tenderest years having been exercised with difficulties of sundry kinds and having experienced this truth of the vanity of all things yet your Ladiship hath obtained mercy to be led thereby and much more by the Law and by the love and hope of mercy through Jesus Christ to seek after a more enduring substance and after Christ that pearle of price which is indeed a token for good even in lots wherein God seemeth to write most bitter things when they set hearts on work this way And as it hath been refreshful to such of the Lords servants and people as know your Ladiships way and exercise to see your sweet submission under the Lords hand and your desire and care to have afflictions rather blessed then removed and to make sure your interest in Christ when the throng of other things might rather have put flesh and blood to other exercise so it hath laid a special obligation upon my self as having been a witness thereunto at several occasions to be instrumental as the Lord shall enable for your Ladiships furtherance and encouragement therein which together with my obligations to make some acknowledgment of the many respects it hath pleased your Ladiship to shew unto me for the truths cause have induced me to make bold in dedicating unto your Ladiship this piece upon some of the Lesser Prophets who were the faithful Interpreters of the Law of God applying the same unto the sins of several times and who do point out the infallible and true causes of calamities lamities with the use to be made thereof and the true remedy thereof to wit Christ the hope of whom to be manifested in the flesh for the Redemption of lost man was the godlies life in these dayes and much more ought he to be so now when the substance is come and that abundance of grace and truth treasured up in him is brought to light by the Gospel If these my weak endeavours may prove serviceable to any of the Lords people in their exercises and journey toward Heaven and in special to your Ladiship that shall be more then abundant recompence unto MADAM Your Ladiships obliged Servant in the Gospel GEORGE HUTCHESON To The READER Christian Reader I Do here present thee with an Exposition of some of the lesser Prophets concerning which and my undertaking thereof I do in the entry give this briefe account As I have looked upon a short Exposition of holy Scripture joyned with the principal doctrines flowing there from after the mould of the Reverend Mr. David Dickson his late peece upon Matthew as a special means through Gods blessing for promoting of truth and piety and for preventing of errours so I little thought to have undertaken any such thing my self when so many godly able and experienced Ministers of the Gospel did not for reasons knowne to themselves put hand to it But being some yeers ago seriously invited with divers others by the Reverend Author of that Exposition on Matthew to concur with him in prosecuting that purpose which he had begun and hath since made further progress into upon the booke of Psalmes I did then essay some of these Prophets being at that time recommended unto me and of late at his desire living now through Gods providence in one City I have looked upon them over again and adventured to present these to publick view if so be it may invite others who have more ability and leisure to mind and help forward such a work upon the whole Bible which is a study beside the profit the Church of God might reape thereby I am confident wil richly recompence the undertakers in their own bosome by many advantages As this recommendation did determine me to the choice of these Prophets in this undertaking so this narration may shorten my account concerning the mould of this piece seeing I have conformed my self so far as my weakness could reach or the nature of the subject being oftentimes very dark and obscure would admit to the mould followed in the Exposition upon Matthew formerly mentioned I have found it necessary beside a short summe of each Chapter in the entrie to premit some short Exposition of the words before the doctrines which is inlarged when neede is in clearing the deductions of each Doctrine In the Exposition I have pointed upon occasion at other Scriptures helping to cleare the place but for the Doctrines I did not set my selfe to bring Scripture confirming them it being my desire that no more be admitted or received here then such as clearly flow from the text in hand only where a passage occured to memory for illustration of the Doctrine I have added it as affording
are able before naturall men that they may have no occasion to think basely of him For so much also doth this description of God The God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land intimating that hee onely had raised that tempest import 4. It is a fearfull condition to be found in a way of rebellion against the great and mighty God therefore these Pagans hearing of the greatnesse of God and of Jonahs fact were exceedingly afraid and said unto him Why hast thou done this c. 5. The more men see of Gods hand in judgments especially that he is pursuing for sin they will affect the more For they who were afraid before at the tempest ver 5. now when they see God pursuing Rebellion by it are exceedingly afraid 6. The light and judgment of naturall men may be more cleer in many things then the light of a childe of God under tentation For they fear exceedingly and tremble at what Jonah hazarded upon in fleeing from the presence of the Lord Why hast thou done this c. Vers 11. Then said they unto him What shall wee doe unto thee that the Sea may be calme unto us for the sea wrought and was tempestuous 12. And he said unto them Take me up and cast me forth into the sea so shall the sea be calm unto you for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you Jonah being now found out and by his own confession convicted of guilt pronounces his own sentence against himselfe that he as the cause of all their trouble should be cast into the fea in regard that it still raged testifying that Gods anger was not appeased Doct. 1. Confessing yea and repenting for scandalous sins will not sometimes exempt from such correction as may make the guilty see more of Gods displeasure and so the desert of sin For albeit Jonah had now confessed his sin and that with remorse as may appear from the confession and that which followeth here yet the sea wrought and was tempestuous as seeking him 2. It is a kindly fruit of affliction when men are taught tendernesse and humanity and a greater subjection of spirit to follow the revealed will of God under it therefore the Mariners in this strait consult with Jonah himself What shall we do unto thee as minding in humanity and compassion to do nothing without his own consent and intending to reverence what he should say as being a Prophet of God 3. A sinner truly humbled will be sensible of the huge desert of sin and will submit and reverence the righteousnesse of God in saddest punishments Therefore Jonah counsels Take me up and cast me into the sea not out of any bitterness or hatred and wearinesse of his own life but from a Prophetick spirit knowing Gods mind and from the sense of sin acknowledging the equity of the sentence in his conscience 4. It will be most sad and bitter to an humbled sinner to be accessory by his provocation to the affliction of others and to be a drawer on of common calamities Cast me forth saith he so shall the sea be calme unto you for I know that for my sake c. Ver. 13. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land but they could not for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them Ver. 14. Wherefore they cryed unto the LORD and said We beseech thee O LORD we beseech thee let us not perish for this mans life and lay not upon us innocent blood for thou O LORD hast done as it pleased thee 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea seased from her raging Jonah having pronounced sentence against himself the Mariners execute it but first out of compassion toward him they used their utmost endeavours to get to any land by rowing but to no purpose for God made the sea fight against them Therefore they pray and protest that their executing of the sentence might not be imputed to them as blood-shed he being innocent in respect of them and what they were now to do being undertaken only in obedience to Gods Soveraigne providence and will revealed by Jonah himself And on these conditions they proceed to execution upon which followeth their deliverance from their strait Doct. 1. Even humanity in natural men will be tender and compassionate towards those who are in trouble though justly procured especially if they know them to have relation to God and to be sensible of their condition Therefore albeit Jonah had been the cause of their trouble yet looking on him as a Prophet of God and pitying him when they heard his confession and sentence against himself they rowed bard to bring it to land and would trouble themselves to exempt him 2. Even refined nature hath an antipathy against blood-shed and manslaughter if in justice it could be avoided This appears in their endeavours and earnest protestations before they execute a just sentence 3. The utmost endeavours of men will not frustrate the purposes of God nor free a guilty sinner from his stroak For they rowed hard to exempt him but the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them as pursuing him and them also if they did not what God revealed to be their duty 4. God in his Sovereignty disposeth of all things at his pleasure and will This do they acknowledge and see in this sentence Thou O Lord hast done as it pleased thee 5. Extremest necessities give no latitude to men to do any thing but what is warranted of God For they judg that no necessity could free them from the guilt of innocent blood in casting out Jonah but only Gods revealed will For say they as a reason Thou O Lord hast done as it pleased thee 6. Men are to go about actions in obedience to the Sovereign will and pleasure of God revealed to them which otherwise their inclinations are much averse from For in obedience to the Lords will They took up Ionah and cast him forth much against their own hearts 7. As God is a severe chastiser of rebellion in his own dearest children so rebellion against him deserves that the Rebel should be cut off in a violent way and that the Lords earth or sea should not carry him For so is Ionah cast forth into the sea 8. The execution of justice upon the guilty in a society is a means of turning away judgements from the rest For Ionah being cast forth the Sea ceased from her raging See Ps 106.30 Ver. 16. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD and made vowes All those passages are amplified from an effect they had upon the Mariners who abserving all that was done and having no doubt heard Ionah preach more of God then is recorded as appears from ver 10. are moved to tremble and fear the true God and testified it by sacrificing unto him whether presently they being as yet ignorant or at
God in whose name he threatened but that the result of all was that Nineveh was to be destroyed nor yet that he preached no longer nor in any more of the City during the forty dayes but the meaning is that before he got any further his word took effect with those that heard it and by their means with the rest of the City as appeares ver 5 6. Hence learn 1. Obedience to God in a calling and commanded duty is a sure evidence of an humbled man for Ionah before rebellious now arose and went to Nineveh 2. It is our duty to obey the will of God not because of our inclination but with an eye to his command to whom our wile and inclinations ought to stoop unto whom we should study to approve our selves in all things and from whom we may expect help in following his way for Ionah went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord as being now taught to look more to God's will then to his own 3. Gods servants following his Commandment and trusting in him have been and will be enabled to oppose and denounce vengeance against the wickedness of greatest persons or places for albeit Nineveh was an exceeding great city c. yet Ionah cried with zeal and courage and said c. 4. God is able to reach and utterly overthrow greatest persons or places when he prosecutes a controversie against them for Ionah in his name denounces that Nineveh that great city shall be overthrown 5. The Lord oftentimes sees it fit in great wisdome to conceal any thoughts of love toward a people and hold out only threatnings and severity to induce them more seriously to repent for this cause is the sentence absolute Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be overthrowne without any mention of a condition that upon their repentance they should be spared as afterward he did only the granting forty days unto them carries an invitation to repentance in the bosome of it Vers 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a Fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them 6. For word came unto the King of Nineveh and he arose from his Throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sate in ashes 7. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the King and his nobles saying Let neither man nor beast herd nor flock taste any thing let them not feed nor drink water 8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every man from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands The successe of Ionah's preaching among the Ninevites is their receiving of the message and humbling of themselves before God which being generally held forth in the 5. verse is more fully enlarged in the following purpose that the King hearing of this threatning belike before Ionah came unto him in his own person set about the duty of humiliation and by his Authority with his Nobles ordained a publick Fast wherein not only rational creatures but even beasts which they used to deck in the time of peace should for a time be deprived of food and clothed with sackcloth that so by this sad sight men might be set on edge to cry fervently unto God and that with their repentance they should joyn Reformation of their evil wayes and oppression Albeit it cannot be said that all those who were employed in this exercise had true faith and repentance unto conversion as neither can it be aledged that none were really converted for Ionah did preach much in forty dayes to them having in shorter time taught the Mariners much yet considering that Christ calleth it Repentance Matth. 12.41 we may safely conclude that there was no grosse dissimulation in it but that at least they had legal faith and contrition Doct. 1. The Word of the Lord may when he accompanieth it have strange and speedy effects among such as men would look for very little from for when Israel are despising the word Nineveh is set on work by it and that so speepily as before Ionah had got through the city vers 4. the work is begun and report from hearers only sets others on work Word came to the King and he arose from his throne c. 2. To belive the truth of Gods Word when it is spoken is the ready way to make it effectual and have place it being ordinarily slighted because it is not credited Therefore Ninevehs reformation begins at this The people of Nineveh believed 3. What is spoken by messengers in the Name of the Lord must be taken up as Gods speech before it can be effected therefore the people of Nineveh hearing Ionah believed God in whose Name he spake 4. Extraordinary causes of a people under wrath imminent or incumbent for sinne call them to extraordinary courses and remedies for averting the same therefore the Ninevites in this strait count it not sufficient to use an ordinary way of dealing with God but proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth c. 5. In a time of great extremity it becomes those who would approve themselves to God so to carry themselves as may testifie most sense of the desert of sin their abjection and low condition before the Lord and so as may stir us up to earnest prayer These things contained in the Kings edict of covering with sackcloath and withholding food from man and beast tended to these ends for hereby they declare how all sorts had offended God and abused the creatures unto sinne they testifie also their sense of their own deserving that the Lord might cut them all off and their beasts for their sake and that because of this they were in an abject and deplorable condition in their own eyes and withal by this mournful face of all things they would stir up themselves to intreat the face of the Lord. As for the external performances as they were never of any worth but abominable if they were rested upon without the substance so they especially that of sackcloth were more called for under the shadows of the Law when the Promises were not so clear as under the Gospel and when people were trained on to their duty by that Paedagogie and as abstinence is stil required in solemn humiliations in so far as may be subservient to spiritual duties so it might be more practised in warm Countries then in colder Climats 6. A lively sense of Gods authority and of his wrath kindling against sin my make a King quit his throne and robes and take a place in the dust with the meanest of his subjects to deprecate the anger of God for The King of Nineveh arose from his Throne and laid his robes from him and covered him with sackcloth and sate in ashes 7. Kings are obliged not only by their Authority but by their example also to promote Piety among
it shall be so with the people when they feele it 2. It is the duty of faithfull Ministers not onely to denounce judgement against sinne and sinners but so to doe it as may make them most sensible of their danger before they feele it in reality therefore doth Micah waile and howle c. that they might thereby read the reality and weight of the threatning and study to prevent the execution 3. A most effectuall way of making people sensible of threatnings is when the messengers themselves are affected with them when they deliver them for therefore doth Micah who carried this message waile and howle 4. Threatnings from the Lord ought to be denounced with great affection and sympathie in the Messengers that so they may evidence that it is no revengefull and bitter spirit in them that maketh them speak so sharp and withall that their affection thus evidenced may make way for an unpleasant message Therefore will I waile and howle c. saith he as a sympathizer with the people of God however as his messenger I carry the hard tidings Ver. 9. For her wound is incurable for it is come unto Judah he is come unto the gate of my people even to Jerusalem In giving a reason of his sorrow he yet further describes the calamity from the universality of it that Samaria as shee is desperately sick of provocations without any hope that ever shee should amend so her stroak was incurable and that the Assyrian having destroyed them that fire should burn through all Judah even to Jerusalem the mother-City and seat of justice to all the Jewes of whom he was one and whom hee loved dearly And so hee comes to the second branch of the Threatning which is against Judah and Jerusalem as was likewise foretold by Isaiah chap. 8.7 8. and accomplished 2 Kings 18.13 c. Doct. 1. It is a bitter cause of complaint when stroaks inflicted by God are irremediable whereas a stroak is easie wherein there is hope of deliverance therefore doth Micah waile for her wound is incurable 2. Albeit the Lord begin his punishments for sin where it pleased him yet when hee lifts up his hand such as are guilty of the same sinnes may think not to escape for when the wound is begun at Samaria it comes unto Judah he is come to the gate of my people c. Jerusalem being so called because it was the seate of justice which used to be administred publickly in the gate 3. The Lord may suspend his corrections upon his Church for her backsliding untill a time of reformation and then inflict them for however Ahaz had his own fears from Rezin King of Syria Isa 7. 2 Kings 16. yet the correction for the high places of Judah of which ver 5. is by the Assyrian who destroyed Samaria and that in the dayes of Hezekiah the Reformer 2 Kings 18. It is come to wit from Samaria into Judah The reason of which is partly because Reformation being not set about sincerely and cordially as it was in the body of Judah in Josiah's time Jer. 3.6 10. doth so much the more provoke the Lord to punish for former Apostasie partly the Lord chuseth a time of Reformation to punish in that a people being at such a time sensible of the sinne procuring the stroak the affliction may be blessed to make them reform the more throughly and partly the Lord chuseth this time that the stroak may be the more moderate there being some standing in the gap and no totall backsliding and accordingly we finde Jerusalem preserved though threatned 4. The affections of the Lords servants in a time of distresse ought to be set on work to sympathize chiefly with such as are most dear to God therefore saith Micah He is come to the gate of my people Not so much his because hee was their countrey-man which ought not to sway with Ministers in publick administrations Deut. 33.8 9. though otherwise to be tender even in that respect is commendable as because they were more upright in Religion then Samaria and therefore the enemies coming even to Jerusalem where the Temple stood is most bitter Ver. 10. Declare yee it not at Gath weepe yee not at all in the house of Aphrah roll thy self in the dust In the next place the calamity of the people and cause of the Prophets sorrow is held forth to be so great that it were to be wished that their enemies such as the Philistims in Gath never knew of it and so might not insult over them in their misery to add to their affliction and therefore in a figurative way usuall in Lamentations and borrowed from 2 Sam. 1.20 they are injoyned to conceal their affliction from such by suppressing their weeping lest they should hear it Whence learn 1. There are still some in the world waiting for matter of joy in the Churches calamities whose gladdest day will be to see her in trouble For so much doth this prohibition to declare it in Gath import 2. Of all enemies such are among the most inveterate as being neerest unto the people of God yet partake not of their mercies for such were these at Gath lying hard upon the borders of Judah from whom especially they would conceale their grief 3. It is a new grief and great addition to the afflictions of the godly that enemies by reason of their calamities take occasion to reproach them their God and Religion And it would be a deliverance in part to have their case concealed from such and an ease to smother their grief if that could conceal it for this charge Declare ye it not at Gath weep ye not at all doth import the Churches wish that such knew it not and her ease if it were so 4. The Church of God must resolve not onely to have afflictions but also to have them noted and observed by enemies and to lie under all their insolencies and reproaches because of them till their triall be perfected for while in a figurative way the Prophet thus prohibits it intimates that it could not be hid and that the Church had this added to her triall In the rest of this Chapter to the last verse the greatnesse of this stroak and the cause of the Prophets sorrow is yet further set forth in a particular and pathetick enumeration of such places especially as would appear in Judah as should feele the calamity of Warr and what their calamity should be and albeit we find no mention elsewhere of divers places named here especially these ver 11 12. yet we are to conceive that they are either proper names of places though unknowne to us chosen out from among other places in regard the signification of their names doth illustrate their condition by the War or that they are appellative and borrowed names given to some places from their qualities properties or condition to illustrate their calamity in the ensuing tempest as may be seen in the particulars And so here by Aphrah
his delayes in executing vengeance for sin with the severity of it when it comes therefore in opposition to their devising iniquity verse 1. that they might execute it well as they thought the Lord deviseth an evil saith he that is it shall be as sore and sharp an evil as if it had been most seriously devised and all the time of delay had been imployed for that effect 4. Sin publickly acted without controlment will bring on judgments against a whole people Therefore because oppression was committed publickly against this family do I devise an evil that is against this whole Nation Amos 3.1 2. even the notorious sins of private persons much more of publick Ministers of Justice not being punished or such sins becoming universal cannot but bring judgments upon a whole Land 5. However Oppressors may think to shift the Lords visitations yet when they come they shall seize upon them and their violence shall be met with afflictions which they cannot shake off for it is an evil from which ye shall not remove your necks 6. Albeit men also dream that if they cannot exempt themselves from judgments yet they will courageously and undauntedly bear out under them yet the Lord by his rods will make the most haughty to stoop for Neither shall ye go haughtily 7. God hath our time and the revolutions thereof so in his own power as he can thereby when he will cause the stoutest to fall before him therefore it is subjoined as a reason why they shall not walk haughtily for this time is evil God shall make the times to crush them 8. Men by their transgressions do provoke the Lord to make their time bitter and evil unto them wherein otherwise they might comfortably serve their generations for because they had oppressed c. therefore this time is evil Ver. 4. In that day shall one take up a Parable against you and lament with a doleful lamentation and say We be utterly spoiled he hath changed the portion of my people how hath he removed it from me turning away he hath divided our fields Their calamity is further set forth that it should not be ordinary but the matter of a Proverb in all mens mouths and of a bitter lamentation composed by themselves to bewaile their calamities or by their enemies counterfeiting their sorrow wherein they should bewaile their utter desolation in that the Lord had transferred the possession of the holy land which he had given as a portion to his people to their enemies and had not onely cast his people out of it but turning away in anger had given it to the enemies to divide it among them and so had put them out of hope to return to it again all which relates especially to the case of the ten Tribes whose lands were thus possessed by the Assyrians 2 Kings 17.24 Doct. 1. Sinning against God with an high hand will at last make the sinner a remarkeable spectacle of justice and will end in bitternesse and lamentation for In that day shal one take up a Parable or Proverb against you and lament with a doleful lamentation 2. The sinners desert is to be utterly ruined without hope of restitution and to be left in that condition to bewaile their want and misery for this is the sum of their lamentation that they are utterly ruined put away from their land their enemies dividing it as their owne inheritance 3. The seeing of God as a party and affliction as flowing from his anger they make the afflicted's lamentation yet more bitter for so doe they lament He hath changed and removed turning away be hath divided 4. The Lords judgements upon a sinfull people will surprize them with astonishment and be more sad then any thing they did expect or dreame of when they were wallowing in their iniquities for so much doth their admiration import How hath he removed it from me Ver. 5. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the Congregation of the LORD Their utter desolation is here positively denounced by God in confirmation of their lamentation that being cast out of their land they should want the benefit of dividing their inheritances by lot before the LORD in his Congregation as of old Joshua had done Josh 18.4 6 10. and they used to doe on several occasions especially every Jubilee when they returned to their possession but should remaine exiled and their enemies in possession of their Country Doct. 1. It is a bitter case when an hard condition is not onely feared or apprehended by us but proves in reality as sad as we imagine For here the Lord confirms their lamentation in apprehending desolation by a positive sentence Thou shalt have none to cast a cord by lot 2. Iniquity will make a Land spue out even a confederate people and detaine them in exile destitute of their wonted priviledges This is imported in that threatning Thou shalt have none to cast a cord c. 3. The causes procuring judgements are still to be taken along in our thoughts with the judgement Therefore saith he because of these sins mentioned ver 1 2. Thou shalt have none c. This will make us justifie God in his afflicting and will set the afflicted on work by repentance to make up their outward losses in God 4. Afflictions will be so much the more bitter as the mercies of which wee are deprived by them have been given unto us by a special providence and as a signe of Gods favour for so the land from which they are to be banished is a land which they had by lot in the Congregation of the Lord that is a land divided to them by especial providence of God and wherein the Congregation of the Lord was See Ps 47.4 and 137.1 Ver. 6. Prophesie ye not say they to them that prophesie they shall not prophesie to them that they shall not take shame The second accusation is for their contempt of and opposition unto Gods Word and Messengers the sense of the words which in the original are concise and short is when the wicked heard the Prophets of God threaten sin so sharply they could not endure this sound doctrine but either would have them silent as Amos 7.10 11 12 13. or would limit them to preach onely what they pleased as their false Prophets did and so some read the words Prophesie ye not let these to wit the time-serving Prophets and such as would follow their way prophesie upon this the Lord threatens to adde this to their judgements that he will take away his Prophets and hereby give them up as dogs to whom holy things are not to be cast and prevent the shame and ignominy which his Prophets suffered at their hands as Matth. 7.6 or as the words may be read by way of interrogation If they shal not prophesie unto these shall they take no shame although they were rid of faithfull messengers to warne them yet that would not hold off jugements
and putting them off the face of the earth as being vile and stinking above ground which seems to have begun after that overthrow of their army in Judah Doct. 1. Such is the presumption of wicked men and the heartlesse diffidence of Gods people that Gods sentence against his enemies is hardly received and credited for this frequent repetition sheweth that this truth is not easily inculcated 2. It is sufficient ground of assurance for the coming to passe of greatest things that the Lord hath determined they should be for this is given as a sure ground of Assyria's ruine that the Lord hath given a Commandment concerning thee or purposed their destruction his purpose concluding as effectually the concurring of all means to bring it about as if they were especially commanded 3. The Lord doth justly root out the memory of such persons or States as make it their only work to get a name on earth and to be eminent and terrible for such is Assyria's doom No more of thy name shall be sowen 4. The threatening of the destruction of idols as a signe of total ruine should put us in minde of the Lords great controversie against idolatry and idols in that he will ruine the worshippers thereof to ruine them as also if the cutting off of their idols was a signe of utter destruction how much more ought it to be grievous unto us beyond any of our particular losses when our God in his hâ—nour and house is wronged and how sad a presage is it of a sad stroak when God doth not spare his own interests in a land all this we may gather from this sentence Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image 5. God can make the greatest and most formidable Nations contemptible not only before him by their vices but in the view of all the world by affronts put upon them by Providence and so cut them off from the face of the earth as unworthy and unfit to live upon it for so doth this sentence I will make thy grave for thou art vile import Verse 15. Behold upon the mountaines the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace O Judah keep thy solemn feasts perform thy vowes for the wicked shall no more passe thorow thee he is utterly cut off However a passage like unto this Isa 52.7 be applied unto the Gospel Rom. 10.15 Christ promised in the Gospel being the foundation of all the Churches deliverances and these glad tidings and deliverances being but shadowes of the glad tidings of the Gospel and of the salvation therein held forth yet the proper drift of this place is to shew the effects which the destruction of the Assyrians should produce in the Church of Judah now only left who hearing these tidings proclaimed openly as upon the mountaines should rejoyce in them as glad tidings and tidings of peace and should without disturbance keep their solemnities and praise God their enemies who disquieted and interrupted them being now cut off A notable proof of all which they had when as Sennacheribs army who made havock of Judah and shut up Jerusalem was overthrown Doct. 1. The Lord will refresh his Church who hath received the glad tidings of salvation with glad tidings of his appearing and doing for her in difficulties for there are here good tidings and peacc published openly upon the mountaines 2. The report of the Lords doing for his people ought to be seriously considered by them and they to be affected therewith Behold upon the mountains c. saith he 3. It is the Churches sorest affliction to be deprived of the free use of the Ordinances of God and the enjoyment of them her greatest mercy for so is implied in the Command now to keep thy solemn feasts which before she could not as the great mercy in her deliverance 4. The want of publick Ordinances and the solemnities of worship is a bitter trial however it may fare well with the people of God in their private exercises of Religion and in their inward conditions for so is also imported in that Judah may keep solemn feasts 5. Our estimation of and respect unto the Ordinances of God must be evidenced by our great alacrity in going about them especially after we have been deprived of them for a time and by our endeavoured thankfulnesse to God for the enjoying of them for this speech O Judah keep thy solemn feasts is a stirring up to alacrity and the Command Perform thy vowes imports a sensible obligation to thankfulnesse to God for the restoring of the Ordinances 6. The Lord will cut off such sons of Belial as do molest his people in the free use of his Ordinances be they never so potent for so is assured of the Assyrians for the wicked or Belial shall passe no more through thee he is utterly cut off And this sentence stands still in force to be executed in due time upon all those who do trace the Assyrians footsteps and imitate their sins CHAP. II. THis Chapter containes a lively description of the destruction of Nineveh wherein is set forth the preparations for the siege which they might in reason now expect ver 1 2 3 4 5. the taking away of the City v. 6. with the captivity of the Queen v. 7. the flight of the inhabitants and desendants v. 8. the sacking of the City and the terrour confusion and sorrow that shall be amongst all v. 9 10. All which is amplified from the cause of this stroak which is insinuated in the admiration and insulting of such as see or hear of their ruine ver 11 12. and expressely declared by the Lord who ownes all this that is come upon her as his act punishing her sin v. 13. Verse 1. HE that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face keep the munition watch the way make thy loines strong fortifie thy power mightily The preparations against Niâ—eveh are set down in general that the Medes and Nebuchadnezzar and the Caldeâ—ns who use to crush all they set upon are to assault her also whom she shall not be able to resist though she use all means for defence And therefore the enemy is spoken of as if he were already in sight of the City and she is exhorted by way of derision to prepare her self by keeping her walls sending out her Scouts to observe the enemies approach and by encouraging and strengthening her self all the wayes she could Doct. 1. The Lord can make a Nation formidable so long as he hath seâ—vice for them who when their own cup is filled become also feeble for the enemies by reason of former successes appear unto the Assyrians as he that dasheth in pieces or the hammer Jer. 50.23 and yet they were afterwards brought down 2. When God sends a prospering enemie against a wicked people it is that it may contribute and adde to that terrour of God wherewith he will confound them in their trouble for
creatures man is bound to look upon himselfe as the chiefe and only Delinquent and to see the controversie pursuing him therefore is he twice pointed at here I will consume man and beast and again I will cut off man from off the land saith the Lord. Vers 4. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Iudah and upon all the Inhabitants of Ierusalem and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place and the name of the Chemarims with the Priests 5. And them that worship the hoste of heaven upon the house tops and them that worship and that swear by the Lord and that swear by Malezham 6. And them that are turned back from the Lord and those that have not sought the Lord nor enquired for him The Lord proceeds to declare more particularly upon whom this desolation was to come to wit upon Judah which was the head of those that were left after the captivity of the ten tribes particularly upon the chief City Jerusalem and he cleareth up the causes of this sentence by pointing at the particular sorts of sinners whom he would cut off These he instanceth in several kinds especially against the first Table of the Law As 1. Grosse Idolaters of all sorts as these who notwithstanding Iosiahs reformation still held up some remnant of Baals worship which was an Idol of the Zidonians the worship whereof was of old followed by Israel in the dayes of the Judges after that was brought into Israel by Jezebel 1 Kings 16.31 and from thence it came into Judah These the Lord threatens to cut off together with the Ministers of Baal both Chemarims who are mentioned also 2 Kings 23.5 Hos 10.5 in the original and seem to have been some inferour order of artenders on the Idol much resembling Monks in Popery and Priests of a superiour order As also he threatens to cut off another sort of Idolaters who imagining a Deity in the stars and planets because of their splendor or influences did worship them on the tops of their houses which were flat in those countries as intending to do them homage in their own view 1. Such as halted betwixt God Idols who made a profession of worshipping the true God a part of whose worship is swearing by his name or having sworn obedience to God in that Covenant renewed by Josiah yet did mixe his worship with the service of Idols particularly of Malcham or Molech the Idol of the Ammonites 1 Kings 11.7 3. Apostates who after their vowes and Covenant and begun reformation had fallen back from God to Idols 4. Atheists who had no respect to God nor his worship whether they followed Idols or not Doct. 1. No former stroak inflicted upon the Church and no priviledge will exempt impenitent sinners but if they goe on in their way the last stroak will be sorest for though Judah was not only left of all the children of Israel and Jerusalem had God dwelling in the midst of her yet the Lord will plague Judah and all the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and that not in an ordinary way but will streth out his hand upon them which imports a stroak beyond ordinary Exod. 3.20 and 7.5 Deut. 4 34. even that which is mentioned here v. 2 3. 2. When the Lord plagueth a land the controversie must be of his discovering least we miscarry in taking it up therefore when the Lord threatens to strike he also cleareth wherefore it is 3. Albeit common calamities comes indifferently upon all albeit the godly who study to keep their garments ought to be sensible in such a time and to renew their peace with God yet it is ground of comfort to them that the stroak is not principally for their cause nor the wrath pursuing them therefore the Lord enumerates the grosse sinners who are his party that the godly whatever their lot were might see their names out of that roll 4. Mens hearts are naturally so besotted addicted to Idolatry as it is hard to get a thorough reformation of it where once it hath place and God is so jealous of his glory as for the least transgression of this kinde he may justly destroy a land for here after Josiahs reformation there is the remnant of Baal Chemarims and Priests and they who worship the host of heaven for which he will consume all things that he may cut them off 5. It is too usual for men that when they see any excellency in the creatures or finde any advantage by them their hearts doat on them and are drawn from God by them for upon these grounds did they worship the hoste of heaven upon the house tops and many do yet doat on some creature or other though that grosse Idolatry be removed 6. The Lord cannot endure any halting in his matters or any mixing of true Religion and his worship with creature worship or Idolatry but will make that a ground of controversie against a land as well as for grosser Idolatry for they that worship and that swear by the Lord and that swear by Malcham are here put in the roll to be cut off with the remnant of Baal and them that worship the host of heaven 7. Oathes are a part of divine worship wherein is ascribed unto God the glory of Omniscience and of power to avenge false swearers and he is called upon for that effect therefore are not lightly to be used nor to confirme a falshood nor is this glory to be given to any creature to swear by them for swearing by the Lord is subjoyned to worshipping him as a chief part of it 8. Apostasie from professions and engagements is a land-destroying sin and a great aggravation of sin whatsoever it be that the decliner turnes to for so these words also may be read They swear to the Lord to wit in renewing the Covenant and yet swear by Malcham and clearly v. 6. they that are turned backe from the Lord are put in the roll to be cut off 9. As it is usual in times of reformation where diversity of wayes of Religion are justling out one another that there arise a generation of Atheists who care not for God or any Religion at all so such are abominable and in a day of vengeance will be ranked with the grossest corrupters as here Those that have not sought the Lord nor enquired for him bringing upon the reer of them whom God will cut off Ver. 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God for the day of the Lord is at hand for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice he hath bid his guests To make the preceeding doctrine take the deeper impression the Prophet to v. 14. resumeth the threatning and holds out the judgement as neer at hand to come on both Court chief City and withal cleareth up yet more causes of his sentence especially in sins against the second Table In this verse he threatens that all their opposition to the Prophets doctrine by
in money by reason of trade dwelt who are threatned that they shall be made to howle and be cut off this place of the City seemeth to be the same with that Neh. 3.32 Doct. 1. When God pursueth a controversie it is folly for any in any place to dream of safety for the Inhabitants of Maktesh the securest and inmost part of the City are threatned with howling and cutting downe as well as those at the gates 2. As former abundance of prosperity will make judgements more bitter so unlawful courses whereby men inhaunce and heap up riches will draw on the bitter judgment therefore the Lord not only threatens particularly that merchants and all they that bear silver should howle as being a fore stroak to such but the word merchant being in the Original a Cananite imports that this judgement came upon them because they had dealt rather like Cananites then Jewes in gathering their riches Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles and punish the men that are settled on their lees that say in their heart The LORD will not do good neither will be do evil Ver. 13. Therefore their goods shall become a booty and their houses a desolation they shall also build houses but not inhabit them and they shall plant vineyars but not drink the wine thereof The Lord threatens yet further in this taking of the City to take order with all Atheists and Epicures who abounding in wealth lay secure and at ease like wine on its dregs when it s not removed in their heart denying Gods providence or that he took any care of things beneath to reward good or punish evil and therefore neither loved nor believed his promises that they might walk in his way nor feared his justice so as to abandon sin Concerning these the Lord threatens that as a man searcheth for what is hid or lost with a candle so he would narrowly search out their sins themselves to punish them for their sins so as none should escape and their goods to give them for a spoil whereby their houses should become desolate and they should be disappointed for all their expectations from their enjoyments according to his sentence pronounced of old in his law Deut. 28.30 39. Doct. 1. Ease and prosperity slayeth the fool and breeds such distempers of security and setling on the earth as justly provokes God to smite for God will punish the men that are setled on their lees 2. Prosperity and want of exercise by vicissitudes of dispensations it s a great feeder of Atheisme and an enemy to the observation and making use of divine providence and this again doth embolden and harden men yet more in their secure and wicked courses for the men that are setled on their lees are also the men that say in their heart The Lord will not do good neither will he doe evil which is both the effect of their secure condition and a ground they lay down forsetling themselves yet more in it 3. Secure Atheists and contemners of God and his providence may expect that God will refute them in a language which they will understand and make them know his providence upon their own experience by effects which they shall not get avoided for the Lord will prove his Omniscience and care of things below by searching Jerusalem as with candles that they may not esscape him and his effectual providence by punishing them making their goods become a booty and their houses a desolation 4. When the Lord strips a sinful person or people of any mercies which they enjoyed they will finde upon narrow search that their enjoyment thereof hath been a snare to them to draw them to sin and they shall read this in the stroak for Therefore that is because these things had emboldened them to settle on their lees deny a providence therefore their goods shall become a booty c. 5. As the Lord will prove the infallible verity of his threatnings however contemned upon such as dare run that hazard so the holy justice of God is to be adored in disappointing men of any happinesse or contentment they expected in these things for which they hazzard their souls and so rendring them twice losers who will not serve him for here an old sentence of the law was to be executed wherein this just procedure shines They shall also build houses but not inhabit them c. Ver. 14. The great day of the LORD is neere it is neere and hasteth greatly even the voice of the day of the LORD the mighty man shall cry there bitterly The Lord having hitherto denounced his judgments to be neer and declared the causes of them now to the end all these threatnings and the sins procuring them may have weight and sinners may yet if possible be rouzed up and put from all their subtersuges he holds out this approaching day of Vengeance in its terriblenesse which he clears from several instances whereof the first is that the most couragious much more the feeble amongst them should be affrighted by it and be made to cry and weep bitterly Doct. 1. Though secure sinners contemne all opposition from men and do put the evil day far off and think nothing of vengeance when it is looked on at a distance yet God is a terrible party against such and can bring evil on a sudden and when it is imminent it will be sad and dreadful for it is the day of the Lord that they should not eye weak Prophets or the Chaldeans only and it is neer and hasteâ—â— greatly the sound or voice of its approaching being in their eares that they may not dream of it as afar off and being neer it is terrible and the great day of the Lord. 2. Natural courage and magnanimity however it may promise much yea and suffain many infirmities yet it will not bear out but saint when God pursueth a controversie for sin for the mighty man shall cry there bitterly Ver. 15. That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and glâ—ominess a day of clouds and thick darknesse A second instance of terriblenesse is that in this day the wrath of an angry God should be made manifest by distresse and trouble on men and wasting and desolation on cities and countreys and that all those calamities should he without any light of comfort the clouds of their sin and of Gods judgement rendering all things black and dismal-like Doct. 1. As the Lord may justly for sin testifie wrath against a visible Church and fatherly displeasure against his own in it so that will make a judgement terrible when his anger is seen and felt in it for that is an instance of the terrour of that day that it shall be a day of wrath 2. Though God testifie his displeasure against sin many wayes yet such is the stupidity of men that
enquiry and fanning of themselves and one of another and that for this end they would gather and recollect themselves and meet together in solemne Assemblies for humiliation and repentance and that they would do this timously before he decreed vengeance which in Gods long-suffering had been yet suspended break forth and before a day of patience pass over swiftly as the chaff before the wind or before the day come wherein they should be as chaffe before the wind and the decreed vengeance should break forth in execution suddenly and easily and wherein the great fierce anger from the Lord should inflict judgement without mercy Doct. 1. When the Lord speaks in hardest tearmes to his sinfúl people yet they are to read in it an invitation and allowance to come to him by repentance and not that he is putting them away from any duty of that kinde Therefore though the Lord had uttered his sentence as a concluded business chap. 1. v. 2. yet here he sheweth what use they should make of it in turnning to him by repentance 2. Repentance is not acceptably endeavoured where there is not a thorough and harrow search enquiry made into our own hearts and wayes and an helping one of another in our stations to perform that duty that so our consciences from clear conviction may charge upon us those sins for which the Word threatens and the sinfulnesse of them and may stir up to turn unto the Lord for so the words in the Original may be rendered search narrowly into your selves and search as men do after stubble scattered here and there as the word is used Exod. 5.12 or after what is lost amongst it that is search and search again while ye are thus employed about your selve stir up and help others to search for so the original construction doth import 3. For stirring up to this duty of searching and making it effectual it is necessary that every man recollect his wandring thoughts whereby he hath snuffed up the winde at his pleasure and hunted after vanities and that the communion of Saints be entertained particularly in solemne and publick humiliations for so doth the Word signifie according to the translation gather your selves together yea gather together See Joel 2.15 16. 4. As this duty of repentance and self-searching is of great importance and concernment in all times and cases and especially when God declares himself to be angry so it is a duty to the performance whereof there is need of much stirring up from the Lord so much also doth the doubling of exhortations gather yea gather import 5. It is necessary for our humiliation and for setting forth the freedome of Gods love and how much he tendereth our wellfare that we know our selves well and what we are to whom the Lord gives invitations or makes gracious offers for this end is it declared here that the Lord invites to repentance a nation not affected with desire to wit of turning to God or of their own good and not desired or worthy to be beloved of him the Original word will import both 6. It is a great addition unto and aggravation of sin when it is general and overspreads a land either by general corruption or by rulers their connivence at sins of particular persons which brings guilt upon the whole land or by private persons their not mourning for the abominations of the time which involveth them in the guilt thereof All which also may contribute to commend Gods kindness in following such a crew and to hold forth the necessity of repentance when the disease is so desperate for this cause it is marked that they were a Nation not desired especially by reason of overflowing sin 7. As the Lord in his long-suffering doth not always execute vengeance immediately upon his purposing or threatning so to do but alloweth some time for bringing forth of that conceived birth as the word in the original imports so the Lords most absolute threatnings do not seclude the penitent from hope but rather invite to speedy repentance so are we taught here gather your selves before the decree bring forth as giving time to them to repent and ground of hope if they should so do for however the Lords eternal purposes be unalterable yet his threatnings which are his pronounced decree or sentence according to the law when most absolutely pronounced to exclude the exception of repentance Jon. 3.4 10. The Lord threatning so sharply that upon our perverting of him he may not execute it as on the contrary he promiseth that he may fulfill And when his threatnings do hold forth even his irrevocable purpose to send outward land-judgements notwithstanding the repentance of any as 2 Kings 23.26.27 yet repentance before it be executed is to good purpose for removing the penitent before the evil day come as was done to Josiah for moderating it to him if he be continued as Jeremiah and the godly remnant found Jer. 15.11 for taking off wrath out of whatsoever they shal taste of the cup. 8. It is an horrid iniquity to despise the patience and long-suffering of God or to neglect the setting up of our furnace of examination self-searching when he threatens and will provoke him to set up his furnace of judgment so much the hotter that it hath been long forborn for if they let the decree bring forth and a day of patience blow over without repentance and fanning themselves he will make the day pass and drive them as chaff and will send his fierce anger upon them 9. None who do believe divine wrath how forcible it is and how weak themselves are to resist but they do proclame their own madness if they set not about repenrance when God threatens Therefore it is thrice held out what this day will be that it shall pass as chaff that the fierce angers of the Lord the day of the Lords anger shall come upon them as sufficient to move any who were not quite bereft of sense to gather together before the decree bring forth Ver. 3. Seek ye the LORD all ye meeke of the earth which have wrought his judgement seeke righteousnesse seek meekness it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORDS anger There being little hope of the body of the land that they would be repentance avert a day of anger Therfore the Lord turns to the godly remnant in the land who are humbled and made meek under the sense of sin and Gods hand and who have studied to make conscience of their duty enjoyned in the word These he exhorts to go on in seeking the Lords face and favour and to grow in humility in meeknesse and in righteous walking and in making use of the righteousness of Christ as being the certain way to be hid from wrath to come the only way giving any ground of hope to get safety in outward judgements though he will not make them absolutely sure of it for this sort of speech see on Jon.
wicked proud boasting and wicked enterprising far more wicked acting against the Lords people their land and rights but it will in due time be reckoned for for it is put upon these enemies score that they magnified themselves against the border threatning to possesse it Ver. 9. Therefore as I live saith the LORD of hostes the God of Israel Surely Moab shall be as Sodom and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah even the breeding of nettles and salt pits and a perpetual desolation the residue of my people shall spoile them and the remnant of my people shall possess them 10. This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hostes Follows the judgement threatned for this sin and confirmed by an oath that these enemies should be made as Sodom and Gomorrah not for the way of their destruction but for Gods rooting them and their memory out and laying their land utterly desolate as a salted land which makes it barren to bear onely weeds and that for a long time if not for ever as to them though there be a promise of their restitution especially spiritual Jer. 48.47 49.6 And whereas they encroached upon Judah the Lord threatens to make Judah spoile and possesse their land v. 9 which is to be understood as that promise v. 7. is and that they may know the cause of this stroak the Lord repeats it againe that all this should come upon them for their proud insolency against and reproaching of his people v. 10. Doct. 1. The Lord is in great earnest that he will meer with the Churches enemies as having both power and reason so to do he being the Churches Protector in Covenant with her though it be little believed either by the Church or his enemies therefore he assures them of it by his oath and takes unto himself titles of power and interest As I live saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel 2. Though the Lord think is not fit to smite every sinful Nation with immediate judgements from heaven or to make their countreys utterly and for ever unuseful as Sodom and Gomorrah were yet his displeasure is no lesse against the enemies of his people then against those he hath so smitten and he will in due time evidence it by sore desolation and of long continuance being compared with the Churches lot therefore is the Lords wrath on these Nations compared with that which he let forth on Sodom and Gomorrah Surely Moab shall be as Sodom and the Children of Ammon as Gomorrah even the breeding of nettles and salt-pits and a perpetual desolation 3. Though the Church may oft times be exposed as a prey to her enemies yet the day may come when the Church will be employed to do that to enemies which they threatned to do to them and in part attempted to do for whereas Moab and Ammon magnified themselves against Israels border v. 8. now the Lord threatens that the residue of my people shall spoil them and the remnant of my people shall possesse them 4. In a time of judgements upon enemies there will be need of frequent inculcating of Gods controversie if they would have a blessed use of stroaks in turning to God and that so much the rather as they will be ready to see many things before they see their injuries done to the Church as a cause of their calamity tharefore is this quarrel again repeated This shall they have for their pride c. 5. Pride and insolency will not misse a fall and stroak in due time especially when pride leads men to act sin and wrong not out of infirmity or ignorance but with an high hand and that against the Church for This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord. 6. A chiefe cause of the Lords appearing for his reproached and wronged people is that the wrongs done to them seem to reflect on him as if he were not keeping Covenant with them or not able to defend or redresse their wrongs and therefore as he affects them even in troubles so he will in due time by visible acts set out his power for them and his love to them therefore this stroak is threatned because they were infolent against the people of the Lord of hoasts where both his power and his interest in Israel are asserted as rubbed upon by them and to be cleared in the judgement to come upon them Vers 11. The LORD will be terrible unto them for he will famish all the gods of the earth and men shall worship him every one from his place even all the Isles of the Heathen This stroak is farther illustrated from an effect that when the Lord shall thus terribly plague enemies and vindicate the wrongs done to his Church he will consume the idols of the Nations also by blasting their reputation that could not help their worshippers whereas God helps his people and shal withdraw worship from them as useless things and so famish them of their food and oblations and make them lean whereby way shall be made for spreading of the knowledge of the true God especially in the dayes of the Gospel wherein without distinction of place John 4.21 or of Nations Acts 10.34 35. all the remotest Nations lying beyond the sea to Judea and the Iflanders shall serve him and yet more particularly in the day of the saving of all Israel which shall be life from the dead to the generality of the Gentiles Rom. 11.15 the fame of Gods doing for them inviting all Nations to renounce their idols and serve him Doct. 1. God is a dreadfull Party for weak man to provok and albeit he be oft times little regarded of the secure siuner yet in a day of anger he will be found terrible The Lord will be terrible unto them 2. As idolatry is a great cause of Gods anger against a people provoking him to smite them so people are ordinarily so addicted to idols that they are undone before they cease to esteem of them so much doth the conexion of these two import The Lord will be terrible unto them for he will famish all the gods of the earth he will terribly destroy them because he hath a mind to bring down their Idols 3. As it is a sweet fruit of judgements when they bring down Idols as well as lay other things waste so howsoever the Lord doth suffer idolatry for a time yet at last by judgments on idolaters and by mercies toward his people he will abolish idols and exalt himself as the only true God to be chosen and served by the world for He will famish all the gods of the earth and men shall worship him 4. It is the priviledge of the new Testament and a part of the glory of Christs Kingdome that the Lords worship is not confined to a Temple at Jerusalem nor to the Nation of Israel and such
as became Proselytes and joyned to them but that in every place even from the remotest Isles all nations have access to God through the Mediator for so is here fore-prophecied Men shall worship him every one from his place even all the Isles of the Heathen 5. It is of great concernment to all the Churches of Christ to mind much and by their prayers to help forward and hasten the conversion of Israel as tending to the advancement of the Gospel among the Gentiles for then this prophecy will get a new and farther accomplishment Rom. 11.15 Vers 12. Ye Ethiopians also ye shall be slaine by my sword The third denunciation is against the Ethiopians who were either a Nation commonly called so beyond Egypt who had served in armies employed against the Church as these other Southern Nations were usually employed abroad Nahum 3.9 Ezek 27.10 or rather a people in Arabia descended also from Cush and lying on the other side of the red sea over against Ethiopia commonly so called who are the people usually called Ethiopians in Scripture these as they had been destroyed by Asa 2 Chron. 14.9 c. and given into the hands of Sennacherib as a ransome for Judah Isa 43 3. with 2 Kings 19.9 so the Lord here threatens to cut them off by his sword in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar either in his conquest of Arabia or when he subdued Egypt and destroyed those other Ethiopians amongst Egypts Associates as they were Jer. 46.2 with 9. Doct. 1. Though the enemies of the Church were never so many on all hands and never so sar remote yet Gods hand is enough for them all for here he undertakes against enemies on all quarters and besides the Philistines Moab and Ammon he threatens that the Ethiopians also which soever of these Nations it be shall be slain 2. It is a special part of right reading of judgements to see Gods hand in them that his quarrel may be studied that his love to his people in avenging their quarrel may be seen that his soveraign power and providence over al the world may be adored and the smitten may know whither to flee for an issue therefore it is added Ye shall be slain by my sword Vers 13. And he will stretch out his hand against the North and destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness Ver. 14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her all the beasts of the Nations both the Cormorant and the Bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it their voyce shall sing in the windows desolation shall be in their thresholds for he shall uncover the Cedar-work The last denunciation is against the Assyrians in the North and the chief City of that Empire which he threatens to make desolate by his out-strerched hand and like a barren wildernes to be an habitation for all kinde of beasts and monstrous creatures of all sorts in stead of eminent Princes and many people who frequented there and that for this end where there had been so many stately habitations he would cause to pull down their roofs and leave nothing but bare walls fit for such guests to huant in Doct. 1. God in executing of judgements will not forget to reach greatest enemies saddest stroaks therefore the Lord sets out Assyria and Ninevehs judgements in so dreadful and ample a way not only to give more ample encouragement to his people whose faith might readily faint most in this particular but to testifie the greatness of his displeasure against them for leading his Israel captive He will stretch out his hand against the North and destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness 2. Howsoever God may seem to own a prospering enemy against his people and they may think so because of their succesle yet God will in due time testifie the contrary for they boasted of old that they came not up without the Lord 2 Kings 18 25. therefore the Lord will stretch out his hand against the North c. 3. Albeit that smful wayes and oppression may for a time raise up men to great power and glory and make cities and countries to flowrish yet ere all be done it will lay them as low yea make them more desolate then is imaginable so did Assyria and Nineveh feele when flocks lay down in the midst of her all the beasts of the Nations when the Cormorant and Bittern did lodge in the upper lintels of it c And no wonder for these creatures were no more monstrous in mens account then the former inhabitants were in Gods sight Vers 15. This is the rejoycing City that dwelt carelesly that said in her heart I am and there is none beside me how is she become a desolation a place for beasts to lie down in every one that passeth by her shal hiss and wag his hand The equity of this sentence upon that City is confirmed from the causes thereof where not recounting her particular sins he takes notice of the result of all her sins and the common sink into which they all ran to wit her security and insolency that being blinded with the splend or of her prosperity she despised all other Nations and cast off all fear of any change because of which it was righteous with God by laying her so desolate to make her an ignominious spectacle to all beholders Doct. 1. It is not possible for wicked mâ—n to guide their prosperity and successe in ill courses well but they will swell in pride thereby and so provoke God yet more to anger against them for This is the rejoycing City that dwelt carelesly that said in her heart I am and there is none beside me 2. Look how much wicked men prospering in sin have been admired by others or have admired themselves for their prosperity divine indignation shall indue time make them as remarkable for ignominious calamity for How is the rejoycing City become a desolation a place for beasts to lie down in every one that passeth by her shall hisse and wag his hand CHAP. III. AFter these threatnings denounced against other nations the Lord returns to speak to the Church threatens Jerusalem for the many iniquities done in her v. 1 2. particularly for the sins of Rulers in State v. 3. and of Church-guides v. 4. and confirmeth the equity of this sentence from Gods justice and their incorrigibleness either by the Word v 5. or by the rod v. 6 7. And because the godly could not but be affrighted by these threatnings therefore he subjoyns many comforts to them concerning the returning of their captivity and the mercies of the Gospel exhorting them to wait on God in expectation that he who punished the Church would appear and punish her enemies v. 8. at which time he would propagate true Religion and make Jews and Gentiles jointly serve him v. 9. would gather his people from the remotest parts of the world v. 10. would