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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45333	An exposition by way of supplement, on the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of the prophecy of Amos where you have the text fully explained ... : together with a confutation of Dr. Holmes, and Sir Henry Vane, in the end of the commentary / by Tho. Hall ...	Hall, Thomas, 1610-1665.; Homes, Nathanael, 1599-1678.	1661 (1661)	Wing H431; ESTC R18972	450,796	560

untoucht But such a terrible destructive Pestilence that should sweep away all before it insomuch that if ten men remaine alive they shall all dye and they shall be buried not in an ordinary way but they shall be burnt and that by the nearest relations which was used by the people of Israel only in cases of extream necessity 1 Sam. 31.12 In this Verse we have 1 A Iudgement threatned viz. death Yee shall dye i. e. by the Pestilence Those that escaped the Sword and were not killed or carried away by the enemy the Pestilence or some other Judgement shall slay them as appears by the next verse 2 Here is the fierceness of this Pestilence it shall sweep all before it this is more than the Pestilence usually doth God had corrected them before with lighter rods yet he left some alive but now if ten men remaine in some very numerous Family they shall all dye together This sets forth the dreadfulness of Gods wrath against this people for when the Plague rageth very fiercely yet it usually spares some if there bee four or five in an house usually one is spared or if eight in a Family it may be two are spared but when there are ten in a Family and they must all dye this is dreadful indeed By Ten the Prophet signifies many because ten is the utmost of single number It is a certain and distinct number put for an uncertain the like we find Numb 14.22 Levit. 26.26 1 Sam. 1.8 Iob 19.3 Psal. 91.7 Eccles. 7.19 Isa. 5.10 Zach. 8.23 Mat. 25.1 3 Here is the certainty of this dreadful destruction It shall come to pass that is it shall certainly come to pass for God hath so decreed it and there is no resisting OBSERVATIONS 1 Iudgements seldome goe alone When God begins to correct a people he takes them up for all together and spends one rod upon them after another till he hath either mended or ended them God wants not variety of wayes to cut off rebellious sinners if they escape one Judgement yet he hath another to arrest them Amos 5.19 9.1 2 3. Mat. 24.7 he hath moths thieves rust and cankers to rob us of our comforts Iam. 5.2 3. 2 Desperate Diseases must have desperate Cures When gentler corrections will not work on a people then come direful plagues and end them Those sinners were become desperate and incurable and now the Lord sets upon them with direful judgements and consumes them that so all the Nations round about might hear and fear and doe no more so wickedly 3 Incorrigible sinners are cut off by the Pestilence God had used all means to reclaime this People but all in vaine therefore now they must dye for it So true is that of the Apostle The wages of sin is death Rom. 1.31 6.23 Sin and Death came into the world together Gen. 2.17 Dan. 9.11 Rom. 5.12 How blind then are the Socinians that can finde no place in Scripture where it is said that death is the punishment of sin 4 What God hath decreed shall certainly be effected Though we cannot bring it to pass yet he can and will whether it be for the overthrow of the wicked as here or for the comfort of the godly The counsel of the Lord shall stand and the thoughts of his heart unto all generations Men may plot and contrive wayes to overthrow the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ but these devices and counsels of men shall not stand it is the counsels of the Lord only that shall abide Psal. 33.10 11. VER 10. And a mans Uncle shall take him up and he that burneth him to bring out the bones out of the house and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house Is there yet any with thee and he shall say No then shall he say Hold thy tongue for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord. WHat the Prophet had exprest somewhat obscurely in the precedent Verse he sets down more fully and clearly in this viz. That the Pestilence should be so dreadful that it should destroy whole Families insomuch that there should not be living men enough to bury the dead There should neither be Father nor Mother Brother nor Sister Son nor Daughter left alive to doe the last office of Burial for them but a mans Uncle or Kinsman must doe it for him else hee may lye and rot above ground This shews what great desolation the Pestilence had made amongst them that the Uncle or nearest Kinsman to whom the right of succession to the Inheritance belongs must bee constrained to burn the Body that so he might carry the bones out of the house with more ease This was servile work and belonged to mercenary men appointed for that purpose Ezek. 39.14 but for want of such ordinary Officers to doe it the Kinsman must doe it So that in this Verse we have 1. An Amplification of that great desolation which the Pestilence should make amongst them it should be so terrible that it should destroy whole Families and cut off those ordinary Officers which were appointed to bury the dead insomuch that the next Kinsman must be forced to doe it neither shall he doe it in an ordinary way but he must burne his bones Calvin and others make the Uncle alone to be both the burner of the dead and the burier of his bones they read the words thus His Uncle shall take him up and burne him that he may carry the bones out of the house This reading seems to be most genuine and agreeable to the Text and context setting forth the dreadful hand of God upon them in that the Pestilence should be so fierce that they should want ordinary Officers to bury the dead Q. But how are they said to burne their dead when it appears both by the Old and New Testament that the Jewes did bury their dead Gen. 23.4 49.31 50.5 25 26. Mat. 8.21 22. Joh. 19.41 42. A. It is true usually they did bury their dead in times of Peace but in times of Warre they sometimes did burn their dead as they did Saul and his Sons to prevent further abuse which might be offered to their bodies by the Philistims 1 Sam. 31.12 13. so in times of great contagion to prevent stench and further infection they burnt their dead as in the text They might also burne them to cleanse the house which was fallen to the Kinsman from legal uncleanness by the dead Numb 19.14 Hence we read of their Vespillones and Pol●inctores their buriers and their burners of the dead and so had the Gentiles and the Romans they burnt their dead to ashes and put their ashes into Urns as appears by Virgil Ovid and others and Pitchers of Gold Silver Brass or Marble with great care and ceremoniousness These Iewes being themselves Idolaters did symbolize too much with Heathens and Idolaters in this thing 2 Here is the reason why

things grew to extremity and observing that all the fruits of the earth both Corn and Grass were like to be suddenly consumed by the devouring Locusts and so a fearful Famine would come upon the Land he betakes himself to his Prayers as the best remedy against such a malady 1 King 8.37 he deprecates the Judgement and prevails So that here is 1 The Judgement threatned and that is the Famine one of Gods sore Judgements Ezek. 14.21 2 Here is the means that was used for the stopping of the execution of it and that was the prayers of the Prophet and other good people This Prayer is Argumentative it is short but sweet little in words but full of matter little for quantity but full of faith as appears by the speedy answer and the good effect which it had God delights not in babling or multiplicity of words Eccles. 5.2 it is the faith and fervour of the Person praying and not the bare words which God regards The Prophet useth two Arguments to move the Lord to shew mercy to them The first is drawn from the Covenant of Free-grace which God made with his people it is Iacob that is in distress by whom shall Jacob arise q. d. I plead not for Babylonians Aegyptians Assyrians or any barbarous Nation that know thee not but my suit is to thee in the behalf of thine owne Church and chosen it is for Iacob thine inheritance which is near and dear to thee that hath made thy servant thus bold to speak unto thee Psa. 105.6 135.4 Isa. 19. ult Ier. 2.14 Remember O Lord thy Covenant made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob spare thy people pitty thine inheritance there is nothing works more upon God than the remembrance of the Covenant of Free-grace which he hath made with his people he delights in that Deut. 7.9 12. and therefore the Saints so oft urge it Exod. 32.13 Psal. 74.20 By Iacob here is primarily meant the ten Tribes or the Israelites which were the posterity of Iacob though Iudah be not totally excluded for Amos oft glanceth at them also Amos 2.5 6.1 A second Argument is drawn from the shattered sad condition which this People were in they were little very little and low O Lord forgive I beseech thee by whom shall Iacob arise for he is small He is small and low in Men in Spirituals and Temporals in Church and State Money in Spirituals and Temporals in Church and State Strength in Spirituals and Temporals in Church and State 1 They were little and low in Temporals both in Number Riches and Power they were much impaired and wasted by various calamities of Sword Famine and Pestilence as appears by chap. 4. 2 King 14.26 when Ieroboam the second came to the Throne the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter for there was none shut up or left nor any helper in Israel 2 They were low in Spirituals in Ahabs time the Worship of God was generally corrupted his Truths despised his Ministers persecuted 1 King 18.4 and such a general face of Idolatry had over-spread the Land that Elijah complains he was left alone 1 King 19.10 and in the ninth verse of this Chapter the Lord threatens to lay their Sanctuaries wast and that they should have a famine not of Bread but of the Word of God chap. 8.11 12. Thus the Prophet pleads not Iacobs merit but Gods mercy and free-grace so much the original word imports to be favourable and propitious to spare and pardon The word is often used in the Law for forgiveness upon oblation and intercession made by the Priest Numb 14.19 Levit. 4.20 26 c. Psal. 25.11 He first beggs for pardon of their sin for he knew right well if the cause were removed the effect would quickly cease Neither doth he plead Iacobs excellency but his misery to move the Lord to shew him mercy q. d. Consider O Lord the low and sad estate of thy people they are low in Temporals and low in Spirituals and few in number and if thou still goe on thus with thy Iudgements all must perish and there will be none left to praise thee if thou shouldst enter into judgement with thy Servants there were no abiding B●ut as it is the glory of a man to pass by an offence so it will make much for thy glory to pardon and pass by the sins and transgressions of thy poor afflicted people It makes not for thine honour nor doth it suit with thy nature to afflict the afflicted nor to oppress the oppressed Hold then thy hand spare thy People and pitty thy distressed flock Thus this good Prophet did commiserate their condition and intercedes for the life of those who sought his death it is true he had plainly and powerfully reproved them for their sins according to his place and calling yet that they might see he did nothing out of hatred but by office and command from God not out of passion but out of compassion to them he now prays for them and prevails By whom shall Jacob arise Or who shall raise Iacob or how should he subsist if thou still pursue him with thy Judgements The Original word Kum hath many significations which hath caused these various lections it signifies to arise to stand to establish and abide Some render the word Transitively for to raise Who shall raise Jacob i. e. who shall raise and restore him and make him happy in the enjoyment both of Temporals and Spirituals Thus the sense is the same take it which way you will By whom shall he arise The Prophet could not see who should effect this and therefore he asketh the question By whom shall he arise he could discerne no visible means how the weakness of Iacob should be strengthened and the lowness of Iacob be exalted and therefore he goes unto God by Prayer As when the enemy is high we are apt to question who shall bring downe these Gyants these sons of Anak these great Zanzummims of the world for they are high and mighty So when the Church is low and lies in the dust our unbelief is apt to question its arising By whom shall Jacob arise for he is low OBSERVATIONS 1 Afflictions are a means to bring us to God When all the fruit of the Land was almost devoured now comes Praying Spare Lord. We are all too like Ioab in this Absolom sent twice for him but he would not come at last he set fire on his Corn fields and then Joab arose and came 2 Sam. 14.30 31. Hence the Lord takes it for granted that in our affliction we will seek him diligently Hos. 5. ult and so they did Hos. 6.1 and so did the Woman of Canaan Mat. 15.22 and the Prodigal Luke 15. and Iehosaphat 2 Chron. 20.12 and David Psal. 120.1 and Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 2 In Gods Ministers there must be a due temperature of sharpness and sweetness of severity and mercy They must have a holy anger against

but an hundred and an hundred shall be brought to ten saith the Lord who doth this OBSERVATIONS Sin is the grand depopulator of a Kingdome It makes Cities that go out by thousands to return by hundreds and reduceth their hundreds to tens Wee use to complain of such as unpeople Towns and Villages sin is the Arch-depopulation of Towns and Cities it brings the Sword Plague and Famine upon Nations which sweep men away by thousands As obedience multiplies a people and makes them like the sand of the Sea for multitude 1 King 4.20 So disobedience makes men few in number which were before as the Stars of heaven for multitude Deut. 28.62 We should therefore unanimously rise in arms against this Cut-throat sin if an enemy should come to Town that had killed our fathers mothers wives and children and robbed us of all our pleasant things with what indignation and fury would men women and children joyntly rise to ruine such an enemy Sin is this adversary it robs Sovereigns of their subjects Pastors of their people and robs us of our dearest relations We should therefore do by it as the Iews did by Paul whom they lookt upon as their adversary Act. 22.27 28. when they saw him they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him saying Men of Israel help This is he that is against this people and against the Law and against this place So should we encourage each other against sin and suppress it saying Magistrates Ministers men and brethren help this is that which destroyes our people wastes our Cities unpeoples our Towns opposeth the Laws and brings confusion every where 2 Obs. In the midst of judgement God remembers mercy All had deserved death here yet such is his clemency that hee spares a Tenth and leaves a remnant Isa. 1.9 and 6.11 12 13. 'T is the Lords singular mercy that any remain alive and it is his overflowing goodness that wee are not all utterly consumed and hurled out of the world at once Lam. 3.22 In the midst of these devastations here is a gleaning left to praise him 3 Obs. The threatnings of Gods Ministers are Gods threatnings Thus saith the Lord the City that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred T is not I saith Amos but the Lord by mee his weak instrument that tells you this Wee are Ambassadors for Christ 2 Cor. 5.20 Now the words of an Ambassador are esteemed as the words of him that sent him This made Cornelius though a Souldier and a Commander yet to set himself as in Gods presence and so to hear as if God himself spake to him Act. 10.33 and so did the Thessalonians 1 Thess. 2.13 when our preaching agrees with the word of God it is to bee esteemed as the word of God himself If this were truly beleeved it would make us come with other affections to hear the word than most now do VERSE 4. For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel seek yee mee and yee shall live THe Prophet having shewed this people their misery and affrighted them with the Threatnings hee comes now unto the Remedy and shews them how they may prevent all that misery which like a flood was rushing in upon them especially for their Idolatry and that is by Repentance by forsaking their Idols and turning to the Lord. Where there is no ground of hope people grow desperate and run from God and therefore the Prophet gives them some glimpse of mercy inviting them once and again to seek the Lord that so they might prevent his fury In the words we have 1 A preface Thus saith the Lord. This is oft used before by this our Prophet in the first second third and fourth Chapters and this hee doth 1 To quicken attention 2 To make them attend with the greater reverence and fear since it is the word of God and not of man 3 To assure them of the certainty and truth of what hee spake and that it should bee certainly and suddenly effected for hee that is Almighty hath said it 2 Here are the persons to whom hee speaks viz. To the house of Israel i. e. to the ten Tribes The invitation is general to take off all excuse that none might say They were not exhorted to the duty 3 Here is a Precept Seek yee mee Where wee have 1 The Act Seek 2 The Object Mee 4 A Promise And yee shall live The Precept is short but very comprehensive It is indeed a brief of the whole body of Religion or a summary of the whole duty of man The Scripture doth in many places epitomize our duties reducing them sometimes to eleven heads as Psal. 15. Sometimes to six as Isa. 33.15 and Heb. 6.1.2 Sometimes to three viz. Justice Mercy and humble walking with God Micah 6.8 Our Saviour hath epitomized them and reduced them all unto two viz. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy self But our Prophet here comes and summes them all up in one saying Seek the Lord. The word Seek is emphatical and signifies not a bare wishing or woulding or some cold velleities but an earnest accurate exquisite inquiring after God and his wayes and therefore the Septuagint render it by a compound word which signifies to seek out with earnestness and diligence till wee finde the Lord. The Apostle useth the same word Heb. 11.6 The Lord is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him The word implies labour industry and constancy wee must never rest till wee have found the Lord as the woman that had lost her groat continued seeking till shee had found it Luke 15.8 3 Here is the causative particle For which may bee rendred therefore and then the sense will bee more current thus q. d. Since the Lord hath threatned to make such havock amongst you therefore seek him sincerely that yee may live for hee desires not your ruine but your returning Yet some make the particle redundant here and look upon it onely as an expletive particle oft so used by the Hebrews The sense is here entire without it 4 Here is the object of our seeking and that is God Seek yee mee Excellent things are the object of our desires now there is none like God and therefore none to bee desired like him Hee is our Creator Redeemer Preserver ours in all sweet Relations our Father Husband Lord King c. and therefore to bee sought and served by us in an especial manner One of these obligations call for observance and duty but when all shall concenter and meet in one how great should our observance bee 2 This seeking of God implies a sincere turning to him a loving him with all our heart a seeking him simply for himself it notes a trusting in him a fear to offend him a forsaking of all Idols and false wayes as it follows in the next verse delighting only in his pure word and worship 1 Chron. 16.10 and praying to him

thread till the whole peece bee consumed Iob 13. ult Psal. 39.12 Hos. 5.12 Sometimes to the Wrath of a King and if that bee as the Messenger of death Oh what is the wrath of the King of Kings Prov. 16.14 1 Then take heed of provoking him to anger better have all the world inraged against us then God against us Their wrath is but finite and limited both in respect of time and place but Gods wrath is infinite without either bank or bottome Take heed of all sin especially of those God-provoking sins as 1 Idolatry Deut. 4.23 24. and 32.21 22. 1 Cor. 10.5 7. and following Antichrist Rev. 14.9 10. and 19.20 2 Prophanation of holy things Lev. 10.2 Numb 16.35 3 Neglecting to reform the things amiss in Gods worship Ezra 7.23 4 Fornication and Sodomitical sins Gen. 19.24 1 Cor. 10.5 8. 5 Murmuring at Gods dispensations 1 Cor. 10.5 10. 6 Apostacy and back sliding Heb. 10.38 2 When ever we perceive the fire of Gods wrath to break out in Sword Plague c. by our prayers and tears we should labour suddenly to quench it Numb 16.46 A fire the longer it burns the more dreadful it is and the harder it is to quench it 3 In all our approaches to this great and mighty God whether in Prayer Sabbaths Sacraments c. come with the greatest fear and reverence for hee is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 This holy fear must bee an ingredient into all our services Psal. 2.11 It is said of Luther that hee prayed with such fear and reverence as remembring hee had to do with God and yet with such affiance and confidence as with a Friend and Father 4 Bee thankful for Christ who hath delivered us from wrath to come The Angels fell and lye under this wrath but Christ was cursed that wee might bee blessed and hath undergone Gods wrath for us that wee might bee freed from it In time of tentation set this as a skreen between the fire of Gods wrath and thy soul. Hide thy self in the clefts of this Rock and get thy soul covered with thy Saviours Righteousness and then thou mayest stand with comfort and confidence before this consuming fire VERSE 7. Yee who turn Iudgement into wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the earth THe Prophet having called on Israel to repent hee comes now to set before them their sins which they should repent of Hee had called upon them before to forsake their Idolatry and sins against the first Table vers 5. now he calls on them to repent of their sins against the second Table viz. their perverting of Iudgement and Iustice their cruelty and oppressing of the poor verse 11. and their Bribery verse 12. Seek yee the Lord yee who have turned Iudgement into wormwood 1 Here is a fin reproved and that is perverting of Judgement set forth by an elegant Metaphor and Allusion of turning Judgement into wormwood 2 Here is an exegesis or fuller explication of this sin They leave off righteousness in the earth It is usual in Scripture to make the latter clause explain the former 3 Here are the persons which are guilty of this sin and those are the Princes Judges and Rulers of Israel included in the Pronoun Yee 4 Here is their duty set down in the next verse They must turn from their sin and seek the Lord who is the great Creator and Governour of all q. d. O yee rulers of Israel who have not onely provoked mee by your Idolatry but have also cast away all care of Righteousness and Equity and given your selves up to all manner of cruelty bribery rapine and iniquity and have thereby turned the sweetest Iustice into the bitterest wormwood now repent and seek the Lord that yee may live for ever The Prophet here principally taxeth the great ones and the Rulers of the people who had the deepest share in this guilt they should have been patterns of Justice and Righteousness to their inferiours but they being evil themselves corrupted the rest as bad humours use to flow from the head to the body and therefore the Prophet falls heavy upon them as hee did before Chap. 4.1 These corrupted Justice and made that which is in it self most profitable and pleasant to become bitter and distasteful by oppressing the poor and helpless This is called Wormwood here and gall and poyson Amos 6.12 1 Because such unrighteousness and oppression is very displeasing and bitter to God 2 It is bitter to the poor and oppressed 3 In the end it will bee bitter to the Oppressors themselves This is finis operis though not finis operantis In the conclusion it will bee gall and wormwood yea deadly poyson to their souls though they intend it not Justice and Equity is a most sweet and precious thing and doth wonderfully help to preserve the peace and prosperity of a Land This is a sanctuary and shelter for the innocent and the oppressed but these oppressing self-seeking Rulers had made a poyson of a remedy and turned that which was ordained for the safety of the afflicted to his ruine These Rulers had turned Justice into wormwood many wayes 1 By Bribery Amos 4.1 2 By Partiality justifying the wicked rich man favouring the kinsman the friend the briber but condemning the poor and innocent who had no bribes to give them 3 By delayes tyring out the poor and so forcing him to give up his cause 4 By wresting and perverting the Law to their own ends contrary to the genuine sense of it 5 By hindring such evidence as might clear the cause And leave off righteousness in the earth They let it lye in the dust and trod it under foot That which was their duty yea their glory viz. the execution of Justice that they neglected and sleighted as a most contemptible thing They abused the righteous and did grinde the faces of the poor Amos 8.4 5 6. There was no place left for any righteousness amongst them their seats of justice were places of injustice and their Courts of equity Courts of iniquity OBSERVATIONS 1 Perverting of Iustice is very bitter and displeasing to God and man Look how distastful Gall and VVormwood is to us so distastful is unrighteousness to the righteous God It is as poyson and hemlock to him Amos 6.12 Hence he so oft complains of it and denounceth so many woes against it as in Psalm 82.2 3. and in Isa. 5.7 20 23. 10.1 59.4 13. and Lam. 3.35 36. As nothing is more sweet and delightful than an impartial administration of Justice so nothing is more bitter and displeasing to God and man than unrighteousness It is a sin to omit righteousness but it is a farre greater aggravation of the sin to contemn it and trample it under foot as these did here Great is the number of wicked men and were it not for Justice that did restraine them every mans lust would be a law and the reins would be let loose to all manner