timber-frame that the granting thereof by God is a great mercy and a pledge of his turning in favour to them for Out of him came forth the corner and the naile is a proofe of his love 2. When God sees it good for his people he can easily enable them to be Conquerours and bring them in subjection who had been their oppressors for Out of him came the battel-howe and every oppressour or exactour of tribute as the word signifieth together Vers 5. And they shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle and they shall fight because the LORD is with them and the riders on horses shall be confounded The second promise explains further their power to prevaile over their enemies that they should be strong as giants to tread down their enemies and even to shame and put to flight horsemen though not by their own strength Doct. 1. There is no power nor might can prevail against the Church supported by God but when disadvantages are greatest victory shall be most remarkable for They shall be as mighty men to tread down their enemies as mire and confound riders on horses 2. The strength whereby the Church is inabled to beare out and wrastle with difficulties is much and frequently to be observed and remarked therefore is it again held out in the promise 3. As the Churches strength to go through is not het own so it is necessary that God be much exalted and acknowledged for it when she hath it this is held forth for our use They shall fight because the Lord is with them reconciled and in Covenant with them and assisting them in that enterprise Vers 6. And I will strengthen the house of Judah and I will save the house of Joseph and I will bring them again to place them for I have mercy upon them and they shall be as though I had not cast them off for I am the LORD their God and will beare them The third promise is that as he will strengthen Judah so he will convert and assert the ten tribes out of trouble and so joyne them with Judah and bring them again not only to the Church which is imported in their being saved but as appears to their own land and restore them to his favours and take away the signes of his anger as if they had never been rejected The causes whereof are his mercy and the constancy of his Covenant turning them to seek him and hearing them when they seek Doct. 1. It is a point of truth seriously to be believed by Gods afflicted people that he can and in due time will not only strengthen them to endure their lot but enable them to recover their wonted power and ability after they have been exhausted with many calamities therefore is the promise so oft repeated I will sizeâ—g then the house of Judah 2. These who belong unto the Lord and his Covenant though they may be long cast off and in a lost condition for trouble and captivity yet God will seek them out bring them again to himself and set them free from all troubles of this his dealing with the ten tribes is a special instance whose right to the Covenant is unalterable by any temporal rejection Rom. 11.28 29. I will save the house of Joseph 3. When God turnes his people to him not only doth his favour shine upon them but their priviledges lost through sin are restored unto them according to the tenour of his Covenant made with them for the house of Joseph being saved I will bring them again to place them the promise made concerning their land as appears this should be understood is forth-coming when they come to God 4. Tender mercie in God will bring about good things to his people where there is no other probability thereof and it is an argument sufficient to move him to perform his promises to them that in so doing he will magnifie his own mercy this is the reason of the promise For I have mercy upon them 5. A people turning unto God however they have sustained sad calamities and such marks of his displeasure as it would seem should leave a perpetual print behinde them yet they may expect that God can fully restore deplorable conditions and is willing to do it in outward things in so far as is for their good whereof his promise to Israel is an instance They shall be as if I had not cast them off and holds alwayes true in spiritual mercies that upon repentance and fleeing to Christ the sinner is in due time restored to Gods favour as if he had not hid his face from him 6. Gods entering in Covenant with his people is a bond which stands firme notwithstanding many temporal sad lots and will be forth-coming for the Confederate after it hath seemed to be made void for a long time this is another argument why the Lord will restore Israel even that he may give a proof of the constancy of his Covenant For I am the Lord their God 7. As it is a sweet fruit of Gods keeping Covenant when he brings back his people from their wandering to seek him and call upon him so the Covenant assures the Supplicant of getting audience this followes on his being their God I will heare them which presupposeth that he will convert them to pray to him Vers 7. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man and their heart shall rejoyce as through wine yea their children shall see it and be glad their heart shall rejoyce in the LORD The fourth promise is directed especially to the ten tribes that they shall also be made giants in the common cause of the Jewish Church that they shall be filled with consolation as with wine and that their children who succeed them shall enjoy the same mercies and shall rejoyce in God and follow the Christian Religion of their Progenitors Doct. 1 In a time of love the Lord hath a special respect unto these who have tasted deepest of trouble and whose condition seems most desperate that they may be assured of his good will and not come behinde with any therefore Ephraim or the ten tribes get the promises repeated and the same with what was given to Judah v. 5. And Ephraim shall be like a mighty man 2. The Lords appearing for his people will change their condition beyond any thing that their case in probability could promise for broken and undone Ephraim being assisted of God shall be like a mâ—ghty man 3. Albeit the consolations of Gods people may oft times be under the clod yet when he returns unto them he allowes comfort upon them which is able to refresh and chear up their heart as if they had the choice of outward delights and it is Gods work to apply these consolations effectually for Their heart shall rejoyce as through wine saith he undertaking to give matter of comfort and to make it effectual 4. The continuance
one some of more as God saw fit 5. The Lord can so season saddest dispensations to his people and set bounds to over-flowing trouble as even when they seem bitterest some mercy may be in the bosome of them for not only was this fatal stroak a mercy in that it was a clear demonstration that the Messiah was come in that their Common-wealth was quite abolished and their Ceremonial worship put to a close the Temple being destroyed but yet further mercy appears in that that Nation is not quite cut off but a part reserved for future mercy a refidue not cut off from the city Which as it was literally true in Antiochus invasion before Christ that some were left in the city so under the Romanes some of that Nation and City escaped the siege and these calamities 6. The Lord may conveigh purposes of mercy in a sad time through very sad dispensations which at first view would seem to promise no such thing for as this mercy of being preserved was granted to some in escaping the siege so others were reserved to be a seed of that Nation by their captivity into strange Nations Halfe of the people shall go forth into captivity is both a calamity and yet a mercy to that Nation Verse 3. Then shall the LORD go forth and fight against those Nations as when he fought in the day of battel In the next part of this prophecie the Lord cleares some difficulties that might arise upon the hearing of this sad judgement And first it might be enquired what shall become of these so cruel enemies to which answer is here made that they should not escape unpunished but God should appear and fight against them as ever he did at any time for his Church and his fighting imports successe this the Romanes and their Consederates felt in many calamities since that time till now Doct. 1. No affliction of the Church for her provocations not yet Gods seeming to hide himself will hinder him from testifying his affection to her or from being her enemies party in due time and to embarque in her quarrel and engage his power for revenge for the Lord shall go forth and fight against these Nations 2. Albeit the Lord by his secret Providence do so order affaires as that the Churches enemies do nothing but execute his quarrel yet they are to expect no thanks for their service against his Church as minding nothing lesse therein then the execution of Gods will but they may rather reckon that they are permitted to go on in that service to ripen them for vengeance for though the Lord gathered them v. 2. yet now he will fight against them 3. The Churches low estate may be a time of greater mercies at least as to his reckoning with her enemies then when she is most flourishing for then when Jerusalem is destroyed albeit he do not yet restore them yet he will go forth and fight against their enemies 4. All the Churches experiences in former times are forth-coming for the Churches comfort in after-ages according as she shall need them and as the Lords wisdom seeth fit to improve them for he shall fight as when he fought in the day of battel which is not to be restricted to any one particular experience or time but generally to be understood of all or any experience which may seeme most comfortable in this or that strait Verse 4. And his fect shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives which is before Jerusalem on the East and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the East and toward the West and there shall be a very great valley and halfe of the mountain shall remove toward the North and balfe of it toward the South A second question might arise upon the hearing of this judgement what should become of the Church when Jerusalem is gone the Temple burnt and that Nation cut off or scattered To which answer is given that the Church should not perish for God should reveal the doctrine of salvation and make a plain way for the Gentiles to come unto the Church in place of the Jewes and to worship him according to his will from afar off Thus do I take up this dark speech without troubling my self with other expositions for the clearing whereof consider that the City Jâ—rusalem was encompassed with hills Ps 125.2 whereof this Mount of Olives was one so that it was not seen afar off nor the way to it easie Whe eby was signified that under the Law the Church and way to heaven was hid up from the rest of the world being not only dark to the Jewes in respect of many ceremonies but these ceremonies were a partition-wall betwixt the Gentiles and the Church so that the turning of that hill into a plaine valley imports that God should make the Church and way of his worship clear to them afar off that they might look there-away as of old they did to the Temple 1 Kings 8. Dan. 6. testisying their worshipping God as he had prescribed and revealed himself and that he would remove impediments in the way of their Conversion and make a plain way without ceremonies for them to come unto the Church In this dark speech the Mount of Olives is only mentioned though there were other hills about Jerusalem because of an external symbole of this prophecie accomplished on that Mount when Christ ascending into heaven from off this Mount gave Commission to his Apostles to carry the Gospel into all parts of the world Acts 1.8 12. and upon his Ascension poured out his Spirit and so did make the Church notor and the way to it conspicuous and easie through the world As for the valleyes lying Eastward and Westward and the parts of the cleft Mount going to the North and the South it is not curioufly to be dipped in for the parts of it were to go somewhere and it may be thus conceived that through all the world the large extent whereof is ordinarily taken up from East to West Psal 103.12 and 113.3 the Church shall be conspicuous or rather because the City lay to the West of the Mount the two parts of it bendved to go that way to North and South and not to overwhelme the city which would overturn the scope of the figure Doct. 1. No commotions and overturnings in the visible Church will deprive Christ of a Church and people he will finde a way to get a people amongst these who are little thought of when these who account themselves the children of the Kingdom are cast out for so are we taught here 2. The opening up of the way of salvation is God and Christs owne work who by his preventing power and grace overturnes mountaines of impediments to bring the light of salvation unto men and make it have place with them for His feet standing on the Mount of Olives makes it cleave and be a valley 3. The accesse and Conversion of the Gentiles
city burnt and is also of verity in the particular judgement of every wicked man and in the second coming of Christ when the whole Word hath its full and final accomplishment Doct. 1. Man by nature is a proud creature and retaines a stamp of Adam and the devils sin that would be as God Humility is no native plant in fallen man they are the proud whom God hath to do with 2. A mans daring to hazard on wicked wayes which the most high God hath prohibited and guarded with sad threatenings is a clear evidence of pride let him otherwise appear never so humble the proud and all that do wickedly are conjoyned as being the same and the latter an evidence of the former as chap. 3.15 See Psal 119.21 3. The stoutest of creatures will prove but weak when God reveals his justice and deals with them in wrath The proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble to the fire in the day of the Lord that cometh 4. The pure wrath of the living God is a dreadful thing leaving neither hope of out-gate nor present mitigation but violently consumes all without recovery The day shall burne us an Oven where the heat is closed in and all that is put in it shut up from coming out and shall burn them up and leave them neither root nor branch Ver. 2. But unto you that feare my Name shall the Sun of righteousnesse arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as Calves of the stall As for the godly he promises to send Christ unto them bringing illumination righteousnesse healing protection and encrease of grace and joy in the Holy Ghost Doct. 1. An infallible character of the truly godly is their reverence and holy feare presumption being very contrary unto piety and that not only of Gods justice and terrible judgements which the wicked may tremble at but also of his Name and whatsoever he reveals himself by his Word being enough to make them tremble Isa 66.2 and his goodnesse to make them feare Hos 3.5 ye that feare my Name get the promise 2. Christ is the substance of the godlies encouragement as being unto his Church and children in a super-excellent manner what the Sun is to this inferiour world in enlightening all their darknesse illuminating all the inferiour lights that shine in any measure making all hid things patent rejoycing warming cherishing and ripening all fruits Unto you that feare my Name shall the Sun arise 3. Not only is every man by nature and without Christ in a dark disconsolate condition till he come unto them but his manifestation of himself under the Law was far inferiour to that under the Gospel which is far more clear glorious and comfortable then the legal shadowes were for where Christ comes the Sunariseth after a dark night and this especially relates to his Incarnation which is Sun-light in comparison of the Old Testament which had but as it were Moon-light 4. That which makes Christ especially comfortable to the godly is that he brings glorious righteousnesse to them whereby they who durst not appear before God and are vile and menstruous become glorious and beautiful in the eyes of the Lord he is not only righteousnesse but the Sun of righteousnesse glorious righteousnesse unto them 5. As these who get good of Christ will have many sores and be made to feel the deadly wounds and diseases which every one by nature hath so Christ is the only Physician to cure such sores and deliver his people from all sicknesse of sin and misery He arises with healing 6. Christs merit and his love and providence is the sweet shelter of sinners when pursued by their enemies and these who would taste of his healing vertue are to lie near this Sun and get in under his beams and rayes which embrace and cherish the sick till they be healed He hath warme wings to hide us under and this healing is under his wings 7. As every man by nature is but a prisoner and a slave to Satan and his own lusts and lying under the power of a hard heart and spirit of bondage and their souls are also wasted with leannesse and feeding upon the husks so Christ being fled unto and enjoyed and made use of as the soules shepherd brings spiritual libertie and encrease of grace to make fat and flourishing and of joy and gladnesse in the Lord Ye shall go forth and grow up as Calves of the stall who being well fed and set at liberty do skip for joy Verse 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feete in the day that I shall do this saith the LORD of hostes To make this difference yet more conspicuous he not only threatens judgements against the wicked and promises spiritual comforts to the godly but promises to bring the wicked under the godlies feet and to make them triumph solidly over all their enemies Doct. 1. Whatever external excellencie be permitted to the wicked yet they are in comparison of the godly but vile and contemptible and will in due time appear so they are but ashes to be tread upon by the godly 2. Albeit the godly are oft-times lying under the feet of wicked enemies yet not only are they even then Conquerours over all their enemies in Christ their Head and by faith which keeps them from hurt and brings them advantage from their troubles and makes them boast in God over all of them and sometime get their hand over enemies even in this world either by themselves or by others But in due time their victory shall be compleat and visible when they shall be set with Christ on his throne and all the wicked made his and their footstool Ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this saith the Lord of hostes Verse 4. Remember the Law of Moses my servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgements This Prophecie as also the rest he being the last is closed with some directions to the Church whereof the first is that since there was no other extraordinary Prophet to succeed him till Christ and his fore-runner should come and there being terrible schismes and commotions to ensue amongst them therefore they would have recourse to the written Word therein to seek eternal life and instruction how to walk in Gods way till they come to the actual possession of salvation Doct. 1. The written Word of God is to be closely adhered unto as that which will direct our course in dark times which ought to be the rule of our faith worship and manners which will supply the defect of extraordinary revelations and to which all extraordinary revelations agree and bear witnesse and will afford matter of comfort in saddest times and for attaining these ends the Church is to be much in the studie