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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

this before Amos 4. ult Obs. 7. VERSE 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopian to me O ye children of Israel saith the Lord Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir THe Prophet goes on to confirm the certainty of Israels destruction from the sinfulness of their condition to this end first He labours to convince them of their Ingrat●tude and Apostasie whereas the Lord had brought them in great mercy out of the land of Egypt where they lay buried as it were in a grave of misery and made them his Israel and peculiar people yet they di●● ingeniously behaved themselves more like Ethiopians and Heathens than his beloved Israel and therefore as they had been like them in ●inning so now they should be like them in suffering In this Verse the Prophet by a Prolepsis prevents two Objections 1 Whereas they boasted that they were Gods people in Covenant and descended of holy Progenitors and therefore God would not destroy them A. To this the Prophet answers that in their wayes and walking they were more like to prophane Heathenish Idolatrous Ethiopians who were strangers from the Covenant of Grace and aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel than Israelites or the seed of Abraham since they did not the works of Abraham but of Infidels and therefore since they had made themselves thus vile by their sins God regarded them no more than the most contemptible Nations in the world and was resolved to deal with them accordingly The Ethiopians were a vile accursed Nation the symbole of servitude Gen. 9.25 Cursed be Cham a servant of servants i. e. a most vile slave let him be Now from this Cham came Canaan and his brother Chus who was the father of the Ethiopians hence they are called Chusiim as in the Text from Cham and Chus Gen. 10.6 The Interrogation is a strong Affirmation Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopian to me q. d. Ye are so there is an emphasis in that word mihi to me q. d. though ye excell other Nations in many priviledges and are honoured by men yet when you come before me what can you bring that is not mine all your feathers and favours are but borrowed and when I have taken mine own from you wherein are you better to me than Ethiopians or the most vile and contemptible Nation in the world In respect of Creation and by nature we are all alike both Saints and Scythians Israelites and Ethiopians we all come out of the same corrupt mass it is onely free-grace which makes the difference and therefore the more God had done for Israel the more humble and obedient they should have been But since they forgat the God of their mercies despised the counsel of his Prophets and hardened themselves in their sins the Lord tells them in plain termes that now he esteemed them no more than the most base and barbarous Nations in the world and this the Lord doth to abase them and make them know themselves who were stuft with such high conceits of themselves and their priviledges though they walked clean contrary to them in which respect they were inferiour to Heathens who never sinned against such light and love as they had done Obj. 2. A second Evasion was this The Lord hath chosen us for his own peculiar people above all the Nations of the world and hath delivered us from Egypt and brought us into Canaan and therefore though we do go on in our sin yet we shall prosper and no Iudgement shall come upon us as this precise Prophet Amos threatneth Ans. 1. It doth not follow that because you have been delivered out of Egypt that therefore you shall go unpunisht for your sin but the contrary since you have received such great blessings therefore you must yeeld answerable obedience remembring that they which have much of them shall be much required and if they offend they shall be sooner and more severely punished Amos 3.2 Dan. 9.12 2. The Prophet tells them that they had no reason to be puft up with this deliverance for the Lord had granted the like external deliverances though not alike in all circumstances to that of Egypt to Heathenish and Idolatrous people whom they lookt upon as Dogs and Swine The Prophet instanceth in two Examples The first is that of the Philistims whom the Lord brought from their slavery in Caphtor Jer. 47.4 The Philistims and Caphtorims are put amongst the posterity of Mizraim the Son of Cham Gen. 10.6 14. 1 Chron. 1.11 12. they expelled the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim which belonged to the Philistines and possessed their Country Deut. 2.23 The second instance is that of the Syrians whom the Lord brought from Kir where they served other Nations These are called Aramites from Aram the Son of Shem from whom they descended Gen. 10.22 these were grosse Idolaters and worshipped many Gods Iudg. 10 6. and especially that noted Idol Rimmon 2 King 5.18 There was a double Kir 1. There was Kir a City of special note in the Land of Moab Isa. 15.1 2. Kir another City situate in Media of which we read 2 King 16.9 Isa. 22.6 Amos 1.5 This was under the dominion of the Assyrians and this is the Kir in the Text. Some make this Kir to be Cyrene but there is no ground for that for Cyrene was situate in Lybia but Kir in Media under the Assyrians which is far distant from Lybia This deliverance of the Syrians from Kir is mentioned only in this place this they had from the Histories of those times which were then well known as they had many other things not mentioned in the Scripture as I have shewed elsewhere Some give the sense thus As the Philistines were ungrateful to God who brought them out of Caphtor and the Syrians when he brought them out of Kir so Israel hath been ungrateful to God who brought them out of the Land of Egypt But the genuine sense and summe of all is this There is no reason O ye children of Israel why I should respect you more than the very Ethiopians that accursed and contemptible posterity of Cham yea why should I make any difference between you and the uncircumcised Philistines or Idolatrous Syrians whom you have equalized yea exceeded in sin If you say that I brought you out of Egypt did not I also bring the Philistines and Syrians out of Caphtor and Kir you have therefore no cause to be puft up with these common favours It is true I have out of mine own free love to you exalted you above the Nations but since by your sins you have abused my favours and abased your selves I do now no more value you than so many Blackmores and Heathens OBSERVATIONS 1. To be born of pious Progenitors cannot preserve an impious people from ruine It will not avail men to say with those Jews Wee have Abraham to our Father unless

is Amos the Servant of God and the Seer The Prophets of old were called Seers 1 Sam. 9.9 Isa. 30.10 God inlightned them by his Spirit and made known to them his secrets by Visions hence they were called Seers Numb 6.12.6 Ezek. 1.1 Some make Amaziah here to call the Prophet Seer Ironically by way of scorn and contempt as if the Prophet had been some Fanatick and his Visions vanities But the contexture of the Discourse is against this for Amaziah gives the Prophet his due title but in a flattering way the better to effect his design upon him 2 Lest this Priest should seeme to be mad without reason he now produceth Arguments to perswade Amos to be gone Man being a Rational Creature may sooner be drawn by reason than driven by force Amaziah will try what this will doe Goe flee thee away into the Land of Judah there eate bread and Prophesie there q. d. Be gone with all speed thou hast yet liberty so to doe thou hast now an opportunity of escaping and mayest freely passe without any stopping let it not slip lest it repent thee when it is too late So that this is an Argument à facili 2 Flee with all speed be gone from amongst us for there is no staying long in safety here thou art encompassed here with snares and dangers and therefore if thou lovest thy life pack up and bee gone Citò citiùs citissimè lest thou bee caught and killed So that this was an Argument a necessario 3 Into the Land of Iudah The better to perswade him to flee this Priest hath found out another Topick viz. a convenient place to flee to and that was his owne Country thou camest from Tekoah Amos 1.1 and no man can blame thee for going home againe especially since thou art so hated here There thou wilt dwell amongst thine owne kindred and acquaintance in peace and plenty in love and safety whereas here thou art a Stranger and a blunt Prophet and canst expect none of these things from us As a friend therefore I counsel thee with all speed to be gone for both King and Kingdome are resolved to keep their Calves and if thou come any more to preach here against them beware lest they catch thee and kill thee But Amos fears no such Scar-crows God sent him not to Iudah but to Israel and there he must and will abide It was Ionahs sin to fly to Tarshish when hee should have gone to Niniveh A Minister is not sui juris but must preach when and where his Lord and Master commands him 4 There eate bread that is Get thy living there Gen. 3.19 for if thou stayest here thou mayest starve here is no body will succour of support thee for thou art a burden both to Prince and people Here is nothing for thee to eate here is no profit to be had and by thy preaching so openly at Bethel against the Calves of Bethel thou marrest our markets too But goe to Iudah there thou wilt be maintained like a Prophet indeed there thou wilt live more securely and be maintained more plentifully there is King Vzziah alias Azariah that loves such precise ones as thou art 2 King 15.1 3. and a people that prize men of thy straine and will not suffer thee to want Thus this mercenary false Prophet measures Amos by himself thinking that gaine would intice him away as if Amos had been one of those who Prophesied for a little Lucre for a handful of Barley or a mouthful of Bread Ezek. 13.19 Micha 3.11 so that this is an Argument ab utili 5 Prophesie there Here this subtile Priest Proleptically prevents an Objection whereas Amos might have said what would you have me idle and leave that employment to which God so signally and extraordinarily called me Not so saith Amaziah I doe not bid thee flee that thou mayest be idle or silent for if he had done so his fraud had been too apparent but I bid thee goe to Iudah and Prophesie there where thou wilt have double honour that is both countenance and maintenance both which thou wantest here Thou lovest to be plaine and free against sin why get thee to Iudah there they will be glad of thee and there thou mayest declaime freely against the sins of Israel and threaten us without fear Here thou art molested with Altars and Calves with Idols and Images Amos 3.14 but get thee to Ierusalem and there thou wilt be free from these superstitious fopperies and lying vanities There exercise thy gift of preaching and get thy living by it as I doe by my Priesthoood at Bethel where I live peaceably and plentifully with my Oblations and Sacrifices I shall not envie thee get what thou canst at Iudah doe not thou envie me my Morsels at Bethel 6 He argues adamno and tells him that it was dangerous for him to preach any more at Bethel as for what is past that is pardoned provided thou come no more amongst us at Bethel for it is the Kings Court and the Kings Chappel and he will not endure to be affronted there OBSERVATIONS 1 That wicked men are very sedulous in opposing the faithful Ministers of God What industry and activity doth this Priest of Bethel use to root Amos out of Israel He sends to the King and accuseth Amos for a Traytor and when force will not doe he playes the Fox and under pretence of friendship prswades him to leave his station and to flee the Land So Pharaoh how industrious was he to destroy Israel how active was Haman to have the Iewes destroyed and what a great sum doth he promise to the King to effect it no less than ten thousand talents of silver Hest. 4.9 So Nehemiahs enemies what force and fraud did they use to hinder his repairing of the Temple how faine would they have had him flee as Amaziah would have had Amos here that so he might have reproached him for a Fugitive and one that was conscious to himself of his own guilt and therefore he fled for it Q. The Question then will be whether it be lawful to flee in time of persecution A. In some Cases it may as 1 If a man be but a young beginner and find not strength to bear the brunt and heat of the day he may with-draw for a time 2 If the Persecution be personal against a particular man or Minister and not against the whole Church he may use his liberty So did Moses Elijah David Christ Paul But when Gods time is come that he calls us to seal to his truth even with our dearest lives we must not love them to the death Revel 12.11 but rejoyce that we have any thing of worth to lay down for Christ like the valiant Horse we must goe forth to meet the armed man Iob 39.21 so did that accomplisht couragious Martyr Mr. Fryth when some that loved him had contrived his escape he told them it must not be for saith he if you should leave me

Worship his Word his Ordinance his Prophets his People and to all that is good Rom. 8.7 Col. 1.21 VER 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord thy Wife shall be an Harlot in the City and thy Sons and Daughters shall fall by the Sword and thy Land shall be divided by Line and thou shalt dye in a polluted Land and Israel shall surely goe into Captivity forth of his owne Land IN this Verse we have a dreadful Judgement denounced against this High-Priest of Bethel consisting of many Branches 1 Constupration of his Wife and that openly 2 Loss of his Children 3 Loss of his Lands 4 Loss of his Liberty and 5 Loss of Israel Loe this is the fruit of silencing Preachers and forbidding Gods Ministers to Prophesie 2 Here is the confirmation or ratification of all this Dixit Dominus the Lord hath said it who will certainly doe it Thy Wife shall be an Harlot in the City Interpreters are divided about the meaning of these words some take them Actively and the Original seems to favour it viz. that his Wife should be an open Harlot and a common Strumpet not so much forced by Souldiers as voluntarily addicted to it Others take the words Passively that she should be violently forced and ravished by the Assyrians when they should take the City according to that threatning against disobedient ones Deut. 28.30 So Iob 31.10 Isa 13.16 Lament 5.11 But if it were violent and involuntary where were the Harlotry Thy Wife shall be an Harlot and to shew her impudency she should act it not in the house or in the fields or in a forreign Land but openly in the City This is the first Punishment the second follows 2 Thy Sons and thy Daughters shall fall by the sword Wicked Parents bring a Curse upon their Children not only their Cattel but all their Relations fare the worse for them 3 Yet this is not all Thy Land shall be divided by Line Conquerours were wont to divide every one his Lot and portion by Lines and Cords for of old they used Cords instead of Measuring-Rods to divide their Land Hence the Lines in Scripture are put for the Inheritance or portion allotted to every one by Line Deut. 32.9 2 Sam. 8.2 Psal. 16.6 Micha 2.5 Thus he should not only lose his Heires but his Inheritance also And thou shalt dye in a polluted Land This is the fourth Punishment Thou shalt dye a Captive in Assyria which was polluted with Heathenism and Idolatry This is reckoned as a Judgement Levit. 26.38 against Pashur Jer. 20.6 and Coniah Jer. 22.25 26. The Land of Promise was called the Holy Land and in comparison of it all other Nations were called and counted unclean and they looked upon it as a misery to be buried in a strange Land and not in Canaan And Israel shall goe into Captivity Not only thou but all Israel whom thou hast helpt to deceive and hast hardned in their Idolatry and Sin shall goe into Captivity with thee and this men get by following Idolaters and Impostors when the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch Israel shall surely goe into captivity God will no longer bear with them since King and Kingdom are setled upon their Lees and had so long sinned together now the Lord tells them that they should suffer together and goe Captives into Assyria as we see 2 King 15.29 17.6 18 23 24. 18.11 since they had abused that good Land which the Lord had given them now it should spew them out for their Idolatry OBSERVATIONS 1 God useth to retaliate Sinners and to pay them in their owne coyn This we see here excellently exemplified in Amaziah 1 He inticed Israel to Idolatry which is Spiritual Harlotry therefore his Wife shall be an Harlot 2 He had destroyed those that were Gods Children by external profession therefore his Children were destroyed 3 He made his Goods his God and was all for gain therefore now he shall lose all 4 He that had polluted Gods People shall now dye in a polluted Land He that would not follow the true God to his Salvation shall follow false ones to his own destruction 2 Silencing and persecuting of Gods faithful Ministers is a God-provoking Sin Thou sayest Prophesie not what follows therefore thy Wife thy Children thy State thy Self and the Land of thy Nativity shall smart for it Now if Amaziah paid so dear for endeavouring to silence one faithful Amos what may they expect who doe actually blow out many burning and shining Lights c. let such remember Pashur Jer. 20.2 3 4. and the men of Anathoth Ier. 11.21 22 23. and Ieroboam the first with his withered hand which was smitten for stretching it forth against the Prophet 1 King 13. and Elimas the Sorcerer who was smitten blind for opposing the truth Acts 13.10 11. never any man hardned himself against God especially in this kind that ever prospered Iob 9.4 Amaziah had many other sins as Idolatry Superstition Covetousness c. but this Persecuting of Amos was his fatal sin and ruined both him and his 3 Wicked Parents bring a Curse upon their Posterity God oft punisheth the sins of the Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth Generation of them that hate him Exod. 20.5 34.7 Deut. 28.18 32 41. Ier. 29.32 Hieron on Exod. 34.7 in my Com. on Hos. 13. ult p. 80. and Dr. Gorge Lam. 5.7 the seed of evil-doers shall never be renowned Isa. 14.20 4 Goods ill gotten seldome prosper Treasures of wickednesse profit not Prov. 10.2 Amaziah had scraped much wealth together but his enemies became his heirs And so it is with many Usurers and oppressing Cormorants who treasure up riches for their enemies 5 Marriage is lawful in Ministers as well as others The Apostle tells us that Marriage is honourable not only in some but in all sorts and degrees of men Heb. 13.4 Marriage is honourable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all men and God himself hath appointed it for the comfort of all degrees Gen. 1.28 2.18 and bids him that cannot contain marry 1 Cor. 7.2 9. none can vow that which is not in his owne power but continency is the gift of God Matth. 19.11 all cannot receive this saying and therefore not only Amaziah here but the Priests and Prophets in the Old Testament had Wives Zachariah the Priest hath an Elizabeth to his Wife and shee descended of the Daughters of Aaron Luke 1.5 Ieremiah was the Son of a Priest Ier. 1.1 and Hophni and Phineas the Sons of Eli the Priest 1 Sam. 1.3 and Iohn Baptist the Son of Zachariah the Priest yea many of the Apostles had Wives as Peter Philip Iames and Barnabas Mat. 8.14 Acts 13.2 Saint Ambrose affirms that all the Apostles were married save Iohn and Paul and the Apostle expresly saith that he had power to marry as well as Cephas 1 Cor. 9.5 and he allows a Bishop to have one

the VVord of the Lord and should not find it But this is too lax and general and is against the context which applies it to the ten Tribes vers 14. OBSERVATIONS 1 Those that will find the Lord when they seek him must seek him whilst he may be found Isa. 55.6 Psal. 32.6 2 Cor 6.2 VVe must walk in the light whilst we have the light the night comes when no man can work Ioh. 12.35 36. This people here lost all for want of seeking in a right manner and season they sought the VVord but it was when it was too late 2 The scarcity of the Word many times makes it to bee more highly prized by us VVhen this Mannah fell thick about this people they regarded it not but now they have lost their Prophets they can run from Sea to Sea to seek them Those Sermons and Ordinances which people vilify now when God removes them they will magnifie and praise them It is with those good wayes of God as it is with good men whilst they be alive amongst us we are ready to stone them but when they are dead we are ready to Idolize them Usually Gods blessings are more esteemed and valued by us when they are Rare and we want them than when we surfeit and abound with them Things that are very rare are very precious Isa. 4.1 13.12 Hence we read of dayes wherein the VVord of the Lord was rare and then it was precious in those dayes and why because there was no open Vision there was not a known Prophet in those dayes to teach the people and this made the Ordinances so precious then 1 Sam. 3.1 The Commonness of the Sun of VVater Food Rayment Health VVealth Peace Liberty Sleep Senses c. make them little esteemed whereas if the Lord should deprive us of any one of them we should quickly know the worth of them Lament this thy folly and beseech the Lord to make thee know the worth of his blessings by the enjoying rather than by the wanting of them 3 When people want the Word of God they should goe from place to place yea from Land to Land rather than pine and perish for want of instruction In times of Dearth we see how farre people will travel for food for their Bodies as Iacobs Sons did from Canaan to Aegypt and shall not we take more pains for our immortal Souls If the Queen of Sheba a person of great wealth and worth went above a thousand miles to hear the VVisdome of Solomon how farre should we goe to hear a greater than Solomon Luke 11.31 How farre will men ride and run for the profits and pleasures of their bodies and shall not we be at more pains to save our Souls In the dayes of Christ the people followed him from City to City on the Week-dayes to hear him and he never reproved them for it but fed their souls and bodies Luke 6.17 VER 13. In that day shall the fair Virgins and the young men faint for thirst IN the two precedent Verses the Prophet threatens a Spiritual famine now follows a Corporal famine and destruction from which none should escape neither the Young mans strength nor the Virgins Beauty should any whit avayl them in that day In this Verse we have 1 A Judgement threatned and that is Thirst they should faint for thirst The question will be what is meant by Thirst here 1. Some take it literally for corporal thirst which in those hot Countries where they wanted water was a very grievous thing Poor that want bread yet have water many times to refresh them but when a people have neither bread nor water it must needs go hard with them 2. This Thirst sets forth the great poverty and extream want of all things which this people should be brought into so the word is used Deut. 28.48 Isa. 44.3 for great afflictions and the terrour of that final judgement which was coming upon them They should not have so much as a little water to quench their thirst but they should faint for thirst as men use to do in such cases Psal. 107.5 Isa. 51.19 20. This sense I take to be the most genuine 3. Yet others take Thirst Metaphorically for Spiritual Thirst Gods wrath should burn them and burden them and yet they should have none to refresh and comfort them in their trouble VVe have a Comment on this Text in Hos. 2.3 4. where the Lord threatens to strip these Idolatrous Israelites naked as in the day when they were born and to make them a wilderness and set them in a dry Land and stay them with thirst that is he would destroy them with the scorching heat of his wrath not tempered with any grace or comfort So great should their misery be that they should want both corporal and spiritual refreshing 2. Here are the persons which should perish and those are the prime and flower of the Land the very hope of posterity The beautiful Virgins and the Young Men. These usually sin with an high hand in open contempt of God and his word they sin with more height and violence of affection than elder persons use to do and therefore the Lord threatens them especially Virgins use to be spared by men for their tenderness and beauty but God is no respecter of persons and young men are strong and can better shift for themselves yet these even these for all their beauty vigour and strength shall faint and dye sorrow and perplexity shall cover and overwhelm them as the word signifies and if these cannot hold out what shall become of children and old persons This shews the generality of the Judgement and that none shall escape 3. Here is the time when all this shall come upon them 'T is in that day viz. when Israel shall go into captivity and be carried out of his own Land by the cruel Assyrians when Samaria should be taken and Gods Prophets scattered then shall they faint for thirst OBSERVATIONS 1. Where spiritual Iudgements go before there corporal Iudgements follow after Such as contemn spiritual bread shall want corporal Before we read of a spiritual famine now follows corporal distress of the choicest and fairest of both sexes So true is that of Solomon Prov. 13.13 18. Whoso despiseth the Word shall be destroyed yea poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction 2. Beauty is vanity Prov. 31.30 Isa. 3.24 40.6 7. 'T is a brittle thing what disease almost doth not make ●t fade and wither however it may take with vain man yet it moves not God If beautiful Virgins will sin against God even the fair Virgins shall faint Many have beauty that have not piety Prov. 6.25 11.22 Saul and Absolom were goodly personages yet wicked men Of the two better have Piety without Beauty than Beauty without Piety An upright pure soul in a black decrepit body is excellent God many times makes up outward deformities with