to wisdom It should moue vs b Hereof I spake in a Sermon vpon Hebr. 10.30 to beware of those crying sinnes vsually committed against the first table that we prouoke not Gods vengeance against vs by Idolatrie in worshiping the creature aboue the creator blessed for euer by tempting God in making triall whether his word be true or not by murmuring against God in laying iniustice to his charge quod bonis male fit malis bene for afflicting the godly when the wicked liue at ease by rebellion and contumacie in taking counsell together against the Lord against his Christ by blasphemy in doing despite to the Spirit of grace It may moue vs also to beware of those other sins crying sins too vsually committed against the second table that we prouoke not Gods vengeance against vs by dishonouring our parents and such as God hath put in place of gouernment aboue vs by grieuing our children and such as are by vs to be gouerned by oppressing the fatherlesse and the poore by giuing our selues ouer vnto filthy lusts Beloued in the Lord let vs not forget this though God bee good gracious mercifull and long suffering yet is hee also a iust God God the auenger and punisher Here we see he resolueth to send a fire into the house of Hazael which is the second thing to be considered How God punisheth By fire I will send a fire c. Albeit sometime God himselfe doth by himselfe immediately execute his vengeance vpon the wicked as when he smote all the first borne of Egypt Exod. 12.29 and Nabal 1. Sam. 25.38 and Vzzah 2. Sam 6.7 yet many times he doth it by his instruments c Wigand Syntagm Vet. Test Instrumenta sunt tota creatura Dei All the creatures of God are ready at his command to be the executioners of his vengeance Among the rest and in the first ranke is fire God sent a fire to lay wast Sodom and Gomorah and their sister cities Gen. 19.24 to eate vp Nadab and Abihu Leuit 10.2 to cut of the two hundred and fifty men that were in the rebellion of Korah Num. 16.35 to deuoure two captaines twise fifty men 2. King 1.10 12. I will not load your memories with multitude of examples for this point My text telleth you that fire Gods creature becommeth Gods instrument executioner of his vengeance I will send a fire into the house of Hazael and it shall deuoure the palaces of Benhadad By fire in this place the learned d Lyranus Drusius Ar. Montanus Mercer Caluin Gualter expositors doe vnderstand not only naturall fire but also the sword and pestilence and famine quod libet genus consumptionis euery kind of consumptiō euery scourge wherewith God punisheth the wicked and disobedient be it haile or thunder or sicknes or any other of Gods messengers So farre is the signification of fire though not in the naturall yet in the Metaphorical vnderstanding extended The doctrine which from hence I gather is As is the fire so are all other creatures at the Lords commandement to bee imployed by him in the punishment of the wicked This truth well appeareth by that which I euen now repeated out of Eccles 39. whence you heard that some spirits are created for vengeance as also are fire and haile and famine and death and the teeth of wild beasts and the scorpions and the serpents and the sword yea that the principall things for the whole vse of mans life as water and fire and yron and salt and meale wheat and hony and milke and the bloud of the grape and oile cloathing are all for euill vnto the wicked If that proofe because the booke whence it is taken is Apocryphall like you not giue care I pray you while I proue it out of Canonicall Scripture The doctrine to be proued is Fire and all other creatures are at the Lords commandement to be imploied by him in the punishment of the wicked I proue it by the seruice of Angels and other creatures 2 King 19.35 we read of an hundred fourscore and fiue thousand in the camp of Ashur slaine by an Angell of the Lord. The thing is related also Esay 37.36 This ministerie of Gods Angels Dauid acknowledgeth Psal 35.5 6. where his prayer against his enemies is that the Angell of the Lord might scatter and persecute them 1. Sam. 7.10 we read that the Lord did thunder a great thunder vpon the Philistines Ezech. 14. wee read how the Lord punisheth a sinfull land with his e Ezech. 14.21 foure sore iudgements the sword pestilence famine and noysome beasts The story of Gods visitation vpon Pharaoh and the Egyptians in Exod. chap. 8 9. and 10. is fit for my purpose You shall there find that frogs lice flies grashoppers thunder haile lightning murraine botches sores did instrumentally auenge God vpon man and beast in Egypt Adde hereto what you read Psal 148.8 fire and haile and snow and vapours and stormy winds doe execute Gods commandement Thus is my doctrine proued As is the fire so are all other creatures at the Lords commandement to be imployed by him in the punishment of the wicked The vse of this doctrine is to teach vs how to behaue our selues at such times as God shall visit vs with his rod of correction how to carry our selues in all our afflictions We must not so much looke to the instruments as to the Lord that smiteth by them Here set we before our eyes holy King Dauid His patience be it the patterne of our Christian imitation When Shimei a man of the family of the house of Saul came out against him cast stones at him and railed vpon him calling him to his face a man of blood and a man of Belial a murtherer and a wicked man the good King did not as he was wished to doe he took not away the murtherers life but had respect to the primus motor euen Almighty God the first mouer of this his affliction Shimei he knew was but the instrument And therefore thus saith he to Abischai 2. Sam. 16.10 He curseth because the Lord had bidden him curse Dauid and who dare then say wherefore hast thou done so Suffer him to curse for the Lord hath bidden him Here also set we before our eies holy Iob. His patience be it the patterne of our Christian imitation The losse of all his substance his children by the Sabeans Chaldeans fire from heauen and a great wind from beyond the wildernesse could not turne away his eies from the God of heauen to those second causes They he knew were but the instruments And therefore possessing his soule in patience he said Iob. 1.21 Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither the Lord hath giuen and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. To these instances of Dauid and Iob adde one more that of the blessed Apostles Peter Iohn the rest Act. 4.27
m Geverharl Elmenhorst com ad Minutium Felicem pag. 41. Salisberiensis in his first Booke de nugis cvrial cap. 10. call Egypt Matrem superstitionis the mother of superstition For as n Tom. 5. pag. 170. c. S. Hierome in his Comment vpon Esay 45. witnesseth Neuer was there any Nation so giuen to Idolatrie or worshipped such a number of monsters as Egypt did This notorious superstition and Idolatrie of the Egyptians so much spoken of by Christian writers and others is also in the sacred volumes of Holy writ censured and controlled In Exod. 12.12 the meanacing of the Lord is against them Against all the Gods of Egypt I will execute iudgment I the Lord. The gods of Egypt that is the Images and the Idoles which the Egyptians adored and worshipped Concerning which o De quadraginta duabus mansionibus Mans 2 Tom. 3. pag. 42. S. Hierome in an Epistle of his to Fabiola reporteth out of the Hebrew writers that in very same night the Children of Israel departed out of Egypt all the Temples of Egypt were ouerthrowne siue terrae motu siue iactu fulminum either with earth quakes or thunderbolts These Hebrew writers say further eâdem nocte lignea idola putrefacta fuisse metallica resoluta fusa lapidea comminuta that in the same night all the wooden Images were rotten all the mettall Images were dissolued and moulten all the stone Images were broken If so it were it was doubtlesse a great worke a great iudgement of God vpon those Egyptian monsters In Esay 19.1 their confusion is againe foretold Behold saith the Prophet the Lord rideth vpon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt and the Idoles of Egypt shall moue at his presence and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it Where the Idoles of Egypt are the heart of Egypt They are called the heart of Egypt because the heart of the Egyptians did wholy depend vpon them for reliefe and succour The Lord rideth vpon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt and the Idoles of Egypt shall moue at his presence and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it The Idols of Egypt shall moue and melt at the presence of the Lord. In Ierem. 43.13 their desolation is likewise denounced There the Lord threatneth to send Nabuchadnezzar the K. of Babylon his seruant into Egypt What shall he doe there He shall breake the Images of Bethshemesh that is in the land of Egypt and the houses of the Gods of the Egyptians shall be burnt with fire Thus you see it confirmed not onely by Christian writers and others but also by the sacred volumes of holy Scripture that the Egyptians were a superstitious and an Idolatrous people Superstitious were they and Idolatrous Happie then wast thou O Israell that the Lord brought thee vp from the land of Egypt Liue in Egypt thou couldst not with a good conscience nor would the Egyptians willingly suffer thee to worship God otherwise then themselues did To haue worshipped as they did must needs haue beene a Hell vnto thy soule and to haue done otherwise must needs haue brought certaine daunger to thine outward estate Acknowledge it therefore for a great benefit and blessing of God vpon thee that he brought thee vp from the land of Egypt God in reckoning vp this fauour of his his bringing vp Israel out of the land of Egypt teacheth vs what an intollerable thing it is to liue among Idolaters and what a speciall fauour it is to be deliuered from amongst them And this should stir vs vp to a thankfull recognition of Gods goodnesse towards vs who hath deliuered the Church wherein we liue from the Babylonish and Romish Idolatrie wherein our auncestors were nus-led and trained vp to worship and adore not the true and liuing God but Angels and Saints damned â—â—â—les it may be silver and gold stocks and stones Images and Idoles and what not From such grosse and palpable Idolatry we are by Gods goodnesse deliuered and now doe as a long time we haue done enioy the bright Sunne-shine of the p 1. Tim. 1 11. glorious Gospell of the blessed God our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Being now deliuered from the q Colos 1.13 power of darknesse vnder Antichrist and translated into the light of Christs Gospell Let it be our daily care for it is our dutie to walke worthy the light h Ephes 5.8 as children of light to walke in truth Ep. 3. Ioh. ver 3. to walke in loue Colos 5.2 to walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.4 to walke not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 If we walke after the flesh we shall mind the things of the flesh we shall be carnally minded and our end shall be death but if we walke after the spirit we shall mind the things of the spirit we shall be spiritually minded and our end shall be life and peace The choise is not difficult Life is better then death If you chuse life you must abandon and forsake the i Gal. 5.19 workes of the flesh which cause death Adulterie fornication vncleannesse lasciuiousnesse k Vers 20. hatred variance emulations wrath strife l Vers 21. envyings murthers drunkennesse revellings vsurie extortion oppression and such like are workes of the flesh and doe shut you out from life Yet may life be yours if you will be m Vers 18. led by the spirit n Vers 22. Loue ioy peace long suffering gentlâ—nesse goodnesse fayth meeknesse temperance are the fruit of the spirit Let these dwell among you and life shall be yours The God of life shall giue it you Hitherto you haue the first respect why it was beneficiall good for the people of Israel that they were brought vp from the land of Egypt It was good for them because the people of the land were superstitious and idolatrous and among such there is no good liuing The other respect now followeth It was beneficiall and good for the people of Israel that they were brought vp from the land of Egypt because the people of the land were full of crueltie and held Israel in subiection and seruitude Egypt was long a harbour to the Israelites but at length it prooued a Gaole vnto them The posteritie of Iacob finds too late what it was for their forefathers to sell Iacob a slaue into Egypt There arose vp a new Pharaoh a new king ouer Egypt he knew not Ioseph Then then were the Israelites contemned as drudges o Exod. 1.11 Task masters must be set ouer them to afflict them with their burdens Why so How had they offended They prospered too fast For thus sayth Pharaoh to his people Exod. 1.9 Behold the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier then we Come on let vs deale wisely with them lest they multiplie and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre they ioyne also v to our enemies and fight
are likewise vanished But may he not be accounted of for somewhat that is about him for his riches for his munition and weapons of defence for his honour and the reputation he holdeth in the state wherein thou liuest No no. For what cares the Almightie for these The Psalmist was not ill aduised Psal 146.3 Where he thus aduiseth vs Put not your trust in Princes nor in any sonne of man in whom there is no helpe his breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish See man here pictured and drawne forth in liuely colours Put not your trust in Princes not in Princes Why Is not their authoritie and pre-eminence here exceeding great Yes But they are sonnes of men Well Be it so The sonnes of men are creatures not farre inferiour to the Angels True But there is no helpe in them no helpe in them Why so Their breath goeth forth They dye What if they dye Is there no place for them in Heauen among the starres No they returne to their earth there to participate with rottennesse and corruption What if corruption be in their flesh may not their intendments and deuises be canonized and kept for eternitie No they may not For in that very day their thoughts perish their thoughts are as transitorie as their bodies and come to nought And therefore put not your trust in them not in Princes nor in any son of man Wherein then shall we put our trust Euen in the Lord our God To this trust in the Lord we are inuited Psal 118.8 9. It is botter to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes Is one better then the other Why then both may be good and it may be good to put confidence in man Not so You may not take the word better in this place to be so spoken For if you put any confidence in man you rob God of his glory which to doe can neuer be good I therefore thus expound the words It is better by infinite degrees absolutely and simply better to trust in the Lord to trust stedfastly in him alone then to put any confidence any manner of trust or confidence in man of what estate or dignity soeuer he be though he be of the rancke of Princes who haue all the power and authoritie in the world It s euery way better to trust in the Lord then to trust in such euer good to trust in the Lord but neuer good to trust in man Trust we in the Lord and blessed shall we be but cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme the Lord himselfe hath said it Ierem. 17.5 Now therefore O Lord since thou hast from hence taught vs that from the ayd of man there is no safetie to be expected neither from him that is of an expedite and agile bodie nor from the strong man nor from the mightie man nor from the bow-man nor from the swift of foote nor from the horseman nor from the couragious among the mightie nor from any thing else that is in man or about him giue vs grace we beseech thee that in thee alone wee may place all our hope and confidence In thee alone our God and Father of mercies doe we trust and doe thou according to the multitude of thy compassions looke vpon vs. Heare the supplications of vs thy poore seruants liuing far as banished men in a sauage Countrey Protect wee beseech thee and keepe our soules among the many dangers of this mortall life and bring vs by the conduct of thy gracious fauour into that thy sacred habitation and seate of eternall glory Grant this vnto vs most deare Father for thy best beloued Sonne Iesus Christ his sake FINIS A Table of such particulars as are contained in this Commentarie A Abraham his mild speech to Lot 29 Accesse to God 347 No accident in God 114 Adam 287. 360 Adulterie 148 Adulterers 148 Naturall Affection 28 Affliction 254 Alexander the sixth 157 An Altar of earth 169 of stone of Holocausts ibid. There was but one Altar 169 The Altar a tipe of Christ 170 Popish Altars 171 none such in the Primitiue Church ibid. Our Altar now not materiall 172 It is our heart 177 The Ammonites enemies to the people of God 18 Excluded from that Church 18 The Amorite 214 Destroied ibid. Amorites they were tale and strong 226 They were destroied 236 Amos. 307 Amos why he first prophecied against Forreine nations 2. 47 Antaeus 226 Antiochus 149 Antonius Caracalla ibid. Arias 344 Asaphel 343 Aspasia 149 Assurance of our faith 7. Atalanta 343 Atheists denying God and his truth 12 B Men of Base estate comforted 45 Beast worshipped for Gods 247 Beautie 229 Behold 322 Benefits the order of Gods Benefits Not obserued 242 We must remember Gods Benefits 252 The Bible the greatest treasure 54 The Bible must be had ibid. The Bible to be read ibid. Men Blaspheme God 152 Gods name Blasphemed 150 Our Bodies a sacrifice 174 The goods of our Bodies must be offered ibid. The Bond of bloud 28 of christianity ibid The greatest Bond betweene men ibid A Broken spirit 176 D. Bucknham 89 The Buriall of the dead 27 C Cain 360. 361 Camilla 343 A Calumniator 138 A Calumnie ibid. Carioth 33 Cedars 223 They grow high ibid. Cerijoth 33 We haue beene Chastised of God 42 Christ our altar 170 His benefits towards vs. ibid His death and passion ibid A Christian in name 106 A Christian who ibid The Church of God 253 A Citie not safe against God by munition c. 35 Consanguinitie 27 Contempt 64 Contempt of the law of the Lord. 67 Contempt may be a sinne and not 65 Couetousnesse 133 The causes of our Crosses is sinne 60 Crueltie 23. 133 Crueltie against the dead 25 Crueltie displeaseth God 23. 37 D Darius 98. 149 The naturall man in Darknesse 86 Dauid chosen king 230 Dauid George 89 The Day of the Lord. 134. 371 Crueltie towards the Dead 25 Buriall of the Dead 27 Death of 4. sorts 36 Death terrible 37 Death considered in a double respect 38 Death to be feared of whom 39 Death welcome to the penitent 38. 40 Of three things no Definition 112 The Denying of a contrary is somtime an affirmation 70 All must once Die 36. 37 Disobedience 74. 77. 289. 292 Dispensations Popish 155 Doggs thankfull 207 Draw nigh to God 347 A Drunkard 182. 286 described 182 Drunkennes the effects of it ibid c. Our Dwelling houses a blessing vnto vs. 35 E Eagle swifter then Eagles 224 The Edomites descended from Abraham 22 Egypt 345. 250 Where situate 245. The Egyptians superstitious 246 Their Gods ibid. Their crueltie 251 The Israelites brought vp from the land of Egypt 244. 245 Eliab Iesse his eldest sonne 228 liked by Samuell 229. 230 faire of countenance and of goodly stature 229 refused 230 No Escaping from God 342 Etham 255
arborum from the cutting downe or rooting vp of trees and signifieth vtterly to consume to waste to dissipate to destroy to extinguish So it 's vsed Psal 101.8 where Dauid purposing not to be negligent or slothfull in the execution of iustice against all malefactors in Ierusalem resolueth to cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord Betimes will I destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord. So it s vsed Ps 109.15 where Dauids prayer against the wicked is that their iniquity and sin be alwaies before the Lord that hee may cut off their memoriall from the earth So it s vsed Ezech. 14.13 Son of man when a land sinneth against me by committing a trespasse then will I stretch out mine hand vpon it and will breake the staffe of bread thereof and will send famine vpon it and will cut off man and beast from it I will cut off that is I will destroy both man and beast from a sinfull land I omit many like places of holy writ and commend vnto you but one more parallel to this in my text It is in the 3. ver of the 2. chap. of this prophecie There thus saith the Lord I wil cut off the Iudge out of the midst of Moab as here in my text I will cut off the inhabitant of Bikeath-Auen and vers the 8. I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod I will cut off whether the Iudge out of the middest of Moab or the inhabitant from Ashdod or the inhabitant of Bikeath-Auen the meaning is one and the same I will cut off that is I will vtterly destroy or extinguish Which to be the meaning of the word the author of the Vulgar Latine acknowledgeth translating the word in the originall not exeindam as indeed it signifieth I will cut off but disperdam I will destroy So doe the Seuenty Interpreters in their Greeke edition of the Bible here translating the Hebrew word not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as indeed it signifieth I will cut off but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will vtterly or altogether dâ—stroy ouerthrow and extinguish I will cut off the inhabitant the inhabitant what but one yes all and euery one of the inhabitants The Holy Spirit in the sacred Scripture vseth so to speake by a word of the singular number to vnderstand more than one yea all of that kinde which kinde of speech is analogically reduced to the figure Synecdoche Let vs see the truth of this in a few instances In Exod. 8.6 it is said when Aaron stretched out his hand vpon the waters of Egypt that then the frogge came vp and couered the land The frogge It were senselesse to thinke that one frogge could couer the land of Egypt and therefore by the frogge we are to vnderstand many frogges In Num. 21.7 the Israelites desired Moses to pray to the Lord that he would take away from them the Serpent The Serpent what but one It is out of doubt that the people meant all the fiery serpents sent among them by the Lord to sting them to death of which we read verse the 6. Ieremy in chap. 8.7 saith that the storke the turtle the crane and the swallow doe know and obserue their appointed times The storke the turtle the crane the swallow We may not think the Prophet singleth out one storke one turtle one crane one swallow from the rest but his meaning is of all storkes turtles cranes swallowes that they know and obserue their appointed times As in the now cited places so here in my text the holy Ghost vseth one number for another the singular for the plurall vnderstanding by one inhabitant all the inhabitants of Bikeath-Auen Of Bikeath-Auen the Greeke Translators taking the words partly appellatiuely and partly properly doe render them the field of On. In like sort Gualter the valley of Auen The author of the Vulgar Latine vnderstanding them wholly appellatiuely rendreth them the field of the Idoll and so they may signifie the plaine of Auen the plaine of griefe the plaine of sorrow as Caluin obserueth Iunius and Tremellius doe render it as before Gualter è conualle Auenis the vally of Auen vnderstanding thereby the whole coast of Chamatha which way Syria bordereth vpon Arabia surnamed the Desart Caluin saith it is vncertaine whether Bikeath-Auen be a proper name of a place or no yet saith he it is probable Drusius following the Hebrew Doctors affirmeth that it is the proper name of a city in Syria Mercer the learned professour of Paris ioyneth with him And our English Geneua Translation draweth vs to bee of the same minde that Bikeath-Auen is a proper name of a city in Syria The same opinion must we hold of Beth-Eden in the next clause that it is a proper name of a city in Syria of which opinion I finde Mercer and Drusius and our English Translators at Geneua to haue beene And Caluin holds it to bee credible though he translates it the house of Eden so Gualter doth so doth Tremellius who by the house of Eden vnderstandeth the whole country of Coelesyria wherein stood the city Eden The author of the Vulgar Latine takes Beth-Eden for an appellatiue and translates it the house of pleasure Such indeed is the signification of the word and it is by Arias Montanus and Ribera applied to signifie the city of Damascus as if Damascus were there called not only Bikeath-Auen that is the field of the Idoll because of the Idolatry there vsed but also Beth-Eden that is the house of pleasure because of the pleasant situation thereof But I retaine the proper name Beth-Eden and take it for a city in Syria wherein the King of Syria had a palace and mansion house Which I take to be plaine in my text where the Lord threatneth to cut off him that holdeth the scepter out of Beth-Eden Him that holdeth the scepter that is the King keeping his court at Beth-Eden For I see not any absurdity in it if I say that the King of Syria had a mansion house as well at Beth-Eden as at Damascus and that at this time the court lay at Beth-Eden Him that holdeth the scepter This is a periphrasis or circumlocution of a King A scepter is Regium gestamen and insigne potestatis Regiae a Kingly mace the proper ensigne or token of Kingly power Whence in the best of Greeke Poets Homer Kings are called * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3.86 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scepter-bearers Hereby wee vnderstand what we read in the story of Hester chap. 8.4 King Assuerus held out his golden scepter toward Hester And that Gen. 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Iudah In the former place Assuerus maketh shew of his Kingly fauour vnto Hester by holding out his mace vnto her in the later Iacob prophesieth of the stability and continuance of the Kingdome in the tribe of Iudah
desolation against the City Tyrus for her sins According to this prediction it came to passe saith Drusius either in the war of Salmanassar against the Tyrians or in the warre of Nabuchodonosor Yet this he affirmeth not Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyrus three yeeres and three moneths and then tooke its so saith Winckleman out of Iosephus lib. 1. contra Appionem the Latine Copies of Iosephus which I haue seene make mention of the continuance of this siege for thirteene yeeres The Greeke Copy hath nothing of the continuance of it For therein I read only that when Thobalus was King Nabuchodonosor besieged Tyrus This was about the yeere of the world 3345. Tyrus after this was reedified and did flourish But she was in her pride againe besieged and taken by Alexander the Great in the yeere of the world 3632. And long since A. C. 1290. she was sacked leuelled with the ground by Alphix then Sultan of Aegypt Thus hath Gods hand been strong and preuailing against Tyrus according to the tenor of this Prophecie The very words wherof you haue heard before expounded in the fourth and seuenth verses of this Chapter Now I pray you onely recount with me such heads of Doctrine as heretofore haue beene obserued out of these words Therefore will I send a fire c. Wherein three circumstances are to be obserued 1 The punisher 2 The punishment 3 The punished The first circumstance is the punisher the Lord For thus saith the Lord I will send The Doctrine is It is proper to the Lord to execute vengeance vpon the wicked for their sins The second circumstance is the punishment and that is by fire I will send a fire The Doctrine is The fire and all other creatures are at the Lords commandement to bee employed by him in the punishment of the wicked The third circumstance is the punished the walls and palaces of Tyrus I will send a fire vpon the walls of Tyrus and it shall deuoure the palaces thereof First must the glorious City Tyrus be destroyed The Doctrine is No munition can saue that City which God will haue destroyed Secondly must the Walls of Tyrus be deuoured with the fire of Gods displeasure The doctrine is It is the good blessing of God vpon a Kingdome to haue walls strong holds munitions fortresses and bulwarkes for a defense against enemies Thirdly must the palaces of Tyrus be consumed with the fire of Gods anger The doctrine is God depriueth vs of a great blessing when he taketh from vs our dwelling houses Of these doctrines and their seuerall vses I haue heretofore in this place at large entreated Wherefore let this which hath beene now spoken suffice for my present exposition of this prophecie against Tyrus THE Sixteenth Lecture AMOS 1.11 12. Thus saith the Lord For three transgressions of Edom and for foure I will not turne to it because he did pursue his brother with the sword and did cast off all pity and his anger spoiled him euermore and his wrath watched him alway Therefore will I send a fire vpon Teman and it shall deuoure the palaces of Bozrah IN this burdensome Prophecie against Edom I obserue two parts 1 A Preface Thus saith the Lord. 2 A Prophecie For three transgressions of Edom c. In the Prophecie I obserue foure parts 1 A generall accusation of the Edomites For three transgressions of Edom and for foure 2 The Lords protestation against them I will not turne to it 3 The description of the sin by which they offended in foure branches 1 He pursued his brother with the sword 2 He cast off all pity 3 His anger spoiled him euermore 4 His wrath watched him alway 4 The declaration of the punishments to be inflicted vpon Edom vers 12. Therefore will I send a fire vpon Teman and it shall deuoure the palaces of Bozrah The Preface Thus saith the Lord challengeth your attention The two first parts of the Prophecie the accusation of the Edomites and Gods protestation against them in these words For three transgressions of Edom and for foure I will not turne to it may giue you occasion to recount and remember a Doctrine already the third time recommended to your religious considerations Many sinnes doe plucke downe from heauen the most certaine wrath and vengeance of God vpon the sinners Mel satietatem gignit It is an old saying A man may eat too much hony What One lesson so often No variety I could answer with a Greeke Prouerbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that good and wholsome lessons may well be commended to you twice and thrice many times and yet should you not dislike it But for the present I proceed to the third part of this prophecie wherein is described Edoms sin Of this part are foure branches 1 He did pursue his brother with the sword wherein obserue 1 A purfuer Edom. 2 The pursued His brother 3 The manner of pursuit With the sword Edom did pursue his brother with the sword Edom Esau Iacobs brother and Isaacks sonne by his wise a Gen. 25.21 Rebekah for selling his birth-right for a messe of red broth was surnamed Edom Gen. 25.30 and of him lineally descended the Edomites or Idumaeans Gen. 36.43 Esau pursued Iacob with a deadly hate so did the posterity of Esau the posterity of Iacob the Edomites were euermore most maliciously bent against the Israelites Edom is the pursuer in his owne person and in his posterity The pursued is Edoms brother Iacob surnamed Israel and his posterity the Iewes and Israelites Edom pursued his brother with the sword Bello armat â manu by warre and bands of souldiers saith Drusius Esau hated his brother Iacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him and thereupon in heart vowed his death For thus thought Esau in his minde Gen. 27.41 The daies of mourning for my father will come shortly then will I slay my brother Iacob Iacob to asswage his brother Esaus fiercenesse fled b Gen. 27.44 to his Vncle Laban in Mesopotamia with whom he liued c Gen. 31.38 twenty yeeres which time expired Iacob vpon God his admonishment returned into the d Gen. 31.3 land of his fathers A man would haue thought twenty yeeres time sufficient for any one to haue forgotten or at least to haue disgested a displeasure Twenty yeeres were not enough for Esau so immortall was his hatred After twenty yeeres as Iacob returned from Mesopotamia Esau went against him with foure hundred men Gen. 33.1 This inexpiable rancour and hatred ended not in Esau His malicious posterity retained it Witnesse the churlish answer giuen to Moses his Ambassadors Numb 20.20 Moses being to conduct the Israelites from Aegypt to the promised land desirous to bring them the neerest way sent to the King of Edom for leaue to passe thorow his country I pray thee let vs passe thorow thy country we will not goe thorow the fields nor thorow the vineyards we will not drinke of the water of thy
man Thus far of the second generall part whose wine it was that these Israelites did drinke It was the wine of the condemned I can but salute the third it noteth the place where the Israelites dranke their wine it was in domo deorum suorum in the house of their Gods They drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their Gods In the house of their Gods The Septuagint haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the house of their God So readeth the author of the Vulgar Latine So Luther and Calvin and Munster and Castalio and Gualter and so our new English The reading I disallow not Yet because the Israelites the ten tribes of Israel they to whom this prophesie of Amos was directed went not now vp to Ierusalem to the Temple there there to worship the true and liuing God but had Temples of their owne Temples in Dan in Bethel in other places to which they repaired for the worship of their golden calues and Baal and other their Idols I rather read and the Hebrew text will well beare it in the house of their Gods Mercer so readeth it so doth Vatablus so Drusius so Tremellius and Iunius Ionathan the Chaldee Paraphrast he reads In the house of their Idols He hath respect to the purpose of the Holy Ghost His purpose in this place is to taxe the Israelites for their superstition for their idolatrie for their riot and excesse in spending their goods gotten by the oppression of the poore in the houses Temples or Churches of their Idol Gods The doctrine we may take from hence is this Goods gotten vnlawfully are not fit to be employed in the seruice of God No nor in the seruice of Idols Not in the seruice of God They are reiected by Ecclesiasticus chap. 34.18 He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten his offering is ridiculous Ridiculous And will you thinke a ridiculous offering fit for Gods seruice In the 20. vers of the same Chapter Ecclesiasticus saith further Who so bringeth an offering of the goods of the poore doth as one that killeth the sonne before the fathers eyes Can a father be pleased to haue his sonne slaine before his eyes You will say no. No more will it be pleasing to God to haue an offering of ill gotten goods presented to him Salomon Prov. 15.8 saith The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. He saith it againe chap. 21.27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination It s true Whatsoeuer Sacrifice the wicked man offereth to the Lord be it offered neuer so solemnly neuer so sumptuously it will be an abomination to the Lord the Lord will abhor it he will detest it Much more will he abhor and detest any offering that shall be made of goods ill gotten of the goods of the poore Of such sacrificers he saith in Esay chap. 66.3 He that killeth an oxe is as if he slue a man he that sacrificeth a lambe as he that cut off a dogs neck he that offereth an oblation as if he offered swines flesh he that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idol You acknowledge the truth of the first part of my doctrine Goods gotten vnlawfully are not fit to be employed in the seruice of God But may they be employed in the seruice of Idols No they may not My reason is The Idolater hauing no perfect knowledge of the true and liuing God takes his Idol to be his God and worshippeth him as God Now â—en worship him amisse if carelesly if with goods of opprâ—â—â— with ill-gotten goods he dishonoureth the true and liuing God and the true and liuing God will be the auenger of such dishonour done vnto him This is the very reason why our Prophet here reproueth the Israelites for bringing into the Temples of their Idols their ill-gotten goods the wine of the condemned They thought thereby to do seruice not so much to their Idols as to the great God of Heauen whom by their Idols they represented Thus haue you my whole doctrine established Goods gotten vnlawfully are not fit to be employed in the seruice of God No nor in the seruice of Idols 1. This may serue to admonish such as shall hereafter found Colleges build Hospitals erect Scholes ordaine Aniuersaries that they endow them not that they enrich them not with lands and possessions purchased with ill-gotten treasure 2. Here is a lesson for all such as haue heaped vp vnto themselues abundance of wealth by oppression by extortion by vsury by deceit or otherwise vnlawfully Such may here be put in minde to make actuall restitution in their life time Happily they will by their last Will and Testament bequeath part of their ill-gotten wealth to the Church and part to the poore and will leaue but a portion to their heires A poore shift Can they thinke that God will be so mocked He will not What remaineth then but that euery one who hath increased his substance by wrong doe while he is liuing make actuall restitution Zacheus the Publican professeth vnto Christ Luk. 19.8 Behold Lord the halfe of my goods I giue to the poore and if I haue taken any thing from any man by forged cavillation I restore him foure-fold Zacheus of Iericho he being converted to Christianitie was content to restore foure-fold It is a good consequent they are scarse halfe Christians that will not restore the principall Thou wilt say what neede restitution I will repent for my oppressing sinnes and God is gracious he neuer turnes away the sinner that repenteth Take heede deceiue not thy selfe if thou be able to make actuall restitution and doest it not poenitentia non agitur sed fingitur S. Austine tells thee so Ep. 54. which is to Macedonius Thy repentance is no repentance thou doest but feigne repentance It will neuer procure thee pardon for thy sinne Make thou therefore actuall restitution Thus far of the 8. verse THE XIII LECTVRE AMOS 2.9.10.11 Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them whose height was like the height of the Cedars and he was strong as the Okes yet I destroyed his fruit from aboue and his rootes from beneath Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt and led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse to possesse the land of the Amorite And I raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your yong men for Nazarites Is it not euen thus O yee children of Israel saith the Lord MY meditations haue beene heretofore fiue times exercised in discoursing vnto you of the sinnes wherewith the people of Israel in the precedent verses stand charged Their sinnes were Couetousnesse Crueltie Oppression False dealing Filthie lusts Incest Idolatrie Riot and Excesse Grosse and palpable enormities My endeuour was by the sword of the Spirit the word of God to arme you against them that yee giue them no passage no not a little that yee suffer them not by any meanes to haue dominion ouer you From their sinnes we come to their Blessings
those blessings wherewith God had blessed them Foure are heere mentioned One is the ruine of the Amorites set downe verse 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them whose height was like the height of the Cedars and he was strong as the Okes yet I destroyed his fruit from aboue and his rootes from beneath The second is their deliuerance from the seruitude of Egypt ver 10. Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt The third is their safe passage through the desert touched in the same verse I led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse And why so but to possesse the land of the Amorite These were three great blessings yet were they but temporall The fourth passeth It is spirituall ver 11. I raysed vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your young men for Nazarites The confirmation of all followeth in the same verse Is it not euen thus O yee children of Israel sayth the Lord Say O yee children of Israel Haue I not done so and so for you Haue I not destroyed the Amorite for your sake Haue I not freed you from your Egyptian yoke Haue I not guided you through the desert Haue I not giuen you Prophets and Nazarites of your owne sonnes and of your owne yong men for your instruction in the true seruice and worship of your God Is it euen thus O yee children of Israel saith the Lord You haue now the scope of my Prophet and the summe of this Scripture My present discourse must begin with the first mentioned benefit bestowed by God vpon that people It is the ruine of the Amorites for their sake thus expressed ver 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them c. Herein I commend vnto you three principall parts The first hath a generall touch of the ruine of the Amorites Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them The second hath a description of that people They are described from their stature and from their valour Each is set forth vnto vs by way of comparison their stature or tallnesse by the Cedar their valour or strength by the Oke Their height was like the height of the Cedars and hee was strong as the Okes. The third hath a particular explication or amplification of their ruine It was not any gentle stripe that they receiued not any light incision not any small wound but it was their extermination their contrition their vniuersall ouerthrow their vtter ruine Their roote and fruit Princes and subiects Parents and children yong and old were all brought to nought Yet I destroyed his fruit from aboue and his rootes from beneath Of the first of these three parts at this time It hath a generall touch of the ruine of the Amorites Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them Yet The Hebrew letter is Vau it is most vsually put for a Et. And It is here so rendred by Leo Iuda by Calvin by Gualter by Brentius and by Drusius The b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuagint the author of the c Autem Vulgar Latine and Vatablus doe translate it But. d Quamvis Tremellius and the e Licet Translator of the Chaldee Paraphrase haue Although Our English Bible hath Yet Be it either And or Although or But or Yet it varieth not the meaning of the holy Ghost The meaning of the holy Ghost is by this enumeration of Gods benefits vpon Israel to taxe Israel of Ingratitude God showred downe his benefits vpon them yet they returned no thankes So much is here enforced by this particle Yet to this sense Notwithstanding all the good I haue done vnto Israell whether for their temporall or for their spirituall estate for their temporall by destroying the Amorite before them by freeing them from their seruitude in Egypt and by guiding them through the wildernesse and for their spirituall estate by giuing vnto them Prophets euen of their owne sonnes yet Israell f Hos 11.7 my people Israell haue g Hos 13.6 forgotten me Crueltie Couetousnesse Oppression False dealing Filthie lusts Incest Idolatrie Riot and Excesse these are the fruits wherwith they repay me Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them Here we are to take out a lesson against Vnthankefulnesse It is this Vnthankefulnesse is a sinne very odious in the sight of God This truth you will acknowledge to be very euident and out of question if you will be pleased to consider three things The First is that God doth seriously forbid Vnthankefulnesse The Second is that he doth seuerely reprehend it The Third is that he doth dulie punish it First God forbiddeth vnthankefulnesse It is forbidden Deut. 6.12 Take heed that thou forget not the Lord thy God when thou art full h Deut. 6.10 When the Lord thy God shall haue brought thee into the land which he sware vnto thy Fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Iacob to giue thee and shall haue giuen thee great and goodly Citties which thou buildest not i Vâ—â—s 11. And houses full of all good things which thou filledst not and Wells diâ—gâ—d which thou diggedst not vineyards oliue trees planted which thou plantedst not k Deut. 8.10.11.12 when thou hast eaten and be full l Deut. 6.12 Then beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage Take heed that thou be not vnthankefull Secondly God reprehendeth vnthankfulnesse He reprehendeth it in the Iewes Esa 1.2 I haue nourished I haue brought vp children but they haue rebelled against me He reprehendeth it in the Gentiles Rom. 1.21 There are the Gentiles sayd to be without excuse Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were they thankefull Hee reprehendeth it in the proud Christian 1. Cor. 4.7 The proud Christian he boasteth of his dignitie of his good workes of his merits Vnthankfull man what hast thou that thou hast not receiued And if thou hast receiued it why doest thou glory why boasteth thou as if thou hadst not receiued It is a reprehension of Vnthankfulnesse which you haue Mat. 25 26. There the seruant that receiued of his Master one Talent to be employed to the best aduantage and employed it not is thus checked Thou wicked and slothfull seruant thou knowest that I reape where I sowed not and gather where I haue not strawed Thou oughtest therefore to haue put my money to the exchangers I may not passe by Iesus his censure which he giueth of the Leapers Luk. 17.17 It is a reprehension of their Vnthankfulnesse Tenne were clensed onely one and he a Samaritane returned to giue thankes It drew from Iesus this expostulation Were there not ten clensed but where are the nine Let me recall you to review that reproofe of Vnthankefulnesse Esa 1.2 How begins it Heare ô men hearken ô Angels No. A greater Auditorie must yeeld attention Heare ô Heauens and hearken ô earth Why What is the matter I haue nourished and brought vp children
tongue in the Vniuersitie of Paris is of opinion that the Amorite here and else-where is aboue all and for all mentioned because he of all was the most terrible the most mighty and the strongest The like is affirmed by Arias Montanus that learned Spaniard Amorrhaeum potissimùm appellat The Amorite he especially nameth because that Nation multitudine copijs atque potentiâ in multitude in forces and in power excelled all the rest of the Nations that were cast out before Israell Here then where the Lord hath sayd Yet destroyed I the Amorite in the Amorite we are to vnderstand also the rest of those seauen Nations which the Lord draue out from before Israel the Hittites the Girgasites and the Canaanites and the Perezzites and the Hivites and the Iebusites Seauen they were in number greater and mightier then Israell was All seauen were cast out by the Lord from before Israel and so much are we to vnderstand by this that the Lord here sayth Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them Before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagint They well render the Hebrew which word for word is a faciè ipsorum from their face Mercerus sayth a conspectu eorum from their sight that is sayth he corum causâ ad eorum adventum for their sake or at their comming Albertus Magnus renders it à praesentia eorum from their presence Our English before them hits the sense The sense is God stroke such a terror into those seauen Nations the inhabitants of the land of Canaan that at the comming of the Israelites at the hearing of the name of Israel they vanished they fled away they forsooke their auncient habitations or else were suddenly slaine without much resistance Thus haue you the exposition of the first branch of this ninth verse which conteineth a generall touch of the ruine of the Amorites Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them The Israelites their vnthankefulnesse towards me is verie notorious yet haue I destroyed the Amorite before them Yet I the Lord their God who haue freed them from their bondage in Egypt and haue led them fortie yeares through the wildernesse I haue destroyed haue ouerthrowne haue driuen out haue brought to ruine The Amorite not onely the Amorites but also the rest of the Nations sixe other mightie Nations whose dwelling was in the land of Canaan all these haue I destroyed before them for their sake for Israels sake that Israel might without resistance take quiet possession of the land of Canaan the land that floweth with milke and honey The lesson which we may take from hence is this God is all in all either in the ouerthrow of his enemies or in the vpholding of his children For further proofe hereof we may haue recourse to the 15. chapter of the Booke of Exodus There Moses sings a song vnto the Lord a song of thankesgiuing wherein hee acknowledgeth the Lord to be all in all in the ouerthrow of his enemies Pharaoh and his host in the red Sea His acknowledgment is vers 6. Thy right hand O Lord is become glorious in power thy right hand O Lord hath dashed in peices the enemie In the greatnesse of thine excellencie thou hast ouerthrowne them thou sentest forth thy wrath which hath consumed them as stubble With the blast of thy nostrills the waters were gathered together the flouds stood vpright as an heape the depths were congealed in the heart of the Sea The enemie feared not to enter But thou Lord didst blow with thy wind the Sea couered them they sanke as lead in the mightie waters Who is like vnto thee O Lord Who is like thee God is all in all in the ouerthrow of his enemies He is also all in all in the vpholding of his children Moses in the same song auoucheth it vers 13. Thou Lord in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed Thou hast guided them in thy strength vnto thine holy habitation It was not their q Psal 44.3 owne sword that deliuered them neither did their owne arme saue them But the Lord He and his mercie He and his strength deliuered them God is all in all in vpholding of his children Is it thus dearely beloued Is God all in all in the ouerthrow of his enemies Then for the ouerthrow of that great Nauie called the inuincible Nauie the great Armada of Spaine which * This Sermon was preached A gust 27. 1615. twentie seauen yeares r Au. Ch. 1588. since threatned desolation to the inhabitants of this I le let God haue the glorie It was the right hand of the Lord not our vertue not our merits not our armes not our men of might but the right hand of the Lord it was that brought that great worke to passe Their ſ Exod. 15.4.5 chosen Captaines were drowned in the Sea the depth couered them they sanke into the bottome as a stone Some of them that were taken from the furie of the waues and were brought prisoners to the honourablest cittie in this land in their anguish of mind spared not to say t Letter to Mendoza pa. 17. that in all those fights which at Sea they saw Christ shewed himselfe a Lutheran Sure I am that Christ shewed himselfe to be little Englands u Psal 18.1 rocke and fortresse and strength and deliuerer Quid retribuemus What shall we render nay what can we render vnto the Lord for so great a deliuerance Let our song begin as the Psalme doth the 115. Psalme Non nobis Domine non nobis Not vnto vs Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the glory for thy mercie and for thy truths sake With like affection recount we the deliuerance of our King and State from that infernall and hellish exployt of the powder treason The contriuers thereof I now name not What could they expect but vpon the least discouerie of so execrable an action to incurre an vniuersall detestation to haue all the hatred of the earth poured vpon them and theirs to be the outcasts of the Common wealth and the Maranathaes of the Church they and their names for euer to be an abhorring to all flesh Yet they so farre proceeded in that their Diabolicall machination that they were at the poynt to haue giuen the blow that blow that should haue beene the common ruine of vs all But God our God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greekes describe him Psal 9.9 A helper at opportunities in the needfull times of trouble when we were thus x Ioh. 4.35 albi ad messem white for their haruest readie to be cut downe by them then euen then did our God deliuer vs. Quid retribuemus What what shall we render nay what can we render vnto the Lord for so great a deliuerance Let our song be as before Non nobis Domine non nobis Not vnto vs Lord not vnto vs but vnto thy name giue the glory for thy mercy and
wrongfully molested and vexed vs and besides we must endeuour by our whole life to shew forth how much we are bound to God for our deliuerance This is the scope this is the end of our redemption and saluation according to old Zacharies prophecie Luk. 1.74 that being deliuered out of the hands of our enemies we might serue God without feare in holinesse and righteousnes before him all the dayes of our life Thus far of the 9. verse THE XV. LECTVRE AMOS 2.10 Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt and led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse to possesse the land of the Amorite IN this tenth verse are recounted two other benefits which Almighty God was pleased to bestow vpon his people the people of Israel One was Their deliuerance from Aegypt The other Their protection and preseruation in the wildernes Their deliuerance from Egypt is set downe in the first clause Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt Their protection and preseruation in the wildernesse in the next And led you forty yeares through the wildernesse The end of both followeth in the end of the verse To possesse the land of the Amorite They were deliuered from Egypt and were for forty yeares protected in the wildernesse that at length and in their appointed time they might possesse the land of the Amorites We are to begin with their deliuerance from Egypt It s in the first clause of the verse Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt This deliuerance of theirs out of Egypt was before the Amorites were destroyed and yet the destruction of the Amorites is specified in the former verse Why is the order of Gods benefits so inverted Why is the benefit that was first collated vpon Israel spoken of in the second place Some thinke it was aduisedly and of purpose done to preoccupate and preuent an obiection which otherwise Israel might haue made In the former verse ver 9. it is said that the Amorites were destroyed root and fruit vtterly destroyed before Israel Now that Israel should not boast of that ouerthrow or ascribe it to the prowesse and valour of their ancestors their deliuerance out of Egypt is nex set downe in this 10. verse to put them in minde of the miserable estate and condition wherein their forefathers liued in Egypt to this sense Thinke yee O yee children of Israel that the Amorites were destroyed by the prowesse and valour of your fore-fathers Thinke it not Remember Egypt Remember how there they groaned vnder the heauy yoke of oppression and were not able to helpe themselues and must of necessitie haue perished had not the Lord with his stretched-forth arme deliuered them Others are of opinion that this deliuerance of Israel out of Egypt is in the second place and after the destruction of the Amorites set downe onely by a custome of the Scripture Of this opinion I finde S. Hierome to be His rule is The Scripture in setting forth the praises of God doth not alwayes obserue the order of the Historie but it often comes to passe Vt quae prima facta sunt extrema dicantur quae novissima referantur ad prima Things first done are last spoken of and things last done are first recited This he will haue vs to learne out of two Psalmes the 78. and 105. in which signorum potentia non ordo describitur the power of Gods wonderfull workes and not their order is described and out of two other Psalmes the 3. and 52. Vbi quae priùs facta sunt narrantur extrema quae extrema referuntur in principio What is first done is last spoken of and what is last done is first mentioned The third Psalme was composed by Dauid when he fled from Absalom his sonne the 52. when Doeg the Edomite came vnto Saul and told him that Dauid was come to the house of Abimelech That of Absalom is registred 2. Sam. 15.14 This of Doeg 1. Sam. 22.9 The relation of Doeg is first chronicled and long after that Dauids flight from Absalom yet Dauids flight frō Absalom is first mentioned in the Book of the Psalmes and long after that the relation of Doeg vnto Saul The order of the Historie is not obserued Nor is it obserued in this our text The order of the Historie is first God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt Exod. 12.51 He made them to passe through the middest of the red Sea as vpon dry land Exod. 14.22 And when they had finished their two and forty iourneyes through diuers wildernesses then gaue he them victorie ouer Sihon King of the Amorites Num. 21.24 The Amorites were last of all destroyed and yet are they here first mentioned Non est obseruatus ordo saith Mercer the order of the Historie is not obserued Ribera also notes it Mathurinus Quadratus here frames a rule like to that of St. Hierome Scriptura in recensendis Dei beneficijs curiose non seruat ordinem The Scripture in rehearsing Gods benefits doth not curiously keepe the order but oftentimes it falls out by a figure which the Greekes doe call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that what was first done is last of all rehearsed and what was last done is first of all recited From hence we may deduce this conclusion Though it be our dutie carefully to remember the manifold blessings and benefits which God in mercy from time to time hath bestowed vpon vs yet is it not necessarie that we euer curiously obserue their order and the time when they were bestowed You see the custome of Scripture is our warrant to speake of that first which was last done for vs and of that last which we first receiued But first or last we must remember all Hereto belongeth holy Dauids admonition Psal 103.2 which he there proposeth vnder the forme of an exhortation He exhorteth himselfe to blesse the Lord Blesse the Lord ô my soule and forget not all his benefits Forget not all his benefits Nay Forget not any of his benefits So much the Hebrew phrase intendeth Blesse the Lord ô my soule and forget not any of his benefits A necessarie admonition We forget nothing sooner then a benefit whether we receiue it from God or man But iniuriarum tenacissima est memoria our memorie for iniuries is very tenacious it s a hold-fast Let an iniurie be done vs we will not forget it Yea let one of vs bestow vpon another any benefit be it neuer so litle the knowledg whereof should not be imparted from the right hand to the left as our Sauiour Christ speaketh in his Sermon vpon the Mount Matth. 6.3 how long how long will we reteine the memorie of it Our nature its corrupt Our disposition its peruerse Who seeth not what neede there is that we exercise our selues in reteyning the memorie of Gods benefits Wherefore let euery one of vs stirre vp himselfe to so holy an exercise as Dauid did himselfe Let vs daily sing vnto our soules Blesse
the Lord ô my soule and forget not all his benefits Forget not All Nay Forget not any of his benefits Remember them all either first or last Now from the non-obseruance of the order of the Historie in this enumeration of Gods benefits vpon Israel we are particularly to speake of the benefit mentioned in the second place It is their deliuerance out of Egypt The words are Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt I Iehovah It is his name ver 6. 11. I Iehovah the onely true euerlasting and Almighty God I a Trinitie in Vnitie and the Vnitie in Trinitie Father Sonne and Holy Ghost I who destroyed the Amorites before you and for your sakes I also brought you vp from the land of Egypt I brought you vp It well expresseth the originall which word for word is ascendere vos feci I made you to ascend Nam ex Aegypto ascenditur Iudaeam versus sayth Drusius from Egypt to Iudaea you must ascend and it is a tradition of the Hebrews Iudaea est altior Egypto Iudaea stands higher then Egypt It s affirmed Deut. 10.22 It s there sayd that Iacob with threescore and ten persons went downe into Egypt Iacob with his familie went from Canaan from Iudaea and went dâ—â—ne into Egypt Canaan therefore and Iudaea stood higher then Egypt I brought you vp or I made you to ascend from the land of Egypt From the land of Egypt a Maginus in descrip Aegypti pag. 203. a Egypt is a most noble region and famous much spoken of by writers sacred and prophane Some would haue it to be one of the parts of the world a diuerse part from Asia and Africa and to be betweene them both Others supposing the riuer Nilus the great riuer of Egypt to be the fittest bound to part Asia from Africa doe make Egypt to pertake of both Asia and Africa One part of Egypt they place in Asia the other in Africa The Iesuite Lorinus Comment in Act. Apost cap. 2. 10. makes it a part of Asia Maior He sayth it is a well knowne region of Asia the greater neere vnto Africa But b Lib. 4. Geogr. cap. 5. Tab. 3. Aphricae pag. 98. Ptolomee and the greatest part of Geographers and other writers holding the gulfe of Arabia or the Red Sea to be the fittest bound to sever Asia from Africa haue placed Egypt in Africa This is the most receiued opinion and worthiest to be embraced The land of Egypt is in Africa and is by an c Georg. Abbot the description of the world I. 4. b. Isthmos or a narrow streit of ground ioyned to the Holy land It was of old a land very fruitfull as fruitfull as any almost in the world though in these dayes it doth not answere to the fertilitie of former times From the land of Egypt The Hebrew cals it the land of Mizraim It s so called in my text and else-where generally in the holy Scriptures and hath its name from Mitzraim one of the sonnes of Ham of whom we read Gen. 10.6 He first inhabited that part of Africa which was afterward called Egypt When it first began to be called Egypt it s not easily defined Some say it was first called Egypt in Moses his time when Ramesses surnamed Egyptus sonne of Belus and brother of Danaus was King of the land Ramesses otherwise called Aegyptus began his raigne in the 29 yeare from the going of Israel out of Egypt Of this opinion is d Ad annum Mundi 2482. Funccius in his Chronologie S. e Willet vpon Gen. c 10. p. 120 Perâ—t in Gen. Tom. 2. lib 15. Disp 1. p. 412. Augustine lib. 18. de civ Dei cap. 11. following f Ad annum Mundi 3720. Eusebius in his Chronicle sayth this happened in Iosuahs time more then eight hundred yeares after the floud According to the computation of Manethon an Egyptian Chronographer cited by Iosephus in his g Pag. 451. b first book against Apion It was three hundred ninetie and three yeares after Moses leading Israel out of Egypt Whensoeuer it was first called Egypt it s not much materiall Were it first so called in Moses his time or after in Iosuahs time or yet after 393. yeares from Israels going vp from thence it was many a yeare so called before our Prophet Amos wrote this his Prophecie And yet our Prophet here retaineth the old Hebrew name Mizraim Also I brought you vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the land of Mizraim it is in our Language from the land of Egypt But what benefit was it for Israel to be brought vp from the land of Egypt Had they not there a sweete habitation Were they not planted in the best of the land in the land of h Gen. 47.11 Ramesses in the land of i Vers 6. Goshen It may not be denyed but that Egypt of it selfe was a very goodly fruitfull and commodious countrey yet was it very beneficiall to the Israelites that they were thence deliuered and that in two respects one was because the people of the land were superstitious the other because they were full of crueltie First the Egyptians were a superstitious people They had as the Greeks and Romans had their Gods maiorum gentium and their Gods minorum gentium Gods of greater authoritie and Gods of lesse They had for their Gods manie a beast Athenagoras a Christian Philosopher in his embassage or apologie for the Christians to the Emperours Antoninus and Commodus witnesseth that they bestowed diuine honors vpon Cats and Crocodils and Serpents and Aspes and Dogs Arnobius in his first Booke against the Gentiles sayth they built stately Temples felibus scarabaeis buculis to Cats to Beetles to Heyfers Cassiodore in his tripartite historie lib. 9. cap. 27. tels of the Image of an Ape which they adored and cap. 28. hee sayth that a nest of Rats was their God Many other k Accipitres Noctuas Hircos Asinos Hieronym in Esai 11. Tom. 5. p. 51. a Cironius Hieron in Ioel. 3. Tom. 6 pag. 67. d. beasts did they adore Here their superstition rested not it proceeded to the plants of the earth to base plants to leekes and onyons Leekes and onyons were to them for Gods Porrum l Hieron in Esai 46. Tom. 5. pag. 172. a caepe nefas violare Iuvenal Sat. 15. could note it O it was a wicked and detestable act to doe any hurt to a leeke or onyon At such their ridiculous superstition he by and by scoffeth O sanctas gentes quibus haec nascantur in hortis Numina Surely they are holy Nations that haue such Gods growing in their gardens Mad Egypt So the Poet stiles it in the beginning of his Satyre And could it be lesse then mad when it was besotted and bewitched with such foule and monstrous adoration Well might Minutius Felix in his Octavius call those Gods of the Egyptians non numina sed portenta Gods they were not they were monsters Well might
almost lost our selues in these two wildernesses Etham and Shur We must make more hast through the rest I will not much more then name them The next wildernesse they came vnto was the wildernesse of l Num. 33.11 Sin Exod 16.1 After that they pitched in the wildernesse of m Vers 15. Sinai Exod. 19.1 From Sinai they came to the wildernes of Paran Num. 10.12 thence to the wildernesse of n Vers 36. Zin which is Kadesh Num. 20.1 and then to the wildernesse of o Vers 44. Moab Num. 21.11 Here at Ieabarim they finished their 38. iouraey They had foure more to make They soone made them and last of all they pitched in the plaines of Moab by Iordan nere Iericho Num. 33.48 You haue now heard of many wildernesses They are all conteined in the wildernesse mentioned in my text I led you through the wildernesse The wildernesse Not the wildernesse of Etham onely but the wildernesse of Shur too and the wildernesse of Sin and all other the wildernesses through which the Children of Israel trauailed in their way to the land of promise They were many wildernesses yet my text speaketh as of one I led you through the wildernesse So speaketh the Psalmist in that his remarkeable exhortation to giue thankes to God for particular mercies It is Psal 136.16 O giue thankes p Psal 136.1 vnto the Lord vnto the q Vers 2. God of Gods vnto the r Vers 3. Lord of Lords to him who led his people through the wildernesse So also he speaketh Psal 78.52 The Lord He guided his owne people in the wildernes like a flocke In both places you heare onely the sound of a wildernesse and yet were they wildernesses through which the Lord led and guided his people Israel Let it be our comfort God neuer forsakes his people When he hath led them through one wildernesse he will lead them through a second through a third through all He will neuer leaue them till he see them safely arriued in the place where they wish to be No expense of time can make him to relent If we shall need his protection for fortie yeares together for fortie yeares together we shall be sure of it Israel had it My text avowes it I led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse It is the third circumstance I noted in Gods protection of his people in the wildernesse the circumstance of Time Fortie yeares Fortie yeares were the people of Israel in the wildernesse From Egypt to the wildernesse of Sinai where their Å¿ Num. 33.15 Exod. 19.1 twelfth mansion was they came in seauen and fortie dayes There they continued almost a yeare From thence from the wildernesse of Sinai by many iourneys they came to mount t Num. 20.22 33.37 Hor where was their foure and thirtieth mansion in the wildernes of Zin or Cades In comming thither they spent nine and thirtie yeares There in mount Hor u Num. 20.23 33.38 Deut. 32.50 died Aaron their priest He died in the fortieth yeare after the Children of Israell were come out of the land of Egypt in the first day of the fift moneth Now had they but few iourneys to make they had but eyght to make all eyght with good successe they made in the remainder of that fortieth yeare and they pitched in the plaines of x Num. 33.48 22.1 Moab by Iordan neere Iericho where was their two and fortieth and their last mansion Well might that be their last mansion For now they had gotten the possession of the land of the Amorite which in my text is put for the end why they were brought vp out of the land of Egypt and were led fortie yeares through the wildernesse I brought you vp out of the land of Egypt and led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse To possesse the land of the Amorite HEre was the fulfilling of that promise which was long before made to Abraham The promise was first made to Abraham when from Haran he was come into the land of Canaan Gen. 12.7 Vnto thy seed will I giue this land It was renued vnto him after his returne from Egypt to the land of Canaan Gen. 13.15 All the land which thou seest to thee will I giue it and to thy seed for euer It was once more renued Gen. 15.18 Vnto thy y Gen 26.4 Deut. 34.4 seed haue I giuen this land from the riuer of Egypt vnto the great riuer the riuer Euphrates The z Gen. 15.19 Kenites and the Kenizites and the Kadmonites a Vers 20. and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaims b Vers 21. and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgasites and the Iebusites Ten sundry Nations are rehearsed whose countries are promised to the seed of Abraham Among them are the Amorites The Amorites countrey is by promise giuen to Abrahams seed and Abrahams seed in the posteritie of Iacob possessed it but some foure hundred and seauentie yeares after the promise From the promise to their going forth out of Egypt were foure hundred and thirtie yeares to which if you will adde their fortie yeares iourney in the wildernesse you haue the full number of foure hundred and seauentie yeares the space betweene the promise and the performance Abraham he beleeued the promise so many yeares before it was to take effect Great was his faith He leauing his owne countrey his kinred and his fathers house comes vnto a people who knew him not and he knew not them takes possession for that seed which he had not which in nature he was not like to haue of that land whereof hee should not haue one c Art 5.7 foote wherein his seed should not be setled for almost fiue hundred yeares after O the power of fayth It preuents time it makes future things as present If we be the true sons of Abraham and haue but one graine of his faith we haue alreadie the possession of our land of promise the celestiall Canaan though we soiourne here on earth as if we sought a countrey yet haue we it alreadie we haue it by fayth The seed of Abraham the children of Israel after their fortie yeares trauaile in the wildernesse got possession of the land of the Amorite which long before was promised vnto them It may teach vs thus much In whatsoeuer God promiseth he approueth himselfe most faithfull both in his abilitie and performances At the verie time prefixed and not before he vnchangeably performeth what he promised If so then when we are in any distresse and haue not speedie deliuerance according to our desires we must waite the Lords leasure and must expect with patience till the time come which is appointed by him for our ease and releife We must euer trust our God on his bare word we must do it with hope besides hope aboue hope against hope For the small matters of this life we must wholy relie vpon him How shall we hope to
trust in him for greater matters for impossibilities if we trust him not for smaller matters for probabilities How can I depend on God for raysing my bodie from the graue and for sauing my soule from Hell if I will distrust him for a morsell of bread towards my preseruation The Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt and led them fortie yeares through the wildernesse to possesse the land of the Amorite and all that while nourished and fed them not with bread nor wine nor strong drinke but miraculously with water out of the hard rocke with Quailes with Manna from Heauen and so blessed the very clothes and the shoes they wore that neither their clothes nor shoes all that while were waxen old he is the same Lord still still as readie to be to his faithfull ones a present helpe in all their troubles He hath brought vs out of Egypt too Attendamus ergo nos fratres so S. Austin bespake his Readers Tract 28. in Iohan and so let me conclude Attendamus ergo nos fratres Brethren and the rest dearely beloued let vs diligently obserue it and make we it the matter of our daily meditation Educti sumus de Aegypto we are brought out of Egypt There were we in bondage to the Deuill as to a Pharaoh there Lutea opera in terrenis desiderijs agebamus dirtie workes in the earthly desires of our flesh were the fruits of our labours Let it suffice that we haue beene such that we haue beene seruants Luteis operibus peccatorum to the dirtie workes of sinne as to the tyrannie of the Egyptians Now are wee passed through Baptisme as through the Red Sea therefore Red because it is consecrated with the Bloud of Christ In this Sea the Red Sea of Baptisme the Egyptians our enemies euen all our sinnes are drowned Now are wee in the wildernesse in cremo huius vitae sayth the same Saint Austine lib. 50. Homil. 20. we are in the wildernesse of this life Here Christ is with vs. He protecteth vs he preserueth vs he feedeth vs with his Word and Sacraments His word is a light vnto our steps to guide vs that we erre not His Sacraments are two that of Baptisme assureth vs that the Bloud of Christ applied to our soules clenseth vs from all our sinnes the other of his Supper is a signe a seale a pledge vnto vs of him our Sauiour Christ Iesus giuen for vs and to vs. Thus passing through the wildernesse of this world wee shall in the prefixed time the due time appoynted by the Lord Patriam promissionis ingredi We shall haue the full fruition of the promised land of the supernall Ierusalem of the land of the liuing of the Kingdome of Heauen To which God bring vs all THE XVI LECTVRE AMOS 2.11 And I raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your yong men for Nazarites Is it not euen thus O yee children of Israel saith the Lord THe blessings and benefits which Amos in this Chapter remembreth to haue beene bestowed by Almightie God vpon his people the ten tribes of Israel are partly Corporall and partly Spirituall Of their Corporall benefits I haue heretofore in your hearing discoursed in my two former Sermons They were the destruction of the Amorites before them and for their sake vers 9. their deliuerance out of Egypt their protection and preseruation in the wildernesse for fortie yeares to the end that they might at length possesse the land of the Amorite ver 10. These were notable benefits though they were but Corporall But the benefit whereof I am now to speake is Spirituall It is the doctrine of the sincere worship of God and of eternall saluation together with the free vse and passage thereof or if you will it is the ordinary ministery of the Word thus expressed vers 11. And I raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your yong men for Nazarites c. In these words I commend vnto you two generall parts One is A description of the now mentioned Spirituall benefit I raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your yong men for Nazarites The other is A testification that such a benefit was bestowed Is it not euen thus ô ye children of Israel saith the Lord In the description we may note 1. Quis Who was the bestower of this benefit I the Lord. 2. Quomodo How it was bestowed by a raising vp I raised vp 3. Quid What was bestowed Prophets and Nazarites 4. Quibus auxilijs what helpe was vsed No stranger no forrainer had here ought to doe they were their owne sonnes and their owne yong men that were employed I raised vp of your sonnes c. The testification followeth you may also call it an asseueration It s set downe in the forme of a question where you may obserue who moues the question to whom it is moued and what the question is The Lord is he that moues the question the children of Israel are they to whom it is moued the question is Is it not euen thus Is it not euen thus O ye children of Israel sayth the Lord Such is the diuision of my text I might handle each part precisely but that happily would seeme ouer-curious I make choise therfore to applie my selfe after my old and wonted fashion to fit an exposition to the words as here they are conueyed vnto vs by the ministery of Amos and this with all breuitie and plainnesse And I I the Lord. I who destroyed the Amorite before you and for your sake I who brought you vp from the land of Egypt I who for fortie yeares together led you through the wildernesse that you might possesse the land of the Amorites I who thus blessed you with corporall benedictions haue not beene wanting to you in Spirituall I also raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your yong men for Nazarites I raised vp 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word for word feci surgere or feci vt surgerent I made to arise I made Prophets to rise out of your sonnes I made them to rise that is feci vt existerent I made them to be In this sense I finde the word vsed Deut. 34.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And there arose not a Prophet since in Israell like vnto Moses There arose not that is there was not There was not a Prophet since like vnto Moses So Mat. 11.11 where the Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vulgar Latin hath Non surrexit Our now English renders it There hath not risen Among them that are borne of women there hath not risen a greater then Iohn the Baptist There hath not risen that is there hath not beene Among them that are borne of women there hath not beene a greater then Iohn the Baptist So here I haue raised vp that is I haue made to be I haue made your sonnes to be Prophets I haue raised vp of your sonnes aliquot è filijs vestris sayth Mercer some of your sonnes such
voice of his k Exod. 20.18 19. thunderings and lightnings or with the noyse of a trumpet as he did vpon Mount Sinai when he gaue the Law for then should we runne away and cry vnto Moses or some other seruant of God Speake thou with vs and we will heare but let not God speake with vs lest we dye but by Doctors Pastors and other Ministers men of our own nature flesh of our flesh bones of our bones men subiect to the same l James 5.17 passions whereto we are Admirable and gracious is this dispensation God thus borrowing and vsing the tongues of men to speake vnto men doth it quasi imperans non quasi mendicans as Bernard speaketh Serm. 5. vpon the Canticles he doth it not begging but commanding and in that he doth it indulgentia est non indigentia it is not from any want in himselfe but it is from his indulgence and fauour vnto vs and in doing it non efficaciam quaerit sed congruentiam he seekes not any strength to his owne words but congruence and proportion to our infirmities It s euen so For we were not able to beare the glory of that Maiestie if it did not in some sort hide and temper it selfe vnder these earthly instruments Now therefore when we take the counsels of God from the lips of our sonnes and of our yong men from the lips of our Brethren from the lips of the Ministers of the word of God we may say of them as the men of Listra once said of Paul and Barnabas but renouncing the idolatry of the speach Act. 14.11 God is come downe to vs in the likenesse of men God is he that speaketh from aboue that blesseth and curseth that bindeth and looseth that exhorteth and dehorteth by the mouth of his Ministers For this respect and relations sake betweene God and his Ministers whom it hath pleased him to dignifie and honour in some sort with the representation of his owne person vpon earth they haue euer heretofore bin holden in very reuerend estimation Such was the estimation holden of S. Paul by the Galatians S. Paul himselfe confesseth it Gal. 4.14 15. where he beares them record that albeit through infirmitie of the flesh he preached the Gospell vnto them at the first yet they despised him not or reiected him but receiued him as an Angell of God euen as Christ Iesus yea that if it had bin possible Nature and the Law forbidding it they would haue plucked out their owne eyes and giuen them to him But why speake I of the reuerend regard giuen to Saint Paul or to any other the Ministers of the word of God in the primitiue times of the Church Looke ye but to the dayes of late to the dayes of your Fathers and you will see them in very high esteeme Then though your Priests were but Lignei sacerdotes wooden priests priests of Babylon that were your leaders and your guides you highly honoured them You bestowed vpon them your eareings and your frontlets your lands and reuenewes to maintaine them in their Couents and Cloysters To euery Fryer that drew you aside to confesse you you submitted your selues with Pater meus es tu you are my Father my ghostly Father So farre were you from despising or reiecting them that yee receiued them as Angels of God yea as Christ Iesus himselfe Such honour had the Priests in your fore-fathers dayes No maruaile will some say For then Religion had eaten vp Policie the Church had deuoured the Common-wealth Cloysters were richer in treasure then Kings houses all the wealth fatnes of the Land was swallowed downe into the bellies of Frieryes and Nâ—neryes No maruaile if then Priests were held in high esteeme But now the times are changed and we with them True I grant the times are changed indeed For as a worthy Prelat yet liuing Lect. 34. in Ionam speaketh Now Policie hath eaten vp Religion the Common-wealth the Church and men rob God as God expostulateth Malac. 3.8 Men rob God against all equitie and conscience But wherein doe they rob him In tithes and offerings His tithes and offerings are translated to strangers they eat the materiall bread of the Prophets who neuer giue them spirituall foode and they that serue not at the Altar do liue by it whereas many a Minister that serueth at the Altar hath not whereon to liue Hence is the Ministerie growne into contempt and they who should be honoured for their calling sake are for their wants sake very basely thought of I speake not this to taxe you of this place you rob not God but do duely pay your tithes and offerings the Church here hath its right and euer may it haue to your comfort But I do it to moue you to lift vp your hearts to the throne of grace and to blesse the Lord for as much as when the tythes and offerings of some of your neighbour Villages are made appropriate yours are by Gods goodnes exempted from the spoyle and reserued to their proper vse whereby you may in all ages be prouided though not of Prophets and Nazirites such as God raised vp vnto Israel but of Pastors and Teachers such as may be able to breake vnto you the bread of life and to preach vnto you the Gospell of Christ which is the Gospell of Saluation the Gospell of Peace the Gospell of good things and the Gospell of the Kingdome of God Hitherto you haue heard that God bestowed a benefit of inestimable value vpon the ten tribes of Israel in raising vp vnto them of their sonnes for Prophets and of their yong men for Nazirites Now followeth the Testification that such a benefit was bestowed you may call it an asseueration It s propounded by way of question wherein you may obserue Who moues the question To whom it is moued and What the question is The Lord is he that moues the question the children of Israel are they to whom the question is moued the question is Is it not euen thus Is it not euen thus ô ye children of Israel saith the Lord Neither the time nor your patience will giue way to the seuerall handling of these particulars nor is there any neede of enlargment the words are so plaine and without obscuritie The question is vehement it vrgeth the Israelites it calls their consciences to witnes Is it not euen thus ô ye children of Israel saith the Lord Say O ye children of Israel haue I not done so and so for you Haue I not bestowed such and such benefits vpon you Can any of you denie it Vtique nemo saith Rupertus ther 's none of you can be so impudent as to denie it I the Lord who destroyed the Amorite before you and for your sake I who brought you vp out of the land of Aegypt and led you forty yeares through the wildernesse to possesse the land of the Amorites I euen I also raised vp of your sonnes for Prophets and of your yong men
for Nazirites Is it not euen thus O yee children of Israel I the Lord aske you the question Is it not thus The points of doctrine from hence to be collected are diuers 1. God will haue the blessings and benefits which he bestoweth vpon vs euer to be had in remembrance 2. We must acknowledge that whatsoeuer good we haue we haue it from the Lord. 3. The blessings which God bestoweth vpon vs are nothing inferiour to those he bestowed vpon the Israelites I make this plaine by a briefe collation of the blessings bestowed by the Lord vpon them and vs. The Lord brought Israel out of Aegypt the house of bondage with a mighty hand and he ouerthrew Pharaoh in the red sea the same Lord hath deliuered vs from as great a bondage hath freed vs from the house of Hell and hath spoyled that infernall Pharaoh the Deuill The Lord gaue vnto the Israelites the land of the Amorites for their possession when he had driuen out the Amorites from before their face the same Lord hath giuen vs a good land for our possession and hath from out our Churches expulsed the spirituall Amorite Antichrist Balaam of Rome The Lord raised vp vnto Israel of their sonnes for Prophets the same Lord hath raised vp vnto vs of our sonnes for Prophets he giues vs orthodoxall and sound interpreters of his holy word and Pastors to declare vnto vs what his sacred will is The Lord raised vp vnto Israel of their yong men for Nazirites the same Lord hath giuen vs Schooles and Nurseries of good literature for the trayning vp of our yong men as Nazirites in knowledge and in piety yea he hath giuen vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one most holy Nazirite euen Christ Iesus in whom he maketh vs all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Nazirites that is Christians sanctifying vs by his Holy Spirit in Baptisme wherein we promised to forsake the Deuill and all his workes and to giue vp our selues wholy to the obedience and seruice of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Haec frequenter seriò cogitemus fratres Dearely beloued let vs frequently seriously thinke of these things So shall we the more esteeme Gods benefits bestowed vpon vs and shall the lesse abuse them and shall the longer enioy them Which God of his infinite mercy grant vnto vs through Iesus Christ our Lord. THE XVII LECTVRE AMOS 2.12 But yee gaue the Nazirites wine to drinke and commaunded the Prophets saying Prophecie not IN this propheticall Sermon written by Amos concerning the Israelites I haue heretofore in my eight Lecture vpon this Chapter obserued foure principall parts A Reprehension An Enumeration An Exprobation and A Commination The first is a reproofe of Israell for sinne vers 6.7.8 The second a recitall of the benefits which God hath bestowed vpon Israel vers 9.10.11 The third a twyting of Israel with their vnthankefulnesse vers 12. The fourth a threatning of punishment to befall them from the 13. verse to the end of the Chapter Of the two former the Reprehension and the Enumeration you haue at sundry times alreadie heard Now are we to proceed to the Exprobation conteined in the words at this time read vnto you For our easier vnderstanding whereof we are to cast backe an eye vpon those benefits which in the precedent verses are mentioned to haue beene bestowed by the Lord vpon his people Israel They were either Corporall or Spirituall Corporall as the destruction of the Amorites before the Israelites and for their sakes vers 9. their deliuerance out of Egypt their protection and preseruation in the wildernesse for fortie yeares together that at length they might possesse the land of the Amorite vers 10. And Spirituall as the doctrine of the sincere worship of God and of eternall saluation together with the free vse and passage thereof expressed vers 11. by the raising vp of their sonnes for Prophets and of their yong men for Nazirites These were very great benefits and worthy all thankfull acknowledgement But the people of Israel were so farre from giuing thankes for them that they a Ruffinus vilely esteemed them and too too contemptuously reiected them This appeareth in this 12. verse which I therefore call an Exprobration an vpbraiding or twyting of Israel with the foulnesse of their b Albertus Magnus ingratitude Two things here are said vnto their charge one is Their solliciting the Nazirites to breake their vow The other is their hindering the Prophets in the execution of their function The first in these words yee gaue the Nazirites wine to drinke The second in these yee commaunded the Prophets saying Prophecie not Of these in their order The first is their solliciting the Nazirites to breake their vow Ye gaue the Nazarites wine to drinke Of the name of Nazirites and of their institution I spake in my last exercise out of this place I will not now spend time vpon the repetition of that I then deliuered It shall suffice if I adde but a word or two for the further illustration thereof The c Babington in Num 6. Nazirites had their name of Nazar which signifieth to separate They were yong men separate from the ordinarie course of men and bound to a certaine peculiar course and profession of life They were Ecclesiae ornamenta sayth d Harmon in 4 〈◊〉 Moses Calvin ornaments of the Church and God would in them as in a glasse make his honor and glorie in some sort to appeare They were quasi pretiosae gemmae to shine as rich Iewels among the people of God They were tanquam signiferi ante signani duces as standard-bearers ring-leaders and chiefetaines to shew the way of diuine worship vnto others Singular was the honor and dignitie of this order and calling of Nazirites Ieremie in his Lamentations chap. 4.7 thus sets them forth Her Nazirites were purer then snow they were whiter then milke they were more ruddie in body then Rubies they were like polished Saphyres The author of this order and calling is God This appeareth by the verse next before my text There the Lord hath sayd I haue raised vp of your yong men for Nazirites The first branch of the Law that concerneth this order and calling is accurately described Num 6.3 4. Whosoeuer shall vow the vow of a Nazirite he shall absteine from wine and strong drinke he shall drinke no vineger of wine or vineger of strong drinke neither shall be drinke any liquor of grapes nor eate moist grapes nor dried All the dayes of his Naziriteship shall he eate nothing that is made of the vine tree from the kernels euen to the huske These Nazirites for the time of their Naziriteship were to apply themselues wholy to the studie of the law of God and therfore was abstinence from wine and strong drinke enioyned them God would haue them refraine all things that might trouble the braine stirre vp lust and make them vnfitly disposed for so holy a studie of
as from a well drawne bow shall they flie to the marke They shall flie to the marke as from a bow therefore are they called the Lords arrowes Psal 18.14 The Lord thundred in the Heauens and the highest gaue his voyce he sent out his arrowes and she shot out lightnings so did shee scatter and discomfit the wicked The like sentence you haue Iob 27.2 where the thunder is called the noyse of this voyce of the Lord and the sound that goeth out of his mouth a Iob 37.4 the voyce of his excellencie the voyce wherwith he thundreth b Vers 5. marueilously This his voyce the thunder he c Vers 3. directeth vnder the whole Heauen and his lightning vnto the ends of the earth The thunder the Creature of the Lord is the Lords weapon wherewith sometimes he reuengeth the wicked and disobedient So is the Haile so is the water so is the wind These also fight with the Lord against the disobedient Their fight is described Wisd 5.22 Haile-stones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone-bow against the wicked and the water of the sea shall rage against them and the flouds shall cruelly drowne them Yea a mightie wind shall stand vp against them like a storme shall blow them away Haile It was one of the great plagues of Egypt Exod. 9.23 Haile with Thunder and fire mingled with haile a very grieuous haile was vpon the land of Egypt it smote all that was in the field d Exod. 9.25 both man and beast it smote euery herbe of the field and brake euâ—ry tree thereof With Haile stones the Lord fought for Iosuah when he went vp to the rescue of Gibeon against the fiue Kings of the Amorites Iosh 10.11 The enemies were discomfited and a great slaughter was made of them yet more died with e Ecclus 46.6 hailestones then were slaine with the sword The Lord hath a treasurie of Haile for the time of his battailes You may read of it in the Booke of Iob chap. 38.22 There the Lord thus questioneth with Iob Hast thou seene the treasures of the haile which I haue reserued against the time of trouble against the day of battaile and warre I could yet farâ—her tell you out of the Reuelation of S. Iohn chap. 16.21 of a Haile a great Haile that fell from out of Heauen vpon men euery stone thereof was about the weight of a Talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the Haile for the plague thereof was exceeding great But I haue said enough to proue that the Haile the creature of the Lord is the Lords weapon wherewith sometimes he reuengeth the wicked and disobedient From the Haile come we to the Water Of the fifteene signes that shall be before the last Iudgement and are by f Jâ— 4. Sent. Dâ—â— 48. Dub. 3. Bonauenture Holkot g In â—undem Dâ—â—â— qu. 3. Richardus de Mediâ Villâ and h â—orinus câ—m in Sup. 5.23 others cited out of S. Hierome though Eusebius Emissenus in his Sermon vpon the second Dominical of Advent citeth them out of the Annales of the Iewes the first is that the Sea shall swell fifteene Cubites high aboue the tops of mountaines and shall not runne backe but there consist like vnto walles For the truth whereof I can say nothing But thus much Christ telleth vs Luk. 21.25 that before that great day the Sea and waues shall roare Granatensis in his exercises thus meditateth vpon the words Most of all other elements the Sea shall at that time shew greatest rage and fury and the waues thereof shall be so high and so furious that many shall thinke they will vtterly ouerwhelme the whole earth Such as dwell by the Sea-side shall be in great dread and terror for the incredible and vnusuall swelling and eleuation of the waters and such as dwell farther off shall bee wonderfully affrayd and euen astonished at the horrible roaring and noyse of the waues which shall be so extreamely outragious that they shall be heard for many a myle off But what speake I now of waters that shall be hereafter There was a floud of waters in the dayes of Noah that preuailed vpon the earth for an hundred and fiftie dayes together you all know it Gen. 7.24 The Waters then preuailed against man for the sinne of man the fruit of his disobedience And they shall againe preuaile if Gods pleasure be such and the disobedience of man shall so require For the Almightie he who shut vp the Sea with dores when it brake forth as a child issueth forth of his mothers wombe as Iob speaketh chap. 38.8 and made the clouds to be a couering for it and swadled it with a band of thicke darknesse and established his decree vpon it and set barres and dores vnto it and said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud Waues be stayed he the Almightie can easily vnbarre those dores and let the waters loose to fight his battells Hereof we haue had a late woefull and lamentable experience i See my twentith Lecture vpon Amos 2.14 pag. 241. The woefull newes and report of flouds in this Countrey of ours nine yeares since may hereof be your remembrancers It shall euer stand for good that the water the creature of the Lord is the Lords weapon wherewith sometimes he reuengeth the wicked and disobedient The wind is next The wind The Lord bloweth it out of his mouth Iob 37.10 it is called the breath of his mouth Iob 15.30 he bringeth them out of his k Ierem. 10.13 treasuries Psal 135.7 He flyeth vpon the wings thereof Psal 18.10 and walketh vpon the wings thereof Psal 104.3 He weigheth the windes Iob 28.25 He l Mark 4.39 Luk. 8.24 rebuketh the winds Matth. 8.26 he commandeth the winds and they obey him Luk. 8.25 Memorable was the victorie of the Emperour Theodosius against the traytor and rebell Eugenius Eugenius was like to haue had the vpper hand It pleased the Almightie vpon the prayers which the Emperour made vnto him for ayde and assistance to worke a strange act He sent a Wind to take part with the Emperour It was a most vnusuall and mightie Winde It blew with such force and violence that it brake the array of Eugenius his souldiers did beate back their arrowes their darts and their iauelings vpon themselues did strike their targets out of their hands did bring vpon them incredible abundance of dust and filth and dâ—d driue the arrowes of the Emperours side with such forcible flight against them that they soone gaue the field for lost The storie is Ecclesiasticall written by Socrates lib. 5. cap. 24. by Theodorite lib. 5. cap. 24. by Sozomene lib 7. cap. 24. by Nicephorus lib. 12. cap. 39. and recounted by Cassiodore in his Tripartite lib. 9. cap. 45. and by Claudian the Poet in his Panegyricke to Honorius I could here tell you how the windes fought for vs
Sea of the plaine and had taken b Veâ—s 28. Damascus and Hamath Then the people of Israel growne insolent with victories and rich with spoiles became lasciuient and wanton and spurned at the preaching of the Word of God It was now high time for Amos to bestirre himselfe and to remember them of the fickle estate wherein now they were Hee was their Prophet peculiarly sent to them from God and it lay vpon him to call vpon them He doth it in this his second Sermon The parts are three 1 An Exordium or an entrance into the Sermon vers 1. 2 A Proposition containing the summe of that whereof he admonisheth them vers 2. 3 An Enarration a Declaration an Exposition or an Expolition of the matter in hand from the third vers to the end of the Chapter We are to beginne with the Exordium or entrance to the Sermon It is an inuitation to attention and containeth certaine arguments of perswasion Three they are all of weight and in themselues auaileable The first is taken from the authority of the Word to the hearing whereof they are inuited It is Verbum Iehouae the Word of Iohouah the onely true and euerliuing God Heare this Word non meum somnium not any dreame of mine not my word nor the word of any mortall wight but the Word of the Lord Heare this Word that the Lord hath spoken The second is taken from the quality of the parties inuited They are Flij Israel the children of Israel By this compellation they are put in minde of their stocke and linage that they were sprung from and came out of the loines of Iacob whose name was changed to c Gen. 32.28 35.10 Israel whereby they may well be admonished either to insist in the steps of that holy Patriarch or like disobedient and degenerate children to expect punishment from the Lord Heare this Word that the Lord hath spoken against you O children of Israel The third is taken from the memory of their greatest deliuerance their deliuerance out of Aegypt By this benefit had there beene nothing else were the Israelites deepely obliged to giue eare to the Word of the Lord their Redeemer and deliuerer Heare this Word that the Lord hath spoken against you O children of Israel against the whole family which I brought vp from the land of Aegypt saying In the handling of these words I purpose to hold this course first to expound the words and then to obserue out of them such instructions as they naturally offer vnto vs and may be for our good Heare this Word that the Lord speaketh against you Heare Listen vnto it not onely with the outward sense of your eares but yeeld vnto it also willing assent in your minds Heare it interiori auditu so Albertus Magnus expounds it Heare with your inward hearing In the phrase of the Gospell it is Audite intelligite Matth. 15.10 Heare and vnderstand Heare this Word This word is with Castalio dictum a saying with Albertus it is something signified by voice which remaineth in the heart of the hearer after the voice is gone It may bee the decree of God and his ordinance touching that he will doe vnto Israel and so Ionathan in his Chaldee paraphrase seemes to take it Heare this Word that the Lord hath decreed In the Vulgar Latine I read Audite verbum quod locutus est Dominus Heare the Word that the Lord hath spoken Our now English is right Heare this Word that the Lord hath spoken Hath spoken To or against whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hhalâ—eâ—m To you or against you so Drusius The originall is Super vos ouer you or vpon you Drusius well renders it to you or against you and Petrus Lusitanus not amisse contra vos vel de vobis against you or concerning you You children of Israel The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benei Iischrael sonnes of Israel Children of Israel or sonnes of Israel the Israelites are meant Each phrase may be paralleld in the Greeke tongue First the children of Israel for the Israelites So speake the Greekes d Herod l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of the Aethiopians for Aethiopians themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of Philosophers for Philosophers themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the children of Physitians for Physitians themselues Againe the sonnes of Israel for the Israelites And so speake the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sonnes of the Grecians for the Grecians themselues It s very frequent in e Jliad 162.237 240.276.368 c. Homer I meet with one place in the Greeke Bible wherewith I will for the present content my selfe It is Ioel 3 6. The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sonnes of Iuda and the sonnes of Ierusalem ye sold to the sonnes of the Grecians where the sonnes of Iuda are put for the people of Iuda and the sonnes of Ierusalem for the inhabitants of Ierusalem and the sonnes of the Grecians for the Grecians themselues iust as it is here the sonnes of Israel for the Israelites themselues Sonnes of Israel It is an Hebrew Prouerbe f Drusius Adag Hebruir Druuia 2 8. ex R. Heuna Filij filiorum cece sunt vt filij Sonnes sonnes behold they are as sonnes You may vnderstand thus The sonnes of sonnes are accounted of as sonnes or they are truly sonnes sonnes not in name only but in very deed In the name of sonne sometime the Nephew is to be vnderstood So it is Haggai 1.1 Zerubbabel is there called the sonne of Shealtiel whose sonne hee was not but Nephew for hee was sonne of g Chron. 3.19 Pedaiah and Pedaiah sonne of Schealtiel And so is it Ezra 5.1 Zechariah the Prophet is there called the sonne of Iddo whose sonne he was not but Nephew for he was the sonne of Barachiah and h Zachar. 1.1 Barachiah the sonne of Iddo Now as a sonne is sometimes put for a Nephew so are sonnes for a posterity So in my Text the sonnes of Israel are put for the posterity of Israel The sonnes of Israel Secundum carnem non secunduÌ„ spiritum as Petrus à Figuciro speaketh the sonnes of Israel after the flesh not after the spirit Sonnes of Israel such as were lineally descended from the loines of Iacob who was surnamed Israel These sonnes or children of Israel are here further described to be that whole family which the Lord brought vp from the land of Aegypt Heare this Word that the Lord hath spoken against you O children of Israel against the whole family which I brought vp from the land of Aegypt Against the whole family The Hebrew word here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mischpachah and signifieth a family So it s translated by Brentius and Caluin and Drusius and Gualter and Iunius and Piscator and so is it in our newest English against the whole family A family to speake properly is of them that are contained in one and the same
house it is a houshold consisting of persons of diuers sexes ages statures strengths and abilities But this narrow signification of a family will not serue for this place For it was not onely a houshold that the Lord brought out of Aegypt it was more than so The Author of the Vulgar Latine giues here a larger scope Familia contents him not Cognatio is his word Not a family but a kindred must serue his turne His reading is Super omnem cognationem It pleaseth Luther and Mercer and Vatablus Against all the kindred A kindred wee know may containe many families and many were the families which the Lord brought vp from the Land of Aegypt yet is not this word kindred of extent sufficient to comprehend the great multitude that was brought vp from the land of Aegypt Nation is a fitter word with Castalio Heare this word that the Lord pronounceth to you to the whole Nation which I brought vp from the land of Aegypt It was indeed a Nation that the Lord brought vp A Nation and therefore many kindreds and more families Yet need wee not refuse either the word kindred or family as vnfit for this place for each of them may well bee vsed to signifie a Nation The reason whereof Kimhi giueth quia ab initio gentes singulae ab vno aliquo viro defluxerunt because at first Nations had their beginning from some one man that was head of a family or kindred A Family for a Nation you haue Mic. 2.3 Behold saith the Lord behold against this family doe I deuise an euill Against this family that is against this Nation of the Israelites So haue you Ierem. 8.3 Death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remaine of this euill family This euill family is the nation of the Iewes I read of the family of Aegypt Zach. 14.18 and there the family of Aegypt is the nation of the Aegyptians Such is the signification of the word family in my Text against the whole family that is against the whole nation of the Israelites By this whole family of the children of Israel some doe vnderstand all the people which the Lord brought vp from Aegypt which afterward was rent into two Kingdomes the Kingdome of Iudah and the Kingdome of Israel So Saint Hierome and Remigius and Hugo and Lyra and Dionysius Some by the children of Israel doe vnderstand the Kingdome of Israel the Kingdome of the ten Tribes and in the whole family brought vp from the land of Aegypt they will haue included the Kingdome of Iudah the other two Tribes the Tribes of Benjamin and Iudah So Theodoret and Albertus and Montanus Quadratus and Christophorus à Castro Petrus à Figueiro takes this whole family to be here vsed Appositoriè by Apposition to expresse what is meant by the children of Israel The children of Israel that is the whole family kindred or nation of the Israelites which the Lord brought vp from the land of Aegypt The like doth Tauerner in his English Bible his Translation runnes thus Heare what the Lord speaketh vnto you O ye children of Israel namely vnto all the Tribes whom I brought out of Aegypt I take them to be in the right who by the children of Israel doe vnderstand the Kingdome of the ten Tribes and by the whole family brought vp from Aegypt the other two Tribes the Tribes of Iudah and Benjamin to this sense Heare this word this sentence that the Lord pronounceth against you O children of Israel and not against you alone but euen against all those whom I brought vp from the land of Aegypt All that are in the same fault doe well deserue the same punishment If Iudah sinne as well as Israel Iudah shall bee punished as well as Israel Heare therefore this word not only you of Israel but you of Iudah too all you whom I brought vp from the land of Aegypt All which I brought vp from the land of Aegypt How can this bee Of those which the Lord brought vp out of Aegypt all that were of i Numb 14.30 32.11 12. twenty yeeres old and vpward all saue two Caleb the sonne of Iephunneh and Ioshua the sonne of Nun died in the Wildernesse They died there and therefore they came not into the Holy Land Againe the deliuerance of Israel out of Aegypt was about k An. M. 2454. seuen hundred yeeres before the l Which was An. M. 3158. time that this Prophesie came by the ministery of Amos vnto Israel What Seuen hundred yeeres before this time It s then to be presumed that all which so long before were brought vp from Aegypt were long ere this time dead And so out of doubt they were How then is it that here so long after it is said to the children of Israel from the Lord Eduxi I brought you your whole family vp from the Land of Aegypt The Israelites to whom this speech is had for the place of their natiuity and habitation the land of Iudaea Neuer had they beene in the land of Aegypt and yet may there be a good construction of what is here said vnto them Eduxi I brought you your whole family vp from the land of Aegypt Albertus makes the construction I brought you vp vos in patribus you in your Fathers So doth Petrus Lusitanus I brought you vp vos vtique in parentibus you in your parents And so Piscator I brought you vp vos in maioribus you in your Ancestours You in your Fathers in your Parents in your Ancestours I brought you vp from the land of Aegypt I brought vp from the land of Aegypt The words we met with before Chap. 2.10 There they were by me expounded and haply you will not thinke it fit I should say the same againe vnto you Wherefore for a full exposition of these words and the profit to be taken by them I referre you to my fifteenth Lecture vpon the second Chapter of this Prophesie of Amos. Hitherto haue I dwelt vpon the opening of the words of my present Text. I gather vp all in briefe Heare not only with the outward eare but also with the assent of minde heare and vnderstand this word this thing this sentence this decree that the Lord Iehouah the onely true euerlasting and Almighty God hath spoken hath pronounced ouer you vpon you to you against you against you O children of Israel yee the sonnes the posterity of Iacob and not against you onely but also against the whole family the whole Nation of you them of Iudah too against you all whose Fathers Parents and Ancestours I brought vp and deliuered with a mighty hand and out-stretched arme from the land of Aegypt that land wherein they liued in great slauery and bondage saying after this manner as it followeth vers 2. You only haue I knowne c. The words you see are expounded It remaineth now that we gather from hence such obseruations as are here naturally offered vnto vs
after time as Esay speaketh Chap. 42.23 It is to marke and vnderstand and remember and beleeue and follow that which you heare This duty of hearing as we should we shall the better performe if as Moses at the commandement of the Lord did put off his shoâ—es the shooes from off his feet because the place wherein be stood was h ly ground Exod. 3.5 so shall we as oft as we come to this or the like holy place the House of God to heare his Word read and preached vnto vs put off our shooes too not our shooes from off our feet but our much fouler shooes our lusts our thoughts our cares our fancies our businesses euen all that corruption and sinne wherewith in this life we are clogged which as the dust to the shooe and the sh oe to the foot cleaues fast to vs. If thus prepared we come to heare the Word of God wee shall be sure of a blessing When the woman said to Christ Blessed is the wombe that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked Christ replyed Luk. 11.28 Yea rather blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it By this his reply he sheweth that his Disciples were more blessed for hearing him than his Mother for bearing him Yet hereby hee denieth not his Mother to haue beene blessed euen for bearing him but insinuates onely that she was more blessed in being his childe than in being his Mother Saint Austine De Sancta Virginitate cap. 3. well expresseth it Beatior percipiende fidem Christi quà m concipiendo carnem Christi The blessed Virgin the Mother of Christ was more blessed by receiuing the faith of Christ then by conceiuing the flesh of Christ Christ said vnto his Disciples Matth. 13.16 Blessed are your eares for you heare shewing that they were more blessed than all the world besides because they had this one blessing to heare the truth This is the blessing which you come hither for God in the abundance of his goodnesse brings it home vnto you And well may you call it a blessing For the word which we bring vnto you is verbum regni Mat. 13.19 The word of a Kingdome it brings a Kingdome with it It is verbum vitae Ioh. 6.68 the word of life it brings life with it It is not onely a word of authority to command and bind the conscience nor onely a word of wisdome to direct you nor onely a word of power to conuert you nor onely a word of grace to comfort and vphold you but the word of a neuer-fading Kingdome and of eternall life to make you perfectly and for euer blessed Thus farre hath my first Doctrine carried mee The Doctrine was deliuered in these words The word of the Lord is diligently to be hearkened vnto It was grounded vpon the first branch of my Text wherein is contained the first perswasory argument of attention drawne from the authority of the word to be hearkned vnto Heare this word that the Lord speaketh against you The next argument of perswasion to enforce attention in the hearer is drawne from the persons of them who are here inuited to giue eare They are Filty Israel the children the sonnes the posterity of Israel a people descended from the holy Patriarke Iacob chosen aboue all other nations to bee Gods peculiar people with whom God had made a couenant and had on his part most absolutely performed it preseruing them from their enemies and multiplying vpon them all his benefits So graciously did God deale with these sonnes of Israel not onely whilst they loued him kept their coniugall faith with him and serued him according to his word but euen then too when they had despised him and forsaken him had violated their faith with him and committed spirituall whoredome with false gods Yet when those their impieties disobediences and rebellions were growne to the height God was resolued to come against them in iudgement and to punish them This his resolution appeareth in the many menaces and threats which from time to time the Lord sent vnto them by his holy Prophets One of which is in my Text Heare this word that the Lord speaketh against you O children of Israel Against you to punish you O children of Israel euen you My obseruation here is God will not spare to smite his dearest children when they sinne against him One reason hereof may bee that the Lord may declare himselfe an aduersary to sinne in all men without partiality A second is that the Lord may reduce his children from running on headlong to perdition with the wicked And the vses may be two One to teach vs to magnifie the righteousnesse of God as generally in all his workes so particularly in the afflictions of his people The other to admonish vs that we looke not for any certaine earthly peace though we are by faith the children of Israel but that we prepare our selues for a continuall succession of crosses and calamities The third argument of perswasion to moue attention in these children of Israel is taken from the commemoration of their greatest deliuerance their deliuerance out of Aegypt Heare this w rd that the Lord speaketh against you O children of Israel against the whole family which I brought vp from the land of Aegypt My obseruation is The temporall benefits and manifold deliuerances which the Lord bestoweth vpon his people are euer to be had in remembrance and in thankefull acknowledgement This very doctrine for the substance of it I haue heretofore in your hearing propounded and proued in my fifteenth Lecture vpon the second chapter of this booke occasioned thereunto by the tenth verse wherein this great deliuerance out of Aegypt is mentioned I will not therefore at this time stand to inlarge it Onely let me now tell you that this deliuery of the Israelites out of Aegypt is not appropriate onely vnto them but that in some sort it appertaineth to the Church of God in all ages for as much as it was a type of a more surpassing deliuery from that fearefull Kingdome of sinne and darknesse It appertaineth euen vnto vs whom God of his infinite goodnesse and mercy through the precious bloud of his Sonne and our Sauiour Christ Iesus hath deliuered from this spirituall Aegypt the Kingdome of sinne and darknesse and will in his good time giue vs safe passage from hence to that heauenly Canaan the true Country and Inheritance of all Saints Whither most gracious God vouchsafe to bring vs all Amen THE Second Lecture AMOS 3.2 You onely haue I knowne of all the families of the earth therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities THis second verse is the second part of Amos his second Sermon concerning the Kingdome of the ten Tribes the Kingdome of Israel It is the proposition and containeth the very substance of the whole Sermon which is to let the Israelites vnderstand that for as much as the Lord hath beene good vnto them aboue all the Nations of the
which S. Augustin Serm. 57. de verbis Domini hath deliuered in these words Non potest concordiam habere cum Christo qui discors voluerit esse cum Christiano It cannot be that he that is at variance with a Christian should haue any agreement with Christ The motiue that now drew me to entreat of this argument was Saint Hieroms application of my Text to such as liue in discord and variance whereupon his collection was Discordiae poenam esse in laqueum incidere that it is the punishment of discord to fall into a snare Thus far I haue beene his I must now leaue him and looke backe to the other application of my Text wherewith I acquainted you in the beginning of this exercise My Text is Shall one take vp a snare from the earth and haue taken nothing at all The application is A fowler vseth not to take vp his snares from the earth till hee hath catched somewhat No more is it Gods vse when he maketh shew of his iudgements to withdraw his hand till he hath put them in execution God giues not forth his threats in vaine nor gathers hee vp his nets nor takes he vp his snares till hee hath taken what hee would till he hath effected what he threatned by his Prophets The summe of all is Verbum Dei non cadere fine efficacia The Word of God falleth not out without its efficacy And it is the Doctrine which I would now further commend vnto your Christian and deuout attentions The Word of God falls not out without its efficacy I thus explicate it The Word of God is a certaine a sure a faithfull word All the prophesies all the predictions of future things therein propounded are wonderfully made good in their accomplishment and euent All promises therein made all threats therein denounced are euer true in their performance That the prophesies the predictions of future things propounded in the Word of God are euer true and haue their due accomplishment I shall make plaine in few words In the daies of Noah the world was growne so foule with sinne that God would needs wash it with a floud With this his purpose to wash the world with a floud hee acquainted Noah one hundred and twenty yeeres before hee sent the floud When that time had its period when those one hundred and twenty yeeres were expired then euen then and not before hee brought in the floud as it appeareth by the collation of Genesis 7.6 11. with 1 Peter 3.20 In the fifteenth of Genesis vers 13. God saith vnto Abram Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serue them and they shall afflict them foure hundred yeeres and afterward shall they come out with great substance Here is a prediction vnto Abram concerning his posterity that they should goe into a strange land should liue in thraldome and should from thence be deliuered at the end of foure hundred yeeres According to this prediction it came to passe But first I note here that this time of foure hundred yeeres must beginne at the birth of Isaak though from his a An. M. 2049. birth to the deliuerance of the children of Israel b An. M. 2454. out of Aegypt were foure hundred and fiue yeeres which few yeeres in so great a summe maketh no great difference Againe I note here that by this land not theirs is meant not Aegypt onely but Canaan too And thirdly I note that where the Text rehearseth these three they shall be strangers they shall serue they shall be afflicted we must iointly not seuerally apply them all to the time limited of foure hundred yeeres that this whole time of foure hundred yeeres they were either strangers or serued or were afflicted And so Saint Augustine quast 47. in Exod. vnderstandeth this place But you see the accomplishment of the prediction Christ the Messias the Sauiour of mankind was promised to our first parents euen vpon the beginning of the world Gen. 3.15 where God tells the Serpent that the seed of the woman should bruise his head Hee was promised vnto Abram Genesis 12.3 In thee shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed This promise vnto Abraham is seuen times reiterated The seuenth repetition of it is Gen. 22.18 In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed He was promised vnto Isaack Gen. 26.4 In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth bee blessed The time of his comming is noted by Iacob the Patriarch Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Iudah nor a Law-giuer from betweene his feet vntill Shiloh come It is noted likewise by the Angell Gabriel Dan. 9.25 Who there wisheth Daniel to know and vnderstand that from the going forth of the commandement to restore and to build Ierusalem vnto the Messiah the Prince shall be seuen weekes All these promises prophesies and predictions touching Christ the Messias the Sauiour of mankind we beleeue and know they haue had their due accomplishment I could here remember you of prophesies or predictions wherein certaine persons were by name expressed long before they were borne Such is that 1 King 13.2 O altar altar thus saith the Lord Behold a child shall be borne vnto the house of Dauid Iosiah by name and vpon thee shall he offer the Priests of the high places that burne incense vpon thee and mens bones shall be burnt vpon thee Iosiah you see is named but it was c An. M. 2971. three hundred and thirty three yeeres before Iosiah was d An. M. 3304. borne and before the e An. M. 3330. execution of this prediction three hundred fifty and nine yeeres The execution of it we haue 2 King 22.15 Such is that Esa 44.28 There thus saith the Lord of Cyrus He is my shepheard and shall performe all my pleasure euen saying to Ierusalem Thou shalt be built and to the Temple thy foundation shall be laid The prediction is that Cyrus should take order for the reedifying of the City of Ierusalem and the Temple there Cyrus is the man that must giue leaue for this great worke to be set on foot Cyrus Cyrus is named and yet at this time Cyrus was not borne Nor was he borne within one hundred yeeres after this time Nay saith Iosephus Antiq. Iudaic. lib. 11. cap. 1. the prophesie of Esay was written two hundred and ten yeeres before Cyrus his time Yet was the truth of this Prophesie f An. M. 3426. fulfilled in Cyrus as it appeareth 2 Chron. 36.22 and Ezra 1.1 Thus haue I briefly and in a few instances made it plaine that the prophesies the predictions of things to come propounded in the Word of God are euer true and haue their due accomplishment that all the promises made therein all the threats denounced therein are euer true in their performance So true is my doctrine The Word of God falleth not out without its efficacy True For
of God negligently shall bee no lesse guiltie than hee that by his owne negligence shall suffer the Bodie of Christ to fall vpon the ground And therefore with what solicitude and care wee take heed that no part of Christs bodie which is giuen to vs by the Minister doe fall vnto the ground with the like wee should take heed that no part of Gods word that is offered vnto vs by the Preacher doe either by our wandering thoughts or our irreuerent talking fall from out our hearts and perish But say this solicitude and care be wanting in vs what then Then the danger is our very prayers will be an abomination to the Lord. So saith the holy Ghost Prou. 28.9 He that turneth away his eare from hearing the Law euen his prayer shall bee an abomination where by turning away the care from hearing hee meaneth not onely the open contemning and despising of the word of God but also euery negligent carelesse and vnprofitable hearing thereof And so it is true Hee that turneth away his eare from hearing the Law his prayer shall be an abomination to the Lord the Lord will loath and abhorre the prayer he maketh and will not heare him There is yet a further danger of our negligent hearing and that is the losse of the word of God from among vs. Negligent hearing deserues no lesse for it is a rebellion against God and God will tye the tongues of his seruants that they shall not preach his Word to such So tyed hee the tongue of Ezeckiel chap. 3.26 O sonne of man I will make thy tongue cleaue to the roofe of thy mouth that thou shalt bee dumbe and shall not be to this people a reprouer for they are a rebellious house Whereupon Great Gregorie Propter maâ—â—â— auditores bonis sermo doctoribus tollitur for ill hearers God sometimes stoppeth the mouthes of good teachers So stopped hee the mouth of Saint Paul that hee should not teach in Ierusalem Act. 22.18 Make haste and get thee quickly out of Hierusalem for they will not receiue thy testimonie concerning mee The Apostles that would haue preached in Asia could not for the Spirit would not suffer them Act. 16.7 Christ forbids vs dare sanctum canibus Matth. 7.6 Giue not that which is holy vnto dogges neither cast yee your pearles before swine Who are those dogges who these swine but men liuing in incurable impietie without all hope of amendment and wallowing in the mire of vnbridled luxurie who if they vouchsafe to come to this Watch-tower of the Lord to heare the sound of the Trumpet they giue eare but negligently but vnprofitably but contemptuously Such are they whom this inhibition concerneth Giue not that which is holy vnto dogges neither cast yee your pearles before swine For what is this holy thing that wee must not giue vnto them what these pearles but veritatis mysteria the mysteries of truth inclosed within the profunditie of the Scriptures as pearles within shell-fishes These holy mysteries be kept backe from them that will be negligent vnprofitable and contemptuous hearers And thus you see you are to giue eare with reuerence to the preaching of the word of God for the dangers sake of him that heareth negligently You will now in the third place be perswaded to the performance of this dutie for the profits sake of him that heareth diligently Here is a three-fold profit for him 1. His heart hereby shall be softned 2. It shall be sweetned 3. It shall be cleansed Enarrat 1. Dom. 5. post Trin. pag. 237. That the preaching of the Word softeneth the heart Petrus de Palude would proue by the confession of the Spouse Cant. 5.6 Anima mea liquefacta est vt dilectus locutus est As soone as my beloued spake as soone as I heard the voice of my Sauiour my soule euen melted But fitter to our purpose is the example of Ahab 1 King 21. Elias comes vnto him with the word of God in his mouth In the place where dogges licked the bloud of Naboth shall dogges licke thy bloud euen thine O King vers 19. and vers 21. I will bring euill vpon thee and will take away thy posteritie all thy posteritie Ahab hereupon rents his cloathes puts sack-cloth vpon his flesh and lyes therein fasteth and goeth comfortlesse vers 27. See you not the heart of Ahab humbled his hard heart softened by the word of God In the second Chapter of the booke of Iudges a Messenger of the Lord comes vp from Gilgal to Bochim with words of reproofe against the people of Israel and saith I made you to goe vp out of Aegypt and haue brou ht you vnto the Land which I sware vnto your Fathers and I said I will neuer breake my couenant with you and yee shall make no league with the inhabitants of this Land you shall throw downe their Altars but yee haue not obeyed my voice why haue yee done this This was the word of God vnto them they heard it and cryed out and wept Their hearts were humbled their hard hearts were softened This is it that the Lord hath said Ierem. 23.29 Is not my sword like fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rocke in peeces Yes Lord thy Word is like fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rocke in peeces It mollifieth and softeneth the hard stonie and flintie heart A second profit that the Word preached bringeth vnto vs is that it sweetneth the heart For the word of God is Manna habens in se omne delectamentum saporis it is as the Celestiall Manna that Angells food that bread from Heauen Wisd 16.20 very pleasant and well gusted Dauid esteemes is to be sweeter than Hony and the dropping of the hony-combe Psalm 19.10 And Psal 119.103 out of the admiration thereof hee saith O how sweet are thy words vnto my taste yea sweeter are they than Hony to my mouth Fauâ— mellis verba composita Prou. 16.24 Faire pleasant and well composed words are as an Hony-combe sweet to the soule and health to the bones Quae verba composita dulcia sunt si tua non sunt So Claudius Aquauiua in his Meditations vpon the 119. Psalme What faire what pleasant what wellcomposed words are sweet Lord if thine bee not Thy words Lord de melle coeli mellea de lumine tuo luminosa animam non dulcorant modò sed dulcedine inebriant Thy words Lord sweet as is the Hony of Heauen and full of light through thy light doe not only sweeten the soule but doe euen inebriate it with sweetnesse The third profit that the Word preached bringeth vnto vs is that it cleanseth the heart It maketh cleane the heart according to that saying of Christ Iohn 15.3 Now yee are cleane through the Word which I haue spoken vnto you Cleane are yee Non propter baptismum quo loti estis Not for the Baptisme wherewith you haue beene baptised sed propter verbum quod locutus sum vobis but for the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not farre from the meaning nor is Oecolampadius with his annunciate for which our countryman Tauerner hath Preach Preach in the Palaces at Ashdod Caluin Iunius Brentius with his Clamate Gualter with his Diuulgate Vatâ—blus Marcer Drusius and others with their Promulgate are all for the Proclamation Cry Diuulge Publish or Proclaime Proclaime Where In Ashdod and in the Land of Aegypt First in Ashdod Pâ—laestina the Countrey of the Philistines was diuided into fiue Prouinces Dutchies or Lordships mentioned Iosh 13.3 the Prouinces of Azzâ—h of Ashdod of Askelon of Gath of Ezron Those fiue the chiefe and most famous Cities of Palastina are recorded also 1 Sam. 6.17 where the Philistines are said to haue returned for a trespasse offering vnto the Lord fiue golden Eâ—â—rods one for Ashdod one for Azzab one for Askelon one for Gâ—th and one for Ekron Ashdod In the first diuision of the holy Land it was in the lot of the Tribe of Iudah and is so described Iosh 15.47 Afterward it tell to the lot of the Tribe of the Children of Dan who had their inheritance as the Children of Simeon had within the inheritance of the Children of Iudah I sh 19.1 is accordingly described by Adrichom and Schrot in their tables of the Holy Land The more familiar name of it is Azotus In it were left Giants those that were called Enakim It is to this day a famous Citie of Palaestina Apud Hieron Tâ—â— 3. So saith Eusebius lib. de locis Hebraicis Another learned Author writing of the Hebrew places in the Acts of the Apostles saith Azotus is a famous towne of Palaestina called in Hebrew Ashdod and is one of the fiue cities of the Allophyli of the Philistines For the Etymologie of the word Saint Hierome saith it signifieth as much as ignis vberis or ignis patrui the fire of an vdder or of an vncle The words are in his Commentary vpon Amos chap. 1. where he refuteth those that say it is ignis generationis the fire of generation And well for they mistake Resch for Dâ—leth taking it for Aschdor when it is Aschdod The Author of the booke De nominibus Hebraicis vpon Ioshua saith Asdod is dissolutio vel effusio siue incendium a dissolution or an effusion or a burning A little after ignis patrui mei vel incendia my vncles fire or burnings Ignis patrui so I reade with Drusius obseru 6. 8. not Gens patrui as it is in the old bookes by the like mistake of Resch for Daleth Buntingus in his Itinerarie vpon the old Testament saith it is Ignis dilectus a beloued fire There is no agreement betweene these Etymologizâ—rs The more familiar and Greeke name of this Citie Azotus is by Stephanus in his booke of Cities deriued from Azâ— a woman that was the Foundresse of this Citie But I rather thinke that Azotus is so called from the Hebrew Asdod by the change of some letters Azotus for Asdotus as Ezâ—as for Esdras and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Dâ—ricke Dialect This same Citie Asdod or Azotus was made famous by the Ark of the Lord brought thither wheÌ„ it was taken by the Philistines and by the house of the Idoll Dagon there 1 Sam. 5.2 This is that Azotus where Philip the Deacon was found after he had baptised the Aethiopian Eunuch Act. 8.40 And this that Asdod whereof you heard in my thirteenth Sermon vpon the first Chapter of this booke vpon the eight verse these words I will cut off the inhabitant from Asdod Yet I take it not that Ashdod is here put so precisely for the Citie but that it may by a Synecdoche comprehend the whole region or Country of the Philistines Commonly it is so vnderstood by Ancients Saint Hierome Remigius Albertus Rupertus Hugo Lyra Isidorus and by moderne Writers Montanus Christophorus à Castro Petrus Lusitanus and others But I must from Ashdod and goe on to the Land of Aegypt for there is this proclamation likewise to be made Proclaime in Ashdod and in the Land of Aegypt To this Land of Aegypt we came twice before in our view of this Prophecie Cap. 2.10 3.1 and therefore need not at this time stand long vpon it Yet may we not leaue it altogether vnsaluted It is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eretz Mitzrajim the Lâ—nd of Mitzrajim Saint Hierome Comment in Esai cap. 18. saith that with the Hebrewes an Aegyptian man and an Aegyptian woman and the Country of Aegypt haue all one name Mefraim Obser lâ—b 5. c 25. for so Drusius readeth out of a Manuscript of Saint Hieromes Workes Apud Ebraeos Aegyptius Aegyptus Aegyptia vno vocabulo nuncupantur Mâ—sraim But this cannot be so For the Aegyptian man hee is Mesri the woman Mesrith the Countrey only Mesraim And if by the name of Mesraim the Aegyptians bee sometime signified it is by a figure of speech as when Iudah is put for the Iewes or Ephraim for the Ephraimites Iosephus in his first booke of the Antiquities of the Iewes cap. 7. saith that Egypt was called Mesrâ— and the Aegyptians Mâ—sraei he alludeth to the Hebrew name Mitzrajâ—m And Aegypt was so called from Mitzrajim one of the sonnes of Chum his second sonne as we finde him Gen. 10.6 He first inhabited that part of Africa which was afterward called Aegypt from Aegyptus sonne of Beliâ—s King of that Land Now because this same Mitzrajim was one of the sons of Cham the Land of Mitzrajim or of Aegypt is in the Psalmes of Dauid entitled the Land of Cham Psal 105.27 106 2â— as Psalm 105.23 Iaacob was a stranger in the Land of Cham and in other places And for the same reason is Cham put for Aegypt Psal 78 51. He smote all the first borne in Aegypt euen the beginning of their strength in the tabernacles of Cham. The latter part of that verse being an exposition of the former makes it manifest that Cham is there put for Mitzrajim or Aegypt Enough for this time of Aegypt The Palaces of both Ashdod and Aegypt are here specified not barely the houses as the Vulgar Latine here readeth but the Palaces to shew that this proclamation was to be made not in obscure houses or poore Cottages but in their Princes Courts And quod in aulis principum diuulgatur latere non potest what is published in Princes Courts it will abroad There is the greatest confluence of honourable persons and men of note who haue euermore some about them that will not spare to tell abroad what is either said or done by the Princes themselues in their most secret closets Their very vices cannot be hid So Honorius the Emperour in the Panegyricke tells his son Theodosius Claudian de 4. Cons Honorij vers 271. cunctis tua gentibus esse Facta palam nec posse dari regalibus vsquà m Secretum vitijs Whatsoeuer thou doest it is knowne abroad nor can
The other The matter to be testified That was vers 13. this vers 14. and 15. For the first these particulars haue beene obserued 1 Who it is that giues the Mandate Euen the Lord the Lord God the God of hosts 2 To whom he giues it Sacerdotibus Prophetis to his Priests and Prophets For to them is this passage by an Apostrophe directed 3 How he giues it Audite contestamini Heare and testifie 4 The place where this testification was to be made in domo Iacob in the house of Iacob Heare and testifie in the house of Iacob saith the Lord God the God of Hosts vers 13. In the other part which concerneth the matter to be testified we may obserue 1 A resolution of God to punish Israel for sinne There shall be a day wherein the Lord will visit the transgression of Israel vpon him vers 14. 2 That this punishment so resolued vpon by the Lord shall reach vnto their holiest places to their houses of religion to their Altars in Bethel the hornes of the Altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground vers 14. 3 That this punishment shall extend to the chiefest places of their habitation euen to the demolition and ruine of their dwelling houses The winter house shall be smitten so shall the summer house the houses of iuory shall perish and the great houses shall haue an end vers 15. 4 The seale and assurance of all in the two last words of this Chapter Neum Iehouah saith the Lord. In the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel vpon him I will also visit the Altars of Bethel and the hornes of the Altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground And I will smite the winter house with the summer house and the houses of iuory shall perish and the great houses shall haue an end saith the Lord. Such are the parts of this Scripture Of the first generall which was the Mandate for the testification and of the particulars therein I discoursed in my last Sermon out of this place Now I am to descend to the second generall which is of the matter to be testified The first branch therein is of Gods resolution to punish Israel for sinne and that is in the beginning of the fourteenth verse In the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel vpon him By the words its plaine that a day should come wherein God would punish Israel for his transgressions R. Dauid R. Abraham That day some ancient Rabbines referre to the earthquake that was in the daies of Vzziah King of Iudah whereof we finde mention made in the first Chapter of this Prophecie verse 1. and Zach. 14.5 Some referre it to the time of King Iosiahs reigne when he brake downe the Altar that was at Bethel and the high place there 2 King 23.15 Others hereby doe vnderstand that day wherein Samaria was captiuated by the Assyrian King Salmanassar 2 King 17.6 Whensoeuer that day fell out it was the day of the Lords visitation the day wherein the Lord visited Israel for his iniquities This word to visit signifieth a remembrance prouidence care and performance of a thing spoken be it good or euill and it belongeth vnto God to visit both waies either for good or for euill either in mercy or in iudgement It was for good that the Lord visited Sarah Gen. 21.1 The Lord visited Sarah Gen. 17.19 18.10 as he had said and the Lord did vnto Sarah as he had spoken For Sarah conceiued and bare Abraham a sonne in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him This was a visitation for good a visitation in mercy Such is that whereof dying Ioseph tells his brethren Gen. 50.24 I die and God visiting will visit you and will make you goe vp out of this land vnto the land which he sware to Abraham to Isaak and to Iacob God visiting will visit you He meaneth a visitation in mercy God will surely visit you in mercy And so he did when they had beene bond-slaues in Aegypt foure hundred and thirty yeeres Exod. 12.41 For at the end of those yeeres euen the selfe same day that those yeeres were ended it came to passe that all the Hosts of the Lord the Tribes of Israel went out from the land of Aegypt Out they went with an high hand in the sight of all the Aegyptians And so God visiting visited his people Israel Numb 33.3 according to his promise made by Moses Exod. 3.16 This was a visitation for good a gracious and mercifull visitation But gracious and mercifull aboue all was the visitation of our Lord Iesus Christ when with a true and euerlasting redemption he redeemed all true Israelites from sinne and death and Satan It is the visitation for which Zachary in his Canticle blesseth God Luk. 1.68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel And why blessed for he hath visited and redeemed his people He hath visited his people visited in the better part visited in mercy in exceeding great mercy Beloued sith Christ hath visited vs in our persons Math. 25.40 Luk. 16.1 it is our parts to visit him in his members We are all his Stewards and the good things he hath lent vs are not our owne but his if the goods of the Church we may not appropriate them if of the Common-wealth we may not enclose them You know it is a vulgar saying He is the best subiect that is highest in the subsidie booke Let it passe for true But I am sure he is the best Christian that is most forward in Subsidiis in helping of his brethren with such good things as God hath bestowed vpon him Besides this visitation for good and in mercy there is also a visitation for euill and in iudgement Thus to visit is to visit in anger or displeasure And so by a Synecdoche of the Genus for Species to visit is to punish Thus is God said to visit when with some sudden and vnlooked scourge or calamity he taketh vengeance vpon men for their sinnes which for a long time he seemed to take no notice of So God visited the iniquity of the fathers vpon the children Exod. 20.5 He visiteth not onely by taking notice of and apprehending children in their fathers faults but also by punishing them for the same in as much as they are giuen ouer to commit the transgressions of their fathers Dauid in his deuotions calleth vpon the Lord to visit the Heathen Psal 59.5 O Lord God of Hosts the God of Israel awake thou to visit the Heathen Where to visit is to visit for euill to visit in iudgement in anger and displeasure it is to correct it is to punish To such as depart from the Law of the Lord and from that rule of righteousnesse which it prescribeth them to walke in the Lord himselfe threatneth that he will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89 32. And
verse there it is intimated that a day should come wherein the Lord would visit the transgressions of Israel vpon him In this visitation or punishment their religious places or houses of religion were to have a portion It is plaine by by the latter part of the fourteenth verse I will visit the altars of Beth-el and the hornes of the Altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground Nor were their religious places only to partake of this visitation but other places also prophane and ciuill their places of ordinary and common vseâ— their edifices and dwelling houâ—â— Their doome is forespoken in the beginning of the 15. verse The winter house shall be smitten so shall the summer house one houses of Iuory shall perish and the great houses shaue an end For the seale and assurance of all the conclusion of this Chapter is Neum Iehouah saith the Lord. Of Gods resolution to punish the sinnes of Israel together with the visitation of their religious places I entreated in my last Sermon Now am I to proceed with the punishment inted to their prophane and ciuill places to their places of ordinary and common vse to their edifices and dwelling houses thus deliuered in this fifteenth verse And. I will smite the winter house with the summer house and the houses of Iuory shall perish and the great houses shall haue an end For the easier handling of these words I am to speake of an action and of the obiect thereof of a smiting and of the thing to be smitten The smiting is the Lords the the things to be smitten belong to the Israelites Of both in their order First for the Action for the smiting which is Gods Persecution I will smite The actions of God and two sorts Immanent or Transcient Immanent are those that remaine within himselfe as to vnderstand to will to loue For alwayes and from all eternity God in himself vnderstandeth willeth and loueth The Transient actions of God are such as he in â—â—me produceth without himselfe So he created the world he â—â—â—leth it and worketh all in all he iustifieth he regnerateth he punisheth And of this ranke in his action of smiting Persecution I will smite God in holy Scripture is said to smite either immediately of himselfe without means or mediatly when he vseth meanes as Angels good or bad or men godly or wicked or other creatures God immediatly of himselfe and without means smote all the first-borne in the Land of Aegypt from the first-borne of Pharoah that sate on his throne vnto the first-borne of the captiue that was in the dungeon Exod. 12.29 God of himselfe smote them all And though hee oft-times vses meanes the ministry of Angells men or other creatures for the smiting of transgressours yet is God iustly said to smite them For the axiom of the Schooles is Actio non attribuitur instrumento propriè sed principali agenti Tho. 1.2 qu. 16. 1. c. si the action is not properly attributed to the instrument but to the principall agent The building of a house is not to be ascribed to the axe but to the Carpenter that vseth the axe Angels men and other creatures are to God but as the axe is to the Carpenter but as his instruments Whensoeuer therefore through their ministery any euil shal betide vs we are to acknowledge God to be the pricipall doer therereof He it is that smiteth vs. 2. King 19.35 It is true that an Angell in one night smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred fourescore and five thousand Esay 37.36 The Angell smote them that is the letter But it was Angelus Domini it was the Angell of the Lord. The Lord sent that Angell to cut off all the mighty men of valour and the Leaders and Captaines in the campe of King Sennacherib The Lord sent him The Lord then was agens principalis he was the principal doer in that slaughter the Angell was but his messenger to put in execution the worke of the Lord. So the Lord was he that smote the Assyrians Israel vnder the conduct of Moses smote two mighty Kinges Sibon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan Numb 21.35 There Israel smote them yet Psal 136.17 the Lord is said to haue smitten them percussét Reges magnos He smote great King and slew famous Kings Sibon King of the Amorites and Og the King of Bashan The Lord smote them The Lord then was Agens principalis he was the pricipall doer in this great ouerthrow Israel did but execute what the Lord would have done So the Lord was he that smote those Kings If a a 1 King 20.36 Lion smite vs vpon the way if either b Esay 49.10 hunger or thirst if the heat or the Sunne smite vs if our Vines c Psal 78 47 48. be smitten with haile our Sycomore trees with frost our flockes with hot thunder-bolts our d Deut. 28.22 corne-fields with blasting and with mildew if our selues be smitten with consumptions with feuers with inflamations with extreme burnings with the e Vers 27. botch of Aegypt with the Emrods with the scab and with the itch whereof we cannot be healed if we be smitten with f Vers 28. madnesse with blindnesse with astonishment of heart if we be any way smitten whatsoeuer the meanes may be it is the Lord that smiteth vs. Percutiet te Dominus the Lord shall smite thee Vers 22 27 28 35. It is in one Chapter in the 28. of Deuteronomie foure times repeated to shew vnto vs that if we be smitten with any the now mentioned miseries or any other it is the Lord that smiteth vs. The Percutiam in my text serues for the corroboration of this truth Percutiam I will smite the winter house with the summer house If then but a house be smitten be it a winter house or a summer house the Lord is he that hath smitten it So from this percutiam I will smite I I the Lord will smite ariseth this doctrine In the miseries or calamities that doe befall vs in this life we must not looke to the instruments but to the Lord that smiteth by them Thus haue the godly euer done Holy Iob in his time did it The losse of all his substance and children by the Sabeans Iob 1.15 Chaldeans fire from Heauen and a great wind from beyond the wildernesse could not turne away his eyes from the God of Heauen to those second causes Those he knew to be but instruments the Lord was agens principalis he was the chiefe doer This he acknowledgeth and blesseth God for it Dominus abstulit The Lord that gaue me all hath taken all away blessed be the name of the Lord Iob 1.21 Such was the practice of King Dauid Shimei 2 Sam. 16.5 a man of the family of the house of Saul comes forth from Bahurim Vers 6. curseth still as he comes meets the King casts stones at him raileth vpon him calleth him to his face