where every word hath its weight And that 1 By his Names and Titles He is the Lord Jehovah the Creator and Preserver of all things and therefore his Threatnings ought not to be contemned 2 He is the Lord of Hosts he hath the superiour and inferiour Armies of Heaven and Earth of Sea and Land as it were horse and foot to march against his enemies 3 His Almighty Works set forth his Majesty and Power 1 The Earth which is in it self a most solid firm hard immoveable body yet acknowledgeth the Power and Dominion of its Almighty Lord and Creator and therefore if he do but touch it at least with any of his rods and in displeasure it presently melts like wax before the fire or snow before the Sun 2 If he be provoked to anger he can make a sinful land to mourn by bringing upon them the punishment due to them for their sins he can make both things and persons melt Therefore fear to offend him this must be annexed to every branch of this description of God e. g. He is Jehovah the Lord of Hosts therefore fear him He makes the earth to melt and the inhabitants thereof to tremble therefore do you humble your selves before him 3 If all this will not work upon you yet consider he can drown you and make his floods to go over all the land as he did in Noahs time and as he doth in many Islands and other places at this day See before Chap. 8.8 4 If ye will not fear him for his Majesty and Power that appears on earth then look up to the heavens vers 6. and see his Wisdome and Power there in creating the several Regions of the air as so many stories one above another besides the variety of creatures which he hath on earth as so many Troops ready prest to do him service and his sending of the waters of the Sea upon the earth either by rain or inundation to punish it These all shew the Power and Glory of that God with whom we have to do and therefore should make us fear to offend him and speedily to make our peace with him The summe of all is this Hitherto ye have trusted in your own strength and priviledges and have set light by Gods Threatnings as if they had been but so many scar-crows but now consider O ye infirm and sinful dust and aâ—hes against whom do ye rebel against whom do ye thus harden your selves Is it not against the great and mighty God the Lord of Hoasts the Creator of all things whose Almighty power appears in that with a touch he can make the mighty and massy earth to melt and dissolve like wax before a mighty fire and fill it with such horror that all the inhabitants thereof shall mourn and make it as inhabitable as if it were drowned with a flood OBSERVATIONS 1 God is the Lord of Hoasts See before Amos 4. ult 2 He is an Almighty God See before Amos 4. ult Obs. 1. 3 If God do but touch the earth or its inhabitants in wrath they melt and mourn and fade away If he but touch Mountains Natural or Mountains Metaphorical there is no abiding 1 The earth Natural quakes at Gods displeasure the Rocks and Hills melt at his presence 2 Sam. 22.8 Psal. 18.7 and 144.5 6 7. The massy Mountains which no art or wit of man can move yet Gods bare presence how much more his wrathful presence makes them tremble as Mount Sinai did at the presence of the Lord Exod. 19.18 Iudg. 5.5 Iob 9.6 Psal 68.8 Hab. 3.10 2 The earth Metaphorical that is wicked men that live in the earth the guilt of their sins doth so daunt them that they are not able to stand in Gods presence Ezra 9. ult Adam when he had sinned hides himself from God and Cain runs from his presence Especially at the day of Judgement they will not be able to stand before Gods Tribunal Psal. 1.5 but will cry to Rocks and Mountains to hide them and shall be driven to utter desperation when they think of that dreadful sentence Go ye cursed yea when the Lord appears for his people here these Metaphorical Mountains shall be dissolved and meâ—â— like wax before the fire The Churches enemies are oft compared to Mountains Isa. 64.1 Zac. 4.7 1 Because Mountains are higher than other parts of the earth so are the wicked puft up with pride and think themselves higher than God himself and therefore they set their mouthes against the Heavens and blaspheme him Psal. 73.9 2 Mountains hinder us in our way 3 They are barren it is the low Valleys that are fruitful The Church being troubled with these Mountains seeks to remove them by that Omnipotent Engine of Prayer Isa. 64. 1 2. Oh that thou wouldest rend the Heavens and come down what then why the Mountains that is the Princes and Potentates of the world that now are puft up with success opposing and oppressing the people of God should melt at thy presence and vanish to nothing When God ariseth then the Dukes of Edom are amazed and trembling takes hold on the mighty ones Exod. 15.15 16. Hence 't is that the Church desires that God would arise for then his enemies should be scattered and those that hate him should flee before him and be driven away like smoak which the higher it riseth the more 't is scattered and melt like wax before the fire Psal. 68.1 2. The Sons of Zerviah may be too strong for David but not for the God of David If he do but touch these Mountains they vanish 'T is no trouble to us to breathe why God can with as great facility overthrow the Churches enemies one blast breath word or look from him undoes them Iob 4.9 10 11. By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed And if the Earth melt and tremble when God is angry how sad is the condition of hard-hearted sinners who are viler than the Earth and more insensible than the very senselesse and inanimate creatures yea worse than the very Devils themselves for they beleeve and tremble Iames 2.19 4. The Lord can turn our Land into a Sea and make our arrable sailable so that there shall be no dwelling in it but it shall rise up wholly as a flood and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt The water is naturally above the earth so that he can float it and flood it at his pleasure and can easily pull up his â—luces and let in the Sea upon us and bury us in one universal grave of waters Let us then fear to provoke him who hath Wind and Sea at command against us The Lord wonders that any should be so sottish as not to fear him upon this very account Ier. 5.22 Fear ye not mee saith the Lord who have placed the Sand for a bound to the Sea that it cannot pass q. d. Whom will ye fear if ye will
VERSE 13. For loe he that formeth the Mountains and createth the Winds and declareth unto man what is his thought that maketh the morning darkness and treadeth upon the high places of the earth the Lord the God of Hosts is his name IN the precedent Verse the Lord seeks to draw his People to himself by Mercies he mindes them of his Covenant and tells them they were his Israel still and therefore they ought not to stand it out against him but speedily submit themselves and meet their God with intreaties of peace who was still ready to receive them But least this should not work upon such indurate Sinners the Prophet comes in this Verse to proclaime Gods Majesty Omnipotence Omniscience c. The better to affect and awaken these drowsie ones and to make them fear We have here a multiplicity and heap of excellent Titles given to God for the bare naming of God is little regarded by most men but when the Transcendent Excellencies of God shall in variety of words bee set forth to the life unto us this strikes an awe and reverence in our hearts In the words we have 1 An elegant description of the glorious Majesty of God set forth in state and solemnity by Six Royalties 2 Here is the note of Attention Loe or behold q. d. doe not lightly pass over this but deeply ponder and diligently consider the Power and Majesty of this great God with whom thou hast to doe 3 Here is the reason of this glorious description of God included in the Particle For for hee that formeth the Mountains and creates the Winds c. It is he that is marching in fury against thee who is a consuming Fire whose Power and Majesty thou art not able to resist and therefore beware of provoking him to wrath against thee by thy impenitenâ— for Quot tituli tot ora all these Titles and Elogies are as â—o many mouthes to call upon us to fear the Lord and to turn unto him As first It is he that formeth the mighty and the massie Mountains therefore fear him and turn unto him 2. It is he that by his Almighty power creates the fierce and terrible Winds therefore fear him and turn unto him 3. It is he that searcheth the heart and trieth the reins therefore dissemble not with him but truly and totally turn unto him 4. He can turn the light into darkness and thy joy into sorrow therefore fear to offend him and prepare to meet him 5. He is the most High having the Heaven for his Throne and the Earth for his foot-stool therefore beware of provoking him and return unto him 6. He is the Lord of Hosts and can arme all the Powers in Heaven and Earth and Hell against thee therefore resist him not but speedily prepare to meet him with intreaties of peace before his wrath surprize thee and it be too late This Verse is a Mine full of rich Treasures I shall therefore dig for them 1 He formeâ—h the Mountains They were not cast up by Noahs Floud as some weakly have imagined but are here expresly said to be formed and framed by the most wise God for the benefit and ornament of the Universe God made them out of the rude Mass and confused Chaos of earth when he gathered the Waters into one place and the dry land appeared Gen. 1.9 and it is apparent that the Mountains were in being before Noahs Floud for it is said that all the high Mountains were covered with waters Gen. 7.19 they were then in being before they are said to be fixed and setled by God Prov. 8.25 and framed in weight and measure by him Isa. 40.12 He hath made the Mountains strong and stable high and unmoveable for his own glory Psal. 148.5 9. and the good of Mankind Psal. 65.5 By the Mountains the violence of the Winds are broken and kept from hurting us and so they are for Muniment By them the Universe is adorned and made more glorious and wonderful and so they are for Ornament By them the Vallies are kept warm and inriched by them they are watered with Springs and showers that run down from them Iob 24.8 Psal. 104.10 To them men run for shelter and defence in times of trouble Psal. 11.1 Iosh. 2.16 Matth. 24.16 Heb. 11.38 By them Cities are defended under God against their enemies Psal. 125.2 upon them growes Grass for the sheep and beasts of the field and here they feed Iob 39.8 Psal. 50.11 148.9 Isa. 18.6 Here many Treasures of Mettals and Minerals of Lead Iron Brass Stone Silver Gold c. are hid Deut. 8.9 This should make us 1. Love the Lord who hath so curiously formed and framed the Universe for the good of man 2 It should make us fear to offend him who by his Almighty Power hath created these mighty massie Mountains and before whom they tremble and melt like Wax These obey God and praise him in their kind Isa. 44.23 and if the Lord of these Mountains be against us no Mountaine can fence or shelter us Ier. 3.23 Ezek. 38.20 A due apprehension of Gods Majesty will make us perform all our Duties with fear and reverence Psal. 2.11 Heb. 12.29 We should take shame to our selves for our hardness of heart and great insensibleness when we consider how the Mountains and inanimate Creatures tremble at his presence how much more when he is angry and if these be overthrown by God in his anger Iob. 9.5 28.9 much more shall wicked men those metaphorical Mountains which exalt themselves against God and his wayes bee overturned by him Isa. 64.1 Zach. 4.7 2 Hee createth the Wind. This is the second Prerogative Royal of the great God By creating the Mountains and the Wind two mighty things under which Synecdochically are comprehended the other Works of God the Prophet sets forth Gods Omnipotency for it would have been too much to have enumerated all the rest of God glorious VVorks and therefore he pitcheth on some chief ones and leaves us to conclude of the rest Before he had spoken of the creating of the Mountains now he comes to speak of the VVinds which arise as some conceive out of those Mountains These two differ in nature for the one is gross and unmoveable but the VVinds are of an airie thin substance which cannot be seen and yet such is their power that they toss the Seas overthrow the strongest Trees cast down Houses yea and overturne Mountains when these VVinds are shut up in their bowels The word Ruach is Homonymous and hath various significations which hath bred various Lections and various interpretations 1 Some read it thus he createth the Soul or Spirit Calvin conceives that the Prophet speaks of the spirit of man though he excludes not the VVind and his reason is because of that which follows viz. The shewing to man his thoughts But if this way of reasoning were valid we may better say Salva semper reverentia tanto viro
thus He maketh the morning and the darkness that is he maketh both Day and Night God shews his Power not only in creating the World but also in governing the whole course of Nature continually exactly ordering the Vicissitude and change of Day and Night It is he that makes the Light and the Darkness in the morning he makes the light to arise out of darkness and in the evening he makes the darkness to follow the light This sense is good But the first I look upon as most genuine from the text Hee treadeth upon the high places of the earth This is true both in a Literal and in a Metaphorical sense 1 Take the words Literally for the highest Hills and the lofty things of the World even these are subject unto God and lye at his feet he treads upon all worldly glory and excellency As Heaven is his Throne so the Earth even the highest places of the earth are his foot-stool Hee treads upon high Mountains high Buildings high Fortifications and walled Cities all which are comprehended under the name of High places Deut. 32.13 these hee turns upside down when ever pleaseth him This is the most proper sense But take it Metaphorically either for the high places of the earth where Altars were erected to Idols as Numb 33.52 2 Chron. 11.15 33.3 Ier. 32.35 Ezek. 16.16 even these will God tread upon and destroy Levit. 26.30 2 If you take it for the high and lofty of the earth even these Gods hand doth reach yea and his feet tread upon Hee makes the proud of the earth his foot-stool Psal. 110.1 though they be high yet he will make them know that there is an higher than they Eccles. 5.8 though they bee mighty yet they shall know that there is one who is Almighty who pulls down the mighty from their seats and is terrible even to the Kings of the earth Psal. 76.12 Esay 2.10 Luke 1.52 Now though the literal sense bee here principally intended yet the Mystical and Metaphorical sense would not be excluded Q. But who is it that doth these great and glorious things A. The Prophet tells you it is Iehovah the God of Hosts that is his name a name full of Power Majesty and Excellency and therefore to be reverenced of all his people OBSERVATIONS 1 God is Omnipotent Creation is a work of Omnipotency but that is here ascribed to God it is he that formeth the Mountains and createth the Winds and turns Light into darkness and hath all Creatures at his command and therefore he must needs be Almighty Man can make something out of something but to create the Universe out of nothing and that by the word of his mouth this speaks his wonderful Omnipotency Psal. 33.6 9. He is able to doe whatsoever he will Psal. 115.3 yea his Power is beyond his Will for of stones he could raise up Children unto Abraham but hee will not Matth. 3.9 There is nothing too hard for him no difficulties can hinder him in his working Iob 4.9 Matth. 19.26 Luke 1.37 Those impossibilities in nature which are the reproach of Physitians yet are they Gods Cure The power that is in the Creature is but derivative and by participation but all Power is in God perfectly eminently infinitely and originally Fear then to offend him chuse rather to displease all the world than to displease him Ier. 5.21 22. they can but kill the body but he can kill both body and soul Mat. 10.28 A Tenant especially if he be a Tenant at will is afraid of displeasing his Landlord who can when ever he pleaseth cast him out of all The men of Tyre and Sidon made peace with Herod because their Land was nourished by the Kings Land and he might doe them a displeasure Acts 12.20 Beleeve and fear his Power now else you are like ere long to feel it for though he be slow to anger yet is he great in power and will by no means acquit the wicked Nahum 1.3 2 Serve him with fear and doe all that wee doe to him with the greatest reverence So did Iob ch 40.4 42.5 Esay 6.5 let us readily doe his commands If he doe but call to any of the Creatures they stand up together as ready to execute whatever their great Lord and Master commands them Esay 48.13 yea so pliant are they to doe his will that they contradict their owne natures to serve him Fire descends from Heaven at his command and the fluent Waters stand as a wall to defend his people and destroy their enemies which may shame us out of our rebellion and disloyalty when we see how the inferiour Creatures serve him with one consent 2 It likewise serves for singular comfort and that many wayes 1 It may be thou hast great enemies coming against thee yet remember still that there is a greater than they Suppose Nations all Nations should come against thee yet compared to God they are but as the drop of a busket nothing less than nothing Esay 40.12 c 51.12 13. Rom. 8.30 There are more with us than are with them with them is but an arme of flesh but with us is the Almighty not as a bare Spectator but as an Assister and fighter for us 2 Chron. 32.7 8. 2 It may be thou art troubled with strong corruptions why goe unto this strong God there is nothing too hard for him Though thy sins have been habitual customary con-natural sins yet he is the God of Nature and can change Nature Though we cannot make a Black-more white yet hee can Ier. 13.23 though thy sins have been of a Crimson dye yet he is able to make them white as Snow Esay 1.18 3 Art thou troubled with great tentations and sad afflictions yet remember God is Almighty and can make Medicines of these Poisons and will in the conclusion turn all to thy good Rom. 8.28 and therefore be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Ephes. 6.10 4 It may comfort us against Apostasie Thou fearest that thou shalt never be able to hold out walk humbly with thy God and then thou needst not fear what Man or Devil can doe unto thee for stronger is he that is in us than he that is in the world 1 Ioh. 4.4 Did we stand by our own strength we were undone for in his owne strength shall no man bee strong but we are kept by the mighty Power of God through faith unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Though we be weak yet our Redeemer is strong Ier. 50.33 34. and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against us Let the world rage the Devil roar and corruption fret yet God is greater than all and none shall be able to pull them out of his hand Ioh. 10.28 29. He that hath called us hath promised to keep us he is both able and willing to doe it Esay 42.5 6. 5 It may comfort us against the fear of death what though
and their Idols should perish For Gilgal shall surely go into Captivity that is the Inhabitants of Gilgal Met. subj going they shall go i. e. they shall suddenly and certainly go into Captivity by the hand of the Assyrian There is an elegant Paranomasy in the words Gilgal signifies rowling Gilgal shall rowl to ruine or rowling hee shall speedily rowl into Captivity They trusted in this place for safety but both they and it should perish And Bethel shall come to nought Bethel signifies the house of God but by reason of its Idolatry t is called Beth-aven Hos. 4.15 a house of vanity and iniquity Hos. 5.8 and 10.5 Aven signifies an Idol vanity inanity and nought and therefore the ruine of Bethel is set forth by this Title Bethel shall be Aven or bee brought to nought that is it shall bee totally ruined and nothing shall remain of it but the prints of Gods indignation against it So that it is great folly for any to run to such Idolatrous places for shelter which can neither defend themselves from ruine nor their Idols from spoyl Hos. 10.5 6. OBSERVATIONS 1 Idolatrous places must bee shunned As they might not go to Bethel Gilgal or Beersheba so wee may not go to Spain Italy France c. with the least hankering after their Idols if you do Satan will quickly make a prey of you for sin especially the sin of Idolatry is like Bird-lime if a man go once to touch it hee will bee so intangled in it that hee cannot easily be shut of it Hence it is that the Lord so oft commands us to shun wicked society for fear of infection as I have shewed at large elsewhere How great then is the sin of those that do spontaneously travel into Idolatrous Countries needlesly such oft-times return infected both in body and soul. Ieroboam that travelled into Egypt brought home the Idolatry of Egypt with him with which hee infected all Israel 2 Obs. True converts must for sake Idols They must say with repenting Ephraim What have I to do any more with Idols Hos. 14.8 Many would fain serve the Lord and their Idols too but that will not be if you will bee mine you must renounce your Idols saith God You must forget your kindred and your fathers house Psal. 45.10 that is wee must abandon all those corruptions which wee are strongly inclined unto by nature and those Idolatrous and superstitious practises which wee were brought up in wee must renounce them all and give up our selves intirely to Christ our spiritual Husband then and not till then will hee take pleasure in us and desire our beauty Such as desire to have communion with God must first put away their Idols Gen. 35.1 2. Iosh. 24.22 23. Iudg. 10.16 1 Sam. 7.3 Psal. 16.4 5. True converts turn from those vanities to the living God Act. 14.15 and have a special command given them to keep themselves pure from Idols 1 Joh. 5.21 They know that the Lord is a jealous God and cannot endure corrivals not to have his worship mixt with the inventions and fancies of men As I have shewed at large before on Amos 4.4 God cannot abide halting and halving between two opinions 1 King 18.21 if we will Worship God we must abhor Idols for we cannot serve both Iosh. 24.14 15. No man can serve two such contrary Masters that have contrary commands wayes and ends There can be no communion between Christ and Belial 2 Corinth 6.15 and therefore they that will goe to Mass with their bodies pretending that they keep their hearts for God are meer dissemblers They partake with Idolaâ—ets in their sin harden them in their Idolatry and sin against the Prophets counsel here that forbids men to goe after Idols 3 Obs. Superstition is a toylsome thing It makes men that they cannot rest but they must run up and down now to Bethel anon to Gilgal and then traverse the Country and goe a Perigrination to Beersheba so mad are men upon Idols that they are not content with those at home but they must be gadding abroad after more Thus the Papists at this day though they have Idols more than a good many at home yet must goe a Perigrination after more and here see the perverse nature of man how directly opposite it is to God he bids us goe one way and we goe quite another He bids us goe to Ierusalem and they goe one to Dan another to Bethel another to Gilgal and a fourth to Beersheba So true is that Homo est inversus decalogus Man is a perverse cross-grained-peece to all Gods holy commands 4 Obs. Idolatry brings desolation and ruine upon Cities and Kingdoms Gilgal shall goe into Captivity and Bethel shall come to nought and the Virgin of Israel shall fall When Bethel Gods House shall become Beth-aven a house of Idols and Vanity then follows Beth-any an house of misery and affliction They that follow such lying vanities forsake their owne mercies Idols themselves are most vain Vanity and things of nought and nothing doe they bring but nought with them Hence the Scripture calls them Elilim things of nought Levit. 19.4 1 Chron. 16.26 Psal. 96.5 2 Gnatsabim Sorrows because they bring men to sorrow captivity and misery 1 Sam. 31.9 Psal. 16.4 115.4 3 Gillulim filthy dung and excrements because they are loathsome to God Levit. 26.30 Deut. 29.17 Ezek. 6.4 5 6. 4 Shiâ—utsim detestable loathsome abominitions Ezek. 7.20 11.21 20.8 Ier. 32.34 5 Segnirim Devils such as worship Idols are said not to Worship God but Devils They forsake the Lord and his Worship to worship Devils Levit. 17.7 Deut. 32.17 2 Chron. 11.15 1 Cor. 10.20 21. Rev. 9.20 Great reason then that we should abominate Idols which bring such sorrow and misery upon places incensing the Lord to set fire upon them as it follows in the next verse VERSE 6. Seek the Lord and yee shall live lest be break forth like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel GOod things are hardly beleeved and slowly practised and therefore the Prophet here renewes his Exhortation of seeking God by true Repentance and that he might the better prevail with them he useth a double Motive The first is drawn from the danger which would ensue if they refused the Wrath of God would break forth upon them like a consuming fire so that all their superstitious Sacrifices at Bethel should not be able to quench it The second is drawn from the glorious and tremendous Majesty of God with whom they had to doe and this is accurately set forth vers 8 9. In this Verse we have a Repetition of the fore-going Exhortation to seek the Lord that they might live q. d. If ever you desire to be truly happy you must forsake your Idols and false-worship devoting your selves wholly unto God 2 Here is a Reason to inforce the duty Lest the Wrath of
to the Omega of our Salvation all is Free-grace as I have shewed elsewhere 6 Obs. In times of distress God usually gives his people some grounds of hope and some glimpse of comfort to quicken them to duty Hence he so oft comes with a peradventure God may give repentance 2 Tim. 2.25 who can tell and who knowes whether God may not repent of the evil that he intends against us Ioel 2.14 Ionah 3.9 let us then use the means and commit the success to God Take away hope and you take away endeavour impossibility of obtaining breaks the heart Though thy sins have been great and grievous yet pray and use the means peradventure they may be pardoned Acts 8.22 23. arise and be doing and say as Ionathan did when he went up against the Philistines 1 Sam. 14.6 Come let us go against these uncircumcised it may be the Lord will work for us for it is all one with him to save with many or with few Be not therefore dejected or despondent it is the nature of faith to oppose discouragements Love knowes no difficulties but makes men active say thou as the Lepers 2 King 7.3 4. Why sit we here till we dye if we stay in the City we shall dye of the famine if we sit still we perish come let us fall upon the Host of the Syrians we can but dye Nothing venture and nothing have VERSE 16 17. Therefore the Lord the God of Hosts the Lord saith thus Wailing shall be in all streets and they shall say in all High wayes Alas alas and they shall call the Husbandmen to mourning and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing And in all Vineyards shall be wailing for I will pass thorow thee saith the Lord. THe Prophet had often fore-warned this obstinate people of Judgements approaching and called upon them to fly from the wrath to come but since they contemned the Word and warnings of the Lord he tells them now that the Sword should come and cut them off and as they had sinned generally both in City and Country so now they should be punisht generally for all places should be filled with weeping and wailing The Prophet having finisht his Exhortation to Repentance now returns to his Threatnings again where we have the sad Calamities which were coming upon Israel Set forth 1 By the wailing which should be in all streets 2 By the weeping which should bee in all High-wayes 2 By the Persons which should mourn 1 Natural real mourners as the Citizen Husbandman Vinitor 2 Artificial hired mourners and such as had skil in Lamentation 3 Here is the reason and ground of all this weeping and wailing and that is Israels impenitency and contempt of those warnings which God gave them by the Prophets They would not hearken to their counsel but hated reproof Therefore wailing shall be in all streets 4 Here is the certainty of all this It is the Lord the God of Hosts that sayes it The better to awaken them he tells them they had not to doe with a dead Idol or with an impotent man but with an Omnipotent God who was able to inflict whatever he had threatned against them as appears by the majestick Titles which are given to him who is the Lord the God of Hosts This people were apt to sooth themselves and cry peace when there was no peace and therefore the Prophet deals plainly with them and bids them not flatter themselves with thoughts of impunity for their mirth should now be turned into mourning and their singing into sorrow yea such sad calamities should come upon them that all should mourn both Citizens and rusticks both real and Artificial mourners 1 The Citizen shall lament in the streets the loss of his friends and riches 2 The Husband-man shall lament to see all his labours swept away by the cruel Assyrian 3 The Vinitor that was wont to sing for joy shall now lament for the loss of his Vintage 4 All others should lament in the very high wayes the several distresses which should come upon them crying Alas Alas 5 Their calamity should be so great that those which were wont to be hired in an Histrionical mimical manner to lament and howl at Funerals should now mourn in sober sadness and good earnest and therefore the Prophet sayes they shall call not only for the Husbandmen but also for those that are skilful in lamentation that they may weep together As in a time of mirth men call their neighbours together to rejoyce with them Luke 15.6 So in this time of great mourning they shall call the Citizen the Husbandman the Vinitor and the Artificial mourner to bear their parts in this doleful Ditty Call for such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing It was the custome of those times in those Eastern Countries in times of great mourning to send for singing-men and singing-women that could sing Artificial lamentations to provoke men to weeping 2 Chon 35 25. Iob 3.8 Eccles. 12. â— Their miseries here should be so great that they could not sufficiently bewail them themselves and therefore they should send for these to help them The Jews of latter times borrowed such a corrupt custome of the Heathens to augment their grief at Funerals 1 They had Minstrels which with their mournful tones and sad tunes inclined the affections of the people to mourning for the dead Of these there were two sorts 1 Some played on Pipes 2 Others sounded Trumpets At the Funerals of great men they sounded Trumpets and at the Funerals of inferiour persons they sounded Pipes Hence we read that when Jesus raised Iarius his daughter he cast out the Minstrels Mat. 9.23 Mark 5.38 2 The women especially that had an art in mourning and skill in making exquisite lamentation were hired at Burials for the same purpose where going along with the Corps by outward significations of their sorrow both by voice and gesture they moved the company more strongly to mourning and to sympathize with them These the Romans called praeficas quasi in hoc ipsum praefectas chief or skilful mourners These had venales lachrymas they made a trade of their tears making a greater howling and noise than real mourners did as Horace testifies From the Heathen this custome came to Rome also where for money the vilest of men shall have out-side mourners more than a good many All kinde of hypocrisie is odious to God but this is gross hypocrisie to make a great howling when there is no reality It is only vox clamor ululatus praeterea nihil The Prophet therefore doth not approve of these hypocritical howlings and artificial lamentations to get money but onely shews that their sorrow should bee so great that it should need helpe to express it OBSERVATIONS 1 When the word cannot mend a people then comes judgements and ends them First God hews men down by the sword of the Spirit Hos. 6.5 and then cuts them off by an
men whilst the Choristers ney descant like a sort of Colts others bellow a tenor like a company of Oxen others bark a Counter-point like a kennel of Doggs others roar a treble like a sort of Bulls others grunt out a base like a company of Hoggs so that a foul ill-favoured noise is made but the matter is not understood Thus he 'T is clear against the Rule which commands That all things should be done to edification and with understanding 1 Cor. 14.19 but such a hideous noise breeds confusion as is apparent in Popery and is condemned by all our learned Modern Divines 2. The Organs used by David differed much from ours Theirs were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pulsatilia such as the Harp Viol c. which they plaid upon with the Quill or with the fingers they were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flatilia such as our Organs are which are acted by wind Iubal was called the Father of such as handle the Organ Gen. 4.21 hee was the first Inventor of Musical Instruments where by the Organ is not meant such Organs as are used in our daies which were invented some thousands of years after but 't was an Instrument of joy then in use as appears Iob 21.12 and 30.31 Psal. 150.4 De Croy fetcheth the Original of Church-Musick from the Heathen it was practised in Numa Pompilius his time which was above one thousand years before Pope Vitalian as appears by Ovid. Object This is but some novel opinion of some Precise persons Answ. Such kinde of Church-Musick was not used in the Church in Iustin Martyrs time who lived in the first Century Bellarmine confesseth that for 820 years after Christ the Church wanted it Had such Organical Musick been necessary and useful in all probability it would have found a speedier admission into the Church Hence 't is that the wiser sort of Papists have condemned it as Judaizing So did Aquinas and Cardinal Cajetan on Aquinas and in his Commentary on 1 Cor. 14.19 and the Jesuit Salmeron on the same place Yea the Jesuit de Valentia tells us expresly that in Aquinas his time which was about 1270 years after Christ. Musical Instruments were not used in the Church for fear least they should seem to Judaize That curiosity of singing and quavering so that the matter which is sung cannot be understood is condemned by the Learned Hooker and by Queen Elizabeth Injunct 49. and by the Homily of the Place and Time of Prayer Part 2. p. 131. where such chaunting and playing on Organs is said to have displeased God sore and filthily defiled his house and place of prayer and that for it justly hee destroyed many Nations and if this kinde of worship were of absolute necessity then not onely Cathedrals but all Churches and Chappels were bound to get it Latin service I suppose is abhorred by all but this kinde of chaunting when people know nor whether men curse or bless wherein is it better Caution yet this must not take away Vocal Musick which is still to be practised by Gods people in the solemn Assemblies The melody of the heart and voice is the sweetest harmony in Gods ear This is Apostolical and is oft commanded 1 Cor. 14.15 26. Ephes. 5.19 Col. 3.16 Iames 5.13 'T was practised by Christ himself Mat. 26.30 and by the Primitive Christians in Trajan the Emperours time whilst St. Iohn the Evangelist lived When ever the people of God received any signal mercy they presently framed it into a song of praise that they might the better remember it Numb 21.17 Deut. 31.19 Iudg. 5. Yea many portions of Scripture were put into songs as the book of Iob Proverbs Ecclesiastes Solomon Song Singing of Psalms is an antient Ordinance practised by Saints both in the Old and New Testament Holy singing is an excellent means to scatter the Devils temptations to allay passions and to make us couragious in Gods wayes When wee are dull and heavy this is a means to quicken our affections and refresh our spirits Be not drunk with Wine but be filled with the Spirit How by singing of spiritual songs in a spiritual manner Ephes. 5.18 19. Paul and Silas the better to quicken and comfort themselves in Prison sing Psalmes there Acts 16.25 In the Psalme that is intituled for the Sabbath Psal. 92.1 2. the Psalmist tells us it is good to praise the Lord and to sing to the name of the most high God delights to see his people practise this Ordinance he is not only pleased with the Prayers but also with the Praises of his people and gives them victory not only for Prayers but for Praises also 2 Chron. 20.21 22. When the Ark was brought into the Temple with singing it is said The glory of the Lord filled the house 2 Chron. 5.13 Woe then to those that glory in their shame viz. in singing prophane filthy obscene Songs but are ashamed of their glory viz. of singing the Songs of Sion which is not only our duty but our glory not a burden but a blessing not only a service but an Angelical priviledge yet how many dare not sing a Psalm in their Families for fear of reproach and suffering Christ will be ashamed of such as are ashamed of him and his Worship and will shut them out of Heaven that fear men more than him Mark 8. ult Revelations 21.8 We must begin our Heaven here if ever we will sing with the Saints in glory hereafter Revel 14.3 15.3 They that will not sing here must howl hereafter Our Tongues are called our glory and we cannot use them better than in glorifying God with them That we may perform this Duty rightly Wee must doe it 1 Understandingly 2 Affectionately 3 Religiously 4 Decently 1 We must sing with the Spirit and with understanding Psal. 47.7 1 Cor. 14.15 Many sing but understand not a word of what is Sung God abhors such blind sacrifices It is reasonable service that he requires Rom. 12.1 2 Affectionately with grace in the heart Col. 3.16 that is we must exercise the graces of the Spirit in singing wee must sing with joy faith fear We must act the graces of the Spirit in singing when we sing of Iudgements we must tremble when of Promises beleeve when of Commandements obey This is to sing Davids Psalmes with Davids Spirit Get your spirits tuned and framed to what is Sung that it may not be a Carnal but a Spiritual Song Hence David used to tune and prepare his heart before he sang Psal. 57.8 9. Heart and Voyce must goe together Singing with Musick in Publick was Ceremonial and Typical it is now gone but singing with Heart and Voyce is Moral and perpetual Wee should therefore labour rather to get our hearts affected with the matter than our ears and senses with the manner of singing 3 Religiously To the Lord and not to Saints must we sing praise and it must be done as all other Duties with
precious Psal. 56.8 their Desires are precious Psal. 10.17 their Names are precious and their Death is precious Psal. 112.6 116.15 Now if we must pray for all men even for Pagans then much more for these precious ones if we must pray for our enemies Matth. 5.44 and must be affected with their miseries Psal. 35.13 14. then much more for our friends If the Prophet wept for Moab and Babylon what should wee doe for Zionâ— Esay 16.11 and if Abraham were so importunate for wicked Sodom and all the people must lament for Nadab and Abihu two notorious wicked men who perisht for their Sin Levit. 10.6 how tender should we be of Sion and if we must sympathize and be sensible of the sorrowes of a particular good man Iob 2.13 how much more when a community of good men suffers And if Gods Servants have been affected with Impendent Judgements that were but in the Clouds and afarre off how should we bee affected with the present miseries of Gods people When Elisha fore-saw the evil that Hazael would doe to Israel some years after he wept and Daniel ch 8.11 12 13. fore-seeing the misery which would come upon Ierusalem two hundred years after his death he was even sick with sorrow vers 27. How would those Saints have wept in our dayes to have seen these present real evils which press and oppresse the people of God To incourage us let us know that this work never goes unrewarded God takes the kindness we shew to his people as done to himself he is fed when they are fed Matth. 25.35 36. The Kenites kindness unto Israel was rewarded four hundred years after 1 Sam. 15.6 Wee never please God better than when we seek the good of his people though we forget such labour of love yet he will not Heb. 6 10. Laban was blest for Iacobs sake and Pharaoh for Iosephs Rahab that hid the Spies was hid her self Obadiah that sheltred the Prophets of the Lord was himself sheltred by God Ebedmelech for the kindness which he shewed to Ieremy had his life for a prey God hath a Book of remembrance wherein he records all that we doe for him or his Mal. 3.16 How sad then is the condition of those that are sensless and regardless of Sions miseries So themselves can but live in wealth and ease they never regard the afflictions of Ioseph like Gallio they care for no such matters Christ looks upon such Luke-warm Newters as his profest enemies he that is not with him is against him Matth 12.30 and Meroz was cursed not for hurting but for not helping Gods people in their troubles Iudg. 5.23 and so was Edom Obad. 11 12 13 c. But most sad is the condition of those that instead of praying for Gods people they persecute them and adde affliction to the afflictions of those whom he hath wounded These may forget their owne cruelty but God will not he hath not only said but sworn it that he will not forget their cruelty Amos 8.7 He punisht Amaleck four hundred years after for his inhumanity towards Israel 1 Sam. 15.2 3. In all Ages God hath shewed himself terrible to such he will spoyl the spoylers of his People If Pharaoh pursue Israel God will pursue him If Edom shed Israels bloud God will have Edoms bloud Ezek. 35. Let us then every one sympathize with Sion and give the Lord no rest till he make our Ierusalem the praise of the earth Isa. 62.1 Every one in his place must help and doe something for Gods afflicted Ioseph Those that can pray must pray those that are in Power and Authority and have parts must assist in their places Souldiers that can fight must fight for Gods Church At the building of the Tabernacle every one did something In the body Natural each part is serviceable to the head The Church of Christ throughout the Christian World is in deep distress and cryes as the men of Macedonia did Come and help us Let us therefore by our Prayers and Tears come forth to the help of the Lord against the mighty Inquire how it fares with Sion as Eli and Nenemiah did 1 Sam. 4.13 Neh. 1.2 and then pray for them accordingly Psal. 122.6 Isa. 45.11 Ier. 51.50 Get affectionate desires Psal. 14. ult Isa. 64.1 Affectionate prayers Psal. 25. ult 51.18 and Affectionate endeavours in your places as Magistrates Ministers c. for the good of Sion here and then you shall rejoyce with Sion hereafter VERSE 7. Therefore shall they goe Captive with the first that goe Captive and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed WE have before seen the Sin of the Rulers of Israel we are now come to the several branches of their Punishment whereof the first is Captivity and deportation out of their owne Land The Lord had borne long with them and waited many years for their returne but they abused his Patience and turned his grace into wantonness and therefore now he is resolved to put an end to all their Pastimes and pleasures In this Verse we have 1. A Iudgement threatned and that is Captivity Yee shall goe into captivity 2 Here are the Persons which must goe into Captivity and those are the secure Grandees and Voluptuous Rulers of Israel They shall goe Captive with the first that goe Captive of the Inhabitants of those Cities for the Country was spoyled and many of them captivated before But the Rulers who were the prime offendors and had been first in sin should now bee first in punishment They shall have the primacy amongst the Captives they shall goe in the front of them and lead them the way into Captivity As in Dignity and Luxury they went before others so now they shall have precedency in Punishment as you may see 2 King 17. Before they were all for the head of the Oyntments and now they should have the head in Punishment They must have the head and chief delights and now they shall have the head and chief of sorrows 3 Here is the Time when they should goe into Captivity and that is suddenly Now shall they goe i. e. it shall not be long but the Assyrian shall carry them out of their owne Land into Captivity in Gods due time it shall come to pass It was about sixty years after that the Captivity came which was but a short time comparatively it is said even now to come upon them because Gods decrees are sure and what he determines to doe is as sure as if it were already done Thus to shew the certainty of Babylons downfall it is said Babylon is fallen Revel 14.8 that is It shall as certainly be destroyed as if it were already done Her fall is decreed by God and is already begun in the hearts of Gods people and shall from henceforth be more and more advanced till it be utterly destroyed So the Lord had decreed the Captivity of this People and exercised them with
abused to my dishonour 3 Here is the confirmation of this Commination The Lord hath sworn it even the Lord of Hosts who is Omnipotent and hath all power in his hand to execute his purposes The Lord doth not only say it but swear it the Iewes were hard of belief and sleighted the threatnings of the Prophets therefore the Lord confirms it with an Oath saying I have sworn by my self or as the words are in the fountain I have sworn Benaphsho in anima sua by my Soul or Life the Lord swears by himself because there is none greater than he The soul is the man and he that swears by his soul swears by himself and therefore the soul according to the Hebrew Idiom is oft put for a mans self as Psal. 3.2 Ier. 51.6 Matth. 25.26 It is an Anthropopathy frequent in Scripture Gen. 22.16 Ier. 51.14 it is spoken of God after the manner of men as an Hand an Eye a Face a Foot is oft ascribed to God so here and elsewhere a Soul is ascribed to God Isa. 1.14 Ier. 5.9 29. which is God himself for whatsoever is in God is God Q. d. If we beleeve men who swear by their soul or life which yet is as nothing how weighty ought my Oathes to bee with you saith the Lord when I put my self to pledge and if yee will not beleeve my Prophets yet beleeve me whose Decrees are immutable whose Iudgements are intolerable who cannot deceive nor be deceived who am Omnipotent and able to put all my Threatnings in execution against you since I am the Lord of Hosts whom all Creatures doe obey as their supreame Commander OBSERVATIONS 1 Swearing in it self is lawful God himself who cannot sin yet swears by himself Isa 45. 23. 62.8 Heb. 6.13 The Lord to strengthen our faith in the truth of his Promises sometimes swears Gen. 22.16 Psal. 132.11 Heb. 6.17 and sometimes he confirmes the truth of his Threatnings with an Oath to make us fear Psal. 95.11 Heb. 3.11 thrice happy they for whose sake the Lord swears and most unhappy they that beleeve him not when he swears since he that beleeves not God makes him a Lyar 1 Ioh. 5.10 not by any transmutation of God but because hee esteemes his Word and Promises as a false thing 2 Wicked men are hardly brought to beleeve the Threatnings of God The Lord must swear here to awaken them out of their stupidity so sottish are men by nature especially when hardned in a way of sin and if Gods owne people in whom there is a Principle of Grace be slow of heart to beleeve the Doctrin of the Gospel Luke 24.25 26. how hard is it to work those truths upon those who have neither eyes to see nor ears to hear 1 Cor. 2.9 3 God is the Lord of Hosts He hath all Power in his hands and all Creatures at his command ready to execute his wrath upon wicked men This Title is given to God above two hundred times in the Old Testament and but once in the New Iam. 5.4 the reason is because this is a name of Majesty and Terror suitable to Old Testament times but in the New Testament he hath more sweet and mild Titles as Father of Mercies God of all consolation the Saviour of all men c. We should therefore fear to displease him who hath the higher Host of Heaven Myriads of Angels and the lower Host of Creatures on earth all ready at the least beck of their Lord and Master to destroy his enemies 4 No Privilâ—dges can preserve a sinful people from ruine Let them be exalted to Heaven in excellency and glory and be loaded with riches nobility dignity and preheminence yet if they abuse those Priviledges they shall be thrown down to Hell Matth. 11.23 God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation such as work righteousness are accepted of him and such as work unrighteousness be they Iewes or Gentiles are rejected of him When God shall chuse a people to be an holy people to himself and they shall walk unholily and live like the prophane of the world it is just with God that they should perish with them Many boast that they are Christians they are Baptized they hear the Word and receive the Sacrament Aye but do you walk up to those Priviledges and answer them with obedience if not you are but baptized Heathens yea a drunken Turk is nearer Heaven than a drunken and dissolute Christian. Meer Titular Christians are no Christians As he is not a Jew that is one outwardly so he is not a Christian that is one only nominally we must be internal ones in spirit and in truth answering our Gospel Priviledges with Gospel-Practises and then we shall be happy Rom. 2.25 28 29. 5 Sin makes God to hate our very dwellings and Palaces He loathes the habitations of wicked men and looks upon them as so many Swine-styes and sinks of sin The habitations of the wicked are cursed of God Iob 12.6 15.34 Zach. 5.4 As we should keep our bodies pure as becomes the Temples of the Holy Ghost so wee should keep our Houses pure from sin and put away iniquity farre from our Tabernacles that they may be Bethels houses of God and not Bethâ—avens houses of vanity and iniquity Iob 11.14 22.23 this is the way to keep our houses in peace Iob 5.24 Prov. 1. ult 8.6 and to make our Families flourish Prov. 14.11 We should rather desire with those holy Patriarcks Abraham Isaac and Iacob to live in Tents and mean houses where we may serve God remembring that we are but Strangers and Pilgrims here but Citizens of Heaven than to live as these Epicures in the Text in stately Palaces abounding with sensual luxury and all manner of riot till they be destroyed 6 When men will not beleeve the Threatnings they shall feel the punishment The righteous doe hear and fear but the wicked never fear till they feel the Sword and Pestilence upon them When no warnings can mend a People then Judgements end them as we see in the old World Ierusalem and others Lots Sons in Law would not beleeve till they were burnt Gen. 19.14 nor Pharaoh till he was drowned 7 It is Sin that ruines Cities Israel sinned and now City and all is taken It is this that hath brought fire and sword desolation and destruction upon the most glorious Cities Many complaine of Instruments that have betrayed them but it is our sins that have betrayed us into their hands and therefore Magistrates Ministers and Governours should improve their interest for the stopping of sin that so they may prevent the ruine of those places where they dwell VERSE 9. And it shall come to pass if there remaine ten men in one house that they shall dye WEE have heard of Israels Captivity before but since that could doe no good now comes the Pestilence and that no ordinary one which usually leaves some
that by an holy Antiperistasis he growes more bold and resolute confirming what he had spoken against Israel and adding moreover a dreadful Commination against this Arch-Priest for opposing him in the Work of the Lord. He feared not his imperious Injunctions and Lordly Prohibition but boldly asserts his Calling and goes on in the exercise of it maugre the malice of all opposition whatsoever So that here we have an Implicite reason why Amos durst not desist from Prophecying to Israel viz. because he was called extraordinarily by God to Prophesie unto them He was no intruder but a truly called qualified Officer he did nothing rashly or seditiously but he seriously and soberly discharged the duties of that place to which God had so signally called him Now the better to clear his Call which was the foundation of his comfort and confidence he first tells us Negatively what he was not I was no Prophet nor Prophets Son q. d. I was no Prophet either by birth or breeding either by Original or Succession Some were chosen to be Prophets before they were bred or born as Ier. 1.5 others among the Israelites were Prophets by succession others by preparation were trained up betimes in the knowledge and study of the Scripture in Colledges and Seminaries of Learning to supply the wants of the Church The Prophets that taught them were called their Fathers and the Scholars were called the Sons of the Prophets 2 King 2.3 7 15. 4.38 6.1 Mar. 10.24 Amos ingenuously confesseth that he was none of these hee was neither Nabi nor â—en Nabi neither Prophet nor Prophets Son he was not brought up at Bethel 2 King 2.3 or Iericho vers 5. or Gilgal 2 King 4.38 nor at the feet of any learned Gamaliel 2 Positively he tells us plainly what he was viz. an illiterate Herdman of the Tribe of Iudah dwelling at Tekoa a City in Iudah but extraordinarily called by God from his Country-calling of feeding Cattel to feed his people Israel with the Bread of Life Amos 1.1 This he mentions not to make his Message contemptible but to procure the more respect and authority to his Prophesie since he was not called and qualified in an ordinary way but immediately and extraordinarily by God himself I was an Herdman Such were useful in their kind they had many of them in those dayes because their riches lay much in cattel Their lesser cattel were tended by Shepherds and their greater by Herdmen Gen. 13.5 24.35 26.14 Iob 1.3 Saul himself before he was made King was an Herdman 1 Sam. 11.5 q. d. Behold the wonderful Works of God that I who was never bred to this imployment should yet bee able to Prophesie and to confound such learned Rabbies as you take your selves to be And a gatherer of Sycamore Fruit. Yet more to magnifie Gods Free-grace he sets forth his mean condition from which the Lord had called him He lived a solitary country life he was not bred up in Cities or Academies but amongst Herds and Stalls contenting himself with such wild dyet as the Sycamores did afford Most take the word Sycamore strictly for a kind of wild Figgs called Aegyptian Figgs or Bastard-mulberries which the poorer sort of Ruâ—ticks in those times fed upon But it may be taken Synecdochically and Proverbially for any kind of course dyet or fare I was a gatherer of Sycamore fruit that is I was a poor man of a low condition even of the same rank with those that use to feed upon wild Figgs I did not then turn Prophet for my belly for I had learned to fare hardly which thou O Amaziah and thy Court-Priests can hardly doe and therefore you sooth up the Rulers in their Idolatry that you may serve your owne turns but Sycamore fruit will serve my turn Of Sycamore-trees there were great abundance in the Land of Canaan as appears 1 King 10.27 Isa. 9.10 Luk. 19.4 and in Aegypt Psal. 78.47 they were very fruitful they bare fruit three or four times in the year saith Dioscorides lib. 1. c. 143. This fruit Amos might gather for himself or for his family or for to sell. OBSERVATIONS 1 As the Devil hath his Amaziahs to oppose the truth so God his Amoses to defend it The same day that Pelagius was born in Britain the same day was Saint Austine born in Affrica to oppose him as I have shewed elsewhere 2 God often chuseth the weak things of the world to confound the mighty and the things that are not of any esteeme in the world to confound the things that are of great esteeme amongst them 1 Cor. 1.27 28. He usually hangs the greatest weights upon the weakest wyres that so his name may have all the praise if the Lord should alwayes work by excellent Instruments we should Idolize the Instruments and forget God Hence the Lord often passeth by the eloquent Orator and the learned Scribe and chuseth an illiterate Amos sending him from the Crib to the Court to witness against the Idolatry of Princes Priests and People Thus in the Civil State he oft chuseth persons of low degree to rule his people as Moses Saul David all three called from their Flocks and Herds to rule his people Exo. 3.1 1 Sam. 9.21 2 Sam. 7.8 Psal. 113.7.8 Thus in the Ecclesiastical estate he called Elisha from the Plow 1 King 19.19 Matthew from the receit of Custom all the Apostles were illiterate men till Christ gifted them extraordinarily and fitted them for their work Acts 4.13 God loves to shew his power in weakness that the glory may be his 2 Cor. 12.9 Psal. 8.3 we have this Treasure in earthen Vessels that the excellency of the power may bee of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4.7 Obj. From hence the Anabaptists would cry down Vniversities and Schools of Learnings the Lord took Amos from the Stall and Elisha from the Plow and qualified them without study what need then this studying and Schooling c. Ans. These were called extraordinarily as appears by their extraordinary gifts now extraordinary Cases cannot make an ordinary rule because the Lord fed the Israelites with Mannah it doth not therefore follow that we must sit still and think to be so fed It is true the Anabaptists and fanatick frantick Quakers doe all pretend to an extraordinary and immediate Call when upon trial they are found not to have ordinary gifts they can hardly write or read 2 Examples in Scripture are not alwayes Argumentative neither are we bound to follow them unless there bee a like call causes and other concurrent circumstances as I have shewed elsewhere 3 Grace makes men constant and couragious How roundly and undauntedly doth Amos here deal with Amaziah notwithstanding all his threats and flatteries yet he stands like a Rock justifies his Calling and denounceth Judgements against the false Prophet himself and confirmes what he had spoken before against Israel Thus the righteous are an everlasting foundation Prov.
falsifying the sail by deceitful weights OBSERVATIONS 1. Worldly men are weary of Gods worship They think every hour ten and every day a year which hinders them in the pursuit of their worldly profits and pleasures Their wealth is their treasure and their money their God and therefore Sabbaths to them are tiresome tedious things because they savour not the things of God but the things of the world These snuff at Gods service and cry What a wearinesse is this Mal. 1.13 their bodies may be in the Temple but their souls be in the Stable or Barn plodding on their gain and increase They are somewhat a kin to that Heathen which complained of the Christians for losing a seventh part of their time in keeping Gods Sabbaths This shewes the woful depravation of our natures that can sit at a Play or the like prophane meeting a whole day without wearinesse when Gods Worship which should be our joy is tedious and irksome and we can hardly sit out an hour without sleeping which shewes our grosse insensiblenesse of those Spiritual blessings revealed in the Gospel But a gracious soul who knowes what it is to enjoy communion with God in his Ordinances calls the Sabbath his delight and looks upon it as the best day in the Week and esteems it an honourable day Isa. 58.13 because it brings him in great treasure Those times which bring a man in great profit are valued most Rich men think not the time lost in which they are counting money so a gracious soul so long as it hath incomes from God is greatly delighted and longs to meet with God again and therefore cries with David Oh when shall I come and appear before the Lord in Sion Psal. 4â— 84. 2 Greedy worldlings are never at rest These Muck-worms are alwaies seeking after gain Amos 2.7 Hab. 2.13 so eagerly are they set upon it that if they lose but an hour they think it ten They are never well but when they are fingering of Money serving Mammon and laying up Treasure Luke 12.17 18 19. and this brings them into temptations and snares and many hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 10. Lust is a furious thing like Iehu it drives fiercely and furiously Ier. 2.23 24 25. 1 Cor. 12.2 it will not let men rest worke-day nor Holy-day all is one with these greedy Mammonists their Money is their god and whatever hinders them in the pursuit of it is a great burden to them This makes them cry here When will the New-moon be gone that we may sell corn and this greedy lust puts them likewise upon Lying swearing Usury Bribery Perjury Forgery and what not so sad it is to be in thraldome to a lust there is no rest nor peace to such wicked ones saith the Lord. 3 We must not confine the Worship of God only to the Sabbath-Day God enjoyned the Iewes New-Moons and other Feastivals wherein to Worship him as well as on the Sabbath At those seasons they resorted to the Prophets to be instructed in the wayes of God 2 King 4.23 Ezek. 46.1 especially when the Priests were dumbe and idle The Sabbath-Day is the chief time to seek after knowledge yet he appoints other seasons also and if Ministers must preach in season and out of season on the Lords Day and the Week day as occasion requires then surely people ought to hear at such seasons and therefore it was Prophesied of Gospel-times that Gods people should then be willing in that day of Christs power Psal. 110.3 and shall be constant and frequent in his Worship Isa. 66.23 4 Vnrighteous dealing in our civil Commerce is very displeasing unto God He loves righteousness but hates unrighteousness Psal. 11. ult and therefore so oft forbids it Levit. 19.11.35 36. Deut. 25.13 14 15 16. Ezek 45.10 11. and tells us that false weights and false ballances are an abomination to him Prov. 11. â— 20.10 23.11 Amos 8.7 Hos. 12.7 and that he will be avenged on such as defraud others 1 Thes. 4.6 They shall not reign long here Ezek. 22.27 32. Micah 2.2 3. nor come into Gods kingdom hereafter Psal. 15.1 2. 1 Cor. 6.8 9. VERSE 6. That yee may buy the poor for Silver and the needy for a pair of shooes and sell the refuse of the wheat THe Prophet goes on and sets forth another kind of cruelty used by these deceitful men and that was buying of the poor This was the end of their fore-going fraud and unrighteous practices viz. that they might drive the poor into those straits that they should be forced to sell themselves as Slaves and Bond-men for a little silver and support Those greedy ones had got their Purses before and now have at their Persons they will make Drudges of them In this Verse we have 1. The object of these Cormorants cruelty and that is the Poor It is not the Rich for the Famine seldome pincheth them Neither is their aime at the poor mans Goods and Cattel for these they had got before but now their aime is at their persons though they were their brethren and fellow Citiâ—ens yet having them at a bay now Corn was dear they resolve to make Merchandize of them and to buy and sell them at very low rates 2 It is not simply the Poor but the Righteous humble honest innocent poor which they thus oppress Amos 2.6 They sell the righteous for silver 3 Here is the price which they give for these poor and that is base and contemptible it is a little Silver or a pair of shooes So moâ— 2.6 there they sell the righteous as here they bought them and his righteous cause for money and the poor that could not bribe them for a pair of shooes The Lord permitted the Iewes in some cases of casual poverty to buy their poor brethren but they most cruelly abused the Law to the oppressing and grinding of the poor and needy Levit. 25.39 40. whereas the Lord commanded that though their poor Brethren were sold to them or had sold themselves yet they should not deal harshly or rigorously with them as they did with Slaves but civilly and tenderly as with brethren This buying and selling of the poor for a pair of Shooes notes the base estimation that worldlings have of poor righteous men in that they buy and sell them at such mean low and sordid rates even for the basest necessaries for worthless things of little price 4 To their former fraud they now adde another that so they might fill up the measure of their sin They sell the refuse of the Wheat Before they â—â—â—rupted and falsified their Weights and now they corrupt 〈◊〉 Wares They sell the Chaff or falling off of the Wheat as it is in the fountain that is they sell to the poor in their great necessity that which is Horse-meat and Hoggs-meat rather than Mans-meat even the refuse off all and rayl-end as we say which is
inward excellencies Socrates and Esop were deformed in body yet who more wise and witty 3. Sin sweeps all before it It deprives us not onely of bread but also of water too yea it deprives us not onely of corporal but also of spiritual bread It robs us of all our comforts great reason then we have to hate it 'T is like that weed which we call Bishopsweed which frets away all the corn and good grain that grows neer it 4. The sins of young persons provoke the Lord to cut them off Their sins are committed with more wilfulnes heat and violence and so are more displeasing unto God As I have shewed before on Amos 4.10 Obs. 6. 5. 'T is the great misery of wicked man that they have no comfort in their misery VVhen they be scorched with the wrath of God yet they faint for thirst The godly that thirst in a right spiritual manner have Gods Spirit and Ministers to comfort them and pronounce them blessed Mat. 5.6 But the wicked faint and sink under their burdens and have not so much as one shower of Rain from Heaven to quench and allay the flaming fire of Gods indignation Ezek. 22.24 VERSE 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria and say Thy God O Dan liveth and the manner of Beersheba liveth even they shall fall and never rise up again THe Prophet having reproved them before for their oppression and unrighteousness towards men comes now to denounce Gods Judgements against them for their Superstition and Idolatry towards God In the words we have 1. A Commination or a Judgement threatned and that is the irreparable ruine of the Ten Tribes They shall fall and never rise up again They shall so fall for their cruelty and Idolatry that they shall rise no more If a man fall and yet hath hope of rising again it upholds and comforts him but these Israelites felt into captivity and never were restored Iudah which was the better of the two after the seventy years captivity returned again into their own Land but the Ten Tribes were carried out of their own Land by Salmaneser King of Assyria and never returned any more Amos 5.2 The Lord had tried all gentle means to cure them but all in vain and therefore now he resolves to make a final end with them and to smite them so as they shall fall irrecoverably and never rise up again nor return more to their own Land as appears 2 King 17. To fall and never rise to dye and not live to be set below and not above to sit in darkness and have no light such amplifications in Scripture are vehement asseverations and are not used in vain by God 2. Here is the ground or reason of this Commination and that is their Superstition and Idolatry They sware 1. By the sin of Samaria 2. By the God of Dan. 3. By the manner of Beersheba That is They sware by the Molten Images and Golden Calves which Ieroboam the King of Samaria had set up at Dan and Bethel These Idols are called The sin of Samaria because Samaria was the Metropolis and chief seat of their Kings and they setting up Idolatry at Bethel which was not far from Samaria drew Samaria and all the people of the Land with them and therefore this sin is properly laid at their doors When the people of Israel in Moses his time did worship the golden Calf it is called their Sin Deut. 9.21 I took your Sin that is I took the Molten Calf wherewith you had committed that abominable sin of Idolatry and burnt it with fire and the Scripture frequently calls Idols by the name of sin 1 King 12.29 30. Isa. 27.9 31.7 Hos. 10.8 Zach. 5.8 They thought they had done God an high peece of service in sacrificing and swearing by the Calves but the Lord plainly tells them that 't was their great sin so to do 3. He goes on to prove their Idolatry by their forms of swearing then in use for our oaths are a kinde of confession of our Faith whereby we testifie that hee whom we swear by knows our hearts and is able to punish us if we swear falsly hence swearing is frequently put for religious worship This swearing by Idols and fictitious Gods as Idolaters use to do as if they had no other God to swear by could not but highly provoke the Lord to cast them off who thus ungratefully and dis-ingenuously forsook him the fountain of all their happiness They say Thy God O Dan live or they swear by the life of Dan which yet was a dead Idol and had no life in it This was the usual form of swearing in those daies as you may see Gen. 42.15 Iudg. 8.19 Ruth 3.13 Ier. 12.16 They used the same form of swearing by their Idols as the godly did by the true God Thy God O Dan lives i. e. Let thy Calf live O Dan or as sure as thy Calf lives O Dan. They sware by this Idol as if there were some Deity and Divinity in it when 't was a meer abomination and Idol of their own inventing Hos. 8.5 6. Ieroboam when he came first to the Crown set up two Golden Calves as tutelar Gods the one at Bethel not far from Samaria the other in Dan which was in the North part of Canaan it being one of the utmost coasts thereof 1 King 12.29 30. Ier. 4.15 4. Yet more They swear by the manner of Beersheba Beersheba was a City of Canaan Iosh. 19.2 being the utmost bound of the holy Land toward the South as Dan was toward the North hence from Dan to Beersheba are oft put for the whole Land of Israel from one end to the other they being the utmost borders of the whole Land Iudg. 20.1 1 Sam. 3.20 2 Sam. 3.10 1 Chron. 8.2 ` T was a famous City where the Judges used to sit 1. Sam. 8.2 yet this place was infected with Idolatry as well as Bethel and Gilgal and therefore they are commanded to pass by it Amos 5.5 and yet they swear that the manner of Beersheba lives Or the way of Beersheba lives as 't is in the fountain that is they swear by a strange God whose way Rites Ceremonies and manner of Worship they had set up at Beersheba for by way in Scripture is meant the manner of divine worship and serving of God 'T is here taken in a bad sense See Ier. 32.39 Act. 9.2 18.25 24.14 Thus we see how the whole Land was infected with Idolatry from one side to another there was no sound part in it which serves to justifie Gods Justice in their universal ruine OBSERVATIONS 1 Idolatry it is a sinning sin It is the Sin with an Emphasis and by way of eminency which destroys a Land Deut. 9.21 it is a great sin in it self and the root of many other abominations whatever Sin God bears withall yet he cannot he will not bear with this as I have shewed at
mighty hunter before the Lord so many may be said to be mighty drunkards mighty swearers lyars cheaters dissemblers c. before the Lord. But let it alwaies be our care to lead a life worthy of such a presence passing the time of our sojourning in Gods fear This may be 1. A spur to duty 2. A motive to Sincerity 3. A corrosive to sin 4. A cordial in afflictions Remember in all thy distresses hee is an Omnipresent friend He was with Joseph in the prison with Jeremy in the dungeon with Jonah in the Whales belly with Daniel in the Lions den with Israel in Egypt Exod. 3.9 and with Paul before Nero 2 Tim. 4.17 He knows our Tentations our adversaries our abilities and will not suffer us to be tempted above our strength Rev. 2.3 VERSE 4. And though they go into captivity before their enemies thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them and I will set mine eye upon them for evil and not for good WEE are now come to the fifth and last Evasion whereby these incorrigible sinners thought to escape Gods hands and that was by yeelding themselves up into their enemies hands upon quarter for their lives and so to escape the edge of the sword To this the Lord answers by way of concession though they should go into capâ—ivity before their enemies or before the faces of their enemâ—es as 't is in the Original whose custome it was to drive their enemies like beasts before them young and old naked and barefoot Isa 20.4 Lam. 1.5 yet thence will I command and commission the sword of their enemies to slay them 2. Here is an Aggravation of all this misery viz. that it should fall upon them in wrath God promised to send Iudah into the Land of Chaldea for good Ier. 24.5 6. but Israel being more grosly wicked the Lord threatens here To watch over them for evil and not for good The expression is emphatical the denial of the contrary makes the speech more weighty so Jer. 21.10 39.16 44.27 q. d. I will bring upon them all manner of evil but no good I will afflict them every where but I will defend them no where but will utterly consume them This was true of Israel who went into captivity and never returned again though many of Judah did return again as we read in the book of Ezra As Gods eye was formerly upon them for good and hee had made them the head of the Nations so now his eye should be upon them for evil and he would make them the Taile and contemptible amongst all He would now deal with them as he threatned to do with disobedient ones Deut. 28.44 63. Before he had been their Guardian and their Keeper Psal. 121.3 4. He that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps but now he will be their Judge and Executioner Though formerly he seriously and intensively set himself to do them good yet now with as much seriousness and resolvedness he will set his eyes upon them or against them for evil By the Eye of God is meant the Providence of God by an Anthropopathy frequent in Scripture Iob 34.21 Prov. 15.3 Psal. 33.18 34.15 1 Pet. 3.12 which as it watcheth over the good in mercy so it watcheth over the wicked in judgement vers 8. I will set mine eye upon them for evil that is for punishment and for destruction and not for good that is not to do them any good at all nor to bless them OBSERVATIONS 1 Submission to men is but vain unless we submit unto God To yeeld our selves captives to men and make peace with them and yet to rebel against God is to fee the Serjeant and to lye open to the fury of the Creditor Wicked men begin at the wrong end they should first begin with God and humble themselves before him and make peace with him and then all would be at peace with them Iob 5.23 Hos. 2.18 When once our wayes please God he makes our enemies to be at peace with us Prov. 16.7 He can over-rule their hearts so that although they hate us yet they shall not hurt us yea with Esau they shall kiss us instead of killing us Gen. 33.4 2 The sword hath its command and commission from God Jer. 47.6 Ezek. 14.17 I will command the sword and it shall slay them War is one of Gods sore Judgements it is the Arrow which he shoots at a rebellious people But of this at large before on Amos 4.10 3. The Providence of God watcheth over the wicked for their hurt As the eyes of his Providence run to and fro through the whole world for the good of his people 2 Chron. 16.9 Psal. 33.18 and 34.15 1 Pet. 3.12 so where ever the wicked go his eye and his hand follow them for evil Ier. 44. 16 17.18 22. and 24.9 As all works together for good to good men so all works for evil to evil men The Lord doth even study their ruine and purposely watch as 't were all opportunities to do them a mischief As men do obstinately set their faces against Gods Commandements in a way of rebellion so he will set his face against them for evil in a way of destruction Ier. 44.11 Hence we read so oft of Gods setting his face against wicked men Lev. 20.3 and 26.17 Ezek. 14.8 I will set my face against them that is I am highly offended with them and I will make it my work to execute my vengeance on them VER 5. And the Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth the Land and it shall melt and all that dwell therein shall mourn and it shall rise up wholly like a flood and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt WE have done with the Commination we are now come to the second general part of the Chapter and that is the confirmation of the Commination which is drawn from the Omnipotent Majesty and Power of God who is Lord Paramount of all the world the glorious Creator and Governour of all All depend upon him and observe his beck what he sayes it is done ejus dicere est facere and what he threatens is as easily and speedily effected The better therefore to awaken these drousie sinners and make them fear the Prophet here sets forth the Majesty and Power of God that they might see there was no contending with him and that he was able and would certainly bring to pass what ever he had threatned against them To this end we often finde Moses and the Prophets setting forth the Majesty of God by his Titles Works as that he is the Mighty God the Lord of Hosts the King of Kings c. Sinners are hardly drawn to consider the Glory and Majesty of that God with whom they have to do and therefore the Prophet so oft toucheth on this string Amos 3.6.8 and 4. ult and 5.8 9. In this Verse and the next we have an elegant description of Gods Power and Glory
the Kingdome of Iudah for in Christs time there was no other Kingdome of Israel extant but that and that also was very low when Christ came as I have shewed on Amos 9.11 and by a Master in Israel is meant no more but a Teacher in the Church of God for the Church is oft called Israel Psal. 115.12 Galat. 6.16 Obj. It was fore-told that the ten Tribes should be made one with Judah and should returne with them Ezek. 37.16 17 19 22. A. This is spoken of Gospel times and implies a Spiritual not a Corporal returning of a remnant of those despised and dispersed ones in the dayes of the Messiah who should be united to Iudah and by the preaching of the Gospel be brought into the unity of the Church Shee is forsaken upon her Land Shee had forsaken God and now all desert and forsake her she had laid Piety and Justice in the dust and now God resolves to lay her in the dust she shall be smitten to the earth and dasht against it by the Assyrian with such force that like an earthen pot it shall never be sodred together again And which greatly aggravates their misery all this should happen to them in their own Land they should want men to help them in their owne Land as appears in the next verse They should be afflicted and brought low not in an enemies Country but even in their owne they should be slaughtered and enslaved in the sight of their owne Country which had been like a Mother and Nurse unto them and was dearly beloved of them It aggravates a Virgins misery to be slaine in the sight of her owne Mother There is none to raise her up God will not and then Creatures cannot Shee shall fall without any help or hope of restauration no neighbour Nation shall once reach out an helping hand to raise her out of the dust but there let her lye like one that is felled to the ground and not able to rise of himself and forsaken of all others must needs remaine as he fell so Israel should never recover his pristine splendor and flourishing condition though some remnants should remaine or as it followes in the next verse OBSERVATIONS 1 Sin layes famous and flourishing Kingdoms in the dust Those Maiden-Cities and Kingdoms which were never toucht nor taken yet if sin raign in them as it did in Samaria it will ruine them Where are the Babylonian Persian Grecian Monarchies which were sometimes famous and flourishing and the terrour of the world they are long since laid in the dust 2 Impenitent sinners shall certainly perish Though they may flourish for a time yet when their sin is ripe they shall come down and therefore the Prophet speaks in the Present Tense Israel is fallen that is he shall as certainly fall as if he were down already So Babylon that lives in Luxury and security shall at last be burnt Revelat. 18.7 8 9 10. 3 When God is against us all forsake us Israel is forsaken in his owne Land and so sadly forsaken that there is not one to raise him up The Land did formerly abound with men yet now they have none to help them in their misery to the dust they must and there they lye As God will not cast away the righteous man but will assist him in his troubles so he will not take a wicked man by the hand Iob 8.20 but as he brings them into trouble so he leaves them there Ezek. 22.20 29.5 his owne he will not leave and if men will not succour them yet he will Iob 5 19. Ier. 30.17 he will give his not only the grace but also the blessing of peace Psal. 29.11 Levit. 26.6 when our wayes please him then all are at peace with us Prov. 26.7.2 Chro. 30.9 4 God oft retaliates sinners and payes them in their owne coyn Israel that forsook God is now forsaken of all and those that overthrew Justice and opprest the poor are now overthrown themselves and opprest by others But of this see Amos 6. ult Obs. 8. VERSE 3. For thus saith the Lord God the City that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel WHat the Prophet had spoken before in general now he comes to express more plainly and particularly viz. That the Kingdome of Israel should perish yet not so totally but that a remnant should be spared though the body of the people should be cut off yet a decimation should live to praise God So that in this verse we have the reason of the Prophets lamentation and doleful ditty and that is the great havock which God would make amongst this people he would cut off nine parts and leave but a tenth When the Roman Armies did mutiny the Commanders did use to decimate them punishing every tenth man But the Lord goes further here being incensed against Israel hee tells them that by the Sword by Captivity by the Pestilence and Famine hee would make such a slaughter amongst them that the City which went out by a thousand should bee brought to an hundred and an hundred to ten that is of a great multitude very few should return Such a woful decimation there should bee amongst them that very few should escape The like Threatning wee have set forth under another Metaphor Amos 3.12 As the Shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the Lion two legs or the peece of an ear so shall the children of Israel bee taken out of Samaria c. q. d. as a Shepherd when a Lion hath been devouring his flock findes some mangled remains of a leg or an ear so shall it bee with Israel some one or two shall escape the general slaughter and Captivity The City that went out by a thousand that is The City which had a thousand Inhabitants passing to and fro through the gates thereof or more genuinely The City which sent forth a thousand able men to the Wars or that could furnish and set out a thousand men fit to bear Arms shall have but an hundred left The Prophet seems to allude to that of Moses Deut. 1.15 where the people are divided under Captains over thousands and Captains over hundreds This Threatning was partly fulfilled in the three years siege of Samaria 2 King 18.10 and partly after when there was a great devastation of men amongst them Lastly To assure them of the reality and truth of all that hee had spoken hee brings in the Lord asserting it Thus saith the Lord God q. d. You have not to do with impotent men but with an Omnipotent God who both can and will execute his judgements upon the heads of the wicked The summe of all is this So few shall bee left alive after the long and hard sieges of the Assyrians that in those Cities of Israel out of which a thousand able men had wont to go forth to War now there should be left
but an hundred and an hundred shall be brought to ten saith the Lord who doth this OBSERVATIONS Sin is the grand depopulator of a Kingdome It makes Cities that go out by thousands to return by hundreds and reduceth their hundreds to tens Wee use to complain of such as unpeople Towns and Villages sin is the Arch-depopulation of Towns and Cities it brings the Sword Plague and Famine upon Nations which sweep men away by thousands As obedience multiplies a people and makes them like the sand of the Sea for multitude 1 King 4.20 So disobedience makes men few in number which were before as the Stars of heaven for multitude Deut. 28.62 We should therefore unanimously rise in arms against this Cut-throat sin if an enemy should come to Town that had killed our fathers mothers wives and children and robbed us of all our pleasant things with what indignation and fury would men women and children joyntly rise to ruine such an enemy Sin is this adversary it robs Sovereigns of their subjects Pastors of their people and robs us of our dearest relations We should therefore do by it as the Iews did by Paul whom they lookt upon as their adversary Act. 22.27 28. when they saw him they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him saying Men of Israel help This is he that is against this people and against the Law and against this place So should we encourage each other against sin and suppress it saying Magistrates Ministers men and brethren help this is that which destroyes our people wastes our Cities unpeoples our Towns opposeth the Laws and brings confusion every where 2 Obs. In the midst of judgement God remembers mercy All had deserved death here yet such is his clemency that hee spares a Tenth and leaves a remnant Isa. 1.9 and 6.11 12 13. 'T is the Lords singular mercy that any remain alive and it is his overflowing goodness that wee are not all utterly consumed and hurled out of the world at once Lam. 3.22 In the midst of these devastations here is a gleaning left to praise him 3 Obs. The threatnings of Gods Ministers are Gods threatnings Thus saith the Lord the City that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred T is not I saith Amos but the Lord by mee his weak instrument that tells you this Wee are Ambassadors for Christ 2 Cor. 5.20 Now the words of an Ambassador are esteemed as the words of him that sent him This made Cornelius though a Souldier and a Commander yet to set himself as in Gods presence and so to hear as if God himself spake to him Act. 10.33 and so did the Thessalonians 1 Thess. 2.13 when our preaching agrees with the word of God it is to bee esteemed as the word of God himself If this were truly beleeved it would make us come with other affections to hear the word than most now do VERSE 4. For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel seek yee mee and yee shall live THe Prophet having shewed this people their misery and affrighted them with the Threatnings hee comes now unto the Remedy and shews them how they may prevent all that misery which like a flood was rushing in upon them especially for their Idolatry and that is by Repentance by forsaking their Idols and turning to the Lord. Where there is no ground of hope people grow desperate and run from God and therefore the Prophet gives them some glimpse of mercy inviting them once and again to seek the Lord that so they might prevent his fury In the words we have 1 A preface Thus saith the Lord. This is oft used before by this our Prophet in the first second third and fourth Chapters and this hee doth 1 To quicken attention 2 To make them attend with the greater reverence and fear since it is the word of God and not of man 3 To assure them of the certainty and truth of what hee spake and that it should bee certainly and suddenly effected for hee that is Almighty hath said it 2 Here are the persons to whom hee speaks viz. To the house of Israel i. e. to the ten Tribes The invitation is general to take off all excuse that none might say They were not exhorted to the duty 3 Here is a Precept Seek yee mee Where wee have 1 The Act Seek 2 The Object Mee 4 A Promise And yee shall live The Precept is short but very comprehensive It is indeed a brief of the whole body of Religion or a summary of the whole duty of man The Scripture doth in many places epitomize our duties reducing them sometimes to eleven heads as Psal. 15. Sometimes to six as Isa. 33.15 and Heb. 6.1.2 Sometimes to three viz. Justice Mercy and humble walking with God Micah 6.8 Our Saviour hath epitomized them and reduced them all unto two viz. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thy self But our Prophet here comes and summes them all up in one saying Seek the Lord. The word Seek is emphatical and signifies not a bare wishing or woulding or some cold velleities but an earnest accurate exquisite inquiring after God and his wayes and therefore the Septuagint render it by a compound word which signifies to seek out with earnestness and diligence till wee finde the Lord. The Apostle useth the same word Heb. 11.6 The Lord is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him The word implies labour industry and constancy wee must never rest till wee have found the Lord as the woman that had lost her groat continued seeking till shee had found it Luke 15.8 3 Here is the causative particle For which may bee rendred therefore and then the sense will bee more current thus q. d. Since the Lord hath threatned to make such havock amongst you therefore seek him sincerely that yee may live for hee desires not your ruine but your returning Yet some make the particle redundant here and look upon it onely as an expletive particle oft so used by the Hebrews The sense is here entire without it 4 Here is the object of our seeking and that is God Seek yee mee Excellent things are the object of our desires now there is none like God and therefore none to bee desired like him Hee is our Creator Redeemer Preserver ours in all sweet Relations our Father Husband Lord King c. and therefore to bee sought and served by us in an especial manner One of these obligations call for observance and duty but when all shall concenter and meet in one how great should our observance bee 2 This seeking of God implies a sincere turning to him a loving him with all our heart a seeking him simply for himself it notes a trusting in him a fear to offend him a forsaking of all Idols and false wayes as it follows in the next verse delighting only in his pure word and worship 1 Chron. 16.10 and praying to him
perfumed spiced and embalmed when the Soul which is the noblest part shall rot and perish Look to your Souls and then God will provide for your bodies when the Mid-wives feared the Lord he made them houses 3 Caut. Yet we should not be dismayed when the bodies of Gods Saints be given to the Beasts of the Field and the Fowls of Heaven Psal. 79.2 3. faith fears not such things He that numbers the hairs of our heads will not lose our bones he that is so careful of our excrementitious parts will not suffer our essential and integral parts to perish Solemn burial addes to the comfort of the living but not of the dead Lazarus had no Funeral solemnities nor Marble Monument yet was he carried into Abrahams bosome Facilis jactura Sepulchri Coele tegitur qui non babet Urnam Lucan l. 16. 2 Obs. Gods people must be patiently silent in calamitous times They must not be stupidly silent for Grace doth not raze but raise and rectifie the affections We may spread our distress before God and in an humble manner expostulate with him as Iob Ieremy and other Saints have done It is an holy silence and not a sinful silence which is here enjoyned us When Gods hand lyes heavie upon us not only our Tongues must be silent Levit. 10.2 3. 1 Sam. 3.18 Isa. 36.6 7 8. Amos 5.13 Zeph. 1.7 but our Souls must keep silence to Jehovah Psal. 62.1 My soul waiteth upon God so we read it but others according to the Original thus My soul is silent quiet submiss and subject to God my affections are subdued to him Many mens Tongues are silent but their hearts are full of rage and fury yea many mens words are smooth as oyl when their hearts are like drawn swords But a gracious soul in all humility adores the just Judgements of God upon himself and others without any murmuring or contradiction He doth not impatiently fly in Gods face nor charge God follishly Iob 1. ult but he peaceably resigns himself and all he hath unto Gods dispose God is the Potter and he is the Clay ready to be formed and framed raised or ruined made or marred as he shall please Hee gives the Lord a blank as it were and bids him write what please himself and it shall please him Murmuring doth but double our strokes it is a slandering of God and a charging of him with folly which he will not bear at our hands and therefore when ever Israel fell to murmuring a Judgement presently followed other sins he can bear withall but not with this Untamed Heifers may gall their necks but they cannot break the yoke Wild Bulls in a Net by tosfing and tumbling do but intangle themselves the more Isa. 51.20 it is Prayer and Patience that will mend all fret not then at Gods dispensations neither quarrel with his Providences but judge your selves and justifie him so shall you have peace Levit. 26.40 41 42. Iudg. 10.15 2 Chron. 12.6 Ezra 9.13 Neh. 9.33 Psal. 51.4 119.137 Dan. 9.7 1 Cor. 11.31 Let us not like Sons of Adam justifie our selves and lay the fault upon God but let us kiss the hand that smites us and say Righteous art thou Lord and just are thy judgements 3 Obs. Hypocritical shews and shadows of Religion will stand a man in no stead in a day of wrath These sensual Idolaters cried The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord they boasted that God was their Father and they his people that they knew him and were known of him above all the people of the earth Hos. 8.2 But now the day of wrath is come they dare not once make mention of the name of God they are so opprest with the guilt of their sins It is not crying Lord Lord but doing Gods will sincerely that will yeeld us comfort in calamitous times Matth. 7.21 22. 2 Cor. 1.12 A dead Beast can doe us no service and dead Graces will stand us in no stead Let us not then cheat our selves with shewes instead of substance and with counters instead of gold let us not be almost but altogether Christians not having a name only to live but let us live indeed that we may be Nathaniels Israelites indeed in whom there is no reigning guile Ioh. 1.47 4 Wicked men in calamitous times are fâ—ll of despondency and despair Though in times of Peace they may boast how God loves them yet when God awakens their Consciences by his Judgements the very name of God is terrible to them and they could wish he were not Then either they hide themselves with Adam or run from him as Cain Gen. 4.13 or hang themselves with Iudas or cry with those wicked ones Iob 21. 14. Depart from us Or they blaspheme because of their pain and like Serpents fly in the face of him that toucheth them Rev. 16. ult and like Heathens who in their calamities curse their gods and beat them as the Authors of all their misery and at last they shall cry to the Rocks and Mountains to fall upon them and hide them Luke 23.30 Rev. 6.16 These cry There is no hope Jer. 18.12 and therefore they banish the thoughts of God out of their hearts Psal. 10.4 and will not once make mention of him in their troubles These are beaten but not bettered corrected but not amended and in some respect worse than Heathens of whom Seneca observes That they were most busie in worshipping their gods when they were most displeased But we have those that fly from God when he draws nigh to them thoughts of God are never more pleasing to a gracious soul nor never more displeasing to wicked men than when they are in trouble VERSE 11. For behold the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts IN this Verse we have an Amplification and Confirmation of the precedent commination vers 8. The Prophet tells them that the destruction shall be general high and low rich and poor great and small none should escape but as all had sinned so all should suffer a forreign enemy like a violent floud should over-run the Land so that there should be no escaping These Sinners were secure and carnally-confident trusting in their two victorious and successful Kings Ieroboam the second King of Israel and Uzziah King of Iudah they sleighted the words of the Prophet and therefore the Lord resolves to preach to them in another manner viz. by the Sword of the Assyrian and Chaldean who should make them feel what they would not beleeve In the words we have 1 The causal Particle For which hath relation to the eighth and ninth Verses where the Lord threatneth to destroy the City with its fulness and to adde the Pestilence to the Sword and gives you the reason of it in this verse Mandavit Dominus the Lord hath commanded and decreed it and none shall be able to reverse it 2 Here is an ecce
behold to incite both our Attention and Intention it calls for our ears and eyes 3 Here is the matter to be marked and that is the command and charge of God to destroy his people for their provocations The Lord commandeth and he will smite the City q. d. you have not to doe with an impotent man but with an Omnipotent God who as he hath made all things so he hath them all at his beck to help or hurt us as pleaseth him Hee needs not Armies he needs not Instruments to confound his adversaries it is but speaking and it is done Psal. 44.4 148.5 Q. How doth the Lord smite the City when hee only commands that it should be done A. It is a Rule Quod quis per alium facit per sel facere videtur In that the Lord commands the Assyrians and Chaldeans to destroy vers 14. he is said to doe it himself because they were but his rods and the instruments in his hand to chastise his people whoever be the Actor yet God is the Author 4 Here is the Universality of this destruction he will bring down great and small he will cause the Assyrians and Babylonians to smite the great house with breaches and the little house with clefts The word which we render Breaches signifies also droppings which by little and little rot the house and so make breaches and ruptures in it but in this place it properly signifies ruptures and breaches They were all incorrigible and incurable both great and small and therefore now they shall be punisht and perish together both houses and inhabitants Their Palaces and great Houses in Sion and Samaria should have a great down-fall and the lesser houses should chop and chink and moulder away By these expressions the Prophet intimates that both noble and ignoble should perish together as they had overthrown the Law and all equity vers 12. so now God overthrows them Some conceive that the Prophet here alludes to some Earth-quake which should make breaches and clefts in their houses but the Prophet confutes these and tells us that it shall be done by the hand of an enemy vers 14. Others Allegorize and apply this to the two Kingdoms of Israel and Iudah which are called two houses Isa. 8.14 By the great house say they is meant the Ten Tribes which did excell in wealth and dignity By the lesser house is meant the Kingdome of Iudah which was little compared with Israel the Kingdom of Israel should be so ruined by the Assyrians that it should never be repaired but the Kingdom of Iudah should only have some clefts and chawns made by the Babylonians which were in part made up again after the seventy years Captivity in Babylon by Ezra and Nehemiah OBSERVATIONS 1 Matters of moment must especially be marked Great Judgements were coming upon this People and the Lord by an Ecce Behold labours to awaken them to the consideration of them The birth of Christ is a matter of great moment and therefore the Angels come with a Behold Luk. 2.10 the seasons of grace are matters of great moment and therefore a double Behold is set upon them 2 Cor. 6.2 Our Original Sin is a matter deeply to be thought on and therefore it hath an Ecce setupon it Psa. 51.5 and so on the Day of Judgement Iude 7. Revel 22.7 2 Warre and Pestilence are Gods Servants which come and goe at his beck and commandment As all Creatures are his Servants Winds and Seas and Sun obey him Iob 9.7 so all Armies are his he is Lord of Hosts and if he but stamp or hiss for an Enemy or call for a Pestilence on the Land they readily obey Isa. 7.18 19. Levit 26.25 Ier. 47.6 7. he can destroy the most potent enemy by the most impotent and contemptible means as Froggs Flies Lice Psal. 105.31 If he say to such and such Diseases Go seize on such a man or such a woman they go if he bid them cease they cease We should not therefore bribe the Sergeant but compound with the Creditor Run not in your sickness and distress to Physick or Friends but make peace with God in the first place and then all shall be at peace with you We should also be patient under all Dispensations looking at Gods hand in all seeing him ordering and disposing all for the good of his This will make you dumbe and silent when you see it is the Lord that doth it 2 Sam. 16.10 Psal. 39.9 Ioh. 18.11 3 Obs. Universality in sin brings universality in suffering The generality of this people were corrupt and now they are generally ruined As rich and poor were Idolaters Apostates and Prophane so now they should be ransackt and ruined together 4 Obs. Sin brings a curse on our dwellings and layes famous fabricks in the dust as I have shewed before on verse eight VER 12. Shall Horses run upon the Rock Will one plow there with Oxen for yee have turned judgement into gall and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock IN the precedent Verse the Lord threatned a general Judgment against these general Sinners but they trusting to their owne strength and glory feared no Judgements but conceited that the Lord who had taken them into Covenant with himself and adopted them for his owne peculiar people and adorned them with many Priviledges above the rest of the Nations round about them would not deal so sharply with them as the Prophet threatned but would take some gentler course plowing them still by his Prophets and labouring to reclaime them by their Ministery To this the Lord answers in this Verse by a Prolepsis he prevents this evasion and vain conceit telling them that it was to no purpose to take any more pains with them or to correct them with gentler rods for they remained still obstinate and perverse falling away more and more growing worse and worse so that he did but plow the rocks and so break his Plows without any increase and sow the sands losing his labour on them and therefore he is now resolved that his Spirit should no longer contend with such rockey rebellious Sinners nor his patience wait any more upon them The Interrogation is a strong Negation Shall Horses run upon the rock or Oxen plow there No they will not they are not fit places for such purposes and doe you think that I will alwaies sing to deaf men and bestow my cost and care upon such rockey and hardned Sinners that will bring forth no fruit It is a Proverbial speech and signifies lost labour and therefore we use to say of such as labour in vaine They goe about to plow the rocks and sow the sands Interpreters vary much in their Exposition of this first branch of the verse See five various senses in a Lapidâ— and six in our large Annotations that which I have given with submission to better judgements I conceive to be most genuine and best agreeing with the