gather the Elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God and cry unto the Lord 15 Alas for the day for the day of the Lord is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come 16 Is not the meat cut off before your eyes yea joy and gladnesse from the house of our God 17 The feed iâ—â—rotten under their clods the garners are laid desolate the barns are broken down for the corn is withered 18 How do the beasts grone the herds of cattel are perplexed because they have no pasture yea the flocks of sheep are made desolate 19 O Lord to thee will I cry for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field 20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee for the rivers of waters are dried up and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wildernesse THe Prophecie of Ioel was directed chiesly against Iudah as Hosheahs against Israel For though he name Israel twice yet he understands not there the ten Tribes distinct from the Kingdom of Iudah but takes it as a general name to all the Jews He begins with threats and motives to repentance and so makes way for unspeakable comfort in the coming of the Messias and the necessitie of yeelding obedience unto him CHAP. I. 1. THe word of the Lord which was made known to Ioel the son of Pethuel 2. Hear ye this you aged men that are supposed to have encreased your knowledge with your years And give special ear to it all you that are inhabitants of the land of Judea And tell me if you have heard the like of what I shall now deliver either in your daies or in the daies of your forefathers 3. I shall speak that which you may well transmit to your children and they to theirs and so one age to another generation succeeding them 4. And I shall begin with four several sorts of terrible locusts You read but of one sort of them in Egypt here are more to be wondred at and all of them greedy destroyers not of our enemies land but of our own nor of the land onely but of the people In such manner shall these come That what the Caterpiller leaves the Grashopper shall devour And what the Grashoper leaves the Canker-worm shall eat up And what the Canker-worm leaves the Locust shall devour 5. Here is sad news to wake up the drunkards you that are in that number this will make you all turn your mad mirth into weeping and howling You that were of all others most soundly lulled asleep for in the destruction of the vineyards the sweet wine will be taken away from the mouths of such lustie bibbers 6. And that you may know what kind of creatures these locusts may be whether worms or men I will now use a plainer language to ler you understand what God himself saith of his people And this it is A nation shall certainly come upon my land or rather a mixture of several destructive nations as greedie and mischievous as any locusts a people excelling in strength and number A generation of locusts that will bite to the purpose For their teeth will be like Lions teeth and their grinders will have the strength of the strongest Lions in that part 7. This kind of monstrous creature will fearfully destroy Judea which I account as my own vineyard that my right hand hath planted And with that all my best fruit will be used at the pleasure of the destroyer among them my fig-trees will be barked and pilled and carelessely thrown about not a bough retaining so much as his own colour 8. For this well maiest thou O Judea take up as heavie a mourning and lamentation as a young woman would do that girds her self with sackcloth and sadly composeth her self to bewail the losse of her dearest consort the husband of her youth 9. No other way canst thou lament for thy Priests or they for themselves They that continually wait at the altar of the Lord to intercede for thy welfare and present thy thankful acknowledgements cannot otherwise expresse the absolute losse of that corn and wine that should daily supply the meat-offering and drink-offering for the house of the Lord and so the better inable them for the continuance of divine service in that place 10. The Priests mourn not alone The grounds are so wasted and lie so rude and untilled that they also seem to have put on their mourning apparrel And there is too much cause they should do so for the devastation of the fair corn-fields and withering of the vines and total losse of the oyl 11. At this sight how can the Husbadmen but hang down their heads for shame and the vine-dressers cry out for sorrow It must trouble them all to see the fruit of the earth so destroyed the wheat and the barly and the whole harvest of the field 12. The vines specially they have been so abused that they seem to blush at it as if they were ashamed to be seen in such a case The figs are no lesse spoiled and corrupted And with them the pomegranate the palmtree and the apple tree and all other trees of the field are withered and decayed And in them the joy and delight of the Sons of men is taken away and vanished out of our sight 13. Now therefore O ye Priests that have nothing else to offer come offer and present your sad souls before the Altar And gird your bodies with sackcloth or other mournful attire and let your howling be heard you that attend upon an empty Altar and are tain to lay aside your solemn Musick Lie all night in sackcloth you Ministers of my God For meat and drink offerings and outward sacrifices you must look for none You have onely your patient and obedient hearts to be made a fit sacrifice for the Lord of Heaven and earth that gives and takes away and restores again at his pleasure 14. Nor will this sacrificing of your selves be enough You must think what is fit to be done by the people too To appease the wrath of God Proclaim a publick and solemn Fast Let a full assembly be called Gather your Senators together to advise and enact what is to be done And all the Inhabitants of the land to obey their commands Gather them to the house of the Lord your God the house of prayer and there with penitent and unanimous hearts cry earnestly unto him and say 15. Alas for the day the great day of the Lord that comes on apace the day of vengeance and the destruction of Ierusalem the day of destruction that is appointed by God himself who is all-sufficient and will not be wanting to execute his own just decrees 16. Do we not see a type of it already set before our eyes Do we not read some lines of it in our present miserie and scarcitie that
whether we understand it of the religious Iews both of Iudah and Israel that returned out of the captivity or of the devout Christians after them that are the true holy seed and the true Israel of God and were delivered from a greater bondage CHAP. II. 1. SAy ye unto your brethren Ammi and to your sisters Ru-hamah 2. Plead with your mother plead for she is not my wife neither am I her husband let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight and her adulteries from between her breasts 3 Lest I strip her naked and set her as in the day that she was born and make her as a wildernesse and set her like a dry land and slay her with thâ—â—st 4. And I will not have mercy upon her children for they be the children of whoredoms 5. For their mother hath played the harlot she that conceived them hath done shamefully for she said I will go after my lovers that give me my bread and my water my wool and my flax mine oil and my drink 6. Therefore behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall that she shall not find her paths 7. And she shall follow after her lovers but she shall not overtake them and she shall seek them but shall not find them then shall she say I will go and return to my first husband for then was it better with me then now 8 For she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal 9 Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wooll and my flax given to cover her nakednesse 10. And now will I discover her lewdnesse in the sight of her lovers and none shall deliver her out of mine hand 11. I will also cause all her mirth to cease her feast-daies her new Moons and her Sabbaths and all her solemn feasts 12. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees whereof she hath said These are my rewards that my lovers have given me and I will make them a forest and the beasts of the field shall eat them 13. And I will visit upon her the daies of Baalim wherein she burnt incense to them and she decked herself with her ear-rings and her jewels and she went after her lovers and forgat me saith the Lord. 14. Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speak comfortably unto her 15. And I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a door of hope and she shall sing there as in the daies of her youth and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt 16. And it shall be at that day saith the Lord that thou shalt call me Ishi and shalt call me no more Baali 17. For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth and they shall no more be remembred by their name 18. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and I will break the bow and the sword and the battel out of the earth and will make them to lie down safely 19. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies 20. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulnesse and thou shalt know the Lord. 21. And it shall come to passe in that day I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth 22. And the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil and they shall hear Jezreel 23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy and I will say to them which were not my people Thou art my people and they shall say Thou art my God CHAP. II. 1. YOu that are of the ten tribes say to your brethren those of the tribe of Iudah and Benjamin Ammi for now I acknowledge them for my people And say to your Sisters of those two tribes Ruchamah For my mercy shall watch over them 2. And when you have acknowledged their happinesse then every one of you may think of a quarrel a just quarrel you have to your own Mother i. to all the ten tribes For she hath not behaved her self like my Spouse Nor shall I answer her with the love of a Husband unlesse she make way for reconciliation of her self by a clean removal of her filthy pollutions and of her doting foolish demeanour in the idle love shewed to those imaginarie dieties that deserve it not 3. Which she had best to remove least by way of requital of her making her self gay for those her best beloved I strip her stark naked and expose her as bare as ever she was born to the injury of the weather in some open wildernesse or drie land where I may take that advantage to kill her with very thirst 4. When this severitie falls upon the Mother the whole nation the particular children have no reason to expect any mercy being no better then children of an adulterous bed and most foul Idolatrie 5. For their Mother hath played the harlot she that conceived them hath brought shame upon her self and them the rather because she hath not sticked to professe it openly that she would follow the example of her Paramours the Assyrian and Egyptian idolaters that give her forsooth a constant supplie of her bread and her water and her wool and her flax and her oyl and her drink and what not for all this she ascribes to their acquaintance and to the bountie of their gods 6. Therefore saith the Lord The time shall come when she shall brag of none of these courtesies received from them The time when her way thither shall be hedged in as with thorns and in everie corner so fenced about that there will be no evasion from the Assyrian slaverie to which she shall be led along in bonds and triumph 7. When her quondam-lovers have brought her to those hard embraces she will then strive to court them and wooe them but shall be able to work nothing upon their affections And finding by sad experience that she seeks in vain for what will not be found she will then fall if not too late upon this sad resolution I will now go and return to my right Husband He was the first and he was the best And I have since tasted of no such happinesse as I ever was sure of in the fruition of his favour 8. This she will then say But she should sooner have taken notice that I was the true Author of what she called her corn and wine
and oil And it was I that gave her that rich plentie of silver and gold which she thought fitter to bestow in the service of Baal then in mine 9. For that unseasonable abuse of what I gave her I will come to her again with an armie of enemies raised up against her and by them I will take away the corn and the wine which I had given her in the right season of them And when she thinks she is in a fair way of enjoying my wool and my slax which she would not acknowledge to come from my bountie I will snatch them both so sodainly and so far out of her reach that she shall not have enough so much as to cover her nakednesse 10. So shall I give way to the discoverie of her follie and shame in the open view of them that she most shamefully doted upon in the time of her plentie And neither they nor any other shall then be able to deliver her out of my hands 11. There shall I put an end to all her jollity to all her festival daies and new Moons and Sabbaths and all her solemn feasts because she looked more to her outward worship in them then to her inward sanctitie 12. And then also her vines and her fig-trees shall vanish in a general desolation which she never dreamed of when she was wont to boast of them as of presents bestowed upon her or made surer for her use by the benefit of her union with those her unfortunate Lovers But I that could not be acknowledged for the true founder of that her happinesse and the onelie means to preserve it will now show that I was so by turning those pleasant vineyards and other so profitable delights into a rude forest and when they are so taken from their unthankful mouths the verie beasts of the field shall eat them up or their rude destructive enemies that may be described by a parable of wild beasts 13. Such will I make my sad visitation of those merry daies wherein she honoured her Baals instead of her own Husband burned her incense to them and for their sakes like a proud strumpet tricked her self up in her gaudie ornaments her ear-rings and her jewels In which garb she footed it after those her dearest dieties and thought little of what I deserved or what I could bring upon her for all this saith the Lord. 14. For this good behaviour of hers shall not I use her kindlie conduct her fairly into some solitary wildernesse in a loving posture and in that privacie accost her in some amorous language to the solace of her good heart yes I warrant you I will lead her thence to her kind Assyrian Adulterers that shall prune her vines to the purpose She shall have her fine valley of pleasure turned into a valley of Achor a dismal place And there will I first open the way to her new instruction wherein she shall learn a new lesson that she never learned before And because she hath formerlie been so musicallie merrie in their sweet companie Let her there learn to sing her meriments over again if she can and trie if her voice will be framed to as merrie a tune as ever she warbled out in her younger daies and equal her merry sits that she had after her safe deliverie out of Egypt 16. But alas in that sad time her mouth will not rellish those sweet and merry ditties nor will she have any mind to her old language of Baal Though it signifie a Husband yet because it is the name of her Idol too I can tell her she will then be so warie as rather to use the terms of Ishi then Baali in the ordinarie salutations of a Husband 17. For I will teach her mouth to leave her wonted names of Baalim They shall have small comfort in the use of that name hereafter which so much abused it heretofore 18. After the amendment which shall attend this alteration I will make a league and covenant in their behalf and such as shall tend to their good It shall be a covenant with the beasts of the field and the fowls of the aire and the creeping things of the earth And then for a covenant with men too I will put as clear an end to their former wars and dissentions as if in their sight I should break the bow and the sword and all the instruments of battel And they shall quietly take their rest without any fear of danger 19. I will adde this too by way of a kind Apostrophe to my people If thou wilt keep thy faith with me for the time to come though thou hast gone a whoring after other gods yet will I espouse thee to my self again for ever And that espousal shall be made by my goodnesse and by moderation of my judgements and that in loving kindnesse and in much mercy 20. And it shall be faithfullie done with full resolution of keeping all promises on my behalf and by that thou shalt know me to be Iehovah i. that he to whom thou art espoused is the powerful God that ever doth reallie make good what he hath said which is the chief notion and reason of the name of Iehovah V. 21 22. Then shall there be as much plentie of corn and wine and oil and all necessaries as can be desired by my people Israel which shall now have the name of Jezreel as being a holy seed and a Mother-Church And no blessing that can come from heaven or earth shall be dutifullie asked in her behalf but it shall be as readilie granted 23. And I will disseminate and disperse her far abroad in the earth with happie enlargement like seed that is cast about with expectation of a large increase And as I will therein make good the best notion of Iezreel so in great mercy I will change the names of Loruchamah and Loammi into Ruchamah and Ammi For she shall tast of my mercy and be my people and resume the priviledge of calling me her God CHAP. III. 1. THen said the Lord unto me Go yet love a woman beloved of her friend yet an adulteresse according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel who look to other gods and love flagons of wine 2. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver and for an Homer of barley and an half Homer of barley 3. And I said unto her Thou shalt abide for me many dayes thou shalt not play the harlot and thou shalt not be for another man so will I also be for thee 4. For the children of Israel shall abide many daies without a King and without a Prince and without a sacrifice and without an image and without an Ephod and without a Teraphim 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God and David their kings and shall fear the Lord and his goodnesse in the latter dayes
of a false sentence or the not executing of a just law when it is in their power to do it 8. It were well if they would amend this fault and resolve to do Justice in awe and reverence of that all-seeing eye and powerfull Majesty that created all the glorious lamps of Heaven Among them He made the Pleiades or Vergiliae a constellation of seven stars that ushers in the delights of the spring and the fittest time for navigation and Orion that appears about November and threatens tempestuous or at least inconstant weather as the name it self imports It is He that can turn the shadow of death the most dismall and palpable darknesse into the clearest morning and on the contrary the brightest day into the blackest night which allegorically expresseth another power of his to turn the saddest calamity into the truest felicity and again the fairest prosperity into the greatest misery It is He that can call the waters out of the Sea drawing them in vapours into the clouds by the heat of the Sun and poure them down again upon the earth in pleasant and comfortable showres where and whensoever he pleaseth It is He whose name is Iehovah which name showes the independance of his own essence that gives being to all other and the constancy of his performance of whatsoever he hath promised 9. It is he that doth often in such measure refresh and inable a weak man which hath been laid wast and desolate that he overcomes the strong It is he that brings it so about that a feeble man laid desolate shall invade and take a strong place of defense All these Instances of his power might well perswade the Israelites that He is able to releive those that are oppressed and wronged in their courts of Justice 10. Yet have not they been well advised of this For they have showed their malice against him that for their injustice hath reproved them openly in the very gates of their Cities that are their usuall places of Judicature There have they made it known how they use to abominate him that speaks sincerely ex animo and to the purpose as if he understood the case in hand 11. Now because you of Israel have thus unjustly oppressed and trampled upon the poor not onely in your Courts of Justice as you call them but in other places at your own price taking from them burdens of wheat which they got as a reward of their day-labour and for the releif of your family Therefore you that by such unjust meanes have built you sumptuous houses of hewen stone shall not come to possesse and enjoy them nor shall ye stay so long in the land as to taste the wine of those fair and lovely vineyards which you have planted upon the like purchase 12. For I observe your manifold transgressions those specially wherein you afflict the just defenders of the poor and by your bribery and other waies keep the needy from their right in that very place wherein they have most reason to expect it 13. Therefore in such evill and corrupt times he that is wise will spare his giving you any more good admonitions at his own perill which he sees will do no good upon men wholly wedded and devoted to their own waies of unlawfull gain and injurious to them that rebuke them for it 14. The thought of this may perswade you while the punishment is yet deferred to bethink your selves of doing that which becomes the people of God and by all meanes avoiding such foule faults that you may live and escape the dangers that hang over your heads Do this in time and the Lord God of Hostes will be with you as you use to boast that he is in the midst of you and will preserve you from any great danger 15. Avoid sinne with a perfect hatred of it and do that which is good in pure love of vertue and goodnesse Above all take care for the free course of Iustice in the publick places of judgement Then happily the Lord of Hostes will be mercifull to the poor remnant of the children of Israel now under the power of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Ioseph 16. For to no other end doth the Lord God of Hostes threaten so much but that your Repentance might timely prevent his judgements and lay hold of his mercy This is the intent of that which the Lord hath said that there shall be mourning not in your houses onely but in all your streets and lamentation in all your high-waies and publick places Where the generall calamity shall joyn whole troupes of them together in the sad tone of Alas Alas what will become of us Then shall they that dwell in Cities invite the Husbandmen to bear a part in their Lamentation and they that for their skill in those sad waies of Mourning were wont to be hired to do it in the Funerals of the richer sort of men shall be called in not to personate a mourner or act a part for money but more really and seriously to expresse that sorrow which equally concerned them all 17. And in all the Vineyards where you were wont to have such merry shoutes and chearfull acclamations at the close of a happy Vintage there also shall you eccho your dolefull sighes and outcries to one another While I passe thorough thy land to take vengeance of all thy wickednesse saith the Lord. That they who would not honour me for my favours and blessings may acknowledge me at least in my righteous Judgements 18. Then woe to them they will be of all other the most unhappy and miserable that to their Idolatry Injustice and other clamorous sins venture also to adde the sinnes of Unbeleif Impatience and open contempt of those many Prophetical admonitions that have been used to reclaim them and in that wicked disposition are not ashamed to say Oh when will the day of the Lord come which the Prophets have so often sounded in our eares Is it the day of our death or of the doom that the whole nation must expect to be executed upon them And will it be so terrible as they seem to conceive We would fain see in earnest what that day will prove and whether the Prophets were not much mistaken in their Predictions For will God ever in such manner forsake his holy land and the children of Abraham Isaac and Iacob his dearest Saints Oh that the time were come when we might try the love of God and see the day of the Lord which is so talked of Alas poor soules why are you so willing to see it If you knew what it will be to you you would not be so earnest to hasten it forward For it will be a black and dismall day a time of extream misery and calamity without the mixture of any light somnesse and comfort And do you long for such a sad cloudy stormy day 19. In that day terrours and troubles will come so thick upon
fields 5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord. 6 Prophesie ye not say they to them that prophesie they shall not prophesie to them that they shall not take shame 7 O thou that art named the house of Iacob is the spirit of the Lord straitened are these his doings do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly 8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that passe by securely as men averse from war 9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever 10 Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest because it is polluted it shall destroy you even with a fore destruction 11 If a man walking in the spirit and falshood do lie saying I will prophesie unto thee of wine and of strong drink he shall even be the prophet of this people 12 I will surely assemble O Iacob all of thee I will surely gather the remnant of Israel I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah as the flock in the midst of their fold they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men 13 The breaker is come up before them they have broken up and have passed through the gate and are gone out by it and their king shall pâ—sse before them and the Lord on the head of them CHAP. II. 1. THese woes and sorrows that are threatned before are the just rewards of sin And they must look for a great share in that wo that studie to be evil and upon their beds devise iniquity and plot several waies wherein they may bring their wickednesse into act as soon as the opportunity of the morning light and their own power and ability will give them leave 2. This kind of men do no sooner fasten theiâ— covetousnesse upon other mens fields but all the violence that can be must be used for the gaining of them no sooner do they entertain a desire of other mens houses but they think they may take them as their own Such violence and oppression do they use against other men and their houses and whatsoever descends to them by no lesser right then that of inheritance 3. Therefore thus saith the Lord these plots and devices of this family of the house of Iacob shall be answered with somewhat that I will devise against them They contrived the evil of sin and would not be taken off from the execution of it so will I in my thoughts resolve of the evil of punishment from whence none of you shall shrink your necks out of the collar to escape it And I will lay such a yoke upon you that you shall be ready to sink under it and shall not be able to go upright That will be an ill time unto all the time of their going into captivity and bearing the yoke of a forein Prince and Conqueror 4. In that day shall men take up a proverb against you and deliver it in terms of a most bitter lamentation saying We are utterly spoiled and the land that was the lot and portion of my people is changed to other uses And how strangely hath the enemy removed and taken away whatsoever he could carrie with him and now returns again to share our lands and tenements 5. Thus will they abuse us in songs and short parables taken up in scorn and sung as personating of our God and us But now to speak plainly and without parable of our selves there is too much truth in their abusive song For I may say to my dear Country Thou shalt never have any again that shall divide thy several inheritances unto thee as they have done heretofore in the congregations of the Lord. 6. And now since I have told you others mocks against you let me tell you how you were wont to mock us that are your Prophets and say Do not you drop and distil such prophesies into us as other Prophets have used to be free of Well the time will come when such Prophets as you so abused will drop no more of such prophesies upon you like the rain or dew from heaven And when you know what it is to want them you will resolve that no Prophet that comes after shall carry away such reproaches instead of rewards and have his heavenly doctrine answered with such base and ignominious speeches 7. This which I tell you is said to the house of Iacob by commission from God himself And when these and the like threats in our prophesies are declared unto you think ye that the merciful spirit of the Lord is any way shortned and contracted Or doth he these things out of any ill intentions to you Nay are not my words in the mouth of my Prophets intended to the good of every one that walks uprightly for I speak to you now as from God himself and in his person and so I go on to speak to you in the same person 8. They that went awhile ago under the title of my people and called me their God do now as if I were become their enemie rise up in hostile manner against me and they that were indeed my people I speak it to you who have used them so kindly that according to your proverb you have pulled off their robe with their under garments and so left them to the naked world And no otherwise do you take any thing from those that passe on peaceably by you then you do from those that are returned as captives from the battel over whom you have a fairer pretense from the priviledge of war for rifling of them 9. And not the men onely but the weaker sex too do you use after this rude and barbarous manner for you have against all law ejected wives of my people out of their poor houses wherein they took pleasure to be as good women should do without gadding abroad And so do you put them upon the inconveniences which they must suffer that are turned out of doors to shift for themselves and bring up their children as they may and not as they should Wherein you take away for ever that honour and glorie which I should have had from their children if their education had been answerable to the will and means of their godly parents 10. Therefore as you ejected their mothers so will I eject you Come then and prepare your selves to be packing out of this land which your sins have so pulluted It shall be no dwelling place for such as you It shall rather be a means utterly to destroy you and vomit you out as a matter of most filthy corruption that hath been a long time troublesom unto her 12. Is not this a fit people to shake up their best Prophets as they do But I can tell you what Prophets would please
Lord of hosts 13 And this have ye done again covering the Altar of the Lord with tears weeping with crying out insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more or receiveth it with good will at your hand 14 Yet ye say Wherefore Because the Lord hath been witnesse between thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou hast dealt treacherously yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant 15 And did not be make one yet had he the residue of the spirit and wherefore one That he might seek a godly seed therefore take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth 16 For the Lord the God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away for one covereth violence with his garment saith the Lord of hosts therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously 17 To have wearied the Lord with your words yet ye say Wherein have we wearied him when ye say Every one that doth evill is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgement CHAP. II. 1. ANd now I come to speak to you again O you Priests For somewhat more I have in charge to acquaint you withall And this it is 2. If you will not hear and obey what is told you by my Prophets against your own profaness and negligence in my service and your connivence at the like fault in the people or rather your drawing of them into it by the scandall of your own ill example If you will not take it seriously to heart and show your repentance by your amendment giving more honour and respect to me in the execution of your severall functions then you have done heretofore saith the Lord of Hosts Then will I instead of a blessing send a curse upon you that sacrifice and you the people that bring such contemptible sacrifices unto me And I will send a curse upon your corn and whatsoever I have bestowed upon you as a blessing upon your former labours I will did I say Nay you may see that this curse of mine hath begun to work upon you already because as you neglected me and my service so you neglected to take that great fault into your serious consideration but made light of it notwithstanding the many admonitions and exhortations that have been made unto you 3. Therefore if you will at least consider the punishment of your sin you shall see and wonder what destruction I will bring upon you and your seed after youâ— And when you come to appease me by sacrifices rather then I will be pleased with such poor service I will throw the dung of them in your faces even the dung of your solemnest sacrifices to show my contempt of you in that sacred place where you have dared to show your contempt of me And out of that place out of the very Temple one that I will appoint shall take you away with him and dispose of you with as much scorn and contempt as you have showed to Me and my holy Altars 4. Thus you will know by your own punishments why I send these first commands and lawes of Reverence to be showed in my House and in my service I did it that my Covenant might be kept which I made with the Tribe of Levi saith the Lord. 5. For my Covenant with the Levitical Priest was a Covenant of Life and Peace i. of long life and felicity or of a long prosperous and happy life upon the carefull discharge of their Priestly office And these favours I bestowed upon him because of his fear and awe of me which made him show so much heed and reverence in my service and make his approaches before me with all religious devotion and humility as one sensible of the service he was to perform to me and in a place of my speciall presence 6. Nothing came out of his mouth but what was agreeable to Law and Truth and Equitie And when he was to expresse his judgement in any case no word was found to proceed from between his lips that had any wicked or by-respect And his good conversation was answerable to his good words He converted many from their sinfull and unrighteous courses 7. And from whom should all this be expected but from the Priest And so ever let the Priest be exemplary in his life and language Let the Priests lips preserve knowledge And let him be such a one that from him men may enquire the true sense and meaning of the Law For He is like an Angel of the Lord not onely to present before God the prayers of the people but acquaint them also with the will and pleasure of Almighty God Which two are the great employments of the blessed Angels 8. But you are Priests of no such Angelical strain for as you have gone out of the right way your selves so you have made others stumble after your scandalous example and mistake the way which is made plain for them in the law and wherein your first and good Levites walked with me according to the Covenant whereas you take a course to frustrate and null the Covenant made with those Leviticall Priests saith the Lord of Hostes. 9. Therefore will I also null my part of the Covenant and bring you to that passe that you shall be scorned and contemned of all the common people because you would not contein your selves within the wayes of my lawes and ordinances but stepped aside for private respects wresting and wracking of the law that it might be brought to what would fit your own turnes for pleasing the persons of men 10. But are we not all Brethren in Nature the Sons of one man of Jacob our Father And are we not Brethren in Religion too Hath not one God by a kind of new creation moulded and formed us into a peculiar people for his service Why then do you injure and oppresse and defraud one another and so make a breach of that Covenant made with your Fathers and of that love which you owe to one another as Brethren 11. They of the Kingdom of Iudah are guilty of this great transgression and so are they of the Kingdom of Israel such of the ten tribes as returned with them into their own Countrey And they of Ierusalem too nearest to my own House where the best livers should have been expected They and these have been abominable in their actions Even Iudah my more peculiar people have prophaned my Sanctuary and the holy City which I honoured with so many testimonies of my love For they have made a mixture of Iewes and Gentiles and married them that are devoted to the service of a strange God 12. God will destroy the man that hath done this vile act whether he be Priest or Laick and send him far enough from the tents of Iacob Yes though he
came to make peace by presents and offerings unto me as to the Lord of Hostes. 13. But there 's another fault too that you have committed upon occasion of this marrying of strange women i. You show so much love to them and so little to your own wives that you make them cover the altar of the Lord with teares and disturb the sacred Temple with bitter lamentations so that I can have no more delight in your offerings nor can I take any thing well from your hands though it be purposely brought thither to appease my wrath and make you acceptable in my sight saith the Lord. 14. And why so will you say Because the Lord Iehovah is a witnesse between thee and the wife of thy youth thy lawfull and first love whom thou abusest after such a harsh and inhumane manner But she should be used as thy Dear Consort and Fellow-servant to the same God and the wife of the same Covenant not onely made thy wife by a solemn Covenant and stipulation mutually tendred before me for the securing of your mutuall love and affection but the wife that is interested in the Covenant made with God himself to serve and obey him Whereas neither of these so strong obligations to ingage thee to those wives that are superinduced and of meer strangers are made the proud Usurpers and Commanders of thy House 15. Now Echad i. Abraham whose example you pretend to follow did not so But he was of a more excellent Spirit And when he took a maid for his Concubine why did Abraham do it He did it not for lust nor with injury to Sarah for it was at her intreaty but onely desirous of a pious seed and a seed promised by God Himself Therefore take heed of being led by that violent and erring spirit of your own Think of Abraham's meek and obedient Spirit and commit not such a cruell fault as to suffer a stranger to domineer over the wife of thy youth 16. For thus saith the great Iehovah the God of Israel He that doth so hates to put her away He cannot do that for shame but he cloakes the injury that he doth to her by keeping her still in his own house saith the Lord of Hostes. But once again I warn you take heed of being led by your own unruly spirits and let me hear no more of this great fault 17. There is yet another thing in your ordinary talk wherein you have offended and wearied out the patience of Almighty God And wherein have we so tired and displeased Him will you say It is in using those wicked Proverbs of yours Every one that is evill is acceptable enough in the sight of the Lord and sure he takes delight in them for so you guesse by the preferment of wicked men And in your other said saw Where is the God of Iudgement that doth not rather presently punish those wicked men if he knew them to be such As if we were to limit and confine him for his times and his waies how and when He shall make proof of his Justice CHAP. III. 1 BEhold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of hosts 2 But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope 3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousnesse 4 Then shall the offerings of Iudah and Ierusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the daies of old and as in former years 5 And I will come neer to you to judgement and I will be a swift witnesse against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swearers and against those that oppresse the hireling in his wages the widow and the fatherlesse and that turn aside the stranger from his right and fear not me saith the Lord of hosts 6 For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Iacob are not consumed 7 Even from the daies of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them return unto me and I will return unto you saith the Lord of hosts but ye said wherein shall we return 8 Will a man rob God yet ye have robbed me But ye say Wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings 9 Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed one even this whole nation 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house that there may be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and powre you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field saith the Lord of hosts 12 And all nations shall call you blessed for ye shall be a delightsome land saith the Lord of hosts 13 Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee 14 Ye have said It is in vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts 15 And now we call the proud happy yea they that work wickednesse are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered 16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name 17 And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him 18 Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not CHAP. III. 1. NOw because you inquire after the Lord of Judgement and after his coming will you hear what himself saith of his first coming Behold I will shortly send my Angel or Embassadour John the Baptist my fore-runner who shall prepare the way before me by his Baptism and Sermons of Repentance and his Testimonie of Me and my coming and then the Lord the Messias that you so earnestly expect and inquire after shall sodainly come into his Temple before he is looked for the time being concealed from men to honour his Temple at Jerusalem with his bodily presence and there to teach and instruct his people of