aright A. That you may seek the Lord and find him you must seek him 1 Early 2 Sincerely 3 Zealously 4 Sensibly 5 Constantly 6 Regularly 1 Those that will find the Lord when they seek him must seek him early in the morning of their youth whilst the day of their Visitation lasts To such the Promise runs Prov. 8.17 They that seek me early shall find me It was Iosiahs commendation that when he was young and but sixteen years old he began to seek and serve the Lord 2 Chron. 34.1 3. and Timothy knew the Scriptures from a Childe 2 Tim. 3.15 We must also seek him orderly seek his Kingdome in the first place both before and above all other things Matth. 6.33 2 Sincerely and cordially nor hollowly and complementally We must seek him with all our might to such the Promises run that they shall find him Deut. 4.29 2 Chro. 15.15 Ier. 29.13 Then shall yee seek me and find me when yee shall search for me with all your heart Thus David sought him and found him Psa. 119.10 never any mist that ever sought him in truth Psal. 145.18 If we be the genuine Seed of plaine sincere Iacob we shall never seek his face in vain Isa. 45.19 before they call he will answer such and will run to meet them as he did the Prodigal Isa. 65.24 Luke 15.18 19 20. Yea a wicked Ahab shall not altogether seek to God in vain and if the shadow can doe so much what will the substance and real seeking of God doe 3 We must seek him zealously and earnestly Magnamagnâ— such great things must be sought with fâ—rvent affections Deut. 15.5 fleight seeking loseth all Precious things are not easily attained Even the worlds wealth comes not with a wish much less heavenly treasures They that will have them must ask and if that will not doe they must seek if seeking will not doe they must be more importunate and knock it is not a bare Repetition but a Gradation Mat. 7.7 wee must seek as men doe for silver and gold with utmost diligence Prov. 2.4 let not the children of this world be wiser and more industrious for their trash than we for true treasure Remember that none shall be rewarded fully but such as seek him diligently Heb. 11.6 4 Sensibly See how we are undone without him though we were Lords of all the world yet without the favour of God who is Lord of all we are nothing Sense of our wants will sharpen our desires after him and make us resolve with David to give no rest to our eyes nor slumber to our eye-lids till wee have found him Psal. 132.4 5 Constantly 1 Chron. 16.11 We must never rest till wee have found him persevere in the use of all good means as Prayer Meditation c. resolve to take no denial importunity will doe much Comfort will come in the end and will abundantly recompence all our waiting Though hope deferred may make the heart sick yet when it comes it will be as a tree of life Prov. 13.12 6 Regularly We must inquire for the good old way of Pâ—rity and Peace and walk therein Ier. 6.16 we must not walk according to the superstitious Customs and Canons of men but according to the Canon of Gods VVord Galat. 6.16 Q. But what benefit shall I have by seeking God A. Thou shalt have Life and that is a very powerful motive life is so sweet and desirable a thing that the Devil could say Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 Now Piety hath the promise 1. Of Life Temporal so farre as shall be good for the righteous Psal. 34.12 37.3 Prov. 3.17 22.4 2 You shall have Spiritual life Isa. 55.3 Ezek 16.6 which is indeed the onely excellent sweet and durable life Natural life is common every wicked man lives it and it is imbittered with many crosses and it last not it is a vapour that suddenly vanisheth but this spiritual life is a special comfortable endless life death it self cannot extinguish it 3 If this bee not enough you shall have Eternal life Joh. 3.16 and 6.51 and 17.3 VERSE 5. But seek not Bethel nor enter into Gilgal and pass not to Beersheba for Gilgal shall surely go into Captivity and Bethel shall come to nought TRue Repentance consists of two parts 1 There is terminus á quo from what wee must turn 2 Terminus ad quem to whom wee must turn In the foregoing verse the Prophet sets down positively and affirmatively whom wee must seek and to whom wee must turn and that is to the Lord. Hee comes now to shew us negatively what wee must not do and what wee must not seek and that is Idols Seek the Lord but seek not Idols God puts a But and Block in their way to keep them from them But seek not Bethel God can do all things but Idols can do nothing great reason then wee should forsake them and cleave onely to God who would have us first Table-men to worship him according to his own will revealed in his word and then second Table-men in righteousness towards our neighbour vers 15. In the words wee have 1 A Dehortation from Idolatry to this end they must Three places infected with Idolatry shun Bethel shun Gilgal and shun Beersheba 1 That Bethel and Gilgal were such I have shewed before at large on Amos 4.4 Bethel was the place where Ieroboam set up a golden Calf Gilgal was a City full of Idols Hos. 4.15 and 12.11 Beersheba was a City in Canaan where Abraham had formerly dwelt Gen. 21.31 32 33. here God appeared to Isaac Gen. 26.24 and here Iacob sacrificed Gen. 46.1 This made these superstitious people think that there was more holiness in this place than in others and therefore hither they came when God had ordained them to go to Ierusalem This City was afterwards allotted to the Tribe of Iudah Iosh. 15.28 and 1 King 19.8 yet it was inhabited by the Tribe of Simeon Josh. 19.2 It was scituate on the utmost South-border of the Land of Canaan as Dan was on the North. It was a City given to Idolatry as Bethel and Gilgal were and therefore the Lord giveth a strict injunction here that they should not go to any of them But seek not Bethel c. q. d. If you will bee my people you must cast away your Idols you must not go to worship the golden Calf at Bethel nor to the High-places and Idolatrous Altars at Gilgal and Beersheba for these places shall perish with the Idols that are in them Pass not to Beersheba The Kingdome of Israel was divided from the Kingdome of Iudah yet so mad were this people on Idols that they will post over the Country of Iudah after them when they had too many at home already 2 To strengthen the Dehortation here is a reason added drawn from the danger which would follow if they followed Idols both they
and Tears first conquer God and then we shall quickly conquer all Psal. 81.13 14. It is he only that raised our Warres that can make them cease it is hee that gives the Sword its commission and till hee take away its commission it will not cease It is he that maketh Warres to cease not only at home but also abroad even to the ends of the earth Psal. 46.9 It is not men that put an end to War for if some might have their way we should never have peace like Salamanders they love to live in the fire of warre and contention these are Monsters not Men Davids Prayer shall be mine Scatter the people that delight in warre It is the Lord that subdues our enemies and creates peace for his people Hence Moses in that excellent Song ascribes all to God Exod. 15.1 to 14. The Lord hath triumphed gloriously He not we hath thrown the Horse and his Rider into the Sea He is our strength He is our Salvation Thou Lord hast overthrown them Thou hast destroyed them Thou hast delivered thy people c. when ever therefore we want Peace let us goe to this God of peace and by Prayer and patience wait on him who can with a word of his mouth speak us into peace and make all warres to cease amongst us See more concerning Warre in Gerards Loc. Com. de Magistratu Tom. 2. folio p. 416. in fine libri Dr. Gouge his Arrows p. 177. Clerks Mirror chap. 134. B. Halls Cases of Consc. Decad. 2. cha 9. Grotius de Jure belli B. Babington on Exod. 17.1 Binchius Mellif Theolog. Loc. 12. p. 133. P 2. see sixteen excellent Sermons in Latine on this subject by Sibelius on Exod. 17.1 c. 1 Vol. folio p. 216 217 c. 6 Obs. Obstinate sinning provokes the Lord to cut off young men Your young men have I slaine with the sword Their Sins are acted with more impetuous violence and so are more displeasing unto God As God is much delighted with the obedience of young men when they can break through many difficulties to serve him Ier. 2.2 so he is greatly displeased with the heady haughty outragious courses of young men whom no counsel will reclaime nor warning amend That age which is most prone to sin is nearest to Judgement and when God shall awaken Conscience and set the sins of thy youth in order before thee then thy mirth will be turned into mourning and thy joy into heaviness Eccles. 11.9 When young men dishonour God and preferre the Devil his profest enemy before him giving the wine and flower of their dayes to the Devil and the dreggs to God hee will give such up to spiritual Judgements and take no pleasure in them Isa. 9.17 I will not joy in your young men implying that when young men walk in Gods way they are Gods joy and delight but when they are proud prophane idle unclean c. then comes the Feaver the Plague the Sword and cuts them off such rude rebellious persons shall not live out half their dayes When Israel fell to Idolatry then a fire consumed their young men Psalm 78.63 and when they grow obstinate and incorrigible as in the text then the Sword destroyes them On that Young men then would be perswaded to fly from the lusts of youth deny themselves betimes and make the Lord the God of their youth and then hee will bee the God of their old age hee will never leave them nor forsake them 7 Obs. Sin robs us of our Creature-comforts Before they lost their Young men and now they lose the Horses and the Riders too your Horses are gone into captivity and are taken from you A Horse in it self is a useful creature it Fights for us Draws for us and Carries us up and down but sin robs us of them and makes them unsuccessful and vaine Psal. 33.17 These Israelites had trusted in their Horses Hos. 14.3 and now God makes them sensible of their folly in trusting to creatures that cannot profit them nor save them in a time of trouble God had left them and now Peace leaves them Horses leave them Plenty leaves them and their Young men which were the strength of their Battle leave them so sad it is with people when God departs from them Hos. 7.13 8 Obs. Noysome stenches are a punishment for sin Isa. 34.3 Joel 2.20 As we have abused all our Senses so God may justly punish us in them all Bless the Lord then for the Winds those Fans of the world which are a means to keep the Air pure from infection which otherwise with Damps and ill sents would poyson us every moment VERSE 11. I have over-thrown some of you or some amongst you as God over-threw Sodom and Gomorrah and yee were as a fire-brand pluckt out of the burning yet have yee not returned to me saith the Lord. WE are now come to the Sixth and last Rod which God wasted on this stubborn People in vain and that is the subversion of their Cities I have over-thrown some of you c. Where we have first the Judgement executed viz. the subversion of some of their Cities Some read the words Prophetically as if they were a Prophesie of some Judgement to come q. d. I will raise up Salmaneser the King of Assyria who shall besiege Samaria and take it and shall subdue the Kingdome of Israel But this is clear against the text and context for the word is in the Preterit Tense and not in the Future it is not I will but I have overthrown your Cities and yet yee have not returned unto me which clearly shews that he speaks of Judgements past and such as had been ineffectual upon them and therefore he goes on to threaten more grievous things against them But now thus will I doe unto thee c. 2 Here is the Author of this subversion viz. the Lord I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom q. d. As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah so have I overthrown your Cities God speaks of himself according to the Hebrew Dialect in the third Person setting forth thereby his Honour and his power in this signal Judgement The like expression we have Gen. 19.24 The Lord rained fire and brimstone upon Sodom from the Lord that is from himself It is an Hebraism when a Noun is put for a Pronoun the more emphatically to express that it was not by Accident or any ordinary course of Nature but by the immediate and almighty Power of God that such showers of Fire came upon them 3 Here is the dreadfulness of this subversion it was like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah As God made them examples of terrour to all the wicked in succeeding Generations by consuming them with fire from Heaven 2 Pet. 2. 6. Iude 7. so the Lord brought those Israelites to the very brink of utter ruine and destruction Q. Wee read of no Cities in all the Scriptures that ever the Lord
in your walls Samaria had been long besieged and the Assyrian had made many breaches in the walls of the City at which they attempted to run out and save themselves by flight even as Beasts when they are frighted run out at a gap Every Cow at the breach which is before her that is to say any way for they had neither Gates nor Walls whole Valiant men keep their ranks and files in despight of all opposition Ioel 2.7 8. but faint-hearted fearful sinners shift for themselves and take the next gap to run out at As beasts when chased run on heaps disorderly so these fly from their enemies tumultuously and confusedly without any respect to their companions seeking only to save themselves Amos 2.14 15 16. And yee shall cast them into the Palace q. d. that yee may fly away the swifter yee shall cast away your pleasant and precious things and shall fly naked from your enemy The Learned conceive there may bee an Ecclipsis in the words which may be thus supplied yee shall cast away those things which yee have brought into the Palace as Bribes Treasures Jewels and precious things which you brought into the Palace for security and safety in that strong place yee shall now in your fear cast them all away This is conceived to bee the most genuine sense yet the learned are divided 1 Some render the word thus Yee shall bee cast as Captives into Armenia or into Mount Armon but these mistake the Original word Haharmonah where Harmon is not a proper name but a common name and signifieth a Palace High-house or Tower from Ram altus excelsus 2 Others thus You shall cast your selves into the Palace viz. to hide your selves there from the fury of the Assyrian but in vain for hee shall batter those Towers and take you there 3 Calvin thus You shall cast your selves e Palatio out of the Palace that is yee shall fly for your lives and leave all your pleasant things behind you in your forsaken Palaces 4 The Dutch Annotations thus Yee shall throw away that which was brought into the Palace i. e. that which you gathered into your Palaces by violence and robbery you shall now throw it away alluding to that of Amos 3.10 Yee store up violence and robbery in your Palaces but when the Sword comes yee shall throw all away and think it well if yee can save your lives so that in these two Verses we have a three-fold punishment threathed against Israel 1. Banishment and transplantation out of their own Land Vers. â— 2. Flying before their enemies 3. Loss of goods ver 3. OBSERVATIONS 1 Fear and amazement is the proper portion of wicked men Those that fear not God have cause to fear every thing All are enemies when God is an enemy Deut. 28.65 Prov. 28.1 Ioel 2.6 these men here run some this way and some another way one runs out of the City and another runs into the Palace but all in vain for there is no escaping when God pursues Amos 9.1 2 3 4. though wicked men may seeme full of courage and confidence in times of peace yet when Judgement shall arrest them none so amort and amazed as they Levit. 26.36 Isa. 33.14 Dan. 5.6 But of this at large elsewhere 2 Obs. Wicked men are the Pests of the places where they dwell By their sins they bring down the walls of Cities and make breaches in them for their enemies to enter and destroy them the very stones and timber cry for judgement against them Zech. 5.4 3 Observe Partners in sin will leave men in their sorrow Those that were united before yet when judgement comes they look for the nearest Breach to run out at not staying for others When Iudas was troubled in conscience for betraying his Lord and Master his companions in sin leave him to shift for himself with a Look thou to that Mat. 27.4 4 Obs. Creature-comforts cannot steed us in a day of wrath Prov. 11.4 Silver and Gold will not then avayl Ezek. 7.19 all Jewels and Treasures fayl us in time of distress only the jewel of a good Conscience like a faithful friend will never leave us nor forsake us VERSE 4.5 Come to Bethel and transgress at Gilgal multiply transgression and bring your Sacrifices every morning and your Tithes after three years And offer a Sacrifice of thanks-giving with leaven and proclaim and publish the Free-offerings for this liketh you O yee children of Israel saith the Lord THe Prophet goes on with his Charge against Israel and that the justness of Gods Judgements which he threatned to bring upon this people might bee made apparent to the world he comes to set forth their gross Idolatry together with their obstinacy and induration therein insomuch as no Punishments could work upon them this makes the Lord begin with a most biting and bitter Sarcasm saying Goe to Bethel and transgress The Prophet had before charged them with cruelty now he upbraids them for their Idolatry and false-worship set up by Ieroboam their first King augmented by many of the succeeding Kings and endured so long as the Kingdom endured till at last it brought them into Captivity as I have shewed at large elsewhere The Prophet here by a Prolepsis prevents an Objection whereas they might think to escape Gods Judgements by their Sacrifices and Idolatrous services the Prophet tells them that this is so farre from pacifying Gods wrath that it incenseth him the more against them and therefore to express his great indignation against them hee sarcastically bids them Goe to Bethel and transgress c. In the words we have 1. An Ironical concession or Sarcastical exhortation Goe to Bethel and transgress This seems to be a Precept but is indeed a strong Prohibition as appears Hos. 4.15 Amos 5.5.21 22. Seek not Bethel enter not into Gilgal and therefore the Chaldee Paraphrast sets it down positively by way of assertion Yee have come to Bethel and transgrest yee have multiplied sins in Gilgal There they Worshipped the golden Calves out of a good intention conceiting that they Worshipped God when indeed they sacrificed unto Devils 2 Chron. 11.15 and therefore the Lord here in an holy indignation Ironically upbraids them with their Idolatry q. d. Since by no means you will be reclaimed but are desperately set on your own wayes since there is no remedy goe on take your own hearts lusts and fill up the measure of your iniquity Hee gives them the reins in wrath and since they will be filthy he bids them be filthy still As angry Parents are wont to say to their desperate Children I see you will have your own wayes why since there is no remedy goe on and perish The like Sarcastical taunting speeches testifying Gods indignation against sin we have in other places as Ier. 7.21 Ezek. 20.39 Goe and serve every one his Idols q. d. follow your Idols if you please I had rather yee did so than
at first shewes but like a mans hand may suddenly over-spread the whole Heavens 7 Obs. Good intentions are no warrant for evil actions Ieroboam pretended well when hee set up the golden Calves at Dan and Bethel saying Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt 1 King 12.28 his meaning was not to cast off the true God but to set him forth by some visible resemblance thinking that this might bee as good a way of Religion as the Ark and Cherubims at Ierusalem but the Lord tells them that since they had set up a worship of their own inventing hee abhorred both them and their services Amos 5.21 22. and calls it a worshipping of Devils 2 Chron. 11.15 Thus Aaron and the Israelites pretended well when they set up the golden Calf Exod. 32.4 5. Micah and his Mother had a good meaning when they erected the Ephod and Teraphim for the service of the true God Iudg. 17.3.13 Paul had a good meaning when hee persecuted the Saints Acts 26.9 yea and many that kill them think they doe God good service Ioh. 16.2 3. Uzzah it is conceived was a good man and out of a good intent would have kept the Ark from falling yet for medling with that which belonged to the Priests God smote him dead 2 Sam. 6.6 7. Those gifted men amongst us that presume to Preach without a Call no doubt but many of them have good intentions and think they doe God good service but because they have no command nor commission from God so to doe it is an abomination to him and he will one day ask them Who required this at your hands Saul out of a good intent viz. that hee might sacrifice spared the fat Cattel and Gideon made an Ephod for Gods Worship which God had not commanded but this ruined both them and their Families Iudg. 8.27 1 Sam. 15.21 Nadab and Abihu had no evil intent in offering strange Fire yet were smitten dead for their pains Levit. 10.2 3. So the Papists and the worst of men have their good meanings which at last brings them to evil ends It cannot excuse their evil dealing with God and his people What Sin so vile that is not covered with the vayl of a good meaning How many wayes are there which seeme good in mens owne eyes yet the issues thereof are the wayes of death Prov. 14.12 we may not therefore doe every man what seemeth good in his own eyes but what is good in Gods eyes Deut. 12.8 Those things which in themselves are evil may not for any good ends or plausible intentions be practised None may doe evil that good may come thereof Rom. 3.8 wee must have a command from God for what we doe else our ownâ— good minds and meanings will doe us no good yea this would open a gap to all manner of villanies the Murderer the Drunkard the Traytor c. they all pretend they have good meanings in what they doe but such vain conceits and crooked Rules of multitudes custom good meaning c. hath brought thousands to destruction we must to the Law and to the Testimony and walk according to that rule if ever wee expect peace Gal. 6.16 8 Obs. In the Worship of God we must keep close to the Rule for matter manner time and place Israel failed here in these particulars and therefore God rooted them up 1 They changed the place of Gods Worship 1 King 12.29.2 The time vers 32.3 The manner vers 28.4 The Priests vers 31 33. and this ruined them 1 King 13.33 34. it is not the Traditions of men or Customes of Fore-fathers Antiquity or Succession that is our rule the Israelites here might have pleaded Prescription for their Idolatry for above two hundred years all their twenty Kings successively were Idolatrous from first to last and the people generally followed them yet this did not make their practice good all will-worship is vain worship Mat. 15.9 it is a Sin equalized to Murder Levit. 17.3 4. it is called here transgressing and multiplying transgressions in Gilgal In Gods Worship we must doe nothing without the warrant of his VVord Numb 15.39 Deut. 12.8.11.13 14. ult Ezek. 20.19 Mat. 28.20 Col. 2. ult his VVorship must bee simple and pure agreeable to his own will not ours The Head of the Sacrifice was to be cast away implying that in matters Divine and heavenly we must cast away our own fancies and devices keeping close to Gods VVord as Moses and Gods people did Exod. 39.2.5.7.21.26.29.32 42 43. 9 Obs. Religious duties must be our daily task VVe must not bring our Sacrifices once a month or once a year but as the Lord renewes his Mercies every morning so must we renew our sacrifices of Prayer and Praises Exod. 29.38 39. Numb 28.3 4. our daily wants our daily dangers our daily temptations call upon us for daily Prayer such constant Customers shall be sooner and better served than such as are strangers to those duties David was a constant Trader in Prayer Morning and Evening and see what follows Thou shal hear me Psalm 55.17 As the Priest was every morning to renew the Fire on the Altar and to lay thereon the Morning Sacrifice so should we when we awake bee still with God Psal. 139.18 all things are blest unto us by Prayer As the Ark when it came to the house of Obed-Edom it brought a blessing with it so when duties are set up in their power there God comes and blesseth his people we should therefore dedicate our houses to God by Prayer as David did Psal. 30. title and 2 Sam. 6.20 It was an high commendation of Aurelian the Emperours Family that is was refertabon s Ecclesia Dei it was full of good people and was a little Church So were the houses of the faithful in the Primitive times hence we read so oft To the Church in thy house Rom. 16.5 1 Cor. 16.19 Col. 4.15 Philemon 2. the words will bear a double construction 1. It implies that the people of God met in those houses to hear his VVord preached to celebrate the Sacraments and Pray for publick places were not then allowed them 2. Or else it notes unto us that their private Families were now so piously ordered and religiously instructed that they seemed to be little Churches rather than ordinary houses because of the Praying Reading of Gods Word singing of Psalmes and other religious Exercises that were practised there So Ioshua resolved that hee and his house would serve the Lord Iosh. 24.15 Religion makes the best Families it breeds the best Children and makes the most obedient Subjects and Servants as wee see in Abrahams Family Sad is the condition then of those Christians that take no care of their Families but let Luxury Riot and disorder debase them such houses may better bee called Taverns or Tap-houses rather than Churches of God That daily duties ought to be performed in Families see Mr. Rob. Boultons
Rod and the heavie Oxe by the Goad OBSERVATIONS 1 Famine is one Iudgement which God sends upon impenitent Sinners VVhen God is greatly incensed against a People then he sends the Famine which he calls one of his four sore Judgements Ezek. 14.21 it is an Arrow which he shoots against a People of his wrath Ezek. 5.16 The Lord can no sooner call for a Famine but like a faithful Servant it presently obeys 2 King 8.1 hee called for a Famine and it came upon the Land seven years Psal. 105.16 when it comes in extremity it is very sad hence it is called the terrible Famine Lam. 5.10 This will appear in seven particulars 1 It makes men unnatural and cruel even to their neerest Relations as Wife and Children Nature bindes a man to tender and pitty these yet in time of Famine we read of Mothers eating their own Children 2 King 6.28 29. Ier. 14.9 Lam. 4.10 this Curse the Lord threatens against disobedient ones Deut. 28.53.56.57 2 It is a lingring languishing death other Judgements cut men off suddenly but this consumes a man as it were peece-meal Lam. 4.9 They that are slain with the Sword are better than they that are slain with hunger Why so for these pine away for lack of sustenance 3 It makes men faint and feeble and so unfits men for the Service of God in their calling Gen. 47.13 they faint by reason of the famine Hence Bread is called the staffe stay and strength of our natures Levit. 26.26 Psal. 105.16 Isa. 3.1 Ezek. 4.16 take a Staffe from a weak man and he falls to the ground 4 It makes men howl and lament Hos. 7.14 Ioel 2.11 yea rage and be mad Isa. 8.21 5 Hunger burns like a fire which is a most terrible element it wasts the radical moysture Deut. 32.24 Ieremy describing the Famine in Ierusalem tells us that their face was black like a Coal and their skin was black like an Oven because of the terrible Famine Lam. 4.8 5.10 when the Calor nativus hath nothing to feed upon it consumes the Humidum radicale and so the man dyes 6 It brings Poverty with it now extream Poverty is a sore Judgement and puts men upon desperate attempts as robbing killing c. Prov. 6.30 30.8 9. it makes rich men poor and forceth them to sell their Land Catrel Goods Cloath c. Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life The Aegyptians sold all that they had to Ioseph for bread and when all was gone they sold themselves Gen. 47.18 7 It is usually attended with other Judgements as Sword and Plague such great Judgements seldome goe alone Ier. 14.15 16. 24.10 Ezek. 7.15 14.21 Let us then fly from sin which turns that God who is mercy and pitty it self into fire and fury and provokes him to send such terrible Judgements on his people Especially take heed of four sins 1 Intemperance Drunkenness and Gluttony bring the famine on a Land Abuse of plenty loseth plenty when men rise early to follow strong drink then their honourable men are famished Isa. 5.11 12 13. Ioel 1. 2 Covenant-breaking when there was a three years Famine in the dayes of David hee inquired of the Lord what was the ground of it the answer was that it was for Saul and for his bloudy house because he slew the Gibeonites contrary to Covenant confirmed by an oath Iosh. 9.7.15.18 2 Sam. 21.1 Ier. 34.17 18. 3 When men spend the strength which they receive from the Creature in the service of the Devil consuming them upon their lusts or in sacrificing to Idols as the Israelites did here they served Baal with the Corn and Wine which God had given them therefore God took it from them 4 Contempt of the Word the wayes and Worship of God God oft punisheth our abuse of Spiritual food with the want of Corporal They that hate his Messengers shall dye by the Famine Ier. 11.21 22. so when men preferre their own interests before Gods and can dwell themselves in seiled houses but the House of the Lord must lye wast this brings a Curse upon their Crops and Labours Hag. 1.6.9.10 2.17.18 19. 2 Since it is the Lord that sends cleanness and want of bread amongst us let us be patient under it let us be dumbe and silent because the Lord hath done it There is no evil in the City of this kind especially but the Lord is the Author and orderer of it it comes not by Accident but by Divine appointment it is the Lord that sends Famines to Cities and Kingdoms and the rather we should bee patient when we consider that our Famines are nothing to what our sins deserve 2 Nothing comparatively when we consider the seven years Famine in Aegypt when for five years together there was neither Earing nor Harvest Gen. 41.40 45.6 In the three years Siege of Samaria the people within did eat their own Children and fed upon Dung 2 King 6.25.28.29 an Asses head was sold for eighty peeces of Silver which is ten pound in our coyn and the fourth part of a Kab of Doves dung for five peeces of Silver now a Kab contained four pound and five ounces and the fourth part was thirteen ounces and for this they gave ten shillings and upward But no famine was like Ierusalems famine as wee may see in the Lamentations of Ieremy when the Children cried for bread and there was none to give them those that were cloathed in Scarlet embraced the Dung-hill their beautiful Nazarites were blacker than Coals and the pittiful Mothers became Butchers of their own Children As the Lord said to his people Goe to Shiloe so say I Go to Germany and to Rochel and consider what God hath done to them for their Sins there you shall see Doggs Cats and Rats sold in the Markets and men and women fighting for them There you shall see Women eating their own Children the living feeding upon the dead and digging up dead Corps out of their Graves that they might feed upon them Beggers coming to doors have been killed and eaten yea the skins of Horses Sheep and Oxen have been their food let us take heed lest Germanies Heresies Blasphemies Apostacies Drunkenness c. be found in England lest Germanies Plagues come hither also O let us be an obedient people let us not fight against God with his own blessings nor abuse his plenty to his dishonour but serve him with gladness of heart in the abundance of all things for it is Piety that breeds plenty Psa. 81.12 13. Isa. 1.19 if there bee but a sincere will and desire to obey we shall eate the good of the Land and in time of famine wee shall be fed Psal. 33.19 34.10 37.19 Iob 5.20 Prov. 10.3 Isa. 33.15 16. 2 Live by faith and then in an holy security at destruction and famine you may laugh Iob 5.22 Faith answereth all distrustful cares and feares as Abraham did
not returned to me saith the Lord. 4 VVe have had Sword Plague and Famine amongst us and yet yee have not returned unto me saith the Lord. 5 And now the Lord seems to threaten greater Judgements and to deal more severely with us for our obstinacy and impenitency and yet we are as stupid and stubborn as ever and never once think of returning to him that smites us O that the Lord would awaken every soul of us out of this deep and deadly sleep oh that every one would now goe into his Closet and there seriously ask his soul What have I done Against what light and love against what wooings and warnings against what Mercies and Judgements have I rebelled None so beloved of his God as I and none that hath so abused his love as I have done Oh that we could now take shame to our selves for our stubborn standing out so long against so good and gracious a God! oh that we could judge our selves for our rebellion and loathe our selves for our great provocations then would the Lord repent of the evil he intended against us and we might hope to see better days than yet we have seen 6 Obs. Hipocritical turning is no turning in Gods esteem This People did sometimes howl in their misery and fast and pray Hos. 7.14 but it was but counterfeit and therefore the Lord chargeth them still with this Yet have yee not returned to me saith the Lord. False things in Scripture are counted as no things A wicked man is accounted as no man Ier. 5.1 the streets of Ierusalem were full of men but because they were not good men God calls them no men Thus the wicked are said to have no heart i. e. no good heart and so as good have none at all Hos. 7.11 VERSE 7.8 And I also have with-holden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the Harvest and I caused it to raine upon one City and caused it not to raine upon another City one peece was rained upon and the peece whereupon it rained not withered So two or three Cities wandred unto one City to drink water but they were not satisfied yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. THe Prophet descends to the enumeration of new Judgements two of which were the Causes of the Famine The first was Drought and want of Rain vers 7 8. The second was Blasting Mil-dew and the Palmer-worm vers 9. This People were like Clouds without water and yeelded no obedience to God but followed Idols and now his clouds have no water for them When God is against us all are against us so that here we have a second Scourge where-with the Lord chastised this people that he might bring them home to himself viz. Drought and Barrenness he had before punisht them with Famine and want of Bread now he punisheth them with Thirst and want of Water Thus the Lord tried all conclusions to better them but in vain as will appear by the sequel In this Verse we have 1. The efficient cause of this Judgement viz. the Lord I have with-holden the rain from you viz. the latter rain which that hot Country had most need of I have forbidden it to fall upon you saith God 2 Here is the continuance of the Judgement it was not for a week or two but for three months even till the fruits of the earth withered and were destroyed and this the Lord did the more deeply to affect them with their sins One months want of rain in that hot Country especially should have startled them two months should have astonisht them but three months should have fully awakened them yet such was their gross senslesness and stupidity that they laid it not to heart And therefore the Lord the better to set forth his patience and this peoples impenitency sets forth his dealings particularly with them and tells us how he brought the Famine the Drought the Palmer-worm and the Pestilence c. upon them He came not suddenly upon them but gave them space to repent and time to consider their wayes and the tokens of his displeasure against them But such was their obstinacy and malice that nothing could work upon them their Disease was too strong for the Physick and their Maladies for Gods remedies his labour was lost upon them 3 Here is the juncture of time when this rain was with-held from them viz. three months before Harvest which was about March for about the latter end of May in that hot Country was their Harvest this was called the latter rain and was very needful to fit fill and ripen the Corn for Harvest For the better understanding of this we must know that the Land of Canaan was not like the Land of Aegypt for in Aegypt they seldome or never had any rain Zech. 14.18 for the River Nilus did once a year over-flow the greatest part of their Country and so did mellow and soften the earth for all the year after But Canaan was a mountanous place and could not be so watered and therefore the Lord took more special care of it and watered it with rain from Heaven Deut. 11.10 11. In this Land there were two more especial seasons for rain viz. the former rain about September when the Seed was sown that it might take the better rooting and the latter rain in the Spring time when the Corn was grown up and earing to fit it for the Harvest and this was called the latter rain which is said to fall in the first month that is in March which with them was the beginning of the year Ioel 2.23 Hence are those frequent expressions in Scripture of the former and the latter rain Deut. 11.14 Ier. 5.24 Hos. 6.3 Zech. 10.2 Iam. 5.7 for in Harvest it seldome or never rained in those hot Countries and therefore when Samuel by Prayer had obtained rain in Harvest they looked upon it as a prodigious thing 1 Sam. 12.16 17 18 19. now the want of either of these rains was sad but specially the latter when a man shall see his Corn sown grown up and then when he expects a Harvest after all his pains for want of rain to have it wither and dye before his eyes this must needs be grievous to him 4 Here is the accurateness of Gods Judgements he distinguisheth between City and City Feild and Feild I caused it to rain upon one City and not upon another As hee commanded the Sun to shine on Goshen and not on Aegypt so he commands the rain to fall on some and not on others These things came not by chance but by providence it is I faith the Lord that commanded it to rain upon one parcel of ground and not upon another 5 Here is the effect of this Judgement it makes them run from City to City for water vers 8. but in vain for they could not get enough to satisfie their necessities They were sensible of bodily wants but insensible of Spiritual wants
a great Army against us and we had no strength to oppose his strength the only way is to meet him with humble submissive Supplications and so make peace with him So when ever we find that the great God is angry with us for our sins let us lay down the weapons of our rebellion submit unto him judge our selves and then he will not judge us accuse our selves and he will acquit us be sharp and severe with our selves and he will be merciful to us let us accept of the punishment of our iniquity and justifie him in all that he hath done unto us and then we have his promise for pardon Levit. 26.40 41 42. wee know it is not for Gods honour to trample upon worms The Lion will not seize on a yeelding Prey the Maftiff will not fall on the little Dogge that lyes on its back turns up all four and cries quarter The bending Reed is preserved when the stubborn Oke is pluckt up by the roots It is the proud and haughty whom God resists he sets himself in Battle array against them and delights to manifest his power in their subversion Esay 2.12 to 18. But the humble are his habitation and delight Let us therefore meet him submissively considering wee are not a match for him Sinful Nations are too weak for God how much more are single Persons Esay 40.15 1 Cor. 10.22 It is God that overturns Kings and Kingdoms at his pleasure hee hath overthrown Kingdoms that stood like firme Rocks Of all things here below we count Metals the strongest as Gold Silver Brass Iron of which Nebuchadnezzars Image was composed Dan. 2.32 33. whereby is meant the Babylonian Persian Grecian and Roman Monarchies the four greatest Monarchs of the World yet three of these the Lord hath already dasht in peeces and the Iron one of Rome only remains which God will shortly lay in the dust 3 We must meet God with grace in our hearts If wee goe to meet God our business is to make our peace with God which we cannot doe without grace for to the wicked there is no peace Now grace thâ—ugh it hath many other yet it is chiefly woven up and composed of these two golden threads 1. Love to God 2 Hatred of sin 1 Love to God We must love him appretiative intensive with highest intention of affection Love is our best affection and therefore most fit for God who is our best friend 2 Hatred of Sin There are two Affections especially which set themselves against sin which are Hatred and Grief Hatred respects the nature of sin and Grief respects the nearness of sin If we had no sin we should hate it but if it were not near us we should not grieve for it There are many that hate sin but never grieve for it but we must meet God with both these affections in us wee must hate sin as to its owne nature and grieve for it as it is our owne sin and as we offend God thereby and this is to meet God with grace in our hearts 4 We must meet God with Christ in our armes There is no seeing his face unless we bring this our elder brother with us God is holy and we are unholy so that he will not treat with us without Christ nor can wee think of God out of Christ but with extream horrour besides God will have satisfaction for sin past before he treat for the time to come now Christ is our Atonement and our Mediator and wee can expect no good from God without him therefore let us meet him with Christ in our armes 5 We must meet God with true Repentance Sorrow befits a Sinner as a garment doth the body The garment of Repentance was made for sinners Had we never sinned we had never sorrowed Repentance is Gods delight it is his favourite which he comes down from Heaven to salute and embrace Esay 57.15 Luke 15.20 Sin armes God against us but repentance disarmes him he cannot with-hold Mercies from the penitent his promise hath given repentance power to prevail with him it is the way of his owne prescribing when he would have his people to find mercy in his eyes hee bids them take this course Isa. 1.16 17. 55.7 Cant. 6.13 Ier. 4.14 13. ult Ezek. 18.31 32. Ioel 2.12 13. Zeph. 2.1 2 3. Acts 17.30 Iam. 4.8 9 10. This is a never failing remedy it alwaies obtaines either the blessing sought for or some better thing as we see in Manasses the Ninivites Mary Magdalen the Prodigal Paul the Israelites Judg. 10.15 16. Yea the very shadow of repentance can doe something for the removal of a temporal Judgement as we see in Ahabs hypocritical humiliation and Rehoboams 2 Chron. 12.6 7. The Israelites that cried unto the Lord only in their trouble yet were delivered out of their distress and if the shadow can doe so much what will not the substance doe Repentance qualifies the soul and fits it for Mercies Temporal and Spiritual It makes the heart soft tender flexible and ready to receive any impression from God Acts 9.6 This is that Panacea that Catholicon that Universal remedy against all maladies 2 Chron. 7.14 Ier. 18.7 8. These tears and waters of repentance are very medicinal and can prevail with God when no others can to extinguish the fire of his wrath which is now gone forth against us England is now upon her Sick-bed and we have great cause to fear that shee is upon her Death-bed and will scarcely recover wee shall shortly see whether she will live or dye her critical hour is now at hand and we may justly suspect her death and that because God hath cast his dealings with us into so many moulds and forms and tried us every way and yet we do not prepare to meet him God hath been pleading with England this hundred years by his Word for his Worship for his Day for his Discipline and for the power of godliness and yet we have not prepared to meet him God hath of late years been pleading with Fire and Sword and though these bloudy Arguments have spread abroad aâ—d there is scarcely a Town where bloud hath not been shed yet have we not prepared to meet the Lord. The Rod hath a voyce but we have not heard it Micah 6.9 It is a sad Symptom of destruction when we shall see the Rod but nâ—t hear it it is a sign that we are either deaf or dead God hath spoken to us with anger in his countenance and thunder in his voyce will yee still prophane my Holy things persist in your formality and goe on in your rebellion against me and yet we turn the deaf eare to him hating to be reformed And now when we thought all Gods Judgements were buried and the memory of them was almost obliterated yet they seeme to revive and to be raised out of their Graves again We are now dying and know it not gray hairs are here and there upon us and
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
Psal. 34.4 Matth. 7.7 It implies also an obeying his Commands 2 Chron. 14.4 and seeking his face and favour at all times Psal. 27.10 Isa. 55.6 These are those things above which we are commanded to seek Colos. 3.1 Thus we see what a Magazine of matter is comprehended in this little Precept Seek yee me Obj. This command to seek God say Papists and Arminians implyes that we have Free-will of our selves to seek him and turn to him else why doth the Lord command us so to doe if we had no power to doe it Ans. It doth not follow that because the Lord commands us to seek him therefore we have power of our selves to doe it For 1 These commands shew us our duty but not our ability they shew what we ought to be but not what we are 2 Yet these Exhortations are not in vain for the Lord makes them effectual in the hearts of his people what he bids them doe he enables them in some measure to doe 3 The Lord had a remnant of his Elect mingled amongst this heap of chaff and their wills being changed and made conformable to Gods will are willing and ready to seek and serve him 4 Hereby the wicked are made more inexcusable and their malice and obstinacy made more apparent to the world since they stand out against so many invitations to come in Against Free-will see Davenants Determ Q. 9. p. 45. D. Sibbs Concio ad clerum p. 69. Laurent in Apoc. 2.5 p. 125. Camero Theses de Grat. Lib. arb p. 273. ad 296. Paraeus contra Bellar. Tom. 1. Totaliter Alting Loc. com P. 2. p. 460. Hornbec contra Socin l. 3. c. 5. p. 611. Brochmand Cas. Cons. de homine primo cap. 1. p. 134. folio Walaeus Loâ—â— com P. 1. p. 16. p. 437. Mr. Burgess against Orig. sin l. 2. ch 4. p. 289. Rolloc in Rom. 8. p. 152 c. Dr. Arrowsmith on John 1.13 p. 189. 198 Mr. Case Morn Lect. quarto p. 207. 5 Here is a promise to incourage them to seek the Lord drawn ab utili from the benefit they should reap thereby Yee shall live or live yee the Imperative Mood is put for the Future tense by an usual Hebraism Prov. 3.4 4.4 to shew the certainty of a thing as here Seek the Lord and live that is yee shall certainly live You shall have a Natural Life You shall have a Spiritual Life You shall have a Eternal Life 1 If you seek the Lord and return to him you shall have your Natural life prolonged whereas you are in danger of dying by the hand of the Assyrian yet doe but return to me unfeignedly and you shall experimentally find that your lives shall be given you for a prey at least yee shall not be utterly destroyed but instead of Warre you shall have peace and prosperity in your borders This seems to be the most genuine sense of this place though we may not exclude the other for it is a known Rule that it is safe taking the words in the largest sense if neither matter phrase nor scope hinder for in the fore-going verse the Lord tells them what slaughter he would make amongst them therefore he bids them here returne and live Yet we may not solely confine it to a Natural life because it is a Legal promise and they usually doe comprehend Spiritual mercies in them The Hebrews frequently under the name of Life doe comprehend all manner of prosperity and felicity both Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Deut. 4.1 5. ult Psal. 34.12 133.8 Prov. 4.4 Ezek. 18.9 The like expression we use at this day at the Inauguration of Kings when we cry Vivat Rex let the King live that is all health prosperity and happiness attend him 2 You shall live a spiritual life of Grace here your souls shall enjoy communion with God they shall live to him here and at last shall live with him for ever for Grace is the suburbs of glory 3 You shall live eternally Ezek. 18.17 ult Obj. But had not the Lord decreed the destruction of this people how then doth he bid them return and live A. Such threatnings of Temporal Judgements are not alwayes absolute but conditional viz. if they repent not I will destroy them and though this condition be not alwayes exprest yet it is understood as appears by that notable place Ier. 18.7 8 9 10. so that when people repent of their sin God will repent of the punishment and stay the execution of the sentence which he had denounced against them as he did by the Ninivites The changes is in us and not in God OBSERVATIONS 1 Such as seek God rightly shall live assuredly I say such as seek God rightly which cuts off many pretenders to religion who seem to seek and serve the Lord but it is feignedly and hypocritically they halt between God and Baal between Christ and Belial like Agrippa they are almost but not altogether Christians they have a name to live but they are dead indeed 2 Others seek for the living amongst the dead They seek the Lord amongst the traditions and customs of men Such mens religion is vain Mat. 15.9 Amos 5.5 3 Others seek but it is too late like Esau that never cries till he had lost the Blessing So those Luke 13.24 25. 4 Others instead of seeking the Lord sit all the day idle they forget the Lord days without number he is not in any of their thoughts Ier. 2.32 It is not the somnolent but the violent that get heaven Mat. 11.12 where then will those Idle Atheistical Seekers of our time appear who are meer Scepticks in religion that question every thing but beleeve and practice nothing some of them have been Professors this forty years yet now they are to seek their religion These men have laid good foundations the while that are going out of the world before they know how to live in the world when the Lord hath so clearly shewed us what he requires of us Micah 6.8 what madness is it to be still running after New Lights which are no Lights for directions 5 Others instead of seeking God they persecute those that doe sincerely seek him like the Scribes and Pharisees that would neither follow Christ themselves nor suffer others so to doe Stripes are prepared for scorners and such mockers shall have their bonds made strong Isa. 28.22 6 Others seek but it is amiss for they seek riches honour pleasures instead of God and things above Those three are the Worlds Trinity they are the grand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our times David tells us there be many of this stamp Psal. 4.6 Many say who will shew us goods Paul goes further and tells us All men seek their owne ease wealth ends and respects that is All comparatively they are but few that seek the things of Christ Phil. 2.21 Q. Since there are so many Seekers and so few good ones how must I seek
especially seek God who is the fountain of goodness that you may live indeed Judicious Calvin following the Chalde Paraphrase renders it Seeke beneficence at salva reverentia tanto viro dignissima I conceive this Exposition to be too strait for by seeking of good is here properly meant seeking of God as appears by comparing this place with vers 4 6. To seek God is to seek good and to finde life for with him is the fountain of life Psal. 36.9 2 I do not find the word Tob to signifie beneficence in any place of Scripture but it is rendred good pleasant profitable fair sweet joyous all which are very desirable things and therefore should quicken our endeavours after them 3 Yet I deny not but beneficence may be one branch of that good which is here called for seeing they had been given to violence and rapine now he calls upon them to return and by beneficence and works of mercy to break off their trade of cruelty and to seek God and all manner of good contained both in the first and second Table that so they might live 2 Here is a Prohibition Seek not evil any longer to which you have been addicted for so many years Amos 2.4 If you will be mine saith the Lord you must give your sins a Bill of divorce for no man can serve two such contrary Masters Shun evil i. e. all manner of sin without exception for Sin and Evil are Synonyma's in Scripture Rom. 7.19 20. that which the Apostle calls evil in one verse he calls it sin in the next Sin is truly called evil 1. Formaliter per se. 2 Effective 1. It is evil in its owne nature it is a transgression of Gods Law and is directly opposite to him who is the chiefest good 2. It is the cause of all the evil of punishment both in this life and the next Rom. 6 2â— Sin is the cause of Gods Wrath and Gods Wrath brings destruction and misery with it so that sin being Causa causae must needs be Causa causati 3. It comes from the Devil that evil one and leads to him and so may well be called evil 1 Job 3.8 3 Here is a double promise to incourage them to set upon the duty 1. You shall live of which before vers 4. 2. The Lord of Hosts will be with you if you will but return and bring forth fruits meet for repentance you shall be secured from wrath to come and received into Gods favour he will dwell in the midst of you and bless you There is an Emphasis and weight in that little word So Seek good and not evil and when you are so qualified fitted and prepared by holiness for communion with an holy God and your wills are made conformable to Gods will then he will be with you by his Wisdome to direct you by his Power to protect you by his Mercy to pardon you by his goodness to provide for you so as you shall want nothing that may be for your good according to those precious promises Levit. 26.12 13. 1 King 6.13 Psal. 84.11 Thus when the people were called to the Passeover they are commanded to prepare themselves and so to come 2 Chron. 35.6 4 Here is the manner how the Lord will be with them and that is Even as yee have spoken q. d. you boast and brag that you are my people my peculiar my inheritance my Children and that I will direct you defend you and provide for your safety but these are but your owne vaine dreams and delusions for you cannot be my people so long as you walk contrary to my commands persecuting my Prophets trampling upon my Poor hating righteousness and loving iniquity But if you will be my people indeed then walk as becomes my people Seek good and not evil returne sincerely unto me and then the Lord will be with you indeed as you have spoken You shall finde him really present with you to assist and comfort you but till this be done you cannot expect his favour two cannot walk together till they be agreed Amos 3.3 Others read it thus So the Lord shall be with you as you desire q. d. It is your desire and prayer that God should abide with you doe you seek and serve him faithfully and then you shall finde it true that yee have spoken But the former reading is most genuine The sum of all is this Hitherto your life O yee men of Israel hath been a series of iniquity you have followed Idols and evil but not good you have contemned God despised his Prophets despited his Spirit opprest the poor multiplied sin and yet you promise your selves peace and prosperity life and happiness beasting that the Lord is your God and you are his Covenant-people and therefore you need no fear But if you will indeed live then hearken to my counsel Turne from your Idols Worship the Lord in sincerity amend your lives and give up your selves to God walking in paths of piety and obedience before him and then the Lord will be with you indeed and you shall live in his favour for ever OBSERVATIONS 1 The destruction of wicked men is from themselves Hos. 13.9 The fault is not in God for he calls upon them here again and again to return and live and swears that he desires not the death of sinners Ezek. 18.31 32. 33.11 he gives them hopes of pardon if they will but come in and lay down the armes of their rebellion God is not to be blamed it is mens owne wilful impenitency that ruines them 2 Obs. Such as seek God shall find good Before he called upon them to seek God and now he explaines himself and tells them what that is it is to seek good Good is the object of our desires now there is none good but God he only is Essentially infinitely absolutely and independently good all the good that is in the Creature it is finite dependent derivative and is found eminently only in God All the goodness that is scattered up and down in the Creature meets eminently in him so that have him and have all The Devil the World and Sin promise men good but there is no reality in those promises They make golden promises but leaden performances they promise joy but bring forth sorrow they promise liberty but they bring men into thraldome But God is better than his word to his people and doth for them above all that they can speak or think Seek therefore him and you shall finde all manner of good for soul and body for this life and a better and after all changes you shall experimentally conclude with David It is good for me to draw near to God Psal 73. ult 3 Obs. It is not sufficient that we seek good but we must also turn from evil God hath oft joyned them together and we may not seperate them Psal. 34.14 37.27 Isa. 1.16 17. Matth. 3.10 Luke 13.7 8. Ephes. 4.22
should not be bribed and hired to doe Justice but it should flow as freely and spontaneously from a Ruler as water from a spring The light of the Sun and the liberty of the Air should not be more cheap and free than Justice amongst us 4 Universally and commonly without respect of persons When justice is duly administred it must run down as waters and streams which run by the poor mans doors as well as by the rich and by the poorest Cottage as well as by the stateliest Palace 5. Constantly Rivers run continually the stream is alwaies rowling down so should Magistrates be constant pro re nata as occasion requires in the execution of Justice in the places of their abode 6. Zealously and vigorously A mighty stream carries down all before it So a good Ruler breaks thorow all impediments discouragements and temptations that might hinder the free course of Justice No friends nor foes no gifts nor bribes can hinder him from a faithful discharge of the duties of his place As we see in Moses Iob Samuel Nehemiah This is Gods work and he is cursed that doth it negligently When men are good it is a joy to them to do judgement Prov. 21.15 and this is the way to safety and settlement Isa. 32.16 17 18. Dan. 4.27 VERSE 25. Have yee offered unto mee sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years O house of Israel THe Prophet comes now to conclude the Chapter with an Amplification of the Superstition and Idolatry which from first to last did abide in Israel Their Fore-fathers of old were Idolaters in the wilderness there they worshipped the golden Calf and Baal-Peor Numb 25.1 2 3. No sooner were they come to Canaan but they were on their knees to Baal and Ashtaroth Judg. 2.13 Yea and then their Posterity saith the Prophet have justified them in their Idolatries and shewed that the evil is hereditary and so the more to be abhorred in that you have added Calves to Calves and Idols to Idols lest they should boast of their Ancestors the Lord upbraids them with their Fore-fathers and tells them that they were Idolaters before them and were punisht for their Idolatry and so should they as they had been like them in sin so they should be like them in suffering In the words we have 1. Israels sin They sacrificed not to God but to Idols as in the next verse 2 Here is a double aggravation of their sin both in respect of Time and Place 1 Here is the Time how long they grieved the Spirit of God not forty daies but forty years even the whole time of their abode in the wilderness 2 The Place it was in the Wilderness where they lay under the Rod and were kept under severe Discipline and where the Lord lead them miraculously and fed them miraculously with Mannah from Heaven giving them waters from the Rock and with a mighty hand protecting them and carrying them upon Eagles wings above the reach of many dangers and distresses Amos 3.1 2. This is locus difficillimus saith Mercer this verse and especially the next are two of the hardest verses in the whole Prophecy Many doubts do here arise Quest. 1. Why doth the Prophet charge this people with not offering sacrifice in the wilderness when they never lived in the wilderness but lived many ages after their Fore-fathers came out of the wilderness as appears by the series of those Iudges and Kings which governed them since the time that they came from Egypt Answ. Though the same numerical men were not in the wilderness yet the house of Israel was there and what their Fore-fathers did is imputed to the posterity who made up one body with them and were bound up in the same bundle with them These walking in the Idolatrous steps of their Fore-fathers justified their Idolatry and as they worshipped the golden Calf in Egypt so these worshipped the golden Calves at Dan and Bethel Thus they being heirs of their Fathers guilt and imitators of them in their Idolatry the Lord chargeth them here with their sin also saying Have yee offered to mee sacrifices in the wilderness Hee doth not say Have your Fore-fathers offered sacrifice to mee but he chargeth them with the sin and this is usual in Scripture when the children walk in the Ancestors sins to charge the children with the sins also as Mat. 23.35 Our Saviour chargeth the Jews with the blood of Abel and Zacharias whom they slew How could they slay those that were slain long before they were born Answ. By imitating their cruelty they approved of the like cruelty in their progenitors and so became partakers with them in their sin and should partake with them in their plagues not onely for the murdering of Iohn the Baptist and those of latter times but even for the blood of all the Saints that ever was shed to that day even from the blood of righteous Abel the first that ever was slain to the blood of good Zacharias who was so barbarously slain between the Temple and the Altar q. d. God will visit the sins of the Fathers upon you their children that have walked in their wicked steps with the greatest severity because ye have sinned against the greatest light and if the blood of one innocent Abel lay so heavy upon Cain that he cried his punishment was greater than he could bear how sad is your condition that are charged with the blood of so many thousands of innocent holy men so that as all Beleevers are the children of Abraham and have Interest in all the Promises that were made to him So all persecutors are the seed of Cain and have interest in all the curses which fell upon him Quest. 2. How are all condemned here as Idolaters when wee read of some good men amongst them that sacrificed to God and not to Idols as Moses Eleazer Joshua Caleb Phineas and Aaron the Saint of the Lord as the Psalmist calls him Psal. 106.16 Answ. The Prophet condemns the body of this people indefinitely and not all and every individual person singly He speaks against the wicked Ancestors of wicked children and against those wicked children which walked in the steps of those wicked Ancestors God had his remnant amongst them and some grains of wheat in this heap of rubbish and chaff Quest. 3. Have yee sacrificed to mee The Interrogation is a strong Negation So Ioel 1.2 q. d. You have not sacrificed to mee all that time but you have discovered your averseness from mee and your proneness to Idolatry on all occasions But how can this be true when we read that the Israelites did sacrifice to God in the wilderness when the Covenant was ratified they offered Eucharistical sacrifices to Iehovah Exod. 24.4 5. And after the dedication of the Tabernacle and the consecration of Aarons sons and at the celebration of the feast of the Passeover Levit. 8.21 28. 9.2 Numb 7.3 9. Answ. Though they did offer some sacrifices
the first and second year that they were in the wilderness yet after they did not so ordinarily and so frequently as when they came to Canaan for in the wilderness they lived in want and had not that plenty of Sheep and Oxen as they had when they came into Canaan They had scarce any flesh to eat much less to sacrifice therefore the Lord fed them with Mannah and Quails Besides they were in a fleeting condition and so unfit for sacrificing or for circumcision and therefore 't was omitted in the wilderness for a time They were not settled nor fixed but as the Tabernacle removed so they removed and till they came to fix and settle they could not so wel sacrifice 2 The Answer lyes most genuinely in that little Emphatical word Mee Have yee offered sacrifice to mee q. d. 'T is true I grant you have offered sacrifice saith the Lord but 't was to your Idols and to Devils Deut. 32.16 17. and not to mee both you and your Fathers worshipped Calves and Creatures and the host of Heaven as in the next verse and not mee and therefore I will punish you as I did them Ezek. 20.15 16 18 21. Isa. 43.22 23 24. 'T is true they thought they worshipped God and did him good service but since they kept not to the Rule but worshipped the Lord according to their own inventions with rotten hearts and unhallowed lives therefore the Lord disowns all that they did and tells us that they did not sacrifice to him at all Quest. 4. How is it said that for forty years space in the wilderness they did not sacrifice whereas 't is apparent that the two first years at least they did offer sacrifice The Answer is easie 'T is usual in Scripture for roundness of number though some few years may be under or over to name a full and compleat number as here forty years for thirty eight that is not forty precisely but well nigh forty So Abimelech is said to kill his seventy Brethren when he killed but sixty nine for Iotham escaped Iudg. 9.5 So the seventy two Disciples are called the seventy So Gen. 42.13 it is said Thy servants are twelve brethren yet in the same verse it is said one is not By the like Synecdoche they are called twelve Apostles when one was wanting 1 Cor. 15.5 So the Lord threatned to punish Israel forty years in the wilderness whereas they were not punisht forty years compleat for the punishment began to be inflicted on them about the second year of their departure out of Egypt as appears by comparing Numb 1.1 with 14.33 and 32.13 See more Deut. 29.5 Iudg. 20.46 2 Sam. 5.5 OBSERVATIONS 1. Teaching by Questions and Interrogations is very Emphatical and lively Have yee offered sacrifice to mee did yee serve mee or rather did yee not serve your selves in the wilderness The Scripture abounds with such Questions Adam where art thou Gen. 3.9 So said Christ How readest thou what think you Mat. 18.12 and 21.28 Luke 7.42 James 4.5 This quickens and awakens men it makes them heed things better and consider what to answer Be not then offended when Gods Ministers ransack thy soul and question and quicken thee out of thy Lethargy and deep security 2. God bears long with sinners Forty years he was grieved with Israel in the wilderness He bore with those ten Tribes well nigh three hundred years before he destroyed them He bore with the old world a hundred and twenty years He bore with the Amorites four hundred years 'T is one of his Royal Attributes that he is a God of infinite Patience and Long-suffering Exod. 34.6 Psal. 103.8 Ionah 4.2 We have all daily experience of this his goodness to us 3. To sin against mercy aggravates sin For this people to sin against God in the wilderness where he led them and fed them miraculously and upheld them in the midst of so many dangers doth greatly heighten their sin 4. Long continuance in sin is very displeasing unto God Hence the Lord so often mentions this forty years obstinacy of Israel as that which exceedingly offended and grieved him Numb 32.13 Psal. 95.11 Act. 7.42 13.18 This made the Lord to complain of Ierusalem Jer. 13. ult Oh Ierusalem wilt thou not bee made clean when shall it once bee He denounceth a woe against them for their hypocritical dallying and delaying Woe unto thee wilt thou not be made clean 't is not canst thou not but wilt thou not They were wilfully impenitent 't is this rebellious will of men that destroyes them Psal. 78.10 Isa. 30.9 15. 42.24 Ier. 5.3 6.16 8.5 44.17 Zach. 7.11 Rom. 8.7 Obj. Wee will turn Answ. You do but dissemble saith God with mee When shall it once bee what not after so many wooings and warnings what not after so many years purifying Sermons nor so many melting mercies nor so many awakening judgements nor after so many Sabbaths and Sacraments fasts and feasts will nothing cleanse thee from thy old abominations Oh when shall it once be This obstinate persevering and continuing in sin makes the Lord so oft to upbraid men with it as that which will be their bane Exod. 16.28 Neh. 9.30 Psal. 78.40 Luk. 13.44 5. Children that imitate their Fore-fathers in sin shall bee like them in punishment God will visit the sins of the Fathers upon those children that tread in their steps Exod. 20.5 Hence the Lord so oft forbids us to follow sinful Fore-fathers Psal. 78.5 6 8. Ezek. 20.18 Zech. 1.4 And Stephen aggravates the sins of the Israelites saying That as your Fathers did so do yee Act. 7.51 6. Idolatrous Hypocritical service is no service Have ye offered Sacrifice to mee saith the Lord to those Hypocrites no you have not served mee at all 1. Since you do not worship mee according to Rule but accordâ—ng to your own inventions I abhor it and account it as null 2. Your hearts are rotten what the heart doth not God accounts as not done Isa. 43.22 23 24. Though they abounded with sacrifices yet God saith there They brought him none viz. in sincerity As knowledge without practice is no knowledge 1 Sam. 2.12 so duties not practised are no duties in Gods esteem 3. They served not God alone but served him and their Idols too and therefore God disowns all they did as not done to him for he will be served truly and totally without halting or halving 1 King 18.21 2 King 17.33 Ezek. 20.30 Zeph. 1.5 VERSE 26. But yee have born the Tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your Images the star of your god which yee made to your selves THese Hypocrites were ever and anon boasting of their Sacrifices to them the Prophet in the person of the Lord here further answers and tels them it is true Your fore-fathers made a shew of serving me carrying my Tabernacle and all things belonging to it in the Wilderness but their hearts were set
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
Salmaneser King of Assyria and the City and Temple of Ierusalem by Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon these God raised up to cool their courage and abate their pride 4 The Lord tells them what this Nation shall doe to Israeâ— They shall afflict them they shall press and oppress them by violence and Tyranny they shall hem them in and so straiten them that none shall escape 5 Here is the extent of this affliction and how farre it shall go and that is from Hemath which was situate in the North border of Canaan looking Eastward vers 2. Unto the river of the Wilderness that is to Sichor a river of Aegypt in the South looking Westward and parting the Land of Israel from the Land of Aegypt Numb 34 5 8. Josh. 13.3 5. 15.47 1 Chron. 13.5 it is called the river of the Desart because it came out of the Desart some think it was the river Nilus but the bounds of Canaan never extended so farre Ieroboam had re-gained those bounds to Israel they were proud of the Prize but about thirty years after Tiglath-Pileser re-gained it all from Israel and laid it to the Assyrians and not long after comes Salmanesar the King of Assyria and takes Samaria and subdues the whole Kingdom of Israel About one hundred years after Iudah was carried captive into Babylon according to that woe denounced against them ver 1. When Warrs arise yet some use to escape but here the Lord threatens that they shall be opprest from one end of the Land to another Though the Country were large and spacious and there were many ways to escape yet the enemy should befet them so strictly that there should be no escaping but all should goe into Captivity As all had sinned so all should now suffer for sin So that this verse seems to be a kind of Antithesis and check to their Carnal confidence in their own strength and success q. d. it is true your King Ieroboam hath recovered your borders but I will send one that shall recover all from you again He restored all from Hemath to the Sea of the Plain and I will send the Assyrian who shall wast Israel from Hemath to the Sea i. e. from North to South and from East to West and then shall you see how infirm your firmness was when your Valour shall be turned into weakness your Glory into shame and your Mirth into mourning 6 Who is it that saith all this why it is one that can and will perform it It is the Lord the God of Hosts who hath the Army of the Assyrians and all other Armies at his beck and command vers 8. OBSERVATIONS 1 Pride goes before destruction In the precedent verse we read of Israels Pride and Carnal-confidence and now see their fall When pride is in the faddle destruction is on the crupper Dan 4.30 we read of Nebuchadnezzars pride and ver 31. we read of his fall Children that hold by their own coats pull themselves down by his own strength shal no man prevail 1 Sam. 2.9 Ezek 28.9 2 The Lord is true in all his Threatnings Not one word shall fail of all that he hath spoken against a rebellious people Hee threatned to send the Assyrian against Israel here he did it He threatned to send the Babylonian against Iudah and they came at last 3 When people are rejoycing and most secure then usually Iudgements are nearest In the precedent verse they were rejoycing and in this verse comes their ruine When the old World was buying selling marrying and merry-making then came the Floud and swept them all away Mat. 24.38 39. When Bellsring Canons roar Fires flame and there is nothing but mirth and jollity then may destruction be at the door When men cry Peace peace then comes sudden and swift destruction 1 Thes. 5.3 2 Pet. 2.1 4 It is God who raiseth up enemies against a rebellious people I will raise up a Nation against you War is one of Gods sore Judgments which he sends against a people of his wrath Ezek. 14.21 when men will not serve God with gladness and sincerity in abundance then he makes them serve their enemies in want and misery Deut. 28.47 48. Isa. 42.24 25. The Assyrian is but Gods â—tod his Staff his Axe his Saw to scourge beat hew and divide they are but Instruments it is God that is the Agent 5 Universality in sin brings universality in suffering As the Land had been â—ilted from corner to corner with uncleaneness so now it should be answerably filled with punishment National Sins bring National Plagues Ezra 9.10 11. When all the old World was corrupt then came the Floud and swept them all away When all Sodom and all Ierusalem were given to wickedness then came Judgements and destroyed them Multitudes in sin are so far from Patronizing the sinners that it hastens wrath 6 Sin brings a people into a desperate condition It brings them into such straits that they know not which way to turn themselves The Land of Canaan was spacious and there were many ways of escaping but their sins had brought things to that pass that they were surrounded with enemies and there was none to deliver them 7 As Kingdoms have their times of flourishing so they have their times of fading too Israel flourisht and was succesful under Ieroboam but they fade and fall in the reign of King Hoshea The Grâ—cian Babylonian and Persian Monarchies which were sometimes famous through the world are now mouldred away and come to nothing and so shall the Roman 8 God usually retaliates Sinners and pays them in their own coyn This people had for a long time pressed the Lord with their sins Amos 2.13 and now themselves are prest and opprest with Judgments Sodom and Gomorah that burnt in lust were burnt with fire Nadab and Abihu that offered strange fire perisht by strange fire from the Lord. Asa that set the Prophet in the Stocks had a disease in his feet Babylon that shed the bloud of Saints hath bloud given her to drink Hee that on earth denied a crumb of Bread in Hell shal not have a drop of water Luk. 16.24 25. They that delight in left-hand blessings Prov. 3.16 shal be placed with the Goats on the left hand Mat. 25.33 and those that delight in darkness shal be sent to darkness 2 Pet. 2.17 They that say unto God Depart now he will say unto them Depart at the last Day He that will not owne Christs truth now shall not be owned by him then They that trample upon the Saints here the Saints shall tread them under their feet hereafter Micha 4.11 12 13. 7.10 so that all the wicked at last shall be compelled to say with Adonibezek Judg. 1. As I have done so hath the Lord rewarded me The Aegyptians that worshipped creeping things were punisht with Froggs and other creeping things Demosthenes and Tully that were proud of their Eloquence perisht by it
they destroy their habitations they inclose all that they may dwell alone in the earth A woe is set upon the head of such Isa. 5.8 such covetous Cormorants destroy all In the body natural if some members should draw all the nourishment to themselves the whole body must needs perish Piety makes men publick-spirited and to seek the good of others as well as of themselves Act. 13.36 Philip. 2.4 29 30. but Impiety is all for self Phil. 2.21 5. Poor men many times are meek and humble men The word Gnani which we render afflicted and poor signifies also humble and meek Zach. 9.9 As riches usually make men cruel and proud so afflictions make men humble and meek 'T is not sufficient that men are humbled passively against their wills but they must be humble actively nor low but lowly Our poverty and affliction should drive us out of our selves to God Psal. 12.5 1 Pet. â— 23 Happy are those that are not onely corrected but thus taught by them Psal. 94.12 VERSE 5. Saying when will the New-Moon be gone that we may sell Corn and the Sabbath that wee may set forth Wheat making the Ephah small and the Shekel great and falsifying the ballances by deceit IN the two subsequent verses the Prophet shews how they devoured the poor viz. by their unrighteousness and covetousness which appeared in that they were so greedy of gain that they thought all time lost which was spent in Gods worship because it brought no present visible profit with it and therefore they angrily cry When will the New-Moon bee gone that wee may sell Corn c. God had set apart many festivals in the time of the Law for his own worship but especially the weekly Sabbath and the New-Moons hence we finde them so often joyned together in Scripture Isa. 1.13 66.23 Hos. 2.11 Col. 2.16 Though they had many other solemnities yet those came about but seldome as once a year or the like and therefore they did not so oft molest them as these did hence they exclaim principally and by name against these frequent feasts The New-Moon was the Calends or first day and beginning of every month and was consecrated to the Lord. It signified that all the seasons and months of the year are made holy and good unto us On these New-Moons the Priests called the people together by sound of Trumpet to the holy Assemblies Numb 10.10 Psal. 81.4 and spent the time religiously in Prayer Hearing Gods Word and other holy exercises 2 King 4.23 2 Chron. 2.4 8.12 13. Neh. 10.33 Ezra 3.5 Ezek. 45.17 At this solemnity was offered in sacrifice two young Bullocks one Ramme seven Lambs three tenth deals of floure Numb 28.11 to 16. In this verse we have the covetous mans character set forth to the life where we may see 1. His Irreligion towards God He is a violator of Gods Sabbaths at least in his affection which denominates the man The duties of Gods Sabbath are a burden to him he longs to have them over he thinks such daies come too thick and that they hinder his profit and therefore he prophanely cryes When will they be gone 2. Here is their oppression and unrighteousness set forth four waies 1. They corrupted the measures they sold by a small measure yet made the price great They diminish the Ephah and made it small contrary to the Law Levit. 19.35 36. It should have been a just measure neither too big nor too small Ezek. 45.10 The Ephah was the tenth part of an Homer containing about an English Bushel Levit. 5.11 19.36 1 Sam. 1.24 17.17 Isa. 5.20 Ezek. 45.10 11. 'T was an usual known measure of dry things amongst the Jews as the Bath was of liquid things under it by a Synecdoche all other measures are comprehended for as St. Iames saith of the Commandements he that breaks one breaks all habitually and dispositively so he that makes no conscience of corrupting one measure will make no conscience of corrupting them all when a temptation comes He that will falsifie an Ephah I will not trust him with an Homer which was the greatest measure of dry things which the Jews had containing about ten Bushels Ezek. 45.11 2. A second branch of their Oppression was Their making of the Shekel great before they curtailed the measure and now they heightned the price thus they ground the Poor as it were between milstones the upper was the small Ephah and the lower was the great Shekel they used great weights to weigh the mony which they received for payment for the Shekel was partly a peece of money and partly a weight By the Shekel here is meant the weight of the Shekel the common ordinary Shekel was in value about fifteen pence and the Shekel of the Sanctuary two shillings six pence as you may see Gen. 23.15 Iosh. 7.21 1 Sam. 17.5 7. 2 Sam. 21.16 2 Chron. 3.9 As under the Ephaph was comprehended all kinde of measures so under the Shekel is comprehended all kind of weights by the like Synecdoche for he that is unfaithful in that which is much In those daies they did not count their mony but they weighed it Now although the measure was little yet the price of the Corn was great they gave light measure but heavy weights when they came to pay their mony contrary to Gods express commandement Deut. 25.13 14 15. Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights a great and a small c. 3. Yet more They falsifie the ballances by deceit Either in weighing mony or other commodities or as the Original runs they pervert the ballances of deceit viz. by making those which were right deceitful They falsified the weights the better to defraud others They raised themselves out of other mens ruines and got profit by their disprofit Thus they gained whether by right or by wrong they cared not Rem Rem quocunque modo rem They must have mony 't is no matter how 4. They were not onely deceitful but cruel too vers 6. they bought the poor for things of nought and made slaves of them before they got their Mony Lands and Estates for in time of famine men will part with all for bread and now they get the men too and which aggravates their sin to the heighth they did not onely corrupt their measures and falsifie their weights but their wares too They sold the refuse of the Wheat They sold the chaff refuse and base commodities yet made them pay for good ones No wonder if the Lord swear their destruction vers 7. The summe of all is this When shall we have done with these solemn Feasts and times allotted for publick worship wherein we are forbidden to buy or sell would to God these New-Moons and Sabbaths were once over that wee might sell our Corn at an high rate making the measure of the Wheat small and the weights wherewith the silver is weighed great and heavy thus
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
we do the works of Abraham Iohn 8.39 Rom. 9.7 8. Let our Ancestors be never so gracious unless we follow their gratious example and walk in their steps we are no better in Gods esteem than Ethiopians and out-casts yea the piety of predecessors is so far from justifying any in their sins that it aggravates them in that they had such good patterns set before them and yet they would not follow them A Noble Pedigree is little worth where the line of well-doing continues not and 't is much more glory to begin the honour of ones house than either to end it or not encrease it What did it profit Châ—m that he was the Son of Noah or hurt Abraham that his Father Terah worshipped Gods of Clay or hurt Timothy â—hat he was born a Gentile Honesty how mean soever the birth be knows no disgrace The Prince of Satyrists though a Heathen yet hath spent a whole Satyr to very good purpose against those that boast of their Noble Pedigree when themselves have nothing that is truly Noble in them 2. Priviledges abused increase wrath Mat. 11.20 21 22 23. Rom. 2.9 1 Cor. 10.2 3 4 5. Heb. 2.1 2 3. When men ungratefully abuse their mercies and the God of their mercies 't is just with God to strip them of those mercies But of this at large elsewhere 3. Sin debaseth a people and makes glorious Nations like to unglorious and contemptible Heathens Whilst Israel walked up to his priviledges he was exalted but when he offended in Baal and fell to Idolatry he died and lost his reputation with God and Man both at home and abroad Hos. 13.1 Ezek. 16.3 4. The changes in Nations aud translating of Kingdomes from one to another are not casual but providential There is the finger of God in them all 'T is he that destroyed the Canaanites and brought in Israel 'T is he that cast out Israel and brought in the Assyrian he rooted up Iudah and brought in the Chaldean and rooted up the Chaldeans by the Medes and Persians and brought the Philistines and Syrians out of Caphtor and Kir He puts down one and sets-up another in the Throne and none may say unto him What dost thou Deut. 2.21 4.21 5. External favours and deliverances are no Arguments of Gods internal love and favour to a people Uncircumcised Philistines and Idolatrous Syrians may be delivered from a Caphtor and a Kir and yet these preservations may be to them but reservations to greater wrath Pharaoh was delivered from many plagues yet his heart being hardened at last hee perisht in the Sea All things come alike to all and there is no judging of Gods favour by these external things Eccles. 9.1 2. The Sun of prosperity shines as well on the barren Wildernesse as upon the fruitful Pastures VERSE 8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful Kingdome and I will destroy it from off the face of the Earth saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Iacob saith the Lord. THe Prophet goes on in the confirmation of what he had denounced against Israel by an Argument drawn from the Justice of God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity with the least approbation and who will not acquit persons or Kingdomes that persevere in their wickednesse Behold the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful Kingdome to punish and destroy it In the words wee have 1. A note of Attention Behold 2. The matter to be attended and that is 1. A judgement threatned God will destroy Israel from the Superficies on face of the earth that is he will extinguish their memorial from amongst men and root them out of the world so that they shall never have more the face of a Nation upon Earth The like expression we have Exod. 32.12 Deut. 6.15 Warnings could not mend them now Judgements shall rid the world of them 2. Here is the reason why the Lord will thus destroy them and that is because they are a sinful Kingdome or as the words are in the fountain they are a sinning Kingdome a Kingdome even composed of sin and drowned in iniquity A Kingdome that sinned not through weakness but wilfulness whose sins were not infirmities but enormities They fell not by the violence of temptation but 't was their trade to be sinning they were wholly given up to it both Superiours and Inferiours had for many years been a race of Idolaters persisting obstinately in their wicked waies no wooing nor warning no mercy nor menaces could work upon them they were incorrigible and incurable and therefore the Lord now resolves to ease himself of them Quest. But who is meant here by the sinful Kingdome A. Some conceive that by Kingdome here is meant any sinful Kingdome indefinitely but I conceive that Amos being sent more especially to prophesie against the Idolatry of the Kingdome of Israel doth directly and primarily speak against the Idolatry of the Kingdome of Israel for Idolatry is called The sin by way of eminency as I have shewed before on Amos 8. ult now Israel persevering as in other sins so especially in this great sin of Idolatry is here called Mamlachah Hachattaah Hoc regnum peccans this sinful Kingdome the article Ha is emphatical and the Text saith not Mine eyes are upon a sinful Kingdome indefinitly but upon This sinful Kingdome viz. of Israel and then secondarily it includes the Kingdome of Iudah which had deeply corrupted it self and not long after they also were carried Captives to Babylon 3 Here is the certainty of the judgement The Eyes of the Lord are intent upon them for this purpose see Vers. 4. before he hath set his face in anger against them to destroy them 4 Here is a mitigation or qualification of the Threatning Yet he will not utterly destroy the house of Iacob but in the midst of judgement he will remember mercy and having purged out the dross and destroyed the prophane body of the people and rebellious rout he will preserve the penitent as a remnant for himself according to his promise made of old to Abraham Isaac and Iacob Lev. 26.40 41 42. Though the Lord beat Heathenish Nations to dust and stock up the wicked root and branch and though Israel deserved a total destruction yet for his own Name sake he will not deal so with his Church and chosen he never utterly destroyes them but leaves some remnant to praise him and to shine like lights in the midst of a perverse people and if he do bring them into Captivity yet a remnant both of Israel and Iudah shall return again according to that precious promise Ier. 30.3.10 â—o the dayes come that I will bring again the Captivity of my people Israel and Judah saith the Lord and will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers and they shall possess it This was fulfilled when a remnant of Israel returned out of Assyria and
slaine the rest shall goe into captivity and banishment which is a civil death or which is worse they shall dye Gladio Spirituali saith Mercer by the sword of the Spirit being blinded and rejected of God so that they cannot repent But this though it be a truth yet not from this text 2 Here are the Persons upon whom this Judgement shall fall and those are Sinners all the sinners that are impenitent Idolatrous presumptuous sinners especially Idolaters those sinners with a witness and such was the body and bulk of this people All those be they high or low superiours or inferiours first or last they shall fall by the sword since they will not beleeve Gods Word they shall feel his Rod. Obj. But we are the Lords People by external profession by Covenant and by visible Adoption A. Be it so yet all the sinners of my people by profession since they contemn the counsel of my Prophets and persist in their loose conversation shall perish in their sin 3 Here is a further Character of them or another brand set upon them whereby they may be known and that is their security and incredulity in sleighting and contemning both God and his threatnings They say the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us See how diametrically opposite they are to God The Lord sayes the evil of punishment shall come upon them They say the contrary This evil and calamity shall not come upon us at least It shall not overtake us or antâ—cipate and prevent us that is either it shall not come or it shall not come in our dayes but when we are dead and gone or if it doe come yet it shall not come upon us it shall not come neer us to surprize us They thought themselves priviledged from such perils and that they should never seize on them But what saith the Lord to all this why he cannot bear with such high and horrid contempt of him and his Word and therefore he tells them plainly that all those incorrigible and incurable Sinners should fall by the sword since they say This evil shall not overtake us therefore it shall overtake them and destroy them OBSERVATIONS 1 Carnal security ends in misery When once men begin to put the evil day farre from them and sing a Requiem to their Souls then comes sudden and swift destruction Isa. 28.15 17 18. Ier. 2.35 5.11 12 13. there we have their security and Vers. 14 15 16 17. the punishment follows So Mat. 24.48 49. see their security and vers 50 51. the punishment follows When people are secure and incredulous and will not hear they shall be made to feel the truth of the Threatnings as Lots Sons-in-law that would not beleeve were burnt to ashes Gen. 19.14 yet the world abounds with such tell the Idolater the Oppressor the Fornicator c. of Judgements ready to seize upon them and they are ready to mock and say Let the day of the Lord come that we may see it Isa. 5.19 Ier. 17.15 so they shall to their sorrow Deut. 29.19 20. Amos 5.18 2 No priviledge can preserve an impenitent Idolatrous people from ruine No though they be my people yet if my people will not walk in my wayes but will rebel against me even the sinners of my people shall dye by the sword But of this oft before VERSE 11. In that day I will raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof and I will raise up his ruines and I will build it as in the dayes of old WEE are now come to the Third and last general part of this Chapter and that is consolatory containing many precious Promises concerning the Kingdom of Christ and the restauration and inlargement of the Church in the dayes of the Messiah The Prophet before had been Minatory terrifying them with many dreadful comminations of desolation and utter ruine for their Apostasie and rebellion but now that his Sun might not set in a Cloud hee concludes all with most sweet Evangelical consolations for the refreshing of the remnant of the Elect under those sad Calamities which for many years they lay under To this end he assures them that though all at present were in confusion and the house of David lay in the dust yet the Lord who usually brings lâ—ght out of darkness and comfort out of discomfort would in the conclusion restore the Kingdom unto Israel and make up all their losses in a better kind with spiritual blessings And this was the frequent practice of the Prophets to intermixe comforts with their Threatnings the very first Judgment that was pronounced against fallen man was allayed with a Promise presently annexed 1 They used to awaken and humble their Hearers with terrours and threatnings and then to raise them up again with consolations especially with the promises of the Messiah who was the salvation and consolation of Israel yea the joy and desire of all Nations Hag. 2.8 in whom all the Promises were ratified and confirmed 2 Cor. 1.20 Both Israel and Iudah were falling into a very forlorn scattered sad condition the Prophet therefore to keep the godly amongst them from sinking into utter despair comforts them with this that in the midst of judgement God would remember mercy being ever mindful of his Covenant and though he punisht them for their transgressions yet in due time he would send the Messiah with healing under his wings mongst them Some goe about to confine this glorious Prophesie to Hezekiahs time when Senacherib and his Host was slain Others refer it to the times when Iudah returned out of their Babylonish Captivity in the reign of Cyrus King of Persia when they repaired the ruines of Ierusalem But the text is clear against this for those were but poor sleight slender restaurations comparatively with this For 1. but a remnant came out of the Babylonish Captivity and those poor and low and farre fewer of Israel returned out of Assyria But the restauration here spoken of is most ample and glorious as appears by those high and Hyperbolical expressions of possessing all Nations and the Mountains dropping wine and the Hills running with Milk and Honey and all Israel returning out of Captivity It is therefore confest by all even by some of the Iewes themselves that these Promises have relation to Christ and should be fulfilled in Gospel-times according to that Apostolical allegation and interpretation of this very Text by Saint Iames in the Synod at Ierusalem Acts 15.16 17. After this I will return and build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down that is the Church of God in which Christ the Son of David should dwell and reign it should be repaired and restored by the Messias and I will build again the ruines thereof viz. by planting in it the beleeving Iewes and bringing in the Gentiles as living stones in the stead of the unbeleeving Jewes That the residue of men may seek the Lord that is
in this life may be brought to a very low condition It may seem like a poor little Tent or tattered Cottage full of breaches and ruines Isa. 1.8 so that it is scarcely visible and yet be a true Church 1 King 19 20. as the Moon is the Moon and in Heaven still though it lye hid for a time under the Clouds from our sight 3 After deep humiliation comes great consolation Never any so deeply humbled as Christ and never any more highly exalted Phil. 2.6 to 12. after this people had for many years been sifted and tossed and captivated and the family of David brought to the dust and no Human help appearing but they lay like dry bones scattâ—red up and down yet now doth the Lord appear and raise up the Tabernacle of David that was fallen by sending the Messiah that little Branch or Sprig out of the stock or contemptible stump of Iesse that was hewn down and cut off Isa. 11.1 when mans help fails then God appears our extremity is his opportunity Cum duplicantur lateres venit Moses In the Mount will the Lord be seen Christ came not here till all seemed to bee lost and laid on heaps he still reserves his holy hand for a dead lift and delights to help those that are forsaken of their hopes Deut. 32.36 Psal. 10.14 22.11 when this goodly Family was sunk so low as from David the King to Ioseph the Carpenter so that there was neither King nor Prince left then Christ appears and raiseth it up when the Scepter was departed from Iudah then Shilo comes Gen. 49.10 when all was here in confusion both in Church and State then comes the Messiah that Horn of Salvation and the glory of his people Israel 4 The Churches comforts are hid in Christ. It is he that makes up our breaches raiseth us out of our ruines and restores comfort to Sion and to her Mourners All our comforts and all our fresh Springs are in him our Election Vocation Justification Sanctification Salvation come all from this Fountain Ephes. 1.3 to 15. He is Bread to strengthen us Wine to comfort us Water to wash us a King to defend us a Prophet to teach us a Priest to intercede for us In a word he is All in All unto us as I have shewed elsewhere 5 The Old Testament is the Word of God and abides in New Testament times Iames the Apostle when he would prove the calling of the Gentiles he goes to the Old Testament the written Word of God and from thence proves it now had it not been Authentical the Apostles allegation had been invalid But of this at large elsewhere 6 Gospel priviledges are glorious priviledges The Church was glorious of old in Davids time when men went by troops to the House of God and fled as the Clouds and flockt as the Doves unto their windows But the Spiritual glory of the Church in the dayes of the Gospel is farre more glorious than in the dayes of Israel of old They had but the shadow we have the substance they saw Christ but darkly in Types and Figures but we see him with open face Hence the glory of the latter Temple is said to be greater than the glory of the former Hag. 2.9 But how can that be since the glory of the first Temple was farre more excellent for building than the latter insomuch that the ancient now wept to see how farre short it came of the former I but the glory of this latter House though inferiour for structure yet shall be greater than the glory of the former because Christ the Messiah should personally appear there and from thence should the Gospel of peace goe forth into all the world which should work a true and blessed tranquillity in the hearts of all beleevers Hence Iohn the Baptist is preferred before the Old Testament Prophets both in dignity and doctrine and New Testament Ministers who publish the whole Gospel are preferred before him Mat. 11.11 Let us then bless the Lord for Gospel-priviledges keeping them in purity and simplicity for though in Old Testament-times God allowed them Musick in publick Services with Altars Holy Vestments c. yet Christ their substance being come these shadowes are gone and now Christ will demand Who required these things at your hands In vain is all such Will-worship the Worship that Christ calls for now is a worship in spirit and in truth VER 12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom and of all the Heathen which are called by my name saith the Lord that doth this THe Prophet goes on to comfort the remnant of the faithful in Israel and Iudah in their low condition with the promises of better times under the Messiah then should Davids Spiritual Kingdom be more glorious than ever and the bounds of it more ample than in the dayes of old for when the Messiah shall come the Gentiles shall be called and the very Edomites which were deadly enemies to Gods wayes and people Amos 1.9 11. Obad. 10 11 12. shall submit their necks to Christs yoke and be brought into the communion of Christs Church by the operation of the Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel yea and all the elect Heathen shall come in with them according to that Promise Psal. 2.8 Isa. 19. ult Formerly the Church was shut up within narrow bounds and confined to the Iewes only but now it shall spread it self over all Nations The Prophet begins and names Edom first because they were near Neighbours and though Brethren to the Iewes yet were they bitter enemies to them rejoycing in their calamity and laughing at their downfall Lam. 4.21 Obad. 22. Yet now these should be converted and of foes become friends and at unity with Gods people These Lions should be turned into Lambs and these Wolves into Sheep and some remnants out of all Nations though never so rude and barbarous should bee brought unto Christs Sheep-fold God had plagued Edom very sore Numb 24.18 Isa. 63.1 especially by the hands of Nebuchadnezzar yet now he promiseth that a remnant of them shall be joyned with the Iewes in one Church whereof Christ is the Head Obad. 18 19. and therefore the Apostle Iames tells the Iewes that they ought not to wonder that the Gentiles had received the Holy Ghost as well as they since it was fore-told by the Prophets and amongst the rest by our Prophet here Acts 15.15 16 17. 2 Here is a further description of these Gospel-Converts they are such as upon whom my name is called that is they are such as are called by my name who are indeed my people The like expression we have Gen. 48.16 The Lord blesse the Lads and let my name be called on them that is let them be accounted my Progeny saith Iacob and be called my children The like parallel expression we have Isa. 4.1 63 ult Let us be called by thy name that is let us be
the Church Militant here and in the Church Triumphant hereafter 2 They shall have establishment They shall be no more pulled up out of their Land This cannot be understood literally for the Jews did not abide in their own Land for ever 1. Before Christs time when they returned out of Babylon 't was but a small number that returned to their own Land and those abode not long there neither 2. They were so far from ruling over all Nations that they were tributary to them 3. Their bounds were much straitned 4. When the Jews shall be called yet I think no sober man will say they shall no more be pulled up out of their own Land but shall abide there for ever as the letter of the Text imports I know that for ever is oft in Scripture put for an age or for a long time but the Millenaries take it here in the letter at least for their thousand years reign but without any ground But take the words spiritually as alluding to Christs Kingdome in Gospel-times and then all these Promises are abundantly fulfilled though not specifically in the same kind yet Valore in spirituals which are of far greater value than if they had been Lords of the East and West Indies besides the bounds of the Church are very much enlarged by the Gospel So that I shall with the best Divines take the words in a spiritual sense for the perseverance of the Saints such as are true Members of Christs Church shall never fall away none shall pull them from Christ or separate them from his love Christ will so settle his Church upon earth that it shall never be rooted up by the violence of men nor be prevailed against by the gates of Hell 3. Here is the confirmation of all this saith the Lord thy God He is Thy God in Covenant reconciled to thee in Christ ready to give thee all things needful for life and godliness 'T is he that hath promised who cannot lye nor deceive and therefore thou mayest safely build upon his word OBSERVATIONS 1. The Elect shall never totally and finally perish Christ will build his Church and if he be the builder who shall hinder him Mat. 16.18 and 24.24 The Elect are Trees well rooted the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified in them Isa. 61.3 Though they may fall foully yet never finally they were never real Saints that fall away totally and finally Such as go out from us were never truly of us They that are truly ingrafted into Christ no enemies visible or invisible shall ever prevail against them 'T is true the Potentates and Tyrants of the world have been in all ages heaving at this Stone but it hath crusht them all to peeces Zach. 12.3 Christ hath alwaies had a Church a little Flock a Remnant to serve him and ever will have in despight of all opposition As I have shewed at large elsewhere 2. God will faithâ—ully perform what ever hee hath promised to his people As all the Threatnings shall certainly fall on the heads of the wicked so all the Promises shall first or last be made good to the righteous 'T is God who cannot lye that hath said it and therefore he will certainly do it Homesius denuo enervatus DR Homes Chiliastarum ille Achilles that Sword and Buckler that great Millenarian Champion which hath printed a whole Book in folio of ten shillings price to my cost I speak it for I never paid so dear for so much waste-paper and a great nothing in a Jugling-box in defence of that fancy Amongst one and fifty Proofs taken out of the Old Testament for the confirmation of his Tenet hee produceth this of Amos 9.11 12 13 14 15. for one you see how directly he comes in my way otherwise I had not stirred one step nor indeavoured in the least any confutation of the Doctors Folio which doth sufficiently shew its own folly without a Confuter 'T is like a Puppet stuft with Bumbaste in which there is neither life nor spirit I have read of one that wrote a whole Sheet in the praise of a Louse that indeed is an Ens a living creature But I never read nor heard of any that ever spent so many Sheets in Folio about this fancy and Chimaera Chimaerissima before What Luther said of the Monks is true of the Millenaries Sicut Monastica religio nihil videt in Scripturis nisi cucullos Ira Millenarii nihil vident in Scripturis nisi Phantasias Corrupt heads and corrupt hearts pick corrupt notions and impure senses out of the pure word of God Many in our daies instead of solid food do fill and feed themselves with golden dreams and so resemble him that made the golden Legend who is said to be a man Plumbei oris ferrei cordis avei frontis 'T is said of the Popish Priests that they plead stoutly for Extream Unction Ut ipsi evadant Unctiores that they may the better lick their own fingers I hope the Doctor had no aspiring thoughts when he writ those High-flown-notions but when I shall have shewed you how unlike Dr. Homes in 1651. was to Dr. Homes in 1641. we may well say there was some what of self at the bottome Quest. But what doth Dr. Homes think of such men A. He tells you in the year 1641. That for a man deliberately and to please a Party to wrest the sacred Word of God is indirect blasphemy and St. Austin calls it Heresie Haereticus est qui alicujus temporalis commodi causà maximè gloriae principatûs falsas opiniones aeut gignit aut sequitur I doubt we have too many such Augustinian Hereticks still This of the Man let us now to the Matter This text in Amos saith Dr. Homes will prove for to that end he cites it that all the Saints departed shall rise and reigne with Christ a thousand years here upon earth in a wonderful visible spiritual glorious manner drinking Wine and enjoying the Quintessence of the Creatures c. Now how this text should prove such a Tenet I must confess my dimme eyes cannot discern But the Doctor who can see as farre into a Milstone as another man will clear it up But first lest we should think the Doctor to be singular in this opinion he tells you that the great Mercer and judicious Calvin on the place concur with him in the main at least in this point which how true besides what I have already produced before in the Commentary I come now to examine For Mercer on the place of all Commentators I find him most inclining yea peremptory for a Spiritual sense in all these five Verses How oft doth he cry Haec non ad literam non ad literam sed Spiritualiter spiritualiter spiritualiter sunt accipeanda Where is now the Doctors corporal pleasant external reigning By his abusing this learned Author we may guess at the rest for no better doth
the true Sabbath of rest unto the Lord in that seventh part of the time of the worlds duration All worldly strength wâ—sdome power shall then as the walls of Jericho fall flat before Iesus the true Joshua and these true Israelites as having been by them compassed about six dayes and now on the seventh a thousand years being with the Lord as one day 2 Pet. 3.8 making way for the end mentioned 1 Cor. 15.24 so that now men may know when the Day of Judgement shall be viz. about four hundred and forty years hence But how doth Sir H. prove all these high-flown Notions why ipse dixit he that never erred sayes it witness our self at W. It will be the wisdome of those in authority speedily to suppress such real Fanatical opinions else Hae nugae seria fient These trifles may become troubles If any shall take offence at my plaineness against these loose Principles I shall answer with Bernard Malo in me murmur hominum quam in Deum bonum est mihi si Deus me utatur pro clypeo FINIS A Table of the Principal things contained in this Commentary A. Pages AFflictions come from God 517 518 552 and lead to God 371 Angels their Office 517 Apathy condemned 327 Application necessary 108 308 Assurance attainable 208 Almes how to be given 43. Motives to it 31 32. Gavils answered 37 c. B. BEauty is vanity 499 Beggars lusty not to be releeved 51 52 Beleeve we are slow to it 337 Bethel what it was 21 Bribery base 12. 190 Burial decent a mercy 344 Burnt-offerings what they were 231 C. Carmel what it was 523 Carnal confidence vain 295 Carnal security dangerous 303 304 Children fare the worse for wicked Parents 16 17 Churches how holy 25 Church Musick a Novelty 314 Church must be dear to us our love to it rewarded 327 Cities ruined by Sin 100 299 Come every wicked man hath his come 13. and good men should have their come ibid. Company of the wicked to bee shunned 24 Conversion the end of correction 65 Consideration how necessary 298 299 Covetous men are carnal 468 469 Creature is vanity 356. How to improve it to Gods glory 536 Curiosity to be shunned 503 D. DArkness what it signifies 217 224 Decrees of God abide 340 Despair the wicked doe so 347 Drinking put for feasting 8 Duties daily to be practised 29 E. ELection free 568 Englands Mercies 67 Epicurism vile 308 Evil shun it 204 205 Examples of Saints abused 317 Examples of great men when wicked do much hurt 10 Extremity Gods people oft brought to it 373 F. FAmine a sad Iudgement 61 62. what Sins bring it 62. famine of the Word most sad 489 Feasting when unlawful 322 323 Family-duties to be set up 30. false Prophets enemies to the true Chap. 7.10 Obs. 1 Fear proper to wicked men 19 Few are saved 569 Flying will not avail the wicked 518 521 523 222 223 Free-will we have lost 105 153 Fruit lost by sin 80 G. GAtes how used 179 180 God is Omnipotent 125 585 fear him 125 127. a fix fold comfort in it 126 127 He is Omniscient 11 12 189 He is just 384. hee is most High 135 136. most Holy 15. Good 204 Patient 353 Lord of Hosts 137 337. Hee is the saddest enemy 524 525. if he be against us all is against us 148. his special presence the glory of a place 205. Hee is merciful 100 108 Gilgal what it is 22 26 Gods Worship wearisome to wicked men 464 465 Godly vilified 469. they are Gods graine 552 Good things must be often pressed 209 Good intentions no warrant for evil actions 27 Godly not seditious but peaceable proved at large Chap. 7. Vers. 10. Obs. 4. H. Hâ—rdened Sinners are incurable 65 66 100 101 Heart searcht by God 127 128 130 Holy Ghost is God 120 Hope upholds us 211 Humiliation goes before consolation 564 Hypocrites are Ceremonious their service no service 57 67 347 I. Idolatry brings Iudgements 74. it is a great Sin 502. it is a flesh-pleasing sin 59. it is very dangerous 253 254 458 Jehovah what it notes 136 Ingratitude vile 295 Instruments God wants not to doe his work 8 Ironies lawful 24 Mr. Jones his bounty 47 Judicial Astrology vile 72 73 Judgements seldome goe alone 340. they usually begin at Gods house 514. wee are slow to beleeve them 15. God hath variety of them 74 75 78 79 302. they are gradual ch 7. v. 8 Judgements on others must make us fear 298 299 The Iudgement of God differs from mans judgement 503 Justice God delights in it 239 how it must be performed 240 when perverted it is a crying sin 353 354 Ivory much used by the Iewes 306 307 Judge our selves we must 346 L. LEven how used 55 Legal Promises adumbrate Spiritual Blessings 559 Lesser Iudgements contemned make way for greater 107 Life Spiritual its excellency 158 468 Luxury breeds cruelty 323 M. MAtter 's of moment must bee marked 350 Mercy to the poor our duty 31 c. at large Mercies abused provoke wrath 26 Mercy and Iudgement mixt 546 Mirth of the wicked turned to mourning 331 Ministery is searching 133 322 Ministers must persevere in their Ministery 452. they must preach plainly 253. they must be prudent 371 Mockers how vile 218 219 Moloch what it was 247 248 Mountains melt when God is angry 530. They are mercies to the world 118 119 Musick abused unlawful 235 310 O. OBedience qualifications of it 58 59 Oppressors rich men many times are such 12 Oppressors of others shall be opprest themselves 15 16 P. Patience in calamities necessary 200 201 346 Perseverance necessary 553 578 Parity of sin brings parity of suffering 83 Persecution dangerous 328 Pestilence comes from God 84. what sins bring it 84 85. a sad Iudgement 86. whether wee may fly from it 87 88. Good men may dye of it 89 Piety brings plenty 574 Places debased by sin 25. shun Idolatrous places 160 Pleasures carnal costly 321 Plots broken by God 128 Poverty the causes of it to be shunned 53 Plaine Preachers disliked c 7 13 Prayer our daily practice 29. it is powerful 109 374. when Argumentative 372. persevere in it 377. short prayer if fervent may prevaile much 378 Praises due to God 58. 357 Preach none may without a Call 8. Preaching to be preferned before Miracles 97 98. it is the Souls food 487. contempt of it brings a famine 488 Priviledges cannot keep off Iudgments 294 337 Presence of God the glory of a place 205 Progenitors though pious cannot avail an impious people 541 Providence governs all 99 100 Proverbial speeches commendable 353 Prudence three-fold 192. Pious men are prudent 196. which appears in eight particulars 197 198 Q. QUakers how vile 57 58 131 Questions how useful 245 R. RAine falls by appointment 71. want of it a Iudgement 70 71 A Remnant saved 547 Relicks of Saints vain 345 Repentance difficult 75. its excellency 113 116
he deal with Calvin Hear how expresly he speaks against the Doctors opinion Quod hic dicitur de tritici et vini abundantia debet exponi pro natura regni Christi ergo quia spirituale est regnum Christi sufficiat etiam nobis affluere spiritualibus bonis Et Iudaei quos Dominus sibi residuos reservarit contenti fuerunt illâ spirituali abundantiâ Siquis objiciat Prophetam hic non Allegoricè loqui responsio facilis est â—empe hunc morem passim receptum esse in Scripturâ ut faelicitas sub commodis praesentis vitae terrenis benedictionibus quasi pingatur ante oculos nostros praesertim hoc observare in Prophetis licet quia stylum accommodabant ad captum rudis infirmi populi What could be spoken more from this text against the Doctors opinion and yet the Doctor still tells us that he mainly contends for a literal sense and for a Corporal bringing back of the ten Tribes into their own country But a greater than Doctor Homes is of another judgement it is the learned Doctor Rivet glossing on Amos 9.13 thus he saith Harum promissionum minima pars ad temporalia referri debet ut ex iis assurgamus ad spiritualia plera etiam non impleri perfectè in hac vitâ teneamus sed coelestem beatitudinem respicere quomodo quando excellentius est quod promittitur regni Christi civibus praestandum quà m unquam temporaliter fuit praestitum necessarium est ut de bonis spiritualibus accipiatur per Christum donandis c. ubi plura But to put all out of controversie St. Iames citing Amos 9.11 12. interprets them Spiritually and proves the calling and conversion of the Gentiles in the Apostolical times from them as I have shewed before Acts 15.7 to 17. now whether shall we beleeve the Apostle Iames that interprets these words Spiritually or Doctor Homes who mainly contends for a literal sense 2 Daâ—â— non concesso giving but not granting what the Doctor saith suppose all these promises were to be taken literally for temporal blessings yet how doth it follow hence that Christ shall reign with the Saints on earth in a visible manner a thousand years Let any one read over all these five Verses and put to any one of them singly or to all conjunctly ergo Christ shall reign with the Saints a thousand years here on earth and see if he can forbear smiling at such gross Non-sequiturs which agree like Harp and Harrow Lastly the Doctor in the close of all challengeth all the Men and Books in the World to shew when ever these promises were yet fulfilled When saith this self-conceited Doctor were all the wast Cities re-built the breaches made up when was there ever yet all spiritual and all outward prosperity in the Church When dâ—d the Mountains ever run VVine or the Hills ever melt into Oyl and Milk and Honey and when were all these enjoyments perpetuated Ans. If you take the Promises spiritually St. Iames hath told us they were fulfilled in the Apostles dayes if you take them literally they never were nor ever will be fulfilled who ever looks for a sinless sorrowless deathless condition as the Doctor dream of in this world when the Mountains shall run Wine c. none but grosse Fanaticks will fancy such fables I am even tired with mentioning them Obj. But if this text in Amos will not prove the point yet the Doctor hath one prime place which will prove it terminis terminantibus and that is Revel 20.4 5 6. Answ. Doctor Homes shall confute Doctor Homes Doctor Nathaniel Homes 1641. shall confute dreaming Dr. Homes 1651. the greatest Antimillenarian could hardly say more against them than he did then when the opinion was not in fashion But he may say as a loose Bishop did sometimes Nunc aliud tempus alii pro tempore mores But hear what he sayes in his Set. on 2 Pet. 3.13 p. 4. to 7. preacht before the Parliament 1641. where he strongly asserts the excellency of the Presbyterian Government p. 29.38 c. I mention this only lest he should face about again but I think his Rump is broken c. Our Divines saith he commonly called Millenaries would understand this text of Peter of the Martyrs reigning a thousand years on earth before they be taken up soul and body into heaven but these are as wide as earth from Heaven Of innumerable particulars which might be alleadged let us at this time be content with some touches on that leading place Revel 20.4 c. 1. The text tells us saith he that it is their Souls shall reign and not their Bodies and by a thousand years is meant an eternity of felicity and reigning in heaven Then he cites Parcus on Rev. 20. against them and perswades his Reader to read that Learned man on that point Then he takes off their objections and at last tells us that Papias the first Author of this opinion was a credulous man and apt to receive fables for verities I wish D. H. were not too like him You see by this time what little credence is to be given to this Weather-cock than can turn and turn but never crow But what talk I of D. H. when I find learned Sir Henry Vane in eadem haeresi in his vain peece of Learned Non-sense to favour this opinion I may say of that Cloudy Book with better reason what one said of Persius Si non vis intelligt debes negligi Truth loves not clouds and corners it is error that is lucifugus and fears the light I shall be brief remembring that of Cyprian Brevitas controversiarum legentibus plurimum prodest dum non intellectum legentis seipsum liber longior spargit sed subtil'ore compendio id quod legitur tenax memoria custodit Sir Henry Vane in his Mystery of Godlinesse ch 25. tells us that when this thousand years are come Magistracy and Visible VVorship and forms of Christian Religion c. shall be destroyed c. Those places which point expresly at the Day of Judgment he wracks and wrests to prove his thousand years reign as Acts 3.19 20 21. 17.31 1 Thes. 4.16 1 Cor. 6.2 3. Q. But when doth Sir Henry say that this thousand years reign shall begin A. So far as I can gather from him this thousand years reign of Christ on earth shall begin in the seventh thousand year of the world viz. about 440. years hence Wisely done S. H. to set a longer time than most of this way doe that so he may not be laught at for his vain calculation whilst he liveth But that I may not wrong him for he hath wronged himself too much already take his own Words ch 26 p. 418 428. The Generall assembly of the first born are to continue and abide for a thousand years in the exercise of this immortal incorruptible bodâ—ly life here in this world keeping