untoucht But such a terrible destructive Pestilence that should sweep away all before it insomuch that if ten men remaine alive they shall all dye and they shall be buried not in an ordinary way but they shall be burnt and that by the nearest relations which was used by the people of Israel only in cases of extream necessity 1 Sam. 31.12 In this Verse we have 1 A Iudgement threatned viz. death Yee shall dye i. e. by the Pestilence Those that escaped the Sword and were not killed or carried away by the enemy the Pestilence or some other Judgement shall slay them as appears by the next verse 2 Here is the fierceness of this Pestilence it shall sweep all before it this is more than the Pestilence usually doth God had corrected them before with lighter rods yet he left some alive but now if ten men remaine in some very numerous Family they shall all dye together This sets forth the dreadfulness of Gods wrath against this people for when the Plague rageth very fiercely yet it usually spares some if there bee four or five in an house usually one is spared or if eight in a Family it may be two are spared but when there are ten in a Family and they must all dye this is dreadful indeed By Ten the Prophet signifies many because ten is the utmost of single number It is a certain and distinct number put for an uncertain the like we find Numb 14.22 Levit. 26.26 1 Sam. 1.8 Iob 19.3 Psal. 91.7 Eccles. 7.19 Isa. 5.10 Zach. 8.23 Mat. 25.1 3 Here is the certainty of this dreadful destruction It shall come to pass that is it shall certainly come to pass for God hath so decreed it and there is no resisting OBSERVATIONS 1 Iudgements seldome goe alone When God begins to correct a people he takes them up for all together and spends one rod upon them after another till he hath either mended or ended them God wants not variety of wayes to cut off rebellious sinners if they escape one Judgement yet he hath another to arrest them Amos 5.19 9.1 2 3. Mat. 24.7 he hath moths thieves rust and cankers to rob us of our comforts Iam. 5.2 3. 2 Desperate Diseases must have desperate Cures When gentler corrections will not work on a people then come direful plagues and end them Those sinners were become desperate and incurable and now the Lord sets upon them with direful judgements and consumes them that so all the Nations round about might hear and fear and doe no more so wickedly 3 Incorrigible sinners are cut off by the Pestilence God had used all means to reclaime this People but all in vaine therefore now they must dye for it So true is that of the Apostle The wages of sin is death Rom. 1.31 6.23 Sin and Death came into the world together Gen. 2.17 Dan. 9.11 Rom. 5.12 How blind then are the Socinians that can finde no place in Scripture where it is said that death is the punishment of sin 4 What God hath decreed shall certainly be effected Though we cannot bring it to pass yet he can and will whether it be for the overthrow of the wicked as here or for the comfort of the godly The counsel of the Lord shall stand and the thoughts of his heart unto all generations Men may plot and contrive wayes to overthrow the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ but these devices and counsels of men shall not stand it is the counsels of the Lord only that shall abide Psal. 33.10 11. VER 10. And a mans Uncle shall take him up and he that burneth him to bring out the bones out of the house and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house Is there yet any with thee and he shall say No then shall he say Hold thy tongue for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord. WHat the Prophet had exprest somewhat obscurely in the precedent Verse he sets down more fully and clearly in this viz. That the Pestilence should be so dreadful that it should destroy whole Families insomuch that there should not be living men enough to bury the dead There should neither be Father nor Mother Brother nor Sister Son nor Daughter left alive to doe the last office of Burial for them but a mans Uncle or Kinsman must doe it for him else hee may lye and rot above ground This shews what great desolation the Pestilence had made amongst them that the Uncle or nearest Kinsman to whom the right of succession to the Inheritance belongs must bee constrained to burn the Body that so he might carry the bones out of the house with more ease This was servile work and belonged to mercenary men appointed for that purpose Ezek. 39.14 but for want of such ordinary Officers to doe it the Kinsman must doe it So that in this Verse we have 1. An Amplification of that great desolation which the Pestilence should make amongst them it should be so terrible that it should destroy whole Families and cut off those ordinary Officers which were appointed to bury the dead insomuch that the next Kinsman must be forced to doe it neither shall he doe it in an ordinary way but he must burne his bones Calvin and others make the Uncle alone to be both the burner of the dead and the burier of his bones they read the words thus His Uncle shall take him up and burne him that he may carry the bones out of the house This reading seems to be most genuine and agreeable to the Text and context setting forth the dreadful hand of God upon them in that the Pestilence should be so fierce that they should want ordinary Officers to bury the dead Q. But how are they said to burne their dead when it appears both by the Old and New Testament that the Jewes did bury their dead Gen. 23.4 49.31 50.5 25 26. Mat. 8.21 22. Joh. 19.41 42. A. It is true usually they did bury their dead in times of Peace but in times of Warre they sometimes did burn their dead as they did Saul and his Sons to prevent further abuse which might be offered to their bodies by the Philistims 1 Sam. 31.12 13. so in times of great contagion to prevent stench and further infection they burnt their dead as in the text They might also burne them to cleanse the house which was fallen to the Kinsman from legal uncleanness by the dead Numb 19.14 Hence we read of their Vespillones and Polâ—inctores their buriers and their burners of the dead and so had the Gentiles and the Romans they burnt their dead to ashes and put their ashes into Urns as appears by Virgil Ovid and others and Pitchers of Gold Silver Brass or Marble with great care and ceremoniousness These Iewes being themselves Idolaters did symbolize too much with Heathens and Idolaters in this thing 2 Here is the reason why
about Tything of Mint and Cummin and Annise but the weighty matters of the Law lay unregarded these forget that obedience is better than sacrifice Thus our perfect Pharisees the Quakers how precise seeme they in their words even beyond the rule What adoe doe they make about Pulpits Hour-glasses Churches Steeples Bells Gownes Clokes Laces Fringes Hatbands making of Leggs Curchies Titles of Honour c. and yet these Atheistical Libertines whose Religion is meer Irreligion make no bones of Blasphemy Heresie Lying Equivocating Rayling Witch-craft c. God will smite such gross Hipocrites 2 Obs. Sacrifices of praise are due only to God The Lord was here greatly displeased with Israel for offering their Sacrifices of praise to their Idols which were due to him As it was their Sin that they spent the silver and the gold which God had given them in the service of Baal Hos. 2.8 so to give the calves of their lips as Praises are called Hos. 14.2 as well as the calves of their stalls to Idols must needs be a God-provoking sin As all our Blessings come from him so it is great reason that all our Praises should bee given to him This hath ever been the practice of the Saints Psal. 56.12 93.30.33 107.22 Ionah 2.9 and is oft commanded Psal. 50.14 15. Ephes. 5.20 3 Obs. God delighteth in Free-will offerings The Prayers and Praises that we offer unto God must be voluntary ingenuous free Exod. 25.2 1 Chron. 28.9 Esa. 1.19 2 Cor. 8.12 Christ saved us willingly Psal. 40.6 7. and therefore we should serve him willingly yea the Angels which are more noble Creatures than we yet serve God willingly Psal. 103.20 we must resemble them yea the unreasonable creatures delight to serve God Psal. 19.5 Compulsive obedience is no obedience the service wee perform to God must have three ingredients in it it must bee done Scienter Volenter Constanter 1 Our service must be reasonable service for blind obedience is no obedience Rom. 12.1 2 It must be performed cheerfully and willingly for as God loves a cheerful Giver so he loves a cheerful Hearer a cheerful Prayer and a cheerful observer of his Sabbaths Isa. 58.15 It was Prophesied that in Gospel times Gods people should be willingnesses in the abstract and Plural Number that is they should bee a prompt People that are even composed as it were of willingness so ready should they bee to worship him Psal. 110.3 3 It must be constant we must not only doe righteousness at sometimes but at all times Psal. 106.3 4 Obs. Idolatry is marvellous pleasing to our corrupt natures Men love to have it so Ier. 5. ult Corrupt Principles suit well with our corrupt hearts Hence it is that men are said to be wedded to their Idols Hos. 4.17 those they love and serve and seek to worship Jer. 8.2 this makes multitudes goe after the Whore with her bewitching alluring golden Cup Revel 13.3 on this side Hell there is not a sorer Judgement than thus to be given up to our own currupt affections VERSE 6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your Cities and want of bread in all your places yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. WHen God would convert a People he useth Blessings and Curses Mercies and Judgements one or both of which usually work upon all ingenuous natures Levit. 26. Deut. 28. 30.1 2. God had tried all conclusions upon this people he had tried to reclaime them by Mercies Amos 2.9 10 11. 3.2 but these being ineffectual he now tries what Judgements will doe and therefore sends his three Arrowes of Famine Pestilence and Sword amongst them to convert them if it might be and not to destroy them as appears by that Emphatical Epistrophe annext to every punishment yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. Not only his Mercies but his Menaces not only his favours but his frownes and rods were all ineffectual upon the hearts of this impenitent people As a tender father will use all means to reclaime his rebellious Son so God had used all means to reclaim this People from their Idolatry and Apostacy but all in vain for they were so wedded to their lusts that they had rather lose their Land and Lives than part with them so that this is the third Sin which the Lord by his Prophet chargeth them withall viz. Obstinacy and incorrigibleness no cords of love could draw them nor judgements drive them The Lord had wasted all his rods on them in vain five or six he mentions here viz. 1 Famine 2 Drought 3 Blasting 4 Mildew 5 Plague 6 Sword But they were so farre from returning that they grew worse and worse and therefore the Lord resolves to make a final end with them In this Verse we have 1 A Judgement executed and that is Famine which is Paraphrastically set forth by cleanness of teeth and is exegetically explained in the next Clause by want of Bread and provision I have given you cleanness of teeth what is that why want of bread in all places when men have nothing to eat their teeth are clean nothing adheres to them to foul them In the precedent Verse the Lord tells us what pleased Israel viz. Sin and now hee tells us what pleased him viz. to punish them for their sin as they had abused their food like fat Beasts to luxury and riot so now they should fast for it and I also have given you or therefore have I given you cleanness of teeth it is a suitable Judgement that unclean hearts and lives should be punisht with cleanness of teeth This Judgement was in part fulfilled in Elijahs and Elishaes dayes when in Ahabs reign there was a three years famine 1 King 17. 18. 2 King 6.25 8.1 and in the dayes of King Ioram for the Idolatry that then reinged 2 King 4.38 yet some conceive that the Prophet here speaks of some latter famine which was then fresh in their memories 2 Here is the Extent or Universality of this Judgement the famine was not in one or two but in all their Cities and in all places 3 Here is the effect which this Judgement had upon them viz. It was ineffectual yet have yee not returned to me saith Lord. Their hearts were so hardned and they so indurate in sin that they were become incorrigible and incurable they were Judgement-proof no chastning could work upon them Yet have yee not c. This yet shewes that there was great reason why God should expect their return and that hee had done that which in all probability might have caused them to return when he sent these Judgements on them therefore God inculcates and oft repeats this sentence Yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord as being greatly troubled that his corrections had no better operations on them when even Phrygians and Barbarians are bettered by blows yea the dull Asse is quickned by the
we take no notice of it Hos. 7.9 God cries to us by his Judgements To day if yee will hear his voyce harden not your hearts while it is called to day make your peace with mee before the night of warre dearth and death surprize you God hath set forth a Third Edition of Warre he hath printed his Wrath in Capital letters his Spurs stick deep in our sides and our lashes are heard over all parts of Christendome and yet how little are we affected therewith and how careless are we to prepare to meet the Lord. With what a horrid stupidity are wee benummed the Plague of Lots Wife hath fallen upon us and we are turned into Stones and Pillars so that as our Saviour wept over Ierusalem so should we weep over England for its induration and not knowing the day of her Visitation There is a dark and dismal cloud of wrath hangs over our heads there is but one way left to prevent its falling on us and that is 1. Personal Repentance every one to amend one 2. Domestical Repentance every Family apart must humble themselves for their family sins Zach. 12.12 3. National Repentance when the Magistrate shall command the whole Nation to humble themselves for the crying sins and great provocations which have been daily committed in the midst of us Till this be done I shall never expect that truth or peace should abide long amongst us Let us then every one fall heartily to this work which must of necessity be done or else we are undone Luke 13.3 Ioh. 3.5 let us humble our selves and then God will raise us up Iob 22.29 Iam. 4.10 Let us weep now and we shall have joy when troubles come Iob 5.22 Hab. 3.16 Our sins are the Achans which have troubled our Israel our sins are the Ionahs which have raised these storms and tempests amongst us our sins are the Sheba's that have raised rebellion in the Land it is our malignant sins which have raised up against us malignant enemies let us then stone these Achans and our troubles will cease drown these Ionahs and our storms will over cut off the heads of these Sheba's and our troubles will end let us destroy our malignant sins and God will soon destroy our malignant enemies If men would but judge themselves they should not be judged of God 1 Cor. 11.31 Let us then set upon this Soul-inriching-work of Self-examination and Self-judging Let us arraign our selves and set our selves as in Gods presence before his bar Let us examine and take a view of our selves in the Glass of Gods Law and when wee have found out our corruptions let us with shame and sorrow confess them and spread them before the Lord to move him to shew pitty to us Let us judge our selves worthy to be destroyed for them humbly imploring pardon in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ. Doe but this soundly and sincerely and it will qualifie thee for mercies Temporal Spiritual and Eternal and give thee title and interest in many gracious Promises as Levit. 26.40 41 42. Prov. 28.13 1 Ioh. 1.9 The Lord is now upon his march against us it is time therefore for us to meet him with our Prayers and mollifie him with our Tears considering our own inability to grapple with him Can dust and ashes contend with the God of Heaven and Earth Can we with ten thousand Lusts meet the Lord with twenty thousand of Angels Can impotency vie with Omnipotency O no. 2 Consider we cannot run from God Psal. 139.7 Amos 9.2 3. we can goe no where from God but we must fall into his hands Let us therefore run from him to him Ab irato ad placitum from him as an angry God to him as a reconciled Father Bloud-letting is the cure of bleeding and to close with an enemy is the way to avoyd the blow 3 Consider If we goe not to meet God he will fetch us He will either fill our souls with terrours or else send outward afflictions to arrest us When Ioab would not come to Absolon he commands his field of Corn to bee fired and then Ioab arose and came 2 Sam. 14.30 31. Physicians sometimes to cure the Lethargy doe cast into a Feaver so doth God oft cure us of one evil by another If the Word cannot the Sword shall fetch us in or else doe that which is worse send us to Hell Let us then learn to prevent blows hearken to counsel and you may be safe else rods are prepared for the backs of fools Prov. 26.3 If we come not in of our selves let us expect some sad Messenger to fetch us therefore while the sea is calm and the weather fair let us set out to meet our God What the Lord said of Hezekiah is too true of England that he rendred not according to what he had received so we are much behind hand with God we receive much but we return little the Christian World is turned Bankrupt and God is now issuing forth Process to seize upon Body Goods and Life Hee cannot have what he would have he will therefore have what he should have He is now setting us as low as we have hitherto set his love Long-suffering is now at an end God will have all paid now or else Justice will set abroach our bloud O England then repent and prepare to meet thy God and to incourage us know that if wee will goe to meet God he will come to meet us he will meet our sorrow with his sense of it our Prayers with his presence and propitious answers and our tears with his handkerchief Nay he will meet us with embraces as the father of the Prodigal did his returning Son Luke 15.20 Let us then goe to him with humble acknowledgements in our mouthes and say to him Father we have sinned against Heaven and before thee we have abused thy Mercies despised thy Judgements despited thy Spirit and have not returned unto thee Let us thus in humility fall down at Gods feet and he will fall on our necks and embrace us in the armes of his love Seeing therefore God will doe thus unto us let us prepare our selves to meet our God See more concerning the necessity and excellency of Repentance in Master Perkins Mr. Dyke and Doct. Tho. Taylor their particular Treatises of Repentance Mr. Hookers Souls-preparation for Christ Mr. Bridge on Matth. 4.2 D. â—restons Iudas Repentance and Pauls conversion Mr. Fenners Danger of deferring Repent Many Treatises of Mr. Baxter about Conversion Mr. Swinnocks Key to Regeneration on Iohn 3.3 Binchius his Mellific Theolog. Loc. 19. P. 4. p. 90. Doct. Holdsworth on Hos. 14.2 Dyke on Conscience p. 49. and on the Sacrament p. 37. Taffin on Amendment p. 422. Mr. Baines Ser. Rev. 2.4 p. 17. Doct. Loves Ser. on Isa. 21.12 Doct. Burges his Fast Serm. on Jer. 4.14 Harsenet on Repentance Mr. Case his Morning Lectures in quarto p. 485. c. Reyner his Precepts for Practice p. 4 5.
dignissima that he speaks of the Natural VVinds because immediately before he spake of the Mountains from whence Philosophers conceive that these VVinds proceed and the word Ruach is oft put for the Natural VVinds as Exod. 10.13 19. 15.10 Iob 28.25 2 The Socinians and their followers take this word for a Spirit and that Spirit to be the Holy Ghost this they doe to destroy the Deity of the Holy Ghost See here what windy idle addle conceits Hereticks have and what feeble sandy foundations they build upon they catch at any chrotchet which may please their humours For it is plaine here that the Prophet speaks of the created VVind or if they will needs read it Spirit yet it is a created Spirit Hee createth Ruach the Wind or the Spirit But the Holy Ghost is not made or Created but proceedeth from the Father and the Son and is God blessed for ever as is abundantly proved by others As for the Natural causes of the VVind Philosophers differ Some conceive that the Sun drawing up Vapours and Exhalations and they falling down again by violence become Winds by the coldness of the middle region 2 Others conceive that the aire being pent up in the Vaults and Caves of the earth having a vent doe break forth and so spread into Winds and for this they bring Psal. 135.7 Ier. 10.13 51.16 Hee causeth the Vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth he maketh Lightning for the rain and bringeth the wind out of his treasuries That is say they out of his Vaults and Concavities wherein it is kept as in a Treasury But God himself who hath made the Wind tells us plainly that we know not whence it comes nor whither it goes Ioh. 3.7 we may therefore well be ignorant of that which God in his wisdome hath hidden from us An humble ignorance in deep Mysteries whether Natural or Supernatural whether in the works or the Word of God is better and safer than proud curiosity VVe have many Reasons to bless God for the Wind. It is indeed a common Blessing but yet we could not live without it 1 If the Aire be thick dark and unwholsome the VVind cleareth and purgeth the aire for the health of our Bodies and for the preservation of the Creatures They dispel noysome Vapours and therefore are called Scopae mundi the worlds Beesoms with which God sweeps his great House the world 2 If we want Rain the Winds carry the Clouds and bring us rain at the Prayers of Elijah after three years drought the Heavens were darkned with Clouds and Wind whence came a great rain 1 King 18.45 3 They cool the Aire in the heat of Summer and help to refresh us 4 They help our Ships to sayl and bring Commodities from all Nations to us and help our Mills to grind our Corn. 5 They serve for the Miraculous help of Gods Church and People When the Lord had brought Israel by a strong hand out of Aegypt hee caused the Sea to goe back by a strong East-wind and made the Sea dry land for his people to pass thorough Exod. 14.21 6 They help to execute Gods Iudgements on the wicked VVith an East-wind the Lord brought Locusts and Grashoppers on Aegypt to devour their fruit Exod. 10.13 19 and by a VVest-wind hee drove them away again Theodosius praying against his enemies the winds brought back the enemies Arrowes on their owne heads which made Claudian cry O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti Ascribe not then great VVinds to Conjurers Witches Devils c. The Winds are Gods servants and doe readily obey his commands Psal. 148.8 Matth. 8.26 and not the Devils Satan without Gods leave cannot raise so much wind as will toss a feather He could doe nothing in this kind against Iob till he had a Commission from God Iob 1.16 19. 3 This is not all for the Prophet descends to man and tells us that since God made him he also can tell him his thoughts meditations and purposes He can tell what Language men have in their hearts and what they talk within themselves as the rich fool did Luke 12.17 Our words are not so intelligible to men as our thoughts are to God Christ knew what was in man hee knew their thoughts Ioh. 2. ult and therefore he answered his enemies many times not according to their words but according to their thoughts Matth. 8.20 yea God knows our thoughts before we think them and our conceits before we conceive them hee understands them afarre off Psal 139.2 he being intimo nostro intimior nearer to us than our flesh is to our bones hee knowes our thoughts in Posse from all eternity so great is his Omniscience As a man that knoweth what Roots he hath in his Garden though there be no flower appearing yet he can say when the Spring comes this and this will come up So it is here God knowes our frames our Principles our Projects and what the issue will be nothing is hid from his All-seeing eye The words are diversly read 1 Some refer the Affix to God thus Hee declareth to man his owne mind and meditation and tells him what hee intends to doe Esay 41.26 Amos 3.7 thus he revealed his mind to Abraham before hee would destroy Sodome and Christ reveals his secrets to his Disciples Iohn 15.15 2 The Septuagint mistaking the Original read it thus He declareth unto man his Christ Meshicho Christum vel Unctum suum but the word is Masecho what is his thought But the proper scope of the Text is to convince the Israelites that they had not to doe with men but with the Omniscient God who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins and knoweth the hidden things of man even the most secret turnings and windings ploddings and purposes of the Soul so as he cannot be deceived neither will he be mocked A man may know much by himself but God knowes more our Consciences may accuse us of some things but God is greater than our Consciences and knoweth all things Q. But how doth God declare unto man his Thoughts Ans. Divers wayes 1. Sometimes he discovers and disappoints the most secret aymes and intentions of men and so makes their thoughts visible to the world 2 By his Ministers they opening the Word of God which is a Soul-searching Word doe discover to men the thoughts and intents of their hearts Heb. 4.12 3 Sometimes without the Word God by his Spirit checks men and convinceth the Conscience of the vanity and sinful imaginations which are in them He maketh the morning darkness The Prophet goes on still to shew the Almighty Power of God who can turn the brightest morning into dreadful darkness and the most glorious day into a dismal night If he be angry he can make the morning not only dark but darkness it self in the Abstract that is exceeding dark 2 Others read the words
the High places of Laughter or the ridiculous High places and the Altars of Derision for what is more ridiculous than for men to worship a Stock or a Stone which themselves have carved shall be desolate But this is a ridiculous version of this text for though there be a change of one Letter in the name of Isaac Scin instead of Tsade yet the Learned in that Language observe that these Letters are used promiscuously the one for the other and it is the same Isaac here spoken of which is mentioned Gen. 17.19 Psal. 105.9 By high places here are meant Temples and Altars erected on Mountains and Hills for the honour of their Idols Amos 4. ult Though God had confined them by a strict command to worship at Ierusalem yet they must have somewhat of their owne inventing they must be sacrificing on their owne high Hills high Altars and high Places though they dye for it These are called the High-places of Isaac say some 1 Because as Abraham was ready to offer Isaac in Sacrifice at Gods command so these offered their Sons and Daughters in imitation of Abraham to Moloch and Baal but there is no ground for this in the text 2 They garnisht their Idolatry with the names and examples of Isaac and Iacob because in their times they had set up secret Altars and offered Sacrifices there to the God of Heaven Thus did Isaac at Beersheba Gen. 26.25 and Iacob at Bethel Gen. 35.7 And the Sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid wast That is the Idolatrous Temples Altars and Groves in Dan and Bethel and other Cities consecrated to the golden Calves shall be destroyed by the Assâ—rian These places are called Sanctuaries and Holy places not that they are so indeed but the Scripture speaks according to mens opinions of them as here it calls these Idols Temples Sanctuaries when indeed they were dens of Devils and great provocations of Gods wrath against this people And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the Sword This Ieroboam was not Ieroboam the Son of Nebat which made Israel to sin the first Author of Schism and Idolatry in the Kingdome of Israel but this is Ieroboam the second one of the same name and of the same religion a chip of the old block he was Son of Ioash Nephew to Iehu and Father to Zachariah in his dayes the Kingdom flourisht they recovered many Cities and inlarged their borders but they abusing these Mercies God threatens to destroy both the Kingdome and the Kings posterity as he did when Zachariah the Son of Ieroboam was slaine openly in the sight of the people by Shallum after he had reigned six moneths who translated the Kingdome to his owne family 2 King 15.10 and this put an end to Iehu's Stock according to the threatning 2 King 10.30 Two vaine props this People rested on 1. In their external Idolatrous services 2. In the power of their Kings Both these the Lord tells them should faile them for their Sanctuaries should be laid wast and the house of the King cut off and this made way for their utter ruine by the Assyrian Q. But why doth the Lord threaten the house of Jeroboam rather than any other family A. Because the Leaders of People especially if they be wicked lead them into Sin with themselves and so have the Peoples sins to answer for as well as their owne The twenty Kings of Israel were all of them Idolaters and drew the people into Idolatry with them and therefore the Lord threatens to begin with the house of Ieroboam first both Princes Priests and People had sinned together and now the Lord tells them they shall perish together So Samuel told the people that if they persevered in their wickedness both they and their King should perish 1 Sam. 12. ult OBSERVATIONS 1 Corruptions in the Church usually ruine the State For Church and Common-wealth are like the Vine and the Elme or like those twins which are said to weep and laugh together so long as purity in religion is preserved the State prospers and hath peace 2 Chron. 17.5 10. Isa. 60.12 13 18. God will preserve that people which preserves his truth Revel 2.10 but he will depart from those that depart from the purity of his wayes and when God departs peace plenty comfort glory c. all goes with him and all misery comes in like a floud Deut. 31.17 Ier. 6.8 Hos. 9.12 2 God will destroy Idolatrous places The Sanctuaries and high places of Idolators shall be ruined if Magistrates will not destroy them God will Levit. 26.30 Deut. 12.23 Ezek. 6.3 Amos 4. ult 5.5 3 Sin especially the Sin of Idolatry ruines great men as well as others God is no respecter of persons but if great men be great offenders they must look for great punishment God is terrible not only to inferiour wicked men but even to the Kings of the earth if Ieroboam will worship golden Calves those Calves shall be his ruine Idolatry is a God-provoking and a Land-destroying sin Psal. 106.39 Amos 2.4 5. 4 Gods Ministers must denounce Iudgements against great men when they sin as well as against inferiour persons Yea rather against them because by their example they doe more hurt This makes Amos as it were threaten the house of the King Thus Elijah reproves Ahab Nathan David and Iohn Baptist Herod See more in my Com. on Psal. 82.2 Obs. 1. p. 96 97. 5 God transferres Kingdoms from one family to another as pleaseth him He pulls down one and sets up another in the Throne and none may say to him what dost thou After the division of the Kingdom of Israel from Iudah they had twenty Kings of ten several Stocks whereof one destroyed another Ieroboams Stock was cut off by Baasha and Baashaes by Zimri and Tibni by Omri and Omries by Iehu and Iehu's by Shallum and Shallum's by Menahems and Menahems by Pekah and Pekah's by Hoshea All these Kings were Idolaters and the most of them cruel Tyrants and Persecutors and therefore God cut them off that they did not live out half their dayes VER 10 11. Then Amaziah the Priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam King of Israel saying Amosâ—ath â—ath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the Land is not able to bear all his words For thus Amos saith Jeroboam shall dye by the Sword and Israel shall surely be led away Captive out of their owne Land WEE have seen Amos his fidelity and love to this People in the faithful discharge of his duty to them We are now come to the issue and event of his Sermons and to see how he is required for his pains and this makes the second part of this Chapter where we have a notable History of the Persecution and treachery of Amaziah the Idolatrous Priest of Bethel and the constancy of Amos in asserting the truth maugre the malice of all adverse power whatsoever This
that by an holy Antiperistasis he growes more bold and resolute confirming what he had spoken against Israel and adding moreover a dreadful Commination against this Arch-Priest for opposing him in the Work of the Lord. He feared not his imperious Injunctions and Lordly Prohibition but boldly asserts his Calling and goes on in the exercise of it maugre the malice of all opposition whatsoever So that here we have an Implicite reason why Amos durst not desist from Prophecying to Israel viz. because he was called extraordinarily by God to Prophesie unto them He was no intruder but a truly called qualified Officer he did nothing rashly or seditiously but he seriously and soberly discharged the duties of that place to which God had so signally called him Now the better to clear his Call which was the foundation of his comfort and confidence he first tells us Negatively what he was not I was no Prophet nor Prophets Son q. d. I was no Prophet either by birth or breeding either by Original or Succession Some were chosen to be Prophets before they were bred or born as Ier. 1.5 others among the Israelites were Prophets by succession others by preparation were trained up betimes in the knowledge and study of the Scripture in Colledges and Seminaries of Learning to supply the wants of the Church The Prophets that taught them were called their Fathers and the Scholars were called the Sons of the Prophets 2 King 2.3 7 15. 4.38 6.1 Mar. 10.24 Amos ingenuously confesseth that he was none of these hee was neither Nabi nor â—en Nabi neither Prophet nor Prophets Son he was not brought up at Bethel 2 King 2.3 or Iericho vers 5. or Gilgal 2 King 4.38 nor at the feet of any learned Gamaliel 2 Positively he tells us plainly what he was viz. an illiterate Herdman of the Tribe of Iudah dwelling at Tekoa a City in Iudah but extraordinarily called by God from his Country-calling of feeding Cattel to feed his people Israel with the Bread of Life Amos 1.1 This he mentions not to make his Message contemptible but to procure the more respect and authority to his Prophesie since he was not called and qualified in an ordinary way but immediately and extraordinarily by God himself I was an Herdman Such were useful in their kind they had many of them in those dayes because their riches lay much in cattel Their lesser cattel were tended by Shepherds and their greater by Herdmen Gen. 13.5 24.35 26.14 Iob 1.3 Saul himself before he was made King was an Herdman 1 Sam. 11.5 q. d. Behold the wonderful Works of God that I who was never bred to this imployment should yet bee able to Prophesie and to confound such learned Rabbies as you take your selves to be And a gatherer of Sycamore Fruit. Yet more to magnifie Gods Free-grace he sets forth his mean condition from which the Lord had called him He lived a solitary country life he was not bred up in Cities or Academies but amongst Herds and Stalls contenting himself with such wild dyet as the Sycamores did afford Most take the word Sycamore strictly for a kind of wild Figgs called Aegyptian Figgs or Bastard-mulberries which the poorer sort of Ruâ—ticks in those times fed upon But it may be taken Synecdochically and Proverbially for any kind of course dyet or fare I was a gatherer of Sycamore fruit that is I was a poor man of a low condition even of the same rank with those that use to feed upon wild Figgs I did not then turn Prophet for my belly for I had learned to fare hardly which thou O Amaziah and thy Court-Priests can hardly doe and therefore you sooth up the Rulers in their Idolatry that you may serve your owne turns but Sycamore fruit will serve my turn Of Sycamore-trees there were great abundance in the Land of Canaan as appears 1 King 10.27 Isa. 9.10 Luk. 19.4 and in Aegypt Psal. 78.47 they were very fruitful they bare fruit three or four times in the year saith Dioscorides lib. 1. c. 143. This fruit Amos might gather for himself or for his family or for to sell. OBSERVATIONS 1 As the Devil hath his Amaziahs to oppose the truth so God his Amoses to defend it The same day that Pelagius was born in Britain the same day was Saint Austine born in Affrica to oppose him as I have shewed elsewhere 2 God often chuseth the weak things of the world to confound the mighty and the things that are not of any esteeme in the world to confound the things that are of great esteeme amongst them 1 Cor. 1.27 28. He usually hangs the greatest weights upon the weakest wyres that so his name may have all the praise if the Lord should alwayes work by excellent Instruments we should Idolize the Instruments and forget God Hence the Lord often passeth by the eloquent Orator and the learned Scribe and chuseth an illiterate Amos sending him from the Crib to the Court to witness against the Idolatry of Princes Priests and People Thus in the Civil State he oft chuseth persons of low degree to rule his people as Moses Saul David all three called from their Flocks and Herds to rule his people Exo. 3.1 1 Sam. 9.21 2 Sam. 7.8 Psal. 113.7.8 Thus in the Ecclesiastical estate he called Elisha from the Plow 1 King 19.19 Matthew from the receit of Custom all the Apostles were illiterate men till Christ gifted them extraordinarily and fitted them for their work Acts 4.13 God loves to shew his power in weakness that the glory may be his 2 Cor. 12.9 Psal. 8.3 we have this Treasure in earthen Vessels that the excellency of the power may bee of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4.7 Obj. From hence the Anabaptists would cry down Vniversities and Schools of Learnings the Lord took Amos from the Stall and Elisha from the Plow and qualified them without study what need then this studying and Schooling c. Ans. These were called extraordinarily as appears by their extraordinary gifts now extraordinary Cases cannot make an ordinary rule because the Lord fed the Israelites with Mannah it doth not therefore follow that we must sit still and think to be so fed It is true the Anabaptists and fanatick frantick Quakers doe all pretend to an extraordinary and immediate Call when upon trial they are found not to have ordinary gifts they can hardly write or read 2 Examples in Scripture are not alwayes Argumentative neither are we bound to follow them unless there bee a like call causes and other concurrent circumstances as I have shewed elsewhere 3 Grace makes men constant and couragious How roundly and undauntedly doth Amos here deal with Amaziah notwithstanding all his threats and flatteries yet he stands like a Rock justifies his Calling and denounceth Judgements against the false Prophet himself and confirmes what he had spoken before against Israel Thus the righteous are an everlasting foundation Prov.
11. Sacrificing to the Calves and not to God therefore the Lord threatens to turn even those religious feasts and songs for of these the Prophet seems more especially to speak into mourning and lamentation q. d. Hitherto you have lived secure and careless feasting and singing without any fear of God or thoughts of his judgements but now saith the Lord I will turn your feasting into fasting and your songs into lamentation 2. Here is the greatness of their sorrow set forth by two Ceremonial Rites which were used in those Eastern Countries viz. Sackcloth and Baldness 1. Sackcloth was a course mourning garment made of black Goats hair bound with a girdle about their loyns 'T was a sign and symbole of misery and mourning as appears Gen. 37.34 2 King 6.30 Psal. 30.11 Isa. 3.24 25.3 22.12 Ier. 4.8 48.37 Lam. 2.10 Ezek. 7.18 Ioel. 1.8 At Abners funeral David commanded them to put on Sackcloth and weep 2 Sam. 3.31 And Ahab hearing of Gods judgements coming on him he humbled himself in Sackcloth 1 King 21.27 The two witnesses were cloathed in Sackcloth mourning to see so many fall away to Popery Rev. 11.3 The Lord threatens to make them put off their ornaments and gorgeous attire Exod. 33.4 5. and put on sackcloth and mourning weeds as most suitable to such mournful times They would not humble themselves nor mourn in their prosperity now they should be humbled and made to mourn in their adversity 2. Baldness also was a sign of the greatest mourning among the Jews and therefore the Lord threatens here that he would bring baldness upon every head that is their miseries should be so great that they should pluck off the very hair of their heads for anguish and sorrow for the Jews when they were in deep distress did testifie their sorrow as by sackcloth and renting their garments so by Baldness also either pulling the hair off their heads for very anguish and indignation as Ezra did Ezra 9.3 or else shaving their heads and beards as Iob did when he heard that his children were dead this he did not out of impatience but according to the custome of those times and Countries to express the greatness of his sorrow Iob 1.20 So Isa. 3.24 15.2 Ier. 7.29 16.6 47.5 and 48.37 Ezek. 7.18 and 27.31 Micah 1.16 The hair of the head and beard is counted an Ornament and the cutting it off was a debasement and therefore it was used onely in cases of very great sorrow Though they might not conform themselves to the Heathen who shaved their heads and then dedicated their locks to Idols Levit. 19.27 28. Deut. 14.1 yet in sorrow for sin and deep distress it was commanded Isa. 22.12 Micah 1.16 3. Here is the universality of this calamity it shall seize upon all loyns and every head none shall escape but as all had sinned so all should now suffer for sin 4. Here is a further Amplification of their sorrow drawn from the Example of one that mourns for the death of an onely Son which is wont to be very bitter and great The Prophet seems to be at a stand as here whence to borrow comparisons to set forth the greatness of their sorrow A Father which hath many children disperseth his love among them all but he that hath but one onely Son his love is united and is more vehemently set upon him hence Unice amare est vehementer amare and the Philosopher saith the strongest love is between two not twenty for if it be divided amongst many 't is lessened and weakened as a River that is cut into many channels When Parents lose one of many it troubles them but yet they comfort themselves that they have others left still but if they have but one only Son and he dye to bury all their hopes in one onely hopeful childe is very bitter and causeth great lamentation Hence great sorrow in Scripture is thrice compared to the sorrowing for an onely Son 1. In the Text then Ier. 6.26 where the Prophet calling upon the people to make most bitter lamentation for the great calamities which were coming on them hee calls on them to mourn as for an onely Son So Zach. 12.10 When the Jews shall be converted and called 't is said They shall look upon him whom they have pierced by an eye of Faith and thou shall mourn for him as for an only Son that is in an high degree and measure 'T is a kinde of Proverbial speech used by the Heathen Hence that of Tully I mourn said he for the misery of the Common-wealth as a Mother doth for her only Son 4 Here is the duration of this misery it shall endure to the end of the Kingdome of Israel and extend itself to their posterity The end thereof viz. of the Land which is put for the inhabitants of the Land by a frequent Meâ—onymy shall be as a bitter day that is as a funeral mournful day because they shall be destitute of all true comfort from the VVord of God which alone can keep us from perishing in our troubles Psalm 119.92 The Prophet seems to prevent an evasion and stop a gap at which impenitent sinners are wont to creep out oh say they though these troubles be sharp yet they will be but short they are clouds that will soon vanish but deceive not your selves saith the Prophet for the VVrath of God shall abide upon you and upon your Posterity even to the end and when one wave is over another shall come till it have swept you all out of your owne Land OBSERVATIONS 1 Plain preaching is the best teaching The Prophet in this Verse expounds his Metaphors and allusions and makes them plaine for the meanest capacity But of this elsewhere 2 What is dark in one place the Scripture makes plaine in another What was spoken mystically vers 9. is explained ver 10. But of this elsewhere 3 Carnal joy ends in sorrow As they that sow in godly sorrow shall reap in joy so they that sow in carnal joy shall reap in sorrow When men abuse their feasts and lawful liberties God will turn them into fasts and mourning Hos. 2.11 Amos 5.16 17. 6.5 6 7. 8.3 How sad then is our condition for if the Lord turn the feasts of his owne appointment into lamentation to a back-sliding people what may we expect who are mad upon the Saturnalia Bacchanalia Floralia of the Heathen Festivals which God never once instituted or ordained wherein men drink dance dally and give themselves up to all manner of debauchery and prophanenesse and that in dayes of such glorious light as the Nation never enjoyed the like since it was a Nation shall not the Lord visit for these things he will suddenly and certainly send some Assyrian or other to avenge the dishonours done to his name If the Lord will turn holy Feasts and Songs into lamentation what will he doe to those that use prophane