Hosea 4

Ver. 1. Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controvemy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

In this chapter we have,

I. A suit commenced.

II. The pleading of God.

III. Judgment pronounced.

IV. Exhortation to Judah to beware that she come not into the same condition.

V. Execution, God in his wrath giving up Ephraim to himself.

I. A suit commenced. Israel is cited: “Hear ths word of the Lord, ye children of Israel.”

Obs. 1. The knowledge that any truth is the word of the Lord, is a special means to prepare the heart to receive it with reverence and all due respect, even though it be hard and gi-ievous to flesh and blood. It was a hard message that Hosea had to bring, to tell them of God’s controversy; he therefore makes this preface, “Hear- the word of the Lord.” Hard truths are hardly borne; but when the authority of the infinite God appears in them, be they either for us or against us, our hearts must bow to them; they lay bonds upon the conscience, and bind over to eternal death those who reject them. 2 Chron. xxvi. 12, Zedckiah, a king, is charged with not humbling himself before the prophet Jeremiah. Though the prophet be never .so poor and contemptible in himself, yet if he bring the word of the Lord, Zedekiah the king must humble himself before him.

Obs. 2. The nearness of a people to God, exempts them not from God’s contending with them for sin. “Ye children of Israel.” In this appellation God puts them in mind of the covenant he had made with them and they with him: You are not heathens, but the childi’en of Israel, in covenant with me, a people near to me, yet I have a controversy with you. Neither should nearness to us exempt any from our contending with them.” K thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly saying. Let us go and serve other gods; thine eve shall

not pity him, neither shall thou spare, neither shall thou conceal him: but thou shall surely kill him; thine hand shall be fii-sl upon him to put him to death,” Deut. xiii. 6, 8, 9.

Obs. 3. The nearer the relationship the more grievous is the controversy. “Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel.” It is a sad thing for one nation to have a controversy with another j much more for a people to be at controversy with itself; yet more sore and grievous is it when the’ controversy comes nearer, into the family, between husband and wife, between father and child, between dearest friends who were before to each other as their olni souls: Prov. xviii. 19, “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong cit)’: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”

“Hear ye.” O prophet, saith Oicolam-J’ro’phrtt’qufuinu padius, whal is it thou hast to say, that aSu’iVTbSm“’ with so much eai-nestness thou callest to mT’um ‘^”’’^’’’ have the word of the Lord heard? Tho solemn message of the jirophet to this people is, “The Lord hath a controversy with the mhabitants of the land.”

The word 3’-i translated “controversy,” signifies a debate, or contention, and comes from an contendere vel prhatim vel coram judice, to contend privately or before a judge. As in Exod. xxiii. 3, “Neither shall thou countenance a poor man in his cause.” The Septuagint render it kq’kiiq, judicium. The same word is translated by them also ^I’lo;, Job xxix. 16, where the word for “cause,” is the same as here translated a “controversy.” The Lord hath a cause to plead with tins people; the prophet stands up for God to plead against them in his name, he pleads for the King, the King of heaven: so should all faithful ministers take heed that they be on God’s side, pleading his cause, for they are God’s sergeants at law, his attorneys, his solicitors. The king’s lawyers are swoni that they shall never plead against him, nor take fee on the other side; and yet how many, even in the exercise of their ministry, show that they have taken fee on the other side! How many plead against God, against his sabbaths, against his ordinances, yea, plead sometimes against the power of godliness, against those things wherein the chief dignity and glory of God consists! Truly, the devil has not more cordial solicitors and pleaders for him than those who would be accounted the prophets of the Lord.

“The Lord.” .ls if the prophet should say. Though you think you can make your cause good with me, and with Amos, and the other prophets, know you have not to deal with us; God will no longer stand pleading with you by his ministers, he will take the cause into his own hands, and will plead by his judgments. So the Lord tells the people. Gen. -i. 3, that his Spirit should no longer strive with them. MTiat is that? That is, in the way of Noah’s ministry; but that he would come and strive himself after another manner, by bringing the flood upon them.

Obs. 1. For God to take the controversy into his own hand, and to contend with them in a way of judgment, is most dreadful for sinners; “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” You think ministers are harsh, and preach terrible things; but if you had to deal with Gou immediately, if he did not speak to you by man, but come himself and plead with you, you would find it much harder, ^^’^len Job’s fiiends were pleading with him, he could with them easily sustain his cause; but in chaj). xxxviii. 2, God himself comes and speaks out of the whirlwind, “Alio is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? “And Job answereth the Lord and saith. “Behold, I am vile,” chap. xl. -1. And the Lord still pleading with him, he is constrained to exclaim,” I nave heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now

mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” chap. xlii. 5, 6. In Psal. cxxx. 3, David uses similar language, “If thou. Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” The sense would have been complete thus. If thou. Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand? there would have been a mighty emphasis in the word Jehovah; who shall stand, for it is thou, 0 Jehovah? but the word Lord is repeated, to show that the sight of having to deal with God in om- sins, without a Mediator, is very terrible. If thou, Lord, shovddst mai’k, then, O Lord, who shall stand?

Obs. 2. Sin causes a most di’cadful controversy between God and the soul, between God and a nation. For this, God comes to strive, to contend for his glor)-, and the sinner strives and contends against God: and here we maj’ remark,

1. That God is infinitely above every suiful impenitent soul, and every sinful impenitent nation; vainly do they stli c with their Maker. “Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth,” Isa. xlv. 9. The Lord is far above them. And to intimate therefore the distance between God and us m this controversy, our text saith, “The Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,” poor earth-creeping creatures that have dwellings here below, whose houses are houses of clay, and God is the great God of heaven and earth.

2. The controversy that God has with a sinner is a just controversv, God has right on his side, and the injury done to him is great.

3. It is a controversy which we have begun; God did not begin it with us, but we began it with him, and must have the worst of it.

4. It is an old controversy, a controversy of our forefathers, a controversy which God has had with one generation after another, and we, as a wretched generation, stand forth to hold up the old controversy. As in England in the times of the barons there were wars for hundreds of years; and when one generation wa3 gone, the generation after stood forth to hold up the controversy: so it has been between God and man j God has had a controversy with the children of men ever since the fall of Adam, and one generation after another has stood forth to hold up the controversy. And thou, wretched sinner, standest up in thy generation, in thy place, to sustain the controversy that mankind has had with God since his expulsion from Paradise.

5. It is a controversy which stirs up all the power and all the wrath of God against a sinner. A man who has a controversv with another, employs and exei-ts all the strength lie has against his opponent; and if God have any power in him, it shall be ])ut forth in making his cause good again.st a sinner: “If ye walk contrary unto me, I will walk contrary unto you;” my power, mjwisdom, all mine attributes are agamst you, Lev. xxvi.

6. This controversy is a deadly controversy, one which strikes at our lives, at our souls, at our eternal state.

7. This is a controversy with God, who is detennined to have satisfaction in some way or other for all the wrong we have done to him.

8. It is a controversy w liich only the Lord Christ, that great Mediator, that great Peace-maker, is able to make up. None can reconcile God and a smner but Christ, God-man. He must stand before God to satisfy for the wrong the sin of man hath done unto him.

9. A conti’oversy with him who has thee at infinite advantage, who has thee under his feet, and the i)oint of the sword of his justice at thy heart.

10. A controversy which, if thou look not to it, is likely to ])rove an everlasting controversy.” I will not contend for ever, neither will I l)c always wroth: for the spiiit should fail before nic,’’ Isa. lvii. 16. This

is spoken to those who are in covenant with God, in regard of the lesser controversies -which after theii’ reconciliation may exist between God and them: but with thee who art yet in the great controversy that God has with sinful man, it may prove an everlasting controversy, Lf thou dost not look to it, and become reconciled to God in Christ. The Lord has appointed a certain period for thy coming in to make up thy peace with him, to “lay hold of his covenant;” it’ thou negleetest that time thou ai’t lost, undone for ever. God will certainly overcome thee, God will have the day of thee, the Lord will overcome when he judgeth. Julian strove a great while against the Lord, but at length he was forced to acknowledge with his blood cast up into the air, Vicisti, Galilcee, vicisti, Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilean, thou hast conquered.

It is a vain thing for thee to stand out sti’iving with this great God. job xl. 2, “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?” So it is ta’anslated in yom- Bibles, but the original is perhaps better rendered by Pagnine and others, “Is there any wisdom,” or any learnhig, “in contending with God?” any knowledge showed in that? No, certainly, there is no knowledge, no wisdom, in contending with the Almighty: our greatest wisdom is to fall down and be humbled before the Lord.

!My brethren, this is no time to have any controversy with God, to stand out against him in ways of enmity. ^Tien such blackness of darkness is upon us, even storms of blood hanging over om- heads, it surely is time to be at peace with Heaven: “Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke,” Job xssvi. 18. The Lord is come forth from his place, he is pleading his cause, and now in the ways of his administration he declares, that he will have glory fi’om his creatui’e; he “hath sworn by himself, the word hath gone out of his mouth in righteousness, and shall not retm-n. That to him every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” It is no time, therefore, now for us to have controversies with God, to have conti’oversies with God and man both, with heaven, and earth, and with oiu’ own consciences. What shall become of us? “Be not thou a terror, 0 Lord, unto me,” saith Jeremiah, “for thou art my hope in the day of evil.” If God be a terror, and the days be evil, what will become of us?

Consider this, you who are so often in controversies with your neighbours, that God has a great controversy with you; and satisfy not yourselves with this, that you are able to clear youi’selves before men, for what avails that, so long as this controversy continues?

It is wisdom to make an end of it betimes: “The beginning of sti’ife is as when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with,” Prov. xvii. 14. The beginning of strife, especially with God, is most di-eadful; if thou go on but a little while, thy heart may be most desperately set against God, and for ever left to strive against him, never to come in and be humbled before him. This is the reason (I verily believe) of the horrid wickedness of some amongst us; we wonder that they, one after another, should dare to venture on such horrid wickednesses. At first, it may be, there was some dreadful breach between God and their souls when they were young, and they fell (though the world perhaps’ knew it not) into some foul and abominable sin; and having departed so far from God then, they now go on and fight against the God of heaven in such a desperate manner as no age but this can afford us any examples of. God has a controversy with nations also for their sin. Those who are to sue for God may well charge us, that the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land at this day. If e’er he had a controversy with a people he has it with us. The Lord has a fearful controversv

with us, most fearful things to charge this land with. I might instance some that are more peculiar to this nation than to any other on the face of the earth.

1. The hatred, contempt, and persecution of the power of godliness. No nation on the face of the earth has ever had such guilt in this respect as England; persecuting faithful and godly ministers of the same religion, holding with them all fundamental truths, yea, all the articles of religion and every pomt of doctrine; I say, never any nation was guilty of such persecution as we; silencing many for mere trifles; persecuting others for keeping the sabbath. It is true, other countries are loose in theii’ observation of the sabbath, but no country on the face of the earth has ever persecuted the keeping of it as England has done; and that by the countenance of those in authority. We are sinners, and others are sinners, but the Lord has a controversy with us for these things in a more special manner than with any people on the face of the earth this day.

2. This controversy which the Lord has against us, is an old controversy too. I may apply that which God speaks, Jer. xxxii. 31, concerning the city of Jerusalem, unto us, “This city hath been to me as a provocation of mine anger and of my fuiy, from the day that they built it, even unto this day.” So, ever since the Reformation commenced have we been a provocation to the Lord.

3. A general controversy, even with all sorts; a controversy with our kings and princes, with om’ nobles, our gentry, ova cities, countries, imiversities, common people; with wicked people, with godly people, with the saints, with all.

4. It is the most unldnd controversy on our part that any nation was ever engaged in; for God had dealt with us in a way of love more than with any nation in the world besides, he made us even as “the dearly beloved of his soul,” and yet, for all this, we have contended against him. This unkindness goes even to the very heart of God.

5. The Lord has sent many faithful ambassadors to plead his cause with us. He never to any nation on the earth sent more faithful ambassadors, that have pleaded his cause with more power and evidence of the Spu’it, than to us in England; yet we have stood out.

6. We have had as many offers of mercy as ever people had. Many a time have we been upon the brink of judgment, and the bowels of God have been towards us, and he has said, “It shall not be.”

7. The Lord has been as patient, and forborne as long as ever he did with any people before he came to execution. Where do we read of a people that has had, as we, nearly a hundred years’ peace? no where that I know of in all the Scripture.

8. The Lord has had us at advantages as much as can be; we have broken as many treaties as ever people broke. ‘When we seemed to yield to God, we have but flattered him with our lips and dealt dissemblingly with him.

9. God has broken the backs of others with whom he has had a controversy. He has had a controversy with Germany, and how has he dealt with it? It is reported that in Germany, when the war was but twenty or thirty miles off, they went on in their trading, and followed then- businesses, buying and selling, and hoped that they should be safe; but God came in his judgments, and desolated Germany. Thus is he beginning to deal with us. Is not some part of England at this day as desolate as Germany itself?

10. Those that knew most of God’s mind, have been so afraid of this controversy, that they have fled for fear of the wrath of God; and we have slighted, jeered them for it, ascribed it to then’ foolish timorousness and melancholy conceit: the Lord now seems to justify’ their fear

The Lord is now for the present out against us in as dreadful a way of wrath as ever he was against any people of the earth. I never read in Scripture nor in history of a more dreadful wrath of God against a people, all things considered, than is against us at this day. Amos vii. 4, ‘• The Lord called to contend by fire:” surely the Lord does it at this day, he calls to contend with England by fire, in a most dreadful way; and who knows what the end shall be? That he has a most dreadful controversy against England, will appear if we further consider,

1. That a people complaining of bondage heretofore, yet, when God offered deliverance, should be so far left of him as to prefer making themselves and their posterity slaves. Surely God has a tbeadful controversy against us, it were else impossible that such a thing should be in the hearts of men. Men love liberty, and groan under bondage: we did groan but a few years ago, and the Lord was coming to help us, and yet we are now so left of God that we even turn again to our former bondage, and would have our ears bored that we might be perpetual slaves, Exod. xxi. 6; Psal. xl. 6.

2. We not only turn again to bondage, but do so out of a spirit of enmity against the yoke of Jesus Chj’ist. This is the very ground of it; in a great part of the kingdom, whatever yoke they have upon them, they are resolved they will not have the yoke of Christ, out of a spu’it of enmity against the godly party, who desire and endeavour reformation.

At the beginning of this parliament, when we began to hope for some liberty and reformation, what joy was there generally in the kingdom! all men agreed together; but when the wicked and carnal began to see that their- godly neighbours rejoiced and blessed God that their desires were being fulfilled, presently they turn, out of a spirit of malice against them; Rather than they shall rejoice, rather than they shall lie gratified, we will turn back again to the former bondage, and we will stand and oppose that which heretofore we rejoiced in. They have therefore turned malignants against that cause which a man would wonder that ever rational men should oppose. But there is also a spirit of malice against Chi’ist and his ordinances: men trould enjoy their lusts; they think if reformation come they should not have them with their former liberty; hence arises the opposition of the gentry and others in the country. Surely God has a controversy with us.

.3. That men should so vilely desert those whom they have chosen and trusted, and who have been faithful, those worthies in parliament, who have ventured their lives for them; basely and unworthily now to desert them, is one of the greatest judgments of God upon the hearts of men. If they complain of them now, they would have complained much more of them if they had complied. Suppose the parliament had made up a patched reformation and a crazy peace, liable to be broken on every occasion, would not the people of the land have cried out of their unfaithfulness? But now, when they venture themselves and labour so hard for a sound peace, to be deserted! An unworthy generation, a generation that we have cause to fear is become the generation of God’s wrath and the people of his curse. People are afl’ectcd according to success: we complain of those in parliament because of some difficulties in the work, yet if they had not done what they did they would have been coni])lained of much more. So of ministers; sometimes ministers speak and stir up

Eeople because their consciences tell them they would e unfaithful to their coinitry and to the cause of God if they did not; and forthwith men call them, as they did Luther, the trumpets of sedition and rebellion; whereas, on the other side, if they had said nothing, then the ciT would have been, that they had betrayed their country, and that they were not so faithful in their

places as they should, and therefore people were so bad as they were.” Thus hard it is for God or man to please people.

But further, that not only the people, but that so many nobles, and some members even of the parliament, should desert their brethren, and join with papists, French, and Walloons. Not long since, a company of vile wretches were gathered together to fight against our brethren of Scotland; yet these people, vile as they were, could not by any means be induced to fight against them. But now, not the vile ones, but nobles, knights, and gentry, can be brought to fight against the parliament, their own bretlu’en. Is not here a mighty hand of God against us? Could this ever be if God had not a di-eadful controversy against England.’

4. That men should be so blinded as to think the protestant religion should be maintained by an army of papists, the laws and liberty of the subject, by an army of delinquents and strangers; yea, that the king with papists, delinquents, French, and Walloons, should better maintain the liberty of the subject and the protestant religion, than with the parliament; is not the hand of God upon the people of this land when they believe this? Are they not infinitely besotted? can we think that men endued with reason should do this? Surely not, if the judgment of God rested not fearfully on then’ souls.

5. God surely contends fearfully with us when ho suffers such an ill cause to prosper and attain to such a height. Both England and the comitries around us stand amazed at this success. Surely the Lord is against us, or else it could not have been.

6. When there exists a design so desperate, so long maturing, carried on by such means, and now at such a time breaking forth with such violence, and yet men cannot see it. The track of the design is as apparent as the sun at noon-day, and by comparing one thing with another we may clearly see how it has proceeded step by step. Would you not think it a besotting thing, if there should be a train of gupowder laid along the streets from some place to the parliament house to blow it up, and yet that men should pass by and say, they see no such thing? Certamly the design against our religion and state, to bring us under tyranny and slavery, is as evident and jilain in its progress, as ever was a train of gunpowder laid to a place that men desired to blow up; and yet men see it not. Surely God’s hand is out against us.

7. That we should have so little fruit of our prayers as we have at this day, yea, that God should seem to be angry with the prayers of his people. This argues a fearful controversy. And in this one particular amongst others; what prayers in England have been sent up to, God for the Palsgrave’s children! and that now, instead of answering our prayers, God should send two arrows, as it were, out of those loins to do us mischief, that it should come from them for whom England has done so much, and sent up so many prayers to God; that they in return for all this should come hither to make havoc of the kingdom, surely proves that the hand of God is out against us.

S. That our brethren should be so spoiled, and ourselves in such danger of drinking the dregs of the cup, vet where arc our hearts? The judgment of God is upon the hearts of men, that they stir not and act like men, but see their brethren s])oiled before them; and in the mean time, all that keeps them quiet is only that they hope they shall be the last. God’s hand is upon the hearts of men, else this could not be. Could one ever have thought that Englishmen could have borne this? If one had told them before that an army of papists should rise up with French, ‘’alloons, and Irish, to spoil the kingdom, to destroy our brethren, would one have ever imagined that Englishmen should

have borne it, and stiiTed no more than they have done? You talk indeed of this and that, and of goina; forth 6very fourth man; but all such resolutions and such great words generally fall to the ground, as if men were willing and content to lay down their necks upon the block. Surely the guilt of the blood of oiu- brethren may justly come upon us, and God may have a controversy with us for suffering it to be spilled.

9. That God should put so many opportunities of mercy into our hands, and we neglect all, manifests the hand of God to be against us, and is a fruit of his controversy with us.

10. That God himself should take away om- opportunities, that when we are nigh to deliverance he should drive us back, is an argument of a heavy controversy indeed. Numb, xiii., when the people were come very near to Canaan, and were even ready to take possession, God resolved against them, that none but Caleb and Joshua should enter, and they were beaten back again: and in chap. xiv. 33, it is said, that the people, when they heard this, mourned greatly, for they saw the hand of God out against them. The truth is, we have been on the very borders of Canaan. O! what an opportunity God put into our hands in the west! I say not we lost it, but there God’s own hand showed itself agains us; Bristol then might have been saved, but God would not. And so when we were even near deliverance God seemed to chive us back, as if saying to us, I approve not, I have somewhat more to say to this generation; it may be I may show mercy afterward to their young ones, but against this my -iiTath shall be let out. Surely we may be afraid, from the ways of God’s present administration, lest this should be in God’s heart. However, let us consider it, and mourn greatly before the Lord. God “hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”

It is no time now to have controversies one with another, to be WTangling one with another about matters of opinion. It is time for us now to lay down all our private controversies, and faU to making up the controversy with our God. It is no time now for brethren to stx-ive with brethren, but to strive and wrestle with God in prayer. If we have any strength with us, let it not be spent in contending one with another, but let all our sti’ength be spent in seeking to make peace with our God. It is said of the Romans, that they had a temple of Concord, and none were to go to offer any further sacrifice, tUl they had fu’st offered in that temple. The Lord expects the same of us; we should agree one with another, lay dovm all our own controversies, and then give up ourselves, as one man, to this great work of making up our controversy with him. If two chickens be fighting and the kite come near, they will leave pecking one another and run to the hen for shelter. We stand pecking and snarling one at another, and many, that say they will do thus and thus for the public cause, take exception agamst this man and that man, and at this thing and that thing, and so let then’ private grudges come in and cbaw them off. O, let us not be quarrelling now the kite is coming near, let us run and shelter ourselves under the protection of God, by making our peace with him.

As for the controversy that is this day between the king and us, we can in that appeal to God, that there is no just cause the king shoidd contend with us, as we only desire to deliver ourselves from tp’anny and .slavery. Om- privileges and liberties are dear to us, they are our right as truly as his honour is his. That which he inherits was his forefathers’, and that wdiich his forefathers, his predecessors, inherited, came at tu’st from the people, who set up such a family to rule and govern them; and certainly they never set it up but for the public good, not for their misery and ruin. We can appeal to God, that we desu-ed nothing else but to

live peaceably and to serve God in our land, enjoying only what God, and nature, and the laws of our land had made our owm. We know the relation between him and us, and the bond is mutual; and if there be any thing done now that perhaps cannot be justified by any positive, explicit law of the land, let men know that yet it may be justified by the very light of nature and by the law of arms. It cannot be imagined but if those that ought to be the protectors of the law, against law deal so hardly with us, that we must have recourse then to the law and light of nature; it is impossible this should be otherwise, and this God himself approves.

Whatever, therefore, becomes of this controversy between him and us, whether reconciliation or not, yet we have peace in this, that what we have done in resisting a deluge of misery that was coming upon us, if we had not done it, our consciences would have upbraided us, generations to come would have cursed us, the nations around us, yea, our very enemies, would have scorned us for our base cowardliness, for our sordid sphits; woidd have derided us as an unworthy generation, that could see itself and posterity sinking into misei-y and brought under slavery, and out of base fear and sluggish litherness, and effeminate softness of spii-it, could suffer all to be brought into bondage to the humours and lusts of a few men. We can, therefore, with comfort and boldness stand at God’s tribunal, and plead the uprightness of our hearts and justness of our cause in this controversy, whatever ensues. But in the controversy that God has against us, there we fall down at his feet, and acknowledge ourselves guilty before him; yea, we come with sackcloth upon our loins, and ashes on our heads, with ropes on our necks, and plead mercy only for our lives. And this is the work that we have to do in all the clays of our humiliation, to seek to make an atonement between God and our souls and the land, in regard of that ch’eadful controversy he has against us. Now, blessed God, because thou tellest us in thy word, “Because I will do this, therefore prepare to meet thy God, O Israel;” thou threatenest hard, great and sore evils, and thou callest now to us. Because thou wilt do this, England, O England, prepare to meet thy God; we come, (oh that this might be our answer,) we come. Lord, and meet thee with our souls bowed towards thee, with our hearts bleeding that we have provoked thee to cause so much bloodshed of our brethi’en amongst us. O Lord, our hearts are open to thee, and with trembling spu’its we cry to the Lord, ‘^’Tiat wilt thou have us do? If thou proceed against us in thy controversy, we are undone, we are undone. O Lord, forgive; 0 Lord, arise and be merciful, we beseech thee; for by whom shall Jacob rise, for he is small? by whom shall the people arise? by whom shall the power of godliness and thine ordinances be maintained?

How happy were we (think some) if the controversy between the king and us were at an end, that we might have peace! Oh if the people were happy that were in such a case, how happy the people that were at peace with the King of heaven! If the controversy between God and us were at an end we should be happy indeed. The Lord and the land is at a controversy, and this makes us ci-y out unto God; but yet woe unto us! here is the misery, we still keep our sins that cause the controversy. ‘Jer. XXXV., “Will the Lord reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it unto the end?” mark what the answer is, “Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.” Thus you have said; but what is the fruit of this? You have done evil as you could. We in the dajs of our fasts cry. Lord, wilt thou reserve thine anger for ever? wilt thou keep thine anger unto the end? Behold, thus we speak, but we continue to do evil as we can. ‘• We wait for light,” saith Isa. Lix. 9, 10, “but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. AYe grope for the wall like the

blind.” VCv indeed grope as if we had no eyes, and we stumble at noon-day as if it -were night. Men to this day are ready to cry out and say, “SATiat shall we do? as if the way were not clear before us what we should do. The way is clear enough if we had hearts, but “we grope as if we had no eyes, and we stumble at noonday as in the night.” In many places of the kingdom they “roar all like bears,” and they have cause to do 80; for they are miserably spoiled, their- wives ravished, theh- houses plundered, themselves imprisoned: and for the rest of us, “we mourn sore like doves,” night and day; and “we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far oif from us:” mark what follows, “For our transgressions are multiplied before thee,” (there is the ground of that controversy between God and us,) “and our sins testify against us, for our transgi-essions are with us.” Surely, my brethren, God is willing to be at peace with England agaui: the controversy is gi-eat and sore, yet we may confidently declare that the Lord is yet willing to be at peace with England, and the sufferings of England go as near the heart of God as ours. Oh that we knew then what it is that is the great makebate between God and us. that we might get rid of it! Would you linow it? Li 2 Sam. XX. 21, Joab saith. Deliver us Sheba the son of Bichri, and we will depart from the city and go every one unto his tent. If amongst us delinquents were punished as they ought, if the hearts of people were prepared to have the remainders of superstition and idolatry cast out, if they were willing to receive Jesus Clu:ist as King among them, the sound of retreat would soon bo heard, the controversy would soon be at an end; and except this be the foundation of our peace, either there will be no peace at all, or it will not hold long. In our raising of forces therefore to help oiu’selves and our brethren, (seeing we pretend we will do more than before, and it is time we should if we be not a people destinated to destruction and ruin,) be sui’c we begm here, let us do more than ever we did before to make up tHs conti-oversy with God. It is reported of Achior, one of Holofcrnes’ captains, that he counselled Holofemes to inquire first, whether the Jews had offended their God, before he attempted to make wai’ against them; for if they had, he then assured him that that would be their ruin, and that he might go up and overcome them; but if lie could not hear that they had sinned against their God, it was in vain for him to strive against them. Truly, it concerns us nearly to make up om- peace with God, that when our adversai-ies come out against us they may not indeed be made use of to avenge God’s quaiTcl upon us, for then they will thus easily improve all their advantages, and say, that they, indeed, are not come out against us without the Lord. Every victory they now get, they ai’c ready to flatter themselves, and say, that God fights agamst us, and God approves them; and tell us, the reason they prevail is, because God is against us; and so we know Rabshakeh did, though a foul railer: “Arc we come up without the Lord?” said he. And the enemies of David spake against him, “saying, God hath forsaken him; persecute and talce hira: for there is none to deliver him,” Psal. lxxi. 10, 11. Thus they will be ready to say upon every occasion. The Lord has forsaken them, let us persecute and take them. And certainly, if the Lord should suffer them to prevail, many of them would think they did God good service by slaying and rooting out the generation of God’s people that is here in England, and would be confident that it was the mind of God that they should be rooted out. Therefore we had need look to it to make up our peace with God, that the controversy between him and us may not prove to be their- victorv.

Obn. 5. Men should be willing that the cause that is between them and their inferiors should be pleaded. God having to deal with poor earthen creatures, might

presently have let his wrath xiut against them and destroyed them. But mai-k, God is willing to have his cause pleaded with vile creatures, so that all tlic while he is pleading there is time and space for them to come in; as if a conti-oversy be between husband and wife, though the one be superior and the other inferior, they think it right to debate it between themselves with meekness and love. Job, chap. xxxi. 13, professed he did not despise the cause of his man-servant, when he contended with him, but he would have that pleaded and made out. Jchovali, the mighty God, condescends to put his cause to a suit, he will not pass sentence upon poor creatm’es till it come to a trial. Be not then siu-Iy and scornful towards your inferiors.

Obs. 6. “UTiatsoever mercy you have from God, you are to look upon it as a fruit of God’s faithfulness to you, (if you be God’s,) and as a ground of your obedience to him, and his pleading with you if you walk not answerable to it. “The inhabitants of the land.” The inhabitants of the land; what land? The inhabitants of the land of Canaan, a controversy with them! Mark, God fulfilled his promise in bringing them into the land of Canaan, and now he pleads with them for the forfeiture of theu- promise. Psal. cv. 44, 45, he tells them, that he had given them the lands of the heathen, “that they might observe Ms statutes and keep his laws;” that was their condition. God fulfilled Ills part by bringing them into the land, but when they were m the land they minded not their part. You know, God often charged them -nhen they came into the land to do this and that, and they promised they would do it, but when they were once brought into the land they forgot it, and forsook God. God now comes and pleads with the inhabitants of this land; as if he should say, I have done my part in bringing you into the land, now I come to plead with you for breaking your promise and covenant,

“The inhabitants of the land.” Jerome has another’ note upon it, but as it is farther off, I will only name it. “Rightly,” saith he, “ai-e they called to answer and to judgment who are the inhabitants of the land, and do not look upon themselves as sojourners and strangers in the land; but he that can ti’uly say with the prophet, ‘I am a pilgrim and a stranger here,’ such a one can never do that which may cause God to have a controversy against him. The” reason why men do that which causes God to have a controversy with them, is because they look u])on themselves as ])Ossessors of the land, and not as pilgrims and strangers.” But this is too far off.

n. “The pleading of God. A suit fii-st is entered against a man; when the court day comes, there is calling for a declaration, the lawyer declai’es: God does so. and the prophet is God’s lawyer, and hero are three articles put in this declaration, “Because there is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God in the land.”

Obs. 1. God contends not with a people without a cause. How many are there that strive and contend one with another without any cause at all I they vex and rage, contend and sue, and great controversies exist, great dust is raised; but if we sift the matter, we can see just nothing, they themselves know no caus, they can give no rational account of all their pleading one’ against another. As David said to Eliab, his eldest brother, 1 Sam. xvii. 29, when he came and wrangled with him, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” Eliab’s spirit was up thi’ough his envy; but, saith David, Have not I a cause for what I did? Thus many have their spuits up, chiding and wrangling, but examine the cause, and they can show none at all. How many bitter spirits go about like mad dogs, snarling at everv one, even at those they know not, with whom they had never any thing to do, yet railing upon them every where! Ask them. Do you know the man? can you prove any thing against him? The truth fER. 1.

^O’^

is, they are not able to make good what they say, only there is a general report that such and such men do thus and thus, and they bite and snarl, and rage against them, but after all they know no cause. Such men, they say, disturb the kingdom and trouble the people. The foundations of the earth ai-e out of order, but what have the righteous done? You would think, when you hear such railings against such men, that they were the most monsti’ous men upon earth; but examine what it is that they have done, and there is nothing. God does not so with you; God never contends with man but for a just cause.

Obs. 2. God contends not against a people for little things. Allien God saith he “hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,” it is not for trifles, for ordinary infirmities, for daily transgressions, but for great, notorious sins. Not that little things do not deserve a controversy, but it is fi’om the virtue and fruit of the covenant that this comes to pass; in others that are not ill covenant, little things make a controversy, but between God’s childi-en and himself little things make not a controversy. But men are of fi’oward spu’its, every trifle is enough to make a conti-oversy between them. Yea, usually the greatest conti’oversies between nearest fi-iends is some trifle or other. Do a man and his wife live lovingly and sweetly many years, and yet fall out afteiTvards p Is there a bitter controversy? Examine it, it is but about some toy. I could give you examples in histories of bitter controversies between nearest fi-iends on small and trivial gi’ounds. C’amerarius tells a story of two brethren, who walking out in a star-light night, one of them said. Would I had a pasture as large as this element; and the other, Would I had as many oxen as there be stai-s. Says the other again, T^Hiere would you feed these oxen? In your pasture, replied he. ‘What, whether I will or no? Yea, said he, whether you will or no. What, in spite of me? Yes, said he. And thus it went on from word to word, till at length each sheathed his sword in the other’s bowels. This verifies that saying of James, chap. iii. 5, “Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” So it is in many families: sometimes a look is the beginning of a great controversy: one thinks such a one does not look lo’ingly upon him, and then he begins to suspect that things boil within him; afterward some words come forth that seem to argue discontent, and then that word begets another, and so a miserable breach arises in a family. It is an argument that these people have gunpowder spirits, when a little spark of fire so quickly blows them up. Truly, in the controversy here in England, the ground of it at the first beginning was little enough on our parts; and had there not been a desperate design in our adversaries, it were im.possible that such a little beginning should ever have attained to such a height. But God does not so, they are great things for which he “hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.”

But what is the declaration? “No truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.” These three, but especially the first, very nearly concern us.

Fii-st, “No truth.” God is a God of truth, he is true in all his waj’s. He justly pleads with them that have dealt falsely with him. ‘’ No truth; “no reality in their religion; that is something, but that is not all. God comes upon them for the breaches first of the second table; for they are more convincing, and more liliely to affect the conscience of a natural man, than matters of religion. If you speak to them concerning sins in matters of religion, they will say they acknowledge the true God, and they worship him. Well, therefore the prophet here begins fij-st with the second table, concerning the want of truth between man and man; as if he should say. Talk what you will concerning your worshipping the true God, there is “no truth”

between one another, you deal folsely and cruelly, and are mercUess to your brethren; never therefore talk of religion and of acknowledging the true God.

Obs. 3. That it is in vain for any man to talk of his religion, if he make no conscience of the second table as well as the fh’st. For a man to talk of praying and heai-ing sermons, if he be cruel and hard-heai’ted, and false in his dealings, the Lord rejects all such, let him talk what he will.

“No truth” in your dealings one with another. First, there is abundance of flattery amongst you. You flatter one another in your sin, you do not deal unfeignedly one with another. You flatter your princes, and your princes have little truth in their courts. It was once said. All things were plentiful in the court except truth. And this is the unhappiness of great men, that those about them usually deal falsely with them, telling them that their bloodshedding and ruining of kingdoms is but the maintaming of their just honour and prerogative. I have read of Dionysius’s flatterers, that when he spat upon the gi-oimd they would lick it up, and then tell him, that that spittle was sweeter than any ambrosia and nectar they ever tasted, merely to please him: and so you have many near great men, who, though they see them do things never so abominable, things that make never so great breaches between God and them, between them and the people, yet tell them, that they do more bravely than ever any of their ancestors did. “There is no truth.”

“Truth” here some take for justice; and so it is sometimes taken in Seriptiu’e. Zech. viii. 16, “Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbpm’; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” As if he should say. You do not execute judgment upon malignants that are in youi- power; you speak of raising arms to fetch in delinquents, but you execute not judgment upon those that you have in their hands; you will have God in a solemn manner to be blessed because he has delivered you from them, but judgment is not executed in truth as it should be. Nor “no mercy,” that is, you show no mercy to the innocent; you taUt of indulgence, but your indulgence to delinquents is cruelty to innocents. Oh how many of our brethren, in Oxford and other places, sufier most ch’eadful things because these here enjoy so much liberty and favour! So there is neither mercy to the innocent nor justice to the guilty.

But the special thing here intended is. That yon are not true in yoiu’ dealings, nor in the trust committed to yoiu- charge. There is no equity in your dealings. Isa. lix. 14, “And judgment is turned away backward,” (it is turned upon those that it should be executed upon,) “and justice standeth afar oft’.” If one be greater than another, the meanest shall come under the stroke of justice and be executed, and the greater not. And “truth is fallen in the street.” How comes that in? Thus, as if he should say. It is true, they that are in authority will not execute judgment and justice, but are not the common people faithful in their deaHngs one with another? No, “truth is fallen in the street.” This seems to refer to the multitude. “And equity cannot enter.” The word here translated “equity,” comes from one which signifies a thing that is just before one: as if he should say. Those verj- things that one would think the plainest and most evident, that are just before us, that have so much equity and reason in them; yet these tlungs cannot enter into their hearts, nor be entertained, there is such a general confusion and corruption among the people. And is not this in a great measm-e our condition at this time?

There is “no truth,” they are false in the trust committed to their charge. Oh, here is a controversy indeed that God may have against us. Was there ever a time, that either England or any other coimtry knew, w-hen there was so much falseness in men in the trust com-AN EXPOSITION OF

niittcd to them? All things in Israel at this time were come into such confusion, that, through the falseness of men, things of the gi-eatest consequence were betrayed. It is a sign of God’s fearful vrrath upon our nation, that there is no truth in men, when people are left to the treachery and perKdiousness of others; that persons of whose truth we thought ourselves confident, nay, would have ventured our lives on it, yea, such as a long time before were faithful to admu-ation, yet at last, when they think they may suffer, they will betray all the trust that is reposed in them, and ventui’e even their own undoing rather than endure further hazard. Such cursed selfishness is there in men that have not the grace and true fear of God to balance their hearts; they will even betray God himself, and a whole kingdom, for their own private ends. But what an unworthy thing is this, when so much mischief may ensue! It is as if a man should set a house on fire to roast an egg: what are men’s own particular ends in comparison of a kingdom? not so much as an egg in compari- .son of a house. This was the complaint in Micah’s time of Judah, as well as of Israel here: (Micah was contemporary with Hosea:) “Trust ye not in a fi-iend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. A man’s enemies are the men of his own house,” !Micah vii. 5, 6. But though many of them are thus corrupt, and there is no truth in them, are there not some of them better? ISIark the 4th verse: “The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is shaq)er than a thorn hedge.” In evil times you find those in whom you most confide, so perverse in some of their ways, that if you go to them for shelter, they will prick you; even those men that you most esteem, and from whom you ex])cct to receive most. And this, indeed, is the day of the perplexity of a kingdom; what shall we do in this case? Mark the 7th verse: “Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” As if he should say. If I look to man I have little help or comfort there, the best of them is a brier; if I trust in men, I see what they will do, verily, eveiy man is altogether vanity; therefore our condition is very sad and miserable; Lord, what shall we do? “I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” Men cannot save me; God will hear me, though they will not.

God’s controversy with covenant-breakers, with those that betray their trust, is very ch-eadful. I will cite an example or two out of the Scripture and out of history.

First, when there was a famine in the days of David three years together, David would know why it was, and God gave him this answer, That it was “for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites,” 2 Sam. xxi. Because Saul would not keep to the Gibeonites the trust that was promised them, God therefore brings a famine upon the whole land for three years together. I beseech you, mark the aggravation of God’s displeasure against any that break trust. First, this ])romise was not made by Saul, but by Saul’s progenitors, above three hundred years before this time: and to whom was it made? unto a heathenish people, to the Gibeonites; and this promise was obtained by craft, they deceived Joshua. Secondly, it was a ])romis“e made them without asking counsel of God, Josh. ix. 14. A promise, too, that was against the mind of the congi-cgation; ver. 18, “All the congi-egation murmured against the princes.” Thirdly, when Saul slew the Gibeonites, he did it not from a jierfidious si)irit, but with a good intent, for so saith 2 Sam. xxi. 2, “He sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel,” because he thought that the Gibeonites remaining amongst them would, perhaps, prove some hinderance to the good of Israel. Fourthly, this work of God comes not upon Saul then whcri he broke the trust,

but upon his posterity afterward, and that shows the wrath to be greater. Lastly, it comes so upon them as that it will not be appeased till it has their lives: you may sec then how determined God is to punish promise-breakers.

Another example as remarkable is in Ezek. xvii. 1 J. When Zedekiah the king of Judah had made a covenant with the king of Babylon, he broke it, and ‘• rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egj’])t, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper?” saith the Lord, “shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?” This covenant was made with a wicked man, with a tjTant, and yet God calls it his oath and his covenant, ver. 18; and with what an emphasis does God speak this! “He despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand:” yea, ver. 1 6, God professeth it shall cost him his life: “As I live, saith the Lord God, siu-ely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him, in the midst of Babylon, he shall die:” yea, further, God swears against him, and that by his o’wn life,ver. 19: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head:” further, God tells him, all the strength that he had got, and all his policy and cunning dences, should not help him: ver. 20, “I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me:” and lastly, the wrath of God shall not only be upon him, but upon all those that joined with him and abetted him in the breaking of this covenant: ver. 21, “All his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, anil they that remain shall be scattered towards all winds.” 1 know not two scriptures more full for God’s being set to contend with men for breach of ])romise. Oh! take heed, all you that are intrusted with any public charge, that you break not covenant.

And as you have examples of this in the Scripture, so there is also an example or two in history exceedingly to the point. Rodolphus set his hand to a covenant with Hem-y TV., which he afterward broke: and when his right hand was obliged to be amputated, his conscience accused him: “Oh,” saith he, “this is that right hand that subscribed the covenant, and now God reveflges the breach of it upon this right hand.” But above all, that part in the history of the Hungarians is the most remarkable, concerning Udislaus the king of Hungary, and Amurath the Great Turk. In it we are told that Udislaus making war with Amurath contrary to promise, when the Turks were about to be worsted; Amurath having with him the covenant made between the king of Hungary and him, and seeing himself put to the worse, plucked the covenant out of his bosom, and with his eyes fixed toward heaven, shake thus, “This, O Jesus Cluist, is the covenant that thy Christians have struck with me; O holy Jesus, they have done it in thy name, and sworn by thy Majesty, and yet they have violated it; they have perfiiliously denied their God. Now, O Jesus, if thou art a God, as they say, and as we guess thou art, revenge this wrong that is done unto me and unto thyself U])on these that have violated their faith and promise, and show unto us that know not thy name, that thou art an avenger of such as betray their trust, and then we shall know thee to be a God.” Now upon this, God ordered it that the Hungarians, having the better of the day, broke off the fight, and, through covetousness of the prey, fell upon the laden camels, whereupon the Turks totally routed the Himgarians, Udislaus their king was slain, and a famous victory left to Amurath.

Thus you see how God •nill be avenged for the breach of trust, and how certainly lie will follow those that have been guilty of it. If we have to deal with papists, how is it possible that we can confide in any thing they promise or agree to? for we know it is their very opinion, that^rfe.« non servanda hereticis, faith is not to be kept with heretics; that for the Catholic cause they may break all their trust, promises, and covenants. Certainly, that people are besotted who shall so depend upon and be carried away by papists, as to lay their lives, liberties, and outward comforts at their feet and their mercy, for certainly there is no truth in them. What will be our state, if we lie at the mercy of those who have no truth in them, when afterwards we find they break asunder all their bonds of agreement, and we knew that this was their opinion before, that they would enter into league with us merely to serve their own turns, and when they obtained power, make our estates, lives, and liberties a prey to them?

Secondly, “No mercy.” The merciful God sets himself against unmerciful men, and has a dreadful controversy against them; and when this controversy is pleaded, unmerciful men will be confoimdcd before the Lord; for God will lay his plea thus: What! you that stood in so much need of mercy every moment to keep you out of hell; you that lived upon mercy continually as you breathed in the air; you who are begging at my gates every day; you who are undone for ever if you had not mercy supplied every hour; and yet you unmerciful to your brethren? This plea will stop the mouths of all unmerciful ones. It was the controversy that God had with Sodom itself, because they were unmerciful: much more then hath God a controversy with the inhabitants of the land of Israel if they be unmerciful. In Ezek. xvi. 49, God lays his charge against Sodom, That they did not “strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” Unmercifulness is a sin against the very light of nature. Josephus re])orts ■““‘■■” of Herod, that wicked and ungodly king of whom we read in the Gospel, That when there was a great famine in Judea, he melted all his movables of gold and silver that were in his palace, he spared nothing of his plate, either for the preciousness of the matter, or for the excellency of the fashion of it, no, not so much as those vessels wherein he was daily served at his table, but he melted them all and made money of them, and sent it into Egypt to buy corn, which he distributed to the poor. He appointed bakers to provide bread for the sick; he provided raiment for the naked, because the sheep were llliewise dead and the poor had no work; yea, he sent to his neighbours the Syrians corn, that might be seed-corn for them to sow. This was that wicked Herod, who yet in time of public calamity was thus merciful to the poor. Surely, then, God must needs have a controversy with Israel, with Christians, that have received so much mercy from the Lord, if they shall be unmerciful in times of common calamity. And if ever unmercifulness were a vile sin and provoked God against a people, it must needs do now at such a time as this, when there are so many objects of pity and commiseration daily presented before us: if this should but prove to be our charge, that there is no mercy in the land at this day, God must needs have a fearful controversy against us. The whole laud cannot be said to be charged now as once it might have been. Not long since many were crying out of violence and wrong, those which ruled over us ruled with rigour and cruelty, according to that complaint, Ezck. xxxiv. 4, “With force and cruelty have yc ruled” my people. They have turned “judgment to wormwood,” Amos V. 7. The coiu’ts of judicature, which should have been for right judgment, have been turned into bitter wormwood and have been full of cruelty. What have many of them cared for the lives or the

comforts of thousands, or for the extreme misery they created, provided their own humom-s and lusts might Le satisfied? as if all other men were but as dogs except themselves. The Lord at this day charges this upon some of them, and will charge it more. I remember a speech of a reverend divine in this city, now with God, whom you all honoured when alive; being brought before the high commission court, when he came home one day, speaking of what he observed there, I heard, said he, much crying out of Grace, and please your Grace, and much crying out of Peace, peace, if there were any noise; but I saw no mercy there, nothing but cruelty.

In Jer. 1. 17, you see what indignation God shows where men, though the greatest upon earth, are cruel to his people: “This Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.” Who was this Nebuchadrezzar? A mighty and great prince, yet God looks upon him with indignation when he sees him breaking the bones of his people. We have amongst us those who, as Psal. xxvii. 12, “breathe out cruelty,” and indeed act notlung less; “cruel hatred” being in their hearts and ways, Psal. xxv. 19. No marvel therefore though heretofore our brethren left the kingdom, because they found such cruelty here, no mercy in the land; they did but according to that to which the church calls its members. Cant. iv. 8, “Come with me from Lebanon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” When they went from us, they went from the lions’ dens, and from the mountains of leopards. No marvel now the Lord is so severe against our land, because there has been so little mercy in it. That is the second article against Israel, That there was “no mercy.”

Thirdly, “Nor no knowledge of God.” In the Hebrew it is, and no knowledge; but now Vau, rendered there and, signifies sometimes quia, as well as et; and so it may indeed be well rendered here, Because there is no knowledge of God in the land; the reason why there is no mercy, is because there is no knowledge of God. The knowledge of God will make wicked men merciful. Cruel men know not God. These two are joined together most elegantly, Psal. lxxiv. 20, “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” The knowledge of God will make men civil and humane at least, but when there is no knowledge of him men grow cruel and savage. And do we not find this to be true at this very day? To what places are men that now rise up to plunder, to shed blood, to cruelly perpetrate the most desperate outrages, to what places are these men beholden for their assisters and abettors? Are they not beholden to places where they are in ignorance, where they have no knowledge of God, where there is no preaching? In the countries round about, observe those parishes, those towns, where there has been least or worst preaching, where they have had least knowledge of God, and there you see most malignants that are bloody and cruel. No marvel, then, that our adversaries are such enemies to the faithful preachers of the word of God; no marvel, then, they are made the butt of their malice; for indeed if they bring the knowledge of God into the land, they will bring humanity, civility, mercy, and love, and these will find few or none to aid them in their wickedness. Indeed they complain that the parliament sets ignorant men in places, but certainly this complaint is but a pretence, for it were better for their turns that all the congregations in England had but ignorant men, none to bring the knowledge of God amongst people; but they know well enough, notwithstanding what they say, that those that are sent are such as do bring the knowledge of God among peojile, and that nothing injures them more than this knowledge of God. ’

“No knowledge of God.” This is a hea7 charge indeed: “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not,” Jer. x. 25. Though they be heathens and yet know not God, the wrath of God is to be poured forth upon them; surely then God’s wrath must be upon Israel that know not God. And Isa. xxvii. 11, They are “a people of no understanding: therefore he that’ made them will not have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favour.” 2 Thess. i. 7, 8, ‘• The Lord Christ shall be revealed from heaven -srith his mighty angels, in flaming fii-e, taking vengeance on them that know not God.” AATiat! no knowledge of God? what glory then can God have from such a people? God has done great things m the world, he has manifested himself an infinite and a glorious God, and his end in all his manifestations is, that angels and men might behold this, might adore, admire, worship, fear, and ])raise him; but where there is no knowledge of God, there all God’s glorj- passes by and there is no notice taken of it. To what pui-j)ose is the world made? such a one can never sanctify- the name of God in any duty, nor worship in the use of any creature. Where there is no knowledge of God, there all good is kept out, there the unclean spirit, a spirit of darkness, dwells. AVhen the crow has picked out the eyes of the lamb, then it jireys upon it. As in dark vaults there are toads and filthy creatures, so in dark souls there are crawling and filthy lusts: as in blind alehouses there is abundance of disorder, so in a blind heart there are distempers and disorders in abundance. “No knowledge of God.” The Septua- ,f?“‘T’*^ gint render the word for knowledge, “” ’ “”’“”“‘”■ by a word which signifies recognidon or acknowledgment, theve is no acknowledgment of God in the land. People should walk so in all their ways as to hold forth the glory of the great God whom they profess to serve. K they know God to be such as he is revealed in all his attributes and works, they should in their lives so walk as to hold this forth before the children of men. I appeal to you in this: perhaps some of you can speak concerning God, and tell us what he is, and concerning his atti-ibutes; yet, are your lives in your families, in your conversations, sue!’., that one, beholding them, may see inscribed the glorious attributes of God? are they such, that in all your ways you can-)- with you the glory of the great God, holding ibrth your fear of him, your love of him, and giving up yourselves to this all-sufficient God, who is worthy of all? There should be this acknowledgment of God, as well as knowledge; and he has a controversy with a land, with a family, with a particular soul, when there is not an acknowledgment of him in all their ways.

“In the land.” In the latid, here is the emphasis. Oh this is a sad thing: AATiat! in the land of Israel no knowledge of God? Psal. lxxvi. 1, “In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.” God was not known to any people in all the world but Judah and Israel; and here ten tribes are charged for not having the knowledge of God in their land. Surely they refused to know the Lord, they shut their eyes against the knowledge of God, they say to God, “Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy wavs.” Men may live where there is the means of knowledge, and yet be ignoi-ant all their days. How many men of excellent parts, in respect of all outward affairs, are there both in the country and city, to whom, if you speak about matters of state, they will s])cak intelligently, and discover much acquaintance with state affairs; confer with them about merchandise or their trades, tlicy will speak understandingly; but speak to them about God, about Christ, about the things of eternal life, how poorly, how weakly, how childishly, how sottishly, .shall you have them speak about these things! Men of parts, and living under much means, may yet

be verj- ignorant in the knowledge of God. However the want of knowledge may seem to be a little matter, even in places where there are means, yet let men know, that it is a fearful brand of reprobation for people to live under the means, and not to have the knowledge of God: 2 Cor. iv. 3, “K our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost.” And it is pronounced as a great curse for a man to live without knowledge. Job xxxvi. 12, “They shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.” Oh how many at this day do perish by the sword, and die without knowledge! It concerns us now to get the knowledge of God, because the sword may be nearer than we are aware of; and what win become of us if it fall out to be our portion to perish by the sword, and to die without knowledge?

But though they had some means of luiowledge, yet their means did grow verj’ short. And there are two special reasons why at tlus time there was no knowledge of God in the land of Israel.

i. Because that Jeroboam had, in the defection of these ten tribes of Israel, set up the lowest of the people in the place of the priests’ office. Any man that desired to 1)6 a priest, though never so base and vile, Jeroboam would set him up. In 1 Kings xii. 31, you find “he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi;” no marvel then they had not the knowledge of God amongst them. Thus it has been in Ireland, and therefore no marvel there is so Kttle knowledge of God there: any tradesman that scarce understood right reason, less divinity, was set up there to be a priest, and what hon-ible cruelty has ensued! So in England: however some of them complain of ignorant men at present in the ministry, the truth is, they have set up men of far less understanding in former times: for a little money to a bishop’s clerk, might not any tradesman, any cast butler or serving-man, get into orders, read their prayers, and so become a priest? This has been the cause of much ignorance. How many cast serving-men have been jilaced to do what they can do, whereas learned and godly divines must be cast out of the kingdom, and denied to have any liberty to preach the knowledge of God unto his own people! Here is the reason of om- ignorance, even that which was Jeroboam’s sin, the setting of the lowest of the people in the ministiy; and now that there is an examination of men, we find what abundance of vile men there arc in places, and the people in those places are like to them, such ])rophet, such people, and the truth is, people love to have it so. In 2 Chron. xv. 3, a complamt is made that for a long season Israel had been “without the true God, and without a teaching priest.” (This Israel includes both Judah and Israel, as elsewhere in Scripture.) “Israel hath been,” (saith he,) “without the true God and without a teaching priest.” This was a sad condition indeed, and mark how they are joined, “without the true God, and without a teaching priest, without law.” A people are without God that are without a teaching priest and without the law. If they have not means to instruct them in the luiowledge of God, they are a people without God. But now, obseiTc what follows this, vcr. 5, 6, “And in those times there was no pence to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of citj-: for God did vex them with all adversity.” ‘trvly, oiu- condition is almost like the condition of Israel at that time. And here we may see what the fruit of this controversy was, they were without a teaching priest and wii’iout law, and in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations, city destroying city, and nation destroying nation, for” God did vex them with all adversity.^’ Oh how doth the Lord

even vex us at this very day! and this as a fruit of God’s controversy with us, because there is so little knowledge of God in the land.

2. Because the pure worship of God and his ordinances were shut out of doors, and men’s inventions were introduced in theii- room. For after the ten tribes’ defection from Judah, they left the right worship of God, ceased to worship in the temple at Jerusalem, and set up their calves in Dan and Bethel, and so brought in their own inventions instead of the true worship of God; and no marvel though there came dismal darkness upon the land when this took place. Be assured, my brethren, whenever the pure ordinances of God and the right way of his worship is shut out from a kingdom, there will come woeful darkness upon that kingdom. The right knowledge of God vanishes, when men’s inventions in his ordinances come to be honoured. As painted glass in your windows hinders the light, so the more inventions of men there are in God’s worship, the less light comes into the hearts of the people. As some, not contented with ordinary plain letters, make such flourishes about them that you can scarce tell what they are; and write their names so that you cannot teU what to make of them; so, many men that will not content themselves with plain ordinances, with the ordinances of Chi-ist, but must have flourishes of thenown inventions, at length darken the right understanding of the mind and truths of God, so that you know not what to make of them. “To the law and to the testimony,” (saith the prophet,) “if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” K they will leave the law and the testimony, and will go according to their own inventions in ]3ivine wor.ship, it is because there is no Ught in them, they are in darkness, and they will bring darkness upon the people. In Col. ii. 22, it is said of the rudiments of the world and the ordinances of men, that they “perish with the using;” that is, there is no efficacy at all in them to do any good unto the souls of men. Our adversaries call images and pictui’es, books to teach laymen; but the Scripture tells us they teach a lie. And if they be laymen’s books, they are full of errata in every page, yea, there are more errata than ti-ue lines. The best that we can say of any ceremonies brought into the church by men (“because people would endeavour to excuse the fu-st Reformers) is, that they thought at that time they were required because of the dulness of men; for so they say in the preface to the Common Prayer Book, that it was to stu’ u]) the dull minds of men. But mark, if it could possibly be imagined that thei-e could be any use of them in the first Reformation (which indeed there was not, but rather they did hurt and made men’s minds more dull, as I dare appeal to you who have lived continually under such inventions of men in God’s worship); but if possibly (I say) there could be imagined any use of them atp the fii’st, they were at best but as honi-books and fescues for the chikUiood and infancy of the chui’cli. They say themselves that they needed such things, but they could have needed them only as childi-en need horn-books and fescues. And is it seemly always to learn upon them? what knowledge will be acquii-ed, if, when you set youi- childi’en to learn to read, they shall be kept ten, twenty, or thii’- ty years to their horn-books? Now thus would our prelates have debased people, to keep them continually to learn the knowledge of God by these then’ beggarly elements.

Now take these two reasons together, unteachiug priests, and man’s inventions, they keep out the knowledge of God from a people; and they ai-e brought on purpose to induce blindness, because that is most fit and suitable to the design that men have to bring people under skvei-y. So it was here; Jeroboam, at the time when Hosea prophesied, designed to bring the

people under slavery, to keep them from the house of David to be his slaves; and what course docs he take? He first sets up the basest and lowest of the people to be their priests; and secondly, he introduces false worship, and that is attended by blindness and ignorance, and so by this means he knew he should soon bring them under slavery. And nothing is more clear, than that it has been the design of many that would have been rulers of the church, and that they have laboured with all their might, (in subservience to others,) to bring blindness and ignorance into the land, that so they might reduce the land under slavery; and nothing has vexed them more, than that there is so much knowledge in the land. Therefore their- spirits were so enraged at people’s flocking unto sermons; itvvas even matter enough to silence any minister, to have people crowding to hear him preach: and they were enraged, too, at people’s repeating of sermons in their own private families, liecause it also was a way to bring in knowledge. Any thing that tended to that, their hearts were enraged against it. Why? Because they knew knowledge would so mould men that they would never bear servitude. And truly it is a vei-y strange thing, that though in some countries, (as in Wales and other places,) where men have not knowledge, they are contented to become slaves; but that i:i these parts, where there is, though not so much as should be, yet some degree of the knowledge of God, one wovdd think it impossible that men should sufl’er themselves to be brought into slavery here; and that they fear most. We read that when the Philistines had taken Samson, they put out his eyes, and then made him to grind in the mill. So these men would fain make us to gi-ind in the mill; as it is said, some have threatened to make the dames of London work for a penny a day in bridewell. They would fain make you all slaves, but first they would put out your eyes; they would take away knowledge, and then they know they shall soon succeed in “then- object. Well, the Lord hath promised, Isa. XXV. 7, that “he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.” And mark, ver. 9, “It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” O come. Lord Jesus, come quickly and destroy the covering, the veil that is upon the eyes and hearts of a great part of the people of this land. The work would soon be done if the Lord would but destroy the veil of darkness that is upon the eyes and hearts of people, and we shoidd triumph in our God and say, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us, yea, he hath saved us.

Ver. 2. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.

You see what a catalogue of gi-oss sins are here mentioned. And indeed when idolatry prevails in any country, there will be all manner of wickedness. We found it so here in England, that the more superstition prevailed amongst us, the more abominable -wickedness was generally spread over the country.

Fh’st, For “swearing.” The word here ti-anslatedsweai-ing, is of nSs and signifies to cm-se, to swear, and to be perjured, and likewise also signifies to howl out: as in Joel i. 8, “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth:” so that the same word which signifies cursing, sweai-iug, and forswearing, signifies also to howl and cry, for God has a time to make such to howl and cry out. An oath is a sacred thuig, a part of God’s worship, and therefore the abusing of this is a dreadful sin; especially if it be abused to swear to that which is false. Paulus Phagius, in his comment on Gen. xlii.,

,„ i:„p,„ ,i,„i, saith, It is reported of the Eg)-ptiaiis, that ‘urt nn’S^ ^“y ™’’” ‘“‘^ ^”’ swear by the life of mort*“pi?ci’i”r,nec the king, and did not perform his oath, w™S’’e’’;ium’™ that man was to die, and no gold or any iiOiinat. thing in the world could redeem his life:

so did heathens hate that sin of pcrjuiT. Yea, we have found others that have not had much religion in them, who yet have extremely hated the sin of ordinaiT swearing. Louis IX. of France, punished that sin l)y searing the lips of swearers with a hot iron: which law being executed upon a citizen of Paris, some said it was too cruel; which he hearing of, replied, I would to God, that by so searing mine own lips, I could banish out of my realm all abuse of oaths. He could be willing to sear his own lips with hot iron, that he might banish the abuse of swearing. Chrj’sostom, in some sixteen continued homilies, if not more, whatsoever his text was, always concluded against swearing, as being such a vile and notorious sin. And because some pleaded custom, he urges. If you would *a/,r?l’xo“»ri- but punish it thus, that if there were uorivT” ‘’’“‘’“‘’’”’ sn oath sworn in your house, the servant Am“«ii’ ‘”’ ^°^’ “‘” child that swore the oath should not dine that day, that would in some measure put a stop to it; yet, saith he, the command of God is less efficacious. Divers other expressions I might name, but must hasten on. Jer. xxiii. 10, is remarkable and appropriate, “For because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their force is not right.”

It is a sin that has more malignancy in it against God by how much the less is the temptation to it. I verily believe, that if God had never made the third commandment, there would never have been so many oaths in the world; but it springs from a mere malignancy of spirit in men against God because he has forbidden it; for no profit can arise from the practice.

If men be guilty of this sin merely through a vain custom, what high indignity is this against God! what slighting and neglect of God is there! as if sinning against God were an argument of so little weight that a habit, senseless and unprofitable, could weigh it down. Custom, indeed, may prevail in things of no moment, as postures of the body, gestures, and the like, because in their very nature they are unimportant: but that custom should suffice to be set against the high displeasiae of the blessed God, or against his solemn profession that he will not hold that soul guiltless that taketh his name in vain, this argues a most insufferable vilifying of his sacred Majesty.

Secondly, To swear that thereby the words of men may be graced, is more horrid impiety: as if the pollutmg of the holy name of the most holy God were the best ornament of thy speech; as if the dishonour put upon God were the best grace to thy language.

Thirdly, To swear out of a conceit that this argues braveness of spirit, as if according to the fulness of mouthing of oaths, there were a spirit of valour and courage, is still more hideous wickedness; as if the courage and excellency of ovu’ spirits consisted in flying in the very face of God. AVhencc it is that many men, if angered, fall a cursing and swearing, that is, when others displease them they will Hy in God’s face; for this is your language, though you will not dare to say so; but this is the language of your practice. Others displease and anger me, and I to revenge myself will fly in the very face of God. A hideous wickedness there is in this, that you do not think of. When you jiassionate spirits come home, and your wives and children or servants anger you, and you fall to cursing and swearing, know you do no other than this; this is the language of your practice, They displease me, and to revenge myself I will fly in the very face of God. Many

gentlemen ai-d noblemen and those that belong to them are great swearers, because they imagine that it is an argument of some braveness of spirit, and that thereby they manifest courage of a higher strain than other men. Oh hideous and abominable wickedness! This is all the valour that many men have, that they dare sin against the glorious God and never be troubled at it: whereas a godly man is described in Scripture, Eccles. ix. 2, to be a man “that feareth an oath;” but for these, it is not for them to feai-, it is for timorous, melancholy, poor spirits, but they are men of brave spirits, and they would have men know that they can swear and not be troubled at it, they have stronger minds than other men have. Thus is the blessed God dishonoured by this sin more than we are aware of.

Fourthly, There is a class more guilty than these, those who swear that they may not be accounted puritans, or of the number of such a faction; if they go into company where they think they may be suspected to be inclined to that party, what do they? to give evident demonstration to the contrary, they swear lustily, and rap out oaths one after another. Oh what horrible opposition to God and to the Spirit of Christ is this! Christ saith, “that our light must so shine before men, that they, seeing our good works, may glorify our heavenly Father.” Now, they let their wickedness appear before men, that it may be known what they are; and hereby they give testimony that they can be brought to yield to any thing, for that is their intent; they do (I say) by that testify to the other party, that they can be brought to yield unto any thing and that they can serve their turns; and this is the reason why they would willingly entertain no other than such as these, for if they hear a man swear lustily, then they think, Such a man surely either has no conscience at all, and so is fittest for oiu- turn, as he will not be a scrupulous fool, or if he had a conscience he has broken it, and now it cannot prevail over him; therefore let us put upon him what we will, if it suit with his own ends and with his own profit, this man will do it; but as for your puritans, that are so conscientious we cannot effect our objects by means of them, therefore we will have none of them. Hence the puritans are so much hated, and the others, that they might be entertained by them, and give full testimony that they are fit for their turns, therefore swear. Oh how black are men’s mouths at this day by their cursed oaths, new execrations newly invented, that the world never before heard of! A’herefore then, though God might make these men as scorpions for a while to scom-ge us, yet if our spirits were up we need not fear them, for certainly they that are so full of cm-ses in their mouths, are the people of God’s curse.

“And lying.” “By swearing and lying.” These two go together: there is no man that makes not conscience of an oath, that will make conscience of a lie; though the world would think to part them, and say. Oh you will not swear, but you will lie; but God saith otherwise. Swearing and lying go together; those that will swear, certainly will lie. I5ut for God’s own people, God frees them from this sin of lying, though the world would cast it upon them, for no sin more offends against godliness. In Isa. lxiii. 8, God saith of his pcojile, “Surely they are my people, children that will not lie.” God engageth himself for his jieople. These are the people that will not lie. .lre you in profession any of God’s people? God doth engage himself for you in this, that certainly you will not lie. It is said of the devil, that he is a liar, and the father of lies. And women that carry false tales u]) and down and are slanderers, are in Scripture called devils, 1 Tim. iii. 11, “Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers;” fii) ctaiioXovt, not devils: a woman that is a slanderer, that carries false tales up

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nntl clown to the prejudice of her neighbour, the Scripfare there calls that woman by the name of a devil. And the word that signifies detractor, in Hebrew is S’3”i and some think that from it comes oiu- English word rakehell, one that makes no conscience to speak f;)lsely.

This sin of lying is the breaking of all society, there can be no converse between man and man where it prevails. Augustine, writing to his friend that sent to him to have his judgment concerning an officious lie, (that is, a lie that tends not to the hurt of any but of him that tells it,) returns this answer: That a man must not tell a lie to save the whole world; if it were to save thy father or thy mother out of hell, if that were possible, thou must not tell a lie; if it were to save kingdoms from destruction, thou must not tell a lie. That is his opinion; and certainly it is correct, for God will never be beholden to the devil to do good through his means. Surely then thou must not tell a lie to gain a groat, or a shilling, or to procure a good bargain, or to prevent the displeasure of thy master or mistress; but rather willingly confess the truth than attempt to cover the fault by a Ue. It is practical atheism that induces servants and childi’en, when they have done amiss, to seek to cover it by a lie. God is exceedingly displeased with this sin, and has a controversy on account of it against nations, families, and against particular persons; and therefore, Prov. vi., you shall find if you read from ver. 16 — 19, that after the Lord has said, that six things he hateth, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, that amongst these seven he repeats lying twice, though imder different terms; and that in Rev. xxi. 8, it is expressly said, that “all liars shall have their ])art in the lake which burneth with fii’c and brimstone.” Take that home with you, you servants, and children, and tradesmen that will tell lies for gain: God ranks and chains up liars together with notorious sinners, that shall all have their portion in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

There are none in the world that make such advantage of lying as the antichristian party, inventing all manner of lies, either to draw a party to themselves or to discourage those against them, inventing all manner of lies. And because the malignants invent so many themselves, if any thing is said against them, you presently hear them exclaim. That ’s a lie: they think all men are liars because they are conscious that they themselves are continually so. And no marvel that the antichristian party are so full of lies, for the very doctrine of popery, as a whole, is altogether called a lie: 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11, God gave men over, that did not entertain the truth in the love of it, “to believe a lie,” that they might be damned. Do you ask the question, why so many learned men and persons of understanding turn to the popish party? Mark the reason here, ‘because they received not the truth in the love of it, God gave them over to believe a lie.” A lie; what is that? that is the doctrine of popery. So the very quintessence of it is a lie. That lie of popery being therefore the great lie in the world, it must have a company of lesser ones, if I may say so, to underprop and uphold it. Isa. xxviii. 15, “They make lies their refuge.” It is a text as suitable to our times as any I know, showing the practice now, that when men cannot get any thing by fair means, then they invent lies and make them their refuge. The maxim of the Jesuits is, Ca-Ivmniare audacter, aliqiiid hcerebit, Slander and lie fearlessly, and something will adhere; for every one that may hear the report, may not hear of the answer that may be given to it. And their policy is to spread abroad lies as much as they can, ami especially of those that are most eminent and active in public aflairs; and hence those strange inventions raised of such as are most active in parliament, in the city, and in the ministry; things so hideous, that if they were true, would render men altogether unfit to be entertained in a commonw-ealth. But you will say, “What can they get by it when it proves to be false? Yes, because their lies spread a gi-eat deal farther than the refutation. And those in Jer. xx. 10, do fully set out the condition of these men:” I heard the defaming of many,” saith the prophet. How? “Report, say they, and we will report it.” This was their plot; We must defame Jeremiah; we see that he has got a great deal of credit and prevails with the people, and we know not how to help ourselves; only if we can but defame him, if we can but raise up something that may take away his esteem with the people, we may then have our end: therefore devise somewhat, report, and we will report it, we will spread it abroad. As now, if a company of malignants get into a tavern, there they will talk against this minister and the other, against this parliamentarian and the other, against this citizen and that: What shall we do? say they; we see they prevail, let us de•ise somewhat that may defame them, report somewhat and we will spread it. To this day this has been the way of maintaining that antichristian party, that great lie. Jer. ix. 3, “They bend their tongues IDie their bow for lies;” and ver. 5, “They have taught their tongue to speak lies.” They are now become practised in it, and they do it the rather because they know it will please some great ones. It was so in former times: Prov. xxix. 12, “If a ruler hearken to hes, all his servants are wicked.” If any olficer, or any about him, see that it will humour him to raise ill reports against God’s servants, the servants of such a ruler will be wicked and invent lies enow. And amongst other places, Hos. vii. 3 is remarkable, where the text saith,” They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with

their lies.” It is spoken of Jeroboam and the other kings that followed him, that set up false worship. Now there were a great many in Israel whose consciences would not give them leave to follow that way of false worship: whereupon the promoters, ajiparitors, bailiffs, and some courtiers, would invent lies against those that must needs go up to Jerusalem to worship, and would not content themselves with the calves that the king set up. Now these their inventions respecting some of the most zealous men amongst the people, they brought to the king, and said. Did youi- JIajesty hear such a thing? There are such men in your Majesty’s dominions dwelling in such towns, and they are forsooth so scrupulous that they will not be content with the lawestablished religion, but they must go up to Jenisalem to worship, yea, and there they privily commit such and such wickedness, and live in such and such vile practices: and thus they came and told the king tales of them, and the text says, “They made the king glad;” the king was pleased, and gave them encouragement. Certainly, amongst us there have not been wanting men that have endeavoured this, that would have accounted this their happiness, to get a tale, though never so false, to tell of a puritan, or of a godly minister.

“And killing.” Murder is a provoking sin; God seldom suffers it to go unrevenged in this world. ^^’hence are all those discoveries of murders; scarce any one but can tell strange stories of them. We have a vain distinction of murder and man-slaughter, as it is called, that, forsooth, if a man be angiy, and in a passion kUls another, this is man-slaughter, and no niiu-der. God will not own that distinction; for if you shall by your paision make youi-self a beast, and so kill a man, God will require this at your hand; for. Gen. ix. 5, God saith, that he will require the blood of man “at the hand of every beast;” much more at the hand of a man that by his passion makes himself a beast. The life of a man is precious to God, and God will not suffer

CirAP. IV.

any creature to have absolute power over it, but reserves dominion over men’s lives to himself. Mr. Ainsworth on Gen. ix. 6, cites the Jewish doctors, affirming that a murderer, though it were possible for him to give aO the riches of the world, yet must be put to death, because the life of the murdered is the possession of the most holy God; this is their argument. Certainly it is not in the power of any man upon earth, be he what he may, to save a murderer. The greatest man upon earth has no liberty, no prerogative, from God to save a murderer; “whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.” God avenges the blood that Manasseh shed a long while after his death; 2 Kings xxiv. 4, “And also for the innocent blood that he shed; which the Lord would not pardon.” Though Manasseh did repent, (and so we have cause to hope well in regard of his soul and his eternal estate, though Calvin seems to be of the contrarj- opinion,) yet the Lord came upon the nation after his days, and would not pardon his shedding of innocent blood. How much do we find in the law concerning the killing of a man! Deut. xxi. 1 — 9, when a man was found dead in the fields nigh unto a city, the elders of that city must come to the dead body, wash theii’ hands over the heifer to be slain, and take a solemn oath that they had no hand in the murder, and so clear the city. This shows how precious the life of man is in God’s esteem, and that God hath a controversy with a land for shedding of blood.

And if this be so, what a controversy, thinlt you, has God against many in this kingdom at this day! How fearful is God’s controversy against some that must feel it for the blood that has been shed in Ireland! There is upon record one hundred and forty thousand that have been mm’dered there since the beginning of this rebellion, and everybody will say, it is plain murder. And they, whosoever they are, that have participated in and abetted this, and strengthened the hands of the mm-derers, what will they be able to answer unto God? Shall the blood of one righteous Abel cr’ aloud in the ears of God, and never leave crying untd it has had vengeance, and shall not the blood of one hundred and forty thousand innocents? (I mean innocents in regard of the cause for which they were murdered.) AVe now in England begin to be somewhat sensible what it is to have the guilt of murder lie upon a nation. In the last declaration of the afiairs of L-eland, the parliament intimates some fear they have, that possibly the guilt of the blood of King James may in some way lie upon us. God has a controversy for murder wheresoever it lies, if it be not punished accordingly. And for all that blood that has been shed here of late, wherever the cause lies, God will find it out one day. Oh the blood that will be upon the head of some I Jer. H. .35, “The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitants of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.” So let all Christians, (they may do it, and they have waiTant from God to do it,) let all godly people in this kingdom that have had their husbands, their children, their apprentices, their friends butchered in these unhappy wars, let them say, The violence done to my flesh be upon the Babylonish, the popish party; and the blood that has been shed of our husbands, of our children, of our servants, of our friends, be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, the ])opish pai’ty dwelling amongst us, that have ri.sen up and shed so much blood. Oh how lile and cursed arc men’s hearts, that arc so set upon theii’ designs, that to attain them they will go through streams of blood that lie in their way, and care not for the lives of ihousands of men so their do.sires may be satisfied! How are men vilified in this, that their lives and bodies must go to gratify the lusts of a few others! Certainly

God never made such a difference, never put such a distance between one and another.

But now, in the execution of justice we mu6t not accoimt the shedding of blood to ibe killing. God has not a controversy with a land for blooilshed in it; nay, on the contrary, the Lord has a controversy against a people when there is not shedding of blood that way: Jer. xlviii. 10, “Cm-sed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood:” such a case maybe. And 1 Kings XX. 42, when Ahab let Benhadad go, the text saith, that a prophet came to him in the name of the Lord, saying, “Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.” So when we have men in our hands whom God has appointed to destruction, who are guilty of death, who have sought not the blood of some few, but the massacring of a city, if for private ends of our own we let them go, God may require our lives for theirs. And this perhaps is one of the reasons, that there is so much bloodshed amongst us at present, because there is no execution of justice upon ofl’endei’s, and God requires the blood of many for many. It is true, papists are not to be put to death for then- religion, that we acknowledge; but the Lord, because he intendelh the ruin of that part)’, will leave them to act so that they shall be guilty of death by the law of the land, and by the law of arms, and then the putting them to death is the execution of justice, and not the breach of the sixth commandment.

But some will say, Oh, killing is a grievous thing, we never were acquainted with it as we have been of late: were it not better we were all at peace, than that still so much blood should be shed?

God forbid any of us should be bloody men, or desire the shedding of blood. No, let us all labour to have peace that there may be no more bloodshed. This sjiecch simply considered is good, and we are all I hope of the same mind. Cursed be that man, I say, that shall not yield to this. And certainly peace, though upon hard terms, were to be desired, if it would save blood; yea, though half our estates went to procure it: but what if it prove that that peace we talk of should be a means of more bloodshed? If you should let into your city such men as bloody papists, French, Walloons, and Irish rebels, and that merely upon their bare word that they would do you no hurt, do not you think if they were once admitted, that you would every night be in danger of being massacred? and would there not be much more bloodshed than has yet been? Therefore say not that those are bloody men that will not jield up their throats to men of blood, but will stand up to defend their brethren from being massacred; Ihcy take up arms, not to shed, but to prevent the shedding of blood: and certainly, if the city and countrj’ had hi the beginning of these wars risen up as one man and gone forth, they might have saved much of the blood that has been shed. Many thousands that have now lost their lives might have been presers’cd, if you had resolutely taken up arms sooner than you did: but when every county looks to itself, and the enemy goes to one, and then to another, shedding blood, and you sit still and do nothing, God may require the blood of your brethren at your hands; and you cannot clear yourselves from being guilty of it, when you do not, to the uttermost you are able, strive to subdue the power of those that shed it. We cannot see any way to preserve the blood that is now in our veins, but by subduing the malignant and antichi-istian pai-ty that have already tasted so much of the blood of the saints.

And so with those rebels that in Ireland have tasted so much blood, and now are come over here to join with ])ai)18ts, you cannot possibly conceive any safety but by subduing that party. Is that a way to prevent the

shedding of your blojd, to lay your necks upon the block? for that peace proifered under a specious name, may be in truth no other but a laj-ing your necks upon the block, and giving up your wives and children to be a sacrifice to their malice.

The Lord has a controversy for blood. We Idow, when we have to deal with papists, what they have been of old, and therefore we hope God has a controversy with that party, that as they have di-unk the blood of the saints, so they shall at last swell and burst themselves in pieces. In the time of the massacre in France, when history tells us of more than ten thousand protestants that were murdered in one night in Paris, they were in as fail- a way of peace as possible, and there was a marriage solemnized, and a gi-eat deal of rejoicing for the union of one party with another, and yet (I say) in that night so many were slain; and you may expect no other if the mahgnant party get power. You will say, They have not done so to other cities which they have taken. No, they have not got the day yet, their design is but progressing; but if once they get this city, then, ha-STng attained their chief object, you may expect all manner of cruelty from them. And this massacre in France went on to other cities, for within a few days after there were forty thousand more computed to be murdered. I remember that the history of France tells us of that King Charles IX., by whose commission this was done, that afterward God struck him with such a disease, that there issued out of his body at several places nothing but blood, so that in that sickness he would sometimes fall doi’n and wallow himself in his own blood. Be men great or small, yet, being guilty of blood, at one time or other the Lord wUl manifest that he has a controversy against them.

‘• And stealing.” God sets bounds, as to men’s habitations, so to men’s estates, and he wUl not have one to break in upon another; no, not so much as to covet that which is another’s. Seeking therefore an increase of om- estates in any sinfid way, is, as it were, sajing, God’s care is not over me to provide needful things for me, and seeing I cannot have them fi-om God, I will try if I can have them from the devil. This is the language of all kind of gain that we get by any unla’svful way; you do not say so in words indeed, but this is the language of yom’ actions. Saith a poor person, I am in want, I want bread for my family, and clothes, and many outward comforts, money to pay my rent, &c.; I see in God’s pro’S’idence he does not provide for me; well, I will go to the devil then, and will see whether he will do more for me than God: I cannot have it by God’s allowance, for if so, I might get it by lawful means, therefore, saith he, I will have it whether God will or no. This is the language of all kind of stealing: and the curse of God is upon that which is gotten so unjustly, and all the repentance in the world is not sufiicient for a man who has gotten his estate unjustly, unless he make restitution of it again to the uttermost of his power.

And this stealing refers not only to open robbery, but to all wrongful gain gotten by way of trade. If I were preaching of this argument at large, much might be said to those that live by ti-ade. But for the present take that one scripture, Ezek. xxviii. 18, “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic.” Let merchants and tradesmen that have gotten any thing unlawfully, take this text home with them, “‘Thou” hast de.lled thy sanctuaries by the iniquity of thy traffic.” It may be, by trafficking unjustly you have gotten an estate, and you come to God’s sanctuaries “as if you were very holy, and no one should suspect you for your false books and dealings; to you God saith” in this text, that you defile all the ordinances by the iniquity of

your traffic. Perhaps you think, out of your imrisiiteous gains, to give somewhat to adorn such a place as this: it is well enough, but you do defile them.

So for all kind of oppression, for that too is meant by stealing. Latimer, in one of his sermons before King Edward, saith, that the gi’eatest man in the kingdom cannot so hurt an oppressor, as a poor widow may; and with what arms I pray? saith he; can he bring the judges to condemn? The arms are these, the tears of the poor, which run down theh- cheeks and go up to heaven, and there cry for vengeance. The text here speaks not of the meanest, but of the greatest thieves. Calvin, on the place, saith, those that had the most power by their honour and riches, and were oppressors of the people, are the thieves here spoken of. And Isa. i. 23, “Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves.” And Isa. xxxiii. 1, ““Mien thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled.” This is a text for our spoilers at this day: it may be God will let them go on till they have done their work, and then come upon them; and when they have done sr ‘^ling, they shall be spoiled. O! that controversy see.. s to be upon England, which was threatened and was upon the people in that place we read of, Isa. xlii. 22, ““This is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes.” If they had come into the field, perhaps it had been better with them; but they crept into holes, and they are snared and spoiled: “They are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. VTho among you will give ear to this?” !Mark what the text saith, “Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient imto his law. Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.” We are a people robbed and spoiled; because we have not walked in the ways of God, nor been obedient to his law, therefore the Lord hath poured his fury upon England at this day, and his fire burneth; and who hath laid it to heart?” Nobody stirs; because the fire is not kindled in the city, you lay it not to heart, and you sufier your brethi’en in one county after another to be spoiled. Take heed, if you stir not more than you have done, as many of you may answer for the blood of your brethren, so for the spoiling of their goods, because you do not lay to heart this heavy judgment that is at present upon the land, the execution of this controversy.

But yet you must know, that the taking away of men’s goods is, in times of war, no stealing, noi: no breach of the eighth commandment; for it is against common sense and reason, that in such times we .should be wholly tied to those positive laws of a state that are made for seasons of peace: but it accords with the law of natm-e, the law of God, and the law of arms, that our enemies should be deprived of what may sti’engthen them against us. Therefore let none cry out about stealing and robbing in these times; indeed, it is not fit that any should be sufl”ered to rob, but yet it is just that those that will not be on one side should be taken as enemies to the other; and (I say) it is agreeable to the laws of nature, of God, and of anus, that in times of just war, (and regarding ours, I hope you cannot but be’ fully satisfied,) that what may sU-engthen the enemy may be taken away. Lideed, the!/ plead for law who wholly break it themselves, because they would have all the privilege they can to strengthen themselves by om- goods and the goods of others; but certainly God permits us, being in a lawful war, to strengthen ourselves by the estates and goods of those that appear our enemies, without breach of peace or of the positive

Kiinquam ma?eho

law of tlic land, or of his own commandment. Thus much for the fourth charsje.

“And committing adultery.” The jreneration of a rational creature who must live to all eternity, is a work that God challen’^cs a special hand in, to ap- ))oint it to all at his pleasure; therefore the breach of God’s order in this, to satisfy the brutish lust of man or woman, is a most cursed evil, against which God carries on a most dreadful controversy. It is a breach of the blessed covenant of God, and a sin most opposite to his nature. And all yon that are guilty of this; for perhaps many that are professor! of religion, and live fairly amongst their neighbours, may yet be secretly guilty of it; all of you take this text home with you, “The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhon-ed of the Lord shall fall therein,” Prov. xxii. ] 4. Go thy ways, thou canst know no otherwise by thyself, but that thou art the man or the woman that art abhoiTcd of God. Thou art beloved of thy whore, but the Lord abhors thee. And Tertullian, speaking on Ejjh. V. 6, “Let no man deceive you with vain words,” uses an expression which I confess I would not dare to employ; He that preacheth of repentance to adulteiy, especially adultery lia’messe’pt’raS^ in a forcible way, deceiveth men with ‘■’”• vain words. You see his conception of

the sin; we dare not justify what he saith, but it serves to show you how tkeadful he apprehended the sin to be. And in Heb. vi., speaking of the sin that is unpardonable, he saith. We never read, nor ever knew, a second repentance promised to an adul-. terer or fornicator. He admitted but one repentance after baptism: see lib. de Penitentia, et de Pudicitia. These were his thoughts of adultery. The Athenians made a law, that if any man found his wife in the act of adultery, he might presently kill her. And I have read of a people among the heathen, that have punished this sin for its filthiness, by thrusting the adulterer’s head into the paunch of a beast and keeping it there, and so stiHiiig him. If heathens hated it so much, surely God must have a controversy, because of this sin, with those that profess themselves Christians; and the gi’eater controversy because it is so little punished by men. And though many great ones can escape man’s punishment, yet they cannot get beyond this controversy. I remember fr. Cleaver reports of one that he knew, that had committed the act of uncleanncss, and in the horror of conscience hung himself; that when he was about to hang himself, he wrote on a pa])er to this effect, I indeed acknowledge it to be utterly unlawful for a man to kill himself, but I am bound to act the magistrate’s part, because the punishment of this sin is death. God would have that sin punished with death, but the magistrate did not punish it accordingly, therefore he, in horror of conscience, lays violent hands upon himself. W’c justify not his act, but it shows what a controversy God has with men that commit this sin. Thou committest that abominable sin, and thou hast some pleasure and delight in it; go thy way, thou art a dead man in God’s eyes; look to thyself, one way or other God may bring death upon thee, and though man’s law take not hold on thee, God’s may, thou knowest not how soon. I have read of a king of NavaiTo, that by adultery had weakened his (Vamo very much, and in consequence, his ])hysicians caused his body to be wrapped about with a cereclothdijilicd in aqua vitjr, and the party that sowed the cerecloth, having done, went to burn off the thread with a candle, which jirescntly took hold of the cloth and consumed both it and the king.

And as God has a controversy for this sin, which is so little ])unislied by man’s law, but by God’s law is death; so the rather has God a controversy for it, if it be committed by men of knowledge, by learned men.

by men that are in public places, by men that carry a show of holiness, by men that are in the ministry; if they commit it, God has, in a special manner, a di-eadful controversy with them. Jer. xxix. 22, 23, “The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire; because they committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives.” It was a proverb, “The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.” This was not King Zedekiah and King Ahab, but two false prophets of the name, unclean wretches; and though it wei-e the king of Babylon, a heathen, yet he so hated that sin of adultery, that he caused them to be roasted in the fire; for to burn or roast the offenders in the fire, was the punishment of that nation for capital offences. Therefore those that are ministers, that are learned men, that have any show of holiness more than others, if they be guilty of this sin God has a most di-eadful controversy with them.

And see how we should have a controversy too against this sin of uneleanness, especially when forced. In Judg. XX. 17, you read there that there were four hundred thousand men, all men of war, that were raised up as one man, and they all said, ver. 8, “We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn into his house.” And why did all these men rise? The cause was this: there was a Levite that had a concubine, which had played the harlot and gone from him, and he going to fetch her back, the men of Gibeah, a city of Benjamin, came in a violent way and abused her until she died: u])on this the Levite took the dead body and divided it into twelve several pieces, and sent them into all the coasts of Israel. Upon this the hearts of all the men of Israel were raised as one man, and they covenanted among themselves, that they would none of them turn into then- houses until they had brought the delinquents, that had committed that horrible offence, to condign punishment. Mark now, that the hearts of people should be so set upon it, and think it a sufficient reason to gather an ai’my of four hundi’ed thousand. Have we not heard of worse than this amongst us wheresoever the soldiers have come? what horrible villanies have been committed in this respect, taking not men’s concubines and whores, but grave matrons, and puiposely those whom they think to be most godly, and defiling them before the eyes of their husbands, and then mui’dering them! and yet we stir not for all this to fetch in these delinquents. Now we have rapes and ravishments of thousands amongst us, and yet our hearts stir not, though no question the same thing is intended against us here that is done to our brethren in other countries, for you can expect little else from such as these. In Judg. v. 20 the mother of Sisera saith, “Have they not divided the prey, to every man a damsel or two?” They aim as much to satisfy then’ lusts upon you as upon your goods; you must not think your lives will satisfy them, but their lusts must be fu-st gratified. If you regard not your lives, and estates, and liberties, yet regard such horrible villany as this, which is committed in the f;ice of heaven. These here resolved not to go to their tents nor to turn into their houses till this was done. Be content to shut up your shops for a while, and to leave your trades and to lie in the fields, until you have brought these delinquents to their just punishment. Be not discouraged with a little ill success; there were forty thousand of the better side slain here before Israel got the victory, until they had thorolighly humbled themselves, and then they succeeded. Though our adversaries meet with success in their ways, let us not be discouraged; they that stood to defend this horrible wickedness of the men of Gibeah, got the first and second days, yet they persevered till they had brought

tl-.e offenders to cmidign punishment. We should ref-olve never to follow our business, nor regard our houses and private estates, until we have got this wickedness punished in this land, and wiped off its guilt i-om the kingdom.”

“Thev break out.” That is, like the eruption of waters; as waters break over the banks when it has been kept in a while, so they thus break out and over-How all bounds. “When sin is not mortified, though it be restrained for a while, it will break out: as many young men that have lived in good families and had good governors, and so have had their sin restrained, afterward, when they come to manage themselves, then break out, sin gi-ows to a strength that nothing can restrain; like that man that had an unclean spirit and lived among the graves; “no man could bind him, no, not with chains,” lark v.

Obs. Breaking out is a great aggravation of a man’s sin. It argues strength, impudence, and desperateness in sin. And this breaking out of sin is not merely as the overflowing of water at some times or tides, but rather like the bursting out of fire, or, if you will, like water gushing forth from some fountain: now you know, if water break out of a fountain, not a diminution, but rather an increase ensues; and when a house is on fire, it will smoulder a long while, but when it bursts out at the roof or elsewhere, then it flames the more and increases with more violence. So it is no diminution to sin that it breaks out; as many fooKsh people that will speak horribly wickedly in their passion. I will let it go, as good out as in; foolishly concluding there is so much less corru]rtion within, and that is a diminution of sin, whereas it is an aggravation, and denotes impudence in sin.

“And blood toucheth blood.” That is, as some will Iiave it. one gross and abominable sin, accounted a bloody sin, follows another. But some understand it thus, one murder follows another, one oppression succeeds to another: “Blood toucheth blood;” now thy wickedness is broken out there is no end of it, but one murder follows another. Pareus thinks it refers to the same times as 2 Kings xv., where you may read what murders there were, and how blood touched blood; as if the prophet here said. They being used to murder, there is now nothing else, you hear of murders every where. Thus, if the Lord raise not up means to control and subdue the rage of ungodly men, if it get head and overcome the opposition it meets, blood will then touch blood, one messenger shall not have done his relation of one horrid and cruel murder, before another messenger will be at his heels to tell you of another, still more horrid and moi-e vile. So it is in some countries, there comes one and saith. In such a place such a man and all his family were murdered; and presently another comes and tells you, In such a town such a friend of yours was murdered; thus the messengers rapidly succeed one another, and relate of blood touching blood. So some interpret it.

But I rather thus. They defile themselves incestuously, (so that this is somewhat more than bare adultery,) not regarding the nearness of blood, but “blood toucheth blood;” they that were nearest in blood mingled themselves one with another in iilthy and abominable lusts. So the Septuagint translate it, liiayovai, they mingle: and Jerome, mvguis sanguinem teligit, they mingle and touch blood with blood, those that are near of kin come near one another in filthy lusts. Now this was a sin for which God cast the very heathen out of Canaan, that good land, and therefore well may he have a controversy with the people of the land now; as you may find Lev. x-iii. 6, “iSTone of you shall aj)- proach to any that is near of kin to hini, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.” And so afterward goes on to show what degrees of consanguinitv we

must observe; and then, ver. 24, 25, “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled that I cast out before )ou; and the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.” The rather still has God a controversy with a people for this sin, because it is so little punished. I ask, what punishment is there at this day amongst us for incest, or for any uncleanness, except that the man must support the child; and as to the ancient punishment of coming into the court and being enjoined to wear a white sheet, they could dispense with it for a very little money. Hence we may fear that God’s controversy is so much the more against us, and pray to hini that speedily the land may deliver itself fi’om this guilt by having severe laws for the punishment of this horrible wickedness, lest God come and punish it himself, and then woe unto us!

Ver. 3. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth llierein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and uilh the fouis of heaven; yea, thefishes of the sea also shall be taken away.

You have heard that God in this chapter commences a suit against the ten tribes. He puts in his action, and he declares, and then judges. The articles of his declaration or charge against them we have discussed. Hereupon judgment is passed, “Therefore shall the land mourn.”

“The land.” How can the land be said to mourn? As when the land is fruitful it is said to laugh and sing, and meadows that are green to rejoice; Psal. lxv. 13, “The valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing:” so when a land is desolate and God brings famine, then it is said to mom’n. Jer. xii. 4, “Hov’ long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.” And lilcewise a place, when left desolate of people that were before the beauty of it, is then said to mouni: Isa. iii. 26, “Her gates shall lament and mourn.” Lam. i. 4, “The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to her solemn feasts.” As now in time of plague, the streets of your city may be said to mourn because they are deserted and look desolate, when the grass grows between the stones; “Her gates shall lament and mourn.” The expression here is designed to upbraid the hardness of the hearts of the ten tribes. As if God should say. Notwithstanding all their di’eadful sins, that should break then’ hearts and make them howl and ciy out, yet they will not mourn; therefore their land shall mourn. When God will upbraid men for stopping their ears and refusing to hear, and to obey, he calls to the heavens, Isa. i. 2, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;” to upbraid the the deafness of men that will not hear: and Jer. ii. 12, “Be astonished, O ye heavens:” because men will not fear, therefore, to upbraid them, God calls to the heavens to be astonished: so, because men’s hearts are hard, therefore God calls to the land to mourn, yea, saith it “shall mom’u.” The deformity of your sin, that is the meaning, shall appear in the miserable desolation of yom- country. There is an ugly face of sin, and it were well if you saw it as it is inVour own hearts, the guilt that you have brought upon yom- oim spu’its; but seeing you will not apprehend sin as in your own hearts, you shall see the sad effects of it in all things of the land. God will have sin appear vile to us one way or other. The Lord this day is making our land mourn because we have not mourned, because we do not mourn. Many countries know what this expression means, their country mourns, their land mourns. The veiT sight of the dreadful effects of sin upon many parts in England is

sufficient to break any man’s heart. As in Gennany, persons that have travelled tlicre, and seen towns and places, formerly of great riches and traffic, now overgrown with nettles, it bi’caks their hearts, they see the land to mourn; and it begins to be so amongst us in many places of England, in Yorkshire, and in the west. Oh that we all could mourn in the bitterness of our spirits, that oui- laud and cities might no further mourn! But we must not give liberty to ourselves in pathetical or affectionate ways, but keep as near as we can to an explicatory course.

“And everj- one shall languish.” The word translated languish here, signifies the withering of a flower, or the withering of herbs and trees: and so in Nah. i. 4, “The flower of Lebanon languisheth; “the same word occurs as here,” every one shall languish,’’ and the signification of it suggests this useful note.

Obs. 1. All the gloiy and pomp of the men of the world, is but as a flower; and even as soon as a flower withereth, so soon do they pass away.

Obs. 2. Times of affliction take clown the jollity and bravery of men’s spirits, and make them fade, wither, and pine away.

^- The word here is translated by some,

and they shall be made weak. ‘V’hen wicked men are prosperous, their hearts are stout and strong to sin, they can stand out against God and against all threats; but when the hand of God is upon them, then their spu’its are poor, they arc weak and presently cast down. Oh the difference between the brave, stout spirits of wicked men in their prosperity against God, and their poor, weak, withered, and dejected spirits in the time of their adversity! Psal. xxxix. 11, “‘^lnicn thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.”

And a notable expression we have of the withering, the languishing, of the spirits of wicked men in the time of their adversity, that whereas now in theu- prosperity their tongues are then- own, and they must and will ask, AVho is the Lord? they are then loud in their oaths and blasphemies; but mark them now in their adversity; Isa. xxix. 4, “Thou shalt be brouj;ht down, and shait speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.’’ This is the fruit of the languishing of their spirits in the time of their trouble. As a riotous and boisterous gallant, that would so mouth it when he was in prosperity, yet let God but lay his hand upon him in sickness, and his conscience then accusing him, he whispers and speaks low out of the dust. Then follows,

“AVith the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.”

Jerome allegorizes this, and would take it to mean several sorts of men. But we must not stand to that, but rather take the words as they are literally. Only as to the reading of them a word or two first.

“AVith the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven.” In the Hebrew, 3 which is translated nilh, is sometimes equivalent to for, “for the beasts of the field ■” as in chap. v. 5, “Israel and Ephraim shall fidl in their iniquity, or, for their iniquity. So if here we translate if. /or the beasts of the field, and /or the fowls of heaven, then we have this note.

Obs. 3. AVc may here see the poorness of our condition, that when but the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air are destroyed, our comforts are forthwith gone. The comforts of natural men depend upon poor things, on the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air; if God’s hand be but upon them, and the cups be taken from their mouths, and the fidl dishes from their tables, presently they languish. It is otherwise with a gracious heart: Hab. iii. 17, 18, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the ^ines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat: the flock shall be cut off fiom the fold, anff there shall be ro herd in the stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I vill joy in the God of my salvation.” A gracious heart does not languish because the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air are taken away: let them be taken away, yet he can rejoice in God, his spirit will be sustained.

“Shall be taken away.” The word in the Hebrew is ISDN’ they shall be gathered, for it is observable both in fowls and in fishes, that when they perceive any thing noxious unto them, or that they are in any danger, they gather themselves together: and that is the reason that fishes at some periods of the year are in such shoals; going from one place to another, and finding them noxious and hurtful, or perceiving some danger, they gather together. And so fowls migrate in the winter time. I have heard many in Holland say of the storks, that they gather themselves in the space of a week or thereabouts, and so take their flight together from that country. Thence I take the word here, they shall be gathered together, to mean, that there shall be such times of danger, and such infection in the air, and in the very waters of the sea, that the fishes and fowls shall perceive it, and so shall be gathered together (as they use to be gathered when they perceive any such thing) to go away; and being so gathered together, they shall be destroyed. It is good for men, like these creatures, in times of danger to gather together and to join one with another, and not be scattered one here and another there. This only for the reading of the words.

The scope of the Holy Ghost here, in threatening to take away the beasts and the fowls and the fishes, is this, To show the severity of God’s wiath against the ten tribes; that as a king not only executes a traitor, but pidls down his house and burns all that is ui it; so the great wi’ath of God shall so be upon these ten tribes, that he shall not only destroy them, but for their sakes bring destruction even upon the creatures. And this seems to be a thi-eatening of greater wrath than God let out when he destroyed the world. In that destruction, we do not read of any hurt unto the fishes of the sea; but here the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea, shall be taken away. It refers to some fearful plague, wherein not only the air, but the waters are pestilential, and the cattle and the fish (he. So it has been in other countries, and even ui England, in the time of Edward the Third, such a ))cstilential qualit)’ was in the ah- and water, that birds and fishes were found with infectious blotches. ,lnd then in one chureh-yard, (I think about the Cliarter-house,) in one yeai-’s space, fifty thousand were buried of pestilential diseases. Such power has God over us, that he can let out his wrath by such ways as these, and such ])lague3 are very fearful fruits of his wrath upon a countrv’. AAliat cause have we to bless God that he has delivered us from the infection of the au-! If God had but brought a plague upon London last year, it would have been the heaviest calamity brought on any kingdom in the world; if we had had but such a plague as would have caused men to have fled and the parliament not have sat, its dissolution would have reduced the whole kingdom mto a lamentable estate at this day. Let us bless God for that.

I remember upon this text a Jesuit that wrote but veiy lately, Cornelius a Lapide, has a most audacious lie. Since Scotland and Ireland, saith he, have dcj)arted from the catholic faith, (that is, from ])opery,) God’s judgments are out against them j and whereas they were wont to be such plentiful countries for fish, God

V-?.. 4.

has cursed theii- very waters, and now theii- h-ade of fishing is nothing like to what it was formerly. He includes not England in this observation, for he was one that wrote lately, and had it seems some hope that England was coming to them again. But through God’s mercv both Ireland, and Scotland, and England, have found it otherwise in this respect.

Hence,

Obs. 4. The good or evil of the creature depends on man; because it was made for man, man is punished or blessed even by the creature, and the creature comes to feel good or evil, according as man’s behaviour- is towards God. Let then mercy and pitj’ toward the creature be an argument to keep us from sin. If you have not cruel hearts towards the creature, abstain from sin, for you do not only undo yom-selves, but the creation, by your sin. And when at any time we see the hand of God out against any creature, let us reflect in our own hears, My sin is the cause that this creature feels that evil which it does: and as Judah said unto Tamar, “She is more righteous than I;” so do you say of the creatui-e. Indeed God’s hand is out against it, but the creature is more righteous than I.

Obs. 0. God, when in a way of wrath, can cause his wrath to reach to those things that seem to be most remote. As the fishes in the sea seem to be most remote, therefore they are named here; “yea, the fishes in the sea also:” as if he had said, My wrath shall bum fiercely, and shall reach not only to yourselves and houses, your cities, and land, and cattle, but to the very fish in the sea. God can let out his wrath as far as he pleases.

Obs. 6. No creature can help man in the time of God’s wrath; why? for every creature suffers as well as man. How vain then are the hearts of men, who solace themselves in hope of comfort from this or that creature, in the day of God’s wrath! If you cry unto the mountains and hills, and say. Help us; they will echo back, Help us; for they need help as well as you; for the wrath of God is upon the creature in the day of his ■oTath, and therefore they are unable to aid.

Ver. 4. Vet let no man strive, noi- reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

“Yet.” The Hebrew word is, ns Vere, as if he should say, Truly it is in vain for any one to stand striving or reproving his neighbour, or seek to con- ^^nce or admonish him, it is in vain for one friend to meddle with another; for they are so violent in theii’ wicked ways, so far from hearkening to private admonition, that they will contend with the priest, even with him that is set by God, and designed by special office, to teach and reprove. Some interpret it thus, They ai’e so vile, and their w-ickedness so general, that no man is fit to reprove his brother for his sin. But I incline to the former intei-pretation, which imports thus much to us in the general.

Obs. 1. Sin cannot be got ft’om men without striving. Such is the perverseness of men’s hearts, that they take fast hold of deceit, Jer. viii. 5, and you cannot get them away without striving; like men in a frenzy, you cannot get them off’ from that which will injure them without struggling with them. Wien you admonish and reprove men for sin, you must expect beforehand that they wnU contend against you, yet afterwards, perhaps, they will bless God for you: at first you may be hardly used; WTiat! you come to judge us? as they said to Lot, “Who made you a ruler? “So you generally receive very ill language from men at first when they are reproved, yet “be not discouraged, they may bless God for you afterwards, they may say as David unto Abigail, “Blessed be God, and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou for thy counsel.”

Obs. 2. Even private men, (as implied in the former note,) so long as there is any ho])e, should strive with their brethren, by way of admonition and reprehension, to bring them from theu- sin. “Wo must not say. Are we our brother’s keepers? that is the language of a C’aiji. There is much striving and contending one with another for our own ends; oh that there were more striving and contending for God and his glory! It is a sign that the glory of God and the souls of oui- brethren are not precious in our eyes, when we can so strive and contend to have our own wills, and though God loses his glory, and our brother’s soul is like to perish, we cannot sti-ive and contend there, not even those of us that are full of strife otherwise.

Obs. 3. It is a great aggravation of sin, and a forerxmner of destruction to a people, not to regard the sh-ivings, admonitions, and reprehensions of others. “Let no man strive;” It is in vain to strive now (that is the meaning); indeed, so long as there was hope there might be striving, but now they are past striving. This was the height of wickedness that they were grown unto, and the forerunner of that wrath of God which was now ready to fall upon them, that they were now past all reprehension and admonition. I will cite tn“o or tlu-ee notable texts of Scripture to fasten this upon your hearts, that it is a most fearful thing for people to stand out against admonition and reprehension. In 1 Sam. ii. 25, the text saith of Eli’s sons, that they hearkened not unto the voice of their father; why? •’because the Lord would slay them.” O you chilcben, hearken to this scripture, turn to it, read it over, you that are stout and rebellious, whose parents are reproving you for your sins and admonishing you, but you will not hearken to them; and in the pride of your hearts and stoutness of yom’ spu-its you refuse admonition; but if you read that scripture, and believe that it is the word of God, O tremble at it; “They hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.” Another text you have in 2 Chron. XXV. 16, a speech of the Lord’s prophet to Amaziah; when the prophet came to rebuke him for worshipping the gods of that people whom he had overcome in battle; (here is the infinite vanity and sottishness of idolaters, Amaziah falls to worship those very gods that could not deliver themselves nor their people out of his hands:) when the prophet (I say) came to reprove him for it, in what a rage was he! one would have thought that it was reasonable for his spirit to yield to the prophet’s reproof, but saith the lung, “Art thou made of the king’s counsel? forbear;” it may be he has other plans and intentions, what have you to do to meddle? The prophet did forbear indeed, but mark what he said, “I know that God hath determined to destroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.” Here was his inference, because the king would not regard admonition and reproof, certainly God purposed to destroy him. And it is observable of this king that he should now stand out so: for in the chapter before, he seems to be of a yielding spirit, though a wicked man: when he had hfred a huncfred thousand out of Israel to join with him in battle, and had given them all pay; yet, when God did but command him by the prophet to send them back with the loss of the hundi-cd talents which he had paid the soldiers, on the very word of the prophet he sends back a hundi-ed thousand of his soldiers, and loses all their pay; and yet this Amaziah, so yielding then, how stubborn was he against the prophet at another time! and therefore when he did so yield to God, God prospered him in the battle, and he overcame his enemies gloriously; but when, after that -icton,’, he fell a worshipping the idols he had overcome, and was stout against the prophet, soon after lie was desti’oved. The last scripture is that in Prov. xxix. 1,

“He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” It is a dangerous thing to stand out against reproof and admonition.

Obs. 4. Sin increases where it is let alone. Let no man strive, nor reprove another. You may see that this people were become worse than they were before, for in the second chapter of this i)rophecy, “Say to vour brethren, Ammi ,• and to your sisters, Ku-hamah.” ‘I’he godly amongst them are there admonished to speak to their Iirethren and to their sisters; but now it is come to such a pass, that there must be no more striving, no more admonishing. Those that once were capable of admonition, going on in sin and hardening their hearts, grow quickly past all reproof.

Obs. 5. There is a time when men may, yea, men should give up sti’iving with, admonishing, and reproving others, when they should let them alone. Especiallv in these two cases; when those they admonish scorn their admonition, when they trample their reproofs under their feet as swine, or turn again on them and rend them as dogs. There are two sorts not to be admonished or reproved, swine and dogs. A’lien they become such, then you may leave, yea, you ought to leave admonishing them. For admonitions and reprehensions are precious things, ])earls, that must not be cast to swine; Matt. vii. G, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before s« ine,” they are holy and precious things: for I do not take that place to be meant of the sacrament only; it may, by an argument a miyiori ad majus, be ap])lied to it, but it is ])riniarily meant of admonition and reprehension. So that admonition is to be looked upon as a holy thing, as a pearl, you are to prize it, and thesefore not to be anry when we come to admonish you; but you are to look upon the holiness of God in it, and so reverence it; and regard it as a mercy of God, and bless him for it. There are many in heaven now blessing God for the admonitions which they have received from others, as David blessed God for Abigail and her counsel. Many think it a great hajipiness to them that they can reject admonition and counsel; and when they are gone from such as have admonished them, and are among their companions, they can boast and say, Oh, such a one came and reprehended me, but I said thus and thus to him; and so they rejoice how they have rejected admonition. But if they knew all, they have cause to mourn; it is a great misery for them when it comes to that, that God shall bid those that have to deal with them to strive no more with them: when you have so rejected the admonitions of others, that jou think you have succeeded in stojiping their mouths, and that you have fairly rid yourselves of all their reproofs, oh, your misery is the greater. For,

1. You have deprived yourselves of a special ordinance of God. Admonition and reprehension, even Lrotherlv admonition and reprehension, is an ordinance of God.

2. Those who strive thus, who admonish and reprove you, must give an account to God wluit is become of their admonition and reprehension. You must give an account to God one day, and so must they also; yea, they should do it at present, thus: after they have admonished, they must go to God and tell him how it has succeeded, for they have done it in his name if tlicv have done it right; and if their admonition and reproof have prevailed with you, they are to return to God with blessing, to bless God that he has been pleased to bless their admonition. And on the other Jiand, if you reject their admonition, they are to tell that too, and to lament your condition, and to entreat of him to look upon you, and to say, Lord, I have been thus and thus admonishing such a one in thy name, but. Lord, he contemns and rejects it. When you are

laughing that you have rejected such a friend’s admonition, then he that has been faithful to you, he is telling God of it: and do you not think there will come somewhat of this one day?

3. You are left to God’s striving and rebuking, and “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” It is better when God strives with you by men, than that he should come and strive with you himself. As now, if a father send his servant to go and fetch in a child, to receive a rebuke, and he return and tell the father. He cares not for what I say; then the father goes himself, and it is worse for the child: so God sends thy brother to rebuke thee, and to fetch thee in, and thou carest not for him, but regardest him as thy fellow creature; and so thy brother goes to God, Lord, he regards not what I say. Then, saith God, I will rebuke him myself: and God’s rebukes in this case will be “furious rebukes;” Ezek. v. 15, “en I shall execute judgments in thee in anger, and in fuiy, and in furious rebukes.” Mark it, “furious rebukes;” the rebukes of a brother are loving rebukes, but if thou reject them, God’s rebukes may come, and they will prove furious rebukes. The rebukes of a brother are out of love, but. Amos vii. 4, “The Lord called to contend by lire.’’ When Job’s friends strove with him (liey could not ])revail, but, chap, xxxvili. 1,2,” The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Wio is this that darkeneth words without counsel?” The Lord out of the whirlwind calls to contend with Job, and so overcomes him. If thou regardest not friends contending with thee, the Lord himself, out of the whirlwind, may come and contend with thee. Take heed how thou rejectest the strivings of a brother with thee, for God may not only say he shall strive no longer, but, My Spirit shall no longer strive with thy soul.

“For thy people are as they that strive with the priest.” That is the reason why they must not strive one with another. Here, oidy these two things requii-e explanation:

1. Why it is said “with the priest,” rather than with the prophet?

2. ‘Tiy it is said, “For thy people are as they that strive with the priest?” Did they not strive with the priest? why then is it not said. This people are a people that strive with the priest?

To answer these two briefly, observe,

1. It is said that they “strive with the priest,” rather than with the prophet, though the prophet did rebuke and strive with them, for this reason; because the ])riest was a standing office in the church of God, whereas the prophet was an extraordinary office, and they could not be sme whether he were a true prophet or no, but according to the event of the ])ropheey; but the priest they acknowledged to be an officer of God, and hence he is here named rather than the prophet.

2. It may be, the priests, being Jeroboam’s, scarce strove at all, but rather joined with them in their wickedness; therefore he could not say they actually strove with the priest.s, but yet so vile were their hearts, that God saw that if there were priests to strive with, they would strive with them. Or, it may be, because indeed those priests of Israel at this time were not such as were called of God, for in 1 Kings xii. 31, the text saith of Jeroboam, that ‘■ he made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi;” and chap. xiii. 33, “Whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.” But the people received them as priests still, for they thought tnat the king’s authority was a sufficient reason for their reception, as if the king had absolute power to make all church officers. So it was then, and this may be the reason of the expres.sion, “as they that strive with the priest.”

Obs. 1. It is the work of the priest to contend against

men for their sin. That is the proper work of a priest, to strive with men against their sin. They are the salt of the earth, and so they should have some acrimony in them. In 1 Tim. iii. 3, it is said, indeed, of the minister of God, that he should be a/inxov, no striver. A minister of God should in office look to the souls of people, and be no striver; how will you say then that he should strive? It means, he should never strive with men for his own ends, or for his own ways; he should be no brawler, but one of a quiet and gentle spirit, willing to pass by wrongs done unto himself: but when he stands up for’ God he should be a striver. All faithful ministers should be strivers when they come in God’s cause. (Ecolarapadius, wTiting to his fellow ministers. I remember, has a notable expression; “Let not our zeal and anger burn when we are scorned and reproached ourselves; but when the ti’uth and the name of God are in danger, then let our heat arise, then let us strive.” This, indeed, is the character of a ti’ue godly minister, that he is in his own cause gentle and yielding, but when it comes to the cause of God, zealous and fervent, ready to strive and contend with men in the ways of their sin.

Obi: 2. When ministers do reprehend and strive with people, they must expect to be striven withal by peoj)le. These are “as they that strive with the priest; “they have such vile hearts, that, had they never such faithful and godly officers set over them by God, they would strive with them. And indeed all faithful ministers must expect, that if they strive with men for their sins, men will strive with them. K there had ever any faithful ones been sent among them by God, they would have been ready to have cried out against them and told them. You are the cause of our misery, for you are so strict and precise that you will not yield to Jeroboam: you threaten us that judgments will come upon us, but you are the cause of our misery; were it not for you we should have all the people yield to what the king has set up, but you stir them up against it and so disquiet us. Thus no question but they would be ready to strive with the priest at that time. And thus they did with Amos, chap. vii. 12, ‘• Go to Judah and prophesy there.” They strove with Amos, who was contemporary with Hosea, prophesying at this time unto this people, and the land say they cannot bear Amos’s words, let him go to Judah; he tells us we are a superstitious people, and that we do not worship God in the right manner and in the right place, let him go thither, we wish he were out of the country; he, and such as he is, raise a fh-e in the land. Thus when ministers discharge their consciences, showing people their sins and the mind of God, this is ordinarily their recompenee. Thus it was with Jeremiah; chap. xv. 10, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! every one curseth me.” Jeremiah, a grave and holy prophet, yet a man of contention to the whole earth, and every man cursed him! A sti-ange thing, that he should meet with such hard dealing; and yet he appealed to God in the matter of his sincerity, he desired not the evil day, and he prayed for the people until God bid him pray no more; when they were railing on him, he was praying for them. This was his unhappy situation; and so it was with other prophets besides him. I might name other texts in Jeremiah, as chap. sx. 7, 8, “I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.” After I threatened that there should come some judgment upon the nation, I cried out of the violence and spoil that they for the present made in the nation, and then they mocked and scorned me. The like we have in Isaiah, he had the same dealings from the

people: chap, xxviii. 13, ‘• But the word of the Lord was to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.” You will say. How do they strive against the prophet in this? I take it this scri])ture is often mistaken, and the intent of these words is, to show how the people jeered and mocked the prophet in his preaching. But the word of God was to them “precept upon precept,” that is, they scorned at God’s word; hat! we have nothing but precept and precept, one precept after another, and commandment one after another, and one prophecy after another, a line upon line, and now you would have a little more: it is spoken contemptuously. I take this to be the meaning, because the threatening follows after, “that they might go, and full backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Wherefore “(saith the text in the vei-y next words)” hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men.” They manifested a scornfvd spirit in such kind of expressions, retorting upon the prophet in such a manner; and God’s anger riseth, ““^Tierefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men.” It is usual with many scornful men, that if they can lay hold of any thing that ministers speak, by their manner of pronouncing it, or otherwise, to express their contem]it: so did they with Isaiah, who was one of the most eloquent of the prophets, a man that spake in his time so as never man spake, for he spoke in a most high style, being himself of the kingly race, and a gi’eat man by birth; yet, when he came to prophesy to this people in the name of God, they thus jeered and scorned him. And Isa. xxx. 10, “Which say to the seers, and to the prophets. Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things;” tell not us of such and such things as these are: thus they contemned him. Yea, and in Christ’s time we find, that when Christ himself preached, once, as soon as he had done his sermon, the people got him up to the brow of a hiU that was upon the side of the city, and would have thrown him down and broken his neck; that was the reward he should have had. And of Paul, one of the best of preachers, whom Austin wished he could but see in the pulpit, when he came to preach, “ATiat will this babbler say?” and, “He is a pestilent fellow,” one that is of o. fui’ious spu-it and an incendiary, and wherever he goes he turns the world upside down. Such kind of entei — tainment had the apostles. And Luther, I remember, has such an expression, Quitl est pr(Fdicare evavgelium? What is it to preach, unless it be this, to turn all the fury of people upon oneself, if one would preach conscientiously? And in ]Iatt. v. 12, Christ tells his disciples what revilings and persecutions they were likely to meet with; “For so,” saith he, “persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” And Acts vii. 53, “Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?” Thus those that by their office are sent to speak to the people, must expect, if they would be faithful in theu- administrations, to be striven withal.

But though wicked men do strive, yet, as Samson said to the men of Judah that came to bind him that they might deliver him into the hands of the Philistines, “Do not ye fall upon me yourselves,” it were well if faithful ministers were not often striven with by those that are godly. It is not so much for a faithful minister to have wicked and ungodly men to strive with him. Though theij bind them, O brethren, do not you bind them. After that, in conscience of their duty and love to your souls, they have hazai-ded all the hatred and malice’ of the adversary, even to stand in the forefront of the battle; yet, in requital for all this, even many that are godly, if they see them grow ti-oublesome, are ready to strive with them; because wicked men are exasperated by the word of God preached, there-AX EXPOSITION OF

fore even such as make profession of godliness could wish that such ministers had never come amongst them. Is here a requital of the hazard that faithful ministers undergo? I appeal to you, Are there any people in the kingdom that stand as a butt against the malice of the adversary so much as godly and faithful ministers? Do not think that, from precipitancy or rashness, we do not consider what danger we stand in, in doing what we do. Yes, we consider it beforehand; but fi’om a conscientious regard for our duty, and in faithfulness to your souls, we hazard our lives, we hazard all the rage and malice of the enemy. Now, when we have done all this, we expect a far better requital from many people than we find. ‘WTien Moses and Aaron came to the people of Israel, when they were in Egj-pt, to deliver them, (for that was their message,) because for the present then’ bondage was increased, and the ■WTath of Pharaoh more incensed, therefore they were wear)’ of Moses and Aaron, and fell to striving with them, as if they were the cause of their miseiy: ‘Why, it was better with us before than since you came.; if you had never come amongst us it would have been better vath us: so now, because those that are faithftil, out of conscience, labom’ to declare to you the mind of God, and to draw you to those duties that God requii’cs; you are ready to think they have brought us into this state, they have kindled the fii’e, telling us it is the cause of God, and exhorting us to come in with om’ estates; and now the king is exasperated against us, and our adversaries are enraged, and we are likely to be in some misery: and so all the strivings of even the better sort are ready to devolve upon the ministers, and they strive with them as the only incendiaries and ti-oublers of the places where they come. AVell, however ministers may meet with hard dealing from some, even professors, yet their way is with the Lord, and their judgment is with the Almighty. There is a most admii-able promise to help those that have been most forward to rebidie sin, and zealous for God, though men are enraged against them, in Isa. xlix. 2, “He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me.” This text is true of every faithful minister. Mark, “He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword:” why, if I did speak smooth things, I were not like to be in so much danger; but if I speak sharp things, do not I hazard myself much? I shall incm’ the rage and anger of all kinds of people. But mark, “He hath made my mouth as a shai-ji sword;” but “in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me.” ^linisters whose mouths are as shaq) swords, are in a great deal of danger; yea, but let such be comforted, here comes a promise presently; “in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me.” So that those ministers whose mouths ai’e sharpest in the name of God, and who speak but the truth of God, are under his protection more than those who have held thenpeace, they are in more safety, hid in God’s hand, “in the shadow of his hand.” So God comforted Jeremiah, chap. XV. 11; after he had cried out. Woe is me, I am a man of strife! Well, saith God, “Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.” It may be, many of you think it is a weakness in ministers to endanger themselves so much, and that they cannot be quiet as others are. Many of more moderate spu’its, and who deal more wisely for themselves, keep in and say nothing, and so may escape, whatever side prevail; and may not they escape? No, they are in more danger than the other, for the former are under a promise, the latter not; they arc so studious for themselves and for their own safety, that God will

take no care of them. Our Saviour Christ takes care to encourage his disciples against the strivings of people with them: we have in Luke vi. many blessings I)roiiouuced;” Blessed are the poor; Blessed are they

that hunger and thirst after righteousness; Blessed are they that mourn,” &c. But they that understand the original shall find the word “ye” is not in, only blessed are the poor, and blessed are they that mourn, &c. But when he comes to his disciples, ver. 22, he addresses them more particularly: a here as people shall speak evil of them, and cast out their name as filth, then there is, “Blessed are ye,” with an irrre, more than there was in all the othr blessednesses; ““”“P”” ‘“‘^ that shows God has a special care of his ministers when men speak evil of them and strive with them. But on the other side, “Woe to )0u when all men speak well of you!” is true indeed of all Clu-istians; but I take it, that the scope of C’lu-ist in that place concerns ministers that were to go and preach, and woe to them when all men speak well of them! The word that is translated “well,” is KaXuij, that speak of you so as to commend you as a curious, neat teacher; there are such and such fiery men, but here is a preacher, a quaint, refined man, a man that uses fine language, and such they will never persecute. The others are pronounced blessed when they are revUed and cast out as evU.

Obi: 3. To strive with those who come in God’s name to reprove, is a great aggravation of sin and a hastening of judgment. God expects when he sends his ministers, that you should obey them in the Lord, and not strive with them. In 2 Chi-on. xxx — i. 12, God took it iU tlaat King Zedekiah did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet; and in ver. 16, of the same chapter, it is said. They mocked the prophets, and contemned them, until the wrath of God arose against his people, and there was no remedy: no remedy when once they strove with those that God sent amongst them. ‘Those that are sent by God, they are the special witnesses of God. Rev. xi. it is said of those two witnesses, that if any do them hurt and contend with them, fii-e shall go out of their mouths and devour their enemies. Those that are sent by God, and come in God’s name, have the power of Jesus Christ with them: Matt, xxviii., “AU power is given to me,” &c.; “Go and teach,” c&c. As if he should say, Know, as I have all power given to me, it shall go along with you, to do good to those that obey your doctrine, and to execute vengeance upon all those that strive with you. The apostles were to shake off the dust of their feet in contempt of those who contemned their doctrine.

But you win say, May we not in any case strive with the minister?

I confess, in popeiy they would so exalt their priestly office, that all people must be brought into a blind obe’- dience to them, and the people must receive whatsoever doctrine they preach; the priest’s lips only must preserve knowledge, the people must not so much as examine it, but implicitly obey. It is one of the pope’s canons concerning himself, that though he should carry dovra with him liy heaps souls to heE, f..uu„s „CTtaiium yet no mortal man must presume so p™su»>at redarmuch as to rebuke him or find fault with fi>““i”3Suras f him; for he, bemg spiritual, as they say, “”j’Ds.’^Lix’’ (fr so they abuse the Scripture,’) judg- ‘^*“°”“- eth all men, and no man judgeth him: and in a proportion, all their priests would fain claim some measure of the same power. And this certainly has been the policy of our priests of late, to bring the people into ignorance, so that they might not be able to contend with them, let them do what they would. They cry out, There was never such a time, when every tailor and every shopkeeper had so much knowledge that they can contradict their minister as now, and try then- doctrines. They rage at this, that poor men have so much knowledge as to be able to try the doctrines they preach; they would fain teach, that you must be led, like a company of sheep, what way they would lead, and believe whatever they preach. Certainly, so many gross erroi’3 and doting conceits of popery could never have prevailed, but by the people rendering blind obedience. Therefore there may be some sti-lying with ministers, and that according to God, though here striving is forbidden: as thus; Christ requires that his sheep should know the difference between his voice and the voice of a stranger: yea, we know that there is a charge, that if any preach any other doctrine he should be accursed; even people should regard those that come to them to preach any other doctrine as accursed; therefore they are requh-ed to know; and they are commanded to try eveiy thing, and” not to believe every spkit,” yea, not to bid them “good speed” who bring other doctrines. And they are to ‘• say to Ai-chippus, Take heed to thy ministi’y, which thou hast received, that thou fulfil it.” So far the people are empowered: yet still it must be done with respect to them. If they look upon them as true officers, (whether they be or no, yet, if they regard them as such,) the rule will apply, “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses;” you must not be so ready to sti’ive with those that you look upon as officers. And “rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father:” it must not be in a malapert way, but with respect and reverence. And when you have done that, contended by witnesses, and spoken to them with reverence as owning the place wherein they stand, you have liberty then, if they bring strange doctrine, or their life be bad, to strive and contest with them in the name of the Lord, and not to suffer yom-selves to be under such bondage as to believe whatever they woidd have you, without calling them to any account at all. There was wont to be crjing out against people if they went from their parish churches, (as they called them,) Oh, it coidd not be suffered; and yet they themselves would be away a whole year together; as if the relation were not mutual, and they bound as much to continue with their people as the people tied to keep unto them: if the minister may have leave to go away, certainly the people may enjoy the same freedom; whereas, indeed, neither ought to go away, so long as the one is looked upon as an officer, and the other as under that officer. But I speak of that bondage into which they would have brought you, whereby in time they M’ould so wholly have freed

themselves, that you should have had nothing to do with them in church power. And then they would be the clergy; whereas it is an absm’d thing that they should be accounted the clergy; for the Scripture, speaking of the people in distinction from the ministers, calls the people the clergy, 1 Pet. v. 3: Let them not lord it over God’s clergy, tov cXiypuir, which in the same verse is called the flock. But they would be accounted the church and the clergy, as if the people were no part of the chui-ch at all, and all cluu-ch power should come into their hands. And then they endeavoured to free themselves, as the papists you know do, from all civU power too, and were going many steps to it; therefore they would send forth things in their own names, and in time they would have WTOught themselves free from all civil power, and have had all chm-ch power in their hands, and so, indeed, you could not strive with them. Bless God for the deliverance he has now given you.

Oba. 4. If public means prevail not, there is little hope of private. Why should one man sh-ive with another? these “are as they that strive with the priest.” Though tlicy had never so good public means, they resisted, surely then they will resist private. Therefore, public means are to be prefen-ed before private; when a man can speak as an officer to another, that is more to be regarded, and will be more efficacious to those God has a love unto, than private means. If this be so, let parents take heed how they teach their children to deride public means: when you have been

at a sermon, perhaps you will despise what you have heard: it is just with God they should despise yom- admonition and reproof, for you have taught them to despise public means.

Obs. 5. To reject those that we look upon in office, though their calling be not good, is yet a wickedness that God will revenge. I say, though theii- calluig be not right, so long as you regard them as true officers, and yet despise what they do according to God’s will, so long God win avenge it. If they come in God’s name, you must not oppose them, so long as you have any apprehensions that they are true officers: though, perhaps, if they were examined, they have no true calling; yet, if you cannot see but they have a true calling, you are to have such a reverence and respect unto them, that you are to be subject to them.

Ver. 5. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother.

Mark, though private men are here bid not to sti’ive one with another, or reprove one another, yet Hosea goes on in his striving and reproving. “Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night.” Hence,

Obs. 1. Those in office must go on though they be striven against; as long as they remain in office they must stUl go on, though people strive against them. I remember, Latimer saith in one of his sermons. Many ministers will not preach; and if they be asked the reason, it is this, because they can do no good to people. Oh, this (saith he) is a bad answer. Certainly, as long as you continue in that place, whether you do good, or whether you do not, you must go on in yom- work.

Obs. 2. When a thi’eatening comes to individuals, then it works. “Therefore shalt thou fall.” He directs the judgment to the individual, thou, every one ofj’OU, in the singular number. Perhaps some might think, Well, though the generahty suffer, I may escape. No, look to yourselves, every one of you.

nSlPSi ti-anslatcd here, “thou shalt fall,” is a word that signifies the falling of a man by stumbling in the dark; a punishment suitable to their sin; they had no knowledge, therefore they shall stumble in the dark.

“In the day.” Thou shalt stumble as a man in the dark, but it shall be in the day to thee; and yet thou shalt stumble. “In the day;” that is, fii’st, in thy prosperity, for in the latter times of the second Jeroboam, (which was a little before the destruction of the ten tribes,) they were in abetter situation than they had been in before, yet from thence they began to fall. I say, not long before theii- ruin, they w-ere in more prosperity than they had been in many years before, therefore it is here said, “thou shalt fall in the day,” even when thou art in a prosperous condition. Or, secondly, “thou shalt fall in the day,” that is,’ you shall see your misery before you, yet you shall fall, you shall not be able to prevent It; it shall be in the day time, at noon-day, and you shall see plainly where your misery lies, yet shall you, as if you were in the night, stumble and fall.

O “my brethren, this is a scripture that nearly concerns us here in England. K England fall and perish now, it falls and perishes in the day. We see, apparently, our evil before us; we see means to prevent it. God does not bring night upon us in this sense, that is, he does not bring misery so upon us, that we do not know how it comes, or by what means, or how we shoidd prevent it. No, we are not so in the night, but in the day; we have seen the misery that has come upon us by a continued design, we know almost the very source and origin of that design, how it has gone on by degi-ees, step by step; we see now the reason of its breaking out, because the stream is stopped it

bui-sts forth violently: we know -who are the causers of our evil, what their counsels, intentions, what theiiways are, notwithstanding all their protestations; we see what we are like to be brought into, if we do but yield a little, and do not appear to quit ourselves like men; and we see clearly what God would have us to do; we see ways and means to help us if we will, we have power to help ourselves, and direction too; we all of us know, or may know, clearly what we should do, and what, in an ordinary course of providence, would relieve us. Yet, Lord, how do we fall! notwithstanding this,we fall even in apparent day-light. So that if this kingdom be brought into slavery, it will be the heaviest wrath that ever fell upon a nation. Never any nation fell in a clear, open sunshine, as we are like to do if we perish now, having such means for oiu’ help.

Again, “Thou shalt fall in the day,” liodie, that is, soon, presently, your destruction shall not be long.

“And the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night.” There seems to be some difficulty in this. How comes this in, “thou shall fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night?”

06s. 3. The falls of the prophets are falls of the night. “The prophet also shall fall with thee in the night.” The blind lead the blind, and they both fall into the ditch. You gave yourselves up to false prophets to be guided by them, and here is all the good you shall have, both you and they shall perish together; the prophet also shall fall as well as ye.

Obs. 4. It is a most sad judgment for a people to be in affliction, and to have no prophet at all amongst them; no prophet to tell how long it shall continue, or to declare to them any part of God’s mind. In the captivity of the ten tribes, they had no prophets, nor have had since. Judah was carried into captivity, yet in their misery they had prophets among them, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, and Haggai, to direct them. But Israel shall be carried into captivity and shall have no prophet to help them. Look to yourselves that you regard the prophets of God now; otherwise, when brought into misery, under the power of your adversaries, you shall have no minister among you, none to show you God’s mind, or to open up to you his will. It was so with Israel, they never had any in-ophet since the captivity to tell them the mind of God.

Thus the prophets shall fall, but why “in the night?” Some, because they think hard of the different expression, read it thus; You shall fall in the day with the prophet, in the night your mother shall be destroyed: and it may fairly be so rendered. But I had rather read it as we have it, “thou shalt fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night,” for these two reasons:

1. Because God would inflict a greater darkness upon the false prophets in his just judgment, than upon the people. Those who abuse most light come into the grossest darkness, and therefore it is a usual expression in Scripture when prophets are threatened, to threaten that darkness shall be upon them: Micah iii. 6, “Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them:” over the prophets in a special manner. And Zech. xi. 17, “His right eye shall be utterly darkened;” the chief understanding that he has, his pregnancy of jiarts, shall be besotted. Do we not see it even at present, that the prophets fall in the night? There is more darkness now on wicked ministers amongst us, than upon ordinary people. Ordinary people understand more of the will’ of God than wicked ministers. God besots them in their veiT parts and abilities, and they do nothing but cry out’ still for that which will bring themselves and us into slavery. Were it not for them, people

would see sufficiently well what to do, and the great darkness that is upon them comes from the ])rophets; they bring darkness on the people, therefore their own darkness is the greater. In divers towns ai-e there not many people who know the mind of God, and see need of, and desire, a reformation in God’s worship? and yet, notwithstanding, their ministers will see no need.

2. The distress that shall be on the prophets shall be gi’eater than on other people, it shall be night to them indeed; not only shall there be more darkness on their understandings, but more darkness in regard of their afflictions; they shall be in greater horror of conscience and distress than any other people, for they shall see that they have brought you into all misery. And the truth is, that the great present misery on England is through false prophets, through wicked ministers, and their doctrines. We had never been in such a condition as we are, had not they flattered at court, and told there that all was at the king’s power and pleasure, and there ought to be no resistance, and to refuse whatsoever he would have was rebelKon. Had they not taught such things as these, we never had had such times. Now if this Idngdom be destroyed, it may be God may bring horror on their consciences, and however they may desire to throw the blame on others, yet, those that have any light remaining in them, the Lord may cause horror and distress in their minds, as the cause of all that evil that shall be upon us. They shall fall in the night, a black, dismal night .shall be upon them when judgments come. Therefore in times of public judgment, God’s ministers are to look on his hand as especially against them, and more horror and distress of conscience shall be upon them than upon others.

“And I will destroy thy mother.” They boasted of their mother, as the papists do of their mother the church; but “their mother,” that is, theii- church state and civil state, shall be destroyed; and so there shall be no hope of this people, both childi-en and mother being destroyed: it seems to have some allusion to that in the the law, where we are forbidden to take the dam with the young ones, because of the preservation of succession; but here, saith God, my wrath shall be so hot, that I will not only take the young ones, but the dam; they shall be destroyed together with their mother.

The word T’DTi here translated desti-oyed, signifies, shall be brought to be silent, for indeed this word signifies silence, as noting thus much, in times of God’s judgments wicked men shall have nothing to say for themselves, but shall be forced to lay their hands on their mouths and be silent.

Ver. G. My people are clentroyed for lack of knoicledge: because thou hast rejected knoirledge, I uilt also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the lazv of thy God, I uill also forget thy children.

“For lack of knowledge.” As if he had said. If they had the knowledge of God they might have prevented all this, but they were ignorant and sottish people, and lliis was the forerunner of then- misery and destruction. The heathens were wont to say, if their god Jupiter would destroy one, he would first besot him: so these jieople were first besotted and then destroyed. Ignorance is not the mother of devotion, but rather the father and mother too of destruction. How diametrically opposed is the language of the Scripture and the doclruie of papists! Ignorance is the mother of devotion, say they: Ignorance is the mother of destruction, saith God; they jjcrish “for lack of knowledge.” In the beginning of this chajjter we have the sin of ignorance set forth, licrc we have its danger. There we had the charge, that they had “no knowledge of God in the

land:” here we have the judgment, that they “are destroyed for want of knowledge.”

Ignorance is not only the deformity of the soul as blindness is the deformity of the face; though a man or woman have never such a comely visage otlierwisc, yet, if the- be blind, or have but one eye, it mars their beauty: so ignorance takes away the beauty of the soul; and not only so, but is dangerous and destructive, and that in these respects:

1. The rational creature is very active of itself, and will always be in motion, always working; and it is surrounded by pits and snares; if then it be blind, how dangerous will it be for it! as a mettled horse that is in the midst of deep snares and pits, and will be curvetting and dancing, and will not stand still, in what danger will he be, if blind! No creature is so full of activity as the rational creature is, he will be active in the world; and then, wanting knowledge, how dangerous is his situation!

2. JIan’s way is for eternity, and there is but one way that leads to an eternity of happiness, and that lies in the midst of a hundred cross-ways and by-paths. If he have not light, if he want knowledge, what shall become of him?

But you will say, Though he be dark himself, yet he may have some others to guide him, and so he may do well enough.

3. Therefore consider in the third place. That man is not only going onward through dangers and byways, but he must go on with his own light. All the light of all the angels in heaven, or of all the ministers in the world, cannot help a soul in his journey to eternity, except this light be conveyed into his own eyes. It is true, a man physically blind may have hell), though it be but by a dog; but the soul that is ignorant, no angel in heaven can help, except as an instrument of God to bring sight into his eyes.

4. The work we are to do about our souls and eternal estates, is the most curious and most difficult piece of work, and we must do it by our own light. Surely, if a man were engaged in a work requiring ingenuity, as a curious watch or the like, he need have light: put such a one in the dark, and what can ho do? The work of grace, God must enable us to do; but we must work together with God. God enables a man to make a watch, by giving him skill; but he must work with God: so it is with the work of grace, we must have light in our own souls; therefore ignorance is dangerous.

5. Blindness in this world makes men objects of pity and compassion, but this ignorance and blindness make men to be the objects of the hatred and curse of God. hen you see a poor blind man here, is he loathsome in your eyes because he is blind, do you hate him? No, you pity him. But now the blindness of your souls makes you abominable in the sight of God, and God will be avenged on you for it. But you will say. How can we help it? We have put out our own eyes; God gave us light at first, and we brought ignorance upon ourselves.

If ignorance then be so dangerous that people perish for “lack of knowledge,” how vile is it to deny the means of knowledge to men, merely to satisfy the humours of others! How many hundred congregations are there that have been deprived of their ministers, for a surplice, or a cross, or some such thing!

But you will say, Obedience to a church is an important matter.

The answer is. Therefore it is the fault of a church, or governors, to reqiure such things as God never required; and after requiring them, it is a greater fault for them to insist so much on them, that manv thousands must perish rather than their humours” not be satisfied.

If this be the ground of perishing, then, though divers countries have felt the hand of God most fearfully, yet we hope that England shall not perish, for the knowledge of God is begiui to .shine among us, and never since the world began has it shone more brightly on a kingdom than upon us. We holie, therefore, though God intends to chastise us, we shall not pei’ish.

“Because thou hast rejected knowledge.” Only let us take heed that we do not reject knowledge, and despise it. The word nsN3 signifies to reject with despite and contempt; it is ignorantia non merce negationis, sed pravcE dixpnsitionis, affected ignorance. “Thou hast rejected knowledge” two ways. First, when the means of knowledge are rejected, then knowledge is rejected. Secondlj”, when the directions of our knowledge are rejected, when we refuse to be guided by it, upon this our knowledge decays, and eventually is contemned.

Now this is a great sin in any, but especially in the priests. AVhen others think that the knowledge of God and his truth is too slight, too mean a thing to engage thcu” thoughts, this is vile. When merchants and tradesmen think they must busy their heads about some other matters, but as for this knowledge of the Scriptures, it is no great matter, they may be happy without that; let them have their tradings, and bargainings, and houses, and receipts; let them have their tables spread, and their dishes full; but for this Scripture, and these points of religion, these are things too mean for them. These men now despise knowledge, for so the word here signifies, reject it, as undervaluing its importance. But, I say, when the priests shall reject knowledge, the priests that shoidd have laboured to have filled their souls with knowledge, if they shall seek to gratify the lusts of the flesh, and care not either to have the knowledge of God in their ovm souls, or to bring it to the people, but look upon it as notlring worth, this is in a more special manner a most grievous sin. How many are there amongst us at this day, that study to get preferment, &c., and then sell their books, and never after pursue knowledge! And others, if they have knowledge and learning, and prize it in some respects, yet in this they contemn it, they prize knowledge merely as serviceable to their lusts. It is not for the beauty and excellency of the knowledge of God, nor for the sweetness that they find in Christ, that they so laboriously study; but that they may be accounted scholars, men of understanding and learning. When we thus seek knowledge merely to stdjserve our lusts, we may be justly charged with despising knowledge.

But further. These priests, and such as were eminent in Israel, rejected knowledge, because they had their houses, and goods, and revenues amongst the ten tribes. (I beseech you observe it, for this concerns us.) I say, the priests that were amongst the ten tribes were settled there, and had their houses, incomes, and estates there; but now this was taught, that we must worship God at the temple in Jerusalem, and they rejected this knowledge es])ecially, for they saw that if they embraced that truth of worshipping God in his own way, then. Farewell our incomes, farewell our livings, farewell our houses, we must leave our brave dwellings, and all our maintenance, and go from Samaria, and we must go to Judah; and how shall we live there? Upon this they shut their eyes against the knowledge of that very truth that should have brought them to the true worship of God; rather than they would lose their estates, they would reject that knowledge. And that I think to be the meaning of the Holy Ghost here: they despised, as other knowledge, so that knowledge of the true worship of God: so it is rendered bvsome, .^cientiam illam, that kind of knowledge

they rejected. For they knew that those truths were suffering truths. Now suffering truths are truths that will hardly go down with either people or ministers, they had therefore rather be ignorant of them; as the Holy Ghost in Ezekiel speaks of men that shut their eyes against the sabbath, so they shut their eyes against those truths which should have brought them to the true worship of God. And in this case it is not enough for a man to say, God knows I go not against my conscience; if my conscience were convinced that such and such tilings must be in the worship of God agreeably to his word, I would obey it. But the reason they see not this to be the word of God is, because they have no mind to know it, they reject that knowledge, it is against their ease and preferment, and it is sufiering truth, and therefore they shut their eyes against it. This is no excuse. Mark the judgment that follows.

“I will also reject thee.” You despise knowledge, I will despise you; so the words may be read, as well as reject you. God scorns wicked men as much as they scorn him; “with the fi-oward he will deal frowardly,” and with the scornful he will deal scornfully, that is, he will laugh them to scorn, ‘lat! do you look on God’s ways and worship as a vile thing? are the truths of God vile in your eyes? You are vile in God’s eyes, he looks upon you and your spirits with as much contempt as you can regard his worship, his saints, and his ordinances. You despise knowledge, and I will despise you, saith God.

And “I will reject thee.” The word ■^^JDN^^5^ here translated reject, has a letter in it more than it has in any other place in all the Scripture; and Tremelius from thence observes, there is a letter in this word in the Hebrew that is redundant, and it denotes the extraordinary manner of God’s rejecting them, ho will cast them out of the hearts of his people, as he does apostate ministers, whom, above all others, God rejects with contempt, pouring shame and contempt upon them more than on any in the world. That is his note upon this; he will reject them with contempt; yea, for ever. You heard before, in Luke vi., that Christ pronounced his disciples, faithful preachers, blessed, when theu- names were cast out as evil, when they were vilified by men. But now mark, when a minister goes on faithfully in declaring the mind of God unto people, and there be shame cast upon him, that minister is blessed; but if the minister be wicked, and there be shame cast upon him, that shame is a part of the curse, for then he is cast out as unsavoury salt, and men tread upon it, saith Christ. AVickcd men would cast out the godly, but God and God’s saints embrace them, and bless God for them; but if you be wicked, and men east you out as unsavoury salt, then men contemn you, then you are trodden upon; yea, so rejected, as never to be received again. In Ezek. xliv. 1.3, the priests that did forsake the Lord, when Israel forsook him, must never again come near unto God, no, not so much as near unto the priest’s office: a notable text, which it concerns you to know for your direction about receiving in persons who have wickedly apostatized in evil times. Perhaps now they preach good sermons, but you are to inquire what they were when others were superstitious and evil; and although we are not utterly to reject them, yet, until there be further evidence of their repentance, they are not to be received. God threatens an utter rejection of those Levites that forsook him when Israel forsook him.

Now the observations that I would derive from
hence, are,

Obs. 1. Unfaithfulness in service provokes God to cast us out of service. I cannot stop to set an edge on this.

Obs. 2. It is a great judgment to be rejected from

the priest’s office, from the office of a minister: “I will reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.” To be rejected from any emploj-ment is a great judgment: Neh. V. 13, “So Go4 shake out even,” man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not his promise.” It is a judgment to be shaken out of our labour, but to be shaken out of such an office, whereby we draw so nigh unto God as to be the mouth of God to the people, and the mouth of the people unto God again, is a sore evil.

Again, whereas it may be said, Israel had no tnie priests, therefore it was no judgment for them to be rejected out of that office: but yet to be cast out of what we seem to have, is likewise a judgment of God, Luke viii. 18.

“Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I T’ill also forget thy children.”

“Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God.” You live so as to show that you never think of the law, of its holiness, equity, and authority, and the threats annexed unto it, for if you remembered these you could not go on so quietly in a com-se of sin; but you have cast off all the remembrance of the law, it is even worn out of your memory. The book of the law of God was lost for a long time in Judah, surely in Israel much more.

“I will also forget.” ‘js-Dl £’/(‘am eo. Even I. It is a sad thing to be forgotten by our friends when we are in misery, Oh that such a dear friend, such a father or such a mother, should forget me! but how sad a thing is it for God to forget you!

“Thy childien.” That is, there shall be no succession in the priestly office. This was threatened against Eli’s house, 1 Sam. ii. 20. It is a blessing for the godly children of godly ministers to succeed them in the office, and the contraiy is a judgment. Your children shall not succeed you in this office, but they shall be forgotten by me. The families of wicked ministers, tlu-ough God’s judgment, are many times forgotten. You have forgotten me, I will also forget you and your children. I will not here speak how the child may suffer for the father’s offence, we often meet with it; only now, as it concerns the posterity of wicked ministers, they are, through God’s judgments, often forgotten-But let not the families of godly ministers, especially if their children be godly too, oh let them not be forgotten. It is a judgment threatened upon these wicked priests, that God would forget their cliildien, therefore it is not so evil though men forget them; but if there be any that have been faithful ministers, God forbid their children should be forgotten after they arc dead. This city has been honoured for its respect to godly ministers; but have you never forgotten their children, their families that have been left behind? When they were with you, and preached among you, you seemed mightily to respect them; but are there not many that belong unto their families that live now with you, in a hard condition? yea, then’ childien and families that are godly, their widows too, how are they forgotten! If the godly children of pious ministers should go unto God and complain thus, would it not be a sad tiling? Lord, thou didst threaten idolatrous priests that forgot thee, that thou wouldst also forget tlicir children; but. Lord, my father was in the city a faithful minister, he remembered thee, and was a faithful remembrancer for thy people, yet we are forgotten; is this according to thy word? .shall the judgment threatened on the children of idolatrous priests be the judgment upon us that are the children of faithful ministers? arc we to be thus forgotten though our fathers forgot not thee? Look, therefore, into the families of godly niinistcis, look after their children, and as their fathers did not forget God, do not you forget them j let not tlic judgment threatened on the children

22:

of wicked ministers be upon them, but let there be a distinction made between the children of faithful and godly ministers, and the children of idolatrous priests.

Ver. 7. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

The Lord is here fui’ther charging these ten tribes, but especially thek priests, at them he aims most. They had before rejected the knowledge of the Lord, and the Lord thi-eatened rejection of them. The knowledge, nynn that knowledge, scientiam illam, that knowledge of the true worship of God, that lie was to be worshipped at Jerusalem alone: that truth was a suflering truth, therefore that truth they did especially reject; and in this seventh verse there is some ground for theii’ rejection of the knowledge of God, “As they were increased, so they sinned against me.” God had increased them, they were become a great multitude, and as theii’ number increased, so their sins increased. But that which I especially conceive to be the meaning of the Holy Ghost here, is. As their prosperous condition increased, so theu- sins increased; they were grown up to a height of prosperity, and that made them sin against and reject the knowledge of God.

The first is not to be rejected, viz. As they increased in multitude: so the Seventy, Kara to vlr]9og, according to their fulness. And it may be understood both ways, fulness of number, or fulness of their prosperous estate.

06s. “Where there is an increase in number, there is usually an increase in sin. The more meat there is in the pot, the more scum arises. So in great cities, what a great deal of filth is there, filth of sin, moral filth! Where there is any confluence of people, as at fairs and markets in the counti-y, or in any corporation, what abundance of defilement is there continually! Li churches, at theii’fii”st beginning, a few, calledsaints, can agree well together, and go on sweetly in their way; but, ordinarily, as they increase in number they begin to corrupt and increase in sin. They should increase so much the more in godliness; but this is the corruption of man’s heart, every one bringing in some evil, therefore as the number, so the sins, increase.

But because the second appears the true interpretation, to speak to that a little: As they increased in then- prosperous estate. At this time the ten tribes were in a very prosperous condition, grown rich and great, and so increased, especially the priests; for they had the favour of Jeroboam and of the princes; for their main design was to uphold their false worship, and the priests served for their turns best, therefore they countenanced those priests of Dan and Bethel, the priests of the calves, and they flourished at this time in the court and in the country, and were much increased in their prosperous estate; and “as they increased, so they sinned.” This is man’s vile disposition, that increase of mercies should be the increase of their sin. Thus was it with the church; when in a lower condition, then there was more holiness and more sincere love to the truth, but when it began to flourish in outward prosperity, it began to decay in true piety. And, therefore, ecclesiastical history tells us, that when the church received from Constautine great donations, then there was heard a voice in the air, Hodie venenum infanditur, Sfc, To-day poison is pouredforth into the church: when great livings and great estates were given to the ministers of the church, then poison was poured forth into it. And so when Boniface, the martjT, was asked whether it were lawful to receive the communion in wooden chalices, he well answered, Time was, when m the church there were wooden chalices and golden priests; but now, there are golden chalices, but wooden priests. And on Innocent the Thii-d showing Aquinas a table of gold

and silver, and saying, AVc have no need to say as Peter once did, “Silver and gold have we none:” Neither, replied Aquinas immediately, can ye say, “Arise anct walk;” as you have more money than they had, so you have less gifts, and not so much of the Spirit of God. It was so in the increase of the prosperity of the diurch, and is generally the case. As with the spleen, the greater it grows, the less the body is; so, the more prosperity, the leaner and weaker are the spirits of men. Dent, xxxii. lo, “Thou art waxed fat, thou art groMii thick, thou art covered with fatness: then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” How many, when they were low and poor in their estates, were more holy and gracious, and more spiritual, than now! It is true in particular persons, in churches and countries, but most true in ministers. It was a complaint once made to a prelate here, that he had a kinsman, a very zealous preacher in the counti-y: AVell, said he, I will sUence him: and his mode of silencing was this, ho gave him two livings, and that stopped his mouth: when he came once to have fatted livings, then his zeal quickly abated. And Jerome, in the life of Malachus, saith, “When the church came to ^Sp’s’chSJ-“”’’ Christian princes, and there had counte- ‘>.“”* •«“■’’ ‘«’=•■» nance, we may well say of it, that indeed “m. ‘« lirtmibus it was fatted with riches, but diminished ’

in virtue and godliness.

God threatens here, that seeing they abused their prosperity, he therefore would turn then’ glory into shame. God loves to stain the pride and haughtiness of men. He would turn the glory of the people, and the glory of the priests, but especially the glory of the priests, (for so it is meant, but we must include all,) into shame: either, fii-st, he would instead of glory bring shame; or, seconcUy, he would make that wherein they most gloried, to be their shame.

1. That he would bring shame instead of glory. So God is wont to do. “Women that glory in their beauty and splendour, should mark well Isa. iii. 16 — 2i, “Moreover, the Lord saith. Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk -n-ith stretched-forth necks, and wanton eyes,” &c.; therefore, “instead of well-set hair, there shall be baldness; and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.” If any will glory in parts, the Lord justly brings shame upon them, blasting their gifts. As is reported of Albertus Magnus, that great scholar, that for five years before his death he lost his faculties so completely that he could not read. God can soon blast men’s parts when gloried in, and turn them to shame. If any glory in riches, God can soon turn that into shame also. History tells us of an earl of Exeter, that married the sister of King Edward the Fourth, of whom yet Philip de Commines reports, that he was seen barefoot, and begging his bread, in the Low Countries. God can soon take away the riches of men, and turn that, theii’ glory, into then- shame. And then, if any glory in honour, God can soon turn that into shame, as in the case of Herod, who gloried in the apjijause of the peojile when they cried out, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man;” and presently was he consumed by worms.

And much shame comes to men that glory in these things. Mark, according to the glory of men in external things, so is their shame when’God takes them away. Here is the difference between the saints and the wicked when they lose these outward things. “When the saints lose them, much shame comes not to them, because they gloried not in them when they had them; but carnal hearts, because they know no higher things than these, when they are taken from them, much shame accrues to them, for “they gloried in their possession.

2. God makes the very things they glory in to turn

to their shame. He not onl) takes away their parts, and brings ignorance and dotage instead of them, but makes their very gifts to be their undoing, and uses them to bring them to shame. He makes their very riches and honours, and their glorying in their success, to turn to their shame. As now, when men glory in this, that they had such success and such a victory at such a time; and thence infer, Surely God is with us, and blesses and owns us; in this they glory: well, God turns this into their shame, when he appears against them, and, blasting their success, makes it manifest to all, that though they have all outward means, yet they avail nothing: now, where is the argument of God’s owning their cause, and their reason for glorling, if success be the test. Those that shall make that the only or principal argument that God is with them, how does God turn their glory into shame, when he apparently denies them success, and that when they have most outward means for its attainment! The saint’s shame is turned into glory, but the wicked’s glory is turned into shame. When the saints sutler any shame for God, they can glory: the apostles. Acts v. 41, rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer; that they had

the honour to endure dishono t, so the ‘auucfea”.’’ ‘”’Oi’ds properly signify-; they gloiied that

they bore about them the marks of the Lord Jesus. Thus, what the world accounts their shame, is their glory; and that which the world judgeth to be their glory, is their shame.

But it is especially meant of the priests, for the prophet is speaking of them. God will turn “their glory into shame.” The priests, though they did reject the knowledge of God and their duty, and never regarded that wherein the true glory of their office consisted; that blessed knowledge of God, which might have made them glorious indeed, was despised by them, and the faithful administration of their office” neglected: yet they would glory for all this, they would bear it out” as if they were llie men: why, they were countenanced at court, had good livings, and they could lord it over their brethren; and in that they gloried. It is usual with wicked priests, if they can have but countenance from them that are in public places, and can have but estates and lungs, though they be never so negligent of their office, and never so ignorant, yet to glory. How has it been thus amongst us of late! How have they carried their heads on high, and accounted themselves the triumphant church, and all must be made to yield to them! The land was not able to bear the pride of

prelates and in-elatical men. Cyprian Buayiicrdormmni saith, Ambition and pruic sweetly sleep cyJ^d’^juS”’ in the bosom of priests. And there are

none indeed so much puffed up with vain pi’idc as they arc, especially the more ignorant they are, and the more they neglect that in which the true “glory of their office consists. On such God delights to pou’r shame and contempt, therefore, in Isa. ix. 15, saith, “The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail,” the very meanest; and Mai. ii. 9, “Therefore have I also made you” (speaking of the priests that had been jiartial in the law and had not kept the ways of God) “contemptible and base before ail the people;” and llev. iii. 16, “I will snie thee out of my mouth,” as loathsome; and Matt. v. 13, “If the salthave lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be east out, and to be trodden under foot of men,” as a contemptible and vile thing. Thus God casts shame upon wicked priests.

Ver. 8. They eat up the sm of my people, and lliei, set their heart on their iniquity. i

“They eat up the sin of my people.” There is some difficulty in these words. To eat up sin, to eat up the

sin of people, what is that? There is much in this to be learned.

The word rsan here translated sin, has in Scripture tlu-ee acceptations.

First, It is used for that which is properly sin, the transgression of God’s law: for that I need not cite any scripture.

Secondly, It is used for the punishment of sin: “He shall bear his sin,” his punishment of sin. Christ “was made sin.” And,

Thirdly, It is used for the sacrifice that was offered for sin: Lev. x. 17, “AVherefore have ye not eaten the sin” (that is, the sin-offering) “in the holy place?”

The observation from hence (by way of allusion, at least) is,

Obs. 1. Ministers should eat the revenues they have by their office in a holy place: that is. their houses, in which they spend their income, should be holy places; for the offerings of the jjcople were what the priests had in return for their services, and they were to eat them in a holy place: so ministers now should eat the means they have coming in, in holy places, their houses should be sanctuaries. Let those priests that spend their time in play, in pleasures of the flesh, in taverns, and make their houses very sinks of vice, let them hearken to this.

But where lies the charge here, “They eat up the sin of my people?”

First, in that they flattered them in their sin, and so got advantage thereby. So Gregory: ^Vhy or how are they said to eat up the c’omJi’Se’SSu” sin of people, but because they nom-ish EnqSSmr&c’?^ the sins of delinquents for their own advantage? So all your court flatterers and others, that flatter men in their sin for their own advantage, may be said to feed on the sins of the people.

Secondly, Because they were negligent in their office, and took all the jirofits and advantages resulting, but neglected their charge, let people go on in their sin, and cared not what became of them in that respect, provided they received their tithes and revenues; such minister’s may be said to live upon, or to eat, the sins of the people, and to wear their sins; their very backs may be said to be covered, and their tables spread, with the sins of the people. A writer on this place relates a story of a prelate in Charles the Fifth’s time, that, inviting his frientls to his house, and preparing good cheer, they did not eat of it: “What, saith he, will you not eat of dainties that arc bought at so dear a rate? this meat which I have prepared for you, and you will not eat, is like to cost me the pains of hell. He was convinced in his conscience of the neglect of his duty, and so regarded the very food on his table as the sins of his people, and that which was like to cost him eternal misery.

But further, to open it far more clearly, “They eat up the sin of my people;” that is, the sacrifices which were offered for sin.

But you will say then. How is this so deep a charge, that they should eat of the sacrifices that were offered for sin? for God allowed the priests to eat the sin-offering, as that place. Lev. x. 17, shows.

In this, therefore, consisted the evil, that they were greedy of the people’s sacrifices, not that God might have honour, but that they themselves might gain advantage. It is true, God had honour by the people’s offering of sacrifice, but they looked not to that so much as to their own profit. Hence, they urged people as nnich as they could to sacrifice, teaching them to rest in their sacrifices, and indeed making light of their sin; Though you sin, come, and I will offer for your sins, and they shall be pardoned. Just as the papists at this day teach the people, though they sin, yet by so many masses, and Pator-nosters, and indulgences, and dirges,

they shall be delivered; and by this means they get the •n-ealth of kingdoms, and eat up the sins of the people. The priests in those times were apt emblems of the papists now.

Again, They were glad when people did offend and sin against God, because then their sacrifices must be multiplied, and so their gains increased: and so it is a rebuke of the covetousness of priests. It is a most abominable thing for those that are to watch over souls, to regard their own profit and carnal gratification, more than the good of souls: just like your chancellors’ and commissaries’ courts of old, they cared not what offences there were, they rejoiced at long presentments, all brought gi-ist to their mill. And, it ropuii mei peccita seems, there were such priests in Ber- ^’“itfccaCm nard’s time; in his 7Tth sermon on the Jeccan’tibS’debi: ‘’ Cauticles, hc quotes this place, and saith, tamsoiicitadinem Thcv Cat ui) the sin of uiv people; as if lursnm.Qaemdabis he should Say, they cxact the price oi “oSoramT”!“on” their sin, but take not due care for the fi?um vilSand’i’“”’ siuncrs. And again. Give me any one of marsupiis quam thoSB that arc govcmors in the chmxh,

vitiis cstirpMidiB, o

Bern. that does not watch more to empty people’s purses than to save their souls. Ols. 2. It is a most cursed thing to desire or rejoice in the sins of others because of our own advantage. How many are there that watch for the falls of thenenemies, and rejoice in their sin! I appeal to you: had you an enemy and you heard of his fall, though it were a sin against God, yet, if it tended to his disgrace, would you not rejoice and be glad of it? because the more an enemy is disgraced, the more you think yourself justified and honoured. This is truly horrible! O, be humbled before the Lord for it, and seek unto God, that, if it be possible, he may pardon the thoughts of thy heart in this thing. “What! to rejoice that the infinite, blessed God is dishonoured because thou thyself hast an advantage! it is most honible arid accursed. How many are there, that, looking on the professors of religion, whom they think to be their adversaries, rejoice when they see them fall! Why? because they think by their disgrace they themselves are justified. This is to feed upon the sins of people. You shall have vermin and swine rooting in filth and in dung; so there ai-e many that feed upon the defilement of others, on the CJth of their sins. It is a vile and cursed wickechiess, to be glad, for our own advantage, of the afflictions of om: neighbour, much more to rejoice at his sin. ‘hen thy neighbour falls into afiliction, thou shouldest not rejoice at his affliction, though thou art advantaged by it; but when thy neighbour falls into sin, to be glad of it for thine own advantage, is a most cursed thing indeed. Were a surgeon to rejoice at another man’s wounds, and to prolong the healing of them, because he thereby received some profit, would not eveiy one cry out against him? and truly this were wicked. So for soldiers to love war, and willingly to lengthen it out, and care not what becomes of the lives of men, and the woeful miseries of a kingdom, that they may Iiave continued pay, this you will all account a great wickedness; but this is not so bad as to be glad of the sins of people for our own advantage. Certainly, as surgeons may be said in such a case to feed upon the matter and stuff of the wound; and those soldiers may be said to cb-ink of the blood of people; and those cups of wine that go down so men-ily, and those dishes of meat that they are so jovial with, may be said to be the flesh and the blood of people; yet, all this is not so bad as to feed upon the sins of others. Thou that feedest upon the sin of thy brother, dost thou not know that this diet of thine must needs breed diseases? It is not wholesome food, but such as will one day breed the worm of conscience, and create such remorse as humiliation and repentance will hardly purge thee of. It was once

wittily said of a prelate that was very fat, that he became so by so often eating his own words; and no marvel, though men grow to have fat hearts that feed upon the sins of people. As this is the ordinaiy diet of many, so especially of ministers: and for ministers to feed upon the sins of people, so as to keep them alive by their flatteries and connivance, is surely evil; but if by their faithful preaching they did first slay the sins of the people, and then receive maintenance for their work, this is allowed by God, and this they may do. ‘SVhen God bade Peter, Arise and eat, he first bid him slay, “Ai-ise, Peter, slay and eat:” so ministers, if fii’st they would arise and slay the sins of the people by their preaching, may eat, that is, may then comfortably receive maintenance and allowance for their work; but, if they keep their sins alive, then their diet is evil, for they feed upon then- sins.

What! is there such wickedness in the hearts of men as to rejoice in the sins of others for their own advantage? Oh how much more then should the saints rejoice, for then” blaster’s sake, in the graces of God as manifested in others! In Ezek. viii. 17, you have an expression which seems hard to be understood. God charges the people there, as with other notorious evils, so with this among the rest, that “they put the branch to then- nose.” I conceive the meaning to be this; The people are there charged with idolati-ous service, rendered to either the sun, or Vesta, the goddess of th& earth, because they believed that by them the sweet flowers and branches of trees came forth; and when they worshi])ped either of these, in acknowledgment of the’honour due to them they took a branch and put it to then’ nose, thereby showing their respect and homage unto them, as rejoicing in that good and sweet fruit which was caused by this, their god or goddess: so that God charges them” here for so rejoicing in these creatures, as to worship the sun or the earth as their cause. To apply this to our purpose; As idolaters, because they looked upon the sun or the earth as the cause of such flourishing plants, and sweetness of branches and flowers, put them to their nose and delighted in them, and thereby showed then’ reverence for their idols; so should we take the graces of the Spkit of God in our brethren, that are the fruits of the Sun of righteousness, and put them to om- nose, smell at them, account them fragrant, and so do honom- unto Jesus Christ as then- sole author. Thus much for that phi-ase, “They eat up the sin of my people.”

“And they set their heart on then- iniquity.” The words are lit’2J lNSi’> they lift up every

one his heart, not D’CSJ their hearts. It may be interpreted either of the heart of the priests, or the heart of the people, according to the scope of the Spirit of God.

Fii-st, The heart of the priests, they lift up theii’ hearts to the iniquity of the people. This phrase, lifting up of the heart to ‘a tiling, intimates in Scripture, the earnest desire that there is in the heai-t to attain such a thing; as in Deut. xxiv. 15, speaking of poor men, it is said, “He is poor, and sets his heart upon his hire.” A poor man that wants provision for his family, sets his heart upon his wages; and the word u-sed in this text is, he lifteth up his heart to his hire. Oh my hu-e, that it might come! And Jer. xxii. 27, “To the land whereunto they desu-e to return, thither shall they not retui-n;” that is, the land w hereunto they lift their hearts, for which they have an earnest desire. And Ezek. xxiv. 25, “len I take from them thenstrength, the joy of theii- glory, the desu-e of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and daughters:” it is applied to their love unto their children, they lift their minds, or their hearts, to their sons and their daughters: so that then it signifies the earnest desire the priests had unto the sins of the people, that they might have the greater advantage by

them: as sonrc who are of poor, senile spirits, and whose greatest means aiise from burials, are said to be glad and rejoice when they hear the bell ring; and are ready to desire the death of men out of regard to their own fees, because the more and the richer that die, the more advantage accrues to them. So the priests at this time desii-ed the multiplying of the sins of the people, that they might thereby have the more sacrifices.

But I rather think, according to other interpreters, the passage to refer chiefly to the lifting up of the hearts of the people; that is, that the priests might have the more advantage by theii’ sacrifices; they encouraged the people in their sins, lightening and lifting up their hearts above theii’ guilt, persuading them that if they offered up sacrifice all should be well, they should be fully cleared, and need not be further troubled; whereas, indeed, the priests ought to have convinced men’s consciences of the evil of their sins, and when they came to sacrifice, showed them how they deserved death for them, and that the death of the animal, and their laying their hands upon the head of it, signified that then- sins deserved the death eternal of their souls; and they should have instructed the people how the sacrifices tj’pified the blood of C’hi-ist, and have told them. You come now to offer sacrifice, and to have the blood of beasts shed, this shadows forth the Messiah that is to come into the world, the Son of God, that is to be made man, and to shed his precious blood to pacify the -(viath of God for your sins; and you are to exercise your faith upon this Messiah that is to come. They should have told them that no sin could be pardoned but by the blood of Christ; they should have bm’dened their consciences with their guilt, and made their sins heavy; but they lightened their minds by persuading them, that if they did but offer sacrifice all would be well, they might indulge themselves; and though they committed sin again, yet still a sacrifice could atone for it.

This was a most abominable sin of the priests. Calvin, on this place, inti’oduces Plato inveighing against the absm-dity and ridiculousness of people’s offering sacrifice, thinking thereby to pacify theu- gods, and gain a liberty to sin again: thus even a heathen thought it an abuse of a heathen god, for people to think it enough to offer sacrifice. And yet, do not many amongst us commit sin, and take liberty to themselves to satisfy the lusts of the flesh, and then they will pray to God to forgive them? and some go so far that they will fast, and then sin, and then pray and fast, and return to th.eir sins again, thinking to put off God with such kind of sacrifices as these are; and so making repentance, that should be the death of their sins, a means to nourish theu- sins. The priests here abused the tvjie, the sacrifices, lightening the hearts of people by telling them that there remained a sacrifice to expiate their sin. And have you not at this day many that abuse the Antitj’pe as much, that tell the people thus; Sin as fast as you can, there is a sufficient sacrifice for sin; it is but to believe in Christ, who has shed his blood for the greatest of all sins; you may then sin as fast as you can, the penalty is paid. There may indeed be truth in the words, that thei-c is a sacrifice for the gi’eatest sin, but there is a manner in declaring it that either encourages or deters people from sin. I appeal to you, whether you have not many that do so reveal Christ, and open the rich and glorious free grace of God in Christ, as an encouragement to people to sin. It is true, when examined they deny it: No, (iod forbid; they encourage not men to sin, they only tell them of God’s free grace. Yea, but they tell them of it in such a manner, without such cautions as prudent, wise, conscientious ministers use: and therefore you find that all your lewd and looser sort of professors follow them.

It appears that in Jerome’s time there were such people, for he saith, ‘VMien they saw any to live wickedly they would say thus to them, You sin and offend, but God requires of us nothing else but only to abide in the ti’uth of the faith; to believe, and that is enough. And again. Which faith, if you do but keep, God regards not so much what your lives are, only looks that you do believe. And by this means (saith he) men repent not, neither are they humbled, but walli up and down with a stretched-out neck, in proud security, because they think they hold the true faith, and so take liberty to sin. The church has been continually troubled with this generation, and no marvel there be such men now amongst us; for the reformation being yet incomplete, some kind of liberty is for the present permitted to such, and therefore I say, no marvel that we have such among us; men who abuse the free grace of God, and lighten the hearts of sinners continuing in their sin, by telling them there is a sufficiency in Christ’s sacrifice to atone for all transgression.

Ver. 9. Atid there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their nails, and reward them llieir doings.

The Lord, threatening the ten tribes, especially directs his denunciations against the priests, as the great cause both of the sin and punishment of the people; evil ministers in a country being often a chief cause of its guilt and miser)’. Divers of God’s threats against them we saw before, and still there follows,

“There shall be, Hlie people, like priest.” Here is a mixed threat both against priest and people. They have made themselves like one another in sin; God will make them resemble each other in punishment. They join themselves together in sin, and were alike there; God will jom them in judgment, and they shall be alike there too. There is a likeness between people and priest on two grounds, I mean in evil especially.

First, They generally are like in sin one to another, from the just judgment of God. ^Tien people dislike the powerful ministry of the word, and their hearts cannot beai- its spirituahty and force, God, in just judgment, sends unto them ministers according to their very lusts, ministers that shall be suitable to harden them in that very disposition of then- hearts. ^Vnd this is a fearful judgment on a people. They may rejoice, and bless themselves in it, and think themselves now quiet and secure, and say they have got a very honest and peaceable man amongst them; but while they are rejoicing, the wrath of God is in a most dieadful manner let out against them, in sending them a minister according to their lusts. As God threatens in Ezek. xiv. 4, “If a man set up an idol in his heart, God will answer him according to his idol;” so, when people set up idols in their hearts, and are bent on such and such lusts and wicked ways, God, in his just judgment, will answer them according to theii’ own hearts lusts, and they shall have such ministers sent amongst them as Will harden them in their wickedness.

Secondly, They come to resemble one another in evil from the great influence they mutually exercise over each other: sometimes from the people to the priests; if the people be malignants, superstitious, loose, and vain, the priests among them, being carnal, will seek to humour them; loving to be praised by them, they will preach things agreeable to them. But this is very vile, and an extreme dishonour to the ministry of the word, to subject it to the lusts of men. It is this that makes it so contemptible in the eyes of the wicked, though tlicy be pleased with it. How is that? you will say. They arc iilcascd with it, commend such men, and like them well, while they do so; yea, like what they say; yet they contemn the minisliy, because they

come to see that even it is subservient to and aims to please theii’ humours: hence they look upon themselves and their lusts as above the ministry, and so despise its authority. They are pleased ■n-ith the suiting of it to theh’ lusts, but they despise it in regard of any authority, for they see apparently it is under their humour’s. In Rev. xix. 10, when John did but fall down to worship an angel, the angel came to him and said, “See thou do it not;” why? “I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.” What! you a minister that have the testimony of Jesus, to fall down to an angel? An angel! what is an angel? their glory is to be fellow servants with you, and to have the same testimony of Jesus that you have. A minister must not in his ministry fall down under the lusts of any man living, because he has the testimony of Jesus with him. It is true, mmisters, with regard to themselves, should be willing to be under all; servants imto all for Chiist: they should, I say, be willing to put their persons under every man for Christ, but they should keep their mmistry above every man. Their ministry, and its authority, are to be kept above the greatest, and that for Christ’s sake.

Again, A gi’eat influence, as from people to the nrinister, so from the mmister to the people. Look, how ministers are, so usually the people are: “Like priest, like people;” especially in evil, they have a great influence. You know that in almost all places where you have malignant, superstitious miiristers, you have likewise such kind of people. Jer. xxiii. 10, “The land is full of adulterers,” saith the text; then in the next verse, “For both prophet and priest are profane;” that is the reason. And again, ver. 14, “I have seen also,” saith God, ‘• in the prophets of Jerusalem, an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness.” Here we see how they harden others in sin; they walk in lies, they tell people we need not be so strict, we may take more Uberty, it is but the fancies and humours of such and such men; they walk in lies, and so they strengthen men’s hands in wickedness, and none returns from his wicked ways. And then ver. 15, “From the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness is gone forth into all the land;” if they be profane and wicked, they have an influence quite through the land to make the whole country wicked and profane. And on the other side, there is often a gi-eat influence in the ministry of the word upon people for good. If ministers continue painful, faithful, conscientious, it is very rare but that they bring people to some kind of obethence or other. Very few such ministers have lived any time in any place, but have left some savour of then- spirits discoverable afterwards in their people. It was wont to be said. Da Ambrosias et Iiabebimus Theodosios, Let us have Ambroses, and we shall have Theodosiuses. Let us have godly ministers at com-t, and we shall have godly princes. The reason why the emperor Theodosius was so good, was because he had an Ambrose. So we find it in 2 Kings xii. 2, that Jehoash, so long as Jehoiada the priest lived, did that which was right in the sight of the Lord: so long as he had a godly minister with him that instructed him, he did that which was right in the eves of God. No marvel, then, so much evil at court and “other places, because we know what kind of ministers they ever have had. And because of the influence that a minister exerts on the people, the evil and malignant party ever desire to cherish such; and the force of theh- rage and malice is du-ected against godly ministers, for like minister, like people, they think: and, indeed, supposing their principles these, they act prudently to attain their ends, for godly ministers discover to people their evil and wicked ways, and cause those to whom they preach to cleave to the truth, and theii- spirits vex and rage when they see the ministry of the word to prevail thus

with the people. With such policy Xerxes acted when he was in straits by reason of Agesilaus, who prevailed much in his country. He sent men with good store of money to gain over the towns in Greece, and they went and corrupted Athens and Thebes, and so caused such great disturbance in Greece, that Agesilaus was sent for home, to look to his own country. They went especially to the universities, Athens and Thebes, and there corrupted the orators. And it has been the policy of our men in these days to coiTupt the seats of learning, thinking by scholars and others there to prevail most. It is fabled, that when the wolves would make a league with the sheep, they insisted chiefly on one article, which was that then- shepherds should be delivered up to them, and then they would be at peace with the sheep, and do them no hurt. I make no question but if our adversaries should come to covenant with us, there is no one thing on which greater stress would be laid than the delivery up of faithfid shepherds. “Like people, like priest.”

They are like in evil, and they shall be like in punishment; they shall be involved in the same punishment. I will make the priests as contemptible and as miserable as the vilest of the people; their places exalted them above others, but then- sin has abased them, and so they shall be dealt with accordingly. Y’ou will say, WTiat great judgment is here threatened, that, “lUie people, like priest?” Certainly to them the judgment was very bitter and grievous, for the priests have at all times been pufl’ed up with their callings, so that they looked upon themselves as far above the people, whom they regarded with scorn and contempt. Thus the Pharisees in John vii. 49, “This people w’ho knoweth not the law are cursed;” this same vulgar sort are they that are accursed: so these priests here, though the truth is, they themselves were of the vilest of the people, (for Jeroboam’s time is spoken of,) yet, being once raised into that place, they were puffed up as if they had been of another kind of mould than the people. It is usual for wicked ministers, though never so base and vUe, either m bu-th or breeding, when they get up a little, and are come to preferment, to regard others with great contempt. It is a master-design in popery to raise the priesthood high above the people; and we know, that of late in this kingdom our gentiywere nothing but slaves and vassals to the popish priests, especially the prelates. And if we did not look at the hand of God in his dreadful judgment besotting men, we could not conceive why the gentry should desu-e to have prelacy come in again, knowing how they were contemned and despised by them before. There was scai’ce a ‘icar in the country, but if he ycre Jilius eccU-siip, (as they called him,) a child of the church, but vaunted himself as superior to the gentry; and it was an evident argument of the coming in of popery upon us, that wlulst the priestly ofiice was too much extolled, that wherein the true honour of the office consisted, the faithful preaching of the word, was not regarded. To give you an instance or two of their pride and their assumption of authority, as here of late, Riconius saith, The priest excelleth the king as much as a man a beast; yea, as much as God is above a priest, so is a priest above the king: these are his very words. And Pope Innocent H. would have Lotharius the emperor painted in his palace as a vassal lying down at his feet. And so Becanus calls the pope the chief priest, the shepherd; and emperors and kings are their dogs and curs, saith he; and if they will be faithfid and ready to obey the call of the shepherd, they must be caressed, but if lazy and troublesome, they must be removed. Is it possible now that kings and great ones should ever love popery, and attempt to introduce it with a view to then- own honour, when they thus advance their priesthood far above them? No; only for the present they would incite them

to strive for an arbitrary government, with the hopes that that government should be under their owti control. There is a spii-it of fornication (as follows afterward) upon men, else were it impossible they should be so besotted as they are.

But tliouph they thus lifted up themselves above the people, yet, saith God, I will make them in punishment like to the people. God is no respecter of persons, to spare any above another for their place; so neither should we: we should not say, Oh it would be a disgrace to the calling, therefore it must be passed over; but rather. Because he is a priest or magistrate, or in some e.xalted situation, yet, proving to be a delinquent and an enemy to the state, he must certainly be dealt with, and made an example in judgment. For the meaner sort to be punished, and the high to escape with impunity, God foi-bid ever such a thing should be. He is no accepter of persons, neither should men be.

Yea, but perhaps you will say, “Like people, like priest;” one would rather think that God should say, I will make theii’ judgment gi’eater than the judgment of the people, for the sin of the priests is far greater than the sin of the people.

To that I answer, first, It is true the sin of the priests is greater than the sin of any of the people, but it is not greater than the sin of the whole congregation. In Lev. iv., compare ver. 3 with ver. 13, and you shall find that the same sacrifice that was offered for the sin of the whole congregation, is offered for the sin of the priest; so that the sin of the priest is accounted equivalent to the sin of the whole congregation. So there is a parallel here, “like people, like priest,” that is, I will deal with the priests as with the whole congregation.

Yet further, for a second answer. As the condition of the person aggi’avates the sin, so the condition of the person aggravates the judgment. It is a greater punishment for a man of a high condition to suffer the same tiling that a man that is of a lower condition suffers.

“And I will punish them for their ways.” Titps may be rendered, I will visit them for their ways; and so it is, I think, translated in some of your books, Super vias ejus; I ill visit them upon their ways, or visit their ways upon them. Hence we may

Obs. 1. God has his days of visitation, wherein he will narrowly inquire into the ways of men, and call them to an account for sins long before committed. E.xod. xxxii. 34, “In the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them;” I will spare them for the present, but I have a day to visit, and then I will come u|)on them even for this sin. God spares sinners now; why? because the day of his visitation is not yet come; but when that is come, then look to your old sins: look that now your repentance be thorough, for otherwise you may be sjiared a while, but when the day of visitation comes, then all your old sins shall be called over. In some late visitations by men, the more conscientious and godly persons were, the more were they aimed at, and it always went worst with them; but ‘it shall be otherwise in this visitation of CJod’s; God will visit the visitors, and visit them for their visitations, and then, as Isa. x. 3, “What will ye do in the day of visitation?” You knew what to do in the day when you yourselves did visit, but what will you do in the day of God’s visiting of you? As Micah vii. 4, “The day of thy watchmen and thy visitation Cometh; now shall be their perplexity.” Certainly those visitors did begin to be in perplexity, for their day was coming, and we hope their day yet Cometh.

Obs. 2. In the day of God’s visitation men’s own ways will come upon them:” I will visit their ways

upon them.” Men may have shifts to put off God for a while, but when God’ shall -isit, then they shall jee that all the evil that is come upon them is from their own ways; and that will be the ver)’ torment of the damned in hell, that they shall clearly see that all the evil that is upon them, is but the fi-uit of their own ways. As birds are sometimes snared by materials which they themselves suiijily, so out of men’s sins doth God make his lime-twigs to take them withal; that is, the judgment that comes upon them is no other than the fruit of their own wa)s, they have procured this imto themselves.

“And reward them for their deeds.” ^’SSj,’t:i here translated deeds, signifies coilaliones, studia, their studies, their thoughts, as well as opera, their works: from whence there may be these two observations.

Obs. 1. First, That God will call men to account for then’ thoughts; the undeanness of your thoughts, their vanity, envy, and malice. You must look to your thoughts, they are not free before God.

06*. 2. That studied wickedness, thoughtful wickedness, is the worst wickedness: when men shall plot evil in their thoughts God will especially come to visit it.

“And reward them.” There is a great elegancy in these words, which in your English you pass oler very lightly. “Keward them then- doings:” we know that God will reward every one according to their doings; but I say the original iS S’C’N signifies properly Uedire faciam, I will make to return your doings, I will make your doings return back upon you. ATience

Obs. 1. Sin passes away in the act of it with much sweetness, but God will make it return back again in the guilt of it with much bitterness. As Gideon said, in Judges viii. “, to the men of Succoth, “AVhen I return I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness, and with briers.” How many have passed over the act of their sin very pleasantly, but within a period of long, it may be, or short duration, God haii made then’ sin return upon them; and it has returned as Gideon did upon the men of Succoth, and torn them with briers and thorns, that they have lain roaring in the anguish of spii-it for the horror that hath been upon them for their sins. You sinners, that have not returned unto God in the way of repentance, remember that all those pleasant, delightful sins of youi-s will one day rctiuii upon you, and that in the way of teiTor.

Obs. 2. The good works of the saints shall return upon them with comfort and peace. I will “reward them their doings,” that is, I will make to return their doings, I wUl make their doings return back upon them. It may be you have some troublesome afflictions in the flesh in some of your works and services, yet know they shall return with abundance of peace and joy. Do not think that what you do for God shall be altogether lost: never in your own, nor in the times of your forefathers, was there a more full opportunity to glorify him than at this day; I refer to the calling in of our brethren the Scots into the nation; it is such an opportunity of serving God as you never had, nor probably ever will have the like as long as you live; for it is not the bringing in of so many men into the kingdom, but the engaging of a kingdom for us; and not only so, but the greatest testimony of the goodness of our cause before all the surrounding nations: for though now the nations about us know not which part to take, there having been such jirotcstations on both sides, yet when they shall hear that a kingdom that heretofore carried themselves so loyally, that the king himself by proclamation declared them to be his faithful and good subjects, when, I say, they shall hear that these, having an army in England for the king, yet went away in peace, and that they now espouse our side, certainly this will bo a strong testimony to all the surrounding

nations, aiul undoubtedly gain many amongst ourselves. Therefore I say, it is the highest and fullest opportunity for the service of God and good of your coTintry, that you or your forefathers have ever had; and though you have done somewhat, nay, much already, yet jou never had such an opportunity as this, which you may bless God that he has aftbrded you. And do not think now that what you do is quite gone and lost: O no, the Lord will make’ it return, you shall have a good return for it. You that are merchants, are you not willing to venture your stock at sea, upon the expectation of a good return? you will rely in this on winds, and waves, and seas, and servants that may prove unfaithful. You never ventured any thing in all your lives in which you could have such assurance of a good return, as what you venture in such a case as ithis. It is not adventured, for God will certainly make your good works to return, as he will make the doings of the wicked retiu’n upon them.

Ver. 10. Fen- they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.

“For they shall eat and not have enough.” Some would interpret these words. They shall still grow worse and worse in eating the sin of my people; and so would refer to the eating of the sin of the people in that sense which you heard before, that is, they shall never think they have advantage enough from the sin of the people: they desire the sin of the people for their own advantage; well, they shall eat their sin in that respect, but they shall never have enough, they shall never be satisfied, but still desire that people may sin more and more, that they may gain more by their sacrifices.

But I rather take it, and evidently more according to the words, thus. Howsoever they think to provide for themselves by that which they get in such a base, sin- I ful way, yet they shall find no satisfaction to themselves in it, they shall be deceived. The truth is, if they found satisfaction, it were of little consequence, seeing they must answer for it afterwards; but they shall not only be judged for it hereafter, but for the present they shall find no satisfaction in that in which they promised to themselves satisfaction; they will get an estate, perhaps, acquire money and riches this way, and prosper in the world, but I will curse that which they have gained. Even in goods lawfully gotten there is a vanity, a vanity in goods gotten even by fair means; though we have them, we cannot enjoy them except God give us the power. God is the God of all consolation, and it is his mercy and goodness conveyed thi’ough creatures that can alone bring comfort in the use of them. If a man should think to satisfy himself with wind, it were an idle expectation; but it were worse if he should open his mouth wide to fill himself with plague-infected air: when thou thinkest to satisfy thyself with goods never so well got, it is but opening thy mouth to the wind, but when thou thinkest to satisfy thyself with goods unlawfully acquired, it is opening thy “mouth to draw in pestilential air, there is no satisfaction, but ruin in them: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver,” Eccles. v. 10. Howsoever men think with themselves, that if they had such an estate they would live happily, when they have it they find it otherwise. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be satisfied, but they that hunger and thirst after any thing in the world shall find it to be an empty thing unto them. It is true, there is a kind of satisfaction which God gives sometimes to wicked men, but it is accursed in its nature, a fearful judgment of God. “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own w.-.ys,” Prov. xiv. H; that is, they shall have enough

of them; as when a man will go on in his own ways, although he suffer much in consequence, we say, AVhat! have you not enough of such a course? So the wicked shall be satisfied, he shall have enough of his own ways, that is, he shall find such attendant plagues and miseries that he shall be satisfied, he shall be filled with them. It is spoken of an apostate, a backslider in heart, one that will apostatize from God, and think to provide for himself better in the ways of his apostacy, he “shall be filled,” but it shall be “with his own ways.”

“They shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase.”

If we understand this of bodily whoredom, then the sense is, that God will cross them even in that, “they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase.” Y’ou will say, Tiat great judgment is that? whoremongers care not for increasing. It is true, they desne only to satisfy their lusts; and in this respect, as much as in any, resemble evil and wicked ministers, who desu’e only to please the fancies of then- auditoi-s, and never look after begetting children unto God. But when the prophet prophesied, increasing in a numerous offspring was a special thing that all gloried in; therefore they sought it, not only by marrying many wives, but by their concubines and strange women; but God threatens to send out a ciu-se upon them, that they shall not increase. And hence we may in general

Obs. A^Tiatsoever a man undertakes unlawfully, he can never expect to prosper in. This is remarkably exemplified in Solomon; you know he had seven hundred wives and three huntbed concubines, a thousand in all; yet we read but of one son that he left behind him, Rehoboam, whom the Scripture calls a child when he was above forty years old, 2 C’lu’on. xiii. 7. When Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, he had a childish and foolish, though a rugged and churlish heart. Solomon was not blessed with a numerous progeny, notwithstanding he indulged himself in so much carnal liberty. But on the contrary, wo read that Isaac, from whom came the promised seed, that were to be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea-shore for number, had but one wife; he took not that course which many of the patriarchs did, to marry many wives, but contented himself with one, and yet from him came the promised seed, so many as the stars and the sand for number. From which we may infer, that it is the best way for us to keep to God’s ordinances; we shall prosper more in what we would have, to keep to God’s ways, than to go out into our own sinful courses.

“They shall not increase.” The words are read otherwise by some: Jerome renders it, They have committed whoredom, and have not ceased; and his note upon it is this. They have committed fornication and whoredom, till they have spent all theii’ strength, yet have they not ceased, their hearts are still that way: just as it is with many long habituated to carnal indulgence, they have committed uneleanness, and spent their strength in impurity, yet cease they not, their lusts still boil within them notwithstanding. And if you read the words so, and then take it for spiritual whoredom. They have committed whoredom, and have not ceased, that is, they still go on and on in the ways of idolatry, idolaters seldom come in and return.

Tarnovius reads it otherwise, They shall not break forth, for so ixiB’ may well signify; they think to take liberty in their whoredom and idolatry, they break forth from God’s laws and punishments, and think still to escape laws- and punishments, to break forth from all bonds whatsoever. No, saith God, they shall not break forth; I will lay fetters upon them. This is good, but, however, I take the former to be the legitimate interpretation, and so we shall leave that

expression, they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase.” Here follows the reason.

“Because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.”

There is a great deal of elegance in this expression; They have left the Lord to take heed, so you may translate icwS ad custodiendum, to keep themselves within any bounds of the commandment of God; as if the prophet should say, They run wild, and have left off to take heed of God, or any of his ways. Perhaps they have not left the Lord wholly, for they will render Go3 some external worship, but he cares not for that, they have left the Lord to take heed of him. Though we think to follow the Lord in any external duties, if we cease to take heed of God in all his ways, he notices it not: that may be one note.

But the thing specially meant is, though at first a temptation prevail against a professor of religion, yet he having an enlightened conscience, the truth of God will continue working in his conscience and in his heart; but now if he still give way to that lust, at length it will so far prevail that he will wholly leave minding and regarding the truth of God, which opposes his sin, and give himself fully up unto the ways of his own heart: and this man’s condition is very dangerous. Oh take heed of this, take heed of this not taking heed! You that begin to decline, and find some secret lust prevailing in your heart; you yet have the truth of God working in your souls, and it will not let you go on quietly; but yet your lusts strive against this truth: well, if this lust be not mortified, if you give way to it, that it continue a while, you will come to be weary of that truth which opposes it, and you will turn your eyes from it, and leave off to take heed further to think of that which makes against your sin; and when you are come to this pass your condition is truly dangerous. Hence we may especially

Obs. 1. The way to keep the heart and life in order, in the paths of obedience, is “to take heed to the Lord;” to take heed to the infinite, glorious, blessed Majesty of the holy and great God; to mind God in his sovereignty, in his authority, in that infinite worthiness which is in him of all obedience from all his creatures; to look upon God the only Jehovah, the high and eternal God. This is the way to keep our hearts and lives in order, to “take heed to the Lord” thus, to have him in all our thoughts and hearts, and to observe diligently him and his ways.

Obs. 2. it is an evil thing for any, in matters that concern the worship of God, not’ to take heed to God’s word. That they did leave off to take heed to God ill point of worship, is the thing that God especially charged them with: that kind of worship which they lliought most suitable to their own reason and politic ends, that worship tlioyset up; but now to take heed to God, and to look up unto him, that whatsoever they had in his worship should be according to the rule he prescribes, that they left off to regard, and were altogether intent on their own ends. And it is an evil thing in any kingdom that men should leave off so to take liced, as is now almost come to pass with us. I make no question but that at first, for the government of the church, the primitive Christians had a special eye to the rule, to apostolical institution; but, I know not how, it is now almost a general conclusion amongst men, yea, amongst good men, and even good divines, that we can scarce have a nile of institution, they think we need not directions, and can find no such thing at all in the word, and so have altogether ceased even to examine it on this point. But though in civil things we arc left to prudence and reason, when we come to matters of worshi]), in every particular properly ecclesiastical, properly church work, we must, I say, in every such thing take heed to the word of God. On this point Luther forcibly remarks, In religion we

ought not to look so much at what is commanded, as who commands it: and he cites Seneca, who gives this rule. Observe not who commands, but what is commanded: so in the church, saith he, and in matters of religion, we should adopt this, and regard not so much quid, but quis, qualis, and quantus; but the devil changes this into iiuid, quale, quantum, that is, he changes tins “Who, and what manner of a person, and how great a one, commands, into, ‘lat, what manner, and how great a thing. Many thus desiiisc some ord.nances in the church, AVhy, what gi’eat matters are there in these things? they look to the thing, and not to the institution; whereas, did we look to Christ, the Institutor, as we should, we would have more regard to the institution than to the thing itself. Let the thing commanded be never so low and poor, never so mean in itself, yet the institution must be honoured. Let us take heed to God, especially in the point of worship.

Ver. 11. Whoredom and wine and netc tcine take au:ay the heart.

The Holy Ghost still especially addresses the priests; for their whoredom, their wine and new wine, did take away their hearts. “Take away:” the words aS-np’ may be translated diversely; either, “take the heart,” or, “take away the heart.”

“Take the “heart:” so some render it; meaning, these lusts do take possession of their hearts. It is one thing for a man to be overtaken with a lust, and another thing for a lust to take a man. It is said of the godly, that they are overtaken; but it is said of these, that their lusts take them: and now when it comes to this, that you not only yield to a temptation, but a temptation takes you captive, then whoredom and wine and new wine have taken yom’ hearts.

But I rather understand it thus: these lusts “take away the heart.” It is true, there is not one lust harboured in the heart of a man, but in time will take away his heart, will eat out all the juice, and strength, and vigour of any grace in him. That is the reason why many professors grow so sapless, so hea-y, so dull, so dead in the way of religion; there is some secret lust or other that they have a desire after, and that takes away their hearts, and they become like vapid liquor, all theu- spirit and life quite gone, their lust has eaten them out: that man is indeed in a sad condition, whose vigour and strength ai’e gone and eaten out by some heart-lust.

From the context we remark, that they left off to take heed to God in point of his worship, and now it seems they are left to the sins of whoredom and diunkenness. Hence,

06,5. 1. ItisjustwithGod, that they that will not seek to satisfy their souls in himself, shall be given over to base and filthy delights of the flesh, that they shall never have any other comforts but those. Let them have those comfort.s, saith God, that is all the comfort they shall ever find. So we read in Bom. i., that when they did not glorify God as God, he gave them up unto unnatural affections and .sins of unclcanness.

B»t to sjieak of these two sins as they are here set forth to us, whoredom and di-mikenness. I shall not discuss their nature, as I have somewhat enlarged on that in the beginning of the chapter, but I shall follow here the dictates of the Holy Ghost, and endeavour to show you briefly how these “take away the heai’t.”

First, Both the sins, in general, are sins of sensuality. Hence,

Obs. 2. Sensuality is a besotting sin. sensuality either in whoredom, or intemperance in drinking. You know how it took away the heart of the wise Solomon, as his concubines turned him from God, to worship idols. And so with Samson, who was so strong, when Delilah

had first taken his heart then she took it away; for you luiow, in the story, though she sought his destruction many times, and he sav,- plainly that she designed to give him up into the hands of the Philistines, yet for all that his heart could not be taken off from her. The Scripture speaks of the sui of lust most fidly in this respect, Prov. ii. 19, ‘• None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.” None that go unto “the strange ■^voman” return; or, as some would read it, interrogatively. Do any return that go unto her? It is a rare thing for any one to return whose heart is thus insnared, or ever to enter into the paths of life. The Holy Ghost speaks this, make of it what you will. And again, 2 Pet. ii. 14, “Having eyes full of adulteiy, and that cannot cease fi’om sin:” when eyes come to be full of adultery they cannot cease from sin, their hearts are so alienated from all good. And Prov. xxiii. 27, “A whore is a deep ditch: and a sb’ange woman is a narrow pit: ■’ it is hard to get out of a deep ditch, especially if the mouth be narrow too: those that arc got in there, are like to Jeremiah who was put in the dungeon where there was no water, but filth and mu’e, so that he sank in the mire; and except the Lord send from heaven long cords of his mercy, it is improbable they should ever come out, but they must die and perish: and how many thousands do so die and perish! Nothmg ever deadened David’s heart more than that sin of adultery; Psal. h., he cries out, ‘■ Uphold me with thy free Spirit;” as if he should say, Lord, I was wont to have more power over temptation, but now I am weak and quickly overcome; Lord, “uphold me.” And as the sin of micleanness takes the heart away from God and from truth, therefore 1 Pet. ii. 18, speaks of professors who were allm’ed ‘through the lusts of the flesh, tlu’ough much wantonness,” even such as had escaped, “clean escaped,” the pollutions of the world, and separated “from them who live in error.” So di’unkenness, that likewise takes away the heart; wine takes away the heart exceedingly. AVhen Solomon gave himself “unto wine,” he ‘• laid hold on folly,” Eccles. ii. 3; though somewhat of his wisdom remained, yet wine in a great measm’e took away his heart. He gave himself liberty, as appears by that scripture, though we read not of drunkenness, j’et he gave himself liberty to satisfy himself with wine, and then he laid hold on folly. Those that indulge themselves in di-inking wine and strong di’ink are besotted in their very intellects, as you know by experience; they are as a snuff of a candle in a socket, ch’O’mied in the tallow; a while since it spread a good light over the room, but now there is nothing left but a little smoke and snufT, and little or no light: so many men, when young, were Uke a candle upon the table, diffusing light to aD about them; but now, ha-ing given themselves uj) to that filthy and vile lust of di’inking, all their parts are become extinct, di’owned in the fumes of intoxication. Or rather, they are become as a quagmke: if the husbandman sow never such precious seed there, what fruit will it bring forth? Austin saith, Just as when the ground has too much rain it gi’ows mu-y and dirty, and is not fit for seed, so are those that indulge themselves in di-ink. Therefore in Ezek. xlvii. 11, it is said, the waters of the sanctuai’y did not heal the miry places and the marshes: di’unken hearts are seldom healed by the waters of the sanctuary. Basil, in a sermon on intemperance, compares di-unkenuess to the idols spoken of in the Psalms, that have ears and hear not, and eyes arid see not, and feet and walli not; it takes away thenstanding and their understanding likewise, their very intellects are debased,

and they are left at liberty to indulge in all kinds of wickedness. How many are there that were excellent when young, yet being taken with that lust, how are they grown like Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage! these will so sell heaven for a cup of wine; )-ea, they are more profane than

Esau, for he was in a strait, he had come out of the field and was very hungry, and thought he should die if he had not the pottage; so he might plead that he sold his bu’thright for a mess of pottage out of a kind of necessity; but these will sell then’ souls, and heaven and all, merely to indulge that humour: for that lust, they wUl ventm-e the health of then- bodies, the waste of then- estates, the loss of thek friends, the shaming of themselves, the ruin of then’ names, and the damnation of their souls. Oh how does this besot men of otherwise excellent parts!

A^^ell, but these two are applied here unto the priests, and so we must make special use of them: That whoredom and wine and new wine did take away their hearts, for these priests (as before we have heard) rejected the knowledge of God, and so left ofl’ the work they were appointed to do, the instruction of the people, therefore the people were brought up in ignorance; now they, leaving their office, their duty that they should perform in the place they were set in, gave themselves up to sensuahty, to whoredom and to wine. From hence we may

Obs. 3. Ministers, when they are negligent in preaching, usually grow sensual. We find it so by experience, we need not go about to prove it. Have there not been many that in then’ younger time have been forward preachers, and when they have gotten livings and preferment, never minded their- study and preaching any longer, but gave themselves to satisfy the flesh in uncleanness, filthy lusts, and drunkenness? Do we not know some such? People are but in an evil case when they have such ministers. Isa. lvi. 9, “AH ye beasts of the field, come to devour-, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.” “^Hiat is the matter? The 12th verse shows what kind of priests and prophets they had; “Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong tb-ink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant:” such kind of priests they had; and then, “All ye beasts of the field, come to devour,” for they lie open to all kind of misei-y. Paul would have Timothy, when he was weak, drink a little wine for his stomach’s sake and often infirmit)’; he, good man, though he were but weak, out of conscience it seems would di-inli only water, yea, for fear lest it might do hm-t, he would drink but water till he had a commission from Paid; he was fain to exhort him to di-ink wine, and yet but a little, di-ink a little wine. Those in public places especially should take heed of intemperance. I have read of some heathens, who made it death for a king or a magistrate to be di-unk.

Ver. 12. Mi, people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff deciareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a ichoring from under their God.

There is a little more difficulty in these words than in the formex-. Fii’st, however, the connexion affords this useful note.

06s. 1. Bodily and spiritual whoredom are wont to go together. “WTioredom and wine and new wine take away the heai-t;” and then, they “ask counsel at then- stocks, and their staff” deciareth unto them.” First they ai-e besotted with these lusts, and then they fall into the grossest idolati-y-, for the words in this verse seem to express idolatry of the gi-ossest and most stupid kind. “They ask counsel of then stocks, and their staff deciareth unto them;” when they had given up themselves to the lusts of then- hearts, then they grew most sottish in their idolatries. Therefore we are not to marvel, though men, apjjarently of understanding, yet will worship stocks and stones, as your papists; why? they give themselves up to their lusts, and then the grossest idolatry in the world will meet with their

sanction. I remember to have read of one, who, seeing a person go to mass, and presently after to a house of ill fame hard by, exclaimed, A lupanari missam lantum esse passum; that is, There is but one step from the mass to uncleanness. Spiritual -nhoredom and bodily go together; their hearts are taken away by their whoredom, and they “ask counsel at their stocks.” Jewel, in his Apology, relates, on very credible report, that search being made, in the year 1565, for harlots belonging to the stews in Rome, there were found in that city alone twenty-eight thousand. Thus you see how bodily and spiritual whoredom go together; twenty-eight thousand such women found in one city, in that city which we know is called in regard of spu-itual whoredom, idolatiy, “the great whore,” Key. xix. 2.

Now to explain this, ‘■ My people ask counsel at theiistocks, and their staff doth teach them.”

“Their stocks;” that is, their images, God puts that contemptible name upon them; they ask counsel of them. And that is to be observed too, “mi, people,” there is the emphasis; mine by profession, not wholly cast off yet, yet these “ask counsel at their stocks,” their images, which, although perhaps beautified with silver and gold, yet God calls “stocks.”

“And theu- staff teacheth them.” Here is a peculiar form of idolatry, to be taught by their staff. Vatablus and others interpret it of the false prophet, upon which they leaned, as upon a staff; but I rather think it is to be understood hterally. There was a kind of idolatry which the Jews had, a way to ask counsel by the staff, and with this the prophet here charges them. The Romans likewise, after this, practised the same, calling it paptojiav-tia, or (iiKonavrtia, divinatio ex riris, divination by rods, sticks, arrows, or staves; and there were four ways by which they did divine by these. The fii’st was to put arrows or staves into a closed case, having the names written upon them of what they divined about; and then di’awing out one or two, they determined their business according to what they found written; thus their staff declared to them either good or bad; and thus Nebuchadnezzar seems to have done, Ezek. xxi. 22. Interpreters there show, that Nebuchadnezzar, being in doubt whether he should war against Philadelphia or against Jerusalem, took two arrows, and wrote the name of Jerusalem on the one, and Philadelphia on the other, and so divined which way ho should go. And this is the first mode of declaring by the staff. A second was by casting up staves or arrows into the air, and according as they fell, on the right hand or on the left, before or behind, so they divined their good or ill luck, as they called it. A third way was this, they used to peel off the bark of some part of a stick, and then cast it up, and divined according to which part of the pith, either black or white, appeai-ed first. A fourth was, as we find in the Roman antiquities, that their augurs or soothsayers used to sit upon the top of a tower or castle in clear and fair weather, with a crooked staff in their hand, which the Latins call Z,(7hh,«, and having quartered out the regions of heaven, so far as to answer theii’ purpose, and offered sacrifices and prayers to their gods, they stretched it forth u))on the head of the person or thing they would divine for, and so foreboded good or ill luck, according to what at that time they observed in the heavens, the birds flying, &c. This was the custom of the Romans, and perhaps derived from the Jews.

l!y all this we may see what poor ways idolaters have had to know the minds of their gods. When men forsake the right way of knowing God’s will, what poor expedients have they recourse to! Oh how should our hearts be raised up to bless God, that we have such a way to know his mind, as the word; and that we have his Son, who came out of his bosom, to declare to us the eternal counsel of his Father!

Now follows the ground of this miserable condition of idolaters; “For the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.”

“For the spirit of whoredoms.” Some would understand it thus, that as there are particular sins, so there are particular devils to attend upon them; one especially to attend upon idolatry, another on whoredom, anotlicr on drunkenness, another on envy, pride,’and the various evil passions: and so “the spirit of whoredom” (say they) is the devil that especially attended upon this sin. But I think this not to be the scope, but rather, that impetus of “the spirit of whoredoms” that was in them; there is an impetus, a strong inclination, of their spirits to such a sinful course, which carried them on, and caused them to err. The Scripture often speaks of different sorts of spirits, as sometimes the spirit of perverseness, Isa. xix. 14; in your books it is translated, “a perverse spirit,” but the words are cyiy mi a spirit of perversenesses; there is an impetus of spirit that has caused Egypt to err in every work thereof. So the spirit of uncleanness, Zcch. xiii. 2, translated in your books, “the unclean spirit,” but the words are riKCttn ni-i-rsi the spirit of defilements, or uncleanness. So the spirit of h“ing, 1 Kings xxii. 22; “the spirit of error,” 1 John iv. 6: “AVe are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” That is, there is an impetus, a strength of spirit, which carries men on to such erroneous ways. And the consideration of that will be of marvellous use to us. Let us look to our spirits, my brethren, and consider what spirit we are of; especially when carried impetuously to any thing we desii’e, let us take heed to ourselves: when you find, I say, your spirits very eagerly and strongly set upon a thing, examine well that it be not a spu’it of lust, of envy, of malice, such as sometimes exists in men’s hearts, when they are carried to any object with more than ordinary strength. ISIany people find themselves hurried on with such a fervent impetus, that they cannot endure to be crossed, no, they must have it: as in Samuel, they that desired a king, when they heard all the reasons that could be urged to persuade them against it, would retmTi none other answer than, “Nay; but we will have a king.” So a man that has such a spii-it will rush upon a tiling without due examination, and even if there appear any truth against it, he presently slights itj why? because he has a spirit which impels him to it, and if the truth come even so strongly that he is convinced by it, yet his s])irit carries him on, and though he meet with many difficulties in the way, he will break thi’ough them all. Oh, it is a dangerous thing when men have a spirit of en-or, or a spuit of bitterness. You will find some men that have much of antichristianism remaining in them; do but speak to them of any thing that concerns an orduiance of Christ, of Christ’s institution, of the will of Christ in the word, as soon as it is but mentioned, you hear no answer to the argument, but may perceive immediately arising a spirit of bitterness and aversion. So you find men, and sometimes good men, with whom if you but discourse of some things which you know are in accordance with the mind of Christ, yet having been brought up otherwise, and imbibed other principles, they have a spirit of bitterness, anger, and vexation, which ])resently will ap])ear in them to reject any truth suggested.

But let us labour, on the other side, rather to be actuated by the Spirit of God; the children of God are “led by the Si)irit of God.” And it is true, that as wicked men have a spirit of uncleanness in them, so God’s children are carried on with n spirit of holiness; the love of Christ has taken hold of their hearts, and perhaps they are weak, and cannot reason out the case

■nlth some subtle sophists; yet they have “the Spirit of Christ,” an impetus of his spirit which carries them on. But take heed, the Sphit of Christ is joined with much humiUty and holiness: do not say you are impelled by the Spirit of Christ, when bitterness and pride are mixed with it; but if there be humility and holiness, then perhaps, though you cannot answer every objection of every sophist, yet the S])irit of Christ dwelleth in you. As wicked men, then, have a bias on their hearts, influencing their judgments, so the godly have a bias on their hearts, the truth and love of God, which swaying, carries them on with strength in the ways of God: as the poor man, the martyr, who said, I cannot dispute for the truth, but I can die for it. There was a spirit of love in him to Jesus Christ, that impelled him onwards, and made him relish and love holy things, though he could not dispute for them.

AVe are to pray to God that he would satisfy us not only in body and in soul, but in spirit, that that impetus of spirit may be sanctified, for great things depend upon it; almost all things in the world are carried by the impetus of men’s spirits. Hence it is that men, although very wicked, will, on their death-beds, hearken to your words, and listen to reason; why? because then their affliction abates the impetus of thenspirits, the activity and keen fervour of their minds, and you may say any thing unto them.

“And they are gone a whoring from under their God.” Drusius renders it, by a periphrasis, thus. They have cast off the yoke of God. In Koi?f£l5p£?ffiu *’^^ Hebrew, if rendered word for word. diroTo5 eiov it is, “from under their God;” and so the ‘”’™’’’ Septuagint translate it. And it denotes

these two things.

Fii’st, They have gone from under the command of God. The pride of their hearts refused to be under the command of God. especially in his worship. O my brethren, we should look to this, to God above us, and be willing to lie under the command and authority of God, especially in his worship. Take heed of the rising of your thoughts in the matter of God’s worship.

Secondly, They are gone from under the protection of their God. From under the command of their God, and consequently fi’om under his protection. As wives, so long as they keep themselves under their husbands ill due subjection, are under their protection also; but when they will forsake their husbands, and refuse to obey their commands, they at the same time put themselves from under their protection. So do my people, saith God, they will be from under my commands, and so are from under my protection. Hence two observations.

Obs. 1. All false worship puts a people from under the protection of God. No marvel that miseries befall a people who corrupt the worship of God. Oh, we were in a sad case not long since, even from under the protection of God, and things ran on at riot with us; and even now, because the people of this land have not yet hearts to entertain the true worship of God, we may fear lest we should not enjoy his wished-for protection. Would you have the protection of God? then keep close to the rule of his worship.

06s. 2. So far as we are from being under God’s command, so far are we from being under his protection. Obedience and protection are conjoined. In sin, you wander from under God’s command, and from under his protection too. But he watches over us for good when we are in his ways. Keep close, then, to God’s commands, and although troubles befall you, yet .still you are under God’s protection. The difference between a man that is under the command of God, and will closely observe it, and another that will have liberty, is as a deer in a park: so long as it is within the place, it is under the care of the keeper, who watches that no dogs or any thing else injure it, and

in snowy weather, when there is no grass to be got, provides it with sustenance; but if the deer will wander forth, it may indeed enjoy more liberty, but then every dog pursues it, and it is subject to a thousand dangers more than when within the ])ale. So it is with a man that is willing to be within the pale of God’s command, there he enjoys the watchful care of God; but if he will have more liberty, and transgress, let him not expect the protection of God in his wanderings. Oh that those that are gone astray from God would observe this! It may be, the consciences, of some here tell them that they have wandered from under God’s commands: there was a time that they trembled at his word, and their hearts fell down under the dreadful authority of those commands, then was it well with them; but now you have got from under this, you do not fear God’s word as before, you will not tremble at his commands, you now go astray in your own ways. Poor wanderer, whither art thou gone? thou art gone from under the protection of the Lord.

Ver. 13. Theij sacri/ice upon the lops of the mountains, and bicrn incense upon the hills, tender oaks ajid poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore t/onr daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

In the former verse the prophet, in the nanie of God, had charged Israel with having the spirit of fornication, and accused them for going a whoring from under their God, and now he shows to them wherein they had so offended.

Obs. 1. General accusations, without particular specification, will not prevail with stubborn hearts. Above all, idolaters must be convinced wherein they have committed idolatry. They will stand it out stoutly if you charge them only with idolatry in general, of going a whoring from God, except you demonstrate wherein. It is so with many sinners. Ye have despised my name, and yet “ye say, Wierein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say. Wherein have we polluted thee?” Mai. i. 6, 7. Stubborn hearts will stand it out with God a great while, until the evUs they have committed be particularly specified, wherein they have done such and such evils. And it is wise, therefore, for all God’s ministers not to deal in general accusations, if they would have their ministry a convincing ministry. Instancing preaching is the most convincing preaching.

Now the prophet instances that kind of idolatry which seems the most specious and fairest of any in the world, and in which one would have thought that as little evil as possible existed. Why, what great matter is it? they might say. You accuse us for going a whoring fi-om under our God; we only offer sacrifice upon mountains, and burn incense under trees; is that so great a matter? It is sacrifice, and you cannot say but we sacrifice to the true God; we do not sacrifice to idols, how then do we go a whoring from God? This is veiy specious, that they should sacrifice thus upon mountains, and under trees, and in this they pretend to be more devout than Judah was: the people of Judah sacrificed only in one temple, and as it were confined and hmited God to that place, and they sacrificed only upon one altar; Now, say the)-, we think God worthy of a great deal more than this; we think it is fit to sacrifice to him everywhere, in every place, and especiallv upon mountain’s, for it is to the high God that we sacrifice. .Just as the papists at this day will have theu- images in every place, and their crosses in every highway as they travel, that by them they may be reminded’of God’continually. What a specious pretext is this! Yet the Lord, by the prophet, charges them with going “a whoring from under their God,” and

AA^ EXPOSITION OF

establishes the accusation by instar.ces taken from services which they considered, if not meritorious, at least excusable.

06s. 2. What seems most specious in our eyes, if it be not according to the rule, may prove most abominable in the eyes of God.

Obs. ‘i. Ministers should especially labour to present to the peoi)le the foulness of those things in -vvhich they thmk there exists the least evil. To exclaim against wickedness w’hich they themselves cannot but acknowledge to be notorious, will never so con«nce as thoroughly to humble: but to close with them, and to open the evil of their ways in those things in which they most bless themselves, and to show how, even in these, they make themselves abominable unto God, that is the way to make our ministry a convincing and a humbling ministi-y indeed. Thus the prophet. You sacrifice upon the mountains and high places, and under the shadow of every tree. Jerome upon this place remarks, Israel loveth high ])laces, for they have iorsaken the high God; and they love the shadow, for they have loft the substance. It is thus with men, when they have left the high God, then they have somewhat or other that they set up high in then- hearts; they forsake the shadow of the wings of God, and then seek after vain shadows to be their jjrotector.

But to open this scripture yet more clearly, to show wherein their sin lay here, that they sacrificed upon the mountains, and hills, and under trees. AVe arc to know, that in former times, before the ark, and the tabernacle, and the temple were built, it was lawful to sacrifice in any place, and God approved of sacrificing in mountains, directing Abraham to go and sacrifice his son on mount Moriah, Gen. xxii. 2; and in Gen. xxi. 3.3, we read of Abraham’s planting a grove when he called upon the name of God; so that their forefathers did sacrifice upon mountains, and planted groves and trees by the places where they sacrificed; there was no hurt then in such things. But afterward God prohibits this: “Take heed to thyself that thou ofier not thy burnt-oflerings in every place that thou seest: but in the ])lace which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt ofler thy burnt-offerings,” Deut. xii. 13, 14. God would limit them the place of his worship. When the ark and the tabernacle were made, they were bound to come and sacrifice there, and no where else; and so when the temple was built, that became the sole appointed place. Yea, then the Lord commanded them to pull down the high places, and to cut down the gi-oves and trees: “Ye shall utterly destroy all the i)laces wherein the nations which ye shall jiossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and pipon the hills, and under every green tree,” Deut. xii. 2. ‘W’iien once God had appointed a place of worshi]i. then they were to destroy the otherplaces where the heathens were wont to senc their gods. Hence,

Obs. 4. When God chooses a place or thing, lie stamps it with peculiar holiness. If God appoint a way of worship of his own, this forbids all other. If God consecrate a place, this forbids to make any place holy but that. So of things, and ceremonies, if once God sets upon them the impress of holiness, we must confine ourselves to them, and not think to imitate God, by dedicating any thing of the same kind. It was now a sin in them, and God, we see here, stands much upon circumstances in his worship. 5Iany jjlead, AVhy should men be so strict and .scrupulous about circumstances? what, must we have every ciicumstance commanded in the ward of God? My brethren, that which is natural and moral, and but likely to subserve religion, may, indeed, be left to prudence; but where religion is directly involved, though it be but a circumstance, God insists much upon it, and we must have for it the sanction of a Divine rule. Here they are not accused for

sacrificing things they ought not to sacrifice, doubtless they offered what was ccmmandcd, sheep, and beeves, and the like; but only with respect to the circumstance of place, they did not sacrifice where God ajjpointed, therefore he charged them, that in this they went “a whoring from under their God.” It is true, we read of some godly men’s sacrificing elsewhere; Gideon under an oak, judg. vi; and Samuel on a high place, 1 Sam. ii.; and David in the thresliing-floor of Araunah, 2 Sam. xxiv. Now, to all these instances the answer generally given by divines is, that they could not lawfully have done so, but by some special disjiensation of God himself; else it could not but have been sin. For the kings of Israel and Judah are also charged with their sacrificing in the high places; even of Solomon himself, when, in 1 Kings iii. 3, he is commended for loving the Lord, and walking in the statutes of David his father at first, yet the text saith, “Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.” And amongst other high ])laces, we read in 2 Chron. i. 3, that Solomon went to Gibeon, which was a great high place. And though some excuse him, because it is said the tabernacle was there, and therefore he might go to sacrifice, yet Austin, in his Questions on Judges, thinks Solomon is to be blamed, though the tabernacle was there, for it seems ho put a more than ordinary respect ujion that high place; wherefoi’e else is it called the great high jjlace? and he went there, not only for the sake of the tabernacle, but because it was that great high place: and therefore is to be blamed. So that if we go to the ordinances of God where yet there are other mixtures, and we do the rather go and esteem them because there is some addition of man’s inventions, this is a sin against God. And further, it is observable, though Solomon were blamable for going thus, yet we find that God revealed himself unto him, in a wonderfully gracious manner, even in that place, and bade him ask what he would. So certainly many of God’s people have found, that though sometimes they have been in the use of ordinances where there have been such mixtures that they have been polluted to them in consequence, yet the Lord has been so gi-acious to them, that lie has accepted of the uprightness of their hearts, and they have had, even in them, many sweet manifestations of his favour: they can remember when they have been at sacrament, and they have known that they have oflended against God by reason of some jiollutions, yet they have, notwithstanding, found God shedding abundance of mercy on them, and refreshing their souls with comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost. This was God’s mercy. Do not think, therefore, that there was no evil in it, because God was so far gracious unto you. There was evil in Solomon’s respecting this high place, yet there God favoured him abundantly. Other kings there were, who were exceedingly blamed that they did not take down their high places, which were the same as the mountains here spoken of.

Y’et there were some of them that were very careful m this respect. Amongst others Hezekiah and Jehoshaphat. So, in 2 Kings xviii. 22, Hezekiah is charged by Ilabshakeh with taking down the high places, “Is not that he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken awav?” God approves of it, though Ilabshakeh thinks le has done ill; O, saith he, do you trust in Hezekiah? he has taken down the high places. He thought that Hezekiah had therefore been an enemy to religion, and to the worship of God. Thus it is with ignorant (leople at this day, who understand not the way of God’s worship; because some in the parliament seek to take away corruption in the worship of God, many cry out that they are enemies to all religion. Thus it is rejiorted by your country peoiile that dwell far off, as in Wales, and in other places, that

the parliament are a company of vile men, that seek to take away all religion out of the kingdom. But this is so but in the understanding of a Rabshakch, that confounds the taking away of high places with the abolition of religion.

Jehoshaphat, likewise, is commended for taking away the high places, and it is noted of him, that his heart was much lifted in the ways of God when he did it: for this sacrificing on the high places, the people were so attached to, and thought it a great thing that they should go up to a high place to oifer unto the high God; therefore when Jehoshaphat took them away, the text saith, his heart was lifted up in a more than ordinary manner. So it should be with governors, when they see corruptions in God’s worship, though the people stick close to them, yet they should have their hearts lifted up with courage and zeal to go on in the work. In 2 Chron. xvii. 6, “His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.” Here are two things that Israel is charged with, “the high places, and the groves; “Jehoshaphat took them away, and took them away out of Judah. He was of a lifted-uj) mind, and his heart took boldness for the ways of God, as the ‘N’ulgate renders it. But mark, what course did Jehoshaphat take to remove” the high places and the groves?” In the Tth verse you find this, “He sent to his princes, to teach in the cities of Judah.” Mark here, princes are become preachers; “He sent to his princes to teach in the cities of Judah; and with them he sent Levites and priests. And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.” This is the course to take them away; if he had only by an edict removed them, he could not have done so much, but he wisely sent faithful preachers throughout all the country, especially all the great cities. So that it appears it was because of the bad preachers they had before, or because they had none at all, that it was so difficult to remove the high places. How easy would it be in England at this day to make a reformation, to take away corruptions from the worship of God, if in all cities and towns there were faithful preachers! For we see evidently, that people brought up in ignorance adhere most to these things. Let a faithful minister come into a congregation, and so exert himself, that the people may see and be convinced that he is pains-taking, and let him expound the Scripture to them, and they will soon begin to confess, AVe get more by this than by all the mere reading of prayers; and this demands more to the minister. They would, I say, be convinced of this, if instructed. Jehosiiajjhat acted thus; and oh how happy were it if we took the same course! But there is something more observable; it is said in this 1th chapter, that Jehoshaphat took away the high places; but in chap. xx. 33, it is said he took “them not away; but how is it? It is put upon the people; the text saith, “The high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not jirepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.” The people were the cause. Now to reconcile these two places: it seems in chap, xvii., Jehoshaphat did his utmost, therefore God accounts it as done with respect to him, but because the people were so stubborn, that they would not yield to the command of the king, therefore in this 20th chapter the blame is all laid upon them; as if God should say, They were not taken away, because the people had not prepared their hearts; but as for Jehoshaphat, his heart was right in my sight. God will accept the intention of governors; let them do what they can, and if it be not effected the fault will rest on the real cause. You may see by this, that people may hinder the work of reformation much: “their hearts were not prepared,” that is, they were

not fit to receive the instructions sent to them. And truly, in England many peo])le are not yet prepared to receive the work of reformation. We never read, and that is observable, of any difficulty that any of the Hangs, either of Judah or Israel, met with, in introducing any false worship; but when good kings sought to bring in true worship, and to cast out false, it was too difficult a work for them. Thus men’s hearts cleave more to false than they do to true worship.

But further, it is observable, with respect to the high places, that it is not only said here, that they sacrificed on the mountains, but “upon the tops of the mountains.” There are two things very observable from hence.

Obs. 5. Idolatry is shameless, and loves publicity. They would not do it in a corner, but gat them up to the mountains, to the top of the mountains, and were not ashamed. Oh why should we not have the true worship of God as public! It is a lamentable case when it must get into holes and corners, and dare not appear in public; and even this necessary concealment draws down persecution. AVell, my brethren, let us pray, and endeavour as far as we can, to bring in the true worship in the most public manner; and let us not be ashamed of it before the world. In Rev. xiv. 6, there is mention of an angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel in his hand, to preach to them that dwell on the earth: now it is usual in the Revelation to signify the ministry of the gospel by an angel, and so it is a prophecy that the ministry of the gospel shall fly in heaven, aloft, publicly, and that all the world shall see it. And mark what follows upon this; ver. 8, “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” So that we may note from thence. That when the ministry of the gospel and its ordinances come to be made openly public, then is the time for Babylon to fall; and so long as Babylon stands, and antichrist stands, so long is the gospel fain to be preached in corners; but when the time of Babylon’s fall comes, then shall the ministry of the gospel be publicly manifested in the ej-es of all the people.

Obs. 6. They sacrificed not only upon the mountains, but “upon the tops of the mountains.” Idolaters seek to rise to the greatest height, to go the greatest lengths in false worship; they content not themselves with hills and mountains, but the very uppermost part of hills and mountains; if there were any higher than other, if they could ascend to heaven, they would do it. Idolaters do not content themselves with a lower degree of false worship. How much less should we in the way of God’s worship! we should not content ourselves with low attainments, but get up to the top of godliness, and labour to gain the very height of the worship of God; not content ourselves in one ordinance, but get all ordinances, and get them as far as possible in full exercise. Thus, in Eph. v. 15, “Walk” accurately, “circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise;” the word is ocpi/Swc, as if he said, ‘Wa.’ik to the top of godliness, to the height; if there be any degree higher than another, labour to attain it; as idolaters will get up to the tops of mountains. Thus for their sacrificing upon the mountains.

“Under oaks and poplars and elms.” These trees are such whose leaves arc broad, and did abide longest upon them. But why did they and the heathen also seek to sacrifice under trees, and such trees as these? There seem five or six reasons for it.

1. The heathens consecrated many trees to their idols; the pojilar to Hercules, the vine j,^^^ ^,^.y to Bacchus, the mjTtle to Venus, the bay f^JJy»’7^»;^;’.’» to Pha;bus. They consecrated several „“nZ’Im”^B«a trees to their several gods, and sacrificed vilg’^Ed!??!. under them.

AX EXPOSITION 0?

2. Thsy sacrificed there in imitation of the patriarchs, as I showed belbre. Abraham built a <|^-ove by the altar he made, and so did many of the patriarchs; and in imitation of them these here, and the heathen generally, for the devil strove much to imitate the form of the true worship of God; but now, when the ancient practice of the patriarchs was abused, God removes it.

3. They thought that places dark, by the shadiness of these trees, might strike some fear and reverence into the hearts of the worshijjpers. There does exist in woods, where there arc high trees and shady places, a kind of solemnity, they are calculated to inspire awe; for even the heathen themselves, when they wor-^hippcd their idols, sought to have the hearts of tlic worshippers filled with reverence.

4. They thought that the spirits of their heroes frequented the woods and groves. This was the current tradition of the heathen, and they were taught it by their priests. Virgil, in n. 6. “C73, makes one of them say, Nulli certa demus, lucis liabilnmus opacis, We have no certain habitation, but dwell in darli and shady groves.

5. They were fit places for the commission of impurity. >Iany of the sacrifices of the heathen were mixed with filthy and abominable unclcanncss, and those places were adapted for them, and therefore the devil liked them well. So Philo; and Sozomcn, in his history, mentions this reason.

6. Many of the heathens thought that it was to the dishonour of God to be worshipped in any place covered above, or circumscribed within limits. Even some of the heathens looked upon God as infinite, and for him to be worshipped within any covered place they thought a dishonour, therefore would worship him in the open fields and under trees.

“Because the shadow thereof is good.” The Holy Ghost instances only this one reason; “the .shadow thereof is good,” that is, they pleased themselves in then- own ways, they thought there was more solemnity in this than in the temple service. The shadow was good, oh it was a fine thing to go to the open fields, and more solemn to worship there than in the city. The shadow was good; they applauded and blest themselves in this way.

Obs. 8. Usually superstition thinks it has a gi-eat deal of reason for what it does; therefore it is observable of the papists, that although their form of worship is most ridiculous and absurd, yet they write whole volumes to show reason for what they do, as if theirs were a reasonable service. In Col. ii. 23, it is said of “will-worship,” that it has “a show of wisdom;” 6yov (roidf, the reason of wisdom, for so it mav be rendered; and thus in Kom. iv. IS, “reasonable service,” is loyiict]v Xarpiiav. So idolaters think that it is not only isdom, but that they have the very reason, the very quintessence of wisdom, in their way of false worshi]), and that “the shadow thereof is good;” especially they think their worship is more sumptuous and more solemn than the ordinances of God.

06.5. 9. It is the pride of men’s spirits to think that God’s ordinances are too plain. They think they can devise a way to embellish the worshij) of God, they will show additional reverence and respect. But certainly, if it be not God’s own ordinance, whatsoever outward respect can be given unto God in it. he regards it with abhorrence. 1 have read, that when a lady in Paris saw the splendour of a procession to a saint, she crie<l out, Oh how fine is our religion compared with that of the Huguenots! (that is, such as we in England call Puritans;) they have a poor, mean, and beggarly, but we have a sumjituous religion. So your pajiists, with their eniliellislicd churches and altars, their, prostrations and their bowings, have a fine and showy religion,

their “shadow is good,” there is splendour and solemnity in it. O, take heed of thinking that anv addition of man’s renders God’s worship more solemn and more reverend. It is the worst argument you can use, to say, Can we do things in God’s worship with too great reverence? Have you warrant out of God’s word for it? does God enjoin it? have you not at least some rule or ensample for it? If you think to render it by your own addition more reverend, this verv- argument spoils it, though it were in other respects lawful. Suppose some gesture were indifferent, yet if you think that by it you put more reverence and respect upon God’s worship than there is, you thereby spoil it; upon that ground it cannot be justified. Therefore the Lord forbade his ])eople, when they were to make an altar to him, to lift up a tool upon it, for then, saith he, you [loUute it. They might have said, Lord, we would lain have thine altar not so plain, we would fain bestow carving and some cost ujion it, and so show some respect to it. No, saith God, if you lift up a tool upon it, you pollute it. So if you think to put more reverence and solemnity upon God’s worship by any invention of your own, you certainly defile it. That was the sin of Israel at this time, they would sacrifice here; why? because “the shadow was good.” So much for their high places, and their worshipping under trees. Now follows the judgment threatened:

“Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.”

You commit adultery in going a whoring from me, you shall be punished in the like kind, your daughters and your spouses shall go a whoring from you.

We may regard this in two points of view:

I. As a judgment of God upon them.

II. As that of which they themselves were the cause. I. As a judgment of God upon them. Hence,

Obs. 1. God sometimes punishes sin with sin, he punishes spiritual adultery with corporal uncleanness. Cor])oral pollutions are the fruit of s])iritual filthiness. So Kom. i.. They worshipjicd not God as God, but in an idolatrous way, after the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, therefore God gave them up to uncleanness. If men be not careful to maintain purity in God’s worship, God cares not for their bodily chastity. If you pollute my worship, be then unclean, saith God. Not that he doth permit it as lawful, but in just judgment he giles them over to it. What care I for all your carnal defilements, if you pollute my worship. Bodily and spiritual adultery are usually conjoined. The woi’d Ifoma, with the letters reversed, forms amor; and there is much impurity in Kome, as I showed before. Where there is most idolatry there is most adultery.

06.V. 2. The sin of parents is often punished in the children and in the family. Your daughters and your spouses, I will leave them, saith God, and my hand shall be upon them. When a parent or a husband sees the hand of God against his child or against his wife, he should consider. How does God meet with me in this? is it not a sign of God’s displeasure against me in this particular? It is observable of the woman of Canaan, Alatt. xv. 22, that when her child was vexed with an unclean spirit, she saith, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil;” she did not say. Lord, have mercy on mv child, but, Lord, have mercy on me, for my child is vexed with an unclean spirit; as if she should say, O Lord, this unclean spirit may be the punishment of my sin, therefore, Lord, have mercy u])on inc, and forgive me my sin, that hath caused such a thing as this; yea. Lord, it may be, I have had an unclean spirit, and this my child imitated me in somewhat that was evil, and so thy hand is come ujion it; I am the original, therefore, Lord, have mercy upon me, for my

2ft.

child is vexed with an unclean spirit. So should you, when you see the hand of God u))on your children, cry out, Lord, pardon my sin. And does God leave your children in wickedness? do you see unclean spirits in vour children, the spirit of filthiness? cry out. Lord, have mercy upon me. Perhaps it was by imitating of you that they came to have such unclean spirits.

Obs. 3. It is a great rejn’oach to any family to have uncleanness committed in it. Fornication and adultery is a great reproach to a family, especially when the daughter or the wife is unclean. It is a reproach to a family if a servant prove naught, especially to some families more than others, as those of ministers, magistrates, or men in public place and esteem: which, by the way, should teach governors to be more careful of their families than they are, for often, through thencarelessness, God sends such a judgment, puts this disgrace upon them. Many of you, for your pleasure and delight, can go to your country houses, and while you are there your servants are committing evil; but you should have an especial eye over them, lest God, as a just judgment upon you for your neglect, bring this reproach upon your families. But especially your children, your daughters, and your spouses; and above all, the children of ministers. In Lev. xxi. 9, it is said. If the daughter of a priest “profane herself by playing the whore, she shall be burnt with fire.” Now, though adultery was, yet fornication was not, punished with death, in any other instance.

Obs. 4. Our unfaithfulness with God is made more sensible when those that are near unto us are unfaithful to us. Well, saith God here, you go a whoring from me, your spouses shall go a whoring from you; you have been unfaithful to me, your children shall be unfaithful to you; they shall go a whoring too, and then by that anguish and trouble that you have when you see this in your wife, or in your child, you shall be made sensible how grievous it is to my spirit, that you go a whoring from me. Many parents, if they heard that their daughters had dishonoured themselves, oh how would they beat their hands ujjon their breasts, and tear their hair, and in agony cry out, I am undone, I am undone! and though they had never such great estates, they would think they had no comfort in any thing, but would even look upon themselves and their family as utterly ruined. And if you should hear that your wife had played the whore, how would it be as a dagger in your hearts! Are you so sensible of this? then, by the extremity of gi-ief you would experience in such a case, know, that God so grieves when a child of his goes a whoring from him. If his people depart from him, in ways of superstition and idolatry, yea, even in things that otherwise seem to be but small, (here but a circumstance of place is spoken of,) yet the Spirit of God grieves at it, as a husband or father over the dishonour of a wife or daughter. Oh that you would consider that there is this grief in heaven when God sees his people forsaking his true worship! AVe think, indeed, thatmurder and blasphemy are displeasing to God, but we little reflect how the corruption of his worship provokes him. Lat us know, that the great jn-ovocation of the most high God is the corruption of his worship, I mean, when his people shall con’upt his worship any way.

And further, Do your children prove stubborn and rebellious to you? oh how often does the father or mother retu-e into their chamber and bemoan themselves. Oh what a stubborn, rebellious child have we, nothing will reform him, admonitions are vain! Well. are you so sensible of the stubbornness of your children? O consider how sensible God is if you carry yourselves so toward him. If a husband have a wife froward and troublesome, that grieves his spirit and loves him not, he laments his condition, and thinlis

himself one of the most miserable men on the earth. Is this so grievovis to you? oh how grievous is it to Jesus Christ to have his church so to him! And have you any friend that has dealt unfaithfully with you? Such a friend, you say, has dealt unfaithfully with me; was ever any served so? O consider how you have dealt unfaithfully with God; and as your hearts are affected by the falseness of a friend, so does your unfaithfulness go to the heart of God. And thus much for the words under the first consideration, of God’s retributive justice. I will make you sensible, saith God, of your dealings with me; if nothing will do it, it shall be thus, “your daughters and your spouses shall commit adultery.”

II. As that of which they themselves are the cause. Now the people of Israel were the causes of the uncleanness of their daughters and wives, by this their way of false worship, in two respects.

1. By going abroad from their families to hills and moimtains to worship, they afibrded them opportunity meanwhile of committing adulter)-. Calvin observes on the place. As it is in popery when they go a pilgrimage, it is the most opportune time for impure indulgences; so here, when they went unto the hills and mountains to worship, then the unclean places were most frequented. So when husbands and parents go up and down without any lawful call, then their wives and families do oft miscarry. Therefore it should teach them to abide at home until God calls them out: if they have a lawful call, they may trust God with their families; if not, some mischief may befall them before their return.

2. By carrying them into mountains, and grove.s, and under trees, because (as I said before) those places were chosen on purpose, as the fittest for lewdness. It is dangerous for young women to go into such places, and parents and husbands are exceedingly to blame, and it is to be charged as a great evil upon them, when they venture so to expose their daughters or wives to temptation.

Ver. 14. / icill not punish i/onr dam;Iiters u-hen the// commit ichoredom, nor your spouses ulteii tlieij commit adultery: for themselves are separated with ichores, and they sacrifice xrith harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.

This is as severe an expression as any that we have in Scripture; They shall commit whoredom and adultery, yet I will not punish them. Strange! God has tlu’eatcned whoredom and adultery with death, and threatened the priests’ daughtei’s that committed fornication, -nith fire; and this here refers to the priests especially; yet, saith he, I will punish none of them when they commit whoi’edom or adultery.

These words are read by some interrogatively, “WiU I not punish them?” and then they carry another sense; but I think not according to the intention of the Spirit.

Others read these words comparatively, and, I confess, with some probability: I will not punish them, that is, I will not punish them in comparison with you, for jour example makes them what they are, you should restrain them; and though their sin be great, yet, in comparison of you, they shall not be punished at all. Wicked parents look upon their children, when swearers, liars, unclean, as those with whom it will go very ill. Well, it shall go ill with them indeed; but if you be so too, it shall be worse with you. Many wicked parents are loth their chikh-en should be so too; I have known some who have put their children to be educated by puritans: they are wicked themselves, yet their consciences tell them it is not good for their childi’en to be so. But the truth is, if you be wicked and

your children also, though they may perish in their sins, yet you shall perish with a sevenfold destruction.

But thirdly, it is rtad ])lainly by most thus, I will not punish them when they commit adultery, that is, I will show my WTath against you in this, that I will even give up your children and your wives, let them do what they ■vnll, I will not restrain them by any punishment. And this is often the course of God’s judgment against the wicked, that lie will not restrain them in their evil ways. The especial note fi’om these words is:

Obs. 1. It is one of the most fearful judgments of God in the world, not to restrain men irom sinning. Jerome, upon those words in Ezek. vii. 4, “I will not spare,” saith, God does not spare, that he might s])are, he has not mercy, that he might have mercy xipon people; that is, when God intends any good, then he will not spare; he will afflict and chastise those that he loves, but if you be bastards and not children, he cares not for chastising you. As long as a parent regards a child, and intends he should inherit, he corrects him; but when once he has cast him off, and is fully resolved lie shall never inherit, he lets him go on and take his course. So a physician will give a patient jiotions, and bitter potions, while there is hope; but if the disease be grown too strong, and hope depart, he lets him alone: thus God often deals with sinners in this origm, Horn. 8. in world. Origen, in one of his sermons on indign«niu”ipi’itm’- Exodus, quoting this scripture, hath biiem Toctm audirp this expression. Will you hear the tcmble

Ae. Luther, Vie iUi. ll*/-^l,iT -ll

ad quotum pcccitii voice of a provoKed God! ‘• I Will not coimivrt Dcu,. punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adulteiy;” this is the most terrible thing, the greatest imaginable WTath and judgment; here is a terrible voice of God indeed, I will not punish you. So Luther: Woe to those men at whose sins God winketh! It is a fearful judgment to fall into the hands of the living God, but it is a more fearful judgment to fall out of the hands of the living God, in this respect. Many men bless themselves that they can go on in the world, and, although continuing in sin, still prosper and thrive: they do not pray in theii- families as others do, are not so scrupulous in their consciences as others are, not so strict to walk exactly, yet they thrive in their trades, they are as rich, licalthful, have as fine persons and as handsome children, as others; and thereby they arc hardened in tlicir sin. 0 but know, though thou niayst bless thyself in this thing, yet it is the heaviest curse of God that can bo on thee, unless he should send thee quick unto hell. There is no such mark of reprobation as this, for God to suffer a wicked man to prosper in his sin.

Qonndo »i.ierii pec- Jeome observes on these words, ‘Mien oiiocera diriiiij »!■ thou sccst a siuncr flow with wealth, porcniiTet”.Jmi“e when thou seest him boasting of his ^”ju’i.’riSi’a” power, when thou seest him healthy, and SS’’!u.lra’’c“™“’ delighting in his wife, a number of fine mmauonem com- children around him, then say, the threat- ^”’’ cning of God by the prophet Hosea is

fulfilled upon that man.

Thy judgment is very great in this, that the less punishment thou hast now, the more thou art like to nave hereafter. The less punishment, the more sin, and so the more misery. Know that justice will have somewhat, and much too, for the forbearance of her act, of her stroke; and certainly, it were better for thee who art a wicked and ungodly man, that thou shouldst beg thy bread from door to door. Pcrliaps now thou hast great revenues, thou licst .soft and farcst daintily, while others are put to miserable extremities, and yet thou art ungodly and wicked; know, that it were belter for thee, and thou wilt one day say it, and wish it thyself, that thou hadst been as the poor beggar at thy door; and it is God’s wrath upon thee, that thou art hot now

as miserable as they. Let us therefore stop the troubles of our thoughts with tliLs, when we see the wicked, how they prosper in the world, and how vile men are exalted, though they undertake causes which we know are abominable in the eyes of God, and by their iniquities provoke the God of heaven. They are, indeed, ready to take this, their prosperity, as an argument that God approves of their ways, and loves them. O let us not (I say) be troubled at their prosperity, for it is so far from being an ai’gument of God’s approbation of their ways, that it is one of the gi’eatest judgments that can possibly befall them in the world, when God shall say, Let them go on and fill up the measure of their sins; they shall have their heart’s desu’e for a while, and so shall be fattened up to their destruction. This few but the spii’itual will understand. Carnal hearts are ready to call the proud happy, and to think those to be in the best condition that are most prosperous in the world; but this text teaches us the contrary.

“For themselves are separated with whores.” Here interpreters remark, that God charges the persons by way of indignation. As when one man is speaking to another and his anger rises, he turns from him and speaks to some one else; so God seems here to have his anger awakened so against his people, that he turns, as it were, from them, as if he spake to some one else, though indeed he means them; “themselves are separated,” or divided themselves.

Junius reads it, they have separated; and, not improbably, interprets it, they have se])arated fat and plentiful things, the choicest and richest things that they had at home, and set them apart under pretence of consecration to a religious use, and then, when they went to sacrifice, they would eat them among their whores, and so deceive their spouses at home.

Others interpret it thus, they have separated themselves from their God; first in spiritual whoredom, and then from their wives in bodily uncleanncss.

Or else thus: “separated;” that is, they withdraw themselves into secret, where they might not be known, as the filthiness of that sin causes men to dcsu’c concealment; and when they have got into a secret place, or se])arated tlicmselves from all that know them, then they commit impurity; as many men, when they are gone abroad fi’om their own houses, in their journeys, in their inns, that is a fit opportunity for their filthiness.

Thus God gives the reason why their daughters and their wives commit this uncleanncss, because they themselves do so. Hence we may remark,

Obs. 2. When parents are filthy and unclean, what can be expected but that their children should be so too? Take it either with respect to bodily or spiritual unclcanness. In bodily, David commits adultery, and Aninon commits incest: and in spiritual, “The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven,” Jer. vii. 18. If fathers and mothers be idolaters, children will be so too: so it is at this day, the children of those who adhere to the old superstitions, are superstitious likewise; and if the parents be malignauts, it is sti”ange to hear how the children, though young, will speak. AVhich should be a strong caution to all parents to make them take heed what they do before their children: he that sins before a child, sins twice, for the child will do as his father does, he thinks it enough that his father said so, or his father did so. Take heed then how you sin before your children.

The word translated “whores,” has a further signification than our English conveys. According to most interpreters, it presents to us those women that worshipped Baal-pcor, or Priapus, that unclean god. In 1 Kings xv. 13, it is said of Asa, that he took away Maachah his motlicr from being queen: now it is interpreted by some, that he removed her that she might

THE PROPHECn OF HCSEA. not be a special queen in the solemnity of that unclean god Baal-peor, -which idol she had set up in a grove. So then these people separated themselves, not to ordinaiy whores, but to those that were consecrated to the service of that impm-e god, and in his worship committed with them uncleanness.

“Sacrifice with harlots.” If we were to take this merely according to our ti’anslation, “harlots,” then the observation is only this:

Obs. 3. The iilthy and unclean will yet sometimes make some show of reUgion. Harlots, and yet sacrifice! how can these two consist? One woidd thmk harlots should cast off all sacrifice. No; often will the filthy and unclean make a show of religion, thinking to cover all then- impurities with some religious action; as the “strange woman,” in Proverbs, had peace-offerings, and made them but preparations for the commission of uncleanness. What horrible wickedness is this! yet this is not unusual, for many are very devout in some religious duties, and think that thereby they have served God well, given him his portion, and so conceive they may the more indulge the flesh afterward. It is ti-ue we are sinners, and cannot serve God always, but it is an abominable thing to unite impurity and sacrifice.

But the word translated “harlots” here, conveys much more than our English can well express; nwipn “harlots,” is meant of the adultery of the priests with the consecrated ones. This the rather justifies the interpretation of the other word “whores,” for I told you by that was meant those women that worshipped Baal-peor, for there the word signifies the consecrated ones, the holy ones. You will say, How can it be translated harlots then? Yes, by antiphrasis, for so the Scripture expresses things and words, and so other languages too, as wood is called so by a name that comes from light. So there, “holy ones,” that is, as devoted to filthiness as others are consecrated to God, and therefore called holy ones by antiplu’asis. And that, I think, is the meaning of this place; by the priests of Baal-peor are here meant those for whom this people did sepai’ate themselves.

Jerome upon this place remarks, that the Romans, to disgrace the French, used to separate priests of their nation for that idol, and to make them eunuchs; from v,’hence all such priests to that their idol, which resembled the Baal-peor of the Jews, they used to call Gallos, Frenchmen, by way of ignominy upon that nation, for some especial revenge they cherished against them.

Take it thus, then, and it will afford us very profitable instruction. These people were grown so corrupt that they had forsaken the true priests of God, and the prophets of the Lord, and separated themselves from the Lord to join in sacrificing with these filthy priests of Baal-peor, that unclean idol which is termed in Scripture “that shame.”

But how can it be meant of priests, when the word in the Hebrew is in the feminine gender? We answer, because of the effeminateness of these priests, some of them eunuchs, and so sottish and filthy that they had forfeited the very name of men. Tliereforo Aquila renders it, with the changed, so he calls X ““7™/“‘’^ the effeminate; they were changed from men into women: and so the Scripture speaks of men that have lost their ti-ue character, calling them women, or men of womanish spirits, Isa. iii. „^. 12. And so the heathen poet Virsjil, inqui cnim pliryges. mutatiou ot Homer, calls the Trojans ^%mit”’o!>ii (T ‘women, not men, because in character l*xoio’’-, „,. they were rather of the feminine than the masculine gender. Therefore the priests here of that unclean idol are in like manner designated priestesses.

CjTil, Tlieophylact, and others, however, think that

these priests seemed to be men, but were mdeed women. So that by this text is meant persons vilely impure, that were consecrated to be as priests to the service of this unclean idol. Now then we may remark from hence, their degradation in forsaking the priests of the Lord, separating themselves from them and joining with such unclean priests as these of Baal-peor. Here were separatists indeed. Have we not many amongst us at this day as vile and wicked as these, whose hearts, being opposed to the faithful ministers of God, and the purity of God’s ordinances, they sepai’ate themselves to any di’unken, impure, maKgnant priest? It was so here, there were the true priests and ordinances of God in Judah, and yet these men, rather than join in his true service, will separate themselves to these filthy and unclean priests of Baal-peor, and think there is more to be gained by uniting with them, than with the true priests of the Most High. How has God of late discovered the filthiness and malignancy of our superstitious priests, who cared not what became of our liberty as men, orour reUgion as Christians, so they had their lusts gratified! yet how debased are men still, that though faithful and conscientious ministers are sent amongst them who would reveal the mind of Christ and the way of heaven, that they may now know more in one month than before they knew in many years, if they had hearts to hearken to them, yet they will separate themselves, and join rather with such as are not only malignants, but manifestly ungodly in their lives, and commend and love them. Heretofore, when they had but some Sir John, that could only read prayers, sent by the bishop, and godly ministers were tlu’ust out, if men went frorn their parish church to hear a sermon, how did they imme- (ijately exclaim that they were sectaries and schismatics; but now, when men of vile and malignant spirits are by a better authority removed for their wicked lives, and godly and holy men inducted, yet these they will not hear, though it be in then- own parish church; but if a malignant preacher be in the city, to him they will flock. Who is the separatist or schismatic now? They separate themselves now to such men, and think they may hear those by whom they can most profit, that is, those that preach things suitable to their own spirits and inclinations. When the case comes home, how partial are men in their judgments! I know nothing so expressive of the condition of these men as these words, though, as they ai’e read in your books, no such thing appears, but the words, according to the original, signify, separating themselves to unclean priests.

■’■ Therefore the people that do not understand shall fall.” Well might he say, that they are a people that understand not, indeed.

Obs. 4. Idolaters are not an understanding people, they do not understand, they are ignorant people. You will say, Ignorant? many of them are scholars, and learned. But they are ignorant of the ways of God, even their priests, and for the most part the people; and their very design is to bring ignorance into places, that then- idolatrous ways may be the sooner embraced.

“The people that do not understand shall fall.” Understand what? what did not these people understand, that was the cause of their fall? They ilid not understand these things:

1. The desi entertained by Jeroboam and those princes that fo’llowed him. Poor simple people, they were led by vain pretences. Jeroboam pleaded, that he was for the true religion, and the worship of the true God, only he would not have the people fatigued by going up thrice a year to Jerusalem, that was not so necessarv. But iii truth, Jeroboam, notwithstanding all his pretences of worshipping the true God, and being a friend to the ta-ue reUgion, designed to bring them under his own government, and to tyrannize over

them. Now this people did not understand this, they were cnn-ied away with fair words; if Jeroboam made but a show of religion, and professed that he acted merely out of respect and love, and in favour to them; it was” sufficient to blind them, though he designed far otherwise. They did not understand the design of Jeroboam and his princes.

2. That the acccptablencss of God’s worship did not depend upon its outward pomp and splendour, but upon the observation of what God required. They understood not this. They were led away merely with the fair shows and pomp of religion, but understood not that all the acccptablcnes? of divine worship depends on its being a divine ordinance. Jlost people at this day understand not this, and hence great evil ensues.

3. That their safety dejiended more upon the true worship of God, than upon all the politic wisdom that could be. They understood not that their protection depended on God’s service and worshij), but thought to go politicly on, to provide for their own safety, and relied on the wisdom of their wise men.

4. They did not understand, that whatsoever was commanded by their governors, or taught by their priests, yet, if it was against the mind of God, it would not excuse them from judgment and deliver them from the wrath of God,’ though their magisti-ates commanded, and their jiricsts taught it,

They iniderstood not these four things, and therefore they shall fall. This it was that brought down and ruined this people.

There arc divers degrees of not understanding.

1. ■’hen people do not understand merely from want of the means of knowledge. This excuses not vliolly, but they shall even fall though they have no means.

2. A^Tien men have means, yet, through their negligence in the use of them, they do not understand.

3. AA’hen they are not only guilty of negligence, but wickedly oppose and shut their eyes against the means )f knowledge. Then they shaD fall indeed.

4. AATien, ha■ing knowledge heretofore, they now lose it by their often resisting its injunctions, and so become dull in their understandings.

5. ‘When they so provoke God, as that he gives them up to a sottisli spirit, so that they shall not understand, now these fall deepest. A’herc all these five are conjoined, as they arc in many ])laces, surely that people must needs fall. My brethren, have we not cause to fear our not understanding at this day, that in these different points of view we inulcrstand not the vain pretences of our adversaries the Cavaliers, who say,

1. That they fight for religion, and intend nothing but the liberty of the subject. Many ])coplc are led away with these pretences, and understand not that their design is to bring them under .slavery, and to take away their religion: and this blindness is like to cause us to fall.

2. Peojile understand not that the worship of God and the government of the chiu’ch must be according to the word. They think what most suits with the reasons of understanding men is best.

3. People at this day think there is too much to do about religion, and desire us rather to act with jiolicy and provide for ourselves. As for religion, why should Ave injure or trouble ourselves so much about it? we have done so too much already. They think not their safety is in religion, therefore they shall fall.

4. People think the authority of their ministers sufficient sanction. Is it not so w’ith us now? Therefore we have cause to fear that the Lord intends us a grievous fall.

Yea, as those four objects, so the four degrees of vant of understanding.

In many i)laces they have no means, many towns and countries have scarce a sermon in half a year.

In many ))laces where there are most means, there they are negligent of them, rebel’ and shut their eyes against them.

And others that have had knowledge heretofore, have resisted their light, and are grown sottish; yea, it is to be feared that God, in his just judgment, has delivered many amongst us over to a sottish spirit, otherwLsc it is impossible they should remain so ignorant. Is it not a stupid insensibility in men, that after ali the oppression and misen,’ that they have suffered, yet they will not understand, but join with their ojipressors, and lay all the blame upon those that venture their lives to deliver them? That when men come and spoil them of their goods, and ravish theii’ wives and children, that they yet rather exclaim against those that venture their lives to do them good, as if they were the cause of their misery? Surely these people do not understand, and can it be expected but that they should fall, themselves and their posterity, into the depth of the misery of perpetual bondage.

Obs. 5. Idolatrous people shall fall: “They shall fall.” An angel proclaims this, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” It is fallen aheady, my brethren; however idolaters seem to lift up their heads high, yet they are falling, and fall they shall, God has pronounced it, and the time is at hand; they have fallen off from God, and fall they shall by the hand of God, and the prouder they grow the nearer is their fall; pride goes before a fall: while the gospel of Christ and his pure ordinances, that are now so opposed, shall stand, all superstitious ways, and persons, shall fall. It is observable in that l)!ace before named, Rev. xiv. G, an angel flies in the midst of heaven, and preaches the everlasting gospel; and within another verse or two, another angel cries out, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” A’hen Babylon with all their idolatrous ways shall be fallen, then shall the everlasting gospel be ])reached: the gosjiel and the ordinances of Christ shall be everlasting, shall continue for ever; when all superstitious vanities shall have passed away. AVe find it so; however they thought to give perpetuity to their superstitions by all the means that the devil or wicked men could devise, yet have we not found that God has blasted them, and many of them are fallen? and though Ciod brings his i)eople into affliction, yet they shall rise, the ways of God shall rise, Zion shall rise, Babylon shall fall: the people that understand not, they shall fall.

A word or two about the meaning of isaS here rendered “shall fall.” It comes from BaS which dees not occur often in Scripture, and I find divei-s translations of it. Some render it. shall be beaten; others, shall be brought into captivity; and others again, and not improi)crly, shall be perplexed. The word signifies, to be brought into perplexity and doubt with respect to the course one ought to jnirsue; such is the force of the word: I say, by their hesitancy, and being ])erplexed in their counsels, they come to stimible and fall. This people that do not understand shall thus fall. Indeed this translation is more proper and suitable to the words before; they do not understand, therefore they must needs be perplexed in their ways, and not know which way to go, and therefore must fall: as a man in the dark stumbles; so when men have left the true light and are in the dark, they .shall fall, and when fallen they shall be perplexed in the misery that ensues. From whence,

Obs. G. It is a fearful judgment of God, and a forerunner of a grievous fall, to leave men to perplexed counsels. AA’hen men are perplexed in their counsels, utterly uncertain what measures to adopt, it is a sure forerunner of falling into grievous misery. In Isa. xix. H, the Lord threatens Egj-pt that he will send a

perverse spirit in the midst thereof, anil they shall enin every work, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit; they shall err in their counsels, and this from a perverse spirit. The Lord often sends a spiiit of perplexity and perverseness in judgment upon men; and what ensues? they reel and stagger up and do-wn in their counsels, first have recourse to one expedient and then another, and so bring on themselves a great deal of sorrow and trouble. The Lord grant our enemies these perplexed counsels, and deliver us from them.

Obs. 7. ■^^len the wicked are fallen, they shall be so insnared and perplexed that they shall not know what to do. Idolatrous and superstitious men, and those whom God leaves to themselves, are in miserable perplexity when fallen, they are as those poor blinded men in “2 Kings vi., whom Elisha led to Samaria instead of Dothan. What miserable perplexity were they in when they found themselves in Samaria among their enemies! So when men are left to themselves, and God has brought them into difficulties, the fruit of then’ own perplexed counsels, how grievous will it be! On the contrary, when a man walks according to the rule of God’s word, and in the uprightness of his heart desires to be directed agreealjly thereto, though such a one should meet with trouble and fall into affliction, he need not be perplexed; quietness and peace shall possess his spirit in the midst of his trials, because he has followed God, and walked according to his rule. It may be, he knows not God’s end, lie understands not the depth of his ways, in bringing him into affliction; yet, having endeavoured in the sincerity of his heart to walk according to God’s will, he understands this much, to stay his perplexed soul on God.

Ver. 15. Though thou, Israel, p’.ay the harlo/, yel let tiot Judah offend; and come not ije unto Giigul, neither go ye up to Beth-men, nor su-ear, The Lord liveth.

The close of this chapter is a warning to Judah to take heed that she sin not as Israel sinned, in regard of the vileness of their transgressions, the fearfulness and suddenness of their judgment.

“Though thou, IsraeL” Thou wretched, wicked, stubborn, stout-hearted Israel, that no means will reclaim, though thou “play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend.”

The word translated “offend,” is from ::rs and signifies also to desolate, because sin brings desolation. The Hebrews have divers words to express at once sin and punishment, because they are so near akin. Israel plays the harlot, and so is like to bring desolation on herself, but let not Judah likewise offend and bring the same on herself.

The prophet Hosea was sent especially to Israel, to the ten tribes, but here we see he turns his speech to Judah.

06*. 1. Ministers should especially look to those whom they are bound unto by office, but yet so as to labour to benefit others when occasion offers. And not only ministers, but others likewise. “We should all purpose good, especially to those that are under our charge, but yet neglect no opportunity to benefit all.

Oba. 2. ^^’hen we see our labour lost on those we desire most to benefit, we should try what we can do to others. If these get not good by our ministry, by our admonitions, exhortations, and counsels, yet the Lord may bless our endeavours upon those; let us try what we can do there.

“Let not Judah offend.” Let not Judah do as Israel did. There was a great deal of danger that Judah should he insnared and polluted with Israel’s idolatry, which is the ground of this seasonable admonition of the prophet. Though Israel do thus and thus, yet let not Judah do so; as if he should say, Judah is indeed in

great danger of being defiled by Israel, and that in many respects.

1. They lived near to them; and there is a great deal of danger in living near to idolaters or wicked persons. All sin, especially idolatry, is as leaven that will spread: and you may see the danger that there was in living so near them, in Ezek. xvi. 46, where, as one special reason of the iniquity of Jerusalem, it is said, “Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters:” that was an especial reason of the iniquity of Jerusalem, their elder sister, Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, were on the left, and their younger sister, Sodom, on the right hand. To be near idolaters and wicked ones is very dangerous; much more to be in the same town, in the same family, where superstitious and wicked jiersons are, there we had need to take heed to ourselves, for there is much danger.

2. They were brethren, and so the danger of being di’awn aside by them was the gi’cater. If you have a kinsman, if you have one that is near to you, not only in place, but in nature or affection, that is superstitious, take heed of being defiled by such. Oh how many have by this means suffered shipwreck of their faith, and been drawn aside from the ways of God! Hence arises the severity that God would have used against a brother or a friend that seeks to entice us to idolatry, because the Lord sees there is so much danger in it: Deut. xiii. 0, S, 9, “If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying. Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: but thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death.” Though he be thy brother, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend that is as thine own soul, thou shalt not pity him, but thou shalt seek the very death even of such a one, if he seek to di’aw thee into ways of idolatry. Because God saw the danger, therefore the severity of this admonition.

3. Israel was the greater number. Israel was ten tribes, but Judah and Benjamin only two, little Benjamin together with Judah were but a few in comparison of Israel. To di-aw others to then- ways, idolaters often plead their number. The whole world admire after the beast; the world and the nations do, and that is a mighty argument to draw: the greater part of people think that this mode of worship is the best, there are/but a few, and they inconsiderable, that are opposed. No question but it was theii’ argument here, as if they should say, AMiat! do not ten tribes know the mind of God as well as those two? Is there any reason why we should think that the ten tribes, the greater part of the children of Abraham, should not know the mind of God? It is the argument at this day, with many that are superstitious and would go on in their old idolatry. They that are against such ways are but a few, an inconsiderable ]iart)-, but the greatest in number and influence of all sorts, you see, favour us. “We are to take heed of this. Oh let not Judah, though Israel be the gi-eater number, follow a multitude to do evil.

4. Israel was rich and in a flourishing estate, therefore there was danger that Judah might be carried away by them. Israel carried things before them in outward pomp and glory, and we know that men are soon brought to close with these; and the way of Israel, when Hosea prophesied, did much thrive and prosper, Israel prevailed mightily in the world, Mien Ephraim spake there was trembling; therefore it was a wonder-AX EXPOSITION OF

ful grace of God to keep Judah from following their exatui)lc. AVe find by experience, let even a persecuted cause be but once countenanced in the world, and men will cry it up; do we not see at this day, that those things which before men would not profess, because of

Sersecution, they now suddenly view in a different ght and applaud? The very things before persecuted, if once countenanced by the great ones and by multitudes, how will men praise them! Things that their hearts opposed, and against which they argued and reasoned, yet now because they have more public countenance, their judgments are changed; and, agreeably to the deceit of men’s hearts, the way that is most countenanced in the world, that way they will adopt, especially in the worship of God.

5. 1 rael had many colours and pretences for what they did. They did not ])rofess themselves idolatrous and su’jierstitious; no, they professed that they sen’ed the Lord, the true Jehovah, and the difference between them and Judah was but the circumstances of place; You must worship God at Jerusalem, and we would have you worship at Dan and Beth-cl, and those images that are set up, are merely intended to remind you of the God whom you worship.

Obs. 3. The nearer “a false worship approaches to a true one, the more dangerous it is. Israel came nearer to the true worship of God than the heathens: now the prophet saith not, Though the heathens be idolaters, yet let not Judah be so too; but, “Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend.” There was more danger that Judah should bo di-awn aside by Israel, than that they shoidd be drawn aside by any of the heathen. And so there is more danger that we, at this day, should be di-awn aside by those that join with us in many things that are right, than by papists, who are hateful to us, and whose waj s we see to be abominable. There is not so much danger, especially for those that profess godliness, of being drawn aside by those who grossly violate the laws of God, as by brethren that join with us in many things that are right, and come very near to the true worship of God.

Well, Judah must not do so, though Israel did. As there were many things wherein Judah was in great danger to be drawn aside by Israel, so there were many arguments why Judah should not do as Israel did.

1. God had graciously distinguished Judah from Israel by abundance of mercy, and Judah must not now make himself like Israel in sin, seeing God had made them unlike in mercy. God had in mercy made a difference between Judah and Israel, let not then the wickedness of their hearts make them similar. God had kept Judah to the house of David and to his temple, to be his own people.

2. Judah had more means than Israel had, therefore Judah’s sin would be more vile than Israel’s was: for Judah had the (rue priests of God to teach them, had the temple and the right ordinances of his worship among them; therefore, for Judah to be di-aTlni aside to the ways of Israel would be a greater sin in them. Whatsoever Israel does, that has in it none but superstitious, idolatrous priests, priests made of the lowest of tile people, Israel, that has in it but the calves, and not the right ordinances of God, w hatsoever they do, yet let not Judah, surrounded with privileges, offend. Those that enjoy God’s ordinances in a true way, should take heed of doing as other people do.

3 Judah was not compelled by her governors to act as Israel, for Israel, you know, by Jeroboam and other of the princes, was compelled to adopt these measures, and they might pretend that it was for their own safety, for the preservation of their lives and their estates; but no such necessity lay on Judah, for God many times sent it godly and gracious princes, and there was not such compulsion used, they were not so

necessitated (if we may speak of a necessity to embrace evil) to adopt false worship as Israel was. AATien God gives peojjle liberty, that they need not (except they will) be idolaters, for them to close with ways of. idolatry and superstition is more sinful. True, heretofore there might have been some excuse for us, we were forced to it, it was as much as our estates were worth, we must have been east into prison and persecuted, and that made us do that we drd. The Lord be merciful to us, for that we, rather than endure sufferings, would join in the prevalent superstitions. But now, through God’s mercy, we are delivered from that bondage, and therefore our sin would be so much the greater, were our hearts to cleave still to those beggarly elements.

4. God had no other people upon the face of the earth but Judah and Israel to worship him. Well, Israel is gone from him; and will Judah go too? what will then become of the worship of God? A mighty argument to those that profess godliness, to keep them from the ways of false worship and wickedness in any kind. If you too depart from God as others do, what honour will he have in the world? what will become of his service? Is not God worthy of all honour and of all ser ice from all his creatures? It is a pity there .should be any creature in the world that do not honour and serve the blessed and infinite God; but we see the most do not, and there are but a few, a handful of people, that regard his worship; and shall this few, this handful, forsake God? Shall Judah go away too? then the Lord will have no church, no worship, no service in the world.

5. God had much mercy in store for Judah, more than for Israel, therefore “let not Judah offend;” for Christ was to come fiom that tribe, and the Lord promised, when he had said he would reject Israel, to show mercy unto Judah. Though Judah was carried into ea])tivity as well as Israel, yet God was with Judah, and promised them a return: but he never promised a like return to Israel. Therefore, since God had the more mercy in store for Judah, “let not Judah offend.”

Hence we should

Obs. 4. We must not do as others do, especially with respect to God’s worship; we must not make the example, even of our brethi-en, nor of those that jirofess religion, nor of those that prosper in the world, precedent or rule in matters coimected with God“s worship. Indeed the consideration, how others sin against God, should be so far fi-om being an argument to di’aw us to sin, that it ought to be the greatest to deter us. Every sin against God is a striking at God. It is true, if a common enemy come into a city or town, every one desu-es to have a “blow at him; and when men make the example of others an argument for their sin, they deal with God as with a common enemy. AVhen thou pleadest, that such and such sin, therefore I may sin, thou dost ill reality say. Such and such strike at God, let me too have a blow at him. Oh take heed of pleading the example of others in ways of wickedness, and remember this one expression, that thou doest in effect as if thou shouldst say. Others about me strike at God, and I must have my blow at him too as well as they. In any sin we must take heed of example, but above all in matters of worship. Hence, Deut. xii. 30, “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following the nations, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after tlicir gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods P even so will I do likewise.” Take heed, saith God, thou dost not so much as inquire how these people serve their gods, and say, I will do so likewise. God would not have us use that argument. Take heed therefore of ])teading thus. Other people and nations do so and so, why may not we? It is evil to plead example in

matters of worship, I mean especially that worship which here Judah is forewanied of, that is, -n-orsliip by institution. In any thing else there may be more plea for example than in instituted -worship; and the reason is this, because that other things, as the moral law, are in some measure -s^Titten in man’s heart, by the law of nature; but institutions depend merely upon God’s revealed will. Therefore, though we might have a plea to follow the example of others in point of morality, yet, with regard to institutions, we must be sure to keep to the rule of God’s word; to look above all tilings to what is written, and never to plead example as a precedent.

Obs. 5. It goes nearer to the heart of God when his people offend, than when others offend. “Yet let not Judah offend.” Judah was the only people of God, the only true church that remained in the world. ATien God’s own people offend, oh that goes nearer to the heart of God than when others offend! As Christ said to his disciples, “Will ye also go away?” and as Julius Ccesar said to Brutus in the senate, when he came with a dagger to stab him, What! and thou, my son Brutus? so saith God, when those that are professors of religion, that are his own peojjle, and near unto him, when they sin against the Lord, What! and you also? will you also come and strike me? There are many reasons for this.

1. There is more unkindness in then- sins. Others provoke the Spirit of God, but God’s saints grieve his Spirit; for gi’ief proceeds from love, and the more God loves any, the more then- offences grieve him. As the more you love any object, the more it goes to yoiuheart if they do any thing to incur your just displeasure.

2. There is more unfaithfulness in their sins. They have dedicated themselves to God in a manner different from others, and the heart of God reposes more confidence in them. What! thou, my friend, that hast eat bread at my table, wilt thou lift up thy heel against me? And tsa. lxiii. 8, I said, “They are children that will not lie.” God confideth in them, and for them to be unfaithful, for Judah to sm, this goes to the heart of God indeed.

3. God’s name is more polluted by them. The wicked offend the will, but do not, so much as his own people, pollute the name, of God.

4. The excellency of their graces makes their sins worse. As spots of diit on sackcloth is not so great an evil, as when on cambric or lawn, and some garments, as yom- safeguards, that you make of coarse materials, you care not so much though they be soiled and dirty: so the wicked are of a coarse thread, their spirits are little worth, therefore though they be sullied and defiled it matters little; but the spu-its of the saints are renewed, they have the image of God impressed, therefore a spot on them is much worse. As a spot of dirt on an ordinary deal board is of little consequence, but if there be a cmious image or picture di’awn on a table, to have that besmeared is a great deal worse; so if thou art godly, thou hast the image of God cb-awn on thy soul, and a sin, a spot in thee, is worse than in others. Therefore, whatever others do, yet let God’s people take heed to themselves that they do not offend.

Y’ea, the saints of God, they are the Very salt of the earth, the very light of the W’Orld, they are those for whose sake God continues the world in that way he does, they are the supporters of all; and if they depart from God also, what will become of the world?

5. They go nearer to the heart of the saints than the sms of others. The sin of one saint aft’ects the heart of another saint more than the sin of any other man doth. Ofl’ences of brethren amongst brethren are the greatest of all. As Samson said to those that T;ame to bind him. Do not you bind me; I care not for the Phihstines so much, only do not you bind me: so all the railings and persecutions of ungodly men are not

so much as the unkindness of the saints. Unkindnesses from such as we look upon as godl)’, go nearer to the heart of the godly, than all the railing and persecutions of ungodly men. If some godly saints should suffer opposition, yea, even persecution, from such as they esteem godly, oh how would that cut their hearts! their complaints to their Father of this would be sore complaints indeed.

Now all this might be thus applied to us at this time: Though prelates, and such as were superstitious and corrupt, were bitter against and did persecute my servants, yet let not those who have professed godliness, let not those who have been painful and laborious ministers, let not those whose consciences have been heretofore in many respects tender, let not them offend by any bitterness, or any harshness against their bretlu’en: this, beyond all, will grieve the Spii’it of God, and distress the heart of the saints. AU the persecutions of all the prelates and papists, and of all your popish priests, and such kind of men, would not be a thousandth part so much as any bitterness or harshness toward the saints from the spirits of those who are regarded as godly; especially such as heretofore have professed so much tenderness of conscience, and have thereby suffered so much, because they could not do what was enjoined; if they now, after having got liberty to their own consciences, should become harsh and bitter against others that are godly, oh how sad would this be to God and to his people! Oh, whatever Israel do, “let not Judah offend.”

‘• And come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven.”

There are two things to be inquu-ed here.

I. “ATiat this Gilgal and Beth-aven were.

II. The reason of the prohibition, why they must not come to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-aven.

The words are ordinarily read and passed over without any great observation, but they contain much of God’s mind.

I. Gilgal was a place in the borders of Israel, famous heretofore for many things. I know no place, except Jerusalem, that there are more glorious things spoken of than of Gilgal. It was famous for these things.

1. That great circumcision after Israel came out of the wilderness, took place there, when God “rolled away “their- reproach; whence the name Gilgal. For during the forty years that Israel was in the wilderness, none of their childi’en were circumcised, God being so indulgent to his people for that time, because they were to remove up and domi, they knew not how soon, according to his requii-ements, and if their childi-en were cux’umcised they could not so readily have been can-ied with them. But yet it seems it was an affliction, for God saith,” I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you;” and therefore commanded that they should be circumcised. Now, when they came over Jordan, as soon as they were about to set foot on the land of Canaan, then God required them to cu-cumcise their cliikb-en. And if we observe it, it was a strange command, for they were now come into the very mouth of their enemies, and all the people of Canaan, all the kings and princes of the country, were gathered together to fight against them; yet now they must circumcise all those under forty years, even then- fighting men, who had been in the wilderness so long, though they were in the veiy mouth of their enemies; and by reason of the soreness attendant on cu-cumcision, they would be unable to stir out against them to battle; notwithstanding all this, they must be cu-cumcised. Thus we see God, when he pleases, will have his worship, rather than our own safety, regarded. And upon this the place was called Gilgal: “This day,” saith God,” have I rolled away the reproach of Egy-i]t from off you. ■Mierefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto

this day,” Josh. v. 0. The word is from SSj which signifies to roll; the Hebrew letter Gimel being doubled and intei-posed, it forms Gilgal. That is the first thing observable of this place, that there was the great circumcision.

2. The first passovor kept in the land of Canaan was observed there, as apjiears from Josh. v. 10.

3. In Gilgal the manna ceased, and the people were fed with the bread of the wheat of the country of Canaan, Josh. V. 12; God there giving them that first possession of Canaan, to “eat of the fruit of the land,” and intimating that they should not henceforth need such extraordinary providence of God to feed them by manna.

4. Joshua pitched there those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, for a memorial and perpetual remembrance of that great deliverance given them by God, in drying up the waters of Jordan from before them until they were jiassed over, as appears, Josh. iv. 20.

5. Joshua himself, together with the camp, kept much in Gilgal, and that after even Jericho and Ai were taken and the five kings slain. Josh. x. 6. Yea, after the whole country was possessed, yet still he kept at Gilgal, together with the camp, as appears from Josh. xiv. 6.

6. At Gilgal the angel of God appeared to Joshua, Josh. V. 13, and told him he was captain of the host of the Lord, and bade him loose his shoes from off his feet, for the place whereon li£ stood was holy.

7. At Gilgal Saul was anointed king, and thither he and Samuel often repaired, 1 Sam. xi. 15.

•S. Gilgal was the ])lace for sacrificing, and the tabernacle was much there, as appears, 1 Sam. x. S; xv. 21. And ver. 33 of the same chapter, when Samuel hewed Agag in pieces in Gilgal, the text saith, “It was before the Lord.”

9. Elijah and Elisha came often to Gilgal and projihesied, as 2 Kings ii. 1; iv. 38. Thus you see how famous Gilgal was, and yet though in these nine particulars a ])lace of such renown, God gives his peo])le a charge, that of all places they must not come to Gilgal. I will give you the reason of the prohibition presently, but I must first tell you what Befh-aven was.

I5eth-aven was no other than that town which so often in Scripture is called Beth-el, that is, “the house of God,” a name given to it by Jacob, on God’s appearing to him when he fled because of his brother tsau, Gen. xxviii. This place had before been called Luz, from the abundance of almond trees which were there, the word Luz signifying an almond tree; but on God’s appearing to Jacob the name was changed, and it was called Beth-el, “the house of God:” and a very sweet note we may have from thence, and that is, that God’s apijcaring to his people in any place puts more honour on it than all the pleasant fruits that can grow in it. A garden or orchard filled with almond trees, and the most [ileasant fruits imaginable, yet are not, and should not be, so delightful to us, nor would they be if our hearts were right, as the house of CJod, where God appears. If God appear to us in any place, even a wilderness, it should be esteemed more than the most pleasant garden in the world, where we have not the like manifestation. God’s appearing makes that ))lace the house of God, and renders it far more tlelightful than all the beautiful and pleasant fruits in the world possibly can do. Thus you see what both ])Iaccs were; but now they are strictly charged not to go thither. The reason of the change of the name from Beth-el to Beth-aven I shall show you presently, in explaining why they must not come to Gilgal nor to Beth-aven.

Now the reason why they must not come thither was this, because though they were such famous places before for God’s true worsHip, yet now they were become

the chiefest places for idolatry in the whole land, therefore there is a charge here not to come to Gilgal nor to Beth-aven. So in Amos v. 5, you have the like charge almost in the same words, “Seek not Beth-cl, nor enter into Gilgal;” there it is called Beth-el: Though (saith God) it takes the name from my house, and there was once a glorious manifestation of mine there, yet now do not seek to Beth-el, do not so much as enter into Gilgal.

That both these places were now very corrupt by idolatr)’, I will make apparent. As I have showed you how famous these places were before, soj will show you how corrupt they afterward became. As to Gilgal, it appears plainly in Hos. ix. 15, “All their iniquity is in Gilgal,” above all places there is the greatest iniquity committed; and “there I hated them.” It was the place where God loved his people and manifested himself to them, but now, “there I hated them,” I saw so much wickedness therein. And this conniption was of early date, for in Ehud’s time, the third judge from Joshua, idols were then begun to be set up in Gilgal: thus Judg. iii. 19 saith, that Ehud “turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal;” now o«?“DS translated “quarries,” some render idols, “from the idols;” it signifies also to engrave, he came from the engravings. There were idols at Gilgal then. And the reason of this corruption there was, that Gilgal had been an eminent place, and accounted very holv, because of the great things that had been done there; upon which they set up their images in it, and regarded the place with much superstitious respect and honour. Their respect to the place arose from God’s often appearing there, and the great things that had been done in it, and now they began to think the place essentially holy, and so abused it. Hence,

06.S’. 6. Men are prone to abuse places, esteeming them holy, because of some special things done in them. We see papists do so at this time, regarding the sepulchre of Christ; oh what a deal of stir was there about going to visit it! And the very cross whereon Christ was crucified, what a stir was there about that! as if it were more holy than any other piece of wood; one chip of it was counted worth I know not how much. And the sepulchres of the martyrs and cells of the monks, men have gone many a sore journey to visit. This is the same will-worship as existed amongst the people of the Jews. “Whereas, the truth is, that it is not the place that can sanctify a work, except it be appointed thereunto by God’s institution; but if there be any sanctity in a place, it is sanctified by the work, and not the work by the place; and if the work do sanctify it, it is but for the ])resent, during the performance of the holy duties. AVe may say this is the house of God, where the congregation meet for performance of holy duties, but it is so only in regard of the work; ^Yhen the work is done there remains no impression of holiness on the place, as if God’s worship in any other ])lace were not as acceptable. This was the vain opinion of the Jews, they therefore abused Gilgal because such great things had been done there, and God so much the more hated it; I charge you, saith he, come not to Gilgal, that superstitious i)iacc. They thought, because it was a place eminent for manv manifestations of God, it was therefore the more holy; I do therefore abhor it, saith God.

The reason why they must not come to Beth-aven ajipears from the change of the name; it was once Beth-el, and now it is Beth-aven, and the difference betwixt these two names, Beth-el and Beth-aven, is wide and great; Beth-cl is the house of God, and Beth-aven is the house of iniquity, the house of vanity, the house of labour, and the house of affliction, for it signifies all these. That which was my house, which I did once own, being corrupted, is no other but the house of

iniquity and vanity, and the house that brings affliction. Beth-aven was one of the places where Jeroboam set up one of his calves, and in this he took advantage of the opinion that the people entertained of the holiness of that place, thinking thereby to prevail with the people so much tire more: now God charges them that they should not come thither. There was indeed another town, as in Josh, vii., called Beth-aven, but generally that by interpreters is understood as different from Beth-el; but this town here is no other than that Beth-el of which we have such frequent mention in the Scripture. Some, as Aquila and Symmachus, render the word Beth-aven, Domus mulilis, an unprofitable place, for indeed sin and idolatry make places unprofitalile. Whence,

Obs. 1. We must not ajjproach places calculated to draw’ us into sin, especially to false worship. Places dangerous for bodily pollution we must shun. Prov. v. 8, “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house.” Do not come so much as nigh her door. Say not. Why may not I go such a way? may not I go by her house? No, you must not go by her house, nor by that way that leads to her house. This is a strange admonition, you will say. Mark the words that precede it, in the Tth verse, “Hear me now therefore, O ye childi’en, and depart not from the words of my mouth.” What are the words of his mouth? “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house.” Thus wisdom herself counsels us. Many, however, think they may allow themselves to come near a temptation, near to such a place, and many have come so near that they have fallen into the pit. As sometimes in your houses, when you light a candle, you see moths and flies that will flutter up and down the light, and at first they will keep at some distance, and then approach nearer, till at length they singe theii- wings and perish: so it is with many; at first they think they will not do such a thing, Oh! God forbid they should do so and so; but they will come nigh a temptation, and be tampering with it, till at length they are insnared by it and destroyed. It is dangerous to indulge our curiosity in visiting places of idolatry, and going to see mass, and the fashions of superstitious coimtries. Dinah went thus abroad, but she came home dishonoured: so there are many that will go abroad to see the fashions of countries out of mere curiosity, (I speak not of going when God calls us to it,) it is just in God that they should come home maimed and despoiled. In the Lord’s prayer we pray that God would not lead us into temptation. How do men mock God when they pray to God daily, “Lead us not into temptation;” yet will venture on temptations, frequent haunts of impurity, and go to many places where they know there will be wicked company; yea, even thrust themselves into it needlessly, with this pretence alone, they will take heed to themselves, and they mean no hurt! When you are tempted to go to places of sin, to theatres, and” scenes of vice, satisfy not yourselves with this plea, I mean no hurt: have you any call from God for this? can you apjjrove it before God, and say. Lord, thou hast called me hither? I suppose you have heard of that story that Tertullian has of a Christian woman, who being at a play became possessed of a devil; and other Christians coming to cast him out, asked the evil spirit how he durst possess one that was a Christian? he answered, I found her in my own place: so if we would take heed of the devil, let us take heed of wicked places.

Obs. S. Places corrupted lose their honour. Rome formerly was a famous chuixh, as in Rom. i. we find that the fiiith of Rome was spread abroad throughout the world; and so they will yet plead for the glory of Rome, because once it w-as famous. But it is no matter what it has been, what is it now? suppose it has been the seat of Peter, what is it now? If once they

are corrupt in themselves, they lose the honour of what once they had. Oh let us take heed to ourselves also in this. True, England has also been a place renow-ned for religion, and travellers that have come hither have blessed themselves, and blessed God for seeing what they have seen, they never saw so much of God as in England: but if we shall corrupt our ways and become idolatrous and superstitious, we may, by God’s just judgment, be made as infamous and vile as any people on the face of the earth. And so of particular persons, that heretofore have had much honour among the saints, men of admu-able parts and very useful to the church, it may be, temptation prevails so much with them, tells them. You have had such a name, you have done such and such things, and now may be quiet, you cannot but be esteemed for what you have done. But let a man in his younger days or afterward act never so worthily in the church of God, or commonw-ealth, if he decline afterward he loses all his honour, both with God and men, and may be as unsavoury salt, spui-ned out and trodden under foot of men; as Gilgal and Beth-aven, though honoured before, yet now the people are charged not to come to them. One would have blest himself to be in the company and families of some men: but now they are grown so sapless in their spirits, so carnal, so malignant, superstitious, and vain, that it is dangerous now to associate with them; we may even hear a voice from God calling to us. Go not into such a man’s company, as hero. Go not to Gilgal. Thus you have the mind of God in these words opened to you, “Come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Beth-aven.” There follows,

“Nor swear. The Lord liveth.” Swearing in itself is lawful, yea, it is a part of the solemn worship of God, when God requires it; and it constitutes such a part of God’s solemn worship, as that sometimes it is put in Scripture for the whole worship of God, Psal. lxiii. 12; Isa. xix. 18. Therefore oaths are to be esteemed so much the more sacred: for as God puts such an honour on prayer, that sometimes the whole worship of God is called prayer, “He that calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved;” “My house shall be called the house of prayer.” So God honours oaths, that all his worship has sometimes the name of an oath. Therefore the abuse of oaths is the more vile; and when swearing is requisite, it should onljr be by the name of the Lord; we should swear by the Lord when it is lawful to swear, and in no other way, for by this we acknowledge the Lord to be the searcher and judge of all hearts, the all-seeing God, fit to witness to all men’s ways, and to be an avenger of all their unfaithfulness. And here is the reason that we must swear by none but by God, because in swearing (I say) we acknowledge him we swear by to be the searcher of our hearts, the witness of all our secrets, and the supreme judge if we be un — falthful: now this honour, whether secret or o])en, is only due to God. God esteems it highly, and will not give it to another. And when we do swear by his name, the life of God is the greatest title we can give him. It is the greatest oath of all; God himself doth often swear by his life; and the angel, by the living God. Ciod loves that his creature should acknowledge him to be the living God for ever, that is, living to reward that which is good, and to revenge that which is evil. And therefore, Jer. iv. 2, there is an injunction, “Thou shalt swear. The Lord liveth,” but it must be “in truth, in righteousness, and in judgment.” And indeed it is God’s mercy to us, that he will grant us the use of his name, that “he is willing to be called to witness to our affairs.

But then you will say, Why doth God forbid it? In that place of Jeremiah you see it is, “Thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth;” and here, “nor swear. The Lord liveth.” How shall we reconcile these? Thus; that God

would not have his name and this his solemn worship abused by idolaters. AVhen they were before their idols, yet still they would make use of God’s name, and would seem to honour him; Oh, Jehovah liveth, we acknowledge him, and honour him as a living God. This was the vain show of those idolaters, who, though they forsook the true worship and commandments of God, yet would seem to revere him much; “The Lord liveth,” and we desu-e to honour this living God. Now, saith God, why do you pursue such idolatry as this, and take mv name into your mouths? what have you to do to take my name into your mouths, seeing you hate to be reformed? I will have none of this honour from you, saith God, you shall not swear any more, “The Lord liveth.” Many superstitious ])ersons will make much use of the titles of God, and employ many expi-essions that carry a great air of devotion; they will cry out. Our blessed Saviour, Our Lord and Saviour, and, The blessed God; but God cares for none of these, while they worship him according to the traditions of men, after their own inventions: God cares not for all the seeming honour they render him, for all their lip service; let them ap])ear to men to be never so devout, God rejects those devotions, when they reject his pure and sincere worshlj). God loves not to have his worship mixed. In Zeph. i. 5, God charges them with swearing by the Lord and by Malcham; what is the meaning of that? Malcham there signifies a king, for such is the meaning of the Hebrew; and it seems, that though it is true they would sometimes call their idols by the name of king, Hojwris gratia, by way of respect, yet that in this place more is intended, namely, that they would worship God and worship their king too, they would swear by God and by Malcham, they made the honour paid to their lung come too near the honour rendered to God; this seems here to be specially intended. It is true, both are to be honoured, but one is to be honoured more than the other, and the true distance between them is duly to be observed; we must not swear by God and swear by Malcham, much less prefer the will of our JIalcham, our king, before the will of our God. God cai’es not for any honour given to him in common with others. It is true indeed, God rejects not the worshii) of his saints because of some mixtures of evil, for there are none that worshi]) him so as not to mix some sin with it; but such as choose to themselves some way of sin, that set it up in their hearts and lives, and then think it sufficient to yield God some outward service, and expect to put him off with that, while at other times they follow their own lusts, such worslii]) God rejects: therefore saith the Lord here to these idolaters, “You shall not swear, The Lord liveth.”

Ver. 16. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

Here, first, Israel, the ten tribes, is compared to a heifer, and »o “a backsliding heifer.” A heifer, that noted the wantonness of Israel. And here is one argument why Judah must not offend as Israel doth; Let not Judah offend as Israel doth, for Israel is a backsliding heifer: Israel, through his sin, has brought himself to be a vile, wanton heifer; but the emblem of Judah is to be a lion: Gen. xlix. 9, “Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse hira up?” Judah should not refuse the yoke through wantonness aiul perverscness, but through a magnanimous spuit, he should not be willing to be brought under the yoke of bondage. Israel is as a heifer, that through wantonness refuses to be brought under the yoke; but let not Judah do thus, for Judah is as a lion: and although Judah be a

lion, yet he should come under God’s command, and be subject to him; but when it comes to be in bondage to men, and that in matters of religion, Judah should have a magnanimous, lion-like spirit, and cast off the yoke: Let not Judah be like Israel; Judah is as a lion, Israel as a heifer.

And the word fliiD which is translated backsliding, Cometh of “no signifying perverscness, as well as backsliding. It is translated in Scripture, stubbornness, rebellion, as in Deuteronomy, about the stubborn and rebellious child; and many other scriptures might be shown how this word is understood otherwise than here. Israel is a stubborn, a rebellious, a perverse people, therefore let not Judah be so. And I find the Seventy translate it thus, ?o/ialif Trapoipuiffa, that is, Israel, the ten tribes, were a stung bullock, Jutencaoeslro percila, as if by a kind of witchery, or by the bite of some venomous thing, they had been excited to fury or madness: such is the force of the word, according to their ti-anslation. There is a great deal of difference between the wantonness of a beast, and a beast that runs up and down in a fury and madness, as being bit with a mad dog. Thus this jieople was. Ephraim goes on madly: as many wicked men go on in ways apparently against light and conscience, and against the word, though they know it will prove to be their eternal ruin and destruction; conscience tells them so, yet they go violently on, in a madness and rage, even down to the pit. This was Ephraim’s condition here.

And that which made Ephraim do so, was his prosperity. Ephraim was grown jjrosperous, and had plenty of food, was fed lull and large, and that made them go on madly m the ways of wickedness and sin. That was now fulfilled of Ephraim which was prophesied of him, Deut. xxxii. 15, “Thou art waxen tilt, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness: then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Hock of his salvation.” Oh, when a people is waxen fat and grown prosperous, then they kick and spurn, and forsake God that made them, and lightly esteem the Kock of their salvation; God and his truth, his saints and his ordinances, are nothing to them, they lightly esteem them; why? because they are waxen fat, they are in their prosperity. Many men on theii’ sick beds highly esteem the ministers of God, and his word and worship, and exclaim then. Oh send for such and such to come to us: but when they are in prosperity, all these are forgotten. This was the condition of Ephraim. Where have you a man almost, but grows wanton in prosperity, except God comes in with abundance of his grace? Judah was almost in the same state; though here the Lord would not have Judah to be like Ephraim, as a wanton heifer, spuming and kicking with the heel, yet it appears in Jer. ii. 24, that Judah was not much dissimilar: Judah is there comjiared to “a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snutfeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves,” to take her when she is full of spu-it and strength, and there is no dealing with licr; but, saith God, “in her month they shall find her,” when she is more weakened, then “they shall find her:” so many men; take them when swollen with pride and prosperity, and there is no dealing with them; but when God has tamed them by affliction, then you may talk with them, and then they will hear you.

But further, the word translated “heifer” here, is in the feminine gender, though s])okcn of the ten tribes, because, being stubborn and raging mad in wickedness, though they seemed to themselves and others to be full of fiery courage, yet the Lord looks upon them as ])eople base and effeminate, poor and weak. The stubborn and ])roud always think themselves to possess more than ordinarv courage, they ai-e the only brave spirits; but the Lord regards them as base and weak, and therefore speaks of them here in the feminine gender.

“Now the Lord will feed them as a lamb in a large place.”- Mercer and Vatablus would thus interpret this: Lauti ut asnus paslus, mox maclatur, As a lamb when it hath large food, it is soon slain; so God tlu’catens Ephraim here, that he will soon make an end of them, only he Tiill let them prosper for a while, and feed them largely, but it shall be for the slaughter. Many men that are fed largely, and are in prosperity, think themselves blessed, but God intends them only for the slaughter; I think, however, that is not the meaning of the place, “they shall be fed as a lamb.” But thus,

“As a Iamb.” They are as a heifer, ragmg mad, but I will make them as a lamb, I will bring such affliction upon them, that I will tamo the pride of their hearts. Have you not seen instances of this kind? did you never see a blasphemous, proud, stubborn spirit, when the hand of God was upon them, tamed?

Fed as a lamb. Parce ac tenuiter, not fed as a heifer, that denoted their prosperity; but fed as a lamb.that notes their adversity; for the food of a lamb differs from the food of a heifer, that which will feed a lamb will starve a heifer. They have been proud and wanton, saith God, by their prosperity, but now they shall have spare fare, I will bring them down, I will lay them low, they shall be but as a lamb that picks up the grass in the wilderness.

“As a lamb in a large place.” That is, dispersed among the countries, amongst the AssjTians and Medes in their capti-ity, who occupied a very large country. They would not be satisfied with Canaan, and with that sheep-fold of mine that was there; they shall have more room, saith God, they shall go into a large place, but it shall be a place of captivitj’.

Or rather, which I conceive to be the full scope of the passage, “I will feed them as a lamb in a large place;” that is, as a lamb that shall be alone: one lamb, he speaks of them singly, because they shall be scattered. They had society, and might have made good use of it, but they cared not to avail themselves of it, to edify each other in the fear of God, therefore they shall be scatttered, one in one place, and another in another, and they shall be as a lamb alone in the wilderness, succourless, helpless, surrounded by dangers, and with no eye near to pity, no hand to help it. What will become, think you, of this lamb? what an unfriended condition is it in! So, saith God, they have been wanton heifers, but I will “feed them as a lamb in a large place;” they shall be carried into captivity, and there they shall be lamenting and mourning, and in danger of wolves, but there shall be none to regard, and none to succour them. It is a great deal safer for a lamb to be in the flock, though it be more confined, than to be thus alone in a large place. Hence,

Oii. 1. Liberty may prove to be one’s misery. To keep within the compass of God’s commands is the best liberty of all; as David professes, Psal. cxix.. Then shall I have liberty, when I keep all thy commandments. As for all other liberty, it will certainly bring us into straitness; therefore, Rom. ii. 9, where ‘■ tribulation and anguish” is threatened to be upon the head of every one that worketh wickedness, the word translated “anguish” signifies straitness of place, they shall have sti-aitness of place: You would be at large, and would fain get out of God’s limits: though God may for a time let you have such liberty, yet the conclusion will be anguish of spirit. O my brethren, there is largeness, there is room enough in Ciod, in him our souls may expatiate, we need go no further for liberty. If we would have liberty out of God, and out of his bounds, our liberty will prove our undoing.

Let us then value highly the society of the saints while we are not yet, through” God’s mercy, scattered up and down in other countries, as some of our brethren have been, though, through his mercy, some even there have met with and been kept in his oi,ra fold; but others have wandered to and fro, and have had none to help them in any strait. Om- condition is not yet such; but we may meet together, we may be in God’s fold and have our hearts refreshed, we may go into our families and pray together, and sing together. Let us then bless God that this judgment denounced against Israel, that they should be “as a lamb in a large place,” bleating up and down and none to regard them, has not befallen us i let us, I say, bless God for this his forbearance and long-suffering.

Ver. 17. Epltraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

You have heard before, that God warns Judah to take heed of the sins of’ the ten tribes of Israel; and many arguments are used; some you have heard, others remain.

This ITth verse contains two principal points.

I. Ephi-aini engaging himself in false worship, is now so in wrapped in “that sin and guilt that he cannot tell how to extricate himself; “Ephraim is joined to idols:” as it is usual with idolaters, and the effect of the curse of God upon them, that when they are once engaged in that sin, it is very hard ever to recover them out of I it; so, Judah, take ‘heed that you come not into it.

II. The Lord has given him up to his idols. The curse oi God rests on him, and saith, “Let him alone.” O Judah, take heed then what you do. These words are thus infa-oduced as a twofold argument to persuade Judah not to do as Israel has done, and indeed all the remainder of this chapter has the same tendency. To speak then of these:

1. “Ephi-aim is joined to idols.” TMiy Ephraim? Ephraim was dead long ago. He was the child of a patriarch, and the grandchild of Jacob, from whom he received a great blessing; Gen. xlviii. 20, “In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim;” intimating that such special blessings would rest on him that the tribes should say, “God make thee as Ephraim:” and yet now it is said, that “Ephraim is joined to idols.” “VVhy then Ephraim?

L The chief of th e ten tribes that were no w j oined to idols, were the chikb-en of Ephi-aim, for Ephraim and Manasseh had received Joseph’s inheritance in Israel, and at this time were the chief of the ten tribes. “WTience,

06s. 1. Wicked children are a gi-eat dishonour to their parents. Ephraim, who was dead long before, suffers dishonour by his chikb-en that are now joined to idols. Let childi-en, out of reverence and respect to their parents, take heed what they do.

2. Jeroboam and the princes were all of the tribe of Ephraim, and therefore all is attributed to them. He does not say the ten tribes are joined to idols, but Ephraim is;’ because indeed the idolatry of all the other nine tribes sprang from the idolatry of Jeroboam, and the princes that were of the tribe of Ephi-aim. Whence again,

Obs. 2. Governors are usually the causes of the evils of the people. If governors be superstitious and will favoiu- idolatry, all the people, or the generality of them, will imitate, but they contract all the guilt. Ephrami, Jeroboam and the princes of that tribe, contract all the guilt of the idolatry of all the ten tribes, therefore it is said, Ephraim, as if Ephraim only was joined to idols. Governors therefore that are superstitious and idolatrous, incur woeful guilt, and we have exceeding cause to lament their condition. We read in the second of Matthew, that the wise men who came to inquu-e after

the King of the Jews, came from a far country, and .said they had seen his star, and desired to know the place in which he should be boni. Herod, and all Jerusalem with him, were troubled what this strange thing should mean, that such wise men should come from so far a countiT, and tell of a star that had appeared, and of a King of the Jews that should be born; and they called a council of all the chief priests and the scribes, and such as were expert in the law, to know where Christ should be born, and this council pointed out Bethlehem as the place; and upon that, the wise men, according to their direction, or according to the star, proceeded thither; but mark, you do not read of any one of all the people of Jerusalem that went with the wise men; although they were stin-ed at it, and thought it wonderful that a star should thus aiipear, and that these wise men should come and inquire for the King of the Jews, and that their own teachers should tell them that he was to be born at Bethlehem, and that thercu])on they should go thither to iind him, yet (I say) we do not read that any of the people went with them; no, they durst not, because of Herod. He was the prince, and it met not with his approbation, and therefore not one of the people would accompany the wise men to search after Christ. So it usually happens, that when governors discountenance the ways of God, they- are followed by the people. And especially governors inclined to superstition and idolatry, and who, together with these, will indulge people in their lusts, they will indeed, as Jeroboam and the rest of the princes did, find followers in abundance. As appeared partly before, and will further appear in this prophecy, this scope and liberty given to their lusts was one special way by which they gained the hearts of the people to them in their false worship. Let any princes and governors set up and countenance any false way of worship, and together with it give liberty to the people for the satisfying of their lusts, and they will gain enow unto them i there is no cause to wonder that such ])rinces should have so many to cleave unto them, seeing the people know that by cleaving unto them they shall have liberty to enjoy their lusts. AVhence,

Obs. 3. Idolaters’ hearts are strongly attached to their idolatrous ways. “Ejihraim is joined to idols.” The word is iian and signifies in the participle, incanlatus, such a kind of joining as that whereby your enchanters in their conjurations join their unclean spirits to them: so Ephraim is joined to his idols, cleaveth to his idols, or (as some render it) is glued to his idols, and that unclean spirit which carries him on to the ways of idolatry is become incorporated with him. As it is said of believers, that they are joined to the Lord Christ, and so they are one spirit; so idolaters are joined to the devil, and are become as one sjiirit with him. So Jer. viii. 5, “They hold fast deceit;” they will not easily be taken off. And Jer. ii. 10, 11, “Pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which arc yet no gods?” Kedar was one of the vilest places: Woe is me, saith David, that I have my habitation in the tents of Kedar! yet, saith God, go thither, and see whether they have changed their gods. The most vile idolaters w’ill not yet change their gods, their hearts are joined to them; let their hearts be never so base, and their gods never so vile: as the Egyptians would worship leaves, and garlick, and cats, and would listen to no admonitions against their idolatrous ways. I have read, too, of a people in India, in the isle Zolon, that worshipped an a))e’s tooth; and when it was taken from them, ttiey offered an inconceivable sum of treasure to regain that their idol again: so attached are idolaters to “their ^ods, which are yet no gods.” And especially if they have outward prosperity, to be as the glue and cement

to join their hearts to their false worship, then they are joined indeed. If men that are superstitious prosper in their ways, this, their prosperity, is the glue and cement to join their hearts strongly to those ways, there is no alienating them from them. And long continuance in false wor.-hip makes them not like it a whit the worse. I beseech you, observe this, that antiquity will make false worship venerable, and they will plead for it on account of its antiquity, and say, it is thus and thus ancient, and was the religion of their forefathers. Of the true worship of God men are quickly weary, and because they have had it a great while they desire some change, some novelty. Many people are much affected with the truth when fu’st revealed to them, and theiihearts are much taken with sermons, but within a while they loathe and forsake this manna. Such is the wickedness of the hearts of men.

But will idolaters thus adhere to their idols? will their hearts be united to them? are they willing to be one spirit with them? oh how much more should we join to the Lord our God, join to Jesus Christ, to be as one si)irit with him! That exhortation of Barnabas, Acts xi. 23, that with full “pui-pose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord,” is seasonable even at all times. O let us cleave to God and his worship,, so that whatever arguments are used, yet our hearts may never be taken ofi’ from the love of the truth; but let us say as once that martyr did. Though you may pluck my heart out of my bowels, yet you shall never ])luck the truth out of my heart. And the less thei-e is between God and our hearts, the more firmly shall we be joined to him. The godly and gracious need not the cement of outward prosperity to join their hearts to God, the very sweetness that they find in God alone is enouuh to unite their hearts to him, even in an everlasting covenant. Those who seem to be joined to God and his worship, yet if united merely by the cement of outward respects, they will quickly fall off; but those that are immediately joined to God will for ever keep to him, when there is nothing but God and their hearts together, nothing between God and them.

“E])hraim is joined to idols.” The word D’3sy translated idols, is by some rendered, and justly, dolnrenjficere, pains or ti-oubles. For this latter signification there are two reasons.

1. Because that idolaters were willing to endure much ])ain and trouble in the worshipi)ing of their idols; which should teach us not to account the worshi]) of God tedious, though it be somewhat hard to the flesh.

2. Such worship will bring pain and trouble to them in the end.

This however is not the principal thing intended here, but the force of the argument is, “Ephraim is joined to idols,” therefore meddle not with him, do not you do as they do. So that when we see people set up false ways of worship in anv place, and they are resolute for them, we must take heed of communicating with them in these their idolatries; but to enter on this would occupy too much time.

II. The Lord has given him up to his idols.

“Let him alone;” Demille eum. Let him go, saith God, he is joined to his idols, let him go. This admits of three ex])ositions.

1. .ls addressed to Judah. Let Ephraim go, saith God to Judah. Ephraim, they indeed are the ten tiibes, the greater part of the Jews, but yet seeing they set up false worship, let them go, have nothing to do with them, do not converse with them. Here,

Ubs. i. It is a heavy judgment of God upon a people when tho saints withdraw from them. If God had any saints in the world they were in Judah, and saith God to these saints of his. Let Israel alone and withdraw from them, have nothing to do with them, though

Vku. 17.

they be your brethren and countrmen, yet, let them alone. !Slany wicked men make nothhig of this, and when the most strict, and holy, and gracious people of God withdraw from them, and, as heretofore, forsake the land because the)” see it so defiled with superstitious vanities, they say. Let them all go, we are well rid of them: and who knows but you may be thus spoken of before you die? that you may have many that will be willing to be rid of those that are most godly and gracious? ■Well, whatever men think and say, let them know it is a dreadful curse of God on a nation, for the saints of God to withdraw and go from them; for such is the import of God’s command here, Judah, let them alone, have nothing to do with them; so when God commands his saints to withtbaw from others of their brethren, it is one of his most di-eadful judgments on a people, whatever they think of it. You know that expression, conveying the most fearful curse of God on the wicked, which you have, 1 Cor. xvi. 22, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema jNIaranatha.” “Anathema,” let him be accursed; but the meaning of “Maran-atha” is, the Lord cometh: Maran signifies the Lord, in the Chaldee and SjTiac; and is so used by Daniel, who lived in Chaldea. Thus Dan. iv. 19; V. 23, “My lord, the di-eam be to them that hate thee,” and, “Thou hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven;” the word N-ic whence Maran in the Syriac, is there translated Lord; and atha signifies to come; as in Deut. xxxiii. 2, The Lord cometh with thousands of his saints, the word in the original is nrs so that you have in Scripture these two words Maran and atha. What then is the meaning of that, “Let him be Anathema JIaran-atha?” This simply; when men shall forsake Christ and the ways of his worship, after means have been used with them, then “Anathema Maran-atha,” that is, let all the saints of God leave them to the coming of Jesus Christ; let them alone, do not meddle with them; when you have used all means you can, then withckaw yourselves from them, and leave them to the coming of Christ, and Christ will deal with them: let them not only be excommunicated, but so excommunicated that they be let alone to the coming of Christ. So when the godly shall first labour by admonition, and persuasion, and counsel, with the ungodly and sinners, and they shall be refractory, and stout, and stubborn, and be as swine to trample under feet those pearls, or as dogs to turn again and rend them, they are then to let them alone, that is, to let them alone to the coming of Jesus Chi-ist; and even in their’ own hearts say, Well, wo see no means can do them any good, “YLiran-atha,” the Lord cometh, and he shall deal with them himself when he cometh.

2. The Lord speaks here to the prophet, as if he should say, Hosea, you can do no good to them, it is in vain for you to meddle with Ephra’im. Just as Christ directed his disciples when he sent them forth to preach the gospel, that if any place rejected them, they should go away and shake the dust ofi’ their feet, as a testimony against them; so saith God here to the prophet. Let them alone, spend not your strength any more upon them. The exhortations which come from the saints, but especially from sincere ministers of the gospel, be they what they may, are pearls and precious things, and God will not have them despised, he will not have them s])ent in vain; therefore there is a time even for the ministers of God to let people alone. In Exod. xxxiii. 7, we read, that when the people had notoriously sinned against God, Moses took the tabernacle of the congregation, and pitched it without the camp, and went away from the people, and would not come amongst them, till they repented: so there is a time even for the ministers of God to hold their peace and let people alone. Many think they are troubled with ministers, and they could wish they would let them

alone; Why do they trouble us? we were quiet enough before they’ came; we would they would let us alone. And there are many guilty consciences, that cannot come to a powerful ministry but they find that the minister has” in every sermon to do with them, and that he will not let them’ alone in their wickedness, and this troubles them, and they had rather be let alone. Had you so? It is one of the most tkcadful judgments in the world for God to say. Let such a ministry let a man alone. It may be, some of you may be weary of the faithful ministers of God; you may get rid of them perhaps, God may take them away, and you may be let alone; but yet know, in this rests on you the brand of God’s wrath.

3. It shows that God himself would let them alone too, it is an evidence of his rejection of this people. It is as if a father, that had used means to reclaim a rebellious child, would at length, when he disregarded all his admonitions, exclaim. Let him alone. What do you think would the father mean? it is as if he should say, I have done with him, I will own him no more, I will meddle no more with him. If a servant should be stubborn and rebellious, and all the many means used to reclaim him should fail; the master saith. Let him alone, let him take his own course, I Mill have no more to do with him. So here, when God saith, Let them alone, it is as if he should say. Let them take their own wa’s, let them have their lusts to the full, let them join themselves to their idols, and satisfy themselves with their own devices, let them alone. Hence arise two profitable observations.

06s. 5. God has a time to give men over to themselves, to say that his Spirit shall no longer strive with them. Oh, many a man has felt the Spirit of God working, struggling, striving with him to draw him from such and such wickedness; he has felt (I say) God’s Spirit mighty and strong, pleading. Will you still go on in this way of wickedness, uncleanness, di’unkenness, oppression, injustice, profanation, hypocrisy, self-seeking, and the like? but he has been striving against, and his lusts have even gotten the victory over, the Spirit, so that God saith, “My Spirit shall no longer strive,” I will not struggle in vain, but let him go on and be filled with his own devices. Oh, it is dreadful when the Lord saith of a drunkard, of an unclean person, of a hypocrite, I have been struggling so long with them, but yet their hearts have Ijeen opposed to me; let them alone, let them go on and satisfy themselves in their iniquhies. Psal. lxxxi. 11, 12, They “would none of me,” saith God, they would none of my ways, “so I gave them up to their own counsels.” oh, this is a dreadful gift! Many men will set then’ counsels against God’s counsels, and will do it so long, that God at length gives them up to their own counsels: You will set your thoughts against my truth, your counsels against mine; well, take your own counsels, satisfy yourselves in your own ways. And you know that place in the latter end of the Revelation, “He which is fUthv, let Iiim be filthy still.” Let him alone, saith God: will you be filthy? be filthy then. And that in Ezek. xxiv. 13, “Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more.” I will let them alone, saith the Lord, I will never seek, either by my word, or by my works, to do them any fui-ther good, they shall be purged no more. And the reasons are,

1. Because God has no need of men. God does this to show that he has no need of you. Indeed he seeks by his word to cbaw you to obedience to his service, and you stand oft”, and cb-aw from him, and will not come in: at length God will manifest that he has no need of your service, he can honour himself without you, though you perish everlastingly.

2. He knows how to fetch out glory to his own name from their sins. You will continue in your wicked

CiiAr. IV.

ways, you will be stubborn and stout, saith God; do you think so to hinder me of my glory? well, take your fill of your lusts, I know how to glorify myself out oi that sin whereby you ofi’end so much against my glory, therefore be ye filled with your own devices.

Ohs. G. It is the most woeful judgment of God upon any people, or person, when he saith in his WTath, “Let him alone.” The words are lS-n:.l and is equivalent to, Let him be quiet: that quiet will prove a dreadful storm. You know what the wise man saith, “M’oe to him that is alone!” Oh, woe to him, of whom God saith, “Let him alone,” that is thus alone! Many men bless themselves when they are let alone, and desire it; Let us alone, say they. Oh, but when God shall say. Let them alone, this is a most dreadful thing indeed. It proved to be a fearful evil to Adam in Paradise, when God let him alone: when he left Adam to himself what became of him? As far as he could, he undid himself and all his posterity, when left to his natural abilities. Yea, and when God but leaves his own saints, that have grace in them, for a little while to themselves, oh what mischief ensues! As in 2 Chron. xxxii. 31, when God did but for a little leave Hezekiah to himself, to try what was in his heart, what a deal of misery did he bring on himself! A’hat! do such evil consequences attend on Adam left alone in Paradise, and the saints left alone here.’ oh what a dreadful thing must it be, then, when God shall leave a smner alone! I mean one that has nothing else but sin in him, one wholly destitute of grace. This is a most grievous judgment for many reasons.

l.’lt is a testimony of very great disregard in God for his creatures, in this, that he accounts them not worthy of any further meddling with, he loves them not so well as to interpose any further on their account; it is a sign, I say, of great disregard on the part of God for them; it is as if he should say. There are others indeed that are wicked, that are very gi’eat sinners; but I have mercy for them, I intend to draw them to myself, I intend to show them the evil of their ways, and to turn them to mc that they may be saved; but as for these, I have nothing to do with them, saith God, I have no mercy for them, let them alone.

2. Because those let alone are going apace to misevy. To let a man alone when he is at homo in his house and all things convenient about him, matters not; but if you were to sec one madly rushing to water, or into fire, to destroy himself, no one then would hesitate to interpose; to let him alone were a great judginent. But now the Lord sees sinners running headlong into misery, into the bottomless pit, and even then God saith. Let them alone.

3. They were in the midst of abundance of dangers. AVhen a man is in safety among his friends, and you let him alone, it matters not; but suppose you knew of one environed with adversaries, or around whom were wild beasts readv to devour, and this message were brought to you, Oli there is such a friend of ours in great danger, and you should say. What if he be, let him alone, let him shift as well as he can; it would be a grievous judgment: yet all sinners that are going on in their evil ways are in woeful danger on every hand, and the Lord sees and takes notice that they arc in the midst of dangers, yet saith God, Let them alone, they shall not have my protection and help. And this is a just punishment of God on sinners that will go on in their wickedness.

4. God intends by this to make way for soijie fearful wrath that is to come upon them. Let my mercy and goodness let them alone, but it is that they may fall into my wrath; and that will not let them alone, that will trouble therfi. They cannot endure to be troubled by my word, by my messengers, by my Spirit; but my

wrath shall trouble them afterward, that shall not let them alone: as in that place of Ezekiel before quoted, “Thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee,” chap. sxiv. 13; they shall have no outward means to trouble them for a while, but at length my fury shall rest upon them. “Mien the Lord seems to be quiet toward men and lets them alone, it is but to make way for fearful wrath that is coming upon them.

5. God will not, after the infliction of this judgment, vouchsafe to hear them speak unto him any more. K once the Lord shall say. They would not hear me, they shall never hear me more, let them alone; God will then likewise say, I will not hear them; let them cry in the anguish of their spirits. I will let them alone. It seems evident, that when God shall let sinners alone with respect to his mercy, when the greatest wrath shall be upon them he will let them alone also. As thus; when they shall come into the greatest afflictions, the most dreadi’ul miseries and torments in this world and eternally in the world to come, when they shall then be crying out in the anguish of their spirits unto God, Oh that God would now have mercy upon us! God will let them even then alone: I will bring them into the fire, saith God, and then I will leave them there. Oh think of this, when you feel that there was a time when God was stirring and striving with your hearts, and implore of him to recover you out of the snares of the denl.

6. It is a dreadful sign of reprobation: and we shall briefly consider what reprobation is, and in what respect this is a sign of it.

1. AATiat is reprobation? Reprobation certainly means not that God decrees to damn men, that is not the first act of God upon any man; but that God decrees, whereas there arc some that he has set his heart upon, is resolved to do them good, there are others, whom he does not presently decree to damn, but he determines to leave to themselves, that what they earn they may have, and no more; h£ will deal with them according to their works; he will do them no wrong, will not be unjust to them, he will not condemn them but for their sin: he never decrees to damn any but for sin; but he decrees this, I will give them what is fit for them to have in creation, I will make such a covenant with them, and then I will leave them to themselves, and in course of justice, what they work for, that they shall have. For God to decree to leave a man to himself when he had no sin in him, as God did not make man with sin at first, were an act of reprobation: suppose you were now made according to the image of God, without sin, yet if God should decree to leave you fully and eternally to yourself, you were but a reprobate: but there is a second and more dreadful reprobation, when God sees a man in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity, and leaves him to himself.

2. AVherein the reprobation here consists. That God now doth manifest that he intends to fetch his glory from this sinner out of his ruin. Certainly God will have glory from every creature; however they may resist, God will have it. he will fetch it out from you. God would have his glory from his creature in the ways of obedience and service; but they deny him this, they will not give him this glory, they will have their own will, ami set up themselves in God’s throne. Well, saith God, I have used such and such means to draw their hearts from those ways to myself, but they stand out, let them be now: as if he should say, I have thought now of another way to fetch out my glor)- from them. As he in the Gospel reasoned, when h(? could not provide for himself one way, I know what I will do, saith he: so saith God, I am denied my glon,- one way, I will adopt other means, that is, I will glorify

25;

my infinite justice and the power of my infinite -wrath; they have refused to give me glory by obedience and submission to me, I will not have my glory that way, but now I will rather choose to have my glory from them in their everlasting misery; they shall be spectacles of my wrath and justice, and it shall be known to angels and men to all eternity, what my infinite justice and power is able to do; therefore let them alone, saith God.

7. It is greater than all earthly judgments. Too many of you are afraid of sickness, of being spoiled of your goods, afraid that God should let the enemy in upon you, and all should be taken from you; and this were a great judgment, but the judgment in the text is far greater. If you were stripped of all the comforts in the world, and brought into the most miserable condition with respect to outward circumstances, yet j’ou were not under such a dreadful judgment as this, for God to say, Let them alone. Better any judgments than sphitual judgments. As the spiritual blessings of God bestowed on the saints are the greatest blessings, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,” Eph. i. 3: so the spiritual judgments of God are his most dreadful judgments on the chikben of men. Oh that we could have om- hearts possessed with a fear of those sphitual judgments more than all the judgments in the world!

8. It is worse than to be given up to the devil. If God should give up any man to the de-*”!!, and say, Take him, possess him, (as once he possessed many in Christ’s time,) it were not such a feaiful judgment as this, to say, Let lusts take him and rule him. let him be given up to his own heart’s lusts, let him alone to them. And this is apparent from that place where the apostle directs the incestuous person to be given over to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that his soul might be saved: when one is given up to the devil in excommunication, or any other way, it may prove the salvation of his soul; but this judgment of God, saying. Let a man alone, is for the destruction of his soul, not of the flesh; it tends du-ectly to the destruction of the soul, though, it may be, in the mean while the flesh may be saved. It is so with many; there are many whom God lets alone, and that proves the destruction of the soul, but perhaps the saving of the flesh: as thus, perhaps many that went on in wickedness, God was chastising and afflicting, and this tended to the destruction of the flesh, though to the saving of their soul; but they would rather live in prosperity and ease, and indulge then- sin; Well, saith God, you shall do so, you shall have ease and prosperity, and have your sin; that is, your flesh shall here be saved, but your soul shall eternally be desti-oyed. Therefore it is worse than to be given up to the devil.

9. It is worse than to be sent down to hell presently; for when one is left alone to himself, he will increase his sin most dreadfully thi-oughout his life-time, and as his sin increases, so his torment: therefore it is a most dreadful thing to be let alone.

10. Though he be without grace, he must answer for it as though he had it; there Hes the further evil of it. ‘Mien God leaves a man alone, he must not think he is not to answer stUl for the modons of God’s Spirit though he has them not, and for the means of grace though he enjoy them not, for he has deprived himself of them; for look, what means of grace we, through sin, have deprived oiu-selves of, we must answer for them. And there is none of you but may be convinced of this. I will give you a plain instance. Suppose you send your servant to market to buy a commodity, and give him money wherewith he may do it, but he goes into an alehouse or tavern and thinks it away; he cannot bring you what you sent him for but you may justly

requu-e it, and punish him for not doing of it: he m&, say. Would you have me do that I cannot? I cannot bring it to you without money: yea, but you may reply, I gave you money, it is youi’ fault you have embezzled it. So God may justly require of these men all that they might have done by all the means of grace they should have had: God gave you that means, you have embezzled it by your sin.

11. Now all the means of grace are made unprofitable to him. yea, ciu’sed to him, and they have quite a contrary effect; for the word will work one way or other, either to be the savom- of life unto life, or of death unto death; and so the sacrament, either to be the seal of salvation, or the seal of damnation. Now all those means that do other souls good, are to him unprofitable. It may, be the poor child of a wicked parent comes to the word, and there finds God revealing himself to him, and the Spu-it of CJod drawing his heart to himself; but there is his parent, of whom God has said, Let him alone, he sits under the means and gets no good: so perhaps the master is one on whom this judgment is past, Let him alone; and he sits under the means without benefit, whilst his poor servant comes, and his soul is enlightened, his heart is enlarged.

0 my brethren, upon this (because the point is of so great consequence I coidd not pass by it lightly) you may learn from hence,

1. WTiat poor creatures we all are. God need not say, Let my power, and wrath, and justice come upon them, to make them misei’able; if God but say, Let them alone, we are presently miserable, we are lost and undone. As in nature, if God should say to any of you as soon as born, Let this creature alone, and let none help him, how miserable were our condition! So with respect to our souls, take one that has the most excellent gifts in all this congregation, yea, take one that has the most excellent graces, if God should but say. Let him alone, he would quickly bring himself to miseiy. It is through the sti-ength of that grace in the covenant that God will never say to those that are members of his Son, Let them alone for ever.

2. To fear and tremble at this judgment. Especially let them deeply consider this, who have felt the Spirit of God stu-ring in their hearts, and the word coming to their consciences, yet have gone on, directly against God’s word and the motions of his Spirit. Oh that this day the fear of this great God may fall upon them, lest God should say. Let them alone! Perhaps God has not said so yet, but who knows but that upon the next wUful rin thou committest, God may say concerning thee. Let him alone? and then thou art undone for ever. Oh, fear and tremble.

Perhaps some of you may say, God has surely said this of me already, I should not else be so improfitable under the means, I should not hear such powerful sermons and get so little good, I should not have such and such coiTuptions prevailing over me; I am afraid this is pronounced already against me.

1 am loth when! speak of this di-eadful judgment (which is indeed the most dreadful in all the book of God) to let any poor soul go that has need of comfort, without receiving what is due to him.

To answer thee, then:

1. It is a good sign that God has not let thee alone, when thou art troubled with such a fear. Commonly, those whom God has left alone go on and are quiet, and are never troubled about it, but please themselves in their own hearts’ lusts.

2. It is a good means to keep thee from being let alone. Those that are afi-aid lest God should leave them alone, and upon that can say m the uprightness of theh- hearts. Oh I tremble under this judgment, I had rather God should give me up to all the Cavaliers, to all the devils in hell, than to my own heait’s lusts,

it is a sign that this judgment is not upon thee, and it is a means to keep it from thee.

3. If thou hast not a heart to let God alone, God has not a heart to let thee alone. So long as thy heart keeps close to God that thou wilt not let him alone, (you know it is the Scriptui-e phrase, used when Moses was so earnestly seeking God in prayer,) and though thou findest not him coming to thee as thou dost desire, yet thou attcndest him in the word, in reading, in meditation, and in all the means thou knowest, and, notwithstanding thou dost not find God, thou art not weary of his service, but art resolved thou wilt not let him alone, and that if thou perish thy last breath will be crying to God; peace be to such a one, God has not let thee alone so long as this frame of heart abides in thee. Those of whom God saith. Let them alone, usually begin to be more sluggish in prayer than before, to discontinue it in their families, in their closets, and then perhaps to raise objections against it, ‘Why, what is there to prove such things must be done? and so bydegi’ees they will come to have no heart for any holy duty; but if thy heart be kept in quickness, and activity, and life, to seek God and to resolve not to let him alone, surely God will not let thee alone. Learn hence,

1. To bless God if thou dost find that he has not inflicted this judgment upon thee. Though perhaps thou hast many outward judgments in the world, it may be some of you are spoiled of all your goods, and have great afflictions on you, yet let this be a means to quiet j’our hearts, that though God has taken from you many comforts in this world, yet, blessed be his name, he has not left me alone; I yet find his Spirit within me, I find his grace within me, and his word working in my heart: there are many others who have outward comforts, fair houses, great possessions and lands, but the Lord has let them alone; though I have afflictions upon me, yet, blessed be God, he has not inflicted this judgment upon me, he has not let me alone.

2. To bless God that he has not inflicted this judgment on the kingdom. Surely the ways of God toward this land are such that we have reason to hope that God has not pronounced this judgment u])on it. God might have said, England “is joined to idols, let him alone.” One would have thought that a little more than three years ago we were in a condition fit to be let alone; but since, the Lord has so worked for England that it may appear evidently that God will not let us alone; and blessed be God that he will not, that he will .scotfi’ge and afflict us sorely, rather than not purge out our idols. And that people, and that soul, which had rather have God purge them soundly than let them go on in any sin, surely God does not let that people and soul alone. It is true, indeed, great chastisements arc upon us, but still they all hitherto tend to our purging, not our ruin, and originate in this, that the Lord will not let us alone. It may be, many think it would be better if it were with us now as it was four years since, then we had no such noise and rumours of war, no such spoiling and killing, as now. M’hat, I ask, is their real meaning? It was well with us when we were going on in superstitious and idolatrous ways, going to Home so fast, that God might have said then. Let England alone: if God had said, Let them go to Rome, let idolatry be set up there, this would have been a greater judgment than all the present bloodshed in England: but in that the Lord is yet striving with us, though we be struggling against him, let us bless his name.

Ver. 18. Their dritik is sour: they have commilled tihoredom coulinual/i,: her rulers uilh shame do lore, Give ye.

“Their drink is sour.” I find some interpret this word, as if it noted their excess in drunkenness and luxury, as if they poured down drink till it soured in

them, and then vomited it up. Luther translates the words, /a’rft crapulanlur, and on the place observes. Idolaters love to pamper the flesh, they drink even to vomiting again, but for the true worshipping of God, that they curtail in outward things, it is hungrj’ and cold. We find that the false prophets were pampered at Jezebel’s table, when poor M icaiah was fain to be fed with the bread and water of affliction. Thus Luther and many others intei-pret the word. But I think there is more in it.

The word CN2C here translated “drink,” refers to their festival meetings, and imports that their feasts and their meetings were as wine that is sour, and has lost its spirit and savour. By “drink,” then, we understand their drinkings,’that is, the comforts that they have in this world; as your superstitious, idolatrous people always seek to pamper their ajipetites, and to secure outward comforts: now, saith he, all this is sour. And indeed all the comfort of this world when God is forsaken, it is but as sour di’ink; the sweetness, and quickness, and life of all is taken away, when God and his worship are forsaken: so you may take their drink, by a synecdoche, for all the comforts of tltis world, even all those cai-nal things wherewith they seek to satisfy their flesh, it is all som-, for God is gone when his worship is gone. Perhaps if you had had superstition and idolatry set up amongst you in England, you might have had your ckink and wine at your tables more jjlcntifully; but if God and his worship had been gone, all, notwithstanding, had been sour and ungrateful. I appeal to those who have apostatized to enjoy comforts to the flesh, how sour and unsavoury have these ])roved! whereas let a people keep close to God and his worship, and then theu- drink, if it be but water, will be sweet to them: as in Acts ii., the saints that believed “did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.” We were wont to say. Brown bread and the gospel is good cheer: let us have but bread and water with the gospel and the ordinances and the worship of God, and it will be sweet to us; but let us have wine and all manner of drink at our tables, if we have not the ordinances and worship of God, all will prove sour to us. The ten tribes had as good drink as Judah, yet all the di’ink of the ten tribes was sour. But further, the meaning may be.

Their society is unsavoury and sour, for so their roiivivia, their meetings together for feasting and drinking, is taken often for closeness of communion, as they were a means to maintain their mutual eonverse and familiarity: so the meaning is, what relish can any giacious heart take in their converse one with another, when they meet together at one another’s tables and di-iivk together? You may observe how unsavoury the superstitious peojile that have heretofore lived amongst you, have been in theii’ converse; perhaps, before they were forward in the ways of religion, and if then conversed with, there were some life and quickness in them, but when they have once yielded to superstitious vanity, all this is gone. It would liavo been so with you if these times had not come, you might perhaps have met and caroused together; but the truth is, all your merry meetings would have been sour and sapless, there would have been no sweetness in your converse, and those of your bretlu-en that had been gone from you into the howling wilderness, would have found more savour in the water there, than you could have had in all the drinks your ingenuity could have devised.

“Their di-ink is sour.” That is, all their worship and their sacrifices, for so “their druik” is taken by others, for all their (b’ink-offerings: they were wont to have feasts in their sacrifices, but now, saith God, all their ofl’erings are sour, the savour, and saj), and life of them is gone. These are the four interpretations oflered, which may enable us to understand what is meant in these words, “Their drink is sour.”

T]IE PROPHECY OF HOSEA.

“They have committed ■whoi’edom continually-” They are unwearied in their wickedness, continually they go on in their whoredom, both bodily, but now especially spiritual; that is, when they are worshipping of their idols they are never weary, “they commit whoredom continually.” Oh what a shame it is that the godly should be weary of the service of God, when idolaters are not weary of the service of their idols! AVhat rebuke is this to you who are weary under a sermon, if the glass be but run out a little; but if you were to sit up all night in company, in a tavern, you would not be weary at all! “They commit whoredom continually;” at the service of their idols and the satisfying of their lusts they are never weary, but they are soon weary of my service.

But I think there is somewhat further

13in... jueant: fornicantur in fornica?ido, in committing fornication they commit fornication, that is the force of the Hebrew; that which they do they do it intensively, in doing they do it. As the apostle saith of Elijah’s prayer, James v., In praying he prayed, that is, he prayed intensively, he prayed powerfully, with his whole strength put forth: so the words ai-e here, in committing fornication they committed fornication, that is, they give up their strength to their idols, they are mightily intent on then- idols. And therefore have nothing to do with them, (still the argument goes on,) Have nothing to do with them, lest that fearful judgment befall you before spoken of: have nothing to do with them, because their society and converse are unsavoiu-y: have nothing to do with them, because they give up themselves to their lusts. How should we give up ourselves to the service of God, pray in praying, hear in hearing, &c., seeing idolaters are devoted in their service!

‘■Their rulers.” The word translated “rulers” is n’JJO their shields, that is, their protectors, so the word in the Hebrew signifies. And there is a very special note to be learned from hence.

Obs. 1. Rulers should be shields to the people where they live; and so they are called, Psal. xlvii. 9, “The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong unto God.” That is, the governors and rulers of the earth, so I find interpreters understand it, belong unto God; they are in God’s stead, and they govern in God’s name. Rulers, governors, are to be the shields of the people, for they are to be willing to put themselves forward to ward off all the dangers about to come on the people. Have not our worthies in parliament shown themselves to be shields in this respect? Have not they put themselves between us and our dangers? And do you not think that if the adversary prevail they will first swallow up them, I mean those of them that are faithful? AVhereas those that before regarded it as an honour to be parliament men, and when there was no danger made such brave speeches, but when they saw things approaching a crisis, and that there w’ere darts shot against the people, and that they must be the shields to keep them off, forsook us; they were showy in a])- ]jearance, like fine golden or enameled shields, but fit for no service. We are therefore to honour these that still stay, and though they are not perhaps so showy and gilded as those, yet they are proved to be shields of good metal, that will not break, but will keep ofi’the darts shot against the people. And indeed rulers and governors should be men of good metal, willing to bear off much hardship from the people; and they should not think to be honoured only, but should take their honour as a burden also. AVe are not therefore to regard our rulers as too much honoured, when we consider the danger connected with it. So it is true the governors in armies have pay more than others,

but if they be faithful they hazard their lives more, and are the shields of the people. It is an evil thing when a commonwealth have none but wicked magistrates; in such a case they are as if they had nothing to defend them but shields of rotten wood.

“With shame do love. Give ye;” so it .^■„^,.., ^, is in yoiu- hooks: but I find it rendered ’ ‘’ by some, They love to bring shame, they love not to say. Bring ye, but they love to bring shame; and you can translate it thus by merely altering the points in the Hebrew; and the meaning is, they, being of vile spirits themselves, do not care what becomes of the people, let them perish as dogs, and let them do that which shall be a perpetual reproach to them to all posterity, so they may have their lusts satisfied.

Others translate the words thus; With shame they call. Bring ye; that is, with shame they call for pleasure to the flesh: so Arias Montanus, Let us have our pleas ure, our tables furnished, our honours, and it matters little what becomes of the people. Such rulers and governors had the ten tribes when they were such idolaters; and it is just with God, when people forsake the true worship of God, that he should send them such governors.

But I rather understand the passage as a rebuke to them for then’ bribery, “They with shame do love, Give ye.” They will not only indulge this propensity in private, but they are grown so impudent that they will sell all the good of a kingdom, and the liberty of the subject, for their own gain. They say “with shame, Give ye.” It is a great judgment of God on a people when magistrates and governors are given to bribery, to regard gifts and the increase of then’ estates more than the public good. “A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment,” Prov. xvii. 23. It is a sign of a wicked man to take a gift, though it be but secretly, out of the bosom; but if he take it openly, it evinces more impudence. A wicked man takes a gift out of the bosom, is loth to be seen at first, and he does it to pervert judgment; these men, that should be as shields to the people, for base ends will beti-ay them. “What! to subject such a glorious thing as justice to base ends? justice, which is the glory of God, the glory of a kingdom, and the glory of a man, which he should be clothed with as a robe, as a diadem, to subject it to base ends, for gain to say. Give ye; this is abominable! For a justice of peace to be struck dumb at the appearance of angels, is surely an evil thing: for justices to be bound to the peace by a gift in a basket, is surely most abominable. Exod. xxiii. 8, “A gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.” Though men are of excellent understanding, and eloquent, yea, though they seemed heretofore very honest and just in their ways, yet when they come to high places, a gift will blind, or, as some render it, pluck out their eyes, irradiate their eyes, that they cannot see. Auro lo- orepor. xaz. m quente, iners omnis oratio, saith an an- chsiiciiis. cient. Let gold but speak, and all other speeches are to little purpose. Therefore magistrates, of all men, should be without covetousness, fearing the Lord. So God himself characterizes them, as men “fearing God, and hating covetousness.” In 2 Chron. xix. 6. 7, “Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.” Justice must run down as a river, not be paled in as a pond for private advantages. Magistrates must shake their hands from bribeiT, and despise the gain of oppressors, Isa. xxxiii. 15. As we read of Paul, that when a viper came on his hand, he shook his hand and the viper fell into the fire; so should magistrates, when one brings them a gift to pervert

justice, regard it as a viper, and shake their hands of it and let it fall even into the fire, and say as Peter to Simon Magus, “Thy money perish with thee:” They should look upon such as bring thera gifts with indignation, and even say. Thy money perish with thee in this wicked enterprise. Even Cicero, a heathen, in an epistle to Quintus his brother, a magistrate in Asia, saith, That he should not only show himself an enemy to them that received gil“t3, but to them that gave them; he should account them his enemies. And Isa. v. 23, “‘W’oe to them which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” Many righteous men come before some of you, and their cause is true and good, but you will speak bitterly against them to gratify others from whom you expect a reward. Deut. xxvii. 25, saith, There shall be a curse pronounced against such as take gifts, “and all the people shall say, Amen.” K any magistrate love to take gifts, the curse of the people is upon him, and God requires that all the peojjle should say, Amen. And I have read, that among the Romans, if it could be proved against any magistrate that he had taken bril)es, he was to be punished with death, without any deliverance. And Psalm xv., in answer to that question, “AVho shall abide in thy tabernacle?” it is said, “He that taketh not a reward against the innocent.” If you would ever dwell with God, either here in his church, or in heaven hereafter, you must not take bribes against the innocent. I have read in the life of that saint which you call St. Edmund, that he was wont to say. There is little diflerence between these two words, to take, and to hang, the words are almost alike in Latin, preitdere and pendere, signifying thereby, that those that would take gifts showed what they deserved. Prov. V. 27, “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his o-H-n house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.” It is not enough for a magistrate not to take gifts, but he must hate gifts, for “he that is greedy of gam,” though he think it not, “troubleth his own hous.’.”

Ver. 19. The icind hath hound her up in her tvmgs, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

The word rfn here translated “wind,” signifies also a spirit, and so I find Jerome takes the meaning of the words to be, that the evil spirit hurries them up and down, and carries them on -iolently in their wickedness. As in Deut. xxxii. 11, God is said to carry his people on his wings; so the devil here carries idolaters, who are set upon their wicked ways, as it were on his wings, with imjjetuous violence.

But Ave are rather inclined to understand the expression metaphorically, to signify the power, the suddenness, the violence, and swiftness of God’s judgments, carrying them into captivity and into misery. “The wind hath bound” the people of Israel, the ten tribes, “up in her wings;” that is, the judgments of the Lord shall come upon them with sudden and overwhelming violence, and take them away from their own countiy, and cai-ry them into captivity and misery. The power and violence of the judgments of God are often expressed in Scri])ture by the wind, by storms and tempest. There is a mighty power in the wind: 1 Kings xix. 11, “A great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks.” Job xxviii. 9, “That overturneth the mountains by the roots.” The winds arc the voice of the Lord, that breaks the cedars, even the cedars of Lebanon, and shakes the wilderness, Psal. xxix. Sabelicus tells us of Cambyses, that his soldiers being in a wilderness, in a sandy placC, suddenly a violent wind came and drove the sand with such force that thousands of them were bm-ied in it. And here, by the way, we may have hinted unto us a very profitable meditation. How great is the glory and

power of the infinite God! For the wind, what is it but a vapour? and what more weak than a vapom-? We are wont to say. As weak as water: but many drops together will make the waters temble, and the seas are called the mighty waters; but vapour is weaker than water, and yet the winds are nothing but a number of vapours joined together, and then what a mighty power have they to rend the rocks and turn up the mountains by the roots! Oh, then, what isfhe power of the mighty God I for in him there is nothing but infinity, and to him nothing can be added. If a weak vapour being multiplied have such strength, what power then is there in the infinite God, to whom, as having all fulness dwelling in him, nothing can be added!

The wind is of great power, and so are the judgments of God. Hence observe, That the judgments of God upon w-ieked men who have been spared a long time, when they come, they come swiftly, violently, and suddenly: but of this before.

“And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.” As long as they prospered in their course of false worship they were not ashamed, but gloried in it; and the ten ti-ibes, Israel, rather despised and sought to cast contempt upon Judah, who worshipped God aright, as appeareth plainly from Amos vii. 12; “Go,” (saith Amaziah there to Amos scornfully,) “flee thee away unto the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there.” They scorned and contemned Judah, and gloried in their oa n false worship. Hence,

Obs. 1. The superstitious and idolatrous look upon God’s ordinances as vile, and their olni inventions as glorious; but God has a time to honour his ordinances and to cast shame upon their sacrifices. The tnie worship of God is often in such low esteem among men, that its servants are exceedingly vilified, and many are deterred from embracing it, because they cannot bear the attendant shame and ridicule: but God has a time to honour his ordinances, to manifest the beauty of them before all the world, and to cast shame and reproach on all ways of superstition and idolatry; “they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices;” a time to make even those that gloried most in them, to be ashamed of them. Isa. ii. 20, 21, “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks.” And Isa. xxx. 22, “Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornaments of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it. Get thee hence.” They thought them curious ornaments, but the time shall come when God shall make idolaters see their impurity, and cause them to cast them away with indignation, and say, “Get ye hence.” That place in Isa. lxvi. 5, bears on this point, “Hear the word of the Lord, ve that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hate(i you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.” There are some of you that tremble at my word, and dare not do any thing in my worship but what my word requires; others have looser consciences, and can venture on things that they have no warrant for in my word: but you that tremble at it, and are scorned for yoxir scruples, whom your brethren cast out because you will not be of the like judgment with them, and because your -hearts and consciences are more tender than theu’s; whom they would willingly be rid of, and think it would be belter willi the land when you arc gone; and of whom tli -y say, “Let the Lord be glorified,” pretending that they desire nothing but the peace of the church and the glory of God; of whom they, even your brethren that cast you out, say, “Let the Lord be glorified;” God shall appear for your

glory and for theii’ shame; the Lord will honour you in that his worship which you adopt according to his word, though you sufler at present much ignominy and contempt for it; and though they may for a while seem to carry all before them, having that which is countenanced” more publicly, the Lord will appear at length to their shame, the Lord will make them ashamed of their sacrifices.

Four things principally cause shame.

1. Disrespect fi’om those from whom we desu’e honour-. WHien one comes to a superior, and expects respect from him, and finds that he is cast out, this is a great shame. So they shall be ashamed of their sacrifices; they think that they shall have honour from me by reason of their sacrifices, but I will cast shame upon them, they shall have nothing from me but proofs of disrespect. In 1 Kings ii. 16, when Bathsheba came to Solomon to ask a petition of him, “Deny me not,” she said; the old Latin has it, Ne confundas faciem meam, Do not confound my face, do not make me ashamed; and the Hebrew is, JVe averlere faciem meam, Do not cause my face to be turned, that is, do not make me ashamed by showing me disrespect, when from you I expect honour-. When God casts off the sacrifices of men and shows disrespect to them, that causes shame, it confounds, or should confound, their faces.

2. ‘NMien a man takes a great deal of pains and it all comes to nothing. So all superstitious ways will bring shame at last; as in Col. ii. it is said of all superstitious ceremonies, that they “perish with the using,” there comes fi-om them no good result. Idolaters take a great deal of pains in their false worship, but all wUl come to nothing; in their utmost need all their modes of superstition and idolatry wUl leave them destitute and helpless, and so cast shame upon them.

3. Disappointment of hope. “Let me not be ashamed of my hope,” saith David, Psal. cxix. 116. If I hope for good and be disappointed, this will bring shame. Many passages coniu-m this. So when those that are superstitious and idolatrous shall raise up thenhearts with great expectation of good from God in theuways of false worship, and shall be disappointed of all then- hope, in this God wUl cast shame upon them.

4. ‘When God discovers that to be vile which a man glorieth in. So idolaters, that glory in their superstitious forms, the Lord in time will discover them to be base, and vUe, and worthless things, for indeed they are all but poor beggarly elements, fitter to please childi-en than God. God will make this manifest.

If it be objected, that they seem not to be such poor and weak tilings, but more glorious and pompous a great deal than the rites observed by the true worshippers of God; yea, even true worship of God in itself seems to be a poor and mean thing;

The answer is, the institution stamps a gloi-y on the observance: now they never having been instituted, must be regarded as mean and beggarly elements. Besides, the promise and engagement of God’s presence in his own ordinances puts an honour on them, which attaches not to the ways of superstition.

It is good for those who have defiled themselves with superstitious worship, to prevent God by casting shame on themselves; for if they do not, G’^d will cast shame upon them, he will make them to be ashamed. It is our best way, to come in and to prevent God, to take shame unto oui- own souls and to lie down therein. God knows how we have polluted ourselves, even all of us, in the ways of superstitious worship; and the truth is, God is casting shame upon them all at this day. Happy are those that before these times took shame to their own souls for -all these their defilements. Howsoever, before God doth yet fiu-ther force it upon us, it will be our wisdom to humble om-solves on this accoimt. Ezek. xliii. is verv apposite: first in the 10th

verse, “Show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed;” show them the true form of my worship, that they may be ashamed. The truth is, if we did but understand the beauty and excellency of God’s ordinances, in the purity and simplicity of the gospel, that were enough to make us ashamed, if there were nothing else; we would even be verj- vile in our own eyes, to think that, while our hearts have been taken up about such vain and vile superstitions, such glorious ordinances of God, and such beauty of holiness, have been neglected by us: Show them the way of my house, “that they may be ashamed.” But further, in the 11th verse, “if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the foi-m of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof,” (again,) “and all the laws thereof: and write it in theiisight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.” First, show them my house, let them have some kind of general knowledge of my ways and ordinances, perhaps that will make them ashamed: and at this day we know, though there be but a few rays shed upon us, to show us a little more of the ways of God’s worship than we saw before, that we begin to be ashamed of what we have done: but now, if indeed we be thoroughly ashamed before God of all our false forms of worship of all our sacrifices, then mark what a promise is here; then saith the text, “If they be ashamed of what they have done, then show them the form of the house, and the fashion of the house,” &c. Thus here is one word heaped on another to show, that it is a mercy of God to people when they not only understand in general God’s worship, but know “the form, the fashion, all the ordinances, all the laws,” and cu-cumstances in detail. For we must regard nothing in the worship of God as to be neglected, but must have respect to all the forms and ordinances of his house; and it is his great mercy to reveal them to us in all their fvdness. True, man stands much on form, and God insists on it likewise. Jlany deny the power of godliness, but keep the form of it; they are much set on then- forms, and God is much set on his. If you desire forms in God’s worship, they are already prescribed by his own appointment. And mark, when we are ashamed of what v.e have done, then shall we understand the laws of the house, the right way of God’s worship in his own temple; but fii’st we must be ashamed and thoroughly humbled for om- former superstitious sacrifices, we must not expect it before. Many people cry out, We are at a loss, we know not what to do; we have rejected indeed false worship, and in some measure see its vileness; but we know not the foi-ms and fashions of God’s house; and the hearts of people tremble to think of the result, fearing lest the acceptable forms be not discovered, and dissensions ensue. Would you understand the right worship and government of God’s house? be ashamed of your sacrifices, be ashamed of what you have done, and they shall be shown unto you. And those that are intrusted to find out the laws, and foi-ms, and fashions, and ordinances of God’s house, are, above all men, to be ashamed of what they have done, to be ashamed first of then- sacrifices. And you should pray that God would humble them for all their former superstitious observances, that these things may be revealed to them; and being revealed to them, they may reveal it to you. There is a necessity for this previous repentance, let them be men of never such excellent parts and abilities, before they can expect to understand the ways of God’s house in its forms, and fashions, and ordinances. In Ezek. xliv. 10 — 1.3, God thi-eatens those priests that departed from him in Israel’s defection to false worship, that they

CiiAr. IV.

should bear their iniquity, that they should never come near to him; seeing they partook of the general departure, and did not keep close to the true worship of God, they must hear their iniquity, they must not come near unto God; only God would permit them to be employed in some meaner out-services: and therefore it may be that he will not use some men amongst us of choice parts, in any great work of his, to do him any great service; though they be employed in some meaner duties, yet, for their sinful compliances and confoiTiiity to superstition, they shall not come near him. Except there be extraordinary repentance and taking’ of shame to themselves, though they may be men of excellent parts, the Lord may remember what they did when our Israel departed from God, and what their compliances were; and though he may still make use of them in some ordinary service, yet he may lift up his hand against them, that they shall never be employed, never made a special blessing, in any choice work. God may justly leave them so that they shall cast themselves in a great measure out of the hearts of the saints, and their shame shall stick upon them while they live; and the more honour they seek, the more shame will God certainly cast upon them. In Jer. iii. 25, the church saith, “AVe lie down in our shame.” There is cause indeed that such men should lie down in their shame; those that are of discerning spirits, and observe the ways of men and the ways of God, cannot but be sensible of this, for so long as lielding to superstitious vanities and submission to false power were useful to them to save their estates, their liberties and livings, they yielded, and submitted, and altered their judgments to suit the times, yea, and so altered it as presently to grow even bitter against their brethren who differed from them. Surely they, and we, and all of us, should take shame to ourselves, lie down in our shame a while, and act with all humility, and with all meekness, in suspicion of ourselves and of our own judgments, and in love to our brethren, remembering that we oiu’selves not long since held other views and other sentiments; therefore should our hearts, I say, be veiy- low, gentle, and full of forbearance. But further,

Ob.i. 2. God has a time to make all idolaters ashamed of their sacrifices. AVe will raise our meditations somewhat higher on this, “They shall be ashamed of their sacrifices.” All sacrifices, not only the superstitious and idolatrous, but all other sacrifices that come short of the rule, will at length cause shame. As carnal men that tender up many services to God, and lay such weight u|)on them as on their account to claim heaven and an uitcrcst in God, God has a time to make them ashamed of all these sacrifices. And now, as God shall discover the vanity of their services, if he would but show to us all here each other’s hearts in time of prayer; when we have been offering u]) that sacrifice unto God, and have seemed very devout, yet, oh the vanity of our hearts, the vile, impure, foolish, and ungodly thoughts that have passed through them! If God should write our prayers before us, and interline them with all these, and then bid us read them, and bid others read our jirayers thus interlined, would ve not be ashamed of our sacrifices? The best sacrifice that ever we rendered up to God in all our life we would be ashamed of. God has a time (except all be pardoned in Christ and covered in him) to make men that lay such weight upon their prayers, discern such native deformity in them, as to make them lie down in their shame.

Ohs. 3. Duties performed with a carnal heart arc mixed with base ends. AVe seem to draw near to CJod, and would honour and worship him: oli, but the hypocrisy of our hearts! what vile and base ends are there, to give content to this and the other, to display

our parts and abilities in services! These things have been manifest in God’s sight, and except we be ashamed of them now, and repent, and get them pardoned in Christ, God will set all our base ends before angels and men; and shall we not then be ashamed of our sacrifices?

Obs. 4. Our sacrifices are defiled by the foulness of our hearts. Not only by actual sin mixed with them, by base thoughts and ends, but our services have come forth from unclean hearts, and it is impossible that out of the unclean there can come any tiling that is clean. And when God shall show the infinite holiness of his majesty, and the extent of his justice and righteousness, and how infinitely worthy of sacrifices far other than ever we have tendered to him, oh then how shall we be ashamed!

How will our hearts be overwhelmed with confusion and shame, when, apprehending the infiniteness of the glory of the great God, we shall see how utterly unworthy all oiu- duties were of that surpassing excellency and majesty! Men think highly of the sacrifices that they tender up unto God because of the ability they display in them, but they know not with what a God they have to do. AA’hen the Lord shall show unto us the lustre of his glory and the greatness of his majesty, (as it will be seen by us one day at the glorious apjiearing of the great God,) then we shall see how unworthy all our services were of such a God as he is, and that will make us ashamed if we have not been ashamed heretofore; nothing will be more grievous and more confound the hearts of men, than to be put to shame for their sacrifices.

A’ou will say then, AVhat arc those sacrifices we should render 6od that we shall never be ashamed of? God will one day make all superstitious and carnal people ashamed of their sacrifices, this will be a dreadful thing when it comes to pass, what then are those sacrifices which the saints of God shall never be ashamed of? If you would offer such sacrifices,

1. Be sure they be his own, worship God in his own way. It is not what you think will please God, and will make an excellent appearance, but look to the word, be sure it his own.

2. Let them come from faith; let your hearts be actuated by divine princii)les in whatsoever you tender up unto God: rest not in the action, but consider the source from whence it flows.

3. Let your ends be high; O take heed of base and low ends in all your sacrifices. It is too much that men should have base and low ends in their outward affairs, when even in them they should have their hearts high upon the gloiyof the great God; but when they come to their sacrifices and holy duties, then siiisum corda, then lift up your hearts indeed, be sure then vour ends be high and holy.

4. Let your whole strength be engaged in them so as to sanctify the name of God; let the whole soul be carried out unto God, for God is worthy of the whole; if you had ten thousand times more strength than you have, God is worthy that it should be put forth in the services you tender unto him.

5. Offer up yourselves as a sacrifice to God. Be not satisfied to offer up a jiraycr as a sacrifice, or alms, or such duties only, but be sure, together with these, to offer up yourselves as a living sacrifice to God; as the a])ostle saith, Rom. xii. 1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” God cares for none of your sacrifices except you offer yourselves. That is a very observable place in the latter end of 1 Kings viii., w“licrc you find that Solomon offered “two and twenty thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep;” a great sacrifice indeed to be offered at once unto God! but mark what.

notwithstanding, God saith to him in chap. ix. 4, presently aftei’ the sacrifice was done, “If thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments,” &c. God puts it to an ijj Notwithstanding all these sacrifices, if thou thyself, in the constant obedience of thy life, wilt be a constant sacrifice, then will I do thus and thus. But ver. 6, “If ye shall at all turn from following me,” if, notwithstanding all these sacrifices, thou at all turn from following me, I will do thus and thus. Many of us think when we have spent a whole day in fasting, and our hearts have been enlarged and have ofiered up a great sacrifice to God, that we may take the more liberty afterward: no, though you offer “twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundi-ed and twenty thousand sheep,” yet, if after this thou shalt at all forsake me, all that thou hast done shall be rejected. Therefore those sacrifices that are not joined with offering up of ourselves, are such as God will make us ashamed of; but if together with our sacrifices we offer up ourselves, which is our reasonable service, we shall never be ashamed. Therefore, you that are poor and weak in parts, and have but little’ grace, yet, if that little be true, though your hearts are not so enlarged perhaps as others’ in prayer, and you look upon your sacrifices as mean, and as unworthy to be tendered up unto the great God; but dost thou then offer up thyself to him as a sacrifice? It is true, my parts are weak, and my abilities are poor and mean, but, O Lord, what I am, and what 1 can, I tender unto thee: here. Lord, take soul, body, life, estate, liberty, and all I enjoy, I tender them all unto thee as a sacrifice: I say then, peace be unto thee, the sacrifices thou lightly esteemest God will not make thee ashamed of, but he accepts thy poor services when together with them thou offerest up thyself; whereas if thou didst not tender thyself as a sacrifice, though thy services were ten thousand times more glorious than they are, they would be all cast back as dung in thy face.

6. Be humbled afler all your best services. Take no glory to yourselves, but be vile in your own eyes, when you perform any duty that seems to have any excellency in it, and which perhaps others regard as having much. If your hearts be elated with it, the glory of it is gone, and it is that which you must be ashamed of, though now you be honom’ed for it, and pride yourselves in it.

Lastly, Tender up all in Christ, in the worthiness of his infinite sacrifice. Christ is that sacrifice which is well-pleasing unto God, and all others are pleasing unto him only through the merit and worthiness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has tendered up himself unto God the Father as a sacrifice to heal all our sacrifices, and to take away all their shame. 1 Pet. ii. 5, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spu’itual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God;” how? “by Jesus Christ.” Mark, you are as “lively stones,” and lively stones “built up,” not merely stones Ij’ing here one and there another, but “lively stones built up” in a holy communion, that is the meaning, built up “to offer sacrifices,” and that “spiritual sacrifices.” But mark, though our sacrifices be never so spiritual, yet they cannot be acceptable to God but by Jesus Christ; that is the sacrifice the saints shall gloi’y in and bless God for to all eternity, which shall take away the shame of their sacrifices, and by its all-sufficient merit render them acceptable unto God. Thus, through the good hand of the providence of God, we are come to the end of this fourth chapter.