Selected quad for the lemma: evil_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
evil_n	darkness_n	good_a	sweet_a	3,257	5	8.2420	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45333	An exposition by way of supplement, on the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of the prophecy of Amos where you have the text fully explained ... : together with a confutation of Dr. Holmes, and Sir Henry Vane, in the end of the commentary / by Tho. Hall ...	Hall, Thomas, 1610-1665.; Homes, Nathanael, 1599-1678.	1661 (1661)	Wing H431; ESTC R18972	450,796	560

enemies sword This is Gods usual method as hath been experienced in all ages When men will not hearken to the voice of Gods messengers it is a certain sign that God intends to destroy them 1 Sam. 2.25 2 Chron. 25.20 Prov. 29.1 2 Obs. Where sin goes before there sorrow follows We read before of this peoples Idolatry bribery cruelty now comes weeping wailing lamentation c. Wicked mens mirth ends in mourning See more on Amos 8.3 VESSE 17. And in all Vineyards shall be wailing for I will pass thorow thee saith the Lord. THese Israelites boasted much that God was with them and he would never leave them who were his Covenant-people The Prophet tells them that God would abide no longer with them but would now pass thorow them in wrath and not only the Citizens and Husbandmen but even the Vinitors also should mourn for the spoyl that should be made among them In the time of Vintage there was wont to be great mirth and jollity Psal. 4.7 they sung merrily and did shout for joy Isa. 16.10 Ier. 25.30 yea but their sins had marred their mirth so that now they shall have weeping instead of singing In all Vineyards shall be mourning All had sinned and now all shall suffer 2 Here is the reason of their mourning viz. because the Lord will pass thorow them he will not dwell nor abide amongst them in love and favour as they vainly fancied but he would pass thorow them like an enemy and execute justice on them Isa. 27.4 The Prophet seems to allude to the Lords passing thorow Egypt when he sent an Angel to smite all the first-born thereof and thereby filled every house with wailing and lamentation Exod. 11.4 and 12.12 so I will pass thorow you with plagues and will cause the destroying enemy to pass thorow all your land saith the Lord. OBSERVATIONS 1 Sin incenseth God against a people And makes him pass thorow them in wrath like lightning doing general execution upon them terribly suddenly irresistibly But of this before on vers 6. 2 Obs. Generality of sin brings generality of plagues Citizens Husbandmen Vinitors all had sinned and now weeping and wailing shall be amongst them all But of this see Amos 6. ult VERSE 18. Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darkness and not light WE are now come to the third part of this Chapter where the Prophet inveyes against two sorts of sinners The first are mockers and deriders of the Prophets threatnings The second are such as trusted in their Ceremonies and Sacrifices Vers. 21 22 23. In the precedent Verse the Prophet had told them that the Lord would pass thorow them in wrath these impudent sinners in a taunting sarcastical way ask the Prophet when this would be q. d. You Prophets tell us of a dark and dismal day a day of wrath and trouble which will come upon us but we see nothing comes if God be in earnest let him make speed and come when he will we fear neither him nor thy threatnings nor do we beleeve that ever such a day will come or if it do come yet it will not be such a dreadful day as you speak of for God will not forsake his people which he hath spared so long from destruction Thus these desperate Atheists being wholly drowned in security sensuality and carnal delights scoff at the Threatnings and jest at Gods judgements neither fearing the one nor expecting the other but esteeming the words of the Prophet as wind and his comminations as a vain mockery To these Flouters at the Threatnings and mockers at the Lords long-suffering the Prophet answers Wo to you that desire the day of the Lord it will come too soon upon you without wishing for did you but know the terror of it you would never desire it To what end is it for you thus to speak Did you but know what kinde of day it is that is hasting on you you would not so much desire it you will think it comes too soon when it comes the Devils thought so Matth. 8.29 when God comes he will come as an armed enemy against you to your utter destruction so that you have great cause to fear and by repentance to prevent rather than to desire that day yet these hypocrites either as conceited of their own innocency and confiding in their priviledges desired this day or else in mockery and scorn they cry When will that day come which Amos so much talks of we would fain see it So you shall saith the Prophet time enough to your sorrow For it is a day of darkness and not of light and therefore woe be to you that thus scoffingly desire the day of the Lord you will finde it no jesting matter when it comes it will be a dark and dismal day to you though now you make your selves merry with it By a day of darkness here is meant the time in which God would destroy the Kingdome of Israel according as the Prophets had fore-told Allegorically and allusively this is true of the day of Judgement it will be a day of darkness and terror to all wicked men but literally this day of darkness and not of light that is this day of exceeding darkness as the Hebrew Idiom imports as we may see Amos 9.4 I will set mine eye upon them for evil and not for good The denial of the contrary hath a great emphasis in it q. d. I will bring upon them all manner of evil but no good So here It shall be a day of darkness and not of light that is it shall be a very dark and dismal day in which they shall finde no light of comfort from the Lord but wrath shall come upon them to the utmost In that day the Lord will exert his power in executing his vengeance on the Kingdome of Israel for all their Idolatry Apostacy Security Hypocrisie c. The various and inevitable calamities of this day are elegantly set forth in the next verse where the Prophet shews how the judgements of God should beset them round so that if they escaped from one evil yet another should apprehend them and if they fled from a Lion yet a Bear which is more savage should devour them It is usual in Scripture to call a day of Adversity misery and distress by the name of Darkness as Iob 20.16 and 23.17 and 30.26 Isa. 5.30 and 21.12 Ioel 2.2 Zeph. 1.14 to 18. Hence the doleful condition of the damned is called utter darkness As light signifies prosperity joy and comfort Hest. 8.16 Iob 18.6 and 38.15 Psal. 97.11 and 112.4 So darkness signifies calamity and sorrow as I have shewed on Amos 8.9 Quest. But why doth the Prophet denounce a Woe against those that desire the day of the Lord when it is the earnest desire of the Saints in Scripture that the day of the Lord would come and they dayly pray Thy Kingdome

for their sin We are now come to the third and last part of this third Sermon of the Prophet which contains an Exhortation or Invitation to Repentance where we have 1 The Illative Particle or the note of Inference Therefore The Lord draws a conclusion against them from the former Premises q. d. since none of my former Judgements will reclaime you I am now resolved that you shall reap the fruit of your disobedience you shall no longer be my People but I will cast you out of Covenant and send you into an impure Land so that yee shall not only lose your Land but your Religion too not only your Soyl but your Souls to boot not only your goods but your God I have sent out my Foot-men saith God and you have contemned them and contended with them I will now see what you will doe with Horse-men Ier. 12.5 I my self will now arise in armes against you as against a pack of rebels 2 Here is the Lords Commination of some greater Judgement implied and couched in general terms Thus will I do unto thee The Lord seeing their incorrigibleness goes on to denounce a sorer and sadder Judgement against them than any yet had befallen them He doth not tell them how or in what kind he will punish them but leaves them to imagine the worst thereby intimating that he would bring upon them sadder evils than they could imagine Thus terribly thus severely in a more furious manner than formerly wil I deal with thee The Judgement was so dreadful that the Prophet seems either loath or at least unable to express it and therefore he doth as it were draw a Vail over what hee could not in words set forth with a Thus will I doe unto thee q. d. I will bring upon thee some direful desolation and utter destruction for so it follows Amos 8.14 They shall fall and never rise again Since they be impenitent I will speedily execute upon them what I formerly threatned ver 2 3. I will give Samaria your Metropolis into the Assyrians hand and you shall be carried Captive into a strange Land There seems to be in the words a kind of Pathetical Aposiopesis when a man for anger and indignation cannot speak out his words but cuts off some word or part of a sentence which is to bee understood and such kind of speech is very frequent both in sacred and prophane Writers Thus Psal. 95.11 To whom I sware in my wrath if they enter into my rest q. d. they shall never enter into my rest if they come there let me not be God or let me not be true Thus the Hebrews in their execration Oathes were wont to speak Thus and thus let God doe to me 1 Sam. 25.22 without expressing the imprecation as fearing to name those dreadful evils 3 Hee allaies this sharp Commination with a gentle and sweet exhortation full of clemency and consolation telling them that he is yet their God in Covenant ready to receive them if they will but truly repent and come in unto him and therefore he counsels them speedily to prepare for where no time is exprest there as the Debt say Lawyers so the Duty say Divines is presently to bee performed to meet him Isa. 21.12 return and come but when why presently that is implied So here prepare to meet thy God but when why presently before the decree bring forth and it be too late Zeph. 21.2 The Lord having told them what he would doe to them now such is his goodness that hee shewes them what they should doe to prevent his Judgements viz. prepare to meet him Since he was ready to cast them off he adviseth them to cast themselves down and to implore his mercy and make peace with him Q. But what is meant by preparing to meet God Ans. To meet one hath various meanings in Scripture 1. Sometimes we goe to meet Persons that we may honour them thus Abraham and Lot went to meet the Angels Gen. 18.2 19.1 2 Sometimes we goe to meet Persons that we may scoff and jear at them as Michal the Daughter of Saul did David 2 Sam. 6.20 3 Sometimes we goe to meet Persons to fight with them as David did with Goliah 1 Sam. 17.48 And thus some take the words in the Text for an Ironical taunting speech as if the Lord had said Since I am coming against thee prepare your selves to meet me and see if yee bee able to encounter me and keep me back who am coming against you as an enemy come on and meet mee with your hardned hearts muster up your Armies recollect your Forces call in to your ayde all your Creature-confidences and see if they can deliver you from my hand and save you from my wrath which is even ready to seize upon you But this sense is very harsh and contrary to the scope of the place for all along the Lord calls upon them not to stand out against him but to submit unto him and therefore he so oft complaines even five times Yet have yee not returned unto me saith the Lord. Besides there is no meeting of God with Armes and Armies or any warlike Forces what can all the hosts in the world doe against the Lord of Hosts or who ever hardned himself against him and prospered Iob 9.4 let the Potsheards strive with the Potsheards of the earth but woe be to him that striveth with his Maker 4 Sometimes we goe out to meet Persons to humble our selves before them and to submit to them as Shimei did to David 2 Sam. 19.16 and thus it is in the text Prepare to meet thy God viz. by Prayers and tears by humble supplication and real humiliation for sin by forsaking your Idols and cleaving to Gods true Worship and by amendment of your lives run to meet him that you may prevent the execution of his wrath upon you c. This is the most proper meeting of God which is here called for this is the genuine and true scope of the place for the words are not a challenge Come out and meet me but a precious direction shewing us what we must doe to appease and pacifie God viz. not meet him in a way of Opposition and rebellion for this were to set Bryers and Thorns in battle against a consuming fire Isa. 27.4 but meet him in a way of submission as Abigail met David when he was coming to destory Nabal and his house 1 Sam. 25.32 So here since the Lord hath taken up this determination to punish thee O Israel and is resolved to bring some greater Judgement on thee therefore prepare thy self saith the Prophet by unfeigned humiliation and repentance that so thou maist prevent the execution of the sentence Put on thy mourning weeds take up a lamentation make ready thy Petition goe forth upon thy knee and beseech him to spare thee that so thou maist prevent thy utter destruction which is now at hand Q.

when your joy shall be turned into sorrow your prosperity into adversity and your light into the shadow of death It is not therefore for such obstinate sinners as you to think that the day of the Lord should ●ver yeeld you any light or comfort for the Lord will come as an armed enemy against you who have been so long open enemies to him 2 To assure them of the truth of what he spake he doubles it saying It shall be a day of darkness even very dark q. d. Take it for a most certain truth that you shal have all sorts and degrees of darkness amongst you you shall have outward and inward corporal and spiritual darkness and misery See more vers 18. 3 To make the words more weighty and emphatical there is added a denial of the contrary to the Affirmation which is an usual Hebraism and intends the speech So Isa. 38.1 Thou shalt dye and not live i. e. thou shalt surely dye So Ezek. 18.21 He shall live and not dye i. e. he shall surely live So Ioh. 1.20 he confessed and denied not i. e. he plainly and openly confessed that he was not the Christ so it shall be a day of darkness and no light or brightness in it that is it shall be a very calamitous day which will bring with it many evils but no good much sorrow but no joy much darkness but no light of comfort ease direction or good counsel OBSERVATIONS 1 A dark and doleful day will certainly and suddenly seize upon secure and obd●rate sinners Therefore the Prophet doubles and trebles it saying The day of the Lord will be darkness and not light then he asks the question and doubles the Interrogation and all to assure them of the truth of what he spake and to hasten their Repentance The darkness of sin brought upon them darkness of sorrow and provoked the Lord to take away his corn and wine and oyl and to strip them naked as in the day when they were born Since they would not serve him with gladness of heart in the abundance of all things now they should serve the Assyrian in woe and misery and in the want of all things Deut. 28.47 48. A good man if he fall into trouble yet he riseth again but the wicked shall fall and never rise more Prov. 24.16 If a good man sit in darkness yet the Lord will be a light unto him Psal. 97.11 Micah 7.8 and turn all to his good in the conclusion As the wicked man in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits Job 20.22 So the good man in the fulness of straits hath an All-sufficiency of comfort so that he cannot but say the Lord hath done all things well and it is good for him that ever the Lord afflicted him yea that great and terrible day of the Lord when Christ shall come in his glory to judge the world shall be a day of joy and refreshing to all the Saints Ps. 98.4 to 9. Luke 21.28 But to the wicked who have Christ the Judge for their enemy how dark and dreadful will all his dayes of Judgement be When he shall lay his Vindictive hand upon them here how full of despondency and despair will they be when they shall be totally forsaken of all their hopes and comforts So that if they look upward God is against them if downward Hell and the Grave wait for them if inward a guilty Conscience accuseth them if outward all the Creatures are ready as so many Serjeants to arrest them on the behalf of their Lord and Master Thus wee see how the Day of the Lord will be darkness and no light nor brightness in it to the wicked VERSE 21 22 23. I hate and despise your feast-dayes and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies Though yee offer me Burnt-offerings and your Meat-offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the Peace-offerings of your fat beasts Take thou away from me the noyse of thy Songs for I will not hear the melody of thy Viols WEE are now come to the Fourth and last part of this Chapter which contains 1 A Reproof 2. A Commination of these hypocritical Israelites who confided in their Services and Sacrifices in their Festivals and Songs conceiting that the bare performance of those external Rites though separated from internal obedience were highly pleasing unto God and that he would never destroy a People that served him as they did This their folly the Prophet confutes in the following Verses where he tells them that all their services were odious unto God and so farre from appeasing him that they incensed him the more against them and that because they were unsound For Man For Matter For Manner 1 The Sacrificers were grand Apostates and Idolaters They rested in the work done and in their Ceremonious observances and bodily worship devoyd of all faith or true obedience and so became abominable to God 2 They failed in the Matter of their Worship it was not of Divine institution but of their owne invention and therefore it is so oft Emphatically called yours I hate your feasts They went directly contrary to Gods command for he commanded them to worship at Ierusalem in his Temple there but they left the Temple and went a whoring after Calves and Idols at Bethel Gilgal Dan and Beersheba Thus they changed the place of Gods Worship 1 King 12.29 then they changed the time vers 31. and the Priests vers 31 32. no wonder then if God reject their services 3 They failed in the Manner they should have performed all these duties singly and sincerely in obedience to Gods command but they meerly sought themselves in all they did hypocritically resting in their external observations of Feasts and Sacrifices of Songs and Musick in their Temples thinking by this means to expiate their sins In this Verse therefore we have a Prolepsis or preventing and anticipating of an Objection whereas they boasted that they were the people of God and did service to him To this the Prophet brings in the Lord saying I hate and abhor your Services since they come from such wicked persons who are my profest enemies and what you doe hath no foundation in my Word but is a meer will-worship of your owne inventing In this and the two next Verses we have 1 The particulars of their worship they had 1 Feastivals as Sabbaths New-Moons Solemn Assemblies 2 Sacrifices as Burnt-offerings Meat-offerings Peace-offerings 3 Singing 1 Vocal 2 Instrumental 2 Here is Gods abhorrency of all these Services exprest in variety of words as 1 I hate them 2 I abhor them 3 I will not smel them 4 I will not accept them 5 I will not regard them 6 Away with them 3 Here is the reason of this abhorrency and that is because they are 1 Your Feasts 2 Your Sacrifices 3 Your Songs They are none of mine either for matter or manner but they are of your owne inventing and appointing and therefore I