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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	cause_n	court_n	king_n	3,548	5	4.0704	3	false

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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

is Of whom doth the Prophet here complain whether of the Rulers or of the people Answ. Of both 1 Of the people They hate him that reproveth in the gate that is they hate the Judges who executed judgement in the gate they hate him who thus censureth and judgeth them for their sin for there is a double reproof 1 A civil reproof given by the Magistrate his just sentence upon the wicked is a real reproof of his wickedness and that Magistrate which faithfully and impartially thus reproves men in the gate must look to bee hated by the wicked of the world so was Iob that renowned Magistrate Iob 30.1 10. 2 And most genuinely it is taken for spiritual reproof by the Prophets who were wont to reprove open sins openly They hate him that reproves in the gate that is in the public and open Assemblies for the gates of the City were places where usually was much concourse of people Prov. 1.21 and 8.3 There the Judges kept their Courts of Judicature and erected their seats of Judgement for the administration of Justice and determining of causes as appeareth Gen. 34.20 Deut. 21.19 and 22.15 Ruth 4.1 Iob 5.4 and 29.7 Psal. 127. ult They had Justice in the gates 1 For the ease and convenience of the Citizens that they might follow their suits without impediment to their other affairs 2 That Country-men might have justice easily and freely before they entred the City 3 That the Judges might take heed of doing unjustly since they had so many to see and hear what they did 4 To shew the equality and indifferency of Justice from which none were excluded but as the gates of the City were open to all to go in and out at pleasure so should the Courts of Justice 5 To intimate that the chiefest strength of Cities and safety of States doth consist in the due execution of Justice which is as gates and bars against sin and wickedness Take away this and gates of brass cannot preserve a City from destruction Here sometimes the Prophets did preach Gods word and publish their Prophesies to the people either in the gates of the Temple as Ier. 7.2 or in the Gates of the City as Ier. 17.19 20. and 19.2 and 22.2 and 26.10 2 Here is an Aggravation of their sin They abhor him that speaketh uprightly or that speaketh what is sincere and right that is in plain English they abominate that man and abhor that Minister that faithfully declares the counsel of God unto them without halting or halving and this is made a Periphrasis of a faithful Minister hee is one that doth not blend nor mix the word of God but hee delivers his will plainly and sincerely to his people They hated the Iudge but they abhorred the Minister now abhorrency is the height of hatred The people could not bear the censures of their Rulers but neither Princes nor people could indure the plain and powerful reproofs of the Prophets and therefore the Prophet here chargeth the Judges and the great ones more especially as appears by the context verse 7.11 12 15. for hating the Prophets which reproved them in the gates These great ones had acted their unjustice openly in the gate and for any one to bee so bold as to come there and reprove their unrighteousness they could not bear it Great men love to live as they list they love not bands of restraint they must do what please themselves with a non-obstante without controle Though they do unjustly yet none must tell them of it for they have eyes but they neither can nor will see they have ears but they will not hear for their hearts are hardened to their own destruction Isa. 6.9 10. OBSERVATIONS 1 Open sinners must bee openly reproved Those that sin before all must bee reproved before all that others may fear 1 Tim. 5.20 These Judges who acted unrighteously in the gate must bee reproved by the Prophets in the gate 2 Obs. It is a sad aggravation of mens sins to hate those whom God hath authorised and commissioned to reprove them for their sins To lay snares for him that reproveth in the gates Isa. 29.21 To devise devices against plain-dealing Ieremies and with Ahab to hate Gods faithful Micaiahs and to seek their death and destruction who labour to bring us to life and salvation is the heighth of wickedness Gen. 19.9 1 King 22.24 26. Ier. 38.6 Matth. 14.3 Act. 7.54 and 9.29 Truth breeds hatred and light is irksome to the sore eyes of wicked men They draw the Curtains and cannot endure the light that reproves them and it is worth observing that the viler men have been the more they have hated plain reproofes as the Sodomites Pharaoh Ahab Herod c. they were all reprehension-proof But the better men have been the more submissive to reproofs as David when Abigail stopt him on one hand and Nathan on the other hee blesseth the one and loves the other So Hezekiah when the Prophet Isaiah told him that hee must lose all hee receives it meekly with a Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken Isa. 39 ult So Constantine and Theodosius how tractable and submissive were they to the Ministers of Christ when the Roman Caesars most of them persecuted to the death such as opposed them in their Tyrannical practises they were punished as seditious and troublers of the State that did in the least trouble them for their sins And this is the great sin of England and bodes some judgement approaching that we cannot endure a plain-sound-soul-searching-Ministery wee must have smoothe things or nothing Isa. 30.10 The Idolater must not be told of his Idols the superstitious man of his ceremoniousness nor the incontinent man of his Herodias c. Men love such as will daub over their vices and give them such service or starvis as will not bite them Missa non mordet It is observed that the French Reformed Churches some years before that bloody massacre did affect a frothy flashy kinde of preaching not regarding that which touched the conscience Whether this be not our case let the Reader judge VERSE 11. Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor and yee take from him burdens of wheat yee have built bouses of hewn stone but yee shall not dwell in them yee have planted pleasant Vineyards but yee shall not drink of them WEe are now come to a third sin for which the Prophet reproves this people and that is for Oppressing the poor and this was more peculiarly the sin of their Rulers and Grandees They that should have been the keepers of the Law they were the greatest breakers of it they that should have been the Vindicators they were the Violators of it The Prophet therefore strikes not at the foot viz. the common-people but he strikes at the head from whence all disorders descended unto the body In this Verse we have 1 Their Sin 2 Their

6 God oft retaliates men and pays them in their own kind God will spoyl those that spoyl his people Isa. 33.1 Hab. 2.8 Woe unto thee that spoylest and wast not spoyled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoyl then shalt thou be spoyled He speaks here of the cruel Assyrian who spoyled Gods people causelesly and unprovoked and dealt treacherously with those that offered no such measure unto him God will retaliate such in their owne kind and when they have done spoyling others God will raise up the Chaldeans who shall spoyl them God usually raiseth up some to deal hardly with those that deal hardly with his people These Rulers here trod upon the poor and now the Lord raiseth up the Assyrian to trample on them They built their houses upon the bones and ruines of the poor and now they lose them So true is that Iob 20.22 The hand of the wicked shall be upon him viz. to oppress and spoyl him who had spoyled others before But of Retaliation see more on Amos 6. ult VERSE 12. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins they afflict the just they take a bribe and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right IN this Verse we have a Reason why the Lord would bear no longer with this people viz. because of their obstinacy cruelty bribery and unrighteousness and because the high and lofty ones of the world are apt to contemn the poor plain Prophets of the Lord and to sle●ght their Message and say to Gods Amoses you wrong us for we are not the men that you take us for therefore the Prophet brings in the Lord himself saying I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins q. d. Though you act your wickedness never so secretly and hide your oppressions and palliate and put glosses on your unrighteous practices before men yet nothing is hid from mine eye I understand your thoughts afar off and know them before you think them your words before you speak them and your works before you doe them Psal. 139.1 2 3 4. So that however you may deceive men with your pretences of Law and Equity yea and deceive your selves too yet you cannot deceive me for all things are naked to mine eye The Prophet having to doe with stubborn Sinners to make the threatning the more ponderous and effectual he brings in the Lord himself saying I know your wayes and your wickedness you think your selves Lords Paramount and none may question you or say unto you what doe you But you must know that there is a Lord above you and a greater than you to whom you must certainly and suddenly give an account The Prophet sets down the Sins of these great ones especially 1 Generally and in the lump 1 They were for Number Rabbim many 2 For Nature Gnatzumim great and grievous Their sins were not secret infirmities but great and crying enormities so hideous that they were no longer to be endured or born and therefore the Holy Ghost multiplies words the better to work upon them They were guilty of Transgressions manifold transgressions Sins and mighty sins The word which we render Transgression signifies a proud transgressing of Gods Law and a malicious rebelling against God Psal. 5.10 The word Guatzumim signifies both mighty in strength and many in number Such were the sins of this people they were for number numberless and for nature grand and grievous habitual chronical sins They were such as admitted of all manner of aggravations 1 They were multitudes they were three transgressions and four oft so called Amos 2.4 6. i e. they were exceeding many and manifold for so the number seven is oft used in Scripture for many as Levit. 26.24 Eccles. 11.2 they abounded with Idolatry Oppression Unjustice Security c. 2 All these were acted in a time when God was powring Mercies upon them saving them by the hand of Ieroboam the second and giving them Victory over their enemies 2 King 14.25 27. now these are called strong Sins either because they cried strongly for punishment and did as it were bind Gods hands that he could shew them no mercy or rather because they were committed with a stiff and stubborn mind strongly bent upon sin and wickedness drawing on iniquity with the cords of vanity and sin as it were with Cart-ropes Isa. 5.18 they were wilfully set on sin and did use all means to draw it to themselves 2 He sets down their sins particularly specifically and as in were by retail 1 They afflict the just 2 They take bribes 3 They oppress the poor 1. They afflict the just whom they should have defended This Sin was written in Capital Letters as it were on their fore-heads and therefore they are so oft charged with it The word Tsorer signifies to bind one hard together as we doe an enemy and straiten vexe oppress and afflict one So Psal. 129.14 Many are they that afflict me from my youth God hath cut their cords 2. They take a bribe viz. to pervert Justice contrary to Gods express command Exo. 23.8 Deut. 16.17 and it is made the badge of a wicked man to doe so Prov. 17 23. they condemned the poor innocent man that could not bribe and abso●ved the wicked rich man that could bribe well Thus they justified the wicked and condemned the just both which are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 The word which we translate a Bribe signifies a Ransome these mercinary Judges put Malefactors to ransome themselves with money and to pay a rate for their redemption E. G. If one had killed a man it was but paying a Ransome though the Law say no Ransome shall be accepted for such a sin Numb 35.31 and he was quit So if any were accused for Theft Adultery Witch-craft c. it was but bribing lustily and they were presently acquit and pronounced innocent thus instead of punishing them with death for their sins they onely fined and merced them They turn aside the poor in the gate from their right The Judges sate in the gate to do Justice as I have shewed before vers 10. yet even there they perverted Justice They oppress the poor in the gate i. e. in the publick judgement which was exercised in the gate In open Court they perverted the cause of the poor either by a corrupt stating of the case or concealing the merit of the cause or by delays c. The good man trusting to the equity of his cause is cast and for want of a bribe which the rich man brings is non-suted Thus their Fountains did run poyson their Courts of Justice were Courts of Injustice and their Courts of Equity courts of Iniquity and therefore the Lord is now resolved to bear no longer with them but even to destroy them OBSERVATIONS 1 Hardned incorrig●ble sinners are not worthy of a reproof And therefore the Lord here turns his

VVorld they would have Miracles and Angels to doe it when God saies they shall have Ministers and Preaching by men to doe it It is a Satanical delusion for men to think of being converted or comforted by any other way than that which God himself hath prescribed If God hath planted thee under a godly and a faithful Ministry and that cannot convert thee then assure thy self if an Angel from Heaven or a Ghost from Hell should come and preach every Sabbath to thee thou wouldst not be converted Sad is the condition then of many amongst us who visifie and contemn who mock and scorne at the Preaching of the Word accounting the publishers of it the Pests of a place and the troublers of Israel 1 King 18.17 grudging at their maintenance and slaying their persons this is a sign of remediless ruine to a Nation 2 Chron. 36.15 16. Levit. 26.14 15 16. Ier. 25.4 7 8 9. Prov. 13.13 2 Obs. There is a Divine hand of Providence that governs the world This brings plenty and poverty rain on one City and not on another one City is fired and another is rescued as a brand out of the fire These things come not by chance or fortune but there is a signal providence of God in them all Hee feeds the Sparrows cloathes the Lillies numbers our Hairs and takes special care of his people Hee hath a directing protecting compassionate vindicating care over all his he tenders them as the apple of his eye and writes them upon the palmes of his hands they are ever in his sight Isa. 49.15 63.9 Ezek. 16.8 Zach. 2.8 Mal. 3.17 Acts 9.4 This Providence of God is 1 Watchful 2 Distinct. 3 Strong 4 VVise in working We should therefore comfort our selves in this special Providence of God and cast all our burdens of cares fears on him Hee that provides for the meanest creatures will not suffer his noblest Creatures to want He that provides for Sparrows said good Mr. Herne when he was dying to his sad wife will not suffer Herns to want Yea he that provides so liberally for his enemies what will he not doe for his friends Away then with all carking distrustful care only commit thy way unto the Lord and hee shall direct thy paths Bee patient under all wrongs and injuries remembring that Gods eye takes special notice of all the wrongs that are done to his people to avenge them Exod. 3.9 2 Chron. 16.8 9. Let our moderation be made known to all since the Lord is at hand Phil. 4.5 See more of the Providence of God in Mr. Perkins on the Creed Artic. 1. p. 154. folio Vol. 1. Peter Martyr on 1 Sam. 10. p. 56 57. Lessius de Attributis p. 625. Dr. Gouge his Arrows p. 373. Rutherford Lect. Latine c. 11. p. 122. Corbet Fast Ser. on 1 Cor. 1.27 p. 5 c. Dyke on Matth. 4.4 p. 260 c. Strong 31 select Ser. p. 657. Raworth Iacobs Ladder p. 5 c. B. Andrews Catechis chap. 7. folio mihi p. 29. Herberts Poems p. 109 c. Pemble folio p. 263. to 279. Minutius felix per totum Par his Grounds of Divinity p. 33 c. 3 Obs. God is the destroyer of sinful Cities If you would know who it is that overthrows your Cities It is I saith the Lord that in justice for your provocations have made your Cities a desolation I fired Sodom destroyed No Niniveh Samaria Babylon Ierusalem As the Lord raiseth Cities and defends the good 2 King 19.34 20.6 so he ruines and layes waste the bad Hos. 13.16 Luke 19.44 keep sin then out of your Cities if you desire to keep them from fire plunder ruine Take heed of offending God who is a consuming Fire and can in a trice consume us and turn our dwellings into ashes 4 Obs. In the midst of Iudgements God remembers mercy Hee doth not stirre up all his wrath nor suffer his whole displeasure to arise but le ts fall only some drops upon us when he might pour a whole Sea of wrath upon our heads Psalm 78.38 God might justly have destroyed all these Israelites for their Idolatry and Apostasie yet he remembred his Covenant though they had fouly forgot it and transgrest it Hos. 6.7 and saves a remnant he destroyed but some not all their Cities So oft elsewhere we read of a remnant that were saved 2 King 19.31 Isa. 1.9 10.22 Rom. 9.27 5 Obs. Neither Iudgements nor Mercies can work upon hardned Sinners Some of these Israelites were destroyed like Sodom and others in mercy were pulled like a Brand out of the fire yet nothing works upon them but they are Israel still as Idolatrous and obstinate as ever VVhen the heart is once hardned by a long custom of sinning it is not all that Mount Ebal or Mount Gerizim Mount Sinai or Mount S●on can afford not all the dreadful Curses of the one nor all the gracious Promises of the other that can work upon mens hearts Prov. 23.29 34 35. Ezek. 20.5 6 7 8 18 21. neither Iohns austerity nor Christs lenity could work upon hard-hearted Iews If God by his Spirit set not in with the means nothing works kindly upon us yea wee shall bee the worse for beating as these Israelites all these six Rods doe but stupifie them and make them fitter for a greater Judgement One rod being sanctified may bring a man home to God as the Prison did Manasses want the Prodigal and the Earth-quake the Jaylor they had Gods Spirit that taught them to profit by afflictions and so were blessed Psal. 94.12 but a thousand stripes on a Pharaoh Saul c. doe but make them the more sensless and indurate and is not this Englands Sin may not we behold our own faces in this Glass may not the Lord justly complaine of us as he doth here of Israel I have smitten England with Sword Plague and Famine some of their Towns and Cities I have fired and the rest were as a brand pulled out of the fire Many a time have I broken and blasted the Power and Policy of many great Achitophels and delivered them from many eminent imminent dangers and yet such is their incorrigibleness and incurableness that they have not returned unto me saith the Lord. If any thing destroy this Nation it is our obstinacy and impenitency under all those various Dispensations of Mercies and means which we have so long enjoyed God like a good Physician hath long studied our Disease and given us many Purgative draughts to drink he hath visited us with variety of Judgements and hath let us bloud several times the better to obtain our Cure and yet he may complaine of us as hee doth of Israel here that we have not for all this returned to him VERSE 12. Therefore thus will I doe unto thee O Israel and because I will doe thus unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel WEE have heard before of Israels Sin and Israels Punishment

thread till the whole peece bee consumed Iob 13. ult Psal. 39.12 Hos. 5.12 Sometimes to the Wrath of a King and if that bee as the Messenger of death Oh what is the wrath of the King of Kings Prov. 16.14 1 Then take heed of provoking him to anger better have all the world inraged against us then God against us Their wrath is but finite and limited both in respect of time and place but Gods wrath is infinite without either bank or bottome Take heed of all sin especially of those God-provoking sins as 1 Idolatry Deut. 4.23 24. and 32.21 22. 1 Cor. 10.5 7. and following Antichrist Rev. 14.9 10. and 19.20 2 Prophanation of holy things Lev. 10.2 Numb 16.35 3 Neglecting to reform the things amiss in Gods worship Ezra 7.23 4 Fornication and Sodomitical sins Gen. 19.24 1 Cor. 10.5 8. 5 Murmuring at Gods dispensations 1 Cor. 10.5 10. 6 Apostacy and back sliding Heb. 10.38 2 When ever we perceive the fire of Gods wrath to break out in Sword Plague c. by our prayers and tears we should labour suddenly to quench it Numb 16.46 A fire the longer it burns the more dreadful it is and the harder it is to quench it 3 In all our approaches to this great and mighty God whether in Prayer Sabbaths Sacraments c. come with the greatest fear and reverence for hee is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 This holy fear must bee an ingredient into all our services Psal. 2.11 It is said of Luther that hee prayed with such fear and reverence as remembring hee had to do with God and yet with such affiance and confidence as with a Friend and Father 4 Bee thankful for Christ who hath delivered us from wrath to come The Angels fell and lye under this wrath but Christ was cursed that wee might bee blessed and hath undergone Gods wrath for us that wee might bee freed from it In time of tentation set this as a skreen between the fire of Gods wrath and thy soul. Hide thy self in the clefts of this Rock and get thy soul covered with thy Saviours Righteousness and then thou mayest stand with comfort and confidence before this consuming fire VERSE 7. Yee who turn Iudgement into wormwood and leave off Righteousness in the earth THe Prophet having called on Israel to repent hee comes now to set before them their sins which they should repent of Hee had called upon them before to forsake their Idolatry and sins against the first Table vers 5. now he calls on them to repent of their sins against the second Table viz. their perverting of Iudgement and Iustice their cruelty and oppressing of the poor verse 11. and their Bribery verse 12. Seek yee the Lord yee who have turned Iudgement into wormwood 1 Here is a fin reproved and that is perverting of Judgement set forth by an elegant Metaphor and Allusion of turning Judgement into wormwood 2 Here is an exegesis or fuller explication of this sin They leave off righteousness in the earth It is usual in Scripture to make the latter clause explain the former 3 Here are the persons which are guilty of this sin and those are the Princes Judges and Rulers of Israel included in the Pronoun Yee 4 Here is their duty set down in the next verse They must turn from their sin and seek the Lord who is the great Creator and Governour of all q. d. O yee rulers of Israel who have not onely provoked mee by your Idolatry but have also cast away all care of Righteousness and Equity and given your selves up to all manner of cruelty bribery rapine and iniquity and have thereby turned the sweetest Iustice into the bitterest wormwood now repent and seek the Lord that yee may live for ever The Prophet here principally taxeth the great ones and the Rulers of the people who had the deepest share in this guilt they should have been patterns of Justice and Righteousness to their inferiours but they being evil themselves corrupted the rest as bad humours use to flow from the head to the body and therefore the Prophet falls heavy upon them as hee did before Chap. 4.1 These corrupted Justice and made that which is in it self most profitable and pleasant to become bitter and distasteful by oppressing the poor and helpless This is called Wormwood here and gall and poyson Amos 6.12 1 Because such unrighteousness and oppression is very displeasing and bitter to God 2 It is bitter to the poor and oppressed 3 In the end it will bee bitter to the Oppressors themselves This is finis operis though not finis operantis In the conclusion it will bee gall and wormwood yea deadly poyson to their souls though they intend it not Justice and Equity is a most sweet and precious thing and doth wonderfully help to preserve the peace and prosperity of a Land This is a sanctuary and shelter for the innocent and the oppressed but these oppressing self-seeking Rulers had made a poyson of a remedy and turned that which was ordained for the safety of the afflicted to his ruine These Rulers had turned Justice into wormwood many wayes 1 By Bribery Amos 4.1 2 By Partiality justifying the wicked rich man favouring the kinsman the friend the briber but condemning the poor and innocent who had no bribes to give them 3 By delayes tyring out the poor and so forcing him to give up his cause 4 By wresting and perverting the Law to their own ends contrary to the genuine sense of it 5 By hindring such evidence as might clear the cause And leave off righteousness in the earth They let it lye in the dust and trod it under foot That which was their duty yea their glory viz. the execution of Justice that they neglected and sleighted as a most contemptible thing They abused the righteous and did grinde the faces of the poor Amos 8.4 5 6. There was no place left for any righteousness amongst them their seats of justice were places of injustice and their Courts of equity Courts of iniquity OBSERVATIONS 1 Perverting of Iustice is very bitter and displeasing to God and man Look how distastful Gall and VVormwood is to us so distastful is unrighteousness to the righteous God It is as poyson and hemlock to him Amos 6.12 Hence he so oft complains of it and denounceth so many woes against it as in Psalm 82.2 3. and in Isa. 5.7 20 23. 10.1 59.4 13. and Lam. 3.35 36. As nothing is more sweet and delightful than an impartial administration of Justice so nothing is more bitter and displeasing to God and man than unrighteousness It is a sin to omit righteousness but it is a farre greater aggravation of the sin to contemn it and trample it under foot as these did here Great is the number of wicked men and were it not for Justice that did restraine them every mans lust would be a law and the reins would be let loose to all manner

23. Colos. 3.9 10.1 Pet. 3.11 It is not sufficient that we turne from evil but we must doe good A negative Christian is no Christian. Dives did not rob Lazarus yet is condemned for not releeving him So those Matth. 25 42 43. c. Many would have God and their sins too like the Samaritans that served God and their Idols too 2 King 17.33 34 but he that turns to God must give a bill of divorce to his former sins he must forget his kindred and his fathers house Psal. 45.10 11. we that were sometimes slaves to sin must now become servants to God and it must be as natural and delightful to us to serve him as ever it was to sin against him As a vessel that is full of poyson must bee emptied of it before it can bee filled with better liquor so our hearts must be purged from corruption before they can be filled with grace Most pretend that they are the Lords people and that they belong to him but if we be his he saies to us as Iehu said to the men of Samaria when they complemented with him and told him they were his servants and would do all that he should bid them If you will be mine saith Iehu then cut off the heads of your Masters sons and send them to me 2 King 10.5 6. So if we be the Lords real servants we must cut off not the heads of our sons but of our sins nor sacrifice our children but our selves to God mortifying our beloved corruptions and then he will be our God and we shall be his people 4 Obs. The special presence of God with a people is a choice mercy Hence the Church so oft glories in this Psal. 46.1 7.11 The Lord of hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our refuge and sadly laments the want of it Ier. 14.8 9 as the in-let into all misery Deut. 31.17 Ier. 6.8 Gods special presence is the glory of a place Zach. 2.5 God himself will be an impregnable wall of fire to defend his people and to offend their adversaries and their glory in the midst of them Where God comes peace and plenty consolation and protection and all good comes Hence they are pronounced blessed and happy that have the Lord for their God Psal. 144. ult as I have shewed at large elsewhere As the residence of a King is the glory of a place so Gods presence amongst his people makes them glorious Hence the name of Gods Church is Iehovah-Shammah The Lord is there Ezek. 48. ult hee is there as the founder favourer and preserver of it It is more to say The Lord is here than to say peace and plenty and all creature-comforts are here you may make what you will out of it for all happiness is summed up in this short promise I am with thee 5 Obs. Impenitent sinners may think themselves highly in Gods favour when he is greatly incensed against them for their wickedness These Israelites because they had some priviledges therefore they concluded that God loved them and would never punish them for their Idolatry bribery cruelty But they conceited that he would abide still amongst them as they had vainly said but the Lord tells them That he abhorred both them and their services whilst they walked in such irreligious practises vers 21 22 23. So it was in Iudah their Judges were corrupt and their Prophets covetous yet they lean upon the Lord and conclude that God was amongst them and for them still Micah 3.11 but vers 12. they found that he was amongst them to their sorrow VERSE 15. Hate the evil and love the good and establish judgement in the gate it may be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph THe Prophet still goes on with his Exhortation to Repentance he had to do with an hardened people upon whom sleight Exhortations would make no impression such hard knots and knarls must have hard beetles and wedges such tough humours must have stronger physick and therefore the Prophet that he might drive this nail to the head renews his Exhortation and calls upon them a fifth time to forsake their ev●l wayes and to turn to the Lord who was ready to receive them Repentance consists of two parts The first is dying to sin The second is a living to Righteousness We have both in the Text. 1 We must hate evil there is dying to sin 2 Love good there is living to Righteousness Hate evil that is hate sin which is the evil of evils It is evil in it self and the cause of all the evils in the world Do not onely forbear sin and refrain from it for a time and then return with the dog to his vomit but hate it not with a sleight toothless hatred but with a deep implacable hatred such as men use to have against their deadly enemies whom they prosecute with the greatest violence Do good It is not sufficient that we shun evil but we must also do good We must not onely pull up weeds but we must bring forth good fruit for man matter and manner We must do good not compulsively and forcedly but freely Psal. 110.3 sincerely out of love to goodness cheerfully Deut. 28.47 and constantly Luke 1.5 6 7. Zachary and Eliazabeth lived in the dayes of Herod a known Tyrant yet they feared him not but kept their righteousness not onely in their youth but in their old age the Text saith they were well stricken in years yet they continued righteous before God 3 Because their Master-sin was injustice therefore he calls upon them to testifie the truth of their repentance by parting with their beloved sin establishing justice openly in the gate by setting up such just Judges as should execute justice faithfully and impartially without respect of persons q. d. Hitherto ye have neglected ●ustice Amos 4.1 and 5.12 and have made your lusts your Laws and have ruled according to your own will and not according to my will but now repent and execute justice then will I shew mercy and favour to you 4 The better to encourage them here is a promise of mercy The Lord will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph The Assyrian had made great slaughters amongst them and left them but a remnant 2 King 14 26. yet he bids this remnant re●urn for then he would be gracious to the remnant of Joseph that is to the remnant of ●srael as before verse 6. He had told them before vers 3. that God would decimate them and here he tells them that God would be merciful to this decimated Remnant if they would but return to him 5 To keep them from security the Prophet comes in with a peradventure the Lord will bee gracious to you He sayes not positively and absolutely The Lord will destroy you for then hee had made them desperate nor yet assertively that God would deliver them for that would have made them presumptuous and