outward felicity Manifest here and that Eccles 9.1 Psal 73.1.1 Cor. 1.26 Because these states are common to both Reason 1 and if there happen to be any propriety in them prosperity long impunity is proper to the wicked and the crosse to godly as all times manifest to us And if either argue love or hatred or doe but looke that waies it is prosperity hatred and the crosse rather argue love Rev. 3.19 Because God lesse loves where outward things are Reason 2 not in particular but generally the reason of which is because men else would thinke them beloved for their outward things and by them to deserve love and so never acknowledge his love free but that he loved them because he might better honour himselfe by them As St. August gives the reason why he chose not the wise Scribe or Philosopher not the Senator not the rich Merchant to be his Disciples because they would say they were chosen for such things And therefore these argue rather not love By the way Vse 1 this will confute the Church of Rome making a flourishing estate a signe and true note of the Church and so of the favour and love of God for no Church without love when it is manifest the crosse is Comes Ecclesiae And no society hath had more afflictions then it but if it had not yet if it will not conclude that one man is beloved and so two c. then not a multitude This confutes the common judgement of most men Vse 2 who measure the favour and love of God to themselves and others by outward things accounting him that is in poverty and misery accursed and rejected and he that is rich and full to be the sonne of God and hence they blaspheme God so usually as they doe both in respect of themselves and others when they account them beloved their reason and ground is all upon this foundation they have riches and wealth and every thing succeeds well with them Like the high Priests who accounted the people accursed because they knew not the law and themselves happy because they knew when they knew nothing as they ought to know as these for knowledge so they for riches As among the Egyptians he onely was accounted rich that had his heard full of white kine So now he onely beloved that hath his purse and treasures full How usuall this manner of judging is is too too apparent but how fallacious and deceitfull it is may be as apparent like that of Sinionides who would have wealth better then wisedome because the wise stood with cap in hand to the rich so they the wealthy then the poore because they would have it to argue more favour and so judge a man how wicked at least how ungodly soever he be if he have riches and be in prosperity and plenty and others hated but these condemne the generation of Gods children as Psalm 73. yea they judge and condemne God himselfe as if he loved the wicked To teach us Vse 3 not to judge and measure the love of God by these outward things to thinke of that James 2.1 My brethren have not the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ in respect of persons for so much it will carry though more We have a proverbe which may confute these conceits and better informe us for usually we say not he is beloved of God that is rich but he is rich that God loves and so he is for he is rich that a Prince loves though he possesse him not with lands and livings because his love will ever administer that which is necessary for his place and state but this is true especially if we understand it of such a Prince as is not mutable in his minde not mortall in his nature he is rich that such a Prince loves which is onely God But admit this yet how shall a man know that God loves him or how may a man judge who is beloved if not by these outward things I answer by another question how doe Courtiers know Princes love them how children that their fathers love them as children The first is not from common gifts which are Princes larges they cast at all adventure but their speciall places of honor and dignities The second not that they have meate and drinke apparell and such things necessary common to htem and servants but that they have inheritances and portions provided for them So not these outward things common nor common graces knowledge utterance c. but particular graces faith hope sanctification and such like he that is rich in these is beloved oif God Or where is the God of judgement Their blasphemy consisted on two parts one that God should favour the wicked and reprobate Another that if that be denyed it will follow that God did not judge and governe things upon earth for if he did then would it not goe so well with such wicked They deny not here by this interrogation that there is a God of judgement but from the prosperity of the wicked that he shewes himselfe carelesse and remisse in his government and so in this thing calling it into question For men to deny or doubt of the providence of God Doctrine because of the prosperity of the wicked and their impunity and for the affliction of the godly and their sufferings and troubles is a wicked and blasphemous thing for such are these reproved This made David pray so earnestly for Gods judgements upon the wicked that it might appeare that his providence was over the earth Psalm 58. per totum Insinuating else that they would from their prosperity deny his providence He noteth of himselfe that from their prosperity he was tainted infected with this had not the waters of the sanctuary cured him Psal 73.17 And shewes directly that others seeing it by reason of the infirmity of the flesh and astonished at the greatnesse of their prosperity and their owne misery called into question the providence and administration of God Verse 11. Example of this is in Gideon Judges 6.12.13 Then the Angell of the Lord appeared unto him and said unto him the Lord is with thee thou valiant man To whom Gide on answered ah my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this come upon us and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of and said did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt but now the Lord hath forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of the Midianites Because they see not how they can escape the former Reason 1 else to accuse God as a favourer of the wicked and one that loves not the good if they should acknowledge his providence seeing they measure his love by outward things Therefore they fall into this to deny his providence and particular disposition of things Because as S. Peter speaketh Reason 2 they are blinde or blinded with some passion and cannot see a farre off either to call to minde the judgements of
take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine For the Lord will not hold him guiltlesse that taketh his name in vaine Not guiltlesse but under that bitter curse of condemnation Deut. 27.26 Zach. 5.2.3.4 James 5.12 But before all things my brethren sweare not neither by heaven nor by earth nor by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay be nay lest ye fall into condemnation Because he hates such oathes Reason 1 Zach. 8.17 And let none of you imagine evill in his heart against his neighbour and love no false eath for all these are the things that I hate saith the Lord now hating these he must needes for them hate those that love and practise them and hatred will procure judgement wrath and destruction Because swearing by others they are idolaters Reason 2 for whereas an oath is not onely God ordinance but a speciall part of his worship both because there is invocation and because it is in the first table commanded and of the solemne forme of imposing an oath which was this give glory to God Josh 7.19 And the solemne rite of taking an oath among the Jewes which was to stand before the Altar 1 Kings 8.31 and was a custome among the Athenians and Romanes Then to give Gods worship to another is idolatry and idolaters must be judged and condemned Because if rashly by him Reason 3 the name of God so deare unto him he dishonouring and vilifying it by such usual rash swearing he wil revenge it If seriously yet not in truth for things past or to come knowing them to be false intending not to do them he cals God as a witnesse of his false-hood and a revenger of it and so must he come upon him for this he tempteth God desperately and dareth him as it were to his face to execute his vengeance upon him This may shew us the fearefull estate not of a few but of a multitude and whole troopes of men and women Vse 1 being common and usuall false swearers who can neither buy nor sell meet nor depart neither speake seriously nor in jest neither perswade nor promise neither intreat nor threaten neither relate things past nor draw men to the expectation of things to come without swearing and many oathes oftentimes by those which are no Gods committing idolatry usually rashly and unadvisedly and not seldome wickedly falsly and deceitfully In this sin are wrapped both parents and children masters and servants rich and poore high and low noble and base Minister and people If the Lord that threatneth to be a swift witnesse against such and a severe Judges should now come to destroy and cast to hell all such how fearefull then would we thinke and account their condition to be Verily how nigh that day of Assize and of his glorious appearing is no body can tell few suspect it to bee so nigh as it is but say it be as farre off as they suppose yet doth he judge them every day It is a judgement and a fearefull one that they sinne every day and sweare every houre and see it not to leave and forsake it but the morning swearing is punished with the afternoone this day with to morrow c. And for all these the plague of God and his judgements ready to breake in at the doores though he see it not yet others may see it manifestly Tell me what wouldest thou thinke his state and condition to be that had a bal of fire hanging over his house ready to fal upon him to consume him his wife and children servants and all that he hath in a moment and yet he and they all within doores give themselves to chamberings and wantonnesse to drunkennesse and gluttony to whoredome and uncleanenesse by that meanes to drawe and hasten this to fall upon him and consume him wouldest thou not thinke him in a fearefull condition such is the state of every swearer the plague of God tends upon their house the volume of curses is hovering and flying about their houses and this fire hanging over them and still by their oathes as the Faulconer by his Lure and hallow calling this to fall upon him and their case the more fearefull because custome hath made them when they sweare they deny they did and if they be evicted for it they account it as nothing no more then an ordinary speech As Saint Chrysost ho. ad Baptiz si quis jurantem increpaverit risus movet jocos narrare putatur But the same day or the day after that Lots sonnes in law mocked and despised their fathers admonitions the fire of God devoured them and their City Gen. 19. So may it upon them pitty then their fearefull conditions and feare and flye their society their fellowship their families for though thou hast escaped hitherto yet when the flying book enters in at their doores and windowes thou maiest happily be there then and partake in their plague but in truth thou hast not escaped but as they by the custome of their owne sinne are growne sencelesse so thou by theirs art grown lesse to fear an oath then thou didst before and so hast got more hurt to thy soule then ever they shall be able to doe thee good to thy body and state howsoever thou promise thy selfe great things by them This may serve for secure men Vse 2 who lye in this sinne to hate swearing or are ready to fall into it to perswade them as Zach. 8.17 And let none of you imagine evill in his heart against his neighbour and love no false oath for all these are the things that I hate saith the Lord. If not for the haynousnesse of the sinne yet for the punishment If not in a state where there is little law against it yet in a Church where the King of it is both a swift Witnesse and a severe Judge and will both judge and condemne every false swearer S. Chrysostome disswading from this sinne and perswading little at length breakes forth into this * Vtinam mihi liceret frequenter jurantium animas exuere ipsorum oculis subjicere vulnera cicatrices quas quotidie capiunt a juramentis nec admonitionis nec concilii indigeremus quoniam vnlneram aspectus omni sermone potentius Hom. 14. ad pop Antioch I would I might uncover and lay open the soules of ordinarie swearers naked and set their wounds and skarres before their eyes which they daily receive by oathes then there would be no need of admonition or counsell because the sight of their wounds would more prevaile then all my words This would I wish to give them the sight of their sin and the guilt of it but if it prevaile not I would I could give them the sence of it that I could make them see and beleeve the judgements and punishments which belong to it that the flying booke full of curses is long since come abroad and is ready to seize upon their houses and persons That Christ
to discourage the forward and shew themselves in the number of the former wicked rather then in these who feare the Lord. I say to say nothing of these the other shew themselves to have little or not such care and zeale for the worship and service of God as sonnes should have for their fathers honour and little love or care of others goods as fellow members and brethren should have one for another And doe they not give just suspition they are neither sonnes nor members or but dead and rotten members of the body not of the soule of the Church as Saint August As that member which hath no feeling of the weakenesse and fainting of another and seeks not to support it may be materially but not formally of the body so in this Or if they be yet can they not avoide to be guilty of their falling away and perishing as he that sees his neighbour fainting or perishing and hee able to sustaine him and both knowes and hath that might helpe him and doth not is guilty of his perishing To teach every one to practice this duty and to shew that he is possessed with the feare of God by exciting and exhorting others Vse 3 by strengthening and confirming others according to the grace he hath received which as it will testifie they are Gods and manifest their love unto their members so will it be gainefull unto them the gaine of it should incite them As S. Chrys of converting I of keeping and confirming When non minor virtus quam quaerere parta tueri If one should promise thee a piece of gold for every man whom thou reformest thou wouldest use all thy study endeavour perswading and exhorting But now God promiseth thee not one piece nor ten nor twenty nor an hundred thousand nor the whole world but that that is more the Kingdome of Heaven as a recompence of thy labour in this kinde What excuse can we have after such a promise if we neglect the salvation of our brethren If Physitians for a piece of gold will come to strengthen the body If Lawyers will defend a mans title how ought we the soule for so much and that we may doe it we must take but the Apostles lesson Heb. 10.24 to observe one another not to triumph over their weakenesse and infirmities but as Physitians that enquire into the state of their Parients bodies and into their carriage and diet to cure them We had neede of others helpe because the gift we have is apt to decay 2 Tim. 1.6 Wherefore I put thee in minde that thou stirre up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands Thes 5.19.20 Zach. 4.1 And the Angell that talked with me came againe and waked me as a man that is raised out of his sleepe And the profit of this duty will be great for as Prov. 27.17 Iron sharpeneth Iron so doth man sharpen the face of his friend And the Lord hearkened and heard So they arme themselves against those instances given with assurance that the Lord did regard things done The Lord he taketh notice and knoweth all things that are done and spoken by men Doctrine whether good or evill as his eyes are every where Prov. 15.3 so his eares Isaiah 22.14 and Psal 94.9 He that planted the eare shall he not heare or he that formed the eye shall he not see And Psal 139.4 for there is not a word in my tongue but loe thou knowest it wholly O Lord To teach us to keepe a watch over our mouth and lips not let them runne at randome Vse 1 i. for quantity let our words be few be not talkative let them be like Gods Psal 12.6 The words of the Lord are pure words as the silver tryed in a furnace of earth fined seaven fold Prov. 10.20 the tongue of the just man is as fined silver but the heart of the wicked is little worth Eccles 5.2.3.6.7 For as a dreame commeth by the multitude of businesse so the voyce of a foole is in the multitude of words When thou hast vowed a vow to God deferre not to pay it for he delighteth not in fooles pay therefore that thou hast vowed for in the multitude of dreames and vanities are also many words but feare thou God If in a countrey thou seest the oppression of the poore and the defrauding of judgement and justice be not astonied at the matter for he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they The wicked talke boldly their tongue walketh against heaven Psal 73. but God in heaven heareth what is spoken in earth therefore consider that of Solomon Prov. 10.19 In many words there cannot want iniquity but he that refraineth his lips is wise Secondly for quality looke to the matter of speech that it be godly and religious Ephes 5. Let not foolish talking be once heard amongst you as becommeth Saints but let it be savoury Collos 4.6 Let your speech be gracious alwaies and powdered with salts that ye may know how to answer every man If a great man overheard us or one we stood in awe of we would be carefull of our speech An encouragement for Gods children Vse 2 that are talking together of good things a strong motive to move them to conferre together of good things as Psal 82.1 God standeth in the assembly of Gods he judgeth among Gods So in the assembly of Saints servants if they perceive that their masters overheare them talking of any thing or oversee them doing of any thing speake and doe well this is eye service or eare service yet God would be served with eye and eare service and he that seeth in secret will reward openly And the words are Attendit Iehovah audit He hearkened and heard he so heares that he also attends or regards it A man may overheare a thing and not regard it and so as good as he heard it not Eccles 7.22 But God as he heares so he regardeth Contrary to that the wicked say Psa 10. That God regardeth it not Zeph. 1.12 But God doth regard the words of the tongue because he hath made a law as wel for the words as deeds God made the tongue and therefore will have the fruit 1 Cor. 6.20 For ye are bought for a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit for they are Gods so with tongue as well as hand and therefore we must looke to give account of words as well as of our actions Matth. 12.36 But I say unto you that of every idle word that men shall speake they shall give account thereof at the day of judgement Jude verses 14.15 And Enoch also the seaventh from Adam prophesied of such saying behold the Lord commeth with thousands of his Saints to give judgement against all men and to rebuke all the ungodly among them of all their wicked deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their cruell speakings which wicked sinners have
spoken against him Plumea verba plumbea pondera windy words if they be wicked words lye as a dead weight on thy soule Take heed of lifting up his name take heede of an oath for it bringeth an heavy burthen But it is our incouragement I say that God rewards us for good words as well as for our deeds though they seeme to be but little worth they are arguments of a sanctified heart and of the feare of God as it is Matth. 12.34.35 O generation of vipers how can you speake good things when ye are evill for of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things and an evill man out of an evill treasure bringeth forth evill things And a booke of remembrance was written before him That is he keepes the remembrance of the things he knowes The Lord as he seeth and knoweth all things so he remembreth them Doctrine as he hath knowledge without ignorance of any thing so he hath remembrance without oblivion of the same things good or evill Therefore is he here said to have a booke because things are more certainely and perpetually kept in it then left to remembrance of man Hence is that Amos 8.7 The Lord hath sworne by the excellency of Iaakob surely I will never forget any of their workes Heb. 6.10 For God is not unrighteous that he should forget your worke and labour of love which ye shewed toward his name in that ye have ministred unto the Saints and yet minister Psal 139.2 Jer. 44.21 Psal 56.8 Thou hast counted my wandrings put my teares into thy bottell are they not in thy register Dan. 7.10 Revel 20.12 A similitude taken from Kings who have things written for memory Ester 6.1 though God need not Because of his eternall and infinite apprehension Reason 1 being as able to apprehend things and keepe them done thousand yeares since as but yesterday as man is able to remember things done but yesterday as that Psal 90.4 2 Pet. 3.8 Because he is absolutely perfect Reason 2 without either sinne or imperfection therefore without oblivion that in many things is sinne and in any thing imperfection even as ignorance of things necessary to be knowne and which may be knowne is sinne of things not necessary is imperfection and infirmity though without sin Isaiah 43.25 Object I even I am he that putteth away thine iniquities for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sinnes Then God doth forget and there is oblivion in him Gods forgetting of sinne Answer is like his not seeing of sinne Num. 23.21 which is not that he seeth not the act and thing done but hee seeth it not to impute it to them in that respect hee is as though he saw it not So he forgetteth not the act and the thing done but not to impute it to him or to punish him for it which is in effect to forget it As his remembrance is taken for the effect of his remembrance As Isaiah 38.3.9 I pray thee let me have the effect and feeling of thy remembrance let me know by experience thou dost remember me So his forgetfulnesse or forgetting is taken for the effect and feeling of it They should finde he had as it were forgotten To let us see the folly of wicked men Vse 1 as in committing sinne in secret and darke thinking the Lord cannot or doth not see so in seeking to cover it committed and labour to bring an oblivion of it who though the corruption cleave to them as Jer. 17.1 The sinne of Judah is written with a pen of Iron and with the point of a Diamond and graven upon the table of their heart and upon the hornes of your Altars Yet they by all meanes labour to forget it and if they have escaped and prospered with it for a month or two or a yeare or two c. they thinke also God hath forgotten it But doe they not deceive themselves when with God is no oblivion no forgetfulnesse What benefit can they then get by this even as a malefactor that hath committed some haynous offence whom the Magistrate lets alone to see what he will doe whether he will seeke his pardon or no and he goes about to corrupt or remove all that should give evidence against him when it is in the power of the Judge both to be witnesse and Judge and proceed of his owne knowledge and out of his owne memory of the act and who also cannot forget So here What got the sonnes of Iaakob by smothering their treachery to their father and brother It may terrifie the wicked that every evill word is registred Matth. 12. and though God should not the Divell would keepe them in mind to accuse them Rev. 12. yea and their owne consciences Gods register booke To instruct every man to keep his bookes of account well Vse 2 and to remember all his debts and his sinnes seeing they shall be remembred though he would forget them or could when as his remembrance of them to humble himselfe and to get his pardon makes God to forget them Saint Chrysostome would have a man not to forget his sinnnes after pardon * Non ut teipsum c. Chryso ho. 12. ad popu Antioch Not to consume thy selfe with the thought of them but to teach thy soule not to grow wanton nor to fall into the same sinnes againe But most necessary before that he may have God to forget them who as he justifies him that condemnes himselfe pardons him that accuseth himselfe so he forgets his sinnes who remembers them himselfe in that forgetfulnesse is incident to him And as Saint Ambrose * Novit omnia Deus sed c. Ambrose God God knowes all things yet he expects thy confession not that he may punish but pardon thee So the Lord remembers all yet he expecteth the sinner should remember him of them not that he might punish them but pardon them Comfort for men as to doe well because the Lord seeth Vse 3 so though they doe not see their rewards and finde but a meane recompence among men as if all their labour were forgot yet to hold on and continue and not to faint for the Lord cannot forget and as he in sinne he remembring of it cannot but punish it in time so in good he cannot but reward it And as the way to have remission of sinnes and to have them forgotten is to remember them so the way to have reward of our workes is to forget them As Saint Paul Phil. 3.13.14 For them that feared the Lord. Some thinke the Lord tooke speciall notice therefore of it because it was so rare and commendable a thing for any to hold his feare faith and a good conscience in the midst of that wicked and froward people It is a thing most commendable Doctrine for men to be upright in the midst of a wicked and froward people and not to be carried with the
for I assent not unto Iunius his reading and his note upon the place which the reader may see After the Captivity as they brought with them from Babylon the names of Angels not proper names as Iacob Bonfrerius discourseth it comment in Iudic. c. 13. v. 17. Where hee purposely handles the question whether Angels have any names but of their office as Gabriel Raphael Vriel so it is likely they might more usually call their sonnes Angells that manner of language seeming to bee very ordinary with them and our Prophet oft useth it so hee calls the Priest Cap. 2.7 and Christ Cap. 3.1 and Iohn Baptist in the same Verse T' was his name and I suppose given him not by the people as Epiphanius tells us in his life who because of his comely forme and holy life called him so but by his father at his birth or circumcision It was a commendable practise of the Iewes to give their children the names of such as had formerly exceld in vertue a custome imitated by Christians who used to call such children as were borne to them upon or neare the festivalls of any of the Apostles or others by their names which custome Philip Pareus in the life of his father David Pareus tells us was observed in his country and that for that reason his Father had that name given him or for the remembrance of some event or for the foretelling of some thing to come to passe But however usually they gave them names of a good signification Which though wee are not bound to imitate as some doe even unto superstition but have a liberty to impose such names as are in use in our Country though haply wee know not the signification of them yet it hath beene also the piety of Christian Churches to provide that no unfitting names bee given in Baptisme among others wee have a good constitution of Iohn Pecham sometimes Archbishop of Canterbury Attendant Sacerdotes ne lasciva nomina quae scilicet mox prolata sonent in lasciviam imponi permittant parvulis baptizatis sexus praecipuè foeminini si contrarium fiat per confirmantes episcopos corrigatur Let the Priests see that they suffer no wanton names which sound lasciviously to bee given unto infants in their Baptism especially to the female sexe and if there bee let the Bishops change them at their confirmation Lyndw. provinc lib. 3. De Bapt. cap. Circ Sacramentum See also the glosse there But this only by the way Who the Father of Malachy was we finde not and yet that his Father was not a prophet is not to be concluded for that rule of latter Hebrewes That such Prophets whose Fathers are named were the sonnes of Prophets and otherwise not Is found to bee uncertaine by Burgensis in Hos 1. and by Franc. Ribera praelud 4. in Expos proph and condemned also by Ioh. Drusius Lect. in Hos 1.1 The place also of his birth is as uncertaine save that Epiphanius and out of him Ribera praelud 5. tell us it was Sopha a Towne of Zabulon A place not at all mentioned or observed by Eusebius or S. Hierom in Bonfrerius his Onomasticon nor by M. Iohn More in his exact map of the Land For the time of his prophecying see the following commentary with which I sit downe in this point unwilling to endeavour to reconcile Chronologers about the precise yeare Ioh. Alsted in Thesauro Chronol Titulo 13. places him An. M. 3537. Our Isaackson in that diligent and industrious worke of his places him an hundred yeares sooner not farre from which time the Hebrewes in their Seder Olam Zuta or briefer Chronicle translated by Genebrard doe pitch setting his death An. M. 3404. But the Sepher hakkabala writ by R. Abraham Davidis as Genebrard calls him who also translated some part of it or R. Abraham bar dior as Buxtorfius names him in Bibliotheca Rabbinica litera P. yet nearer to the yeare of Isaackson and our commentary about A. M. 3450. Let such as have leasure and thinke it worth the time satisfy themselves farther to me it is plaine by the matter that he handles that he prophecyed after the Temple was built for he reproves their profaning of the Altar and a little before the comming of Ezra for he inveighed against their marrying with strangers which Ezra by his authority did remedy Epiphanius tells us hee was borne after the captivity and dyed young As if he had beene an Angel onely came and told his errand and presently returned But thus much for the inscription by way of preface wee are next to consider the prophecie it selfe from Vers 2. to the end of the Booke II. The prophecy it selfe which containes diverse contestations with them all both priests and people for many things that were amisse among them But being concise and patheticall as most of the Prophets are and abounding in affection hee intermingleth with his contestations and reproofes sometimes persuasions sometimes threatnings sometimes promises Yet saving the judgment of others who have handled this booke I resolve the whole prophecy into eight contestations First for their ingratitude and contempt of Gods worship from cap. 1. vers 2. to Chap. 2. v. 10. Secondly for their unequall and unrighteous dealing with each other Cap. 2. ver 10. Thirdly for their marrying with strangers and infidells Cap. 2. ver 11.12 Fourthly for their polygamy Chap. 2. ver 13.14 15 16. Fifthly for their blasphemy against God and his providence from Chap. 2. ver 17. to Chap. 3. ver 7. Sixthly for their impenitence Chap. 3. ver 7. Seventhly for their Sacriledge Chap. 3. ver 8 9 10 11 12. Eightly againe for their Blasphemy and Atheisme from Chap. 3. ver 13. to the end of the Booke I. The first Contestation He contests with the Priests and the people for their ingratitude and contempt of Gods worship from Chap. 1. ver 2. to Chap. 2. ver 10. In this 1. He expostulates with them Chap. 1. ver 2. to the 9. 2. He threatens them ver 9. to the end of Chap. 1. 3. He amplifies the former expostulations and threatnings Chap. 2. ver 1. to the 10. I. He expostulates with them 1. For their ingratitude ver 2. to the 6th 2. For their contempt and profaning of Gods worship ver 6 7 8. I. He expostulates with them for their ingratitude ver 2. unto ver 6. They did not account of nor so much as acknowledge Gods love The Prophet therefore presents the Lord reasoning with them and convincing them of it We have 1. The proposition of Gods love 2. The proofe of it First the proposition of Gods love ver 2. I have loved you sayth the Lord. Tremell reades it in the present I love you Not only as Hier I have loved you that is the Iewes while they loved me and kept my Covenant they had testimonies of my love but according to the force of the Hebrew who by one tense signify all I have loved you and doe love you else
the Cities and habitations of them are destroyed Which thing as it is true and wee doubt not in part the meaning of this place yet not the whole because the Lord aimes not so much to set out his hatred to Esau and his posterity as his love to Jacob and his therefore there must needs be somewhat more in it that is the dissimilitude or dislike effect to shew his love to them which riseth thus Those whom I love I keepe them in their countrey and suffer them not to be led captive yet if for correction I suffer the enemy so farre to prevaile I doe againe reduce them into their owne countrey and give them their owne land and the comforts of it On the contrary those whom I hate those for their sinnes I cast into banishment and never bring home againe but let their land to be a dwelling for beasts Dragons and such like Now the former I have done to you who are Jacobs posterity and the latter to Esaus now contrary effects have contrary causes So then as they may see in them my hatred so in your selves ye may apprehend my love who are now at home in your owne Land and Countrey and enjoy your comforts in your Countrey This then apparently shews his hatred to Esaus posterity as in spirituall things the Apostle being interpreter Rom. 9. so here in temporall things and closely and by comparison his love to Jacobs seed and to this people The first onely to the children of promise but this to all even the whole seed and not they onely which were blessed in Isaac Exile and banishment when it falls to a man or multitude Doctrine to a family or a whole nation it is a signe and a proofe of the wrath and displeasure of the anger and hatred of God So is it here made and proved because God threatneth by his Prophet usually that which men threaten and menace when they are angry that proves their anger when it is effected Deut. 28.41 64 68. Thou shalt beget sonnes and daughters but thou shalt not enjoy them for they shall goe into captivity And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people from the one end of the earth even to the other and there thou shalt serve other gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have knowne even wood and stone And the Lord shall bring thee into Aegypt againe with ships by the way whereof I spake unto thee thou shalt see it no more againe and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bond-men and bond-women and no man shal buy you Going into captivity scattering and serving the enemy are threatned as tokens of wrath Mic. 1.15 and 2.4 2 Chro. 36.16 17. Because it is a judgment of God upon whomsoever Reas 1 now the judgment of God shews his wrath and displeasure Because it is a blessing and so a token of the favour of God Reas 2 to have houses or lands and so to enjoy them Many are banished and cast into exile for Christ and the profession of his truth Ergo. Object It is true Sol. that as among the Grecians they had an Ostracismus a Law to banish every one that excelled other in riches or in honour or favour or eloquence and wisedome yea in their outward justice As Aristides was banished Athens by the voyces of all even a rustick who knew him not by face but because they called him just so falls it out in the world and in the kingdomes of it that they doe expell those who professe Christ and piety but that is nothing against this First for that which Justine Martyr saith Epist ad Diognetum de Christianis Omnis peregrina regio patria est eorum omnis patria est peregrina Every forreigne Countrey is their home and at home they are strangers and so they not banished wheresoever Againe because this comes onely from the malice and displeasure of men and is a favour of God that they are enabled to part with all for his sake as Act. 5.41 so wee may rejoyce if we be counted worthy to be exiles for his name but this here spoken of comes both from the wrath and displeasure of God and man Further as Causa non poena the cause not the punishment makes a Martyr Salvian Ex duobus lethalibus malis levius ut reor est captivitatem corporis Christiani quà m captivitatem animae sustinere So Salvian speaketh of a double captivity or of two sorts of captives one who are extrinsecus carne captives outwardly in the body others intus mente captivi inwardly in their mindes and affirmeth Of two great evills I suppose 't is more easie for a Christian to sustaine the captivity of his body than the bondage of the soule Now they which are captives in body for this are freed in their minds and è contr they who hold them captive are most captive for they are in their minds so as 2 Pet. 2.19 This may teach all such as may fall into captivity and exile Vse 1 that when it betides them If any should not we may then use the words of Salvian An credimus forte quod captivus animo populus ille non fuerit qui laetus tunc in suorum captivitatibus fuit captivus corde sensu non erat qui inter suorum supplicia ridebat qui jugulari se in suorum jugulis non intelligebat qui mori se in suorum mortibus non putabat Quo ante they should learne to groane under it as under the manifest signe yea and the thing that is the wrath of God for if they may and ought to apprehend Gods displeasure when their land brings not forth abundance to them and their use what when it beares not them any longer But this lesson you may teach those that are in captivity we neither are neither are we in feare of it I answer that men carefull of themselves will learne and regard medicines or prescriptions before they have need of them especially if there be any likelyhood they may fall into a disease lest the remedy not ready the danger may be and prove the greater and the knowledge of any thing is no burden So in this But have we no feare of this that we have no need to learne it What then meant this late and most horrible treason or practice that every Nation Christian or barbarous whether Turkes Tartars or whosoever heard of If our Papists the greatest enemies of Christ this day the world hath if our Pseudo-catholicks the most despightfull enemies to the King and his posterity to the State and the prosperity of it to the Church and the peace of it had prevailed in their designes what would have beene our condition but this Questionlesse either must it have come to cutting of throats and the spilling of our blood after which the Scarlet-whore and her whorish brood hath a long time thirsted or else this captivity and exile if not carryed out of our owne Land
hainous those which are against the main end of his calling wherein God hath placed him As the Minister must labour against ignorance idlenesse suffering his gifts to decay not increasing his talent and he must endeavour to search and beat out the simple and sincere sence of Gods word and will and impart it unto the people to bring them to life eternall for it is a hainous sin for him to be ignorant or to handle the word deceitfully or corruptly as Saint Paul speaks or to wrest the sense of it as Saint Peter speaks to their purposes And so as it is Isaiah the 3.12 They that lead thee cause thee to erre So the lawyer must not use unfaithfulnesse or cunning dealing he must search out the proper grounds of the law to direct his client to proceed warrantably to see his wrongs redressed or recover his right for for him to spend his time in devising quirks and distinctions which may serve to obscure the truth and make contentions and suits rather then end any or to delay his clients cause when he may well haste it and bring it to an issue and as many doe use their cunning to this purpose it is the greater sinne in them so a Physitian and a Surgion must imploy all his skill to cure for him to deferre and somtimes to help forwards and then pull backwards againe to make gaine of his patient and empty his purse and hurt his body is very hainous both of them worse then theeves by the high-way making Gods ordinance a cover for their theft not so punishable by humane laws but as culpable before God and shall as severely be punished So if a sonne omit the honour due to his father or a servant the feare due to his master is a greater sinne for others to doe it to the same men is not so hainous so t is the duty of a wife to be a helper that she must indeavour in all things For for her to be as Eve who was given as a comfort to make Adams life more joyous for her to be a broker to bring death she that was taken from him as part to be shot at him as a dart to the wounding and murthering of his soule as Basill speaketh or for her who was taken out of his side to guard and hemme in his heart to be a ladder to the Devill to scale the heart of her husband as Gregory speaketh of Jobs wife was more hainous then when the Serpent and Devill did it who were professed enemyes and so now being directly against the end of her creation and calling and so of all they are thus to thinke of their sinnes and thus to avoyd them That despise my name The sinne they are accused of is contempt of his worship not the omitting of it or the not doing of it at all but the doing of it corruptly carelessely and contemptuously The name of God signifies First himselfe Secondly his properties Thirdly his commands or his authority Fourthly his workes Fifthly his word and worship which is here meant and which they not only omitted which might be through ignorance or some forcible temptation but contemned or despised for many could not pretend ignorance and at this time there was no persecution to compell them to dishonour God but many did it out of a base conceit they had of Gods majesty thinking any kinde of service would serve the turne the word signifies to trample under feet as we doe vile things Math. 5.13 2 Kings 9.33 but did the Preists doe thus Ribera answereth things are oft said to be done which are intended to be done because nothing is wanting in them why it should not be done who have a will to have it done Contempt of Gods name that is when men doe indeed the works of Gods worship and service but doe them negligently Doctrine carelesly and contemptuously thinking if the deed be done it is enough but how for the manner it matters not greatly it is a grievous sinne Manifest that it is here made the grand sinne of this people and these Priests for which the burthen is threatned in the beginning and many particulary judgements afterwards This people did the work of the Lord brought their Sacrifices but they did it carelesly and contemptuously brought any thing as thinking it good enough This was one difference betwixt Abel and Cain though faith was the main yet how carefull the one was that thought the best was bad enough the other the worst would serve for he brought a Sacrifice Gen. 4.3 4. Hence are the qualities of the sacrifices described in the Law God requiring not only Sacrifices but such as were perfect without blemish Levit. 22.20 21 23. Deuter. 17.1 But why this but to shew how he requires the manner of doing aswell as the deed and that he cannot endure corruption here Hence Saul laboured to lessen the fault because they saved the chiefest for the Lord. 1 Sam. 15.15 Hence is that Malach. 1.14 which we shall see hereafter Because this argues a great contempt of God and as we may speake Reas 1 of his persn for when any man is respected either for love or feare there the offices and duties that are performed about him are done neither negligently nor carelesly but with all diligence The Wife that loves her Husband the Child that honours his Father the servant that feares his Master doe their duties with all diligence and care Where the duties are done of course and coldly there is not the respect of the person that should be so it is in our carriage towards God Because it is grosse hypocrisie when men doe thus performe the act Reas 2 and yet their hearts and affections are farre remote and so are no living sacrifices but onely dead carkasses such as must needs stinke in the nosthrils of God yea and thus honouring him they doe dishonour him Isaiah 29.13 St. Salvian speaking of such as worship God corruptly saith Non tam inanis criminis fuisset ad Templum Domini non venire quà m sic venire quia Christianus qui ad Ecclesiam non venit negligentiae reus est qui autem venit sacrilegii minoris enim piaculi reus est si honor Deo non deferatur quam si irrogetur injuria ac per hoc quicunque ista fecerunt non dederunt honorem Deo sed derogaverunt De gubern Dei lib. 8. This being such a sinne argues the age we live in guilty of a great deale of sinne before the Almighty Vse 2 his worship is performed but yet contemned marvellously amongst us As they brought the sacrifices so doe we the workes but so corruptly and carelesly that he speaks to us Ministers and people Ye despise my Name The Word is preached and heard prayers are made Sacraments are delivered and received but alas so carelesly cursarily and customably that it is but the contempt of them and the contempt of God in them How many Ministers preach the Word but for gain
by their fruit and practice For when their little love to the assembly of the Church appeareth by their negligent frequenting of them when prayers are made and the word Preached Saint Hierome tels me directly that some thinke they need not the preaching of the Church some not the prayers but thinke they are able enough to instruct themselves of themselves to prevaile with God which riseth commonly either from ignorance or knowledge the ignorance of their infirmities or the knowledge of their graces that makes them not desire the helpes of others as Moses tooke Aaron and Hur with him when he went to pray being privy to his own infirmities This makes them disdain others being puffed up with pride and self conceit To instruct every man be his excellency what it may be Vse 2 to affect and desire the prayers of others of the Ministers and publique congregations and the people of God for besides that God is in a speciall manner there present the caue why David and his men so desired the Temple Psal 84.1 3 7. So men in desiring them shew themselves to delight in the presence of God as gracious children in beholding the face of their father there is much profit to be had by them Non parvus est fructus domine ut à multis tibi gratiae aguntur de nobis à multis regeris pro nobis August confess 10.4 The benefit is not small O Lord that thou shouldest bee praysed by many of us and prayed unto by many for us For a man shall have not only the benefit of the prayers of one or two but many hundreds and if one faithfull prayer prevaile much Jam. 5. how much more many Thus shall he enjoy the communion of Saints which is a worthy thing so shall he better increase in the graces blessings received and keep that he hath for the best here and the most perfect must not imagine himselfe to bee already a burning and shining light within the house of heaven Sic ardens lucens nondum in domo se esse confidat ubi sine omni timore ventorum accensum lumen deportatur sed meminerit se esse sub dio utrague manu studeat operire quod portat nec credat aeri etiamsi videat esse tranquillum Repentè enim hora quae non putaverit mutabitur si vel modicum manus remiserit lumen extinguetur Bern. ser 3. in vigil nat Dom. l. where once kindled there is no danger of any winds to blow it out but must remember that he is yet in the open ayre and must cover and defend the light he carries with both hands nor be confident though the ayre seeme to bee calme for sooner then he is aware if he take away his hand his light may be pussed out saith Saint Bernard If the prayers of living Saints bee so needfull and profitable Quest whose prayers we may desire and intreat why not also of dead Saints why may not their prayers be profitable to us and we desire them How profitable soever their prayers may be to us Answ and how certaine soever it may be that they doe pray for us as some think with Bernard ser 2. in vigi Nat. Dom. that Apocal. 6.10 doth prove it because of the anser vers 11. yet to desire their prayers as those who are living is not lawfull because it is without precept or president in the Scripture because it is agains reason and the Scripture For first that they know not what we doe nor heare our prayers is manifest Isaiah 63.16 againe how should they come to the knowledge of them they in Heaven we in Earth and dispersed in many severall places As for the answer of the Rhemists out of Hierome against Vigilantius that they are in every place because they must follow the Lambe withersoever he goeth Revel 14.4 if the place be understood of them who imitate Christ upon earth and not of the soules departed as it may be at least it must bee unstood of all the lect whereof part are in the Church in the earth then the conclusion must be they who are upon earth must be every where as well as they who are in heaven which is most absurd But admit it of the Saints in heaven how is it possible they should be every where Not at one and the same instant they say but such is their motion speed and agaility to be where they list and their power and will is answerable as ell as the devill can be every where to worke mischiefe To which I answer that their comparison is absurd for the Devils by propriety of nature and the Lords permission have such passage in the wold So have not the soules of the Saints for they are appointed by God to rest Revel 6.11 and 14.13 What rest if they must be tossed up and downe by the breaths of men sometime in England sometime in France c But say they did how were it possible they should heare the prayers of all that call upon them at one and the same instant if they be not in many severall places at one and the same instant And if it be impossible the prayers must needs be vaine Besides if it were not yet in that which Papists give their reason for it is made more abhominable that is to make way for themselves to the favour of God even as by Nobles and great men we procure accesse to the King Numquid tam demens est aliquis c. Is there any so mad saith Ambrose in Epist ad Rom. cap. 1. or so carelesse of his life that he will give the honour of the King to a Noble man to procure him accesse to him when he shall be guilty of treason when hee commeth before him And yet they thinke they are not guilty of treason to God who under pretence of seeking God by Saints doe give unto the Creatures the honour of God the Creator and forsaking the Lord worship their fellow-servants And though there be saith he some reason why they should make way to a King by his Nobles and Pensioners because hee is a man and knows not who are fit to be trusted with the Common-wealth yet unto the Lord who knows all things and knows the worths and worthinesse of men there needs no spokes-man but onely a holy mind Thus farre he But to adde to him that this thing is without precept in Old or New Testament confessed by themselves Eccius grants not in the Old because the Fathers were then in limbo a good reason against him and the Israelites were marvellous prone to Idolatry Not in the New lest the Gentiles should returne to their Idolatry and lest the Apostles should be too vaine-glorious and ambitious if they had commanded it and so a great difference and strong reason why we may pray to Saints living but not to Saints departed Fur us He separates not himselfe from this Church for all the corruption
this for men to be wary how they chuse and women how they are perswaded or give consent seeing it is a knot not to be broken againe for any dislike or discontents whatsoever save onely in the matter of adultery If it were a matter as common bargaines be that a man might lose his earnest if it were with some hazard of his honesty and good report Or if they were taken as some men take prentices upon liking or buy horses to lose so much if they dislike and return them or if Solons law were in force that he who did put away his wife should give her dower and portion with her againe it were the lesse to be thought of but when it is so dissoluble not to be loosed or broken but perpetuall it requires a great care when it is stronger and firmer then the bond betwixt parents and children Therefore should the man take heed how he chuseth for beauty for profit and great portion and not for wisedome and vertue though the other things be not in the like proportion What is more profitable then the Bee saith Saint Chrysost in Psal 50. yet hath it a sting What fairer then a Peacocke but the comelinesse onely is in the feathers not the fruit So many with their great portions and great beauty have often their stings and are not fit helpes that a man had better buy a wife then be bought to her specially when there is no parting And better to have had the contemptible Ant as he speaketh which is the mistrisse of wisedome the meaner and the more huswifely who may soone be worth her portion in good comfort and contentment so the woman how she is wonne or perswaded for the person or riches or kindred of a man because he is able to cloath her in fine apparell to decke her with gold and pearle and many such things having no wisedome to governe or instruct her or to bring up his children in the instruction of the Lord no love but lust for seeing the knot is perpetuall and no cheyce allowed againe she may buy all that deare enough Therefore it is good to be advised in their choyce lest repentance should come too late and be bought too deare and yet make no amends for they cannot be free If the law of polygamy were in force that a man might have two wives the one hated the other beloved or this of divorce he might put her away at his pleasure upon dislike and so è contra the matter were small and men might be as carelesse of this as of the other things but when as he hath made one for one and made the bond so inviolable that there is no parting till one be the others Executor seeing things are thus it is not good not to marry but to be carefull how he or she marrieth Chrysostome perswading men to be carefull of their soules reasoneth thus Omnia nobis duplicia Deus dedit duos oculos duas aures duas manus duos pedes singitur horum alterum laedatur per alterum necessitatem consolamur animam ver ò unam dedit nobis si hane perdiderimus quanam vivemus Vide Chrysost he 12. ad pop Ant. So God hath allowed us two friends or two servants or two houses or two coates one may supply the want of the other but one wife and her for life and the tearme of a mans dayes how ought he to use her well and chuse her carefully and so of a woman I hate putting away Thus he first condemnes this sinne because it is against his will and minde that he dislikes and hates it and by this disswades from it not that we must conceive there is any such passion in God or affection but these things are as August speaketh of anger so of this * Non est perturbatio a nimi ejus sed judicium quo irrogatur poena peccate Aug. It is not any perturbation of his minde but the judgement by which he inflict punishment upon sin And so in the whole he disswades from this because else Gods judgements and punishments will come upon them howsoever they escape mens Now this is not proper to this but common to others whence we have a generall doctrine Men ought to avoyde and eschew unjust divorces Doctrine and every other sinne for feare of the judgements of God and his hatred and punishments which thing is manifest in the law when as every prohibition is not without a threat and a judgement Hence that Deuter. 28.15 And in the particulars through the whole law wheresoever God forbids any sinne usually there is a judgement joyned with it The spirit speaketh not so in vaine but that he would have men to avoyd them for those The point is proved Gen. 17.14 Exod. 22.22.23.24 Isay 1.20 Rom. 6.23 Solomon often threatneth adulterers with shame and poverty and disease to restraine them from it And S. Paul with the judgements to come in the life to come Hebr. 13. Because of their corruptions Reason 1 who as they love not righteousnesse nor desire or hunger after it for righteousnesse sake and in conscience which makes God give them promises and propound rewards unto them to make them obey So they hate not sinne neither flye it because it is sin but as children do Bees not because they are Bees but because they have a sting so they sin because it is hurtfull therefore hath the Lord propounded these not as defirous of their punishment but to have them not to offend as Princes adde penalties to their lawes Because as the malice of Sathan hath feared men Reason 2 from doing well for feare of harmes losses and disgraces which they shall finde in the world and others before them which hath made God ballance them with his promises So his comming tells them that unrighteousnesse hath many pleasures profits preferments and shewes then many that have risen that way and by such meanes therefore God shewes them then the sower of it that for all such things all must come to his judgements Because by them they may subdue and tame their flesh and the corruption of it Reason 3 and make subject to the spirit which alwaies of it selfe rebelleth against the spirit and often ruleth over it to lead it to sinne and disobedience If feare of judgements be a meanes to restraine men from sin Vse 1 it tells us that many men are voide even of this servile feare Vide Mal. 1.6 first effect of servile feare Use 1. To teach every man who would keepe himselfe from it Vse 2 to endeavour and labour for this feare Saith the Lord God of Israel This for confirmation not the Prophet but the Lord the master and not the Minister speakes this which is thus set out to shew the care he had of that people that he had taken the protection and defence of them Now this people being a type of the Church as well as the Church it may teach us this God is the protectour
Lord with your words The Prophet proceedeth now unto the last sin reproved in this Chapter which was in this people the former was touching men this is concerning God the former dishonesty and unfaithfulnesse towards men this impietie against God Before he accused them as some speake of felony now of treason before for their deeds now for their words and speeches contumeliously uttered against God denying the providence of God both over the good and bad not providing for the one and not punishing the other It is thought that the Jewes being now returned out of Babylon from their captivity and saw both the Babylonians and divers other Nations and people to abound with wealth ease and glory though they served their Idols and themselves the onely worshippers of the true God to be in want and poverty they thought and spake that God he regarded not them that worshipped him but the wicked were good in his sight and he delighted in them Or at least if it be not so where is God that judgeth uprightly Yee have wearied the Lord with your words Some thinke the wearinesse here spoken of is a fainting which commeth from too much striving and labouring whence commeth a remitting of the care and indevour which he tooke before time And so the meaning they would have to be You say the Lord who is mercifull and aboundeth with mercy and hath been ever constant in it and prone to it he is now wearyed in descending and providing for and in doing good unto those that serve him And so it should not be a wearinesse imposed upon him but one that is imputed unto him And so onely in opinion it should be so and not in truth but how this will agree with the Prophets answer to their demand I cannot see neither can it possibly for then he would have said In that ye say the Lord hath no care or hath cast of the respect of his but he speaketh otherwise The meaning is then you have grieved and vexed the Lord with your speeches and reproaches and blashemies against him It is spoken after the manner of men because they are so with the speeches of others like that Isaiah 43.24 Thou hast wearied me with thine imquities Yet ye say wherein c. Their answer for themselves putting him to his proofe and to make good that he had spoken and shew wherein else would they not confesse their faults When ye say Though not in his hearing who was able and would reproove them but amongst the ignorant people in companies where they came still inculcating and repeating such things and so make them cast off all feare of God and care of honesty and piety He that doth evill Not the good nor the righteous is respected of God but the wicked for they flourish and prosper and he is good in his sight that is approved of God From men they proceed to approach to God and to impeach and disgrace him and cast reproaches upon him and being unfaithfull injurious and unjust to men they are irreligious towards God They who are unfaithfull and unjust towards men Doctrine will be irreligious towards God such as have no care of honesty will have no care of piety not of charity not of religion and ècontra So much this insinuates and that 1 John 4.20 If any man say I love God and hate his brother he is a lyer for how can he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen love God whom he hath not seen And James 1.27 Pure religion and undefiled before God even the father is this to visite the fatherlesse and widowes in their adversity and to keepe himselfe unspotted of the world Tit. 2.12 Matth. 25.42 Not that men shall not be condemned for irreligion but that this is manifest to others and shewes that there can be no religion Because men they see Reason 1 and converse withall daily and so not with God Now if they have no care of the present what is expected towards the absent not of visible none of the invisible As 1 John 4.20 Because care of religion proceedeth from the love of God Reason 2 which makes Christ Math. 22.27 include the whole first table which is concerning God and religion under the title of love Now there can be no love of God but where there is love to man for that 1 John 4.20 Men love not the person if not the picture love to man is naturall to God spirituall that as naturall men this as spirituall and regenerate If any be unnaturall is it not like he will and must needs be irreligious To teach us not to wonder Vse 1 as many men doe that there is so much impiety and prophanenesse in our age so little or no care of the Lords day little or no love of the word zeale for Gods glory care of his worship hatred of idolatry and such like but ècontra much and great prophaning of the Lords day c. Wee are in the age wherein charity is growne cold and iniquity hath gotten the upper hand It is true which August saith Euchi 1. ad Laur. 117. Regnat carnalis cupiditas ubt non est Dei charitas And it will be as true if ubi be placed before regnat for there can be never any true and constant love to religion where there is not true love to God that cannot be unlesse men be sanctified and regenerated Now sanctification is as some say of hearts ease that growes not in every mans garden lesse is it in every mans house so not sanctification it is few mens hearts and manifest not to be there where there is injustice dishonesty no love of God would we marvaile to see men performe no duties to those they are knowne not to love Love and affection being the ground of all duty if not why this Nay rather seeing the wickednesse injustice and oppression of the time is such we should rather wonder there is any religion at all then that there is no more that there is any love to the truth c. then so little To teach us what to judge of many men who seeme religious Vse 2 who will sit at Gamaliels feet have Christ to teach in their streets and Churches he shall eat at their tables and houses and yet they are workers of iniquity live in some one grosse sinne or another of injustice and oppression deceit or unfaithfulnesse and uncleannesse yea after they have beene convinced by the word remaine still in them know them to be but hypocrites they may talke of religion but they have no truth of it they may have the shew of goodlinesse but not the power of it They honor the word Ministers onely as Saul would have Samuel to accompany him for his owne honor before the people or some other sinister respect It is not a sure consequent a man is carefull of the duties of the second table and therefore religious because hitherto by nature he hath beene so there
free our selves from such doubts when we see what befell Chorah and all their company Achan his when some sinned onely in the known sin yet others were punished We must conclude that it is most just from this ground that he proceedes never but justly though it be secret from us For imitation first for the Magistrates Gods upon the earth Vse 2 they ought not to proceed against malefactours but upon knowne and manifest proved causes not upon slender conjectures or suspitions for so will God himselfe doe and they executing his judgement ought to proceede no otherwise lest they fall into injustice They ought to not to proceede for any hatred to their person or their profession or for any other sinister respect upon accusations halfe had and slender or no proofes The Lawyers say that it is unjust not to weigh and consider the whole Law but to give sentence from some part of it * Veritatem inauditam si damnent leges praeter invidiam iniquitatis etiam suspitionem merehuntur alo ujus conscientiae nolentes audire quod auditum damnare non possunt Tertull. Apolog. adversus gentes Cap. 1.10 If the laws condemne truth unheard besides the nute of injustice they will cause a suspition that they are conscious of some unwillingnesse to heare lest after they had heard they could not condemne As Tertull. speakes So of Magistrates Therefore in things not manifest not proved or by such witnesses whose persons are infamous their credit suspitions such as may be suborned or doe things of spleene and malice which may happily appeare to them they ought to take heede how they judge and as they have power rather reprove then condemne Againe in the second place every man ought to judge righteous judgement when he judgeth and censureth the actions of other men but secundum alligata probata not out of his owne humour out of the dislike of their person justifying some because they have affection to them condemning others and their actions because they dislike them or condemning some mens doings onely for the name they have Like unto those who being sick of a feavour or frensie being deceived by the similitude of right lines drawne upon the wall thought they saw some deformed and ill shaped creatures ut Aristot So they out of sicke diseased and corrupt mindes doe not onely deprave the right lines that is the famous and good actions of others but account them as vices and turne them to their reproaches and infamy If that for mens words be true which Luther used to say * Sceleratū est cū nover◠esse pium sanū alicujus sensū ex verbis incommodè dictis statuere errorem Luther T is a wic ked practise when you know a mans minde and meaning to be good so und yet to catch at his words it may be not so fitly delivered to accuse him of error So for mens actions out of some infirmities or upon some suspitions when they know nothing but good in them and yet beleeve every report against them As Tertullian said it was with him and other Christians in his time Credunt de nobis quae non probentur nolent inquirere ne probentur non esse They beleeve things of us without tryall or proofe and will not examine whether they be so lest they should be proved to be otherwise Against the sooth-sayers He numbers up the particular offendors he would deale with not that he would deale with men no but alledging these as a taste of others or as the sinnes which then ruled and raigned amongst them but we may observe that here are numbered not sinnes of one kind not against the second Table onely or first onely but against both The Lord will judge punish and destroy men for irreligion Doctrine aswell as dishonesty for the neglect or the breach of the first table aswell as the second and è contra and for both manifested here for they are joyned together as it were in one condemnation proved further from the threatnings and executions laid downe in the word where we shall finde the Idolater the Sabboth breaker and swearer c. threatned and punished as well as the Adulterer murtherer and other dishonest and unjust persons In Deuter. 28. All the curses repeated respect the whole law and all the commandements as well as any one or of either of the tables Ezek. 22.6.7.8 Hosea 4.1.2 1. Cor. 6.9.10 1. Tim. 1.9.10 Galat. 5.19.20.21 Revel 21.8 Every where offendors against both Tables are joyned together Because as Jam. 2.11 He that said thou shalt not commit adultery Reason 1 said also thou shalt not kill now though thou doest none adultery yet if thou killest thou art a transgressor of the law So he that commanded obedience to the one and forbad disobedience did so to the other and so he is disobeyed and provoked in the one as well as the other Because the curse was not an appendant to one Table Reason 2 but to both and every precept and every branch of every precept Deut. 27.26 Then under the Gospel there is use of the law morall Vse 1 for this is spoken of Christ which thing would he not neither could he in justice doe if the law were not to them under the Gospel This may teach many in the Church Vse 2 to expect Christ a terrible Judge and swift witnesse against them seeing if they seem to make care of the one they have none of the other for many seem marvelous carefull of the first Table and matter of religion they will heare the word they will be frequent in prayer they will not sweare an oath keep the Lords day hate Idolatry and such like but yet live in some breach of the second Table in hatred and malice lust or covetousnesse cruelty or oppression slandering and discontentment disobedience and dissoyalty And these are religious hypocrites On the other side many there are who have care to deale justly to performe faithfullnesse to men are mercyfull liberall loving and kinde c. Yet care not or regard not the duties of religion Are swearers prophaners of the Lords day neglecters of the worship of God carelesse negligent drousie hearers and prayers have little hatred of Idolatry and lesse love of the truth And these are civill hypocrites Both these in the hypocrisie of their hearts perswade themselves that they are in the favour of God and shall escape the wrath of Christ when he shall come to judge either in this life or the life to come And these and none more lie censuring judging and condemning one another and remember not that the Judge standeth at the dore ready to judge and condemne them both seeing he commandeth both he will condemne for the neglect of either and the curse is to him that neglects religion and the first Table as well as the second and honesty To perswade these hypocrites Vse 3 to come out of their hypocrisie and both them and all others
to take upon them the care of performing obedience to Christ in both be carefull of religion with honesty and of honesty with religion this must be done and the other must be lest undone Hast thou any knowledge of God any love of the truth any care of the Lords day any feare of his great name any love to heare or to pray See thou be carefull of justice chastity sobriety obedience fidelity and true love to men Or else for all that when thou thinkest to have Christ for thy Saviour thou shalt finde him but a swift witnesse and an irefull Judge against thee So on the contrary Many will easily grant me that if a man be never so religious so devout and carefull of the first Table yet if he be unjust an extortioner a murtherer and such like As they Acts 28.5 judged of St. Paul so the Lord will not suffer him to live but his judgements shall be upon him and condemnation in the life to come But if a man be just chast mercifull and such like though he know not religion be without the feare of God and care of his service though a swearer blasphemer a prophaner of the Lords day yet he may do well enough and no fear of perishing or judgement and so will they speake both in life and death which is all one as if they should thinke a man which is guilty of felony murder and such like must needs be judged by the law of the land but if not of these though he be a traytor to the Kings person yet is there no feare But if a traytor shall die though not guilty of felony and a felone though not culpable of treason by the justice of mans law much more they who shall separate these two Tables Therefore must we endeavour to be religiously honest and honestly religious to avoide the transgressions of both Tables and to do the duties of them lest if we separate these we lay our selves open to the judgements of God in this life and separate our selves from the comfortable and happy presence of the Lambe and him that sitteth upon the Throne Against the soothsayers The first particular whom he will judge and under this all of the like kinde Such Deuter. 18.10 11. Let none be found among you that maketh his sonne or daughter go through the fire or that useth witchcraft or a regarder of times or a marker of the flying of foules or a sorcerer or a charmer or that concelleth with spirits or a soothsayer or that asketh counsell at the dead The Lord as he will judge and destroy all other Malefactors Doctrine so will he foothsayers witches inchanters sorcerers Necromancers wizards and all such like so is affirmed here And if we loke to the old Testament and things that are past we shall finde it true Deuter. 18.12 For all that do such things are an abomination to the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth cast them out before thee 2. Kings 17.17 18. And they made their sounes and their daughters passe through the fire and used witch craft and inchantments yea sold themselves to do evill in the sight of the Lord to anger him therefore the Lord was exceeding wroth with Israel and put them out of his sight and none was left but the tribe of Iudah onely Mich. 5.12 And will cut off thine Inchanters out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more soothsayers In the new Gal. 5.20 21. Revelat. 21.8 Sorcerers shall have their part in the Lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Because they are grosse Idolaters and the art they use Reason 1 is grosse Idolatry for here is ever either the expresse invocating and calling upon the Devil seeking from him knowledge of things secret and to come helpe in trouble deliverance from danger and such like proper unto God or else some secret and covert invocation on him as under the name of the dead or under some barbarous tearmes which have no signification or by some superstitions and arts of slight invented by him Which Tertul. l b. de anima calleth second Idolatry for as in the first he fained himselfe to be a God so here an Angel or one that is dead and such like in both he seeks to be worshipped when as then they are worshippers of the devill taking from the Lord that was his most gratefull and acceptable to him invocation and his worship and giving it to his most deadly and greatest enemy How should he put it up and not be revenged of such a generation Because they bewitch and deceive many Reason 2 and draw them into the same sins and so bring them to destruction as is said of Simon Magus Acts 8.9 When as therefore they so strive against the glory of God and salvation of others no marvell if the Lord will judge and destroy them To stir up the Magistrate to draw forth the sword of justice against these and to cut off all such workers of iniquity Vse 1 from the City of God for they ought to do as the Lord would and will do seeing they have the commandement for it Exod. 22.18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live Levit. 20.27 And if a man or woman have a spirit of divination or soothsaying in them they shall die the death they shall stone them to death their bloud shall be upon them So did Saul while he was assisted of the Lord and Iosias 2. Kings 23.24 And this as well such as hurt as helpe and though they do neither yet if they have familiarity with a spirit as both the law of God and our Land requires And slender it is which is objected to say now there are none when this place speaketh of the time of the Gospell and never would the Apostle have threated any if there had not beene such sinnes and such offendors to have thus fought with a shadow To perswade men to avoide this sin Vse 2 and not to fal into it to become sooth-sayers wizards wisemen c. upon hope of gaine for desire of revenge affecting vaine-glory to know and reveale things to come or for any such cause knowing that though they can escape the law and punishment of man either hurting not or covering their sorcery and witch-craft by medicines and hearbes or deny they consult with any spirit yet shall they not the judgement of Christ who is the witnesse and sees the secret of their compact with Satan beholds their invocation and worshipping of him either in secret place or in secret maner and howsoever it is and will judge them and doth judge them in this life with blindenesse hardnesse of heart oftentimes poverty and such like but sure he shall judge them in the life to come and give them their portion with him who have sought to better their portion by him To disswade men from seeking to sooth-sayers and sorcerers Vse 3 c. or having any commerce or fellowship with them in
and man requires all to be done and nothing omitted that may glorifie and honour him and be helpfull and profitable to them for so it is said to be bountifull that is helpfull 1. Cor. 13.4 But specially if we consider Peccatum est cum vel non est charitas quae esse debet vel minor est quam debet August de perfect justitiae Cit. coelest Ra. 15. that every man must love God above himselfe and man as himselfe now to omit any thing that is good for himselfe is a breach of charity to himselfe then so of these Sin is an action but the omission is onely a privation that is an omitting of that which ought to be done how can it then be a sin and they sin who omit it There is an action in sinnes of omission thus It is a sin of omission not to love his neighbour not to come to the congregation to heare the word and receive the sacrament in these there is an action for sometimes they are done upon purpose and deliberation and so he that offends will not love his neighbour will not go to the assembly and here is a plaine action of his will but sometimes they are omitted because a man thinkes not of them not of any purpose or contempt now here though there be not an action of the same kinde yet there is an action repugnant to the law he thinks not of the assembly because he would walke or take his recreation and these actions are repugnant to that good worke and sometimes the action is not at the same time but went a little before As a man gives himselfe to excesse and drunkennesse overnight and after cannot rise in the morning to be present there here is an action though not at the same time and of the same kinde yet that which is the cause of that omission All sinne is not an action it is onely true of sinne of commission which is some positive act done which the will should not consent to do sin of omission is but a privation of good As the Schoole and Basil Malum boni privatio est caelitas ex oculorum perditione provenit serm quod D. non est author peccati Facere cordis cogitare est quia corporis est cogitata proficere Chrysost ser de levium criminum periculis Then many men if they wil look upon their reckonings Vse 1 are guilty of a multitude of sinnes more then ever they thought themselves to be seeing they have onely accounted sinnes of commission to be theirs and never of omission Many have thought they were bound to avoid the evill yet not to do the good and so account their sinnes Many who account it a sinne to have other Gods have never accounted it a sin not to know the true God to believe him and feare him not to pray unto him which they did only in respect of their own necessities never of any duty to him nor of avoiding of sin so in the rest of the commandments These must know that they have to account with God for these if they have already for the other nay he never accounted nor repented of any one who doth not for these for he can have no true conscience of sin that hath not right science knowledge of these for sins who if they reckon not againe with God bring not true repentance must not looke to have peace but a controversie with God And if Judg. 5.23 Meroz was cursed not for fighting against Gods people but not assisting them in the battell against the mighty If Moses was punished with deprivation of the possession or fortage of the Land of Canaan not for dishonouring of God but not sanctifying him in the presence of the children of Israel Num. 20.12 If the rich man was cast into the torments of Hel not for taking away food from Lazarus but because he did not relieve his wants Luke 16. How shall they escape the curse inherit the Kingdome the spirituall Canaan how not be tormented in Hel Then let not men thinke much Vse 2 if they be censured as men who have gone astray from their birth while all their piety and honesty is but a negative piety and a negative honesty and not an affirmative but in little and slender sort here is all they can say for themselves they are not Idolaters and open prophane persons scoffers of piety they are not swearers they are no adulterers theeves or oppressors But in the mean time they are not zealous for his worship nor conscionable professors nor such as hunger after righteousnesse nor such as feare the dreadfull and great name of the Lord nor love of mercy and the like They may be judged as wicked men and as those who are in the displeasure of God As Tertul. nusquam nunquam excusatur quod Deus damnat So it cannot be but sinne which God is displeased withall Return unto me In this exhortation following the reproofe there may be noted from the Coherence two points First the patience of God towards sinners waiting for their returne Secondly that none is so desperately sinfull but there is hope he may returne and be converted And I will return unto you Here is the promise annexed to the former exhortation to draw them to hearken to it and obey it a promise of remooving or mitigating of their calamities and plagues and first in the generall observe they must performe and do their parts else he will not do his God is not bound Doctr. 1 to give man any thing he hath promised or covenanted unlesse he performe his covenant and conditions Vide Cap. 2.4 I sent this commandment that my Covenant might stand Againe if they repent he will returne remove or mitigate their plagues and punishments Repentance is the most certaine means Doctr. 2 and soveraigne medicine to mitigate and remoove to prevent and keep away judgements and plagues of God from the persons of men or the things that belong unto them Manifest as here so by that 2. Chro. 7.13.14 If I shut the Heaven that there be no raine or if I command the Grashopper to devoure the Land or if I send pestilence among my people If my people among whom my name is called upon doe humble themselves and pray and seeke my presence and turne from their wicked waies then will I heare in heaven and be mercifull to their sinne and will heale their Land Jer. 18.7.8 I will speake suddenly against a nation or against a kingdome to plucke it up and to roote it out and to destroy it But if this nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their wickednesse I will repent of the plague that I thought to bring upon them And 26.3 If so be they will hear ken and turne every man from his evill way that I may repent me of the plague which I have determined to bring upon them because of the wickednesse of their workes Luke 13.3.5 We have examples David
stream Rev. 3.4 For them that feared the Lord. The Lord hath a booke of remembrance for them which is not barely to remember what they have done but effectually to remember it that is to reward it and so much for them importeth that it is for their benefit and profit and to recompence and reward them It is not in vaine to serve the Lord Doctrine but godlinesse is gainefull and they who feare the Lord and thinke upon his commandements to doe them they shall be blessed and have their reward in their measure in this life in the full measure in the life to come so much is affirmed directly here Jam. 1.25 Blessed in the deed Because justice requires it Reason and equity that he should not dismisse his servants empty handed specially old and who have spent their strength in his service Heb. 6.10 But of this point formerly VERS XVII And they shall be to me saith the Lord of hosts in that day that I shall do this for a flocke and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him AND they shall be to me saith the Lord Here is the Prophets second answer from a gracious and sweet promise of God of his goodnesse and favour towards them who feare him even as an effect of his remembrance and a proofe he did not forget them And the sum of this promise is that in the time of the Gospell he would make his choice and refusall of the good and bad when it should appeare who was more excellent then others so that those who did believe should be taken into his family and should enjoy great commodities and great dignity both be his and so respected and enjoy the benefits belonging to his And they shall be to me And Here hath the force of an illation or reference to the former sentence ending that and beginning this i. To shew that I remember them I will make them mine so much the phrase in the originall signifies In that day when I shall make them my treasure my peculiar The Lord to shew how dear they should be unto him how he would defend them how he would honour and adorne them used this word which is used Ex. 19.5 translated chiefe treasure It signifies a portion of wealth got by a mans owne labour and industry which men used to love more earnestly and keep more diligently when they have it and so by this he tels them how dear and pretious they should be unto him who did receive the Gospell and truly professe him Some understand this of the last judgement only and that day which is not probable Some both of the day the Gospell and the judgement which hath great probability with it I will spare them or I will use mercy and compassion towards them I will receive them and specially love them and will shew my love in this in sparing them when they offend or as some in winking at their infirmities and corruptions and not rejecting their service for them which the similitude doth shew As a man spareth c. A similitude illustrating the promise of compassion and mercy shewing how great and how tender his compassions should be toward them when it should be as of a father to his sonne whom he loves both as his sonne and also because of that reverence honour and obedience he hath done unto him Now this that is first promised is that they shall be his for so is the phrase they shall be mine like that which we have Gen. 48.5 And now thy two sonnes Manasseh and Ephraim which are borne unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt shall be mine as Ruben and Simeon are mine i. They shall not be as my Grand children but as my owne sonnes and in the division of the Land shall have their portions as any one of my sonnes so here they shall be mine i. I will adopt them and make them mine who are not so by nature nor of themselves No man is of himselfe and by nature not of his parents the child of God but adopted so of God to it Reve. 2.17 Doctrine and in thee a new name written In that day that I shall do this for a flocke Or rather in that day when I shall make them my chiefe treasure as it is translated Exod. 19.5 But all comes to one end to note how deare the Church and people of God are unto him They who feare God and thinke of his name Doctrine delight in his waies are more excellent then others and more pretious deare and beloved of God Rev. 2.9 with 1. Pet. 2.9 And I will spare them c. Another matter promised unto them in it two things First That he would wink at and passe by their infirmities when they served him and did the duties of his worship and passe by many infirmities in them which he will not do in another Secondly That when he did visite them yet he would do it in love and compassion and use them as a father his son that serveth him This is a speciall thing Doctrine promised to Gods children proper to them that in their obedience when they endeavour to serve and performe duties commanded he will accept it though it be mixed with many infirmities and will winke at them and passe by them as though he never saw them Mich. 7.18 I will spare them or have compassion of them When he should come to afflict and correct them it should be in compassion and love The Lord when he afflicts and corrects his he doth it in compassion and love Doctrine grieving to do it retaining ever his fatherly affection towards them Isaiah 27.4 Rev. 3.19 VERS XVIII Then shall you returne and discerne between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not THen shall you returne and discerne c. The third part of the answer to these threatning a judgement to these who spoke thus blasphemously against the Lord. The sum is that such a judgement should come upon them as should open their eies which they winked on now and make them see and acknowledge a difference as well in the things as in Gods affection betwixt the good and bad Then shall you who now blaspheme God and say you have found nor reaped any profit by my service Shall returne that is be smitten with a late and unprofitable yea damned repentance no true and serious returning And discerne Out of wofull experience when you shall feele your owne misery and see the happy estate and condition of the godly shall you know in how farre better estate the righteous that is he that is carefull and conscionable in all the duties of justice honesty and equity And the wicked him that hath no conscience at all but is unjust unfaithfull uncleane or any waies wicked yea you shall discerne and know how excellent his estate is that serveth God that is conscionable in all the