making thee desolate because of thy sins 14 Thou shalt eat but not be satisfied and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee and thou shalt take hold but shalt not deliver and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword 15 Thou shalt sow but thou shalt not reap thou shalt tread the olives but thou shalt not anoint thee with oyl and sweet wine but shalt not drink wine 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept and all the works of the house of Ahab and ye walk in their counsels that I should make thee a desolation and thē inhabitants thereof an hissing therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people CHAP. VI. 1. BUt now least the people of God should be puft up and forget themselves in the meditation of the ruine and destruction of their enemies Let tbem hear what the Lord saith to me concerning them Come my Prophet saith he Rouse up thy best courage and faculties and thou shalt plead my cause against those mountains of Iudaea against the highest and proudest of them all that are so highly seated as most of them are in that countrey and to that end command attention from them 2. According to that injunction given to me by God himself I do now in the power of my Propheticall function lay this charge upon all you Hills that you prepare your selves to hear what I have to say all you that are lift up so high and seem to have a stronger foundation than other parts of the earth Though you are so well nested and bear the name of Gods people and therefore should have been more observant of his will yet even with you hath God a controversie and he will notwithstanding his own height above all hnmane reach and capacity vouchsafe to argue and plead with you of the seed of Israel a poor people not considerable among other vast parts of the world 3. This plea and complaint I am to deliver to you in his name and his person and in these termes O my people my peculiar people that I have chosen out of all the world What have I done against thee that should provoke thee to so many sins against me wherein have I disturbed and offended thee or deserved so ill at thy hands Bring in thy answer I pray thee and thy accusation against me if any such can be found 4. Or if I have done well for thee and dealt graciously with thee make a thatkfull acknowledgement of that Confesse how I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and delivered thee from the place of bondage and servitude where you lived no better than slaves And how I sent as three speciall guides before thee Moses to instruct thee in my law and direct thee by his good example Aaron to be thy Priest and offer up sacrifices and pray for thee and Miriam to be a pattern of modesty and pietie and gravitie to the weaker sex 5. Besides all this O my people remember I pray thee what Balak King of Moab contrived against thee and what answer I put into the mouth of Balaam the son of Beor of thy safety and security if thou didst not bring destruction upon thy self by thy own default And forget not what wonderfull things I did for thee in all the way from Shittim unto Gilgal on either side of Jordan Of these things thou shouldst do well to make a loving and gratefull recognition that thou mayst so appear to take notice of the Iustice and Goodnesse of God 6. And that acknowledgement would be made in such words as these Wherewith shall I appear before the Lord and make tendry of my humble duty and observance unto the high God Shall I present my self before him with whole burnt-offerings in testimony of his dominion over all his creatures or shall I come to him with young calves or any other kind of sacrifice prescribed in the law 7. Can it be thought that God will be appeased and pacified with thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oyl Shall a man satisfie himself in giving his first-born for the transgressions or any fruit of his body as a satisfaction for the sins of his soule 8. No if I that am his Prophet may give answer to that question He hath showed thee O man whosoever thou art he hath sufficiently and plainly enough declared by his law and Prophets what he doth chiefly exact of thee as the best sacrifice and ransom that he wil accept And that is no other than to do justice and delight in shewing mercy and kindnesse to men and to demean thy self humbly and reverently in all thy addresses unto thy God 9. And now because the law and Prophets have not been herein observed the terrible voice of the Lord himself calls unto the City of Jerusalem to give her warning of what punishments her own sins have called for And when thou so callest O Lord it is true wisedom in him that will dread thy Majesty and fear thy name Give ear therefore you tribes of Israel and attend to him who hath appointed and decreed that which shall come upon you if you do not repent and bring forth the fruites of repentance 10. And when you examine your repentance let this question be asked Is there yet remaining to any one a house purchased by iniquity Hath any one yet by him treasures of wealth unjustly heaped together and the abominable false weight that wants much of what is justly to be allowed 11. And take another question with you as propounded by God himself who saith Shall I justifie and approve the unjust balances and the bag of deceitfull weights 12. Or shall I justifie that Citie whose wealthy Citizens are full of violence and oppression and her other inhabitants accustome themselves familiarly to speaking of lies and to have deceitfull tongues within their mouthes that deliver little or nothing from the heart 13. Therefore will I chastise thee O thou wicked Citie with such scourges as thou deservest with making thee poor and desolate because of thine offences that hast made others poor by thy violence and rapine 14. Thou shalt eat but thou shalt not be satisfied and thrive with it There shall be a kind of lanknesse and depression within thy belly for very famine For extremity whereof she that conceives shall not be able to bring forth or if she doth what she brings forth will I give up to the sword when that heavie siege comes wherein this scarcity and misery shall fall upon Jerusalem 15. And then what thou hast sowed thou shalt not reap the souldier shall doe it for thee Thou mayest tread the olives but thou shalt not anoint thee with the oyl And as much paines mayest thou take for thy sweet wine but in the end thou shalt have no wine to drink 16 And all this shall happen to thee O Israel because all
Zachary the son of Barachias the son of Iddo and thus said unto him Thus shalt thou say unto the Jewes The Lord was very much though very justly displeased with your Fathers whom he therefore delivered up as captives into the hands of the King of Babylon 3. And thou shalt further say unto them Thus saith the Lord of Hostes whom all things serve and obey Return unto me by a true repentance and amendment of life saith the Lord of Hostes and I will return unto you in that favour and mercy and tender care of your welfare which the great sins of your Fathers made me for a time withdraw from your nation saith the Lord of Hostes. 4. Be not you disobedient as your Fathers were whom the former Prophets have earnestly and zealously called upon saying Thus saith the Lord of hostes Repent ye now forsake all your evill waies and your wicked actions wherein you go on to get unto your selves a dangerous habit of sin Yet they would not diligently attend and accordingly obey me saith the great Iehovah 5. But where be your Fathers now that were so refractory and disobedient unto me and what is bâ—come of their false Prophets that soothed them up in their sins Did they live for ever Did I not send one calamity after another to hunt after them and bring them to their graves 6. Notwithstanding all their security and vain hopes of peace and an imaginary protection from me for my Temples sake have not my words and decrees which my Servantt the good Prophets delivered to them by my command proved now to be true Have not those judgements which I so decreed and foretold at the last justly overtaken them so that many of them in a true sense and apprehension of the greatnesse of their sins and the truth of those predictions returned in the end to a sober mind and ingâ—niously acknowledging their errour could not but say Just as the Lord of hostes resolved to do unto us by inflicting a heavie punishment answerable to our grievous sins in all the severall waies and wicked actions wherein we had offended even so hath he made it good upon us This confession my punishments extorted from your Fathers let it be one Motive of your true repentance that so you may escape those miseries which they pulled upon their own heads by not applying themselves unto me by a timely repentance 7. Now within two or three moneths after Zachary had preached this Sermon namely upon the twenty fourth day of the eleventh moneth which is the moneth Shebat and containes part of our January and part of February in the second year of Darius the son of Hystaspes the word of the Lord was revealed unto Zachary the Prophet the son of Barachiah the son of Iddo in this manner as I shall tell it 8. In the quiet silence of the night I saw a vision that promised though in a dark and mysticall way a quiet and peaceable time for the advancement of the work about the Temple and partly discovered how many Angels were ready with the Messias to assist and defend the Church in that time and much more under that figure how many helps would be afforded from heaven for that more spirituall Church whose foundation should be laid in that Citie by the preaching of the Messias and of his Apostles and Disciples In this vision to show the speed and forwardnesse of them that were sent I observed a man riding upon a red horse the very colour of the horse speaking the revenge that he meant to take of the enemies of the Church And he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in a bottom by a river side wherein again as the bottom and the shadow of the trees bid us take notice how obscurely these things are revealed and how little hope appeared from men for the delivery and tranquillity of the Church so the trees being the sweet and humble myrtle were a figure of meek and humble men that were for their holy life accounted as a sweet odour unto God But after the view of this Horse-man came more holy Emblems of our help For behind him as the Captain there appeared other as attendants on red horses and speckled and white as if the red were to signifie those that should attend their great Captain in prosecution of the revenge of the bloody enemies of the Church whereof we spake before and the other two those that came for the punishment of such as were other waies spotted with sin and for the protection of the pure and innocent 9. Then said I to the Captain of this troop of Horse the great Commander of this various armie under the Lord of Hostes Who are these my Lord And that great Angel or Messenger sent from God himself vouchsafeing to answer and discourse with me said I will let thee know what these be 10. Then presenting himself in the form of a man and staying still under the shade of the myrtle-trees he said These are the Armie and Messengers that the great Iehovah sends abroad to compasse the Earth to punish the worser and defend the better sort of men 11. Whereupon the rest in reference to what that great Messenger of the great Iehovah had said while he stood under the myrtle-trees gave this further answer to what I had presumed to ask of Him We have passed thorough the whole circuit of this land and we have taken such order that this all the Countries hereabouts are in peace and quiet and therefore they may safely and securely proceed in the fabrick of the Temple without any fear of disturbance at home or abroad 12. Vpon this occasion that great Messenger from the Lord was pleased to say as the great Mediator for his despised Church O Lord of Hostes how long was it ere thou wouldst have this pitie upon Ierusalem and other the Cities of Iudah which still appear but in their ruines and rubbish and which in thine anger thou didst keep under the Babylonian captivity no lesse than threescore and ten years the very age of a man 13. And the Lord Iehovah himself gave answer to that great Angel that had spoke so to me in most loving and comfortable words 14. Hereupon that great Angel and Embassador that had vouchsafed so far to commmune with me added this further and said Go and preach again unto thy people the Jewes and say Thus saith the Lord of Hostes I have indeed been jealous over Ierusalem and Sion and very jealous over them because of their spiritual adulteries which they have committed against me and I have punished them in some proportion to that jealousie 16. But now my anger shall fall in as great a measure upon those nations that have enjoyed their ease and plenty while you have been under the rod. And I will punish them the rather because whereas I used them like Schoolmasters for your correction onely they added more to your punishment than
were p. 298. v. 9. r. the wives p. 346. v. 14. r. of any longer p. 361. v 15. before encrease dele l. p 400 v. 6. r. sore troubled p. 413. l. 2. r. may be p. 463. v. 1. 466 v. 7. r. Darius Notbus as it is truly printed r. 439. where the note in calâ—e paginae gives a reason of it and 442. l. 1. p. 490. v. 9. r. if by his care p. 531. v. 8. r. Angels p. 546. l 2 r. So these Errata in the Notes in calce paginae Pag. 18. l. totum pop Isr. 45. l. in Hâ—ph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incipe incipere 79 for subest l. subesse 345. l. attondebantur 490 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 588 l. omni cibo 598. l. futurum pro Imperativo A Paraphrastical EXPLICATION Of the PROPHESIE OF HOSEA CHAP. I. 1 THe word of the Lord that came unto Hosea the son of Beeri in the daies of Uzzia Jotham Ahas and Hezekiah Kings of Judah and â—n the daies of Jeroboam the son of Joash King of Israel 2. The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea and the Lord said to Hosea Go take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms for the land hath committed great whordom departing from the Lord. 3. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim which conceived and bare him a son 4. And the Lord said unto him Call his name Jezreel for yet a little while and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the Kingdom of the house of Israel 5. And it shall come to passe at that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel 6. And she conceived again and bare a daughter and God said unto him Call her name Lo-ruhamah for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel but I will utterly take them away 7. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow nor by sword nor by battel by horses nor by horsemen 8. Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah she conceived and bare a son 9. Then said God Call his name Lo-ammi for ye are not my people and I will not be your God 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbred and it shall come to passe that in the place where it was said unto them Ye are not my people there it shall be said unto them Ye are the sons of the living God 11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the day of Jezreel CHAP. I. 1. THe word of the Lord which was made known to Hosea the son of Beeri in the daies of Uzziah Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah Kings of Judah and in the daies of Jeroboam the son of Joash King of Israel 2. When first it pleased God to deliver his word by Hosea this it was which he said to that Prophet Go and take to thy self a woman that hath lived long in whoredom and take her children too that have been born to her in that time The fittest type of the children of Israel that have lived long in spiritual whoredoms against their Lord Iehovah 3. And accordingly the Prophet went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim which in the very names signifies the deficiencie of that people and that the two Houses of Iudah and Israel were like two baskets of dry figs in which there were but very few worth the keeping This Gomer conceived and bare a son to the Prophet 4. The Prophet also had a command from the Lord to call the name of his son Jezreel which name referred both to Iezreel the prime City in Israel and to their glorious title of the children of God which title God would shake by disseminating and scattering them in forreign Nations where those undeserved titles should serve them in little stead And this intimated in that name was to begin with a fore-running punshiment which the Prophet had command to expresse in these or the like terms That as a revenge of the innocent blood shed by Iehu in Iezreel God would shortlie send his visitations upon the house of Jehu by such a way as should not be much unlike that bloody slaughter that Jehu had made in Jezreel upon the house of Ahab And that one effect of these heavy visitations should be this That the kingdom of the house of Israel should cease to be any longer in the house of Iehu that Kingdom being thence translated to Sallum of another stock from Zacharias whom he succeeded 5. And this was further added concerning that time That God would then break the strength of Israel by those civil wars that should most appear in the valley of Jezreel 6. After this Gomer conceaved again and bare a daughter which by the like divine command had the name of Lo-ruchamah A name that carried in it the sad doom concerning the house of Israel which God would be so far from sheltring any longer under his merciful protection that he would utterly remove them out of that good land 7. While in the mean time he would gratiously defend the house of Judah in such a way as should visibly appear to be the miraculous work of the Lord their God no strength in the arm of man nor any Art or Instruments of war being ever able to atchieve so great and sodain a deliverie as they should have from the mighty Host of Senacherib the King of Assyria 8. Now after Gomer had weaned Lo-ruchamah she conceived a third time and bare a son 9. And God commanded the Prophet to give that son the name of Lo-ammi Which name implied that they should be no longer his people to enjoy any further happinesse under his service they should rather be the unhappy people and slaves of the Assyrian And God would no longer make his provident protection to speak him their God as he had done 10. Yet should it come to passe that when the children of Israel had increased into multitudes like the sand of the sea which is capable of no number then instead of their name Lo-ammi wherein God disclaimed many of them from being so much as his people they should have the high title of the sons of the living God 11. And then should the children of Judah and the children of Israel so much divided before make one Congregation under one head and Governour which was to be accomplished by Zerobabel in the letter and by Christ in the mystery For then should begin the great day of Jezreel that is of the seed of God or the sons of the living God as they were stiled before
now while his arme is stretched out to give the blow or his hand to sign the decree even now that you would return from your dumb idols and other vanities unto me saith the Lord by a sad and serious and hearty repentance outwardly also and publickly expressed by fasting that afflicts the body and by weeping and mourning that speaks the inward relenting of the heart These would leave behind them a hatred of those sins that call for so sad a farewel 13. But this last call of mercy will admit of no hypocrisie The rending of your clothes and other outward signs of repentance will not serve the turn The heart is open to me saith the Lord and you must begin with rending and breaking of the heart if you think of preparing a sacrifice fit to appease me And I the sad Prophet of your otherwise-imminent destruction advise you to make such a conversion to the Lord your God a total alteration and conversion of the heart And then be sure when you have so wounded your hearts to rend all sin from them he can heal them again For He is so gratious a Father that he can receive a prodigal when he returns home to God and himself He is so merciful that he is ready to make his mercy triumph over all his and our works He is so slow to anger that when he hath expected till justice can no longer defer the blow yet he can then be entreated and reconciled when he is ready to strike He is of so great kindnesse that he is willinger to repent of the evil of punishment then we are to forsake the evil of sin 14. His threats and his punishments aim not at our destruction but onely at our amendment Our utter ruine must be drawn upon us by our selves but if our hearty return will prevent it we may yet hope to find him all-merciful and mercie it self Therefore though the sentence seem to be irreversibly passed against us yet who knows not there is no doubt but that upon our returning to Him by repentance he may return to us and repent of the punishment And leave behind him with our deliverance from the enemy a blessing not upon our sad souls onely but also upon our afflicted and macerated bodies and upon our estates too that are even ready to be taken all away by an army of locusts a populous and cruel nation Thus may our fasting and mourning be turned into feasting and joy thankful expressions of our selves in a meat-offering and drink-offering to the Lord our God 15. Therefore do you that are Priests show your selves forwardest in this work you that are to take care for others as well as your selves Call the people together as you use to do by the sound of a trumpet in Sion put them in mind by a holy Fast to castigate the body and spend a day in holy exercises Call for such an Assembly 16. Thus gather the people to joyn together in prayer and other holy exercises wherein the elder men should lead the way to others by their good example and compel them by their authority And as children and sucking infants are concerned in the common danger so let them bear a part in the publick humiliation And while all are so taken up with fasting mourning and praying let the Bridegoom also and the Bride leave their Bride-chamber and their mirth for that time turning their ornaments into sack-cloth and their joy into weeping 17. Above all other let the Priests whose work it is mainly to intend the service of God and who are many wayes concerned both in the conversion and wellfare of the people and as many wayes obliged to be earnest suiters unto God in their behalf Let them offer up their prayers and tears for the people committed to their charge and offer them up between the Porch and the Altar as interposing their intreaties between a sinful people and their angry God Wherein as wholly taken up with the necessities of the people Let them say Spare thy people O Lord which thou hast purchased to thy self with thy mighty hand Let not thine own inheritance hear that reproach of the heathen for being in a manner forsaken by God whom they pretend to serve which must needs tend to the dishonour of God and the disparagement of his power and love to his own servants as our enemies will apprehend it while they do thus insult and domineer over us in our great misery And of his honour we are to be more tender then of our own deliverance 18. These are the likeliest means to move the Lord not onely to be merciful to his people and willing to spare them but zealous also in their behalf even to the turning of his anger upon their cruel enemies with the same affection wherewith a husband would revenge the injuries of his beloved spouse 19. In which affection what answer can the Lord make to the true repentance of his afflicted servants and the humble supplication of their Priests but that which shall carrie with it a supply of their present wants and necessities by plenty of corn and wine and oil and whatsoever else may serve to the taking away of their reproach among the heathens as well as the confirming of his reconciliation with them by such a new and ample encrease of their store 20. These blessings should have been seconded by others upon their true repentance for Gods favours use not to go alone Therefore hear the words of that gratious conditional promise to them After you are so well provided for I will remove far from you the Northern army saith the Lord. Those hungry locusts of Assyria and Chaldaea your first and worst enemies shall be sent far enough from Iudaea the garden of the world to a barren and dry land his army by the way scattered and divided the foreparts from the extreamest as much as the East of the Mediterranean Sea is divided from the Western parts And in the end the corrupt smell of the poor reliques of all their great forces shall be as unsavory in the nostrils of such as shall be witnesses of their ruine and after that in the memorie of those that shall make mention of their power as all their attempts were proud and insolent and intollerable against the land of Israel 21. The whole land may turn their fear into joy and gladnesse as soon as God begins to show what great things he can do for them when they are rid of such devouring locusts and so secured of the quiet enjoying of that plenty which I said their repentance and amendment of life may procure for them from a merciful and gratious God that plainly appears great in whotsoever he doth 22. This may be the effect of our repentance But such temporal promises of plenty and safety here are shadows of greater happinesse and security from our ghostly enemies by the coming of the Messias And therefore somewhat shall now be
added in speculation of that To shadow the time of his coming before which the general Peace and plenty of all things shall seem to usher in the great Peace-maker I may speak to the cattel such as we heard awhile ago crying out for want of food and tell them that our happinesse in the near approach of the Messias shall not begin without some comfort to the very beasts of the field For The Pastures of the wildernesse shall put on the face of joy and the colour which they delight in And the trees if they show not the same colour shall show such plenty and variety of fruit as shall best expresse them to be in a flourishing estate Among them the Fig-tree and the vine that we most enquire after shall show the choicest fruit in their kind that we could expect from them 23. And while the earth and trees and dum Creatures partake of so much refreshment much more shall our hearts be enlarged with spiritual joy and comfort Therefore do you Citizens of Jerusalem and inhabitants of Judaea or you rather that make up the true Israel of God and members of the holy Church whereof Ierusalem is a type Do you studie how to expresse the solace and content that must needs follow upon the coming of the Messiah the true Doctor and Teacher of Righteousnesse which under the same name shall bring you the best rain and showers from Heaven in the preaching of his holy word both the first rain that helps up the first hopes of fruit and the latter rain which shall in due time secure us of a happy harvest in the higher and more spiritual sense of the successe of the Gospel 24. Such a happy harvest under the Messias his Kingdom will fill all places with plenty of spiritual food The richest flower of the best wheat the most and best liquor from the choicest Vine and Olive will be but poor emblemes and figures of it 25. This plenty will obliterate the memory of your former greatest famine or what other misery happened to the body from those mighty armies of hungry locusts the Grassehoppers Cankerworms Caterpillers and Palmerworms that I sent among you This plenty will be abundant recompense for those times of want and distresse 26. For if you will bring souls hungry and thirsty and longing to be refreshed with the best cordials and the true manna the food of life that came down from Heaven It is to be had without money You may freely eat and be fully satisfied and have cause enough to return all possible praise and thanksgiving to the Lord your God for those wonderful unspeakable mercies which may further oblige you to a confident and constant devoting of your selves to his service without any more revolting or forsaking of him as if you were ashamed of your profession 27. To which end you shall see enough to make you know that I am in the midst of Israel and I am the Lord your God and no other beside me whether we understand it of our Saviours corporal presence and dwelling here as God and Man or of his invisible assistance and government of his Church Therefore I might well say that you shall be sufficiently obliged to his service and to such a trust and confidence and joy in Him as shall make you triumph in your holy Calling rather then any way be ashamed of it 28. After these times of your enjoying the happy sight of the Messias I will also send down my holy Spirit in a visible form and bestow his Spiritual Graces in such abundance upon all sorts of men though they are but flesh and blood that some even illeterate persons men and women of your own nation shall show the power of a divine prophetick spirit to the speedy and successeful propagation of the gospel To which in the fuller progresse there shall not a little be added by that which in dreams and visions shall be revealed not onely to some of the elder but to some also of the younger sort 29. And as no sex or nation so neither any rank or order of men bond or free masters or servants shall be excluded from this high priviledge of partaking of the gifts of the Holy Ghost 30. Not long after this prosperous beginning and divulging of the gospel many prodigious signs will appear as presages and forerunners of the fearful destruction of Ierusalem the sad punishment of their rebellion and unbelief wonders in heaven and earth beside the effusion of much blood in the slaughter of many men in several places and the flames of fire and pillars of smoak that will appear in the burning and destroying of many Towns 31. Upon which there will follow such a dark and dismal aspect and alteration of the glorious light above as will plainly fore-speak a sad and bloody confusion and alteration in the Jewish state that under the Romans exceeding and compleating that under the Chaldeans of the great and terrible day of the Lords coming in judgement against this sinful nation 32. Yet in all this misery as the severity of God will be seen in the destruction of obstinate sinners so his mercy and succour will not be excluded from any that call upon Him with an obedient faith Sion and Ierusalem shall not then want such a means of deliverance And that mercy shall be continued for ever to the remnant of the Iews that will obey the voice of their Messias in the Gospel the voice of their Lord God that shall call them to repentance CHAP. III. 1. FOr behold in those dayes and in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Iudah and Ierusalem 2 I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the vally of Ieboshaphat and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land 3 And they have cast lots for my people and have given a boy for an harlot and sold a girle for wine that they might drink 4 Yea and what have ye to do with me O Tyre and Zidon and all the coasts of Palestine will ye render me a recompense and if ye recompense me swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head 5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold and have carried into your Temples my goodly pleasant things 6 The children also of Iudah and the children of Ierusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians that ye might remove them farre from their border 7 Behold I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them and wil return your recompense upon your own head 8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Iudah and they shall sell them to the Sabeans to a people far off for the Lord hath spoken it 9 Proclaim ye this among the gentiles prepare war make up the mighty
speak what God had put into his mouth 11. Yet not venturing rashly to make away an Ebrew and so near a Servant to the great Creator and Governour of all things they advised with himself what was fittest to be done to him that they might appease the wrath of God and so quiet the raging Sea which seemed still more and more to swell and beget more trouble to them 12. Then spake the Prophet as from the oracle of God and told them that their safety could not be otherwise procured than by casting him over board and so committing him to the mercy of God And that this their execution of divine Iustice upon him would calm and still the roaring Sea which called aloud for vengeance against him and would not be silent but upon his patient offering himself to the mercy of Almighty God and so becoming some means of their deliverance from what himself had been a main instrument to bring upon them wherein he was a type of Christ that offered himself to a crueller death for the salvation of the world 13. Neverthelesse Jonas his readinesse to die for them melted the hearts of the rude Mariners I wish our Saviours offering himself for us could work the like effect in us all They resolved now to venture themselves a little further for his sake rather than secure themselves by his death And casting about in their minds all the waies by which they might preserve him they pitched upon this as the likeliest to try whether by rowing the ship to dry land they might not save themselves and him too But after much labour they see that they could not do it For the more they strived to gain the land the more fiercely did the wind and weather beat them into new danger upon the Sea 14. At last though forced unto it yet they would not be executioners of the death of a Prophet till they had prayed to Almighty God whose power the Prophet had made known to them that they might not be called to account for the losse of his life nor his innocent blood any way laid to their charge because all these things the extraordinary tempest the event of the lottery and Jonah's own confession appeared plainly to fall out and be wholly ordered and directed according to his own divine dispensation and holy will and pleasure In all which prayer of the Mariners they were no types of the cruelty of the Jewes to our Saviour when he died for us 15. After this but much against their wills they took up Jonah that willingly yeilded himself and cast him into the Sea which being done there followed a sudden and great calm The boisterous waves and whistling winds were laid As the fury of Death and Sathan was quelled upon our Saviours exposing himself to Death for our Salvation 16. These things wrought in the Seamen a wonderfull Fear and Reverence of the true God the Creator and Lord of all things Of whom they might have heard something in Joppe and other places of the holy land but these passages concerning Jonah and the words that he spake to them wrought so powerfully in their hearts that upon their safe landing again they offered sacrifice to the Lord after the way of Israel according to the vowes which they had made unto him when they were in danger adding other vowes which they intended afterwards to perform at their first opportunity 17. But God that is able to rescue us in all places and useth to be a present help in the greatest times of difficulty by his good providence and mercy had prepared a whale to swallow up Ionah alive and be as his prison or his keeper for a time And Ionah continued in the belly of the Fish three dayes and three nights and so again became a type of our Saviour that was three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth CHAP. II. 1 THen Ionah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fishes belly 2 And said I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardst my voice 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the flouds compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me 4 Then I said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple 5 The waters compassed me about even unto the soul the depth closed me round about the weeds were wrapt about my head 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth with her bars was about me for ever yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy temple 8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy 9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanks-giving I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. 10 And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Ionah upon the dry land CHAP. II. 1. JOnah in the time of his abode within the Whale considering the miraculous securitie that he had being scarce out of the very mouth of one danger of being swallowed up by the sea and yet presently in the middest of another in the bellie of a vast and monstrous Fish did not forget to make his humble and yet confident prayer to the Lord his God a kind of Prophetical assurance of his deliverie from the Fish as well as from the Sea 2. And he framed his prayer to this purpose I cried unto the Lord out of that fearful affliction of mine that streightly compassed me about on every side and by the life yet left in my bodie with some degree of inward repose and quiet in my soul I quickly and easily perceived that he had accepted and answered my prayer Yes O my Gracious and Merciful God Out of the innermost parts of the Whale wherein I lay as in a kind of Grave or a shadow of darknesse like Hell it self for the time Even thence I cried and thou wert pleased to give ear to the voice of my groaning in my importunate prayer 3. Though what relief could I then in any reason have expected when thou hadst cast me into the innermost receptacles and bosome of the vast Seas where the overflowing of the waters circled me about and which was more terrible unto me my accusing thoughts in reflection upon thy heavy displeasure and my rebellious sin were like so many waves and surges that passed over me and afflicted my heavy soul. So that what the Royal Prophet once speak in a figure I find in a more literal and both sensible and spiritual way made good upon me 4. How could I then but take up those other words of the same Prophet wherein betwixt hope and discomfort he complains that he was cast
the edicts and precepts of Omri that wicked King of Israel are observed with thee more readily than the precepts of the God of Jacob and so are all the workes of the house of Ahab the sonne of Omri after whose advise and example you have so framed the course of your lives as if you intended that I should make you a desolation and all your inhabitants a hissing Therefore shall you bear the reproach of my people They that passe by and see the ruine of your Citie shall lay all the blame and shame of it upon the rapine of her rich Citizens and the lying cozening and dissembling of the other inhabitants CHAP. VII 1 WO is me for I am as when they have gathered the summer-fruits as the grape-gleanings of the vintage there is no cluster to eat my soul desired the first ripe fruit 2 The good man is perished out of the earth and there is none upright among men they all lie in wait for blood they hunt every man his brother with a net 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly the prince asketh and the judge asketh for a reward and the great man he uttereth his mischievous desire so they wrap it up 4 The best of them is as a brier the most upright is sharper then a thorn-hedge the day of thy watch-men and thy visitation cometh now shall be their perplexity 5 Trust ye not in a friend put ye not confidence in a guid keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom 6 For the son dishonoreth the father the daughter riseth up against her mother the daughter in law against her mother in law a mans enemies are the men of his own house 7 Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will hear me Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darknesse the Lord shall be a light unto me 9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgement for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his righteousnesse 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me Where is the Lord thy God mine eyes shall behold her and now shall she be troden down as the mire of the streets 11 In the day that thy walls are to be built in that day shall the decree be far removed 12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria and from the fortified cities and from the fortresse even to the river and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain 13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein for the fruit of their doings 14 Feed thy people with thy rod the flock of thine heritage which dwell solitarily in the wood in the midst of Carmel let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the daies of old 15 According to the daies of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things 16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might they shall lay their hand upon their mouth their ears shall be deaf 17 They shal lick the dust like a serpent they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth they shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of thee 18 Who is a God like vnto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy 19 He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Iacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the daies of old CHAP. VII 1. YOu have heard what you should justly have said to God and what he hath said as justly against you Will you now hear what I or any good man might as well say of the sad estate wherein you shall shortly be under the raign of Manasses a most dissolute and idolatrous Prince that will succeed the good Hezekiah Wo is me that I am fallen upon so unhappy an age wherein there are few or none to be seen that love and fear God! I am in a time like that wherein men have gathered in their summer fruits and there are onely a few grape-gleanings left of the vintage a time when there is no cluster to eat I may long and desire with all my soul to taste some of the first-ripe fruits but there is none to be had 2. Such a scarcity of goodnesse is there in this wicked age wherein the best men are all dead and taken out of the earth there is not a just and upright person to be found among men They are all such as lie in wait for blood They hunt every man after his brother and seek his utter ruine and destruction 3. So do they hunt and lay snares with both hands when they are to do mischief but when they do any good for others the very Prince and Magistrate knows how to ask for his reward and the judge for his bribe and retribution from him that hath the cause to go on his side And if a great man speak out of that wickednesse that is in his heart as in some false relation at a trial before the Judge he orders it so that he will thereby intricate and intangle the businesse the more to puzle those that have interest in the thing to be decided by the Judge 4. And for this matter of briberie he that is accounted the best of them is no better then a brier that catcheth at what can be had from all that come near it and he that hath the name of the uprightest man is without that reward no kinder then a thorny hedge that hath prickles to fetch blood out of all that meddle with it But when the day comes which the watchmen thy Prophets have foretold thee of O Jerusalem and the time of thy visitation then shall these men of all other be in great perplexity as a just reward of that intangling and perplexing of causes with their unjust relations and seeking after bribes 5. In such a wicked age for briberie and injustice take heed what friend you trust and put no great confidence in Princes and Magistrates And keep the door of thy mouth from being too open in deliverie of thy secret thoughts to thy own wife that lies in thy bosom whence they are to be picked out 6. For what is done by the rest of thy family may be done by thy wife in time and now adaies it is ordinarie for the son to dishonour his father in disclosing of
that glory wherein I shall go before you as your glorious guide and Champion to conduct you safe to your Jerusalem that here and that above For he that sends me as his great Angel of the covenant and commander of his Hosts hath sent me upon this errand amongst the rest to visit the nations that spoiled you to be avenged and to deliver you out of their Tyrannie Nor could you expect any lesse since he that toucheth you toucheth the very apple of his eye He is as sensible of your injuries and sufferings as if they were his own and offered to him in a part of the tenderest touch 9. Therefore you may observe me already shaking my hand over them by way of menace And accordingly them that have heretofore used you as Servants I shall not fail ere long to make servants unto you and some of them more then so as in the time of the Maccabees to be no better then captives taken in warlike manner which shall serve also as a type and figure of those that shall be taken into my service when I send the rod of my power out of Sion and when my spiritual souldiers shall bring them of all nations into the number of the true Israel of God And when they that I send shall compasse so great atchievements you will know assuredly that it was the Lord of Hosts that sent me the great Commander not of those troops onely that appeared in the first vision but of all things that are in heaven and earth 10. Rejoyce then and be exceeding glad O daughter of Sion for which thou shalt see and wonder at I will not onely vouchsafe to dwell in this Temple that you are building but I will further be pleased to come dwell with you visibly personally conversing among you in the sacred Temple of my flesh saith the Lord Iehovah 11. And many nations shall apply themselves to the Lord in those daies and like true Proselytes and converts indeed be joyned unto Him as souldiers to sight under his banner and no longer as enemies to him and his Church So shall they become my people as you are and true members of the true Jerusalem And I will abide and dwell in the midst of thee and within thee as my holy Temple and my Heaven upon earth And so thou shalt be more and more assured that it was the Lord of Hosts that sent me unto thee O thou daughter of Sion the Church and Congregation of the true servants of God 12. With this happy successe shall the Lord inherit Iudah again as his peculiar possession in the holy land and again make choice of Ierusalem wherein to show his power and glory 13. Therefore let all men be still and show fear and reverence before the Lord. For he will rise up from the throne of his glory and show himself from his holy habitation to subdue his enemies under his feet and be glorified in his servants CHAP. III. 1 ANd he shewed me Ioshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him 2 And the Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuke thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Ierusalem rebuke thee is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire 3 Now Ioshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel 4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying Take away the filthy garments from him And unto him he said Behold I have caused thine iniquity to passe from thee and I will clothe thee with change of raiment 5 And I said Let them set a fair mitre upon his head so they set a fair mitre upon his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord stood by 6 And the angel of the Lord protested unto Ioshua saying 7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts if thou wilt walk in my waies and if thou wilt keep my charge then thou shalt also judge my house and shalt also keep my courts and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by 8 Hear now O Ioshua the high priest thou and thy fellows that sit before thees for they are men wondred at for behold I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH 9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Ioshua upon one stone shall be seven eyes behold I will engrave the graving thereof saith the Lord of hosts and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day 10 In that day saith the Lord of hosts shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree CHAP. III. 1. NOw the Lord in another vision let me see Iosuah the High-Priest standing before that great Angel or Messenger of the Lord and Satan standing at Joshuah his right hand that he might there show himself to be a Satan i. an adversarie and malitious accusar of him and so like his name 2. And the Lord Iehovah or some Archangel representing his person said unto Satan The Lord rebuke or restrain thee O Satan from prevailing in thy malitious accusation to any prejudice of the High-Priest Even that gratious Lord so restrain thee in the behalf of Jerusalems High Priest that hath in so great love made choice of Ierusalem as a place to be made a special object of his favour and mercy For is not this Joshua whom thou opposest one that hath more need of divine compassion and indulgence as being like a brand plucked out of many sad dangers and fierie trials that befel him in the time of his long captivity And by him plucked out and rescued thence that gave that token of his care and protection over him for the time to come 3. Now Joshuah appeared to me in this vision as one clad in filthy apparrel while he thus stood before the great Angel of the Lord which might be an embleme not so much of his poor estate as of some sin that he had contracted in the time of his captivity For sin represents us no otherwise in the sight of Gods pure eyes then as men covered with rags and pollution 4. Then said that great Angel to the other that stood ready to obey his commands Take away Joshuahs filthy garments from him as a sign of the removal of his sins that had made him appear so unpleasing in the sight of God And then turning himself to the High-Priest See saith he and forget not this mercy wherein I have caused the removal of thy sin which might now have been laid to thy charge and I will cause thee to be arrayed in such new and decent garments the robes of righteousnesse as wherein thou shalt be accepted 5. I have also taken order with my attendants said he that they set a fair mytre upon the head of Iosuah as the High-Priest of the Lord. And this they did
angel that talked with me Whither do these bear the ephah 11 And he said unto me To build it an house in the land of Shinar and it shall be established and set there upon her own base CHAP. V. 1. AFter this lifting up mine eyes again I discovered that which took me up with so much wonder that it may challenge another Ecce and it was a kind of flying book written all in one long scroul 2. And the angel that I mentioned before said unto me What seest thou And I said I see a flying roul containing so much in that one volume that the length of it seems twenty cubits and the breadth ten cubits 3. Then said he unto me This roule or volume is a book of curses or dire punishments and it is gone out to fly through the whole land so far as the children of Iudah or Israel do inhabit For every one of this nation that is guilty of stealing and hath his name for that fault on one side of the book is accordingly to be emptied of his ill-gotten goods and suffer the losse of all in his house besides and every one that forswears and hath his name for that fault upon the other side of the book is emptied of what he got by his perjurie acrording to the evidence of the fault there 4. This roul will I produce saith the Lord of Hosts and it shall come into the house of him that steals and into the house of him that swears falsly by my name And it shall continue in the midst of his house till it have quite consumed it like a fierce and raging fire that consumes or disperseth the very stones as well as the timber 5. Then the Angel that used to discourse with me as my Interpreter and Director for the understanding of these mysteries having gone out for a while returned again unto me to explain a new Vision and said Lift up now thine eyes and observe that which seems to be coming forward towards us 6. At the sight of it I demanded of the Angel what it might be And he replied This is the full measure of an Ephah that now seems to move forward and discover it self an embleme of their heavy sins that have now filled up their measure and therefore must lie no longer concealed and winked at as a great while they did in expectation of their repentance before they brought them up to this height And he added withal that this might serve for a fit resemblance of those sins or sinners through the whole land whose full measure of sin brought that full measure of punishment which you see was visibly inflicted upon the whole nation in this last captivity 7. And you would wonder what a strange sight immediately appeared with it the likenesse of a huge massie weight of lead that was brought thither to be laid upon it And this other sight withal a woman sitting upon the middest of the Ephah impudent enough and no whit ashamed or afraid to own such a weight of iniquity 8. And while I was looking upon her and observing the pride and shamelessenesse of her posture the Angel informed me who it was This is the lively portraicture of the Jewish Impietie saith he from whence all those robberies and perjuries that we named before had their rise and their growth till they called to heaven for vengeance And at that word he took her and thrust her into the midst of the Epha and laid a great weight of lead upon the mouth of the Ephah to exclude her from getting out from that which she seemed so ready to return to as to a creature of her own 9. No sooner had I withdrawn my eyes from this sight to look up again but I perceived there two women coming forward suppose the two nations the Assyrian and the Babylonian by which God was pleased to revenge himself of this so great a measure of sin And they came with such speed as if they had come upon the wings of the wind which figured the sodain execution of Gods wrath that accordingly came upon our nation for our many offences And the wings seemed to be like the wings of a stork another expression of that sodain transmigration and deportation out of our Country And these two flying women lift up this Ephah we spake of between heaven and earth as we lift up a burden that is presently to be removed from where it is 10. Then I asked the Angel that discoursed with me whither they intended to remove that heavy weight of impiety to what place of punishment and execution of Justice 11. The place saith he which they are going to provide for that purpose is the land of Babylon where they shall be set fast upon their own basis the sure footing which themselves were the cause of sure enough for stirring thence till God of his own mercy make way for their removal And this Vision and representation of what they have suffered already may be a fair warning that the like sins or sins in the like measure bring not the like punishment upon their heads again CHAP VI. 1 ANd I turned and lift up mine eyes and looked and behold there came four chariots out from between two mountains and the mountains were mountains of brasse 2 In the first chariot were red horses and in the second chariot black horses And in the third chariot white horses and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me What are these my Lord 5 And the angel answered and said unto me These are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth 6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north-countrey and the white go forth after them and the grisled go forth toward the south-countrey 7 And the bay went forth and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth and he said Get ye hence walk to and fro through the earth So they walked to and fro through the earth 8 Then cryed he upon me and spake unto me saying Behold these that go toward the north countrey have quieted my spirit in the north-countrey 9 And the word of the Lord came unto me saying 10 Take of them of the captivity even of Heldai of Tobijah and of Iedajah which are come from Babylon and come thou the same day and go into the house of Iosiah the son of Zephaniah 11 Then take silver and gold and make crowns and set them upon the head of Ioshua the son of Iosedech the high priest 12 And speak unto him saying Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying Behold the man whose name the BRANCH and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and and