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
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 former plenty of their fruitful land their just punishments shall encrease to as great abundance as the worst weeds that come up so thick in the furrowes of the field 5. Near these times great fear shall fall upon the inhabitants of Samaria about sending the calves of Bethel and Dan as a present to Salmanaser For the people taking them for the very golden calves shall be much grieved and troubled at it But the idol-priests shall be merrie and applaud their subtle arts of sending brazen and guilded calves instead of those that were all of gold This shall be the several deportment of the Priests and people when the riches and glorie of their idol shall be thus carried into an other land as a fore-runner of their captivitie 6. And thus shall their present be carried into Assyria and offered to Salmanaser as the great King their Protector and Avenger of their enemies But for this instead of succour from Assyria shame will light upon Ephraim and confusion upon Israel for that his subtle device 7. And sodainly shall Samaria and her King vanish and be cut off from being a kingdom like the foam that now appears upon the superficies of the water and instantly is gone out of sight and become as if it had never been 8. The like doom shall fall upon the high places where the Israelites were wont to worship their idols They shall be utterlie destroyed thorns and thistles growing where their Altars had formerlie been placed And then where will not those sinners desire to hide themselves from the wrath and furie poured out upon them They will call to the hills to cover them and to the Mountains to fall upon them 9. Nor are these heavy punishments to be much wondred at in thee O Israel For it is no new thing in thee to be much overtaken with sins of a high strain specially from the times of Gibeah Yet then they of Israel that went against Gibeah though they were great sinners and therefore sadly punished in their first assaults yet they remained and stood to it like men reserved for a better day And upon the battle in Gibeah against those grievous sinners though they twice miscarried yet at last they had the victory No man had power to take them and wholly overcome them because they did so severelie prosecute the revenge of a vile and wicked offence 10. But now I am more then content to have them taken and led out of their own land in bonds and captivite And for punishment of those sins which they themselves would take no order to correct I will muster up whole armies of strange people when the time is come that I will have them to cast those sinners into bonds and tie them fast enough for the libertie which they took to themselves in those two great offences the worship of the two calves that in Bethel and that in Dan. 11. In which sins they that made those calves to be their Gods may well be likened unto calves themselves For Ephraim is like a young heifer that is easily taught either to plow or tread out the corn and to do it with some delight being not muzled but suffered to take part of it Therefore I put my yoke upon his fair neck the yoke of my law and guided him as one might do that should ride upon the back of such a beast and I said Let Iudah plow and Iacob break his clods which is as much as if I had said to them in other words A good life is the best husbandrie That is 12. Let your good and righteous actions be like your sowing of good seed and you shall reap a good reward according to that mercy with which I shall crown that labour Break up your fallow grounds to fit and prepare your selves for a blessing And finding you are in a good time of seeking God by your best endeavours so continue till he come and shoure down his benefits which is a piece of justice that he never fails of for his part Let your care be for the seed-time and he will provide a good harvest 13. As much hath been said to you as this comes to But your actions have been nothing answerable to such good advise Your minds run upon plowing in a worser sense it seems For you have laboured as hard to compasse your wicked designs as one that follows the plow Therefore you have reaped the punishment of your sins And the fruit of your labour hath proved but a specious show and mere delusion This is the end of thy trusting and flattering thy self in thy own waies and in the youthful strength of thy many stout companions that have taken part with thee in those labours that are now come to nothing 14. Hence arise those jars and tumults among thy people and the spoiling of their strong holds by strangers in as fierce a manner as Salmana was destroyed by the house of Jerubbabel in the day of battle And with so much cruelty that there will be no commiseration of Sex or Age the Mother being dashed in pieces with her children 15. So shall Bethel do unto you It will bring you into this danger for your great very great offences p Your King Hosheah shall be utterly destroyed and turned out of his Kingdom as it were in the verie morning and beginning of his reign or of a sodain before he looked for such a disaster CHAP. XI WHen Israel was a child then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt 2 As they called them so they went from them they sacrificed unto Baalim and burnt incense to graven images 3 I taught Ephraim also to go taking them by their arms but they knew not that I healed them 4 I drew them with cords of a man with bands of love and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws and I laid meat unto them 5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt but the Assyrian shall be his King because they refused to return 6. And the sword shall abide on his cities and shall consume his branches and devour them because of their own counsels 7 And my people are bent to back-sliding from me though they called them to the most High none at all would exalt him 8 How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel how shal I make thee as Adamah how shall I set thee as Zebâ—im mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together 9 I will not exceute the fiercenesse of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not man the holy One in the midst of thee and I will not enter into the city 10 They shall walk after the Lord he shall roar like a lion when he shall roar then the children shall
out of thy sight like one out of thy remembrance and care and providence But in this bitter conflict my faith and repose in the mercy of God at last got the victorie and then I altered my sad tone and with some chearfulnesse delivered the hope that I had to escape this peril and live to present my hearty thanks once again in thy holy Temple of Jerusalem 5. All this while my danger continued and made me recal another passage of the Psalmist where he saith that the waters beset him on every side to the hazard of his life His words might he mine when I was walled about with the great abysse and a multitude of weeds all which strengthened and collected into one bundle which seemed ready to wrap about my head and confine me to my last unquiet bed 6. For me thought that I went down to the lowest parts of those rocks and promontories that peep out like mountains in the sea and that the earth had barred me out and excluded me wholly from ever seeing the firm land again Yet out of the depth of this miserie didst thou preserve me alive O just and powerful Lord and my most merciful God 7. When in the middest of these difficulties I was ready to faint and dispair of recoverie I forgot not to humble my self before God And my prayer found admittance unto thee O Lord and accesse into thy holy Temple 8 They that perverslie wait upon idols for succour which are but meer vanities what do they but in effect wilfully relinquish that mercy and favour that is offered to them from heaven 9. But I will present my self before thee O God with the sacrifice of praise and thansgiving and I will pay my vows unto thee from whom onely we may securely hope for mercy and deliverance 10. According to this prayer from a penitent and faithful heart the Lord upon the third day commanded the Whale to cast up Ionah upon the drie land as the grave delivered up our Saviour upon the third day in the garden of Ioseph of Arimathea and by his power and mercie shall deliver us all at last being able to retain us no longer then the great day of the Resurrection and that general Spring when all the bodies of the Saints shall budd out of the earth incorruptible though they were sown in corruption CHAP. III. 1 ANd the word of the Lord came unto Ionah the second time saying 2 Arise go unto Nineveh that great city and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee 3 So Ionah arose and went unto Niniveh according to the word of the Lord now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three daies journey 4 And Ionah began to enter into the city a daies journey and he cryed and said Yet fourty daies and Nineveh shall be overthrown 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sack-cloath from the greatest of them even to the least of them 6 For word came unto the King of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sack-cloath and sat in ashes 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying Let neither man nor beast herd nor flock tast any thing let them not feed nor drink water 8 But let man and beast be covered with sack-cloath and cry mightily unto God yea let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not 10 And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not CHAP. III. 1. WHen Ionas like one risen from the dead was returned out of that prison and Grave in the Whales belly and saw himself to be one of this World again he heard no more of his former disobedience he was sufficiently admonished of that by his punishment in the deep But to take away the scruple and perplexity that he might have in his heart whether he should now fit himself for his journey towards Ninive or no for he might remember that the Israelites neglecting Gods first command of entring the land of Canaan were slain for attempting to do it afterward upon their own bare resolution To resolve him in this by a new Commission he was furnished and encouraged again by God himself with a second and fresh command in the same terms wherein he received it before That is 2. Arise and go to that great City Ninive the head City of the Assyrians and preach against them what I first injoyned thee At which if they repent the Israelites may understand by that how much they have offended in not being drawn to repentance by the message of so many Prophets as have been sent to them 3. Then Ionah having learned obedience from his afflictions without any further delay chearfully resolved upon his journey and went to Ninive as God had commanded him Now Ninive was a very great and spatious City of three daies journey in length from the one end to the other 4. Ionah therefore beginning to enter into the City ordered it so that he passed thorough a third part of the City in one daies journey exclaiming against the great sinnes of that place and threatning that unlesse they did prevent it by a serious and speedy repentance within fourty daies Ninive should be overthrown but upon their true conversion they should find that God desired not their death but the reformation of their lives 5. In which the people of Ninive believed God and being well perswaded of his Justice and mercie made known unto them by his Prophet and contented with that first daies journey and admonition caused a solemn Fast to be proclaimed and further to show their inward and universal sorrow and contrition they left off their costly apparel and from the highest to the lowest appeared all in sackcloth as penitent and humble suiters for mercy 6. For the report of this Prophesie was brought to the Kings Court as well as to other places of the City and the King to show good example to his Courtiers and the rest of his subjects arose from his Throne laid aside his Royal ornaments and in sackcloth and ashes made evidence of his great sorrow and remorse wherein he begged mercy for himself and his People 7. Nor did he thus onely countenance but by his Royal Proclamation with the advise and counsel of his Nobles he enjoyned a Fast to be kept through all Ninive in such solemn and strict manner that neither man nor beast greater or lesse should be permitted to tast any food or drink any water 8. And it was further commanded that both men and beasts should be covered with sackcloth
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
no scruple either at a set Form of Prayer or of putting that Prayer into a Song and having that set to a Musicall Instrument which containes in it not a Prayer onely but a Prophesie of much sadnesse and calamity to his whole Nation I beleive it cannot be said that any were more truely and compassionately affected with it than himself was and I think he was never the lesse affected with it when he made it a part of his solemn Musick Shall I adde this too that though his Prayer could not move God any thing the more by the advantage of the rarest skill in Musick wherein it might be delivered yet if the Prophet or others that used it after him by the help of those solemn and harmonious Tones had their own Devotion any thing the more affected in the delivery then was there Motive enough why he should for theirs or his own sake commend it to some Artist that could fit it to a Musicall Instrument Of the Title of the third Chapter and of the Musicall termes there mentioned 1. A Prayer of the Prophet Habakkuk upon Shigionoth wherein he expresseth his content and acquiescence in the solution of his former doubts from the Divine Oracle comforts himself in the examples of Gods love and Providence over his Church puts his own pious thoughts and Resolutions into a Divine Meditation and refers all to be set to a Musicall Tune As appears by the Shigionoth in the front and the Musicall Selaâ— in the body and again by his Neginoth in the foot of this excellent Song and divine Ditty For Shigionoth first it seems to be some Musicall Tune or Instrument I agree with those that take it to be some erraticall various delightfull Modulation and I think it to be the same Tune or Instrument that the sweet singer of Israel made choice of under the name of Shiggaion in the Title of the seventh Psalm Which is also a Prayer of Davids made upon occasion of some words or actions of Cush the Benjamite i. of Saul that was like a Cush or AEthiopian in this that he would no more change his malice to David than the AEthiopian his skin As for Selah in the third and thirteenth verse of this Chapter that is a Musicall note which serves as a direction for the raising up of the voice in that place wherein it is fixed And I like that which Kimehi joynes with it the elevation of the heart too We never meet with it but in the Psalmes of David in whose time it seems to have been taken up as a word of Art and after him in this Prayer of Habakkuk Then for the word Neginoth It is properly referred to Instruments of Musick especially those that were played upon with the fingers and had the Voice joyned with them as in the solemn Hymnes and other Musicall Service of the Jewish Church And he that had a more extraordinary skill in that way and was the chief in composing or overseeing that kind of Melody is called here by the Prophet Habakkuk in the conclusion of this Prayer and by the Royall Prophet in the Title of the fourth Psalm Menatseach Binginoth One thing more I have to say before I come to the Prayer it-self that in this Chapter as it may well be expected where such Musick is the holy Prophet in expressing his Meditations seems to use a kind of Divine Poetry And he must follow that kind of Poeticall expression that will follow the Prophet in this Musicall Chapter The Paraphrastical EXPLICATION Of the Prayer it self beginning at the second verse 2. WIth fear and reverence have I heard that answer O Lord wherein thou art pleased to reveale the execution of thy Iustice. First upon the Jewes by Chaldeans and then more heavily upon the Chaldeans themselves by other Nations when thy own People after the expiration of seventy years shall be graciously delivered from Captivity In the interim of those years of their captivity be thou the life and comfort of thy Church the speciall work of thy own hands and let thy People feel the benefit of thy presence In that sad compasse of time O make thy self known to them that need thee most and in the midst of thy Anger and Justice remember Mercy 3. Remember thy tender mercies showed unto us of old in our miraculous delivery from the Egyptian bondage when after our safe conduct into the wildernesse out of the reach of our enemies Thou camest in such Majesty from Teman and madest thy holinesse shine forth in such beauty from mount Paran The first appearance of thy glory diffused in self over the air above filling it after an extraordinary manner with Thunder and Lightning the forerunners of thy divine approach and the Earth below was abundantly made happy with the just occasions of Praise and thankfull acclamations 4. For in great Light and Splendour and Glory were all the waies of God's most gracious appearance a Figure of that greater Light and Glory which is altogether invisible and inaccessible to poor Mortals But for our weaknesse they were so shadowed and qualified as might best fit the eyes of them that were then entertained with those wonders 5. And as such Lustres were a pledge and testimony of comfort to his own people so as a terrour to their Enemies fearfull Death and Destruction went before Him and He left behind Him the foot-steps of Horrour and speedy consumption 6. At last when he rested in his holy Ark in the land of Promise he divided that Land by lot for their inheritance At his appearance the Nations were so troubled They that had dwelt so long in those Mountainous Countries were much distracted with the sad apprehension of their likelihood to be now roused and expelled out of those ancient Seates and forced to submit to new Lords and Masters brought thither by Him in whose Power are all the Actions and alterations of the world 7. It was not for any good deserts of ours but for the wickednesse of those Nations that they were so rooted out by the hand of Justice That apparently removed not the Cananites onely out of their dwelling but the Midianites for their sinne When it troubled the tents of Cushan afflicted their whole land and made them content to pack away with their portable Houses to other places of mansion where they might be found 8. But still as the way of thy Justice was observable over other Nations so was thy Mercy O Lord over us to the very alteration of the ordinary course of Nature We found that in our passage thorough the Red Sea and thorough the River Jordan The waters seemed to start aside at our coming towards them and for very fear to give way to us Was it thy anger O Lord against the proud waves that forced them thus to shrink back Was the Sea afraid of thy triumphant approach Was it the noise of thy Chariots and the prancing 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