there Gen. 21.31 and 26.23 and not onely they but Jacob also had worshipped God there Gen. 21.33 and 26.23 24 25. and 46. 1. It was afterward a City on the very south border of the promised land as Dan was on the north Judg. 20.1 1. Sam. 3.20 and did belong to to the Tribe of Judah Josh 15.20 28. And therefore it is a question how Israel came to erect their idolatry there It may be it was because that City fell afterward in Simeons lot Josh 19.1 2. who revolted with the rest from the house of David Though after the captivity of the ten Tribes we finde it in the possession of Judah and polluted with their idolatry 2. Kings 23.8 3. Idols will be so far from helping these who worship them and trust in them that God will discover the vanity of them by making them causes of ruine to all places where they are entertained for so much is held out in this reason disswading them from these courses for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and Bethel shall come to nought Where in the Original there is an allusion to the names of these places that as Gilgal had its name from rolling Josh 5.9 so it should roll into captivity And Bethel should prove vanity or Aven as it was in effect by reason of idolatry whence it is called Bethaven Hos 4.15 Verse 6. Seek the Lord and ye shall live lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel The exhortation and encouragement are here the second time repeated And a certification is sub joined that if they did not obey wrath would break out and consume them like a fire which they should not be able to quench by their idolatry Whence learn 1. There is need of frequent up-stirrings and encouragements to set us on work and keep us going in seeking God Therefore must both the command and encouragement be repeated 2. What the Lord saith for the encouragement of penitents and such as seek him may safely be leaned unto for he will not recall nor eat it in again Therefore doth he again promise Seek the Lord and ye shall live as that which he will stand to and make good 3. The Lords displeasure against his sinful and impenitent people will break forth and prove so much the more violent as they have had many warnings and encouragements for upon the back of the exhortation and promise it followeth lest he break forth like fire in the house of Joseph or ten Tribes whereof Ephraim the son of Joseph was the chiefe 4. Idolatry and corrupt Religion have need of prospering times for when wrath is kindled such courses will not availe either to avert or moderate it Therefore saith he when this fire is kindled there will be none to quench it in Bethel Verse 7. Ye who turn judgement to worm-wood and leave of righteousness in the earth To help them to take with this exhortation he laieth before them their guilt needing repentance and deserving wrath And as before it is insinuated that they had sinned against the first Table in the matter or worship So here their violation of the second Table is laid to their charge in that they turned the seats of justice into places of bitter and deadly injustice and left no place for any righteousness among them but did tread it under foot Whence learn 1. Men will never be serious and sincere in the matter of repentance and seeking of God for any troubles that can come upon them till first they be convinced of sin and guilt Therefore are they charged with guilt to make the exhortation effectual 2. The Lord abhorreth partiality in mens taking with guilt He will have them so take with one sort of sin as they do not lightly passe over another and so to see their sins against the first Table as they be humbled also for provocations against the second Therefore after the challenge for their idolatry he layeth before them their sins in the matter of justice and righteousnesse 3. As the impartial administration of justice is a very profitable and pleasant thing So it is a bitter and deadly thing to pervert justice And as it is bitter and intolerable to the innocent So God will look upon it as a bitter course which he cannot endure Therefore doth he challenge them that they turn judgement to wormwood 4. When publike judicatories are corrupted with injustice then a door is opened to all crimes and unrighteousnesse in private dealing And this will be put on their account who make not justice formidable to such transgressors Therefore it is added and leave off righteousnesse 5. It is an high degree of wickednesse when not onely righteousnesse is omitted but is despised also and all they are condemned and trod upon who would follow it This was their sin here and leave off righteousnesse in the earth or let it rest on the earth and leave it on the ground as a contemptible thing to be trod upon Verse 8. Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day darke with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his Name This v. in the Original hath onely Him or he that maketh the seven stars c. And it is conceived by many as a continued challenge repeating from v. 7. Ye leave off or forsake him that maketh the seven stars c. But it runs as well with the translation as a resuming of the exhortation which is the principal thing insisted on in this part of the chapter And it is again pressed partly from the consideration of the power and providence of God v. 8 9. and partly from the consideration of their own sins and and of the judgements comming upon them because of sin In this v. the power and providence of God are commended as shining in natural things and their motions 1. That he is the Creatour and Governour of the stars and their influences and of the seasons caused thereby This is instanced in the seven stars who do afford more warme influences and Orion which produceth boisterous stormes See Job 9.9 2 That he is the appointer and orderer of the vicissitudes of day and night whereby a cleare morning succeeds to darknesse like the shadow of death and again a darke night shuts up the clear day or as this last part may be also understood He can alter natures course and darken the clearest day with thick clouds 3. That he can raise vapours out of the sea and pour them out in rain upon the earth or can by inundations and deluges let in the sea upon the land By all which it appeareth that he is Jehovah the true God Compare chap. 4.13 Doct. 1. Such as would seek God rightly ought to know him and study what he is That so
they may know him to be the true God infinitly above all idols and that therefore his commands are not to be sleighted nor will he be pleased with outside service and that all they who seek him sincerely have cause to be encouraged in him Therefore doth he describe himselfe to presse them to seek him and comprehendes all in this the Lord is his name 2. The Lord is the Creatour and Supreme Governour of all the creatures in Heaven and Earth And he is to be seen and acknowledged as such without resting on these creatures themselves or ascribing their courses motions and influences to fate or any second cause Therefore is it declared that he maketh the seven stars and Orion c. 3. It is not enough to see God and his providence in the works of nature or motions of second causes But we ought so to see him in them as may commend piety to our hearts and presse us to it Therefore doth the exhortation run seek him that maketh the seven stars c. And particularly first it is an argument to seek him that he maketh the seven stars and Orion Whereby is held out 1 That God is worthy and ought to be sought unto and served who is not onely above men and creatures on earth but his power is in the heavens 2. He is able either to ruine or refresh men by means and second causes which are at a great distance from them even by the influences of the stars and therefore he ought to be sought unto 3. The very vicissitudes and change of seasons and weather are Gods work wherein he is to be seen and which should invite us to seek him Secondly his turning the shadow of death into the morning and making the day dark with clouds teacheth that God is he who can change or settle conditions as he pleaseth He can turn adversity into prosperity and prosperity into adversity as he pleaseth And if he settle none will shake and if he shake none can establish And therefore the short path to well-being is to seek him Thirdly his calling for the waters of the sea and pouring them out upon the face of the earth teacheth that God hath showres of comforts and deluges of miseries to pour out as he pleaseth When they who seek him stand in need he can bring abundance of comforts unto them in as strange a way as to call up sea-sea-waters into the aire and purifie them and pour them out upon the earth And when sinners neglect him he can wonderfully plague them as if he made void his decree concerning the bounds of the sea and let it in upon the land Verse 9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress In this v. the power and providence of God are further commended from what he doth in humane affairs Wherein it is declared that he can employ contemptible and subdued people and make them prevaile over the strongest and their strong holds This may be understood either generally that the Lord doth this among all Nations as he pleaseth Or more particularly that he speaks it with relation to them and that either by way of threatning that if they sought not to him but trusted in their strength and forts he could make most contemptible and weak means crush them and it Or by way of promise that if they would repent and seek him he would strengthen them though sore broken to recover and prevaile over their enemies Doct. 1. The power and providence of God do shine not onely in the works of nature and of natural second causes but also in over ruling the actions of men according to his pleasure and he and not chance or fortune is to be seen suprem in all of them and a right sight thereof will invite men to seek him who is supreme over them and their enterprizes Therefore also is this held out as an argument pressing them to seek him 2. Mens strength and valour or their forts and strong holds will prove but weak defences when God is angry and is about to bring destruction for so is here held forth 3. God needs not any great or probable means to oppose what men account their great strength or to bring it down for he strengtheneth or recreats and gives courage to the spoiled against the strong so that the spoiled shall not onely hazard to go to the fields against enemies but shall come against the fortresse Verse 10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly This duty which hath been pressed from the consideration of Gods power is yet further inculcate from the consideration of their own sins and of the judgements deserved thereby both which he laieth before them And first which he speaketh of them as not worthy to be spoken unto he challengeth That in the gate they could not endure any rebuke or upright speaking that is their Judges especially who sat in the gate were so wicked and so incorrigible that they could not endure any who opposed or reproved their unrighteous decrees or who spake and pleaded for righteousnesse and equity And they could not endure the Prophets who did publickly reprove their vices and counsel them to do righteously Whence learn 1. Administration of justice being appointed for the genral good of a society should be so managed as Courts of judgement may be open and patent to all who are wronged And Judges should carry themselves openly and fairly in it So much was signified by administration of justice of old in the gate where the meanest might have easie accesse and the Judges determined in open view of all 2. In times of publick and general defections God hath ordinarily much to say to Judges and Rulers for here they who manage matters in the gate as appears from the following verses do that which is worthy to be rebuked and which is not upright 3. It is the commendation of men in a declining time that they are not drawen from their duty by the impetuous streame of the time and that they do in their stations oppose others who do wrong which is a meane to guard themselves when they are zealous against evils in others for here there are Prophets and others in their stations who rebuke and speak uprightly and that publickly in the gate 4. Upright men and such as are faithful and free in an evil time may expect not onely that they will not alwayes prevaile with these they deal with but that they shall meet with contempt and hatred for their pains for such was their lot here See Isa 29.21 5. It is a great height of impiety when men not onely do wrong but cannot endure them who joyne not with them or would reclaim them when they sin with an high hand This is an evil that if it be not repented of and amended will provoke God to take the reproofe in his own hand As here he doth and Rulers
they can flee to for shelter he is omnipresent and able to reach them and will do so Though they should dig into hell or the depths of the earth or climbe up to heaven yet he will take them and bring them down In tops of mountains he will finde them out in depths of the Sea he hath monsters ready to bite and devour them and their thinking to escape by yeelding unto enemies and being carried into captivity will not for all that preserve them from the sword It is also further declared that the Lord will do all this in his great displeasure against them which shall watch over them for evil and not for good Doct. 1. Secure and and presumptuous sinners are endlesse in multiplying false confidences and even when trouble breaks out upon them they will not be driven to God nor see their extreame danger but are ready to think they will finde wayes abundant to get out for so is here imported in all these suppositions of digging to hell climbing to heaven c. which shew how many shiftes they dreamed of to avoid this sentence even albeit it should break forth in execution 2. Among other deluding confidences whereby secure sinners think to shelter themselves this is one that they think their captivity and former troubles lying on should be a reason why no more should be laid upon them Therefore is that brought in among the rest though they go into captivity before their enemies because they reckoned that being already captives either their enemies with whom they had capitulate would spare them or God who had thus afflicted them would therefore forbeare to strike them any more 3. All the defences creatures can seek unto are to no purpose against an angry God were they more then they are He is omnipresent and cannot be fled from Psal 139.7.8 c. He is powerful to destroy having armies and instruments of vengeance everywhere for so is here held out and all these suppositions of climbing to heaven digging to hell hiding in the bottom of the sea c are here produced not that they could do so much for their own safety but to shew how vain their confidences were seeing albeit they could do much more yet it would not availe them 4. It is righteous with God not to rest satisfied with the subduing yea and captivity of an incorrigible and impenitent people but to pursue them with the sword in all the corners where they are carried captives for so is threatned here Though they go into captivity before their enemies thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them See Ezek. 5.2 5. It is a sad addition to the weight and bitternesse of stroaks when they flow from anger and are inflicted in displeasure Therefore it is added to the rest and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil c. which is borrowed from among men who as they look with delight on these they affect so their anger against these they are displeased with appeares in their lookes and their watching all advantages to be about with them 6. God pursuing in anger is too sore a party for a sinner He can take advantage of them at every step to deprive them of all good and afflict them with all kinde of evils and when sinners are so crossed and afflicted on every hand they are bound to read the vigilant displeasure and severity of God in it for so much is imported in this I will set mine eyes upon them for evil and not for good that he will be so to say intent and watchful to reach them as he can easily do See Jer. 44.11 and this is yet the sadder that a reconciled people have a contrary promise Jer. 24.6 Verse 5. And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land and it shall melt and all that dwelleth therein shall mourn and it shall rise up wholly like a flood and shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt 6. It is be that buildeth his stories in the heaven and hath founded his troup in the earth he that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his Name This whole sentence is further confirmed in these verses from the power of God who is the Lord God of hosts and whose power appeareth in that with a touch he can dissolve the land as with a melting fire and fill it with confusions to make all the inhabitants to mourn and can make it as inhabitable as if it were drowned v. 5. It is he also who by his wisdome and power created the heavens and several regions of the aire as so many stories one above another Psa 104.3 13. who hath variety of creatures as so many troups on earth to serve him and who sendeth out the waters of the sea upon the earth by rain or inundations By all which he proveth himselfe to be Jehovah v. That which is spoken of him v. 5. is the same in substance and almost in words with chap. 8.8 and may be either a repetition of that same particular threatning whereby he undertakes to prove his power and repeats it that they may think more seriously upon it Or it may be taken in general as pointing out what he can do to any land or the whole earth and what he hath done at some times that so he may rouze up this secure people That also which is in the close of verse 6. is again repeated from chap. 5.8 as a doctrine to be much studied Likewise that passage v. 6. he hath founded his troup in the earth may also be thus understood that he hath established the earth as a bundle as the word signifies and a foundation to that stately fabrick of the heaven and stories thereof whereof mention is formerly made Or that he hath founded his bundle upon or beside the earth that is the sea or gathering together of waters which God hath set bounds unto and made it one globe with the earth Any of these interpretations may well enough consist with the scope which is to set forth the great power of God Doct. 1. It is one great sin and snare of sinners that they little consider what God is with whom they have to do and that much pains will not so make him known to them as they may see him formidable while they are in a sinful course Therefore is so much pains taken to inculcate this doctrine 2. General notions of Gods essence and power are not sufficient to make sinners know him unlesse they study to consider him more distinctly as he reveals himselfe Therefore it is not enough to say he is the Lord God of hosts but it is further declared who he is and wherein that appears it is he that toucheth the land c. 3. Albeit the earth be all that carnal men desire and do rest upon when they may enjoy it yet it is easie for God to make the earth
feele his power when men will not tremble and to make it uncomfortable and full of sorrow to them and drive them from off the face thereof with deluges of troubles for it is he who toucheth the land and it shall melt and all that dwell therein shall mourn and it shall rise up wholly like a flood c. 4. Gods power and dominion is universal in heaven and earth in sea and dry land so that there is no escaping of him And the glory of his power doth shine and may be read in the creating of the glorious heavens and ordering of the several regions of the aire and all that is in them in establishing of the earth and seas and in having so many armies at his command ready to execute his command against his enemies All this is held forth in this description of God as it is before explained it is he that buildeth his stories in the heavens and and hath founded his troup in the earth And these visible and ordinary evidences of Gods power are so much insisted on partly to shew how much of him doth shine in these though they be little observed by most for that end partly to shew how much of him spiritual mindes will see in these things having so broad a book open wherever they turn them But chiefly to shew how stupide this people was now become that they did not take up the dreadfulnesse of God as he revealed himselfe in his word to his Church but they must be led out to study him in these things whereby he reveals himselfe to all the world as well as to them 5. Gods power over the waters to call them out of the sea and pour them out on the earth may also serve to affright impenitent sinners when they consider how he can raise up and bring about their calamities in a strange and insensible way as vapours are insensibly drawn out of the sea and gathered in clouds above our heads and then poured down And when they consider how he can and will alter the course of nature and overturn what seemeth most established before they want a scourge as when he causeth the sea transgresse the bounds set unto it and overflow the earth Therefore also is this instance made use of He calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth 6. God is then rightly seen and acknowledged in his workings when he is taken up to be Jehovah who is of himselfe and from whom is the beginning and continuance of the being of all the creatures and therefore to be adored and obeyed by all Therefore is it subjoined to all this Jehovah is his Name Verse 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me O children of Israel saith the Lord have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir A further confirmation of this sentence is taken from their sinfulnesse and ill deservings For whereas they might object against this sad sentence that they were come of religious and holy Progenitours and were adopted to be his peculiar people He declareth not onely that he did that freely but that their carriage was more like the Ethiopians then the children of Abraham or Israelites and therefore he would deale with them as such And whereas they might reply that he had proven a peculiar interest in them by delivering them from Egypt He answers that the like external favour had been shewed to the Philistians and Syrians and they needed no more boast of the one then they of others the like since their behaviour was no better then theirs As for what is said of the Philistines that he brought them from Caphtor we finde indeed that they and the Caphtorims were of one stock of people Gen. 10.14 But it is not so clearely determined in Scripture how they were brought out from Caphtor whether it was that after the Caphtorims had captivated them in their country the Lord had delivered them from thence by his providence and brought them to the land they now possessed Or whether they and these of Caphtor were incorporated in one people and were delivered from some common slavery in their own country and brought to the country they now dwelt in Yet this last seemes to be more aggreeable to what is elsewhere recorded as Deut. 2.23 where the Caphtorims are said to have possessed the land of the Avims even unto Azzah or Gaza And Jer. 47.4 the Philistines are also called the remnant of the country of Caphtor As for the other instance of bringing the Syrians or Aramites and not the Assyrians as diverse of our translations read it from Kir we finde that they were to be carried captive to Kir about this time or shortly after chap. 1.5 2. Kings 16.9 But it is not so safe to understand this passage here as a prediction of their future return from thence spoken of as if it were already done For the Prophet is convincing them by things already done and it seemes rather to relate to some old story not mentioned elsewhere of their deliverance from thence and when the Assyrians subdued them they sent them back thither again as run-awayes are returned to their old Masters Doct. 1. A sinful peoples priviledges are turned by them into a great snare whileas it hides from them the odiousnesse of their sin and the punishments they deserve thereby Therefore must this be refuted and their condition pointed out in its native colours to them 2. Whatever marks of favour God put upon a people differencing them from others yet they have no cause of boasting thereof before him who gave it and made the difference for are not ye as children of the Ethiopians unto me may import so much that before him they were nothing better of themselves but were all of them his creatures and all alike unworthy and corrupt till he of free grace made them to differ and what they had was all his own and of him See Deut. 7.6 7 8. 3. Whatever priviledges be conferred upon a visible Church yet that will not hide their sin and provocations nor do they secure them against Gods displeasure when they sin far lesse do they afford them cause of boasting for so much is further and more expessly held forth here are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me or I account of you as such O children of Israel saith the Lord See Joh. 8.44 4. Not onely will not priviledges hide a peoples sin but as a priviledged people may strangly degenerate so the Lord will account them as base as the basest of the people when they do so and so much the baser as they have sinned against so great mercies and being in such a state as he advanced them unto Therefore are they resembled to and compared with not every fort of people but the Ethiopians whether Arabians or the Southerne Ethiopians I will not determine either
should point out that as these waters flowed out from the Temple with the blood of the sacrifices So these Gospel-refreshments and graces do flow out unto the world from the death of Christ Which is a truth of it self that Christ is to be acknowledged for all of these whatever be said of the allusion Or it may be conceived thus that as of old the Doctrine of the Gospel conveighing these graces and refreshments came from Zion and Jerusalem Isa 2.3 so after the conversion of Israel and their becoming the house of the Lord these same refreshing waters should flow out again from them And this leads to the third thing to be explained which is the extent of this benefit that it shall flow out as a river to water not only Judea but the country about signifying that there should not only be abundance of saving doctrine and of graces and refreshments in the Church of Israel but that fountaine opened up among them should flow forth to other Nations to water them and make them fruitful And in particular the valley of Shittim is named which is a plaine in Moah Numb 25.1 Josh 2.1 which it seemes was barren and the waters thereof unwholesome by reason it lay so near the dead-Dead-sea or lake of Sodome And yet it is promised that this fountain shall water it and make it fruitful See Ezek. 47.8 Doct. 1. Piety hath indeed the promises and is the shortest cut to do well every way and where the Lord cometh and is entertained in spiritual benefits he will give what is good in other things for converted Israel shall get an ample proof of what God is able to do in all ages if it were for his peoples good In that day the mountaines shall drop down new wine and the hills shall flow with milke and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters 2. It is the great fault even of the Lords people that their estimation of mercies decayeth because they are common and ordinary whereas Gods hand should be seen dispensing them in a peculiar way to them And to prevent their miscarriage he doth so order their outward mercies as his special providence may be seen in giving them Therefore doth he make promises concerning these temporal things that they may see more then others in his giving thereof to them And he did so order matters concerning their land as the having abundance of water which is a very common benefit among many others should be a special favour to them 3. When the Lord lets out much plenty to his Church there is great need of much of the grace of God and spiritual things of his Kingdome therewith to season and sanctifie the use thereof unto her Therefore is there a spiritual promise subjoyned to the former albeit it was said before they should be holy Without this prosperity is but a snare and it is an evidence of an ill condition when much plenty doth not put men to it to presse after the enjoyment of God and after grace so much the more 4. As the graces and blessings held out and conveighed by the Gospel are the great refreshment of the children of men and therefore compared to a fountain of waters which quencheth thirst and refresheth and watereth the earth So where they are once received they will never utterly decay and will still be refreshful and comfortable Therefore are they compared to a fountain coming forth or a spring which never runs dry and the waters thereof are still fresh 5. Spiritual Gospel-blessings are twice mercies when not only they refresh and do good to these who receive them but do make them instrumental to make the same spread to others for it is the advantage of this fountain that it shall come forth not only to water themselves but others 6. As at the first the riches of the Gospel flowed out from among the Jewes and by the Ministery of the Jewes to the Gentiles So again converted Israel will be made instrumental to propagate the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ to other Nations For then a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord and shall water the valley of Shittim See Rom. 11.15 7. The Doctrine of the Gospel and the graces and refreshments communicated thereby are able to cure and recover them whose condition is most deadly and to make them fruitful who have been most barren And in particular converted Israel will be employed to bring in Nations to Christ who have layen still under the curse during the rime of the Gospels spreading among the Gentiles though possibly at the first going forth thereof many of them have heard somewhat of it So much seemeth to be signified by this fountaines watering even the valley of Shittim though it be probable that even then some will be left still in their former condition See Ezek. 47.8 Verse 19. Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom shall be a desolate wildernesse for the violence against the children of Judah because they have shed innocent blood in the land 20. But Iudah shall dwell for ever and Ierusalem from generation to generation The sixth promise is that their inveterate enemies such as Egypt and Edom had been of old shall be utterly destroyed because of the injuries done to them Whereas the Lord shall not only establish but continue them a Church to him from age to age after their conversion Whence learn 1. Inveterate enemies to the people of God and such as do cruelly oppresse them after the manner of Egypt of old and do prove false brethren to them as Edom did of old will certainly be destroyed and that utterly that so an end may be put to their opposition for Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom shall be a desolate wildernesse or made void of inhabitants This is oft repeated again and again that others who trace these steps may see their own danger before-hand and study to prevent it and to assure the godly that this is not a rash sentence but such as he will not recal it 2. A peoples opposition to the Church of God and their violence and cruelty toward them is a special controversie which God will prosecute for this sentence is given out for the violence against the children of Judah because they have shed blood c. 3. The Lords controversie against his people for sin because of which he lets enemies loose upon them doth not make the quarrel of enemies the more just nor doth his peoples blood which they shed cease to be innocent blood for all that and to cry for vengeance upon them For saith he they have shed innocent blood 4. If this that they have shed blood in their land be referred to Egypt and Edom that they were cruell to such Jewes as lived in exile among them It doth teach that mens cruelty is so much the more odious before God when it is exercised on these who are already broken with afflictions But it seemes rather to
second part of the verse illustrates their calamities by the simile of a deluge and as before the lands trembling is brought in to point out the commotions and confusions they were to meet with upon it so also these things here are applied to the earth which befel them upon it The parts of the simile are 1. It shall rise up wholly as a flood or as with a flood and the meaning is That as waters rise up and cover a land for so the sense is though the land be said to rise up so should their land be overflowed with calamities that they could not abide on it and as the Original word will also beare in should evanish and come to nothing as with a flood that is it should be so covered as not to appeare and they have no more use of it then if it were not 2. If shall be cast out that is as the Sea and deluges are restlesse and do still tosse and cast out the slime and mire which they raise and so the same word is expressed Isa 57 20. so the land should be shaken and disquieted with trouble that it might spew them out Lev. 20.22 3. Which clears all the former it shall be drowned as by the flood of Egypt so that they cannot dwell on it Doct. 1. How sound soever impenitent sinners sleep and how incredible and injust soever they may think it were that God should destroy them Yet their greatest unfriend is in their own bosome and it is their great madnesse that they do not consider how much their consciences will have to plead for God in a day of rebuke and how sad that pleading will be Therefore are they so often put to it in this matter by these questions 2. Albeit the Lords servants be accounted by reason of their faithful doctrine the disturbers of the earth as chap. 7.10 Acts 17.6 Yet it is mens own sins that disturb it and draw on all these confusions they meet with for it is for this the land trembleth and there are so many confusions upon it See Jer. 9.12 3. Albeit sinners sleep securely in their sin yet the very creatures may bear witnesse against their stupidity as Jer. 2.12 And albeit they feare no dangers yet the very creatures are ready upon a call to testifie their indignation against them for so much also doth the lands trembling as it is before explained import to wit that the insensible earth was more affected then they and groaning under that burden and that it was a wonder that it did not perpetually quake till it swallowed them as Num. 16.31 32. 4. Albeit sinners when they see that stroaks will come on will not be moved for all that but be ready to harden themselves against them yet God will make them to smart under his rods and he will do so to all who are guilty as well as to one for every one shall mourn that dwelleth therein 5. When men settle upon their dregs and seek to root themselves in the earth it is righteous with God to give them a disappointment and that he send calamities comparable to the greatest accidents in the world to shake them out of their nests and to overflow all their enjoyments So much is intimate in that it shall rise up wholly as a flood and it shall be cast out and drowned as by the flood of Egypt Verse 9. And it shall come to passe in that day saith the Lord that I will cause the sun to go downe at noon and I will darken the earth in the clear day In the third place Whereas they trusted in their prosperous and comfortable condition The Lord threatens to send a suddain change like a Sun set at noon-day or some suddain darkning of the earth in day-time Whence learn 1. Sinners by Gods permission and long-suffering may enjoy a very prosperous and comfortable outward condition And this may get time to continue and encrease till it come to an height and prime for so is imported they had a noon and clear day 2. Albeit sinners do rest and lean on such a condition yet it cannot secure them against God but he is provoked to make the very height of their prosperity the time of the sad change of their condition and to surprize them with a stroak when they do least expect it for the Lord God will cause the Sun to go down at noon and darken the earth in the clear day See Jer. 15.9 3 Times of calamities and real desertions will prove very sad to the impenitent and wicked and so much the bitterer as their condition hath been better outwardly Therefore is their condition compared to a Sun-set and darkned earth and that at noon and when the day hath been clear Vers 10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your Songs into lamentation and I will bring up sackcloth upon all Loins and baldnesse upon every head and I will make it as the mourning of an only Son and the end thereof as a bitter day Fourthly it is threatned that by these troubles their former joyes should turn into general sorrow such as no signes could sufficiently expresse and which should be comparable to the greatest of worldly sorrowes and continue all their daies and be transmitted to their posterity Whence learn 1. The joy and mirth of wicked men were it never so great shall end in sorrow And God will reach all of them and all their joy to put an end to it for I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation 2. The sorrow of wicked men who will not be sensible of nor mourn for sin will in Gods justice be made very great and bitter unto them So that all signes of sackcloth on their loins of which frequently in Scripture and baldnesse of which Mâ—â— 1.16 shall be little enough or too little to expresse it and for the measure thereof it shall be as the mourning of an onely Son of which see Zech. 12.10 3. It is righteous with God to reach all ranks with his stroak and make them mourn in a day of recompence and not the poor onely who ordinarily suffer most in some calamities while as others escape free for saith he I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldnesse upon every head 4. It is also just with God that wicked men never see an end of these calamities they procure to come upon a Nation but that they die under them and leave them behind them to posterity for the end thereof shall be as a bitter day that is when they expect an issue they shall finde bitternesse and they shall come to an end under the bitternesse thereof Vers 11. Behold the daies come saith the Lord God that I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord. 12. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east