or any that have near reference unto him as first to besot him with his strong and inticing liquor and then to make use of that time of infirmitie for the discovery of his nakednesse and the disclosing of any secret which he knowes is best gotten out of him when the warm drink hath sweetly washed away the remembrance of his Duty 16. This wo is for thee O Chaldaean that art so ready to discover and deride the weaknesse of others For thou shalt be fuller of shame than glory when thou meetest with thy reward at last in a worse cup whereof thou shalt be forced to drink deeply when thy turn comes So shall thy nakednesse also come to be discovered when in the midst of thy Pride and Gallantry the right hand of the Lord which cannot be resisted shall hold out that cup unto thee and make thee drink it all off though thou art forced to cast it up again to thy further disgrace And so shall Divine Justice repay thee with that shame and affliction which thou hast abundantly deserved for thy insolent opprobrious dealing with others whom thou hast laid open and naked to all kinds of injury and reproach 17. And deserved again if thou hadst no other fault for thy base sacrilegious and scornfull abuses of the Temple to which the whole Forrest of Lebanon did contribute her best Timber and therefore gave it also the name of another more sacred Lebanon but thy violent profane Army have now turned it again into the likenesse of a ruder Forrest that the wild Beasts have had to do withall That open injury to Lebanon that spoil and havock made there to the very laying it in the dust shall beat those Beasts thy rude Souldiers into dust that behaved themselves there like wild Beasts indeed rather than like men That Impiety in the desolation of my holy house saith the sacred Oracle shall overwhelm thee with a worthy punishment and thy own Houses and fair structures shall therefore be laid as waste and desolate as that which is the openest and vastest Habitation of the wild Beasts of the Forrest The rather because of thy imitation of those savage Creatures in the effusion of blood and ransacking of so many Persons and Places as do now in their ruines give a testimony of thy barbarous proceeding against them all 18. All which Sacriledge and cruell Barbarisine was accompanied with other waies of Irreligion and Idolatry and what fruit and advantage did any of them gain What profit can be shewed from the graven and molten Images He that made them and he that preached them up for Deities were both of them Inventers and Dispersers of Lies Yet could that Maker and Raiser of them adde this folly to the other to trust and repose a confidence upon such mute and false Gods as could not so much as make answer unto their Prayers 19. And this calls for another wo upon that sinfull nation Wo to him that commenceth his Prayer for releif to a piece of wood and calls to the dumb Idol of stone to awake and give him audience The Idol it self might teach him that another Deitie would be looked after if he look for help For who cannot see that though it be fairly guilded over with silver and gold to seem glorious to the eie yet there is not so much breath and spirit within it as can adde life and vigour to that glittering outside 20. But the Lord is not so Heaven is the glorious Temple wherein he dwells and whereof all other Temples are but figures And the Reverence we show in them is a Copy of that Fear and Reverence that is due to Him from all the ends of the Earth CHAP. III. A Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet upon Sigionoth 2 O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid O Lord revive thy work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make known in wrath remember mercy 3 God came from Temon and the holy one from mount Paran Selah His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise 4 And his brightnesse was as the light he had horns coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power 5 Before him went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet 6 He stood and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the nations and the everlasting mountains were scattered the perpetuall hills did bow his waies are everlasting 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction and the curtains of the land of Midiâ—n did tremble 8 Was the Lord displeased against the rivers was thine anger against the rivers was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation 9 Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oathes of the tribes even thy word Selah Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers 10 The mountains saw thee and they trembled the overflowing of the water passed by the deep uttered his voice and lift up his hands on high 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation at the light of thine arrows they went and at the shining of thy glittering spear 12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation thou didst thresh the heathen in anger 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people even for salvation with thine anointed thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck Selah 14 Thou didst strike thorough with his stâ—ves the head of his villages they came out as a whirl-wind to scatter me their rejoycing was as to devour the poor secretly 15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses through the heap of great waters 16. When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voice rottennesse entred into my bones and I trembled in my self that I might rest in the day of trouble when he cometh up unto the people he will invade them with his troups 17 Although the fig-tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall fall and the fields shall yeild no meat the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls 18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation 19 The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds feet and he will make me to walk upon mine high places To the chief singer on my stringed instruments The Sum of the third CHAPTER THe third Chapter in a devout Prayer or divine Hymne set to an Instrument of Musick admires the Justice and Providence and Goodnesse of Almighty God And teacheth us by the holy Prophets example to trust and repose our selves in the will and mercy of God whatsoever it pleaseth him to bring upon us Wherein we cannot but observe that the devout Prophet made
in this acceptable duty of mutual love thus saith the Lord of Hostes of that love and affection wherein your own people yet abroad and others with them shall be drawn to you and to your Countrey You are yet but a few but the time is coming on when many shall come hither form remoter parts and that are now inhabitants of many feveral Cities 21. For they that dwell in one City shall impart their desires to the inhabitants of another City for a journey towards the holy land and they shall say Come let us go thither to tender our humble supplications before the Lord and seek the Lord of Hosts in his holy worship and service and the precepts of his law Then the several parties thus invited shall say every man undertaking it in his own person I shall willingly make one for so good a voyage 22. Thus shall many and mighty nations come to Ierusalem to seek the Lord of Hosts in this Temple which you are building and to be informed by your Priests and Levites which is the true way of his service according to his divine laws and as a good means to that to offer up their hearty prayers for a blessing from the Almighty 23. For thus again saith the Lord of Hosts Ten men of several languages and nations shall then take hold of the skirts of you that are Iews and in that action deliver their desire to you and your Countrie saying Let us attend you to your happy home in the holy land for we have heard how wonderfully God hath been with you restoring you to your former happinesse in your own possessions repressing your enemies and setling the antient forms of his holy worship as he had foretold by his holy Prophets And He that foretells and fullfills such things shall be the God that we would fain serve and obey as you doe CHAP. II. 1. THe burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach and Damascus shall be the rest thereof when the eyes of man as of all the tribes of Israel shall be toward the Lord. 2 And Hamath also shall border thereby Tyrus and Zidon though it be very wise 3 And Tyrus did build hâ—r self a strong hold and heaped up silver as the dust and fine gold as the mire of the streets 4 Behold the Lord will cast her out and he will smite her power in the sea and she shall be devoured with fire 5 Ashkelon shall see it and fear Gaza also shall see it and be very sorrowful and Ekron for her expectation shall be ashamed and the king shall perish from Gaza and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited 6 And a bastard shll dwell in Ashdod and I will cut off the pride of the Philistins 7 And I will take away his bloud out of his mouth and his abominations from between his teeth but he that remaines even he shall be for our God and he shall be as a governour in Iudah and Ekron as a Iebusite 8 And I will enc amp about mine house because of the army because of him that passeth by and because of him that returneth and no oppressour shall passe through them any more for now have I seen with mine eyes 9 Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Ierusalem behold thy king cometh unto thee he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an asse and upon a colt the foal of an asse 10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse frrm Ierusalem and the battle-bow shall be cut off and he shall speak unto the heathen and his dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river even unto the ends of the earth 11 As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water 12 Turn ye to the strong hold ye prisoners of hope even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee 13 When I have bend Iudah for me filled the bow with Ephraim and raised up thy sons O Zion against thy sons O Greece and made thee as the sword of a mighty man 14 And the Lord shall be seen over them and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet and shall go with whirlwinds of the South 15 The Lord of Hosts shall defend them and they shall devour subdue with sling-stones and they shall drink and make a noise as through wine and they shal be filled like bowls and as the corners of the altar 16 And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people for they shall be as the stone of a crown lifted up as an ensign upon his land 17 For how great is his goodnesse and how great is his beauty corn shall make the young men cheerfull and new wine the maids CHAP. IX 1. A Burdensome Prophesie to the enemies of Israel I shall now acquaint thee O Iudaea with a sad and heavy Prophesie nothing like that prophesie of peace and prosperity which I delivered to thy self And it is the word of the Lord for Hadrach that is it concerns Syria one of thy places of retirement whither thou hast often fled to secure thy self against the assaults of a sodain enemie And it concerns Damascus too the Metropolis of Syria and her best refuge and repose for security whereon she relies when a storm is coming upon her self For The eies of the Lord are upon all men and all should fix their eyes upon him His power and providence and justice watching over others as well as over you the Tribes of Israel that are his peculiar people 2. Hamath also or Antiochia must be brought within the limits and compasse of this prophesie as it borders upon Syria and the maritine parts Tyre and Sidon too though they seem so wondrous wife that they chalenge a greater interest in wisdom then other countries must do 3. Howsoever Tyrus to be like her name hath built her self a strong defence and knowing what are the sinews of war hath heaped up silver like dust and the finest gold in such plenty as if it were with them as ordinary as the mire of the streets like the store that your nation enjoyed in the dayes of Salomon 4. Yet you will wonder in the end how God will bring her to poverty and cast her out of those possessions and give her wooden walls wherein she trusts so much and with them her strong fort another piece of her confidence such a blow as shall cast them altogether into the sea while Tyrus her self with all her rich buildings shall be consumed with fire 5. Ashkelon will trembie to see her neighbours houses thus set on fire and Gaza will be in as much or more perplexity So will Ekron for shame that she hath failed of her expectation presuming
What do you now see this likely to be which you have begun in haste to raise up and cannot furnish with such wealth and ornaments as the other had by the beneficence of severall Kings of Judah Doth not this fabrick if it be compared with that seem to be of no great hope and expectation for state and glory 4. But yet be of good comfort O Zerubbabel saith the Lord and thou O Ioshua Son of Iosedech the High-Priest chear up thy self And let the rest of the People of the land be no way discouraged But go on chearfully with the work now in hand For I am with you to blesse and prosper you saith the Lord of Hostes whom all things serve and obey 5. Whatsoever I promised and covenanted to do for you when you came out of Egypt that will I make good in my mercifull protection of you and crowning your obedience unto me with all the blessings of that covenant And my Spirit shall be constantly with you by the ministery of my Prophets and other waies to direct you in this work or what else you shall take in hand for the like advancement of my service Therefore be not dismayed or discouraged at these little beginnings 6. For the time is coming on saith the Lord of Hostes and it is but a little while to be expected it shall be while this Temple is standing when I will once again make as great motions and alterations in the world in the Heavens and in the Earth and in the Sea and in the dry land as ever I did since I began to bring you out of Egypt And you shall find a great alteration and difference from my own workes then to be done and those done heretofore since your coming out of Egypt For the thunder and lightning from Heaven in Mount Sinai when I descended to give the law will be nothing to that opening of the Heavens wherein my holy Spirit shall visibly descend upon the Messias in Jordan and his Apostles in Mount Sion And again the bringing water out of the hardest and driest parts of the Earth or dividing the waters of the red Sea will be nothing to the Earth-quakes at the death of the Messias and his coming out of the grave and before that his walking upon the waters 7. And for the motions or commotions that I named before Those commotions and alterations in all nations shall be such by severall wars and tumults that they shall all be ready to shake and tremble at them But after the appeasing of those stirs the Messias himself the longing desire and expectation and the delight and sweet comfort of all people shall come in person And then will be the time when by his coming into my Temple who is the King of Glory I shall fill this house that you are building this second Temple with glory indeed saith the Lord of Hostes. 8. As for the outward splendour and rich offerings in the first Temple I prize them not so highly as you do And when I please to be honoured with them I can make this Temple as richly supplied as ever Solomon's was For all the silver is at my command and the gold is at my disposall saith the Lord of Hostes. 9. But in far higher respects than those of wealth and splendour shall the glory of this latter house exceed that of the former saith the Lord of Hostes. And the time of that glory shall be a time when I will give peace unto this place saith the Lord of Hostes. 10. In this second year of Darius upon the twenty fourth day of the ninth moneth which took up part of our November and December and by which time the materials being prepared the work began to be set forward with much alacrity the Lord spake again by Haggai the Prophet saying 11. Thus saith the Lord of Hostes Ask now the Priests a resolution of a case put in their own law wherein they are or should be able to decide any scruple in that kind proposed unto them and do it in these termes 12. If a man should carry any holy flesh that being offered up to God hath been sanctified by the altar and carrying it in the skirt of his garment should with that skirt touch any ordinary bread or pottage or wine or oyl or any kind of meat should that which is so touched by that wherein the holy flesh is be therefore holy To this quaere the Priests answered and said No. the common meat would not be sanctified by touching that wherein the sanctified meat was carried 13. Then again said the Prophet Haggai But if any one that is legally unclean by touching of a dead body should in that time touch any of these would that which he toucheth be unclean by the law And the Priests answer was that it would be unclean for the legall sanctity is not so easily communicated by one thing to another as the legall impurity is 14. To which the Prophet Haggai replied and said So is it with the impure and disobedient heart of this people that hath polluted whatsoever they offered upon their new altar which they made in Cyrus his time when they began to lay the foundation of the Temple and would not afterward so proceed in it as I gave them direction Therefore I account no otherwise of this disobedient nation than of a nation impure in my â—ight saith the Lord. And this uncleannesse sticks to every work of their hands and to what soever they have offered at that altar being so polluted with the bold sinne of the neglect of that command of mine to raise the Temple For neither can that which is sanctified impart holinesse to that which is profane neither can that which is unclean but derive the like uncleannesse to that which was holy which showes you a little light wherein you may see the power of your sins above your vertues if you had them 15. And now to see the fruit of your unclean hearts and hands consider seriously with your selves what hath happened to you and what punishment I laid upon you before you setled your selves to this work of re-edifying my Temple and the builders went on with the foundation of it for the promoting of my service 16. From those times of your negligence and disobedience till that time wherein the fabrick was chearfully undertaken When a man came to a heap of corn in which he hoped well to be supplied with twenty measures there he received but ten the half of what he expected according to the usuall proportion of the increase of his feed And when a man came to the presse-fat where he had thought to have drawn fifty vessels out of the presse there he drew but twenty he could never see that blessed increase that he was in hope of 17. The reason was because I turned that blessing into a curse I smote the labours
that the enemie should have had such a blow given them by the subtle and potent Tyrians as should have freed them from the fear of all danger Gaza after this shall no longer be ruled by one that shall live in the state of a King rather then the Commander of such a little compasse of ground And Ashkelon shall be laid wast and for a long time after this not be inhabited 6. Then shall Azotus be possessed by a kind of bastard-brood a mixed and mungril people out of the conflux from several Nations And all the neighbour parts of Palestine shall have such a share in this calamity as shall take down their haughty pride and insulting over my people Israel 7. And I will take away the bloody and abominable language out of the mouth of the domineering Philistims who delight as much in horrid and cruel threats as if it did them good to chew upon them and please themselves while they keep it between their teeth as if they would set their teeth on work too with devouring of others that are better then themselves But the remnant of this fierce and boasting Nation shall come at last to be subdued and united with the people of Israel and so brought to the service of the true God And as the Iebusite being first become a Proselyte was thereupon made capable of places of dignity and command amonst the people of God so shall it be with the Philistine and so with the Ekronite that in that captivity shall be in a fair way to become as one of the Princes and Rulers of Iudah 8. And I will make my Angela encamp about my Temple to preserve it from all hostile and violent attempts and sodain incursions of such as may go or return any way near unto it And none shall be suffered to have any passage hereafter toward those parts with power to tyranise and usurp upon them For mine eyes are now and ever open to observe and prevent the dangers which otherwise might fall upon this holy place as I promised that I would be at the consecrating of your first Temple 9. And when I cast my all-seeing eye upon times yet more remote from your daies then I may well say of your deliverance from spiritual and greater enemies Rejoyce exceedingly O Daughter of Sion shout and sing aloud for joy O Daughter of Ierusalem For the Messias thy long-expected King of whom the best of all thy Kings heretofore were but types and figures comes to deliver thee from thy invisible enemies He is just and merciful and in his Justice and Mercy brings salvation to you that shall be justified through him Though he come not in the pomp of regality but poor enough in outward show and not in the flourish and noise of military forces and horses prepared for war but riding upon an asse even upon a colt the foal of an asse which is a beast that you use for more peaceable and quiet journies 10. Then will I take away all the need of chariots and horses and other outward military forces from Ephraim and Judah or her Metropolis of Ierusalem and the bow with other weapons of war will I knap in sunder And this King your Messias shall preach true peace to the nations of the world And his spiritual kingdom shall be inlarged from Sea to Sea and from the Rivers to the ends of the earth 11. And as for thee also O my Church by the blood of the covenant that I have made with thee I will redeem and deliver thy prisoners from the infarnal pit wherein is no water no hope of refreshment 12. Therefore repent and apply your selves unto God your onely help and refuge you that are such prisoners as are not without a good hope and modest assurance of divine succour and relief For I declare to you and assure you this very time wherein I have showed the fruit of your Messias his coming in such humility that I will return what he shall merit in a double testimony of my love to every one of you that shall not onely have deliverance from what ye might fear but the assurance too of eternal felicity 13. To make way to this by the publick preaching of the Gospel for subduing the Nations to my spiritual kingdom I will pick out my first Champions from among you of Iudah so that Iudah shall be like my bow that I bend and make ready against mine enemies and Ephraim like my quiver which I will fill full of arrows to be shot against all opposers And I will raise thy Sons O Sion against thy Sons O Graecia i. the first Preachers that shall be Iews to reduce the Graecians with the first under the easie yoke of the Messias And I will make thee O Sion to be like the sword of a mighty Commander for by my word in thy mouth which is my spiritual sword I will reduce other nations unto my kingdom 14. And the great Iehovah shall easily be seen to be a defence over these Champions of Iudaea and to fight for them as out of a tower and fortresse higher then their enemies His arrows and other instruments of this warfare shall go forth as quick as lightning The Lord himself shall be amongst them and sound the trumpet to give the sign of battel and shall set upon his enemies with storming like the violent Southern tempests that lay all even before them 15. Even the Lord of Hosts himself shall be their shield and buckler to defend them and they shall feed upon the spoiles of their enemies And as David did Goliah with little stones out of his sling so shall they by weak and unliekly means vanquish and subdue the greatest that come against them So that they shall be like those Conquerors that have their revenge satisfied with the blood of their enemies and therefore shout and triumph like those that are filled with storng wine For they shall drink their fill of it till they are as full as your silver bowls in the Sanctuary replenished with the holy offering and the horns of the Altar whereon the blood of the sacrifice is so plentifully poured 16. For in those daies their God the great Iehovah shall save and protect his Souldiers in these spiritual combats as the sheep of his flock and his own people that are the sheep of his pasture And these sheep shall prove Lions and Conquerors for the Lord of Hosts in his land And the Ensignes carried before them shall be with crowns set with pearls an embleme of the last reward of these holy Victories specially to be set upon the head of those that are great Actors and sufferers in so great a work 17. For how great is the goodnesse of Him that is the Lord of these mighty Hosts and how great is the beauty of his glory that will chear them up at last and put such joy into
hearken ye house of Israel and give ye ear O house of the King for judgement is towards you because ye have been a snare on Mâ—zpah and a net spred upon Tabor 2. And the revolters are profound to make slaughter though I have been a rebuker of them all 3. I know Ephraim and Israel is not hid from me for now O Ephraim thou committest whoredom and Israel is defiled 4. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them and they have not known the Lord. 5 And the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity Iudah also shall fall with them 6. They shall go with their flocks and with their berds to seek the Lord but they shall not find him he hath withdrawn himself from them 7. They have dealt treacherously against the Lord for they have begotten strange children now shall a moneth devour them with their portions 8. Blow ye the cornet in Gibea the trumpet in Ramah cry aloud at Bethaven after thee O Benjamin 9. Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke among the tribes of Israell have I made known that which shall surely be 10. The Princes of Iudah were like them that remove the bound therefore I will poure out my wrath upon them like water 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgement because he willingly walked after the commandment 12. Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Iudah as rottennesse 13. When Ephraim saw his sicknesse and Iudah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to king Iareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound 14. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion and as a young lion to the house of Iudah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall rescue him 15. I will goe and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early CHAP. V. 1. YOu that call your selves Priests in Israel and passe under that name among your Countriemen I have somewhat more for you to hear And it will concern all you of the house of Israel to listen to it and you specially of King Menahem's Court. For there is a just punishment readie to fall upon you because you have been a snare to the house of Iudah who by your example have been as easilie seduced as birds are taken in nets and gins about the woody Mountains of Mizpah and Tabor which are famous for that art of fowling and ensnaring of those creatures 2. And no wonder if others were misled by their example for these Apostates declining from the true wayes of my service went profoundlie to work in their butchering for no better term deserve their so much sacrificing to idols But I will find a way of correction that shall meet with them all in a slaughter of men not of beasts 3. I know these and other faults in those of the ten tribes nor can any of their offences be concealed from me I observe how Ephraim goes still forward in his spiritual fornication and all Israel is defiled after their example 4. They will not frame their actions towards a way of conversion unto their God For the spirit of that kind of whordom is in the middest of them and they have no mind to know the Lord. 5. Which proud and obstinate demeanour of Israel doth testifie to their faces what they are Therefore their own iniquitie shall ruine those ten tribes under the Assyrian And Judah shall not long after fall into the like miserie under the Egyptians and Caldaeans 6. Then shall they think to make their atonement by bringing their stocks and their herds to be offered in sacrifice unto the Lord. But that way of seeking their peace with God will not then prove the way to find it They will rather find that he hath withdrawn himself from them and will by no means admit of those former waies of accesse 7. And so he might well do because of their unlawful accesse to women of other Nations whom they were commanded not to marry which was a great offence against God and a means to furnish them with strange children that he will not own Now therefore will he suffer souldiers of a strange nation in a short time by their monethlie payments and exactions to devour them and that substance which he had allotted and laid out as a peculiar portion to themselves 8. Nor will I longer defer the calling of that armie saith the Lord. Come on and let your trumpets and cornets give notice of your near approach Let the sound of them be heard in Gibeah and Ramah within the portion of Benjamin and not many miles from the Citie of Ierusalem Let them shout aloud at Bethaven and that pincheth close upon thy back O Benjamin So near is that place unto thee 9. And if this fall upon Judah How will Ephraim be laid desolate in the day of his correction under the army of Salmanasser when I shall show my constant resolution of accomplishing all that which I had foretold to be coming upon Israel 10. Nor while they are so punished in Israel may the Princes of Iudah think to escape For many of them have often passed those bounds that I set them Therefore I will poure my anger upon them like water that will be kept in no bounds and ever breaks out violentlie and in great abundance 11. And while I resolve of Iudah's punishment I forget not the faults of Ephraim and Israel speciallie how the people there have been crushed and oppressed by the power of their great ones and the iniquitie of their Courts of Iustice. My justice suffering that punishment to fall upon them because they had a readier inclination to walk after the edicts and dictates of men then after that which I justlie commanded 12. Therefore as the moth eats and consumes the garment and rottenness the flesh so will I for these offences cause both Ephraim and Iudah to be consumed and eaten out of their own homes And neither their own nor other Princes shall be able to relieve them 13. They may remember the time when Ephraim perceiving his sicknesse and Judah feeling his wound that troubled him Ephraim applied himself to the Assyrian sending presents to Pul and Judah made his addresses to Tiglathpelezer that he would be his good King Jareb i. his Protector and avenger of his cause But all this while he that was so wooed and humbly sent to could not heal the disease that they were sick of nor cure those wounds that put them to their pain and trouble 14. For to what end is it to seek favour and succour of men saith the Lord when I resolve in my
Gilgal forsooth And for those tithes which should be paid every third year in the right place let your mistaken devotion pay them to your imaginary gods in three daies if you will and where you like best 5. If you would yet be at more cost in your will-worship offer also a sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to your idols and in an offering by fire make use of leaven which I commanded to be left out in such cases And be sure that notice be taken of your voluntary offerings Blow a trumpet before you when you go to them some way or other proclaim it to the world For this pleaseth you well O ye children of Israel saith the Lord God and you may therefore do it at your peril 6. But remember that for this your forsaking of my altars at your pleasure and showing your selves so free and liberal in your idol-service I also pleased my self in sending such scarcity of meat in all your Cities that there was nothing of it to be seen sticking in your teeth And it was accompanied as great a want of bread in all places Yet did not these punishments produce such a repentance as brought you throughly home to me 7. Nor did I punish you onely with want of food for the present but I threatned a lasting famine and thirst by keeping the rain from you too whereby in your mountainous Countrie your corn-fields were parched with heat and your grasse withered and those places dried up wherein you expected your water which is a great part of your drink This drought you had even in the three moneths before harvest when you had most need of rain And that you might see this was caused immediatelie by my self not by any power in the stars not by anie cause in nature not by anie accident or chance I granted rain to some Cities and Towns when I denied it to other neighbour-cities Nay which was more miraculous one piece of ground was rained upon and another hard by it for want of rain was dried up and became utterlie unfruitful and barren 8. So that in this great defect of water two or three Cities were forced to travail to some other Citie that had the benefit of some few showers there to quench their thirst Yet was not that City so well stored as to let them have water in so large a supply as they desired Neither would this plague work so much upon you as to bring you to a serious repentance and acknowledgement of those sins that drew these miseries upon you saith the Lord. 9. Therefore I proceed against you by another plague of blasting the corn by a drie East-wind and of mildew which is a kind of jaundis in the fruit proceeding from too much moisture What one of these did not consume the other commonlie corrupted of that which came out of the earth with some hope And as you more and more multiplied and bestowed cost upon your gardens and vineyards and your fig-trees and olive-trees so did I more and more increase the number of locusts and canker-worms to spoile and devour them So that all your cost and labour came in the end to little or nothing Yet so foolish and obstinate you were and so hardened in all sin and impiety that still you continued as impenitent as you were before saith the Lord. 10. And when you thought in these streights to help your selves with corn and other supplies out of Egypt whither I had often charged you not to return In your way to Egypt and from thence I took away some of you with the pestilence and some with the sword of the enemy and among them some of the youngest and lustiest men that thought they were able to make the best resistance This misery was increased by the losse of your horses which I had charged you not to multiply to your selves you got them in Egypt and I took them from you in the way from Egypt to you Nor did I cause you to be troubled with the fight onely but with the stinking smell of your troops so many waies disturbed and spent with robberie and mortality Yet were not you so sensible of these judgements as to stop and reâ—al your selves and be converted unto me saith the Lord. 11. Beside all this I brought a desolation upon some others among you somewhat like unto that of Sodom and Gomrrah so that the few that escaped were like firebrands with much ado here and there plucked out of a terrible flaming fire And still you were far enough from making your humble addresses unto me for mercie and forgivenesse 12. Now therefore since none of these sad calamities had the intended effect of your Reformation I have reason to continue my resolution of bringing those and the like plagues upon you of which I have either already forewarned you by the mouth of my Prophets or with which I have even now expressed how I made trial of you heretofore Therefore because you see I am coming against you with such variety of punishments if you will not repent be wise now at last O Israel and carefully fit and prepare your selves to meet me with bended knees and weeping eyes and broken hearts and unfaigned resolutions of amendment of life 13. Consider who it is that so graciously invites thee to meet Him by repentance the onely means which is now left to turn away the execution of his wrath He so invites thee O Israel that hath all things in his power and at his command By vertue whereof He created the mighty mountains and at his pleasure raiseth the violent winds By his infinite knowledge and all-seeing eye He can discover the innermost conceipts meditations and intentions of the heart of man as well as what himself intends to do with him if he do not amend his life and return to him It is he which makes the glorious light of the morning that grows brighter and brighter as he mounts himself and can cloud or eclipse that light with sodain darknesse at his pleasure as the sole Author and Commander both of Light and Darknesse It is he that walks upon those eminent places of the world that are no way pervious or passible to us and so subdues and subjects to himself whatsoever is exalted to the highest pitch to which it can arrive The Lord God of Hosts is his name and all creatures are but as his souldiers and servants where his Mercie or Justice will please to employ them CHAP. V. 1. Hear ye this word which I take up against you even a lamentation O house of Israel 2 The virgin of Israel is fallen she shall no more rise she is forsaken upon her land there is none to raise her up 3 For thus saith the Lord God The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel 4 For thus saith the lord
unto the house of Israel Seek ye me and ye shall live 5 But seek not Bethel nor enter into Gilgal and passe not to Beer-sheba for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity and Bethel shall come to nought 6 Seek the Lord and ye shall live leâ—t he break out like fire in the house of Ioseph and devour it and there be none to quench it in Bethel 7 Ye who turn judgement to wormwood and leave off righteousnesse in the earth 8 Seek him that maketh the seven Stars and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and powreth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his Name 9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong so that the spoiled shall come against the fortresse 10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate and they abhor him that speakketh uprightly 11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor and ye take from him burdens of wheat ye have built houses of hewen stone but ye shall not dwell in them ye have planted pleasant vineyards but ye shall not drink wine of them 12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sinnes they afflict the just they take a bribe and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right 13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time for it is an evill time 14 Seek good and not evill that ye may live and so the Lord the God of hosts shall be with you as ye have spoken 15 Hate the evill and love the good and establish judgement in the gate it may be that the Lord God of hostes will be gracious unto the remnant of Ioseph 16 Therefore the Lord the God of hosts the Lord saith thus Wailing shall be in all streets and they shall say in all the high-wayes Alas alas and they shall call the husband-man to mourning and such as are skilfull of lamentation to wailing 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing for I will passe thorow thee saith the Lord. 18 Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darknesse and not light 19 As if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him 20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darknesse and not light even dark and no brightnesse in it 21 I hate I despise your feast dayes and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies 22 Though ye offer me burnt offering and your meat offerings I will not accept them neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs for I will not hear the melody of thy viols 24 But let judgement run down at waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream 25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wildernesse fourty years O house of Israel 26 But ye have born the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images the star of your god which ye made to your selves 27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus saith the Lord whose Name is the God of hosts CHAP. V. 1. HEar what I have to say unto you O you children of Israel Though it be a sad Propheticall Lamentation yet I must speak what I am commanded and if that were not I cannot but speak it over you while I consider the deep misery and affliction into which you have drawn your selves by the weight of your own grievous sinnes 2. Israel should be like a pure Virgin in the sincere profession and service of the true God But now her spirituall whoredoms represent her as a wanton and impudent Harlot Therefore her fall from that Virginity hath produced so deep and great a fall into calamity and desolation that if she do not speedily prevent it by Repentance there is little or no hope of her rising again and recovering her wonted peace and prosperity She is levelled with the Earth like one ready to be buried in silence and oblivion and knowes of none that are able to raise her up and reduce her to her former estate 3. In this misery and captivity which I foresee as certainly coming upon her very few will be left in her Cities and Villages For thus saith the Lord God A City in Israel that could send out a thousand valiant men well appointed shall scarcely be able to show the tenth part of them left alive And that City which could send out a hundred shall have as little a proportion left for the house of Israel Not the tenth part but nine parts of ten shall be taken away by the sword or the famine or the pestilence 4. Yet this sentence is not so irreversibly concluded by the Lord against the house of Isaael but that if you will now seek after your mercifull God in that way in which only he may be found which is in the way of Repentance you may either remove or at least mitigate the decree of your most just and deserved punishment that will otherwise cut off so many by death 5. This Repentance must not be verball onely but active and reall You must absolutely renounce the service of your golden calf in Bethel You must have no more to do in the Idolatry of Gilgal or Beersheba For the right service of God will not consist with the worship of Idols Therefore if you forsake not these places you must perish in them For Gilgal must go into captivity according to the omen in her name And Bethel that carries in the name of it the house of God shall be turned to Beth-aven which promiseth nothing but iniquity vanity and desolation 6. Therefore keep close to that way of Repentance wherein God is to be found That 's the onely way to preserve you in life and safety And if you be not found in that way you expose your selves to extream danger and know not how soon the house of Ioseph as you call your kingdom of Israel from the tribe of Ephraim the greatest part in it and the Royal tribe may be compassed with those flames of war that will break out on such a sudden that the best of you and your friends will find no time wherein to quench or prevent them no not in Bethel the Kings Court and the eminentest place of all the kingdom 7. And how can they look for a milder punishment that turn Iustice the sweetest and loveliest of all vertues into injury and oppression which is as unwelcome and distastfull as the bitter wormwood and when they should exalt Justice and prefer her before all other respects whatsoever do rather suppress her and leave her on the ground as a thing of no value with them that are bribed high for injustice in the pronouncing
and connivence as I have formerlie used toward them 3. And their merrie songs in their stately Palaces shall be turned into fearful howling in that day saith the Lord God And many bodies of dead men shall want the honour of the wonted funeral rites being privily cast aside by them that will endeavour to conceal their miserie least their own men should be too much disheartned or the enemie encouraged by seeing what a number perish by famine pestilence or discontent before the sword come near them 4. It will highly concern you to take notice of this prophesie and vision that are are come to so high a degree of covetousnesse and oppression that you are ripe enough to be taken off from any further benefit of life You that could find in your hearts to devour the poor and meek and humble men and quite obliterate the name and memory of them from the earth that you alone might injoy the good things of this life 5. You that say When will the New Moon and the Sabbath be gone we like not these Festival daies they are prejudicial to us that might every day make our markets It were not amisse if they were quite put out of the Kalender that we might be wholly employed in selling our corn and opening our granaries of wheat and practising the art we have in making our measures lesse and raising the value of our coin and falsifying our weights by sleight and deceit 6. That when we have by these tricks cheated and beggered the poor we may have an easie purchase of them and their goods and all that they have for a little sum of money or for as poor a thing as the present supply of a pair of shooes when they are cold and needy or by putting off to them at our own price the very refuse of our wheat that we know not otherwise how to dispose of 7. Therefore the Lord in his justice hath fully resolved and sworn by Himself whom all will acknowledge to be the glorie of his people Israel that since they so often forget the interest that they have in this high title or abuse it by making themselves guilty of such wicked deeds I will not forget to punish any of their evill courses I will surelie do it saith the Lord. 8. For Why should I not make the land tremble and all her inhabitants mourn for these things Why shall not this deluge of sin in this nation make her punishment overflow and overwhelm her in every part as the River Nilus in Egypt ascends by degrees and at last ovorflows her banks and covers all the face of Egypt with her inundations 9. When that day of revenge riseth upon them saith the Lord God I will make all their joy and comfort to vanish on a sodain as if the Sun of a clear day should set upon them in a dark and dismal cloud before he had run half his course 10. And I will turn your merry festivals and gaudy daies into daies of mourning and your pleasant songs into doleful lamentations your rich and loose apparel into course sackcloth girded about your loines and your neat heads of hair into bald pates that your outward garb may speak your inward sorrow for your heavy calamitie Nay I will bring the land of Israel to that passe and that high degree of mourning that in all the chiefest places men shall be found in as sad postures and bitter exclamations as a tender Mother useth to expresse in the funerals of her onely son And how jolly and chearful soever they have been they shall close up their last times in great bitternesse of woe and miserie 11. There is yet worse news behind if it were rightly apprehended Behold the time is coming saith the Lord God wherein I will send a famine in the land not a famine of bread onely or a thirst of water but a want of spiritual food too and of the water of life a scarcity of the word of God specially of the word of prophesie which you neglect when it is offered and therefore it will not be heard when you long for it 12. For they that are now so coy and dainty that no Prophets can please them shall then compasse about from Sea to Sea They shall run to and fro from one corner of the Country to another to seek the word of the Lord purely and sincerely taught and shall not find it 13. Then shall even the succulent bodies of fair damsels and proper young men in the flower of their age be ready to faint and wither away for thirst 14. This shall happen to them that swear by the idols of Samaria near Bethel as if they had no true Deitie to swear by To them that have this form of oath as thy Diety lives O Dan in imitation of their former oath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they Lord lives To them that swear thus as the living God is rightly worshipped in that kind of service which is used in Beersheba or as I wish that the course and religious way of Beersheba may thrive These men shall fall from their former prosperous estate and shall never be restored to that or so much as to their Country again CHAP. IX 1 I Saw the Lord standing upon the Altar and he said Smite the lintel of the door that the posts may shake and cut them in the head all of them and I will slay the last of them with the sword he that fleeth of them shall not flee away and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered 2 Though they dig into hell thence shall mine hand take them though they climbe up to heaven thence will I bring them down 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea thence will I command the serpent and he shall bite them 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies thence will I command the sword and it shall slay them and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil and not for good 5 And the Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth the land and it shall melt and all that dwell therein shall mourn and it shall rise up wholly like a floud and shall be drowned as by the floud of Egypt 6 It is he 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 powreth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his Name 7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me O ye children of Israel saith the Lord have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistins from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir 8 Behold the eies of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom and I will destroy it from
off the face of the earth saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob saith the Lord. 9 For lo I will command and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations like as corn is sifted in a sieve yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth 10 All the sinners of my people shal die by the sword which say The evill shall not overtake nor prevent us 11 In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof and I will raise up his cumes and I will build it as in the daies of old 12 That they may possesse the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen which are called by my Name saith the Lord that doth this 13 Behold the daies come saith the Lord that the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the tâ—eader of grapes him that soweth seed and the mountains shall drop sweet wine and all the hills shall melt 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel and they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them 15 And I will plant them upon their land and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them saith the Lord thy God CHAP. IX 1. I Come now to a vision that chiefly concerns Ierusalem and the two Tribes I saw in the spirit a glorie representing the Majesty of God not appearing between the Cherubims as formerly he used to do but nearer the end of the Temple as if he were departing from that sacred place and leaving his Sanctuary by degrees For I saw the Lord standing upon the Altar of the Holocausts as ready to slay those wicked men of Judah that had highly provoked his Justice and Anger to be showed amongst them and to make such a sacrifice of them as he never calls for but when he comes to be revenged of great sinners And he said to some Angel attending at that time or as exciting the army of the Chaldaeans Smite the lintel of the door in such a manner that the posts may shake which signified a great blow by his own command to be given to them that were thought to be most eminent and most able to support and give aid to the Temple and the whole nation to whom it belonged He said moreover Cut them all or strike all through in thâ— head piece q. d.. Let them that are in the highest place the guides and governours of the people have the first and greatest blow that in them others may see their doom And after that I will slay the last of them also the lowest of the people with the sword of a cruel enemie and with such a slaughter that He who thinks to secure himself by flight or any other way of evading the stroke of the enemie shall no way escape that unlesse he fall into their power for a worse punishment of long captivity Which doth not yet exempt him from their striking hand when they shall have a mind to command his life 2. And if there were any way to escape the enemie yet none of them should escape me For who can run so far or so fast that divine vengeance shall not overtake him Where is such a secret corner to be found wherein that will not find him out If any of them could dig as deep as hell to fit themselves with a dark and obscure lurking place thence should my powerful hand pluck them out If they could climb as high as heaven far enough out of their enemies reach thence also would I tumble them down 3. If they could lie scouting and sculking in the unfrequented caves and holes upon the top of high Carmel where no enemy would search for them yet there would I hunt them out and cast them down from thence If it were possible that they could conceal themselves from my sight in the bottom of the sea I have Whales and Serpents of the deep that should pursue them and bite them and fright them out of that refuge 4. Could they be so subtle as to prevent the captivity of their enemies and be gone into theirs or some other land before they come near them yet thither will I bring the sword of those verie enemies to cut them off and spoil all their plots For the eye of my favour and providence shall not watch over them for good I will rather be intent upon what may help on the just and severe punishment of all their sins 4. Where then shall they think to be safe in the time of his anger that offend such a powerful God whom nothing will be able to resist He is the Lord God of Hosts whom all things obey as an Army ever ready for the execution of his mercie or justice of such power that if He do but touch a land with that touch he can make it melt like wax before Him and all the inhabitants of the land miserablie and lamentably to fade away and consume by some calamity that shall overwhelm them and drown them in sorrow and destruction with a sodain inundation like that of the River Nilus in Egypt when it breaks over ' all the banks 6. He fills Heaven and earth with the Majesty of his Glorie In Heaven he hath built his several Ascents by which we may climb to the speculation of it The nearest to us are the heavenly Orbes that are created and moved by Him and their peculiar degrees of elevation one above another Over those Orbes is his spacious Court and glorious Palace in a higher Heaven and in that his Royal Throne where he sits as in the highest Ascent of Majestie Vpon the earth if we consider not the whole globe together as one bundle and a little one too or a little handful in the eye of God we may observe the several bundles of united creatures that he hath placed over the earth which is as it were the foundation of all the rest As first that of the Elements that have their proper bounds then out of them that of the Vegetables and sensible and rational creatures that have their several waies of combination yet altogether make but a little handful before him that can measure the heavens and the earth with a span He calls for the waters of the sea in his anger by a deluge or in his love to ascend up in vapours that he may poure them down again into the lap of the earth to make her fruitful in all manner of store He that doth all this well may he have the name of the Lord and Commander of all 7. Therefore account not your selves onely to be the servants For in that respect what priviledge have you above all his creatures or above all other nations You that descend from
were expired Whether the Citizens would so long persevere in their repentance and if they did not whether Justice would then be showed upon them whom God seemed now willing to spare upon their present conversion and reformation of life 6. Now when the thin slight materials of Jonah his booth began to wither and fade with heat the Lord prepared a gourd or some shrub that used to grow in those parts to come over Ionah like a Canopie to shadow and defend his head from the heat of the Sun which seemed not a little to afflict him And with this refreshment under the gourd Ionah was much delighted 7. But that ease and pleasure was not long to be indulged unto him For the next day betimes in the morning God prepared also a worm which by gnawing at the lower parts of his gourd and so extracting the moisture was the cause that it quickly withered away 8. Moreover at the rising of the Sun God sent a soft and still wind the East that had little or no motion or cooling quality which was the thing that Jonah desired Besides this warm breath the son also with some violence of heat did beat upon the head of Jonah and became so troublesom that it made him ready to faint and show himself wearie of his life plainly professing that it was better for him now to die then to live Which seems to be spoken in a passion as if he thought it an injurie to be deprived of that benefit of the gourd which was gratiously afforded him for a time and considered not that this variety of means might be used to bring him to the acknowledgement of the truth of Gods judgments and the sight of his own offences and demerites 9. Therefore God said unto Jonah Is this well done of thee to discover so much anger and disturbance of thy self for a poor little gourd To which question he gives a rash impatient answer confessing that he was extreamly angry even unto death and did well to be so 10. Whereupon the Lord said again Art thou so affected at the withering of a poor vile gourd of a daies continuance which neither for the coming up nor the growth of it is any way beholden unto thee 11. And shall not I the creator and preserver of all things whose property it is to have mercy upon me above all my creatures shall not I be touched with compassion of so great and populous a City as Ninive wherein beside much cattle there are more then a hundred and twenty thousand innocent children so simple and weak that they cannot distinguish between their right hands and their left and therefore cannot be thought by any fault of theirs to call for this heavy destruction upon them Yet were they all ready to perish in the punishment of their Parents sins had not they timely repented What must you then guesse of the number of men and women of fuller growth that have appeased my wrath by amendment of life Which being done their death and ruine should not be rashly and uncharitably desired to make you seem the truer Prophet who was not to threaten any people but with this implicite condition if they forsook not their sins A Paraphrastical EXPLICATION Of the PROPHESIE OF MICAH CHAP. I. 1. THe word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the dayes of Iotham Abaz and Hezekiah kings of Iudah which he saw concerning Samaria and Ierusalem 2 Hear all ye people hearken O earth and all that therein is and let the Lord God be witnesse against you the Lord from his holy temple 3 For behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth 4 And the mountaines shall be molten under him and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire and as the waters that are powred down a steep place 5 For the transgression of Iacob is all this and for the sins of the house of Israel What is the transgression of Iacob is it not Samaria and what are the high places of Iudah are they not Ierusalem 6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field and as plantings of a vineyard and I will poure down the stones thereof into the valley and I will discover the foundations thereof 7 And all the graven Images thereof shall be beaten to pieces and all the hires thereof shall be burnt with the fire and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot and they shall return to the hire of an harlot 8 Therefore I will wail and howl I will go stript and naked I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owles 9 For her wound is incurable for it is come unto Iudah he is come unto the gate of my people even to Ierusalem 10 Declare ye it not at Gath weep ye not at all in the house of Aphrah roll thy self in the dust 11 Passe ye away thou inhahitant of Saphir having thy shame naked the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel he shall receive of you his standing 12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Ierusalem 13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish bind the chariot to the swift beast she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee 14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel 15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee O inhabitant of Mareshah he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel 16 Make thee bald and poll thee for thy delicate children enlarge thy baldnesse as the eagle for they are gone into captivity from thee CHAP. I. 1. THe word of the Lord which was made known to Micah of Moreshah a City in Judaea in the dayes of Iotham Ahaz and Hezekiah Kings of Iudah and which he had revealed to him in a vision concerning Samaria and Ierusalem two eminent Cities by whose example the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel were drawn into many grievous sins and disorders 2. Hear all ye people of Judah and Israel Attend to this Prophesie of mine you that dwell in any part of this land how populous and of how great extent soever it is And for my faithfull delivery of what I am enjoyned to say let God himself that sees and hears all from his holy and glorious habitation in heaven hear witnesse against you if I be at any time accused or mistrusted for concealing any part of his will and pleasure 3. For I wish you all to take notice of this that God is now coming out of those high and holy places of his to show himself in the execution of his judgements upon your nation and the highest and strongest places with the
highest and stateliest persons as stout as they are will he trample under his feet and lay even with the lowest earth 4. At his angry voice the mountainous Cities shall melt under him like wax before the fire and the lower villages in the vale shall part asunder and leave their former glory and station with as much speed and violence as waters will run down in the steepest places and leave no markes of any abode in that place from whence they come 5 And all this for the transgressions of Iacob and the sins of the house of Israel Now what caused the transgressions of Iacob but the ill example of Samaria and what occasioned the idolatry of the high places of Iudah but the ill copy that was set them by Ierusalem 6. But Samaria that first began the sin shall feel the first smart of the punishment And I will make Samaria like a heap of rubbish in the field or of withered plants in a vineyard So far shall she be from having the face and show of a Citie when I have caused the stones to be cast down out of her high buildings into the lowest holes and bottomes and discovered the very foundations of that fabrick wherein she gloried so much 7. Then shall all their graven images be beaten to peices and the rich ornaments that were bestowed upon their idoll-temples shall be consumed with fire and the idols themselves will I lay desolate For at the best those fair donaries were but the rewards and bribes of their spirituall adultery with idols and to no other end shall they come then to what such wages of adultery and idolatry do best deserve to be brought 8. Thus said the Lord. But I their sad Prophet cannot but interpret my inward sorrow by my bitter lamentations and divesting my self of my best and upper garments and in that little better than naked posture mourning like the prodigious melancholy beasts in the desert and howling like the young owles that have no other tone and thence have their name as fit to expresse it 9. All which I am brought to because this Land is so desperately wounded that there is no hope of her cure no not in Judah the best part of her For which cause he that hath already given such a blow to Israel is marching toward my selected people even to the very gates of Ierusalem 10. Yet let not these sad things be published in Gath or any other town of the Philistims our enemies Let not our teares be seen of them that will laugh the more at our miseries But thou Ephraim that bearest the name of fruitfulnesse or rather I will call thee Ophrah from dust and ashes that are signes of sorrow and barrennesse spare not thy sorrowes for thy self within thy own houses Wallow thy self in dust and ashes in contemplation of the sad day wherein all thy houses shall be beaten into dust 11. And you of Samaria so pleasantly seated that the name of Samaria may be turned into Shaphir you shall passe along from thence into a land of desolation and captivity having your fair City laid bare and naked to your utter shame and confusion while thy Sister that dwels in Sion will not stir a foot from her quiet Hill to come towards you and releive you But k keeping her own station and not troubling her self any further she will for fashion sake take the hint of her mourning from thee O Bethel that mayestâ— now rather be called Beth-etsel i. a place of schism and separation 12. But though Jerusalem be yet so senselesse of misery yet she that dwels in Ramoth of Judaea for which you may say by transposition of the letters that dwells in Maroth i. in a place destined to sorrow and bitternesse she shall much bewaile the losse of her good people ere long For mischief and divine vengeance shall come down at last not to them onely of the severall Ramoths and eminent seates in Judaea but to the very gates of Jerusalem too that is pirked up higher than all the rest 13. And thou inhabitant of Lachish shalt bind the chariot to the swift dromedaries that chariot that must convey Sennacheribs servants to Jerusalem to demand no lesse than the rendring up of the Citie into his hands because Lachish gave the first and chief occasion of the sinne of idolatry to the daughter of Sion Such great faults of the ten tribes of Israel being first found in thee 14. Therefore also have I somewhat to say to Moreshah-Gath and Aczib the two neighbour townes of Lachish Thou O Lachish shalt be fain to send presents and bribe the Assyrians well to show favour to Moreshath-Gath And the houshoulders of Achzib shall be put to another shift whereby to help themselves i. by proving themselves false dissemblers and lyars as their name imports and betraying that trust that was reposed in them by the Kings of Israel 15. And now I will say somewhat alluding to the name of Moreshah as I did to that of Achzib Moreshah in the derivation of the word referrs to an heir And I have an heir in store for thee O inhabitant of Moreshah It shall be the Assyrian that shall hereafter possesse what is yet thine I will bring him to thee my self And this Assyrian whom you made so much of once as if he had been the glory of Israel shall quickly enlarge himself and come as farre as Odullam after he hath got the safe possession of Moreshah 16. Therefore O thou poor and miserable Judaea that hearest these sad prophesies against the greatest Townes and Cities fall to those ceremonies now that are the best expressions of their sorrow and heavinesse Take away thy dainty haire and make thy self as good as bald in signe of grief for the slaughter of thy delicate children wherein thou hast placed thy delight And yet enlarge thy baldnesse like that of the Eagle in token of greater sorrow for those thy Children that are led into captivity and so have a heavier sentence passed upon them then there was upon them that were taken away by death from the sense of any further calamitie CHAP. II. 1 WO to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds when the morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hand 2 And they covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away so they oppresse a man and his house even a man and his heritage 3 Therefore thus saith the Lord Behold against this family do I devise an evil from which ye shall not remove your necks neither shall ye go haughtily for this time is evil 4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you and lament with a doleful lamentation and say We be utterly spoiled he hath changed the portion of my people how hath he removed it from me turning away he hath divided our
house by cutting off many people and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall and the beam out of the timber shall answer it 12 Wo to him that buildeth a town with bloud and stablisheth a city by iniquity 13 Behold it is not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity 14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea 15 Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink that puttest the bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakednesse 16 Thou art filled with shame for glory drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered the cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee and shamefull spewing shall be on thy glory 17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid because of mens bloud and for the violence of the land of the City and of all that dwell therein 18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it the molten image and a teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make him dumb idols 19 Wo unto him that saith to the wood Awake to the dumb stone Arise it shall teach behold it is laid over with gold and silver and there is no breath at all in the midst of it 18 But the Lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him The Sum of the second CHAPTER The Prophets Quaeries in the former Chapter were followed so eagerly in the behalf of his Countrey-men that St. Hierome and some others are almost angry with him and think he may well take the name of Chabakkuk from his touching so near and wrastling so boldly with almighty God Not onely in his prayer for them like another Iacob in his third Chapter but in the first Chapter too like a close Disputant in his pressing so hard upon God himself and his Divine Providence and disposall of humane afflictions But whatsoever was the true occasion of the name it seems that his open and patheticall delivery of his Questions did put them upon that conjecture and so upon the point that those learned men were as much troubled at his expression as himself was at the apprehension of that strange course of divine Justice Now this second Chapter resolves the holy Prophet as it may do us in that scruple and showes him the progresse of God's divine Iustice overtaking the bloody profane sacrilegious Chaldeans in the height of their securitie and falling the more heavily upon them for their abusing the power that was put into their hands when they were permitted to be the scourges of men that were better than themselves Which may read a Lecture to any who contribute too much to the malignity of such wicked dayes This may advise them while they have time of Repentance seriously to examine themselves and their own cause This being a Truth that is evidenced by this passage of holy Scripture and this example in the Jewes and Chaldees That God may be so angry with the sins of his own People or so willing to have their Pietie and Vertue made known to the world that it may produce some effects that are little expected So that either for the severe punishment of some to whom it is likely he means to show the more mercy in a greater and more terrible day Or for the Fatherly correction of others that by outward calamities he will hasten to a better amendment of life Or for the exacter tryall of the Faith Obedience Patience and Perseverance of others for whom he intends a weightier Crown of Glory in everlasting Mansions For these and the like respects it may please God to give way to the doing of many things which may well seem strange and wonderfull in the eies of men And while such things are in agitation He may let them see many cruell and malicious designes seconded with as prosperous successes as the evill hearts of the Actors could wish We found it true in the former Chapter of the Chaldeans and may elsewhere of others that were inabled to say that God goes in and out with their Forces that He fights for them in the head of their Armies and crownes their Actions with Triumphs and Victories over far more innocent and religious undertakers than they are All this being no more than the Prophet implies here and God himself speakes in effect by the mouth of his holy Prophets And yet this second Chapter may inform them that all this is not enough to secure the vain confidence of the Enemies of the Church and excuse the idle boasting of strange and fortunate attempts Which may end in as sad a Catastrophe as that of the Chaldeans did after all their pride and effusion of much blood as now we shall hear The Paraphrastical EXPLICATION of the second CHAPTER 1. AFter these sad and scrupulous Quaeries and Objections which presented themselves unto me I could do no other then as a Prophet a Watchman a Seer of Israel betake my self to my watch-tower and with all Reverence and Patience expect what the Divine Oracle would discover unto me and make me able to return as the best solution of those doubts and Interrogatories of my former Discourse 2. And such did the solution prove to be that others have as much reason to observe it as I have Therefore was I commanded by God himself so clearly to deliver and explain the Vision which I shall now relate that it might be given down to Posterity as a thing written in Tables of some durable substance and in fair Capitall letters so that he that runs might read it and see in it as in a little Map a draught of those waies of Gods divine Wisedome and Justice in the ordering and disposing of things below far beyond the reach of our weak judgement and apprehension 3. And beyond the little compasse of our time too For it lookes further than our short and euill dayes Yet as they that live to see it accomplished will account the hardest part of it to be slipped over as in a dream so we that by the eie of faith can look forward and fix our thoughts upon that end which will prove the end of our misery and the end of our Enemies prosperity may see it posting on as all our Times do with such speed as if it were carried upon the wings of the wind For all which speed nothing that is foretold of it will fail or come short of the truth Therefore let no seeming delay take off our expectation and hope in Gods promises which will certainly come at last and cannot come slowly to a heart that is ready and prepared for it and wants not that solace wherewith it
thy Horses that shrunk up the rivers with this terrour and drave them out of their wonted Station For in such triumph indeed didst thou seem to draw near the waters of Jordan when the Ark was thy Chariot the Chariot of our Salvation and thy glory seemed to be carried upon the holy Cherubims 9. After that glorius and miraculous passage over Jordan an Angel showed himself for a Captain of the Host of the Lord. And thy self O Lord as the great Lord of Hostes preparedst for the battle Thine arrowes were apparently drawn out of their quiver and thy Bow out of the Case to be in readinesse against thine Enemies The severall Tribes of Israel as thy Souldiers were mustered up to their military Sacramentall oath And the very Earth and the Waters and all the Elements divided themselves into their severall ranks at thy command and for thy service 10. And when thou beganst to set forward the Mountains O Lord as if standing higher they had made the first discovery of thy coming afar off were sore troubled at it like a woman that is in labour and longs to be delivered Presently whole Rivers of waters gushed out as the issue of that birth The noise and murmur which they made at their breaking forth of the hollow Earth was like the cry of this new-born Creature And the diffusion of those waters into severall courses and rivulets was like the stretching out of his armes which thou canst bind and lap up in his swadling clouts as it pleaseth thee 11. And if the Hills can thus discover and expresse thy powerfull approach how can the two fair eyes of the Firmament the Sun and the Moon but see it and give some acknowledgement of it As they did to all the world when the Sun stood still over Gibeon and the Moon over the valley of Ajalon as if then indeed they had come to their Houses wherein they should rest While by that so miraculously continued Light thy Hailestones like glittering speares and â—wift arrowes did sâ—y about to execute vengeance upon thine Enemies 12. This was the obedience every where tendred to our Lord when he brought us and our Armies to take possesion of the Land of Promise Into which we must ever thankfully acknowledge O blessed God as thou didst enter with wrath and terrour against all the Inhabitants of the Land so in the end in the like displeasure thou didst cause the Heads and Commanders of those Heathen people to be trampled on by the feet of the Conquerours 13 This was thy doing O Lord and thus hast thou often gone out with our Armies to save and defend thy People and thine Annointed whom thou hast set over them Thou hast often wounded the heads of those wicked Families that oppose them and discovered their Foundations so that from the highest to the lowest part of their best hold and confidence they were laid open to ruine 14. Thou hast pierced the Heads of those Peasants that sought our destruction with the same weapons that they used against us might Israel then say and taken them in their own Inventions when they had thought suddenly and violently like a whirl-wind to have set upon us scattered us and blown us away When their Triumph before victorie was like the exultation of those that have in their hopes already devoured the poor and innocent that hides himself from their fury and persecution 15. So did our enemies perish in that passage where they purchased their own death in the pursuit of ours While the Triumph which they hoped for was thine own and not their Horses or Chariots but Thy Chariots and Armes prevailed in the Red-Sea and went safe thorough the unusuall paths and heaps of many waters 16. Such hath been thy Providence over us in our former calamitie so far did thy Power then show it self in our delivery And shall it not be such in thy good time from the Babylonian slavery as it was from the Egyptian But alas what do I venture to entreat I have heard and seen so much in my former vision of the long sad time of our Captivitie as makes me startle and interrupt my prayer But my bowels do earne with compassion of my poor Country-men as well as quake for fear My inward parts are so wholly possessed and troubled with sorrow for them that my fearfull quavering lips will not suffer me to expresse it And though I live yet me thinks my bones are almost consumed with rottennesse while I labour to conceale my selfe-devouring feares and perplexities that I have within me And so much the rather because I must be still and silent for the day of their affliction For it seems the doom is now past no prayer can avert it when he shall rise up against thy poor People that shall bring his troupes of cruell Souldiers to prey upon them 17. To this most heavie but most just Sentence I humbly submit with this Prayer that they may endeavour as I shall to make sure for some inward solace when all outward helps and comforts shall be taken away For though the Figge-tree shall not flourish and give her wonted sweets nor the Vine-tree prosper and yeeld her comfortable wine though the Olive shall deceive our expectation of her fatnesse and the Corn-fields shall not continue the provision of their food to strengthen us though the Sheep shall be plundered out of their folds and the Oxen out of their stalls 18. Yet will I resolve to place my heart in the Lord and to rejoyce in the God of my Salvation 19. And it shall be my Prayer and my Hope that the Lord my God will be my strength and my safeguard supply me with Patience and Obedience and courage make my feet as nimble as Harts-feet and so conduct me chearfully in the way to those high places and Sanctuaries above were I shall be set out of the fear of all danger in everlasting blisse And as a testimony of my Joy and Solace in that I will take order with the chief Master of the Musick to have this Prayer set to my Instruments which may help to rouse up my spirits and my repose in God my Saviour A Paraphrastical EXPLICATION Of the PROPHESIE OF ZEPHANIAH CHAP. I. THe word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi the son of Gedaliah the son of Antariah the son of Hizkiah in the daies of Iosiah the son of Amon king of Iudah 2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land saith the Lord. 3 I will consume man and beast I will consume the fowles of the heaven and the fishes of the sea and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked and I will cut off man from off the land saith the Lord. 3 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Iudah and upon all the inhabitants of Ierusalem and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place and the name of the