Commentary on the Minor Prophets

CHAP. VIII.

Verse 1. THus hath the Lord God shown unto me, ] viz. in this fourth vision, whereby (for better assurance, and to shake them out of their desperate security) Israel's utter ruin is again foretold, by a lively type, which is here, 1. propounded; 2. expounded, verse 3, 5. that he may run that readeth it, and none may fall, but with open eyes.

And behold a basket ] made up haply in the form of a dog, as the word Calub seemeth to import.

of Summer-fruits, ] Heb. of Summer; that is, of that which the summer affordeth: toward the end of it especially, when fruits ripen, and even fall into the hand of the gatherer. The summer itself hath its denomination from a root that signifieth to awaken: because then the fruits and flowers, that seemed to be asleep all winter-long, do awake, as it were, and show themselves.

Verse 2. Amos, what seest thou? ] This the Lord asketh, to stir up attention and affection in the Prophet; who might haply need as much to be arroused, as Zacharias in like case did, chap. 4.1. with whom it fared as with a drowsy person, who though awaked and set to work, is ready to sleep at it.

and I said, A basket of Summer-fruit, ] Apples, saith Jerome, figs, say others: and why not as well grapes ripened in the Summer-sun-shine? Whereby the Holy Ghost in the Revelation, describeth such as are ready ripe for the wine-press of God's wrath? Nahum compareth them to stubble, laid out in the Sun a-drying, that it may burn the better, Nah. 1.10.

The end is come upon my people, ] An elegancy in the Original beyond Englishing: the Latin Interpreters have (some of them) assayed the like, but they fall far short of it. The Old Testament is full of such Agnominations: and God seemeth delighted with them. See Jer. 1.11, 12. & 48.2. & 47.43, 44. Lam. 3.47. Amos 5.5. Mic. 1.10, 14. Zeph. 2.4. Exod. 2.10. Gen. 3.20. & 4.1, 25. & 5.29. & 17.5. & 21.5, 6, &c. There is a pedantique style, and a majestic: an effeminate eloquence, and a manly. This latter is lawful, and may very well become the man of God; who yet must not wit-wanton it in weightiest matters; but shun those more gay and lighter flashes, and flourishes, wherewith the emptiest Celles affect to be most fraught: as they, who for want of wares in their shops, set up painted blocks to fill up vacant shelves, as One well expresseth it.

The end is come upon my people, ] Exitus & exitium. As the summer is the end of the year, and the time of ripening fruits: so, now that this people are ripe for ruin, An end is come, is come, is eome, it watcheth for them, behold it is come, Ezek. 7.6, 7. even the precise time and term of their final overthrow.

I will not again pass by them anymore. ] See chap. 7.8. God can pass by, that is, pardon his people better then any other, Mic. 7.18. (like as they that are born of God, and partake of the Divine nature, can bear wrongs best of any: compel them to go a mile, they'll be content, if it may do good, to go two: yea as far as the shoos of the preparation of the Gospel of peace will carry them.) But as the Saints of God may not be therefore injured (which was Julian's jeering cruelty) because they are meek: so must not God be presumed upon and provoked; because he is merciful. There is mercy with him, that he may be feared, saith the Psalmist: for abused mercy turneth into fury: and opportunities of grace are oft so headlong, that if once past, they are irrecoverable. Woe be to that people, or person, to whom God shall say, I will not again pass by you anymore.

Verse 3. And the songs of the temple shall be howlings, ] Heb. shall howl, shall be turned into the black-santis, as they call it, (cantus in planctum laetitia in lachrymas) such as I hate, chap. 5.23. and feel it grating mine ears, as an harmonia discors.

there shall be many dead bodies in every place. ] Either through pestilence, or sword. Others read it thus. In every place it shall be said, Proijce, sile, Out with them, Make no words: an earnest Aposiopesis (See chap. 6.10. with the Note.) q. d. Patiently acquiesce in the just judgment of so mighty a God. Or, throw these dead bodies into pits, and say nothing: lest we be sequestered as unclean by the law. It is no small misery to be under hard and heavy crosses, and yet to be forced to dissemble and suppress them; to bite in pain, and to digest grief, as horses do their choler, by biting on the bridle. I was dumb with silence, saith David, I held my peace even from good, that is, from just defense, but my sorrow was stirred thereby; my sore was exulcerate, renewed, (as the Greek there saith) and increased, Psal. 39.2. Give sorrow a vent, and it will wear away.

Verse 4. Hear this, ye that swallow up the needy, ] that soop them up, as drink, (our word soop, seems to come of the Hebrew Shaaph ) that would make but a breakfast, nay but a bit of them: that would swallow them at once down their wide gullets, and do, for that purpose, pant and even faint, as well-nigh windlesse, after them, to devour them. Hence they are called, Man-eaters, Cannibals, Psal. 14.4. See chap. 2.7. with the Note.

even to make the poor of the land to fail. ] Heb. the meek of the land. Poverty should meeken and tame men's spirits: howbeit some are humbled, but not humble: low, but not lowly. Those that are both, are oft oppressed by the Great Ones of the earth: and even devoured, as the lesser fish are by the bigger. Ye have condemned and killed the just, saith St. James to the wicked rich men of his time, and he doth not resist you, chap. 5.6. He only committeth his cause to him that judgeth righteously, 1 Pet. 2.23. and indeed he need do no more then so: for God is the poor-man's king, as James the fifth of Scotland was termed for his charity: yea, he is the worlds refuge, Awlen Penaugh, as the great Turk vaingloriously styleth himself, and would have the world to take notice, that such poor people as lament to him, shall be relieved by him, although his ministers fail them, or abuse them, through their injustice, to make the poor of the land fail. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him, Psal. 12.5. Neither doth God say it only, (though that were sufficient) but swear it too in this chapter, yea in this text (the two next following verses are put in as by a parenthesis ) and these Cormorants are called upon to hear it, and not to pass it by with a deaf ear, tanquam monstra marina, as such kind of creatures use to do.

Verse 5. Saying, when will the New-moon be gone, &c.] O, what a weariness it is I and ye have snuffed at it, Mal. 1.13. See the Note there. This ye have said, or thought at least: and God knoweth the language of your hearts. He presseth upon no man; neither will he accept of that service that is pressed, out of people, as verjuice out of a crab. All his saints are free-hearted Psal. 110.3. all his soldiers volunteeres: they welcome the Sabbath, as that holy man did, who went forth to meet and salute it with Veni sponsa mea, Come my sweet spouse, I have dearly longed for thee. They also pass it over with singular delight, Isaiah. 58.13. walking into Christ's garden of spiritual duties, whereof there is so great variety for the good soul to breath itself in and not be sated: and then are taken into Christ's wine-cellar, and (after an holy manner) inebriated with divine consolations: such as the cock on the dunghill knows not, such as pass all carnal men's understanding. They find no more relish in holy days and duties, then they do in the white of an egg or in a dry chip: the work they do at such times, for fashion-sake or fear of law &c. is dead work, as the Apostle calleth it: they sit in the stocks when they are at prayers, and come out of the Church when the tedious sermon runs somewhat beyond the hour, as prisoners do out of a jayle &c. they cannot tell how to wear out the Sabbath, which therefore they wish over, and constantly violate either by corporal labor, or else (which is as bad, or worse) by spiritual idleness. Full ill would these men addere de profano ad sacrum, (as the Jews say we should do,) pronouncing those happy, that begin the Sabbath with those of Tiberias, and end it with those of Tsepphore (the former began it sooner then others, the later continued it longer. Full ill would they have liked our King Edgars law, that Sunday should be solemnized from Saturday nine of the clock till Monday morning. Full loath would these men be to beg David's office out of his hand, of being a door-keeper in God's house: that is, to be first in and last out. And what would they do to keep an everlasting Sabbath in heaven, that are so troubled, and even tired out with so short an attendance on the Lord's-day: not without a world of willful distractions, such as spoil and fly-blow their performances, so that they stink in the nostrils of the Almighty.

and the Sabbath ] Not the Sabbath of the seventh year (called Shemittah Remission Levite. 25.) as some would have it meant: but the weekly Sabbath, which the unrighteous Mammonists here cry out of, as if on that day the Sun proceeded a flower pace then on others; and they greatly grutcht lucellum suum Dei cultui cedere that God should be served, to their disadvantage. Their fingers therefore itch to be setting out corn: and they as dearly desire it as David did once to come and appear before the Lord. As He had his, when shall I come, by way of wish Psal. 42.3. so they had their When shall we fell corn? when shall we set forth wheat? Surely as David's soul longed sore to go forth unto Absalom 2 Sam. 13.39. so that he could have found in his heart, but for stark shame, to have gone himself and fetched him home: so was it with these gripple corn-masters, these frumenti corrasores & veluti corrosores Prov. 11.26. They had a good mind to have been doing on the New-moons and sabbaths, but that they were flatly forbidden by the law, made on purpose for these lawless and disobedient, 1 Tim. 1.9. these masterless monsters, these yokeless Belialists, to be to them as chains and shackles, to confine them (as Solomon's command did Shimei, that they may not leap over the pale after profit and pleasure, or if they do, they may die for it,) Isaiah 66.23. it is prophesied that, in the restitution of the church from one new-moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another (as oft as they come) without tire-somenesse, all flesh shall come to worship before the Lord, they shall call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, Isaiah. 58.13. be wrapped and ravished in spirit Rev. 1.10. be in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the holy Ghost all the day long, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Ignatius hath it. Sabbatize spiritually, rejoicing in divine meditations. This well practiced would take men off from the worlds tasteless fooleries (as his mouth will not water after homely provisions, that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance) It would also blessedly free them from those many foolish and hurtful lusts 1 Tim. 6.9. those heavy sorrows and self-created miseries, wherewith covetous caytiffes pierce them selves thorough, gall and gore-their own hearts and trouble their own houses verse. 10. taking no more rest, then if upon a rack, or bed of thorns.

making the Ephah small and the shekel great ] Selling by small measures, but for great rates: which was directly against the law Deut. 25.13, 14. and that golden Rule of right, the standard of equity, the royal law of liberty Mat. 7.12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets: this is the sum of what they have said, for duties of the second table.

and falsifying the balances by deceit ] Heb. preverting the balances of deceit, that is (by a metonymy as Job. 22.6.) making those that were right, deceitful. See Prov. 20.10, 23. with the Notes there. Such falsifiers are counted no better then Canaanites Hos. 12.7. and shall have small joy of their cursed hoards of evil gotten goods.

Verse 6. That we may buy the poor for silver &c. ] Thus the poor always pay for it: the modest and mild poor, especially as ver. 4. Hence Poor and afflicted are put for one and the same Zeph. 3.12. and to want, and to be abased Philip. 4.12. they that want shall be sure to be abased and abused by the wretched rich, who will ever go over the hedge where it is lowest, and catch the poor by drawing him into the nets Psal. 10.9. that is into their debts, bonds, and mortgages, and at length making such their bondmen, by abuse of that permission Lev. 25.39. See chap. 2.3.

yea and sell the refuse of the wheat ] Quisquilias, the husks, more fit for pigs or poultrey; hardly man's meat, and yet held good enough for the poor: although their flesh was as the flesh of their brethren, and their children, as their children Neh. 5.5. however they used them. How far were these rich wretches from considering the poor as David's blessed man Psal. 41.1. and as Dr. Taylor the Martyr did; whose custom was once in a fortnight at least to go to poor men's houses, look into their cupboards, see how they fared, and what they lacked: that he might either make or procure them a supply from such as were better able?

Verse 7. The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob ] i. e. by himself the matter of Jacob's chief boasting, there being no God like unto their God (their enemies themselves being judges Deut. 32.31.) neither any nation so great as to have God so nigh unto them as Israel had, in all things that they called upon him for, Deut. 4.7. So that this oath of God grates upon their Ingratitude for such imparallel privileges, and it is uttered in great wrath, as appeareth by the following angry Aposiopesis (wherein the Apodosis is not set down but understood.)

If I ever forget any of their works ] forget to punish them. These oaths cum reticentia are very dreadful. Take heed lest by stubbornness we provoke God to swear in his wrath that we shall not enter into his nest. Take heed lest a promise of entering being left us, and a profer made us, we should seem to come short of it, to come lag or late, a day after the fair, an hour after the feast. God is now more quick and peremptory then ever in rejecting men that neglect so great salvation Heb. 2.3. the time is shorter, he will not wait so long as he was wont to do. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: he that believeth not, shall be damned. Surely God will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will he make in the earth. The time is short, saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.29. a metaphor (say some) from a piece of cloth rolled up, only a little left at the end. Let us therefore fear (as the same Apostle inferreth upon the consideration of God's oath Heb. 3.18. with 4.1.) and let our fear not weaken but waken our diligence in well-doing, lest he swear and repent not, lest be come to a resolution and decree (God's oath is nothing else but his inviolable and invariable decree) to cast us off, as he did Saul, for his willful disobedience 1 Sam. 15. Saul lived long after his utter rejection, and men could see no alteration in his outward condition: but God had sworn, as here, never to forget any of his works. Now saith Samuel to him (and it is fearful) the Eternity of Israel (the Excellency of Jacob ) will not lie, nor repent: for he is not a man that he should repent. Do not think this a case that seldom comes: it is done every day upon some or other, saith a great Divine: but woe be to that man upon whom it is done: it had been much better for him that he had not been born, Mat. 26.24. Oh consider this all ye that forget God. lest he swear by his excellency, Surely I will never forget any of your works.

Verse 8. Shall not the land tremble for this? ] q. d. So great are the oppressions here exercised, that the very axletree of the earth is even ready to crack under them. Amaziah, that hedge-priest of Bethel, had said of our Prophet, that the land was not able to bear all his words, chap. 7.10. but Amoz more truly affirmeth, that the land trembled under their many and mighty sins, and could bear them no longer: the earth-quake fell out about this time Am. 1.1. and it was a just wonder, that the earth had not opened her wide mouth, and swallowed them all up quick into hell as Numb. 16.31, 32. and as it did a great part of the city of Antioch Anno. 527. for their horrible heresies and blasphemies there held and broached by her bishops.

and everyone mourn ] i. e. smart, till they mourn. National sins bring national plagues. The Hebrews hold that there is not a worse sin then Oppression: St. James saith, that it it cries to heaven, and entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Jam. 5.4. who will not fa • le to hear, for the is gracious Exod. 22.

and it shall rise up wholly as a slood ] i. e. The land shall rise up, shall seem to do so, when it is sloated and over-covered with water: as the sluggards field is said to rise up or ascend with thorns, that is to be overgrown therewith. Here then is threatened an overflowing scourge, an universal destruction covering the face of the country, as Nile doth a great part of the land of Egypt every year, leaving much mud behind it: whereof see Pliny and other Authors. Mercer thinks the words would be best read by interrogation, as the former, thus, and shall it not rise up wholly as a flood? q. d. shall it not be turned into a large lake, as once Sodom and her sisters were for like cruelties to the poor? Ezech. 16.

Verse 9. And it shall come to pass in that day &c. ] Here the Lord threateneth (saith Mr. Diodate ) to encumber the land with horrible and mournful calamities, when it shall be least thought of. Earthquakes, inundations, sudden and dreadful darknesses are sure effects and signs of God's heavy displeasure against men's sins Psal. 18.8, 12. Mat. 24. Luk. 21. Jocl. 2.10. as Another noteth. See a like text, Jer. 15.8, 9. and promise contrary to this threat Job. 18.5, 6.

I will cause the sun to go down at noon ] A sudden change, as was at Sodom: the Sun was fair risen upon it that very day that it was destroyed in, Gen. 19.23, 24. as at Babylon, when surprised by Cyrus, they could not at first believe their own calamity: as it was with Jerusalem often, and shall be with Rome Rev. 18.7, 8. She saith in her heart, I shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine &c. to confute their fond conceit of an eternal Empire. For when they shall say Peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape, 1 Thes. 5.3. Philosophers say, that before a snow, the weather will be warmish: when the wind lies, the great rain falls: and the fair weather made before him, till the instant that he was drowned in the sea. Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, and other tyrants were smitten in the height of their pride, and ruffe of their jollity. Jerusalem had three years great plenty before her last destruction, of which some interpret this Text. Those seven once flourishing Churches of Asia, how glorious and resplendent were they till they had sinned away their light? The same might be said of many others: and who knows how soon it may be said also of us? who knows whether we be not even now, upon the very Tropikes and turning-points of time? Surely God's patience towards us quo diuturnior eo minacior, the longer it lasteth the more evil is toward us, if we abuse it. If in a land of light we love darkness better then light, we may soon have enough of it. Solem in Britannia non occidere nec resurgere retulii Tacitus. Tacitus telleth us that at some time of the year, the Sun seemeth neither to rise nor fall in this country: but so lightly to pass from us in the night, that you can scarce discern day from night. Of England for this many years it may be said, as Solinus doth of the Rhodes, that it is semper in Sole sita ever in the Sun. How long it shall be so, He alone knows that knows all. Walk whiles ye have the light: and pray that God would discloud these gloomy days with the beams of his mercy, and not cause our Sun to go down at noon, nor our land to be darkened in the clear day. Oh stop this Sun of righteousness posting (as it may seem) from us (when the blind man cried lustily, Jesus though journeying stood still) stay him by your importunities, as those two did at Emmaus and say,

Verse 10. And I will turn your feasts into mourning ] Whether your idolatrous feasts and temple-music whereby you vainly conceit to be secured from danger, saying, Is not the Lord amongst us? what evil can come unto us. Or your common feasts, whereat you have songs to cheer you up, and so to put sorrow from your hearts, and evil from your flesh, nourishing yourselves as in a day of slaughter, or good cheer Jam. 5.5. All shall be turned into mourning, funeral mourning, see ver. 3.

and I will bring up sack-cloth upon all loins ] for a token of your great grief, as the custom then was, and is still for mourning-weeds. The Hebew word sack is the same in almost all languages: which showeth that the Hebrew is the mother of all the rest, saith Mercer.

and baldness upon every head ] you shall pull off your hair for grief; Or, because they had learned of the Heathens their neighbors, in token of lamentation, to shave their heads Ezech. 7.18. Jer. 48.37. and beards too Isa. 15.2. which yet was forbidden them to do, Lev. 19.27. and 21, 9. unless it were to show their sorrow for sin Esa. 22.12.

and I will make it as the mourning of an only son ] which was very bitter Jer. 6.26. Zech. 12.10. The loss of a loving yoke fellow is more grievous then that of a son: but to father and mother together nothing more bitter then luctuosa foecunditas ( Laeta 's case in Jerome) to bury many children, and especially to bury all in One.

and the end thereof as a bitter day ] Thereof, that is, either of that land, or of that lamentation, there shall be bitterness in the end. So the Poet

Verse 11. Behold the days come ] Behold it; for it is a just wonder: the Lord createth a new thing in the earth, when Israel should want the word; Israel to whom were committed the oracles of God, Israel to whom God had spoken by the mouth of his holy Prophets, which had been since the world began, in a sweet succession: See my True treasure pag. 3.4. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts and monuments to the children of Israel. Yet even these who had the cornu-copia of God's word shall now suffer a famine of it: they shall have cause to • ry out, We see not our signs, there is no more any Prophet, neither is there amongst us any that knoweth how long, Psal. 74.9. the word of God shall be precious, and they shall be hard put toit to come by it; Amaziah and his complices shall not need to pack away the Prophets, as chap. 7.12. and to bid them go preach elsewhere: the law shall be no more, the Prophets also shall find no vision from the Lord Lam. 2.9.

that I will send a famine in the land ] Heb. I will let it out (sc. out of my treasury of plagues where I have it ready, and desirous to be a broad) and turn it loose, which before I kept up, as a wild beast, that it might not hurt nor destroy in all mine holy mountain: now it shall out amongst you, and the devil with it, Rev. 12.12. with hell at the heels of it.

not a famine of bread ] though that's very grievous, Lam. 1.11, 19. and 2.12, 20. and 4.4, 9. and 5.16. and puts people to many hard straits and extremities (as were easy to instance) even to the eating of one another.

nor a thirst for water ] a torment more intolerable then the former. Lysimachus to save his life parted with his kingdom for a draught of water.

But of hearing the word of the Lord, ] which is pabulum animae the souls proper food, such as she cannot live without: but when God seeth his oracles vilipended and lying under the table, 'tis just with him to call to the enemy to take away. It was so with those seven churches of Asia among many others; as also with those of Africa that vast Continent (thrice as large as Europe ) in all which there is not any region entirely possessed by Christians, but the kingdom of Habassia: for as for the large region of Nubia, which had from the Apostles time (as 'tis thought) professed the Christian faith, it hath again above an hundred years since forsaken it, and embraced instead of it, partly Mahumetanisme, and partly Idolatry; and that by the most miserable occasion that might be, viz. famine of the word of God, for lack of Ministers. For, as Alvarez hath recorded, at his being at the king of Habassia's court, there were Ambassadors out of Nubia, to entreat him for a supply of ministers to instruct their nation, and to repair Christianity, gone to ruin amongst them; but they were rejected.

Verse 12. And they shall wander from sea to sea, ] Trouble themselves to no purpose, take pains (as Esau did for venison, but lost his labor) run to all coasts and quarters to seek the word of the Lord.

and shall not find it ] And why, they despised it when it was in their power; they rejected the counsel of God against themselves with those Lawyers, Luk. 7.30. He would have gathered them, but they would not be gathered; he would have purged them, but they would not be purged; Ezek. 24.13, 14. they are therefore miserable by their own election: as Saul was, who slighted Samuel whiles he was alive, and would have been full glad of his counsel when he was dead. He that would not once worship God in Samuel, worships at length Samuel in Satan; and no marvel. Satan was now become his refuge, and preacheth his funeral: his Urim now was darkness, his Prophet a ghost: O woeful condition. But what should a parent do when the child loathes and spils his victuals? snatch it from him, and lay it out of his reach. Samaria felt this worser famine, when carried captive especially: so did Jerusalem, after Malachi, whose prophecy the Jews fitly call Chathimath Chazon the sealing up of vision. Bath Chol, or the Echo from heaven they had now and then after this time, Mat. 2.17. Joh. 12.28 they had also the writings of Moses, and the Prophets interpreted after a sort by the Scribes and Pharisees, whom (whiles they sat close in Moses chair, and kept it warm) men were bound to to hear, Mat. 23.2, 3. which because Dives did not, he suffered hunger and thirst in hell forever, Luk. 16.24. And had he been granted the liberty of hearing again upon earth but one more sermon, how far would not he gladly have gone for it? and how, as for life, would he have listened to it? But this could not possibly be, for out of hell there is no redemption, Psal. 49.8, 9. and when the night of death once comes, men can work no more. Night is a time not of doing work, but of receiving wages; up therefore and be doing, whiles it is yet day, Joh. 12.35, 36. seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Isaiah 55.6. seek him seasonably, seek him seriously: Then shall ye seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart, Jer. 29.13. That was a dismal doom that our Savior passed upon those stiff-necked Jews and uncircumcised in heart and ears, (as Saint Steven rightly stiles them, Act. 7.51.) that were as good at resisting the Holy-Ghost as ever their fathers had been before them. Ye shall seek me, and yet shall die in your sins: whither I go ye cannot come, Joh. 8.21. Ye shall wander up and down for meat, making a noise like an hungry dog, and grudge that ye be not satisfied, Psal. 59.14, 15. Do not the miserable Jews do so all the world over to this day, expecting their Messias? quem tantis ululatibus exposcunt, throwing open their windows to behold him, and praying for the rebuilding of their Temple thus, Templum tuum brevi, valde cito, valde cito, in diebus nostris citissime, nunc aedisica templum tuum brevi, &c. Merciful God, great God, bountiful God, beautiful God, sweet God, mighty God, thou God of the Jews, now build thy Temple, do it shortly, suddenly, quickly, very quickly, very quickly, very quickly, even in our days, now, this day before the next, &c. Ah poor creatures! they would not, when time was, know in that their day the things which belonged to their peace; therefore to this day they are hid from their eyes, and wrath is come upon them to the utmost. Alterius perditio tua sit cautio, Let their harms be our warning, not to stand out the day of grace, not to surfeit of the word, lest we suffer a famine of it; not to retain the snuffes of our sins, lest they dim our candlestick: a removal whereof, except we repent, may be as certainly foreseen and foretold, as if visions and letters were sent us from heaven, as once to Ephesus telling them so, Rev. 2.5. And indeed it hath been the opinion, and is still the fear of some not unconsiderable Divines, that Antichrist, before his abolition, shall once again overflow the whole face of the West, and suppress the whole protestant Churches. Now if ever this come to pass, (as justly we may fear it will) what may we thank but our detestable lukewarmness and loathing of the heavenly Manna, our not receiving the love of the truth, that we might be saved? for which cause if God shall send us strong delusions, even the efficacy of error, that we should believe a lie, that being infatuated we should be seduced, and being seduced be damned, as Austin glosseth that text, whom can we blame for it?

Verse 13. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst, ] When God depriveth a people of his Ordinances, and so withdraweth his gracious presence from them, what wonder though temporal judgments come rushing in as by a sluice? Persecute and take him, (said David's enemies) for God hath forsaken him, and there is none to deliver him, Psal. 71.11. The Philistines are upon me, saith Saul, for God hath forsaken me. Behold, I am cast out from thy presence, said Cain (that is, from my fathers house where thine ordinances are administered) and therefore everyone that findeth me shall slay me, Gen. 4.14. In that day of the want of the word, in the day of spiritual famine and thirst, behold aliud ex alio malum, another thirst shall seise upon the choicest and fairest; as flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes, when they are cold, and corrupt them.

Shall the fair virgins ] whom all men favor for their comeliness, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , beauty is of itself lovely and attractive, it needeth no letters of commendations: but God is no respecter of persons, and beauty abused is like a fair house with an ill inhabitant, said Diogenes: like a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, said Solomon, Prov. 11.22. Some are Helena's without, but Hecuba's within, painted sepulchers, Egyptian temples; like Aurelia Orestilla, of whom Salust saith, that she had nothing in her praise-worthy but her beauty: Fair she was and foolish, not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , beautiful and wise, as it is reported of Aspasia Cyrus his concubine. Now these fair maids, together with the choice young men, best able to endure thirst a long season,

shall faint for thirst, ] Heb. shall be over-covered with grief, shall be troubled and perplexed, shall faint and swoon, shall find by experience that all flesh is grass, and the glory thereof as the flower of the field, that even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as Eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Esa. 40.30, 31.

Verse 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria ] i. e. by the calf set up at Bethel, not far from Samaria. This calf is called the sin or guilt of Samaria, to show the abomination of it; for which cause also Paul calls it sinful sin, Rom. 7.13. as not finding for it a worse Epithite: and Antichrist for like cause he calleth That man of sin, 2 Thess. 2, 3. to note him Merum scelus, saith Beza, merely made up of sin. Now to swear by this of Samaria, was to defy it: to swear by anything besides the true God, is to forsake him, Jer. 5.7. which is an hateful wickedness, Jer. 2.12, 13. as in Papists who familiarly swear by their He-Saints, and She-Saints; and so sacrilegiously transfer upon the creature that which pertaineth to God alone.

and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth, ] God only liveth, to speak properly, 1 Tim. 6.17. but to say that Dan's Deunculus lived, (being no better then a dumb and dead idol) and to sweat by the life of it, (as the Spaniards do now in the pride of their Monarchy, by the life of their king ) this is horrible impiety. As for that of Abigail to David, 1 Sam. 25.26. Now therefore my Lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, the former was an oath, the latter was not an oath, but an asseveration or obtestation only, conjoined with an oath.

and the manner of Beersheba liveth ] that is, the forms and rites of worshipping in Beersheba (another nest of idolatry, Chap. 5.5. and Hos. 10.13.) as the Chaldee paraphraseth it. Durand hath written the Romish Ritual, the way of worship used in that Synagogue of Satan: Mercer rendereth it, Vivet peregrinatio Beerseba, the way or passage of Beerseba liveth. Beerseba had an idol, and was the way to Dan and Bethel: hence this superstitious oath drawn out to the full length, By the sin of Samaria, by the god of Dan, and by the manner of Beersheba: like as the great Turk Mahomet promising his soldiers the spoil of Constantinople for three days together, if they could win it, for confirmation of his oath solemnly swore by the immortal God, and by the four hundred Prophets, by Mahomet, by his fathers soul, by his own children, and by the sword wherewith he was girt, faithfully to perform whatsoever he had to them in his proclamation promised.

even they shall fall and never rise up again ] Fall, fatally, ferally, irrecoverably, as old Eli did when his neck was broken, but first his heart. The ten tribes for their idolatry and contempt of the word never returned out of captivity. From the famine foretold what could follow but irreparable ruin, though for a time they might flourish, See Prov. 29.1. with the note. Of that spiritual famine let us be most impatient, and say as Luther did, I would not live in Paradise without the word: but with it I could make a shift to live in hell itself.

CHAP. IX.

Verse 1. I saw the Lord ] This Seer, Chap. 7.12. saw the Lord in a vision; for otherwise God is too subtle for sinew or sight to seize upon him. We cannot look upon the body of the Sun, neither can we see at all without the beams of it: so here,

standing upon the Altar ] Or, firmly set sc: to do execution upon that Altar, sc: that idolatrous Altar at Bethel fore-mentioned, and formerly threatened by another Prophet, 1 Kin. 13.1.2. The Rabbin's say, God was seen standing upon that Altar, as ready to sacrifice and slay the men of that age, whose idolatries and other impieties he could no longer bear with. And hence it is haply, that he is brought in standing; like as Act. 7.55. Jesus at Stevens death was seen standing at the right hand of God, where he is usually said to sit. Stat ut vindex, sedet ut judex.

And he said ] sc: to the Angel that stood by, Zeck. 3.7. or to the enemy commissionated by him, or to some other creature, for they are all his servants, Psal. 119.91. neither can he want a weapon to tame his rebels with.

smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake ] Smite with a courage, as Ezekiel. 9. Angels give no light blows. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled: And he shall cut down the thickest of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a Mighty one: that is, by an Angel shall he smite to the ground that mighty army which was like a thick wood, see Isaiah. 37.36. Psal. 78.25. and 89.6. So at our Savior's Resurrection, an Angel, in despite of the soldiers set to watch, rolled away the grave-stone, and sat upon it. And as a mighty man, when he sitteth down, shaketh the bench under him, so did He shake the earth: and for fear of him the Keepers did shake, and became as dead men, Mat. 28.2, 4. Down with this Idol-Temple, down with it, saith God here, even to the ground.

and cut them in the head, all of them ] cleave them down the middle, so that every post may be sure to fall, being divided from the top to the bottom: and let this act be a sign to them all of what I intend to do to their persons; as many of them as by this gate have entered into this Idol-Temple and Altar. A deep cut in the head is dangerous and deadly, Gen. 3.15. Psal. 68.22.

and I will slay the last of them ] I, by mine agents and instruments, as afore: for it is but one hand and many executioners, that God slays men with. Job could discern God's arrows in Satan's hand, and God's hand on the arms of the Sabaean robbers. The sword is bathed in heaven, before it is embrewed in men's blood, Isai. 34.5. The Lord killeth and maketh alive, saith holy Hannah, 1 Sam. 2.6.

He that fleeth of them shall not flee away. ] See chap. 2.14. with the Note, and say, Behold the severity of God.

Verse 2. Though they dig into hell, &c.] No starting-hole shall secure them from the wrath of God, and rage of the creature, set a work by him. Hell and destruction are before the Lord, Prov, 15.11. yea hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering, Job 25.6. He hath a sharp eye, and a long hand, to pull men out of their lurking-holes; as he did Adam out of the thicket, Manasseh from among the thorns, Jonah from the sides of the ship, the Duke of Buckingham in Rich. the thirds time, &c. Be sure, saith Moses, your sin will find you out, Num. 32.23. and God's hand will hale you to punishment.

Though they climb up to heaven, ] That is, (by an hyperbole ) to high and strong places: as the Babel-builders, the Benjamites that fled to the Rock Rimmon, and there abode four months, Judge. 20 47. the gibing Jebusites, that were so confident of their strong-hold of Zion, that they flouted David and his forces, 2 Sam. 5.8. the proud Prince of Tyre, and others.

thence will I bring them down ] From their loftiest tops of Pride and creature-confidence which God loves to confute and defeat: as I might instance in Nebuchadnezzar's, Xerxes, Haman, Sejanus, Bajaezet, that terror of the world, and (as he thought) superior to fortune, yet in an instant, with his state, in one battle overthrown into the bottom of misery and despair: and that in the midst of his great strength. The same end awaits the Pope and his hierarchy- ruet alto à culmine Roma, that Jupiter Capitolinus shall be one day unroosted by him, who casteth the wicked down to the ground Psal. 147.6.

Verse 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel ] In densis sylvis, inter spelaea ferarum, Lawfull enough it is in some cases to hides David did oft, and Elias, and Christ, and Paul, 2 Cor. 11.32. and Athanasius, and diverse other Saints. Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of hiding in evil times. But to hide from God, who searcheth Jerusalem with lights, and to whom the darkness and the light are both alike, Psal. 139.12. to whom obscura clarent, muta respondent, silentium confitetur, this is base, and bootless. Carmel shall not cover them, nor any other starting-hole secure them from divine justice. The poor Jews were pulled by the Romans out of privyes and other under-ground places, where they had hid themselvss, as Josephus writeth: and so were those Samaritans served by the Assyrians, who ferreted them out, and slaughtered them.

and though they be hid from my sight, ] as they think; but that cannot be: for He (like the Optick virtue in the eye) sees all, and is seen of none.

in the bottom of the sea, ] which, how deep and troublesome soever, is to God a Sea of glass like unto Crystal: corpus diaphanum, a pervious, clear, transparent body, such as he sees thorough, and hath the sole command of.

thence will I command the serpent. For there is that crooked serpent Leviathan, there are also creeping things innumerable, to arrest wicked men as rebels and traitors to the highest Majesty, and to drag them down to the bottom of hell. All elements, and creatures, shall draw upon them, as servants will do upon such as assault their Lord. Rebellisque facta est, quia homo numini, creatura homini, as Austin truly and trimly avoucheth.

Verse 4 And though they go into captivity, &c.] And so may hope the worst is over, (Surely the bitterness of death is past ) yet it shall prove otherwise: The hypocrites hope is as the giving up the ghost, saith Job, and that's but cold comfort: Or, as the spiders web, spun out of her own bowels; and, when the besom comes, swept to the muck-hill.

before their enemies, ] whose custom was to drrive their captives before them, Lam. 1.5. young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, Isaiah 20.4. Or, before their enemies, that is, before they are taken captive by the enemies, by a voluntary yeeldance, in hope of quarter for their lives. The Jews indeed had a promise from the Prophet Jeremy, chap. 21.9. That if they went out and fell to the Chaldeans that besieged them, they should have their lives for a prey, but the ten tribes had no such promise made them: They were strangers from the covenants, Ephes. 2.12. and therefore could look for no mercy. Loammi, and therefore Lo-ruhamah, Hos. 1. the Ark and the Mercy-seat were never sundered.

thence will I command the sword ] See Isaiah 13.15, 16. Jer. 9.10. and 43.11. Ezek. 14.17.

and I will set mine eyes upon them, ] Heb. eye, viz. the eye of my providence, that oculus irretortus, whereby I will look them to death, and take course that nothing shall go well with them: see a little below, verse. 8. Jer. 21.10. Psal. 34.16. In Tamerlanes eyes sat such a Majesty, as a man could hardly endure to behold: and many in talking with him became dumb. He held the East in such awe, as that he was commonly called, The wrath of God, and terror of the world. Augustus Caesar frowned to death, Cornelius Gallus: and so did Queen Elizabeth, Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor. God's enemies are sure to perish at the rebuke of his countenance, Psal. 80.16. and, if he but set his eyes upon them for evil, and not for good, all occurrences shall certainly work together for the worst unto them.

Verse 5. And the Lord God of Hosts is he, &c.] Here the Prophet proveth what he had said in the foregoing verses, by an argument drawn from the wonderful power of God, which profane persons are apt to question, that they may harden their hearts against his fear. Consider saith He, first, that He is the Lord God of Hosts, and (as the Rabbin's well observe) he hath the upper and lower troops ready pressed, as his horse and foot, to march against his enemies. Next, that he toucheth the land, as it were with his little finger, and it shall melt, like the fat of lambs before the fire: it shall crumble to crattle, molder away, and be moved, because he is wroth, Psal. 18.7. and shall men be unmoved? shall they be more insensible then the senseless earth? The people of Antioch, though many of them gave their hands for Chrysostom's banishment, yet terrified by an earthquake (which wrought in them an heart-quake, as it had done in the Gaoler, Acts 16.) they immediately sent for him again. But thirdly, the tremend power of God appears in this, that

The land shall rise up wholly like a flood, and it shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt, ] God can flote it, and flood it at his pleasure. See chap. 8.8. Water is naturally above the earth, as the garment above the body saith David: and would (but for the power and providence of God) prove as the shirt made for the murdering of Agamemnon, where the head had no issue out. Let God be seen herein, and men's hearts possessed with his holy fear: who can so easily pull up the sluices, let in the Sea upon them, and bury them all in one universal grave of waters. Fear ye not me, saith the Lord? will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it? This Aristotle admires, and David celebrates in his Physicks, (as One calleth that 104 Psalm ) verse 6.9. and all men should improve, to affright their consciences from provoking to anger so great a God.

Verse 6. It is he that buildeth his stories (or spheres ) in the heaven, ] Surgit hic oratio. The Prophet here riseth in his discourse: and as Chrysostom said of St. Paul, Tricubitalis est, & coelos transcendit; Low, though he were, and little, yet he gat up into the third heaven: so may we of Amos, though but a plain-spoken and illiterate heardsman, yet in setting forth the power of God, he mounts from earth to heaven, and shows himself to be Virum bonum, dicendi peritum, an exquisite Orator, according to Quintilians character. God this Great Architect, and public-workman, (as the Apostle after Plato, whom he seemeth to have read, calleth Him, Heb. 11.10) hath without tool or toil, Isaiah 40.28. built his stories in the heaven (which is three stories high, 2 Cor. 12.2.) wherein (as in a theater, or molten looking-glass, Job 37.18.) his Majesty most clearly shineth, chap. 4.13. and 5.8. See Psal. 104.3. every sphere and star twinkling at us, and as it were, beekning to us, to remember his omnipotency (whereof that rare Fabric is a notable work and witness) and not to think to escape his judgments, if we go on in sin. For although he be higher then the heavens, Job. 8.11. yet his eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men, Psal. 11.4. and verse 6. Upon the wicked He shall rain down snares, fire and brimstone, &c.

and hath founded his troop (or bundle ) in the earth, ] that is, the other three elements say some: the Sea, which together with the earth maketh one Globe, say others: the Universe (saith Mr. Diodate ) which is like the fabric of a building: of which the earth being the lower part, and only immovable, hath some resemblance of a foundation.

He that calleth for the waters of the Sea, and poureth them out, &c. ] See the Note on chap. 5.8.

Verse 7. Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, ] The emphasis lieth in this last word, Unto me, who am no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. ) Unto yourselves indeed you seem some great business, because Israelites; to whom pertaineth the Adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, &c. Rom, 9.4. To others also you seem a great nation, yea a wise and understanding people, as having God so nigh unto you, and so set for you, Deut. 4.6, 7. and 33.29. But tell me, Quis te discrevit? Who made you to differ? and what have ye more then others, that ye have not me to thank for? You look upon the Ethiopians with scorn, as an ignoble and servile people: as likewise upon the uncircumcised Philistines, and unhallowed Syrians. But wherein are you beyond them, if you look back to your Original, and consider my dealings with them and you? It is nothing else but self-love that maketh you thus insolent; and teacheth you to turn the glass to see yourselves bigger, Others lesser then they are. You foolishly set up your Counter for a thousand pound; and are in some sense like those Ethiopians, or Negroes, so much slighted by you; of whom it is said that they paint the devil white, as being a color contrary to their own. But much more to blame are you, that being God's peculiar people, and partakers of so great privileges, you do no more change your evil manners, then the Ethiopians do their black-hue Jer. 13.23. you are nowhere white but in your teeth, as they: good a little from the teeth outward. I am near in your mouths, but far from your reins, Jer. 12.2. Such an one was that stigmaticall Cush the son of Iemini mentioned in the title of the seventh Psalm, (perhaps Saul the son of Kish the Beniamite is intended) non tam cute quàm cord Aethiopicus, of black and ill conditions: and therefore to God no better then an Ethiopian, or any other Pagan people.

have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt ] q. d. I grant I have; and you glory very much in it: whereas you should rather glorify me much for it, and walk worthy of such a deliverance; for every blessing is a binder, and every new deliverance a new tie to obedience. But what singular thing have I herein done for you more then for Philistines and Syrians, whom yet you look upon as dogs and outcasts?

have not I also brought up the Philistines from Caphtor, ] i. e. from Cappadocia (called an Island Ier. 47. because it bordered upon the sea) or, as some will have it from Cyprus, a rich Island, called therefore Macariah, that is, Blessed.

and the Syrians from Kir ] Syros e Kiro, from Cyrene a country of Asia, as Beroaldus thinketh. It is mentioned Esa. 22.6. as subject to the king of Assyria: and thither the Syrians were translated by Tiglath-Pileser 2 King. 16.9. but when either these or the Philistines were brought back again to their own countries, we read not in scripture, or elsewhere at this day. These are ancient things, (as it is said in another case) and are here alleged as well known to the Israelites, who are nipped on the crown as they say, and pulled from that perilous pinnacle of self-exaltation, whereupon they had unhappily peirked themselves.

Verse 8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom ] Be it Ethiopia, Palestine, Syria, or Israel, but especially Israel Amos 3.2. not his eye only his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 his jealous eye (as ver. 4. for evil, and not for good: but both his eyes, yea his seven eyes, for he is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 All eye, to look through and through the sinful kingdom, to judge and punish, to inflict tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first, because of his privileges, and also of the Gentile Rom. 2.9. The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond Jer. 17.1. and Israel is therefore worse then others because he ought to have been better. His whole kingdom is a kingdom of sin, a merum scelus, a very Poneropolis, as that place in Thracia was called, whither Philip had assembled all the infamous persons and men of evil demeanour. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? Mic. 1.5. their capital sins were most in their capital cities; and thence overflowed the whole kingdom: called therefore here a sinful kingdom, wholly given to Idolatry (as Athens was Act. 17.16.) which is that sin with an accent, that wickedness with a witness, Exod. 32.21. 1 King. 12.30. and 15, 3, 30. that land-desolating sin. Jer. 22.7, 8, 9. Psal. 78.58, 59, 62.

and I will destroy it ] See here the venomous nature of sin, and shun it, else we shall prove traitors to the state, and have our hands if not upon the great cartropes, yet upon the lesser cords, that draw down vengeance upon the land. And here someone sinner may destroy much good Eccle. 9.17. how much more a rabble of rebbels, conspiring to provoke the eyes of God's glory?

saying that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob ] A remnant shall be left for royal use, reliquas faciam reliquias, and so make a manifest difference, remembering my promise Lev. 26.40. which is a special text touching the rejection and conversion of the Jews, as is also this in some men's judgments. For here (say they) is a threatening of extreme desolation with some comfort enterlaced of a remnant to be reserved: amongst whom it is further promised 1. that the kingdom of David thorough Christ shall be set up as glorious as ever it was before, in the most flourishing times of David or Solomon ver. 11.2. Next, other nations shall join with them and be made partakers of one common inheritance ver. 12. So doth James Act. 15.16, 17. expound it. 3. Thirdly there is promised the fruitfulness of their land ver. 13. the inhabiting in their own country, ver. 14. and the perpetuity of their abode there, ver. 15. But all this others think to be, optabile magis quàm opinabile, little better then a golden dream.

Verse 9. For lo I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel ] It is not without God's command and good leave that evil spirits and men can sift the saints, as Satan desired to have done Peter. He desired it, as a challenger desireth one of the other side to combat with: so he begged leave to sift Job, and so he tempted David to number the people, but it was by God's permission. Up therefore and pray that ye enter not into temptation Luk. 22.31, 46. or that ye may come clear out of it, and more then conquerors, even Triumphers: the enemy is stinted: yea Christ will tread him under your feet shortly.

and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations ] The ten tribes among the Assyrians (who were Emperors of the whole East) and whither since they are scattered, whether into Shina, Tartary, West-Indies, or other countries, is not known. The whole twelve-tribes (those also that once instantly served God day and night Act. 26.7.) are now woefully disjected and dissipated: being cast out of the world, as it were, by a common consent of Nations, and generally slighted and hated. The Romans permitted other nations to call themselves Romans, after they had conquered them: but so they would not suffer the Jews upon any terms to do: lest there should be some blot stick to the glory of the Romans by that odious and sordid people. The Pope useth them as sponges, the Turk as slaves, &c.

like as corn is sifted in a sieve ] Or, by a fann; to the same sense as that Zach. 13.9. for as here a sieve, so there fire serveth to denote Affliction with the use of it: sc. to purge God's people, specially of those two troublesome choke-weeds, High-mindedness and Earthly mindedness, Cribratione Dei non perditur sed purgatur frumentum, saith Zanchi, God's good corn is not lost, but made clean by the sifting they suffer.

yet shall not the least grain (Heb: stone ) fall upon the earth ] As the chaf and dust shall: for what is the chaf to the wheat? saith the lord, Improbi nobiscum esse possunt in horreo, sed non in area. Christ hath his fan in his hand, and will surely discriminate: he will take out the precious from the vile, he will drive the chaff one way and the wheat another: and take care that not the least grain of weighty wheat, that had good tack in it, (as a stone hath, though but a little stone ) shall be lost. He will turn his hand upon the little ones, and secure them Zech. 13.7.

Verse 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword ] The flagitious, presumptuous persons, that bless themselves when I curse them, saying, We shall have peace though we walk every man in the imagination of his heart, and take his full swinge in sin. Such sinners in Zion Esa. 33.14. such sacrificing Sodomites Esa. 1.10. such profligate Professors shall die by the sword: either by the hand of the enemy, or which is worse, gladio spiritali saith Mercer, by the spiritual sword, being blinded and rejected by God; so that their preservation is but a reservation to a greater mischief. Whereas, on the other side, some of God's elect might in a common calamity perish by the sword, but then (Josiah-like) they died in peace, though they fell in battle: their death was right precious in the sight of the Lord, and a plentiful amends made them in heaven.

which say, the evil shall not overtake nor prevent us ] Or, for our sakes, by our default. If affliction do find us out, yet we have not deserved it: common occurrences we cannot be against. Thus the wicked man flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful Psa. 36.2. In all my labors they shall find none iniquity in me: that were sin Hos. 12.8. Yet thou sayst, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me: behold I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned Jer. 2.35.

Ver. 11. In that day will I raise up the Tabernacle of David] A most sweet conclusion of the Prophesy by sundry Evangelical promises after so many very severe and sharp menaces: the Sun of righteousness liketh not to set in a cloud. In that day, that happy day whensoever it shall dawn, that Christ shall come: for the Prophets knew not the certain time when, but made diligent enquiry as far as they might with sobriety 1 Pet. 1.11. and well knew that the Law, which they preached and explained, was an introduction to a better hope Heb. 7.19. which they saw afar off and saluted Heb. 11.13.

will I raise up the Tabernacle of David] that is, the kingdom of the house of David saith the Chaldee Paraphrast: meaning, of the Messiah, whom the sounder sort of Rabbin's from this text call Ben Niphlei, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in: Now the Church is here called the Tabernacle of David, because that once stately Palace of David was by many desolations reduced to a tent, as it were, and that ready to drop too. The Branch grew out of the root of Jesse, when that goodly family was sunk so low, as from David the king to Joseph the carpenter. Besides, all was out of order both in Church and State, when Christ came.

and close up the breaches thereof ] Heb. wall up: by unwalling (as the Hebrew hath it Num. 24.17.) all the children of Seth: by subduing the sons of men, the godly seed to the obedience of faith: by bringing into captivity every haughty thought &c. 2 Cor. 10.4, 5. (that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow Philip. 2.10.) and getting a full conquest by the preaching of the gospel, which shall quickly close up all ruptures, and raise up all ruins, by chasing away terrors and false-worships, doctrines of devils, and traditions of men, whereby the Scribes and Pharisees had made the commandment of God of none effect.

and I will build it as in the days of old ] in those purer times of David and the other holy Patriarchs, who made up but one and the same Church with us, and were saved by the same faith in Christ Jesus, that Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, Rev, 13.8. Mine antiquity is Jesus Christ said Ignatius the Martyr. As we prefer the newest Philosophy, so the ancient'st Divinity, saith Another.

Verse 12. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, ] That they which are called by my name, which are called Christians, viz. the Apostles and their successors to the end of the world, may possess together with Christ (to whom the Father hath given the Heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession) the remnant of Edom; those few of them that receive the faith, who are but as a remnant to the whole piece, an handful to a houseful. And not of the Edomites only, those inveterate and hereditary enemies to the Israel of God; but of all the heathen which are called by name, who beseech and are baptized into Christ's name, being content to receive his mark, and to profess his Religion, which formerly they were perfect strangers to. These and those first Preachers of the Gospel, and Planters of Churches (being Israelites by birth) are said to possess by inheritance, because Christ was pleased to make use of their ministry; and upon these his white horses to ride abroad the world, conquering, and to conquer, Rev. 6.1, 2. In a like sense it is promised, Esa. 14.2. that the house of Israel shall possess their proselytes in the land of the Lord for servants and for handmaids, and take them captives whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors. Such a change shall the Gospel make.

saith the Lord that doth this ] For indeed none else could have done it. Effectual conversion is his work alone, God persuade Japheth, &c. Noah may speak persuasively, but God only can persuade. Rebecca may cook the venison, but Isaac only can give the blessing. Paul may plant, &c. Deus potest facere, nec solet fallere.

Verse 13. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman, &c. ] The Gospel of peace brings with it the peace of the Gospel, and with peace, plenty, with the horn of salvation the horn of plenty, a confluence of outward comforts and contentments, as in Solomon's days, and Constantine's, (whom God prospered and blessed beyond all that he could have wished, saith Austin ) and Q. Elizabeth's, whom, for her care to propagate the Gospel, He made to be the happiest woman that ever swayed scepter, as her very enemies were forced to acknowledge: so liberal a paymaster is the Lord, that all his retributions are more then bountiful; and this his servants have not ex largitate, sed ex promisso, out of his general providences, but by virtue of a promise, which is far sweeter. The Masorites have observed, that in this verse are found all the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet (as also in 26 more verses of the Old Testament) to note, say the Calvinists, that in the kingdom of the Messiah, there shall be great abundance of all things, & plenum copiae cornu: or, if that should fail, yet plenty of all spiritual benedictions in heavenly things, Eph. 1.3. and contented godliness, 1 Tim. 6.6. which hath an autarkie, a self-sufficiency; so that having nothing a man possesseth all things, 2 Cor. 6.10. This the Prophet expresseth in the following words by many excellent hyperbole's though (to say sooth) Christus & regnum ejus non patiuntur hyperbolen. All words are too weak to set forth the worth of Christ and his kingdom.

the plowman shall overtake the reaper ] In signis hyperbole, saith Mercer: no sooner shall harvest be ended, but seeding shall succeed, and that promise fulfilled, Levite. 26.5. all businesses belonging to the tillage of the ground, and the inning of the fruit, shall have their fit and suitable seasons; where, under the name of corporal blessings spiritual also are to be understood: and indeed those blessings out of Zion are far beyond any other that come out of heaven and earth, Ps. 134.3.

and the treader of grapes, him that soweth seed ] precious seed, Ps. 126.5. sowing-seed (as one englisheth it) drawn out of the seed basket, and cast all along upon the land: the meaning is, that the vintage shall last so long, that the seeds-man shall scarce have time to do his business, for waiting upon the wine-press.

and the mountains shall drop sweet wine ] Or juice of pomegranates, more delicious liquor then that which the Italians profanely call Lachrymae Christi, or that which at Paris and Lovaine is called Vinum Theologicum, or Vinum Cos, that is, • oloris, odoris, saporis optimi, the best in the country for color, savor and taste, to please the palate.

and all the hills shall melt ] sc. with milk, honey, oil, as Joel. 3.18. the same almost with this. And the heathen Poet hath the like,

Ver. 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people ] There is an elegancy in the original that cannot be englished, and God seems delighted with such Agnominations, as hath been before observed: to show the lawful use of Rhetoric in divine discourses, so it be not affected, abused, Idolized. This promise is fulfilled when believers are by the gospel brought from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and be set free from the tyranny of corruption, and terror of death Heb. 2.14.15. Colos. 1.13. Luk. 1.74. Zach. 9.11. Psa. 68.19.

and they shall build the wast cities ] Restore the sincere service of God, as those noble Reformers did in all ages; fetching the Church, as it were, out of the wilderness, where she had long lain hid Rev. 12.6. and whence she is said at length to come leaning upon her Beloved Cant. 8.5.

and they shall plant vineyards ] That is, particular churches.

and drink the wine thereof ] Have the fruit and comfort of their labors in the Lord, which they shall see not to be in vain 1 Cor. 15.

they shall also make gardens, and eat of the fruit ] while they shall see their people to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, 2 Pet. 1.8. but far off flourishing, Psal. 92.13. actuosi & fructuosi Esa. 51.3. The Popish Commentatours (as it is the manner of many of them to mar and bemire the text with their absurd glosses) by cities here would have men to understand the state of married people, by vineyards their Prelates, and by gardens Monks. Is not this to wrest the scriptures, and so to set them on the rack, as to make them speak more then ever they intended? Is it not to compel them to go two miles when they are willing to go but one? Is it not to taw them, and gnaw them, as Tertullian saith that Marcion the heretic (that Mus Ponticus as he therefore calls him) did, to make them serviceable to his vile purposes?

Vers. 15. And I will plant them upon their land ] as trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified, Isaiah. 61.3, 11. being well rooted and no worse fruited, Philip. 1.6.

and they shall no more be pulled up ] None shall pull them out of Christ's hand; for he and the Father are one. None shall separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8. they shall be sure of continual supplies of sap and safety, being kept by the power of God thorough faith unto salvation, 2 Pet. 1.3. The paradise of God was so planted, that it was watered on all sides with most noble rivers, to keep it flourishing: how much more will the Lord do this in his heavenly garden the Church? See Psal. 92.13, 14. when it comes to be transplanted especially.

saith the Lord thy God ] Thy God, O Prophet, who will ratify and verify what promises soever thou hast uttered in his name. Or thy God, O people, now reconciled unto thee in Christ, John. 26.17. and therefore ready to heap upon thee all things needful for life and godliness.

CHAP. I.

Verse 1. N Ow the word of the Lord came ] Heb. And the word ] For with that particle And, the Hebrews sometimes begin a discourse, as Ezek. 1.1. Levite. 1.1. an elegancy proper to that tongue. Howbeit Hugo Cardinalis maketh this And, not an inceptive particle, but a copulative to many other things that were in the Prophets mind. Others conceive it to be continuative of some other history not now extant: or at least connexive of this history with the course of his ordinary calling, and Prophetike employment among the ten tribes, to whom he prophesied together with Hosea, Amos and others, but with little good success, in the reign of Jeroboam the second, a Prince more prosperous then pious. Jonah prophesied of his prosperity, and victories: whereof when no good use was made by the house of Israel; their calamity and captivity was likewise foretold by Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah: and hence some conclude, that Jonas was the first of all the Prophets, whose writings are extant: For he lived, say they, before the battle of Joash King of Israel with the Syrians, about the end of the life and prophes • e of Elisha, 2 King. 13.14, &c. and 14.25.

unto Jonah the son of Amittai, ] Jonah signifieth a Dove, but Jonah had too little of the dove in him: plenus enim fuit effraenatis mot • bus, saith One, as passionate a man of an honest man, as you have lightly heard of, saith Another. Whether he was that mad fellow (as those much more mad Captains called him, 2 King. 9.11.) that was sent to anoint Jehu, or else the widow of Sarepta's son, raised by Elijah, (as the Hebrews will have him to be) I have not to say. But that he was a servant of the Lord, we find, 2 King. 14.25. and a type of Christ, Mat. 12.40. concerning whom he prophesied, non tam sermon quam sua quadam passion, far more plainly, then if he had by voice foretold his death and resurrection. And whereas the Grandees and Potentates of the world get them a great name by the death and danger of many others; Jonas his omnibus superior est, saith an Interpreter, Jonah surpasseth them all in this, that by his sermon at Nineveh he preserved that great city, wherein were so many thousand persons, and so much cattle chap. 4.11. That he was called and sent thither by God, it appeareth by this text, and Oecolampadius observeth it. He was not, saith he, of them that run before they are sent; but being sent, he refused to run, because of the hardness of the task laid upon him as did likewise Moses and Jeremy, till better tutoured. There is less danger in refusing to run when sent, then in running unsent. But when God calleth a man to the ministry, let him not doubt or despond, though at first he find not so much encouragement. Magna semper fecerint, qui Deo vocante docuerunt, saith Luther. They have always done great things that have followed God's call, as did Jonas at Nineveh, and doth still in the Church of God: for among others, Cyprian that famous Martyr confesseth, that he was converted from idolatry and Necromancy, by hearing the history of the Prophet Jonas read and expounded to him by Cecilius, whom he thencesorth called novae vitae parentem, the father of his Christian life.

Verse 2. Arise, go to Nineveh ] Haec est vocatio Prophetae saith Oecolampadius: This was the Prophets call, which he should have obeyed without hucking or shucking delays or disputes, conferring, or consulting with flesh and blood Gal. 1.16. True it is, that in human governments, where reason is shut out, there tyranny is thrust in. As in the Papacy (where the whore sitteth upon them Rev. 17.1. that is, useth them vilely and basely; sitteth upon their consciences, as Rachel did upon her fathers images) though their superiors command the Friars a voyage to China or Peru, without dispute of delay they must presently set forward: to detract or disobey in this case is held breach of vow, equal to sacrilege: This is intolerable tyranny. But where God calleth or commandeth (as here,) to ask a reason, is presumption; to oppose reason, is rebellion. Paul durst not but be obedient to the heavenly vision Act. 26.19. Jonah declined his Apostleship (as a Father calleth it) but it had like to have cost him a choking: whereof when in danger, he could confess that They that observe lying vanityes (as he had done to his cost) forsake their own mercy, are miserable by their on election. As for the expression here used, Arise go, it is hortantis particula, & studium notat: it is an encouraging and exciting particle. Up and be doing. Be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, Rom. 12.12.

Nineveh that great city ] Built by Ninus, and by him so named: as Adrianople, Constantinople, Charles-town &c. A great city it was indeed, never any so great: as consisting of three cities, and having more people within the walls, then are now in someone kingdom, saith an Author. It was sixty miles about, saith Diodorus Siculus ( Bunting saith Alcaire at this day is no less: Paulus Venetus saith Quinsay in Tartary is an hundred miles in circuit, but we are not bound to believe him. It is enough that Cambalu the chief city there is 28. miles in compass) Nineveh was three days journey in Jonah 's days, fortified with a wall of an 100. foot high: and that also beautified, and beset with 1500. towers, each of them erected to the height of 200. foot. Thus far Diodorus: who also tells us that this great city received one ruin by the river Tigris, which at an innundation bra •• out upon the wall, and threw down twenty furlongs thereof. See Nah. 1.9. Its la • t destruction was undertaken and ended by Nebuchadnezzar, as the Jews in their Chronology testify. Herodotus saith, by Cyaxares, not by Astyages, as Jerome mistaketh him. If Sardanapalus were king of Nineveh, when Jonas cried against it (as Corn. à Lapide contendeth) it was much that such an egregious voluptuary should so soon be wrought upon, as chap. 3. But He and his people soon relapsed to their former impiety; and were therefore destroyed, as Nahum had foretold: So that it may now be said of Nineveh as once it was of another great city in Strabo, magna civitas, magna solitudo. That great city is become a great desert. See Zeph. 2.15, It is nothing now but a sepulcher of itself, a little town of small Trade, where Nestorius his sectaries have taken their shelter, at the devotion of the Turk. It is become like that other Nineveh mentioned by Eusebius quae est parvum quoddam in angulo Arabico oppidum, which is a certain little town in a corner of Arabia.

and cry against it ] Cry aloud with open mouth, and full throat, sic clames, ut Stentora vincere possis. The voice said Cry: but what should he cry? Cry that their wickedness is come up before me (so some) but that's not all: Cry, as chap. 3.5. Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed, for their wickedness is come &c. their iniquity will be their ruin: tell them so from me Esa. 31.10.11.

their wickedness is come up before me ] Their pride, cruelty and other many and bony sins, as Amos hath it. Of their idolatry we read not, and yet we doubt not: they declared their sins as Sodom Es. 10.9. they set them upon the cliffs of the rocks Ezek. 8. they did wickedly as they could, and filled not only the earth with their abominations, but the heaven also with the noise and stench thereof, to the annoying of God's senses, and the vexing of his soul; more then any filthy drunkard doth those that are sober, with his hooting and spewing. See Gen. 4.10, and 18, 20. Rev. 18.5. with the Notes.

Verse 3. But Jonah rose up to flee &c. ] i. e. He made hast (more hast then good speed) to disobey God. Homo est inversus decalogus. The natural man standeth acrosse to the will of God: being abominable, disobedient, and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16. Jonas was a spiritual man; and should have discerned all things 1 Cor. 2.15. But this spiritual man was mad Hos. 9.7. (as they that are cured of a frensy, will yet have their freakes, and frantic tricks sometimes) he cast off the yoke, and turned, for the time, runagate from the Lord; who met him at half-turn, and brought him back again, though by weeping-cross. Of the black-birds dung is made the lime whereby he is taken: so here. They that would excuse Jonas, and say that he sinned not, Dei scriptis injuriam faciunt, saith Luther, they wrong the scriptures. The best have their infirmities: as the snow-like swan hath black legs: and as no pomegranate is without some rotten grains. David saw such volumes of corruptions, and so many Errata 's in all that he did, that he cries out, Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults, Psal. 19.12.

to flee unto Tarshish ] Tarsus in Silicia, St. Paul's country Act. 21.39. and 23.3. rather then the city Tunis in Afric, as Vatablus will have it, or the East-Indies, as others. Tarshish sometimes signifieth the main Ocean, as Psal. 48.8. (whence some take it here for the sea) but that may be by a metonymy of the adjunct: because Tarsus stood upon the Ocean-shore, and was a fit haven whence to hoise up sails into sundry countries.

from the presence of the Lord ] Ab ante Domini from the special and spiritual presence of God wherein he had hitherto stood and ministered. For from God's general presence (whereby he filleth all places) and is not far from any one of us Act. 17.27. (not so far surely, as the bark is from the tree, the skin from the flesh, or the flesh from the bones) Jonas knew he could not flee. Blind Nature saw and could say.

and went down to Joppa ] Heb. Iapho; a sea-town in the tribe of Dan. Josh. 19.46. distant about 50. miles from Geth-Hepher ( Jonas his town 2 King. 14.25.) which was in the tribe of Zebulon toward the lake of Tiberias. Sinners are no small pains-takers. There is the same Hebrew and Greek word for wickedness and toilesomenesse. Would sinners be at the same pains for heaven, that they are at for hell, they could not lightly miss of it.

and he found a ship going to Tarshish ] They that have a mind to commit sin, shall easily meet with an occasion: the Tempter, who feeleth their pulses and knoweth which way they beat, will soon fit them a pennyworth: He hath a wedge of gold to set before Achan, a Cozbi before Zimri. Indeed it is the just man's happiness, that no evil shall happen to him Prov. 12.21. that is (as Mercer interpreteth it) non parabitur ei; & dabitur occasio iniquitatis, God shall cut off from him the occasions of sin, remove stumbling-blocks out of his way; either not lead him into temptation, or not leave him in it.

so he paid the fare thereof ] Forsan ut citiùs navy solveret: perhaps to make the mariners hasten the more. Jonas might better have obeyed God and gone to Nineveh on free-cost. But wit is best when 'tis bought, they say. How many be there, who perish at their own charge; as Phocion the Athenian paid for the poison that dispatched him.

to go with them to Tarshish from the presence &c. ] i. e. out of God's blessing, into the worlds warm Sun. All willful sinners are runnagates from the Lord; factique sunt à cord suo fugitivi, saith Teritullian: fain they would also run (if they knew how, or whither) from their own consciences. But if they belong to God, Conscience shall be awakened to do its office: and they shall one day say with her, I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty, why then call ye me Naomi; call me Marah: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me Ruth 1.20, 21.

Verse 4. But the Lord sent out ] Heb. cast forth, sc. out of his treasuries Psal. 135.7. where-hence he sendeth at his pleasure mighty great winds which he (the only Aeolus ) holdeth in his fist, hideth in his repositories, checketh them as he seeth good, weighs them in his hand Job 28.25. sends them out as his Posts, makes them pace orderly, appoints them their motion, whether as messengers of mercy Num. 11.13. Gen. 8.1. Exod. 14.21. or as executioners of justice Exod. 10.13. Job 1.29. hurting men's houses, cattle, corn, persons: yea hurrying and hurling the wicked into hell Job 27.21.

a great wind into the sea ] whither they that go down in ships see God's great wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof &c. Psa. 107.23, 24, 25. &c. Did it not so in a marvelous manner here in 88. and again in that other 88. some few years since? Had not Jehoshaphat his ships broken at, Ezion-geber 1 King. 22.48. and Charles the fifth at Algeire by two terrible tempests, which destroyed almost all that goodly Fleet? The very mariners acknowledged this wind to be an effect of God's justice, and therefore thought fit to implore his mercy: for

there was a mighty tempest in the sea ] which is troublesome of itself and never still; though sometimes it seems so: but by blustering and big winds is made out of measure troublesome, such as was that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Luk. 8.23. and that Eur • clydon Act. 27.14. which Pliny calleth Navigantium, Pestem, the mariners misery.

so that the ship was like to be broken ] Heb. thought to be broken. Gr. was in danger to be broken: the mariners made no other reckoning: they looked upon all as lost. God reserveth his holy hand for a dead lift usually: and loveth to help those that are forsaken of their hopes.

Verse 5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his God ] Forced by the present necessity, first these stout fellows were surprised with fear: neither could they look pale death in the face with blood in their cheeks. Death is the king of terrors Job 18.14. Natures slaughter-man, God's curse and hells purveyour Next they cried every man to his God. This was a lesson of Dame Natures teaching, sc. that there is a God, and that this God is to be called upon, and especially in distress. Those fools of the people that said there was no God, could not (when hardly bestead) but look up to heaven and cry out for help. All people will walk everyone in the name of his God Mic. 4.5. These mariners or salt-men (so called, either because they dealt in that commodity, or else because they rowed in the salt sea) had their several gods, according to their several countries, and these they now called upon, whom till now perhaps they little enough cared for; sea-men aae not over-pious, for most part. And yet of the Turkish mariners I have read, that every morning they salute the Sun with their general shouts; and a Priest saying a kind of Litany, every prayer ending with Macree Kichoon that is, be Angels present: the people answer in manner of a shout Homin, that is Amen. But it is remarkable, that these in the text, though they cried every man to his God, yet, lest they might all mistake the true God, they awaken Jonah to call upon his God. This uncertainty, attending idolatry, caused the Heathens to close their petitions with that general Dijque Deaeque omnes. But (thirdly) as they cried to their gods, so (according to that rule Ora & labora. )

they cast forth the wares that were in the ship ] Not doubting to sacrifice their goods to the service of their lives. Skin for skin, and all that a man hath &c. so Act. 27.18 19, 38. Let us lose anything for eternal life Luk. 16.8. and 9.25. Mat. 18.8 suffer any hardship for heaven: we cannot buy it too dear. A stone will fall down to come to its own place, though it break itself in pieces by the way: so we, that we may get to our center, which is upward &c.

but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship ] Into the bottom of it, bither he had betaken himself before the storm; not considering that God had long hands to pull him out of his lurking-holes, and bring him to judgment.

and he lay and was fast asleep ] It's likely, that he had not slept of many nights before (through care, fear and grief, those three vultures that had been gnawing upon his inwards) and therefore now sleeps the more soundly. Or rather it was carnal security: his heart being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13. He had hardened his heart against God's fear, and willfully withdrawn from his obedience: hence this spiritual lethargy, this deep sleep in sin; not unlike that of the Smiths dog, whom neither the hammers above him, nor the sparks of fire falling round about him can awake: though the water-pot and spear be taken from the bolster, the secure person stirs not: though the house be on fire over his ears, he starts not. Their senselessness God will cure in his Jonas's, by sharp afflictions. Cold diseases must have hot and sharp remedies. The lethargy is best cured by a burning ague: God will let his presumptuous people see what it is to make wounds in their consciences, to try the preciousness of his balm: such may go mourning to their graves. And though with much ado they get assurance of pardon, yet their consciences will be still trembling as David's Psa. 51. till God speak further peace, even as the water of the sea after a storm is not presently still: but moves and trembles a good while after the storm is over.

Verse 6. So the ship-mas •• came unto him ] God might have come himself with his drawn sword, (as Baanah and Rechab did upon sleeping Ishbosheth ) and taken off his head: or have sent an evil Angel to arouse him in a fright: or have thrown him into the burning lake, as Agrippa did his dormouse into the boiling caldron. But such is not God's manner of dealing with his people, though he be deeply displeased. Correct them he will, but with judgment not in his anger, lest they be burnt to nothing. Instruct them also he will ( Corrections of instruction are the way of life Pro. 6.23.) by one means or other; as he did here Jonas by a rude mariner: and as long before he had done Abraham and Sarah by Abimelech an Heathen Prince, to shame them

what meanest thou O sleeper ] Heb. what's come to thee? what a senseless stupidity hath seised thee. Are we all in danger, and dost thou sleep? as the Philosopher (in danger likewise of shipwreck) said to one that made light of it, Do we all stand upon our lives, and dost thou play the fool? The spiritual sleeper, in like sort, may he be but warm in his own feathers, regards not the danger of the house. He is, saith One, a mere mute and cipher, a nullity in the world, a superfluity in the earth, Jeremiah's rotten girdle, good for nothing, or like the branches of a vine, Ezech. 15.3.

arise, call upon thy God ] For our gods will do nothing for us. The gods of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands: they have mouths but speak not, &c. Psal. 115.4. But if God's Israel trust in the Lord, he will be their help, and their shield, v. 9. Forasmuch as there is none like unto him, Ier. 10.6. neither is their Rock as our Rock, our enemies themselves being judges, Deut. 32.31.

if so be that God will think upon us, ] The Chaldee hath it, will be merciful unto us: The Hebrew word signifieth, will clear up, and behold us with a serene countenance; granting us a calm, and taking care that we perish not So shall we acknowledge him to be Haelohim, that God by an excellency. Q. Elizabeth (that Regina Serenissima ) for her merciful returning home certain Italians that were taken prisoners in the 88 Invasion, was termed Saint Elizabeth by some at Venice: who also affirmed to the English Ambassador there, that though they were Papists, yet they would never pray to any other Saint, but that Saint Elizabeth.

Vers. 7. And they said everyone to his fellow ] when Jonah had now prayed, and yet the tempest continued (for we know that God heareth not sinners, Joh. 9.31. no not a David or a Jonah, if he regard iniquity in his heart, Psal. 66.18. how should the plaster prevail whiles the weapon remains in the wound?) they resolve to try another course for the safeguard of their lives. Man is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a creature that would fain live, said Esop; and what man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days that he may see good, saith David, whereunto Austin answereth, Quis vitam non vult? who would not be master of such an happiness?

Come and let us cast lots ] And so put the matter into God's hands, Pro. 16.33. He disposeth of lottery, so it be rightly undertaken, not superstitiously, curiously, rashly: but as trusting in God, and not tempting him.

that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us ] Some extraordinary cause they knew there was of this extraordinary tempest. Sinful men strike not their dogs, much less their children, without a cause. A Be stings not, till provoked; neither doth God punish his creatures, till there be no other remedy, 2 Chron. 36.16. Good therefore is the counsel of the Prophet, Lam. 3.39, 40. Why is living man sorrowful, a man for the punishment of his sin? Let us search and try our ways ( find out the sin that God strikes at) and turn again to the Lord; turn and live.

so they cast lots, ] They should have also prayed, as Act. 1. & 6. saying as Saul, 1 Sam. 14. Give a perfect lot: wicked men also are bound to pray, Psal. 14.4. but although they do not, God can get himself glory by their profane lottery; as he did by Nebuchadnezzar's, Ezek. 21.20, 21.

and the lot fell upon Jonah ] Secret sins will out at length, and be brought into judgment, Eccles. 12.14. Saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitiae. Surely the bitterness of death is past, said Agag, but he found it otherwise. Janah thought himself out of the reach of God's rod, &c. Wicked men's faults shall be written in their foreheads; and they forced to answer for all at last with flames about their ears.

Verse 8. Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause, &c. ] He confessed not till urged, and necessitated. Sin gagges people, and prompts them to hide their faults, as Adam; or at least to mince, extenuate, shift them upon other persons and things, as Eve. Sin and shifting came into the world together; and Satan, that old manslayer, knowing that there is no way to purge the soul but upwards, holds the lips close, that the heart may not disburden itself, God by this means is oft put to his proof, and must bring the malefactor to trial; who refusing ordinary trial, must therefore be pressed, Jer. 2.35.

what is thine occupation? ] For that thou hast one, we take it for granted. At Athens every man was once a year, at least, to give account to the Judges by what art or trade he maintained himself. By Muhammad's law, the Grand Signior himself must use some manual trade; Suleiman the Magnificent made arrow-heads; Mahomet the great horn-rings for archers, &c. That which the mariners here inquire after is, whether Jonas his occupation be honest and lawful? whether he labored the thing that was good, Eph. 4.28. For if any man over-reach or oppress his brother in any matter, by the use of any ill arts, he shall be sure to find, that the Lord is the venger of all such, 1 Thess. 4.6. though haply they lie out of the walk of human justice, or comes not under man's cognizance.

and whence comest thou? ] Art thou not of an accursed country? and is not thy people a people of God's wrath, as England was in the time of the sweatingsicknesse, pursuing the English where-ever they came; which made them like tyrants both feared and avoided of all nations? How the Jews are at this day hated and shunned as an execrable people, is known to all.

what is thy country, and of what people art thou? ] Notanda brevitas, saith Jerome here, Note the brevity of the • e questions, nothing short of those in Virgil so much admired.

Note also here, how these Pagans proceed not to execution, till they have fully inquired into the matter. This was far better then that ugly custom of some people in Europe, mentioned by Eneas Sylvius: that if any one amongst them be suspected of theft, or the like crime, he is presently taken and hanged up. Then, three days after they examine the business; and 〈◊〉 the party be found guilty, they suffer his body there to hang till it rot down: or if otherwise, they bury him in the Church-yard, and keep a funeral-feast at the public charge.

Vers. 9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew ] i. e. a true Believer, as was Heber the Patriarch, Gen. 10.21. and, after him, Abram the Hebrew, as he is called, Gen. 14.13. This name of Hebrews, as it was the first title given to Abraham and his seed, so it endureth one of the last, 2 Cor. 11.22. Philip. 3 5 Epistle to the Hebrews, title.

and I fear the Lord God of heaven, ] That's mine occupation: I serve God with my spirit, in the Gospel of his Son, as Paul hath it, Rom. 1.9. every faithful Minister is servant to the King of heaven, Act. 27.23. (this the devil could not deny, Act. 16.16, 17.) neither is he of his meaner or inferior servants, of his Underling, sbut of the noblest employment: Ministers are his Stewards, Ambassadors, Paranymphs, or Spokesmen, &c. and this is their occupation, or their work; far beyond that of Solomon's servants.

which hath made the sea, and the dry land, ] This troublesome sea that now so threateneth you: and that dry land which you would so fain recover. These, with all their contents, are his creatures: neither did he make them, and then seave them to Fate or Fortune; as a carpenter leaves the house he hath built to others, or a ship-wright the ship: but he ordereth and ruleth them at his pleasure, and will unmake all again, rather then his shall want help in one season, Psal. 124.8. and 134.3. This was part of Jonah's confession, and but part of it: for he told them (no doubt) how ill he had dealt with this great and good God, running away by • ealth from his masters service, and detrecting his yoke; and that therefore he was justly apprehended, and adjudged to death. To this purpose was Jonas his confession, quae ei salutis fuit exordium, saith Mercer, which was the beginning of his safety and salvation. Now his hard heart is broken, and his dumb mouth opened, not only to confess his offense, but to aggravate it: in that being not only an Hebrew of the Hebrews, a member of the true Church, but a Prophet, a Doctor in Israel, he should deal so perversely and perfidiously. It is a sweet happiness when sin swells as a toad in a man's eyes, and he can freely confess it in the particulars, and with utmost aggravation; laying open all his transgressions in all his sins, as Moses phraseth it, Lev. 16.21. Affliction sanctified will bring a soul to this, as here it did the Prophet: like herein to that helve Elisha cast into the water, that fetched up the iron that was in the bottom.

Verse 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid ] Heb. with great fear; when once they had heard the business, and weighed the particulars of his message to Nineveh, of his miscarriage, and of his present misery, together with the danger that themselves were in for his sake: how much more for their own, as being conscious to themselves of far more and greater sins then Jonah had to answer for, &c. This put the Mariners into a great fright. And as all fear hath torment, they could not be at quiet, till they had further questioned him, saying;

Why hast thou done this? ] Lo, he that would not be subject to God's command, is now liable to the censures, conviction, and condemnation of rude barbarous men: which, being humbled in the sense of his sin, he doth patiently endure without grudging. Danaus his Note here is, that concerning themselves and their own sins against God, these good fellows spake nothing what ever they think; but demand of the Prophet, why hast thou done this? as if he were the only misdoer.

because he had told them ] As willing now to give glory to God, and take shame to himself: this is the property of a true penitentiary. See Psal. 52. Title (where David stands to do penance in a white sheet as it were) and Augustine's Confessions. Hypocrites deal with their souls, as some do with their bodies: when their beauty is decayed, they desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses, and from others by painting: so do they their sins from themselves by false glosses, and from others by excuses. But as the prisoner on the rack tells all; and as things written with the juice of limmons, when held to the fire are made legible: so when God brings men into straits, when he roasteth them in the fire of his wrath, then if ever, they will confess against themselves, and so give glory to God, Josh. 7.19. by putting themselves into the hand of justice, in hope of mercy.

Verse 11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee? ] q. d. Thou art a Prophet of the Lord, and knowest how he may be pacified. Thou art also the party whom He pursueth: say what we shall do to thee to save ourselves from thy death, that even gapeth for us? from this Sea, which else will soon swallow us up? for the Sea worketh and is tempestuous; so Kimchi readeth the Text; making these last also to be the words of the Mariners. Thou seest that there is no hope, if thine angry God be not appeased. Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty God's? 1 Sam. 4.8. If the Sea be thus ragefull and dreadful, as verse 15. if it thus work and swell more and more, as we see it doth, thereby testifying that it can now no longer defer to execute God's anger, tell us what we shall do in this case and strait. What?

Verse 12. And he said unto them, ] More by God's inward revelation then by discourse of reason; not as rashly offering himself to death, but as freely submitting to the mind of God, signified by the Lot that fell upon him, calling for him to punishment.

Take me up, and cast me forth into the Sea, ] Eximia sides, saith Mercer. Before, we had his repentance, testified by his confession with aggravation. Here we have his faith, whereby he triumpheth over death in his most dreadful representations, (Take me up, saith he, with a present mind and good courage) as also his charity, whereby he chose rather to die, as a piacular person, then to cause the death of so many men for his fault. Like unto this was that of Nazianzen, who desired, Jonah-like, to be cast into the Sea himself, so be it all might be calm in the Public: that of Athanasius, who by his sweat and tears, as by the bleeding of a chaste vine, cured the leprosy of that tainted age: that of Ambrose, who was far more solicitous of the Churches welfare then of his own: that of Chrysostom, who saith, That to seek the public good of the Church, and to prefer the salvation of others, before a man's private profit, is the most perfect Canon of Christianism, the very top-gallant of Religion, the highest point and pitch of Piety.

so shall the Sea be calm unto you, ] Not else: for I have forfeited my life by my disobedience: and my repentance (though true, and so, to salvation never to be repented of ) comes too late, in regard of temporal punishments: as did likewise that of Moses, Deut. 3.26. and of David, 2 Sam. 12.10. such is the venomous nature of sin in the saints ('tis treachery, because against covenant) and such is the displeasure of God upon it, that he chastiseth his here, more then any other sinners, Lam. 4.6. Dan. 9.12. and whoever else scape, they shall be sure of it, Amos 3.2. The word here rendered calm, signifieth silent; for the Sea, when troubled, roareth hideously: so that the roaring of the devils at the painful preconceit of their last doom of damnation is set forth by a word that is taken from the tossing of the Sea, and the noise thereupon, I am. 2.19. The devils believe and tremble, or shiver, and shudder, with horrible yellings.

for I know that for my sake, this tempest is upon you. ] If Jonah were a type of Christ, in that being cast into the Sea, a calm followed: yet herein he differed, that Christ suffered not for his own offenses, but bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and died, the just for the unjust.

Verse 13. Nevertheless the men rowed, ] Heb. digged: for so they that row seem to do with their oars, as with spades. Hence also the Latin Poets say, that Boatmen cut, plow, furrow the waters.