Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 1

will be the better. As far as the heart is good, so far will the tongue be good. If the heart believe, the tongue will confess. If the heart be meek, the tongue will be gentle. But if the heart be angry, the tongue will be bitter, A tongue set on fire of Hell, to tell tales; to speak evil, to back-bite, to slander, to curse, to brawl, to revile, discovers a heart as foul, full of all maliciousness: according to that which our Savior told the Pharisees, Matth. 12.34. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. It is a polluted heart that maketh a foul mouth.

Wherefore, dearly Beloved, make clean within, and all will be clean: hate evil cogitations, and there will proceed from you no evil communication. Foster charity in your hearts; and your lips will be like the Spouses lips in the Canticles; they will be like a thread of scarlet, and your talk comely; the speech that proceeds from you will be gracious in it self, and such as may administer grace unto the hearers, full of gravity, full of discretion, full of zeal, full of love. So shall all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And ye will be kind one to another, you will be tender-hearted one towards another, you will forgive one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Happy are ye that are in such a case. You shall not need to fear any calamity that hangeth over the heads of such as live in discord and variance: concerning whom, my doctrine was: The man that lives in discord and variance shall fall into such calamities, out of which there is no escaping for him, as there is no escaping for a bird out of a snare.

I have with some prolixity insisted upon this argument of discord and variance, the rather being persuaded of the truth of that which S. Augustine. Serm. 57. de verbis Domini hath delivered in these words, Non potest concordiam habere cum Christo, qui discors voluerit esse cum Christiano: It cannot be that he that is at variance with a Christian, should have any agreement with Christ.

The motive that now drew me to entreat of this argument, was Saint Jerome's application of my Text to such as live in discord and variance, whereupon his collection was, Discordiae poenam esse, in laqueum incidere, that it is the punishment of discord, to fall into a snare. Thus far I have been his. I must now leave him, and look back to the other application of my Text, wherewith I acquainted you in the beginning of this exercise. My Text is:

Shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all. The application is:

A fowler useth not to take up his snares from the earth; till he hath catched somewhat; No more is it God's use, when he maketh show of his judgments, to withdraw his hand, till he hath put them in execution. God gives not forth his threats in vain, nor gathers he up his nets, nor takes he up his snares, till he hath taken what he would, till he hath effected what he threatened by his Prophets. The sum of all is, Verbum Dei non cadere fine efficacia: The Word of God falleth not out without its efficacy. And it is the Doctrine, which I would now further commend unto your Christian and devout attentions.

The Word of God falls not out without its efficacy.

I thus explicate it. The Word of God is a certain, a sure, a faithful word. All the prophesies, all the predictions of future things therein propounded, are wonderfully made good in their accomplishment and event. All promises therein made, all threats therein denounced are ever true in their performance.

That the prophesies, the predictions of future things propounded in the Word of God are ever true, and have their due accomplishment, I shall make plain in few words.

In the days of Noah the world was grown so foul with sin, that God would needs wash it with a flood. With this his purpose to wash the world with a flood, he acquainted Noah one hundred and twenty years before he sent the flood. When that time had its period, when those one hundred and twenty years were expired, then, even then, and not before, he brought in the flood, as it appeareth by the collation of Genesis 7.6, 11. with 1 Peter 3.20.

In the fifteenth of Genesis, verse. 13. God saith unto Abram: Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. Here is a prediction unto Abram concerning his posterity; that they should go into a strange land, should live in thralldom, and should from thence be delivered at the end of four hundred years. According to this prediction it came to pass. But first I note here, that this time of four hundred years, must begin at the birth of Isaac; though from his birth to the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt were four hundred and five years, which few years in so great a sum maketh no great difference. Again, I note here, that by this land, not theirs, is meant not Egypt only, but Canaan too. And thirdly I note, that where the Text rehearseth these three, they shall be strangers, they shall serve, they shall be afflicted; we must jointly, not severally, apply them all to the time limited of four hundred years, that this whole time of four hundred years, they were either strangers, or served, or were afflicted. And so Saint Augustine, quast. 47. in Exod. understandeth this place. But you see the accomplishment of the prediction.

Christ the Messias, the Savior of mankind was promised to our first parents, even upon the beginning of the world, Gen. 3.15. where God tells the Serpent, that the seed of the woman should bruise his head. He was promised unto Abram, Genesis 12.3. In thee shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed. This promise unto Abraham is seven times reiterated. The seventh repetition of it is, Gen. 22.18. In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed. He was promised unto Isaac, Gen. 26.4. In thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed. The time of his coming is noted by Jacob the Patriarch, Gen. 49.10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come. It is noted likewise by the Angel Gabriel, Dan. 9.25. Who there wisheth Daniel to know and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks.

All these promises, prophesies, and predictions touching Christ, the Messias, the Savior of mankind, we believe and know, they have had their due accomplishment.

I could here remember you of prophesies or predictions, wherein certain persons were by name expressed long before they were borne. Such is that, 1 King. 13.2. O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord, Behold a child shall be borne unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the Priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee; and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. Josiah, you see, is named: but it was three hundred and thirty three years before Josiah was borne, and before the execution of this prediction three hundred fifty and nine years. The execution of it we have, 2 King. 22.15.

Such is that, Esa. 44.28. There thus saith the Lord of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the Temple, thy foundation shall be laid. The prediction is, that Cyrus should take order for the reedifying of the City of Jerusalem, and the Temple there. Cyrus is the man that must give leave for this great work to be set on foot. Cyrus, Cyrus is named, and yet at this time Cyrus was not borne. Nor was he borne within one hundred years after this time. Nay, saith Josephus, Antiq. Iudaic. lib. 11. cap. 1. the prophesy of Isaiah was written two hundred and ten years before Cyrus his time. Yet was the truth of this Prophesy fulfilled in Cyrus, as it appeareth, 2 Chron. 36.22. and Ezra 1.1.

Thus have I briefly, and in a few instances made it plain, that the prophesies, the predictions of things to come, propounded in the Word of God, are ever true, and have their due accomplishment: that all the promises made therein, all the threats denounced therein, are ever true in their performance. So, true is my doctrine.

True; For God himself hath said it, Isaiah 55.10. As the rain cometh down, and snow from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth, and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. By this similitude taken from the rain and snow, the Lord giveth us to understand that his Word hath ever an effective power. It is ever working one way or other. It either mollifieth or hardeneth: it either converteth or convinceth: it either cureth or killeth. None ever heard it, but they were either the better or the worse by it. We preach, saith Saint Paul, 1 Corinth. 1.23. We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness: and these are the worse by the preaching of the Word. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, it is the power of God, and his wisdom; and these are the better by it.

After that heavenly Sermon made by our Savior, John. 6. in the 66. verse, Some went back and walked no more with him; these were the worse by his preaching. Others stuck more close, saying verse. 68. Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life: and we believe, and are sure, that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God: and these were the better by his preaching.

At Paphos in the I will of Cyprus, Barnabas and Saul upon the request of the Deputy preached the Word of God. By their preaching Sergius was converted, Elimas was the more obdurate; the Deputy was the better by it: the Sorcerer much the worse, Act. 13.7, 8.

This word of God is called a sword, Heb. 4.12. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a double edged sword. It hath an edge, and an edge: alijs ad salutem, alijs ad perditionem. It hath an edge for some unto salvation; an edge for others unto perdition: an edge for receivers unto redemption, an edge for contemners unto rejection. This is it that our Savior saith, John. 12.48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day. The word which he hath heard and contemned, the same shall be his Judge.

Shall it be his Judge? Tell us then, Vbi nam iste talis judex sedebit? Where shall this Judge, a Judge of this nature, the Word of God, where shall it sit? Quali de solio suo voces aut sententias iudicij sui dabit? From what bench, from what tribunal shall it give sentence? Rupertus shall make the answer: Prope aderit, intùs sedebit, in conscientià cujusque iustas sententias terribiliter personabit. It will be near unto thee, it will have a seal within thee, even in thy conscience: and there it will terribly pronounce just judgment against thee, if thou be a contemner of the word of God.

Believe it, dearly Beloved believe it, The Word of God preached among us, shall either save us or judge us. It shall be either a copy of our pardon, or a bill of our inditement at the last day. For non cadit fine efficacia, as my doctrine goeth: The Word of God falleth not out without its efficacy: it effecteth whatsoever it promiseth, whatsoever it threateneth.

This is it which Saint Austin hath, Enarrat. in Psal. 94. Sicut verum est quod promisit, sic certum est quod minatur: As it is true what God in his holy Word hath promised, so certain is it what therein he threateneth. And as thou shouldest be certainly assured of thy rest, of thy welfare, of thy felicity, of thine eternity, of thine immortality, if thou be obedient to this Word of God; so must thou be certainly assured of thy molestation, of thy vexation, of thy ruin, of thy burning in eternal fire, and of thy damnation with the devils, if thou be disobedient hereunto.

Thus have you as well the illustration, as the confirmation of my second doctrine; which was,

The uses may be two. One for terror, the other for comfort. The terror is for the wicked, the comfort for the godly. I can but point at them.

The first is terror to the wicked. The wicked when he shall consider, that the threatenings of God against sinners denounced in the Word of God, are ever true in their performance, and must therefore be performed upon him, how shall he stand affected? Shall not a fear seize upon him, shall not anguish and sorrow enuiron him about? Shall not his heart be as the heart of a woman in her pangs? His agony will be no less, than was Belshazzar's, Dan. 5.6. His countenance will be changed, his thoughts will be troubled, the joints of his loins will be loosed, his knees will smite one against the other. Such will be his agony, when the threatenings in God's Word are brought home unto him, and laid unto his conscience: as that, Psal. 11.6. Upon the wicked the Lord shall rain snares, fire, and br • mstone, and a burning tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup. And that Rom. 2.9. Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil: And that Matth. 5.10. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire: And that Matth. 25.30. Cast ye the unprofitable servant into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. O, what terrors shall affright the wicked when he shall behold such an army of sorrows coming on against him with due vengeance from the Lord?

Those terrors that are upon the wicked may be profitable unto us sundry ways.

First, they may teach us rightly to poise the weight of our sins in the balance of the Sanctuary: and by the fearful issue and after-claps that they bring, to judge how heinous they are in the sight of God.

Secondly, they may rouse us up to a due consideration of our natural misery.

Thirdly, they may provoke within us an appetite, even to hunger and thirst after reconciliation by Christ.

Fourthly, they may deter us from the practice of sin. And so passing from the terrors of the wicked, let us have an eye to the comforts of the godly.

The godly man, he that is the child of God, when he considereth that the promises of God made in his holy Word are ever true in their performance, and therefore will be performed in his particular, how great cause hath he of exultation and rejoicing? Sweet is that promise made by Christ, Matthew 11.28. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. As sweet is that, John 6.35. He that believeth on me shall never thirst; and that, verse. 37. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Turn but to the second Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and there shall you find a promise of glory, honor, peace, and eternal life, to such as with patience continue in well doing.

Rest from labor, the asswaging of spiritual thirst, an irrevocable admission into the fellowship of Christ, glory, honor, peace, and life eternal! Such is the issue of our obedience, the end of our well-doing. Of this issue, or end, to speak as it deserveth, what tongue of men or Angels is able? A very small quantity hereof here in life obtained, O, how passeth it all understanding! And who is he that can utter the sweetness of that peace of conscience, and spiritual rejoicing in God, which himself hath here in this life tasted? And if the beginning be so sweet, how sweet shall the fullness be? Of which fullness vouchsafe most gracious Father in thy good time to make us all partakers, for Jesus Christ his sake.

THE Seuenth Lecture.

OF the six similitudes here brought by Amos, this is the last. The first was from trauailers upon the way, Vers. 3. The second and third were from Lions, Vers. 4. The fourth and fifth, from Fowlers, Vers. 5. This, the sixth and the last is from Warriours, Vers. 6. All do serve for the polishing and adorning of the proposition set down in the second Verse of this Chapter, the substance whereof is, God being good and gracious to a people, if he be repaid with unthankfulness, will assuredly visit that people, and punish them for all their iniquities. My method for the handling of this sixth similitude shall be no other, then what it was for the other five. I will first clear the reading, and then proceed to such observation, as may be for the amendment of our lives.

For the reading first. Shall a trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid?

This Trumpet with the Vulgar Latin is Tuba, but with Tremellius and Junius, with Mercerus and with Drusius it is Buccina. Tuba is the Hebrews Chatsotsrah; Buccina is their Schophar, and so are these two, Chatsotsrah and Schophar translated by the author of the Vulgar Latin, Hos. 5.8. Claugite buccinâ in Gabaâ, Tubâ in Româ. Saint Jerome upon that place puts a difference between Buccina and Tuba. Buccina pastoralis est, & cornu recurno efficitur, Tuba autem de aere efficitur, vel argento. According to this distinction Buccina is the Cornet, and Tuba the Trumpet. So is that place Englished in our newest translation: Blow ye the Cornet in Gibeah, and the Trumpet in Romah. And so my text should speak of a Cornet, not of a Trumpet. Shall a Cornet be blown in a City, and the people not be afraid? Shall a Cornet be blown? The Hebrew is Schophar.

But this distinction of these two is not perpetually observed. The old interpreters of the Bible do sometime confound them: and do render Schophar by Tuba, the Trumpet, and Chatsotsrah by Buccina, the Cornet. And therefore the reading here will be indifferent either way, whether you read Cornet, or Trumpet. But I take the Trumpet to be the fittest for us now to follow; because the Translators of our new Church Bible, following the ancient Interpreters, do prefer the Trumpet.

That which followeth, admitteth a twofold reading: One is, Shall not be people be afraid? the other is, Shall not they run together? Each reading is commended unto you by our late Translators: the first in the text; the second in the margent. The difference ariseth from the Hebrew word Charadh, which signifieth either to be afraid, or, to run together. Shall a trumpet be blown in a city, and shall not the people either be afraid, or run together.

We shall the more easily understand what this interrogation intendeth; and what answer is to be made unto it, if we consider what the ancient use of Trumpets was.

The ancient use of Trumpets is delivered by a writer of greatest antiquity from God's own prescription. Moses in the tenth of Numbers is commanded to make two Trumpets of silver, which were to be for present use, and for use in time to come. For the present they were to serve for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.

There is a double use of them commanded for the time to come; one in time of war, the other in time of peace. The use of Trumpets in time of war was, to assure them, that God would then remember them for good, and save them from their enemies, Vers 9. The use of them in time of peace, was, for their times of joy, and appointed festiuities. In the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your mouths, ye shall blow with the Trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings, that they may be to you for a memorial before your God, Vers. 10.

O • this double use of the Trumpet Saint Jerome maketh mention, in his Comment upon Hos. 5. Tubâ in bellis ac solonnitatibus concrepabant: they blew with the Trumpet in time of war, and in their solemnities. So doth Isidore in the eleventh book of his Etymologies, chap. 20. Tuba adhibebatur, non solum in pratijs, sed in omnibus festis diebus: The Trumpet was used not only in war, but also upon their feast-days. Whence is that, Psalm. 81.3. Blow up the Trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast-day.

And why was the Trumpet to be blown upon the solemn feast-day, but to call the people together to their holy assemblies? So saith D • usius; Ad sonum buccinae accurrebat populus, cùm ad sacra vocaretur: At the sound of the Trumpet, the people met together for the hearing of divine service. The Trumpet then called them together, as now the Bells call us.

This use of the Trumpet was merely Ecclesiastical. There were also civil uses of it even in the time of peace; as when the people were to be called together, to hear some charge given them; or to give or take advisement concerning the affairs of the Common-wealth.

These uses of the Trumpet, as well Civil as Ecclesiastical, Drusius hath touched in his sacred observations, lib. 14. cap. 18. There he saith, that at the sound of the Trumpet, the people were wont speedily to come together, Vel ad audiendum aliquid, vel ad orandum, vel deni{que} ad agendum sine consultandum de republicâ: they came together, either to hear somewhat, or to pray, or to deliberate and consult about public matters.

You see, what anciently were the uses of the Trumpet. Now it will not be any hard matter for us to give an answer to the Interrogation, which way soever it be made. If it be made according to the reading in the margent, [Shall a Trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not run together?] the answer must be negative, No; a Trumpet shall not be blown in a city, but the people will run together. They will assemble themselves, they will come together at the sound of the Trumpet, either to hear what shall be delivered to them from the Magistrate; or to enter into consultation about the affairs of the city; or to prostrate themselves in devotion before the Lord in his holy Temple. If the Trumpet be blown, they will run together.

This our marginal reading, Tremellius and Junius have embraced as the chiefest, yet so that they reject not the other. Nay, so far are they from rejecting the other, as that they join both together. They make the interrogation to be thus: Shall a Trumpet be blown in a city, and populus trepide non accurrerint? shall not the people tremblingly run together? The interrogation thus framed, may have an answer affirmative: A Trumpet may be blown in a city, and the people shall not need tremblingly to run together. For why should here be any trembling where there is no cause of fear?

There was a feast of Trumpets yearly to be observed in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, Levite. 23.24. It was a day of blowing the Trumpets unto the people. The Trumpets were blown and the people ran together, but without fear, without trembling.

There was a year of Jubilee every fiftieth year to be hallowed. Every fiftieth year on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Trumpet of Jubilee was to sound, Levite. 5.19. The Trumpet sounded; the people met, but without fear, without trembling.

You will say these were set times of festiuitie, times of joy, and the blowing of Trumpets at these times was ordinary, and therefore the people now had no reason to be afraid at the sound of the Trumpets: but say, the sound of the Trumpets were extraordinary; would not the people then be afraid, and tremblingly run together? No; not ever then.

Extraordinary was the sound of the Trumpets, when David with great solemnity fetched the Ark from Kiriath jearim. He brought up the Ark from thence with songs and with Harps, and with Psalteries, and with Timbrels, and with Cymbals, and with Trumpets, 1 Chron. 13.8. The Trumpets were blown. Here was much joy expressed; here was no show of fear at all.

Extraordinary was the sound of the Trumpets at the dedication of Solomon's Temple. Then besides the Levites who had their Cymbals and Psalteries and Harps, there were an hundred and twenty Priests sounding with Trumpets, 2 Chron. 5.12. The Trumpets were blown; much joy was thereby expressed, there was no show of fear at all.

Extraordinary was the sound of the Trumpets at the restitution of religion by Hezekiah King of Judah; and then were the Levites present with their Cymbals, their Psalteries, and their Harps, and the Priests with their Trumpets, 2 Chron. 29.26. The Trumpets were blown, joy was expressed, no fear appeared.

Thus we see Trumpets have been blown, not only at ordinary times, but also at times extraordinary, and yet have the people had no cause of fear. What shall we then say to this interrogation, as it is made by Tremellius and Junius? Shall a Trumpet be blown in a City, and shall not the people tremblingly with fear run together?

The interrogation thus framed, for the substance of it, well agreeth with our new translation; Shall a Trumpet be blown in a City, and the people not be afraid? and therefore we may alike resolve for both.

Our resolution may be thus: This Trumpet must be blown, not in time of peace when all is quiet; but in time of war, when all is in combustion: and it must be blown, not in the streets of the city, but from the watch-tower: and it must be blown not at an ordinary time, but when men least think of it, to give warning of the sudden approach of the enemy unto the city. To this understanding we are directed by Jonathan, the Chaldee Paraphrast, who adds unto my text non suo tempore, to give the meaning of it: Shall a Trumpet be blown in a city, non suo tempore, out of its ordinary time, and shall not the people be afraid?

So, our Prophet here speaketh de clangore buccinae extraordinario, of an extraordinary blowing of the Trumpet; of its being blown alieno tempore, at a strange time. Such a blowing of the trumpet, at such a time, was ever a sure token, aduentantis hostis, that the enemy was not far of: Vnde pauor & metus, saith Drusius; whence fear and trembling were upon the people.

Now to the interrogation, Shall a trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid; or, shall they not tremblingly run together? Our answer is negative; No. It cannot be, that in time of war a trumpet shall be blown in a city at an extraordinary, an unusual and a strange hour, but the people will be afraid, and will tremblingly run together.

Hitherto hath the reading been cleared, and the interrogation answered: and now let us see whereto this sixth similitude taken from warriors is appliable. Saint Jerome applies it, as he doth the former. He applies it to such as live in discord and variance. He makes it to be their punishment; Vt in ciuitate Domini constituti, tubae sonitu terreantur: that being placed in the city of the Lord, they be terrified with the sound of the trumpet. By this city of the Lord, he meaneth the holy Catholic Church, and by this trumpet, the word of God sounding in the Church. For thus he addeth, Whatsoever is spoken in holy Scriptures, it is tuba comminans, a threatening trumpet, that with a mighty voice penetrateth the ears of believers. If we be righteous, this Trumpet of Christ calleth us unto blessedness; but if wicked, unto torments. With the sound of this trumpet shall they be terrified that live in discord, and variance. Of the foulness and leprosy of which sin, I spake at large in my last Sermon out of this place. Now therefore I leave it, and proceed to some other application of this sixth similitude.

Saint Cyril applies it to the Prophets of the Lord, and his Ministers, thus: If a trumpet be blown in a city, to give warning of the approach of the enemy, who is there so without all sense of grief, as not to conceive exceeding fear of future evils? But you, you the people of Israel, are so void of all sense and feeling, that though my trumpets cease not continually to sound aloud in your ears, and to fore-warn you of evils, that shall come to pass, you receive no profit thereby. Though you understand by the sound of my trumpets, that your cities which are now inhabited, shall be laid waste, and your Land shall be desolate; yet you take courage to yourselves against such terrors, you put far away from you the evil day, you say within yourselves, the vision which this man seeth, is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off. To this purpose Saint Cyril.

With him agree three great Rabbins, R. David, R. Abraham, R. Selomo. They make the Lord here to speak after this manner: If a trumpet be blown in a city at an unseasonable hour to give warning that the enemy is coming, the people will exceedingly tremble and be afraid. Why then, are not you afraid? why tremble ye not at the voices of my Prophets? My Prophets are my trumpeters: by them I give you warning of the evils that hang over your heads, and will ere long fall upon you. Why are you not afraid? why tremble you not?

To this application of this sixth similitude, our new Expositors for the most part have subscribed. They understand by this City the Church of God, by the Trumpet the Word of God, by the people the bearers of the Word: and so, thus stands the application: When a trumpet giveth a sudden sign by the sound of it out of a watch-tower, all the people hearken, and are troubled, and prepare themselves this way or that way, according as the trumpet giveth the token: So at the voice of God founding by his Ministers, we ought to give ear and be attentive, and be moved at the noise of it, and as he giveth warning, prepare our selves and look about us while it is time, lest afterward it be too late.

Now the lesson which we are to take from hence is this,

For the word of God is a trumpet too, and a trumpet of a far shriller sound. The blowers of this trumpet are the Ministers of the Word, who in this regard are called sometimes Tuba Dei, and sometimes Speculatores. They are God's trumpet, and they are watch-men. They are Tuba Dei, God's trumpet: and hereby are they put in mind of their duty; even to denounce perpetual war against the wicked; and to excite men, even to fight against the Devil, and to bid defiance unto sin. And they are Speculatores, they are Watch-men, placed by God in his holy City, the Church, Uelut in speculâ, as in a Watch-tower, to watch for the safety of the people, and to blow the trumpet unto them, when any danger is at hand.

Both appellations are met together in Ierem. 6.17. Constitui super vos speculatores; audit vocem tubae: I have set over you watch-men: hearken to the sound of the trumpet. Bishops, Pastors, Ministers; they are these watch-men: and we are to hearken to the sound of their trumpets.

Their trumpets? True. For Ministers have trumpets. Their trumpets are two. One is Territoria, the other is Consolatoria. One is a terrifying trumpet; the other trumpet is comforting.

Of the former God speaketh by his Prophet Isaiah chap. 58.1. Crie aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. So doth he by Zephania, chap. 1.16. A day of the Trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers: And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. This trumpet you may call tubam legis, the trumpet of the Law: because by if the Minister denounceth the curses of the Law, the wrath of God, misery, and calamity to every unrepentant sinner.

Of the other trumpet of the ministry, we may understand that, Isaiah 27.13. The great Trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come, which were ready to perish in the Land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the Land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy Mount at Jerusalem. This trumpet you may call tubam Euangelij, the trumpet of the Gospel: because by it the Minister pronounceth the blessings of the Gospel; the love of God, a quiet conscience, and true felicity to every true believer.

These two trumpets, terrifying and comforting, that of the Law, this of the Gospel, are still of use in the Church of Christ, the Minister sounding sometimes woe, sometimes weal, according as our sins shall give him cause.

But why is it, that the ministry of the Word, and the preaching thereof, is compared to a trumpet? Hector Pintus in his Comment upon the eight and fiftieth of Isaiah giveth hereof two reasons. One is, because, as the material trumpet calleth and encourageth unto war; so this spiritual trumpet, the preaching of the Word, calleth and encourageth us to fight valiantly against the world, the flesh and the Devil. The other is, because as the material trumpet is blown at solemnities to betoken joy: so this spiritual trumpet, the preaching of the Word, should stir us up ad laborem in praesenti, & ad gaudium in futuro: to labor in this life, and to joy in that to come. For as he addeth, hic est locus vincendi, ibi triumphandi: hic breuis laboris, illic sempiterna quietis: hic poenae transeuntis, ibi gloriae permanentis. Here is the place for overcoming, there for the triumph: here of some little labor, there of eternal quiet: here of pain that passeth away, there of glory that endureth.

The comparison standing thus between the preaching of the Word, and a trumpet, warranteth the truth of the doctrine propounded; which was,

This representation of the word of God by a trumpet should ever sound, and as it were, go before us, in all our actions, in war, in peace, in all meetings and joyful feasts, that all our doings may be acceptable to the Lord our God.

The doctrine now delivered, standing upon the comparison that is between the preaching of the Word and a trumpet, may in terms absolute be thus; The preaching of the word of God is to be harkened unto with all reverence. It is the point I handled in my first Sermon upon this third Chapter of Amos. My Thesis then was, The word of God is diligently to be harkened unto. What proofs and reasons out of Scripture I then produced for the confirmation of that truth, and what use was made thereof, I now stand not to repeat. Nor need I so to do. The holy Scripture being as the Ocean of waters which can never be exhausted, yieldeth us great variety of matter, though we speak again and again to the same point. I proceed then with my Thesis, as it is given in terms absolute,

I urge this duty,

First, from the honor of him that speaketh.

Secondly, from the danger of him that heareth negligently.

Thirdly, from the profit of him that heareth with diligence.

First, the preaching of the word of God is to be harkened unto with all reverence for the honors sake of him that speaketh. For the honors sake of him that speaketh? Why? Who is he? Is he not some Prophet, some Apostle, some Priest, or Minister; one whom we know to be of mean descent, some Heard-man, some Fisher-man, some Tent-maker, some Carpenters son. Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren James and Ioses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? How then is it that you urge us to give ear with reverence to the preaching of the Word, for the honors sake of him that speaketh?

Our blessed Savior Christ Jesus, vntieth this knot for me. He to comfort his Apostles against the time of persecution, thus saith unto them, Matth. 10.19, 20. Take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, that speaketh in you. In the thirteenth of Mark, Verse 11. thus. It is not ye that speak, but the holy Ghost. In the twelfth of Luke, verse 12. thus. The holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say. Now see; It is the Spirit of your Father; the Spirit of God; the holy Ghost that speaketh in his Ministers. Why then, ye are with reverence to give ear to them, when they preach unto you, for the honors sake of him that speaketh.

Qui vos audit, me audit, saith Christ unto his Disciples, Luke 10.16. He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me. He that heareth you heareth me! It is an admirable and gracious dispensation from God, to speak unto man, not in his own person, and by the voice of his thunders and lightnings, or with the exceeding loud sound of a trumpet: but by Prophets, by Apostles, by Disciples, by Ministers; by men of our own nature, flesh of our flesh, and bones of our bones, by men of our own shape and language, by men subject to the same passions, whereto we are subject. God is he that speaketh from above, that blesseth and curseth, that bindeth and looseth, that exhorteth and dissuadeth by the mouth of man. For this respect and relations sake between God and his Ministers, whom it hath pleased of his mercy in some sort to dignify with the representation of his own person here upon the earth, the world hath ever held them in very reverent estimation.

Remember the Galatians. Though Saint Paul preached the Gospel unto them through infirmity of the flesh, without the honor, without the ostentation, without the pomp of this world, rather as one that studied to bring his person into contempt, than otherwise; yet were they so far off from despising or rejecting him, that they rather received him as an Angel of God, yea, as Christ Jesus. And he bare them record, that if it had been possible, they would have plucked out their own eyes, and have given them to him. If it had been possible, that is, if Nature and the Law of God had not forbidden it: or, if it had been possible, that is, if they might have done it sine suo dispendio, as Haymo and Remigius do interpret it, if they might have done it without their own utter undoing: or if it had been possible, that is, if it might have been ad Ecclesiae vtilitatem, so speak Aquinas and Gorran, if it might have been for the good of the Church, they would have plucked out their own eyes, and have given them to Paul. Would they have plucked out their own eyes? Nihil habet quisquam charius oculis suis: There is nothing more dear unto a man than are his eyes. And yet if it had been possible, would the Galatians have plucked out their own eyes, and have given them to Paul.

When the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, Moses said unto them, Exod. 16.8. The Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him; and what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord. What are we, but Serui & Ministri, the Servants and Ministers of the Lord? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.

This is that, which the Lord saith concerning his Prophet, Deut. 18.19. Whosoever will not hearken to the words which he shall speak in my name, Ego vltor existam, I will require it of him, I will be his avenger. Whereupon Didacus Stella: Hominem non debes aspicere, sed Deum, qui in eo loquitur; Look not upon man, set not thy thoughts upon him, but upon God that speaketh in him. For the words which he speaketh, he speaketh in the name of God.

But say the Preacher be a naughty, a wicked man; what shall I then do? Deum qui per ipsum loquitur, debes respicere. Thou must have regard to God, that speaketh by him. God diuinâ & admirably suâ virtute, God of his divine and marvelous power, is able to bring to pass excellent and divine works by evil instruments.

God fed Elias by the ministry of Ravens. Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning; and bread and flesh in the evening, 1 King. 17.6. Did Ravens bring him food? Cur ita? Why so Lord? Couldest thou not command Doves, and other clean birds to feed thy Prophet, but thou must provide for him by Ravens? Note here the mystery. God useth many times to give unto his people the spiritual food of their souls, sound and wholesome doctrine, by evil and wicked men, as he gave good bread and flesh to Elias by Ravens: tu vero comede, only eat thou, and receive thou from the hand of God what he sendeth: and be not curious to know, whether he that brings thee thy souls meat, be a Raven or a dove, a wicked or a good man, so the food he bringeth thee be sound and come from God. By this time you see, you are to give ear with reverence to the preaching of the word of God for the honors sake of him that speaketh.

You are now in the second place to be urged to the performance of this duty, from the danger of him that heareth negligently. The danger is great. Saint Augustine discovers it by comparing the word of God for the estimation that is to be held of it, to the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. His words are in the six and twentieth of his fifty Homilies; Non minus reus erit, qui verbum Dei negligenter audierit, quàm qui Corpus Christi in terram cadere suâ negligentiâ permiserit: Whosoever shall hear the word of God negligently, shall be no less guilty, than he that by his own negligence shall suffer the Body of Christ to fall upon the ground. And therefore with what solicitude and care we take heed that no part of Christ's body which is given to us by the Minister, do fall unto the ground; with the like we should take heed, that no part of God's word that is offered unto us by the Preacher, do either by our wandering thoughts, or our irreuerent talking fall from out our hearts and perish.

But say, this solicitude and care be wanting in us; what then? Then the danger is, our very prayers will be an abomination to the Lord. So saith the holy Ghost, Prov. 28.9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be an abomination: where by turning away the care from hearing, he meaneth not only the open contemning and despising of the word of God, but also every negligent, careless, and unprofitable hearing thereof. And so it is true: He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, his prayer shall be an abomination to the Lord, the Lord will loath and abhor the prayer he maketh, and will not hear him.

There is yet a further danger of our negligent hearing, and that is the loss of the word of God from among us. Negligent hearing deserves no less: for it is a rebellion against God, and God will tie the tongues of his servants, that they shall not preach his Word to such. So tied he the tongue of Ezeckiel, chap. 3.26. O son of man, I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shall not be to this people a reprover, for they are a rebellious house. Whereupon Great Gregory; Propter ma ••• auditors bonis sermo doctoribus tollitur: for ill hearers God sometimes stoppeth the mouths of good teachers. So stopped he the mouth of Saint Paul, that he should not teach in Jerusalem, Act. 22.18. Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. The Apostles that would have preached in Asia, could not, for the Spirit would not suffer them, Act. 16.7.

Christ forbids us dare sanctum canibus. Matth. 7.6. Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine. Who are those dogs, who these swine, but men living in incurable impiety without all hope of amendment, and wallowing in the mire of unbridled luxury? who if they vouchsafe to come to this Watch-tower of the Lord to hear the sound of the Trumpet, they give ear but negligently, but unprofitably, but contemptuously? Such are they whom this inhibition concerneth, Give not that which is holy unto dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine. For what is this holy thing, that we must not give unto them, what these pearls, but veritatis mysteria, the mysteries of truth enclosed within the profundity of the Scriptures, as pearls within shell-fishes? These holy mysteries be kept back from them, that will be negligent, unprofitable and contemptuous hearers. And thus you see, you are to give ear with reverence to the preaching of the word of God, for the dangers sake of him that heareth negligently.

You will now in the third place be persuaded to the performance of this duty, for the profits sake of him that heareth diligently. Here is a three-fold profit for him.

• 1. His heart hereby shall be softened.
• 2. It shall be sweetened.
• 3. It shall be cleansed.

That the preaching of the Word softeneth the heart, Petrus de Palude would prove by the confession of the Spouse, Cant. 5.6. Anima mea liquefacta est, vt dilectus locutus est; As soon as my beloved spake, as soon as I heard the voice of my Savior, my soul even melted. But fitter to our purpose is the example of Ahab, 1 King. 21. Elias comes unto him with the word of God in his mouth: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine, O King, verse. 19. and verse. 21. I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, all thy posterity. Ahab hereupon rents his clothes, puts sack-cloth upon his flesh and lies therein, fasteth, and goeth comfortless, verse. 27. See you not the heart of Ahab humbled, his hard heart softened by the word of God.

In the second Chapter of the book of Judges, a Messenger of the Lord comes up from Gilgal to Bochim, with words of reproof against the people of Israel, and saith, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brou ht you unto the Land, which I sware unto your Fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you; and ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this Land; you shall throw down their Altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice; why have ye done this? This was the word of God unto them: they heard it, and cried out, and wept. Their hearts were humbled: their hard hearts were softened. This is it that the Lord hath said, Ierem. 23.29. Is not my sword like fire? and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Yes Lord: thy Word is like fire, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces: It mollifieth and softeneth the hard stony and flinty heart.

A second profit that the Word preached bringeth unto us, is, that it sweeteneth the heart. For the word of God is Manna, habens in se omne delectamentum saporis, it is as the Celestial Manna, that Angels food, that bread from Heaven, very pleasant and well gusted. David esteems is to be sweeter than Honey, and the dropping of the honey-comb, Psalm. 19.10. And Psal. 119.103. out of the admiration thereof, he saith, O how sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea sweeter are they than Honey to my mouth. Fau • mellis verba composita, Prov. 16.24. Faire, pleasant, and well composed words are as an Honey-comb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Quae verba composita, dulcia sunt, si tua non sunt? So Claudius Aquauiua in his Meditations upon the 119. Psalm: What fair, what pleasant, what wellcomposed words are sweet, Lord, if thine be not? Thy words, Lord, de melle coeli mellea, & de lumine tuo luminosa animam non dulcorant modo, sed dulcedine inebriant. Thy words, Lord, sweet as is the Honey of Heaven, and full of light through thy light, do not only sweeten the soul, but do even inebriate it with sweetness.

The third profit that the Word preached bringeth unto us, is, that it cleanseth the heart. It maketh clean the heart, according to that saying of Christ, John 15.3. Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you. Cleane are ye, Non propter baptismum, quo loti estis, Not for the Baptism wherewith you have been baptized, sed propter verbum quod locutus sum vobis, but for the Word which I have spoken unto you. You are clean, not for your Baptism, but for the Word. So Saint Augustine Tract. 80. in Iohannem, Detrahe verbum & quid est aqua nisi aqua? Accedit verbum ad elementum & sit sacramentum: Take away the Word, and what is the water but water? the Word cometh to the element, and it is made a Sacrament. You are clean then, not by your Baptism, but by the Word. And you are clean by the Word, Non quia dicitur, sed quia creditor. You are clean by the Word, not because the Word is preached unto you, but because you believe it when it is preached. The Pharisees and other hypocrites did hear the Word of Christ, yet were they not thereby made clean, because they did not believe the Word of Christ. And so doth Rupertus expound these words. You are clean. You are clean, because you believe that which I have said unto you, concerning my death and resurrection, how I must die for your sins, and rise again for your justification, and go away to provide a place for you. You have not only heard, but also have believed the Word which I have spoken unto you, and therefore are ye clean.

The fruit then, and the profit, that ariseth unto us from our reverent hearing of the Word preached is by our faith. It is faith that purifieth our hearts, saith Peter, Act. 15.9. Faith it is, by which we apprehend the blood of the Lamb of God, and are thereby cleansed from all our sins.

But I may not hold you over-long with the prosecution of this point. Let it please you to be remembered, that we have hitherto been moved to the performance of a holy duty, even to the reverent hearing of the word of God: and this, first for the honors sake of him that speaketh; secondly, for the danger: sake of him that heareth negligently; thirdly, for the profits sake of him that heareth diligently: and that we understand this profit to be three-fold, that it softeneth our hard hearts, that it swe • teneth them, that it cleanseth them. What now remaineth, but that we pray God to dismiss us with a blessing?

We humbly beseech thee, most gracious God, so to open our hearts, and to unlock the cares of our understanding, that now and ever hearing thy Word profitably, we may observe, learn, and embrace such passages therein, as are necessary to the confirming of our weak faith, and the Amendment of our sinful lives. Grant this dear Father, for thy best beloved Son Jesus Christ. AMEN.

THE Eighth Lecture.

THis short sentence you may call the Conclusion or the explication of the similitudes that went before. The similitudes were six; all taken from vulgar experience, and such as is incident to a Shepherds walk. The explication, as it is given by Theodoret and Remigius, stands thus: As it cannot be, that two should walk together, except they be agreed; or that a Lion should roar in the forest, when he hath no prey; or that a lions whelp should cry out of his den, if he have gotten nothing; or that a bird should fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him; or that a fowler should take up his snare from the ground, before he have taken somewhat; or that the Trumpet should sound an alarm in the City, and the people not fear: so it cannot be, that there should be any evil in a City, except the Lord command it so to be. This dependence of these words upon the former is approved by Christophorus à Castro in his Paraphrase.

Conrad Pelican and others, look not so far back for the coherence of these words, but confine them within this sixth verse; thus: As a trumpet is not blown in a City, but that the people thereof should be afraid, and run together: so neither is there any evil sent by the Lord to any place, city, or country, but that the people thereof should repent and amend their lives.

The 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the reddition, suiting with the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , with the proposition of the similitude here drawn from the sound of the trumpet, should be thus: Shall a Prophet in the name of the Lord foreshow any future evil, and shall not the people be afraid? But, because whatsoever evils a Prophet foretelleth, he foretelleth from the Lord; and the evils which he foretelleth, fall not out but by the Lord; therefore Amos here omitting the Antecedent, sets down the consequent: Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?

Shall there be evil, &c. Some years have passed away since I handled this Text in the chiefest assembly of this Diocese. My then endeavours were to arm myself, and that devout auditory with patience against the day of affliction. And because that day, is a day, which every child of God must look for, I was induced to publish what I then delivered, if it might be, for the comfort of such as then heard me not: and I did it, under the title of the haven of the afflicted.

What need then is there, that I should at this time recommend the same Text unto you? What the wise son of Sirach in the eighteenth of his Ecclesiasticus, verse. 6. saith of such as search into the works of God, is true of us, whose office is, to search into the words of God, Cum consummauerit homo, tunc incipiet: When a man hath done what he can, he must begin again. For as Saint Jerome hath well observed in his Comment upon the 90. Psalm, Singula verba Scripturarum, singula Sacramenta sunt: every word in Scripture is a Sacrament, and containeth a mystery. Every word a Sacrament! The Rabbins stay not here: they say as much of every letter; Nullum est iota in Scripturâ, à quo non pendeant mont es doctrinarum: there is not an iota, any the least letter in the Scriptures, but thereon do depend mountains of doctrines. Saint Jerome in the second book of his Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Ephesians yet goes further; Singuli apices, singula puncta in diuinis Scriptures, plena sunt sensibus: there is not a tittle, not a point in the divine Scriptures, but its full of spiritual meaning, full of senses.

Not a word, but its a Sacrament! not a letter, but it yields mountains of doctrines! not a point, but its full of senses! Well then may the words which I have now read unto you, yield variety of matter, fit for our deepest meditations a second time: and because they follow in course in this Chapter, the exposit on whereof I have for this place undertaken, I may not in silence pass them over, but must take a review of them, and recommend them to your Christian and devout attentions.

Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it?

Herein observe with me three circumstances; Quis, Quid, Vbi. Quis, the Agent; Quid, the Action; Vbi, the place of performance. The Agent, is the Lord; the Action, is a doing of evil; the place of performance is a City. Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it?

You see the bounds of my present discourse. I will go over them with as much brevity and perspicuity as I may, God's holy grace assisting me, and your Christian and accustomed patience giving leave.

The first point I am to handle is Quis: it is the Agent. His name in my Text is Jehovah, and it is the most proper name of God.

Is his name Jehovah? How then is it that Jacob the Patriarch, Gen. 32.29. asking after the name of God, receives answer in the Vulgar Latin, Cur quaeris nomen meum, quod est mirabile? Wherefore is it, that thou doest ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful? And how comes it to pass, that the like answer is given unto Manoah, Judges 13 18. Cur quaeris nomen meum, quod est mirabile? Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? And why doth Agur inquire with admiration, Prov. 30.4. Who hath ascended up into Heaven? or who hath come down from thence? Who hath gathered the wind in his fist? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? Quod nomen eius? What is his name? Canst thou tell? as if it were impossible to find out a fit name for God.

Much disputing is there in the Schools about the name of God, which they reckon up by a threefold divinity. The first is Theologia affirmatiua, an affirmative Divinity: the second is, Theologia mystica sieve negatiua, a mystical or negative divinity: the third is, Theologia Symbolica, a symbolical divinity.

In the affirmative divinity, God is called by such names as do sound out his perfection, such as are, Omnipotent, Euerlasting, Good, Wise, Holy, Just, and True.

In the mystical or negative divinity, no certain name is given him, to describe him, what he is, but to show what he is not. Such appellations are these, Immortal, Invisible, Incorruptible, Incorporeall, Ineffable, Inestimable, Incomprehensible, Infinite, Immense, Vndiuided, Vnuariable, Unchangeable.

In the symbolical divinity any name may be given him: he may be called a Lion, a Lamb, a Worm, a Calf, Light, Heaven, a Star, anything else, by Analogy or similitude, Nulla siquidem res est, quae in aliquo Deum non referat: for there is not anything, but in somewhat it resembles God.

To the first of these three belongeth this name of God in my Text; his name Jehovah, Jehovah is among the affirmative names of God; and is of them the most principal. So saith Damascene lib. 1. Orthodox. fidei cap. 12. And well. For it comprehendeth totum, all in it self, Velut qu • ddam pelagus, as a Sea of substance, infinite and indeterminate.

Jehovah! It is the essential name of God, the name of his essence, for three reasons. First, because God is of himself, not of any other. Secondly, because other things are from God, not from anything else, nor from themselves. Thirdly, because God gives Esse reale, a real being to (and is ever true in) his promises, and his threats.

All this is confirmed, Isaiah 43.10. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I am Jehovah; and besides me there is no Savior. Yea, before the day was, I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? It is from hence plain, that the Lord, Jehovah, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he is of himself alone, and ever of himself and of no other, the beginning and fountain of all things else, that have any being.

See then here his Essence, verse. 10. I am he, verse. 11. I, even I, am the Lord, verse. 12. Ye are my witnesses, that I am God, verse. 13. I am he. See here his Eternity, verse. 10. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be any after me: and verse. 13. Before the day was, I am. See also his Omnipotency, verse. 13. Beside me there is no Savior: verse. 13. There is none that can deliver out of my hand. Again in the same verse, I will work; and who shall let it?

Great is the comfort that this name of God, his name Jehovah, may administer unto us. Our God is Jehovah; of himself, eternal, and omnipotent: and therefore will not fail to give unto us the good things which he hath promised in his holy Word.

Much too blame then are the Jews, who through their vain superstition, holding this name of God, this great name, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as they call it, to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , ineffable, and not to be pronounced, do neither write it, nor read it, nor speak it: but as oft as they meet with it in holy Scripture, they either read for it Elohim, or Adonai, or do only name the four letters of which it consisteth, Yod, He, Vau, He: whereas yet God hath therefore made known this his name to men, that men might read it, and pronounce it with a reverent and an holy fear.

This our God the Lord, Jehovah, who is of himself alone, and giveth a real being to all things else, who is ever true; true in himself, true in his works, and true in his words: this our God is a good God. Good in himself, and good out of himself. Good in himself of his own essence, and the highest degree of goodness.

He is suâ essentiâ bonus, good of his own essence. For his goodness is not by participation of good from any other, but naturally of himself from everlasting: nor is his goodness accidental, but he is suâ ipsius bonitas, He is his own goodness.

And he is Sum bonus; he is good in the highest degree o • goodness. For he is that same Summum Bonum, that same chiefest good, that is of all men to be sought for.

He is good also, Extrase, out of himself. For he is the Author of all good, as well in making so many good creatures, as in doing good to them being made. And this his goodness is either general or special.

His general goodness extends it self to all his creatures: not only to such as have continued in that goodness, wherein they were created; but also to such as have fallen away from their primigeniall goodness, even to evil Angels, and to wicked men. Of this goodness I understand that, Psal. 33.5. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

His special goodness I call that, by which he doth good to the holy Angels, confirmed in grace, and to his elect children among the sons of men. Such is that, whereof we read, Psal. 73.1. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. He is good, that is, he is gracious, favorable, and full of compassion to Israel, to his elect and holy people, his holy Church, yet militant upon the earth, delivering her from evil, and bestowing good upon her.

Now if honey of its own nature and essence sweet, hath no bitterness in it; if the Sun of its own nature and essence light, hath no darkness in it: then out of doubt it cannot be, that our God the Lord, Jehovah, who is ever good; good in se, and good, extra se; good of his own nature and essence, and good towards all his creatures, should have any evil in him. No, Lord, We confess before thee with thy holy servant David; Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee.

Thus you see, Quis, who this Agent is. He is our God, the Lord, I • houah. He, who is his own being, and giveth a real being to all things else; He, who is absolutely good, good of his own essence, and good to all his creatures; He, in whom there is no stain of evil. This is He, the Agent. Now followeth his Action, which seemeth to be a doing of evil, and is my second circumstance. For my Text is,

Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it?

It is an observation in Nature, that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. And there is an axiom in Philosophy, Omne agens agit sibi simile, Every Agent produceth the like unto it self. God, the Agent here, being absolutely good; good in se, good extra se; good in himself, good to all his creatures, cannot but produce a like action, even very good. How then is it, that here he is said to do evil? For the untying of this knot, I will produce a few distinctions; from them I will gather some conclusions; and the doubt will be cleared.

My first distinction is; Things may be termed evil two manner of ways: some are evil indeed, and of their own nature: in this rank we must place our sins: some are evil not indeed, and in their own nature, but in regard of our sense, apprehension and estimation; and in this rank we must place whatsoever affliction God layeth upon us in this life for our sins. This distinction is Saint Basils, in his Homily, wherein he proveth, that God is not the Author of evils.

The next distinction is out of Saint Augustine, chap. 26. against Adimantus the Manichee: There are two sorts of evils; there is malum, quod facit homo, and there is malum, quod patitur. There is an evil, which the wicked man doth; and there is an evil, which he suffereth. That is sin; this, the punishment of sin. In that, the wicked are Agents; in this, they are Patients: that, is done by them; this, is done upon them. They offend God's Justice, and God in his Justice offends them:

This is otherwise delivered by the same Father, De fide ad Petrum, cap. 21. Geminum esse constat naturae rationals malum: vnum, quo voluntary ipsa deficit à summo Bono, creatore suo: Alterum quo iuuita punietur ignis aeterni supplicio; illud passura just, quia hoc admisit injust. It is, saith he, manifest, that there is a twofold evil of the reasonable nature, that is, of man. One, whereby man voluntarily forsaketh the chiefest good, God, his Creator: the other, whereby he shall against his will be punished in the flames of everlasting fire. So shall he justly suffer, that unjustly offended.

In his first Disputation against Fortunatus the Manichee, he speaketh yet more plainly. Since, saith he, there are two kinds of evil Peccatum, & poena peccati; Sin, and the punishment of sin; the one, namely sin, pertains not unto God: the other, the punishment of sin belongs unto him.

Tertullian lib. 2. contra Marcionem, cap. 14. more than a hundred years before Saint Augustine's time, delivers this distinction with much perspicuity. There is malum delicti, and malum supplicij: or, there is malum culpae and malum poenae. There is an evil of sin, and an evil of punishment: and of each part he nominateth the Author; Malorum quidem peccati & culpae, Diabolum; malorum vero supplicij & poenae Deum creatorem: Of the evils of sin or default the Devil is the Author: but of the evils of pain and punishment, he acknowledgeth the hand of God, the Creator.

This second distinction of evils, Rupertus well expresseth in other terms: There is malum, quod est iniquitas, and there is malum, quod est Afflictio propter iniquitatem: There is an evil of Iniquity, and an evil of Affliction. So he agreeth with the ancient Fathers.

My third distinction is of the evils of punishment. Of these there are two sorts. Some are only the punishments of sin, either eternal in Hell, or temporal in this world: and some are so the punishments of sin, that they are also sins and causes of sins.

My fourth distinction is, De malo culpae: it concerns the evil of sin. The evil of sin may be considered three manner of ways. First, as it is a sin repugnant to the Law of God; and so only is it malum culpae, the evil of sin. Secondly, as it is a punishment of some precedent sin, for God useth to punish sin with sin.

So did he punish it in the Gentiles, when he gave them over to a reprobate mind, to uncleanness, to the lusts of their own hearts, to do such things as were not convenient, because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, Rom. 1.12. Thirdly, as it is a cause of some subsequent sin: such as was excoecatio in Iudaeis, whereof we read, Isaiah 6.10. Excoeca cor populi huius, Make thou the heart of this people blind, or make it fat; make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and convert, and be healed. This same excoecation or blindness in the Jews, was the punishment of a pr • cedent sin, namely, of their infidelity towards Christ; and it was a sin, because every ignorance of God is a sin; and it was the cause of other sins: so Saint Augustine teacheth, lib. 5. cap. 3. contra Iulianum. And this distinction is found in Saint Greg. Moral. lib. 25. cap. 9.

My fifth distinction concerneth also the evil of sin. In sin there are two things to be observed: there is Ens, and there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; there is Actio, and there is Actionis malitia: or, there is Actio, and there is Actionis irrectitudo, which is, declinatio à rectitudine voluntatis Dei in lege reuelatae. In every sin there is an entity, being, or action; and there is of that entity, being, or action, a crookedness, obliquity, or naughtiness. Every entity, being, or action, as such is good from a good author, God Almighty, in whom we live, move, and have our being. But the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the crookedness, obliquity, and naughtiness of our Actions, the swerving of them from the line of God's revealed will, as such, is wicked, from a wicked Author, man's decayed nature: All the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart, are only evil continually.

Thus have you my distinctions. I promised to draw from them some conclusions.

The first is: God is the Author of every evil of punishment. Every such evil God willeth. The will of God is the primary efficient cause thereof. It may thus be proved. Every good thing is of God. Now every evil of punishment, every punishment, is a good thing; for it is a work of justice, by which sins are punished, and so a just work; and therefore every punishment is of God, and God willeth it.

The second conclusion: The evil of sin, as it is a punishment of some former sin, God willeth and inflicteth. This is that same received and much used axiom in Diuinty; God punisheth sins with sins. In so doing he doth no more, then what becometh a just Judge to do. Hereof Saint August • ne, Contra aduersarium legis & Prophetarum lib. 1. cap. 24. thus speaketh: It is a fearful judgment, when God takes course, Vt crimina criminibus vindicantur, & supplicia peccantium non sunt tormenta, sed incrementa vitiorum. Fearefull is the judgment, when God taketh course, that sins be revenged with sins, and the punishment of evil doers be no torment to them, but additions to their evil doings. O, this is a fearful judgment, which Saint Gregory, Moral. lib. 25. cap. 9. expresseth after this manner: Hoc quippe agitur, vt culpae culpis feriantur, quatenus suplicia fiant peccantium ipsa incrementa vitiorum: It is the most admirable judgment of God, and most dreadful of all other, when he taketh course that sin be stricken with sin, so as that the increase of sin is the punishment of the sinner: it being ordered by disposition above, but yet by reason of the confusion of iniquity beneath, both that the former sin is the cause of the latter, and the latter is the punishment of the former. This of all the judgments of God is the most admirable, the most dreadful.

My third conclusion, The evil of sin as it is an Action God willeth; he worketh it, he doth it. For whatsoever God properly willeth, the same he worketh, he doth it, either immediately by himself; or Sua virtute, through his power, by others. Now if Quaecunque voluit, fecit, as it is Psal. 115.3. if God hath done whatsoever he hath willed, then surely, Quaecunque fecit, vult, whatsoever he doth, that he willeth. And the truth is, not in Philosophy only, also in the holy Scriptures, that God is the primary cause of all actions, whatsoever they are, as far forth as they are actions. This is that which Saint Paul affirmeth, 1 Cor. 12.6. God worketh all in all. For though he speaketh concerning the gifts of the holy Ghost, yet is his proposition general, God worketh all in all: like to that, Rom. 11.36. God is he, of whom are all things, through whom are all things, and to whom are all things. All things? He meaneth not only all substances, but also all the actions of all things. For as all actions are governed by him, and do tend unto him; so also are they all of him, as of the first mover; according to that, Act. 17.28. In him we live, and move, and have our being.

The fourth Conclusion: The evil of sin, as it is sin, God properly willeth not, neither indeed can he will it. For Sin, as it is sin, is that same 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 whereof I spake in my fifth distinction: it is the crookedness, the obliquity, the naughtiness of an action; it is the swerving of an action from the line of the will of God revealed in his holy Word: whereof to make God a doer, or author, is execrable and blasphemous impiety. Non Deus volens iniquitatem tu es, Psal. 5.4. is a description of God according to his proper nature; God is not a God that willeth iniquity. It is proper unto him Nolle inquitatem, Not to will iniquity. Habbakkuk avoucheth it, Chap. 1.13. O Lord my God mine holy one, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity; Mundi sunt oculi tui, thine eyes are pure, free from all spot and uncleanness; that thou canst not behold evil, to approve it; nor canst look on iniquity, to allow it. So true is my fourth Conclusion: The evil of sin, as it is sin, God properly willeth not, neither indeed can he will it.

Now out of these conclusions, and the fore-alleged distinctions, I frame the resolution to the doubt propounded. The doubt was, How is it that God absolutely good, good in Se, and good Extra se: good in himself, and good to all his creatures, is here in my Text said to do evil? The resolution is: The evil in my Text is not malum culpae, delicti aut iniquitatis; it is not the evil of default, the evil of sin, or the evil of iniquity: but it is malum poenae supplicij sine afflictionis: It is the evil of pain, the evil of punishment, the evil of affliction. Not of that, but of this, is my Text to be understood. Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? No there shall be no evil in a City; no evil of pain, punishment, or affliction, but the Lord hath done it.

And thus you are to understand that Isaiah 45.7. I, the Lord, create evil. And that, Ierem. 18.11. I, the Lord, frame evil against you. I create evil; I frame evil. By evil in both places, Tertullian against Marcion, lib. 2, cap. 24. understandeth mala non peccatoria, sed vlt • ria; he understandeth, evil not of sin, but of revengement. So likewise are we to understand by the name of evil in all those places of holy Scripture in which God either bringeth, or threateneth to bring evil upon any. By evil in all such places as here in my Text, we are to understand the evil of revengement; the evil of pain, punishment, or affliction.

The evil of revengement! The evil of pain, punishment, or affliction! But why evil? Surely every revengement, every pain, every punishment, every affliction that befalleth us in this life, is good. It is good. First, because it is laid upon us by God, who is of himself, and absolutely good. Secondly, because it is just, and whatsoever is just must needs be good. Thirdly, because it hath a good end; the glory of God and the salvation of the elect. For these reasons it cannot be denied, but that every revengement, pain, punishment, and affliction is good. Why then is it in my Text, and elsewhere called evil?

I answer according to my second distinction. Reuengements, pains, punishments, and afflictions are called evils, not because they are evils indeed and of their own nature, but only in regard of our sense, estimation and apprehension. The very torments of Hell, eternal fire, and outer darkness are not indeed and of their nature evil: Mala sunt, his, qui incidunt in ea, saith Irenaeus aduersus heresies, lib. 4. cap. 77. they are evil to such as fall into them; but Bona, ex justitia Dei, good they are, as they are from God's justice.

What Irenaeus saith concerning Hell-torments, the same is true of the adversities, the crosses, the scourges, the afflictions that befall men in this life. Evils they are called, and God is said to do them. But how evils? Saint Jerome, lib. 4. Com. in Ierem. will tell us how: they are called evils, non quod per se mala sint, not because they are of themselves evil, sed quod patientibus mala esse videantur, but because they seem evil to us who suffer them.

With these two, Irenaeus and Saint Jerome, do agree Saint Augustine, Saint Ambrose, Gregory the Great, Eucherius Bishop of Lions, Dionysius the Areopagite, Clemens the Roman, Justin Martyr, Great Basil, and Cyril of Alexandria, even all the ancient and Orthodoxall Fathers. All these with one consent do teach, that the adversities, the crosses, the scourges, the afflictions, which befall men in this life, though in the Scripture they are called Mala, Evils; yet indeed they are not Mala, they are not evils suá naturâ, simply & of their own nature, but only are mala nobis, evil in respect of us, evil in regard of our sense, estimation, and apprehension. And such is the evil in my Text: improperly evil, but indeed good: good in its own nature, but evil, only, as we call evil, whatsoever liketh us not, or is not for our ease.

I have long stood upon the second circumstance, the Quid, the Action, which was a doing of evil. I must be the shorter in the third, the Vbi, the place where this Action is performed. In my Text its called a City.

In a City! In ciuitatibus, in Cities; So Nicolaus de Lyrâ expoundeth it. In ciuitate aliquâ, in any City; So Mercerus. In habitatoribus ciuitatis; among the inhabitants of a City; So Petrus à Figueiro. In populi communitate, among the people of the world; So Albertus Magnus. I have expounded it, In ciuitate huius mundi, in the City of this world.

This universe and admirable frame of nature, wherein Jehovah, the Lord our God, the King of Kings reigneth, consisteth of two Cities, the one is Ciuitas Dei, the City of God, the other is Ciuitas hujus mundi, the City of this world. The one is celestial, the other is terrene. The one is of Saints, the other is of the wicked. The one is Jerusalem, the other is Babylon.

In the first, that most glorious City, the City of God, and his Saints, the celestial Jerusalem, all tears are wiped away from the eyes of the inhabitants; there they neither weep nor lament; there is neither death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain; there is no evil there, no not the evil of affliction: So saith the Spirit, Revel. 21.4. And therefore that City, cannot be the City in my Text.

In the other City, the City of this world, the terrene City, the City of the wicked, Babylon, great Babylon, the City of confusion, there is no sure repose for the godly there. There may they become a reproach to their neighbors: there may they be a scorn and derision to them that are round about them: They may be a by-word among the Heathen, a shaking of the head among the people. There they may be tempted, they may be stoned, they may be slain with the sword, they may be sawne asunder: There may they daily mourn by reason of affliction: For even the godly, who are by grace Ciues sursum, Citizens above, Citizens of the supernal and celestial City of God; they are also by grace peregrini deorsum, pilgrims or strangers here below in this terrene City, the City of this world. Here they must be cut, hewn, and squared with sundry tribulations, sicknesses and diseases before they can be made fit, and as lively stones for the Heavenly Jerusalem. And this is the City in my Text, my third circumstance, the Vbi, the circumstance of the place, where the Agent, Jehovah, performeth his Action, a doing of evil: Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it?

Thus is my Text for the understanding thereof made easy; as thus: Shall there be evil] any evil of revengement, pain, punishment, or affliction, In a City] in the terrene City, in the City of this world; Shall there be any such evil, anywhere, and the Lord hath not done it? or as the Marginall reading is, Shall not the Lord do somewhat? The point of observation is:

By affliction in this my Thesis, I understand the suffering of anything, the sense or cogitation whereof our nature shunneth. Whatsoever is any way grievous or offensive to our human nature I call affliction. The temptations of the flesh, the world, and the Devil; the diseases of the body; a froward husband or wife; rebellious children; unthankful friends; loss of goods; reproaches, slanders, war, pestilence, famine, imprisonment, death; every cross and passion, bodily and ghostly, proper to our selves, or pertaining to our kindred, private or public, secret or manifest, either by our own deserts gotten, or otherwise imposed upon us, I call afflictions. To be short, the miseries, the calamities, the vexations, the molestations of this life, from the least to the greatest, from the pain of the little finger to the very pangs of death, I call afflictions. Of every such affliction, whatsoever it betideth any one in this life, God is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he is the primary efficient cause thereof, he doth it, or doth somewhat in it.

Upon the proof of this point I have now no time to spend: nor needs it any proof, it is so firmly grounded upon my Text. Nor will I recount unto you the many uses it affordeth. Let one suffice for the shutting up of this exercise.

Is it true, Beloved. Is there no affliction that betideth any one anywhere in this world, but its from the Lord? Here then we have wherewith to comfort our selves in the day of affliction. Whatsoever affliction shall befall us, its from the Lord. The Lo • d whose name is Jehovah, who is himself and of none other, whose being is from all eternity, who only is omnipotent, who is good in himself, and good to all his creatures, he will not suffer us to be tempted above our abilities, but will with the temptation also make away to escape that we may be able to bear it, Saint Paul is our warrant for it, 1 Cor. 10.13. And 2 Cor. 4 8. he showeth it by his own experience. We are troubled on every side, yet are we distressed: We are perplexed, yet are we not in despair: We are persecuted, yet are we not forsaken: we are cast down, yet are we not destroyed. In such a case was Saint Paul. What if we be in the like? If we be troubled, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down, what shall we do? We will support our selves with the confidence of David, Psal. 23.4. Though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yet will we fear no evil; for thou, Lord, art with us. Thou Lord, art with us! Quis contra nos? Who shall be against us? We will not fear, what man can do unto us. I draw to a conclusion.

Since there is no affliction, that betideth any one anywhere in this world, but its from the Lord; and as the Author to the Hebrews speaketh, chap. 12.8. He is a bastard and not a son, that is not partaker of afflictions; let us, as Saint James adviseth, chap. 1.2. account it exceeding joy, when we are afflicted.

The Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Evangelists, the Apostles, the holy Martyrs, have found the way to Heaven, narrow, rugged, and bloody, and shall we think that God will strew Carpets for our nice feet to walk thither?

He that is the door and the way, our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, hath by his own example taught us, that we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. There is but one passage thither, and it is a straight one. If with much pressure we can get thorough, and leave but our superfluous rags as torn from us in the throng, it will be our happiness.

Wherefore whensoever any adversity, cross, calamity, misery, or affliction shall befall us, let us with due regard to the hand of the Lord, that smiteth us, receive it with thanks, keep it with patience, digest it in hope, apply it with wisdom, bury it in meditation, and the end thereof will be peace and glory: the peace of our consciences in this life, and eternal glory in the highest Heavens. Whereof God make us all partakers.

THE Ninth Lecture.

GOds dealing with his own people, the people of Israel, was not as it was with other Nations. Others he punished, and gave them no fore-warning. The Idumaeans, the Ammonites, the Egyptians, the rest of the Heathen, drank deeply of the viols of his wrath, though thereof they received no admonition by any Prophet of his. It was otherwise with the Israelites. If the rod of affliction were to light heavy upon them, they were ever foretold thereof. God ever prevented them with his Word. He sent unto them his servants, the Prophets: he rose early and sent them, with the soonest, to let them understand of the evils which hung over their heads, that returning every man from their evil ways, and amending their doings, they might be received to grace and mercy. This difference between God's care and providence, towards his own people and other nations, is thus expressed, Psal. 147.19, 20. God! He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and ordinances unto Israel; He hath not dealt so with any Nation, neither have the Heathen knowledge of his Laws. Yet was he known to the Heathen. He was known to them partly by his works, by his creatures, in which the power and Deity of God shined: and partly by the light of Nature, and power of understanding which God hath given them. Both ways their Idolatry, their Atheism, their disobedience were made before God inexcusable.

But to his own people, the people of Israel, was he known after another manner. To them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises. To them were committed the oracles of God. To them at sundry times, and in diverse manners God spake by his Prophets. He gave them time and space to repent them of their sins, and was ready to forgive them, had they on their parts been curable. Vncurable though they were, yet did God seldom or never, send among them any of his four sore judgments, either the sword, or the famine, or the noisome beast, or the pestilence, or any other, but he first made it known unto his holy Prophets, and by them fore-warned the people. This our Prophet, Amos, here avoucheth.

The words according unto some, are an Exegesis, and exposition, or a declaration of what was said before. Before it was said, There shall be no evil in a city, but the Lord doth it; no evil of pain, punishment or affliction, but the Lord doth it. The Lord doth it, as well for that he sendeth just punishments upon men that are obstinate in their evil courses; as also for that he revealeth those evils to his Prophets, that by them they may be published.

Or, the words are an Aitiologia, and do contain a reason of what was said before. Shall there be evil in a City, and the Lord hath not done it? Surely no; there shall be none. All evil of punishment is of the Lord. Yet will not the Lord oppress his people unawares; but long before with holy premonitions he provideth for them by his Prophets; and either by promises he keepeth them in good courses, or by threats he recalleth them from bad.

Be it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an exposition or a reason of what was said before, it is all one for the matter. But if we respect the form of the sentence, as it standeth in our now- English translation: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets, it may be called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an Asseueration. For such it is: and is of a revelation: concerning which three things are to be observed,

• 1. Who is the Reuealer.
• 2. What is Reuealed.
• 3. To whom.

The Reuealer is the Lord God, His secret is the thing revealed. They to whom the revelation is made are his servants, the Prophets. Of those in their order.

The Reuealer is first, and is here set forth by two names of his: Adonai Jehovah, Lord God. The first place of Scripture, wherein these two names are joined together, is Gen. 15.2. in the complaint made by Abraham for want of an heir: Lord God, what wilt thou give me, if I go childless? Lord God.

Lord in Hebrew is Adonai, which signifieth My Lord's; or my stays, or pillars: implying in it a mystery of the holy Trinity. It is one of the proper names of God, the Lord of Heaven and earth, who as a base sustaineth his faithful children in all their infirmities. It is written here with kametz or long A in the end, and so is proper to God, having the vowels of Jehovah: when it is written with Patach or short A, it is applied to creatures. In the form singular Adon, Lord or sustainer, is also ascribed unto God, the Lord of all the earth, Psal. 97 5. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The Lord of the whole earth, he is Adon, Adonim in the form plural is likewise ascribed unto God; Malac. 1.6. If I be Adonim, If I be a Lord where is my fear?

The other name of God in this place is Jehovah. Jehovah? It is usually so written when it is joined with Adonai: and it hath the consonant letters of Jehovah, and the vowels of Elohim. And where one Prophet writeth Adonai Jehovah, as in the prayer of David, set down, 2 Sam. 7.18. another writing of the same prayer, saith Jehovah Elohim, 1 Chron. 17.16. Say Jehovah, or Jehovah, the signification is the same. But Jehovah, as Tremellius and Junius have noted upon the 15. of Genesis, is the more pathetical, the fitter to move affection: and is therefore used in passionate speeches, and prayers that are very earnest, by Abraham, by Moses, by Ezekiel, and others, as if they were sighing and sobbing. So writeth Amandus Polanus in his Commentary upon Ezekiel, chap. 4.14. But Alsted in his Theological Lexicon is of another mind: and thinks there is no more passion shown in saying Jehovah, than in saying Jehovah. Yet may it be otherwise.

Adonai Jehovah, the Lord God. The first of these two names betokeneth his Majesty, his sustentation of all things, and his dominion over all: the second, his Essence, his existing or being.

The first, Adonai, Grammarians derive from Eden, which is as much as Basis or Stylobates, the base or foot-stool of a pillar, the foundation thereof: giving us thereby to understand, that the Lord our God is the sustainer, the maintainer, the upholder of all things; that he is most properly, primarily, and of himself Lord; that he is the only true prime and supreme Lord of all things, yea, the Lord of Lord's; that he alone hath absolute, full, free, and eternal right over all things that are contained within the circuit of Heaven and Earth.

The second, Jehovah, they derive, as they do Jehovah, from Hauah, which signifieth, He was. The force of this name is opened in the Revelation of Saint John, chap. 1.4. in that his s • lutation to the seven Churches of Asia: Grace be unto you and peace from Him, which is, and which was, and which is to come: that is, from God the Father, Jehovah; from him that is eternal, immortal, and unchangeable; from him who hath his being of himself, and giveth being to all creatures.

In the same chap. verse. 8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. The words are the conclusion or shutting up of the fore-mentioned salutation, and are a confirmation of that grace and peace that was to come unto the seven Churches from Jehovah God alone: from him who is the first and the last, our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, besides whom there is no God. Who was; who was before all, and gave to every creature the being. Who is to come; who is to come, continueth forever, and supporteth all: even the Almighty, who exerciseth his power and providence over all. This same who is, who was, and who is to come, as before in the distinguishing of the Persons of the Trinity it was used to express God the Father; so here it is used to declare the union of substance in the whole three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

It is likewise used, Reu. 11.17. where those four and twenty Elders which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give thee thanks O Lord Almighty, which art, and which wast, and which art to come.

So is it by the Angel of the waters, Revel. 16.5. where he saith, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and which wast, and which shalt be.

Thus in the Holy Revelation of Saint John is the force of the name Jehovah, opened four several times, and implieth thus much: 1. That God hath his being or existence of himself before the world was. 2. That He gives being unto all things. For as much as in him all things are and do consist. 3. That He giveth being to his Word, effecting whatsoever He speaketh.

We met with this name of God, Jehovah, in the first Chapter of this Book nine times, in the second seven times; and twice before in this: Now by the change of a vowell it is Jehovah. This change of a vowell changeth not the name: Jehovah, or Jehovah! the name is the same: the most proper name of God; of God, whose true Latitude is his Immensitie, whose true Longitude is his Eternity; whose true Altitude is the Sublimitie of his Nature; whose true Profunditie being sine fundo, without bottom, is his incomprehensibility. Bernard in his fifth book de Consideratione, cap. 13. hath a discourse to this very purpose, but with some variety. The question there propounded is, Quid est Deus? What is God? The answer is, Longitudo, Latitudo, Sublimitas, & Profundum: God, he is Length, Breadth, Height and Depth. He is Length for his Eternity; Breadth for his Charity; Height for his Majesty, Depth for his Wisdom. Length He is for his Eternity. He is the Ancient of days, and inhabiteth Eternity. Before the Mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were formed, even from everlasting to everlasting. He is God.

Breadth he is for his Charity, for his Love. He loveth all the things that are, and abhorreth nothing which he hath made. Neither would he have made anything if he had hated it. He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just, and on the unjust. The Gulf, or rather the Sea of this Love of God is exceeding broad.

Height He is for his Majesty. His Majesty! it is inestimable. He that searcheth into it, shall surely be oppressed with the glory thereof. From the glory of this Majesty in the day of the Lord of Hosts, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth, will the proud man, the lofty man, every wicked man, seek to hide himself in the clefts of the rocks, and in the caves of the earth, but all in vain: for all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty. In regard of this his Majesty, He is often in holy Scripture styled Altissimus, the most high. So for his Majesty he is Height.

Depth he is for his wisdom. His wisdom! it is infinite; there is no end thereof; It is inuariable, incomprehensible, ineffable. Finding no fit words, to express it with, I betake myself to the Apostles exclamation, Rom. 11.33. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , O the depth▪ of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.

Thus far of my first general the Reuealor 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Adonai Jehovah, the Lord God. The Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets.

He will do nothing] The original is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Lo jahaseh dabar, he will not do a word.

A word in the Hebrew tongue signifieth sometimes anything or matter, that is either said or done.

In the 18. of Exodus, verse. 16. Moses in his reply to Jethro his Father in law, saith, when they have 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Dabar, a word, they come unto me, and I judge between them. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Dabar a word, with the Greeks it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a controversy; with the old Latin Interpreter it is Disceptatio, a contention; with Tremellius it is Negotium, a business; with our late English Translators, it is a matter. So Moses saith in effect thus much: If there happen any business or matter of controversy or contention between a man and his neighbor, they come unto me, and I judge between them.

In the 24. of Exodus, verse. 14. Moses with his Minister Joshua going up to the Mount of God, saith unto the Elders, Tary ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and behold Aaron and Hur are with you 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 mi bahal debarim, who so is a master of words, let him come unto them. And here words with the Greeks are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a judgment, or controversy; with the old interpreter, quastio, a question; in our now English, they are matters; if any man have any matters to do: The meaning is, who so hath any question or controversy, let him come unto Aaron and Hur for a resolution.

In the 39. of Isaiah, verse. 2. it is recorded of Hezekiah King of Judah, that when Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan King of Babylon, had sent messengers to visit him and to congratulate his recovery; He was glad of them, and shown them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. It is added in the end of the verse, Lo hajah dabar, there was not a word in his house, nor in all his dominions, that Hezekiah shown them not. Not a word! A word for a thing according to the custom of the Hebrew. It is Saint Jerome's note upon the place. It is well rendered in our new Bibles; There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions, that Hezekiah shown them not.

This Hebrew custom of putting verbum pro re, a word for a thing, frequent in the old, hath place likewise in the New Testament.

In the first of Luke, verse. 37. The Angel Gabriel tells the Virgin Mary that with God no word shall be impossible, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , no word. His meaning is, with God no thing shall be impossible.

In the same Chapter verse. 65. The Evangelist having set down what had passed concerning Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias, saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , all these words were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , all these words, that is, all these things were dinulged and made known.

In the second of Luke verse. 15. When the Angels who related to the shepherds Christ's Natiuitie, were gone away from them into Heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , this word, that is, come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. This word? that is, this thing, this whole business, whereof we have heard by the Angels. It is the Hebraism which I have hitherto observed; whereby, that I may speak as Logicians do, the Abstract is put for the Concret, taken either actively or passively: as Verbum pro re dictâ, a word for a thing that is spoken of. Or to speak as a Rhetorician would, it is Metonymia adiuncti; the Adiunct is put for the Subject. Still it is Verbum pro re, a word for the thing or matter, whereof the speech is.

So it is in this text of mine; Surely the Lord God, non faciet verbum, he will not do a word; that is, he will do no thing; no such thing as the verse before speaketh of; no evil of pain, punishment, or affliction, He will do no such thing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets.

He revealeth his secret. I am come to my second general, concerning the thing revealed: it is the secret of the Lord.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sodh • , his secret, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , say the Septuagint, translated Eruditionem suam, his instruction or chastisement. Saint Jerome expounds it Correptionem suam: the Interlinearie Gloss, Correctionem suam, his reproof or correction. Theodotio no ill Interpreter of old turned it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , his counsel: and Drusius seeth no cause, why it may not well be so turned; for as much as the Hebrew word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Sodh signifieth as well confilium as secretum, as well counsel, as secret. But the current of Translators is for his secret.

His secret] By this secret of his, Albertus Magnus understandeth praeordinationis diuinae absconditam voluntatem, the hidden will of God's preordination. Arias Montanus expounds it to be, futurarum rerū cognitionem, the knowledge of things to come; so doth Mathurinus Quadratus. Such a knowledge they mean, whereof no Mathematician, no Astrologer, no Magician, no Chaldean, no Wizard is made partaker. Only the holy Prophets, the servants of our Lord God, have the privilege and prerogative thereof.

We may not deny that God's counsels and decrees, things hid from the understanding of all men, and known only unto God, are the secrets of God. But this secret of his whereof my text speaketh, is the decree and purpose of God to bring evil upon a Land and the inhabitants thereof: to take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the Bridegroom, and the voice of the Bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle; to make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. The decree and purpose of God to punish a people for sin is his secret; and this he evermore revealeth. Yet not this alone. For of the secrets which God revealeth there are three kinds.

One is of things supernatural, such as are the mysteries of Religion, the incarnation of the Son of God, the resurrection of the dead, and the life to come. These are secrets, to the knowledge of which a man cannot attain, unless it be revealed unto him from God.

The second is of those things, which are called arcana cordium, the secrets of the heart, such as are the proper actions of the will and understanding: Secrets they are; and save to the spirit of man, which is in man, are known to none, but God, who is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and knoweth every corner and creuise of the heart.

The third is of those things, which the Schools do call futura contingentia, such things as are not, nor ever have been, but may hereafter be. And these are secrets, secrets indeed, only manifest unto him, by whom all things, past, present, and to come, are acted and governed.

Of these three kinds of secrets, the last is that whereof my text speaketh, the secret of things to come.

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets. He revealeth his secret ] he openeth it, he telleth it before hand, he makes it known before it come to pass. The lesson to be taken from hence is,

He only revealeth things to come. This truth is avouched by the Prophet Daniel, in his second Chapter the 22. verse: his assertion is: God is He, that revealeth the deep and secret things. At the 28. verse he telleth King Nebuchadnezzar; Though the wise-men, the Astrologians, the Magicians, the Sooth-sayers, cannot show unto the King the secret which he demandeth, yet there is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King what shall be in the latter days. He saith it again, verse. 29. He that revealeth secrets maketh known unto thee, O King, what shall come to pass. Once more, verse. 45. The great God hath make known to the King, what shall come to pass hereafter. The King acknowledgeth as much; and thereupon saith, verse. 47. Of a truth, Daniel, your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of Kings, and a reuealer of secrets. It is true: God is the only reuealer of secrets.

Is it true? What shall we then say to sundry predictions in Gentilism? What to those dreams which the Heathen often had? What to their Oracles? What to Apollo Delphicus and Loxias, and Delius, and Clarius? What to other their Idols, which made fair show, as if they had the knowledge of things to come, and could reveal secrets?

Our answer is; they were mere shows; no substance of truth was in them. Saint Jerome in his twelfth book of his Comments upon Isaiah at the 41. Chapter thus reasoneth against them: If they could fore-tell things to come, why foretold they nothing of Christ? Why nothing of the twelve Apostles? Why nothing of the ruin, and abolition of their own Temples? If they could not foretell their own destruction, how could they fore-tell either good or evil, that should betide others?

But you will say; many things were fore-told by the oracles of old. Know then, that from those oracles the Devil, the Father of lies, that he might not be reproved of falsehood, did evermore give his answers doubtfully, that you might expound them both ways, either for good or evil. Such was his answer given to Pyrrhus King of the Epirotes, when he took part with the Tarentines against the Romans.

Aio te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse: I tell thee Pyrrhus, thou that art of the linage of Aeacus, I tell thee, te Romanos vincere posse: the words are ambiguous, and may be rendered, either for Pyrrhus; thou shalt overcome the Romans: or against him, the Romans shall overcome thee. The like answer was given unto Croesus, when he consulted the Oracle at Delphi, about his expedition into Persia,

Croesus, when he is past the river Halis, perdet maxima regna; the words are ambiguous, and may be rendered, either for Croesus, He shall destroy great kingdoms of his enemies; or against him, He shall lose great kingdoms of his own. With such ambiguities the Devil in those oracles of old, evermore deluded such as sought unto him.

But you will say, those Oracles did sometimes take place; and as they fore-told, so things came to pass.

Be it so. Yet very few of them did hit; which might be by chance, and hap-hazard, as we say, a few only of a great number falling out: or the Devil by the subtlety of his nature, and quickness of his understanding, might by some antecedent signs fore-see the effects and events which should follow: or he might fore-tell such things, as by God's permission, he should effect himself.

Now to the dreams, which it is said the Heathen often had, whereby they knew things to come, we say; many of them were devised either by them, who affirmed they had such dreams; or by the writers to win the more credit thereby. Yet deny we not, but they had their dreams. Their dreams! Of what sort? There are three sorts of dreams. Some are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , divine dreams; some are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or natural; some are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or Diabolical.

The Heathen were not much troubled with the first sort, with divine dreams: yet we read that Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar had such. Et Pharaoh & Nebuchadnezzar in iudicium sui somnijs futura cognoscunt, & tamen Deum non intelligent reuelantem, saith S. Jerome upon the first of Jonah: Both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar to their own condemnation do by their dreams know things to come, and yet they understand not God the reuealer.

Dreams of the second sort are Natural; and such, no doubt, the Heathen in their sleep had, as we in ours have. But in these there is no divination; no fore-knowing of things to come.

The third sort is of dreams diabolical, such as the Gentiles sought for in the Temple of Aesculapius. Bonaventure calls them, Somnia, quae fiunt ex illusione Diabolicâ; Dreams which happen to men in time of sleep by the illusion of the Devil. Dreams of this sort, as they were ever uncertain, so were they as uncertainly interpreted. Such was the Dream that Darius had before he encountered with Alexander: some expounded it to signify the victory that he should have against him: some gave a contrary sense, Curtius lib. 3. Tully gives another instance. One going to the Olympicke games had a dream, that he was turned into an Eagle. One Wiz • rd interpreted it, that he should overcome, because the Eagle is supreme to all other fowls: another turned it the contrary way, that he should have the worse, because the Eagle driving other birds before her, cometh last of all.

Such dreams, as these, are well censured by Siracides in the 34. of his Ecclesiasticus, verse. 5. Diuinations, and sooth-sayi ••• , and dreams are vain. Dreams are vain. If they be not sent from the most High in thy visitation, set not thy heart upon them. For dreams have deceived many: and they have failed, that put their trust in them. For who so regardeth dreams, is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind.

Thus finding no sound ability either in the dreams of the Heathen, or in their Oracles, to reveal secrets, or foretell things to come: we must ever acknowledge it for a truth irrefragable, and not to be gain-said, that God is the only reuealer of secrets: that he only foretelleth things to come.

And let this suffice to have been spoken of my second general, the thing revealed, the secret of God. The third followeth, and is of them, to whom the Revelation is made: they are his servants the Prophets. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets.

The Prophets, that were the servants of the Lord God, were of three sorts: Some were extraordinarily raised up by God, for the government of the Church in the infancy thereof. Their office was in the common necessities of the Church to consult God, as occasion should be given; and to give answers concerning things to come. These from the inward counsel of God uttering oracles, were wont to be called Seers.

Others extraordinarily also raised up by God, were ordained for the instruction of the Church. Their office was to interpret and apply the Law, and to foreshow the sufferings and glory of Christ. These continued from Samuel unto Malachi. Malachi was the last of them.

The third sort is of the Prophets of the New Testament; such as were endued with a singular dexterity and readiness, and wisdom to interpret the Scriptures of the Prophets, and to apply them. In this third rank every true Minister of the Gospel hath a place.

Of all these Prophets Christ is the head, he is the chief of all. To him Moses, yea and all the Prophets; all the Prophets from Samuel, and all those that follow after, as many as have spoken, give witness.

But the Prophets of which my text speaketh are of the two first sorts of Prophets, those whom God extraordinarily raised up, as well for the governing, as for the instruction of the Church. Both are here styled the servants of the Lord God.

His servants] Not only because they served God in the common profession of godliness, but also because they served him in their particular functions and callings. To be the servants of the Lord God, it is certainly a notable dignity and prerogative. How do men delight to shroud themselves under the liueries of great men? and how much do they take themselves to be honored thereby? How much more ought we to labor to approve our selves in the presence of the Lord our God, and to show our selves every man in his several vocation and course of life to be his faithful servants.

And thus have you the particular exposition of this my text; Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the Prophets.

I may not leave untouched the main observation which this text affordeth. It is this.

God always teacheth before he punisheth: he warneth before he striketh. When he was resolved to wash the World with a Deluge of waters for the sin thereof, he fore-told it unto Noah, Gen. 6.13. Though the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah were great, and their sin very grievous, yet would not God destroy them, till he had made known his purpose unto Abraham, Gen. 18.17. and to Lot, Gen. 19.13. The seven years of famine, that should consume the Land of Egypt, seven years before he foretold to Joseph, Gen. 41.25. So he revealed the intended subversion of Nineveh to Jonah; the famine that should be in the days of Claudius Caesar unto Agabus: the captivity of the ten Tribes to this our Prophet Amos. Amos in the full assurance of this truth, saith with boldness: Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the P ophets.

Will he do nothing, but he revealeth it? We may not so take it, that God revealeth to his Prophets, all things which he hath a purpose to do, all things simply, all his secrets: But with a certain limitation, that he revealeth omnia vtilia nobis, as Hugo de S. Charo out of the Gloss hath observed; that he revealeth all things profitable for us: or, that he revealeth, Omnia, quae bonum communitatis concernunt, as Carthusian speaketh, that he revealeth all things, which concern the common good. All things which either concern the common good, or are profitable unto us, such as are the judgments of God to be laid upon a multitude or a private person, God revealeth. This is the substance of the doctrine even now delivered.

The reasons hereof are two. One is in regard of the godly: the other in regard of the wicked.

The first is in regard of the godly. God is unwilling at any time to take them at unawares. He loveth them, and would not have any of them to perish, but would have them all come to repentance, as Saint Peter witnesseth, 2 Epist. 3.9. God would have them all come to repentance, that so they might prevent his judgments. And therefore he never striketh, but first he warneth.

The other reason is in regard of the wicked: namely that the wicked might be without excuse, their mouths might be stopped, and the justice of God cleared, they having nothing to answer for themselves, or to accuse God of any unjust dealing. If I had not come, saith our Savior Christ Jesus, John. 15.22. If I had not come, and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak, nor excuse, for their sin. Wherefore let these men, wicked men, learn, as oft as the rod of God lieth heavy upon them, to accuse themselves; because when God gave them warning, they would not be warned: when God would have healed them, they would not be healed.

You have the reasons; The uses follow. I can but point at them: the time will not suffer any enlargement. Is it so, beloved? Doth God never bring any grievous judgment upon any people or Nation, or any private person, but he always first fore-warneth the same and fore-telleth it? Here then acknowledge we God's great mercy, and his wonderful patience. Thus God needeth not to deal with us. For upon our own peril we are bound to take heed of his judgments before they come. Yet so good is our God, so loving, so merciful, so patient, that he is desirous we should prevent his judgments before they fall, by sending our prayers unto him as Ambassadors, to treat of conditions of Peace with him. A subtle enemy would steal upon us at unawares, and take us at the advantage: but God, our good God ever fore-warneth before he striketh. He doth so, saith Carthusian, Vt emendemur & ab imminentibus eripiamur tormentis: he ever fore-warneth us, that our lives may be amended, and we delivered from the torments that hang over us ready to fall upon us.

Again, doth God never bring any grievous judgment upon any people or Nation, or any private person, but he always first fore-warneth the same, and foretelleth it? Let us then, whensoever we see any overtaken with any grievous judgment, confess with Saint Augustine de verâ & falsâ poenitentiâ, cap. 7. Qui verus est in promittendo, verus etiam est in minando: that God is true, as in his promises, so also in his threatenings. If his desire were not, that we should prevent his judgments, doubtless he would never give us warning of them. If he had a will and purpose to destroy us, he would never tell beforehand, how we should avoid his judgments. Let no man say, that the silence of God, and the holding of his peace, is a cause of his security. No, it cannot be so. God never cometh with any judgment, but he always sendeth a warning piece before. He sendeth unto us his servants the Prophets. Prophets we have among us; and Apostles we have among us: and God giveth us his Ministers, Pastors, and Preachers, as it were to put life again into the dead Prophets and Apostles, even to open and declare unto us those things which they delivered. Wherefore, when we shall be admonished by his Ministers, that such and such judgments shall come; when they shall threaten plagues according to the general directions, which they have in the word of God, let us not withstand the Spirit speaking in them. It is the wonderful goodness of God, that he vouchsafeth to send them unto us, and to tell us before of his judgments.

THE Tenth Lecture.

IT was a thing too common with the Israelites, if their Prophets or Preachers did at any time speak sharply against their evil courses, evermore to find fault and quarrel them. What mean these men? Why do they so far urge us? Why do they not suffer us to be quiet? Will they ever provoke the wrath of God against us? Sic enim solent homines: surely so worldlings use to do. If Prophets, if Preachers be austere in their reprehensions, they will command them to hold their peace, as you have heard by occasion of the twelfth verse of the precedent Chapter. If Amos foretell Jeroboam, King of Israel, that the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, that the Sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; that Jereboam's house shall perish with the sword; there will be an Amaziah to forbid him to prophesy anymore in Bethel, Amos 7.12.

If Hanani, the Seer, reprove King Asa for not relying on the Lord his God, Asa will be in a rage with him, and will put him in a prison house, 2 Chron. 16.10.

If Micaiah foreshow unto King Ahab the evil that shall befall him, the King will hate him for it, 1 King. 22.8. Zedekiah will smite him on the cheek, verse. 24. Amon the Governor will put him in prison, and will feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, verse. 27. If Jeremiah foreshow unto the Jews their desolation for their sins, some will devise devices against him, and will smite him with the tongue, Jeremiah 18.18. Some will smite him with the fist, and put him in the stocks, chap. 20.2. Some will apprehend him, threaten him with death, and arraign him, chap. 26.8. Some will shut him up in prison, chap. 32.2. Some will let him down with cords into a miry and dirty dungeon, chap. 38.6.

It is the lot of the Prophets of the Lord, the portion of his Preachers, if they speak not placentia, pleasing and smooth words unto the people, but do rebuke them and not suffer them to sin, it is their lot and portion never to have want of enemies that shall make war against them. This ill custom in the people, Amos here finds fault with, and condemneth for unjust, saying, The Lion hath roared, &c. as if he had said, You take me for your enemy, because I foreshow unto you the judgments of God which shall light upon you, and therefore you contend, you chide, you quarrel with me: but all in vain; for I may not hold my peace. If I should, the voice of God will of it self be terrible enough unto you. The evil whereof I tell you, proceedeth not so much from my mouth, as from the Mandate of God. Will I, nill I, I am constrained to obey my God. God he hath chosen me to be his Prophet, and hath put into my mouth what I speak unto you. The Lion hath roared, and I cannot but fear: The Lord God hath spoken, and I must prophesy.

Thus have you the scope and drift of our Prophet in the words I have now read unto you. Wherein for my easier proceeding, may it please you to observe with me first a Similitude; secondly, the application thereof. The Similitude it from a Lion, the Application is to God. The Similitude in these words, The Lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Application in these, The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy? First, of the Similitude.

The Lion hath roared, who will not fear? Of all four footed beasts the Lion doth bear away the chief price. He is, saith Cyril, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the strongest of wild beasts. This wild beast, the Lion, the King of beasts, excelling all others in courage and strength, full of fierceness and violence, given to destroy and devour, is in holy Writ called by sundry names according to his effects and properties. Sometime he is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Labi, that is, hearty or courageous, Joel 1.6. Sometime 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Kephir, that is, lurking or couchant, abiding in covert places, Ezech. 19.3. Sometime 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Schachal, that is, ramping and fierce of nature, Job 10.16. Sometime 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Lajisch, that is, subduing his prey, Isaiah 30.6. Here he is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Arieh, that is, a plucker, a renter, a tearer: and so was he called in the fourth verse of this Chapter. So many names have the Hebrews to call the Lion by, according to his several properties.

The Lions voice is his roaring. The Lion 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Schagg, hath roared. The word, as Dones son of Labratus hath noted, is proper to the Lion, whose roaring is very shrill, dreadful, and full of ire. No marvel then is it, if at his roaring all the beasts of the forest do tremble. That they do so its acknowledged by Saint Basil, in his ninth Homily upon the Hexameron, where be saith, that Nature hath bestowed upon the Lion such organs or instruments for his voice, that oftentimes beasts far swifter than the Lion, are taken, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , only by the roaring of the Lion. The like hath Saint Ambrose in his Hexaemeron, lib. 6. cap. 3. Naturally there is in the Lions voice such a terror, that many beasts which might by their swiftness escape the Lions assault, do faint and fall down before the Lion, astonied and stricken as it were with the hideousnesse of his roaring. The like hath Saint Cyril; the like R. David; Lyra, and Carthusian the like; as I shown in my fourth Lecture upon this Chapter.

The Lion hath roared] He roareth before he hath his prey, when he hath it in pursuit, and after he hath gotten it.

Before he hath his prey he roareth. Psal. 104.21. The Lions, the young and lusty Lions, roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. 1 Pet. 5.8. there is a Lion that roareth, seeking whom he may devour.