Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 1

disobedience by setting the whole world against man. For as it is Wisd. 5.21. Pugnabit cum illo orbis terrarum contra insensatos. The world shall fight with him against the unwise; the world shall take part with God against the disobedient. The world, that is, all the creatures in the world whereof we read, verse. 18. Armabit creaturam ad vltionem inimicorum; The Lord, he shall take to him his jealousy for complete Armor, and make the creature his weapon, for the revenge of his enemies. Where by the creature, I understand vniuersitatem creaturarum, the university of Creatures, all the Creatures in the world; orbem terrarum, even the whole world of Creatures. God shall make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.

The thunderbolt is his weapon against the disobedient, verse. 21. Then shall the right aiming thunder-bolts go abroad; and from the clouds as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark, They shall fly to the mark, as from a bow: therefore are they called the Lord's arrows, Psal. 18.14. The Lord thundered in the Heavens, and the highest gave his voice: he sent out his arrows, and she shot out lightnings; so did she scatter and discomfit the wicked. The like sentence you have, Job 27.2. where the thunder is called, the noise of this voice of the Lord, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth, the voice of his excellency, the voice wherewith he thundereth marvelously. This his voice, the thunder, he directeth under the whole Heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. The thunder, the Creature of the Lord, is the Lord's weapon wherewith sometimes he revengeth the wicked and disobedient.

So is the Hail: so is the water; so is the wind. These also fight with the Lord, against the disobedient. Their fight is described, Wisd 5.22. Hail-stones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone-bow against the wicked, and the water of the sea, shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them. Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, & like a storm shall blow them away.

Hail! It was one of the great plagues of Egypt, Exod. 9.23. Hail with Thunder, and fire mingled with hail, a very grievous hail was upon the land of Egypt: it smote all that was in the field, both man and beast: it smote every herb of the field, and brake eu • ry tree thereof. With Hail stones the Lord fought for Joshua, when he went up to the rescue of Gibeon against the five Kings of the Amorites, Josh. 10.11. The enemies were discomfited, and a great slaughter was made of them: yet more died with hailstones, then were slain with the sword.

The Lord hath a treasury of Hail, for the time of his battles. You may read of it in the Book of Job, chap. 38.22. There the Lord thus questioneth with Job: Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? I could yet far • her tell you out of the Revelation of S. John chap. 16.21. of a Hail, a great Hail, that fell from out of Heaven upon men every stone thereof was about the weight of a Talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the Hail: for, the plague thereof was exceeding great. But I have said enough to prove that the Hail, the creature of the Lord, is the Lord's weapon, wherewith sometimes, he revengeth the wicked and disobedient.

From the Hail come we to the Water. Of the fifteen signs, that shall be before the last Judgment, and are by Bonaventure, Holkot, Richardus de Mediâ Villâ, and others cited out of S. Jerome (though Eusebius Emissenus in his Sermon upon the second Dominical of Advent citeth them out of the Annals of the Jews ) the first is, that the Sea shall swell fifteen Cubites high above the tops of mountains, and shall not run back, but there consist like unto walls. For the truth whereof I can say nothing. But thus much Christ telleth us, Luk. 21.25. that before that great day, the Sea and waves shall roar. Granatensis in his exercises thus meditateth upon the words: Most of all other elements, the Sea shall at that time show greatest rage and fury, and the waves thereof shall be so high and so furious, that many shall think, they will utterly overwhelm the whole earth. Such as dwell by the Sea-side shall be in great dread and terror for the incredible and unusual swelling and elevation of the waters: and such as dwell farther off shall be wonderfully afraid, and even astonished at the horrible roaring and noise of the waves, which shall be so extremely outrageous, that they shall be heard for many a mile off.

But what speak I now of waters, that shall be hereafter? There was a flood of waters in the days of Noah, that prevailed upon the earth for an hundred and fifty days together; you all know it, Gen. 7.24. The Waters then prevailed against man for the sin of man, the fruit of his disobedience.

And they shall again prevail, if God's pleasure be such; and the disobedience of man shall so require. For the Almighty, he, who shut up the Sea with doors, when it brake forth as a child issueth forth of his mothers womb, as Job speaketh, chap. 38.8. and made the clouds to be a covering for it, and swaddled it with a band of thick darkness; and established his decree upon it, and set bars and doors unto it, and said: Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud Waves be stayed, he, the Almighty, can easily vnbarre those doors, and let the waters loose to fight his battles. Hereof we have had a late woeful and lamentable experience. The woeful news and report of floods in this Country of ours nine years since, may hereof be your remembrancers. It shall ever stand for good, that the water, the creature of the Lord, is the Lord's weapon, wherewith sometimes he revengeth the wicked and disobedient.

The wind is next. The wind! The Lord bloweth it out of his mouth, Job 37.10. it is called the breath of his mouth, Job 15.30. he bringeth them out of his treasuries, Psal. 135.7. He flieth upon the wings thereof, Psal. 18.10. and walketh upon the wings thereof, Psal. 104.3. He weigheth the winds Job 28.25. He rebuketh the winds, Matth. 8.26. he commandeth the winds, and they obey him, Luk. 8.25.

Memorable was the victory of the Emperor Theodosius, against the traitor, and rebel Eugenius. Eugenius was like to have had the upper hand. It pleased the Almighty upon the prayers which the Emperor made unto him for aid and assistance, to work a strange act. He sent a Wind to take part with the Emperor. It was a most unusual and mighty Wind. It blew with such force and violence, that it brake the array of Eugenius his soldiers; did beat back their arrows, their darts, and their iauelings, upon themselves; did strike their targets out of their hands; did bring upon them incredible abundance of dust and filth: and d • d drive the arrows of the Emperors side, with such forcible flight against them, that they soon gave the field for lost. The story is Ecclesiastical, written by Socrates lib. 5. cap. 24. by Theodorite lib. 5. cap. 24. by Sozomene lib 7. cap. 24. by Nicephorus lib. 12. cap. 39. and recounted by Cassiodore in his Tripartite lib. 9. cap. 45. and by Claudian the Poet in his Panegyricke to Honorius. I could here tell you how the winds fought for us against that great Armada and invincible Nauie, that was provided for our overthrow: but I may not now stand upon amplifications. Its out of doubt: the wind, the creature of the Lord, is the Lord's weapon, wherewith sometimes he revengeth the wicked and disobedient.

Every other creature of the Lord, hath his place, to fight the Lord's battles against the disobedient. To avenge God's quarrel against the disobedient, the Heaven, that is over our heads, shall become as brass, and the earth that is under us, as iron, Deut. 28.23. Heaven and earth shall fight for him. Wild beasts, evil beasts, all the beasts of the field shall fight for him, Isaiah. 56.9 Every feathered fowl shall fight for him, Ezech. 39.17. The silliest of creatures etiam vermes, & pulices, & muscae, & araneae, saith Antoninus, worms, and fleas, and flies, and spiders, shall all fight for him. So true is that which in the second place I affirmed;

Thirdly, God punisheth disobedience per privationem Numinis, by depriving man of the vision of God. This appeareth by the severity of that sentence which the Judge of all flesh, the Judge of quick and dead, shall at the last day pronounce against the Reprobate for their disobedience to God's holy Laws and Commandments. The sentence is expressed, Mat. 25.41. Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels.

Depart from me] There is preuatio numinis; a separation from the face of God, an exclusion from the beatifical and blessed vision of God.

Depart from me ye cursed] Cursed are ye, and therefore depart. Cursed, because ye have not obeyed the Law of the Lord: Cursed, because ye have contemptuously rejected the holy Gospel: Cursed, because ye have trodden under foot the sweet grace of God freely offered unto you: Cursed, because ye have been so far from relieving the weak and poor members of Christ, as that ye have rather oppressed and crushed them with wrong & violence. Cursed are ye and therefore depart.

Depart from me ye Cursed, into everlasting fire] Behold, the torment, where into the disobedient shall be cast, and the infinity of it. Its fire, and fire everlasting. But why fire? Are there not other kinds of punishments in Hell. Yes, there are. Dionysius the Carthusian in his third Novissimum art. 6. reckoneth up eleven kinds: the Centuriators in their first Century lib. 1. cap. 4. nine kinds. Durand de S. Porciano in 4. Sent. Dist. 50. qu. 1. diverse kinds. Why then doth the Judge in pronouncing the sentence of the damned speak only of fire? Caietane saith it is, propter supplicij vehementiam; for the vehemency of the punishment: because, of all the punishments in Hell that shall torment the body, the fire is the sharpest. So saith Abulensis, In afflictivis, nihil est nobis tam terribile, quam ignis; of things that may afflict our bodies, there is nothing so terrible unto us, as fire. So Durand in the place now cited, §. 9. Of all the punishments in Hell, wherewith the body shall be tormented, the punishment of fire is the greatest; quia, quod est magis activum, est magis afflictivum; the more active anything is, the more it tormenteth: but the fire is maxim activus, and therefore maxim afflictivus; the fire is the most active, and therefore it most of all tormenteth. For this cause, when other punishments are in Scripture passed over with silence, the sole punishment of fire is expressed, because in it, as in the greatest of all, all other punishments are understood.

Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels] Prepared of God the Father by his eternal decree of absolute reprobation. Prepared for the Devil and his Angels] God from everlasting determined concerning such Angels, as should fall, not to confirm them in good, but to turn them out of heaven, and to exclude them from eternal beatitude, together with their head & prince, the Devil. The Devil and his Angels] Horrenda societas! Such shall be the companions of the cursed and damned after this life ended.

I must draw towards an end. Dearely beloved, you have hitherto heard concerning Disobedience, that it is a foul sin; that God curseth it, and doth punish it: that he punisheth it, first per afflictionem corporis, by laying affliction upon man in his body: secondly, per impugnationem orbis, by setting the whole world against him, and thirdly, per privationem numinis, by depriving him of the beatifical and blessed vision of God: which of all the punishments of Hell is far the greatest, far greater then the punishment of fire.

What now remaineth for us, but that we labor to eschew and to fly from so damnable a sin? and to embrace the contrary virtue, due obedience to the holy will of God? Let not the pleasures of sin, the lusts of the flesh, the riches, the snares, the cares of this world, nor any transitory delight that may tickle man for an hour, but will wound him forever, let not all these, nor any one of these, involve us in the gulf of disobedience against the holy Gospel of Christ, and the eternal will of God.

But think we, oh think we ever, that there is a Heaven, a God, a Jesus, a Kingdom of glory, a society of Angels, a communion of Saints, joy, peace, and happiness, and an eternity of all these: and strive we with all humility and obedience to the attainment of these; so shall God in this world shower down upon us his blessings in abundance, and after this life ended, he shall transplant us to his Heavenly Paradise. There shall this corruptible put on incorruption, and our mortality shall be swallowed up of life.

THE XVIII. LECTURE.

THat these words are an exprobation, an upbraiding or twiting of Israel with the foulness of their ingratitude, I signified in my last exercise out of this place. I then observed in the words a double oversight in the Israelites: the first was, that they solicited the Nazarites to break their vow; the second, that they hindered the Prophets in the execution of their holy function. The first in these words, Ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink: The second in these, Ye commanded the Prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Of the first then. Now of the second.

My method shall be first, to take a view of the words: then, to examine the matter contained in them. The words are,

Ye commanded 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 It is in Pihel, from the root 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and it signifieth, to give in charge, to will, to command. If it be joined in construction with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 it properly signifieth to forbid, as upon this place the learned Parisian Professor of the Hebrew tongue Mercer, hath observed. So shall the words sound thus: You, unthankful I • raelites, you to whom I have raised up of your sons for Prophets, you have taken upon you authority over my Prophets, to forbid them to prophesy in my name, and to threaten them, if they obey you not, that it shall fare the worse with them.

With this exposition agreeth that of Calvin; whose note is, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the word in my text signifieth Praecipere vel iubere, to give in charge, to will, or to command, vel statuere, quùm intercedit publica autoritas, to appoint or to ordain by public authority. Hereto assenteth Petrus Lusitanus. By the word mandabatis or praecipiebatis, which in the Hebrew is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 he understandeth edicta publica, public edicts or proclamations against such, as should dare to preach true doctrine unto the people. So shall the words sound thus: You, unthankful Israelites, you, to whom I have raised up of your sons for Prophets, you have not only in secret corners, in your private conventicles, murmured against, repined at, or cried out upon my Prophets, but also by public order and proclamation you have enjoined them silence. Ye commanded the Prophets, saying, Prophesy not,

The Prophets] What Prophets? We are to distinguish betwixt the Priests of the Sanctuary, and Jereboam's priests: between Stars in the right hand of Christ, fixed in their stations, and planets of an uncertain motion; between shepherds and hirelings. There was an Aaron, and there was an Abiram; there was a Simon Peter, and there was a Simon Magus; there was a Jude, and there was a Judas. Not everyone that calls himself a Prophet, is by and by a Prophet; for even the woman Jezebel calleth herself a Prophetess • , Revel. 2.20. Baal had his four hundred and fifty Prophets; not one of them a true Prophet; all of them against Elias, the Prophet of the Lord, 1. Kin. 18.22. Ahab had his four hundred Prophets; not one of them a true Prophet; all of them against Micaiah, the Prophet of the Lord, 1. King. 22 6.

Against such intruders, seducers and lying Prophets we are armed with an admonition from the Lord, Ierem. 23.16. There thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the Prophets, that prophesy unto you; they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. In this rank of seducers and lying Prophets, I place those upholders of the man of sin, Priests & Jesuits, who from the Seminaries beyond the Seas come over hither into this our Country, here to sow the seeds of disloyalty and blind superstition in the hearts of the people. God hath not sent them, yet they run; God hath not spoken to them, yet they prophecy: as Jeremiah speaketh of the false Prophets in his days, chap. 23.21. They prophecy lies in the Lord's name, and cry, I have dreamed, I have dreamed, verse. 25.

Dreams they have: but what truth, what true vision? I answer in the words of Jeremiah, chap. 14.14. They prophecy unto you a false vision, a divination, a thing of naught, and the deceit of their own hearts. Their sweet tongues utter unto you as deadly poison, as is the poison of Dragons, or the venom of Asps. They will allure you with plausible notes of Peace, Peace. But take heed, you can expect no peace from them. No peace, either to the weal public, or to the private conscience of any man. Not to the weal public: for, their conspiracies are nefarious and bloody. Not to the private conscience of any man: for, to be reconciled to that unsound Church of theirs, the Church of Rome, to partake of their formal, and counterfeit absolution of sins, to hear and see their histrionical Masses, to visit the shrines & relics of the dead, to say a number of Pater-Nosters, or Ave-Mary's upon beads, to invocate Saints, to adore Images; can these, or any such forgeries yield any peace to a distressed conscience? No, they cannot. Yet care not these false teachers and seducers, so they may with such their untempered mortar of unwritten traditions, daub up the walls of their Antichristian synagogue.

Now, will you know what shall be the portion of such intruders, seducers, and lying Prophets? Jeremiah will tell you chap. 23. that the Lord is against them: that the whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth against them in a fury, even a grievous whi • lewinde, which shall fall upon them grievously: that the anger of the Lord shall not return, until it have executed his will upon them: that the Lord will bring upon them an everlasting reproach, and a perpetual shame.

Their cup is tempered with no less gall and bitterness by the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 13. There, for following their own spirit, for resembling the foxes in the deserts, for neglecting to go up into the gap, to make up the hedge for the house of Israel, & to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord, for seeing vain visions, for speaking lying diuinations, for building and daubing up walls with untempered mortar, they are accursed. Their curse, what for the head thereof and for the foot, is full of unhappiness. It entereth with a Vae proph • tis insipientibus, woe unto the foolish Prophets, verse. 3. and it bids farewell with an Anathema, with a cursed excommunication, verse. 8, 9. I am against you, saith the Lord God. Mine hand shall be upon you; ye shall not be in the assembly of my people, ye shall not be written in the writing of the house of Israel; ye shall not enter into the land of Israel. A heavy sentence! Will you have the plain meaning of it? Its thus: The Lord is against all false Prophets; He will come unto battle, and will fight against the wicked crew, even with that sharp two edged sword, which proceedeth out of his mouth. His hand shall be upon them, for their destruction and ruin. They shall not be of the number of God's elect. They shall be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. They shall never enter into that Celestial Jerusalem which is above, and is the habitation of the blessed.

You have heard in general of Prophets, true and false. I should now speak somewhat more distinctly.

There are two sorts of false Prophets: Some have no calling at all; some have a calling, but without efficacy. Of the first sort were these Priests in Judah, who were neither chosen by man, nor called of God; of whom the Lord complaineth Ierem. 14 14. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them, yet they prophecy: and chap. 23.21. I sent them not, yet they ran, I spake not to them, yet they prophesied. Of the second sort, were those Prophets in Israel, whom men chose, but God called not. Of such some would have these words, Hos. 9.8. to be understood, The Prophet is the snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

In opposition to these, there are of true Prophets two sorts also. Both of them are lawfully called to their holy function; some by God alone, some by God and man. The holy Prophets in the Old Testament, and the blessed Apostles in the New, had their calling from God alone: but Timothy, Titus, and the seven Deacons, and the residue of religious and godly Doctors and Pastors of the Church, had and have their calling, both from God and man.

This distinction thus given, it is now easy to define, who the Prophets are, that are meant in my text. They are true Prophets, such as had their calling immediately from God, and from him alone: even those holy men of God, who lived in the time of the Old Testament; some of which had the honor, to be the blessed pen-men thereof. Such were the Prophets, whom the Israelites commanded, saying, Prophecy not.

Prophecy not] Speak not anymore unto us in the name of the Lord. What? No more! Can there be any one so execrably audacious, as utterly to forbid the passage of the word of God? any forehead so brazen, as simply and precisely to reject it? Its not to be imagined. The most wicked dare not do it. Yet would they by their wills have less liberty of speech permitted to God's Prophets, Ministers, and servants: they would have their tongues somewhat tied, that they might not by their crying out against sins, vex and gall their seared consciences.

Hitherto we have taken a view of the words. It followeth, that we examine the matter contained in them.

Hoc nimirum erat, saith Rupertus, non solum loqui, sed etiam agere contra Spiritum Sanctum, qui loquebatur per os Prophetarum: This indeed were not only to speak against, but also to do against the holy Ghost, who spake by the mouth of the Prophets. He noteth the disordered and frantic humor, that was in the people of Israel, to vilitie and neglect those Prophets and teachers, which the Lord out of the abundance of his mercy had sent unto them, to be their guides and directors in the way of true piety and religion. The lesson we are to take from hence, I give in this proposition,

This truth grounded upon my text, and thereby sufficiently warranted, may further be illustrated by other places of this volume of the Book of God.

In the seventh Chapter of this Prophecy we see what course entertainment our Prophet Amos receiveth from Amaziah, a Priest of Bethel. He there forbids Amos to prophecy anymore in the kingdom of the ten Tribes; and adviseth him to get him away by flight to the kingdom of Judah, where the Lord's prophets were better welcome and more regarded: and tells him that in Israel, they needed no such Prophets, nor cared for them, nor would suffer them to preach so plainly to their King Jeroboam. Will you have Amaziah • own words unto Amos? They are in the twelfth and thirteenth verses. O thou Seer (for he that is now called a Prophet, was before time called a Seer) O thou Seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and Prophecy there. But Prophecy not again anymore at Bethel: For it is the Kings Chapel, and it is the kings Court.

Was the entertainment, of the Prophet Jeremiah found in Jerusalem, any whit better? Not a whit. In the 18. chapter of his Prophecy, verse. 18 I find the men of Judah plotting against him. Come, say they, let us devise devises against Jeremiah: Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. In the 30. Chapter, ver. 2. I find him smitten and put in the stocks by Pashur, the chief governor of the Lord's house. In the 26. Chapter, verse, 8. I see him again apprehended; threatened with death, and arraigned. In the 33. chapter, verse. 1. I see him shut up in the Court of the prison. In the 38. Chapter, verse. 6. I find him let down with cords into a miry and dirty dungeon. And all this befell him, because he prophesied in the name of the Lord.

The usage of Micaiah the Prophet is likewise memorable. King Ahab, K. of Israel hateth him, 1. King. 22.8. Zedekiah smiteth him on the cheek, verse. 24. and Amon, the governor of the City is commanded to put him in prison, and to feed him with bread of affliction, and with water of affliction, verse. 27.

There was a Seer, a Prophet, called Anani. He had a message from the Lord to Asa King of Judah, and did faithfully deliver it. But for so doing the King was in a rage with him, and put him in a prison-house, 2. Chron. 16.10.

As ill affected to the Prophets of the Lord were the people of Judah for the most part of them. And therefore is Isaiah chapter 30.8. commanded to write it in a table, and to note it in a Book, that it might be for the time to come forever and ever an evidence against that people, that they were a rebellious people, lying children, children, that would not hear the Law of the Lord: such, as blushed not, to say to the Seers, See not, and to the Prophets, Prophecy not unto us right things: but if you will needs be Seeing, or Prophecying, or Preaching, or speaking unto us, then speak unto us smooth things, Prophecy deceits: Get you out of the way; turn aside out of the path: cause the Holy one of Israel to cease from before us. Strange that there should be in the people of the Lord, such contempt, such a detestation of the Prophets of the Lord! But you see the lot of God's Prophets under the Old Testament.

Were they more regarded in the time of the New? It seems not. For it could not but fall out with them according to that prediction of our Savior Christ, Mat. 23.34. Behold, saith he, I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes, and some of them ye shall kill and Crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your Synagogues, and persecute them from city to city. According to this prediction it came to pass.

Some they killed. They killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, Act. 12.2. Some they crucified. They crucified Christ himself, the Lord of life, Act. 3.15. Some they scourged. They scourged Paul. He shall testify for himself, 2. Cor. 11.24. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. and verse. 25. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Some they persecuted from city to city. So they dealt with Barnabas, Act. 13.50. Some they vexed with many kinds of cruelty. S. Stephen may be one instance. They gnashed on him with their teeth, Act. 7.54. They smote him with their tongues, saying, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God, Act. 6.11. They came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, verse. 12. They cast him out of the city, Act. 7.58. and they stoned him, verse. 59. In a word, they made such havoc of the Church in those prime days thereof, as that the messengers of God were enforced through the bitterness of their spirit to complain with the Apostle, Rom. 8.36. For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep appointed for the slaughter. And thus you see what is the portion of God's Ministers under the New Testament. Under both New, and Old, they are liable to the disgraces and vexations of this wicked world. So true is my proposition.

Yet not to them only, not only to the true Prophets of the Lord, and his ministers; but to you also of the laity, to as many of you, as have a true desire to live in the fear of God, and to die in his favor: to as many of you, as are willing to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that ye may live soberly justly, and piously in this present world. Your lot will be the same with ours. The wicked will be evermore in a readiness, to do unto you also, all the disgrace and despite they can.

You must put on the Livery and cognizance of Christ, as well as we. The most principal and royal garment, which he wore, while he lived upon the earth, was affliction. Affliction! It must be your coat too, it must be your livery. You will hold him for an undutiful, and an ungracious child, that is ashamed of his father: you will take him for a malapert and a saucy servant, that refuseth to wear his masters livery; Christ is your Father; he is your Master. Take heed then, that you show not yourselves undutiful, ungracious, malap • rt, or saucy, in refusing to be, as he was, clothed with a vesture dipt in blood.

The sons of Thunder, James and John, would needs be advanced in the Kingdom of Christ, to sit, the one on his right hand, the other, on his left. But what doth Christ? Doth he grant their request? He doth it not. He thus speaks unto them: Are ye able to drink of the cup, that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism, that I am baptized with? Upon their answer which is affirmative, we are able, Christ farther saith unto them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup, that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized with, shall ye be baptized. But to sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. It is as if Christ had said in fewer words, ye must of necessity bear the Cross, before ye can wear the Crown.

But you will say; James and John were of the number of the twelve Apostles; and that they indeed by their calling were to take up their cross, and to follow Christ: but what is that to us? to us, who are not of the rank? who are not Prophets? nor Apostles, nor Ministers? S. Paul shall answer you for me, 2. Tim. 3.12. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.

Thu • have you my doctrine enlarged: The wicked are evermore in a readiness, to do all the disgrace and despite they can, not only to the true Prophets of the Lord, and his Ministers, but also to the true servants of God; of what vocations estate, or condition soever they be.

Now let us a little examine the reason why the wicked should stand thus affected towards the godly. The reason is, because they hate the Godly. They hate the Godly: and therefore will they do them all the disgrace and despite they can.

The wicked hate the Godly. It is no new thing: Its no rare thing. No new thing; for Isaiah hated Jacob, Ishmael Isaac, and Cain Abel. Its no rare thing; for it is exceeding common at all times, in all places. The consideration whereof made S. Peter thus to speak unto the faithful in his days; Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing were come unto you. Think it not strange; its no strange thing. It is Epistle 1. chap. 4.12. So S. John, Epist. 1. chap. 3.13. Maruaile not my brethren, if the world hate you. Maruaile not. Its no point of wisdom to wonder at that which is neither Magnum, nor Novum, nor Rarum. If it be not a great thing, or new, or rare, marvel not at it.

A Father of the Schools, Aquinas avoucheth it, that there is no cause of marvel, if it be not either great, or new, or rare. Now that the world, that is, amatores mundi, the lovers of the world, wicked, carnal, irreligious, and profane men living in the world, should hate the Godly, non est magnum: it is no great matter.

The Physician that binds a frantic man, if he be bitten by him, non reputat magnum, he counts it not any great matter; but excuseth his patient for his frenzies sake. The wicked are as this frantic man; the Godly as the Physician: whence it is, that upon those words, Gen. 4.8. Cain rose up against Abel; for against Abel, the gloss saith, against his Physician. Thus you see, its not magrum, no great matter, that the wicked do hate the Godly.

Nor is it Novum, nor is it Rarum; its neither new, nor rare, as you have already heard. Its no great matter, nor is it any new thing, or rare that the world should hate you, therefore marvel not, if it hate you! Yea, say I: it were much to be marvelled at, if it should not hate you. For such are the contrary dispositions of Saints, and worldlings, of the wicked and the Godly, that of necessity there will ever be occasioned contentious oppositions between them. The consideration hereof drew from S. James those words, chap. 4.4. Know ye not, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Know ye not, that is, saith Aquinas, Ignorare non debetis, ye ought not to be ignorant of this, that the amity of the world is enmity with God; and that whosoever is a friend of the world, he is the enemy of God: I may add, yea, and of the Godly too.

Hereto agreeth that demand of S. Paul 2. Cor. 6.14.15. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? God is righteous, the world is wicked, and lieth altogether in sin, therefore there can be no fellowship between God and the world. God is light, he is the Father of lights; in him there is no darkness at all: The world what is it but darkness, what but a receptacle of the unfruitful works of darkness? therefore there can be no communion between God and the world. Christ is holy, altogether holy, and immaculate; Belial is wicked, he is the Prince of wickedness: therefore there can be no concord between Christ and Belial.

Now if there can be no fellowship, if no communion between God and the world; can we look there should be any fellowship, any communion, between Saints & worldlings, between the godly, and the wicked, between such as love God, and such as love the w • rld? If there be no concord between Christ and Belial, can we expect there should be any concord between true Christians and Belialists, between the followers of Christ, and the sons of Belial?

It cannot be expected. These, whom I call Belialists or the sons of Belial, worldlings and the wicked, are such as love the world: the other, whom I call true Christians, or followers of Christ, Saints, & the godly, are such as love God. The repugnancy that is between the qualities of these two, is elegantly delivered in holy writ.

The lovers of God are led by the Spirit of God; they walk in the Spirit, and bring forth the fruits thereof, as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and such like; but they that love the world, are invested, with adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions; heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. What greater repugnancy can there be then this?

Again, they that love God, are of pure hearts, and of good consciences, they present themselves holy, unblameable and unreprovable in the sight of God; they serve the Lord in Spirit and in truth: but they that love the world are of corrupt hearts, of defiled minds and consciences, their works are abominable, they are deceitful from the womb, they are altogether become filthy, their service of God is but a flattering of him; for they lie unto him with their double tongue. What greater repugnancy can there be then this?

Once more. They that love God, cast all their care upon him; they are sober and vigilant: for they know that their adversary the Devil, as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking, whom he may devour: but they that love the world, like the fool in the Psalm say in their heart, there is no God. Sobriety they care not for, vigilancy, they will none of it. Minding earthly things, & glutted with the pleasure thereof, their sole care is, to serve their own belly, their God is their belly, their glory is their shame, their end is damnation. What greater repugnancy can there be then this?

Will it now please you to collect with me? the qualities of the wicked, the sons of Belial, worldlings, such as love the world, are wholly repugnant and contrary to the qualities, of the Godly, the followers of Christ, Saints, such as love God: and therefore there can be no agreement between them: No better then was between Cain and Abel. And that you know was bad enough. For Cain slew Abel. And wherefore slew he him? S. John gives you the reason, 1. Epist. 3.12. Because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous.

Thus far of the hatred of the wicked against the Godly, the true reason of my doctrine, which was:

Let us now make some use of that which hath been hitherto delivered, for the bettering, and the amendment of our sinful lives.

First, the Ministers of God's word, may from hence learn, not to take it unto heart, if such, as are bound by the Law of God and nature, and by all good order, to yield them due love and reverence, shall in pride and contempt insult over them, to disgrace and to despite them. They may well remember, that its neither great, nor new, nor rare thing, that they meet with such course entertainment in the world; forasmuch as they cannot be ignorant, that the world hateth them. And what if the world hate them! Shall they therefore be altogether dejected? They need not. For Christ gives them encouragement and comfort, John. 15.18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

The argument is drawn ab exemplo, from Christ's own example. The world hateth me, you know it to be so, you see it. It needs not then to be any disparagement to you if it hate you, it hated me before it hated you. Cur ergo se membrum, supra verticem extollit? S. Augustine propounds the question Tract. 88. in Iohannem. Why doth a member extol it self above the head? Recusas esse in corpore, si non vis odium mundi sustinere cum capite: thou refusest to be in the body, if thou wilt not with the head sustain the hatred of the world.

A second argument of encouragement and comfort to us against the hatred of the world; is drawn from the nature of the world, verse. 19. If ye were of the world the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. This argument is evident even to the common sense of men; who cannot but know, that between contraries there is no agreement, and between men of unlike qualities, no full consent of minds. It is then as if Christ had thus said: The world loves none but his own; none but those that are addicted, devoted, and wholly given over to it: but you are not of the world; therefore it loves not you. You are not of the world; for you are mine; and I am not of the world. I have separated you from the service of the world, to do me service; and therefore the world hateth you.

A third argument of encouragement and comfort to us, is verse. 20. Remember the word, that I said unto you: The servant is not greater then the Lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. This argument is like the first: Its drawn from Christ's own example, as that was. All the difference is: the first specifieth the hatred of the world; this the effect of that hatred, Persecution.

Thus stands the argument. The world persecuteth me; you are my witnesses it doth so. Think it not much then, if it also persecute you. Remember the word that I said unto you; The servant is not greater then the Lord. Si me Dominum, Regem, caput, magistrum, persecutisunt, vos quo{que} servos ac subditos meos, membra mea, at{que} discipulos meos persequentur. If they have persecuted me your Lord, your King, your head, your Master, they will also persecute you, my servants, my subjects, my members, my disciples. If they have called me a mad man, one that hath a Devil, a seducer, a blasphemer, a glutton, a wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and sinners, will they not much more speak of you reproachfully? If they have called the Master of the house Belzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household so? Turpe profecto est, & dedecore plenum, Rege in castris vulnerato existente, milites cius sine vulnere in civitate epulantes manere, saith Salmeron: It were very base and shameful, for soldiers to remain in the City at ease without hurt, while their King lies wounded in the Campe. Pudeat, saith Saint Bernard Serm. 5. in Festo omnium Sanct. pudeat sub spinato capite, membrum fieri delicatum: It were a shame for us to live deliciously and in pleasures, saith our head, Christ, was crowned with thorns.

I conclude the first use: Let the wicked fret, and fume, and stamp, and stare, and grudge, and murmur against us, let them forbid us to prophecy, let them refuse to hear us, let them lay upon us all the disgrace and despite they can; yet will we possess our souls in patience, knowing it to be a faithful saying, which S. Paul hath. 2. Tim. 2.11.12. that, if we die with Christ, we shall also live with him, and if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.

A second use is for all other the true servants of God, of what vocation, condition, or estate soever they be: for as much as the wicked lie in wait for them also, to do them all the disgrace and despite they can, as hath already been proved unto you. The use is to admonish you, that ye take it not to heart, if they, who are bound by the law of God and nature, by the bond of neighbor-hood, and our Christian profession, to love you, and to tender your good, shall in pride and contempt insult over you, to disgrace and to despite you.

The arguments for your encouragement and comfort in such a case, may be the same with those, which I but even now produced for the encouragement and comfort of our selves in the like: will you have them sūmed up unto you? Then thus.

You find but course respect and entertainment in the world, because the world hateth you. It hateth you. Maruaile not at it, nor fear it. For first it hated Christ, before it hated you.

Secondly, the world would love you, if you were his own. But you are not. You are not of the world, and therefore the world hateth you. Be of good comfort: you are not of the world, for Christ hath chosen you out of the world, to be his beloved.

Thirdly, the world from hating you proceedeth to persecute you. Let not this discourage you. For it persecuted Christ first. They have persecuted Christ, and therefore will they persecute you. It is enough for the Disciple, that he be as his Master, and the servant as the Lord. Christ is your Master, he is your Lord: you are his disciples, you are his servants. Let his example be your rule; be it our rule too, (for herein we are all equal) be it the rule of direction to us all; the rule of all our sufferings. When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed his cause to him, that judgeth righteously. Here is matter worthy our imitation.

The resolved Christian hereupon thus sweetly meditateth. Shall Christ lie in the manger, and we ruffle it out in our palaces? Shall he mourn in sackcloth, and we bath in pleasure? Shall he fighting in our defense, be wounded and crucified among thieves; and shall we disport and solace our selves with fond and vain delights? Shall he be pierced through with the sword of God's justice for our sins, and shall we be unwilling to suffer anything for our selves? This were too-too unnatural and unkind.

Let not therefore the cross adventures that may betide us, dismay us: Let not the cruelty of our enemies, the sharpness of our miseries, the continuance of our afflictions, daunt us: but let us (following the advise of S. Peter 1. Ep. chap. 4. verse. 13.) Let us rejoice, in as much as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings. So when his glory shall be revealed, we shall be glad also with exceeding joy. Thus much of the second use.

A third followeth. You remember the doctrine.

The use is, to reprove those, who esteem not aright of the sufferings of the godly. Let a godly man be humbled under the cross, let him feel the hand of God upon him; how will some wonder at him, as at a Pelican of the wilderness, as at an Owl of the desert, as at a sparrow that sits alone upon the house top? They will hold him for a great sinner, and will measure his condition by the chastisement, that he endureth.

Did not Eliphaz deal so with Job? From the afflictions, the miseries, the calamities, that Job suffered, Eliphaz concludeth, that Job is no innocent man, no righteous man, but a deep dissembler, and a hollow-hearted hypocrite. His censure of Job you may find chap. 4.7. Remember I pray thee, saith Eliphaz to Job, Remember I pray thee, whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off?

Who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? It was Eliphaz his error, to collect, because Job was afflicted, and that most grievously, that therefore he was to perish, or to be cut off utterly. God suffereth not his elect children, such as Job was, utterly to perish, or to be cut off. He afflicteth them, but with a purpose to deliver them; his hand is sometimes upon them, but it is for their good, not for their ruin. For albeit they may seem to us to perish, when in the fire of their calamities and trials, they are surprised by death, yet they perish not; the Lord, he receives them into his glory, and to a more happy life.

Wherefore to Eliphaz his question, Who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off? I answer; If Eliphaz take the words of perishing, and cutting off, in the strict sense and properly, I answer, never did the innocent perish, never was any righteous man cut off. But if he take the words in a larger sense for wallowing in misery, or lying in affliction; my answer then, is the same that S. Gregory hath lib. 5. Moral. cap. 14. Saepe quippe hîc & innocents pereunt, & recti funditùs delentur. Surely here in this world the innocent do oftentimes perish, and the righteous are utterly cut off: sed tamen ad aeternam gloriam, pereundo seruantur: yet in perishing, and in being cut off, they are reserved to eternal glory.

Si nullus innocens periret, if no man should perish, that is innocent, why should the Prophet Isaiah say, chap. 57.1. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart! Si rectos, Deus providendo non raperet, if God in his providence should not take away any righteous man, why should the wise man, chap. 4.11. say, The righteous was speedily taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul? Si iustos, animadversio nulla percuteret, if no punishment should smite the just, why should S. Peter say, 1. Ep. 4, 17. The time is, that judgment must begin at the house of God?

Now, dearly beloved, since it may in some sense be truly said of the man that is innocent, that he perisheth; and of the righteous man, that he is punished, is taken away, is cut off; and of the faithful of God's house, that judgment must begin with them: let it ever be our care to esteem aright of the afflictions of our neighbors, and to judge of them, with a righteous judgment. Though they be judged, be plagued, be smitten of God, it is not for us slightly to regard them, to despise them, or to hide our faces from them: it is our parts rather to have a fellowfeeling and a tender compassion of their trials.

It were an unchristian, an uncharitable, yea a hellish conceit, thus to infer: My neighbor, such a man, or such a man, is exercised under the Cross, and is sensible of the scourge of God upon him, therefore he is in God's disfauour, and a very grievous sinner. No such inference is allowable in Christ's school. In his school, these Maxims pass for good. Where God purposeth to heal, he spareth not to launce. He ministereth bitter sirupes to purge corrupt humors: he sends embassies of death and revenge, where he meaneth to bestow eternal life. I conclude with that blessing which S. James chap. 1.12. bestoweth upon the afflicted. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

THE XIX. LECTURE.

WE are now come to the fourth part of this first Sermon of Amos, concerning the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel. I heretofore called it a Commination. So I call it still. For here are the Israelites threatened with punishment for the enormity of their sins, expressed, verse. 6, 7, 8. and for the foulness of their ingratitude, laid to their charge, verse. 12. In this Commination we may observe two things.

First, how the Lord, in respect of the sins of Israel, and of their unthankfulness for benefits bestowed on them, esteemeth of them, verse. 13. Behold, I am pressed under you as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves.

The other is, a menacing or threatening of punishment to befall them: I may term it, A sending of defiance unto them; a denouncing of war against them, verse. 14, 15, 16. Wherein we may note three things.

The first is, impotentia fugiendi, their unableness to escape the flight in the day of battle: thus set down in the 14. verse. The flight shall perish from the swift. And verse. 15. thus: He that is swift of foot, shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.

The second is, Debilitas in resistendo, their weakness in resisting the enemy thus set down, verse. 14. The strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself, and verse. 15. thus: Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow.

The third is, Fugae fortium: the flight of the valiant, and stout of heart, set down in the last verse, and there amplified by the adjunct of nakedness: He that is courageous among the mighty, shall flee away naked in that day. Then followeth the confirmation of all, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith the Lord: the Lord, who is the truth, and is omnipotent. He is the Lord of Hosts; if he purpose to do a thing, who shall disannul it? if his hand be stretched out, who shall turn it back?

My meditations for this time will be confined within the limits of the 13. verse. Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheanes. In the handling whereof, my order shall be first to run over the words; then to draw from them, some profitable note of doctrine.

Behold.

THis particle, set in the front of this verse, is as it were a watchword to stir up our attentions, for as much as we are to hear of some important matter. A learned Divine in his exposition upon the fifth of Nehemiah hath alike note: This word Ecce, Loe, Mark, or Behold, ever betokeneth throughout the Scripture some notable thing very good, or very ill, that is spoken of immediately afterward, and such a one as commonly falleth not out among men: and the holy Ghost of purpose useth to mark such notable things, with this word Ecce, Loe, Mark, or Behold, to put men in remembrance, and to awake them to the consideration of the weighty matter that followeth, that they should not lightly pass over it, but deeply mark and consider it.

The Jesuit Lorinus Comment. in Act. Apost. observeth out of holy Scripture, diverse acceptions and uses of this particle, Ecce, Behold.

First, it noteth rem novam, ac inopinatam, at{que} mirabilem: something that is new and unlooked for, and wonderful: as Act. 1.10. while the Apostles looked steadfastly toward heaven, at the time of Christ's ascension, Ecce, Behold, two men, or two Angels in the form of men, stood by them in white apparel. So is it used by the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat, Luk. 1.48. Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Where Ecce, Behold, rem magnam, novam, & admiratione dignam, designat, saith Alfonsus Salmeron. Behold! it designeth and poynteth out unto us, some great matter, new, and admirable, such as is, creaturam in lucem edere creatorem famulam Dominum generare, Virginem Deum parere. What greater, what newer, what matter more wonderful, then that a Creature should conceive in her womb and bring forth her Creator, a handmaid her Lord, a virgin, God? It is so full of wonder, that the Prophet Isaiah foretelling it, chap. 7.14. stamps it with an Ecce, Behold, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.

The Evangelist S. Matthew, chap. 1.23. reciting the Prophets prediction, leaves not out this stamp, Behold: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son.

The Angel Gabriel, who was sent from God to the virgin Mary, to report unto her, this great wonder, omits not this stamp, Ecce, Behold. See the Angels words, Luk. 1.31. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. This the Postillers do call Ecce admirativum, an Ecce of Admiration: and it is the first use of the particle Behold, observed by Lorinus.

Secondly, it betokeneth propinquum tempus, some time near at hand, as Isaiah 41.27. The first shall say to Zion 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Behold, behold them, or behold these things, and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. The place I understand of Christ, who is Alpha, or primus, the first; and Euangelista, he that bringeth the good tidings: him God giveth to Zion, and to Jerusalem, and in him, Ecce ecce ista erunt: Behold, behold all the promises of God shall come to pass, and that speedily. This is true of Christ, who saith in the Revelation, chap. 22.7. Behold, I come quickly; and Vers. 12. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. If I would imitate the Postillers, I could call this Ecce Admonitivum, an Ecce of Admonition, a warning word for everyone to be in a readiness to embrace Christ at his coming.

Thirdly, Ecce, Behold, is a note of asseveration, or certainty, and is put for Sane or Certe, verily or certainly. Such it is Jer. 23.39. Ecce, Behold I, even I will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and cast you out of my presence, And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten. Behold I will do it; I will surely do it.

Fourthly, Ecce, Behold, is a particle, ordinarily used by God in his Comminations, when he threateneth some great and heavy punishment to come as Ezech. 5.8. Thus saith the Lord against Jerusalem, Behold, I, even I am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee, in the sight of the Nations, And, chap. 6.3. Thus saith the Lord against Israel, Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. And against Tyrus, chap. 26.3. Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many Nations to come up against thee, as the Sea causeth his waves to come up. And against Zidon, chap. 28.22. Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee. And against Pharaoh, chap. 29.3. Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, King of Egypt, I will put hooks in thy Iawes. Many other like places I might allege yet farther, to show unto you, the frequent use of this particle, Ecce, Behold, in the Comminations of God's punishments. But I will not hold you any longer with this discourse.

Sufficient shall it be for you at this time to be advertised, that as often as you meet with this word Ecce, Behold, in the sacred Volume of the word of God; so often you have a watch-word, to stir up your attention, to listen to the matter that ensueth, for its weight and worth. Such is it in my text. Behold. Your attention is called upon, to give ear to that which followeth.

I am pressed] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 It is in Hifhil, the root of it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which in Hifhil is sometimes Transitiue, sometimes Intransitiue or Neutrall: from whence there is a twofold Interpretation of this place. One is, I am pressed under you as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves; the other, I will press your place, as a Cart full of sheaves presseth. That is our Textuall reading, this our Marginall. Some incline to that; some to this. Each hath a proper, and a profitable understanding. First of the first.

THis meaning the Uulgar Latin seemeth to express; Ecce, ego stridebo subter vos, sicut stridet plaustrum onustum foeno: which I find thus handsomely translated in an old English Manuscript (some take it to be Wickliphes) Loe, I shall sound strongly under you, as a wayne charged with hay soundeth strongly. S. Jerome thus glosseth it. As a cart or wayne, that is full laden with stubble or hay, maketh a noise, soundeth out, and bowleth: so I, not any longer enduring your sins, but as it were committing stubble to the fire, shall cry out.

With this exposition of S. Jerome, agreeth that of Gregory the great, Moral. 32.6. Who there takes these words of my text to intimate, that God under the burden of sins maketh a noise and crieth out. Aliquando (saith he) etiam insensatis rebus propter infirmitatem nostram altâ condescensione se comparat: God sometimes condescends to our weak capacities, and for our infirmities sake compares himself to things void of sense: as here: Behold, I shall skreeke, or cry out under you, as a cart or wayne full-laden with sheaves skreeketh or crieth out. For, because fenum est vita carnalium, the life of carnal men is as hay, according to that, Esa. 40.6. Omnis caro fenum, All flesh is grass, the Lord patiently enduring the life of carnal men, testifieth of himself, more plaustri fenum se portare, that likevnto a cart or wayne he is charged with hay. Now for him, Sub feni onere stridere, to skreeke out under a load of hay, it is nothing else, but pondera & iniquitates peccantium cum querelâ tolerare, with complaint to tolerate the burdens and iniquities of sinful men.

This his construction seems probable to Ribera. Probable to him: but it is good with Brenz, good with Gwalther, good with Drusius, good with Winckelman, good with others with Remigius, with Albertus, with Hugo, with Lyra, with Dionysius, as Castrus hath observed.

According to whom; the true meaning of my text is, as if the Lord should thus have said: Behold, O ye Israelites; you, whom only of all the families of the earth I have known; you, whom I have borne, as a man doth bear his son; you, whom I have carried in my bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking Child; You, once my people, and mine inheritance, whom I brought forth out of Egypt, by my mighty power, and by my stretched out arm, Behold: Behold such hath been, and is your stubbornness, such your wickedness, such the multitude of your sins, that I am weary to bear them: Behold, I am pressed under you, as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. As many sheaves, as much hay or stubble is unto a cart, so are you to me, in regard of your sins you are so to me; so troublesome, so grievous, that I even faint under you, and am not able any longer to bear you.

Its a very grievous complaint; and may teach us thus much: that our sins are sometimes burdensome and grievous unto God. It is my doctrine:

Such were the sins of the old world, we know it by, Gen. 6.5, 6. For God saw, that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord, that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. It repented him, and grieved him at his heart.

Such were the sins of Judah. We know it by the first Chapter of the Prophecy of Isaiah. The complaints which God maketh there, do prove it: verse. 21. How is the faithful City become an Harlot? It was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine is mixed with water. Thy Princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: Everyone loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. And verse 14. Your new moons, and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. You see; the sins of Judah were a trouble unto God, he was weary to bear them. They were burdensome and grievous unto him.

Such were the sins of Israel, we know it by the 43. chap. of Isaiah. There verse 24. thus saith the Lord to Israel: Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins; thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. What! Was God made to serve with the sins of Israel? Was he wearied with their iniquities? Its more then evident: the sons of Israel, were burdensome, and grievous unto God.

Are not the sins of the whole world such? Are not our sins such? Sweet Jesus, thou knowest they are such. The labors, the troubles, the miseries, the griefs, the torments which in the days of thy flesh, from the first hour of thy Natiuitie, to the last moment of thy suffering upon the Cross, thou hast endured for us, are so many demonstrations, that our sins are such; that they are burdensome and grievous unto thee.

Dearely beloved, behold we Christ Jesus in the form of a servant, laid in a manger, exiled from his country, reputed for a Carpenters son, yea for a carpenter; hungering, thirsting, reviled, railed upon, shamefully abused; and in an agony, sweating great drops of blood; we must confess our sins to have been the cause of all.

Behold we his glorious head crowned with thorns; behold we his sweet face buffeted and spit upon; behold we his harmless hands distilling forth gore blood; behold we his naked side pierced through with a sharp spear; behold we his undefiled feet, which never stood in the way of sinners, dented through with cruel nails; we must confess our sins to have been the cause of all.

Our sins the cause of all • . Isaiah confesseth it, chap. 53.4 Surely, He [Christ Jesus] hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. S. Matthew repeats it, chap. 8.17. Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. So doth S Peter, 1. Epist. chap. 2.24. Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree: by his stripes are we healed. S. Paul speaks as plainly, Rom. 4.25. Christ was delivered for our offenses: and 1. Cor. 15.3. Christ died for our sins. Our sins are the cause of all Christ's sufferings.

Our sins the cause of all Christ's sufferings! Its even so. S. Augustine Meditat. cap. 7. doth thus elegantly deliver it: The sinner offendeth, the just is punished; the guilty transgresseth, the innocent is beaten; the wicked sinneth, the godly is condemned; that which the evil deserveth, the good suffereth; the servant doth amiss, the master maketh amends; man committeth sin, and God beareth the punishment. So true is my doctrine,

So burdensome, so grievous, as that he is enforced to complain, as here he doth against Israel, I am pressed under you, as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves. Stands it thus Beloved? May our sins be burdensome and grievous unto God? May they press him, as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves? Make we hereof this use; to hate sin, to detest it, to fly from it, as from the Devil, who is the Author of it.

Syracides in his Ecclesiasticus, chap. 21. to incite us to the hatred of sin, to the detestation of it, and to fly from it, compareth sin to a Serpent, to a Lyon, to a two edged sword. To a Serpent, verse. 2. Flee from sin, as from the face of a Serpent; for it thou comest too near it, it will bite thee. To a Lyon in the same verse, Flee from sin as from a Lyon; the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a Lyon, slaying the souls of men. To a two edged sword, verse. 3. Flee from sin as from a two edged sword; for all iniquity is as a two edged sword, the wounds whereof cannot be healed.

But what is a two edged sword? what the teeth of a Lyon? what the face of a Serpent? what the Devil himself, to the love of God? Flee from sin for the love of God, that with thy sins thou be not burdensome and grievous unto God. If we cannot but sin (as, the truth is we cannot, such is our imperfection) yet let us not increase the measure of our sin, by any wicked malice. If we cannot stay our selves from going in the paths of sin, yet let us stay our selves for going on therein. Stop we the course of our sins, as the Lord shall enable us; and let us not, by the fullness of their measure, pull vengeance from Heaven, whether God will or no. A heavy day and hour will it be to you, to me, to any, if the Lord shall once say unto us, as here he doth to Israel, I am pressed under you, as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves.

Again, stands it thus, beloved? May our sins be burdensome and grievous unto God? May they press him as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves? Make we then here of a second use, even to admonish such sinners as are obstinate and impenitent. They may from hence be remembered, that if they be burdensome and grievous unto God, [with their obstinacy and impenitence] God will be burdensome and grievous unto them with his plagues.

Obstinacie, impenitence! O let sins of such an elevation be far from our Coasts. If we drive God to call a convocation of Heaven and Earth, as Esa. 1.2. Hear O heavens, and give ear O earth: I have nourished and brought up Children, and they have rebelled against me; if we drive him to call on the mountains & the foundations of the earth to hear his controversy, as Micah 6.2. Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth; the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and will plead with them: if we drive him to his old complaint, Hos 4.1. There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land, By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and whoring ye break out, and blood toucheth blood: if we thus and thus force God, what shall become of us in the end? Will he not again force us, to cry out, howl, and repent, that ever we thus and thus forced him? Yes, without all controversy he will. He will pour out his fury like fire, he will throw down rocks before him; and shall we then be able to stand? Its impossible we should, unless truly and unfeignedly renouncing all show of obstinacy and impenitence, we become dutiful and obedient children to the Lord our God. O how desirous, how earnest is our sweet Savior, we should be such? How pathetically doth he persuade our, and the whole Churches reformation? Cant. 6.13. Return, return O Shulamite; return, return. Let our reply be, with Saint Augustine, Domine, da quod jubes, & jube quod vis, Lord, give us ability to return to thee, and then command us to return: or with Jeremiah chap. 31.18. Turn thou us unto thee, ô Lord, and we shall be turned; thou art the Lord our God.

Thus have you my doctrine, and the uses thereof. My doctrine was: Our sins are sometimes burdensome and grievous unto God. My first use was; an incitement to the detestation of sin in general. My second was, a caveat against the foulest of sins, obstinacy and impenitence. My doctrine branding our sins with burdensomenesse and grievousness in respect of God; I grounded upon the complaint, which in my text, God maketh against Israel; I am pressed under you, as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves. God is pressed under our sins; therefore our sins are burdensome unto him, they are grievous unto him.

But here it may be questioned, how God can be said to complain of our sins, to be burdened with them, to be grieved at them, since in himself he hath all pleasure and content? He dwelleth in such light, such brightness of glory, as never mortal foot could approach unto: the sight of his face is to us on earth unsufferable; no mortal eye ever saw him, nor can see him: he inhabiteth the eternity, is the first, and is the last, and changeth not; yea, hath not so much as a shadow of change. How then is it, that he oft complaineth? how can he be burdened? how grieved?

Complaints, we know, are the witnesses of a burdened, and grieved soul. God here complaineth of pressure, that he is pressed under Israel, as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves: from whence the collection is, that the sins of Israel are burdensome and grievous unto God. But can this be so indeed? Can our sins be burdensome unto God? Can they be grievous unto him? or can God complain that they are such? What can be said unto it?

Will you, that I speak properly, without a figure? Then thus I say: God cannot complain, because he cannot be burdened, or grieved. Could he be burdened or grieved, he could suffer: But he cannot suffer. Every blow of ours, though we were as strong and high, as the sons of Anak, light short of him. If some could have reached him, it had gone ill with him long ere this. But God cannot suffer. So true is that axiom of the Schools: No passion can befall the Deity. Aquinas 1. qu. 20. art. 1. thus delivers it: Nulla passio est in Deo; there is no passion in God: and lib. 1. Contra Gentiles cap. 89. In Deo non sunt Passiones affectuum; there are no affective passions in God. By affective passions be understandeth the passions of the sensitive appetite, which therefore are not in God, because God hath no such appetite, as Ferrariensis hath well observed.

Well then, if these passions of complaining, of repenting of grieving, of fainting, and the like, cannot properly be said to be in God, how are they so frequently in holy Scripture ascribed unto him?

My answer is, they are ascribed unto him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , per 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , abusively, by an Anthropopathie. It is Athanasius his golden rule 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Say God complaineth; say he repenteth; say he grieveth; say he fainteth, or is wearied; all these are spoken of God for our capacities, but are to be understood, as its fit for God.

God in holy Scripture speaking of himself as if these passions were familiar with him, he appears as transfigured into the likeness of our nature, and in our own familiar terms speaketh to our shallow understandings. As an old man speaking to a child, frames his voice in a childish phrase. So God speaking to us men, speaks as the manner of men is to speak. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (saith Athanasius Dispute. contra Ariam in Niceno concilio ) for our imbecility God thus speaketh: he descends to our capacities: and that men may in some measure know him, he will be known as man; by passions or affections, by complaining, by repenting, by grieving, by fainting. By these he signifies not what he is indeed, but what is needful for us to know of him. For we well acquainted with the use of these natural passions in our selves, may the better guess at the knowledge of that God, to whom we hear them ascribed by translation. By translation, not properly: or as one well saith, per figuram, non naturam, by a figure, not by nature: or as the Schools speak quoad effectum, non quoad affectum, in the effect, not in the affection; So Aquinas Par. 1 ^a . qu. 21. art. 3. C.

But having entreated else where of this question, Whether there be any affection or passion in God, in my 17. Sermon upon Hosea chap. 10. I now say no more of it. Only I conclude it affirming with Gregory Moral. lib. 20. cap. 23. that God is, Sine Zelo Z • lans, sine irâ irascens, sine dolore & poenitentiâ poenitens, sine misero cord misericors, sine praevisionibus praesci • ns: that God is zealous without zeal, angry without anger, grieving without sorrow, repenting without penitency, pitiful without pity, foreknowing without foresight. There is no passion at all in God.

Thus have you my answer to the question even now propounded. The question was: How God may be said to complain of our sins, to be burdened with them, or to be grieved at them, since in himself he hath all pleasure and content? My answer is, He cannot be said so to do in a proper sense and understanding, because God is not obnoxious to any passion, but improperly, in a figure, abusively, metaphorically, by an Anthropopathic, and metonymically, he may well be said so to do: he may well be said to complain of our sins, to be burdened with them, and to be grieved at them. So he complaineth against Israel, here in my text; I am pressed under you, as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

Hitherto have I stood upon the first Interpretation of these words, depending upon the intransitiue or newtrall signification of the Hebrew verb 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 I am pressed. The other Interpretation growing upon the transitiue signification of the same verb, is put in the Margent of our newest English translation, and thus it is,

It is the very reading of Tremellius and Junius. Jonathan doth not much vary from it; nor R. Abraham, and other Hebrew Doctors, nor the wise men of Spain, as Pagnine hath observed. Our new expositors for the most part do mention it, Calvin, and Danaus, Brenz and Winclelman, Mercerus and Quadratus, Christopherus à Castro, and Petrus à Figuiero, I will press you.

In an old English Bible, It may be Taverners translation) I find this place thus Interpreted; I will crashe you in sunder, like as a wayne crasheth, that is full of sheaves. I will crash you, or, I will press you: the meaning is the same: and thus I paraphrase it,

I] the Lord, Jehovah, your Lord God, will press your place, wheresoever it shall be; But how? Either as a cart full loaden with sheaves presseth] the earth, and whatsoever else it passeth over; or as a cart full loaden presseth the sheaves in the threshing floare: or as a cart full loaden with sheaves is it self pressed. I will press you, as a cart full of sheaves presseth, or is pressed.

By this second Interpretation of my text, my text is Comminatorie. The Lord threateneth to punish Israel for their sins; to punish them non levi manu, aut viribus languidis, not with a light hand, or languishing force, sed magno nisu acrobore, but with great endeavor and strength. I will press you, as a cart full of sheaves presseth, or is pressed.

God ever just, and immutable, assigneth to like sins like punishments. We for sinning come not short of the Israelites. May we not then well expect their punishments? Yes doubtless, we may: and this Commination may be as well to us, as to them; I will press you, as a cart full of sheaves presseth, or is pressed. From this Commination we may take this lesson:

He will not. His commination of punishment given in Paradise to the transgressor of his law, i • a proof of this truth. The Commination is, Gen. 2.17. In the day that thou eatest thereof, [of the tree of knowledge of good and evil] thou shalt die the death. Adam transgressed the Law; it was his sin; the punishment of it, in him and his whole posterity, is death.

Hitherto belongeth that malediction, Deut. 27.26. which is repeated, Gal. 3.10. Cursed is everyone, that continueth not in all things, which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them. Now God is ever true in his sayings, and he ever performeth, what he saith. If thou then fail in the performance gf any one Commandment of his Law, or of any branch thereof, the Curse layeth hold on thee, and obligeth thee to punishment.

In the first Chapter of the Epistle to the Rom. verse. 32. we know it to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Law of God, his righteous and just Law, his Law of Nature, that, they which do such things, (as are there rehearsed) are worthy of death. Art thou filled with unrighteousness, with fornication, with wickedness, with covetousness, with maliciousness? Thou art worthy of death. Art thou full of envy, of murder, of debate, of deceit, of malignity? Thou art worthy of death. Art thou a whisperer, a backbiter, a hater of God? Thou art worthy of death. Art thou despiteful, or proud or a boaster, or an inuentor of evil, or disobedient to thy parents? thou art worthy of death. Art thou without understanding, or without natural affection? Art thou a covenant breaker, or implacable, or unmerciful? Thou art worthy of death. It is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Law of God, his righteous and just Law, his Law of Nature, that they which commit such things, are worthy of death. They are worthy of death: and death must be their wages. It must be so. So true is my Doctrine,

For the further illustration of this truth, I might produce the suffrages of the ancient; of Augustine, and of Gregory. But having elsewhere done that in my 18. Sermon upon the 10. of Hosea, I will not now again do it: and what need I draw from the Rivers, when I am full of the fountain? Yet may I not end, without making some use hereof.

My first use shall be, to reprove such as teach otherwise, as Socinus Osterodius, Gittichius, and other the enemies of Christ's satisfaction. They will thus argue: if God will never suffer sin to escape unpunished, then belike he casteth all men into Hell, there to be punished with infernal torments.

I answer, No. Sed quosdam infernalibus poenis punit, caeteris peccata remittit: Far be it from God, that he should punish all, the Elect as well as the Reprobate, with infernal torments. Some, all the Reprobate, he so punisheth: but to others, to all the Elect, he forgives their sins.

Their reply here is: Doth God forgive the Elect their sins? Why then it is likely, he leaves them altogether unpunished.

Our answer is: Not so. God doth not leave the sins of the Elect altogether unpunished; but doth punish them all, by translating their sins from them, to his own son, Christ Jesus: according to that, Isaiah 53.6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities. The sum of all is; Our transgressions, our iniquities, our sins God punisheth in Christ, and for his sake forgives them us. Thus far the reproof.

My second Use is, a short word of exhortation. Will not God suffer any sin to escape altogether unpunished? What then shall become of us, beloved? Our sins! Are they not impudent and vnblushing? Are they not acted with lifting up the hand, and heel against God? The hand in opposition, the heel in contempt? Our sins! They keep not low water; the tide of them is ever swelling: they are objects to the eye of the world, and are proud, that they are observed.

I have read of two ladders, by which me • climb to Heaven; prayers and sins: the godly by their prayers; the wicked by their sins. By this la • ter ladder did Sodom and Niniv • h climb. O let not our sins be such climbers! Rather then they should press into the presence chamber of Heaven, and grow acquainted with God, let us keep them down, and here punish them. For they must be punished.

Must be! Yea, saith S. Augustine Enarrat. in Psal. 58. Iniquitas omnis, parva magnáue fit, puniatur necesse est: Every sin, be it great, or be it little, must of necessity be punished.

Must it! By whom? He there tells you, aut ab ipso homine poenitente, aut a Deo vindicante; either by man repenting, or by God revenging. For quem poenitet, scipsum punit, who so repenteth of his sins, he punisheth himself for his sins. Ergo, fratres, puniamus peccata nostra: therefore brethren, let us be our own punishers: punish we our selves, our sins, that God may have mercy on us.

He cannot show mercy upon workers of iniquity, quasi blandiens peccatis, aut non eradicens peccata, as if he flattered men in their sins, or had no purpose to root out sin.

Prorsus aut punis, aut punit. Believe it either thou must punish thyself, or God will punish thee. Vis non puniat, puni tu. Wilt thou that God should not punish thee, then punish thou thyself: and wash away thy sins with the salt and bitter tears of unfeigned Repentance, through a lively faith in the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: So shall not thy sins be laid unto thy Charge: but they shall be as a bundle that is bound up and is cast into the bottom of the Sea: they shall never rise up against thee.

If thou thus punish thyself, God will not complain of thee, that he is pressed under thee as a Cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves: nor will he threaten, to press thee, as a Cart full of sheaves presseth, or is pressed.

Now forsaking the ladder of our sins, climb we to Heaven with the ladder of our prayers.

O Lord, our God, the giver of all grace, grant, we beseech thee, that we may unfeignedly bewail our sins, be they never so small, and may amend all without excuse, as well our secret sins, as those that are known, that we may in thy good time be translated from this valley of sins, to that thy blessed habitation above, where we may with all Saints forever sing: Halleluja, Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God for evermore. Amen.

THE XX. LECTURE.

THE defiance is set, the trumpet is blown, the war is proclaimed from the Majesty of heaven, against the Kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel. Such was the height of their impieties, discovered, verse. 6, 7, 8. such the foulness of their ingratitude, blased verse. 12. that they could not look for less, then a dissipation, a dispersion and overthrow by war.

The proclamation you heard of, of late, out of the 13. verse, it was made, either by way of a grievous complaint, Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed, that is full of sheaves: or by way of a terrible commination, Behold, I will press you, as a cart full of sheaves presseth, or is pressed.

The success and event of this war now followeth, verse. 14, 15, 16. wherein three generals have been observed: Impotentia fugiendi, Debilitas in refistendo, and Fuga fortium.

The first was, their impotency and unableness to escape by flight in the day of battle: the second, their debility and weakness in resisting the enemy: the third, the flight of their most valiant and stout of heart. Three generals they are, and are by our Prophet divided into seven several branches: in which he describes gravitatem tribulationis, as Castrus speaketh, the grievousness of their tribulation; or as Quadratus, summam calamitatem & angustiam, the extreme misery and anguish, whereinto they were to fall.

He showeth God's judgments to be ineluctable. If he will the punishment of any, there is no place for refuge, no evasion, no means to escape. Neither he that is of an expedite and agile body, nor the strong man, nor the mighty, nor the bow-man, nor the swift of foot, nor the horseman, nor the courageous and stout of heart, shall be able to help himself in that day, in the day of God's revengement.

Thus have you summarily the scope of our Prophet in this Scripture, and the meaning thereof. I must now descend to the particulars. The first of the seven miseries, here foretold to betide the Israelites, is in the beginning of the 14. verse.

IT is an Hebrew phrase. I meet with the like, Psal. 142.4. Perijt fuga à me. So David in extreme danger in the Cave, complaineth: The flight perished from me, or Refuge failed me; or, I had no place to fly unto: that is, I saw not which way I might escape; all hope of evasion was gone from me; I was in mine own eyes, of necessity to have perished. Perijt fuga à me, The flight perished from me.

The like form of speech is, Ierem. 25.35. Peribit fuga à pastoribus, & saluatio ab optima • ibus gregis: The flight shall perish from the shepherds, and safety from the chief of the flock: that is, The shepherds shall have no way to flee, and the principal of the flock, the Rams of the flock shall have no way to escape; Peribit fuga, the flight shall perish from the shepherds, and safety from the chief of the flock.

So, Job 11.20. it is part of the infelicity of the wicked, Peribit fuga ab cis, flight shall perish from them, that is, they shall not escape.

The meaning of this phrase is well expressed, Amos 9.1. Non erit fuga cis qui fugient, & non saluabitur ex cis, qui fugerit. He that fleeth of them, shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them, shall not be delivered. Surely from such peribit fuga, flight shall perish; flee they may, but by their flight they shall not escape.

Peribit fuga, the flight shall perish from the swift. As the flight perisheth, so may other things be said to perish, the Law, and Counsel, and the Word; the Law from the Priest, and counsel from the wise, and the word from the Prophet. Ier. 18.18.

So, Ezech. 7.26. it is said, The law shall perish from the Priest, and counsel from the Ancients. And Ierem. 49.7. Counsel is perished from the prudent. And Isaiah. 29.14. the wisdom of the wise men shall perish.

Now for the law, and the word, and wisdom, and counsel to perish from the Priest, from the Prophet, from the Wise, from the Prudent, and from the Ancient, what else is it, then for such men to be destitute of such things; the Priest of the Law, the Prophet of the Word, the wise, the prudent, and the ancient, of wisdom and counsel?

So touching my text, I say, for the flight to perish from the swift, it is nothing else, then for the swift to be destitute of flight, to be deprived of flight, to be altogether unable to flee away, when he would.

The swift! Who is that? The old Hebrews say, it is Jeroboam, son of Nebat , who fled from Solomon into Egypt, as S. Jerome, and after him Remigius, Rupertus, Albertus, Hugo, and Dionysius have observed. This Jewish conceit is in this place enlarged: As by the Swift they understand Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who fled from Solomon; so by the Strong, they understand Baasha, that warlike King, who all his days had war with Asa King of Judah; by the Mighty, King Omri; by the Bowman, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who slew King Joram with an arrow; by the Swift of foot, King Menahem; by the Horseman, King Pekah, the son of Remaliah; and by the Couragious and stout of heart, K. Hoshea, son of Elah, the last of the Kings of Israel.

But these are Hebraeorum somnia, as Lyra calls them; or, as Mercerus, Nugamenta: they are Jewish dreams and toys, unworthy the majesty of holy Scripture. I therefore pass them over: and do understand this branch, of the flight perishing from the swift, with the other six that follow, of the utter subversion of the state of Israel, and the final captivity of that people when they were carried away by Salmanassar into Assyria. In that day (a heavy day to them) neither he that was of a swift, an expedite and an agile body, nor the strong man, nor the mighty, nor the archer, nor the swift of foot, nor the rider, nor the courageous and stout of heart, found any means to save or help himself.

From the first of these seven miseries thus expressed in this first branch, The flight shall perish from the swift, we may take this lesson,

This truth Albertus would ratify with those words, Prov. 92. Velox pedibus offendet. He that is swift of foot offendeth, stumbleth, hitteth against some stone, or stump, and so falleth, and is overtaken. But the allegation is impertinent. The words are against rash and unadvised actions in the course of man's life; and do bear with them this sense: As he that runneth hastily, if he look not to his feet, that he may choose the good way, and leave the bad, is in great danger of continual falling: so he, that hastily and without due deliberation goeth about this or that, may easily transgress before he be aware. This sense is natural to the words, as we render them: He that hasteth with his feet, sinneth. If thou run hastily to evil, thou sinnest against God and thine own soul.

The other place alleged by Albertus to prove, that there is no evasion, no escaping for the swift, is more pertinent. It is in Isaiah chap. 30.16. Velociores erunt, qui persequentur vos. Think you not by flight to save yourselves: for they, that shall pursue you, shall be as swift as you, or swifter.

As pertinent is that of the Preacher, Eccl. 9.11. There is no race to the swift, or, in running it helpeth not to be swift. The meaning of it the Chaldee Paraphrase thus expresseth: though men be as swift as Eagles, yet shall they not by running help themselves, or deliver themselves from death in the day of battle. The Hebrews refer this to Hasahel, one of the sons of Tzeruiah, who though he were an exceeding swift runner, as light of foot as a wild Roe, as he is described, 2. Sam. 2.18. yet could he not escape, but he must be slain by Abner.

We read of diverse, swift of foot beyond admiration: of Atalanta in the Poet, who seemed

to run as fast, as an arrow flieth from a strong bow: of Camilla in another Poet, that she did cursu pedum, with her swift feet, out-run the winds; that she flew over standing corn, and did no hurt to the ears thereof; that she iournied upon the wrestles and swelling Ocean, and never dipped the sole of her foot therein. Of Iphictus in Orpheus, Nonnus, and others, that he likewise ran over standing corn without hurt unto the ears, and walked upon the Sea: of Orior, Neptuns son in Hyginus, that he could run upon the waves of the Sea: of Arias, Menecles his son, in the Greek Epigram, that running in a race from the b • ginning to the end no man could see him, so swift he was of foot.

But these I take to be either fabulous, or hyperbolical. Yet say, there were such; say, there are such; I say, neither was there for them, neither is there for these, any evasion, or escaping from God. No, not any at all. My Prophet in the next verse, the 15. of this Chapter, speaks it in plain terms; He, that is swift of foot, shall not deliver himself.

Not deliver himself! and yet swift of foot. It is even so. Why may he not attempt to flee? Perchance he may: yet shall his attempt be frustrate: for thus saith the Lord, Amos 9.1. He, that fleeth, shall not flee away, and he that escapeth, shall not be delivered. Yea, saith he, though they dignity into Hell, thence shall mine hand take them: though they climb up to Heaven, thence will I bring them down. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the Sea, thence will I command the serpent and he shall bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them. In this Hyperbolicall exaggeration, (for such it is in the judgments of S. Jerome, Remigius, Albertus, Hugo, and Dionysius ) he showeth, how impossible it is for man, by seeking to flee, to lurk, or to hide himself, to exempt himself from the power or wrath of GOD.

This impossibility of hiding our selves from the power, or wrath of God, either in Heaven, or Hell, or Sea, or dark place, or anywhere else, is elegantly and fully illustrated by the sweetest singer of Psalms, David, Psal 139.7.

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall fly from thy presence?

If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in Hell, behold, thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea,

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me: even the night shall be light about me.

Yea the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

You see, nor Heaven, nor Hell, nor Sea, nor darkness could hide David from the presence of God. Could they not hide David, and shall they be able to hide others? They shall not. God makes it good by that his vehement asseveration, Ierem. 23.23. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God a far off?

Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill Heaven, and Earth saith the Lord? You see again: At hand or further off, in Heaven, or Earth, in places of most secrecy, our Lord he is God, he seeth all things, he fills both Heaven and Earth. Thus have you the confirmation of my doctrine, which was,

Is there no refuge for us, no evasion, no escaping by flight, when God will punish? No, there is none. How can there be any? since our persecutors shall be swifter then the Eagles of the Heaven to pursue us upon the mountains, and to lay wait for us in the wilderness: according to the mone that the daughter of Zion maketh, Lament. 4 19. Flee we, as we may, to mountains, to the wilderness, to hide our selves; our flight shall be in vain: for our persecutors shall be swifter then the Eagles of the Heaven; they whom God will employ, to be the executioners of his displeasure towards us, shall still have means to overtake us, and to find us out.

Will there be no refuge for us, no evasion, no escaping by flight, when God will visit for our sins? What shall we then do beloved? What? Vis audire consilium? Wilt thou hear counsel, saith S. Augustine in his sixth Treatise upon S. John's Epistle, Si vis ab illo fugere, ad ipsum fuge; If thou wilt flee from him, flee to him. Ad ipsum fuge confitendo, non ab ipso latendo. Flee to him by confessing thy sins, but hide not thyself from him. Latere enim non potes, sed confiteri potes. For its impossible thou shouldst lie hid from him, yet mayst thou confess thyself unto him. Say unto him, Refugium meum es tu, Lord thou art my refuge and my fortress: my God, in thee will I trust. Refugium meum es tu, Lord thou art my refuge.

To like purpose the same S. Augustine upon Psal. 71. saith, Non est quo fugiatur ab illo, nisi ad illum, there is no flying from God, but by flying to Him. Si vis evadere iratum, fuge ad placatum, if thou wilt flee from him, as he is angry, flee to him as pacified.

So upon Psal. 75. Non est, quo fugias à Deo irato, nisi ad Deum placatum; there is no flying from God angry, but to God pacified. Prorsus non est, quo fugias, believe it, there is no flying from God. Vis fugere ab ipso? fuge ad ipsum. Wilt thou needs flee from him? then flee to him.

Flee to him! From whence and whither? Can I flee from any place where God is not, to some place where he is? Or is he not everywhere? Fills he not Heaven and Earth? How then can I flee to him?

Understand not any local flying de loco ad locum, but a flying de vitâ ad vitam, de actu ad actum, de bonis ad meliora, de vtilibus ad vtiliora, de sanctis ad sanctiora, as Origen speaketh, Homil. 12. in Genesin, and so mayst thou flee to God. Flee from life to life, from an evil life to a good life; from act to act, from an evil act to a good act; from good to better; from profitable courses to more profitable; from sanctified thoughts to more sanctified; and thou doest flee to God. The performance of this thy flight must be, non passibus pedum, sed mentis profectibus, not by the agility or swiftness of thy feet, but by the increase or bettering of will and understanding.

Thus to flee to God, is nothing else, then to draw near unto him, to have access unto him, to come unto him.

To draw near unto him we are exhorted, I am. 4.8. Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh to you. Draw nigh to God! but how? Pedibus, aut passibus corporis, with your bodily feet or paces? No, sed cordis, but with the feet and paces of our heart. Per bona opera, saith the Gloss, by good works: per morum imitationem, saith Aquinas, by honesty of life and conversation: fide, affectu, pijs precibus, saith another, by true faith, by sincere affection, by godly and devout prayers. Such are the feet, such the paces of our hearts; by which, if we are contrite, broken, and sorrowful in spirit, for our sins already past, and are careful to prevent all occasion of sin hereafter, we draw nigh to God; yea, we have access unto him.

To have access to God we are invited, Psal. 34.5. Accedite ad cum & illuminamini, & facies vestrae non confundentur. Let your access be to God, and be lightened, and your faces shall not be confounded. And this access to God, according to S. Augustine upon Psal. 145.16. is to be, animo, non vehiculo; affectibus, non pedibus; with the mind, not with a chariot; with our affections, not with our feet.

So the same Father upon the 59 Psalm. Our access to God must be, non gressu pedum, non subvectione vehiculorum, non celeritate animalium, non elevatione pennarum, not by running with our feet, not by hurrying in a coach, not by riding upon the swiftest of horses, not by mounting up with feathered wings; sed puritate affectuum, & probitate sanctorum morum, but with purity of affections, and sanctity of behavior.

This our access unto God, is nothing else, then our coming unto God. The invitation to come unto him is general, Matth. 11.28. It is there made by our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and Redeemer, the Lord of Lord's, and King of Kings, the head of all principality and power, the joy and crown of all Saints, the assured trust and certain hope of all the faithful: and its made unto all: Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Come, Come unto me. Quibus gressibus ad semetipsam nos veritas vocat? Christ the Truth, calls us; but how shall we come unto him? Quibus gressibus? by what steps or paces? Gregory frames the question, Moral. lib. 21. cap. 4. and there gives this answer: Ad se quippe venire nos Dominus praecipit, nimirùm non gressibus corporis, sed profectibus cordis: its true; the Lord commands us to come unto him, not with the motion of our bodies, but with the proceedings of our hearts.

Thus I have made plain unto you, what it is Ad Deum fugere, to flee to God. Its nothing else, then Deo appropinquare, ad Deum accedere, ad Deum venire: to draw nigh to God, to approach unto him, to come unto him: but whether we flee, or draw nigh, or approach, or come unto him, the understanding of all must be spiritual. Our wings, our charriots, our coaches, our feet, wherewith we are to fly, to draw nigh, to approach, to come to God, are all spiritual.

And what are they? They are contrition, faith, and obedience. With these we approach, we draw nigh, we fly, we come to God. Ut miseri ad misericordiam, vt nudi ad divitem, vt famelici ad panem, vt infirmi ad medicum, vt serui ad dominum, vt discipuli ad magistrum, vt caeci ad lumen, vt frigidi ad ignem; as the wretched to the merciful, as the naked to the rich, as the hunger-staruen to bread, as the sick to the Physician, as the servant to his Lord, as the scholar to his Master, as the blind to the light, as the cold to the fire: so Hugo Cardinalis upon the 4 ^th of S. James.

Now with these three, Contrition, Faith, and Obedience, the inseparable companions of true and unfeigned Repentance, let us make haste to God, and fly we with all speed from the wolf to the shepherd, from death to life, from our sins to our Savior, from the paths of Hell, full of all darkness and horror, to the way of Heaven, full of all true joy and pleasure. So will God draw nigh to us, Liberando ab angustijs, gratiam dando, & de virtute ad virtutem promovendo, saith the same Hugo: he will free us from distress, will give us of his grace, and will promote us from virtue to virtue.

Thus shall it be with us, if with the affection of the spouse in the Canticles we call upon the Lord. Her affection is seen Chap. 1.4. Draw me, saith she, and we will run after thee. Say we with like affection, Lord draw us and we will run after thee. Draw us and we will run.

That we may begin zealously to run after God, we have need to be drawn, and that with great force. For unless he draw us, we cannot come to him, we cannot follow him. But if he once draw, Lo, then we hasten, then we run, then we wax hot. Wherefore let the Lord draw us, let him pull us out from the bondage of our sins, let him deliver us from this wicked world; let him powerfully incline our wills and affections towards him, let him give us strength to cleave unto him; and then we, and all the faithful, will at once with speed and earnestness, fly unto him, draw nigh unto him, have our access unto him, and come unto him.

Hitherto of the first branch of this fourteenth verse, expressing the first of the seven miseries here foretold to betide the Israelites, that, the flight should perish from the swift. Now followeth the second, and it concerneth their strong men;

THE strong, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 He in whom is strength; strength not of mind, but of body; he shall not strengthen his force] though he be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , very strong and Iustie, yet 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he shall not retain his force: so daunted shall he be in heart, and his courage so abated, that he shall not dare for his own defense to use the strength he hath. He shall be, as if he had no strength at all. The lesson to be taken hence, is:

It will not. For as it is in the song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel, 1. Sam. 2.9. By strength shall no man prevail. No man against God. For God is Almighty. He removeth the mountains, and they know not: He overcometh them in his anger. He shaketh the Earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. He commands the Sun, and it riseth not: and sealeth up the Stars. He alone spreadeth out the Heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the Sea. He maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Ple • ades, and the chambers of the South. He doth great things past finding out: yea, and wonders without number. He is the Almighty: Who ever hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? So devout Job, chap. 9 4. It is as if he had thus bri • fly argued: God is Almighty: and therefore there is no contending against him, no withstanding him, by any strength of man.

Here may the strong be admonished, that they glory not in their strength, nor put their trust in it. I would wish them to listen to the words of S. Augustine in his Enarration upon the 33 Psalm: Ad Dominum omnes, In Deo omnes: Get ye all to the Lord, trust ye all in God. Spes tua Deus sit, fo • titudo tua Deus sit, firmitas tua Deus sit, exeratio tua ipse si, laus tua ipse sit; finis, in quo requiescas, ipse sit; adiutorium, cûm laboras, ipse sit: Let God be thy hope, let him be thy fortitude, let him be thy strength, let him be thy reconcil • m • nt, let him be thy praise, let him be thy end, wherein thou mayest pleasure and solace thyself, let him be thy refuge in time of trouble. Ad Dominum omnes, in Deo omnes: Get ye all to God, rest ye all in God. Trust not in thyself, nor in thine own strength.

But thou wouldst still be reputed for strong and valiant. Wouldest thou so? Then be thou so: but take this for thy character; Thou strong and valiant man, be thou the master of thyself; subdue thy passions to reason; and by this inward victory work thou thine own peace. Be thou afraid of nothing, but of the displeasure of the Almighty, and run away from nothing but from sin. Look not on thy hands but thy cause; not how strong thou art, but how innocent. Let goodness ever be thy warrant, and I assure thee, though thou mayest be over-mastered, yet shalt thou never be foiled. For Deus fortitudo tua, God will be thy strength.

Thus have you heard in brief of the second misery, here foretold to betide the Israelites, that, the strong should not strengthen his force. The third is,

THE mighty 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Gibbor. He that excelleth in strength; in strength, not of body only, but of mind too. This stout and douty man is called by the Septuagint, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a man of arms, a fighter, a warrior; such a one as hath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as S. Cyril speaketh, and is skillful in military affairs. This man for all his skill, strength, and valor shall not deliver himself.

Himself] The Hebrew is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Naphscho, his soul or life. His soul, that is, his life. Well. For what is life, but as the Philosopher defineth it, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; the composition and colligation of the soul to the body. The soul for life! It is often so put in holy Scripture. As 1. King. 19.4. Elias, in the wilderness, requesting for himself, that he might die, said, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my soul from me. My soul, he meant his life. So Jonah, chap. 4.3. O Lord, Take away my soul from me. That by his soul, he meant his life, it is plain: for he addeth, It is better for me to die, then to live. Satan, Job 2.4. thus saith unto the Lord; Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his soul. For his soul, that is, for his life: and so the Greek Scholia upon the first of S. James do expound it: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The soul is also called life, as in these words; All that a man hath will he give 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , for his soul or life.

God telleth the rich man in the Gospel, who was talking of larger buildings, when the building within him was near pulling down, and thought he had goods enough for his soul to delight in, when he had not soul enough to delight in his goods, Thou fool, this night 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , this night do they require and redemaund thy soul of thee, Luk. 12.10. Thy soul, that is, thy life, for the meaning is, this night thou must die.

S. Augustine in his second Book concerning Christ his Sermon upon the Mount, upon these words, Nonne anima plus est, quàm esca? Is not the soul more then meat? saith, Anim • hoc loco pro istâ vita positā noverimus, know we, that the soul in this place is put for this life, whose retinacle or stay, is the corporal sustenance we daily take. According to this signification is that also spoken, John. 12.25. Qui amat animam suam, perdet illam, he that loveth his soul shall loose it. In each place, the soul is put for life; and accordingly is it rendered in our newest English: in the one place, Is not the life more then meat? in the other, He that loveth his life, shall loose it.

As in these now-cited places, and many other, Anima pro Vitâ, the soul is put for the life; so is it in my text: The mighty shall not deliver his soul, that is, his life. The meaning is, He shall not save his life; he shall not save himself.

The doctrine to be taken from hence is this,

No man can. The Wiseman affirmeth it, Eccles. 9.11. There is no battle to the strong; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Laggibborim; to the mighty, to the man of arms there is no battle, no victory in battle. The Psalmist speaks it plainly, Psal. 33.16. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Gibbor, a mighty man is not delivered from the danger and power of his enemies, by much or great strength, of himself, or others for him. This mighty man in the Vulgar Latin, is styled a Giant: Gigas non saluabitur in multitudine virtutis suae; A Giant shall not be safe in the multitude of his strength. Little David, but a youth, without armor, only with a sling and a stone, slew the Philistim, great Goliath. It is true; No man is privileged by his might against the Lord.

The reason hereof is that, 1. Sam. 2.2. Non est fortis, sicut Deus noster: There is none strong, like our God. None so mighty, none so potent, as our God. Men of this world, may seem to be mighty, and of great power: but, our God in Heaven is mightier, and doth whatsoever pleaseth him, even upon the mighty here on the Earth.

From hence may the mighty man take instruction; the instruction that is given him, Ierem. 9.23. Let not the mighty man glory in his might: But if he will needs glory, let him glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth the Lord. Upon this Lord, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, creator of the waters, and King of every creature, let us wholly depend; being well assured, that none of these outward things, agility of body, strength, might, or the like, can be any way avayleable to us, if God's special blessing be not upon them.

Thus much of the third misery, here foretold to betide the Israelites, which hath ended the fourteenth verse. The fourth followeth, and is expressed in the first branch of the fifteenth verse: these words,

HE that handleth the bow, is in the language of the Septuagint, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the bowman, the archer, the shooter. He shall not stand] He shall not dare to abide his ground: or, if he abide it, he shall not be able to bend his bow; so through fear shall the joints of his loins be loosed, and his knees shall smite the one against the other. This anguish or perplexity shall betide him, according to Jonathan in his Targum 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Bicrabha, in time of skirmish and fight, even then, when his bow should stand him most in steed. By this bow. I understand, not the bow alone and arrows, but every other weapon and instrument of war. From hence ariseth this doctrine,

For proof hereof I produce the judgment of God upon Gog, the chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal, Ezech. 39.3. where thus saith the Lord, Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Bow and arrows! There is no help in them. None at all: nor in the sword; nor in any other military engine. Therefore doth the Psalmist, Psal. 44 6. renounce all trust in them. His words are, I do not trust in my bow, neither can my sword save me. His bow and sword, he doth not much care for. Wherein then is his trust? It is in the might and strength of God. God's power was his buckler, whereto he trusted for his own defense, and for the discomfiture of his enemies.

It is the Use we are to make of the doctrine now propounded. We must not repose our trust in any external help, the bow, the sword, or the like, for this were indeed, to rob God of his glory, and to run to the creature for help. Our help is but one; and that is the Lord of Hosts. Dominus Deus auxiliator meus: Isaiah proclaimeth it twice in one chapter, chap. 50. First verse. 7. The Lord God is my helper: secondly, verse. 9. Behold, the Lord God is my helper. The Lord God is my helper, behold, he is my helper. Surely Isaiah looked for no help, but from the Lord his God.

Nor did Jeremiah look for any, but from the same eternal fountain of help: and therefore, chap. 20.11. he saith: Dominus mecum est, quasi bellator fortis: the Lord is with me, as a stout or mighty warrior.

Nor did David look for any, but from the same. He Psal. 18.2. acknowledgeth the Lord, and him only, to be his strength, his succor, his fortress, his deliverer, his God, his rock wherein he trusteth, his buckler, the horn of his salvation, and his high tower.

The like he doth, Psal. 144.1, 2. Where, what is his strength, but the Lord? What his goodness, his fortress, his high tower, his deliverer, his shield, but the Lord? The Lord alone is he, in whom David trusteth. The bow, the sword, the spear, and every other military weapon, he knew to be mere vanity without help • from the Lord: and therefore the Lord was to him in steed of all.

And let the Lord be to us in steed of all, in steed, of bow, of sword, of spear, of buckler, of shield, of fortress, of tower, and of every other military engine, and under the shadow and covert of his wings, we shall be safe.

Must the Lord be unto us in steed of all? In steed of bow, of sword, of spear, and the rest? Ergóne omnis armorum vsus abijciendus? What? Shall we therefore condemn, cast away, or neglect, the bow, the sword, the spear, all kind of artillery, furniture, or munition that men do use, either for the private defense of themselves, or for the public of the Country?

No, in no wise. This were too too Anabaptistical. And I am no Anabaptist, that I should maintain it to be unlawful for a Christian, either to make weapons for the use of man, or to use them being made. They deny it to be lawful to use the sword. I affirm it to be lawful. My assertion is; All men into whose hands God putteth the sword, may use the sword, even to strike and kill, if need be. Now God putteth the sword first and principally into the hand of the public Magistrate, who when just occasion serves, may draw it out. And sometime he putteth it into the hand of a private man. A private man when he is assailed of his enemy, may take the sword in way of his own defense, and may (if there be no other help) kill his enemy therewith, so he do it not upon any malice, but only because he cannot otherwise escape, and save his own life.

Now to the question: My answer is; Non reijcitur vsus, sed fiducia. The bow, the sword, the spear, and other instruments of war, are not to be condemned, not to be cast away, not to be neglected, but to be used. Non reijcitur vsus, sed fiducia; their use is not forbidden, but our trust in them. The use of all kind of weapons is common as well to the wicked as to the godly: the difference is in the trust. The wicked, they use them, and trust in them; the godly, they use them too, but their trust mounts higher, even to the Lord of Hosts. The distinction then here to be observed is, Ut vsus creaturis fiducia vero creatori deputetur. Use the bow, the sword, the spear, and every other martial weapon when then shalt have just occasion; but see that thy trust be ever in the Lord.

S. Chrysostom upon those words of the 44. Psalm, I trust not in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, saith: Why then dost thou use them? Why art thou armed? Why handlest thou the bow? Why the sword? The answer there is returned; Because our God hath so commanded, therefore I use them: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , yet I cast my whole care on him; in him I do wholly trust. Thus 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , thus fortified & fenced with power from above, we are to fight against our visible enemies: and thus fortified and fenced with power from above, we are to fight against our Spiritual enemies. The chief of them is the Devil.

Our fight against him is a daily fight. For our direction in this fight, we have S. Chrysostom's direction. When thou art to combat with the Devil, say, I trust not in my weapons. I trust not in mine own strength, or mine own righteousness, but in the mercy of God: say with Daniel, chap. 9.18. O my God, incline thine ear and hear: open thine eyes, and behold our desolation; we present our supplications before thee, not for our own righteousness, but for thy great mercies.

THE XXI. LECTURE.

I Now bring you the remainder of the fourth part of Amos his first Sermon. I called it heretofore a Commination. I still call it so. It containeth menacings, or threats against the kingdom of the ten tribes, the children of Israel for the foulness of their ingratitude. These menacings or threats proceeding from him who only is omnipotent, and all-sufficient to effect what he threateneth, even from the Lord, Jehovah, do plainly demonstrate, that God's judgments are ineluctable, not to be avoided. If God will the punishment of any, there is no place for refuge, no cuasion, no means to escape. Neither he that is of an expedite and agile body, nor the strong man, nor the mighty, nor the bow-man, nor the swift of foot, nor the horse-man, nor the courageous, and stout of heart shall be able to help himself in that day, in the day of God's vengeance.

Seven particulars are here disabled from helping themselves, in that day, when the Lord will be pleased to execute vengeance for sin. Of four of them, you heard at large in my last Lecture out of this place, that, neither he that is of an expedite and agile body, nor the strong man, nor the mighty, nor the bow-man, can any way help themselves. Let it please you now to give ear; and you shall hear as much of the other three; of the swift of foot, of the horseman, of the courageous and stout of heart. Begin we with the swift of foot. It is the next branch that followeth, verse. 15.

THe original is; the swift of foot shall not deliver. Shall not deliver! What shall he not deliver; Supply the defect according to the last clauses of this and the former verse: and the full shall be, Velox pedibus, non liberabit animam suam, the swift of foot shall not deliver his soul; His soul, that is, his life, or himself.

The Author of the Vulgar Latin here readeth, Velox pedibus suis non salvabitur the swift of foot shall not be saved. So doth S. Jerome; so the Septuagint; so an old English Manuscript. Some read thus: The swift of foot shall not escape, as the Chaldee Paraphrast, and Montanus, and Munster, and our late Church Bible.

Admit of which reading you will, you cannot miss of the true understanding of the place. Read if you will; the swift of foot shall not be saved, or, shall not escape, or, shall not deliver himself; you will forth-with understand, that, a man cannot by the swiftness of his feet out-run God. This is the very marrow of that lesson, which we are to learn from hence. The lesson is:

This agreeth with that which I have observed upon the first clause of the 14. verse: The flight shall perish from the swift. With that, this which we have now in hand is coincident. The flight shall perish from the swift, and, The swift of foot shall not deliver himself; these two, to the understanding are but one, and do yield unto us one and the same observation. The observation is,

When God resolves to punish man for sin, there is no refuge for him, no evasion, no escaping by flight, though he be of a swift, an expedite, and an agile body.

This truth stands ratified with that in the ninth Chapter of this Prophecy, verse. 1. Non erit fuga eis, qui fugient, & non salvabitur ex eis, qui fugerit. He that fleeth of them, shall not flee away; and he that escapeth of them shall not be