Malachi 2 commentary

What is here said of the covenant of priesthood, is true of the covenant of grace made with all believers, as spiritual priests. It is a covenant of life and peace; it assures all believers of all happiness, both in this world and in that to come. It is an honour to God's servants to be employed as his messengers. The priest's lips should not keep knowledge from his people, but keep it for them. The people are all concerned to know the will of the Lord. We must not only consult the written word, but desire instruction and advice from God's messengers, in the affairs of our souls. Ministers must exert themselves to the utmost for the conversion of sinners; and even among those called Israelites, there are many to be turned from iniquity. Those ministers, and those only, are likely to turn men from sin, who preach sound doctrine, and live holy lives according to the Scripture. Many departed from this way; thus they misled the people. Such as walk with God in peace and righteousness, and turn others from sin, honour God; he will honour them, while those who despise him shall be lightly esteemed.

Corrupt practices are the fruit of corrupt principles; and he who is false to his God, will not be true to his fellow mortals. In contempt of the marriage covenant, which God instituted, the Jews put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for strange wives. They made their lives bitter to them; yet, in the sight of others, they pretend to be tender of them. Consider she is thy wife; thy own; the nearest relation thou hast in the world. The wife is to be looked on, not as a servant, but as a companion to the husband. There is an oath of God between them, which is not to be trifled with. Man and wife should continue to their lives' end, in holy love and peace. Did not God make one, one Eve for one Adam? Yet God could have made another Eve. Wherefore did he make but one woman for one man? It was that the children might be made a seed to serve him. Husbands and wives must live in the fear of God, that their seed may be a godly seed. The God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away. Those who would be kept from sin, must take heed to their spirits, for there all sin begins. Men will find that their wrong conduct in their families springs from selfishness, which disregards the welfare and happiness of others, when opposed to their own passions and fancies. It is wearisome to God to hear people justify themselves in wicked practices. Those who think God can be a friend to sin, affront him, and deceive themselves. The scoffers said, Where is the God of judgement? but the day of the Lord will come.

CHAPTER 2

Malachi 2:1, 2

1. And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

1. Et nunc ad vos praeceptum hoc, O sacerdotes, —

2. If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

2. Si non audieritis et non posueritis super cor, ut detis gloriam nomini meo, dicit Iehova exercituum, mittam (copula hic abundat) in vos maledictionem et maledicam benedictionibus vestris, atque etiam maledixi eam (est mutatio numeri, pro eas,) quia non ponitis super cor.

Though the priests did not sin alone, yet it is not without reason, as we have said, that they were regarded as the first in wickedness; for it was their office to correct what the people did amiss. Their dissimulation had the effect of encouraging the common people to sin: hence the Prophet accuses them especially as the authors of impiety; and this is what the words intimate, if they are rightly considered.

To you, he says, O priests. They might have indeed exonerated themselves, or at least transferred a part of their guilt to others: “Oh! what can we do? for we see that the people are growing cold in God’s worship; it is better that imperfect sacrifices should be offered than none at all.” As then they might by evasion have somewhat extenuated their guilt, the Prophet the more sharply reproves them and says, To you especially is addressed this command, as they ought to have shown to others the right way; for when they dissembled, their connivance was nothing else but a consent; and thus they divested the people of God’s fear, and allowed them to corrupt the whole of religion by offering spurious sacrifices. To you then, he says, that is, “Though the whole people is guilty before God, think not that ye are on this account excused; for it behoves you to check this wickedness, for God has set you over the people as their teachers and guides: as then ye have neglected your duty, whatever others have done amiss, falls justly on your heads. For how has it happened that the people have dared to proceed so far in impiety? even because you have no concern for religion; for God has promoted you to the priesthood for this end — to preserve in integrity the worship of his name; but ye know of all the prevailing profanations, and ye hold your peace: To you then is this command.”

CHAPTER 2

Mal 2:1-17. Reproof of the Priests for Violating the Covenant; and the People Also for Mixed Marriages and Unfaithfulness.

1. for you--The priests in particular are reproved, as their part was to have led the people aright, and reproved sin, whereas they encouraged and led them into sin. Ministers cannot sin or suffer alone. They drag down others with them if they fall [Moore].

2. lay ... to heart--My commands.

send a curse--rather, as Hebrew, "the curse"; namely, that denounced in De 27:15-26; 28:15-68.

curse your blessings--turn the blessings you enjoy into curses (Psa 106:15).

cursed them--Hebrew, them severally; that is, I have cursed each one of your blessings.

3. corrupt, &c.--literally, "rebuke," answering to the opposite prophecy of blessing (Mal 3:11), "I will rebuke the devourer." To rebuke the seed is to forbid its growing.

your--literally, "for you"; that is, to your hurt.

dung of ... solemn feasts--The dung in the maw of the victims sacrificed on the feast days; the maw was the perquisite of the priests (De 18:3), which gives peculiar point to the threat here. You shall get the dung of the maw as your perquisite, instead of the maw.

one shall take you away with it--that is, ye shall be taken away with it; it shall cleave to you wherever ye go [Moore]. Dung shall be thrown on your faces, and ye shall be taken away as dung would be, dung-begrimed as ye shall be (1Ki 14:10; compare Jr 16:4; 22:19).

4. ye shall know--by bitter experience of consequences, that it was with this design I admonished you, in order "that My covenant with Levi might be" maintained; that is, that it was for your own good (which would be ensured by your maintaining the Levitical command) I admonished you, that ye should return to your duty [Maurer] (compare Mal 2:5, 6). Malachi's function was that of a reformer, leading back the priests and people to the law (Mal 4:4).

5-9. He describes the promises, and also the conditions of the covenant; Levi's observance of the conditions and reward (compare Nu 25:11-13, Phinehas' zeal); and on the other hand the violation of the conditions, and consequent punishment of the present priests. "Life" here includes the perpetuity implied in Nu 25:13, "everlasting priesthood." "Peace" is specified both here and there. Maurer thus explains it; the Hebrew is, literally, "My covenant was with him, life and peace (to be given him on My part), and I gave them to him: (and on his part) fear (that is, reverence), and he did fear Me," &c. The former portion of the verse expresses the promise, and Jehovah's fulfilment of it; the latter, the condition, and Levi's steadfastness to it (De 33:8, 9). The Jewish priests self-deceivingly claimed the privileges of the covenant, while neglecting the conditions of it, as if God were bound by it to bless them, while they were free from all the obligation which it imposed to serve Him. The covenant is said to be not merely "of life and peace," but "life and peace"; for the keeping of God's law is its own reward (Psa 19:11).

10-16. Reproof of those who contracted marriages with foreigners and repudiated their Jewish wives.

10. Have we not all one father?--Why, seeing we all have one common origin, "do we deal treacherously against one another" ("His brother" being a general expression implying that all are "brethren" and sisters as children of the same Father above (1Th 4:3-6), and so including the wives so injured)? namely, by putting away our Jewish wives, and taking foreign women to wife (compare Mal 2:14 and Mal 2:11; Ezr 9:1-9), and so violating "the covenant" made by Jehovah with "our fathers," by which it was ordained that we should be a people separated from the other peoples of the world (Ex 19:5; Le 20:24, 26; De 7:3). To intermarry with the heathen would defeat this purpose of Jehovah, who was the common Father of the Israelites in a peculiar sense in which He was not Father of the heathen. The "one Father" is Jehovah (Job 31:15; 1Co 8:6; Ep 4:6). "Created us": not merely physical creation, but "created us" to be His peculiar and chosen people (Psa 102:18; Is 43:1; 45:8; 60:21; Ep 2:10), [Calvin]. How marked the contrast between the honor here done to the female sex, and the degradation to which Oriental women are generally subjected!

17. wearied ... Lord--(Is 43:24). This verse forms the transition to Mal 3:1, &c. The Jewish skeptics of that day said virtually, God delighteth in evil-doers (inferring this from the prosperity of the surrounding heathen, while they, the Jews, were comparatively not prosperous: forgetting that their attendance to minor and external duties did not make up for their neglect of the weightier duties of the law; for example, the duty they owed their wives, just previously discussed); or (if not) Where (is the proof that He is) the God of judgment? To this the reply (Mal 3:1) is, "The Lord whom ye seek, and whom as messenger of the covenant (that is, divine ratifier of God's covenant with Israel) ye delight in (thinking He will restore Israel to its proper place as first of the nations), shall suddenly come," not as a Restorer of Israel temporally, but as a consuming Judge against Jerusalem (Am 5:18, 19, 20). The "suddenly" implies the unpreparedness of the Jews, who, to the last of the siege, were expecting a temporal deliverer, whereas a destructive judgment was about to destroy them. So skepticism shall be rife before Christ's second coming. He shall suddenly and unexpectedly come then also as a consuming Judge to unbelievers (2Pe 3:3, 4). Then, too, they shall affect to seek His coming, while really denying it (Is 5:19; Jr 17:15; Eze 12:22, 27).

If ye will not hear - What I have spoken, lay it to heart, and let it sink down into your souls.

Give glory unto my name - That honor that is due to me as a Father, and that fear that belongs to me as a Master, Mal 1:6.

I will even send a curse upon you - I will dispense no more good.

I will curse your blessings - Even that which ye have already shall not profit you. When temporal blessings are not the means of leading us to God and heaven, they will infallibly lead us to hell. In speaking of the abuse of temporal blessings, one of our old poets, in his homely phrase, expresses himself thus: -

Thus God's best gifts, usurped by wicked ones,

To poison turn by their con-ta-gi-ons.

Yea, I have cursed them already - This may refer, generally, to unfruitful seasons; or, particularly, to a dearth that appears to have happened about this time. See Hag 1:6-11.

Behold, I will corrupt your seed - So as to render it unfruitful. Newcome translates, - "I will take away from you the shoulder." This was the part that belonged to the priest, Lev 7:32; Deu 18:3.

Spread dung upon your faces - Instead of receiving a sacrifice at your hands, I will throw your offerings back into your faces. Here God shows his contempt for them and their offerings.

This commandment - That in the first verse; to drive such priests from his presence and his service.

That my covenant might be with Levi - I gave the priesthood and the service of my altar to that tribe.

My covenant was with him of life and peace - These are the two grand blessings given to men by the New Covenant, which was shadowed by the Old. To man, excluded from the favor of God, and sentenced to death because of sin, God gave ברית berith, a covenant sacrifice, and this secured life - exemption from the death deserved by transgressors; communication of that inward spiritual life given by Christ, and issuing in that eternal life promised to all his faithful disciples. And, as it secured life, so it gave peace, prosperity, and happiness; peace between God and man, between man and man, and between man and his own conscience.

The law of truth was in his mouth - See the qualifications of Levi:

1. "He feared me;" he was my sincere worshipper.

2. "He was afraid;" he acted as in the presence of a just and holy God, and acted conscientiously in all that he did.

3. "My law of truth was ever in his mouth;" by this he directed his own conduct and that of others.

4. "No iniquity;" nothing contrary to justice and equity ever proceeded "from his lips."

5. "He walked with me in peace;" he lived in such a way as to keep up union with me.

6. "He did turn many away from iniquity;" by his upright administration, faithful exhortations, and pious walk, he became the instrument of converting many sinners.

This character suits every genuine minister of God. And as the priest's lips should preserve knowledge, so the people should seek "the law at his mouth;" for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts, Mal 2:7.

But ye are departed out of the way - Ye are become impure yourselves, and ye have led others into iniquity.

Therefore have I also made you contemptible - The people despised you because they saw that you acted contrary to your functions. This has happened repeatedly since, to several classes of priests. Not maintaining, by purity of life and soundness of doctrine, the dignity of the ministerial function, they became contemptible before the people; their meager preaching was disregarded, and their persons at last cast out as a general loathing to the universe! See what happened to the truly abominable priesthood of France and Rome 1796-8. They were the sole cause of that infidelity that brought about the revolution. They are now partially restored; and are endeavouring to supply by grimace, paltry superstition, and jesuitical cunning, what they want in purity of morals, soundness of doctrine, and unction from God. They must mend, or look for another revolution. Mankind will no longer put up with the chaff of puerile and fanatical ceremonies in place of the wheat of God's word and worship.

Have we not all one Father? - From this to Mal 2:16 the prophet censures the marriages of Israelites with strange women, which the law had forbidden, Deu 7:3. And also divorces, which seem to have been multiplied for the purpose of contracting these prohibited marriages. - Newcome.

Why do we deal treacherously - Gain the affections of the daughter of a brother Jew, and then profane the covenant of marriage, held sacred among our fathers, by putting away this same wife and daughter! How wicked, cruel, and inhuman!

Daughter of a strange god - Of a man who worships an idol.

The master and the scholar - He who teachers such doctrine, and he who follows this teaching, the Lord will cut off both the one and the other.

Covering the altar of the Lord with tears - Of the poor women who, being divorced by cruel husbands, come to the priests, and make an appeal to God at the altar; and ye do not speak against this glaring injustice.

Ye say, Wherefore? - Is the Lord angry with us? Because ye have been witness of the contract made between the parties; and when the lawless husband divorced his wife, the wife of his youth, his companion, and the unite of his covenant, ye did not execute on him the discipline of the law. They kept their wives till they had passed their youth, and then put them away, that they might get young ones in their place.

And did not he make one? - One of each kind, Adam and Eve. Yet had he the residue of the Spirit, he could have made millions of pairs, and inspired them all with living souls. Then wherefore one? He made one pair from whom all the rest might proceed, that he might have a holy offspring; that children being a marked property of one man and one woman, proper care might be taken that they should be brought up in the discipline of the Lord. Perhaps the holy or godly seed, זרע אלהים zera Elohim, a seed of God, may refer to the Messiah. God would have the whole human race to spring from one pair, that Christ, springing from the same family, might in his sufferings taste death for every man; because he had that nature that was common to the whole human race. Had there been several heads of families in the beginning, Jesus must have been incarnated from each of those heads, else his death could have availed for those only who belonged to the family of which he was incarnated.

Take heed to your spirit - Scrutinize the motives which induce you to put away your wives.

For the Lord - hateth putting away - He abominates all such divorces, and him that makes them.

Covereth violence with his garment - And he also notes those who frame idle excuses to cover the violence they have done to the wives of their youth, by putting them away, and taking others in their place, whom they now happen to like better, when their own wives have been worn down in domestic services.

Ye have wearied the Lord - He has borne with you so long, and has been provoked so often, that he will bear it no longer. It is not fit that he should.

Every one that doeth evil - Ye say that it is right in the sight of the Lord to put away a wife, because she has no longer found favor in the sight of her husband. And because it has not been signally punished hitherto, ye blaspheme and cry out, "Where is the God of judgment?" Were he such as he is represented, would he not speak out? All these things show that this people were horribly corrupt. The priests were bad; the prophets were bad; the Levites were bad; and no wonder that the people were irreligious, profane, profligate, and cruel.

I have cursed them - I have already sent out the curse, and it is in part upon you.

I will corrupt - I will take away the prolific virtue and strength of it, that it shall bring forth no fruit. Spread dung - It is an expression of the greatest contempt. Of your solemn feasts - Your most solemn days and feasts, shall be as loathsome to me as dung, and shall make you, who offer them as unclean, and loathsome, as if I had thrown the dung of those sacrifices into your faces. Take you away - You shall be taken away with it, removed as equally unclean with the dung itself, equally fit to be cast out to the dunghill.

My covenant - If you will not confirm, and keep Levi's covenant among you, I will make it firm on my part, by punishing the violators of it.

With him - With Levi. Peace - Of long life, and prosperous, assured to the Levites in their due ministrations before God. Before my name - Behaved himself with reverence before God.

Was in his mouth - He taught to the people. Aaron, Eleazar, Phineas, every one of those priests or Levites, in what age soever they lived; who feared God, and were humble. Iniquity is not found - He judged not with respect of persons, or for bribes. He walked - His whole life was a continual walking with God; he lived with God, and to him. In peace - With God, and it was his aim to live peaceably with others.

Should keep knowledge - It is this that their office binds them to; it is the duty of all God's people to know his law, but the priest's duty to know it more than others. And they - The people.

But ye - Priests. Stumble at the law - By your false expositions of it. Have corrupted - You have violated it, have contradicted the great intentions of it, and done what in you lay, to defeat them.

Have been partial - You have perverted the law to please great men, or to serve some unworthy design. When we inquire into "the reasons of the contempt of the clergy," ought we to forget this?

One father - Abraham, or Jacob, with whom God made the covenant by which their posterity were made a peculiar people. Created us - The prophet speaks of that great and gracious work of God, creating them to be a chosen people. And so we Christians are created in Christ Jesus.

Hath profaned - Profanely violated the law, confining Israel to marry within themselves, and not to endanger themselves, by contracting affinity with idolaters. Which he loved - Which he, Judah, once loved. The daughter - Idolatresses. Even tho' they had wives before, whom they now cast off.

The master and the scholar - There shall be left neither any to teach nor any to learn. Him that offereth - The priests.

And this - Beside that first fault, you have committed another, you misuse, and afflict your Jewish wives, whom alone you should have cherished. With tears - Your despised wives fly to the temple, weep and cry to God for redress. With weeping - This is added to shew the abundance of their tears. He - The Lord.

The wife of thy covenant - To whom thou art so firmly bound, that while she continues faithful, thou canst not be loosed.

One - But one man, and one woman. Yet - Yet he could have made more. Wherefore one - One couple, and no more. A godly seed - A holy seed born to God in chaste wedlock, and bred as they were born, in the fear of God. Take heed - Keep your heart from wandering after strange wives.

Putting away - Divorce, such as these petulant Jews used to make way for some new wives, which God hates as much as putting away.

Your words - Your perverse reasoning, and impious quarrellings against God. Is good - This wicked inference they drew, from their prosperity in the world. He delighteth in them - As appears (say these atheists) by his prospering them. Where is the God of judgment - If he is there, judging and governing the world, why does he not punish these men?

1 AND now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you .

Either this which he had already minded them of, about the Sacrifices w[illegible: 2 letters]t it ought to be offered, and what refused, if the people brought defective Sheep or Oxen, they who were Priests, ought not to have admitted; they ought not to have offered them upon God's Altar; or this Commandement he now brings from God to them, and which is contained in this Chapter.

By especial Direction 'tis sent to you, and look to it thot you obey it.

2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart , to give glory unto my Name , saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you , and I will curse your blessings : yea, I have cursed them already , because ye do not lay it to heart .

This if, to the Prophet was dubious, but to God who sent the Prophet, 'twas not doubtful, but 'twas for monition to the Priests and Jews, and implyed a condition of mercy if they would yet hear, but an inevitable curse if they did not hear.

If you do not consider what you hear, to do the good, to forbear the evil.

By a due, and holy manner of sacrificing and offering Incense: in neglect of which you have greatly sin'd, and dishonoured me, and polluted my Name and Altar.

It is a comprehensive threat, many miseries in one word; it is a blast on their good hoped for, and 'tis poyson in the good possessed, and when 'tis, as here, sent of God, 'twill surely do both, 'twill be a blast on hopes, 'twill be poison in what is possessed and should be enjoyed.

All, both Priests, and people, but especially on the Priests.

All the good, sweet, necessary supports of Life, and Comforts of your selves and yours.

You have so long polluted my Name, and would not reform▪ that I have already sent out the curse, and 'tis in part upon you, though you are not sensible of it, nor will feel it, and this is forerunner of greater curses yet coming, unless you repent.

The sin was great, in that you polluted my Name, but it becoms much greater when you add impenitence to it, and harden your selves, and will not lay it to heart, therefore the curse is gone out with Commission from God to seize you.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]ev. 26.14,

3 Behold , I will corrupt your seed , and spread dung upon your faces , even the dung of your solemn feasts , and one shall take you away with it .

Note it we[illegible: 1 letter]l, and consider.

Take away the prolifi que vertue and str[illegible: 2 letters]gth of it, that it shal[illegible: 1 letter] bring forth none, or little Fruit; your seed you make plentiful, but you can not make your harvest so, nor will I, till you give me the Glory I contend for, and will have, e're I have done; I will rebuke, or check your seed, which will surcease to grow thereupon, tho' your vices checkt, thrive still; your seed for Harvest cannot grow up under my checks.

'Tis an expression of greatest contempt cast upon a person; it is a token of utmost undervalue, and scorn, so I will expose you, as you have exposed my Name to contempt.

Your most solemn days and feasts, which are by you accounted most holy, and in which you think you offer the most holy and acceptable Sacrifices shall be as loathsome to me as dung, and shall make you, who offer them illegally, as polluted, unclean, and loathsome as if I had thrown the dung of those Sacrifices into your faces.

You shall be taken away with it; removed as unclean as the dung it self, as unfit as that to be in the Temple, as fit to be cast out to the Dunghil; so contemptible shall you be, if you lay it not to heart.

Marginal references: Or, reprove.; Heb. scatter.; Or, it shall take you away to it.

4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that may covenant might be with Levi , saith the LORD of hosts .

O Priests!

By sence and feeling, by woful experience, or know ye i. e. but what I speak now, and will do among you.

Admonition, reproof, and exhortation, to look more carefully for future, that you do not dishonour me, and make mine Altar and Sacrifices contemptible; but repent of what is past, and for time to come amend all, this I call for at your hands.

That you do not null the Covenant of Priesthood made with Levi, and which I would have continued in his posterity, in you, and yours after you, which I would not have your sins and high provocations should abrogate; but if you will not thus confirm, settle, and keep Levi's Covenant among you, I will make it firm as to what is on my part to be done herein, to punish the violators of it.

God Almighty, Lord of hosts hath spoken this, and will do it.

5 My covenant was with him of life and peace , and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my Name .

Here is one Covenant that is more particular than any; a Covenant of Priesthood between God, and a particular Tribe.

Levi is named ver. 4. and I will rest there, though I know some would have it be Aaron, or Phineas.

Of long Life, and prosperous, by covenant under the provisoes therein contained, assured to the Levites in their due ministrations before God,

Both Lifes, the word is dual, or Life and Prosperity;

Religious fear, or that gracious qualification which appeared in the acts of it, for he feared before God.

Behaved himself with Reverence and trembling before God. It is the same repeated for confirmation of the former, or perhaps it may imply the habitual frame of Reverence from a contrite heart, which is here pointed at, and commended in this person under the name of Levi.

Marginal references: Num. 25 11, 12.; Deut. 33.8, 9.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth , and iniquity was not found in his lips , he walked with me in peace and equity , and did turn many away from iniquity.

The Law of God which is the Truth, the Doctrine of the Law according to the true meaning thereof.

He did teach it to the people, he resolved all cases by this Law, Aaron, Eleazar, Phineas, or as we must understand it, every one of those Godly Priests or Levites, in what Age soever they lived, who as ver. 5. feared God, and were humble. They taught the people (as was their duty) first to know the Law of God, and then, to obey it; this by their Example, the other by their Instruction. The Law of Truth was in his mouth, he pronounced according to the Law truly, pronouncing that unclean which the Law determin'd unclean, and that clean which was clean.

He judged not with respect to persons, nor for bribes perverted judgment, nor iudged that lawful which was unlawful; or that unlawful which was lawful.

His whole Life was a continual walking with God, as Enochs was, and Noahs was, and as God required Abrahams should be, in holy fear of his majesty▪ in true love of his precepts, and reverend observing his Ordinances; he lived, with God, and to him.

With God, and with men, it was his aim to live peaceably towards others, that God might make them peaceable toward him, and God gave him much of that he desired.

In rectitude of mind, or in sincerity, and uprightness, free from Hypocrisie, or else in all righteousness among men.

By his instructions, and by his excellent example, he converted many from wayes of sin.

7 For the priests lips should keep knowledg , and they should seek the law at his mouth : for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

Those forementioned excellent Priests did so teach, and so live forasmuch as they did well consider 'twas their duty to be well acquainted with, and to have a great insight into the Law of God.

It is that their office binds them to; it is duty of all Gods people to know his Law, but the Priests duty to know it more then others, Lev. 10.11. for they were to teach Israel, Deut. 33.10.

The People of Israel.

In difficult cases, in controversies, &c. the people were to consult, and advise with the Priests, and enquire what the Law said in the case.

Interpreter, Ambassadour, or Legate of the Lord of hosts with the people, Leiger among them, and who therefore ought to be advised with, about his Lords mind.

Marginal references: Deut. 17.9, 10. Jer. 18.18.

8 But ye are departed out of the way , ye have caused many to stumble at the law : ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

Priests that now are in office, now live, when I Malachi am sent to preach.

Have shamefully degenerated and turned away from your duty, are Apostates

of Gods Law, and of those holy Priests your Predecessors, out of the way of Truth, Holiness, Peace, and Equity.

Your expositions of the Law, your manner of worshipping God, and your manner of living, all together were great scandals to very many, and too many of these that were offended by these things, these [illegible: 1 letter]aults of yours, fell to sinning with you.

The Covenant of Priesthood, Neh. 13.29: chargeth them with this sin, and therefore they have no reason to expect the blessings of this Covenant, viz. Life and Peace, since their making the Covenant void on their part had cut off all claim and right to the blessings promised in that Covenant, and had exposed them to the Curses God threatned them with.

Marginal references: Or, fall in the law.

9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people , according as ye have not kept my wayes , but have been partial in the law.

Because you have corrupted the Covenant of Levi, and have dishonoured me, and made my sacrifices contemptible.

I have left you under the contempt of the people, who think as you deserve, basely of you, you have dishonoured me and I have made, and will make good my word, you shall be lightly esteemed.

There are none but account you an unworthy, unthankful, profane and unjust Generation, neither fit to serve God, or guide man.

Your punishment is as your sin, you forsook the Law of God, and made his Table and his Bread contemptible, now I make you contemptible, you were weary of my service▪ and the people are weary of such Priests.

You have perverted the Law for to please great men, or to favour your selves, or to speak all in few words, you have declined the true judgment of Gods Law to serve some unworthy design, or other; so that none could be sure of a right interpretation, or of a just judgment, or of a safe and sure direction from you.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 2.30.; Or, lifted up the face against.; Heb. accepted faces.

10 Have we not all one Father ? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

We Jews.

Either Abraham, or Iacob, (not Adam here intended) with whom God made the Covenant by which the posterity was made a peculiar people separated from other Nations, and on very weighty reasons forbid to join, and intermix with strange Nations,

The Prophet speaks of that great and gracious work of God, creating them to be a chosen people, a nation formed to shew forth his praise, Deut. 32.6, 18. Isa. 43.1, 7. and so we Christians are created in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2.10. and are in him new creatures, 2 Cor. 5.17.

The Prophet was not guilty of the fault, yet speaks as one of the community, partly to take off the envy of the Jews, and to cut off all occasion of quarrelling against his word, and partly to insinuate the sense he had of this thing, and the affection he had for them, though he reproved them.

Despise, so some, break our Faith in the Marriage Contract engaged, so carry it disloyally, against the duty we owe to Gods Law, which equally binds us, as our Wives to mutual Love, Honour and Faithfulness, and why then do we take Heathen Wives (tis bad if a Jew unmarried do it) but here now the case is worse) Jewish Wives being dislik't, rejected, and so greatly despised? Why do we this against the bond of Consanguinity? And do we sons of Abraham abuse thus the Daughters of Abraham? Why do we so little regard the bond of Religion, we are People, Sons and Daughters of one God who hath called us, separated us from the Heathen to keep Religion pure, and unmixed, why then do we transgress thus?

The fault was very common, among the People and Priests too, and since their return out of Babylon.

This wrong was done immediately against the Wife, but the Father, Brothers or Kinsmen of the wronged Wife are mediately, and by consequence wronged, the whole Family of the Wife thus used is perfidiously abused, but Brothers as principal of the Family are named.

Violating the Covenant of God, the Law, which approves no Polygamy, and forbids marrying of Idolaters.

Marginal references: Eph 4.6.

11 ¶ Judah hath dealt treacherously , and an abomination is committed in Israel , and in Jerusalem : for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved , and hath married the daughter of a strange God .

Though Iudah onely is named, yet the rest of the returned Captives are included.

Vid. verse 10. letter f.

Such treachery is a very abominable thing, God and all good men abhorre it, and yet here 'tis committed.

Who are Gods peculiar people and above others should have been holy.

Under the eye of the Governours the High Priest and Sanhedrim, nay under the eye of God who dwelt at Ierusalem, this could not but greatly provoke God.

Profanely violated the necessary cautionary Law of Marriage confining Israel to marry within themselves, and not to endanger themselves, and Religion by joining affinity with Idolaters, who would draw them, and their Children from the Holy Law, Worship, and Temple of God, which are the holiness that he loved.

Which he. i. e. Iedah once loved, so 'twas Apostacy in Iudah. Or which he i. e. the Lord loved above all, so 'tis a neglect of a main duty, 'tis slighting what God so greatly loved.

Ezra 9.1. and 10.2. mentions what Nations they were whose Daughters were by these Jews taken for Wives, they were Idolatrous Nations, and the Women were Idolatresses when the Jews did marry them. This was bad, but these Jews had Wives before, and they cast them off. Or else took in these strangers and despised their former Wives, this is the treachery and abomination that is here committed.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span].; [illegible: 1 paragraph]

12 The LORD will cut off the man that doth this : the master and the scholar out of the tabernacles of Jacob , and him that offereth an offering unto the LORD of hosts.

The Family of those who do this shall be destroyed utterly by the hand of God, he will punish this crime.

Him that calleth and him that answereth. There shall be left neither any to teach or any to learn, none to call, nor any to answer, all the living cut off.

This points to the People, or Laity who dwelt in the Cities of Iacob, they shall be rooted out of the Land.

The Priests that are guilty of this fault shall be put out of the Office of Priest and Minister no more before the Lord.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span]

13 And this have ye done again , covering the altar of the LORD with tears , with weeping and with crying out , insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more , or receiveth it with good will at your hand .

Beside that first fault, you have committed an other, you slight, misuse, and afflict your Jewish Wives whom alone you should have loved, and cherished, but you make them drudges, and slaves to Idolatresses, your new and illegal Wives.

Your despised and misused Wives fly to the Temple, weep, and cry out unto God for redress of their injuries.

This is added to shew the abundance of their tears.

With vehemency crying to God against such Husbands.

The Lord who seeth their tears and heareth their cries.

Valueth not such offerings made to him by such people, and such Priests.

Is not at all pleased with such offerings whether expiatory, or peace offerings, none of them from such people shall ever avail them.

14 ¶ Yet ye say, Wherefore ? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth , against whom thou hast dealt treacherously : yet is she thy companion , and the wife of thy covenant

Though the fault was so great in the nature of it, and so notorious in the evidence of it, these impudent sinners will not see, but dispute, what just cause God hath to reject their offerings.

The Prophet answers them God was witness both of the Matrimonial contract, when you promised other deportment, and affections; and he is witness also of your violating this contract, and hath seen how false, and perfidious you have been, what inhumanity you have shewed against your Wives.

Whom in thy youth thou marriedst, and hast had the best of her time and strength, and in age shouldst love and deal kindly with.

See ver. 10. let. f,

Yet she is, what she was, by the Sacred Institution of God, made thy Companion, not thy Drudge, or Slave, thou art most unjust to her, thus to change thy affection and deportment when there is no change in her State and Relation,

Covenants ought to be very exactly kept, and those especially which are of our own freest, and most voluntary making, our Covenant, such was this between the unnatural Husband, and his despised Wife; all which as they should have been arguments to his Duty, so they are aggravations of his neglect of Duty, and provocations to God, and now iudge ye disputing, quarrelling Hypocrites whether God hath not justest cause to reject your offerings.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

15 And did he not make one ? yet had he the residue of the spirit : And wherefore one ? That he might seek a godly seed : Therefore take heed to your spirit , and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

God our Creator.

But one Man, and one Woman.

Yet he could have made more Men, and Women, and if it had been good, and well-pleasing to him, he could have made many Women for one Man, but though by his Power he could, yet in his Wisdom, Goodness, and Holiness he would not make more; from the beginning Marriage was ordained to be between one Man, and one Woman alone at once. So Christ argued Matth. 19.4, 5, 6.

One couple, and no more.

Or a seed of God, either an excellent seed, as Hebr. expresses the excellency of a thing by the addition of the Name God to it, or rather a holy seed born to God in chaste Wedlock▪ and brought up under the instructions, and vertuous examples of Parents living in the fear of God, and love of each other, which in Polygamy cannot be expected.

Keep your heart from wandring after strange Wives, as you tender your life and souls.

Though many have done so, let none now do it any more.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]; [illegible: 1 paragraph]; [illegible: 1 paragraph]

16 For the LORD the God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away : for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts, therefore take heed to your spirit , that ye deal not treacherously .

The Prophet enforceth his former exhortation ver. 15. with the arguments laid here close together from the odiousness of the thing (he exhorts them to forbear) it is odious to the Lord who changeth not, resents this evil practice as much as ever. God, Judge of wrongs, and the wronged, hates such wrong. God of Israel by Covenant, and in peculiar Relation, and so much more engaged to punish it; and he now declares his hatred of these things.

Divorce, such putting away of Wives as these petulant Jews used to make way for some new Wives.

rather, And covering violence, &c. which God hates as much as divorcing or putting away. This super-inducing of violence by a second Wife taken in upon, or with, or over the first Wife, called here a Garment God hateth. In Summe neither your Divorces, nor your Poligamy may with safety be practised, for God hateth both.

And therefore be advised, take heed as you love your Life, your Souls, your Peace, and Welfare.

Neither on dislike, divorce, nor yet, with unbridled Lust, take other Wife in to the former, both are perfidious Treachery against her, thy Covenant, and thy God, and what canst thou expect from such courses that God hateth, but to be cut off?

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 24.1. [illegible: 1 word] 32. [illegible: 1 word] 8.; [illegible: 1 paragraph]; [illegible: 1 paragraph]

17 Ye have wearied the LORD with your words : Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say , Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the LORD , and he delighteth in them , or Where is the God of judgment .

Ye Priests and People, slight in your Religion toward God, unfaithful in your Covenant with your Wives.

After the manner of m[illegible: 1 letter]n this is spoken of God.

Your perverse reasonings, or impious quarrellings against God, among which, one most ungodly and Atheistical, does come to be remarkt on.

When your discourse and reasoning is managed to the overthrow (if 'twere possible) of all morality and goodness.

Not one excepted by these illogical Atheists.

That is a wicked man, and doth wickedness (as you Prophets preach to us) is misrepresented by you, such are good men, and what they do is good; thus they call evil good; wo then to them!

In the account and judgment of God.

As appears (say these Atheists) by his prospering of them, did he not delight in them, would he so enrich and prosper them?

Or if they be evil, and their wayes, designs and doings be evil, and punishable; where is that God of Judgment? or why doth he delay execution of his displeasure against such men and wayes? I am apt to think that the irreligious sentiments of the Priests, their superficial managing of the solemn worship of God, their Adulteries, and multiplying of Wives hitherto unpunisht, had brought them either to think there was no such thing as Moral Goodness, or Moral Viciousness in mens Actions, or that if there were, since no punishment was laid on the vicious, nor any encouragement, or present reward bestow'd on the vertuous; that God did not, nor ever would concern himself to judge it; and so by an undue way of arguing, had concluded themselves into Atheism, the very height of wickedness. That this is likely enough, our Age confirms, in which unpunisht enormities, are Atheists Arguments against God and his Providence. And unless he damn them, they'l not believe the Being of a God; But such must remember, they shall know and believe it at last, if not too late.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 3.24.; [illegible: 1 word] 3.15.

Mal 2:1-4

The rebuke administered to the priests for their wicked doings is followed by an announcement of the punishment which they will bring upon themselves in case they should not observe the admonition, or render to the Lord the reverence due to His name when discharging the duties of their office. Mal 2:1. “And now, ye priests, this commandment comes to you. Mal 2:2. If ye do not hear and lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, I send against you the curse and curse your blessings, yea I have cursed them, because ye will not lay it to heart. Mal 2:3. Behold I rebuke your arm, and scatter dung upon your face, the dung of your feasts, and they will carry you away to it. Mal 2:4. And ye will perceive that I have sent this commandment to you, that it may be my covenant with Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts.” Mal 2:1. introduces the threat; this is called mitsvâh, a command, not as a commission which the prophet received, for the speaker is not the prophet, but Jehovah Himself; nor as “instruction, admonition, or warning,” for mitsvâh has no such meaning. Mitsvâh is rather to be explained from tsivvâh in Nah 1:14. The term command is applied to that which the Lord has resolved to bring upon a person, inasmuch as the execution or accomplishment is effected by earthly instruments by virtue of a divine command.

The reference is to the threat of punishment which follows in Mal 2:2 and Mal 2:3, but which is only to be carried out in case the priests do not hear and lay to heart, namely, the warning which the Lord has addressed to them through Malachi (Mal 1:6-13), and sanctify His name by their service. If they shall not do this, God will send the curse against them, and that in two ways. In the first place He will curse their blessings; in fact, He has already done so. Berâkhōth, blessings, are obviously not the revenues of the priests, tithes, atonement-money, and portions of the sacrifices (L. de Dieu, Ros., Hitzig), but the blessings pronounced by the priests upon the people by virtue of their office. These God will curse, i.e., He will make them ineffective, or turn them into the very opposite. וגם ארותיה is not a simple, emphatic repetition, but ארותי is a perfect, which affirms that the curse has already taken effect. The emphatic vegam, and also, and indeed, also requires this. The suffix ה attached to ארותי is to be taken distributively: “each particular blessing.” In the second place God will rebuke את־הזּרע, i.e., the seed. But since the priests did not practise agriculture, it is impossible to see how rebuking the seed, i.e., causing a failure of the corps, could be a punishment peculiar to the priests. We must therefore follow the lxx, Aquila, Vulg., Ewald, and others, and adopt the pointing הזּרע, i.e., the arm. Rebuking the arm does not mean exactly “laming the arm,” nor manifesting His displeasure in any way against the arm, which the priests raised to bless (Koehler). For it was not the arm but the hand that was raised to bless (Lev 9:22; Luk 24:50), and rebuking signifies something more than the manifestation of displeasure. It is with the arm that a man performs his business or the duties of his calling; and rebuking the arm, therefore, signifies the neutralizing of the official duties performed at the altar and in the sanctuary. Moreover, God will also deliver them up to the most contemptuous treatment, by scattering dung in their faces, namely, the dung of their feasts. Chaggı̄m, feasts, is used metonymically for festal sacrifices, or the sacrificial animals slain at the festivals (cf. Psa 118:27). The dung of the sacrificial animals was to be carried away to an unclean place outside the camp and burned there, in the case of the sin-offerings, upon an ash-heap (Lev 4:12; Lev 16:27; Exo 29:14). Scattering dung in the face was a sign and figurative description of the most ignominious treatment. Through the expression “dung of your festal sacrifices,” the festal sacrifices offered by these priests are described as being themselves dung; and the thought is this: the contempt of the Lord, which they show by offering blind or lame animals, or such as are blemished in other ways, He will repay to them by giving them up to the greatest ignominy. The threat is strengthened by the clause ונשׂא אתכם אליו, which has been interpreted, however, in different ways. The Vulgate, Luther (“and shall remain sticking to you”), Calvin, and others take peresh as the subject to נשׂא: “the dung will draw the priests to itself, so that they will also become dung.” But נשׂא has no such meaning; we must therefore leave the subject indefinite: they (man) will carry you away, or sweep you away to it, i.e., treat you as dung. When they should be treated in this ignominious manner, then would they perceive that the threatening had come from the Lord. “This commandment (mitsvâh) is the mitsvâh mentioned in Mal 2:1. The infinitive clause which follows announces the purpose of God, in causing this threat to come to pass. But the explanation of these words is a disputed point, since we may either take berı̄thı̄ (my covenant) as the subject, or supply hammitsvâh (the commandment) from the previous clause. In the first case (“that my covenant may be with Levi”) the meaning could only be, that the covenant with Levi may continue. But although hâyâh does indeed mean to exist, it does not mean to continue, or be maintained. We must therefore take hammitsvâh as the subject, as Luther, Calvin, and others have done (“that it, viz., my purpose, may be my covenant with Levi”). Koehler adopts this, and has explained it correctly thus: “They will perceive that just as Jehovah has hitherto regulated His conduct towards Levi by the terms of His covenant, which was made with it at the time of its departure from Egypt, so will He henceforth let it be regulated by the terms of the decree of punishment which He has resolved upon now, so that this decree of punishment takes the place, as it were, of the earlier covenant.” Lēvı̄ is the tribe of Levi, which culminated in the priesthood. The attitude of God towards the priests is called a covenant, inasmuch as God placed them in a special relation to Himself by choosing them for the service of the sanctuary, which not only secured to them rights and promises, but imposed duties upon them, on the fulfilment of which the reception of the gifts of divine grace depended (vid., Deu 10:8-9; Deu 33:8-10; Num 18:1., Num 25:10.).

Mal 2:5-7

To explain and show the reason for this thought, the real nature of the covenant made with Levi is described in Mal 2:5-7; and Mal 2:8 and Mal 2:9 then show how the priests have neutralized this covenant by forsaking the way of their fathers, so that God is obliged to act differently towards them now, and deliver them up to shame and ignominy. Mal 2:5. “My covenant was with him life and salvation, and I lent them to him for fear, and he feared me and trembled before my name. Mal 2:6. Law of truth was in his mouth and there was no perversity on his lips, he walked with me in salvation and integrity, and brought back many from guilt. Mal 2:7. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and men seek law from his mouth, because he is a messenger of Jehovah.” In Mal 2:5 החיּים והשּׁלום are the nominative of the predicate. “My covenant was with him life,” etc., means, my covenant consisted in this, that life and salvation were guaranteed and granted to him. The elliptical mode of explaining it, viz., “my covenant was a covenant of life and salvation,” gives the same sense, only there is no analogous example by which this ellipsis can be vindicated, since such passages as Num 25:12; Gen 24:24, and Hos 14:3, which Hitzig adduces in support of it, are either of a different character, or different in their meaning. Shâlōm, salvation (peace), is the sum of all the blessings requisite for wellbeing. Jehovah granted life and salvation to Levi, i.e., to the priesthood, for fear, viz., as the lever of the fear of God; and Levi, i.e., the priesthood of the olden time, responded to this divine intention. “He feared me.” Nichath is the niphal not of nâchath, he descended, i.e., humbled himself (Ewald, Reincke), but of châthath, to terrify, to shake, which is frequently met with in connection with   (e.g., Deu 31:8; Jos 1:9; Jer 1:17). Hos 14:5 and Hos 14:6 state how Levi preserved this fear both officially and in life. Tōrath 'ĕmeth (analogous to mishpat 'ĕmeth in Zec 7:9) is instruction in the law consisting in truth. Truth, which had its roots in the law of Jehovah, was the rule not only of his own conduct, but also and more especially of the instruction which he had to give to the people (cf. Mal 2:7). The opposite of 'ĕmeth is ‛avlâh, perversity, conduct which is not regulated by the law of God, but by selfishness or sinful self-interest. Grammatically considered, the feminine ‛avlâh is not the subject to נמצא, but is construed as the object: “they found not perversity” (cf. Ges. §143, 1, b; Ewald, §295, b). Thus he walked in peace (salvation) and integrity before God. Beshâlōm is not merely in a state of peace, or in peaceableness, nor even equivalent to בּלבב שׁלם (2Ki 20:3), but according to Mal 2:5, “equipped with the salvation bestowed upon him by God.” The integritas vitae is affirmed in בּמישׁור. הלך את־יי, to walk with Jehovah, denotes the most confidential intercourse with God, or walking as it were by the side of God (see at Gen 5:22). Through this faithful discharge of the duties of his calling, Levi (i.e., the priesthood) brought many back from guilt or iniquity, that is to say, led many back from the way of sin to the right way, viz., to the fear of God (cf. Dan 12:3). But Levi did nothing more than what the standing and vocation of the priest required. For the lips of the priest should preserve knowledge. דעת is the knowledge of God and of His will as revealed in the law. These the lips of the priest should keep, to instruct the people therein; for out of the mouth of the priest men seek tōrâh, law, i.e., instruction in the will of God, because he is a messenger of Jehovah to the people. מלאך, the standing epithet for the angels as the heavenly messengers of God, is here applied to the priests, as it is in Hag 1:13 to the prophet. Whilst the prophets were extraordinary messengers of God, who proclaimed to the people the will and counsel of the Lord, the priests, by virtue of their office, were so to speak the standing or ordinary messengers of God. But the priests of that time had become utterly untrue to this vocation.

Mal 2:8-9

Mal 2:8. “But ye have departed from the way, have made many to stumble at the law, have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith Jehovah of hosts. Mal 2:9. Thus I also make you despised and base with all the people, inasmuch as ye do not keep my ways, and respect person in the law.” הדּרך is the way depicted in Mal 2:6 and Mal 2:7, in which the priests ought to have walked. הכשׁלתּם בּתּורה does not mean “ye have caused to fall by instruction” (Koehler); for, in the first place, hattōrâh (with the article) is not the instruction or teaching of the priests, but the law of God; and secondly, ב with כּשׁל denotes the object against which a man stumbles and which causes him to fall. Hitzig has given the correct explanation: ye have made the law to many a מכשׁול, instead of the light of their way, through your example and through false teaching, as though the law allowed or commanded things which in reality are sin. In this way they have corrupted or overthrown the covenant with Levi. הלּוי, with the article, is not the patriarch Levi, but his posterity, really the priesthood, as the kernel of the Levites. Hence Jehovah also is no longer bound by the covenant, but withdraws from the priests what He granted to the Levi who was faithful to the covenant, viz., life and salvation (Mal 2:5), and makes them contemptible and base with all the people. This is simply a just retribution for the fact, that the priests depart from His ways and have respect to men. Battōrâh, in the law, i.e., in the administration of the law, they act with partiality. For the fact itself compare Mic 3:11.

Mal 2:10-12

Mal 2:10. “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? wherefore are we treacherous one towards another, to desecrate the covenant of our fathers? Mal 2:11. Judah acts treacherously, and abomination has taken place in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has desecrated the sanctuary of Jehovah, which He loves, and marries the daughter of a strange god. Mal 2:12. Jehovah will cut off, to the man that doeth this, wakers and answerers out of the tents of Jacob, and him that offereth sacrifices to Jehovah of hosts.” Malachi adopts the same course here as in the previous rebuke, and commences with a general clause, from which the wrongfulness of marriages with heathen women and of frivolous divorces necessarily followed. The one father, whom all have, is neither Adam, the progenitor of all men, nor Abraham, the father of the Israelitish nation, but Jehovah, who calls Himself the Father of the nation in Mal 1:6. God is the Father of Israel as its Creator; not, however, in the general sense, according to which He made Israel the people of His possession. By the two clauses placed at the head, Malachi intends not so much to lay emphasis upon the common descent of all the Israelites, by virtue of which they form one united family in contrast with the heathen, as to say that all the Israelites are children of God, and as such spiritual brethren and sisters. Consequently every violation of the fraternal relation, such as that of which the Israelite was guilty who married a heathen woman, or put away an Israelitish wife, was also an offence against God, a desecration of His covenant. The idea that the expression “one father” refers to Abraham as the ancestor of the nation (Jerome, Calvin, and others), is precluded by the fact, that not only the Israelites, but also the Ishmaelites and Edomites were descended from Abraham; and there is no ground whatever for thinking of Jacob, because, although he had indeed given his name to Israel, he is never singled out as its ancestor. Nibhgad is the first pers. plur. imperf. kal, notwithstanding the fact that in other cases bâgad has cholem in the imperfect; for the niphal of this verb is never met with. The Israelite acted faithlessly towards his brother, both when he contracted a marriage with a heathen woman, and when he put away his Israelitish wife, and thereby desecrated the covenant of the fathers, i.e., the covenant which Jehovah made with the fathers, when He chose them from among the heathen, and adopted them as His covenant nation (Exo 19:5-6; Exo 24:8).

The reason for this rebuke is given in Mal 2:11, in a statement of what has taken place. In order the more emphatically to describe this as reprehensible, bâgedâh (hath dealt treacherously) is repeated and applied to the whole nation. Yehūdâh (Judah), construed as a feminine, is the land acting in its inhabitants. Then what has taken place is described as תּועבה, abomination, like idolatry, witchcraft, and other grievous sins (cf. Deu 13:15; Deu 18:9.), in which the name Israel is intentionally chosen as the holy name of the nation, to indicate the contrast between the holy vocation of Israel and its unholy conduct. In addition to Israel as the national name (= Judah) Jerusalem is also mentioned, as is frequently the case, as the capital and centre of the nation. What has occurred is an abomination, because Judah desecrates קדשׁ יי, i.e., neither the holiness of Jehovah as a divine attribute, nor the temple as the sanctuary, still less the holy state of marriage, which is never so designated in the Old Testament, but Israel as the nation which Jehovah loved. Israel is called qōdesh, a sanctuary or holy thing, as עם קדושׁ, which Jehovah has chosen out of all nations to be His peculiar possession (Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Jer 2:3; Psa 114:2; Ezr 9:2 : see Targ., Rashi, Ab. Ezra, etc.). Through the sin which it had committed, Judah, i.e., the community which had returned from exile, had profaned itself as the sanctuary of God, or neutralized itself as a holy community chosen and beloved of Jehovah (Koehler). To this there is appended, though not till the last clause, the statement of the abomination: Judah, in its individual members, has married the daughter of a strange god (cf. Ezr 9:2.; Neh 13:23.). By the expression בּת אל נכר the person married is described as an idolatress (bath, daughter = dependent). This involved the desecration of the holy calling of the nation. It is true that in the law it is only marriages with Canaanites that are expressly forbidden (Exo 34:16; Deu 7:3), but the reason assigned for this prohibition shows, that all marriages with heathen women, who did not give up their idolatry, were thereby denounced as irreconcilable with the calling of Israel (see at 1Ki 11:1-2). This sin may God punish by cutting off every one who commits it. This threat of punishment (Mal 2:12) is indeed only expressed in the form of a wish, but the wish has been created by the impulse of the Holy Spirit. Very different and by no means satisfactory explanations have been given of the expression ער וענה, the waking one (ער the participle of עוּר) and the answering one, a proverbial description of the wicked man formed by the combination of opposites (on the custom of expressing totality by opposites, see Dietrich, Abhandlung zur hebr. Gramm. p. 201ff.), in which, however, the meaning of the word ער still continues a matter of dispute. The rabbinical explanation, which is followed by Luther, viz., teacher and scholar, is founded upon the meaning excitare given to the verb עוּר, and the excitans is supposed to be the teacher who stimulates by questioning and admonishing. But apart from all other reasons which tell against this explanation, it does not suit the context; for there is not a single word to indicate that the prophet is speaking only of priests who have taken foreign wives; on the contrary, the prophet accuses Judah and Jerusalem, and therefore the people generally, of being guilty of this sin. Moreover, it was no punishment to an Israelite to have no rabbi or teacher of the law among his sons. The words are at any rate to be taken more generally than this. The best established meaning is vigil et respondens, in which ער is taken transitively, as in Job 41:2 in the chethib, and in the Chaldee ער, watcher (Dan 4:10-13 and Dan 4:14-17), in the sense of vivus quisque. In this case the proverbial phrase would be taken from the night-watchman (J. D. Mich., Ros., Ges. Thes. p. 1004). It is no conclusive objection to this, that the words which follow, וּמגּישׁ מנחה, evidently stand upon the same line as ער וענה and must form part of the same whole, and therefore that ער וענה cannot of itself embrace the whole. For this conclusion is by no means a necessary one. If the two expressions referred to portions of the same whole, they could not well be separated from one another by מאהלי יעקב. Moreover, the limitation of ער וענה to the age of childhood founders upon the artificial interpretation which it is necessary to give to the two words. According to Koehler ער denotes the child in the first stage of its growth, in which it only manifests its life by occasionally waking up from its ordinary state of deep, death-like slumber, and ענה the more advanced child, which is able to speak and answer questions. But who would ever think of calling a child in the first weeks of its life, when it sleeps more than it wakes, a waker? Moreover, the sleep of an infant is not a “deep, death-like slumber.” The words “out of the tents of Jacob,” i.e., the houses of Israel, belong to יכרת. The last clause adds the further announcement, that whoever commits such abominations shall have no one to offer a sacrificial gift to the Lord. These words are not to be taken as referring to the priestly caste, as Hitzig supposes; but Jerome has given the correct meaning: “and whoever is willing to offer a gift upon the altar for men of this description.” The meaning of the whole verse is the following: “May God not only cut off every descendant of such a sinner out of the houses of Israel, but any one who might offer a sacrifice for him in expiation of his sin.”

Mal 2:13-16

Mal 2:13. “And this ye do a second time: cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping and signs, so that He does not turn any more to the sacrifice, and accept the well-pleasing thing at your hand. Mal 2:14. And ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, towards whom thou hast acted treacherously; whereas she is nevertheless thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. Mal 2:15. And not one did so who had still a remnant of spirit. And what (did) the one? He sought seed of God. Therefore shall ye take heed for your spirit, and deal not faithlessly to the wife of thy youth. Mal 2:16. For I hate divorce, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel; and he will cover wickedness over his garment, saith Jehovah of hosts. Thus shall ye take heed to your spirit, and not deal treacherously.” In these verses the prophet condemns a second moral transgression on the part of the people, viz., the putting away of their wives. By shēnı̄th (as a second thing, i.e., for the second time) this sin is placed in the same category as the sin condemned in the previous verses. Here again the moral reprehensibility of the sin is described in Mal 2:11, before the sin itself is named. They cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, namely, by compelling the wives who have been put away to lay their trouble before God in the sanctuary. The inf. constr. introduces the more minute definition of זאת; and בּכי ואנקה is a supplementary apposition to דּמעה ot , added to give greater force to the meaning. מאין עוד, so that there is no more a turning (of Jehovah) to the sacrifice, i.e., so that God does not graciously accept your sacrifice any more (cf. Num 16:15). The following infinitive ולקחת is also dependent upon מאין, but on account of the words which intervene it is attached with  ל .  רצון ,  the good pleasure or satisfaction, used as abstractum pro concreto for the well-pleasing sacrifice. Mal 2:14. This sin also the persons addressed will not recognise. They inquire the reason why God will no more graciously accept their sacrifices, whereupon the prophet discloses their sin in the plainest terms. על־כּי = על־אשׁר, as in Deu 31:17; Jdg 3:12, etc. The words, “because Jehovah was a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth,” cannot be understood as Ges., Umbreit, and Koehler assume, in accordance with Mal 3:5, as signifying that Jehovah had interposed between them as an avenging witness; for in that case העיד would necessarily be construed with ב, but they refer to the fact that the marriage took place before the face of God, or with looking up to God; and the objection that nothing is known of any religious benediction at the marriage, or any mutual vow of fidelity, is merely an argumentum a silentio, which proves nothing. If the marriage was a berı̄th 'Elōhı̄m (a covenant of God), as described in Pro 2:17, it was also concluded before the face of God, and God was a witness to the marriage. With the expression “wife of thy youth” the prophet appeals to the heart of the husband, pointing to the love of his youth with which the marriage had been entered into; and so also in the circumstantial clause, through which he brings to the light the faithless treatment of the wife in putting her away: “Yet she was thy companion, who shared thy joy and sorrow, and the wife of thy covenant, with whom thou didst made a covenant for life.”

In Mal 2:15 the prophet shows still further the reprehensible character of the divorce, by rebutting the appeal to Abraham’s conduct towards Hagar as inapplicable. The true interpretation of this hemistich, which has been explained in very different, and to some extent in very marvellous ways, is obvious enough if we only bear in mind that the subordinate clause וּשׁאר רוּח לו, from its very position and from the words themselves, can only contain a more precise definition of the subject of the principal clause. The affirmation “a remnant of spirit is (was) to him” does not apply to God, but only to man, as L. de Dieu has correctly observed. Rūăch denote here, as in Num 27:18; Jos 5:1; 1Ki 10:5, not so much intelligence and consideration, as the higher power breathed into man by God, which determines that moral and religious life to which we are accustomed to give the name of virtue. By 'echâd (one), therefore, we cannot understand God, but only a man; and לא אחד (not any one = no one, not one man) is the subject of the sentence, whilst the object to עשׂה must be supplied from the previous sentence: “No man, who has even a remnant of reason, or of sense for right and wrong, has done,” sc. what ye are doing, namely, faithlessly put away the wife of his youth. To this there is appended the objection: “And what did the one do?” which the prophet adduces as a possible exception that may be taken to his statement, for the purpose of refuting it. The words וּמה האחד are elliptical, the verb עשׂה, which may easily be supplied from the previous clause, being omitted (cf. Ecc 2:12). האחד, not unus aliquis, but the well-known one, whom it was most natural to think of when the question in hand was that of putting away a wife, viz., Abraham, who put away Hagar, by whom he had begotten Ishmael, and who was therefore also his wife (Genesis 21). The prophet therefore replies, that Abraham sought to obtain the seed promised him by God, i.e., he dismissed Hagar, because God promised to give him the desired posterity, not in Ishmael through the maid Hagar, but through Sarah in Isaac, so that in doing this he was simply acting in obedience to the word of God (Gen 21:12). After meeting this possible objection, Malachi warns his contemporaries to beware of faithlessly putting away their wives. The Vav before nishmartem is the Vav rel., through which the perfect acquires the force of a cohortative as a deduction from the facts before them, as in ועשׂית in 1Ki 2:6 (see Ewald, §342, c). נשׁמר בּרוּחו is synonymous with נשׁמר בּנפשׁו in Jer 17:21, and this is equivalent to נשׁמר לנפשׁו in Deu 4:15 and Jos 23:11. The instrumental view of ב (“by means of the Spirit:” Koehler) is thus proved to be inadmissible. “Take heed to your spirit,” i.e., beware of losing your spirit. We need not take rūăch in a different sense here from that in which it is used in the clause immediately preceding; for with the loss of the spiritual and moral vis vitae, which has been received from God, the life itself perishes. What it is that they are to beware of is stated in the last clause, which is attached by the simple copula (Vav), and in which the address passes from the second person into the third, to express what is affirmed as applying to every man. This interchange of thou (in wife of thy youth) and he (in יבגּד) in the same clause appears very strange to our mode of thought and speech; but it is not without analogy in Hebrew (e.g., in Isa 1:29; cf. Ewald, §319, a), so that we have no right to alter יבגּד into תּבגּד, since the ancient versions and the readings of certain codices do not furnish sufficient critical authority for such a change. The subject in יבגּד is naturally thought of as indefinite: any one, men. This warning is accounted for in Mal 2:16, first of all in the statement that God hates putting away. שׁלּח is the inf. constr. piel and the object to שׂנא: “the sending away (of a wife), divorce.” שׂנא is a participle, the pronominal subject being omitted, as in maggı̄d in Zec 9:12, because it may easily be inferred from the following words: אמר יי (saith the Lord of hosts). The thought is not at variance with Deu 24:1., where the putting away of a wife is allowed; for this was allowed because of the hardness of their hearts, whereas God desires that a marriage should be kept sacred (cf. Mat 19:3. and the comm. on Deu 24:1-5). A second reason for condemning the divorce is given in the words וכסּה חמס על ל, which do not depend upon כּי שׂנא, but form a sentence co-ordinate to this. We may either render these words, “he (who puts away his wife) covers his garment with sin,” or “sin covers his garment.” The meaning is the same in either case, namely, that wickedness will adhere irremoveably to such a man. The figurative expression may be explained from the idea that the dress reflects the inward part of a man, and therefore a soiled garment is a symbol of uncleanness of heart (cf. Zec 3:4; Isa 64:5; Rev 3:4; Rev 7:14). With a repetition of the warning to beware of this faithlessness, the subject is brought to a close.

Mal 2:17 “Ye weary Jehovah with your words, and say, Wherewith do we weary? In that ye say, Every evil-doer is good in the eyes of Jehovah, and He takes pleasure in them, or where is the God of judgment?” The persons who are introduced as speaking here are neither the pious Israelites, who were not only pressed down by the weight of their heavy afflictions, but indignant at the prosperity of their godless countrymen, and were thus impelled to give utterance to despairing complaints, and doubts as to the justice of God (Theodoret); nor a middle class between the truly pious and perfectly godless, consisting of those who were led by a certain instinctive need to adopt the faith inherited from the fathers, and sought to fulfil the commandments of the moral law of God, but the foundations of whose faith and piety were not deep enough for them humbly to submit themselves to the marvellous ways of God, so that whenever the dealings of God did not correspond to their expectations, they lost their faith in Him and turned their backs upon Him (Koehler). The whole of the contents of this section are opposed to the first assumption. Those who murmured against God were, according to Mal 3:7., such as had departed like the fathers from the law of God and defrauded God in the tithes and heave-offerings, and with whom those who feared God are contrasted in Mal 2:16. Moreover, the reproach brought against them in Mal 2:17, “Ye weary Jehovah with your words,” and in Mal 3:13, “Your words put constraint upon me,” show that they do not belong to the righteous, who, while bending under the burden of temptation, appear to have raised similar complaints; as we read for example in Psalm 37; 49, 73. The second view is precluded by the absence, not only of every trace of the nation being divided into three classes, but also of every indication that those who murmured thus had endeavoured to fulfil the commandments of the moral law of God. The answer of the Lord to this murmuring is addressed to the whole nation as one which had departed from His commandments, and defrauded God with the tithes and sacrifices (Mal 3:7-8). The judgment which they wanted to see would fall, according to Mal 3:5, upon the sorcerers, adulterers, and other gross sinners; and in Mal 3:16-18 the only persons distinguished from these are the truly righteous who remember the name of the Lord. It clearly follows from this, that the feelings expressed in Mal 2:17 and Mal 3:13 were not cherished by the whole nation without exception, but only by the great mass of the people, in contrast with whom the small handful of godly men formed a vanishing minority, which is passed over in the attack made upon the spirit prevailing in the nation. This disposition vents itself in the words: Every one who does evil is good in the eyes of God, and Jehovah takes pleasure in the wicked. By עשׂה רע the murmurers mean, not notorious sinners in their midst, but the heathen who enjoyed undisturbed prosperity. To give a reason for this fancy, they inquire, Where is the God of judgment? או, “or,” i.e., if this be not the case, as in Job 16:3; Job 22:11, why does not God punish the ungodly heathen? why does He not interpose as judge, if He has no pleasure in the wicked? Such speeches as these the prophet calls הוגע, a wearying of God (cf. Isa 43:23-24).

The Office of the Priesthood; Charge against the Priests; The Priests Censured and Threatened. (b. c.  400.)

1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. 2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. 3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. 4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. 6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

What was said in the foregoing chapter was directed to the priests (ch. i. 6): Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! that despise my name. But the crimes there charged upon them they were guilty of as sacrificers, and for those they might think it some excuse that they offered what the people brought, and therefore that, if they were not so good as they should be, it was not their fault, but the people's; and therefore here the corruptions there complained of are traced to the source and spring of them—the faults the priests were guilty of as teachers of the people, as expositors of the law and the lively oracles; and this is a part of their office which still remains in the hands of gospel-ministers (who are appointed to be pastors and teachers, like the priests under the law, though not sacrificers, like them), and therefore by them the admonition here is to be particularly regarded. If the priests had given the people better instructions, the people would have brought better offerings; and therefore the blame returns upon the priests: "And now, O you priests! this commandment is purely for you (v. 1), who should have taught the people the good knowledge of the Lord, and how to worship him aright." Note, The governors of the churches are under God's government, and to him they are accountable. Even for those who command God has commandments. Nay (v. 4), you shall know that I have sent these commandments for you. They should know it either, 1. By the power of the Spirit working with the word for their conviction and reformation: "You shall know its original by its efficacy, whence it comes by what it does." When the word of God to us brings about, and carries on, the work of God in us, then we cannot but know that he sent it to us, that it is not the word of Malachi—God's messenger, but it is indeed the word of God, and is sent, not only in general to all, but in particular to us. Or, 2. By the accomplishment of the threatenings denounced against them: "You shall know, to your cost, that I have sent this commandment to you, and it shall not return void."

Let us now see what this commandment is which is for the priests, which, they must know, was sent to them; and let us put into method the particulars of the charge.

I. Here is a recital of the covenant God made with that sacred tribe, which was their commission for their work and the patent of their honour: The Lord of hosts sent a commandment to them, for the establishing of this covenant (v. 4), for his covenant is said to be the word which he commanded (Ps. cv. 8); and he sent this commandment by the prophet at this time for the re-establishing of it, that it might not be cut off for their persisting in the violation of it. Let the sons of Levi know then (and particularly the sons of Aaron) what honour God put upon their family, and what a trust he reposed in them (v. 5): My covenant was with him of life and peace. Besides the covenant of peculiarity made with all the house of Israel, there was a covenant of priesthood made with one family, that they should do the services, and, upon condition of that, should enjoy all the privileges, of the priest's office—that, as Israel was a peculiar nation, a kingdom of priests, so the house of Aaron should be a family of priests, set apart for the service and honour of God, to bear up his name in that nation, as they were to bear up his name among the nations; both the one and the other, in different degrees, were to give glory unto God's name, v. 2. God covenanted with them as his menial servants, obliged them to do his work and promised to own and accept them in it. This is called his covenant of life and peace, because it was intended for the support of religion, which brings life and peace to the souls of men—life to the dead, peace to the distressed, or because life and peace were by this covenant promised to those priests that faithfully and conscientiously discharged their duty; they shall have peace, which implies security from all evil, and life, which comprises the summary of all good. What is here said of the covenant of priesthood is true of the covenant of grace made with all believers, as spiritual priests; it is a covenant of life and peace; it assures all believers of life and peace, everlasting peace, everlasting life, all happiness both in this world and in that to come. This covenant was made with the whole tribe of Levi when they were distinguished from the rest of the tribes, were not numbered with them, but were taken from among them and appointed over the tabernacle of testimony (Num. i. 49, 50), by virtue of which appointment God says (Num. iii. 12), The Levites shall be mine. It was made with Aaron when he and his sons were taken to minister unto the Lord in the priest's office, Exod. xxviii. 1. Aaron is therefore called the saint of the Lord, Ps. cvi. 16. It was made with Phinehas and his family, a branch of Aaron's, upon a particular occasion, Num. xxv. 12, 13. And there the covenant of priesthood is called, as here, the covenant of peace, because by it peace was made and kept between God and Israel. These great blessings of life and peace, contained in that covenant, God gave to him, to Levi, to Aaron, to Phinehas; he promised life and peace to them and their posterity, entrusted them with these benefits for the use and behoof of God's Israel; they received that they might give, as Christ himself did, Ps. lxviii. 18. Now, for the further opening of this covenant, observe, 1. The considerations upon which it was grounded: It was for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The tribe of Levi gave a signal proof of their holy fear of God, and their reverence for his name, when they appeared so bravely against the worshippers of the golden calf (Exod. xxxii. 26); and for their zeal in that matter God bestowed this blessing upon them and invited them to consecrate themselves unto him. Phinehas also showed himself zealous in the fear of God and his judgments when, to stay the plague, he stabbed Zimri and Cozbi, Ps. cvi. 30, 31. Note, Those, and those only, who fear God's name, can expect the benefit of the covenant of life and peace; and those who give proofs of their zeal for God shall without fail be recompensed in the glorious privileges of the Christian priesthood. Some read this, not as the consideration of the grant, but as the condition of it: I gave them to him, provided that he should fear before me. If God grant us life and peace, he expects we should fear before him. 2. The trust that was lodged in the priests by this covenant, v. 7. They were hereby made the messengers of the Lord of hosts, messengers of that covenant of life and peace, not mediators of it, but only messengers, or ambassadors, employed to treat of the terms of peace between God and Israel. The priests were God's mouth to his people, from whom they must receive instructions according to the lively oracles. This was the office to which Levi was advanced; because, in his zeal for God, he did not acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children, therefore they shall teach Jacob God's judgments, Deut. xxxiii. 9, 10. Note, It is an honour to God's servants to be employed as his messengers and to be sent on his errands. Angels have their name thence. Haggai was called the Lord's messenger. This being their office, observe, (1.) What is the duty of ministers: The priests' lips should keep knowledge, not keep it from the people, but keep it for them. Ministers must be men of knowledge; for how are those able to teach others the things of God who are themselves unacquainted with those things or unready in them? They must keep knowledge, must furnish themselves with it and retain what they have got, that they may be like the good householder, who brings out of his treasury things new and old. Not only their heads, but their lips, must keep knowledge; they must not only have it, but they must have it ready, must have it at hand, must have it (as we say) at their tongue's end, to be communicated to others as there is occasion. Thus we read of wisdom in the lips of him that has understanding, with which they feed many, Prov. x. 13, 21. (2.) What is the duty of the people: They should seek the law at his mouth; they should consult the priests as God's messengers, and not only hear the message, but ask questions upon it, that they may the better understand it and that mistakes concerning it may be prevented and rectified. We are all concerned fully to know what the will of the Lord is, to know it distinctly and certainly; we should be desirous to know it and therefore inquisitive concerning it. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? We must not only consult the written word (to the law and to the testimony), but must have recourse to God's messengers, and desire instruction and advice from them in the affairs of our souls as we do from physicians and lawyers concerning our bodies and estates. Not but that ministers ought to lay down the law of God to those who do not enquire concerning it, or desire the knowledge of it (they must instruct those that oppose themselves, 2 Tim. ii. 25, as well as those that offer themselves), but it is people's duty to apply to them for instruction, not only to hear, but to ask questions. Watchman, what of the night? Thus if you will enquire, enquire you; see Isa. xxi. 8, 11, 12. People should not only seek comfort at the mouth of their ministers, but should seek the law there; for, if we found in the way of duty, we shall find it the way of comfort.

II. Here is a memorial of the fidelity and zeal of many of their predecessors in the priest's office, which are mentioned as an aggravation of their sin in degenerating from such honourable ancestors and deserting such illustrious examples, and as a justification of God in withdrawing from them those tokens of his presence which he had granted to those that kept close to him. See here (v. 6) how good the godly priest was, whose steps they should have trod in, and what good he did, God's grace working with him. 1. See how good he was. He was ready and mighty in the scriptures: The law of truth was in his mouth, for the use of those that asked the law at his mouth; and in all his discourses there appeared more or less of the law of truth. Every thing he said was under the government of that law, and with it he governed others. He spoke as one having authority (every word was a law), and as one that had both wisdom and integrity—it was a law of truth, and truth is a law, it has a commanding power. It is by truth that Christ rules. The law of truth was in his mouth, for his resolutions of cases of conscience proposed to him were such as might be depended upon; his opinion was good law. Iniquity was not found in his lips; he did not handle the word of God deceitfully, to please men, to serve a turn, or to make an interest for himself, but told all that consulted him what the law was, whether it were pleasing or displeasing. He did not pronounce that unclean which was clean, nor that clean which was unclean, as one of the rabbin expounds it. And his conversation was of a piece with his doctrine. God himself gives him this honourable testimony: He walked with me in peace and equity. He did not think it enough to talk of God, but he walked with him. The temper of his mind, and the tenour of his life, were of a piece with his doctrine and profession; he lived a life of communion with God, and made it his constant care and business to please him; he lived like a priest that was chosen to walk before God, 1 Sam. ii. 30. His conversation was quiet; he was meek and gentle towards all men, was a pattern and promoter of love; he walked with God in peace, was himself peaceable and a great peace-maker. His conversation was also honest; he did no wrong to any, but made conscience of rendering to all their due: He walked with me in equity, or rectitude. We must not, for peace-sake, transgress the rules of equity, but must keep the peace as far as is consistent with justice. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. Ministers, of all men, are concerned to walk with God in peace and equity, that they may be examples to the flock. 2. See what good he did; he answered the ends of his advancement to that office: He did turn many away from iniquity; he made it his business to do good, and God crowned his endeavours with wonderful success; he helped to save many a soul from death, and there are multitudes now in heaven blessing God that ever they knew him. Ministers must lay out themselves to the utmost for the conversion of sinners, and even among those that have the name of Israelites there is need of conversion-work, there are many to be turned from iniquity; and they must reckon it an honour, and a rich reward of their labour, if they may but be instrumental herein. It is God only that by his grace can turn men from iniquity, and yet it is here said of a pious laborious minister that he turned men from iniquity as a worker together with God, and an instrument in his hand; and those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars, Dan. xii. 3. Note, Those ministers, and those only, are likely to turn men from iniquity, that preach sound doctrine and live good lives, and both according to the scripture; for, as one of the rabbin observes here, When the priest is upright many will be upright.

III. Here is a high charge drawn up against the priests of the present age, who violated the covenant of the priesthood and went directly contrary both to the rules and to the examples that were set before them. Many particulars of their sins we had in the foregoing chapter, and we find (Neh. xiii.) that many corruptions had crept into the church of the Jews at this time, mixed marriages, admitting strangers into the house of God, profanation of the sabbath-day, which were all owing to the carelessness and unfaithfulness of the priests; here it is charged upon them in general, 1. That they transgressed the rule: You have departed out of the way (v. 8), out of the good way which God has prescribed to you, and which your godly ancestors walked before you in. It is ill with a people when those whose office it is to guide them in the way do themselves depart out of it: "You have not kept my ways, not kept in them yourselves, nor done your part to keep others in them," v. 9. 2. That they betrayed their trust: "You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, have violated it, have contradicted the great intentions of it, and have done what in you lay to frustrate and defeat them; you have managed your office as if it were designed only to feed you fat and make you great; and not for the glory of God and the good of the souls of men." This was a corrupting of the covenant of Levi; it was perverting the ends of the office, and making it subservient to those sensual secular things over which it ought always to have dominion. And thus they forfeited the benefit of that covenant, and corrupted it to themselves; they made it void, and lost the life and peace which were by it settled upon them. We have no reason to expect God should perform his part of the covenant if we do not make conscience of performing ours. Another instance of their betraying their trust was that they were partial in the law, v. 9. In the law given to them they would pick and choose their duty; this they would do and that they would not do, just as they pleased; this is the fashion of hypocrites, while those whose hearts are upright with God have a respect to all his commandments. Or, rather, in the law they were to lay down to the people; in this they knew faces (so the word is); they accepted persons; they wilfully misinterpreted and misapplied the law, either to cross those they had a spleen against or to countenance those they had a kindness for; they would wink at those sins in some which in others they would be sharp upon, according as their interest or inclination led them. God is no respecter of persons in making his law, nor will he in reckoning for the breach of it; he regards not the rich more than the poor, and therefore his priests, his ministers, misrepresent him, and do him a great deal of dishonour, if, in doctrine or discipline, they be respecters of persons. See 1 Tim. v. 21. 3. That they did a great deal of mischief to the souls of men, which they should have helped to save: You have caused many to stumble at the law, not only to fall in the law (as the margin reads it) by transgressing it, taught and encouraged to do so by the examples of the priests, but to stumble at the law, by contracting prejudices against it, as if the law were the minister of sin and gave countenance to it. Thus Hophni and Phinehas by their wickedness made the sacrifices of the Lord to be abhorred, 1 Sam. ii. 17. There are many to whom the law of God is a stumbling-block, the gospel of Christ a savour of death unto death, and Christ himself a rock of offence; and nothing contributes more to this than the vicious lives of those that make a profession of religion, by which men are tempted to say, "It is all a jest." This is properly a scandal, a stone of stumbling; there is no good reason why it should be so to any, but woe to those by whom this offence comes. 4. That, when they were under the rebukes both of the word and of the providence of God for it, they would not hear, that is, they would not heed, they would not lay it to heart; they were not at all grieved or shamed for their sin, nor affected with the tokens of God's displeasure which they were under. What we hear does us no good unless we lay it to heart and admit the impressions of it: You will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, by repentance and reformation. Therefore we should lay to heart the things of God, that we may give glory to the name of God, may praise him in and for all that whereby he has made himself known. It is bad in any to rob God of his honour, but worst in ministers, whose office and business it is to bear up his name and to give him the glory due to it.

IV. Here is a record of the judgments God had brought upon these priests for their profaneness, and their profanation of holy things. 1. They had lost their comfort (v. 2): I have already cursed your blessings. They had not the comfort of their work, which is the satisfaction of doing good; for the blessings with which they, as priests, blessed the people, God was so far from saying Amen to that he turned them into curses, as he did Balaam's curses into blessings. That profane people should not have the favour of receiving God's blessings, nor those profane priests the honour of conferring and conveying them, but both should lie under the tokens of his wrath. Nor had they the comfort of their wages, for the blessings with which God blessed them were turned into a curse to them by their abuse of them; they could not receive them as the gifts of his favour when they had made themselves so obnoxious to his displeasure by not laying to heart the reproofs given them. 2. They had lost their credit (v. 9): Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people. While they glorified God he dignified them and supported their reputation, and a great interest they had in the love and esteem of the people while they did their duty and walked with God in peace and equity; every one had a value and veneration for them; they were truly styled the reverend, the priests; but when they forsook the ways of God, and corrupted the covenant of Levi, they thereby made themselves not only mean, but vile, in the eyes even of the common people, who, the more they honoured the order, the more they hated the men that were a dishonour to it. Their conduct, their misconduct, had a direct tendency to this, and God owns his hand in it, and will have it looked upon as a just judgment of his upon them, and not only produced by their sin but answering to it; they put dishonour upon God, and made his table and the fruit thereof contemptible (ch. i. 12), and therefore God justly put dishonour upon them and made them contemptible; they exposed themselves, and therefore God exposed them. Note, As sin is a reproach to any people, so especially to priests; there is not a more despicable animal upon the face of the earth than a profane, wicked, scandalous minister.

V. Here is a sentence of wrath passed upon them; and this the prophet begins with, v. 2, 3. But it is conditional: If you will not lay it to heart, implying, "If you will, God's anger shall be turned away, and all shall be well; but, if you persist in these wicked courses, hear your doom—Your sin will be your ruin." 1. They shall fall and lie under the curse of God: I will send a curse upon you. The wrath of God shall be revealed against them, according to the threatenings of the written word. Note, Those who violate the commands of the law lay themselves under the curses of the law. 2. Neither their employments nor their enjoyments, as priests, shall be clean to them: "I will curse your blessings, so that you shall neither be blessed yourselves nor blessings to the people, but even your plenty shall be a plague to you and you shall be plagues to your generation." 3. The fruits of the earth, which they had the tithe of, should be no comfort to them: "Behold, I will corrupt your seed; the corn you sow shall rot under ground and never come up again, the consequence of which must needs be famine and scarcity of provisions; so that no meat-offerings shall be brought to the altar, which the priests will soon have a loss of." Or it may be understood of the seed of the word which they preached; God threatens to deny his blessing to the instructions they gave the people, so that their labour shall be lost, as that of the husbandman is when the seed is corrupt; and so it agrees with that threatening (Jer. xxiii. 32), They shall not profit this people at all. 4. They and their services shall be rejected of God; he will be so far from taking any pleasure in them that he will loathe and detest them: I will spread dung in your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts. He refers to the sacrifices that were offered at those feasts. Instead of being himself pleased with the fat of their sacrifices, he will show himself displeased by throwing the dung of them in their faces, which he does, in effect, when he says, Bring no more vain oblations; your incense is an abomination to me. Note, Those who rest in their external performances of religion, which they should count but dung, that they may win Christ, shall not only come short of acceptance with God in them, but shall be filled with shame and confusion for their folly. 5. All will end, at last, in their utter ruin: One shall take you away with it. They shall be so overspread with the dung of their sacrifices that they shall be carried away with it to the dunghill, as a part of it. Any one shall serve to take you away, the common scavenger. Reprobate silver shall men call them, and treat them accordingly, because the Lord has rejected them.

Unlawful Marriages; Breach of the Marriage-covenant; Charge of Corrupt Principles. (b. c.  400.)

10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god. 12 The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. 13 And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16 For the Lord , the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. 17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord , and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Corrupt practices are the genuine fruit and product of corrupt principles; and the badness of men's hearts and lives is owing to some loose atheistical notions which they have got and which they govern themselves by. Now, in these verses, we have an instance of this; we here find men dealing falsely with one another, and it is because they think falsely of their God. Observe,

I. How corrupt their practices were. In general, they dealt treacherously every man against his brother, v. 10. It cannot be expected that he who is false to his God should be true to his friend. They had dealt treacherously with God in his tithes and offerings, and had defrauded him, and thus conscience was debauched, its bonds and cords were broken, a door was opened to all manner of injustice and dishonesty, and the bonds of relation and natural affection are broken through likewise and no difficulty made of it. Some think that the treacherous dealings here reproved are the same with those instances of oppression and extortion which we find complained of to Nehemiah about this time, Neh. v. 3-7. Therein they forgot the God of their fathers, and the covenant of their fathers, and rendered their offerings unacceptable, Isa. i. 11. But it seems rather to refer to what was amiss in their marriages, which was likewise complained of, Neh. xiii. 23. Two things they are here charged with, as very provoking to God in this matter—taking strange wives of heathen nations, and abusing and putting away the wives they had of their own nation; in both these they dealt treacherously and violated a sacred covenant; the former was in contempt of the covenant of peculiarity, the latter of the marriage-covenant.

1. In contempt of the covenant God made with Israel, as a peculiar people to himself, they married strange wives, which was expressly prohibited, and provided against, in that covenant, Deut. vii. 3. Observe here,

(1.) What good reason they had to deal faithfully with God and one another in this covenant, and not to make marriages with the heathen. [1.] They were expressly bound out from such marriages by covenant. God engaged to do them good upon this condition, that they should not mingle with the heathen; this was the covenant of their fathers, the covenant made with their fathers, denoting the antiquity and the authority of it, and its being the great charter by which that nation was incorporated. They lay under all possible obligations to observe it strictly, yet they profaned it, as if they were not bound by it. Those profane the covenant of their fathers who live in disobedience to the command of the God of their fathers. [2.] They were a peculiar people, united in one body, and therefore ought to have united for the preserving of the honour of their peculiarity: Have we not all one Father? Yes, we have, for has not one God created us? Are we not all his offspring? And are we not made of one blood? Yes, certainly we are. God is a common Father to all mankind, and, upon that account, all we are brethren, members one of another, and therefore ought to put away lying (Eph. iv. 25), and not to deal treacherously, no, not any man against his brother. But here it seems to refer to the Jewish nation: Have we not all one father, Abraham, or Jacob? This they prided themselves in, We have Abraham to our father; but here it is turned upon them as an aggravation of their sin in betraying the honour of their nation by intermarrying with heathens: "Has not one God created us, that is, formed us into a people, made us a nation by ourselves, and put a life into us, distinct from that of other nations? And should not this oblige us to maintain the dignity of our character?" Note, The consideration of the unity of the church in Christ, its founder and Father, should engage us carefully to preserve the purity of the church and to guard against all corruptions. [3.] They were dedicated to God, as well as distinguished from the neighbouring nations. Israel was holiness to the Lord (Jer. ii. 3), taken into covenant with him, set apart by him for himself, to be to him for a name and a praise, and upon this account he loved them and delighted in them; the sanctuary set up among them was the holiness of the Lord, which he loved, of which he said, It is my rest for ever, here will I dwell, for I have desired it; but by marrying strange wives they profaned this holiness, and laid the honour of it in the dust. Note, Those who are devoted to God, and beloved of him, are concerned to preserve their integrity, that they may not throw themselves out of his love, nor lose the honour, or defeat the end, of their dedication to him.

(2.) How treacherously they dealt, notwithstanding, They profaned themselves in that very thing which was prescribed to them for the preserving of the honour of their singularity: Judah has married the daughter of a strange god. The harm was not so much that she was the daughter of a strange nation (God has made all nations of men, and is himself King of nations), but that she was the daughter of a strange god, trained up in the service and worship of false gods, at their disposal, as a daughter at her father's disposal, and having a dependence upon them; hence some of the rabbin (quoted by Dr. Pocock) say, He that marries a heathen woman is as if he made himself son-in-law to an idol. The corruption of the old world began with the intermarriages of the sons of God with the daughters of men, Gen. vi. 2. It is the same thing that is here complained of, but as it is expressed it sounds worse: The sons of God married the daughters of a strange god. Herein Judah is said to have dealt treacherously, for they basely betrayed their own honour and profaned that holiness of the Lord which they should have loved (so some read it); and it is said to be an abomination committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; it was hateful to God, and very unbecoming those that were called by his name. Note, it is an abominable thing for those who profess the holiness of the Lord to profane it, particularly by yoking themselves unequally with unbelievers.

(3.) How severely God would reckon with them for it (v. 12): The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, that marries the daughter of a strange god. He has, in effect, cut himself off from the holy nation, and joined in with foreigners and aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and so shall his doom be; God will cut him off, him and all that belongs to him; so the original intimates. He shall be cut off from Israel and from Jerusalem, and not be written among the living there. The Lord will cut off both the master and the scholar, that are guilty of this sin, both the teachers and the taught. The blind leaders and the blind followers shall fall together into the ditch, both him that wakeneth and him that answereth (so it is in the margin), for the master calls up his scholar to his business, and stirs him up in it. They shall be cut off together out of the tabernacles of Jacob. God will no more own them as belonging to his nation; nay, and the priest that offers an offering to the Lord, if he marry a strange wife (as we find many of the priests did, Ezra x. 18), shall not escape; the offering he offers shall not atone for him, but he shall be cut off from the temple of the Lord, as others from the tabernacles of Jacob. Nehemiah chased away from him, and from the priesthood, one of the sons of the high priest, whom he found guilty of this sin, Neh. xiii. 28.

2. In contempt of the marriage-covenant, which God instituted for the common benefit of mankind, they abused and put away the wives they had of their own nation, probably to make room for those strange wives, when it was all the fashion to marry such (v. 13): This also have you done; this is the second article of the charge. For the way of sin is down-hill, and one violation of the covenant is an inlet to another.

(1.) Let us see what it is that is here complained of. they did not behave as they ought to have done towards their wives. [1.] They were cross with them, froward and peevish, and made their lives bitter to them, so that when they came with their wives and families to worship God at the solemn feasts, which they should have done with rejoicing, they were all out of humour; the poor wives were ready to break their hearts, and, not daring to make their case known to any other, they complained to God, and covered the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying. This is illustrated by the instance of Hannah, who, upon the account of her husband's having another wife (though otherwise a kind husband), and the discontent thence arising, whenever they went up to the house of the Lord to worship fretted and wept, and was in bitterness of soul, and would not eat, 1 Sam. i. 6, 7, 10. So it was with these wives here; and this was so contrary to the cheerfulness which God requires in his worshippers that it spoiled the acceptableness of their devotions: God regards not their offering any more. See here what a good Master we serve, who will not have his altar covered with tears, but compassed with songs. This condemns those who left his worship for that of idols, among the rites of which we find women weeping for Tammuz (Ezek. viii. 14), and the blood of the worshippers gushing out upon the altar, 1 Kings xviii. 28. See also what a wicked thing it is to put others out of frame for the cheerful worship of God; though it is their fault by their fretfulness to indispose themselves for their duty, yet it is much more the fault of those who provoked them to make them to fret. It is a reason given why yoke-fellows should live in holy love and joy—that their prayers may not be hindered, 1 Pet. iii. 7. [2.] They dealt treacherously with them, v. 14-16. They did not perform their promises to them, but defrauded them of their maintenance or dower, or took in concubines, to share in the affection that was due to their wives only. [3.] They put them away, gave them a bill of divorce, and turned them off, nay, perhaps they did it without the ceremony that the law of Moses prescribed, v. 16. [4.] In all this they covered violence with their garment; they abused their wives, and were vexatious to them, and yet, in the sight of others, they pretended to be very loving to them and tender of them, and to cast a skirt over them. It is common for those who do violence to advance some specious pretence or other wherewith to cover it as with a garment.

(2.) Let us see the proof and aggravations of the charge. [1.] It is sufficiently proved by the testimony of God himself: "The Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth (v. 14), has been witness to the marriage-covenant between thee and her, for to him you appealed concerning your sincerity in it and fidelity to it; he has been a witness to all the violations of it, and all thy treacherous dealings in contempt of it, and is ready to judge between thee and her." Note, This should engage us to be faithful both to God and to all with whom we have to do, that God himself is a witness both to all our covenants and to all our covenant-breaches; and he is a witness against whom there lies no exception. [2.] It is highly aggravated by the consideration of the person wronged and abused. First, "She is thy wife; thy own, bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh, the nearest to thee of all the relations thou hast in the world, and to cleave to whom thou must quit the rest." Secondly, "She is the wife of thy youth, who had thy affections when they were at the strongest, was thy first choice, and with whom thou hast lived long. Let not the darling of thy youth be the scorn and loathing of thy age." Thirdly, "She is thy companion; she has long been an equal sharer with thee in thy cares, and griefs, and joys." The wife is to be looked upon, not as a servant, but as a companion to the husband, with whom he should freely converse and take sweet counsel, as with a friend, and in whose company he should take delight more than in any other's; for is she not appointed to be thy companion? Fourthly, "She is the wife of thy covenant, to whom thou art so firmly bound that, while she continues faithful, thou canst not be loosed from her, for it was a covenant for life. It is the wife with whom thou hast covenanted, and who has covenanted with thee; there is an oath of God between you, which is not to be trifled with, is not to be played fast and loose with." Married people should often call to mind their marriage-vows, and review them with all seriousness, as those that make conscience of performing what they promised.

(3.) Let us see the reasons given why man and wife should continue together, to their lives' end, in holy love and peace, and neither quarrel with each other nor separate from each other. [1.] Because god has joined them together (v. 15): Did not he make one, one Eve for one Adam, that Adam might never take another to her to vex her (Lev. xviii. 18), nor put her away to make room for another? It is great wickedness to complain of the law of marriage as a confinement, when Adam in innocency, in honour, in Eden, in the garden of pleasure, was confined to one. Yet God had the residue of the Spirit; he could have made another Eve, as amiable as that he did make, but, designing Adam a help meet for him, he made him one wife; had he made him more, he would not have had a meet help. And wherefore did he make but one woman for one man? It was that he might seek a godly seed—a seed of God (so the word is), a seed that should bear the image of God, be employed in the service of God, and be devoted to his glory and honour,—that every man having his own wife, and but one, according to the law, (1 Cor. vii. 2), they might live in chaste and holy love, under the directions and restraints of the divine law, and not, as brute beasts, under the dominion of lust, and thus might propagate the nature of man in such a way as might make it most likely to participate of a divine nature,—that the children, being born in holy matrimony, which is an ordinance of God, and by which the inclinations of nature are kept under the regulations of God's command, might thus be made a seed to serve him, and be bred, as they are born, under his direction and dominion. Note, The raising up of a godly seed, which shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, is one great end of the institution of marriage; but that is a good reason why the marriage-bed should be kept undefiled and the marriage bond inviolable. Husbands and wives must therefore live in the fear of God, that their seed may be a godly seed, else were they unclean, but now they are holy, as children of the covenant, the marriage-covenant, which was a type of the covenant of grace, and the conjugal union, when thus preserved entire, of the mystical union between Christ and his church, in which he seeks and secures to himself a godly seed; see Eph. v. 25, 32. [2.] Because he is much displeased with those who go about to put asunder what he has joined together (v. 16): The God of Israel saith that he hateth putting away. He hath indeed permitted it to the Jews, for the hardness of their hearts, or, rather, limited and clogged it (Matt. xix. 8); but he hated it, especially as those practised it who put away their wives for every cause, Matt. xix. 3. Let those wives that elope from their husbands and put themselves away, those husbands that are cruel to their wives and turn them away, or take their affections off from their wives and place them upon others, yea, and those husbands and wives that live asunder by consent, for want of love to each other, let such as these know that the God of Israel hates such practices, however vain men may make a jest of them.

(4.) Let us see the caution inferred from all this. We have it twice (v. 15): Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth; and again, v. 16. Note, Those that would be kept from sin must take heed to their spirits, for there all sin begins; they must keep their hearts with all diligence, must keep a jealous eye upon them and a strict hand, and must watch against the first risings of sin there. We shall act as we are spirited; and therefore, that we may regulate our actions, we must consider what manner of spirit we are of; we must take heed to our spirits with reference to our particular relations, and see that we stand rightly affected to them and be of a good temper, for otherwise we shall be in danger of dealing treacherously. If our own hearts deal treacherously with us, whom will they not deal treacherously with?

II. Observe how corrupt their principles were, to which were owing all these corrupt practices. Let us trace up the streams to the fountain (v. 17): You have wearied the Lord with your words. They thought to evade the convictions of the word, and to justify themselves by cavilling with God's proceedings; but their defence was their offence, and their vindication of themselves was the aggravation of their crime; they affronted the Lord with their words, and repeated them so often, and persisted so long in their contradictions, that they even wearied him; see Isa. vii. 13. They made him weary of doing them good as he had done, and stopped the current of his favours; or they represented him as weary of governing the world, and willing to quit it and lay aside the care of it. Note, It is a wearisome thing, even to God himself, to hear people insist upon their own justification in their corrupt and wicked practices, and plead their atheistical principles in vindication of them. But, as if God by his prophet had done them wrong, see how impudently they ask, Wherein have we wearied him? What are those vexatious words whereby we have wearied him? Note, Sinful words are more offensive to the God of heaven than they are commonly thought to be. But God has his proofs ready; two things they had said, at least in their hearts (and thoughts are words to God), with which they had wearied him:—1. They had denied him to be a holy God, and had asserted that concerning him which is directly contrary to the doctrine of his holiness. As he is a holy God, he hates sin, is of purer eyes than to behold it, and cannot endure to look upon it, Hab. i. 13. He is not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, Ps. v. 4. And yet they had the impudence to say, in direct contradiction to this, Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. This wicked inference they drew, without any reason, from the prosperity of sinners in their sinful courses (see ch. iii. 15), as if God's love or hatred were to be known by that which is before us, and those must be concluded good in the sight of the Lord who are rich in the world. Or this they said because they wished it might be so; they were resolved to do evil, and yet to think themselves good in the sight of the Lord, and to believe that he delighted in them, notwithstanding; and therefore, under pretence of making God not so severe as he was commonly represented, they said as they would have it, and thought he was altogether such a one as themselves. Note, Those who think God a friend to sin affront him and deceive themselves. 2. They had denied him to be the righteous governor of the world. If he did not delight in sin and sinners, yet it would serve their turn to believe that he would never punish it or them. They said, "Where is the God of judgment? That God who, we have been so often told, would call us to an account, and reckon with us for what we have said and done—where is he? He has forsaken the earth, and takes no notice of what is said and done there; he has said that he will come to judgment; but where is the promise of his coming? We may do what we please; he sees us not, nor will regard us." It is such a challenge to the Judge of the whole earth as bids defiance to his justice, and, in effect, dares him to do his worst. Such scoffers as these there were in the latter days of the Jewish church, and such there shall be in the latter days of the Christian church; but their unbelief shall not make the promise of God of no effect; for the day of the Lord will come. Behold, the Judge stands before the door; the God of judgment is at hand.

CHAP. II.

Verſe 1. ANd now, O ye prieſts, &c. Now, that is, Now again, I muſt have the other bout with you, beſides what I had chap. 1.6, 7, &c. for as once from the Prophets (ſo now from the Prieſts) in Jeruſalem profameſſe is gone forth into all the land. Jer. 23.15 Their white Ephods covered many foul ſinnes: and their evil example proved a publike miſchief. Hence the Prophet is ſo round with them: for he knew that a wicked Prieſt is the worſt creature upon earth. Unſavory ſalt is fit for no place; no not for the dunghill. It is an old proverb, that hell is paved with the ſhaven crowns of evil prieſts. The word prieſt is never uſed by the Apoſtles for a Miniſter of the Goſpel:De culiu Sanct. l. 3. c. 4. Hem. 3. in Act. no not by the moſt ancient Fathers, as Bellarmine himſelf confeſſeth. Indeed in Chryſoſcome I ſinde this piercing paſſage; Non arbitror inter ſacerdotes multos eſſe qui ſalvi fiant, I do not think, ſaith He, that among all our prieſts, there be many that ſhall be ſaved. Bernard comes after him and complains, that in the court of Rome good men failed, bad men grew amain:Lib. 4. de Conſid. and that the Biſhops of his time, were not Doctours but ſeducers, not Paſtours but Impoſtours, not Prelates but Pilates. Yea Pope Pius the ſecond hath left it in writing, that no villanous act had been for a long time committed in the Catholike Church,In hiſt. Auſtr. apud Callenat. hiſt. Neap. l. 4. the firſt beginning whereof proceeded not from the prieſts. Cornelius à Lapide upon this chapter, cries out of the ignorance and wickedneſſe of the Popiſh Clergy, as the cauſe of the contempt caſt by us upon them. And I would we had not cauſe to ſay, that many of our Miniſters neither feed liberally by charity, nor ſoundly by doctrine, nor religiouſly by life: which opened once the mouth of that dead dog Campian, maliciouſly to bark out, Miniſtris corum nihil vilius, Their Miniſters are moſt vile and vicious.

this commandement is for you] i. e. that curſe, chap. 1.14. implying a commandement: that if you deſire to eſcape that heavy curſe, you forthwith obey this commandement (Aut faciendum enim aut patiendum) to procure the purity and integrity of my worſhips, and to ſee that there be a preſent reformation of Religion. Reformation is a work that hath ever gone heavily on, and hath met with much oppoſition. As that made by Elias, by Ioſiah, by Nehemiah, and by Hezekiah, who found the Prieſts and Levites very backward: which the good king perceiving, began firſt himſelf, and awaked thoſe ſluggards with theſe words. Oh be not deceived, my ſonnes: God hath choſen you for this ſervice, 2 Chron. 29.11. The like backwardneſſe was found in the Popiſh Clergy to a generall Councell, ſo much urged and called for by the Bohemians, Germans, and other Nations, that groaned under the yoke of Papall tyranny. Luther truly and trimly compared the Cardinals and Prelats that met at Rome about Reformation of the Church, to foxes,Sleidan Comment that came to ſweep an houſe full of duſt with their tails: and inſteed of ſweeping it out, ſwept it all about the houſe, and made a great ſmoke for the while: but when they were gone, the duſt fell all down again. When nothing could be obtained of the Pope, Luther began to reforme in Germany, where he had a great door open, but many adverſaries, and none more violent then the Pope, whoſe tripple crowne, and the Monks, whoſe fat paunches he ſo nearly touched, as Eraſmus merrily told the Elector of Saxony. Bucer and Melancthon framed a form of Reformation with approbation of the Peers and States. But the Clergy of Collen rejected it with ſcorn and ſlander, ſaying that they would rather ſubmit to the government of the great Turk,Melch. Ad. in vita Enc. then to a Magiſtrate that followed or furthered ſuch a Reformation. Here in England ſomething began to be done in the time of Henry the 8. but it was ſo envied and oppoſed by the Church-men, that little could be done to what was expected. There are many (ſaid He, ſitting in Parliament) that are too buſie with their new Sumpſimus, and others that dote too much upon their old Mumpſimus. The new religion though true, He and his Clergy envied: the old, though his own, he deſpiſed. Magiſtrates are to have the main ſtroke in Reformation of Religion, (though Papiſts would utterly exclude them for having to do in matters Eccleſiaſticall) but Miniſters alſo muſt move in their own Orb, and do their part too. (why elſe are the prieſts here commanded and menaced?) 1. By teaching. 2. By exerciſing diſcipline. And here Magiſtrates muſt hemme Miniſters in with boards of Cedar, Cant. 8.9. provide for their ſecurity, whiles they do their duty, that they may be without fear among them, as Timothy, 1 Cor. 16.10. Envied they muſt look to be, and hated for their zeal to Gods houſe, which they ſeek to purge. But publike reſpects muſt (like the rapt motion) carry our hearts contrary to the wayes of our own private reſpects, or concernments: and conſider, that as it is not the toſſing in a ſhip, but the ſtomack that cauſeth ſickneſſe; the choler within, and not the waves without: So the frowardneſſe of men, that quarrell with reformation; and not the work it ſelf, which is Gods commandement, as here the Prophet calls it.

Verſe 2. If ye will not hear] that your ſouls may live, Iſa. 55.3. but forbear, and ſo ſhew your ſelves a rebellious houſe, Ezek. 2.8. ſo adding rebellion to your ſinne. If you will needs reſemble the deaf adder, which although by ſpitting out his poyſon, he might renew his age, ſtoppeth his ears by applying one to the earth, and covering the other with his tail, leſt he ſhould hear the voyce of the charmer. Or, if ye do hear with that griſtle that growes upon your head onely,

and will not lay it to heart] Heb. upon your heart, as a weight to keep it down from riſing in rebellion againſt the Lord. If you eſteem my command a light matter, and inſtead of pondering it in your hearts with Mary, caſt it behind your backs, Pſal. 50.17. or, ſuffer it to run thorow you as water runs thorow a riven veſſell, Heb. 2.4. If thirdly, you will not give glory unto my Name, by confeſſing your ſinnes, Ioſh. 7.19. (ſo ſubmitting to my juſtice, and imploring my mercy, which will make much to my glory) and redreſling your wayes, Pſal. 50.23. by breaking off your ſinnes, and bearing much fruit, Ioh. 15.8. ſtudying mine ends more then your own, and drowning all ſelf-reſpects in my glory. If you will not obſerve and fulfill theſe three fore-mentioned conditions of exemption;

I will even ſend a curſe upon you] that evill Angel of mine, that ſhall bring with him fierceneſſe of anger, wrath, indignation and trouble Pſa. 78.49. The Vulgar Interpreter renders it, I will even ſend poverty upon you; a curſe well ſuting with their covetouſneſſe, and agreeable to that threatened by another Prophet: As the Partridge ſitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not: ſo he that getteth riches and not by right (as theſe Prieſts had done) ſhall leave them in the midſt of his dayes, Jer. 17.12 and at his end be a fool. A poor fool God will ſoon make of the covetous caitiff: and reduce him to extream want; than the which he knowes no greater hell, no curſe comparable. But the Originall is more generall, I will execrate you, or pronounce a curſe againſt you. Howbeit, Non niſt coactus, No otherwiſe then as compelled to it; as that Emperour ſaid, laying his hand upon his mouth for a good while, before he would pronounce ſentence of death upon one that had deſerved it. Hiſtories tell us of Auguſtus, that it went as much againſt the heart with him, as it did againſt the hair with the malefactour, when he adjudged him to condigne puniſhment. Veſpaſian wept over thoſe he ſentenced. Nero, in his firſt five years, being to ſigne a warrant for execution of certain Malefactours ſaid,Act. & Mon. O utinam literas neſcirem, O that I could not write. Our King Edw. 6. could not be perſwaded by all his Councill to put his hand to a warrant for the burning of one Ione Butcher, that had well deſerved it. Our gracious God might well ſay As I live, I delight not in the death of ſinners, but rather would they ſhould convert and live: Ezek. 33.11. why elſe doth he here in threatening a curſe, interpoſe condition of repentance? why doth he warn before he wounds, and premoniſh before he puniſh? Well might the Heathen Hiſtorian ſay, [non-Latin text not transcribed] H redot. God loves to foreſig niſie. Well might that Father ſay, Minatur Deus ut non puniat. God therefore menaceth miſery that he may not inflict it. And another, Ideo prolata eſt ſententia, ut non fiat. The ſentence is, therefore pronounced, that it may not be executed. Witneſſe that we read Am. 4.12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee. Thus? how? He nameth not how, that they may fear the utmoſt, (as Ribera noteth) and yet he addeth, Becauſe I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Iſrael. Surely as a woman brings not forth without pain; And as a bee (uſually) ſtings not, till much provoked: ſo neither doth God curſe his creature, till there be no other remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 And then, Patientia laeſa fit furor: abuſed mercy turns into fury. If men will not accept of conditions of peace, though never ſo fair and reaſonable (as here) but pervert his mercies to wantonneſſe, his patience to preſumption, he will not alwaies bear with their evill manners: but, repenting him of his kindneſſe ſo caſt away upon thoſe that prized it not, as David repented of the good he had done unworthy Nabal, 1 Sam. 25.21. he will make them know the worth of his bleſſings by the want of them.

I will curſe your bleſſings] ſaith He here, I will recover mine own and be gone, as Hoſ. 2.9. I will cut off the meat from their mouths, and blaſt all your hopes of abundance, and deſtroy you after that I had done you good Ioſh. 24.20. Thus God dealt by his unfruitfull vineyard Eſay 5.5. he puld up the hedges and let in the wild-bore. Thus alſo he dealt by the unprefitable ſervant: he took away his talent, and turned him over to the tormentour. And thus he deales by diverſe now adayes, in whom it is no hard matter to obſerve a waine and decay of their gifts and abilities, upon their diſuſe, or miſuſe thereof. How many have we that are wofully fallen from the affections of prayer they were wont to find and expreſſe? how many idle and therefore evil miniſters, rejected by God, and laid aſide, as ſo many broken veſſels: whiles he cauſeth the night to come upon their divination, puts out their right eyes and dryes up their right aermes Zach. 11.17? till at length they may ſay with Zedekiah, When did the ſpirit depart from me? Woe to me, for I am ſpoiled Ier. 4.13. And in very deed what ſhould a Prince do but take away a ſword from a rebel? what ſhould a mother do, but ſnatch away the meat from the child that marrs it? And what can God do leſſe then take away his corn,Hoſ. 2.5, 9. wine and wooll from thoſe that not only own him to it, but go after other ſweet-hearts with it?

yea I have curſed them already] for a pledge of more malediction. For as in bleſſings, every former is a pledge of a future: ſo in curſes. As one cloud followes another till the Sun diſperſe them: ſo doth one curſe ſucceed another till Repentance remove them. No ſooner doth that rain-bow appear in our hearts, but God remembring his covenant, clears up our coaſts, and lifteth up the light of his countenance upon us. Take the bark from the tree, and the ſap can never find its way to the branches. Take ſin from the ſoule, and God will ſoon be reconciled. But if ye walk contrary unto me, I will puniſh you yet ſeven times more, and ſeven times, Lev. 26. and ſeven to that; till I have daſhed you in pieces: as Dagon, never left falling before the Ark till his neck was broke. Sin doth as naturally draw and ſuck curſes to it, as the Loadſtone doth iron, or Turpentine, fire. The Chaldee and the Vulgar make theſe words but a repetition of the former: for they read the Text thus:Idem repetit & in culcat. à Lapide. I will curſe your bleſſings, and I will curſe them: to intimate his peremptorineſſe in the thing, and that he was unchangably reſolved upon it. Now when God will do a thing, who ſhall hinder it? Nature may be reſiſted and hindred in its courſe; as when the fire burnt not the three worthies, when the Sun ſtood ſtill in heaven, yea went backward. Men and devils though never ſo potent may want of their will, and be croſſed in their deſignes and deſires. But if God will have this or that to be done, ther's no gain-ſtanding him. If he have a mind to bleſſe his people, they ſhall be bleſſed. If he will have pitty for his own names ſake, which the houſe of Iſrael had prophaned Ezek. 36.21. If he will come in with his Non-obſtante, Nevertheleſſe he ſaved them &c. and dealt with his ſervants not according to his ordinary rule, but according to his prerogative, who ſhall contradict him? In like ſort, if he will redouble his ſtrokes upon his enemies, and not only curſe them, but curſe them bitterly, as the Angel did Meroz, who can hinder or object againſt his proceeding in that behalf?Judg. 5 His judgements are ſometimes ſecret, but alwayes juſt: and if he once ſay, I will curſe, yea that I will, there is as little hope of altering him, as there was of Pilate, when he had once pronounced, what I have written, I have written, It ſhall ſurely ſtand.

becauſe ye do not lay it to heart] As he had repeated their curſe, ſo he doth here their ſin; inſtancing in that branch of it that moſt offended him: and that was their ſtupidity and ſenſeleſneſſe either of their ſin, or danger. This is a God-provoking evill, oft complain'd of, but eſpecially when it proceeds from preſumption, as Deut. 29.19. Eſay 22.12, 13, 14. Ezek. 24.13. The Lord cannot ſatisfie himſelf in threatening ſuch: as if the very naming of it had enraged his jealouſie: neither is he more abſolute in threatening, then he will be reſolute in puniſhing.

Verſe 3. Behold, I will corrupt your ſeed] And ſo mar your hopes of an harveſt: I will bring famine upon you, that fore judgement, worſe then that of the ſword,Lam. 4.9. which yet is the ſlaughter-houſe of mankind, and the very hell of this preſent world. By this ſcourge God will tame his prodigals, and ſtarve their bodies;Hag. 1.4. who by the contempt of his ordinances ſtarve their own ſoules. Either by immoderate drought God can cauſe a famine, Ioel 1.10. Or by immoderate moiſture, Verſe 17. The ſeed rotting under the clods &c. to revenge the quarrel of his covenant. Iſrael was plagued with famine for breaking their faith with the Gibeonites. What may they expect that keep not touch with God?2 Sam. 21.1. David knew that the naturall cauſe of that famine was drought: but he enquired (though, twere long firſt) after the ſupernaturall. As Jacob enquired who ſtood on the top of the ladder and ſent the Angels to and fro? ſo muſt we in caſe of publike calamities,Gen. 28.13. aſcend, to the top of them, and ſee who ſends them, and what is the cauſe of them, that we may caſt the traitours head over the wall, and he may return and repent and leave a bleſſing behind him. For till then, we may look that he ſhould cut off our proviſion and victualls, as wiſe Princes uſe to do from their rebels whom they have gotten up into a walled town.

and ſpread dung upon your faces] caſt contempt upon you, and cover you with confuſion: make you to ſtink above ground, ſo that men ſhall ſhun and abhorr your company. This is another fruit of ſin, and piece of the curſe: and many wicked men are more afraid of it, then of the ſin that cauſeth it: as Chaereas in Terence not aſhamed to deflour a virgin, was yet aſhamed to be ſeen in an Eunuchs habit the ſigne of that ſin. True it is, that the beſt may have dung caſt into their faces, as St. Paul and his precious companions had 1 Cor. 4.13. We are faith he, the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things. The later word ſignifieth the dung-cart that goes thorough the city, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. into which every one brings and caſts his filth: to note, that every foole had ſome filth to caſt upon thoſe Worthies of whom the world was not worthy. And truely all publike perſons that are faithfull to their truſt, had need carry a ſpare handkerchief to wipe off dirt and drivell: which yet many times will hardly ſtick, as dirt will not upon marble, though it will upon a mud-wall. The wiſe ſhall inherit glory: when ſhame ſhall be the promotion of fooles Pro. 3.35. A fair promotion: but good enough for them, unleſſe they were better. If the precious ſons of Zion comparable to fine gold, be at any time eſteemed as earthen pitchers as Lam. 4.2. or trodden in the dirt by the fat buls of Baſan, God will in due time make all his that have laine ſullied and ſlurred among the pots, to become as the wings of a dove covered with ſilver, and her feathers with pure gold Pſal. 68.13. In the mean while, they have the Euge of a good conſcience, which is better then the worlds Plaudite. But profane and profligate perſons with their ſpiritual naſtineſſe and ſuper fluity of naughtineſſe, ſtink worſe then theſe cityes of the plaine in the noſtrils of God and all good men, whiles they live, (according to that, The name of the wicked ſhall rot, And again,Pro. 10.7. & 9 He that perverteth his wayes ſhall be known.) And when they dye they ſhall be carried thorough the dung-gate of death, to the town-ditch of utter deſtruction. At which time,Iob. 20.6, 7. that in Iob ſhall be verified of them, Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he ſhall periſh for ever like his own dung: they which have ſeen him (in his flouriſh) ſhall ſay, Where is be? Let thoſe dehoneſt amenta Cleri look to this; all idle and evill Miniſters, who as unſavoury ſalt are fit for no place but the dung-hill, even to be buried in a dunghill, as Biſhop Bonner was, and (mean-while) to be trodden under foot, which is a thing not only calamitous, but extremely ignominious. Mat. 5.13.

even the dung of your ſolemne feaſts] i. e. for the iniquity of your moſt ſolemn ſervices, which you have ſlubber'd over and made to ſtink, I will make you alſo abject and abominable: as the dung of ſacrifices offered in great number on feſtivall dayes, was carried into ſome by-corner, and ſet out of ſight. And here it is remarkable that God calleth the ſolemn feaſts their ſolemn-feaſts, as if they had been none of his: he would not own them. So Ier. 7.21. in ſcorn he calles their ſacrifices fleſh, ordinary fleſh, ſuch as was bought and ſold in the ſhambles. And Hoſ. 9.4. he calleth the ſame ſacrifices, their bread for their ſoule, or for their naturall ſuſtenance, and ſaith it ſhall not come into his houſe. And yet he ſpeaks there of that meat-offering Lev. 2.5. appointed by God himſelf for a ſpirituall uſe, which is nevertheleſſe called the bread for their life, or livelyhood: becauſe God eſteemed it no other then common meat. In a like ſenſe it was, that after the people of Iſrael had ſet up the golden calf, God would own them no longer, but fathers them upon Moſes: Behold thy people, ſaith He to Moſes, whom thou broughteſt out of Egypt &c. Exod. 32.7. David alſo, when he had ſinned in numbring the people, was counted and called but plain David, Go and ſay to David &c. 2 Sam. 24.12. whereas before that, when he purpoſed to build the Lord a Temple &c.2 Sam. 7. then it was, Go tell my ſervant David &c. The Saints themſelves, when they ſin againſt God, are in a ſort ſuſpended from the covenant. Therefore it is uſuall with them, when they ſeek the Lord for any ſpeciall mercy, to begin with humbling themſelves, and taking pains with their own hearts, as David, Daniel, Ezra, &c.

Verſe. 4. And ye ſhall know that I have ſent &c.] That is, ye ſhall know by wofull experience: your puniſhment ſhall advertiſe you: the curſe appendent to the commandement ſhall teach you as Gideon taught the men of Succoth ſo. with thorns and and briers of the wilderneſſe, Jud. 8.16. and as David taught the children of Ammon better behaviour, by making them paſſe thorough the brick-kilne, 2 Sam. 12.31 and as the Phrygians wax not wiſe, unleſſe they be beaten to it, when Gods judgments are in the earth, Judg. 3.20. the inhabitants of the world will learn righteouſneſſe Iſai. 26.9. Smart makes wit, and vexation giveth underſtanding. Ehuds ponyard was a meſſage from God; who as he is ſaid to hold his peace when he puniſheth not Pſal. 50.21. Eſay 42.14. ſo to preach and teach when he doth Eſay 28.19. his ſcourges are mens ſchool-maſters [non-Latin text not transcribed], One calls them, Gods free-ſchool-maſters,) curſtand crabbed enough, but ſuch as whereby he openeth mens ears to diſcipline, and commandeth them to return from iniquity: Iob 36.8, 9, 10. Then he ſheweth them their work, and their tranſgreſſions that they have exceeded, that they have ſlighted the commandement which he had ſent them, and that now he would plead with them another way, ſo. with patience, and with blood, Ezek. 38.22. and ſo would cauſe them to paſſe under the rod, that thereby he might bring them into the bond of the covenant, purging out the rebels, and them that tranſgreſs, Ezek. 20.37, 38. God ſhould have no tribute from men (as thoſe Malignants ſuggeſted againſt the returned captives, Ezra 4.13: if he did not make them know his breach of promiſe Num. 14.34. if he did not break covenant with them that firſt play falſe with him, and keep no condition on their part required. See 2 Chron. 15.2. and when thou art making a covenant with ſin, ſay to thy ſoul, as Boaz ſaid to his kinſman Ruth 4.4. At what time thou buyeſt it, thom muſt have Ruth with it. If thou wilt have the pleaſure of ſin, the wages of wickedneſſe, thou muſt alſo have the curſe &c. and let thy ſoul anſwer as he there doth, No, I may not do it, I ſhall mar and ſpoil a better inheritance. Polanus and others diſlike the reading of this text in the future tenſe ye ſhall know that I haue ſent this commandment, and tell us that the ſcope of the Prophecy requires, that it be read in the preſent tenſe thus, Nam citis, For ye do know that I have ſent &c. You know your dignity and duty as Prieſts:Vos probe cognitum habetis &c. Polan. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and yet ye wilfully croſſe your own knowledge and conſcience. Knowledge is a divine gift: it is the great talent of all other: there is a (much) ſet upon it, Lak. 12.48. there is a ſpecial d[illegible: 1 letter]p[illegible: 1 letter]ſuum in it, as the word there uſed importeth. To know heavenly things is to ſcend into heaven ſaith Agur Prov. 30.4. But as the devil (that knowing creature, that hath his name in Greek from the largneſſe of his objective knowledge) was once an Angel of light till he fell from his dignity, Jud. 6. [non-Latin text not transcribed] quaſi [non-Latin text not transcribed] ſo thoſe that corrupt themſelves in that they know Jude 10.Rom. 1.18. that impriſon the light they have (as a prophet from God) in unrighteouſneſſe: that know the commandment ſent from God, as here, and yet after that they have known the way of righteouſneſſe, do turn from the holy commundement delivered unto them, the latter end will be worſe with thoſe men then the beginning 2 Pet. 2.20, 21. they have but aſpired to an higher pitch that their fall might be the more deſperate. Neronis illud, Quantus artifex perco quadrabi t[illegible: 1 letter]in te peritum & periturum ſaith One. Thou doeſt but carry Uri h's letters about thee to thine own utter deſtruction. Thou maiſt go to hell with much knowledge in thy head: as a bull with a coronet and garland goes to the ſlaughter. Thou mayeſt alſo, for this one fault meet with an hell aforehand in thine own conſcience, as Spira did; crying out to thoſe about him, to learn of him to take heed of ſevering knowledge and practiſe. What elſe was it that brought ſuch [illegible: 1 letter]o [illegible: 1 letter]ring and troubles both inward and outward on thoſe Eſay 59.11, 12. and that when ſalvation was looked for? Our iniquities, ſay they, teſtifie to our faces, and we know them. All ſins offend conſcience: but ſins againſt knowledge waſte and deſtroy it. A dangerous degree, drawing neer that ſin to which ſacrifice is denyed. For ſins againſt the law, though againſt knowledge, there was an attonement, Levit. 6.1. to the 8. and he inſtanceth in perjury. But to perſecute the known truth with malice,Heb. 19 26. for this ther's no ſacrifice.

that my covenant might be with Levi] Levi did not thruſt himſelf into the Prieſthood: but was taken by God into ſpecial covenant. See Num. 8.13, 14. 1 Sam. 2.28. Heb. 5.4. No man taketh this honour unto himſelf, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. Or if he do he ſhall ſmoke and ſmart for it, as Saul, Vzziah and others: no man might come uncalled to the king of Perſia, upon pain of death: much leſſe to the King of heaven, as Kore and his complices, whom God hath hanged up in gibbets, as it were, for example to all bold intruders upon that tremend function of the Miniſtery. Men out of office are not ſent of God, therefore they may not preach though gifted men Rom. 10.15. with Eſay 52.8. All that are in office to preach are Apoſtles, Evangeliſts, Prophets, Paſtours or Teachers Eph. 4.11. Elders onely my preach Tit. 1.5. And the contrary would prevent, the Apoſtle willeth that in the Church all things be done decent'y and in order, 1 Cor. 14.4. which could not be if all were teachers: for then there would be no diſtinction of Miniſters and people. But Are all teachers? ſaith the Apoſtle 1 Cor. 12.29. And he anſwers himſelf, No, but onely thoſe whom God did ſet, verſe 13. like as he ſet apart the tribe of Levi, to execute the Prieſts office: which whiles Corah, Dathan and Abiram ſought to impugne, and level, they went quick into the pit Num. 16.30. Meddle not therfore without a calling; that in the day of Gods diſpleaſure you may appeal unto him with Jeremy, and ſay, As for me I have not haſtened or thruſt in my ſelf for a Paſtour after thee: neither have I deſired the woful day, thou knoweſt: that which came out of my lipps was right before thee. Jer. 17.16. And being able ſafely to ſay this, thou mayeſt binde upon it, that God who is in covenant with all his Levi's, his faithful Miniſters, will be their ſhield and their exceeding great reward, how ever the world deal with them.

Verſe 5. My covenant was with him of life and peace] Now Gods covenant (ſaith an expoſitour here) is of four ſorts.

1. General made with all creatures Gen 9.2.

2. With the Church in general Gen. 17.

3. With the Church of the Elect Jer. 31.33.

4. With ſome particulars of ſome ſpecial graces, as here with Levi, of life and peace. So then to miniſters (above others) hath the Lord bound himſelf by ſpecial covenant to be their mighty Protectour, and rewarder: to give them life and peace! that is, long life and proſperous. See Num. 25.12, 13. Life of it ſelf, though peſtered with many miſeries, is a ſweet mercy, and highly to be prized. Better is a living dog then a dead lion, Eccleſ. 9.4. And why is the living man ſorrowful, a man for the puniſhment of his ſins? Lam. 3.39. As who ſhould ſay, let a man ſuffer never ſo much, yet if he be ſuffered to live, he hath cauſe to be contented. It is the Lords mercy he is not conſismed. When Baruc ſought great things for himſelf, Jeremy tels him he may be glad (in thoſe dear years of life,Jer. 45.5. Gen. 45.26. when the arrows of death came ſo thick whisking by him) that he had his life for a prey. Jacob took more comfort of his ſon Joſephs life, then of his honour. Joſeph is yet alive &c. Quis vitam non vult? ſaith Auſtin, who is it that deſires not life? When David moveth the queſtion, what man is he that deſireth life, and loveth many dayes, that he may ſee good? Auſtin brings in every man anſwering I do, and I do. Long life and happy dayes is every mans deſire. If God give theſe bleſſings to thoſe that are graceleſſe, it is by vertue of a providence onely, and not of a promiſe, and that's nothing ſo comfortable; life in Gods diſpleaſure is worſe then death, ſaid that Martyr, if wicked men live long, it is that they may make up the meaſure of their ſins; and by heaping up ſin, increaſe their torment. If godly men die ſoon, God taketh them away from the evil to come: as when there is a fire in an houſe or town, men ſecure their Jewels: And though they fall in wars, yet they die in peace, 2 Chron. 34.28. Hieren. as good Joſiah did: who alſo in brevi vitae ſpacio tempora vir[illegible: 1 letter]utum multareplevit, lived quickly, lived apace, lived long in a little time. For life conſiſts in action Eſay 38.15, 16. The Hebrews call running water living water. Now Gods faithful Miniſters, if they work hard, and ſo wear out themſelves to do good to others, (as a lamp waſteth it ſelf to give light, or as that herb mentioned by Pl[illegible: 1 letter]y, that cures the patient but rots the hand that adminiſtreth it) if like clouds they ſweat themſelves to death to bring ſouls to God, yet ſhall they be ſure to finde it a bleſſed way of dying: they ſhall mori vitaliter die to live for ever. God will not ſend any of his to bed, till they have done their work. The two witneſſes could not be ſlain, till their teſtimony was finiſhed. No malice of man can antedate their ends a minute. The dayes of mourning for my father will come ſaid Eſae, and then Hek[illegible: 1 letter]ll my brother Jacob, Gen. 27.41. Here Eſ[illegible: 1 letter]u[illegible: 1 letter], that rough reprobate, threateneth his father alſo, as Luther conceiveth. For it is as if he ſhould have ſaid, I will be avenged by being the death of my brother: though it be to the breaking of my fathers heart. But what's the proverb? Threatened falk live long: for even Iſaac who died ſooneſt, lived above forty yeers beyond this. My times are in thy hands ſaith David, and that's a ſafe hand; And bleſſed be God that Chriſt liveth and reigneth, alioqui tot us deſperaſſem, or elſe I had been in ill caſe, ſaid Miconius in a letter of his to Calvin. Ren. 1. Miniſters are ſtars in Chriſts right hand, and it will be hard pulling them thence; They muſt carry their lives in their hands, and be ready to lay them down, when it may be for the glory of their Maſter: but they ſhall be ſure not to dye (whether by a natural or by a violent death) till the beſt time; not till that time when, if they were but rightly informed, they would deſire to die. But whether their death be a burnt-offering (of Martyrdome) or a peace-offering, (whether they die in their beds as Eliſha, or be carried to heaven in a fiery chariot as Elijah) let it be a free-will-offering, and then it ſhall be a ſweet ſacrifice to him who hath covenanted with them for life and peace. They ſhall by death, as by a door of hope,Eſay 56.2 Eccleſ. 5.12. enter into peace, they ſhall reſt in their beds, yea, in Abrahams boſome: and as the ſleep of the labouring man is ſweet unto him, whether he eat little or much: ſo heaven ſhall be ſo much the more heaven to ſuch as have here had their purgatory. Mark the upright man,Pſal. 37.37. ſaith holy David, and behold the juſt, for (how troubleſome ſoever his beginning and middle is) the end of that man is peace.

and I gave them to him] Here's the performance of Gods covenant to Levi and his poſterity. God doth not pay his promiſes with fair words onely, as Sertorius is ſaid to do: Neither is he like Amigonus [non-Latin text not transcribed] (ignominiouſly ſo called, becauſe) forward in promiſing, ſlack in performing. But as he hath hitherto kept promiſe with nights and dayes, Jer. 33.20, 25. that one ſhould ſucceed the other, ſo much more doth he keep promiſe with his people: for as his love moved him to promiſe, ſo his truth bindeth him to perform. See both theſe together, 2 Sam. 18, 21. For thy words ſake, and according to thine own heart haſt thou done all theſe things. According to thine own heart, that is, of thine own meer motion; out of pure and unexcited love thou didſt give thy word and promiſe: and for thy words ſake haſt thou performed it. There was nothing in Aaron or his ſeed that God ſhould make his ſpecial covenant with him of life and peace. His rod was as dry and dead as any of the reſt, til God made it to bloſſom. But when God had once paſſed his promiſe, and ſo made himſelf a voluntary debter, he failed not to perform it to him and his. Aaron himſelf lived one hundred & three years, Phineas three hundred, as it is thought, and as ſome Chronologers do obſerve. Joſhua the ſon of Joſedech lived (according to Helvicus) 110 years in the office of the high-prieſthood.

To theſe and others was expreſly fulfilled a Covenant of life and peace: and God would have been ready to have performed it to theſe to whom Malachy prophecieth, had not themſelves hindred. For they like men (or like Adam) tranſgreſſed the covenant: Or (as Junius and Tremellius read it) not tanquam homines, Hoſ. 6.7 but tanquam hominis, they made no more of breaking it, then if they had had to do with duſt and aſhes like themſelves, and not with the great God. Remember them, Neh. 13.29 O my God, ſaith good Nehemiah concerning theſe covenant-breakers, becauſe they have defiled the prieſt-hood, and the covenant of the Prieſt-hood and of the Levites.

for the fear wherewith he feared me, &c.] that is, the good prieſts did ſo, the bad did otherwiſe: but God reckons of men by their righteouſneſſe. and this was the reſtipulation, or the condition on the prieſts part performed: for in a covenant both parties undertake to do ſomewhat. As in the general covenant of grace, God promiſeth to be the God of his people, that is, an univerſal good, All-ſufficient, ſatisfactory, and every way proportionable and fitting to their ſouls. And they (interchangeably) promiſe to be his people; that is, to beſtow themſelves wholly upon him with higheſt eſtimation, moſt vigorous affections, and utmoſt endeavours, giving up their names and hearts to the profeſſion of his truth. So that when he eryes out, Who is on my ſide? Who? one ſayes,Eſay 44.5 I am the Lords: another calls himſelf by the name of Jacob: another ſubſcribes, &c. Semblably in this particular covenant with the tribe of Levi, God promiſed them life and peace; and they aſſured him of fear and humility. Fear is an affection of the ſoul ſhrinking in it ſelf from ſome imminent evil. Hereof there are three ſorts, natural, carnal and ſpiritual.

The firſt is not to be diſliked, if it do not degenerate into the ſecond. The next is a baſe fear of the creature more then of the Creator, who is God bleſſed for ever. The third is nothing elſe but an awful reſpect to the Divine Majeſty. Spiritual fear we called it in reſpect,

1. Of the Author of it, Gods holy Spirit, called therefore, A Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. 2. Of the object of it, The Father of Spirits, who is therefore, by an Appellative proper, called Fear, Pſ. 76.11. 3. Of the effect, which is to ſpiritualize both us and our ſervices: and was therefore fitly vowed to God by thoſe of the ſpirituality that ſtood before him continually, and were to be exact in their whole deportment, at their peril: God is of purer eyes then to behold evil. He cannot look on iniquity in any, Hab. 1.13. Moſes' and Aaron among his prieſts, and Samuel among them that call upon his name: They called upon the Lord, and he anſwered them: he forgave their iniquities: howbeit he took vengeance of their inventions. Pſal. 99.8. He met Moſes in the Inne and had much ado to forbear killing him Exod. 4.44. And for Aaron; when, (together with Miriam) he murmured againſt Moſes, [non-Latin text not transcribed] l'olan. Conterchatur Conſternebatur [non-Latin text not transcribed] Mar. 14.72. and Mari[illegible: 1 letter]m was thereupon ſmitten with leproſie, Aaron was ſpared, not ſo much for the honour of the Prieſt-hood (as Chryſoſtom gives the reaſon, but becauſe of the feare wherewith he feared the Lord, and his humiliation that followed upon that fear.

for he was afraid before Gods name] Or, as others better render this text, Propter nomen meum humiliatus eſt, He was amazed, affeighted, humbled becauſe of my name, he withdrew himſelf (ſo ſome render it) or threw himſelf out of doores, as Peter did into alone place where he might ſowce himſelf in the ſalt tears of godly ſorrow. Or, he ſhrunk and ſhriveld up, and ſo teſtified the trouble of his mind by the horror of his body. Horripilatus eſt, his heart fell down, his hair ſtood upright. See Pſal. 119.53, & 120. His humiliation was deep, and down-right, ſoaking and ſowring his heart, Pſal. 73.21. The word here uſed is pailive, but Levi his humiliation was active: he was not humbled onely, but humble; low, but lowly: he knew that no ſacrifice could be accepted, but that which was laid on the low altar of a contrite heart, which ſanctifies the ſacrifice.

Verſe 6. The law of truth was in his mouth] Hitherto hath been ſet forth what the Prieſts of old were for their own particular, and as private perſons: they were not high-minded but feared God. Now as Pulpit-men and publike Teachers, they have here a four-fold commendation. And firſt, that Truth was their ſtudy and trade: they were expert in it, and had an excellent faculty in communicating their conceptions of it to others; ſo that if they did but open their mouthes almoſt, it was a ſermon: they had a ready and eaſie way of diſcourſe, an holy volubility and dexterity of delivering themſelves to the benefit of others: as the law of God was in their hearts, ſo their mouthes ſpake wiſdome, and their tongues talked of judgement, Pſal. 37.30, 31. Out of the good treaſure of their hearts they could throw forth at pleaſure good things, for the edification of others: yea, like full clouds, they willingly diſtilled, and like full paps they were in pain till eaſed of their milk. Neither medled they onely with toothleſſe truths, leſt themſelves ſhould be leſt toothleſſe, (as One ſaid, Truth is a good miſtreſſe, but he that followeth her too cloſe at heels, ſhall have his teeth ſtruck out) as Balac bad Bala[illegible: 1 letter]m neither curſe nor bleſſe at all: and as the Papiſts were wont to ſay, Miſſa non mordet, the Maſſe biteth no man:Ezek 13.10 But they held, that truth muſt be ſpoken however it be taken: and abhorred to be looked upon as the devils dire-dawbers, and upholſters, to dawb with untempered morter, or to ſowe pillows under their elbowes. They affected rather to be ſtiled (as Arrianus the Hiſtorian was) [non-Latin text not transcribed], Lovers of Truth, plain-dealers:Eâ libertate ſcripſit Imperatorum vitas [illegible: 1 letter]ua ipſi vixe [illegible: 2 letters]nt. Lib. ult hiſt. Exod. 28.30 and, as it is reported of Suetonius, they took the ſame liberty to cry down ſinne, that men did to commit it. Elian tells us that the High-prieſt among the Egyptians wore about his neck a Saphir-ſtone, which was called [non-Latin text not transcribed], Truth. This was but an apiſh imitation of Aarons Ʋrim and Thummim, s. e. light of truth, and integrity of life. Mercuries Prieſts were wont to feed upon figs, and then to ſay, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Truth is ſweet. It is ſo indeed to thoſe that have their ſenſes exerciſed to diſcern good and evil. Heb. 5. ult. But moſt men cannot brook down right truth: the hearing of it galls them, as they write of ſome creatures, that they have fel in aure, their gall in their ears. Hence Truth breeds hatred, and plain-dealing is generally diſguſted: it is bitter in the ſtomacks of thoſe that hear it, though ſweet in the mouth of thoſe that utter it, Rev. 10.9. Micaiah would not budge, or be baſe in his errand to Ahab, though he were ſure to kiſſe the ſtocks for his ſtoutneſſe. Azariah the high-Prieſt withſtood king Ʋzziah to his face, and put him out of the Temple. Which whiles Ʋriah did not, but wickedly complied with idolatrous Ahaz, in making and ſetting up the altar of Damaſcus, 2 King. 16.11, 16. he is branded with a black-cole for a court-paraſite, and ſhall be infamous to all poſterity. His contemporary Eſay was of another ſpirit,Implevit poſt me. Num. 14.24. and fulfilled after God. (as it is ſaid of Caleb) He kept the law of truth in his mouth, and rolled it as ſugar under his tongue, though he ſuffered for it. For (as Hierom tells us) he was ſawn aſunder by his wicked countreymen, for two cauſes. Firſt, becauſe he ſaid he had ſeen the Lord.Hier. in Iſa. 1. ex Rabbin. Secondly, becauſe he called the great Ones of Judah, Princes of Sodom, and Rulers of Gomorrah, Quintilian ſaith of Veſpaſian the Emperour, that he was patientiſſimus veri, very patient of truth, though it never ſo much touched him. But not many ſuch to be met with. Aſa though otherwiſe a good Prince, yet fell out grievouſly with Gods Prophet, for his plain-dealing, and layed him by the heels. Queen Elizabeth dealt little better with a Biſhop that had in a zealous Sermon admoniſhed her to think on her laſt end,The Newlanders cure by Sr. Wil Vaugh. by reaſon of her great age, which few Princes had attained unto, and of the Clymactericall year of her life, which happened at that time. The Biſhop had the Queens Apage, but Gods Enge. And ſo ſhall all Truths-Chaplains have, however the world entertain them. Wiſdome ſhall be juſtified of her children, Act. 20.26, 27 and God will ſee to their ſafety, modo audeant quae ſentiunt, ſo they ſhew men all the counſel of God, and keep back nothing, that they have in charge to deliver.

and iniquity was not found in his lips] Heb. Croſſeneſſe or Crookedneſſe: Chaldee, No falſeneſſe. He did not preach diſtorted doctrines that produce convulſions of conſcience, as thoſe Seducers did Act. 20.30. He did not handle the word of God deceitfully, or fraudulently, as thoſe deceitfull workers did 2 Cor. 11.13. Neither did he broach errours, and writh from the right way for ſelf-reſpects, ſetting his diall by that Sunn; 1 Theſſ. 2.3. But being of a moſt maſculine, diſingaged, and noble ſpirit, that hath received the truth in the love of it, he will not be drawn to falſity or faulter, to huckſter the word, or handle it craftily and covetouſly: but as of ſincerity, but as of God, in the ſight of God &c. 2 Cor. 2.17. Without mixture of errours, or humane inventions. Let Phariſees ſoure mens ſoules with their leaven of falſe doctrine. Let thoſe Inhabitants of the Sea (as they are called Rev. 12.12.) Popiſh Padres ſet abroach groſſe, troubled, brackiſh Tenents which rather bring barrenneſſe to their hearers, and gnaw their bowels, then either quench thirſt, or yeeld good fruit: He that feares God can pitty poor ſoules made prize of by Sectaries and Seducers;Col. 2.8. and knowing that he that breaketh the leaſt of Gods commandements and teacheth men ſo, ſhall be leaſt in the kingdome of heaven Mat. 5.19. (that is, nothing at all there Mat. 20.16.)Pſal. 19.104 he hateth every falſe way with David: and takes care that no iniquity be found in his lips.

he walked with me in peace and equity] i. e. He kept conſtant correſpondency and communion with me, ſo that we never diſagreed or differed. For can two walk together, and they not agreed? He was like-minded to me in all things, and obſerved my law in every point and part thereof. An high commendation and a neceſſary qualification in a miniſter, that he not only talk of God, but walk with him: and that not looſely and at all adventures, but ſtricktly and exactly, as a pattern of the rule, as a tranſcript of his own ſermon, ne verba factis deficientibus erubeſcant, leſt his words bluſh for want of deeds accordingy:Tertull. ne virtutis ſtragulum pudefaciat, leſt he put honeſty to an open ſhame, as Antipater did, when being vitious he wore a white cloke, the enſigne of innocency: leſt his life gives his lips the lye, as it fared with thoſe Phariſees that ſaid and did not Mat. 23.3. The fooliſh Virgins were found with their Sic dicentes ſo ſaying, but the faithfull ſervants ſhall be found with their Sic facientes ſo doing. And when men come to give account, it ſhall be enquired non quid legerint, ſed quid egerint non quid dixerint, ſed quomodo vixerint, not what they have taught others, but what they have practiſed themſelves. Origens preaching and living were ſaid to be both one. Quod juſſit & geſſit. So did Mr. Bucer, whom his friends could never ſufficiently praiſe: nor his foes in any point find fault with his ſingular life and ſincere doctrine.Bern. Act. and Mon.

and did turn away many from iniquity] The effect of his unſpeakable labours and unblameable life was converſion of ſoules, and thoſe not a few. God ſometimes gives a Paſtour after his own heart to ſuch places, where he takes but one of a city, or two of a family. Ier. 3.14, 15. Quod ſi decimus quiſque, ſi unus perſuaſus fuerit &c. ſaith Chryſoſtom. If one in ten be gained, nay if one of ten thouſand be turned from iniquity, it is a great mercy. Nay (ſaith He) ſay that none be converted, the faithful Miniſter that indeavours their converſion, though he effect it not, non minus praemii, ſhall have no leſſe reward, then if he had prevailed for their converſion. Some good Divines think he ſhall have more then thoſe that do convert; becauſe they have praemium ante praemium, that which may encourage them in Gods work: but he does his utmoſt amidſt all diſcouragement. Well may Ephraim love to tread out the corn, becauſe while he treads,Hoſ. 10.11. he ſeeds on the corn: but to beare and draw, to plow and work, where no refreſhing was to be had till the work was done, this that delicate heifer cared not to doe. But he is an happy man that hath any hand in turning men from iniquity, though fruit, for preſent, appear not. The new birth of ſome is like the birth of the Elephant, foureteen years after the ſeed injected into the womb. And that divine Proverb is not ſeldome verified, One ſeweth, and Another reapeth. Ioh. 4.37. The Miniſtry is Gods arme to gather people into his boſom: and the weapons of our warfare are mighty thorough God 2 Cor. 10.4. Surely as the rain commeth down and the ſnow from heaven &c. Eſay 55.10, 11. And as the rain from heaven hath a fatneſſe with it, and a ſpeciall influence more then ſtanding water: ſo hath preaching more then reading. Howbeit there may be fruit and yet inviſible, as in Elias his time.Act. 18.10. And that which doth not yet appear, may hereafter, when the day of viſitation comes. See Iob 33.14. &c. God may have much people in the city, and Paul, for the preſent, not know ſo much. A maſter doth not uſe to ſetup a light, but there is ſome work to be done by it: and ſeldome doth he ſend his ſervants afield with their ſiths, to mow thiſtles only. Let Gods faithfull witneſſes propheſie out their 1260.Rev. 11.3. dayes: bending themſelves to that office unceſſantly, being inſtant in ſeaſon, and out of ſeaſon, and turning themſelves, as it were, into all ſhapes and faſhions, both of ſpeech, and of ſpirit, to turn people from iniquity:2 Chron. 19. and then God will be with the good, as that Prophet ſpeaks in another caſe. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life: and he that winneth ſouls, is wiſe Prov. 11.30. Say he cannot win as he would, but labour all night and take nothing, yet he ſhall be paid for his paines: as the Phyſitian is, though the patient dye. Curam exigeris, non curationem, ſaith Bern. It is the care, not the cure of your charge that is charged upon you. You may ſpeak perſwaſively, but it is God only that can perſwade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Sem: Paul may plant &c. but God only giveth the increaſe. You ſhall be held wiſe, and ſhine as ſtarrs in heaven, whether you win ſoules or not. As there are diverſity of gifts, ſo of operations 1 Cor. 12.6. and the Holy Ghoſt may and doth work when and how he pleaſeth: but uſually he delights to honour thoſe of moſt ſincerity, with moſt ſucceſſe as 1 Cor. 15.10.

Verſe 7. For the Prieſts lips ſhould keep knowledge] How elſe ſhould he be inſtant in lip-feeding?Dan. 12.3. how ſhould his lips preſent it, unleſſe they preſerve it? How ſhould he wiſe others, unleſſe he be wiſe himſelf? The Pope brags of an infalibillity, and pleads this Text for it: avouching, that he knowes all things knowable, and hath all wiſdome and skill lockt up in ſcrinio pectoris, in the cabinet of his breaſt. But what will they ſay of ſundry of their Popes that have been manifeſt hereticks? Iohn the 23. was accuſed in the Councell of Conſtance, for denying the Reſurrection of the body, and everlaſting life. And of all their Popes we may ſafely ſay as the Venetian Embaſſadors did: when the Pope laid his hand upon his breaſt and ſaid, Hic eſt Arca Noae, Lo here is Noahs Ark (meaning that he was the Church virtuall, and was enriched in all knowledge and in all utterance) One of them preſently replyed, that in Noahs Ark there were unclean beaſts, as well as clean: and ſo leſt him further to apply. The Prieſts lips indeed ſhould keep knowledge. But thoſe of Malachi his times, had forſaken the way, and cauſed many to ſtumble ver. 8. How this was we ſhall ſee when we come to it. Meane-while, we may take notice, that non libro ſacerdotis, ſed labro, non codice; ſed corde, conſervatur ſcientia: knowledge ſhould be kept, not in the Prieſts book, but in his boſom, as a ſtorehouſe: neither ſhould it lye low or long there, but ſit upon his lips, that all may have benefit by it. For the manifeſtation of the ſpirit is given to profit withall. 1 Cor. 12.7. And it was death for the Prieſt to enter into the ſanctuary without his golden bells about him, that he might be heard by all. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Greg. Pa[illegible: 1 letter]tor. A miniſter muſt be both able and apt to teach. Praedicationis officium ſuſcipit quiſquis ad ſacerdotium accedit, ſaith Gregory. Hee's no miniſter, that's no preacher. Nor can he be a Preacher, that is not ſtored with knowledge of Gods will, and peoples duty. See Mat. 13.32. with the Note. Walter ſurnamed Malclerk was ſurely no fit man to be Biſhop of Carlile; as he was by evill and corrupt meanes Anno. Dom. 1223. If the blind lead the blind both will fall into the ditch Mat. 15.14. but the blind guides will lye lowermoſt,Vives in Aug. de civ. Dei lib. 4. cap. 1. Pompon. Laet. de Rom. Sacerdot. and have the worſt of it. Varro complained of the Roman prieſts, that they were ignorant of many things about their own rites and Religions. Mucius Scaevola (being their High-Prieſt) derived Pontifex of Poſſe & facere. This derivation pleaſed not Varro: but it intimated that ſuch ſhould both be able and active to teach the people knowledge.B. Andr. It was a witty obſervation of a Biſhop who (was called in his time the gulfe of learning) that Doceo to teach governs two accuſative caſes: according to that Eſay 28.9. Whom ſhall I teach knowledge? Miniſters, ſaith He, muſt have whom to teach, & what to teach, viz. knowledge; and muſt therefore give attendance to reading, that they may the better to exhortation and doctrine. 1 Tim. Ier. 3.15. 4.13. that they may feed the people with knowledge and underſtanding.

And they ſhould ſeck the law at his mouth] as at an oracle; they ſhould depend upon the miniſtery, as the people hung upon our Saviours lips, Luk. 19. vlt. as David went into the Sanctuary to be reſolved of his doubt Pſal. 73. though himſelf were a prophet: and as Cornelius was appointed by the Angel, to ſend for Peter, for further information. But what muſt men ſeek at the Miniſters mouth? The law, 1 Pet. 2.2. 1 Cor. 2. 2 Cor. 1. Lib. 1 de Conſider. the ſincere milk of Gods word, the minde of Chriſt, the teſtimony of Jeſus, non nugas & fabulas, ſaith Bernard, not trifles and fables, not ſtrong lines, and ſtrains of wit, but the ſimple and plain words of God. Non Oratorum fili[illegible: 1 letter] ſumus ſed Piſcatorum, ſaid Nazianzen. Miniſters are not to ſtudy ſo much to pleaſe as to profit, to tickle mens ears, as to work upon their hearts. They muſt not ſo paint the window as to keep out the light: nor ſo put the ſword of the ſpirit into a velvet ſcabberd, that it cannot prick and pierce the heart. Let them handle, and ſet out the Law as skilfully, and adornedly as they can: but ſtill remember, that it muſt he diſpenſed, ſanctè magis quàm ſcitè, ſolidè potius quàm floridè, with fear and reverence, rather then with wit and dalliance. If in King Edward the fourths dayes a citizen in Cheap-ſide was executed as a traitour for ſaying he would make his ſon heire to the crown, Speed(though he onely meant his own houſe having a crown for the ſigne) more dangerous it muſt needs be to witwanton it with the Maieſty of God, Loquamur verba ſcripturae, utamur ſermone ſpiritus ſancti &c. Let us ſpeak ſcripture-language,Pet. Ramus let us uſe the ſpeech of the holy ſpirit, and not go about to correct the divine wiſdom and eloquence with our ſophiſtry and vain-babling. To the ears of that which Saint Peter calls the hid man of the heart, the plain-ſong alwayes makes the beſt muſick.1 Pet. 3. [illegible: 1 word] If heaven door may be opened to it by a key of iron, it cares not for a key of goid. A ſermon works not upon the heart as it is thus elegant or admirable, but as well fraught with teſtimonies of holy ſcripture (that moſt powerful Rhetoricke) it is an inſtrument of God appointed to ſuch an end. Let the people hear often, This is the law, this is ipſiſſimum Dei verbum, the very word of God; Shew ſcripture for what you deliver, and that will carry it. But ut drachmam auri ſine imagine principis, ſic verba hortantis ſine authoritate Dei contemnunt homines. Lipſius. The Law carrieth a Majeſty in it: and if Tully durſt ſay that the law of the twelve tables did exceed all the Libraries of Philoſophers, both in weight of authority, and worth of matter, how much rather is this true of the Law of God? Wherefore as Aeſchines ſaid of an Oratours, ſo let a miniſters diſcourſe, and the Law be uniſons: and let the people ask the Prieſts concerning the law, as they did Haggee 2.11. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and not be like tidlings, that will not eat their milk unleſſe it be in a ſilver-diſh: but account it a ſingular happineſſe to live under thoſe lips (how thick ſoever, a thin lip is a ſigne of eloquence Job. 12.20.) which both keep knowledge, and utter it.

for he is the meſſenger of the Lord of Hoſts] Heb. the Angel (See the Note on Chap. 1.1.) and ſo the Septuagint and Vulgar render it. His office is as to ſtand before God and praiſe Him, ſo to carry meſſages from him to his people, and to be in his ſtead, 2 Cor. 5.20. Knoweſt thou not, (ſaith Chryſoſtom) who the Miniſter is? He is Gods Angel: he ſpeaketh not of himſelf, if thou deſpiſeſt, thou deſpiſeſt not him, but God that ſent him. And to the ſame purpoſe Ambroſe: The miniſter is Gods Angel to ſet forth the kingdom of Chriſt and eternal life: non ſpecie tibi aeſtimandus ſed munere; he is not therefore to be judg'd of by his outſide,Hom. 2. in ep. 2. ad Tim. Lib: de initiand cap. 2. [non-Latin text not transcribed] but by his office. Thoſe Sodomites that ſought to abuſe the Angels, are thrown forth for an example, ſuffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Iude 7. Behold, Chriſt himſelf hath aſſured us that Sodomy it ſelf is not an heavier ſin, nor more ſeverely puniſhed in hell, then the diſpiſing or abuſing of a Miniſter in the faithfull diſcharge of his duty. We ſhould therefore welcome ſuch with trembling, as the men of Bethlehem did Samuel, and as Cornelius did Peter; Commeſt thou peaceably? ſaid the Bethlemites, as ſuſpecting the purpoſe of ſome judgement. Now therefore are we all here preſent before God (not onely before thee,Act. 10.33. ſaid Cornelius) to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. If Ahab had been like-well-affected as theſe good ſouls, he would never have asked Eliah that abſurd queſtion, Art thou he that troubleth Iſrael? Alas what had the righteous Prophet done more than what by his office (as Gods Ambaſſadour or Meſſenger) he was bound to do? he taxed their ſin, he foretold the judgment: he deſerved it not, he inflicted it not: yet he ſmarts, and they are guilty. As if ſome fond people ſhould accuſe the Herald, or the trumpet, as the cauſe of their war: Or as ſome ignorant peſant, when he ſees his foules bathing in his pond, ſhould cry out of them, as the cauſes of foule weather. Saith a Divine It is a good thing to ſtand in awe of Gods Angels, and with reverence to receive their meſſage howſoever diſtaſtful unto us; conſidering they are but meſſengers.

Verſe 8. But ye are departed out of the way] Heb. from that way, viz. that good old way of your progenitours: you are nothing like Levi, but are wofully degenerated from the practiſe of your Predeceſſours, and have ſwerved from your fathers foot-ſteeps: though ye have the ſame place, and enjoy the ſame priviledges. This is a foul fault and condemned even by the Heathen Sages. Seneca tells us with indignation, that Socrates his ſons were more like their mother, a froward woman, then their father the wiſeſt of men: according to that, ſaying, Partus ſequitur ventrem, the birth follows the belly. Young Cicero was for his intemperancy,Heroum filij nox[illegible: 1 letter]. and exceſſe in drinking ſir named Tricongius. Caligula, that monſter, was the ſon of Noble Germanicus. But we have ſcripture inſtances not a few. Not to ſpeak of Eli his ſons, and of Samuels, Solomon degenerates from his father David who had carefully taught him better Prov. 4.4. and ſo had his mother Prov. 31. (which one calls Bathſheba's Catechiſme, another Lemuels leſſon) Iehoran[illegible: 1 letter] is taxed for his not walking in the wayes of his father Iehoſhaphat, and his Grandfather Aſa, as if there had been no intervention of an Hezekiah. Ionathan the ſon of Gerſhom the ſon of Manaſſeh that Idolatrous Prieſt mentioned Iud. 18.30. is thought to have been the grandſon of Moſes: ſo the Hebrews tell us: and that therefore the Nun in Manaſſeh is ſuſpended above the reſt of the letters.Euxtorf. Certain it is that Nabal the fool was of the line of faithful Caleb 1 Sam. 25.3. to teach us, that vertue is not, as lands inheritable. All that is traduced with the ſeed is either evil, or not good. Grace is by gift, and not by deſcent. Hence that prayer of Davids courtiers 1 King 1.47. God make the name of Solomom better then [illegible: 1 letter]thy name. Agreeable whereunto is Hectors prayer in, Homer for his ſon —[non-Latin text not transcribed] I wiſh he may be a better man then his father. And that of Juvenal, Malo pater tibi ſit Therſites, dummodò tu ſis Aeacidae ſimilis, Vulcania que arma capeſſas, Quam te Therſitae ſimilem producat Achilles.

ye have cauſed many to ſtumble at the law] Which is a very dangerous thing: like as it is to ſtumble on a bridge: A bridge is made to give us a ſafe paſſage over a dangerous river: but he who ſtumbles on the bridge is in no ſmall danger to fall into the river. The word is given as a means to cary us over hell unto heaven: But he who ſtumbles at this means (as by ſnuffing at it Mal. 1.13. chatting againſt it and conteſting with it, as oft in this prophecy, caſting reproaches upon it, Jer. 20.8, 9. gathering odious conſequences from it, Rom. 3.8. &c.) ſhall fall in thither, from whence otherwiſe he had been delivered by it. This miſchief many fell into, in Malachi his dayes, by the means of thoſe ungodly Prieſts who either taught them not better, or otherwiſe drew them into ſinful courſes by their corrupt gloſſes, or leud practiſes. Evil examples of miniſters have a ſtrong influence upon their people: and the ſins of Teachers are the teachers of ſins: The leaders of this people have made them to erre Eſay 9. Corruption commonly (as in a fiſh) begins at the head;Cicero. ne que ſolùm obſunt Principes, quòd illi ipſi corrumpuntur, ſed etiam quòd corrumpunt: pluſquam exemplo quam peccato nocent, ſaith the Oratour: they that are in office do a great deal of miſchief by incouraging others in evil, through their evil example. Jupiters adulteries drew the people to like wantonneſſe. Magis intuentur quid facerit Jupiter quam quid docuit Plato, ſaith Auſtin; They look more what Jupiter did, then what Plato taught. I have read of a woman, who living in profeſſed doubt of the God-head, after better illumination and repentance, did often proteſt, that the vicious life of a great ſchollar in that town did conjure up thoſe damnable doubts in her ſoul.Mr Wards Serm. In the time of Pope Clemen[illegible: 1 letter] the fifth, the Church was ſo ill governed, and things ſo corruptly carried at the court of Rome, that Frederick King of Sicily duobted much of the truth of the Chriſtian religion: but was confirmed, and his minde better ſetled by Arnoldus de villa nova who ſhewed him, that Offences muſt come, but wo be to them by whom they come. Jacob. Reu. de vit Ponti. p. 198. A ſcandalous prieſt is a ſingular miſchief: for he falls not alone, but (as when a main ſtone in a building, or a tall cedar falls) he draws many with him into fellowſhip of errours, and enormities: as did Hymenaeus and Philetus, 2 Tim. 2.18. and as the dragon with his long and ſtrong tail, drew the third part of the ſtars of heaven, and threw them to the earth, Rev. 12.4. When the Paſtours become bruitiſh, all the flocks are ſcattered, Ier. 10.21.

ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi] The covenant on Gods part with Levi was a covenant of ſalt, and could not be corrupted, Num. 18.19. non comutreſ[illegible: 2 letters]t vetuſtate, ſaith Flaccius, it putrifieth not with age, or long ſtanding: as that pillar of ſalt into which Loss wife was turned, and of which Joſephus ſaith, that ſomething of it was to be ſeen till his time. But theſe degenerate prieſts had abandoned Gods holy fear, they did not humble and tremble before his Name, as Lovi their father had done, verſe 5. they had falſified with God, and ſo forfeited his favour. It was with them as Cajetan complains, and confeſſes of the Popiſh prieſts; that whereas by their places they ſhould have been the ſalt of the earth, they had loſt their ſavour, and were good for little elſe, but looking after the rites and revenues of the Church: therefore God held himſelf diſobliged,Comment. Matth. and was reſolved that they ſhould bear the iniquity of their prieſthood, Lev. 18.1. that is, the puniſhment of their iniquity notwithſtanding the prieſthood. That ſhould be no protection to them, but an aggravation: becauſe they fell as if they had not been anointed: Ideo deteriores ſumus quia meliores e[illegible: 1 letter]e debemus Salvian: and were therefore the worſe, becauſe they ſhould have been better. God holds himſelf not bound to perform covenant with them that break with him: for why ſhould he give the childrens bread to dogs? why ſhould he caſt away his favours upon thoſe that value them not? We have the Covenant, the Seals, the Miniſtery, &c. (and this is a ſingular happineſſe, Eſay 19.25. Aſſyria is the work of Gods hands, but Iſrael his inheritance.) But alaſſe, are not theſe bleſſings amongſt us as the Ark was among the Philiſtines, rather as priſoners, then as priviledges? rather in teſtimonium & rninam quam in ſalutem, for a teſtimony againſt us, and for our further ruine, then for our ſafety here, and ſalvation hereafter? O conſider how God hath caſt off the Iſraelites, notwithſtanding his covenant with their fathers: and when in their neceſſity, they would have forced acquaintance with him, he would not look upon them, Judg. 10.14. The ſword hath broken in pieces thoſe ſeven golden candleſticks in Aſia, merely for their covenant-breaking. See the Note on verſe 5.

Verſe 9. Therefore have I alſo made you contemptible and baſe [And ſo have cried quittance with you, and returned you your own with uſury. God loves to retaliate, and to proportion jealouſie to jealouſie, provocation to provocation, Deut. 32.21. frowardneſſe to frowardneſſe, Pſal. 18.26. contrariety to contrariety, Lev. 26.18, 21. contempt to contempt, 1 Sam. 2.30. and here How theſe unworthy prieſts had ſleighted God, and expoſed his Name and Service to contempt and obloquy, hath been before ſet forth ſufficiently. And now it is come home to them. It was threatened before verſe 3. (ſee the Notes there) and now it is executed. Graceleſſe men are apt to imagine that God threateneth in terrorem onely: and are ready, with thoſe miſcreants in the Goſpel, to ſay, God forbid: we hope he will be better then his word, and not be ſo unmercifull as the Preachers would make him. They beleeve the predictions of Scripture, but as they beleeve the predictions of an Almanack, which ſaith, ſuch a day will be rain, and ſuch a day winde: men think it may come to paſſe, and it may be not. But ſhall God ſay the word, and not ſee it fulfilled? Is not his dicere, his facere? his word, his deed? Yea, doth he not ſometimes, dicte citiùs, break out upon his enemies, as he did upon Nadab and Abibu, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, &c. God had poured contempt already upon theſe degenerate prieſts. And the like he had threatened to thoſe, Jer. 23.40. See Mich. 3.7. Zach. 13.4. Ribera upon this Text bewailes the buſineſſe in their Romiſh Clergy, now become deſpicable by reaſon of their evill manners. Petrarch complain'd long before, that the ſtench of that ſink the Court of Rome was come up to heaven. Eraſmus layed them open in their colours, and did them more miſchief jocando, by his jearing and jeſting at them, then Luther did ſtomachando, by dry blowes and invectives, as One well obſerveth. He made the world look up (that had been long luld aſleep) and take notice of the truth of that which Chryſoſtom had long before diſcovered and lamented, Multi ſacerdotes, & pauci ſacerdotes, multi in nomine, pauci in opere. There are many Prieſts, and yet but few: many ſo in name, few ſo indeed.Marcidi. rebaulde. Pariſienſ. Fy on ſuch raſcall rebaulds ſaid the excommunicated Barons in K. Iohns time (in their declaration) concerning the Pope and his Cardinals, and yet they were no Proteſtants. No more are the Venetians: and yet how they ſlight their Pope (who is now, like the cuckow in June, heard but not regarded by them) is ſufficiently manifeſted by their Manifeſto's to the Chriſtian world. In Biſcany (anciently Cantabria) a province of Spaine, they admit no Biſhops to come amongſt them: ſuch an hatred they have taken againſt that order of men. And when King Ferdinand came in progreſs thither, accompanied amongſt others by the Biſhop of Pampeluna, the people aroſe in armes, drove back the Biſhop, and gathering all the duſt on the which they thought he had trodden,Heyl. Geog. pag. 55. flung it into the ſea. What our Biſhops did in Q. Maryes dayes we all know: that bloody Bonner eſpecially, buried at length in a dung hill (too good a grave for him.) Sure it was an unhappy proverb that was then learnt, The Biſhops foot hath trodden here. They are now utterly caſhierd, and lye wrapt up in the ſheet of ſhame for this very ſin (amongſt others) here charged upon theſe Prieſts, their diſhonouring Gods great Name, his ſervices, and ſervants. For it was come to that height of wickedneſſe amongſt us, a little before the late troubles, as to caſt odium in religionis Profeſſores tanquam in adverſarios, an evill report upon the profeſſours of religion, as ſo many adverſarles, as Bede ſaith the ancient Brittains did immediately before their deſtruction by the Saxons. He that would not be an Arminian, was therefore accounted a practicall Puritan. He that was not for the Jure divino of Epiſcopacy, was little better then a publike enemy. If the Miniſtry of England be under any abaſures at preſent, as they are thorough the iniquity of the times, and the overflow of errours and Atheiſme, let it ſerve to humble them for their deſire of vainglory, and not ſeeking the honour that commeth from God onely Ioh. 5.44. let it alſo work in them a greater care to approve themſelves to God, that they may be glorious in his eyes and to his people, who dare not but honour ſuch as feare the Lord Pſal. 15.4. and have his Miniſters in ſingular eſteeme for their works ſake. 1 Theſſ. 5.13.

according as ye have not kept my wayes] q. d. your dignity is decayed, like as your duty hath been neglected: You are fallen out of the hearts of good people, and are aviled by all. Neither is it any wonder: for a vicious life breeds vileneſs of eſtimation: but vertue is a thouſand eſcucheons. Hence that cloſe connexion, If there be any vertue, if any praiſe Phil. 4.8. this treads upon the heels of that as it were; followes it as cloſe as the ſhadow doth the body. When Adam ſtood in innocency, the ſavage beaſts did him reverence. And the ſame God which did at firſt put an awe of man in the fierceſt creatures, hath ſtamped in the cruelleſt hearts a reverend reſpect to his own Image in his faithfull miniſters, as in Saul to Samuel, Herod to Iohn Baptiſt, thoſe gallants of Iſrael to that mad fellow, as they were pleaſed to call the Prophet that came to anoint Jehu: upon whoſe words (as mad as they made of him) they will preſently adventure their lives, and change the crown. Gods Image (as Gods name Pſal. 111.9.) is holy and reverend: And they that would have good repute and report amongſt men, muſt carefully keep (or, as the word here uſed may be rendred) watch Gods wayes. He ſhall have enow that will watch for his halting, and take any little occaſion to revile him with open mouth, as Shimei did David, when he had declined Gods way. It is therefore excellent counſell that Solomon giveth, and worthy of all acceptation. Pro. 4.25, 26, 27. Let thine eyes look right on: and let thine eyelids look ſtraight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet: and let all thy wayes be ordered aright. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left: remove thy foot from evill. Lo, this is the ready road to honour and eſtimation. Do worthily in Ephrata, and ſo be famous in Bethlehem. Ruth 4.11. Sic famam extendere factis Hoc virtutis opus. But thoſe Balaams that perſwaded by their Balacks, ſeek for honour by evill-doing, theſe ſeek the living among the dead, figs of thiſtles, heaven in hell &c.

but have been partiall in the law] Heb. ye have accepted or acknowledged faces in the law. i. e. you accept perſons; you deal partially in expounding and applying the law, making it pinch the poor, and favour the rich. The Church hath ever been peſtered with ſuch Aretalogi, ſuch paraſitical Preachers, whoſe practiſe hath been like Ahabs Prophets, to ſpeak magis ad voluntatem quàm ad veritatem, more to pleaſe then to profit. And there is a very great ſympathy between great ones that have firſt flattered themſelves, and theſe falſe flatterers, who prove a ſit helve for ſuch an hatchet, and meet lettice for ſuch lips. Such an one was Ʋriah the high-prieſt to Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. His motto ſeemes to have been Mihi placet, quic quid regi placet. Such were thoſe dirt-dawbers for the devill in Ezekiels dayes chap. 13.10, 11. &c. the Herodians, the Arians, the Arminians, Buchole. Ʋtenbogardus &c. the Queen of Navarr's Preachers, who perſwaded her, out of politick reſpects, to conſent to that unhappy match that gave opportunity for the Pariſian Maſſacre.1 Tim. 5 21. [non-Latin text not transcribed] The Apoſtle chargeth his ſon Timothy to do nothing of popularity or partiality, by tilting the ballance on the one ſide, as the word ſignifieth: but as a juſt law is an heart without affection, an eye without luſt, a mind without paſſion, a treaſurer which keepeth for every man that he hath, and diſtributeth to every man that he ought to have: ſo ſhould a Miniſter be; remembring that of Iob chap. 13.10. He will ſurely reprove you, if you ſecretly accept perſons, that is, he will chide you, ſmite you, curſe you for it, and ſo ſet it on, as no creature ſhall be able to take it off. If you reprove meaner men, and wink at the faults of great Ones, reproving he will repro[illegible: 3 letters] you, [illegible: 1 word] will not do it to halves: no, he will rather do it double; you ſhall have it both ſurely and ſeverely. Let your reſolution therefore be that of Elihu Iob 32 21.22. I will not now accept the perſon of any man, neither will I give flattering titles to man. For I may not give flattering titles, leſt my Maker ſhould ſuddenly take me away, leſt my Maſter, whoſe ſteward I am, finding me unfaithfull in the diſpoſe of his myſteries, ſhould confound me before you. Ier. 1.17. Niſi fideliter dixerim, vobis erit damnoſum, Timeo itaqu[illegible: 1 letter] damnum veſtrum, timeo damnationem meam. Bern. de T. mp. 99. mihi periculoſum, If I ſhould not deale faithfully and freely with you, it would be to your loſs, but to mine utter undoing.

Verſe 10. Have we not all one Father?] Here begins a ſecond conteſtation, viz. with the people (as the former was with the Prieſts) for their unrighteous dealing; where we have ſo many words, ſo many arguments. In brevitate verborum eſt luxuries verum. How many Ones are here, and all to perſwade to unity. See the like Eph. 4.3, 4, 5. Let thoſe that take upon them to perſwade others to equity and unanimity, learn to marſhall their matter handſomely, and to fill their mouths with arguments, ſuch as may fall thick, and prevail,Iob 21.4. being ſeconded and ſet on with intimation of heartieſt affection. Oh that I could ſomewhere meet with you both together ſaid Auſtin to Hierome and Ruffinus (hearing of their differences) I would fall down at your feet with much love, and many teares, I would beſeech you for Gods ſake, for your own ſakes,Hei mihi qui vos alicubi invenire non poſſum &c. for weak Chriſtians ſake &c. not to ſuffer theſe diſſentions to ſpread further. So Mr. Bradford in a letter to a diſtreſſed Gentlewoman that was in a deſpairing condition, I beſeech you, ſaith He, I pray you, I deſire you, I crave at your hands with all my very heart, I ask of you with hand, pen, tongue and mind in Chriſt, through Chriſt, for Chriſt, for his name, blood, mercy, power and truths ſake,Act. and Mon. that you admit no doubting of Gods finall mercyes toward you, howſoever you feel your ſelf. Oh that I could get words (ſaid Another holy man to his hearers) to gore your very hearts with ſmarting pain, that this doctrine might be written in your fleſh? By this One Father in the Text is meant Adam, ſay the moſt Interpreters, who was the common Parent of us all, and the very ſtock and root, from whence all mankind did ſpring. It is therefore a ſin againſt Nature it ſelf and common humanity, to deal treacherouſly againſt another, or to hide thy ſelf from thine own fleſh Iſa. 58.7. This is to be more unreaſonable then beaſts, birds, and fiſhes, which love their own kind; and thoſe that ſeed on fleſh will not eat the fleſh of their own kind. But our Age over-aboundeth with unnaturall Maneaters, that (not only fike a pickrell in a pond, or ſhark in the ſea, devour the leſſer fiſhes of another alloy, but alſo) eat up Gods people, as they eat bread, make no more conſcience,Pſal. 14.5. nay take as much content in undoing a poor brother, as in eating a meals-meat, when they are hungry: they make but a breakfaſt of a whole repreſentative Nation; as thoſe gun-powder-papiſts deſigned to do. How oft are wicked Oppreſſours compared to hunters, for their cruelty, and fowlers for their craft? to ſhew that they ſpare none that fall into their nets: young, old, male, female, all go together into the bag. This raiſed a great cry of the people, and of their wives againſt their brethren, thoſe uſurious Jews, that had both robb'd and raviſhed them,Pſal. 10.9 Nehem. 5.1. And what could they ſay for themſelves, but the ſame in effect with this in the text. Yet now our fleſh is as the fleſh of our brethren, our children as their children, &c?

have we not all one father? hath not One God created us?] Here the Prophet riſeth higher, viz. from Adam to God, out of whoſe mint when Man came firſt, he ſhone moſt glorious, for he was Gods own workmanſhip created unto love and good works: Epheſ. 2.10 yea, as iron put into fire, ſeems to be nothing but fire: ſo Adam, come freſh out of Gods hands, who is perfect love and goodneſſe it ſelf, was no other then a very lump of love to God, and kindneſſe to his fellow-creatures. But now alaſſe, we may ſit and ſing, O quantum haec Niobe, &c. how ſtrangely are we altered, and fallen from our firſt love! and what great cauſe have we, with thoſe in Ezra, to think of this Temple that was burnt, and lament? yea, write Lamentations with Jeremy, and ſay, as He; They raviſhed the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by the hand, the faces of the Elders were not honoured, &c. Lam. 5. The wonder was the leſſe, becauſe theſe that did all this were of a different re[illegible: 2 letters]ion. [illegible: 3 letters] for thoſe that ſerve the ſame true God, the Creatour of all, to jarre and warre (as we, alaſſe, do at this day) this is lamentabile bellum, and ſpeaks a great decay and defect of the power of godlineſſe: true religion being of an uniting nature: and the ſtrongeſt tye. Sanatior ſane eſt copula cordis quam corporis. This Ioſephs brethren knew, and therefore held it their beſt plea, Gen. 50.17. And now we pray thee forgive the treſpaſſe of the ſervants of thy fathers God. They had one common father: but, as a better ſtring to their bowe, they had one common God. The very Turks are found to be much braver ſouldiers upon the Chriſtian,Voyage into Leuant. p. 89. then upon the Perſian, becauſe they begin alate to be infected with Perſianiſme, whom they acknowledge better Mahometans then themſelves.

why do we deal treacherouſly] Or, fraudulently. The Prophet puts himſelf into the number though innocent, that his reproof might the better take with them. That which he taxeth them for, is their wrong-dealing (in generall) one with another; whether it were by force or by fraud, by violence or cunning contrivance, which what is it elſe, [non-Latin text not transcribed] but crimen ſtellionatus, the very ſinne of couſenage, and hath God for an avenger? 1 Theſſ. 4.6. Now it is dangerous offending him whoſe diſpleaſure and revenge is everlaſting, and who oft calls to reckoning after our diſcharges. Take heed therefore of all ſorts of injuſtice. Curſe not the deaf, lay not a ſtumbling-block before the blind: but fear the Lord Jehovah, Lev. 19.14. And conſidering that to deal treacherouſly with another (a brother eſpecially) is a ſinne (as hath been above-ſaid) both againſt nature and religion: both againſt Race and Grace (which teacheth righteouſneſſe as well as holineſſe, Tit. 2.12. and turning the leopard into the lamb, &c. cauſeth that none do hurt to, or deſtroy another in all Gods holy mountain, Eſay 11.6.) let us ſo carry our ſelves, as that, with bleſſed Paul, we may glory and ſay, We have wronged no man, we have conſumed no man, we have defrauded no man, &c. 2 Cor. 7.2.

by profaning the covenant of our fathers] i. e. by degenerating from the promiſes, and practiſes of our pious progenitours. Of this ſee verſe 8. A certain popiſh Prince ſaid, It is not amiſſe to make covenants: but wo be to him that is neceſſitated to keep them. He had learned, (belike of Machiavel) fidem tamdiù ſervandam eſſe quamdiù expediat, that covenants are to be kept ſo long as a man ſhall ſee cauſe.Eos foedera neſcire. That which was anciently ſaid of the Thracians is now verified of the papiſts, that they keep no covenants, with heretikes eſpecially. The Turks (taught by them) ſay, There is no faith to be kept with dogs, that is with Chriſtians. Their leagnes grounded upon the law of Nations, and ſolemnly confirmed by oath, have with them no longer force then ſtandeth with their own pleaſure and profit. And if Turks and Papiſts onely were truce-breakers, and fedifragies, it were the better to be born with. But what ſhall we ſay to thoſe Chriſtianecategori (as Bellarmine ſaith a certain ſort of heretikes were called of old) thoſe blots and botches of Chriſtian religion, and holy ſociety, that can ſay and unſay at pleaſure, De. eccleſ. triumph. l. 2. c. 11. make vows to God in their diſtreſſe, and break them as faſt when delivered? Juſt like thoſe Jews in Ieremy, chap. 34. that ſet free their ſervants when the enemy lay before the walls: but reduced them into bondage, when the ſiege was raiſed, though they had cut the calf in twain, and paſſed between the parts thereof; a moſt ſolemne way of ſealing up covenants. So dealt their fathers before them, Pſal. 78.34, 35, 36, 37. And ſo dealt here their Nephews after them. They profaned the covenant of obedience to Gods commandements, that their fathers, for themſelves and their ſucceſſours, entred into. But ſhould men thus play with covenants as children do with nuts? ſhould they ſlip them at pleaſure, as Monkeys do their collars? ſhould they ſnap them in ſunder, as Sampſon did his cords? Had Shimei peace that brake his oath to Solomon? or Zedekiah that kept not touch with Nebuchadnezzar? &c.

Verſe. 11. Judah hath dealt treacherouſly] Judah the conſeſſour) as his name imports) Iudah that once ruled with God, and was faithful with the Saints: Hoſ.: 1.12. Ind[illegible: 2 letters]h in whom God was known, his name was great in Iſrael Pſal. 76, 2. Proſpers conceit was, that Iudai were ſo called becauſe thy received us Dei, the law from Gods mouth: whence Ioſcphus calls the Common wealth of Iſrael [non-Latin text not transcribed] a God government. For, to them pertained (among ſundry other precious priviledges recited Rom. 9.4, 5.) the Covenants, that is, 1. The moral law in two tables. 2. The giving of the law, that is, the Judicial law. 3. The ſervice, that is, the ſeremonial law, which was their Goſpel: whence Iudea is called the glorious land Dan. 11.41. (or the land of delights, or ornaments as the Hebrew hath it) a pleaſant land, or a land of deſire Ier. 3.19. becauſe as it is Ezek 20.6, 15. it was the glory of all lands. Jeruſalem the metropolis, was not onely the moſt famous of all the cities of the Eaſt, as Pliny confeſſeth it,Pſal. 31.21. but alſo of the whole world ſi inſignia Dei ſpectemus beneſicia, as one ſaith, if we conſider Gods marvellous kind cſſe ſhewed to it in a ſtrong city, as David hath it. But, as ingentia beneficia, flagitia, ſupplicia, the greater the priviledges of any place or people are, the more hainous are their offences, and the more hideous their puniſhments; ſo ſell it out with this nation ſo advanced, ſo obliged, ſo ſhameleſly, ſo lawleſly wicked. They were but newly returned from captivity, ſcarce yet warm in their neſts, when they fell afreſh to their old trade of treachery, doing wickedly with both hands earneſtly. Abomination was committed in Iſrael and in Jeruſalem, even ſuch as Gods ſoul abhorred, and was ready to be looſened or dis oynted from them Ier. 6.8. becauſe in the land of uprightneſſe they dealt unjuſtly, and would not behold the majeſty f[illegible: 1 letter]he Lord ſay 26.10. Indah had profaned the holineſſe of the Lord which he loved, that is, the very place that he had eſpied out for himſelf, and that was dedicated to his name and ſervice, the holy and ſeparate land, the Iſle, as it is called Tſai. 20.6. (though part of the continent) becauſe compaſſied about with Gods favour as with a ſhield. Pſal. 5.12. In ſuch a conſecrated countrey to act their villany, was no ſmall aggravation of their wickedneſſe: this made it ſwell like a toad in the eyes of the Almighty, it was an abomination. Filthyneſſe in a ſtewes, in a ſtrumpet, is nothing ſo odious, as in a pretended Virgin. A nettle on the waſte is better born with then in a garden. To ſee the Devil in hell is no wonder: but what makes he in Paradiſe? England was anciently called the kingdom of God it may much better be ſo called now,Auglia reg[illegible: 3 letters]i Del. Pol. Vhg. that Goſpel of the kingdom is preached amongſt us. It was alſo called Albion quaſi Olbion (Happy or fortunate, the fortunate Iſland ſay ſome) or ab albis rupibus from the whiteneſſe of the rocks. True it is, we were black all over with ſuperſtition, firſt Pagan, and then Papagan; But Chriſt hath made us white again as ſnow in Salmon. And do we again ſully and ſoil our ſelves with ſinnes filthineſſe, with that unclean kitchin-ſtuffe? do we profane the holineſſe of the Lord, which he loved, to drive him away from us by degrees, as thoſe Jews did, Ezek 8.9, 10, 11. ſinne is the leaven that defiles our paſſeover; and urgeth God to paſſe away and depart from us. Sin is the ſnuff that dimmes our candle-ſtick, and threatens the removall of it. Let thoſe that live in Gods good land, but not in Gods good Laws (as Ariſtotle complained of his Athenians to like purpoſe,Laert. l. 5. c. 1 and as Seneca ſaid to the Romans, that they were become more filthy ſince they had bathes to waſh in) look forward to the following verſe, and tremble at that utter deſtruction there threatened to ſuch, Diſperdet Dominus &c. And thereunto Saint Paul ſeemeth to allude 1 Cor. 3.17. If any man defile the Temple of God, him will God deſtroy.

and hath married the daughter of a ſtrange God] This is that particular ſin whereby they had dealt treacherouſly againſt their brethren, profaned the Covenant, polluted the Church, and committed abomination in Iſrael: they had married with women of a ſtrange worſhip, and joyned in affinity with the people of thoſe abominations, as holy Ezra phraſeth it Chap. 9.14. and withall ſetteth it forth for ſuch a ſin in thoſe newly-returned captives, as he thinks heaven and earth might well be aſhamed of. A ſin it is, flatly forbidden in both Teſtaments, Deut. 7.3. 2. Cor. 6.14. and reaſons added: as 1. Danger of defection at leaſt, from former forwardneſſe: but moſt commonly of infection, as in Solomon 1 King. 11. Nehem. 13.26. what's the reaſon the Pope will not diſpenſe in Spain and Italy, if a papiſt marry a Proteſtant; yet here he will, but in hope to draw more to them. See 1 King. 12.25. and 2 King. 8.27. 2 Great inconveniency: as 1. Of grief to the godly parents Gen. 26.35. and 27.36. 2. Ill education of children, who commonly take after the mother (as did moſt of thoſe Idolatrous kings of Judah) and follow the worſer ſide, though it be the weaker, as the concluſion in a Syllogiſme follows the weaker propoſition. The birth, we ſay, followeth the belly: and moſt men, we ſee, do matriſſare take after the mother, in matters of religion. Hereunto might be added, that Gods ſervice muſt by theſe unequal matches neceſſarily be hindered, if not altogether omitted, (to gratifie a froward Zipporah, or a mocking Michol) and the better party forced to ſee and hear that, that cannot but grieve the Spirit of God. Beſides danger of diſloyalty, and a curſed poſterity, as Edomites of the daughters of Heth. D. Hall. Here then I could joyn with that Reverend Contemplatour in that holy wiſh of his, that Manoah could ſpeak ſo loud that all our Iſraelites might hear him; Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all Gods people, that thou goeſt to take a wife of the uncircumciſed Philiſtines? If Religion be any other then a cypher, how dare we not regard it in our moſt important choyces? how dare we yoke our ſelves with any untamed heifer that beareth not Chriſts yoke? what mad work made that noble pair of naughtypacks, Iezabel and Athaliah in the kingdoms of Iſrael and Judah, the later beginning her reigne in the ſame year that the former periſhed, as Bucholcer obſerveth? And who knoweth not what a deal of miſchief was done to the poor people of God in France, by Katherine de Medices, Q. Mother, with the advice and aſliſtance of the Cardinall of Lorrain? Concerning which two it was ſaid, Non audet ſtygius Pluto tentare quod ander Effraenis Monachus plenaque frandis anus.

Verſe 12. The Lord will cut off the man that doth this] Though the Magiſtrate be careleſſe and corrupt: though he either cannot puniſh this evil, it being growen ſo univerſall, or will not (and ſo impunity in the Magiſtrate maketh impenitency in the offendours) God will take the ſword in hand, and cut off every mothers child that doth this,Metaphora eſt à Medicis [illegible: 3 letters]la. Polan. (niſi currat poenitentia) as a chirurgion cutteth off a rotten member, ſo will God deſtroy ſuch for ever: he will take them away, and pluck them out of their dwelling places, and root them out of the land of the living, Pſal. 52.5. Neither ſhall this be done to himſelf onely, but to his wretched poſterity (ſuch a legacy like Joabs leproſie, leaves every graceleſſe man to his children) for ſo the Chaldee here rendreth and interpreteth that proverbiall expreſſion in the text, both the maſter and the ſcholler, Sic & R. Salom. filium & filium filii, his ſonne, and his ſous ſonne, though he teach never ſo well by wholeſome inſtruction, and politic[illegible: 1 letter] adviſement, to prevent the miſchief: Agreeably hereunto for ſence Piſcator rendreth this text thus, The Lord will cut off his children that doth thus, the children that he begets of the daughter of a ſtrange god. An heavy curſe ſurely, and frequently inflicted, as upon Ahab: though he to avoid it, ſo followed the work of generation, that he leſt ſeventy ſonnes behind him; which yet would not do.

and him that offereth an offering &c.] that is, Although he be a Prieſt, Or Although he ſeek to make peace with me by an offering: as hoping thereby to ſtop my mouth or ſtay my hand to expiate his ſin, or to purchaſe a diſpenſation as thoſe Mic. 6.6, 7. and Eſay 58.2, 3. Thus Saul ſacrificeth, Ahab trembleth and humbleth, Ieroboams wile goeth to the Prophet, Ioab taketh hold of the horns of the Altar: the king of Perſia having loſt ſome of his children by untimely death as Cieſias reporteth) ſends earneſtly to the Jews for prayers for him and his, Ezra 6.10. So did Maximinus in like caſe to the Chriſtians. Tully tells us that they which prayed whole dayes together and offered ſacrifice, [illegible: 1 word] D[illegible: 1 letter]vr. ut ſ[illegible: 2 letters] liberi ſuperſtites ſibi eſſent, that their children might out-live them, theſe were [illegible: 1 word] called ſuperſtitiou perſons: afterwards the word was taken in a larger ſenſe. But devotion without holy converſation availes nothing to avert Gods judgements Iſa. 1.12.15. and [illegible: 1 letter]6.3. He that killeth an Ox unleſſe withall he kill his curruptions is as if he ſlew a man: he that ſacriſiccth a lamb, unleſſe by faith he ley hold upon the Lamb of God, is as if he cut off a dogs nick: he that effereth an old[illegible: 1 letter] tion &c. This men are hardly drawn to, viz. to part with their ſins, to cail the traytours head over the wall, to hang up the heads of the people before the Sun. Sin harboured in the ſoule, is like Achan in the army, or Jonas in the ſhip; much paines the marriners were at, and much loſle too, to have ſaved Jonas from the ſea, they ventured their own caſting away ere they would caſt him over-board: but there could be no calme, till they had done it effectually. So it is here. Full fain men would keep their ſins, and yet lave their foules: but that's impoſſible. God will not be bribed Pſal. 50. nor brought to ſuſter ſin unrepented to eſcape unpuniſhed. Poor ſoules when ſtung by the Friers ſermons, they ſet them penunces, pilgrimages, all ſorts of good works, which ſtilled them a while: and for them they thought they ſhould have pardon. So many run now [illegible: 1 letter]mongſt us to holy duties, but with the ſame opinion they did them, a bribes for a pardon. Theſe dig for pearle, in their own dunghils, make the meanes their mediat urs, [illegible: 1 span] think to ſave themſelves by riding on horſes &c.

Verſe 13. And this have ye done againe] Or, in the ſecond place. q. [illegible: 1 letter]. Nor content to have married ſtrange wives, yea have brought them in to your lowfull wives, to their intolerable vexation, ſo adding this ſin to the former, as a greater to the leſſe. This is ſtill the guiſe of graceleſſe men, to add druake[illegible: 3 letters]ſſe to thirſt, rebellion to ſin, to amaſſe and heape up one evill upon another, till wrath come upon them to the ut meſt. For three tranſgreſſions and for ſoxr I will not turn away their puniſhment Am. 1. that is, ſo long as the wicked commit one or two in[illegible: 2 letters]uities, I forbear them: but when it comes once to threes and fours, (how much more to ſo many ſcores, hundreds, thouſands, as one cipher added to a figure makes it ſo many tenns, two ſo many hundreds, three ſo many thouſands &c.) God will bear with them no longer. Of thoſe old Iſraelites it is demanded, not without great indignation on Gods part. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderneſſe, and grieve him in the deſart? Yea they turned ba[illegible: 2 letters] and tempted God &c. Pſal. 78.40, 41. Good men, if they fall once into foule practiſes, they fall not often. Of Judah it is expreſſely recorded that he knew Tamar no more. Lot indeed committed inceſt two night; together: but the orifice of his luſt was not yet ſtopped by repentance. Think the ſame of Solomon, Sampſon, Ionah, &c. their acts were as it were continued acts: and, in the interim, little or no remorſe or regret. Let us that have received merey, be admoniſhed to ſin no more, leſt a worſe thing come unto us. I[illegible: 1 letter]h. 5 There is a woe to ſuch as draw iniquiey with cords of vanity, and ſin as it were with a cartrope Iſa. 5.20. Babylons ſins in the Revelation reached up to heaven, or they were thwacked together thick and threefold one upon another Rev. 18.5. there was a concatenation, or a continued ſeries of them: therefore ſhe fell ſurely and ſuddenly. When wickedneſſe is once ripe in the field, God will not let it ſhed to grow again: but cuts it up by a juſt and ſeaſonable vengeance.

covering the Altar of the Lord with teares] That is, You cauſed your poor wives, when they ſhould have been chearfull in Gods ſervice, as 1 Sam. 1. and in many other places it was required of the Iſraelites to rejoyce whenſoever they appeared before the Lord, Earthly Princes love not the company of mourners Eſth. 4.4. to cover the Lords Altar vith tears, with weeping, and with crying out, to throw themſelves, blubbered and ſwoln with tears, upon the Altar, which was a profanation of it: ſo that God regarded not the offering any more. 'Twere happy if we could be ſo affected with our unkindneſſe to Chriſt, our husband, that wee could cover his Table, when we come to it, with our tears. How ſhould the Lord regard our ſervice ſo much the more? how ſhould it be unto him as Muſick upon the waters, farre more harmonious! What a gracious reſpect had He to the weeping women that followed him to the croſſe; and what an honour was that to one of them, (Mary Magdalen I mean) that ſhe had the firſt ſight of the revived Phoenix,Pſal. 91.13. whom ſhe held faſt by thoſe feet that ſhe had once waſhed with her tears, and that had now lately trod upon the lion, and adder, &c? It was appointed by Moſes law that the bond-woman ſhould bewail her father and mother a full monet before ſhe might become an Iſraelites wife.Deut. 21.13. We, that are ſtrangers to the Commonwealth of Iſrael, as we cannot be preſented a chaſt virgin to Chriſt, but as weeping over him that bled over us, ſo we never pleaſe him better, then when we weep over our tears,Ipſae lachrymae ſunt lachryabiles, &c. ſigh over our ſobbes, mourn over our griefs, as not proportionable to our miſcarriages. But to return to the Text: The Jews as they are noted for a nation overmuch effoeminate, and given to women, (as they ſay) ſo when they have ſatisfied their luſt, and ſerved their own turns, they are as willing to be rid of them as Amnon was of Tamar. Hence thoſe many cautions in the law to put bounds to their petulancy: and that politick permiſtion of a divorce, for the relief of the poor deſpiſed woman, leſt ſhe ſhould come to a miſchief, by the hatred of the churl her husband, Deut. 22.13, 14 with chap. 24.3. At this day they look upon women, as not having ſo divine a ſoul as men, but are of a lower creation, made onely for the propagation and pleaſure of man. They uſe them as their drudges, lay upon them with their unmanly fiſts, are ready to cut out their tongues (as the Welſh-men dealt by their French wives,Heyl. Geng. pag. 93. leſt they ſhould corrupt the language of their children) put them away upon every ſlight occaſion, covering that violence with the garment of the law, as verſe 16. Or if they kept them, they took other wives to them, to vex them, and to make them to ſr[illegible: 1 letter]t, 1 Sam. 1.6. or (as the word there ſigniſies) to thunder: not onely tabring upon their breaſts, with the voyce of doves, (as Nahums expreſſion is) but filling the air, yea covering the altar (as it is here) with their laments and l[illegible: 1 letter]wings, Nah. 2.7. Lamentis gemituque & foeminco ululatu Tecta fremunt-Virg. Aeneid. fl[illegible: 1 letter]ctu & mugitu, (ſo the Vulgar rendreth it) for their husbands harſhneſſe, and their concubines inſolencies, and indignities. Hierom tells us, that theſe returned captives ſlighted their old wives brought with them from Babylon, (as being by that tedions journey become infirm and deformed) and matched with ſlrangers, who were freſh, fair, rich, &c. this he gathers out of Ezra 9. and 10. whereas they ſhould rather have nouriſhed and cheriſhed them as their own fleſh, Epheſ. 5.29. they ſhould have handled them gently, becauſe of their weakneſſe, as ſo many chryſtall-glaſſes. They ſhould have given them all lawfull content, as Abraham did Saral, his faithfull fellow-traveller. They ſhould have given all honour unto them, ſaith Saint Peter; and why?1 Pet. 3.7. Mark his many reaſons. 1. They are the weaker veſſels, and are therefore to be handled with all tenderneſſe. Some tranſlate it the weaker inſtrument: and (as Luther ſpeaks of it) as a knife with a tender edge men will not cut ſtones, braſſe, or iron with it: ſo here. 2. They are heirs together of the grace of life, that is, of the life of grace, and of glory too: for ſouls have no ſexes, and as every one is in Chriſt, all are equall, ſo that the husband is bound, in this reſpect, to make his wives yoke as eaſie as may be, ſith ſhe draws even with him, though on the left ſide. 3. That your prayers be not hindered, as they will be, where there is not ſo much conjugium, as conjurgium. How can they pray together comfortably, that live ſo diſcontentedly? How can they bring their gift to that altar that is covered with the tears, and moans of their juſtly aggrieved and abuſed wives? Or, if they do, will God regard their offering any more, or receive it with good will at their hands? Will not the tears and groans of their diſtreſſed wives (who yet hold out their devotion, and will not be hindered by their juſt grief, from praying to God, and pouring out their ſouls before him) move God more then their ſacrifices can do? Eſpecially if they bring them with a wicked mind, as Solomon hath it: and as Lyra maketh it to be the ſence of this Text:Prov. 21.27 Ye have covered the Altar of the Lord with tears, &c. but he regardeth not the offering any more, &c. that is, (ſaith Lyra, and he hath it from Chryſoſtom) you are reſolved to retain your idolatrous wives, though God have declared againſt it: And that ye may expiate this wickedneſle, and make amends by your good deeds for your bad; you run to the Temple, and there with many tears, and groans you beg pardon. But all in vain, becauſe you have no purpoſe at all to break off your ſins, but will needs perſiſt in your unlawfull marriages. See more of this in the Note on chap. 3.16. doct. 4. uſe 1.

Verſe 14. Yet ye ſay wherefore?] A ſenſeleſſe queſtion: but there is nothing more ſtupid, and ſtubborn then an hypocrite: he will not yeeld, though never ſo clearly convinced, but will have ſtill ſomewhat to ſay though to ſmall purpoſe, as had Saul to Samuel, 1 Sam. 15. and theſe Queſtioniſts here to God, whom (as before oft, and again after) they put to his proofs. (See the Note on chap. 1. verſe 2, 6.) and his anſwer is ready:

Becauſe the Lord hath been wineſſe between thee and the wife of thy youth] The Heathen could ſay, Maxima debetur pueris reverentia ſiquid Turpe paras: — And again, Turpe quid acturus te, ſine teſte, time. We ſhould not do wickedly if but a child be by. And, when thou art about to do ought amiſſe, fear thine own conſcience, which is a thouſand witneſſes. But if God be by as a witneſſe, ſhould not men fear to offend him? Tremble thou earth, at the preſence of the Lord, at the preſence of the God of Jacob. He that dares ſin, though he know God be an eye-witneſſe, is more impudent in ſinning then was Abſalom, when he ſpred a tent upon the top of the houſe, and went in to his fathers concubines, in the ſight of all Iſrael, and of the Sunne. Theſe treacherous husbands could not but know that they had entred into a covenant of God, Prov. 2.17. when they married: that the bond was made to God, and that upon the violation of it, he would be ready enough to take the forfeiture: for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, Heb. 13.3. That God had been witneſſe, Proteſtatus eſt. or had proteſted (ſo Montanus renders it) and withall had, by interpoſing of his own authority, confirmed the contract and compact, ſaying, verbis concept is, as Hoſ. 3.3. Thou ſhalt not be for another man, ſo will I alſo be for thee, and not for another woman, till God ſhall ſeparate us by death. Indeed if the husband or the wife be dead,Rom. 7.2. the ſurviving party is at liberty to marry again (whatſoever the Canoniſts ſay againſt bigamy.) Hierome tells us of an old man in Rome that had buried twenty wives, which hee had married one after the death of another: and that he had taken to wife the one and twentieth, who alſo had buried nineteen husbands. And that,Hier. apud Lonicer in Theat. hiſtor. p. 734. burying that wife too, he followed the corps to the Church (ſo his neighbours would needs have it) with a garland of bayes upon his head in manner of a triumpher. But againſt Polygamy (which is, when a man or woman couples himſelf or her ſelf in marriage to more then one) here are an heap of arguments in the text, which we ſhall take as they lie in order. Mean-while it is worthy our obſervation, that the firſt Authour of Polygamy was that Thraſonicall Lamech, noted for a profane and wicked perſon: as was likewiſe Eſan another Polygamiſt. Laban though he had cheted Jacob into the having of his two daughters to wife, yet he could not but confeſſe it to be a ſinne againſt the light of Nature. Hence at parting he takes a ſolemne oath of Jacob, Gen. 31.50. If thou ſhalt afflict my daughters, or if thou ſhalt take other wives beſides my daughters: no man is with us: ſee God is witneſſe betwixt me and thee. Some of the Fathers were herein faulty, as Abraham, David, &c. and ſome ſay it was their priviledge: but that's not likely. Rather it was their ignorance or incogitancy, (they conſidered not that it was a breach of the firſt inſtitution of marriage) or, as ſome conceive, it was their meer miſtake of that Text, Lev. 18.18. Thou ſhalt not take a wife to her ſiſter, to vex her, Confer Ezek. 1.9. to uncover her naked eſſe, beſides the other, in her life time. Here they took the word (ſiſter) for one ſo by blood, which was ſpoken of a ſiſter by nation, as thoſe clauſes to vex her, and da[illegible: 2 letters]ghter life, do evince. One thing was, the commonneſſe of the ſinne, and the [illegible: 1 word] cuſtome of it. So long had it continued, and was grown ſo faſhionable, that it ſeemed to be no ſinne. But debt is debt, whether a man know of it, or not: And ſin, as a debt, may ſleep a long time, and not be called for of many years, as Sauls ſin in killing the Gibeonites ſlept fourty years; and Joabs killing of Abner ſlept all David's dayes, &c. Another thing that might cauſe deſire of many wives, was want of love and chaſt affection to the wife of their youth. Iſaac is noted for a moſt loving husband to his Rebecca: and he never deſired more wives then her. Re oyce in the wife of thy youth: Let her be as the loving Hind, and pleaſant Roe, &c. This will keep thee from being raviſhed with a ſtrange woman, or ombracing the boſomc of a ſtranger, Prov. 5.18, 19, 20. The Hind and the Roe are moſt loving to their mates, and therefore moſt faithfull to them. So, among birds, are the turtledove, and the ſtork. The former, they ſay, as he keeps cloſe to his mate, while ſhe lives; ſo when ſhe dies, he groans and moans continually, and never ſits upon a green bough. The later are chaſt, and ſevere, in puniſhing thoſe of the kind that are not. It iscredibly reported by ſome that have ſeen it, that whole flocks of Storks meeting in a medow, they have ſet in the middeſt of them two of their company that have been found diſloyall,Sphi[illegible: 2 letters]. Philoſ. pag. 231. and runnning upon them with main force have killed them with their beaks. So that the company breaking up, and all the reſt flying away, the two offending Storks onely have been found dead in the place.

againſt whom thou haſt dealt treacherouſly] viz by ſuperinducing another wife contrary to thy covenant, This is not a ſimple injury againſt thy lawfull wife; but ſuch as is joyned with contumely, which the Greeks call [non-Latin text not transcribed]: and the children that come of ſuch copulation they call [non-Latin text not transcribed], becauſe they are ſubject to contumelies. The Hebrews call them brambles; A[illegible: 1 letter]imelech was ſuch an one, Iudg. 9.14. a right bramble indeed, who grew in the baſe hedge-row of a concubine; and ſcratcht and drew blood to purpoſe. Lo, this is the Prophets firſt argument againſt Polygamy: it is treachery againſt both God, who is deeply intereſted in the marriage-covenant, and againſt the true wife, who is hereby extremely deſrauded, and defeated. Follows not the ſecond:

yet ſhe is thy companion] thy compeer, and copartner, thy conſort, and fellow-friend, ſuch another as thy ſelf (ſo the woman is called, Gen. 2.18.) a ſecondſelf, a mate meet for thee, a piece ſo juſt cut out for thee, as anſwereth thee rightly in every point, in every joynt. A wife is not a ſlave, (ſaith One) but a companion: a yoke-fellow, ſtanding on even ground with thee, though drawing on the left ſide. From the left ſide (ſay ſome) ſhe was taken where the heart is, to teach, that hearty love ſhould be betwixt married couples. Made ſhe was of a rib, a bone of the ſide; not of the head, (the wife muſt not uſurp authority over her husband) nor yet of the foot, ſhe may not be trampled upon, or diſregarded as an underling. A bone, not of any anterior part; ſhe is not [illegible: 1 letter]raela[illegible: 1 letter]a, preferred before the man: neither yet of any hinder-part, ſhe is not poſtpoſita, ſet behind the man: but a bone of the ſide, of the middle, of the indifferent part, to ſhew that ſhe is thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. A bone ſhe is from under the arm: to put man in mind of protection, and defence to the woman. A bone, not far from his heart; to put him in mind of dilection and love to the woman. Neither can the rib challenge any more of her, then the earth can do of him. And as he was ignorant when himſelf was made, ſo he knew as little when his ſecond-ſelf was made out of him: both that the comfort might be greater then was expected; as alſo that he might not upbraid his wife with any great dependance or obligation; he neither willing the work, nor ſuffering any pain to have it done. Shine ſhe muſt with the beams of her husband: Share ſhe muſt with him, in his maſterly government of the family, as Sarah did with Abraham by Gods allowance, Gen. 16. and as the Roman Ladies were wont to ſay to their husbands, Ʋbi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia, where you are Lord, I am Lady. That over-lordly carriage of husbands towards their wives, and that uſage of them as drudges, is condemned by the Heathen Philoſophers, in the very Barbarians themſelves, as a great ataxy, and diſorder in the family.

and the wife of thy covenant] And is it nothing to be covenant-breaker with a wife; eſpecially where God alſo is ingaged, as above ſaid? Foedus [non-Latin text not transcribed]. [non-Latin text not transcribed], ab eadem radice, perform your truſt, make good the troth you have plighted. Otherwiſe, if the fruits of the fleſh grow out of the trees of your hearts, ſurely,Ser. of Rep. p. 70. ſurely, ſaith Maſter Bradford Martyr, the devil is at inne with you: you are his birds, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach you, and eat you, chaw you, and champ you world without end, in eternall wo and miſery.

Verſe 15. And did not he make one] Another forcible argument againſt Polygamy, and adultery. See our Saviours explanation of it, Mat. 19.4, 5, 6. with the Notes there. The onely wiſe God made but one woman for one man at the firſt creation: and ordained that thoſe two ſhould be one fleſh, two in one fleſh, not three, or four, or as many wives as a man is able to maintain, as among the Turks, who (as a juſt hand of God upon them) are grievouſly vexed with jealouſie, not ſuffering their women to go to Church: nor ſo much as look out at their own windows:B[illegible: 1 letter]unt. 106. Or if they go abroad upon any occaſion, they muſt go muffled, all but the eyes. Sardus tells us, that the old Brittains would ten or twelve of them take one woman to wife. Belike women were rare commodities with them. As likewiſe men were in Judaea, when ſeven women took hold of one man, ſaying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparrel: onely let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach, Eſay 4.1. That is, we will maintain our ſelves and thee: onely be thou an husband to us, and let us have children by thee.

yet had he the reſidue of the spirit] Or, breath: ſo that he could as eaſily have made more, and breathed into their faces the breath of life. And although it is not ſaid of the woman, that God breathed into her the breath of life, as of Adam, (whence Tertullian concludes, that ſhe had both body and ſoul too from Adam) yet Auſtin rightly gathereth, that their ſouls were both alike imbreathed by God: 10. Lib ſup. Geneſ. Otherwiſe, the ſcripture would not have been ſilent in it, no more then it is in the new manner of the creation of her body. Thence alſo it is that Adam ſaith not, This is ſoul of my ſoul, but bone of my bone, and fleſh of my fleſh, Gen. 2.23. Souls are not propagated by the Parents, but created of God, and joined to the body, by an occult operation. Auguſtine following Origen, held the contrary for a long time. At length he began to doubt, and after a while changed his opinion: Hierom ſtoutly defending the contrary againſt him: Ariſtotle alſo underſtood the truth hereof, and concluded, that the ſoul was divine, and came from above: and. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Lib. 2. c. 9. de gen. anim. though of nothing, yet is it made a matter more excellent then the matter of the heavens, in nature not inferiour to the Angels. An abridgement it is of the inviſible world, as the body is of the viſible. And why may we not ſay, that the ſoul as it came from God, being divinae particula aurae, ſo it is like him? One, immateriall, immortall, underſtanding ſpirit, diſtinguiſht into three powers, which all make up one Spirit. In this reſpect it is ſaid, Gen. 9.6. that in the image of God made he man. There is a double image of God in the ſoul. One in the ſubſtance of it: this is never loſt, and of this that text is to be underſtood. The other is the ſupernaturall grace, which is an image of the knowledge, holineſſe, and righteouſneſſe of God, and this is utterly loſt, and muſt be recovered. This the ancient Heathens hammered at, when they fained that the ſoul once had wings: but, thoſe being broken, it fell head long into the body; where when it hath recovered it's wings, it flies up to heaven again. That was very good counſell given by a godly man to his friend, not to buſie his brains ſo much in enquiring how the ſoul entred into the body, as how it may depart comfortably out of the body. And ſeeing the ſoul is more excellent then the body, (ſaith another grave Divine) like as Jacob laid his right hand upon the younger, but his left upon the elder, ſo our beſt care, and the ſtrength of our thoughts ſhould be for the ſoul, younger as much as it is, then the body; they ſhould be but left-hand thoughts for the body.

and wherefore one? that he might ſeek a godly ſeed] Heb. a ſeed of God: not a baſtardly brood, a ſpurious iſſue, a Mamzer, as the Hebrews call ſuch, that is, labes aliena, a ſtrange blot, a ſeed of the adulterer and the whore, Eſay 57.3. but ſuch as God appointeth, and approveth, ſuch as may be holy, with a federall holineſſe at leaſt, if not ſanctified from the womb, as ſome have been, and are.: laſtly,1 Cor. 7.14. ſuch as in and by whom the Church and religion may be propagated and not idolatry ſpread and increaſed.

therefore take heed to your spirit] that is, to your wife, which is the reſidue of your ſpirit; keep and cheriſh her: ſo Remigius and Lyra interpret it. But they do better that expound it by that of Solomon, Keep thy heart with all diligence, Prov. 4.23. and by that of the Apoſtle, Mortific therefore your members which are upon earth, fornication, uncleanneſſe, inordinate affection, evil concupiſcence, &c. Col. 3.5. Theſe are thoſe that defile the man, Mat. 15.19, 20. Theſe make his heart a filthy dunghill of all abominable luſts, and his life a long chain of ſinfull actions, a very continued web of wickedneſſe, therefore take head to your spirits, that is, to your affections, keep thoſe pure and chaſte: abſtain from fleſhly luſts that fight againſt the ſoul. Take heed where you ſet gunpowder, ſith fire is in your heart. Auſtin thanks God that the heart and temptation did not meet together. Look well to the affections: for by thoſe maids Satan woes the miſtreſſe. Look to the cinque-ports, the five ſenſes: ſhut thoſe windows that death enter not in thereby. Take heed to thy fancy: we allow an horſe to praunce and skip in a paſture; which if he doth when backt by the rider, we count him an unruly and unbroken jade. So, howſoever in other creatures we deny them not liberty of fancy, yet wee may not allow it in our ſelves, to frisk and rove at pleaſure, but by reaſon bridle them, and ſet them their bounds that they ſhall not paſſe. The Lord quieteth the ſea, and turns the ſtorme into a calme, Pſal. 107.29. If then the voluptuous humours in our body (which is but as a cup made of the husk of an acorne in reſpect of the Sea) will not be pacified when the Lord ſaith unto them, Be ſtill, every drop of water in the ſea will witneſſe of our rebellion and diſobedience.

and let none deal treacherouſly againſt the wife of his youth] He had convinced them of this ſinne before, verſe 14. Now he admoniſheth them to abrenounce and abandon it. Lo this is the true method and manner of proceeding, in adminiſtring admonitions. The judgement muſt be convinced, ere the affections can be wrought to any thing: like as in the law, the lamps were firſt lighted, before the incenſe was burned: Firſt, know thine iniquity, and then turn from it, Jer. 3.13, 14. Exhortation is the end of doctrine, ſcience of conſcience, reformation of information, converſion of conviction: and wo be to thoſe that being convinced, or reproved for their faults, get the bit between the teeth, as it were, and run away with their rider. When I would have healed Ephraim, then his iniquity brake out (as if it were to croſſe me) like the leproſie in his forehead, Hoſ. 7.1. what can ſuch ſturdy rebels expect better, then that God ſhould reſolve, as Ezek. 24.13. as if he ſhould ſay, Thou ſhalt have thy will, but then I will have mine too: I ſhall take another courſe with thee, ſith thou refuſeſt to be reformed, hateſt to be healed: thou ſhalt pine away in thine iniquities, Levit. 26.39. O fearfull!

Verſe 16. For the Lord the God of Iſrael ſaith, that he hateth putting away] Heb. Put away, q. d. God hates that Put her away, Put her away, that is ſo much in your mouthes. For, becauſe you are juſtly reproved for Polygamy, for keeping two wives, you think to mend that fault by putting away your old ones, and plead you may do it by a law, licenſing divorces. But the Lord would ye ſhould know, that he hates ſuch your practiſes: and the rather becauſe you maliciouſly abuſe his law, as a cloke of your wickedneſſe. Divorce is a thing that Gods ſoul hateth, unleſſe it bee in caſe of adultery, (which breaks the marriage knot) and malicious perpetuall deſertion. This laſt was the caſe of that noble Italian convert,1 Cor. 7.15. Galeacius Caracciolus Marqueſſe of Vico (as is to be ſeen in his life, written by my much honoured brother, Mr. Sam[illegible: 1 letter]el Clark, in the ſecond part of his Marrow of Eccleſiaſticall hiſtory, pag. 101.) who by the conſent of Mr. Calvin, Peter Martyr, and other learned Divines (who met and ſeriouſly debated the caſe) ſued out a divorce againſt his former wife, who had firſt maliciouſly deſerted him, and had it legally by the Magiſtrate at Geneva granted unto him: after which he married another, Anno 1560. The Civill Law of the Empire permitted divorce for diverſe other cauſes. And theſe Jews, for every light cauſe (if but a blemiſh in the body, or crookedneſſe of manners) pretending to hate their wives, would write them a Bill of divorce, and turn them off. Our Saviour deals againſt this, matth. 5. and 18. See the Notes there. This ſinne was alſo rife among both the Athenians (who were wont to put away their wives upon diſcontent,Archcol Attic. 140. or hope of greater portions, &c.) and the Romans, whoſe Abſceſſionale, or Writ of divorce was this onely, Res tuas tibi habeto; Take what is thine, and be gone. It is ordinary alſo among the Mahometans: But the Lord God of Iſrael ſaith here, that he hateth it: and it appeareth ſo by his practiſe to his Spouſe the Church. See Jer. 3.1. Joh. 13.1. and then ſay, that Gods mercy is matehleſſe; and that he takes not advantages againſt his revolting people, but follows them with his favour: no otherwiſe then as when a man goes from the Sun, yet the Sun-beams follow him, ſhine upon him, warm him, &c. Zanchy (and ſome others) reads the text thus, If thou hateſt her, put her away, in that diſcourſe of divorces, which he wrote upon occaſion of Andreas Pixzardus his divorce, as indeed agreeing beſt with the matter he undertook to defend. But in another book of his he utterly diſliketh the doings of Luther, and ſome other Dutch Divines, who adviſed Philip, Lantgrave of Heſſe to marry, alteram, hoc eſt, Zanch. Miſc. Epiſt dedit. adulieram, his former lawfull wife being yet alive. Archbiſhop Grindall, by cunning practiſes of his adverſaries, Leiceſter and others, loſt Queen Elizabeths favour, Camb. Elizab. Arſlibiſhop Abbots alſo died in diſgrace for oppoſing Semmerſets abhorred match with the Counteſſe of Eſſex. Figuier. as if he favoured Prophecyings, &c. but in truth, becauſe he had condemned an unlawfull marriage of Julio an Italian Phyſician with another mans wife, whileſt Leiceſter in vain oppoſed againſt his proceedings therein.

for one covereth violence with his garment] This Text had been eaſie, had not Commentatours (the Hebrew Doctours eſpecially) made it knotty. Rabbi David in opening of it, obſcurior videtur, quam ipſa verba quae explicare conatur, ſeems to be more obſcure then the words themſelves which he undertaketh to open; ſaith Figueir, who alſo reciteth the expoſitions of ſeverall Rabbines. Concerning which, I may ſay as One did once, when being asked by another, whether he ſhould read ſuch a Comment upon Ariſtotle? anſwered, Yes; when Ariſtotle is underſtood, then read the Comment. The plain ſence is this: Theſe wicked Jews pretended the Law of God, as a cloke and cover of their ſinne, that it might be no ſinne to them. And though the Lord had proteſted to hate their divorces, yet they pleaded I know not what liberty permitted them by Moſes: but this was but a politike coverture of iniquity, Mat. 18.8, 9. The like hereunto was the ſin of Saul, 1 Sam. 15. of Jezabel, 1 King. 21.13. of thoſe Jews, Joh. 19.7. of thoſe Libertines, 2 Pet. 2. Jam. 2.8, 9. of all Heretikes, that plead Scripture for their hereſies: and ſome others impudently impious, who leſt they ſhould ſeem to be mad without reaſon abuſe Gods holy word to the defence of their unreaſonable and irreligious practiſes. Theſe mens judgement now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation ſleepeth not, 2 Pet. 2, 3.

therefore take heed to your spirit] A repetition of the dehortation: of which ſee verſe 16. Good things muſt be often inculcated, Phil. 3.1. one exhortation muſt peg in another, till they ſtick in our ſouls, as forked arrows in the fleſh. Men do not uſe to lay ointments onely upon their lame limbes, but rub them, and chafe them in; ſo here. Auſtin perſwades the Preacher, ſo long to inſiſt upon a neceſſary point, till by the geſture and countenance of the hearers he perceiveth, that they underſtand and reliſh it. Chryſoſtome being asked by his people, when he would give over preaching againſt ſwearing? anſwered, Never till you leave your ſwearing.

Verſe 17. Ye have wear[illegible: 1 letter]ed the Lord with your words] Laborare ſc[illegible: 2 letters]ſtis Dommun[illegible: 1 letter], ſo the Vulgar renders it. Ye have put the Lord to pain, as it were; ye have even tired out his patience, whileſt yee have made him to ſerve with your ſinnes, and have wearied him with your iniquities, Eſay 43.24. I have long time holdon my peace, I have been ſtill and refrained my ſelf, ſaith the Lord: Eſay 42.14 Now will I cry like a travailing woman, that hath long time bitten in her pain, I will deſtroy and divour at once. God can bear and forbear as well as any other: Who is a God like unto thee for this, ſaith Micah, chap. 7.17? Were the patienteſt man upon earth in Gods room, but for a very ſhort ſpace, to ſee and hear the provocations, and indignities daily done unto him by the ſinfull ſonnes of men, he would ſoon be weary of it, he would quickly make a ſhort work upon the earth, Rom. 9.28. It would trouble his patience to ſpread out his hands all a day long to a rebellious people, Eſay 65.2. to give forty dayes reſpite to Nineveh that bloody city, full of lies and robbery, Nahum 3.1. to be grieved fourty yeers long with a perverſe people, and to ſuffer their evil manners in the wilderneſſe, Acts 13.18. to bear four hundred years with thoſe wretched Amorites, who had filled the land from one end to the other, Ezek. 4.5, 6 with their abominable uncleanneſſes, Ezra 9.11. In the fourth of Ezekiel God is brought in as lying upon his left ſide for three hundred and ninety years: a long while to lie on one ſide, without turning on the other) and all to ſet forth his long-ſufferance. Our text tells us, that hee is patient even ad defatigationem uſque, toward the wicked: he bears till he can bear no longer. See the like Rom. 9.22. and the reaſon, Rom. 2.4. and the ill uſe that is made of it, Eccleſ. 8.11, 12, 13. till they tire out him that is indefatigable, Jer. 15.6. and make him weary of repenting. But is this a ſafe courſe they take?1 Cor. 10.22 Do they provoke the Lord to wrath? Are they ſtronger then he? Hear ye now, O houſe of David: Is it a ſmall thing for you to weary men, but yee will weary my God alſo? Eſay 7.13. Will he not put an end to his abuſed patience, that juſtice, Deut. 16.20 Ezek. 1. juſtice, (as Moſes hath it) actuall and active juſtice may take place? God in Ezekiel is ſaid to ſit upon a throne, to ſhew his ſlowneſſe: but this throne hath wings, to ſhew his ſwiftneſſe to come, if need require. His patience paſſeth along as a pleaſant river. But if men ſtop the courſe of it by their blaſphemies, and contumelies as here, and preſſe him with their provocations, as a cart that is loaden with ſheaves, Am. 2.13. God will ſurely have his full blow at them, Nah. 1.2, 6. Rom. 2.4. Heb. 12.29

with your words] that is, with your continuall contentions and quiblings: or with thoſe enſuing words, blaſphemous enough, and Atheiſticall: together with your bold juſtification of them: yet ye ſay, wherein, &c.

when ye ſay, every one that doth evil, &c.] As if they ſhould ſay, God puniſheth not but proſpereth the wicked: therefore he loveth and favoureth them above better men. Job, Jeremy, and David were once, for a fit, in the ſame errour, but ſoon recanted it, when once the waters of the Sanctuary had cured their eye-ſight, Pſal. 73.17. for ſuch are ſand-blind, and cannot ſee far off, 2 Pet. 1.9.

or where is the God of judgement?] q. d. No where: either there is no God: or at leaſt,Corn. à Lapid. not a God of that exact, preciſe, impartiall judgement. (ſuch an Emphaſis there is in the Heb.) Diagoras turned Atheiſt, becauſe his adverſary that had robbed him was not preſently thunder-ſtruck. The like is recorded of Porphyry, Lucian, Averroes, and others. See the Notes, on chap. 3.14, 15.