Malachi 4 commentary

Here is a reference to the first and to the second coming of Christ: God has fixed the day of both. Those who do wickedly, who do not fear God's anger, shall feel it. It is certainly to be applied to the day of judgment, when Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire; to execute judgment on the proud, and all that do wickedly. In both, Christ is a rejoicing Light to those who serve him faithfully. By the Sun of Righteousness we understand Jesus Christ. Through him believers are justified and sanctified, and so are brought to see light. His influences render the sinner holy, joyful, and fruitful. It is applicable to the graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit, brought into the souls of men. Christ gave the Spirit to those who are his, to shine in their hearts, and to be a Comforter to them, a Sun and a Shield. That day which to the wicked will burn as an oven, will to the righteous be bright as the morning; it is what they wait for, more than those that wait for the morning. Christ came as the Sun, to bring, not only light to a dark world, but health to a distempered world. Souls shall increase in knowledge and spiritual strength. Their growth is as that of calves of the stall, not as the flower of the field, which is slender and weak, and soon withers. The saints' triumphs are all owing to God's victories; it is not they that do this, but God who does it for them. Behold another day is coming, far more dreadful to all that work wickedness than any which is gone before. How great then the happiness of the believer, when he goes from the darkness and misery of this world, to rejoice in the Lord for evermore!

Here is a solemn conclusion, not only of this prophecy, but of the Old Testament. Conscience bids us remember the law. Though we have not prophets, yet, as long as we have Bibles, we may keep up our communion with God. Let others boast in their proud reasoning, and call it enlightening, but let us keep near to that sacred word, through which this Sun of Righteousness shines upon the souls of his people. They must keep up a believing expectation of the gospel of Christ, and must look for the beginning of it. John the Baptist preached repentance and reformation, as Elijah had done. The turning of souls to God and their duty, is the best preparation of them for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. John shall preach a doctrine that shall reach men's hearts, and work a change in them. Thus he shall prepare the way for the kingdom of heaven. The Jewish nation, by wickedness, laid themselves open to the curse. God was ready to bring ruin upon them; but he will once more try whether they will repent and return; therefore he sent John the Baptist to preach repentance to them. Let the believer wait with patience for his release, and cheerfully expect the great day, when Christ shall come the second time to complete our salvation. But those must expect to be smitten with a sword, with a curse, who turn not to Him that smites them with a rod. None can expect to escape the curse of God's broken law, nor to enjoy the happiness of his chosen and redeemed people, unless their hearts are turned from sin and the world, to Christ and holiness. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen.

Chapter 4

Malachi 4:1

1. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

1. Quia ecce dies venit ardens tanquam clibanus; et erunt omnes superbi et omnes facientes iniquitatem stipula; et inflammabit eos dies qui venturus est, dicit Iehova exercituum, qui non relinquet illis radicem et ramum.

He confirms the previous verse, for he denounces ruin on all the reprobate and the despisers of God; and he also confirms what I have mentioned, — that he sets this threatening in opposition to the slanders which they commonly uttered against God, as though he had ceased to discharge his office as a Judge. Though indeed he speaks in the third person, yet he is not deficient in force when he says,

Behold, come shall the day, which shed consume all the ungodly, as a hernia oven the stubble. The comparison is very common which the Prophet uses, when he says, that the ungodly shall be like stubble: I trill not therefore quote passages which must be well known, and they are so many that there is no need to adduce here either two or three of them. The vengeance of God is also often compared to fire and to a flame; and we know how fierce and how dreadful an element is fire, when it lays hold on wood or some other dry material. Hence according to the common usage of Scripture, the Prophet says, that the day of the Lord would be like an oven, and that the ungodly would be like stubble. The demonstrative particle, Behold, shows certainty, Behold, I come. The present time is put here for the future, a common thing in Hebrew. But the Prophet called the attention of the Jews as it were to what was present, that his prophecy might not appear doubtful, and that they might understand that God’s vengeance was not far distant, but already suspended over their heads.

There is however a question as to the day which he points out. The greater part think that the Prophet speaks of the last coming of Christ, which seems not to me probably. It is indeed true that these and similar expressions, which everywhere occur in Scripture, have not their full accomplishment in this world; but God so suspends his judgements, as yet never to withhold from giving evidences of them that the godly may have some props to their faith: for if God gave no specimen or proof of his providence, it would immediately occur to our minds, that there is to be no judgement; but he sets before us some examples, that we may learn that he will some time be the judge of the world. It seems then to me more probable, that the Prophet speaks here of the renovation of the Church: for the wrath of God was then at length more kindled against the Jews, when they had alienated themselves from Christ; for their last hope and their last remedy in their evils was the aid of the Redeemer, and it was for the rejection of his favor that the Jews had to feel the dreadful punishment of their ingratitude. No sin could have been more atrocious than to have rejected the offered favor, in which their happiness and that of the whole world consisted. When the Prophet then says, that the day would come, be refers I think to the first coming of Christ; for the Jews made a confident boast of the coming of a Redeemer, and he gives them this answer — that the day of the Lord would come, such as they did not imagine, but a day which would wholly consume them, according to a quotation we have made from another Prophet,

“What will be the day of the Lord to you? that day will not be light, but darkness, a thick darkness and not brightness.” (Amos 5:18.)

The day of the Lord will be an unhappy event to you, as though one escaped from the jaws of a lion, and fell at home on a serpent. So in this place he says that the day would come, which would consume them like an oven.

He says that all the proud and the workers of iniquity would be like stubble. He repeats their words, but somewhat ironically; for when they had said before that the proud were happy, they regarded themselves as being far from being such characters. Isaiah also in like manner condemned hypocrites, because they exposed to contempt their own brethren; for the worshippers of God were at that time in great reproach among the Jews; yea, hypocrites disdainfully treated the godly and the upright, as though they were the dregs and filth of the people. So also they said, “Behold, we are constrained, not without great sorrow, to look on the happiness of the ungodly; for the proud and the despisers of God enjoy prosperity, they live in pleasures.” The Prophet now answers them ironically and says, “Ye shall see the difference which ye so much wish; for God will consume the proud and the ungodly.” He says this of them; but it is, as I have stated, as though he had said, “When your mask is taken away, Ye shall see where impiety is, that it is even in you; and therefore ye shall suffer the punishment which you have deserved.” This is the return which he had before mentioned: for though the ungodly do not seriously and sincerely return to God, yet they are forced, willing or unwilling, to acknowledge their impiety when God constrains them. Hence after they had been constrained to examine their own life, God visited them with the punishment they most justly deserved, though judgement had been invoked by themselves.

He now adds, And it will leave neither root nor branch. He means here that their ruin would be complete, as though he had said, that no residue of them would be found. As he had made them like stubble, so he mentions root and stalk; for branch is improper here, as he speaks of stubble, and branches belong to trees. The meaning, however, is not obscure, which is — that such would be the consumption that nothing would remain. This, indeed, properly belongs to the last judgement; but, as I have said, this is no reason why God should not set before our eyes some evidences of that vengeance which awaits the ungodly, by which our faith may be more and more confirmed daily. Exceedingly forcible are the words of this verse —

For behold the day! It comes burning like a furnace; And all the proud, and every worker of iniquity, shall be stubble; And burn them up shall the day that is coming, Saith Jehovah of hosts, So that not left to them shall be a root or a branch.

Very many MS., have “workers” instead of “worker;” but it is of no consequence, as the singular is often used poetically for the plural. “Root” and “branch” is no doubt a proverbial phrase, including every thing. — Ed.

With regard to God’s name, which is mentioned twice, he reminds us that God does not execute his judgements in an even or a continued course, but that he has a fixed time, now for forbearance, then for vengeance, as it seems good to him. Whenever then the day of the Lord is mentioned in Scripture, let us know that God is bound by no laws, that he should hasten his work according to our hasty wishes; but the specific time is in his own power, and at his own will. On this subject I lightly touch only, because I have explained it more fully elsewhere. It follows —

Malachi 4:2

2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

2. Et orietur vobis timentibus nomen meum Sol justitiae, et sanitas in alis ejus; et exibitis et salietis quasi vituli saginae (vel, vituli pinguefacti.)

CHAPTER 4

Mal 4:1-6. God's Coming Judgment: Triumph of the Godly: Return to the law THE Best Preparation for Jehovah's Coming: Elijah's Preparatory Mission of Reformation.

1. the day cometh ... burn--(Mal 3:2; 2Pe 3:7). Primarily is meant the judgment coming on Jerusalem; but as this will not exhaust the meaning, without supposing what is inadmissible in Scripture--exaggeration--the final and full accomplishment, of which the former was the earnest, is the day of general judgment. This principle of interpretation is not double, but successive fulfilment. The language is abrupt, "Behold, the day cometh! It burns like a furnace." The abruptness imparts terrible reality to the picture, as if it suddenly burst on the prophet's view.

all the proud--in opposition to the cavil above (Mal 3:15), "now we call the proud (haughty despisers of God) happy."

stubble--(Ob 18; Mt 3:12). As Canaan, the inheritance of the Israelites, was prepared for their possession by purging out the heathen, so judgment on the apostates shall usher in the entrance of the saints upon the Lord's inheritance, of which Canaan is the type--not heaven, but earth to its utmost bounds (Psa 2:8) purged of all things that offend (Mt 13:41), which are to be "gathered out of His kingdom," the scene of the judgment being that also of the kingdom. The present dispensation is a spiritual kingdom, parenthetical between the Jews' literal kingdom and its antitype, the coming literal kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

neither root nor branch--proverbial for utter destruction (Am 2:9).

2. The effect of the judgment on the righteous, as contrasted with its effect on the wicked (Mal 4:1). To the wicked it shall be as an oven that consumes the stubble (Mt 6:30); to the righteous it shall be the advent of the gladdening Sun, not of condemnation, but "of righteousness"; not destroying, but "healing" (Jr 23:6).

you that fear my name--The same as those in Mal 3:16, who confessed God amidst abounding blasphemy (Is 66:5; Mt 10:32). The spiritual blessings brought by Him are summed up in the two, "righteousness" (1Co 1:30) and spiritual "healing" (Psa 103:3; Is 57:19). Those who walk in the dark now may take comfort in the certainty that they shall walk hereafter in eternal light (Is 50:10).

in his wings--implying the winged swiftness with which He shall appear (compare "suddenly," Mal 3:1) for the relief of His people. The beams of the Sun are His "wings." Compare "wings of the morning," Psa 139:9. The "Sun" gladdening the righteous is suggested by the previous "day" of terror consuming the wicked. Compare as to Christ, 2Sa 23:4; Psa 84:11; Lu 1:78; Joh 1:9; 8:12; Ep 5:14; and in His second coming, 2Pe 1:19. The Church is the moon reflecting His light (Re 12:1). The righteous shall by His righteousness "shine as the Sun in the kingdom of the Father" (Mt 13:43).

ye shall go forth--from the straits in which you were, as it were, held captive. An earnest of this was given in the escape of the Christians to Pella before the destruction of Jerusalem.

grow up--rather, "leap" as frisking calves [Calvin]; literally, "spread," "take a wide range."

as calves of the stall--which when set free from the stall disport with joy (Ac 8:8; 13:52; 20:24; Ro 14:17; Ga 5:22; Php 1:4; 1Pe 1:8). Especially the godly shall rejoice at their final deliverance at Christ's second coming (Is 61:10).

3. Solving the difficulty (Mal 3:15) that the wicked often now prosper. Their prosperity and the adversity of the godly shall soon be reversed. Yea, the righteous shall be the army attending Christ in His final destruction of the ungodly (2Sa 22:43; Psa 49:14; 47:3; Mi 7:10; Zec 10:5; 1Co 6:2; Re 2:26, 27; 19:14, 15).

ashes--after having been burnt with the fire of judgment (Mal 4:1).

4. Remember ... law--"The law and all the prophets" were to be in force until John (Mt 11:13), no prophet intervening after Malachi; therefore they are told, "Remember the law," for in the absence of living prophets, they were likely to forget it. The office of Christ's forerunner was to bring them back to the law, which they had too much forgotten, and so "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" at His coming (Lu 1:17). God withheld prophets for a time that men might seek after Christ with the greater desire [Calvin]. The history of human advancement is marked by periods of rest, and again progress. So in Revelation: it is given for a time; then during its suspension men live on the memories of the past. After Malachi there was a silence of four hundred years; then a harbinger of light in the wilderness, ushering in the brightest of all the lights that had been manifested, but short-lived; then eighteen centuries during which we have been guided by the light which shone in that last manifestation. The silence has been longer than before, and will be succeeded by a more glorious and awful revelation than ever. John the Baptist was to "restore" the defaced image of "the law," so that the original might be recognized when it appeared among men [Hinds]. Just as "Moses" and "Elias" are here connected with the Lord's coming, so at the transfiguration they converse with Him, implying that the law and prophets which had prepared His way were now fulfilled in Him.

statutes ... judgments--ceremonial "statutes": "judgments" in civil questions at issue. "The law" refers to morals and religion.

5. I send you Elijah--as a means towards your "remembering the law" (Mal 4:4).

the prophet--emphatical; not "the Tishbite"; for it is in his official, not his personal capacity, that his coming is here predicted. In this sense, John the Baptist was an Elijah in spirit (Lu 1:16, 17), but not the literal Elijah; whence when asked, "Art thou Elias?" (Joh 1:21), He answered, "I am not." "Art thou that prophet?" "No." This implies that John, though knowing from the angel's announcement to his father that he was referred to by Mal 4:5 (Lu 1:17), whence he wore the costume of Elijah, yet knew by inspiration that he did not exhaustively fulfil all that is included in this prophecy: that there is a further fulfilment (compare Note, see on Mal 3:1). As Moses in Mal 4:4 represents the law, so Elijah represents the prophets. The Jews always understood it of the literal Elijah. Their saying is, "Messiah must be anointed by Elijah." As there is another consummating advent of Messiah Himself, so also of His forerunner Elijah; perhaps in person, as at the transfiguration (Mt 17:3; compare Mt 17:11). He in his appearance at the transfiguration in that body on which death had never passed is the forerunner of the saints who shall be found alive at the Lord's second coming. Re 11:3 may refer to the same witnesses as at the transfiguration, Moses and Elijah; Re 11:6 identifies the latter (compare 1Ki 17:1; Jas 5:17). Even after the transfiguration Jesus (Mt 17:11) speaks of Elijah's coming "to restore all things" as still future, though He adds that Elijah (in the person of John the Baptist) is come already in a sense (compare Ac 3:21). However, the future forerunner of Messiah at His second coming may be a prophet or number of prophets clothed with Elijah's power, who, with zealous upholders of "the law" clothed in the spirit of "Moses," may be the forerunning witnesses alluded to here and in Re 11:2-12. The words "before the ... dreadful day of the Lord," show that John cannot be exclusively meant; for he came before the day of Christ's coming in grace, not before His coming in terror, of which last the destruction of Jerusalem was the earnest (Mal 4:1; Joe 2:31).

6. turn ... heart of ... fathers to ... children, &c.--Explained by some, that John's preaching should restore harmony in families. But Lu 1:16, 17 substitutes for "the heart of the children to the fathers," "the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," implying that the reconciliation to be effected was that between the unbelieving disobedient children and the believing ancestors, Jacob, Levi, "Moses," and "Elijah" (just mentioned) (compare Mal 1:2; 2:4, 6; 3:3, 4). The threat here is that, if this restoration were not effected, Messiah's coming would prove "a curse" to the "earth," not a blessing. It proved so to guilty Jerusalem and the "earth," that is, the land of Judea when it rejected Messiah at His first advent, though He brought blessings (Ge 12:3) to those who accepted Him (Joh 1:11-13). Many were delivered from the common destruction of the nation through John's preaching (Ro 9:29; 11:5). It will prove so to the disobedient at His second advent, though He comes to be glorified in His saints (2Th 1:6-10).

curse--Hebrew, Cherem, "a ban"; the fearful term applied by the Jews to the extermination of the guilty Canaanites. Under this ban Judea has long lain. Similar is the awful curse on all of Gentile churches who love not the Lord Jesus now (1Co 16:22). For if God spare not the natural branches, the Jews, much less will He spare unbelieving professors of the Gentiles (Ro 11:20, 21). It is deeply suggestive that the last utterance from heaven for four hundred years before Messiah was the awful word "curse." Messiah's first word on the mount was "Blessed" (Mt 5:3). The law speaks wrath; the Gospel, blessing. Judea is now under the "curse" because it rejects Messiah; when the spirit of Elijah, or a literal Elijah, shall bring the Jewish children back to the Hope of their "fathers," blessing shall be theirs, whereas the apostate "earth" shall be "smitten with the curse" previous to the coming restoration of all things (Zec 12:13, 14).

May the writer of this Commentary and his readers have grace "to take heed to the sure word of prophecy as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn!" To the triune Jehovah be all glory ascribed for ever! The New Testament

Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven - The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

And all the proud - This is in reference to Mal 3:15 of the preceding chapter.

The day that cometh shall burn them up - Either by famine, by sword, or by captivity. All those rebels shall be destroyed.

It shall leave them neither root nor branch - A proverbial expression for total destruction. Neither man nor child shall escape.

You that fear my name - The persons mentioned in the sixteenth verse of the preceding chapter, ye that look for redemption through the Messiah.

The Sun of righteousness - The Lord Jesus, the promised Messiah; the Hope of Israel.

With healing in his wings - As the sun, by the rays of light and heat, revives, cheers, and fructifies the whole creation, giving, through God, light and life everywhere; so Jesus Christ, by the influences of his grace and Spirit, shall quicken, awaken, enlighten, warm, invigorate heal, purify, and refine every soul that believes in him, and, by his wings or rays, diffuse these blessings from one end of heaven to another; everywhere invigorating the seeds of righteousness, and withering and drying up the seeds of sin. The rays of this Sun are the truths of his Gospel, and the influences of his Spirit. And at present these are universally diffused.

And ye shall go forth - Ye who believe on his name shall go forth out of Jerusalem when the Romans shall come up against it. After Cestius Gallus had blockaded the city for some days, he suddenly raised the siege. The Christians who were then in it, knowing, by seeing Jerusalem encompassed with armies, that the day of its destruction was come, when their Lord commanded them to flee into the mountains, took this opportunity to escape from Jerusalem, and go to Pella, in Coelesyria; so that no Christian life fell in the siege and destruction of this city.

But these words are of more general application and meaning; "ye shall go forth" in all the occupations of life, but particularly in the means of grace; and: -

Grow up as calves of the stall - Full of health, of life, and spirits; satisfied and happy.

Ye shall tread down - This may be the commission given to the Romans: Tread down the wicked people, tread down the wicked place; set it on fire, and let the ashes be trodden down under your feet.

Remember ye the law of Moses - Where all these things are predicted. The Septuagint, Arabic, and Coptic, place this verse the last.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet - This is meant alone of John the Baptist, as we learn from Luk 1:17 (note), in whose spirit and power he came.

And he shall turn (convert) the heart of the fathers (על al, with) the children - Or, together with the children; both old and young. Lest I come, and, finding them unconverted, smote the land with a curse, חרם cherem, utter extinction. So we find that, had the Jews turned to God, and received the Messiah at the preaching of John the Baptist and that of Christ and his apostles, the awful חרם cherem of final excision and execration would not have been executed upon them. However, they filled up the cup of their iniquity, and were reprobated, and the Gentiles elected in their stead. Thus, the last was first, and the first was last. Glory to God for his unspeakable gift!

There are three remarkable predictions in this chapter: -

1. The advent of John Baptist, in the spirit and authority of Elijah.

2. The manifestation of Christ in the flesh, under the emblem of the Sun of righteousness.

3. The final destruction of Jerusalem, represented under the emblem of a burning oven, consuming every thing cast into it.

These three prophecies, relating to the most important facts that have ever taken place in the history of the world, announced here nearly four hundred years before their occurrence, have been most circumstantially fulfilled.

In most of the Masoretic Bibles the fifth verse is repeated after the sixth - "Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come;" for the Jews do not like to let their sacred book end with a curse; and hence, in reading, they immediately subjoin the above verse, or else the fourth - "Remembering ye the law of Moses my servant."

In one of my oldest MSS. the fifth verse is repeated, and written at full length: "Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." In another, only these words are added: "Behold, I will send you Elijah." It is on this ground that the Jews expect the reappearance of Elijah the prophet, and at their marriage-feast always set a chair and knife and fork for this prophet, whom they suppose to be invisibly present. But we have already seen that John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord, was the person designed; for he came in the spirit and power of Elijah, (see on Mal 3:1 (note)), and has fulfilled this prophetic promise. John is come, and the Lord Jesus has come also; he has shed his blood for the salvation of a lost world; he has ascended on high; he has sent forth his Holy Spirit; he has commissioned his ministers to proclaim to all mankind redemption in his blood; and he is ever present with them, and is filling the earth with righteousness and true holiness. Hallelujah! The kingdoms of this world are about to become the kingdoms of God and our Lord Jesus! And now, having just arrived at the end of my race in this work, and seeing the wonderful extension of the work of God in the earth, my heart prays: - O Jesus, ride on, till all are subdued, Thy mercy make known, and sprinkle thy blood; Display thy salvation, and teach the new song, To every nation, and people, and tongue!

In most MSS. and printed Masoretic Bibles there are only three chapters in this prophet, the fourth being joined to the third, making it twenty-four verses.

In the Jewish reckonings the Twelve Minor Prophets make but one book; hence there is no Masoretic note found at the end of any of the preceding prophets, with accounts of its verses, sections etc.; but, at the end of Malachi we find the following table, which, though it gives the number of verses in each prophet, yet gives the total sum, middle verse, and sections, at the end of Malachi, thereby showing that they consider the whole twelve as constituting but one book.

Cometh - Tho' it be at a distance from you, yet it is coming and will overtake you and overwhelm you too. As an oven - The refiner's fire, chap. 3:2, is now represented as a fire, burning more dreadfully, as it did indeed when Jerusalem and the temple were on fire, when the fire raged every where, but most fiercely where the arched roofs made it double itself, and infold flames with flames. And this may well be an emblem of the day of judgment.

The sun of righteousness - Christ, who is fitly compared to the sun, being the fountain of light, and vital heat to his church. And of mercy and benignity; for the Hebrew word imports both. With healing - His beams shall bring health and strength, with delight and joy, safety and security. Go forth - Go out of Jerusalem, before the fatal siege. Grow up - In strength, vigour and spiritual stature. Of the stall - Where they are safe guarded and well ordered.

Tread down the wicked - When believers by faith overcome the world, when they suppress their corrupt appetites and passions, and when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they indeed tread down the wicked.

Remember - Now take leave of prophecy, for you shall have no more 'till the great prophet, 'till Shiloh come, but attend ye diligently to the law of Moses. For all Israel - So long as they should be a people and church. Statutes and judgments - Be not partial; statutes and judgments, that is, the whole law must you attend to, and remember it as God requires.

Behold I will send - Though the spirit of prophecy cease for four hundred years, yet at the expiring of those years, you shall have one sent, as great as Elijah. Elijah - Namely John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1:17, and therefore bears his name. Before - That is, immediately before; so he was born six months before Christ, and began his preaching a few years before Christ began to exercise his publick office. The great and dreadful day of the Lord - This literally refers to the times of vengeance upon the Jews, from the death of Christ to the final desolation of the city and temple, and by accommodation, to the end of the world.

And he - John the Baptist. Shall turn the heart - There were at this time many great and unnatural divisions among the Jews, in which fathers studied mischief to their own children. Of the children - Undutiful children estranged from their fathers. With a curse - Which ends in utter destruction; leaving Jerusalem a desolate heap, and a perpetual monument of God's displeasure. Some observe, that the last word of the Old Testament is a curse: whereas the New Testament ends with a blessing, yea, the choicest of blessings, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all! Amen. Dec. 24, 1766.

1 FOR behold , the day cometh that shall burn as an oven , and all the proud , yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble , and the day that cometh shall burn them up , saith the LORD of hosts , that it shall leave them neither root nor branch .

The words immediately foregoing, (which as we have the Chapters divided, did end the third Chapter) foretold a day to come then, though 'tis now long since past, in which such Judgments should be executed upon the Iewish Nation as should make the stoutest contemners of God to see and acknowledge his different respects and providences toward the good and toward the evil. Now in this verse (which continueth the discourse) he accounteth how it should be.

Mark well what now the Lord doth foretell.

Before mentioned, the day of visitation and discerning of men.

Though it be at some 400 years distance from you, yet 'tis coming and will overtake you and overwhelm you too about that time; nay you shall have some tastes of bitter cups before, some less and shorter troubles, the presage and assurance of that dreadful day I now speak of, saith our Prophet.

The Refiners fire, chap. 3.2. is now represented to us as a fire burning more dreadfully, which really was more dreadful in the fulfilling then here it is in the prediction. When Ierusalem and the Temple were on Fire, and none could quench it, when the Fire raged every where, but burnt most fiercely where the arched Roofs did make it as in Ovens or Furnaces to double it self, and infold flames with flames, and with dreadful roarings increast its Terrors. This day may well be an Emblem of the Day of Judgment, and this place may be accommodated thereto, but it principally speaks of the times of vengeance on Ierusalem in its final desolation.

Such as chap. 1.13. and 3.13, 14, 15. are described.

This is another part of the character of these persons, and explicatory of the former passage, proud men, such as (the Text mentions) will be wicked workers,

Dried and cast into the Oven, consumed as soon as cast in.

Of which already, chap. 3.15. and this verse let. c.

Totally and speedily consume them.

Added to confirm the certainty of the thing, the Lord of Hosts hath said it shall be, and he can do what he saith he will.

In allusion to the utter extirpation of trees for the fire, whose branches lopt off, the body cleft▪ and the roots stock'd up, and all cast into the fire, so that nothing remains but the ashes, into which all is turned, and this was fully accomplish'd upon the irreligious Iewes when the Rom[illegible: 2 letters]s burnt their City and Temple, and destroy'd the people.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

2 ¶ But unto you that fear my name , shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings , and ye shall go forth , and grow up as calves of the stall .

So chap. 3.16. are they described to us who were writte[illegible: 1 letter] in the book of remembrance, who loved the Law of their God, and kept it, who believed his Promises and rejoyced in expectation of the good promised, who believed his Threats and trembled at them, that they might rest in the day of trouble, as Hab. 3.16. who walked humbly with their God.

Christ, who is Luk. 1.78. the day-spring from on high. Or as most elegantly described Isa. 60.1, 2, 3. who is very fitly compared to the Sun, fountain of Light, and vital heat to his Church, he enlightens and enlivens every one, Ioh. 1.4, 5.

And of Mercy and benignity; for the Heb. word imports both, and neither may be here excluded. His Justice is seen in Executions of Judgment on the proud and wicked, who are consumed in the Fire of his wrath, and his Righteousness and Mercy are seen in the preservation and remuneration of those that fear the Lord, so greatly different shall this time be, to the wicked and the godly; to these a day of benign light and kindly influences through the Mercy of God, to the wicked a day of destruction, and utter extirpation.

His beams and rayes shall bring health and strength with delight and joy, safety and security, it may be (as some have observed from the word) an intimation of the healing vertue that from Christ went forth to such as in faith touched the hem of his Garment, Mat. 9.20, 21. and is as effectual for the healing of Soul Maladies and Infirmities as of Bodily Diseases.

Go out of harmes way, out of Ier[illegible: 1 letter]sale[illegible: 1 letter], before the fatal siege, obeying the Call from Heaven, Go [illegible: 1 span] Pella, and that of Christ, Mat. 24.15, 16.

In Strength, Vigour and Spiritual Stature.

Where they are safe guarded and well ordered. So will the Lord keep safe and look well to his preserved ones when the wicked are destroyed.

Marginal references: Eph [illegible: 1 span] 2 Pet [illegible: 1 span]

3 And ye shall tread down the wicked : for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet , in the day that I shall do this , saith the LORD of hosts.

Vid. ver. 2. let. n.

Now the ungodly, proud, and Atheistical despisers of God, Providence, and future Judgmen[illegible: 1 letter]s, do tread down those that fear God and are godly, but it shall not be so always; that word, Psal. 58.10, 11. and that [illegible: 1 word] 66.24. and that Rev. 18.20. shall be fulfilled in the overthrow of the bad, and in the Triumphs of the good. But more particularly this treading seems to be intended of those who, after the sacking and burning of Ierusalem, should return either to view the ruins, or to dwell there, and so should in going up and down, tread upon the wicked, either buried in the Ruins or consumed to Ashes.

By this it appears, that those preserved ones did not barbarously tread upon the entire Bodies of the wicked, but upon the ashes of those bodies by the fire consumed and turned into ashes, and mixt with the ashes of their Houses and Goods.

Burn Jerusalem and the Temple with the Citizens and Priests whose carcasses were slain by the Sword, or their persons surprised with the Flames, shall be burnt up. And so both this and much of the first verse may be literally understood, and was so fulfilled by Titus and his Souldiers, Anno Christi, 73.

4 ¶ Remember ye the law of Moses my servant , which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel , with the statutes and judgments .

Now take leave of all Prophesie, for you shall have no more till the Great Prophet, till Shiloh come and attend ye diligently to the Law of Moses, keep its precepts and directions.

In the full extent, the Moral Precepts, Rules of a Holy and Religious life for all. The Ceremonial Precepts; Rules of your Worship, so long as your Temple shall stand a Type of Christ to come. The Judicial Precepts; whilest you have any Government, or power of Judicatures. By a due keeping this you may escape future Judgments and obtain future blessings, Lev. 26. Deut. 28. beside, by this attending to the Law, they might be enabled to see the Messiah, and own him of whom Moses wrote in the Law. Now though the Law onely be exprest, the Prophets are included, who also wrote of Christ, Deut. [illegible: 1 letter]8.15. Ioh 5.46, 47. Acts 13.27. This was excellent advice to this People, who (had they taken it) had escaped the sins they ran into and the miseries they fell under; They had not crucified the Lord of Glory, nor rejected their own Mercy, nor pull'd fiery Judgments on their own heads, to their utter Ruine.

Whose memory you venerate, in whom you Glory, whose Law therefore ye ought to obey.

Who was my Servant, and delivered my commands to you. I do therefore expect that my Authority, and Moses his esteem among you prevail with you to study most carefully this Law.

With most Majestick circumstances to awe you to the observance of all its precepts and which was an Emblem of that Terrour and Majesty wherein the Lawgiver would appear to Judge, to give rewards or adjudge to punishments.

So long as they should be a people and Church.

Be not partial; Statutes and Judgments, i. e. the whole Law must you attend to, and remember it as God requires, not turn aside from any of its prescripts.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 20.3.; [illegible: 1 word] 4.10.

5 ¶ Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet , before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD .

Though the Spirit of Prophesie cease for 400 years, yet at the expiring of those years, you shall have one sent, as great as Elijah, and therefore he is now called Elijah, that shall prepare Messiah's way.

not the same in person, who reproved Idolatrous Israel, who destroyed Baal, though both Iewes and many Christians would gladly have it so▪ in favour of some errours they have adopted and would maintain. But this person here called Elijah, was Iohn Baptist, as is clear from Mat. 17.9. to 13. Elias is come, and they have done to him whatsoever they listed. ver. 12. Then understood the disciples that he spake of Iohn the Baptist. And he was that Elias if they would receive him, Mat. 11.10, 11, 12, 13. Elias was to come when Malachi lived; Elias was come, and the Iewes had ill treated him, and Herod had beheaded him, when Christ here lived; this Elias then was Iohn the Baptist, who came in the Spirit and power of Elijah Luk. 1.17. and therefore bears his name in this Prophesie.

Who foretold Christ the true Me[illegible: 1 letter]siah's sudden manifestation, who indeed was already among them, but had not yet discovered himself, on whom he perswades the Iewes to believe, and receive his person and his Law, Luk. 1.15, 16, 17. and Mar. 1.7, 8. who was greater than a prophet, Mat. 11.9. nor doth Iohn's denying himself to be a Prophet, Joh. 1.21. in their sense contradict this.

This day was great indeed, yet 'tis not the day of the last and great Judgment, though the Jewes perversly affirm it to evade the acknowledgment of Messiahs being already come. But this day of Messiah was great for the alterations he was to make in worship, and Church affairs, taking down the Mosaie Ceremonies and enlarging the Church; great for the Miracles he wrought and empowred others to do; great for the Reconciliation between God and man, for the conquering of Satan, and casting him out of his Throne. It was great too against the Jewes his obstinate Enemies.

It was a time of Vengeance, executed upon a people whose sins were full ripe and such sufferings fell on the Jewes at that time, as, may very well be an emblem of the day of Judgment, and which may be remotely meant hereby. But the first, literal and plain meaning of the words refer to the times of vengeance upon the Jewes from either the Birth, or first Preaching, or Death of Christ to the final desolation of the City and Temple, and irrecoverable overthrow of their Government of which Christ speaks at large, Mat. 24.1. and Mar. 13. to 32. ver. &c. which places point out first the sad and dismal Miseries of the Jewes, and next by accommodation, the end of the World and last Judgment. Such a description of this day, Joel 2.31. by St. Peter interpreted and applyed to this day of Christ. Acts 2.20. more fully clears this.

Jesus Christ preaching to the Iewes, calling them to Repentance, reproving their sins, encouraging their compliance, threatning their impenitence, and labouring to gather the children of Ierusalem toge[illegible: 1 letter]her under his wings, but they would not, Mat. 23.34. to 39. And therefore at last destroying by the Romans these obstinate and incorrigible sinners.

That is immediately before, so he was born six moneths before Christ, and began his preaching but few years before Christ began to exercise his publick office.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span] 11.

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers unto the children , and the heart of the children to their fathers , lest I come and smite the earth with a curse .

Iohn the Baptist, who comes in the spirit and power of Elias.

It shall be his office and work to turn, as 'tis the office of every Preacher. The success is of God who also gives it as he pleaseth, and did give it to Iohns Ministry, and so the words include the event of Iohns Preaching which did, as here 'tis foretold he should, convert many.

There were at this time many great and unnatural divisions and quarrels among the Iewes, in which fathers studied mischief to their own children; they were divided and spitefully bent against them, in Civils and on account of Religion, and these turned hearts from dearest Relations. Some by fathers and children understand Iewes and Gentiles, whose Souls being converted to Christ, their hearts were turned one to another.

Undutiful children estranged by the same means and on the same accounts from their Fathers, but now by obeying the Call to Repentance, embracing the Doctrine of the Messiah, immediately to be revealed, and Baptised into it; Religious quarrels cease, and both Parents and childrens hearts unite to Christ first, and then to each other, and all to God.

God, or Christ who indeed first tenders the blessings of Grace and Peace, and gives them to such as accept, but this the Iewes would not; the Rulers, the Priests, the body of the People refused them, next thing Christ (Lord and King, rejected and disowned) will do, is to curse and destroy.

The Land of Iudaea, and the inhabitants of it.

Which brings with it, and ends in utter destruction: as at this day we read in the story of the Romans invading, subduing, captivating the Iewes, and rasing their City and Temple. That the time is past now 1644 years since a stone was not left upon a stone, as was foretold by Christ, Mat. 24.2. since those unparallel'd hardships and miseries, befell the Iewes which no heart almost can read, and not bleed at reading, (though at this distance of time) and the sufferers so deservedly endured such a curse as leaveth Ierusalem a desolate heap, and a perpetual monument of Gods displeasure, against a people that finally sin against his Sovereignty and his Mercy.

Mal 4:1-3

This admonition to the ungodly is explained in Mal 4:1. by a picture of the separation which will be effected by the day of judgment. Mal 4:1. “For behold the day cometh burning like a furnace, and all the proud and every doer of wickedness become stubble, and the coming day will burn them, saith Jehovah of hosts, so that it will not leave them root or branch. Mal 4:2. But to you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise and healing in its wings, and ye will go out and skip like stalled calves, Mal 4:3. And will tread down the ungodly, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I create, saith Jehovah of hosts.” The day of judgment will be to the ungodly like a burning furnace. “A fire burns more fiercely in a furnace than in the open air” (Hengstenberg). The ungodly will then resemble the stubble which the fire consumes (cf. Isa 5:24; Zep 1:18; Oba 1:18, etc.). זדים and עשׂה רשׁעה point back to Mal 3:15. Those who are called blessed by the murmuring nation will be consumed by the fire, as stubble is burned up, and indeed all who do wickedness, and therefore the murmurers themselves. אשׁר before לא יעזב is a conjunction, quod; and the subject is not Jehovah, but the coming day. The figure “root and branch” is borrowed from a tree - the tree is the ungodly mass of the people (cf. Amo 2:9) - and denotes total destruction, so that nothing will be left of them. To the righteous, on the other hand, the sun of righteousness will arise. Tsedâqâh is an epexegetical genitive of apposition. By the sun of righteousness the fathers, from Justin downwards, and nearly all the earlier commentators understand Christ, who is supposed to be described as the rising sun, like Jehovah in Psa 84:12 and Isa 60:19; and this view is founded upon a truth, viz., that the coming of Christ brings justice and salvation. But in the verse before us the context does not sustain the personal view, but simply the idea that righteousness itself is regarded as a sun. Tsedâqâh, again, is not justification or the forgiveness of sins, as Luther and others suppose, for there will be no forgiving of sins on the day of judgment, but God will then give to every man reward or punishment according to his works. Tsedâqâh is here, what it frequently is in Isaiah (e.g., Isa 45:8; Isa 46:13; Isa 51:5, etc.), righteousness in its consequences and effects, the sum and substance of salvation. Malachi uses tsedâqâh, righteousness, instead of ישׁע, salvation, with an allusion to the fact, that the ungodly complained of the absence of the judgment and righteousness of God, that is to say, the righteousness which not only punishes the ungodly, but also rewards the good with happiness and salvation. The sun of righteousness has מרפּא, healing, in its wings. The wings of the sun are the rays by which it is surrounded, and not a figure denoting swiftness. As the rays of the sun spread light and warmth over the earth for the growth and maturity of the plants and living creatures, so will the sun of righteousness bring the healing of all hurts and wounds which the power of darkness has inflicted upon the righteous. Then will they go forth, sc. from the holes and caves, into which they had withdrawn during the night of suffering and where they had kept themselves concealed, and skip like stalled calves (cf. 1Sa 28:24), which are driven from the stall to the pasture. On pūsh, see at Hab 1:8. And not only will those who fear God be liberated from all oppression, but they will also acquire power over the ungodly. They will tread down the wicked, who will then have become ashes, and lie like ashes upon the ground, having been completely destroyed by the fire of the judgment (cf. Isa 26:5-6).

Mal 4:4-6

Concluding Admonition. - Mal 4:4. “Remember ye the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him upon Horeb for all Israel, statutes and rights.The lxx have put Mal 4:4 at the end of the book, not to call attention to its great importance, but probably for the very same reason for which the Masora observes, at the close of our book, that in the יתקק, i.e., in the books of Isaiah, the twelve prophets, the Lamentations, and Ecclesiastes, the last verse but one of these books was to be repeated when they were read in the synagogue, namely, because the last verse had too harsh a sound. The transposition is unsuitable, inasmuch as the promise in Mal 4:5 and Mal 4:6 does not fit on to the idea expressed in Mal 4:2 and Mal 4:3, but only to that in Mal 4:4. According to the Masora, the ז in זכרוּ should be written as litera majusc., although in many codd. it has the usual form; and this also is not to show the great importance of the verse, since these Masoretic indications have generally a different meaning, but in all probability it is simply to indicate that this is the only passage in the book of the twelve prophets in which the word is pronounced זכרוּ (cf. זכרו in Hos 12:6; Hos 14:8), whereas in the other books, with the exception of Job 18:17, this is the only pronunciation that is met with.

Mal 4:5. Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the day of Jehovah comes, the great and terrible one. Mal 4:6. And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, that I may not come and smite the land with the curse” (mit dem Banne, with the ban). The admonition, “Remember ye the law of Moses,” forms the conclusion not only of the last section (Malachi 3:13-4:3), but of the whole of the book of Malachi, and cannot be connected with Mal 4:3 in the sense of “Remember what Moses has written in the law concerning Christ, or concerning the judgment,” as Theod. Mops. and others maintain; nor must it be restricted to the time previous to the coming of the Messiah by the interpolation of interim (v. Til and Mich.). It is rather a perfectly general admonition to lay to heart and observe the law. For this is referred to here, “not according to its casual and transient form, but according to its real essence as expressing the holiness of God, just as in Mat 5:17” (Hengstenberg). Malachi thus closes by showing to the people what it is their duty to do, if on the day of judgment they would escape the curse with which transgressors are threatened in the law, and participate in the salvation so generally desired, and promised to those who fear God. By the expression “my servant,” the law is traced back to God as its author. At the giving of the law, Moses as only the servant of Jehovah. אשׁר צוּיתי אותו is not to be rendered “whom (אשׁר אותו) I charged with statutes and rights to all Israel” (Ewald, Bunsen), for we do not expect any further explanation of the relation in which Moses stood to the law, but “which I commanded him upon (to) all Israel.” Tsivvâh is construed with a double accusative, and also with על governing the person to whom the command refers, as in Ezr 8:17; 2Sa 14:8; Est 4:5. The words chuqqı̄ı̄m ūmishpâtı̄m are an epexegetical definition belonging to אשׁר: “which I commanded as statutes and rights,” i.e., consisting of these; and they recall to mind Deu 4:1 and Deu 8:14, where Moses urges upon the people the observance of the law, and also mentions Horeb as the place where the law was given. The whole of the admonition forms an antithesis to the rebuke in Mal 4:4, that from the days of their fathers they went away from the ordinances of Jehovah. These they are to be mindful to observe, that the Lord when He comes may not smite the land with the ban.

In order to avert this curse from Israel, the Lord would send the prophet Elijah before His coming, for the purpose of promoting a change of heart in the nation. The identity of the prophet Elijah with the messenger mentioned in Mal 4:1, whom the Lord would send before Him, is universally acknowledged. But there is a difference of opinion as to the question, who is the Elijah mentioned here? The notion was a very ancient one, and one very widely spread among the rabbins and fathers, that the prophet Elijah, who was caught up to heaven, would reappear (compare the history of the exposition of our verse in Hengstenberg’s Christology, vol. iv. p. 217 translation). The lxx thought of him, and rendered אליּה הנּביא by Ἠλίαν τὸν Θεσβίτην; so also did Sirach Sirach(48:10) and the Jews in the time of Christ (Joh 1:21; Mat 17:10); and so have Hitzig, Maurer, and Ewald in the most recent times. But this view is proved to be erroneous by such passages as Hos 3:5; Eze 34:23; Eze 37:24, and Jer 30:9, where the sending of David the king as the true shepherd of Israel is promised. Just as in these passages we cannot think of the return or resurrection of the David who had long been dead; but a king is meant who will reign over the nation of God in the mind and spirit of David; so the Elijah to be sent can only be a prophet with the spirit or power of Elijah the Tishbite. The second David was indeed to spring from the family of David, because to the seed of David there had been promised the eternal possession of the throne. The prophetic calling, on the other hand, was not hereditary in the prophet’s house, but rested solely upon divine choice and endowment with the Spirit of God; and consequently by Elijah we are not to understand a lineal descendant of the Tishbite, but simply a prophet in whom the spirit and power of Elijah are revived, as Ephr. Syr., Luther, Calvin, and most of the Protestant commentators have maintained. But the reason why this prophet Elijah is named is to be sought for, not merely in the fact that Elijah was called to his work as a reformer in Israel at a period which was destitute of faith and of the true fear of Jehovah, and which immediately preceded a terrible judgment (Koehler), but also and more especially in the power and energy with which Elijah rose up to lead back the ungodly generation of his own time to the God of the fathers. The one does not exclude but rather includes the other. The greater the apostasy, the greater must be the power which is to stem it, so as to rescue those who suffer themselves to be rescued, before the judgment bursts over such as are hardened. For Mal 4:5, compare Joe 3:4. This Elijah, according to Mal 4:6, is to lead back the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers. The meaning of this is not that he will settle disputes in families, or restore peace between parents and children; for the leading sin of the nation at the time of our prophet was not family quarrels, but estrangement from God. The fathers are rather the ancestors of the Israelitish nation, the patriarchs, and generally the pious forefathers, such as David and the godly men of his time. The sons or children are the degenerate descendants of Malachi’s own time and the succeeding ages. “The hearts of the godly fathers and the ungodly sons are estranged from one another. The bond of union, viz., common love to God, is wanting. The fathers are ashamed of their children, the children of their fathers” (Hengstenberg). This chasm between them Elijah is to fill up. Turning the heart of the fathers to the sons does not mean merely directing the love of the fathers to the sons once more, but also restoring the heart of the fathers, in the sons, or giving to the sons the fathers’ disposition and affections. Then will the heart of the sons also return to their fathers, turn itself towards them, so that they will be like-minded with the pious fathers. Elijah will thereby prepare the way of the Lord to His people, that at His coming He may not smite the land with the ban. The ban involves extermination. Whoever and whatever was laid under the ban was destroyed (cf. Lev 27:28-29; Deu 13:16-17; and my Bibl. Archäol. i. §70). This threat recals to mind the fate of the Canaanites who were smitten with the ban (Deu 20:17-18). If Israel resembles the Canaanites in character, it will also necessarily share the fate of that people (cf. Deu 12:29).

The New Testament gives us a sufficient explanation of the historical allusion or fulfilment of our prophecy. The prophet Elijah, whom the Lord would send before His own coming, was sent in the person of John the Baptist. Even before his birth he was announced to his father by the angel Gabriel as the promised Elijah, by the declaration that he would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just (Luk 1:16-17). This address of the angel gives at the same time an authentic explanation of Mal 4:5 and Mal 4:6 of our prophecy: the words “and the heart of the children to their fathers” being omitted, as implied in the turning of the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the explanatory words “and the unbelieving to the wisdom of the just” being introduced in their place; and the whole of the work of John, who was to go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, being described as “making ready a prepared people for the Lord.” The appearance and ministry of John the Baptist answered to this announcement of the angel, and is so described in Mat 3:1-12, Mar 1:2-8; Luke 3:2-18, that the allusion to our prophecy and the original passage (Isa 40:3) is obvious at once. Even by his outward appearance and his dress John announced himself as the promised prophet Elijah, who by the preaching of repentance and baptism was preparing the way for the Lord, who would come after him with the winnowing shovel to winnow His floor, and gather the wheat into His granary, but who would burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Christ Himself also not only assured the people (in Mat 11:10., Luk 7:27.) that John was the messenger announced by Malachi and the Elijah who was to come, but also told His disciples (Mat 17:1.; Mar 9:1.) that Elijah, who was to come first and restore all things, had already come, though the people had not acknowledged him. And even Joh 1:21 is not at variance with these statements. When the messengers of the Sanhedrim came to John the Baptist to ask whether he was Elias, and he answered, “I am not,” he simply gave a negative reply to their question, interpreted in the sense of a personal reappearance of Elijah the Tishbite, which was the sense in which they meant it, but he also declared himself to be the promised forerunner of the Lord by applying to his own labours the prophecy contained in Isa 40:3.

And as the prophet Elijah predicted by Malachi appeared in John the Baptist, so did the Lord come to His temple in the appearing of Jesus Christ. The opinion, which was very widely spread among the fathers and Catholic commentators, and which has also been adopted by many of the more modern Protestant theologians (e.g., Menken and H. Olshausen), viz., that our prophecy was only provisionally fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist and the incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ, and that its true fulfilment will only take place at the second coming of Christ to judge the world, in the actual appearance of the risen Elijah by which it will be preceded, is not only at variance with the statements of the Lord concerning John the Baptist, which have been already quoted, but as no tenable foundation in our prophecy itself. The prophets of the Old Testament throughout make no allusion to any second coming of the Lord to His people. The day of the Lord, which they announce as the day of judgment, commenced with the appearance on earth of Christ, the incarnate Logos; and Christ Himself declared that He had come into the world for judgment (Joh 9:39, cf. Joh 3:19 and Joh 12:40), viz., for the judgment of separating the believing from the ungodly, to give eternal life to those who believe on His name, and to bring death and condemnation to unbelievers. This judgment burst upon the Jewish nation not long after the ascension of Christ. Israel rejected its Saviour, and was smitten with the ban at the destruction of Jerusalem in the Roman war; and both people and land lie under this ban to the present day. And just as the judgment commenced at that time so far as Israel was concerned, so does it also begin in relation to all peoples and kingdoms of this earth with the first preaching of Christ among them, and will continue throughout all the centuries during which the kingdom spreads upon earth, until it shall be ultimately completed in the universal judgment at the visible second coming of the Lord at the last day.

With this calling to remembrance of the law of Moses, and this prediction that the prophet Elijah will be sent before the coming of the Lord Himself, the prophecy of the Old Testament is brought to a close. After Malachi, no other prophet arose in Israel until the time was fulfilled when the Elijah predicted by him appeared in John the Baptist, and immediately afterwards the Lord came to His temple, that is to say, the incarnate Son of God to His own possession, to make all who received Him children of God, the segullâh of the Lord. Law and prophets bore witness of Christ, and Christ came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them. Upon the Mount of Christ’s Transfiguration, therefore, there appeared both Moses, the founder of the law and mediator of the old covenant, and Elijah the prophet, as the restorer of the law in Israel, to talk with Jesus of His decease which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem (Mat 17:1.; Mar 9:1.; Luk 9:28.), for a practical testimony to the apostles and to us all, that Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for us, to bear our sin and redeem us from the curse of the law, was the beloved Son of the Father, whom we are to hear, that by believing in His name we may become children of God and heirs of everlasting life.

Evangelical Predictions. (b. c. 400.)

1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

The great and terrible day of the Lord is here prophesied of. This, like the pillar of cloud and fire, shall have a dark side turned towards the Egyptians that fight against God, and a bright side towards the faithful Israelites that follow him: The day cometh, that is, the Lord cometh, the day of the Lord; and it has reference both to the first and to the second coming of Jesus Christ; the day of both was fixed, and should answer the character here given of it.

I. In both Christ is a consuming fire to those that rebel against him. The day of his coming shall burn as an oven; it shall be a day of wrath, of fiery indignation. This was foretold concerning the Messiah, Ps. xxi. 9, Thy hand shall find out all thy enemies, and shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of thy anger. It will be a day of terror and destruction like the burning of a city, or rather of a wood, the trees whereof are withered and dried, for to that the allusion seems to be, as Isa. x. 17, 18, The light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and it shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field. Now observe here, 1. Who shall be fuel to this fire—all the proud in heart, whose words have been stout against God, and their necks stiff and unapt to yield to the yoke of his commandments (all those that in the pride of their countenances will not seek after God, nor submit to the grace and government of Jesus Christ—all that proudly say they will not have Christ to reign over them), and all those that do wickedly in their affections and conversations, that wilfully persist in sin, in contempt of and contradiction to the law of God; they are such as do wickedly against the covenant, as another prophet had lately expressed it, Dan. xi. 32. God, that has perfect knowledge of every one's character, knows who are the proud, and of every one's actions, knows who they are that do wickedly; and they shall be as stubble to this fire; they shall be consumed by it, easily consumed, utterly consumed, and it is wholly owing to themselves that they shall be so, for they make themselves stubble, that is, combustible matter, to this fire. If they were not stubble, it would not burn them; for the fire will be to every man according as he and his works are found; if they be wood, hay, and stubble, they will be consumed; but if they be gold, silver, and precious stones, they will abide the fire and be purified by it, 1 Cor. iii. 13-15. Those that by their unbelief oppose Christ thereby set themselves as briers and thorns before a devouring fire, Isa. xxvii. 4, 5. 2. What shall be the force and what the fruit of this fire: The day that cometh shall burn them up, shall both terrify and ruin them, and shall leave them neither root nor branch, neither son nor nephew (so the Chaldee paraphrase): neither they nor their posterity shall be spared; they shall be wholly extirpated and cut off. Who knows the power of God's anger? The proud and those that do wickedly will not fear it, but they shall be made to feel it. Where are those now that called the proud happy, when thus they are made completely miserable, when there remains no branch of their happiness to be enjoyed for the present, nor any root of it out of which it might again spring up? Now this was fulfilled, (1.) When Christ, in his doctrine, spoke terror and condemnation to the proud Pharisees and the other Jews that did wickedly, when he sent that fire on the earth which burnt up the chaff of the traditions of the elders and the corrupt glosses they had put upon the law of God. (2.) When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the nation of the Jews, as a nation, quite blotted out from under heaven, and neither root nor branch left them. This seems to be principally intended here; our Saviour says that those should be the days of vengeance, when all the things that were written to that purport should be fulfilled, Luke xxi. 22. Then the unbelieving Jews were as stubble to the devouring fire of God's judgments, which gathered together to them as the eagles to the carcase. (3.) It is certainly applicable, and is to be applied, to the day of judgment, to the particular judgment at death (some of the Jewish doctors refer it the punishment that seizes on the souls of the wicked immediately after they go out of the body), but especially to the general judgment, at the end of time, when Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire, to execute judgment on the proud, and all that do wickedly. The whole world shall then burn as an oven, and all the children of this world, that set their hearts upon it and choose their portion in it, shall take their ruin with it, and the fire then kindled shall never be quenched.

II. In both Christ is a rejoicing light to those who serve him faithfully, to those who fear his name and give him the glory due to it (v. 2), who stand in awe of that name of his which the wicked profane and trample upon. Here are mercy and comfort kept in store for all those who fear the Lord and think on his name. Observe,

1. Whence this mercy and comfort shall flow to them: To you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings. The day that comes, as it will be a stormy day to the wicked, a day in which God will rain upon them fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, as he did on Sodom (Ps. xi. 6), a day of clouds and thick darkness (Amos v. 18, 20), so it will be a fair and bright day to those who fear God, and reviving as the rising sun is to the earth; and particular notice is taken of the rising of the sun upon Zoar when that was mercifully distinguished from the cities of the plain, which the fire consumed; see Gen. xix. 23. So to those that fear God is comfort spoken. When the hearts of others fail for fear let them lift up their heads for joy, for their redemption draws nigh, Luke xxi. 28. But by the Sun of righteousness here we are certainly to understand Jesus Christ, who would undertake to secure the believing remnant, in the day of the general destruction of the Jews, from falling with the rest, and to comfort them in that day of distress and perplexity with his consolations; he directed those that were in Judea to flee to the mountains (Matt. xxiv. 16), and they did so, and were all safe and easy in Pella. But it is to be applied more generally, (1.) To the coming of Christ in the flesh to seek and save those that were lost; then the Sun of righteousness arose upon this dark world. Christ is the light of the world, the true light, the great light that makes day and rules the day (John viii. 12), as the sun. He is the light of men (John i. 4), is to men's souls as the sun is to the visible world, which without the sun would be a dungeon; so would mankind be darkness itself without the light of the glory of God shining in the face of Christ. Christ is the Sun that has light in himself, and is the fountain of light (Ps. xix. 4-6); he is the Sun of righteousness, for he is himself a righteous Saviour. Righteousness is both the light and the heat of this Sun; the word of his righteousness is so; it guides, instructs, and quickens; so is the everlasting righteousness he has brought in. He is made of God to us righteousness; he is the Lord our righteousness, and therefore is fitly called the Sun of righteousness. Through him we are justified and sanctified, and so are brought to see light. This Sun of righteousness, in the fulness of time, arose upon the world, and with him light came into the world (John iii. 19), a great light, Matt. iv. 16. In him the day-spring from on high visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, Luke i. 78, 79. Righteousness sometimes signifies mercy or benignity, and it was in Christ that the tender mercy of our God visited us. (2.) It is applicable to the graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit, brought into the souls of men. Grotius understands it of Christ's giving the Spirit to those that are his, to shine in their hearts, and to be a comforter to them, a sun and a shield. Those that are possessed and governed by a holy fear of God and a dread of his majesty shall have his love also shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost; and then the sun may be said to arise there, and to bring both a delightful day and a fruitful spring along with it. (3.) Christ's second coming will be a glorious and welcome sun-rising to all that fear his name; it will be that morning of the resurrection in which the upright shall have dominion, Ps. xlix. 14. That day which to the wicked will burn as an oven will to the righteous be bright as the morning; and it is what they wait for, more than those that wait for the morning.

2. What this mercy and comfort shall bring to them: He shall arise with healing under his wings, or in his rays or beams, which are as the wings of the sun. Christ came, as the sun, to bring not only light to a dark world, but health to a diseased distempered world. The Jews (says Dr. Pocock) have a proverbial saying, As the sun riseth, infirmities decrease; the flowers which drooped and languished all night revive in the morning. Christ came into the world to be the great physician, yea, and the great medicine too, both the balm in Gilead and the physician there. When he was upon earth, he went about as the sun in his circuit, doing this good; he healed all manner of sicknesses and diseases among the people; he healed by wholesale, as the sun does. He shall arise with healing in his skirts; so some read it, and they apply it to the story of the woman's touching the hem of his garment, and being thereby made whole, and his finding that virtue went out of him, Mark v. 28-30. But his healing bodily diseases was a specimen of his great design in coming into the world to heal the diseases of men's souls, and to put them into a good state of health, that they may serve and enjoy both God and themselves.

3. What good effect it shall have upon them. (1.) It shall make them vigorous in themselves: "You shall go forth, as those that are healed go abroad and return to their business." The souls shall go forth out of their bodies at death, and the bodies out of their graves at the resurrection, as prisoners out of their dungeons, and both to see the light and be set at liberty. "You shall go forth as plants out of the earth, when in the spring the sun returns." Some make it to mean the going forth of the Christians from Jerusalem, and the escape they thereby made from its destruction. And thus the souls on whom the Sun of righteousness arises go forth out of the world, go forth out of Babylon, as those that are made free indeed. "You shall likewise grow up; being restored to health and liberty, you shall increase in knowledge, and grace, and spiritual strength." The souls on which the Sun of righteousness arises are growing up towards the perfect man; those that by the grace of God are made wise and good are by the same grace made wiser and better; and their path, like that of the rising sun, shines more and more to the perfect day, Prov. iv. 18. Their growth is compared to that of the calves of the stall, which is a quick, strong, and useful growth. "You shall grow up, not as the flower of the field, which is slender, and weak, and of little use, and withers soon after it has grown up, but as the calves of the stall," that, as one of the rabbin expounds it, grow great in flesh and fatness, with which both God's altars and men's tables are replenished; so the growth of the saints, on whom the Sun of righteousness arises, honours both God and man. Some read it, instead of You shall grow up, You shall move yourselves, or leap for joy, shall be as frolicsome as calves of the stall, when they are let loose in the open field; it denotes the joy of the saints, who rejoice in Christ Jesus; they shall even leap for joy; they are always caused to triumph.

(2.) It shall make them victorious over their enemies (v. 3): You shall tread down the wicked. Time was when the wicked trod them down, said to their souls, Bow down, that we may go over; but the day will come when they shall tread down the wicked. The wicked, being made Christ's footstool, are made theirs also (Ps. cx. 1), and come and worship before the feet of the church, Rev. iii. 9. The elder shall serve the younger. When believers by faith overcome the world, when they suppress their own corrupt appetites and passions, when the God of peace bruises Satan under their feet, then they tread down the wicked. When it came to the turn of the Christians to triumph over the Jews that had insulted over them, then this promise was fulfilled: They shall be ashes under the soles of your feet; they shall not only be trodden down, but trodden to dirt. When the day that comes shall have burnt them up, they shall trample upon them as ashes. When the righteous shall rise to everlasting life, the wicked shall rise to everlasting contempt; and, though they shall not triumph over them, they shall triumph in that God whose justice is glorified in their destruction. The saints in glory are said to have power given them over the nations, to rule them with a rod of iron, Rev. ii. 26, 27. This you shall do, in the day that I shall do this. Note, The saints' triumphs are all owing to God's victories; it is not they that do this, but God that does it for them, that says, Come set your feet on the necks of these kings. Some read it, "In the day that I make, or shall make, the great day that I shall make remarkable, of which you will say with joy, This is the day which the Lord has made." The day of the destruction of Jerusalem is called the great and notable day of the Lord (Acts ii. 20), and our Saviour in foretelling that destruction made use of such expressions as, like these, might be applied likewise to the end of the world and the last judgment; for it was such a terrible revelation of the wrath of God from heaven, and caused such a scene of horror upon this earth, that it might fitly serve for a type of that glorious transaction which will be an outlet to the days of time and an inlet to the days of eternity. By the accomplishment of these prophecies in the ruin of the Jewish nation, we should have our faith confirmed in the assurances Christ has given us concerning the dissolution of all things. Surely I come quickly; so says Christ, the Lord of hosts, to whom all power in heaven and earth is committed.

Evangelical Predictions. (b. c. 400.)

4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

This is doubtless intended for a solemn conclusion, not only of this prophecy, but of the canon of the Old Testament, and is a plain information that they were not to expect any more sayings nor writing by divine inspiration, any more of the dictates of the Spirit of prophecy, till the beginning of the gospel of the Messiah, which sets aside the Apocrypha as no part of holy writ, and which therefore the Jews never received.

Now that prophecy ceases, and is about to be sealed up, there are two things required of the people of God, that lived then:—

I. They must keep up an obedient veneration for the law of Moses (v. 4): Remember the law of Moses my servant, and observe to do according to it, even that law which I commanded unto him in Horeb, that fiery law which was intended for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments, not only the law of the ten commandments, but all the other appointments, ceremonial and judicial, then and there given. Observe here, 1. The honourable mention that is made of Moses, the first writer of the Old Testament, in Malachi, the last writer. God by him calls him Moses my servant; for the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. See how the penmen of scripture, though they lived in several ages at a great distance from each other (it was above 1200 years from Moses to Malachi), all concurred in the same thing, and supported one another, being all actuated and guided by one and the same Spirit. 2. The honourable mention that is made of the law of Moses; it was what God himself commanded; he owns it for his law, and he commanded it for all Israel, as the municipal law of their kingdom. Thus will God magnify his law and make it honourable. Note, We are concerned to keep the law because God has commanded it and commanded it for us, for we are the spiritual Israel; and, if we expect the benefit of the covenant with Israel (Heb. viii. 10), we must observe the commands given to Israel, those of them that were intended to be of perpetual obligation. 3. The summary of our duty, with reference to the law. We must remember it. Forgetfulness of the law is at the bottom of all our transgressions of it; if we would rightly remember it, we could not but conform to it. We should remember it when we have occasion to use it, remember both the commands themselves and the sanctions wherewith they are enforced. The office of conscience is to bid us remember the law. But how does this charge to remember the law of Moses come in here? (1.) This prophet had reproved them for many gross corruptions and irregularities both in worship and conversation, and now, for the reforming and amending of what was amiss, he only charges them to remember the law of Moses: "Keep to that rule, and you will do all you should do." He will lay upon them no other burden than what they have received; hold that fast, Rev. ii. 24, 25. Note, Corrupt churches are to be reformed by the written word, and reduced into order by being reduced to the standard of the law and the testimony, see 1 Cor. xi. 23. (2.) The church had long enjoyed the benefit of prophets, extraordinary messengers from God, and now they had a whole book of their prophecies put together, and it was a finished piece; but they must not think that hereby the law of Moses was superseded, and had become as an almanac out of date, as if now they were advanced to a higher form and might forget that. No; the prophets do but confirm and apply the law, and press the observance of that; and therefore still Remember the law. Note, Even when we have made considerable advances in knowledge we must still retain the first principles of practical religion and resolve to abide by them. Those that study the writings of the prophets, and the apocalypse, must still remember the law of Moses and the four gospels. (3.) Prophecy was now to cease in the church for some ages, and the Spirit of prophecy not to return till the beginning of the gospel, and now they are told to remember the law of Moses; let them live by the rules of that, and live upon the promises of that. Note, We need not complain for want of visions and revelations as long as we have the written word, and the canon of scripture complete, to be our guide; for that is the most sure word of prophecy, and the touchstone by which we are to try the spirits. Though we have not prophets, yet, as long as we have Bibles, we may keep our communion with God, and keep ourselves in his way. (4.) They were to expect the coming of the Messiah, the preaching of his gospel, and the setting up of his kingdom, and in that expectation they must remember the law of Moses, and live in obedience to that, and then they might expect the comforts that the Messiah would bring to the willing and obedient. Let them observe the law of Moses, and live up to the light which that gave them, and then they might expect the benefit of the gospel of Christ, for to him that has, and uses what he has well, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance.

II. They must keep up a believing expectation of the gospel of Christ, and must look for the beginning of it in the appearing of Elijah the prophet (v. 5, 6): "Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet. Though the Spirit of prophecy cease for a time, and you will have only the law to consult, yet it shall revive again in one that shall be sent in the spirit and power of Elias," Luke i. 17. The law and the prophets were until John (Luke xvi. 16); they continued to be the only lights of the church till that morning-star appeared. Note, As God never left himself without witness in the world, so neither in the church, but, as there was occasion, carried the light of divine revelation further and further to the perfect day. They had now Moses and the prophets, and might hear them; but God will go further: he will send them Elijah. Observe,

1. Who this prophet is that shall be sent; it is Elijah. The Jewish doctors will have it to be the same Elijah that prophesied in Israel in the days of Ahab—that he shall come again to be the forerunner of the Messiah; yet others of them say not the same person, but another of the same spirit. It should seem, those different sentiments they had when they asked John, "Art thou Elias, or that prophet that should bear his name?" John i. 19-21. But we Christians know very well that John Baptist was the Elias that was to come, Matt. xvii. 10-13; and very expressly, Matt. xi. 14, This is Elias that was to come; and v. 10, the same of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger, ch. iii. 1. Elijah was a man of great austerity and mortification, zealous for God, bold in reproving sin, and active to reduce an apostate people to God and their duty; John Baptist was animated by the same spirit and power, and preached repentance and reformation, as Elias had done; and all held him for a prophet, as they did Elijah in his day, and that his baptism was from heaven, and not of men. Note, When God has such work to do as was formerly to be done he can raise up such men to do it as he formerly raised up, and can put into a John Baptist the spirit of an Elias.

2. When he shall be sent—before the appearing of the Messiah, which, because it was the judgment of this world, and introduced the ruin of the Jewish church and nation, is here called the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. John Baptist gave them fair warning of this when he told them of the wrath to come (that wrath to the uttermost which was hastening upon them) and put them into a way of escape from it, and when he told them of the fan in Christ's hand, with which Christ would thoroughly purge his floor; see Matt. iii. 7, 10, 12. That day of Christ, when he came first, was as that day will be when he comes again—though a great and joyful day to those that embrace him, yet a great and dreadful day to those that oppose him. John Baptist was sent before the coming of this day, to give people notice of it, that they might get ready for it, and go forth to meet it.

3. On what errand he shall be sent: He shall turn the heart of the fathers to their children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; that is, "he shall be employed in this work; he shall attempt it; his doctrine and baptism shall have a direct tendency to it, and with many shall be successful: he shall be an instrument in God's hand of turning many to righteousness, to the Lord their God, and so making ready a people prepared for him," Luke i. 16, 17. Note, The turning of souls to God and their duty is the best preparation of them for the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It is promised concerning John, (1.) That he shall give a turn to things, shall make a bold stand against the strong torrent of sin and impiety which he found in full force among the children of his people, and beating down all before it. This is called his coming to restore all things (Matt. xvii. 11), to set them to rights, that they may again go in the right channel. (2.) That he shall preach a doctrine that shall reach men's hearts, and have an influence upon them, and work a change in them. God's word, in his mouth, shall be quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Many had their consciences awakened by his ministry who yet were not thoroughly wrought upon, such a spirit and power was there in it. (3.) That he shall turn the hearts of the fathers with the children, and of the children with the fathers (for so some read it), to God and to their duty. He shall call upon young and old to repent, and shall not labour in vain, for many of the fathers that are going off, and many of the children that are growing up, shall be wrought upon by his ministry. (4.) That thus he shall be an instrument to revive and confirm love and unity among relations, and shall bring them closer and bind them faster to each other, by bringing and binding them all to their God. He shall prepare the way for that kingdom of heaven which will make all its faithful subjects of one heart and one soul (Acts iv. 32), which will be a kingdom of love, and will slay all enmities.

4. With what view he shall be sent on this errand: Lest I come and smite the earth, that is, the land of Israel, the body of the Jewish nation (that were of the earth earthy), with a curse. They by their impiety and impenitence in it had laid themselves open to the curse of God, which is a separation to all evil. God was ready to smite them with that curse, to bring utter ruin upon them, to strike home, to strike dead, with the curse; but he will yet once more try them, whether they will repent and return, and so prevent it; and therefore he sends John Baptist to preach repentance to them, that their conversion might prevent their confusion; so unwilling is God that any should perish, so willing to have his anger turned away. Had they universally repented and reformed, their repentance would have had this desired effect; but, they generally rejecting the counsel of God in John's baptism, it proved against themselves (Luke vii. 30) and their land was smitten with the curse which both it and they lie under to this day. Note, Those must expect to be smitten with a sword, with a curse, who turn not to him that smites them with a rod, with a cross, Isa. ix. 13. Now the axe is laid to the root of the tree, says John Baptist, and it is ready to be smitten, to be cut down, with a curse; therefore bring forth fruit meet for repentance. Some observe that the last word of the Old Testament is a curse, which threatens the earth (Zech. v. 3), our desert of which we must be made sensible of, that we may bid Christ welcome, who comes with a blessing; and it is with a blessing, with the choicest of blessings, that the New Testament ends, and with it let us arm ourselves, or rather let God arm us, against this curse. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen. <<<<

PREFACE

CHAP. IIII.

Verſe 1. FOR behold the day cometh] This Chapter ſhould not be divided from the former: for here Gods different dealing with the righteous and the wicked, propoſed in the former verſe, is further amplified by diverſe effects of Chriſts coming in the fleſh. And if any ask, ſaith an Interpreter, how this was veriſied of that his firſt coming? we anſwer, It was inchoative, and by way of preparation then: and ſhall be conſummate in the day of the laſt judgement, This day comprehendeth all that time that is called by the Apoſtle, the ends of the world, 1 Cor. 10.11. and the world to come, Heb. 2.5. all the adminiſtrations of Chriſts kingdome, from his Incarnation to the end of all things, which alſo is at hand, and, as it were, under view already, Behold, The day, that notable day, ſo long-looked for by the Jews, who boaſted of a Redeemer, and promiſed themſelves all poſſible comforts then: Tune [illegible: 1 letter]n[illegible: 1 letter]m Deus nos dignabitur clariſſima viſione, (ſaith Jachiades on Dan. 12.4.) tunc intelligemus res ipſas prout ſunt. Then ſhall we have a moſt clear viſion of things as they are, &c. Lo that day cometh: not ſuch a day as you imagined, but like that in Amos, A day of darkneſſe, and not light: even very dark, Am. 5.20. Dan. 3. Ezek 7.6. and no brightneſſe in it. A day that ſhall burn like an oven: Nebuchadnezzars oven, ſeven times more heated then it was wont. This day is come, the end is come, it watcheth for thee, behold it is come. It was fulfilled in part upon this people at the deſtruction of Jeruſalem by the Romans, and their miſerable exile ever ſince for their unbelief. Howbeit, all theſe are but the beginning of ſorrows: their preſent ſorrows but a typicall hell, the pile whereof is ſire and much wood, the breath of the Lord, like a ſtream of fire, doth kindle it. Iſa. 30 33. It is ſaid to be prepared for the devil and his angels, Mat. 25.41. as if the All-powerfull wiſdome did deliberate, and, as it were, ſit down and deviſe moſt tormenting temper, for that moſt formidable fire. The fire of the laſt day ſhall ſurely be very terrible, when all the world ſhall be on a light fire, and wicked men ſhall give account with flames about their ears, with the elements melting and falling like ſcalding lead, or burning bell-mettall on their heads. But all this will be but a ſhadow, or ſpark of that fire of hell, the ſmoke whereof aſcendeth for ever and ever, Rev. 19.3. Some have held the fie of hell to be no true materiall, and corporeall fire, but metaphoricall, qualem novit Deus. The moſt conſpire in the contrary Tenent: becauſe bodyes are to be puniſht by it.De civ. Dei lib. 21. c. 10. How ſpu its are alſo thus tormented as the rich gluttons Luk. 16. Auſtin ſits down and admires he myſtery: He tells us that for vehemency of heat, it exceeds our ſire, as far as ours doth fire that's painted on a wall. I would we had not cauſe to complain that preaching of hell is but as the painting of fire: which men can look on and handle without hurt or affrightment.Eſſe aliquos Manes Nec pueri credunt, niſi qui nondum are lavantur. Juven. Surely he that obſerves the impiety of this age, may ſay to us as Cato did to Caeſar, Credo, quae de info is dicuntur, falſa exiſtimas, I beleeve you think hell to be a very fable.

and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly &c.] Thoſe proud whom you pronounced happy chap. 3.15. becauſe jolly, and full of worldly proſperity, rich and renowned: thoſe workers of wickedneſſe whom you looked upon as ſet up, built upon a firm baſis: God ſhall abaſe every one that is lifted up, he ſhall repay the wicked-doer to his face Deut. 7.10. and into his boſom Eſay 65.6. What ever arrowes are in the bow-ſtring, will one day ſly and hit, and ſtrike deep. They ſhall be as ſtubble, ſaith the text, as ſtubble that is fully dryed Nah. 1.18. even when they be folden together as thorns. Who would ſet theſe briers and thorns againſt me in battle? ſaith the Lord: I would go thorough them, I would burn them together Eſay 27.4. Did he not deal ſo by Pharaoh, Senacherib, Herod, the Primitive perſecutours, &c? Thoſe mighty Magnifico's that here ſeemed fortes, ferrei, & aenei, ſtrong, and made up, as it were of braſſe and iron, ſhall appear to be but as ſtubble that cannot ſtand before Gods fire.

the day that cometh ſhall burn them up] Heb. ſhall ſo burn them ut flamma ex ipſis excitetur, as to ſet them aflame. Here Ghriſt burneth up his enemies with inviſible judgements, inward terrours and torments, pangs and plunges, a very hell in their conſciences, a fore-taſt of eternall torment, (as was to be ſeen in Belſhazzar, and our Rich. 3.) But what willthey do at the laſt day, when the law they ſhall be judged by is a fiery law Deut. 33.2. the tribunall of fire. Ezak. 1.27 the Judge a conſuming fire. Heb. 12.29. his attendants flaming Seraphims, his pleaing with ſinners in flames of fire 2 Theſſ. 1.7. the place of puniſhment, a lake of fire fed with a river of brimſtone Iſa. 30.33? what can be the fruit of ſuch a fiery proceeding but utter exciſion? Surely this fi[illegible: 1 letter]e will leave them neither root, nor branch.

Verſe 2. But unto you that fear my name What ſhall be the condition of gra[illegible: 2 letters]eſſe perſons, hath been ſaid already. Now for the righteous, that they have not ſerved God in vain, it ſhall well appear by the many benefits they ſhall reap and receive by Chriſt: five whereof are he[illegible: 1 letter]e recited. 1 Imputation of Chriſts righteouſneſſe; which is compared to the illightening of this lower world by the beames of the Sun. 2. Remiſſion of ſins, which is compared to the healing or diſeaſes. 3. Regeneration, which is likened to a ſick mans walking forth, when he is ſomewhat recovered. 4. Spirunall grouth, as calves of the ſtall. 5. Victory over all enemies corporall and ſpiritual, which ſhall be trodden under foot, as aſhes of the furnace ver. 3.

ſhall the Sun of righteouſneſſe ariſe] So Chriſt is called (as by other Prophets Iſa. Pſal. 84.11. 60.1, 2, 19. Luks 1.78. Ioh. 8.12.) to ſignific the joy of Gods elect at the ſight of him: as thoſe that have long layne in darkneſſe count it a Pleaſant thing to ſee the light. A Sun of righteouſneſſe he is ſaid to be. 1. As afferting and vindicaing the righteouſneſſe of God, called in queſtion by thoſe Blaſphemers 2. As beſtowing upon his people a double righteouſneſſe (Imputed and Imparted) as the Sun doth his light Ioh. 1.16. It is further ſaid here, that he ſhall ariſe, that is, he ſhall appear and ſhew himſelf on earth, who now lieth hid, as it were in heaven; as the materiall Sun doth under the Horizon. God was manifeſted is the ſteſh 1 Tim. 3.16. Manifeſted out of the boſom of his father, out of the womb of his mother, out of the types of the law &c. In his Nativity he came forth as the Sun doth, as a bridegroome out of his chamber. In the whole courſe of his life he rejoyced as a Gyant to run his race. He enlightened and warmed the dark and dry hearts of men, he filled them with the fruits of righteouſneſſe Ioh. 15.5. He could not be ſtay'd or ſtopped in his courſe: He made his goſpel to run and be glorified. He was and is ſtill in continuall motion for the good of his Church: as the Sun in heaven is for the good of the world. He went under a cloud in his paſſion, and brake forth again in his Reſurrection. From heaven he daily darts forth his beams of righteouſneſſe, and ſhowres down all ſpirituall bleſſings in heavenly priviledges Eph. 1.3. The Sun ſucks up foul water from the earth, drawes it up into the ayte, not to hold it there; but firſt purifies it, and then diſtilles it down again with a fattening and fructifying property. Hereupon the thankfull earth brings forth moſt fair and fragrant fruits and flowers &c. Semblably this [illegible: 1 letter]un of righteouſneſſe took on him our ſins and miſeries, ſordes noſtras induit, aſſumed our humane nature, not to retain it, and glorify it in himſelf alone,Philip. 1 10 but that we might be congloriſied, and, in the mean ſpace, filled with thoſe fruits of holineſſe, which are by Jeſus Chriſt unto the glory and praiſe of God. And as the Sun the nearer he runns to the earth, the weaker he is in operation (as in winter-time) But the higher in heaven, the more effectuall: So while Chriſt was not yet aſcended, the holy Ghoſt and his grace, were not in that full meaſure imparted, nor Churches gathered as afterwards Ioh. 7.39. Laſtly at that laſt and great day he will ſhew himſelf in ſpeciall manner a Sun of righteouſneſſe: clearing all obſcurities, bringing to light the hidden things of darkneſſe, cauſing his peoples moſt holy faith, that now lyes hid in great part, to be found to praiſe, honour and glory, Chearing up their ſpirits after manifold tribulations, healing all their ſpiritual maladies; for he comes with healing under his wings] and making them as ſo many Sampſons (whoſe name ſignifies, a little Sun) in the Noon of their full ſtrength.Ipſe eſt ergo neſter Apolle ſanitatis praeſes. A Lap. Soliſus. For the righteous ſhall ſhine as he Sun in the kingdome of their Father Mat. 13. I ſhall ſhat up this diſcourſe with that obſervation of an Ancient: When the Sun of righteouſneſs was yet in his Mothers womb, he might be ſaid to be in Virgo: when on the Croſs, in Taurus: when he roſe from death, in Leo: when he ſhall come again to judgement, in Libra. And as when the Sun is in Libra the day is of an equall length: ſo when Chriſt cometh, all ſhall be perfected.

with healing in his wings] that is, in his beames. This implies ſickneſſe in all, to whom Chriſt comes: the world being as it were a great Hoſpitall, or Neſoromium (though few feel it) and that true of every perſon that is ſpoke of the whole people Eſay 1.6. The whole head is ſick &c. O my head, my head, ſaid the Shunamites ſon: my belly, my belly, faith the Prophet, my leaeneſſe, my leaneneſſe &c. And ſurely it were happy if men would be more ſenſible of their malady, and make out to this Jehovah Rophe, this Almighty Phyſitian,Exod. 15.26. that wants neither will nor skill to cure all that come unto him. See him hanging out his tables as it were, and ſetting to ſale his eye-ſalve Rev. 3.18. for there he begins the cure Act. 26.18. Hear him. 1. Complaining of our dulneſſe, backwardneſſe, frowardneſſe Ior. 8.22. Ezech. 24.13. Hoſ. 7, 1. 2 Wiſhing we had more care of our poor ſoules. Oh that this people were wiſe &c. Why will ye dye? 3. Threatening Ezek. 24.13. 4. Promiſing Hoſ. 14.4. mat. 11.28. 5. Performing Pſal. 103.3. 2 Cron. 30.20. Laſtly providing all ſorts of phyſick for us preventing, purging, reſtoring, corroſives of the law, lenitives of the Goſpel, plaiſters of his on blood (for here Sanguis medici eſt curaio phrenetici) and requiring us no more but to come unto him (as they of old did to the brazen ſerpent) with ſorrow for ſin, and faith in his name, having a good opinion of our Phyſician, and caſting our ſelves wholy upon him for cure: Calling upon him, as blind Bartimaeus did, and crying out as that Martyr did at the ſtake, Son of God ſhine upon me; and immediatly the Sun ſhone out of a dark cloud ſo full in his face,Act. and Mor. fol. 1398. that he was conſtrained to look another way. What ſhall I ſay more? this bloſſed Sun of Righteouſneſſe muſt be ſought in the Weſt, if we will get the kingdome (as Strato's ſervant in Juſtin did by the adviſe of his maſter,Lib. 18. whom he had preſerved) upon the croſs I mean, and in the ſtate of his Abaſement: ſo ſhall we be ſure to finde healing in his wings, that is, the gracious influence of the holy Spirit convaying the vertue of Chriſts blood to the conſcience, as the beames of the Sun do the heat and influence thereof to the earth; thereby calling out the herbes and flowers, and healing thoſe deformities that winter had brought upon it.

and ye ſhall go forth] To ſhew that ye are thoroughly healed, ye ſhall riſe up and walk? Where the ſpirit is, there is liberty: live things love to be ſtirring:2 Cor. 3.17. and thoſe that are reſtored to health after ſickneſſe, are not ſatisfied till they can go about their buſineſſe in their accuſtomed ſtrength, Quod ſanitas in corpore, id ſanctitas in corde. Holineſſe is to the ſoul, what health is to the body. Let men [illegible: 1 span] out, that Chriſt Jeſus hath wrougtht a cure upon their ſoules, by being [illegible: 1 word] and [illegible: 1 span] in his work. Life conſiſts in action Eſ[illegible: 1 letter]y 38.16. O Lord by [illegible: 1 span] and in all the[illegible: 2 letters] things is the life or my ſpirit, ſaith Hezekiah: And, [illegible: 1 span] in them ſaith the Lord; as the fiſh lives in [illegible: 1 span] lives in the oyle, and as the creature by his food. Ʋp [illegible: 1 span]; Live betime, live quickly, and apace. Some men live [illegible: 1 span], then others in a moneth: as wi[illegible: 1 letter]e men ſpeak more in two words, [illegible: 1 span] two hundred, or as one piece of gold is more worth then twenty of [illegible: 1 span] what to do for God, as David did Pſal. 116.12. ſerve out your [illegible: 1 word] as he Act. 13.36. do not idle it out, wear out, do not waſt out: ſlame out,Hie ſuns eſt Vacla. [illegible: 1 span] out: burnout, be not blown out. Be not buried alive as [illegible: 1 span] out of the world ver. 23. as [illegible: 1 letter]acia in Seneca. Fall not from [illegible: 1 span], [illegible: 1 span] as leaves in Autumne, as that ſapleſſe fellow Nabal did: and as [illegible: 1 span] in Sr. Jude, Without fruit, twice [illegible: 1 word], pluckt uply the rootes. God expects that, [illegible: 1 word] firſt by him, we ſhould act as the inferiours do, when [illegible: 1 word] by the Superiour, that when he hath infuſed ſap, we ſhould fructifie, [illegible: 1 word] when he hath tuned u[illegible: 1 letter] and doth touch us, we ſhould make muſick, when he [illegible: 1 span] willing, he requires that we both will and work that which is [illegible: 1 span] When we ſet victuals before an hungry man, we expect he ſhould [illegible: 1 span] ſocking child to draw the breſt when it is once put to the [illegible: 1 span] as we uſe to ſay He that made us without us, doth [illegible: 1 span];2 [illegible: 1 span] but expects that our wills, which at firſt converſion were [illegible: 1 span], ſhould be after ward [illegible: 1 word] in adding to [illegible: 1 span] out our ſalvation with ſear and trembling Thil. [illegible: 1 letter].12. Here [illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 1 span] us, as our Saviou[illegible: 2 letters]d d[illegible: 1 letter]w[illegible: 1 letter] finiſh the work which [illegible: 1 span] to do [illegible: 1 word] 17.4. This work [illegible: 1 span] him with our bodyes [illegible: 1 span] it be [illegible: 1 span]. 1.19. Ye to glorifie him [illegible: 1 span] bodyes, and nour [illegible: 1 word], which [illegible: 1 word] Cor. 16.2.20. God ſelis [illegible: 1 letter]s [illegible: 1 word] of grace for ſweat, [illegible: 1 word] One. He gives it as [illegible: 1 word] gave Ruck corn, chap. 2.1[illegible: 1 letter], 16, 17. He could have given her at [illegible: 1 word] Ephah of [illegible: 1 word]; and it had been no more charge to him: but he will have her gather it, glean it, beat it out, uſe her endeavour, and that ſhould be the price ſhe ſhould pay for it. So here Gods people healed muſt go forth or leep about, uſe legs and have [illegible: 1 word] &c. This I had becauſe [illegible: 1 span]. 119.[illegible: 1 letter]6. What had he? [illegible: 1 word] an ability to keep Gods law ver. 55. he kept it: becauſe he kept it: [illegible: 1 word] every new act of obedience fits the ſoule for a following act [illegible: 1 span] And to you that hear ſhall be more given Mark. 4.24.

and grow up as calve[illegible: 1 letter] of the ſtall] ye ſhall battle and [illegible: 1 word] both in fleſh and fat, [illegible: 1 span]1 2. Ioh. 15.2. as [illegible: 2 letters]. David expound it: your [illegible: 1 word] ſhall be [illegible: 1 word] and [illegible: 1 word] as waters of the ſanctuary they ſhall uſe higher, as threes plant [illegible: 1 span] paradiſe, they ſhal bring ſo th[illegible: 1 letter]n[illegible: 1 letter]w fruit every moneth: acth [illegible: 1 span] ſhall ſhine more and more unto the perfect day Pro. 4.18.2 Tim. 3.13. when the [illegible: 1 span] growing worſe and worſe ſtumble in darkneſſe ver. 19. ſo that they lie down in for [illegible: 3 letters] Iſa. 50.10. Th[illegible: 2 letters] bleſſing on man in the firſt creation was increaſe and multiply: in the ſecond, Grow in grace Eſay 61.[illegible: 1 letter], 11. A Chriſtian hath his degrees of growth, and his ſeverall ages, of childhood, youth, o[illegible: 1 letter] will-grown age, full-grown, and old age 1 Ioh. 2.[illegible: 2 letters]. Theſe things write I unto you, that beleeve in the name of the Son of God, that ye may beleeve in the name of the Son of God, ſaith the ſame Apoſtle that is, that ye [illegible: 2 letters]a[illegible: 1 letter] grow in that [illegible: 1 word], as ye grow in dayes and: [illegible: 1 word], proceeding from faith to faith: as the Church in the Canticles hath her firſt light like the day dawning, her ſecond beauty like the Moon, her third degree like the Sun Cdnt. 6.10. A Chriſtian (though in ſome ſenſe perfect) yet hath he ſtill his Plus-ultra, and may take for Motto Charles the fifth his Ʋlterius Further yet: he muſt be ſtill adding grace to grace, that he may have on entiance further and further into Chriſts kingdome 2 Pet. 1.5. and 11. as by ſtep and ſtain they went up to Solomons temple. And the Apoſtle there gives us to underſtand, that thoſe that thus add not to their ſtock of grace ſhall have little comfort either from the time paſt, for they ſhall forget that they were purged from their ſins; or from thoughts of the time to come, for they ſhall not be able to ſee things farr off ver. 9. becauſe they delight not in high-flying as Eagles: their wings, as the Oſtriches, do little more then bear them above-ground. Many care for no more grace then will keep life and fool together, that is, foul and hell aſunder. This is a low and unworthy ſtrain, and comes not near that of St. Paul, who ſet up for his mark the reſurrection of the dead Phil. 3.10. that is, that perfection of holineſſe that accompanieth the refurrection. To the attaining hereunto he followed har[illegible: 1 letter]on, reaching forth, and ſtretching out head, hands, and whole body, to lay hold on the high prize propoſed unto him. ver. 12, 13, 14. and would have all men to be thus minded. Runners in a race look not how much they have run, but how much remameth: and although moderate in the beginning, (for hot at hand feldom holds out) yet the nearer they grow to the goal, the faſter the ſpeed their courſe; that their laſt dayes may be their beſt dayes: accounting that day loſt wherein they have not ſome ſenſible commings in from Chriſt; like as good huſbands in dead times when ſtirrings fail, are diſcontented, when they have had no takings.

Verſe 3. And ye ſhall tread down the wicked] Chriſt the Champion of his Church hath already won the field, and will ſhortly ſet his peoples feet upon the necks of all their enemies. The broken horns of Satan himſelf ſhall be the trumpets of their triumph and the cornets of their joy Rom. 16.20. See what honour all the ſaints have in this reſpect Pſal. 149.7, 8, 9. See what comfort Ioh. 16.33. See what conqueſts Rom. 8.37. How much more at the laſt day, when the thrones ſhall be ſet &c. Mat. 19.28. Rabbi David Kimchi, underſtands this text of temporall victories only. And no wonder, as being a Jew, and minding earthly things, he aſcends no higher. Such graſhoppers, if at any time they leap above the earth, they ſoon fall down to it again: and as they are of the earth, ſo they ſpeak of the earth, and the earth heares them. Ioh. 3.31. Petrus à Figuiero writing upon thoſe words in the former chapter ver. 12. For ye ſhall be a delightſome land, Nota modum loquendi, ſaith He: Mark that expreſſion, He ſaith not your land ſhall be a delightſome land, but ye ſhall be &c. Fortè exim tacitè Judaeos percellit terrameos vocando. It may be the Lord hereby cloſely meets with them for their earthly mindedneſſe: as thoſe that by promiſe of earthly bleſſings, were ſooneſt prevailed with to ſerve God, when as theſe ſhould have been but as ſteps or ſtirrops to mount their hearts up to a deſire of the things above. Victory in their ſenſe is doubtleſſe a ſpeciall mercy: and is ſo promiſed to the obedient Deut. 28.13. The Lord ſhall make thee the head only and not the taile: and thou ſhalt be above only, and not beneath &c. Hence the Iſraelites, delivered from the Egyptians at the red ſea, ſang The Lord is a man of warr Exod. 15.3. the Chaldee there hath it, The Lord and Victour of Warrs. The Grecians delivered from the Perſians (vanquiſhed and driven out by Themiſtocles) called their Jupiter, thereupon [non-Latin text not transcribed] The Deliverer. It was the thankfull acknowledgement of Generall, Captaines, and ſouldiers at Edge-hill-fight, that the Lord was ſeen in the Mount, Never leſſe of man in ſuch a buſineſſe, never more of God. But what ſhall it proſit a man to conquer countries,2 Tim. 2.26. and yet be vanquiſhed of vices? to tread upon his enemies, and yet be taken captive by the devill at his pleaſure? to command the whole world, as thoſe Perſian kings, and yet were commanded by their concubines, ſo by their baſe luſts, by yeelding whereunto they give place unto the very devill, and receive him into their very boſomes Eph. 4.26. who therehence leads them away naked and barefoot, as the Aſſyrian did the Egyptians Iſa. 29.2. How much better Valentinian the Emperour, who ſaid upon his deathbed that among all his victories over his enemies this one only comforted him, viz. that by the grace and power of Chriſt Jeſus he had got the better of his corruptions, and was now more then a Couquerour, even a Triumpher.

for they ſhall be aſhes under the ſoles of your feet] Even the aſhes of that ſtubble burnt in Chriſts oven Verſe 1. This ſhewes their utter and ignominious deſtruction. And the like is foretold of myſticall Babylon Rev. 18. Tota eris in cineres quaſi nunquam Roma fuiſſes, ſang Sibylla of old. Fiat, Fiat. Our corruptions alſo ſhall one day be incinerated (they are already buried Rom. 6.4. Col. 2.12.) the fiery ſpirit of Chriſt will do with the body of ſin, as the King of Moab did with the King of Edom Am. 2.1. burn its bones into lime.

In the day that I ſhall do this] ſc. partly here, but perfectly at the laſt day. Mean while ſinne may rebel in Gods people, but it cannot raigne. Satan may nibble at their heele, but he cannot come at their head: the world may kill them, but cannot hurt them: Re of good chear, ſaith Chriſt, I have overcome the world, Joh. 16.33. All evils and enemies ſhall cooperate for their good, Rom. 8.28.

ſaith the Lord of Hoſts] Who hath alſo ſaid, Heaven and earth ſhall paſſe, but not one jot or tittle of my word &c.

Verſe 4. Remember ye the law of Moſes] viz. Now henceforth, in the fail of Prophecy, for Malachy knew, that after him untill the dayes of John Baptiſt, no Prophet ſhould ariſe. Hence this exhortation, to read and remember the Law, as leading them to Chriſt: the Law I ſay in all the parts of it; not excluding the Prophets, thoſe Interpreters of the Law, and moſt excellent Commentaries thereupon, with like reverence to be read and received. The Jews at this day read in their Synagogues two leſſons: One out of the Law, by ſome chief perſon, another out of the Prophets correſpondent to the former in argument, but is read by ſome boy, or mean companion: for they will in no ſort do that honour, neither attribute they that authority to any part of the Bible, that they do to their Law. But this their way is their folly: Pſal. 49.13 yet their poſterity opprove their ſayings, as the Pſalmiſt ſpeaketh in another caſe. Two things offer themſelves to our obſervation from theſe firſt words. Firſt, the little coherence that this verſe hath with the former: the Prophet chuſing rather to fall abruptly upon this moſt needfull, but too too much neglected duty of remembring the Law, then not at all to mention it. See the like Rom. 16.17. where the Apoſtle breaks off his ſalutations, to warne them of their danger by ſeducers: and that done, returns thereto again. Secondly, In the Hebrew word rendred Remember, Buxtorf. in Comment. Mafor. c. 14. there is in many Bibles, a great Zain: to ſhew, as ſome think, the neceſſity and excellency of this duty of remembring the law of Moſes. It is well enough known, that ſince the fall mans ſoul is like a filthy pond, wherein fiſh die ſoon, and frogs live long: profane matters are remembred, pious paſſages forgotten. Our memories are like ſieves, or nets, that retain chaffe and palterment, let go the good grain, or clear water: Gods word [illegible: 1 letter]uns thorough us, as water runs thorough a riven veſſell And as hour-glaſſes, which no ſooner turned up and filled, but are preſently running out again to the laſt ſand, ſo is it here. And yet the promiſe of ſalvation is limitted to the condition of keeping in memory what we have read or heard, 1 Cor. 15.2. And Davids character of a bleſſed man is, that he meditateth in the Law day and night.Pſal 1.2 Hoc primum re[illegible: 1 letter]etens opus,Nor. ep. 6. hoc poſtremus omittens. Biſhop Babington had a little Book, containing three leaves onely, which he turned over night and morning. The firſt leaf was black, to inminde him of hell and Gods judgements due to him for ſinne: The ſecond rod, to minde him of Chriſt and his paſſion: The third white, to ſet forth Gods mercy to him through the merits of his Son. in his Juſtification and sanctification. The Law of the Lord, as it is perfect in it ſelf, ſo it is right for all holy purpoſes, Pſal. 19.[illegible: 1 letter], 8 It ſerves to diſcover ſinne, Rom. 3.20. and 7.9. ſhews the puniſhment due to ſinne, Gal. 3.10. ſcourgeth men to Chriſt, Gal. 3.24. And is a perfect rule of obedience: it being ſo penned that every man maythink it ſpeaks de ſe, in re ſ[illegible: 1 letter]a, as [illegible: 1 letter]thaneſivs ſaith of the book of Pſalms: and muſt therefore be of all acknowledged to be [non-Latin text not transcribed], Gods own invention.Demoſt. Moſes was but the Pen-man onely, though it be here called his Law: becauſe God gave him the Morall Law written with his own hand, Deut. 10.2. adding it to the promiſe made to Abraham, that thereby guilt being diſcovered, &c. men might acknowledge the riches of free-grace, and mercy: and that they might walk (as Luther hath it) in the heaven of the promiſe, Gal. 3.19 but in the earth of the law: (that, in reſpect of beleeving, this of obeying) that they might live as though there were no Goſpel, die as though there were no Law, paſſe the time of this life in the wilderneſſe of this world under the conduct of Moſes, but let none but Joſhuah (Jeſus) bring them over to Canaan the promiſed land. This the generality of the Jews could not skill of, (though the Morall-law drove them to the Ceremoniall, which was then, Chriſt in figure, as it doth now drive us to Chriſt in truth) they would needs have Moſes for a Saviour: and being ignorant of Gods righteouſneſſe (wilfully ignorant) they go about to eſtabliſh their own, Rom. 10.3. and ſo loſe all. They jear at an imputed righteouſneſſe; and ſay, That every fox muſt pay his own skin to the fleare. They blaſpheme Jeſus Chriſt, and curſe him in a cloſe abbreviature of his name; and call thoſe among them that convert to Chriſtianity Mtſhumadim, that is loſt, or undone. Buxtorf ſyn. Jud. cap. 5. Schicard. de jure reg. Jiebr Moſes Law they extoll without meature: It muſt not be written on any parchment but what is made of the skin of a clean beaſt: nor read but in a clean place. No man muſt touch it but with the right hand, and not without a kiſſe of reverence (they uſually carry it in proceſſion about their ſynagogue, with many ornaments of crowns and ſcepters, the children kiſſing it as it paſſeth by them) No man muſt ſit in the preſence of it, nor ſo much as ſpet before it, &c. Whereas the Goſpel of grace they utterlly reject, and abominate, as a Volume of vanity: That Italian Tranſlation that they had of the New Teſtament, is called in, and taken from them,Evangel[illegible: 3 letters] Aven gelaion Eliah in Theſh Rad gillaion. Bux[illegible: 1 letter]orf syne[illegible: 1 letter]. cap. 1 p. 4. for their horrible abuſe of it: this being ſtill the twelfth Article of their Creed; I believe with a perfect faith, that the Meſſiah is yet to come. No marvell if the Apeſtle would not have us ignorant, that blindneſſe in part is happened to Iſrael, Rom. 11.23. That leſſer part, or rather particle of them that are proſelyted to our religion, they pretend that they are none other then poor Chriſtians hired to perſonate their part.Voyage into Levant. And yet they give compleat diſpenſation to counterfeit Chriſtianity, even to the degree of Prieſthood. In the day of their expiation their Rabbi doth abſolve them from all their perjuries and deceits uſed againſt Chriſtians. He alſo aſſures them that they are not bound to keep any oath but what is ſworn upon their own Torah, or Law of Moſes, brought out of their Synagogue;Weemſe. to the reading whereof they depute one third part of their day: and wherein they are generally ſo expert, that they have it as ready as their own names. The miſchief of it is,Facilius qu[illegible: 2 letters] nomen ſoum recitat Joſeph. Cont Appion. lib. 2. that they are too much affixt to it, and will needſly be ſaved by it; which the Law cannot do for them, as being weak through the fleſh, Rom 8 3. The Law is a yoke of bondage, as Hierome calleth it: and they who look for righteouſneſſe from thence, are like oxen who coil and draw, and when they have done their labour, are fitted for ſlaughter. Luther fitly calleth ſuch drudges, the devils Martyrs: they ſuffer much, and take much pains to go to hell. And in another place he ſaith, Qui ſcit inter Logem & Evangelium diſting siere, grati[illegible: 2 letters] agat Dto, & ſciat ſe eſſe Theologum. He that can rightly diſtinguiſh between Law and Goſpel, hath cauſe to praiſe God: and may well paſſe for a Divine.

Moſes my ſervant] A farre higher title then Sonne of Pharaohs daughter: for this was to be Pharaohs God, Exod. 7.1. and higher then the kings of the earch, Pſal. 89.27. No marvell though Moſes ſo eſteemed it: [non-Latin text not transcribed]. when N[illegible: 3 letters]t king of Romans an Heathen did: and Auguſtus the Emperou[illegible: 1 letter], c[illegible: 2 letters]igratius fuit [illegible: 1 word] pietatis quam poteſtatis, ſaith Tertultian, he preſerred prety before Monarchy: ſo did thoſe three ſucceeding Emperours, C[illegible: 2 letters]ſtantine, [illegible: 1 word] and [illegible: 1 word], who called themſelves Vaſſallos Chriſti, the vaſſals of Christ, as [illegible: 1 word] reporteth. It was noted, as a great both preſage and deſert of D[illegible: 2 letters]ins his ruine, when in his proud Embaſſie to Alexanaer he called himſelf the King of kings, and Couſin of the gods: but for Alexander, he called him his ſervant. That was worſe in John Oneal, father to the Earl of Tirone, that rebell, Anno 1398 who blaſphemouſly inſcribed himſelf in all places: 1 great John Oneal, Couſin to Chriſt, friend to the Queen of England, and foe to all the world &c.Camd Eliz. 2 Pet. 2 What big b[illegible: 1 letter]bbles of words were theſe, as Peter calls them? His pretended Succeſſour ſtileth himſelf the ſervant of Gods ſervants: and one day in the yeer, in an apiſh imitation of our Savtour, waſheth certain mens feet. But he acteth as Domin[illegible: 1 letter]s [illegible: 2 letters]gnorum mun[illegible: 1 letter]i, which is one of the Devils titles: and can endure to be called by his Paraſites. Dominus Deus noſter Papa: Our Lord God the Pope. Moſes held it honour enough to be the ſervant of the Lord, and yet he was Vir D[illegible: 1 letter]o longe acceptiſſimus quo [illegible: 1 word] habuit antiqua aetas, mitius, ſapientius, ſanctius, highly accepted in heaven, and the moſt meek, wiſe, and holy man that Antiquity ever had or mentioned, as Bellarmine himſelf acknowledgeth.

which I commanded him in Horeb] Moſes then was not the Law-maker, (as Solon, Lycurgus, Zaleucus, &c.) but onely Gods Miniſter to utter what he would have him deliver; or, at utmoſt, a Mediatour, Gol. 3.19. not of expiation (for ſo Chriſt onely) but of communication of the Law to all Iſrael, Exod. 20.19. wherein he was faithfull in all Gods houſe as a ſervant, Hob. 3.5. Famulus inginuus, a ſervant of the better ſort, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. a man of worſhip, as the word there ſeemeth to import. The place where Moſes received the Law is mentioned, Horeb (the ſame with Sinai, Act. 7.30. Exod. 19.1, 18.) to inmind them of the terrour of the Lord on that mountaine, when God came down upon it with ten thouſand of his Saints:Deut. 33.2 from his right hand went a fiery law for them, Heb. a fire of law. And ſurely that fire wherein the law was given, and ſhall one day be required, is in it ſtill, and will never out. Hence are thoſe terrours, which it flaſhth in every conſcience that hath felt remorſe of ſinne. Every mans heart is an Horeb: and reſembleth to him both heaven and hell. The ſting of death is ſin, and the ſtrength of ſin is the Law, 1 Cor. 15.

to all Iſrael] And it is reckoned as a ſingular priviledge to that people, Neh. 9.14. Rom. 9.4. Proſpers conceit was, that Judaei were ſo called becauſe they received Jus Dei, the Law of God. Joſephus calleth their Common-wealth a Theocratie, or God-government. That of Philo is not ſo ſolid, that their law was given in a wilderneſſe, becauſe it is to be learned in a wilderneſſe, ſeeing there we cannot be hindered by the multitude. But what a wretched conceit is that of the Jews at this day, that the law of Nature ſhall bring to heaven thoſe that obſerve it: but the Hebrews (unto whom the Law of Moſes was peculiarly given) by keeping it, ſhall have a prerogative of glory? How ſhall the Lion of the tribe of Judah roar upon them at that day, and ſay, Do not think that I will accuſe you: there is one that accuſeth you, Joh. 5.45. even Moſes in whom ye truſt. Get you to him whom ye have choſen: but cold comfort ye are like to have from him: a very froward generation he ever found you, children in whom is no faith, Deut. 33.20.

with the ſtatutes and judgements] that is, with the Ceremoniall and Judiciall Law. But what meant that falſe Rabbin to adde to this Text theſe following words, Quamdiù non venit dies ju[illegible: 1 letter]icy; R. David. Till the day of judgement comes: as if men were bound till then to the obſervation of the ceremoniall and judiciall Law? But it is ordinary with thoſe Jew-Doctours to corrupt the Text for their own purpoſe; adding, and altering at their pleaſure. The judiciall law was fitted to the jews, and was the beſt that they could ſuffer, as Solon ſaid of the Athenian Lawes. The ceremoniall law was their Goſpel, pointing them to Chriſt: and therefore aboliſhed by him, as having no uſe in the Church after his death, but by accident. As for the Morall law, (called here by an excellency the Law of Moſes) it is eſtabliſhed for ever in heaven: Pſal 119.89 and albeit ſome duties of certain commandements ſhall ceaſe when we come to heaven, yet the ſubſtance of every one remaineth. This perpetuity of the morall law was noted by engraving of it in ſtone, Exod. 34.27 2 Cor. 3.7. The Jewshave a ſaying, That God hath more reſpect to the letters of the Law, then to the ſtars of heaven,Mat. 5. And Chriſt either alludes to, or confirms it in that ſaying of his, Heaven and earth ſhall paſſe before one jot or tittle of the Law paſſe. Think not that I am come to deſtroy the Law (viz. the Morall Law) or the Prophets, who preſſe Morall duties, as explainers of the law: they do as it were unfold and draw out that Arras which was folded together before. Theſe therefore together with the Law of Moſes muſt be daily and duely read and remembred.Lege Melachim meum; meum, inquam meum: quicquid enim didicimus & tenemus noſtrum eſt. rolog in lib. Reg. Scripturas ſanctas memoriter tenebat. His rom calls the books of Kings his own; becauſe by the frequent uſe and reading of them, he had got them by heart, and as it were made them his own. Of Paula he teſtifieth, that ſhe had moſt of the Scriptures by heart. Of Nepotian likewiſe, that with daily reading and continuall meditation he had made his heart Bibliothecam Chriſti, the Library of Chriſt. See my True Treaſure. pag. 315.

Verſe 5. Behold, I will ſend you Elijab the Prophet] Not Elijah the Thishite, as the Septuagint corruptly read: and the Popiſh Expoſitours make no ſmail uſe of it, to prove that the Pope is not Antichriſt, becauſe Enoch and Elias are not yet come, and yet are to come in his time, before the day of judgement (as they ſondly fable) to preſerve the Elect in the faith of Chriſt, and to convert the Jews. But we have better Interpreters of this Text. 1. An Angel, who applies it to Iohn Baptiſt, Luk. 1.17. 2. Chriſt, that Angel of the Covenant, Mat. 17.10, 11 and 11.14. Hear ye him, againſt all Antichriſts Agitatours. Saint Mark begins his Goſpel with theſe very words of Malachy: to let us know, that this Elias is the Baptiſt, who is called Eliah the Prophet, becauſe of the like gifts, calling, and miniſtery, office of reforming habit, people with whom they dealt, &c. The like almoſt may be ſaid of Lather, a third Elias for boldneſſe, courage, zeal, knowledge, ſucceſſe, &c. But yet we ſee no footing in this Text for Lucas Oſianders conceit, viz. that the Prophet here pointed at Luther as well as at John Baptiſt: and that men muſt receive his Doctrine, or elſe look to be ſmitten with a curſe. Howbeit this is more paſſable and poſſible then that of the Jeſuites, who preſume to controul Chriſts own Expoſition: and give out, that as the Devil ſtirred up Luther to call the Pope Antichriſt. ſo God raiſed up them to reſiſt Luther. But what a mad fellow was that Spaniard (of whom Severus Sulpitius writeth) that profeſſed himſelf firſt, to be the Prophet Eliah, and afterward when he had gained authority,Lib. 1 de vita S. Martini fere in calce. to be The Chriſt: carrying himſelf ſo cunningly in his colluſion, that Biſhop Ruffus was led away with the errour, beleeving in him, and adoring him as God: for which he was juſtly deprived of his dignity? Had we not need receive the truth in the love of it, leſt God give us up to the efficacy of errour, 2 Theſſ. 2.10.? leſt being firſt infatuated, we be ſeduced, and then being ſeduced we be damned, as Auſtin gloſſeth on that Text?

before the coming of the great and dreadfull day of the Lord] Great, in reſpect of the good, and dreadfull, or horrible, in reſpect of the wicked, as Montanus interprets it, paralelling it with Mat. 3.12. Or, great, becauſe it ſhall be a beginning of great changes, both to the godly and the ungodly: and dreadfull to the bad, yea and to the beſt alſo at firſt; till they have recollected and better bethought themſelves, as Another ſenceth it; as taking it of the laſt day, which is the generall miſtake of Popiſh Expoſitours, and that upon this ground, becauſe Chriſts firſt coming was an acceptable time, and a day of ſalvation. But though it be ſo to Gods people, yet to others it was terrible, as hath been ſhewed in the Note on Chip. 3. verſe. 2. and is ſo deſcribed Luke 2.34. and 3.9, 17. and 19.44. Mat. 21.44. Eſay 11.4. He ſhall ſmite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with his two-edged ſword he ſhall ſlay the wicked. See the like, R[illegible: 1 letter]v. 2.16. And by his Miniſters he doth it ſtill, 2 Theſ. 2.8. 2 Cor. 2.15, 16. 2 Cor. 10.6. Vengeance is as ready in Chriſts hand as in the Miniſters mouth, for the diſobedient. Some read the words thus, Before the day of the great and dreadfull Lord come: like as others read that Jam. 2.1. Have not the glorious faith of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt in respect of perſons, Both readings are good, and the Text will bear both.

Verſe 6. And he ſhall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, &c.] John Baptiſts office and efficacie is here deſcribed; He ſhall, as a powerfull inſtrument (by preaching repentance, Mat. 3.2. and prevailing, as he did, with all ſorts, even to admiration; ſo that all men muſed in their hearts, whether he were the Chriſt or not, Luke 3.10, 12, 14, 15.) convert ſinners from the errours of their way, reduce them to the faith of the old Patriarches, make them unanimous in the love of God and of one another, and tye them up together, as it were, by his Baptiſme. For the multitude of beleevers were of one heart and one ſoul, Act. 4.32. (animo animaque inter ſe miſcebantur, as Tertullian phraſeth it) neither was there any controverſie at all amongst them, as One ancient Greek copy ſubjoyneth there. Controverſies there were great ſtore among the Jews, when the Baptiſt came. As Joſeph found his brethren in Dothan, (which ſignifieth Defection) ſo did he. They were all gone out of the way: and, being led aſide by the errour of the wicked, they were fallen from their own ſtedfaſtneſſe. Many ſtrange opinions and dotages they had taken up, and were wofully divided: ſpecially by thoſe three different Sects, Phariſees, Sadduces, and Eſſenes: which the Prophet Zachary calleth three ſhepherds, that were to be deſtroyed in one moneth, at Johns coming, Zach. 11.8. The Phariſees were held the beſt of thoſe three, ſi ad legem respexeris, ſaith Tremellius, if you look to the law: and Saint Paul, who was once a Phariſee of the Phariſees, calleth them the moſt ſtricteſt Sect of the Jewiſh religion, Act. 26.5. (like thoſe diſtrict ſſimi Monachi among the Papiſts:) and yet there were ſeven ſorts of Phariſees,Talm. tract. Suta. cap. 3. as we find in their Talmud. Hence much alienation of affection amongſt them, and great animoſities: father hating ſonne, and ſonne father, for truths ſake, as Mat. 10.35. So powerfull ſhould John be in his Miniſtery, that although the leproſie were gotten into their heads, and were therofore held incurable Lev. 13.44. yet he ſhould tuen the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the diſobedient to the wiſdome of the juſt, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1.17. All head-ſtrong and b[illegible: 1 letter]uti[illegible: 1 letter]h affections ſhould be calmed and corrected, as Iſa. 21.6, 7, 8. and the peaceable v. iſdome from above in[illegible: 1 letter]tilled lam. Eph. 4.3. 3.17. ſo that they ſhall indeav[illegible: 1 letter]ur to keep the unity of the ſpirit in the bond of peace. And albeit ſome jarrs may fall out (a betwixt Paul and Barnabas) yet Gods people can ſoon pecce again, and reunite.Job. Worver. in Polymath. Ʋt [illegible: 1 word] percuſſus non laeditur, into no dividitur quid[illegible: 1 letter]m, ſed reſundit [illegible: 1 letter]eſ[illegible: 1 letter], & ſpiſſior redit &c. As the ayre divided by a ſtone or ſtroke, ſoon cloſeth and thickencth the more. Certainly, there is no ſuch oneneſſe, and entireneſſe any where as among the ſaints: their love is ſpirituall Cant. 6.9. The very Heathen[illegible: 1 letter] acknowledged that no people in the world, did hold together and love one another ſo as Chriſtians did. Tacitus obſerveth of the Jews, that there was miſericordia in promptu apud ſuos, but contra om[illegible: 2 letters]s alios hoſtile odium, mercy enough for their own countreymen amongſt them, but hoſtile hatred againſt all others: they uſe to ſay, that there is no Gentile but deſerves to have his head bruiſed &c. But John Baptiſt by hi[illegible: 1 letter] preaching made Jewiſh Phariſees, and Roman ſoubliers (according to the phraſe that Joſephus uſeth of him) to convent, and knit together in baptiſ[illegible: 1 letter]ne. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Anti[illegible: 1 letter]dib. 18. cap 7.

[illegible: 1 word] I conte and ſinite the earth with a curſe] that is, leſt coming I ſmite &c. For there is no doubt to be made of his coming: and as little of his ſmiting, if men amend not. Theſe words menace as many as reſiſted Iohns miniſtry, with utte[illegible: 1 letter] deſtruction; whether it be done againſt the whole nation, or againſt a m[illegible: 2 letters] only. Iob 34.29. The Romans came and took amay both their place and their Nation: not for le[illegible: 2 letters]ng Chriſt alone (as they feared Iob. 11.48.) but for laying wicked hands upon him, and putting to death the Lorn or life. Act. 2.23. Iohn alſo preached damnation to them Mat 3. and ſo did our Saviour A[illegible: 1 letter]at. 23. where by eight dreadfull woes, as by ſo many links of an adamantine chain, he drawes choſe irreformable hypoerites down to hell, their place: and th[illegible: 1 letter]n l[illegible: 1 letter]aves them to be reſerved unto judgement. S. Jerome wa[illegible: 1 letter] called [illegible: 1 span] the Churchthunderbolt. Mr. Perkins was a moſt ca[illegible: 2 letters]ſt preacher, and would pr[illegible: 1 letter]n unce the word Damne with ſuch an Emphaſis, M. Fullers Holy State 90. as leſt a [illegible: 1 span] in his Auditouts eares a good while after. And when, Catechiſt of Chriſt-co[illegible: 2 letters]eage, [illegible: 1 word] p[illegible: 1 letter]unding the commandernents he applyed them ſo home, that he made his hearers hearts ſall down, and their hairs to ſtand opright almoſt. And ſurely this [illegible: 1 word] the way to work upon hard-harted ſinners: whence the Apoſtle bids T[illegible: 1 letter]ns rebuke with all aut[illegible: 1 letter]o[illegible: 1 letter]ty: and then turning him to the people (as Carvin ſ[illegible: 3 letters]th it) chang th [illegible: 2 letters]em not to deſpiſe him for ſo doing. Tit. 1.15. The Apeille knew well that men are, for moſt part, of delicate eares: and can [illegible: 1 word] abide plain dealing. Ahab hates Mic[illegible: 1 letter]iah, and hath him in priſon, ever ſince that creadſull denunciation of diſpleaſore and death, for diſmiſſing Benhadad (for he was, probably, that diſguiſed P[illegible: 1 letter]ophet:) for which he was ever ſince ſaſt in priſ[illegible: 1 letter]n, deep in diſgrace. But truth muſt be ſpoken, how ever it be [illegible: 2 letters]ken: and thoſe that will not be pricked at heart as Act. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 2. [illegible: 1 letter]ut take up bucklers to ward oſſ the blow, muſt have the ſword of the ſpirit ſheathed in their bowels, and b[illegible: 1 letter]thed in their blood: for mall this we are a ſweet ſavour unto God 2 Cor. 2.15. yea though a ſavour of death unto death. The barren earth muſt be ſmitten with cu[illegible: 1 letter]ſing, and they that minde earthly things (Terra autem ſunt, qui terrona ſapiunt, ſai[illegible: 2 letters] A ſbon) have damnation for their end, De civ Deil. 20. c. 29. ſo that St. Paul cannot ſpeak of them [illegible: 1 word] teares of comp[illegible: 1 letter]ssion Philip. 3.18, 19. Oh that it might expreſſe from them teares of compunction! Oh that they would be forewarned to ſlee from the wrath to come ! Oh that they would think upon eternity, and by breaking [illegible: 1 letter]f[illegible: 1 letter] their ſins, diſarme Gods indignation juſtly conceived againſt them. He therefore threateneth that he may not ſmite: he proceed, not to puniſh till there be no remedy 2 Chron. 36.16. Crudelem medicum intemperans aeger ſacit: An un[illegible: 2 letters]ly patient makes a cruell Phyſician. O that we could all reſolve to deal by our ſins as Levis King of Fiance did by the Popes Bulls (whereby he required the fruits of vacancies of all Cathedrall Churches of France,Speed. 496. about the year 1152.) he caſt them into the fire, ſaying, he had rather the Popes Bulls ſhould reſtin the fire, then his own ſoul ſhould fiy in heil.

For a percloſe of all, take an obſervation of Amamas, and before him of Baxtorfes: that in many Hebrew Bibles, the laſt verſe ſave one of this Propeſy (as alſo of Eccleſiaſtes, Iſaiah, and Lamentations) is repeated again in the end thereof, though without pricks, leſt any thing ſhould be thought added to Gods word. Factum hoc ex Scriharum decreto &c. This the ſcribes thought fit to do, either for the dignity of thoſe repeated verſes, that the Reader might again ruminate and remind them: or elſe (as ſome will have it) becauſe all thoſe bookes end in threatenings and ſad ſpeeches. And therefore, leſt the Sun of Righteouſneſſe ſhould ſeem to ſet in a cloud, or not to ſhine upon the departing paſſenger, they thought ſit to leave the verſe before to be laſt; as being ſweet and full of comfort, that the Reader might Sampſon-like, goe his way, feeding on that hony-comb.