John Trapp on Amos 3:5

Verſe 5. Can a bird fall in a ſnare upon the earth, &c? Think you, that all things are carried here by blind fortune, and not by a particular providence, as if —mundo nullus ineſſet, Rector, & incert[illegible: 1 letter] fluerent mortalia caſu? Will you ſay of the evils you have ſuffered, in the language of Aſhdod;1 Sam. 6.9. 1 Cor. 10. It is a chance? Is that Heathen-Idol Fortune any thing in the world, more then a blaſphemie, ſpued out by the devil againſt the divine providence? Can a ſparrow fall to the ground, or any the leaſt bird into a ſnare upon the earth, without your heavenly Father, Matth. 10.29. Birds flying ſeeme to be at liberty; yet are guided by an over-ruling hand. They fall ſometimes into a gin: and do not you thereupon conclude, that ſome fowlers hand is in it? Lo you are inſnared, and inſnarled by your enemies: and can you not diſcern that it is the Lord who hath done it? Lam. 3.37, 38. Act. 17.25, 28. Eccleſ. 9.12. For man knoweth not his time (nor his chance, ver. 11.) as the fiſhes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the ſnare, ſo are the ſons of men ſnared in an evil time, when it falleth ſuddenly (but providentially) upon them.

Or ſhall one take up a ſnare from the earth, &c.] No wiſe fowler will take up his nets, till he have gotten his prey: No more will God withdraw his hand, or call off the enemy and the avenger, till he have his deſigne: till he hath either reformed or ruined you.