John Trapp on Amos 3:7

Verſe 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing,] i. e. Hardly any thing. He lo-veth to foreſignifie, to warn before he wound: and this meerly out of his Philanthropie. Howbeit ſometimes, and in ſome caſes, he is more ſudden and ſtill in his revenges: that he may thereby, Firſt maintain his honour and glory, the eyes whereof are by ſome ſinnes extraordinarily provoked, as Acts 12.23. And ſecondly, to teach men not to continue in ſinne, no not for a moment: ſith they may bee preſently cut off from all further time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever: This made Auſtin ſay, that he would not be an Atheiſt, no not one half hour, to gain all the world. See Luke 17.32. and 12.20. Pharaoh had warning of the firſt and ſecond plagues, not ſo of the third: and again, of the fourth and fifth, but not of the ſixth: and yet again, of the ſeventh and eight, but not of the ninth. And when neither warning, nor no-warning would do good, then came that ſweeping plague; Tandem prototocos ultima plaga necat.

But he revealeth his ſecret to his ſervants the Prophets.] Gods Prophets then are his meniall ſervants: not his underlings, or inferiour hinds, but of nobleſt employment about him. Every faithfull Miniſter is ſervant to the king of heaven (Act. 27.23. whoſe I am, and whom I ſerve: this the Devil denied not, Act. 16.16, 17.) yea his Steward Embaſſadour, Herald (as here) by whom he proclaims warre, but firſt proffers pardon, and propoſes conditions of peace. A practiſe uſuall, not onely among the people of God, by his appointment, Deut. 20.10. but alſo among the Heathens, as Hiſtories informe us. The Romans had their Lex Facialis: by their Heralds they ſent to ſuch as had wronged them, Caduceum & Haſtam, as Enſignes of peace and warre, that within thirty dayes they might take their choice: within which time, if they did them not right, the Herald preſently denounced warre againſt them, caſting forth a dart in token thereof. Alexanders courſe was; when he ſat down before a city, to ſet up a torch: to ſhew that if they would come in, and ſubmit before that torch were burnt out, they ſhould have hearing. Tamerlan hang'd out firſt a white flag, then a red, and laſtly a black. And the Turks at this day,Turk. hist. 344. firſt make to their enemies ſome offer of peace; how unreaſonable ſoever it matters not. Gods offers in this kinde are all of grace, and for our good. If it were otherwiſe, what need he give warning? and why doth he not as Abſalom did; when, intending to murther Amnon, hee ſpake neither good nor evil to him? Well might the Lord ſay, Fury is not in me, O Iſrael, thou haſt deſtroyed thy ſelf. As I live, I deſire not the death of a ſinner, &c. If he did, why might he not ruſh ſuddenly upon ſuch and confound them at once, as he did the reprobate Angels, even in the very act and firſt moment of their ſinne? Why comes he firſt in a ſoft ſtill voyce, when he might juſtly thunder-ſtrike us? and why ſendeth hee his Heralds to proclaime warre, but yet with articles of peace and reconciliation open in their hands?Chryſoſt. Why was He but ſix dayes in making the world, and yet ſeven dayes in unmaking and deſtroying one city, Jericho? Was it not to ſhew that the Lord is mercifull and gracious, ſlow to anger, and of great kindneſſe? And this he hath commanded his Prophets to make known,Pſal. 103.8. that the goodneſſe of God may lead men to repentance. As, if they turn his grace into wantonneſſe, and pervert his patience to preſumption,Rom. 2.4. their commiſſion is to declaim againſt ſuch practiſes with all authority, Tit. 2.15. and to proclaim hell-fire, in caſe men amend not. Neceſſity is laid upon them ſo to do, and wo be to them if they preach not law as well as Goſpel; that when they return up their commiſſion, they may report the matter, ſaying, Behold we have done as thou haſt commanded us, Ezek. 9.11. True it is, that perverſe people queſtion the Prophets, and quarrell them for this plaindealing: as Ahab did Eliah for a troubler of Iſrael, and Amaziah our Prophet Amos, for a trumpetter of rebellion. But this is as great folly, as if ſome fond people ſhould accuſe the herald, or the trumpet as the cauſe of their warre: or as, if ſome ignorant peſant, when he ſeeth his fowls bathing in his pond, ſhould cry out of them, as the cauſes of foul weather.