John Trapp on Hosea 4:18

Verſe 18. Their drink is ſowre] That is, they are paſt grace, and it is now paſt time a day to do them good: for thou ſeeſt how the matter mends with them, even as ſowre alemends in ſummer: and how they even ſtink above ground, as Pſal 14.2. Vina probantur odore, colore, ſapore &c. but their wine hath neither good colour, ſmell, nor favour or taſt; it's dead and gone, and they are as trees twice dead and rotten,Jude. and therefore pulled up by the roots, ſuch as the Latines call vappae, that is paſt the beſt, and now good for nothing, See Eſay 1.22. what life or ſweetneſſe can be in Apoſtates: yea how ſowre and unſavoury to ſuch are all fleſhly comforts? They uſe to drink away their terrours, and drive away their melancholy dumps with merry company. But will that hold? what are ſuch plaſters better then the devils Anodynes, then his whiſtle, to call men off from better practiſes? there is a cup in the hands of the Lord, it is full of mixture but extreme ſowre: and the very dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth ſhall wring them out, and drink them up, Pſal. 75.8. though it be eternity to the bottom.

they have committed whoredome continually] Here they are taxed for whoredome, as before for drunkenneſſe (ſo ſome carry it) and afterwards for covetouſneſſe. This is that flagitiorum triga, whereby the Prophet perſwadeth Judah to ſhake off Iſrael, as not fit to be converſed with. He had charged them before with fornication of both ſorts: here he ſheweth how unwearied they were in their wickedneſſe, and withall how intenſe, for fornicando fornicati ſunt, they have done wickedly as they could, they have eeked out their idolatries, and adulteries, and though wearied and even waſted with the multitude of their wickedneſſes, yet they have not given over but are unſatisfiable, and would ſin in perpetuum: as that filthy fornicatour who ſaid he would deſire no other heaven but to live for ever on earth, and to be carried from one brothel-houſe to another. She hath wearied her ſelf with lies: and yet her great ſcum went not forth out of her: Therefore ſhall it be in the fire. Ezek 24.12. Therefore ſhall graceleſſe wretches be tormented for ever, becauſe they would ſin for ever: and therefore ſuffer all extreamity,Mic. 7. becauſe they do wickedly with both hands earneſtly: wofully waſting the marrow of their time, the flower of their age, the ſtrength of their bodies, the vigour of their ſpirits, in the perſuit of their luſts, in the froth and filth whereof is bred that worme that never dieth: which is nothing elſe but the furious reflection of the ſoul upon its own once wilfull folly, and now wofull miſery.

her rulers with ſhame do love, Give ye] Her ſhields (o ſhamefull!) do love Give ye: where there is in the originall an elegant Agnomination that cannot be engliſhed, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Ahabhu hibhu Dilexerunt Afferte, not Afferre, as the Vulgar corruptly readeth it. The Dorick dialect, the horſleaches language Give, Give, they are perfectly skilled in: [non-Latin text not transcribed] gift-greedineſſe is all their delight: like the ravens of Arabia, that full gorged have a tuneable ſweet record, but empty, ſcreech horribly: Pleri que offictarij, ſaith One: Very many rulers do as Plutarch reporteth of Stratocles and Dromoclites, a couple of corrupt officers,Plutarch. in politic. qui ſeſe mutuo ad meſſem auream invitare ſolebant, who were wont to invite one another to the golden harveſt, thereby meaning the Court, and the judgment-ſeate. Theſe follow the adminiſtration of juſtice as a trade onely, with an unquenchable and unconſcionable deſire of gaine: which iuſtifieth the common reſemblance of the Courts of iuſtice to the Buſh, whereunto while the ſheep flieth for defence in weather, he is ſure to loſe part of his fleece. Now are theſe Sheilds? are they not rather Sharkes? Are they protectours, and not rather pillagers? Latrones publici, publike robbers as Cato called them? Theſe ſhields of the earth belong to God, ſaith David, Pſal, 47.9. ſhould they not then be like him?2 Chron. 19.7. Now there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor accepting of perſons, nor receiving of gifts: neither by himſelf nor by his man Eliſha, nor by his mans man Gehezi, without diſtaſte. By one period of ſpeech, by one breath of the Lord are they both forbidden, Deut. 16.18, 19, 20. Thou ſhalt not reſpect perſons, nor receive a gift: For why: A gift doth blind the eyes of the wiſe, yea it transformes them into walking Idols, that have eyes and ſee not, eares and heare not: onely it leaveth them hands to handle that, the very touching whereof will infect and venom a man, as Pliny writes of the fiſh Torpedo. Let ſuch therefore ſhake their hands from bribes Iſay. 33.15. as Paul ſhoke off the viper: and be ſo far from ſaying Give ye, that he ſhould rather ſay to thoſe that offer it, Thy mony periſh with thee: he that hateth gifts ſhall live, Prov. 15.27. Jethro's Iuſtice of peace ſhould be a man of courage, fearing God, hating covetouſneſs, Exod. 18. not bound to the peace (as one phraſeth it) by a gift in a basket: nor ſtruck dumb with the appearance of Angels &c.