John Trapp on Hosea 5:10

Verſ. 10. The Princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound] A wickedneſs condemned by the law and light both of Nature,Deut. 19.14. Prov. 22.28. and Scripture Deut. 27.17. The Princes are mentioned, becauſe corruption in a people (as putrefaction in a fiſh) begins at the head. Now the land-mark or limit is removed many wayes. As firſt Religione, in Religion: when the true is changed into that which is falſe, as was here in Queen Maries dayes againſt her promiſe, to the Suffolk men. Secondly, in Regione, Tarnon. in the civil State: when one man violently invadeth the right of another (as Ahab did Naboths vineyard) and no man muſt queſtion them becauſe it is facinus majoris Abollae the fact of a great one.Junenal. Thirdly, In officio, in a mans office or particular ſtation, when he keeps not within his circle, but take liberty to tranſgreſſe, preſcribing new worſhips as 2 King. 16.10, 11. 2 Coro. 28.23. taking upon them to teach Miniſters what to teach them, as Mic. 2.6. or themſelves invading the Miniſteriall office uncalled thereunto as did Jeroboam 1 King. 13.4. and Ʋzziah 2 Chron. 26.16. to their coſt. This (ſaith an Interpreter) is grandis culpa, et atrox crimen, a foul fault, a crimſon crime. Let our Lay-preachers and Levellers look to it, unleſſe they covet a curſe. Deut. 27.17. He that breaketh an hedge, a ſerpent ſhall bite him. Fourthly, In negotio, in buſineſſes and tranſactions, in contracts and covenants he removeth bounds, who cozeneth and circumventeth another in any matter 1 Theſ. 4.6. Theſe muſt remember that God is the avenger of all ſuch:Heb. 10. and that it is a fearfull thing to fall into the puniſhing hands of the living God. The Papiſts fall foul upon us as Innovatours, and removers of the ancient bounds: becauſe we reject their Eccleſiaſtical traditions and unwritten verities (as they call them) commended unto us by the Ancients, and embraced by whole nations for many ages. To whom we anſwer, that Multitude and Antiquity are but ciphers in Divinity: they muſt (at leaſt) have no more authoritie, then what they can maintain. Let them boaſt, with the Gibeonites, of their old ſhooes, mouldy bread, &c. we hold us to the Scriptures, for our limits and land-markes unmoveable and immutable. And when they ſhall ask us as they oft do, where was your Religion before Luther? we anſwer as one once did, In the Bible, where yours never was. Eraſmus met with an adverſary ſo ſilly as to charge him for a remover of the ancient bounds,Eraſm. in Apolog. becauſe he had anew Tranſlated the New Teſtament: a work of ſingular uſe to the Church of Chriſt, in thoſe dark times.

therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water] which ſhall overflow the bankes to overwhelm thoſe that remove the bounds. Yea God will pour it upon them by whole pailefuls, or ſpouts (as they call them) at ſea. Or if but by vials (as Rev. 16.1. which are veſſels of narrow mouthes and pour out ſlowly, howbeit) they drench deeply, and diſtill effectually the wrath of God, which wretched ſinners, ſhall never be able to avoid or abide. Oh when God ſhall ſet himſelf to ſet open the cataracts of his wrath as once at Noahs flood, and to come againſt a ſinner with a deluge of deſtruction to pour out his indignation upon him, as water haſtily, heavily, irreſiſtibly, what will he do, and where will he finde refuge? This made David pray ſo hard. Let not the waterfloods overflow me: nor the deep ſwallow me up, Pſal. 69.15. It is the priv[illegible: 1 letter]ledge of every godly perſon, that in the floods of great waters, they ſhall not come nigh to him, Pſal. 32.6. Or if they come up to his neck, yet they ſhall not take away his breath: for his head is ever above water. Waſht he may be (as Paul was in the ſhipwrack) drowned he cannot be. Sink he may ſeem to do once and again to the bottom: but he ſhall up again with Jonas, if out of the deep, he call upon the Lord, who will ſet him on a rock that is, higher then he.