ciful God. But yet I felt within me a sensible apprehension of the secret complaints of God's Church; in the sense whereof, I could not but cry out, Woe is me! I am even consumed with sorrow, to see the miscarriage of men; to see the bosom-enemies of the Church treacherously conspiring against her.

XXIV. 17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

O ye inhabitants of the earth, there are unavoidable judgments prepared for you: ye shall be sure not to escape the hand of God: he will certainly meet with you; and, if you can eschew one plague, yet ye shall be sure to fall into another. So verse 18.

XXIV. 18 For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

For, be ye assured, that the Lord will arm heaven and earth against you; neither shall any place be able to secure you from his judg

ments.

XXIV. 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

I will testify my wrath by fearful earthquakes; whereby the earth shall be so moved, as that it shall totter and reel on all sides, like a drunken man: and so will I revenge the sins of the inhabitants thereof upon them, as that they shall be pressed down under the weight thereof, and not be able to rise any more.

XXIV. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall not forbear to punish the greatest potentates of the earth, as well as the meanest of their subjects: all shall taste alike of his wrath.

XXIV. 22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

They shall be all shut up in one common destruction, reserved for the just revenge of God; but yet, after the patient enduring of many calamities, shall God, in his great mercy, condescend to have compassion on the remnant of them.

XXIV. 23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Then the Lord shall be pleased to erect such a glorious government in mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as that it shall put down the glory and brightness of the sun and moon in the heavens: it shall outshine those bright and lightsome planets; when the Messiah shall reign with power and majesty in his Church, before his holy and eminent ministers.

XXV. 2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

O God, this is thy just and mighty work: thou canst and dost demolish great and strong cities, at pleasure: thou hast made goodly palaces to be the lodgings of strangers; and those piles again hast thou ruined, never to be repaired.

XXV. 4 When the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

Thou art a sure refuge for the poor oppressed, when the blast of fierce and terrible tyrants beats upon them furiously, as a storm beats against a wall.

XXV. 5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as a heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

Thou shalt abate the rage of violent enemies: if their fury be as some scorching heat in a dry soil, thy mercy shall be as the shadow of a comfortable cloud to refresh them; so as those, that made account to triumph and tyrannize over thy Church, shall be confounded.

XXV. 6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

And in this mountain, the figure of the Church, shall the Lord of Hosts make a gracious and blessed feast to both Jews and Gentiles, in which he shall feed them with all spiritual delicates, whereby they shall be nourished to everlasting life.

XXV. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all

nations.

And he will, by that Gospel which shall go forth from his mountain of Zion, remove all that vail of ignorance, which is cast over the faces of all people; so as they shall clearly see the great and wonderful mysteries of Salvation.

XXV. 8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

And the life, that he will give to his chosen, shall be a glorious and perpetual one; such a one, as shall triumph over death and alteration; in the issue whereof, all causes of mourning and all pretences of reproach which are wont to be cast upon God's peo ple, shall be utterly and fully removed.

XXV. 10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden for the dunghill.

For God shall settle his abode in his Church for ever; and shall tread down all the most malicious enemies thereof, even as straw is trodden in the dunghill, to make compost for the earth.

XXV. 11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim. And he shall stretch forth his hand against them for their destruction, to inwrap them in his judgments, even as &c.

XXV. 12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust. And the strong fortress of that high fort of thine, O Moab, wherein thou didst so much pride thyself, as impregnable, shall he bring down and lay level with the dust.

XXVI. 1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

In the day of the return from captivity, shall my people sing in the land of Judah, where they are replanted, this song; We have now a strong city: Jerusalem is abundantly fortified: the protection and safeguard of the Lord shall be and are, the walls and bulwarks thereof.

XXVI. 2 Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

Jerusalem hath been lewdly inhabited; but now, after the gates thereof have been so long broken down and are re-edified, they shall be set open to receive righteous, inoffensive, and conscionable inhabitants,

XXVI. 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.

O God, thou wilt continue true peace and happiness to that man, whose heart is fastened upon thee.

XXVI. 9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.

There is no time, that I have held unseasonable to think of thee, and too long for thee: even in the night season, when others sleep, hath my soul been taken up with thee.

XXVI. 10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly. Howsoever it pleaseth the long-suffering and merciful God to shew favour to the wicked, in forbearing them, in provoking them with benefits, yet will they not be reclaimed and amended; but, in the holiest place, and notwithstanding the most powerful means, will they practise lewdness &c.

XXVI. 11 Yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. Yea, that fire of thy wrath, which thou reservest for thine enemies, shall devour them.

XXVI. 12 LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

Lord, thou wilt work out our peace and felicity, and wilt accordingly continue it to us; for thou also hast done great things for us, and hast brought about all our affairs.

XXVI. 13 O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy

name.

O Lord, we, who had not the grace to submit ourselves wholly to thy governance, have been justly given over to the tyranny of wicked rulers, who have exacted sinful obedience from us; but

we will stick close unto thee alone, and, through thy gracious aid, will hold firm to thy truth, and yield to no other religion but that which thou hast prescribed us.

XXVI. 1 They are dead, they shall not live; they are de ceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them.

They, even our enemies, are dead, without hope of reviving again so are they brought down by thy hand, that they shall never be restored.

XXVI. 18 We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

Alas, it was not in our power to work any deliverance for ourselves, upon earth; neither was it in our power to defeat the force of our enemies, and to discomfit them.

XXVI. 19 Thy dead men shall live together, with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. But it was thou, O Lord, that hast wrought it for us: thou then in mercy saidst; Be of good comfort; those, whom thou gavest up for dead men, shall yet be revived; yea, those, that sleep in the dust, yet shall one day arise and live: with this body of mine, which I shall ere long lay down, shall they arise from their graves. Awake therefore and rejoice, O ye my faithful ones, who are now resolved to the very dust of the earth, for ye shall be happily restored as ye see the herbs, which, in winter lay as dead, by the sweet dews of the spring are revived, so shall it be with you; ye shall then spring up gloriously; the earth cannot hold you from your happy resurrection,

XXVI. 20 Hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

Betake thyself to a sure confidence in mine assured mercy and protection; and retire thyself a little, till I have executed mine indignation upon thine enemies.

XXVI. 21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

For the Lord from heaven, his dwelling place, manifesteth his power and justice, in executing judgments upon the inhabitants of the earth.

XXVII. 1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, &c. In that day the Lord, by his mighty power, shall execute his due vengeance upon Satan, that old and subtle serpent, and all his complices, the kings of Egypt, and those other malignant enemies of his Church.

XXVII. 2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. In that day sing ye unto her, My Church is as a vineyard of the most rich and precious wine.

XXVII. 4 Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns

against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.

Howsoever I am provoked, yet I am patient, and give not way to a just fury: oh that I had to do rather with thorns and briers, than with my vineyard: I would soon make an end with them, and burn them at once;

XXVII. 5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.

But, for my own Israel, if, as he doth, he know my omnipotence, and how easily I can revenge myself, and thereupon be desirous to humble himself and make peace with me; let him make peace with me: I am ready to accept it.

XXVII. 6 He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. And, though the Lord might justly pull up the house of Jacob by the roots, that it might never sprout again, yet he, remembering his mercy, shall only so lop the posterity of Israel, that they shall blossom and bud forth again, and fill the world with their increase.

XXVII. 7 Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

Hath not God put a difference betwixt his correcting of them, and his punishing their enemies? or hath he destroyed them in the same manner, that he hath destroyed those whom he intends utterly to root out ?

XXVII. 8 In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind. When this house of Jacob then shooteth forth, thou wilt not deal in rigour with it: if it bear not as it should, thou wilt not cut it up by the roots and if thy cold and pinching wind blow upon this herb, so that it withers the leaf; yet thou wilt so call in those bitter blasts, that they shall not utterly nip that plant of thine, and bereave it of life.

XXVII. 9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged ; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

It is only God's intention, that, by these afflictions, the iniquity of his people may be purged away: this is all the fruit he expects of his fatherly chastisements, to take away their sins; and, namely, their idolatry; which they shall so detest, that they shall make all the stones of their idolatrous altars, as chalkstones, beaten to powder; and shall cut down and deface the groves and images, which had formerly deluded and bewitched them.

XXVII. 10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof. Yet, though God will at last shew this mercy, for all this, in the mean time, Jerusalem shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: the beasts shall feed and lodge