Hosea

In heaven the saints rest with him, on earth they walk with him. To walk with God is to walk by faith; we are said to draw near to God (Hebrews 10:22), and to see him (Hebrews 11:27), as seeing him who is invisible, and to have fellowship with him (Hosea 1:3). Or [⟨ in non-Latin…

Alms should shine, but not blaze. Jehu did well in destroying the Baal-worshippers, and God commended him for it; but because his aims were not good (he aimed at settling himself in the kingdom) therefore God looked upon it no better than murder (Hosea 1:4). I will avenge the bl…

11. This kingdom of heaven excels all others in healthfulness: Death is a worm that is ever feeding at the root of our gourd; kingdoms are often hospitals of sick persons: But the kingdom of heaven is a most healthful climate; physicians there are out of date; no distemper there…

Isaiah 65:1. I have been sought of them, that asked not before, I was found of them, that sought me not. Hosea 1:10. And in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people. Hosea 2:23. I will have mercy upon her that was not pitied, and I will say to them which were n…

God will divide the benefit and the honor between himself and the creature: He will have the whole glory and his creature shall have the sensible advantage. They shall enjoy salvation, there is their benefit but not by sword or bow but by the Lord their God (Hosea 1:7). Saved th…

Their first sacrifices, after adoration, were from the fruits of the earth. Thus the prophet complains that the Israelites offered grain, wine, and oil to Baal — that is, to the sun — Hosea 1:8. And in the poet,—

To have an other God, is to set up another, whom we will acknowledge to be of power, of goodness, justice, of some excellent nature, and therefore fear, love, reverence, hang on him, in all estates (Deuteronomy 26:17, 18). As they look for him to be their God, as above, so that…

For they of that Church, overturn justification by the mere mercy of God, which is the principal part of the inward baptism. Again, the ten tribes retained circumcision after their apostasy: yet for all that condemned to be no people of God (Hosea 1:9). The light in the lantern…

Circumcision was used in Samaria, and yet they were no people of God. Hos 1:9. The tenth motiue.

But the judgment of the Church was otherwise: and this opinion of the Gentiles is confuted by Paul (1 Corinthians 6). Again, it may be objected, that the Lord commanded the Prophet Hosea to take to him a harlot (Hosea 1:2). Answer: It was done in type or figure: and then the wor…

And thus he meets with their complaints, that they should not say they were rejected, unworthy, aliens, or shut out for any infamous note; because the Lord would take away all obstacles and impediments. Now this may be as well referred to the Jews, whose temporary rejection had…

With which also Ezekiel reproaches them in (Ezekiel 16:3), saying, Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. And the like phrases of speech are used in many other places (Hosea 1:2). Thus then he brings their intolerable pride down to the ground, and in despite of t…

And hence we observe how the Apostles were wont to allege the testimonies of the Prophets, and to show the end and true use of them. As Saint Paul alleges the testimony of Hosea, I will call them my people which were not my people (Romans 9:26; Hosea 1:10). Where he appropriates…

For Duties may be performed two wayes. (1.) In hypocrisie and pretence, so they are utterly abhorred of God in matter and manner; that is such a poisonous Ingredient as vitiates the whole, Isa. 1. 11, 12, 13, 14. Hos. 1. 4. (2.) In Integrity according to present Light and Convic…

So he might have respect to that ascription of the work of the redemption of the Church to this Word of the Lord which was admitted in the Church of the Jews. That place among others is express to this purpose (Hosea 1:7), where the words of the Prophet, I will save them by the…

[illegible] Suppose earthly kingdoms to be more glorious than they are, their foundations of gold, their walls of pearl, their windows of sapphire, yet they are corruptible (Hosea 1:4): "I will cause the kingdom to cease." Troy and Athens now lie buried in their own ruins.

But now, in the days of Uzziah, did God first raise up a set of great prophets, not only to write histories, but to write books of their prophecies. The first of these is thought to be Hosea the son of Beeri, and therefore his prophecy, or the word of the Lord by him, is called…

When they shall be called, then shall that ancient people, that were alone God's people for so long a time, be God's people again, never to be rejected more: they shall then be gathered into one fold together with the Gentiles; and so also shall the remains of the ten tribes, wh…

It is a stroke at the soul, a blow at the root; usually the last, and therefore the worst of judgments. There is a pedigree of judgments, first Gomer bears Jezreel, next Lo-ruhamah, and at last brings forth Lo-ammi (Hosea 1:4, 6, 8-9). There is cause of mourning, if you consider…

A decree there was, never a promise. God said never in Old or New Testament, if all the Brasilians, Indians, shall believe in Christ, they are saved: and to them come to age a promise conditional it cannot be; when not only never promulgated, but Apostles and others are expresly…

Come (says Jehu) and see my zeal for the Lord — liar, come see my zeal for Jehu, and for Jehu his new Kingdom; but there were here no influences of the spirit of grace, for (2 Kings 10:31) Jehu took no heed to walk in the Law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he…

So for paucity and fewness, which is another scandal, there are promises of the Gospel's being propagated, of the flowings out of living waters, of the flying in of converts like doves to the windows (Isaiah 60), and the like. So in this present case, because of the variance of…

Christ is a King by a natural right; God has chosen him, God has set him upon his holy hill: the Lord has made him to be Head over all things (Ephesians 1:22). Indeed, the church chooses Christ: they shall appoint to themselves one Head (Hosea 1:11). And therefore for you that a…

Paul had another kind of zeal then, acted by other kind of principles. Fourthly, There is a selfish zeal, that has a man's own ends for its motive; Jehu was very zealous, but it was not so much for God as for the kingdom, not so much in obedience to the command, as in design to…

This kingdom excels in its stability; other kingdoms have vanity written upon them — they cease and are changed; though they may have a head of gold, yet feet of clay. Hosea 1:4: I will cause the kingdom to cease. Kingdoms have their climacteric year: where is the glory of Athen…

1. The Lord engages himself to them, that they shall be called by his Name, or his Name shall be called upon them, as 'tis Isaiah 63:19. They shall be called the Sons of God (Hosea 1:10) and the People of God (Deuteronomy 29:12, 13). You became mine (Ezekiel 16:8).

(4.) The same Covenant made with Abraham is made with the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 6:16): I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Which is prophesied of the Gentiles under the New Testament in Ezekiel 11:17-20, Ezekiel 34:23-25, Jeremiah 31:31-36, Jeremiah 32:36-40,…

Then should that (2.) distinction of Jews in the heart, and inward, and of Jews in the flesh (Romans 2:28), and of the children of the flesh, that are not of the spiritual seed, and of the children of the promise (Romans 9:7-8), and of the persecuting children of the bond woman…

Then will they ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward; then their graves shall be opened, and they shall pay homage to their Lord Redeemer. Then shall the Gentiles be called in plenty; then will that word take place (Psalm 22:27): All the ends of the world shall rememb…

You deceive yourself, Jehu — it is for yourself. Therefore God says afterward by the prophet, "I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu" (Hosea 1:4). Though it were shed by God's own appointment, yet because Jehu obeyed not God's commandment so much as his own am…

5. Proposition. Our believing and conversion to God does alter and change our state before God: 1. Because God esteemed an unbeliever that which he was; even an unbeliever, a child of wrath, one that is disobedient, serving various lusts, a soul unwashed, polluted in his blood b…

Jacob had power over the Angel, and prevailed; for why? He wept, and prayed (Hosea 1:2, 4). Christ was heard in that which he feared.

So that as soon as this new world is (as it were) created, and stands forth in view, God presently goes about doing some great thing to make way for the introduction of the church's latter-day glory, that is to have its first seat in, and is to take its rise from that new world.…

This cannot be understood of Christ, because Paul in his other writings does not call the person of Christ by this name, and therefore must be understood of the word of the Gospel, the power of which is described (Romans 1:16). (6.) See these following places of Scripture: Psalm…

Are works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them, they may be things which God commands, and of good use, both to themselves, and others, are they (I say) sinful, and cannot please God? Yes. (Haggai 2:14; Titus 1:15; Amos 5:21-22; Hosea 1:4; Romans 9:16; Titus…

If you will love God, you shall have such a reward as exceeds your faith. God will betroth you to himself in the dearest love (Hosea 2:19): I will betroth you to me forever in loving-kindness and mercies. (Zephaniah 3:17) The Lord your God will rejoice over you with joy, he will…

God will so love his people, that he will not forsake them; and they shall so fear him that they shall not forsake him. If a believer should not persevere, God should break his promise (Hosea 2:19): I will betroth you to me forever, in righteousness and loving kindness. God does…

2. There is but one omnipotent power. If there be two omnipotents, then we must always suppose a contest between these two; that which one would do, the other power being equal would oppose, and so all things would be brought into a confusion. If a ship should have two pilots of…

To worship any other than God, is to break wedlock. This makes the Lord disclaim his interest in a people (Hosea 2:2). Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife.

When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel. Image worship enrages God (Proverbs 6:34). Jealousy is the rage of a man: It makes God divorce a people (Exodus 32:7). Your people, lo-ammi (Hosea 2:2). Plead with your mother, plead, for she is not my wife (Song of…

The Pharisees did the will of God in giving alms, but that which was a dead fly in the ointment, was, that they did not aim at God's glory, but vainglory; they blew a trumpet. Jehu did the will of God in destroying the Baal worshippers, and God commended him for doing of it: but…

Hosea 1:10. And in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people. Hosea 2:23. I will have mercy upon her that was not pitied, and I will say to them which were not my people, you are my people. Acts 14:16. God in times past suffered all the Gentiles to walk in their…

Therefore in this case God takes them away. For as in Hosea 2:9, in case of unthankfulness in outward mercies God took them away and restored them not again until they esteemed them better and acknowledged from whom they had them, so also in spiritual assurance, light, and comfo…

Answer. This he does, when he loves him above all, and fears him above all, and above all things is zealous for God's glory; when he has full confidence in God's word and promises, and is more grieved for displeasing God, than for all things in the world besides. Or, more plainl…

In and by all these things will he, in all that he is in himself, be a God to those whom he takes into this Covenant. It is included in this part of the Promise, that they that take him to be their God, they shall say, You are my God (Hosea 2:23), and carry it towards him accord…

6. Afflictions work for good, as they make way for comfort. In the valley of Achor a door of hope, Hosea 2.15. Achor signifies trouble: God sweetens outward pain, with inward peace.

Did he ever move you to go aside into the closet, that you might be solitary and serious, and consider of your condition? Usually at our first call we are moved to go aside, that God and we may confer in private; as (Hosea 2:14) God calls into the wilderness, that he may speak t…

It is applicable to the case of mercies as well as afflictions and judgments, of which it is properly meant. And this contempt is the greater by how much the greater mercy we have received in a way of providence (Hosea 2:8): she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil…

They will ever and anon call things to consideration, and say, It is not with us as it should be, or as it was in former days; this thing is not good that we do; nor will it be peace in the latter end. (2.) They will have secret resolutions of shaking themselves out of the dust…

First, There was a Covenant between the Church of Israel and God (Exodus 19:5, 6, 7, 8; Ezekiel 16:8; Deuteronomy 29:10, &c.). Secondly, This Covenant was mutual; not only a promise on God's part to be their God, and to take them for his people, but also reciprocally on their pa…

So was the redemption of the Church of God from the Egyptian bondage (Exodus 2:23 and 3:7). The great restoration of the Church in the latter day, is often spoken of as resembled by this; as in Isaiah 64:1–4, 11:11, 15, 16; 43:2, 3, 16–19; 51:10, 11, 15; 63:11, 12, 13; Zechariah…

Since we know that He "bears with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction" (Romans 9:22). For though He is provoked by them daily, He does not immediately seize them away, but even heaps upon them many benefits, to be demanded back at the appointed time (H…

Hence Plutarch calls the Sun and Moon "all-named" ones. For by heaping up epithets and piling on titles, they thought to capture the divine being and thereby to move it to the greatest honor; so that in the end what had been only different names of superstition came, as error sp…

They offered to this idol every kind of sacrifice. God complains through the prophet that they gave oil, new wine, and grain to Baal (Hos. 2:8). We have shown elsewhere that these were the chief offerings to idols.

Jealous. This is a kind of speech taken from married folks (Hosea 2:2; Ezekiel 16), who cannot abide their wives should give either in affection or in gesture, countenance, or any manner of behavior to others, that which appertains to them only: and by this we gather the greatne…

It's true, we find some of the saints, and these, stars of the first magnitude, as Moses, Job, Elias, David, and Jonas, in their distempered malcontent or fainting fits, passionately, preposterously, and precipitantly praying, or rather wishing for death (for which they were not…

2. A battle array is not of one man, but of many enemies: Say the man had one soul, it should be his enemy; and that he had a hundred souls, he should have a hundred enemies; but as many millions of thoughts, as in his wearisome nights escape him, he has as many enemies; indeed,…

This is not to deny that God's omnipotent power must turn the will, but to show how sweetly he leads the inclinations. 2. The Lord by wiles and art works upon the will: (Hosea 2:14) I will allure her, and bring her to the wilderness, and speak to her heart. The word of alluring…

It is a saving and a pitying love (Isaiah 63:9); a love which the Lord rests in (Zephaniah 3:17); a love continuing to the end (John 13:1); a love that makes us more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). It is a separating love that differences the loved of God from all others (Psalm 8…

This is argued there from this very relation of his being our husband, verses 25-26. And therefore though Christ is now in glory, yet let not that discourage you, for he has the heart of a husband toward you, being betrothed to you forever, in faithfulness, and in loving kindnes…

Then, then the child of God has most sweet refreshing incomings: When God has allured the soul into the wilderness, he speaks to its heart. A wilderness is a solitary place, where other speech is not heard, (as the word imports:) then speaks God to the soul when men cannot speak…

The fifth is, peace with the beasts of the field. God makes a covenant with them for his people (Hosea 2:18). The creatures desire and wait for the deliverance of God's children (Romans 8).

The second, is an enmity of all the creatures with man, since the fall. And this appears, because when God receives us to be his people, he makes a covenant with all creatures, in our behalf (Hosea 2:18). The third contains, all losses, calamities, miseries, in goods, friends, g…

And Christ himself was a man without form, or beauty (Isaiah 53:2). Having a husband] in these words the condition of the Jewish church is set forth, that she is married or espoused to God, who is her husband (Ezekiel 16:8-9; Hosea 2:19). The like may be said of any other church…

Lastly, with the beasts of the field, and all the creatures. The Lord promises to make a covenant with the wild beasts, and fowls of the heaven, in behalf of his people, that they may sleep safely (Hosea 2:18). But the peace which is principally meant in this place, is peace of…

Now seeing Christ is come to the end, that having abolished the curse, he might reconcile the world to God; it is not without cause that the reestablishment of a perfect estate is attributed to him: as if the Prophet should say, that the golden world should return, during which…

For although our hearts be set (while we live in this world) to aspire to our inheritance which is in heaven, yet Satan lays many stumbling blocks before us, and we are surrounded on every side with infinite dangers, but the Lord who has set us in this way, and goes before us, l…

He repeats that he said before, namely, that God will so open the gates of his Temple to all without exception, that there shall be no more distinction between Jew and Gentile: but such as the Lord shall call by his word (Acts 2:39), which is the bond of our adoption, shall be j…

But he having received her into favor again, she shines with wonderful beauty. And the place in Hosea (Hosea 2:20) answers to this. Such an ornament was given at the coming of Christ, and we also receive it daily, when the Lord clothes us with righteousness and salvation.

But withal the Prophet teaches, that this proceeds only from God's delight; that is to say, from his free favor: lest anything should be attributed to the merits or dignity of men. To which purpose he says in Hosea; I will marry you to me in mercy and compassion (Hosea 2:19). Th…

It has afterwards its turn to speak and to answer Amen, according to that passage, “I will say to them, You are my people, and they shall say, You are my God,” (Hosea 2:23.) But as Zacharias had rashly interrupted the Word of God, he is not allowed this favor of breaking out imm…

Oh if men would but note the designs of God in his preventive Providences, how useful would it be to keep them upright and holy in their ways? For why is it, that the Lord so often hedges up our way with thorns, as it is Hosea 2:6 but that we should not ind our paths to sin? Why…

(3.) Sometimes by laying some strong affliction upon the body, to prevent a worse evil. And this is the meaning of Hosea 2:6 I will hedge up her way with thorns. Thus Basil was a long time exercised with a violent head-ach, which (as he observed) was used by Providence to preven…

The Sea shall open for Israel, and returne upon the Egyptians. And this both in an ordinary way as Hosea 2:21, 22. and in an extraordinary way as before. So many creatures as God has made so many instruments of good has he for his people: this is further confirmed, v. 9.

And the Targum itself in Habakkuk 3:18 has these words, because of the miraculous signs and redemption that you shall work for or by your Messiah. So they call the miracles wrought at their coming out of Egypt; see (Hosea 2:15) Targum. And on this ground do they studiously and w…

Thirdly, in judgments to be brought providentially upon the whole nation by pestilence, famine, sword and captivity, which are at large declared, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Fourthly, total rejection of the whole body of the people, in case of unbelief and disobedience, upo…

The threatening therefore was the rule and measure of the curse. But this is here extended by God himself, not only to all the miseries of man, (Adam and his whole posterity) in this life, in labor, disappointment, sweat and sorrow, with death under, and by virtue of the curse,…

That is another conclusion. Therefore we find still, that when God has bestowed many outward blessings upon any, either persons or nations, he charges an acknowledgement upon them (Hosea 2:8): She did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and…

Thirdly, in the way to life there are many afflictions and offences, as Act. 14. 22. Through manifold afflictions we must enter into the kingdome of heaven: and, Hos. 2. 6. I will stoppe your way with thornes: meaning, that by sharpe afflictions he would hedge them in the way of…

The second step of her carriage, which is the scope of the former, namely of her holding him, is in these words, till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the chambers of her that conceived me. By mother in Scripture is understood the visible Church, which is even the beli…

We may consider in the verse, these three things: 1. An effect, as it were, wrought on him, He is made like the chariots of Amminadib, or, set as in the chariots of Amminadib: chariots were used to travel with, and that for the greater speed; or, they were used in war, for drivi…

3. What is the scope of these allegories, in other Scriptures, as that of Psalm 45, that of planting a vineyard (Matthew 21), that of marriage (Matthew 22), (which none can deny) is meant of espousing spiritually. (See this same allegory of marriage, Jeremiah 3, Hosea 2-3, Ezeki…

Let us think of returning to God by repentance. Say as the Church (Hosea 2:7), I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. 2. Let us consider the text in Thesi; it is good for me to draw near to God.

"I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought." God allured them, and brought them into that wilderness, and spake comfortably to them, as it was foretold that he would do afterwards, Hosea 2:14. Those terrible judgments that were executed in the congregation…

(4) With the Gospel, we lose our temporal enjoyments and creature comforts: these usually come and go with the Gospel. When God had once written Loammi upon Israel, the next news is this, I will recover my wool and my flax (Hosea 2:9). (5) And lastly, to come up to the very case…

How long will you love vanity? Who look to other gods, and love flagons and wine (Hosea 3:1). Sin is a dish men cannot forbear, though it make them sick; who would pour rose water into a kennel?

I am jealous lest you should go after false gods, or worship the true God in a false manner; lest you defile your virgin profession by images. God will have his spouse keep close to him, and not go after other lovers (Hosea 3:3). You shall not be for another man. God cannot bear…

Have you subscribed and consented to take Christ upon his own terms? As the prophet, when he was to take a wife, makes an offer (Hosea 3), I will be for you, and you shall be for me; are you content? Christ will be for you in all his graces, merits, benefits, if you will be for…

The Apostle Paul fitly joins lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquettings, and abominable idolatries together (1 Peter 4:3). Superstition and profaneness usually go together, they look to other gods, and love flagons of wine (Hosea 3:1). And where there is suc…

Also as carved images, Ezekiel 21:21; and as those that speak, Zechariah 10:2, for reasons to be explained shortly. Our translators either retain "teraphim," as at Hosea 3:4, or render it by "images," with the word "teraphim" noted everywhere in the margin. XXI. Also the term me…

The author of the Book of Judges records that these lasted until the captivity (xvii. 30). After the captivity, he foretold that the Israelites would live without them (Hosea 3:4); for I do not agree with those who think the prophet there makes mention of true and false worship…

And the promises (Psalm 89, from verse 20, and forward): "With him my hand shall be established, and my arm shall strengthen him, the enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him; I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him,…

(3.) To be troubled for sin, as offensive to our heavenly Father, and against the sweetness of free grace and tender love, includes no act of unbelief, nor that the justified and pardoned sinner thus troubled is not pardoned, or that he fears eternal wrath, (as Antinomians imagi…

2. Drawing by free and strong love is an easy work, and so is it easy to be drawn; because all works of love are easy, as the act of marrying is no great pain, the solemnities and ceremonies of marriage are more toilsome than marriage itself. All the right marriages in the world…

7. What greater honor can be than such alliance? Than that Christ speak so to his bride (Hosea 3:3): And I said to her, you shall abide for me many days, you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man, so will I be for you. And (Hosea 2:19): And I will betro…

Now there is a certain covenant between God and his people in all these; that look what a king requires of his people, or the people of a king, the very same does God require of his people, and the people of God, that offers himself to be a God to his people; that is, a governor…

If you shall therefore refuse Christ, because you think he is but a melancholy person, you will never have him, if you stand upon such terms, if you will not have him unless he be thus and thus qualified; then let him alone, never talk of him, rest not in looking after any of hi…

Now although soon after his throne was thrown down, and the diadem torn in pieces, yet was not this confirmation vain, that God would still for a time keep the city, because he would in no sort break his promise made to David in his truth, touching the perpetuity of his kingdom.…

For to speak properly there is but one anointed of the Lord: according to which Habakkuk says; You went forth with your anointed, for the salvation of your people (Habakkuk 3:13). For the kingdom was set up in the person of David, which was the image of Christ; who for this caus…

Again, "my servant David shall be a prince among them," (Ezekiel 34:24; 37:24.) "They shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king," (Hosea 3:5.) The passages in which he is called "the son of David" are sufficiently well known.

And this new Spirit, this Fear of God, is still expressed as the inseparable Consequent of the new Heart, or the writing of the Law of God in our Hearts, which are the same. So it is called, Fearing the Lord and his goodness, Hos. 3. 5. In like manner it is expressed by Love, wh…

Again by Balaam the same words are used to signify the same time (Numbers 24:14), where they are rendered [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩], in the end of the days, as many Copies read in this place. And in all the Prophets this is the peculiar notation of that season, [⟨in non-Latin al…

And this, as I said, themselves also confess, as they have occasion. To this purpose see Kimchi on Hosea 3:4. [in non-Latin alphabet]; And these are the days of Captivity, wherein we are at this day, for we have neither King nor Priest of Israel: But we are in the power of the G…

First, by preferring the promised relief and remedy above all the present glory and worship of the Church; directing it to look above all its enjoyments to that which in all things was to have the pre-eminence. See Isaiah 2:2; chapter 4:2-5; chapter 7:13-15; chapter 9:6-7; chapt…

Jeremiah 33.15, 16. Hosea 3:5. Hosea 14:8.

No unbeliever, does truly and experimentally know the truth of this inference. But so it is when men fear the Lord, and his goodness, Hosea 3:5. 1 say then, where pardoning mercy is truly apprehended, where faith makes a discovery of it to the soul, it is endeared unto God, and…

The assertion holds out a union between him and her, I am his, &c. Or, as it is in the original, I am to him, and he is to me — such as is the union between married persons (Hosea 3:3), which the tie of marriage brings on. Even such is this which follows covenanting with God; fo…

So (Psalm 90): Who knows the power of his wrath? And so should we do in regard of his goodness (Hosea 3, last verse): Men shall fear his goodness: that is, if his goodness be so great and infinite, as himself, then the loss of it, is a loss above all things in the world. Whateve…

So for desolation (2 Timothy 3:1): in the latter times there shall come hard or perilous times [illegible], times of great difficulty and distress. 2. In its evening or latter part, which is bright and glorious, and therefore do we so much hear of the goodness of the latter days…

Of the way and manner whereby the saints hold communion with the Lord Christ, as to personal grace: the conjugal relation between Christ and the saints (Song of Solomon 2:16; Isaiah 54:5, etc.; Song of Solomon 3:11) opened. The way of communion in conjugal relation (Hosea 3:3; S…

But indeed together with this, indeed more than with these, they are persuaded to fear the Lord by the sense of his great love to them, and the power of that love that works in them towards him, and is wrought in them by his. They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latt…

2. When we set apart ourselves to his use, to live and act for his glory; this is also entering into covenant with God. As in that formal matrimonial covenant, that was used between the prophet and his wife (Hosea 3:3), "You shall not be for another man, so will I also be for yo…

That your way may be known among the heathen, and your saving health among all nations (Psalm 67:2). Especially when the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in (Psalm 54:2), and when the Jews are brought in (Hosea 3:5). To be instrumental to enlarge Christ's kingdom is an honor…

They seek such things as their hearts lust after, but it is not their desire or care to enjoy God. But when the conversion of the Jews is spoken of, Hosea 3:5, it is said, They shall return and seek the Lord their God. At first conversion men are sensible of their great distance…

Guilty creatures cannot enjoy God immediately. And in Christ God is more familiar with us (Hosea 3:5). They shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King.

And it is observable, that the respects of the creature that are peculiarly due to one of these attributes, are sometimes in Scripture directed to another. It is said (Hosea 3:5), They shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days: and love him for his power and greatn…

Do you not fear me, says the Lord, will you not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? (Jeremiah 5:22). His goodness and mercy (Hosea 3:5): They shall fear the Lord, and his goodness. (Jeremiah 10:…

The answer is easy, and at hand: These saving preparations are no acts of mine, therefore not my fruit, nor can I be said to do anything to please God by them, because they are [illegible] in me, not by me, and the soul may have a good work wrought upon it, and be the receiver o…

You will say, the Lord does not bestowe himself wholly on me, he bestowes himself on many others, on many thousands besides me, and why should not I bestow my selfe on an other? I answer, it is not so, the Lord bestowes himself wholly on you.Hos. 3, 3. it is a borrowed speech, I…

Answ. Not at all: For a principle of godly fear is fixed in the heart, and so in free will, never to depart from God (Jeremiah 32:39-40). And where this godly awe is, the heart is in a godly trembling and fear, and dare not be loose, wanton, and secure to fear nothing, but fears…

And he would have the godly dead to king and priest and law (2 Chronicles 15:3): Now for a long season Israel had been without the true GOD, and without a teaching priest, and without law. Hosea 3:4; Hosea 10:3: And now shall they say, We have no king, because we feared not the…

The happy state of that forlorn nation, is so set forth as it never arrived to, after their return from Babylon, till their being cut off from being a people by the Romans. To this we may refer the prophecy in Isaiah 65:18 to the end, and that in Hosea 3:4, 5, and that in Zechar…

But it cannot be fixed on any Object, without an Apprehension true or false, of an Amiableness and Desirableness in it from a suitable Goodness to all its Desires. And our Fear so far as it is Spiritual, has divine Goodness for its Object, Hos. 3:5. Unless this be that which dra…

And by the process of the text it appears, that this was the intent of the Apostle, where he assigns the cause of fear and trembling to be the good pleasure of God, whereby he gives to them that are his both to will well, and valiantly to go through with it. According to this me…

There is forgiveness with you (says the Psalmist) that you may be feared; because God is ready to forgive, we should be afraid to offend. Men shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, (says the Prophet) (Hosea 3:5). And indeed nothing is more to be dreaded, than despised goodness a…

You must have your hearts divorced from your first husbands, from sin, and all those abominations which you have loved and hugged as your life; if ever you would have Christ make a match with you, and take possession of your souls. As the Lord says (Hosea 3:3 opened), 'You shall…

Now it was necessary that Christ the Messiah should lineally descend of a king: Abraham was not a king, Adam was not formally a king by covenant as David was. 2. Christ changes names with David, as he never did with any man: Christ is never called Abraham, but (Ezekiel 34:23, 24…

Aristotle calls sensual lusts brutish, because when any lust is violent, reason or conscience cannot be heard — the beast rides the man. These lusts when they are enjoyed do besot and dispirit persons (Hosea 4:11): "Whoredom and wine take away the heart." They have no heart for…

I spoke to you in your prosperity, and you said, I will not hear. Pride and luxury are the two worms bred of worldly pleasure (Hosea 4:11). Wine takes away the heart.

Paul a night and a day in the deep? God's afflicting is so far from evidencing hatred, that his not afflicting is (Hosea 4:14): I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom. Deus maxime irascitur cum non irascitur — God punishes most when he does not punish; his ha…

Now when we seem to worship God, but withdraw our heart from him, we take his name in vain (Isaiah 29:13): This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but they have removed their heart from me. First, hypocrites take God's name in vain, their reli…

Excess of wine breeds the worm of conscience. The drunkard is seldom reclaimed by repentance; and the ground of it is, partly, because by this sin the senses are so enchanted, reason so impaired, and lust so inflamed; and, partly, it is judicial, the drunkard being so besotted w…

1. A man may leave his oaths and drunkenness, yet [reconstructed: still] be in love with sin; he may leave sin out of fear of hell, or because it brings shame and poverty, but still his heart goes after it. Hosea 4:8: They set their heart on their iniquity. As Lot's wife left So…

It alludes to the birds of prey, which stain their wings with the blood of other birds. May not the Lord justly take up a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because blood touches blood (Hosea 4:2)? There is a concatenation, a plurality of murders.

Seventhly, this sin does much eclipse the light of reason; it steals away the understanding, it stupefies the heart. (Hosea 4:11) Whoredom takes away the heart: it eats out all heart for good. Solomon besotted himself with women, and they enticed him to idolatry.

But to sin with delight does heighten and increase the sin: a sign the heart is in the sin. Hosea 4:8: They set their heart on their iniquity. As a man follows his gain with delight.

Though he dams up the stream, yet he lets alone the fountain; though he lops and prunes the branches, yet he does not strike at the root of it. 2. Though he leaves sin (for fear of Hell, or because it brings shame and penury) yet he still loves sin; as if a snake should cast her…

You have heard what a prodigious hyperbolical evil sin is. Come not near the forbidden fruit (Hosea 4:15). Though Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend.

The exercise also of the gifts, is required in all them that are called to sacred office (1 Timothy 4:14): "Neglect not the gift that is in you." Hence persons destitute of these gifts of the Spirit, as they cannot in a due manner discharge any one duty of the Ministry, so wanti…

Again, look as Jacob gave the blessings at this time, the principal unto Ephraim, and the lesser to Manasses; so afterward they came to pass: For (as we may read) the tribe of Ephraim was far more populous, and more glorious than the tribe of Manasses. And therefore, in the book…

This appurtenance of them to the Ark, the Apostle expresseth by the Preposition [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] from the Hebrew [⟨in non-Latin alphabet⟩] now this preposition is so frequently used in the Scripture to signify, adhesion, conjunction, approximation, appurtenance of one t…

When men have slight considerations of any of God's institutions, when they come to them without a sense that there is divine wisdom in them, that which becomes him from whom they are, it is no wonder if their glory be hid from them. But when we diligently and humbly enquire int…

But it is a fond imagination; at least the argument from these words for it, is so. For besides that the Scripture calls all sins by the name of errors (Psalms 19:12; Psalms 25:7), and the worst, the most provoking of all sins, is expressed by erring in heart (Psalms 95:10), and…

And so it is with many. And when knowledge is perished from their lips who should preserve it, the people must perish for want of that knowledge (Hosea 4:6; Matthew 15:14). 3. In our progress towards an increase in knowledge, we ought to go on with diligence and the full bent of…

Hereunto [in non-Latin alphabet] is opposed [in non-Latin alphabet], other blood, the blood of others; that is, the blood of bulls and goats offered in sacrifice, in for cum, say most Expositors, which is not unusual. See 1 John 5:6; Genesis 32:10; Hosea 4:3. The meaning is, by…

Reprove them not, help them not, hinder them not, let them alone to take their own course. So says God, of Israel now given up to sin and ruin, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone (Hosea 4:14; Ezekiel 29:13). And it is the same judgment which he denounces against unprofita…

And if so, then these children, as well as others, are part of the flock and church of Ephesus, to whom that epistle is written, and then the whole flock being under the charge of elders to feed them (that is, both to teach and rule them) it appears thereby, that what the Synod…

Non periclitor dicere (says Tertullian) ipsas Scripturas ita dispositas esse, ut materiam subministrant haereticis: So the Lord himself says (Jeremiah 6:21), Behold I will lay stumbling blocks before this people; that is, suffer them to stumble at their own prejudices. 3. God le…

Because he will bring you a nearer way to heaven than you are willing to go? Is this a due requital of his love, who is pleased so much to concern himself in your welfare — which is more than he will do for thousands in the world, upon whom he will not lay a rod or spend an affl…

He gave them up for that sin, to more sin. Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone (Hosea 4:17). Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be to him to sin (Hosea 8:11).

Revelation 3:19: Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. How much better is it to have an idolized enjoyment taken from you in mercy, than if God should say concerning you, as he said of Ephraim in Hosea 4:17: He is joined to idols, let him alone. It is better for you that your Fathe…

The men of Lystra seeing the miracle wrought by Paul and Barnabas, cry'd out, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men, Act. 14. 11. But we may now say, The Devils are come up to us in the likeness of men; Never was there such a spirit of wickedness in the Land, never…

Men go on and consider not. Hosea 4:11, whoredom, and new wine, steal away their hearts; that is, it makes them not to consider. Mark 6:52, they considered not the loaves, therefore their hearts were hardened: they were fearful in the ship, because they considered not the miracl…

It was the duty of the people to seek from them the law of God, that is, the meaning of the mind of God as expounded in the law. God therefore severely rebukes the priests for their neglect of this work (Hosea 4:6). The duty of instructing the people also rested upon the Levites…

XII. With respect to the material of the immediate objects of worship, they are also variously named. Hence they are also called contemptuously by a term meaning "wood" or "a piece of wood": Hosea 4:12, "My people asks counsel of its wood"; and Jeremiah 10:8. Whatever idolaters…

To desire it, delight in it, love it. Contrary, is forbidden general ignorance of good and evil (Hosea 4:6; Ephesians 4:17). To love it, desire it, delight in it (Proverbs 1:22).

The first is (2 Thessalonians 1): Christ will come in flaming fire, to render vengeance to all them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel. The second is (Hosea 4): My people perish for want of knowledge. The third is (Isaiah 27): This is a people of no understanding, theref…

Fie on all the glory of the world; let us not think 1. too much of this piece, airy, windy, vain opinion of men's esteem and the applause; it's but a short living, hungry Hosanna, when your name is carried through a spot or bit of this clay-stage, for a day or two, they'll wonde…

The pastors also have transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal. Asking counsel of them (Hosea 4:12). My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares to them, for the spirit of whoredoms has caused them to err and they have gone a whoring from…

This must teach us all to detest this ignorance of God, and his will, and to seek by all means to know God. God has a controversy with men, because they know him not (Hosea 4:1, 6). Again, this serves to warn all ministers of the word, to be careful to root out ignorance out of…

Thus he punishs spirituall fornication, with bodily pollution, because the Israelites went a whoring from God, therefore their daughters became harlots, and their spouseswhores. Hos 4:12, 13. And this is verified in the Church of Rome at this day: for as he gaue vp the heathen t…

They ought to profess that all their hearts and souls are in these engagements to be the Lord's, and forever to serve him; 2 Chronicles 15:12-14. God's people's swearing to God, and swearing by his name, or to his name, as it might be rendered, (by which seems to be signified th…

One day they seem to lye in Hell by the Terror of their Convictions, and the next to be hasting towards it by their sins and pollutions. see Luke. 11. 24, 25, 26. Hos. 4. 6. cap. 6. 4. (2.) This Apostacy is promoted and hastned by others.

2 Timothy 3:5. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away. Hosea 4:15. Though you Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend, and come not you to Gilgal, neither go you up to Beth-aven. Revelation 18:4. Come out of her my people, that yo…

Point. The curse and punishment of vnsauourie salt: It is cast out, and troden under foote of men: whereby Christ signifis, that vnfaithfull and vnprofitable ministers, shall be condemned both of God and man: Hos. 4. 6. Because you have despised knowledge, therefore also will I…

And fifth, the respect people ought to have to them, who are over them in the Lord: no flock needs a shepherd more than a congregation needs a minister, people without laborers, being like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), under a sad necessity of wandering and being lost…

7. All men naturally have some lust, idol, or beloved, that their affection is set upon beside Christ; It's some other thing, from which he is distinguished, and to which he is opposed. 8. Men lay out their affections liberally upon their idols, and upon these things that their…

Nor has God ordained magistracy only out of respect to some few whom he has ennobled, that they might enjoy a privilege and prerogative above the common and vulgar sort of men, but he has ordained it for the general good of mankind; indeed, and I have often and seriously thought…

Thirdly, this is a sin that does most of all others obscure, and extinguish the light of a man's natural reason and understanding. Nothing does so much darken the understanding, as the fumes of lust (Hosea 4:11). Whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart.

Such are 1. The ignorant, who shut their eyes against the light, and refuse to be taught the way to Heaven (Hosea 4:6): You have rejected knowledge. The Hebrew word signifies, to reject with disdain.

But truly we need not talk of letters from hell, we are told from heaven, how deplorable the condition of such poor souls is. See Proverbs 28:19, Hosea 4:6. The judgment will yet appear very heavy, if you consider the loss which God's own people sustain by the removal of the Gos…

HOw unlike am I to God, in the afflicting of his people? The Lord is pitiful when he smites them, but I have been cruel. He is kind to them, when most severe; but the best of my kindnesses to them, may fitly enough be called severity. God smites them in love, I have smitten them…

As 1. It may be taken away (Hos. 4:11), stolen away (2 Sam. 15:6), and as moveables can be stolen away and hid, though lands legally by fraud may be stolen away, yet physically they cannot be hid; so the love and inclination of the heart may and can be stolen away, and when hear…

2. Not desiring of God, but an abhorring, or a soul abhorring of God hinders influences of the Spirit. 1. Are there any who abhor God? such a sad word is spoken of the Jews (Zech. 11:8): Three Shepherds also I cut off in one month, and my soul loathed them, and their soul also a…

The spirit of giddiness and error leads Egypt (Isaiah 19:14). The spirit of whoredom (Hosea 4:12; Hosea 5:4) that inclines to idolatry. The spirit of lying (1 Kings 22:22).

Bernard says, when God spares men in a sinful way, it is because God is not only angry with men, but hates them, he calls his mercy more cruel then all indignation. Origen in his Sermon upon Ex. 20. quotes that place, Hos. 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit w…

We read Ezek. 47:11 that when the waters of the sanctuary flowed, the miry places could not be healed: How seldom does the waters of the Sanctuary heal miry souls? Augustine says of such, As the earth by too much rain becomes nothing but mire and dirt, so as it is made unfit for…

In that sense the Apostle says, that the commandment which was ordained to life, he found to be to death (Romans 7:10). But I rather judge, that having charged the people with neglect and contempt of the laws and judgments of God which were good, God's giving them up judicially…

Neither man nor Angel can be kept without a surety; and unless Christ be continually present with his own gifts, there is no standing. Thirdly, they fell dreadfully, and from Angels became devils, exercising theft, lying, envy, murder towards men: the best things corrupted, beco…

If we well consider the prayers that we find recorded in the Book of Psalms, I believe we shall see reason to think, that a very great, if not the greater part of them, are prayers uttered, either in the name of Christ, or in the name of the Church, for such a mercy: and undoubt…

And they represent God's people, while his Church is in such a state, before God delivers and restores the same, as seeking him, looking for him, searching and waiting for him, and calling after him. Hosea 5:15: I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offen…

When he is ripe, like the first ripe in the fig-tree (Hosea 9:10). 3. Often he chooses in the furnace (Hosea 5, last verse): I will return to my place. Hebrew, till they make defection, or be guilty; for the most part, man is not guilty in his own eyes, while he be as Manasseh w…

And though he be not able to turn himself in his bed, yet he may turn to God. It is a vain thing to put off God to health, for in our sickness God will sooner visit us, and does expect that in the day of our affliction we should seek him diligently and early (Hosea 5, last verse…

Therefore sin is evil because it makes an estrangement between us and God (Isaiah 59:2): Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you. But affliction is good, because many times it makes us the more earnestly to seek after him…

Psal. 78. 34, 35. Hos. 5. 15. Affliction naturally speaks Anger, and Anger respects Sin.

Let Person so affected be fully satisfied, that they can never Cleanse or Purifie themselves by any Endeavours that are meerly their own, or by any Means of their own finding out. According to mens Convictions of the Defilements of sin, so have and alwayes will their Endeavours…

Nothing more ordinary than for men thus to deal with their convictions. They see their sickness, feel their wound,and go to the Assyrian, Hosea 5:13. And this insensibly leads men into Atheism.

2. Seasonableness, so it's taken in that expression, the Lord will help and that right early (Psalm 46:5). 3. Seriousness, so (Hosea 5:15) they shall seek me early, that is, seriously. Here it implies, that she, as one impatient of delays, desires to go with expedition, and for…

The spirit of giddiness and error leads Egypt (Isaiah 19:14). The spirit of whoredom (Hosea 4:12; Hosea 5:4) that inclines to idolatry. The spirit of lying (1 Kings 22:22).

If men know not their sickness, they will not seek for a cure. Some when they see their sickness, and their wound, will apply themselves to wrong useless remedies, like them in the Prophet (Hosea 5:13). But none will make use of any cure who see no disease at all.

By this therefore will he awake them to a diligent enquiry after him. Upon the discovery of his absence and such a distance of his glory from them as their faith cannot reach to it, they become like the doves of the valleys all of them mourning every one for his iniquity, and do…

[1.] We must be of a meek spirit — [in non-Latin alphabet] qu. [in non-Latin alphabet] facilis: So the Critics. Meekness is easiness of spirit; not a sinful easiness to be debauched, as Ephraim's that willingly walked after the commandment of the idolatrous princes (Hosea 5:11).…

It was a very ill time when there was a separation between the ten Tribes, and the rest, when the ten Tribes left the Temple, left the Ordinances of God, and followed after Jeroboam; this was a very hard time, and the rather because Jeroboam set watchers, to observe who would go…

Or strength while he smites? (Hosea 5:15): I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. I will leave them, hide my face, and what will become of their peace and strength?

It is the only means of the removal of that, which will allow us neither the one nor the other. Men that are sick and wounded under the power of lust, make many applications for help; they cry to God, when the perplexity of their thoughts overwhelms them; even to God do they cry…

Ah! how many poor souls are thus deluded to eternity! When Ephraim saw his sickness, he sent to King Jareb (Hosea 5:13), which kept him off from God. The whole bundle of the Popish religion is made up of designs and contrivances to pacify conscience without Christ; all described…

6. This is the reason of affliction; we are so backward in this work that we need be whipped to it. Hosea 5:15: I will go and return to my place, says God, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face. God knows that want is a spur to a lazy creature, and therefore does…

In his pang, in his distress, when his conscience pinches him sore, he will be calling upon God: yes, but has he any delight in God? he wants sincere grace. Some time he may come with his flocks and herds to seek the Lord (Hosea 5:6). And cry, arise, Lord save us (Jeremiah 2:27)…

1. Take notice of the law-giver, You: It is not our equal, or one that will be baffled, but the great God upon whom you depend every moment. Men are easily carried away to please those that have power over them, even sometimes to the wrong of God and conscience: Hosea 5:11. Ephr…

Partly from self-love, when our turn is served, we neglect God: as the raven returned to Noah no more, when there was floating carrion for it to feed upon (Genesis 8:7). Wants try us more than blessings (Hosea 5, last verse): in their affliction they will seek me early. Our inte…

Lord in trouble have they visited you, they poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them. Hosea 5:15: In their affliction they will seek me early. It were endless to run out in discourses of this nature.

That is good that sets us nearer to God, and that is evil which separates us from him; therefore sin is evil, because it makes an estrangement between us and God (Isaiah 59:2). But affliction is good, because many times it makes us the more earnestly to seek after him (Hosea 5:1…

3. Among these means, afflictions, indeed sharp afflictions are some of those things which our need and profit requires: they are needful to weaken and mortify sin (Isaiah 27:9), "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged"; to increase and quicken grace (Hebrews 12:10), "But…

So Jeroboam would have his calves worshipped (1 Kings 12:32). And yet all that complied with him therein, are charged for walking so willingly after the commandment (Hosea 5:11). We dare not offend God to please men; the good Levites are commended (2 Chronicles 11:14).

Hence those desertions that are for chastisement usually end when we are brought to God's foot, and amended by them. If God corrects us for our folly, and we continue to be stout and refractory, or careless and regardless, it is not to be wondered if he proceed with us in this c…

A dead man cannot hear one word at no one time, he was not dead if he could. Men's minds are far from God, and hearts also, that they are neither stricken with the sight of his glory, nor sense and savour of his goodness, but must be vain, and have worldly hearts in the Church,…

Had the hedge been so [illegible] and easy and the wall so low that they might have broken through the one or leaped over the other, she would have made a hard shift but she would have followed and found her lovers; but the hedge was made of thorns [illegible] and insufferable s…

So it is with the heart of man, when his heart is so broken, so humbled and touched with the sense of his sinnes, that he longs after nothing but remission, nothing but the assurance of Gods favor, the assurance of his love and kindnesse, nothing will satisfie him but that: it i…

Need'st you be long in resolving whose you art? did ever any question, whether those were Jeroboams subjects, who willingly followed his command? Hosea 5:11. Alas, for you, you are under the power of Satan, tied by a chaine stronger than brasse or iron; you lovest your lust.

When the Princes, men of renown in their tribes, stood up with Corah, presently a multitude are drawn into the conspiracy. Let Jeroboam set up idolatry, and Israel is soon in a snare; it's said the people willingly walked after his Commandment, Hosea 5:11. Secondly, should the s…

5. So must there be a deadening of the husband to the wife (Job 19:17), to servants (Job 15:16), to sons (2 Samuel 16:11), of the mother to the daughter, of the daughter-in-law to the mother-in-law (Micah 7:6), to blood-friends. 12. All the godly and zealous Prophets said Amen t…

3. Consider Gods afflictive providences, and see if our limbeck will not drop when the fire is put under. God has sent us of late years to the school of the cross; he has twisted his judgements together; he has made good upon us those two threatnings, (Hosea 5:12). I will be to…

Sorrow is such a vehement passion as will have vent: it vents it self at the eyes by weeping, and at the tongue by confession, (Nehemiah 9:2). The children of Israel stood and confessed their sins, (Hosea 5:15). I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their sins.

By this therefore he will awaken them to a diligent inquiry after him. Upon the discovery of his absence and such a distance of his glory from them as their faith cannot reach, they become like the doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity, and they…

For we should sooner be dulled than amended, with the scourges of adversity, unless he did frame us to that tractableness by his Spirit. Now whereas the Lord, being offended, and in a manner wearied with our obstinate stubbornness, does not for a time leave us (that is by taking…

Example of Manasseh: and when he was in tribulation he prayed to the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly. And David says: It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes (Genesis 42:21; Hosea 5:15; Lamentations 3:20; 2 Chronicles 33:12; Psalm…

For a while it may be they take little notice of it. Sometimes they complain, but think they will do as in former times, until being insensibly weakened in their spiritual strength, they have work enough to do in keeping alive what remains and is ready to die (Hosea 5:13). I sha…

Men choose it in its causes, and in the ways and means leading to it, but not in itself. So the Prophet informs us (Hosea 5:11). Ephraim was not willingly oppressed and broken in judgment; that was his misery and trouble; but he willingly walked after the commandment of the idol…

Afflictions are a merciful invention of heaven to do us that good, which nothing else can; they awaken us to a sense of God, and of ourselves, to a consideration of the evil of our ways; they make us to take notice of God, to seek him, and enquire after him. God does as it were…

Secondly, consider of the Lord's mercy and readiness to save you, who has prepared mercy, and entreats you to take it, and waits every day for you to that end (2 Corinthians 5:19). The third reason of man's ruin is that carnal confidence, whereby men seek to save themselves, and…

Afflictions are the servants and pursuivants of the accusing law, sent out to cause us lay hold by faith on peace made, and pardon purchased in Christ: The hot furnace is the work-house of Christ, in that fire he takes away the scum, the dross, the refuse of the true metal, that…

Thirdly, take heed of all murmuring in any afflictions. If God cross our wills, and we fall to murmuring, then we cannot make so much as a quiet prayer, much less a humble and fervent prayer: we vex the holy Spirit of God when we grumble at any affliction (Isaiah 63:9-10), to sh…

As God's blessings have a punctual time, from the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, from this day I will bless you: so likewise have his judgments too (Haggai 2:18). The days of man shall be a hundred and twenty years, to the old world (Genesis 6:3): nor are years only, but even…

Neither will it be any excuse that we have done according to the precepts of men, if we have done contrary to those of God. Ephraim, of old, was broken in judgement, because he willingly walked after the commandment (Hosea 5:14). But would not his obedience hallow, or at least e…

Is not the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience to the church or any man, a destroying of liberty of conscience and reason also? Yes. (Romans 10:17; Romans 14:23; Isaiah 8:20; Acts 17:11; John 4:22; Hosea 5:11; Revelation 13:12, 16-17; Jeremiah 8:9…

In their due observation, does God give out that supply of grace which he has promised (Ephesians 1:16, 17, 18, 19), and thus also is faith exercised, in an especial manner, which is the only ordinary means of its growth and increase. Habits both acquired, and infused, are incre…

And the duties on our part intended may be reduced to these heads. (1) Diligence in an application to the use of the best means for this end (Hosea 6:7). Those that would be carried on towards perfection, must not be careless, or regardless of opportunities of instruction, nor b…

Many zealous professors today, but tomorrow as cold as water. And the complaint of the Lord touching times past, agrees to our days (Hosea 6): O Ephraim, What shall I say to you? Your righteousness is like the morning dew.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, &c. Plants that grow out of the Sun send up a longer stalk, but the fruit is worse: some Christians pitch all their care upon the growth of love, and take no pains to grow in knowledge; but this is not…

Oh! What need to throw down yourself before God, and to lie at him for a thorough work to be wrought. Run not away with tastes; rest not in beginnings, in pangs, in sudden stirrings, in overtures; but follow on in the use of all means, with groanings unutterable (Hosea 6:3). Oh!…

5. Promises and resolutions against Sin for the future. But the goodness of many in these things, is like the morning cloud, and as the early dew it passes away, as it is in the Prophet (Hosea 6:4). Where there is a concurrence of these things in any, they have good hopes, at le…

For he who blesses an idol is cursing God. The same word occurs (Hosea 6:8; Amos 1:5). Jerome translates it as "idol."

See (Psalm 119:27; Jeremiah 22:15, 16; John 17:8; 1 John 1:3, 4, and 4:7). Now that knowledge of Himself and of His will which God requires is pleasing to God (1 Chronicles 28:9; Hosea 6:6). And he who is furnished with it is pleasing and acceptable to Him (Jeremiah 24:7).

They are "blind," (2 Peter 1:9; Isaiah 42:7; Luke 4:18); and they are "darkness," (John 1:5; 1 Peter 2:9; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 5:8); "their minds are darkened," (Ephesians 4:18); "they walk in darkness," (1 John 1:6); and "they love darkness," (John 3:19); they are "dead," (Eph…

But for the most part this is the work and effect of the preached word of God. So the apostle teaches us (1 Corinthians 14:24, 25), and the prophet (Hosea 6:5). We will daily see the same power or energy accompanying the preaching of the word.

A little season (Revelation 6:11). Three days (Hosea 6:1). A short time, and the vision will speak, and will not tarry (Habakkuk 2:3; Hebrews 10:37).

Christ alone can help us, and confirm us against our fears: the disciples did not stir, but lay prostrate upon their faces, till he came and touched them, and said, arise, be not afraid. In all the troubles and perplexities of his people, he will be owned as the causer and curer…

While Moses tarried in the mount, Aaron and the people set up a golden calf, and departed from God. Hosea says, The righteousness of the Israelites, was like the morning dew, which the rising of the sun consumes (Hosea 6:4). John was a burning light, and the Jews rejoiced in thi…

God hauing wounded and slaine vs, first bindes vs vp, then he revives vs, and the third day he raiss vs vp. Hos 6:1. Againe, nature feeles not nature, nor corruption feeles corruption, but grace: therefore it is the life of Christ in vs that makes vs feele the masse, and bodie o…

Mark here how God works one contrary by the other. In the creation, he made something, not of something, but of nothing: he called light out of darkness: he kills, and then makes alive (Hosea 6): he sends men to heaven, by the gates of hell: he gave sight by a mixture of spittle…

Like Ephraim and Iudah, whose goodnes was as a morning cloud, and as the morning dowe which vanishs away. Hos 6:4. This wearisomnes in well doing has seased upon the most: euen upon all drowsie professours, (which are the greatest part,) as may appeare by this, in that some, if…

Ans. I answer, that they still keep their order and dignity: but by these of the second, which Christ strictly requires, and upon which he also insists, the hypocrisy of hypocrites is chiefly discovered, so as a man may more plainly discern thereby whether the true fear of God b…

Isaiah pursues that which he has already begun to treat of, namely, that the Jews should prosper in all things, if they live in such equity, and so abstain from all wrong, that from there men may take notice of their piety and religion. For he pronounces that which is said by Ho…

But in the mean while, the most part of men do but trifle and dally with God, and labor to satisfy him with pretty gauds and toys. Isaiah therefore condemns and detests such a hypocrisy; and teaches that the Lord rather requires mercy of us, than sacrifices (Hosea 6:7; Matthew 9…

Or rather he explains to them, that they are contending with God and the Prophet, when, in pride and cruelty, they are offended at relief which is given to the wretched, and at medicine which is administered to the sick. This quotation is made from Hosea 6:6: For I desired mercy…

But while Christ, in recommending to us the exercise of charity, does not exclude those duties which belong to the worship of God, he reminds his disciples that it will be an authentic evidence of a holy life, if they practice charity, agreeably to those words of the prophet, I…

He hath showed thee, O Man, what is good; And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love Mercy, and walk humbly with thy God? And also that, Hosea 6. 6. For I desired Mercy, and not Sacrifice.

James 1. 27. 'Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction, etc.' Hosea 6. 6. 'For I desired Mercy, and not Sacrifice; and the Knowledge of God, more than Burnt-Offerings.' Matthew 5. 7. 'Blessed are the M…

Sect. 14 By these and the like means does God oft-times put the wildness of Corrupted Nature to a stand, and stirs up the Faculties of the Soul by an effectual though not saving Impression upon them, seriously to consider of its self, and its Relation to Him and his Will. And he…

And in these spiritual Habits of Faith and Love it is so moreover by Gods Appointment. They grow and thrive in and by their exercise, Hos. 6. 3. The want thereof is the principal means of their decay.

"Show us the Father and it suffices us." When their desires are towards God only, it is with this aim in the first place, that they may know him, which is supposed when that is given as an encouragement to the pursuit of this knowledge: "We shall know if we follow on to know the…

Whereas Christians of a mild and softer temper, they shall have fewer blows, and shall not have the terrors of God stick so fast in their hearts, as others shall. Here you read that phrase (Hosea 6:5): says the Lord, I will hew them by my Prophets, etc. God does hew some men, he…

The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. And therefore in the greater transgressions of the Law, the people were said to forsake, to break, to profane, to transgress the covenant of God (Leviticus 26:15; Deuteronomy 3:20; Chap. 17:2; Hosea 6:7; Joshua 7:11; 2 Kings 18:…

So likewise 1 Samuel 24, [in non-Latin alphabet]; arcus fortium confractorum. The adjective [in non-Latin alphabet] broken, agrees in number with [in non-Latin alphabet], the mighty, though it be apparently spoken of the bow: and likewise, Hosea 6:5, [in non-Latin alphabet], you…

As in (Isaiah 8:17): I will wait upon the Lord, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. The Prophet Hosea applies the word to robbers and thieves, who stand watching and longing for the traveller, and looking at every turning (Hosea 6:9): As troops o…

Again, we may look on wine as used in the ceremonial services and drink-offerings (Leviticus 23:13, etc.). Thus the meaning is, your love is preferable to all outward performances and sacrifices, as (Hosea 6:7). Love being the principle within, from which all our performances sh…

Again in the eighth place, whereas in the first Table there is one command partly moral and natural, partly positive and instituted, and that is our observation of the Sabbath: we may observe that our obligation to the duties of the second Table does often times supersede our ob…

If you hear him, and wait, though you have not yet admission, but are kept at the gates and posts of the doors, yet in the issue you shall be blessed. 3. The rule in this case is (Hosea 6:3): "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know." Are you in the way of knowing Christ in…

Hence he gives himself that title, I am the Lord that heals you (Exodus 15:26). And because of the poisonous nature of sin, and the danger it brings of eternal death to the souls of men, the removal of it, or a recovery from it, is often called by the name of healing (Psalm 6:2;…

The ground of this and other like cases is that rule laid down by the Prophets, and by Christ himself, namely I will have mercy and not sacrifice. If God in case of mercy dispenses with a duty due to himself, will he not much more dispense with a duty due to a husband (Hosea 6:6…

Psalm 19:9 and 43:3 and 119:105, 130. Proverbs 6:23. Isaiah 9:2. Hosea 6:5. Matthew 4:16 and 5:14. John 3:20, 21: It is a Light so shining with the majesty of its Author, as that it manifests itself to be his.

David a grown Christian, he desires more understanding of God's will. Certainly we should still follow on to know the Lord (Hosea 6:3). Heathens that only knew natural and moral things, yet they saw a need of growth; and the more they knew, the more they discovered their ignoran…

Adam hid himself when God came into the garden; and when he could shift no longer, he will not declare it, but transfers the fault upon Eve, and obliquely upon God himself; and ever since there are many tergiversations in man's heart; and therefore it is said, (Job 31:33) If I h…

And he said, I beseech you show me your glory. And (Hosea 6:3): Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. They are not cloyed, but desire more.

We should count all charges, and resolve upon the worst. 2. It reproves Aguish Christians, whose purity and devotion comes upon them by fits (Hosea 6:4). Their righteousness is as the morning dew.

If any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know: they study their own hearts, and so are conscious to many weaknesses, they know how easily they are misled by the wiles of Satan, and the darkness of their own hearts, whereas a presumptuous forma…

We should sit down and count the charges, make God a good allowance, resolve that nothing shall withdraw us from him (Romans 8:35-36). 2. It reproves feverish Christians, whose piety and devotion takes them by fits: their righteousness is like the morning dew (Hosea 6:4) that ca…

4. From the temper of a gracious heart: a taste of this knowledge will make us desire a further supply, that we may be taught more, and the soul may be more sanctified: therefore does David deal with God for the increase of saving knowledge. We are contented with a little taste…

In the foregoing verse he had acknowledged that God had afflicted him, and now he prays that God would comfort him. The same hand that wounds must heal; and from whom we have our affliction, we must have our comfort; (Hosea 6:1) Come let us return to the Lord; for he has torn, a…

The very purpose and bent of the heart, is the fruit of regeneration. Free-will has its pangs, its velleities, which are like a little morning-dew that is soon dried up (Hosea 6:4). Our righteousness is as the morning-cloud, and as the early dew it goes away. But the will and re…

2. He obeyed universally] not this or that command, but both this and that, he did not halve it with God, or pick and choose which were easiest to be done, and leave the rest, no, but he obeys all, all these things have I kept. 3. He obeyed constantly] not in a fit of zeal only,…

It's the part of a good husband to grow rich out of his revenues and [illegible], especially if many [illegible] great that appertain to him: to make both ends meet at year's end, to make but one of one, and yet live from hand to mouth, and yet born to so fair an estate, and [il…

- 2 The effectual settling of it upon the heart. The search of the truth: Meditation is a coming in with the truth or any cause that comes to hand, that we may inquire the full state of it before our thoughts part with it, so that we see more of it or more clearly [illegible] fu…

Hence that (John 3:18): he that believes not, is condemned already. We find therefore that God upon this very ground, enters into a solemn deliberation with these (Hosea 6:4): Oh Ephraim, what shall I do to you, &c. And (Jeremiah 5:7): How shall I pardon you for this?

The former of these belongs properly to them, as they are the ambassadors of God, sent to treat with men about the affairs of the kingdom, who, if men will not accept of the terms of the treaty, and comply with the articles offered them, are, after all means used to bring them t…

We pretend to hear what God says, and our mind is quite upon another thing. We present God with our bodies, but do not give him our hearts (Hosea 7:11). This hypocrisy God complains of (Isaiah 29:13): This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, bu…

Adultery is the reigning sin of the times. (Hosea 7:4) They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker. The time of King Henry the 8th was called the Golden Age, but this may be called the unclean age, wherein whore-hunting is common.

God may remove the golden candlestick from us as he did from the churches of Asia. We have many sad symptoms, gray hairs are here and there upon us (Hosea 7:9), therefore let us lay hold upon the present season; they that sleep in seedtime will beg in harvest. 8. If you would go…

When the Devil's darts are most fiery, a saint's love to God is most fervent. 3. By temptation God tries our courage (Hosea 7:11): Ephraim is a silly dove without a heart. So it may be said of many, they are excordes, without a heart — they have no heart to resist a temptation,…

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. A sinner's praying is howling (Hosea 7:14), but the prayer of a righteous man is music in God's ears (Song of Solomon 2:14). Let me hear your voice for sweet is your voice.

I owe this duty to God, and I must do it for God's sake; be it a duty of worship, or in your civil relation and traffic, as if I pray, the last end of prayer must be God's glory, whether I seek grace and pardon, or the conveniences and supports of the present life. Grace still s…

It is from this topic all iniquity will draw arguments to encourage itself; for nothing does so much discountenance those rising corruptions, and put them out of heart, as an active belief, that God takes care of human affairs. Upon the want of this active knowledge God charges…

That is, an idol, which will be for me as a lie, providing nothing at all of those things it seems to promise. Hosea 7:1, "They have worked sheqer" — a lie; Jerome translates it as "idol." VI. And from this same consideration idols are also called metim, "the dead": Psalm 106:28…

And now whatever is horrible, terrible, and sorrowful that human nature can conceive, that stands continually before the eyes of the sinner: Hebrews 2:15, through the fear of death they were throughout all their life subject to bondage. Now this is the special effect of the word…

Is there any of you, but in sickness, or under some other sad cross, or at a Communion, you have had your own convictions, challenges, and frights about your soul's estate? and yet you have smothered, extinguished, and put them out again. A seventh ground or cause (which is as l…

And Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:12): O our God, will you not judge them? In prayer consider what claim and interest you have to God, if you be a son, and he a Father: Bastards cannot pray; strangers without the Covenant, and Heathen, having no right to God as their God and Fath…

In fact, did you not do it to yourselves? (Hosea 7:14) They have not cried to me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds. Did you desire in your prayers to bring in any service to God, to tend to his honor and glory?

The Body of one that was born a perfect Child, may fail of exact Proportion through Distemper, and the Weakness and Wounds of some of its Members; yet the Disproportion is in no Measure like that of those that are born Monsters. It is with Hypocrites, as it was with Ephraim of o…

Many men may hear the word, when selfish advantage accompanies hearing, to get more trading, to be better thought of among their neighbors; this is a selfish hearing, and in this case you may hear, yet not be effectually called. There is a phrase in Hosea 7:14: they cried to me,…

The Prophet Hosea reproves the like. Strangers (says he) have devoured his strength and he knows it not, indeed gray hairs are here and there upon him and he knows it not (Hosea 7:9). That is, he is in an afflicted, in a declining condition, and yet he lays it not to heart.

This God will make them sensible of. Though I have redeemed them, says God, yet they have spoken lyes against me, Hosea 7:15. So Chap.

This shows what a believer should be, and who deserves this name. The condition of this Dove is, that she is in the clefts of the rocks, and in the secret places of the stairs: It is ordinary for doves to hide themselves in rocks, or holes in walls of houses; And this similitude…

3. For him, holds out, 1. The procuring cause of this trouble, that it was for wronging of Christ, and the slighting of so kind a husband and friend, that stounded her at the heart above all, as (Zechariah 12:10), They shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him.…

First, there is a jocular lie; a lie framed to excite mirth and laughter, and deceive the hearer, only to please and divert him. This, though it may seem very harmless, to deceive men into mirth and recreation; yet truth is such an awful and severe thing, that it ought not to be…

This may be one sin that has brought down such fearful judgments upon the city; we read of twenty and four thousand men that fell in one day by the plague, for the sin of fornication (Numbers 15:9), and have not many thousand inhabitants and habitations of London fallen for this…

Wells without Water, that do but cheat the thirsty Traveller, 2 Peter 2. 13. A deceitful Bow, that appears good, but fails the Archer, Psalm 78. 57. Hosea 7. 16. Mr. Stoddard, in his Appeal to the learned, from Time to Time supposes all visible Saints who are not truly pious, to…

2. Therefore as the Lord's dominion determines the Sun to rise and move, rather than not to rise, and the Hawk and Eagle to fly toward the North, rather than not to fly toward the North; he destroys not the nature of necessary and natural causes, so we must not bid farewell to t…

Our narrow heart, and narrow faith, is like the little hand of the child, who has not fingers to hold the large and great apple. The fool wants a heart (Hosea 7:11; Proverbs 9:4). Then must the fools of this world know little of an enlarged and wide heart, as little as the horse…

And so is it with many churches at this day, especially that which boasts itself to be without error, or blame: and it is strange that a church should suppose that it flourishes in grace and gifts, when it has nothing but a noise of words in their stead. So God testified concern…

Secondly, it should teach the godly to be accurate in their way: you live amongst those that will observe you, and cast filth on your faces, take heed you give no just occasion; it is enough we shall suffer without any just cause, let us take heed they take no filth out of our o…

We read 2 Kings 2:23 when Elisha went to Bethel, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up you bald head, go up you bald head; that is observable, they came out of Bethel, which was that idolatrous city in Israel, where the Calf of…

The business in hand being to awake the whole man unto a consideration of the state and condition wherein he is, that he might be brought home to God; instead hereof, he sets himself to mortify the sin that galls him; which is a pure issue of self-love, to be freed from his trou…

Many carry themselves well in one condition, but quite miscarry in another. As Ephraim was as a cake not turned, baked on the one side (Hosea 7:8), quite dough on the other. Or as it is said of Joab (1 Kings 2:28), he turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom.

The reasons why we are to mingle praises and thanksgiving with our requests, are these; 1. Because this complies more with the great end of worship; which is not so much the relief of man, as the honor of God; therefore we should not only intend the supply of our necessities, fo…

The obtaining of natural good is put in the last place. And therefore when our thoughts only run upon temporal felicity, and outward supplies, it is not prayer, but a brutish cry: (Hosea 7:14) They howl upon their beds for corn, wine and oil. Beasts are sensible of their pain, a…

The sin of Iudah is written with a Pen of Iron and the Point of a Diamond. God scores down every act of Oppression, Bribery, Uncleanness, Hosea 7:2. They consider not in their Heart, that I remember all their wickedness.

Of all by-ends this is the worst and basest — Jesus Christ is scarcely loved for Jesus's sake. Yet further, those that prayed to God for corn, wine, and oil, and did not seek his favor and grace in the first place — see what the Lord says of them (Hosea 7:14): "They have not cri…

When we come to God we are earnest for other things. Hosea 7:14: They howl upon their beds for corn and wine. If anything be sought from God above God, more than God, and not for God, it is but a brutish cry.

So (Ezekiel 24:12). She has wearied herself with lies, and her scum went not forth out of her, speaking of her promises, when the pot was over the fire there seemed to be offers to throw off the scum, but she has wearied herself with lies. And in this sense it is said (Hosea 7:1…

Now the reasons of this: They which have their hearts set upon holiness, must have delight. A man whose heart is set upon earthly things will come and howl for corn, wine, and oil, outward enjoyments (Hosea 7). And a man that makes a loose profession of religion would fain be fe…

They consider not that they do evil. So (Hosea 7:2), they consider not in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness. That which we consider, is always before us; but that which we consider not, is forgotten, laid by, and the notions which we have about them are as it we…

The one makes way for the other. God is resolved to govern the world by this rule, therefore he does authorize it, own it by the dispensations of his providence; accordingly the world learns to reverence it; (Hosea 7:12) I will chastise them as their congregation has heard. God'…

Is it God himself? To seek to God and not for God, is but a carnal design upon God (Hosea 7:14), They howl upon their beds for corn, and wine, and oil. They are but brutish desires that terminate in other things, that are carried out more after them, than God's favor and grace:…

Every man prays according to the sense that he has, according to that which he counts his misery. He that has a sense of no other calamity but to be poor, scorned, or exposed to contempt, or the absence of the creature, prays accordingly, sometimes he howls like a dog in pain, o…

2. You will provoke God to use a rougher dispensation, when the persuasions of the Word, and the strivings of the Spirit cannot bring you to repentance. They will not be won by arguments; God teaches them by blows, as Gideon did the men of Succoth by briers and thorns: therefore…

1. Your own faith will be confirmed by it, when you see that God is as good as his word, and bestows upon us the utmost that any promise of his gives us to hope for: it is dictum factum with God, he is no more liberal in word than in deed. Look as it confirms our faith in the tr…

I know how to be abased, and how to abound — everywhere, and in all things I am instructed. Unless the Lord guide us, we shall be as Ephraim was, a cake not turned (Hosea 7:8), baked but on one side, quite dough and raw on the other side — failing in the next condition, though p…

So (Romans 1:18) you have this general a little more specified, God has not only taken notice of the first Table, but of the second: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven, not only against all ungodliness, but unrighteousness of men, etc. God from heaven has owned both Tables…

First, When reformation is rejected, and corruptions are settling again upon their own base. (Hosea 7:1) When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, etc. (Ezekiel 24:13) In your filthiness is lewdness, because I have purged you, and you were not…

2 Sinners are not only like to beasts in the general, but they are like the worst of beasts, such as in Scripture are called evil and hurtful beasts: sinners are not likened to the dove or the sheep, the harmless creatures, but to lions, tigers, boars and bears, etc. the ill-nat…

2 Another, and no less misery hereupon is, that God hears not his prayers, as it follows in that aforementioned text (Isaiah 59:2), and so it attends the hiding of God's face (Isaiah 1:15). God is a God hearing prayers, but sin shuts out our shouting, and the prayers of the wick…

In the ground from which they arise; that inquiry which comes in truth from a heart genuinely broken, it issues from the filth and poison of his sin, which puts the thoughts of a sinner beyond his compass, as not able to conceive, and the heart beyond his hopes, as not able to u…

The prayer of God's children is as sweet to him as music. A wicked man's prayer is as the howling of a dog (Hosea 7:14). The prayer of the saints is as the singing of a bird; the finger of God's Spirit touching the strings of their hearts, they make melody to the Lord.

And when you commest and prayest earnestly, when some great crosse is on you, in some great exigent, in the day of death, in the time of your sicknesse; know, that though you pray neuer so feruently, although you adde fasting to quicken it, yet it is doubtful whether it bee acce…

(2) We take not heed to the young births of the heart; with the concurrence of the mind, fancy and imagination, there are multitudes of forgeries, clay-pots, and imaginations framed, as a potter devises vessels of earth of many quantities, figures, shapes, great, small, narrow,…

You that say you will look after the kingdom of heaven tomorrow, know not, but that you may be in hell before tomorrow: Sometimes death comes suddenly, it strikes without giving warning: What folly is it putting off seeking the kingdom of heaven, till the day of grace expire, ti…

There were they to be found and nowhere else. Many altars the people of old did erect elsewhere, many high places they found out and prepared, but they were all sin and misery to them; God granted his presence to none of them all (Hosea 8:11; chapter 12:11). And many ways there…

Well then, learn to value the honor that you have by Christ's service; as that Emperor counted it a greater privilege to be a member of the Church than head of the Empire. Look upon duty as an honor, and service as a privilege; Honorabilia legis (Hosea 8:12), so the Vulgar. And…

The silver trumpet signified the sounding of the silver trumpet of the Gospel through all the world, the preaching of the pure word of God by his messengers, who are said to lift up their voice as a trumpet (Isaiah 58:1). Set the trumpet to your mouth (Hosea 8:1). The tongue of…

But therefore the Scripture lays load upon it. Hosea 8:11. Ephraim has made many altars to sin: they thought to worship God, but the text says, it was to sin against him. And Chap. 9:15. all their wickedness is in Gilgal, that is their greatest wickedness, for there were many ot…

Out of Zion shall go forth the law. The oracles of God, the great things of the law, as it is phrased (Hosea 8:12), his covenant and the counsel of his will, are entrusted with the church. Now this being a mercy which exceeds all other things in the world, is therefore comprehen…

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares to them, for the spirit of whoredoms has caused them to err and they have gone a whoring from under their God. So building temples, altars, or other monuments to them (Hosea 8:14). Israel has forgotten his maker, an…

A good man is described to be one that delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates therein day and night (Psalm 1:2) and again (Psalm 119:97) Oh how I love your law, it is my meditation all the day long. But alas few are of this temper (Hosea 8:12) I have written to them the…

Sect. 59 From this Prejudice it is, that the Spiritual Things of the Gospel are by many despised and contemned. So God spoke of Ephraim, Hos. 8. 12. I have written to him the great things of the Law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

Jeremiah 4:14 Our impure natures and ways have made him cry, How long will it be ere they attain to innocency? Hosea 8:5 If God wait upon you with so much patience for your duties, well may you wait upon him for his mercies. Tenth Consideration.

God sometimes gives when we use no means, but he never gives, when we use unlawful means. What God said concerning the setting-up of those kings (Hosea 8:4), they have set up kings, but not by me, he says of all, who enrich themselves by wrong, they have gotten riches but not by…

Either fear of persecution, or hope of preferment has turned them away from the profession of religion. Such were Bolsecus, Petrus Carolus, and others (Hosea 8:3): Israel has cast off the thing that is good. At Ausborough the Papists give ten florens a year to such as revolt fro…

Amongst many others, this is one special means whereby an afflicted condition comes to be useful for the increase of grace, because in it the soul gains much experience; experience of God and of his ways, experience of the good there is in, and faithfulness of his word; as we re…

When he would express the contrary of this love, he says he was not well pleased (1 Corinthians 10:5); he fixed not his delight, nor rest on them. And, if any man draw back, the Lord's soul has no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38; Jeremiah 22:28; Hosea 8:8; Mark 1:10). He takes pl…

Learn we of whom we receive all needful things, both spiritual and temporal, for soul and body, that accordingly we may give him the praise of all. And let us not be like the ungrateful Israelites who regarded not the means of spiritual nourishment, and ascribed the means of the…

Here is my rest for ever, here will I dwell. A sinner is a vessel in which is no pleasure, Hosea 8:8. But Fearers of God are Favourites.

Oh what a sad thing is it, that when the body is going to the grave, the soul has not yet learned to converse with God! (Hosea 8:12) I have written to them the great things of my law, but they were counted a strange thing. God has written an epistle to us, and we will not read i…

As a stranger, let it not stand at the door; but receive it into an inner room; be as familiar as those that dwell with you. God complains of his people (Hosea 8:12), I have written to them the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. To be strangers to…

The contrary God complains of. Hosea 8:12. I have written to them the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing. God is the author, whoever be the penman; it is a writing from him to us.

Is not he conscious to our works, and observes all we do? 4. God stands much upon the authority of his law (Hosea 8:12): I have written to them the great things of my law, etc. Mark, he calls them the great things of his law; they are not things to be slighted and despised.

God may change his countenance, but not break his covenant. It is one thing for God to desert, another thing to disinherit (Hosea 8:11). How shall I give you up, O Ephraim!

It is one thing for God to desert, another thing to disinherit. How shall I give you up, O Ephraim? (Hosea 8:11). This is a metaphor taken from a father going to disinherit his son, and while he is going to set his hand to the deed, his bowels begin to melt, and to yearn over hi…

And are we not to believe that God will write his law in the hearts of Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, Doeg, Ahab, Judas, Magus, and of Moabites, Ammonites, Egyptians, and of all and every one of mankind, if they be in covenant with him? Contrary to Psalm 147:19-20; Hosea 8:12; Exodus 20:1…

when shall it once be? (Jeremiah 13:27). Yet again, hear another Scripture, How long will it be, ere they attain to innocency? (Hosea 8:5). How long!

And this is so in their heart, that it riseth up to madness. The holy Ghost expresseth this rage of sin by a fit similitude which he useth in sundry places (Jeremiah 2:24; Hosea 8:9). It maketh men as a wild ass; she traverseth her ways, and [illegible] up the wind, and runneth…

Fourthly, hereupon the soul being comforted after it was wounded, now calls God, my God, and Christ, my sweet Savior, and now it doubts not but it shall be saved; why? Because I have received much comfort after much sorrow, and doubting (Hosea 8:2-3), and yet remains a deluded m…

so that my sin against God or his prophets, is no small thing. Faith looks at commandments as of great consequence, of great worth in themselves, and of great use to us, and looks at the transgression of them, as the greatest evil, whether against God or ourselves; whereas on th…

The menstrousness of a removed woman (Ezekiel 36:17). To a vessel in which there is no pleasure, which is but the modest expression of that draught into which nature empties itself (Hosea 8:8). And which is the sum of all uncleanness, sin in the heart is compared to the fire of…

(10.) Because, they are the ground of faith (Romans 4:20; 2 Chronicles 20:20). (11.) Because, they are the epistle of God sent to his Church (Hosea 8:12; Revelation 2:1, 8, 12). (12.) Because, they are his testament, wherein we may find what legacies, he has bequeathed to us (2…

If they may have peace and trading they care not what becomes of the Ark of God. A true child of God fears nothing so much as the loss of his Father's presence (Hosea 9:12): Woe to them when I depart from them. 2. Love to our heavenly Father is seen by loving his day (Isaiah 58:…

The saints have had the shining of God's face when affliction has rained and dropped upon them. Thus we may rejoice in affliction, but we cannot rejoice in sin (Hosea 9:1): Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people, for you have gone a-whoring from your God. Sin is matter…

5. A fearful cowardly spirit is another cause, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the Cross of Christ (Galatians 6:12). It was by this means as some have observed, that the Pope got up, and kept all his idolatries, because the mini…

God has no voluntary service in the world but from them; therefore he is more interested in their good, than in the good of the whole world besides. The services of the church are all the delight God has in the world (Hosea 9:10): "I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, I…

2. If God be in the midst of his Church, let us do what we can to keep God among us. Israel endeavoured to keep the Ark among them, which was the sign of Gods presence, Hos. 9. 12. Wo to them, when I depart from them. If God be gone, then all other blessings go too; peace and tr…

Also in Psalms 106:28: "They also joined themselves to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead." And in Hosea 9:10: "They came to Baal-peor, and separated themselves to that shameful thing." He is also called simply Pehor in Numbers 25:18: "They plotted against you in the…

In his time of love (Ezekiel 16:8). When he is ripe, like the first ripe in the fig-tree (Hosea 9:10). 3. Often he chooses in the furnace (Hosea 5, last verse): I will return to my place.

Fie on all the glory of the world; let us not think 1. too much of this piece, airy, windy, vain opinion of men's esteem and the applause; it's but a short living, hungry Hosanna, when your name is carried through a spot or bit of this clay-stage, for a day or two, they'll wonde…

For there is one only mercy of God which saves: and that may offer itself to them both. This sentence therefore answers that testimony of Hosea, which he cited before: I will call that my people which was no people (Hosea 9:25). Moreover, his meaning is not that God does so blin…

Nevertheless this must be acknowledged to be a sad stroke upon any person, and such as maims them upon the working hand, by unfitting them for duty, 1 Peter 3:7 and cuts off much of the comfort of life also. (2.) How many are there, who never enjoy the comfortable fruits of Marr…

He comes nigh in mercies also, Psalm 145:18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, &c. Yea, he is said to visit us by his Providence when he corrects, Hosea 9:7 and when he saves and delivers, Psalm 106:4 These visitations of God preserve our spirits, Job. 10:12 And…

And for you, wo unto you, when God leaves thus speaking unto you; when he refuss to Exhort you any more, wo unto you. This is Gods departure from any person or people, when he will deal with them no more about forgiveness; and faith he, Wo unto them when I depart from them, Hose…

The Absence of God from the soul, by his departure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally casts the soul into its depths. Woe unto them, says the Lord, when I depart from them, Hosea 9:12. And this woe, this sorrow does not attend only an universal, a…

Will anything recover it, if we do not recover our appetite, and prize, and cry after it. If the Gospel go, God will go, the Gospel being the sign and means of his special presence, and woe be to us when God shall depart from us. (Hosea 9:12) And if God depart with the Gospel, f…

The husbandman is exceedingly grieved, when he sees the hopes of a good crop disappointed, and his fields prove barren, or blasted. So the Lord expresses his grief for, and anger against his people, when they bring forth no fruits, or wild fruits, worse than none (Hosea 9:16): E…

(Psalm 16, last verse) in your presence is fulness of joys; and the Apostle thought he had backed his exhortation with a most potent argument in (Hebrews 12:14), follow after holiness, without which no man shall see God; in his light only can we see light; and there is nothing b…

One would think by the reading of the words, they were rather the speech of the Spouse to Christ; but it is the speech of Christ to his Spouse: And so again in Cantic. 5:2 Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: these are the expressions of the delight that God ha…

If it is a blessing for the woman which bears the child to give it suck, then mothers are bound to perform this duty. 2. It is denounced as a curse, that women shall have a barren womb and dry breasts (Hosea 9:14). If it is a curse for women to have dry breasts, then women may n…

1 Who are to hear and to undergo this doom, namely them on his left hand, the goats, the sinners, the workers of iniquity, as it is Matthew 7:23. 2 The sentence or doom itself, Depart from me; woe to you, says God (Hosea 9:12), when I depart from you; but woe, woe, woe will it b…

They will then suffer a sentence of banishment, never to see the face of God any more, never to come within the glorious palace of the great King, which is a sad sentence indeed, considering that in God's favor there is life, and His loving kindness is better than life itself. W…

And we are told (2 Thessalonians 1:9), "They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" and if in his presence there is fullness of joys (Psalm 16:11), then in a separation from it, there must be fullness of so…

Christ cursed the Fig-tree that had no fruit on it; and he expects that they should bear pleasant fruit, the works of righteousness, and true holiness; such as he himself may take pleasure in, and that may be truly comfortable to themselves. God therefore commends their obedienc…

2. That God frequently withdraws his Spirit from the means, as the first effect of his departure from unfruitful sinners. He possibly neither takes the means from them, nor them from the means for the present; but he secretly withdraws from them, and leaves them only under outwa…

It is a dismal thing to be banished out of the Lord's presence. Hosea 9:12. "Wo to them when I depart from them!" A greater wo than that there never was, nor can there be.

They framed to themselves a god of Gold and worshipped it. The Scripture calls Idols, Bosheth, a shame, Hosea 9:10. For this God disclaimed them from being his people, Exodus 32:2.

Then Christian called to Demas, saying, Is not the place dangerous? Has it not hindered many in their pilgrimage (Hosea 9:6)? Demas: Not very dangerous, except to those that are careless; but also he blushed as he spoke.

An unregenerate heart is carnal while engaged in duties that are spiritual. Some men deceive themselves in thinking they are spiritual men because their employment and calling is about spiritual things (Hosea 9:7). This indeed gives them the name, but not the frame, of spiritual…

The dispute between Christ and the woman goes on: Christ brings a strong reason, verse 26, why he should not heal her daughter; because she, and all her nation, not being in covenant with God, as are the Jews the church of God, are but dogs, and profane, and unworthy of Christ,…

They think because they are the seed of Abraham, and dwell in the land of promise, and have my worship, and oracles, and sacrifices, not in their hearts, but only in their lips and hands, which are but the skirts of the soul, that therefore doubtless they are clean; but whatever…

By what reasons are they confuted? (1) Because, all the Priests, Levites, and Prophets of the Jewish church, who had the same promises which the Christian church has now under the New Testament (1 Corinthians 10:3-4; 2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 49:15-16); together with the High Priest…

If it be so with us, go to Shiloh, and tremble. A [illegible] forsaken of God are in the road way to all misery: we read, [illegible] forsakes his tent which was in Shiloh, and what follows, but ruin and waste, and a universal deluge of destruction: all woes follow when he is go…

And if a tree be not sometimes pressed on by the wind, it will never well firm its roots in the ground. Sharp reproofs, and earnestness in pressing Gospel comminations are sometimes as needful for the best of us, as the administration of the richest and most precious promises (H…

A Vine is good for nothing if it be not fruitful, not so much as to make a pin in the wall. Now God compares Israel to an empty vine (Hosea 10:11), because they poured out all their strength, and time, and care upon their own interests. Well then, be not barren and unfruitful in…

If you do, then they are gracious works, and proceed from grace; they are living actions, and not dead: they issue from a right principle aiming at God, and not at yourselves. Hosea 10:1, Israel is an empty vine, he brings forth fruit to himself. If you bring forth fruits to you…

VIII. All of these were called by the special name Chemarim: Zeph. 1:4, "I will cut off the name of the Chemarim," that is, the Chemarim themselves, the priests of Baal, of whom he had just made mention. The same word is used in 2 Reg. 23:5 and Hos. 10:5 in the same sense. And t…

And it may be here observed, that that Interpreter throughout the Epistle renders [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] by [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], Rab Comara; though that word be always used in an ill sense in the Old Testament. Three times it occurs therein, 1 Kings 23:5. where we r…

5. It's not enough to do duties, and to lay up fruits, unless they be laid up for Christ; and this is no less a duty than the former. 6. It's no small attainment in a believer, and a strong motive for attaining of Christ's company (without which all will be nothing) when not onl…

The fruits you are to bring forth are those fruits of the Spirit, mentioned in Galatians 5:22. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, these fruits are our proficiency, as Bernard speaks, and God accounts our proficiency to be as his…

Deluded soul, your seed is no better than what the moral Heathens sowed; and do I expect better fruit than what they reaped? Civility without Christ, is but a freer slavery; and Satan holds me as fast in captivity by this, as he does the prophane by the pleasure of their lusts;…

That the work of the Spirit in convincing and humbling the heart of a sinner, is a work wherein much of the wisdom, as well as power of God is discovered. The work of repentance and saving contrition, is set forth in Scripture by this metaphor of plowing (Jeremiah 4:3; Hosea 10:…

Oh that the breathings and workings of the Spirit of all grace, might stir up all his gifts and graces in me, that the Lord Jesus the beloved of my soul may have meet and acceptable entertainment from me. God complains of want of fruit in his vineyard (Isaiah 5:3; Hosea 10:1). W…

What is the issue of it? His own counsel shall cast him down (Job 18:7) — first he shall be entangled, then cast down, and all by his own counsel, until he comes to be ashamed of it as Ephraim was (Hosea 10:6). Whenever in trials we consult our own understandings, hearken to sel…

It is not our duty only to glorify God in Heaven, to join in concert with the angels in their Hallelujahs above, where we may glorify him without distraction, weariness, and weakness; but here on earth, in the midst of difficulties and temptations. There are none sent into the w…

Nature sticks at this: a proud heart is loath to come under the yoke. We would taste of the sweetness of mercy, but cannot endure the bonds and restraints of duty; as Ephraim would tread out the corn, but was loath to break the clods (Hosea 10:11). The prophet alludes to the man…

Though we do not feel the love of God, nor have the comfort of a pardon, have no sensible communion with him, yet the choice and bent of the heart is towards him, and you have the character of God's people upon you. 5. You have misspent a great deal of time already, and long neg…

He knew this was the way to bring them back again. So Satan has a pawn, and knows that all will fall to him at last (Hosea 10:2). Their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty; halting between God and idols.

David says, (Behold I have longed after your precepts) not merely after the comfort of the promises, without regard to duty. The prophet tells us (Hosea 10:11), that Ephraim was like a heifer that was taught, that would tread out the corn, but would not endure the yoke, and brea…

God will use medicinal discipline, though not satisfy his justice upon them. 2. The qualification of the promise must be regarded by those that would have benefit by it: God's covenant is made with his people, 'tis a mutual stipulation, many would have comfort, we plead promises…

That which God has joined together, no man must put asunder. The prophet says, (Hosea 10:11) Ephraim is a heifer that is taught, and loves to tread out the corn; compared with (Deuteronomy 25:4) You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn. We are addicted to our own…

4. I might add, that a man may be much in obedience from sinister and base selfish ends, as the Pharisees, prayed much, gave much alms, fasted much, but our Lord Christ tells us that it was that they might be seen of men, and have glory of men (Matthew 6:2, 5, 16). Most of the h…

All men are doing something or other; every man has his works which he must be called to an account for, be judged by, and receive a recompense accordingly (2 Corinthians 5:10). There are the fruits of the flesh, as well as of the spirit; but there are some fruits that are recko…

2. Who are so to be accounted? A. In general, all those that do not bear the right and proper fruit will come under this denomination; and those are only the fruits of righteousness and holiness; all others are in God's esteem barren: whatever fruits they bear to themselves, if…

Labor we then to bring forth our fruits to God. It is the complaint which he makes of Israel (Hosea 10:1): He is an empty vine, he brings forth fruit to himself. It is the Apostle's demand (1 Corinthians 9:7): Who plants a vineyard, and eats not the fruit?

Second characteristic: the sincere Christian serves God with the whole heart (Psalm 119:2). Hypocrites have a double heart (Psalm 12:2) — a heart for God and a heart for sin (Hosea 10:2). Their heart is divided.

Let Christ be the center to which all the lines of your actions are drawn. The hypocrite pretends Christ but drives on some self-interest (Hosea 10:1) — like one who pretends to court for his friend but is a suitor for himself. How many make the name of Christ a stepping stone t…

Use 2. Here is an indictment against three sorts. Such as bring forth no fruit (Hosea 10:1): Israel is an empty vine. O how many unfruitful hearers are there — who evaporate into nothing but froth and fume, being like those ears which run out all into straw!

As (Proverbs 3:29): Plow not evil against your neighbor. (Hosea 10:13) You have plowed iniquity, such plots are forged against the people of God (Matthew 27:1; Nahum 1:11). 9. A proud heart (1.) resisted of God.

(6.) It is a word of near adherence [⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩] to lean firmly upon any with hope of security (2 Kings 18:5): have you leaned upon this reed? (Hosea 10:13; Psalm 13:6; Psalm 31:7; Deuteronomy 12:10): you shall dwell safely, confidently; it places the soul under t…

And he would have the godly dead to king and priest and law (2 Chronicles 15:3): Now for a long season Israel had been without the true GOD, and without a teaching priest, and without law. Hosea 3:4; Hosea 10:3: And now shall they say, We have no king, because we feared not the…

To be intire for God, to follow him wholly, to cleave to him with purpose of Heart, to have the Heart circumcis'd to love him, is to have all our Affections renewed and sanctifyed, without which we can do none of them. When it is otherwise, there is a double Heart, an Heart and…

All seek their own, not the things which are Christ's. The Prophet complained Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit to himself (Hosea 10:1). The man that's all for himself, will certainly be an empty, fruitless vine.

For this sin God has brought us low, he has made our Fig-tree to wither, and suffered the Palmer-worm to eat our Vine. 7. Another sin which has brought us low, is Barrenness under the Means of Grace, Hosea 10:1. Israel is an empty Vine; his juice runs out only into leaves.

But they attended not to his worship in faith, and to his glory, and he despised all their duties. See also (Hosea 10:1). And this is the great reason why professors thrive so little under the performance of a multitude of duties.

And all this is from the rebellion of this law of sin, stirring up and provoking the heart to disobedience. The Prophet gives this character of hypocrites (Hosea 10:2): Their heart is divided, therefore shall they be found faulty. Now though this be wholly so in respect of the m…

When Christ runs away with your will; as Christ was like a man that had not a man's will; so Saul (Acts 9:6), trembling and astonished, said, Lord what will you have me to do? It's good when the Lord tramples upon Ephraim's fair neck (Hosea 10:11). There is no goodness in our wi…

1. That which they do bring forth is not true fruit, the Holy Ghost does not vouchsafe it that name; they are said here, not to bring forth fruit. That speech in Hosea 10:1 will give clear light to understand this; with the ground of it also: Israel is, there called, an empty vi…

The days of man shall be a hundred and twenty years, to the old world (Genesis 6:3): nor are years only, but even months determined with him, Now shall a month devour them with their portions, to idolatrous Israel (Hosea 5:7). Nor months only, but days and parts of days; In a mo…

Have not our heart-divisions grieved away the Spirit of God, and given Satan this advantage? I am sure they leave a people faulty (Hosea 10:2), and therefore lay them open to severe punishments: these have been too general sins, and what have been in particular? What a deal of w…

As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God. It is not enough that the child have life, but it must be led every step by the nurse: so the adopted child must not only be born of God, but have the manuduction of the Spirit to lead him in a course of holiness (Hos…

From all your filthiness will I cleanse you. When the child cannot go, the nurse takes it by the hand (Hosea 11:3). I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms.

Ephraim pretended to be that which he was not, and what says God of him? (Hosea 11:12) Ephraim compasses me about with lies. By a lie in our words we deny the truth, by a lie in our profession we disgrace it.

It is not enough the child have life, but he must be led every step by the nurse. I taught Ephraim to go, taking them by their arms (Hosea 11:3). Their arms — as the Israelites had the cloud and pillar of fire to go before them, and be a guide to them; so God's Spirit is a guide…

Mercies are the strongest obligations to duty. (Hosea 11:4) I drew them with the cords of a man; that is, with the golden cords of my mercy. In a word, all that is written in law or gospel, tends to this, that we should be doers of God's will, Your Will be done.

And no less, but far greater, is the dependence of the new creature upon God's face and presence, that it cannot be alone and bear up itself, but it fails if God hide himself, as Isaiah speaks (chapter 57). Especially now in this life, during the infancy thereof, while it is a c…

So far were they from being able to deliver themselves out of their captivity and bondage, that like children they were not able to stand or go, unless God took them, and led them by the hand. So he speaks (Hosea 11:3): I taught them to go, taking them by the arms. And certainly…

Their carelessness, in not observing the approaches of God, and how he worketh and breaketh in upon their hearts in the word; so that the time of loves is not marked when it is present, nor remembered when it is past. As God said of Ephraim (Hosea 11:3), 'When Ephraim was a chil…

It is complained of by Micah (Micah 7:1): "Woe is me, for I am as they who have gathered the summer-fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat, the good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men, etc." It is complained o…

2. Drawing is by wiles, and persuasion, or love; (for wiles is covered, or pretended love;) (Judges 4:6) Draw them (by persuasion) to Mount Tabor to battle. (Hosea 11:3) I will draw them ⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩ with cords of man, with bands of love. It is such a drawing as is…

And Christ's cords are silken and soft, and bands of love, every thread twisted out of the love of Christ. (Hosea 11:4) I drew them with the cords of men, with the bands of love. But consider, (Psalm 48) the Lord's mountain of holiness is glorious.

Some have thought, that the intention of the prophet was different from what is here stated, and have supposed the meaning to be, that the Jews act foolishly in opposing and endeavoring to oppress the Son of God, because the Father has called him out of Egypt. In this way, they…

Sennacherib's angel is yet alive, and the destroyer of Sodom is not dead. And all those things are at our command, if their help may be for our good: Judah rules with God (Hosea 11:12), has a rule by faithful supplications over all those mighty hosts. Make God our friend, and we…

God does hew some men, hew them with judgments, and hew them with terror. Yet others that are not so loose as they: I taught Ephraim to go, I led Ephraim by the arms, and I drew him with cords of a man, and with the bands of love (Hosea 11:4). God, you see, would hack and hew so…

Because we find it hard to forgive our pence, we think he cannot forgive Talents. But he has provided to obviate such thoughts in us, Hosea 11:9. I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath, I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I AM GOD AND NOT MAN.

Believers are styled so, 1. For their innocent nature (Matthew 10:16). 2. For their tenderness, and trembling at the word of the Lord (Hosea 11:11; Isaiah 38:14). Hezekiah mourned as a Dove.

and frequently elsewhere, both in the Old and New Testament. By moving of the bowels (or sounding, or making a noise, as the word is elsewhere translated, Isaiah 10:11 and 63:15) is understood a sensible stirring of the affections, when they begin to stound, and that kindly, and…

5. Considering this as the exercise of his soul, when he was withdrawn to her sense, and she was complaining, Observe, That Christ's bowels and soul are never more affected toward his people, than when he seems most offended with them, and when they are most affected with the wr…

Therefore for application, let us know our duty, and show ourselves more ready and forward to join with, and show ourselves to the servants of God in their persecuted estate; in the times of their prosperity there is not so much need we should manifest ourselves to be for them;…

He does not hearken whether God the Lord speaks peace. He does not wait upon God, who perhaps yet hides his face, and sees the poor creature stealing peace and running away with it, knowing that the time will come when he will deal with him again, and call him to a new reckoning…

There is a sweet mixture of sorrow, and joy in contemplating these stripes, sorrow sure by sympathy, that they were his stripes, and joy that they were our healing. Christians are too little mindful and sensible of this, and it may be somewhat guilty of that (Hosea 11:3): "They…

What of men's speech is not manifestly evil in any of the other kinds, is the most of it naught this way; speech good to appearance plausible and fair, but not upright, not silver, but silver dross, as Solomon calls it, burning lips, etc. (Proverbs 26:23). Each almost some way o…

This is the greatest distance we can conceive. The heavens, they are at such a vast distance from the earth, that the stars, though they be great and glorious luminaries, yet they seem to be but like so many spangles and sparks: this is the distance and disproportion which is ma…

But however, though we are not tied to this form, yet I think it may be humbly used: for Christ taught his disciples how to pray, while as yet they were in their ignorance and tenderness, and had not received the Spirit. And God usually puts words into sinners' mouths; Hosea 11:…

A Mothers care is seen in leading the Child that it may not fall: such is Gods care. Hosea 11:3. I taught Ephraim to go, leading them by their Arms.

This is one of the richest Comforts in the Book of God: Who is he that lives and sins not? how defective are we in our best Duties! how full are our Lives either of Blanks or Blots! Were it not for Sparing Mercy, we should all goe to Hell; but this Text is a standing Cordial; if…

The Lord will not cast off for Ever. God may alter his Providence, not his purpose: he may change his dispensation, not his disposition, Hosea 11:8. How shall I give you up O Ephraim?

Man is a restless creature, that loves shifts and changes. For weakness, they are compared to children (Hosea 11:3). and for wandering compared to sheep (Isaiah 53:6). There is no creature so apt to go astray as sheep, and so unable to return. This is the disposition of men by n…

Partly when we put him off with a false appearance, and make a show of what is not in the heart, as if he would be deceived with outsides, and vain pretenses. So (Hosea 11:12) it is said, Ephraim compasses me about with lies, and the house of Judah with deceit. God can see throu…

First, he gives weighty reasons, he casts in weight after weight till the scales be turned: then he makes all effectual by his Spirit. Morally he works, because God will preserve man's nature, and the principles thereof, therefore he does not work by violence, but by a sweet inc…

Mark, God not only says I will be yours, but be a God — that is, I will act like a God. In pardon of sin (Hosea 11:9): I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man. He will not pardon as a man but as a God.

God has tempered his sovereignty towards the reasonable creature, and rules us not with a rod of iron, but with a scepter of love. He draws us with the cords of a man (Hosea 11:4) — that is, with reasons and arguments taken from our own happiness. Man being a rational and free a…

He brings his judgment to light every morning, as the prophet speaks (Zephaniah 3:5); he does so delight in mercy, and is so tender of the workmanship of his hands, especially his own people, that he never proceeds to severity as long as there is some way untried to reclaim them…

3. Use is to press us to be earnestly dealing with this merciful God for comfort. We need it now in a time of judgment, when delivered over to judgments (Hosea 11:8), as sometimes to sins, so to plagues. When God opens the floodgates, lets out judgments upon a people without res…

This is the first means whereby the Lord comes to lay hold upon the mind and soul of a sinner, he has the sinner in chase as it were, that he cannot get out of his sight, or make an escape; Thus by the hook of instruction he lays hold upon him. He encloses him with the cords of…

The melting of God's compassions toward a hungry sinner! Hosea 11:8: My heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled. We cannot see a poor creature at the door ready to perish with hunger, but our hearts begin to relent and we afford them some relief.

Towards the wicked God's wrath is kindled (Psalm 2:12). Towards them that are children, God's compassion is kindled (Hosea 11:8). Mercy and pity does as naturally flow from our heavenly Father, as light does from the sun.

If when the child cannot walk the father takes it by the hand and leads it, it is not hard for the child to walk. When we cannot walk, God takes us by the hand (Hosea 11:3): I taught Ephraim also to walk, taking them by their arms. In the gospel God overlooks weaknesses where th…

How he pities sick souls! He is not more full of skill than of sympathy (Hosea 11:8): my heart is turned within me. Christ shows his compassion in that he proportions his medicine to the strength of the patient.

As the French Ambassadour once silenced the Spaniards pride in repeating his Masters many titles, with one that drowned them all. God himself, Hosea 11:9. when he had aggravated his peoples sins to the height, then to show what a God can do, breaks out into a sweet promise: I wi…

If men worship a false God, their sorrows shall be multiplied; or if they worship the true God in false ways, by means which he never appointed, and which never came into his heart, that's a sin that procures great wrath. If men shall add to what the Lord has commanded, and so c…

He is the God of bowels. No sooner do we mourn, but Gods heart melts: no sooner do our tears fall, but Gods repentings kindle, (Hosea 11:8). Say not then, there is no hope.

Indeed, if prayer does not make a man leave sin, sin will make him leave prayer. The Hypocrite feigns humility, but it is that he may rise in the world; he is a pretender to faith, but he makes use of it rather for a cloak, than a shield; he carries his Bible under his arm, but…

He is not drawn to it by mere instinct, but he knows what he does, and why he does it: he has a foundation on which he acts every grace; he knows whom he believes in, and why he so does (2 Timothy 1:12): I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that…

First, says he, 'they are my people' — they are his own, and therefore he is full of compassion toward them, as a man is to his own child, because it is his. Hosea 11:8: 'You are mine, and I cannot deal with you as with a stranger, for my bowels are turned within me' — when it c…

In the midst of this frame of spirit God meets with him by converting grace, sin withers in the womb, and he cleaves to Paul and his doctrine (Acts 17:18–34). The like dispensation towards Israel we have (Hosea 11:7, 8, 9, 10). But there is no need to insist on more instances of…

How does God condescend in those pathetical expressions, which he useth concerning his people? (Hosea 11:8) "How shall I give you up, Ephraim? mine heart is turned within me, and my repentings are kindled together." No, to express his tender sense of our miseries and sufferings,…

But if we should allow, that all things in heaven and earth include all mankind; still even in this extent it is true, that it pleased the Father to reconcile all things; but in such a sense, as not to imply the salvation of all men. This is true in the same sense, in which God…

Like a blind man holding out his hand to his guide, so they (Psalm 5:8): Lord lead me in your righteousness. 2. It's not common leading, but the leading of children learning to go by a hold (Hosea 11:1). When Ephraim was a child, I loved him.

O what sweetness of love is that [reconstructed: expression] (Jeremiah 31:20): For since I spoke against Ephraim, I do earnestly remember him, I will [illegible] have mercy on him, says the Lord. Then rebuking of Ephraim, which is called speaking against him, is dipped in mercy…

A gracious person holds the golden bridle of temperance, he takes his meat as a medicine to heal the decays of nature, and that he may be the fitter by the strength he receives for the service of God; he makes his food not fuel for lust, but help to duty. 2. In buying and sellin…

Again, 2. unjust in their dealings. This is 1. either in using false weights (Hosea 12:7). The balances of deceit are in his hand.

1. Such as set up idols (Jeremiah 2:28): According to the number of your cities, are your gods, O Israel. Hosea 12:11: Their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. 2. Such as seek to familiar spirits.

Deliver me I pray you; and this was mixed with faith in the promise, verse 12. You said I will surely do you good, and this prayer had power with God and prevailed (Hosea 12:4). The prayer of faith has opened prison doors, stopped the chariot of the sun, locked and unlocked heav…

The Ephah was a measure the Jews used in selling; they made the Ephah small, gave scant measure, which was plain stealing. (Hosea 12:7) The balances of deceit are in his hand. Men by making their weights lighter, make their accounts heavier.

6. He is given to covetousness, whose heart is so set upon the world, that to get it he cares not what unlawful indirect means he uses; he will have the world per fas & nefas: he will wrong and defraud, and raise his estate upon the ruins of another. (Hosea 12:7-8.) The balances…

Tears drop as pearls from the eye. Jacob wept and made supplication, and had power over the Angel (Hosea 12:4). 3. Prayer must be fired with zeal and fervency (James 5:16).

Second, giving scant measure (Amos 5:8). Making the Ephah small; Ephah was a measure which the Jews used in selling; they made the Ephah small, they scarce gave measure; I wish this be not the sin of many (Hosea 12:7). He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand.

Jonah was asleep in the ship, but at prayer in the whale's belly; perhaps in a time of health and prosperity, we prayed in a cold formal manner, we put no coals to the incense, we did scarce mind our own prayers, and how should God mind them, now God sends some cross or other to…

Jer. 23:5, 6. Behold the day is come says the Lord that I will raise to David a righteous branch, and this is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness. Hos. 12:3, 4, 5. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God;…

Shut heaven (James 5:17). Prayer has had power with God (Hosea 12:4). The Tyrians tied fast their God Hercules with a golden chain; the great Jehovah is held by the prayers of his people (Genesis 32:26).

Surely if we did consider what prayer is, we should see the need of this assistance, 'tis a work which will cost us travel of heart (Acts 1:14), [illegible], and (James 5:16) [illegible], 'tis expressed by striving (Romans 15:30): Strive with me in prayers, and (Colossians 4:12)…

Answer: If Jacob's God is your God, you have as good an interest in them as he had. The church a thousand years after that transaction between God and Jacob applied what God spoke to him as if it had been spoken to themselves (Hosea 12:1): 'He found him in Bethel, and there he s…

We have had a fair season, and we have seemed to be very busy, the Lord grant we do not sow the wind, as it follows in the next words, They have sown to the wind: This is a proverbial speech that signifies, the taking a great deal of pains to little purpose: as a man that should…

He prays like a king, who is in joint commission with God. If God puts that honor upon our prayers, that we are said to have power with God, as Jacob (Hosea 12:3) — that if God be never so angry, yet by taking hold of his strength, we hold his hands (Isaiah 27:5) — that God crie…

Secondly, besides this, this spirit helps us to pray to God with fervency, and heat of spirit, so much as that in such a case as this we strive with God in our prayers, and wrestle with him; The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much, (James 5:16). When the Spirit…

So building temples, altars, or other monuments to them (Hosea 8:14). Israel has forgotten his maker, and builds temples, and (Hosea 12:11) their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the fields. Erecting of ministries, or doing any ministerial work for their honor (Amos 5:26).

It is likely Jacob had sent his household away on purpose, that he might wrestle with God alone: I shall not dispute whether Jacob had any extraordinary natural strength of body, I am sure he had abundance of spiritual strength of grace, nor shall I take notice of the Hebrews' s…

This verse again confirms the former sentence. To feed of ashes, signifies as much as to be replete with ashes: as, to feed upon wind (Hosea 12:1) signifies to be filled with wind; for the same may be said of the one, that is said of the other. As on the contrary, You shall feed…

Therefore the Prophet says, that those who labor inconsiderately, shall never be satisfied. For if they forsake God, to seek out new means of salvation, they shall never be filled; because, as Hosea says, they are fed with wind (Hosea 12:1). They may well seem to be full, while…

Or else fourthly, they ground their comforts on this, because they receive from God abundance of outward mercies. And this you find was their ground of presumption (Hosea 12:8): Ephraim said, I am become rich, and I have found me out substance; in all my labor they shall find no…

Genesis 48:16. Hosea 12:3, 4, 5. [in non-Latin alphabet] what.

At such a time we must mingle more fire with our prayers, we must pray more fervently. At such a time we must mingle more water with our prayers, we must pray more repentingly: we must with Jacob (Hosea 12) weep and make supplication. At such a time we must mingle more faith wit…

And lastly, it imports the singular and inexpressible satisfaction she had in him; her very life lay in the keeping him still with her, and therefore she holds him, and cannot think of parting with him. Now this presence of Christ (being spiritual) cannot be understood in a carn…

But, 2. the scope here, and the words following, look especially at the stateliness, majesty, and spiritual valor that is in particular believers, who are more truly generous, valorous and powerful, than an army with banners; when their faith is exercised, and kept lively, they…

The several ways which tradesmen have had of defrauding, would be too large for me to speak of, neither am I so skillful as to understand. The falsifying of weights and measures is gross, a sin practiced among the Jews of old, which God threatens to punish them for (Hosea 12:7).…

And this was all that good Jacob, who was led by the same spirit, looked at (Genesis 28:20): And Jacob vowed a vow saying, if God will be with me, and keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to put on so that I come again to my father's house in…

Know then that unbelief is an iron door between Christ and many who pray, or rather cry to him: for many pray to an unknown Christ. Could Jacob wrestle with an unfound and far-off God (Hosea 12:4)? He wept, and made supplication to him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spoke…

Ans. 1. We have not any question now about religious set hours, such as the morning and evening Sacrifice, or the three hours of prayer used by David, Morning, Evening, and at Noon (Psalms 55:17), and Daniel (chapter 6:10, 11), (Acts 3:1), (Acts 10:3, 9, 10), and the godly Jews;…

I answer, 1. ALTHOUGH this Mystical Conjunction is not actually consummate without an actual participation of the Spirit of Christ, yet the Church of the Elect was designed antecedently to all his sufferings, to be his Spouse and Wife, so as that he might love her and suffer for…

Injustice and Fraud in our dealings. A sin to which Merchants are prone, as appears by that expression, Hosea 12:7. This is that which will blast all our enjoyments. 3.

He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy. (Hosea 12:6) Keep mercy and judgment. Now all kind of justice should not be grievous; either political justice, between the magistrates and people: how should we l…

(Lamentations 3:26) 'It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of God.' (Hosea 12:6) 'Keep mercy and judgment, and wait on the Lord continually.' God delays, because he would have us make use of faith.

They say of the iniquity which they indulge themselves in, as Lot said of Zoar, Is it not a little one (Genesis 19:20). Thus Ephraim loved to oppress, and yet he said, they shall find in me no iniquity that were sin (Hosea 12:7, 8). The Hebrew word there translated sin, is many…

The world (says Bernard) cries out, I will leave you, and be gone; it takes its salute and farewell together. 4. Those things which do more vex than comfort, cannot make a man blessed; but such are all things under the sun, therefore they cannot have blessedness affixed to them:…

When the prodigal son repented, he went to his father (Luke 15:18): I will arise and go to my father. Jacob wept and prayed (Hosea 12:3). The people of Israel wept and offered sacrifice (Judges 2:5).

Eusebius says there was an altar at Athens on which they poured no other sacrifice but tears, as if the heathens thought there was no better way to pacify their angry gods than by weeping. Jacob wept, and had power over the angel (Hosea 12:4). Tears melt the heart of God.

All earthly comforts are said to be void — void of that which we think is in them, void of satisfaction. Therefore they are compared to wind (Hosea 12:1); a person can no more fill his heart with the world than fill his belly with the air he breathes. The creature is said to be…

The stronger the cry, the stronger the child, I warrant you. Jacob wrestled, and this is called his strength, Hos. 12. It appeared, there was much of God in him that he could take such hold of the Almighty, as to keep it, though God seemed to shake him off; If thus you are enabl…

See for this purpose, among hundreds, their [illegible] Scriptures, [illegible] 2:5. In Haggai's time God is said to make a Covenant with them that then came [illegible] of Egypt (which was not personally, but parentally) so Hosea 12:4, 5, when God entered into Covenant with Jac…

1. Although this mystical conjunction is not actually complete without an actual participation of the Spirit of Christ, yet the church of the elect was designed antecedently to all his sufferings to be his spouse and wife, so that he might love her and suffer for her. So it is s…

There is a threefold injustice in matters of dealing. 1. Using of false weights, Hosea 12:7. The balances of deceit are in his hands: men by making their weights lighter, make their sin heavier, Amos 5:8. They make the Ephah small: the Ephah was a measure they used in selling; t…

Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, for we are brought very low. Jacob never prayed so fervently, as when he was in fear of his life; he oiled the Key of prayer with tears, Hosea 12:4. He wept and made supplication.

Psalms 38:18. For I will declare mine iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin: there is confession and sorrow joyned together.Hos. 12. 4. Indeed he had power over the Angel, and prevailed, he wept and made supplication to him.

Wherein is set forth the manner of the setting out of Christian's wife and children; their dangerous journey, and safe arrival at the desired country. I have used similitudes (Hosea 12:10). THE AUTHOR'S WAY

But oh, woe to our unbelief, for that which (the Apostle says, 1 John 5:14) was ground of his confidence, namely, that whatever we ask according to his will, he hears us, is no ground to us, and we may say, and mourn to think, this is our diffidence, that whatever I ask accordin…

3. Jacob by prayer wrestled with the Lord; and the Lord, as if he had been constrained, says (Genesis 32) [illegible] Send me away, dismiss me. And Jacob said, I will not dismiss you until you bless me: Which is well expounded by Hosea (Hosea 12:4). Jacob had a princely power ov…

3. It is a strong faith in this woman, that, in a manner, conquers Omnipotence by believing; indeed, Satan, winds, fire from heaven, wife, Sabeans, indeed, apprehended wrath cannot prevail with Job, to subdue his faith; in all he stands by this, (Job 15:13) Though the Lord shoul…

First therefore, never any vine so fruitful. All our fruit is found in him (Hosea 12). If you abide in me, you shall bring forth much fruit.

Now when men's eyes are open to see Christ, they see and feel that in sin which before they felt not; then we see our sinful course most bitter, the very grapes of gall and wormwood. Secondly, there is the bitterness of God's wrath which a man sees and feels when he sees Christ…

I will not blot his name out of the book of life. The book of God's decree has no errata's in it, no blottings out: once justified never unjustified (Hosea 13:14). Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

He is not unjust if he lets one suffer, because he offended the law, nor if he save the other, because he will make use of his prerogative as he is king. 2. Though some are saved, and others perish, yet there is no unrighteousness in God, because whoever perishes, his destructio…

Object. Hosea 13:12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hid?

He has not dealt with us according to our sins: We often do that which merits wrath, grieve God's Spirit, relapse into sin; God passes by much, and spares us: God did not spare his natural Son (Romans 8:32), yet he will spare his adopted sons. God threatened Ephraim to make him…

The Reverend Author answers, that if they break off themselves, by breaking the Covenant which was sealed by Baptism in their infancy or minority, they thereby deprive themselves of the benefits and privileges of the Covenant, and in such case are to be looked at like those in (…

I even I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior. And, I am the Lord the God from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but me: for there is no Savior beside me (Isaiah 43:11; Hosea 13:4). 2. There must be a proportion between the sin of man and the punishment of s…

As I live says the Lord, I desire not the death of a sinner, so (Ezekiel 18:23) Have I any pleasure at all, that the wicked should die? The meaning is, God does not will these things with such a will as is terminated in the destruction of the creature, but only orders them in a…

The temporal supplies of a people are very often in Scripture called waters; as Isaiah 5:13, "Therefore my People is gone into Captivity, and their honourable Men are famished, and their Multitude dried up with Thirst," that is, deprived of the Supports and Supplies of Life. And…

Jerome acknowledges that religious worship is intended, and therefore renders the words, "Worship purely." The veneration of idols by kisses was also an ancient practice, and remains so: Hosea 13:2, in Hebrew, "Let them kiss the calves" — that is, let them worship — as the same…

3. In forsaking there is a great emphasis; anything but unkindness, and change of heart and love is well taken; this speaks against faith; though Christ could not apprehend this; the Lord cannot change, Christ could not believe such a blasphemy, yet the extremity of so sad a con…

You the Lord's Ransomed (Isaiah 35:9-10) must obtain everlasting joy in Zion. (Isaiah 51:10-11) They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall fly away; and (Hosea 13:14; 1 Corinthians 15:54) they are ransomed from the grave. Let them find in all the Old or Ne…

Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and you perish in the mid-way (Psalm 2:12). Because Christ Jesus is the Son of God, he should be submitted to and embraced with the heartiest love and subjection; for to kiss is a sign of religious adoration (Hosea 13:2), as they kissed the calves,…

I have left me seven thousand in Israel, which have not bowed the knee to Baal. Kissing them (Hosea 13:18). They kiss the calves.

Of this blessing (as I have said) do the Prophets preach in every place, who did not so coldly consider those promises made to the fathers as the wicked Jews did, and as the popish Schoolmen and Sectaries do at this day, but did read them and weigh them with great diligence, and…

Psalm 68 and Ephesians 4: He has led captivity captive. Hosea 13: O death I will be your death, O hell I will be your destruction. So he says here, that through the law he is dead to the law.

For that also is reckoned among the gifts and special blessings of God, when a city abounds with prudent and eloquent personages, who can debate with the adversaries, in the gate, or in the place where need shall require to defend itself by counsel and reason. Now the sum of thi…

And when they do speak, it is not natural to them to speak with a bold, masterly air; but humility disposes them rather to speak trembling. Hosea 13:1. When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died. They are not apt to assume a…

How is the frame of your hearts altered with the alteration of your condition? So God complains of Israel, Hosea 13. 5, 6. I did know you in the Wilderness, the land of drought; according to their pasture, so were they filled: they were filled, and their heart was exalted, there…

Jeshurun did so (Deuteronomy 32:14, 15). Ephraim was filled according to her pasture and forgot the Lord (Hosea 13:6). Neither on the other side will he be always chiding: his anger shall not burn for ever very sore.

True it is, God sometimes graunts the requests of those that pray without faith, but his hearing is not in mercie, but in anger and wrath, and is a meanes to execute his judgment upon them. Thus hee gaue the Israelites a King in his wrath, Hos. 13. 11. and so hee gaue them Quail…

(Job 31:26, 27) If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart has been secretly enticed; or my mouth has kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above. So likewise bowi…

What rioting and banqueting has there been daily in London, many feeding themselves without fear; as if gluttony were not any sin at all? How many have been like fed horses in the city, or like fatted oxen, who as the apostle James speaks, have lived in pleasure and been wanton,…

The King of glory against whom you have rebelled, and who could crush you so easily without any injury to himself, is not only willing to lay aside his anger, but also entreats you to accept of reconciliation; heartily embrace Jesus Christ upon his own terms, and the work will b…

This is the condition of desperate sinners, they keep off Heaven by force; they are self-murderers. Therefore God writes their epitaph upon their grave (Hosea 13:9): O Israel, you have destroyed yourself. 3. Let us then examine whether we put forth this holy violence for Heaven?

"Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness—that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end." And therefore it is said, Hosea 13:5. "I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought."

A gracious soul earnestly desires a free condition in the world, he is sensible he has much work to do, a race to run, and is loath to be clogged or have his foot in the snare of the cares or pleasures of this life. He knows that fullness exposes to wantonness and irreligion (De…

Answ. The Lord neither casts off his foreknown people nor their prayers, though visible Israel externally called be rejected. 2. God hears wicked men's prayers, and grants them not in a way of promise, but in his wrath (1 Sam. 8:22; 1 Sam. 12:13; Hos. 13:11; Psal. 78. 20, 24, 27…

Influences in perseverance in the way of God, by God's counselling and leading, are here insinuated; and beside that a spiritual desire (v. 25): "Whom have I in Heaven but you? and in the Earth (there is) none I desire beside you." 15. Self-love is a note of apostates in the las…

When there were such great distractions that they groped like a blind man, and could not find the way, they said our iniquities are with us, as for our transgressions we know them (Isaiah 59:10-12). When those that speak trembling are little feared, surely there is some offense…

There is a great deal of difference between men poor and rich: when poor, they will seem to put a natural fervency into their prayers; but when rich, they grow cold and careless. Mark what the Lord says, (Hosea 13:6) They were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have…

Paul asked three times that the thorn in the flesh might depart from him; but God gives him sufficient grace. God does not answer us always according to our will, but certainly according to our well-being and profit: many times he will give the blessing in kind, but at other tim…

When we see all this coming from the special love of God to our souls. Otherwise God may give in anger, (Hosea 13:11) I gave them a king in my anger: as he gave the Israelites meat for their lusts. (Isaiah 38:17) You have loved me from the grave; this commends all experiences; m…

God the judge of all the earth will do right, and he lays not on man more than is fitting, that man may not enter into judgment with God (Job 34:23), or quarrel and find fault with him; which man would quickly do, if God's judgment were not just, even sinners themselves being ju…

What (may God say as of Israel) what could I have done more that I have not done? So that man must say, that he has rewarded evil to himself by doing evil, and that his perdition is of himself (Hosea 13:9). Sinners have their option and choice, why then do they complain?

3. Never rest in convictions, till they end in conversion: this is that wherein most men miscarry, they rest in their convictions, and take them for conversion; as if sin seen were therefore forgiven, or as if a sight of the want of grace, were the truth of the work of grace. Th…

But the hope of Israel is not like them — when the disease is most deadly, he then cures; the condition of the sinner most desperate, he then delivers; out of the jaws of Satan and bottom of hell, he then rescues. It's the prerogative he takes to himself: Your destruction, O Isr…

And if [illegible], then also actually; for to work a [illegible] meritoriously, is so to do a thing according to [illegible] of Covenant ourselves, and that we should [illegible] another should do to us, or for us, what is suitable [illegible] the Covenant either broken or kept…

All needful help is offered them, to enable them thus to serve God, and bring forth fruits to his praise. Man indeed is in himself without strength, he cannot serve God, his moral powers are enervated, and altogether disabled by original sin: but this is no excuse to him, becaus…

It is a foolish loss for a person to lose his soul when he himself has a hand in it; is it not folly to give oneself poison? A sinner has his hands dipped in the blood of his own soul (Hosea 13:9): your destruction is from yourself. They lay wait for their own blood (Proverbs 1:…

1. Because when Christ says (John 5:4), "The believer has passed from death" — as it is a curse — "and shall never come to judgment and condemnation," he cannot mean that they have half passed from the curse, and half not. 2. Believers are delivered, in Christ, from the victory,…

So in Christ death has lost law-dominion over the believer. It is against justice and the just covenant between Jehovah and Christ, that we should be forever among the worms and not at length be loosed from the sting and victory of the [reconstructed: grave]: O death, you shall,…

Proof 14. The fourteenth proof urges that those who, when the Gospel and its spiritual light come to them, refuse to believe and are drawn away by other things, are said to love darkness rather than light (John 3:19), to follow lying vanities and forsake their own mercies (Jonah…

And our Fear so far as it is Spiritual, has divine Goodness for its Object, Hos. 3:5. Unless this be that which draws our Hearts to God, and the things of God, in all Pretence of Love to him, men do but Frame Idols to themselves according to their own Understanding, as the Proph…

The Lord has rent the Kingdom of Israel from you this day. Sin breaks the Axletree of Church and State, Hosea 13:1. When Ephraim spoke trembling, he exalted himself, but when he offended in Baal he died.

Your heart is lifted up, because of your riches; and you have set your heart as the heart of God (Ezekiel 28:5-6). According to their pastures so were they filled, they were filled and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me (Hosea 13:5-6). From where that caut…

Put up yourself into your scabbard, rest and be still; means that men should put up themselves into a scabbard, and there rest and be still. It will prove that Hosea 13:14, I will ransom them from the power of the grave: I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be your pla…

The great cause why so many people die, and perish everlastingly, is because they will; every man that perishes is his own butcher, or murderer (Matthew 23:27; Hosea 13:9). This is the point we purpose to prosecute at the present.

And in another Psalm (Psalm 14:20): My moisture is turned into the drought of summer: This sorrow went so deep into his soul, that it did not only take away his outward refreshing, but it took away all the moist humors, the inward juice, the very oil of life. It is admirable wha…

The pricking of the heart is the immediate work of God himself; He keeps that in his own hands to temper the hearts of the sons of men, especially in this kind when it comes to piercing and wounding. Hosea 13:8. You would think it were the stroke of an enemy; I will meet you as…

Use 1: From this extent of God's mercy we may well infer that man's destruction is of himself — either because he maliciously despises the Spirit of Grace, or willfully rejects the offer of pardon. In the order of redemption God has made man's sin pardonable, but man by his impe…

Fruit 4. Growth of Grace.] True grace is progressive, of a spreading growing nature; it is with grace as with the light, first there is the Crepusculum or day-break; then it shines brighter to the full meridian: A good Christian is like the Crocodile, Quam diu vivit, crescit, he…

What have we to do with sin? Is it not this, that if it does not break, yet will weaken the interest (Hosea 14:8)? What have I to do any more with idols?

Quest. What are the qualifications? Resp. 1. The spring of mercy which God shows, is free and spontaneous: to set up merit, is to destroy mercy; nothing can deserve mercy, or force it, we cannot deserve mercy, because of our enmity, nor force it; we may force God to punish us, n…

O the free grace of God, that he should parley with sinners, and set his wisdom and mercy to work to bring rebels into the bond of the covenant. 2. It is a covenant of grace, because it is a royal charter, all made up of terms of grace; that God will cast our sins behind his bac…

That they should be willing to hold a candle to a Mass-Priest, and bow down to a strange God. Let us not say, we will make a captain; but rather say as Ephraim (Hosea 14:8): What have I to do any more with idols? 3. If it be a mercy to be brought out of Egypt, then it is not des…

(Ezekiel 16:14) You were comely through my comeliness which I put upon you. If we bring forth any good fruit, it is not of our own growth, it comes from Christ the true vine (Hosea 14:8). From me is your fruit found.

Shall I sin against a gracious Father, and abuse that love which pardons me? (3.) The breaking off sin must be perpetual, so as never to have to do with sin any more (Hosea 14:8): "What have I to do any more with idols?" Repentance is a spiritual divorce, which must be till deat…

1. God's mercy is free: To set up merit is to destroy mercy; nothing can deserve mercy, because we are polluted in our blood, nor force it. We may force God to punish us, not to love us (Hosea 14:4): I will love them freely. Every link in the chain of salvation, is wrought and i…

A man does not call for a debt, when he has crossed the book. When God pardons a man, his former displeasure ceases (Hosea 14:4). My anger is turned away.

Christ himself with all the grace and mercy we have by him, is from the free love and will of God. So is our election (Ephesians 1:4, 5), our vocation (1 Corinthians 1:26, 27), our regeneration (John 1:13; James 1:18), our recovery from sin (Hosea 14:4). So is our peace and all…

Also see (Galatians 5:22, 23). All our good works are fruits of the Spirit; and God would have us own all our fruits to be from him: hence he tells us (Hosea 14:8), From me is your fruit found. So then if you think you have good works, consider whether you can deny your selves i…

Here, understand aright. 1. There is no man that can deny himself, so as not to seek himself more than he should: self will be rising up, but grace will snub and rebuke it, and say to it, get hence! and would have no more to do with it; as they said of their idols (Hosea 14:8).…

This is the great difference between men and men, in fixing their chiefest good and utmost end; the soul finding comfort in God, sets the whole bent of her endeavors towards him. So for the other affections, which attend upon the other act of the will, aversion and loathing: a s…

Query 1. If this be so, how is it that Christ put such a favorable construction upon the disciples' sleeping a third time when he had as often reproved them for it — Matthew 26:40-41? And how is it that we find in Scripture so many promises made not only to first sins but also t…

Was it your special end in coming to Christ, to get possessed of himself, and by him deliverance from sin and spiritual life? And has that been the voice of your soul in coming to him (Hosea 14:2-3): Take away all iniquity. He, that has had faith wrought in his heart, has been m…

Again consider, God does exercise a more special providence over men, as clothed with miserable circumstances, and therefore among his other titles, this is one, to be a helper of the fatherless. It is the argument the church used to express her return to God (Hosea 14:3): for i…

(4.) They will receive in the warnings which are given them by the Word preached, especially, if their particular case be touched on, or laid open. (5.) They will have no quiet, rest, nor self-approbation, until they come thoroughly off to a healing and recovery; such as that de…

Mercy is his proper work: Why may not Mercy give the casting-voice? And that which may make us hope in this mercy, is, 1. The mercy of God is free. Hos. 14. 4. I will love them freely. Mercy sends out its pardons to whom it will; Mercy doth not go by desert, but by Prerogative,…

I marvel that those who undertook the task of inserting into the ancient Greek version attributed to the Seventy Elders the testimonies cited from the Old Testament in the New, using the very words that the inspired writers employed, should have passed over this passage; for it…

On a high and lofty mountain to set our bed (Isaiah 57:7). God must strew thorns and briars in our love-bed, and take Ephraim off his idols (Hosea 14:6), and from riding on horses, and make the soul as white and clean paper, that Christ may print a new lover on it. Therefore it'…

So that when men are willing to forego their honorable sins, their sweet and delightful sins, their profitable sins, and those with which they have been most captivated; and he knows one may as well pull their hearts out of their bellies, as some sins out of them; but when he se…

He that has the Son, he has life; not so, he that has the gifts and benefits of the Son: but Christ first, and in having Christ we have all. Christ must be received as God gives him, we must acknowledge there is no life in any grace, but in Christ (Hosea 14:8). On me is your fru…

And he is therefore called Jesus (Matthew 1:21). And notable is that expression (Hosea 14:2): Take away all our iniquities, and receive us graciously, so will we give you thanks. Thus they desire salvation from all their iniquities, and not so much salvation in the pardon of all…

And an Highway shall be there, and a Way, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness, the Unclean shall not pass over it. Hosea 14:9. The Ways of the Lord are right, and the Just shall walk in them; but the Transgressors shall fall therein.

And this is the growth of Trees and Plants. Hos. 14. 5, 6. I will be as the dew to Israel, he shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth his Roots as Lebanon, his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the Olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

5. If you are effectually called, God has wrought in your souls an utter detestation and loathing of all the evils that in the former part of your lives before your calling you have committed and were guilty of. Hosea 14:8: Ephraim shall say, what have I any more to do with idol…

And so [in non-Latin alphabet] does sometimes signify to give. Hosea 14:2, Verbum accipiendi dare significat cu[illegible]n accipiunt aliunde ut dent, say the Jewish Masters. And it was after his resurrection, that this accession was made to his kingdom, in such an eminent and v…

Hosea 3:5. Hosea 14:8. Micah 5.2.

He applyes himself not to any thing but God, he applyes himself unto God. An eminent instance we have of it in both parts; or both to the one side and the other, Hosea 14:3. Ashur, say those poor distressed returning sinners, shall not save us, we will not ride upon Horses, neit…

And these three things which we have passed through, compose the frame and first actings of a gracious soul, rising from its depths. They are all of them signally expressed in that place where we have a signal recovery exemplified, Hosea 14:1, 2, 3, 4. And this makes way for the…

This is the first thing that a soul in its depths riss up unto: And it is a supportment for it; enabling it unto all present duties until consolation come from above. Thus has it been to, and with the saints of old, Hosea 14:3. Ashur shall not save us, we will not ride upon Hors…

And there are two things included in this duty,1. The Renuntiation of any hopes in expectation of deliverance either from sin or trouble, any other way; hope in Jehovah; this is frequently expressed, where the performance of this duty is mentioned; see Hosea 14:3. Jeremiah 3:22,…

Lebanon is a hill often mentioned in Scripture, excellent for beauty, and therefore Christ's countenance is compared (Song of Solomon 5:5) to it: Moses desired to see the goodly Lebanon (Deuteronomy 3:25). It was profitable for cedar-wood, and sweet in smell by the flowers that…

She answers them, though he be not present to sense, yet is he ever kind to his people, and therefore cannot but be kind to me, which makes me conclude, that though he be not present to sense, yet he is mine, and I am his. Believers are called Lilies often, 1. For their native b…

There was a general plague upon the heart, a more dangerous infection, and deadly plague of sin, before there was sent a plague upon the body; there was a fire of various lusts which was kindled, and did burn in the bosom, [reconstructed: sometimes] issuing out flames at the doo…

God delights, says Solomon, in them that deal truly, but lying lips are an abomination to him (Proverbs 12:22). Lying was one sin of Israel, for which their land did mourn (Hosea 14:2, 3). And God threatens to give all liars their part in that lake which burns with fire and brim…

Consider the oppositions that lie against the flourishing of Believers in old age, the difficulties of it, the temptations that must be conquered, the actings of the mind above its natural abilities which are decayed, the weariness that is apt to befall us in a long spiritual co…

Unless he fall as dew and showers on our dry and barren hearts, unless he causes our graces to spring, thrive and bring forth fruit, unless he revive and increase faith, love and holiness in our souls, our backslidings will not be healed, nor our spiritual state be recovered. To…

The Lord is a jealous God, and will not hold them guiltless that thus profane his name: their wit, and learning, and figure in the world, may embolden them in their sin, and bear them up a while in an open defiance of all that is sacred, but nothing can prevent their utter ruin…

First, it is only the rational creature that knows any thing that is beyond this season: this is the excellency of a rational creature, that it has any notion about any thing that is eternal: Now that God has made us of such a nature, and no creature else, but us, and Angels, su…

Rest no longer satisfied in it, but look out for a Christ also. What though I be a vile, unworthy wretch? yet he promiseth to love freely, Hosea 14:4. and invites such as are heavy laden to him, Matthew 11:28. Hence also should the gracious Soul reflect sweetly upon it self afte…

Supposing himself in the jaws of death, rolling into the grave through innumerable troubles, yet he found more sweetness in God, than in a long life, under its best and most noble considerations, attended with all enjoyments that make it pleasant and comfortable. From both these…

It views also legal righteousness, blamelessness before men, uprightness of conversation, duties upon conviction, and concludes of all as Paul does in Philippians 3:8: doubtless I count all these things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. So also do…

In some it is more large and more effectual than in others — indeed in some persons more at one time than another. Hence are those dyings, decays, ruins, recoveries, complaints, and rejoicings of which such frequent mention is made in scripture, Psalm 51, Hosea 14:4. These thing…

Take an instance; suppose the wound and disquiet of the soul to be upon the account of relapses, which whatever the evil or folly be, though for the matter of it never so small, yet there are no wounds deeper than those that are given the soul on that account, nor disquietments…

If you cannot say, Father, yet plead fatherless. (Hosea 14:3) In you the fatherless find mercy. Come as poor, helpless, shiftless creatures; seek peace and reconciliation with God in Christ.

I shall give you directions, 1. About our words | In prayer. | 2. About our thoughts | 3. About our affections | First, about our words; there is a use of them in prayer, to excite, and convey, and give vent to affection: Hosea 14:2: Take with you words, and turn to the Lord, an…

Or as the sea, whatever comes into it, the sweet rivers and droppings of the clouds, turns all into salt water. (Hosea 14:9) Who is wise, and he shall understand these things; prudent, and he shall know them: but the transgressors shall stumble therein. As right excellent and as…

Now a renewed man should do more, being capable of more. 4. The outward act of a duty is commanded as well as the inward, though they come not up to the nature of a perfect duty, there is somewhat of the ordinance of Christ in them (Hosea 14:2). Take with you words, and turn to…

A man grows more prudent, and more able to guide his course according to the rules of religion, faith is opposed not only to ignorance but to folly; O you fools and slow of heart to believe. A man may be a knowing man, yet a very fool in spirituals, if he has not a knowledge how…