Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 2, Collection of lectures · Lecture 12

Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 2 · Collection of lectures · Lecture 12

p. 180THE XII. LECTVRE.

AMOS 2.8.

And they drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.

THis is the last branch in the enumeration of the sinnes of the Israelites. It concerneth the Iudges of Israel, and the Rulers of that state; them principally. It is appliable to others also, to the richer sort. The words are a reproofe of the grosse superstition of that people. They thought their dutie touching the seruice of God, well discharged, so they repaired to their temples. Such holy places they thought were of themselues sufficient to clense them, albeit they should euen there betake themselues to inordinate eating, to vnmeasurable drinking, to infamous luxurie, yea, to eueryevery kinde of villanie.

For my more plaine proceeding in the handling of the words of this text, will you be pleased to note in them,

First, the action, for which the Israelites are here reproued; it is a drinking of wine. They drinke wine.

Secondly, whose wine it is, they drinke. Its not their owne; its vinum damnatorum; it's the wine of the condemned. They drinke the wine of the condemned.

Thirdly, where they drinke it. They drinke it not at home, which were more tolerable; but in domo deorum suorum, in the house of their Gods. They drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their Gods.

The first convinceth them of riot, and excesse. They drinke wine immoderately. They are so giuen to it, that p. 181they absteine not euen then, when they are in their temples, and would seeme most religious. For they drinke it in the house of their Gods.

The second convinceth them of oppression. The wine they drinke, is vinum damnatorum; it is the wine of the condemned: it is vinum mulctatorum, the wine of such as they hauehave fined or mulcted: wine, bought with the money of them, whom they hauehave in their vnrighteous iudgments spoyled of their goods.

The third conuinceth them of idolatry. They drinke their wine in the house of their Gods; not in the Temple at Ierusalem, that once glorious Temple of the true and liuing God, but in the temple of their gods, in Dan and Bethel, and other places, before their golden calues and other their Idols. They drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their Gods.

First, They drinke wine.

Wine! Why might they not? Is it not one of the good aa1. Tim. 4.4.1 Tim 4:4creatures of God, that may well be vsed with thanksgiuing? God himselfe giues it to the obedient, to them that louelove and serue him, Deut. 11.14. I will giuegive you the raine of your land in due season, the first raine and the latter raine, that thou maist gather in thy corne, and thy wine, and thine oyle. That thou maist gather in thy wine.

Christ his miraculous turning of water into wine at the marriage of Cana in Galilee, Ioh. 2.11. is euidence enough that he allowed the drinking of wine. Yea, himselfe dranke wine. Else the people would neuer hauehave called him a wine-bibber, as it appeareth they did, Matth. 11.19. S Paul, 1. Tim. 5.23. wisheth Timothie no longer to drinke water, but to vse a little wine for his stomackes sake. Wine hath its praises in the Scripture. It makes glad the heart of man, Psal. 104.15. It cheareth God and man, Iudg. 9.13.

How then is it, that the Israelites are here reproued for drinking wine? I answer, not for drinking wine, but for the abuse in drinking are the Israelites here reproued. It is with wine, as it is with eueryevery other good creature of God. It may p. 182be abused. Wine is abused, when men are drunken with it. This abuse of wine, S. Paul desirous either to preuent, or to reforme in the Ephesians, thus speaketh to the Ephesians, chap. 5.18. Be yee not drunke with wine, wherein is excesse. It is as if he had said: Take heed of wine; be not ouercome of it. In vino luxus. Consider the man that is giuen ouer to drunkennesse. His life its profuse, its dissolute, its vncleane, its luxurious, its vnworthy a Christian. Take heed of wine.

Salomon, Prouerb. 20.1. saith: Wine is a mocker. It is so: wine taken immoderately deceiues him that takes it. He takes it to be sweet and pleasant, but will finde it in the effect exceeding bitter. What more bitter then drunkennes? and what causeth drunkennesse more then wine? Aufert memori…m, dissipat sensum, confundit intellectum, incitat libidinem, omnia membra debilitat, vitam{que} exterminat. It isbbDrusius Prou. Class. 2. li 1. 257. said to be S. Austines. Drunkennesse! it takes away the memorie, it consumes the senses, it confounds the vnderstanding, it prouoketh lust, it weakneth the bodie, it driues life away.

The drunkard is notably deciphered by the same Father in his booke de poenitentiá. Quùm absorbet vinum, absorbetur à vino; the drunkard while he deuoureth his wine, is deuoured of his wine: abominatur à Deo, despicitur ab Angelis, deridetur ab hominibus, destituitur virtutibus, confunditur à daemonibus, conculcatur ab omnibus. God detesteth him, the Angels despise him, men deride him, virtues forsake him, the Diuels doe confound him, all doe spurne him.

The ancient Fathers generally are eloquent in beating downe this sinne of drunkennesse. ccHo… 14. in e…i…tat…m.Basil calls it a voluntarie Diuell, the mother of naughtinesse, the enemie of vertue. Chrysostome, Homil. 57. ad populum Antiochenum saith: where drunkennesse is, there is the Deuill. Drunkennesse, its a disease remedilesse, a ruine without excuse, the common reproch of mankinde. The drunken man, he is a voluntarie Diuell, a dead-liuing man:ddC…ry… …t. Hom. 5…. in Math. worse then an Asse, worse then a p. 183dogge, worse then any brute beast. The brute beast cannot be compelled to drinke, when he hath no thirst: but this drunkard is so intemperate, that when he is replete, euen to the mouth, yet will he powre in more. He will verifie the saying of the Prophet, Esay 28.8. Your tables are full of filthy vomitings, no place is cleane. S. Ambrose in his booke de Elia & Ieiunio, cap. 17. to worke in vsus a detestation of this sinne, saith: Ebrietas fomentum libidinis, ebrietas incentivum insaniae, ebrietas venenum insipientiae. Drunkennesse, its a cherisher of lust, a prouoker of madnesse, the poyson of folly. Hereby are men strangely affected. Vocem amittunt, colore variantur, oculis ignescunt, ore anhelant, fremunt naribus, in furore ardescunt, sensu excidunt. They loose their voyce, their colour is changed, their eyes are fiery, at the mouth they fetch breath a pace, in the nosthrils they snore aloud, they are fierce in their furie, they are depriued of their sense. They hauehave for their attendants, dangerous frensies, grieuous paines of the stone, deadly crudities, frequent castings. Mentior, saith Ambrose; I lye, if the Lord hath not said as much by his Prophet Ieremie, chap. 25.27. Drinke yee, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more.

I may not passe by S. Hierome. He in an Epistle of his, which he wrote to that noble virgin Eustochium, to perswade her still to continue a Virgin, warneth and exhorteth her, to flie from wine, as from poyson. He tels her, the Diuels hauehave not a better weapon wherewith to conquer or corrupt youth. Youth! Couetousnesse may shake it, pride may puffe it vp, ambition may delight it; but drunkennesse will ouerthrow it. Other vices we may in time forsake: hic hostis nobis inclusus est. If this enemie once get possession of vsus, it will along with vsus, whither soeuer we goe. Wine and youth! ech of them is incendium voluptatis, fit to set lust on fire: yong men and yong women, flie from wine. Quid oleum flammae? why cast we oyle vponupon the flame? Quid ardenti corpusculo fomenta ignium? why bring we tinder, why touchwood, to a fire already kindled? So discourseth p. 184that good Father to perswade the Virgin Eustachium to hate wine as poyson. The discommodities of wine he briefly toucheth in his Comment vponupon Galat. 5. Vino, hominis sensus evertitur, pedes corruunt, mens vacillat, libido succenditur: by wine, a mans sense and feeling is impaired, his feete doe faile him, his vnderstanding is abolished, his lust is inflamed.

It were infinite to relate, howeeSuper Genesin Homil. 6. cap. 19. super Levit. hom. 7. cap. 0. Origen, howffPet. Rauennus in Serm. quodam. Chrysologus, howggDe modo bene viuendi Ser 25. Bernard, howhhHilarius in Psal. 125. Hugo de S. Victore. Cl…mens Alex. Paedag. l. 2. c. 2.Ps 125 others hauehave painted out this vice, with the mischiefes which it bringeth.

But what neede any such relation? Why heare we the Fathers speake, when the Scripture is plaine? Salomon, Prou. 23. propoundeth a question. It is verse 29. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babling? who hath wounds without a cause, who hath rednesse of eyes? His answer is. vers. 30. They that tarry long at the wine. You see a troupe of mischiefes at the heeles of a drunkard. Salomon well weighing this, in the next verse, in the 31. he prescribeth a remedie against drunkennesse. Looke not thou vponupon th… wine, when it is red, when it giueth his colour in the cup, when it moueth it selfe aright. Let not the pleasant colour of the wine, glorious and faire to thine eye, let it not deceiue thee. If it do, what then? Then, as it is, vers. 32. it will bite thee like a serpent, it will sting thee like an adder, like a cockatrice, like a viper. And as it is, vers. 33. Thine eyes shall behold strange women] thou wilt become shamelesse and vnchast: or, Thine eyes shall behold strange visions] Bina, pro singulis putabis te videre: EueryEvery thing will seeme double to thee. Thou wilt thinke thou seest two candles, when there is but one in the roome. And thine heart shall vtter peruerse things] Out of the abundance of thine heart, openly, in the presence of others, thou shalt speake things filthy and vnseemly: out will thy greatest secrets. Yea, saith he, vers. 34. Thou shalt be as he that lyeth downe in the middest of the Sea, or as he that lyeth vponupon the top of a mast] carelesse and secure in greatest danger. It followeth, vers. 35. Though thou be striken, though beaten grieuously, yet wilt thou not p. 185feele it; so dead thou art in the sleepe of thy drunkennesse: and which is to be admired, when thou awakest thou wilt to thy wine againe. So excellently doth Salomon giuegive the picture of a Drunkard.

Beloued in the Lord, I hope there is none of you that heareth me this day, giuen ouer to this vile sinne. If any one hath at any time through infirmitie bin ouertaken with it, let him be warie for the time to come, that he fall so no more. This sinne, it is morbus regius, asiiDist. sa…utis … Bonav…nture calls it. Its a costly sinne. Costly indeed. For he that draweth his patrimonie through his throat, eating and drinking more in a day, then he is able to earne in a whole weeke, his end must needs be beggery; according to that of the wise man, Prov. 23.21. The duunkard and the glutton shall come to pouertie. You hauehave heard of many other inconveniences that doe accompanie this sinne. They may moue the meere naturall man, the man whose Heauen is here on earth, to take good heed, that this sinne hauehave no dominion ouer him. Much more should the true Christian, he, who hath his Heauen aboue, withstand the rage and furie of this sinne. It is a worke of the flesh. So its called, Galat. 5.21. and there the Apostle hath past his doome vponupon it: They which doe such things shall not inherit the kingdome of God. Parallel to which is that of the same Apostle, 1. Cor. 6.9. Know yee not that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God? Be not deceiued; no drunkard shall inherit the kingdome of God.

I shut vp this point with a word of exhortation. I borrow it from Luk. 21.34. The words are the words of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ, to his Disciples: Take heed to your selues, lest at any time your hearts be ouer-charged with surfetting and drunkennesse, and so the last day come vponupon you vnawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them, that dwell vponupon the face of the whole earth. Watch yee therefore, and pray alwayes▪ that yee may be accounted worthy, to escape all th…se things that shall come to passe, and to stand before the sonne of man.

p. 186Thus farre of the first generall part, the action of these Israelites, their drinking of wine. Now in the second place we are to consider, whose wine it was. It was not their owne; it was vinum damnatorum, the wine of the condemned.

They drinke the wine of the condemned.

By this wine of the condemned, some vnderstand the wine, that was of custome giuen to condemned persons, to refresh and comfort them, when they were to suffer execution, for their offences. Of this custome a certaine Hebrew in a booke of his entituled,kkSee Nichol. de Lyra in Math. 27.34.Matt 27:34 Liber iudicum ordinariorum, maketh mention, after this manner: It is the aduise of Lemuel the King, Prov. 31.6. GiueGive strong drinke vntounto him that is ready to perish, and wine vntounto those that be of heauy heart. Let him drinke and forget his pouertie, and remember his miserie no more. VponUpon occasion of these words the Seniours of the Iewes made this constitution, vt condemnatis ad mortem daretur vinum aromaticum ad bibendū, vt faciliùs tolerarent passionem: that sweet and odoriferous wine should be prouided for such as were condemned to death, which they might drinke, and so the more easily endure their suffering. This constitution was put in practise by the Iewes.

At the time of Christs suffering, there were in Ierusalem certaine devout Matrons, full of compassion, who did out of their devotion bestow this wine. This wine so prouided, for Christ, and those that suffered with him, some cruell Iewes tooke vntounto themselues, according to these words of Amos, They drinke the wine of the condemned. This wine they tooke vntounto themselues, and in the place thereof they did put vinegar mixt with gall, as S. Matthew saith, chap. 27.34. If vinegar mixt with gall might serue Christs turne, so it was: the Iewes would hauehave the wine: They would drinke the wine of the condemned.

This custome of giuing wine to such as were condemned to dye, you see was very ancient. The learnedllM…ulus, Aretius, Hunnius, Muthesius. expositors of the Gospell in their Commentaries vponupon the 27. of S. Matthew doe generally remember it. Lucas Brugensis p. 187very precisely: Moris erat, qui & hodie apud nos in vsu est; It was a custome, and is this day in vse with vsus, that to malefactors, brought to the place of execution, wine should be giuen them, and that of the best, partly to refresh their thirstie, and wearied bodies; and partly to exhilarate and cheare vp their hearts, that they might the lesse thinke of death, and with more ease endure it. If to this custome our Prophet here alludeth, then are the Israelites here reproued for their cruelty, for taking to themselues, to their owne priuate vse, what was of custome belonging to poore condemned prisoners.

But I take it more agreable to the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place, if we vnderstand by the wine of the condemned, wine bought with the money of such as the Iudges of Israel had in their vnrighteous iudgements put to the worse.

This wine the Septuagint doe call foreign, vinum de calumnijs, wine gotten by deceitfull dealing, by malitious surmises, by false accusations. The Chaldee Paraphrast tearmes it vinum rapinae, the wine of oppression, of pillage, of robberie. Luther stiles it vinum mulctatorum; and Castalio, vinum mulctatitiū, wine issuing from mulctes, from fines. In our now English translation, it is the wine of the condemned: cast your eye but to the margent, and you will finde it to bee the wine of such as were fined or mulcted. Here then by the wine of the condemned, we are to vnderstand, that the Iudges of Israel laid vponupon the poore men vniust penalties, by which they might be prouided of wine and other delicates, and so spend their dayes in iollity.

You see now, what sinne it is, whereat this second generall part doth aime. It is an oppressing sinne; the sinne of oppression: when Iudges, rulers of states, and men in autoritie make hauocke of the poore. Of this sinne I spake at large in my Ninth Lecture vponupon this second chapter of Amos; at what time I deliuered this doctrine.

God pleadeth the cause of the poore, against their oppressors.

p. 188The lesse neede hauehave I now to spend my time vponupon it. Yet a word of it. My now-doctrine I deliuer in this positiō: It is not lawfull for any man to oppresse another.

Oppression I call eueryevery iniustice, vsed of the mightier, either by violence, or by colour of law, or by any other cunning dealing, against such as are not able to withstand them.

This description of oppression, I gather from Levit. 25.14. from Micah 2.1, 2. and from 1. Thess. 4.6. In ech place the vnlawfulnesse of oppression is manifested.

The first place is, Levit. 25.14. The commandement there is: If thou sell ought vntounto thy neighbour, or buyest ought of thy neighbors hand, yee shall not oppresse one another. Whether you sell or buy, you may not oppresse: the very forbidding of oppression, is a sufficient argument, that oppression is vnlawfull.

The second place is, Micah 2.1, 2. Woe to them that deuise iniquitie, and worke euill vponupon their beds: when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hands. And they couet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away. So they oppresse a man and his house, euen a man and his heritage. where you hauehave an imprecation against oppressors, a woe thundred out against them. It is enough to proue oppression to be vnlawfull.

The third place is, 1. Thess. 4.6. This is the will of God, that no man oppresse, or ouer-reach his brother in any matter. Is it Gods will? Then surely it is not lawfull for you to oppresse or ouer-reach one another in any businesse. Men of trade may not gaine by their false weights, false measures, false speeches, or false oathes; neither may men in any other course of life gaine by violence, or by colour of Law, or by any other cunning dealing. Thus is my doctrine confirmed, It is not lawfull for any man to oppresse another.

First, it may serue for a reproofe of the Oppressors of this age, who make gold their hope, and the wedge of gold their confidence, as Iob speaketh, chap. 31.24. S. Paul, he taught, 1. Tim. 6.6. that Godlinesse is great gaine: but these men suppose p. 193the contrary, that gaine is great godlinesse: and therefore they feare not to gaine with the hurt of others.

They build their houses, as the moth. So saith Iob, chap. 27.18. As the moth! How is that? The moth is made full by spoyling the barkes, and bookes wherein it liueth. So is it with these men; they make themselues full, by spoyling others, with whom they liue, and hauehave to deale. I expresse it in Ieremies phrase, chap. 22.13. They build their houses by vnrighteousnes, and their chambers by wrong: and in Habakkuks phrase, chap. 2.12. They build them townes with blood, and stablish their Cities by iniquitie. Against these is that complaint of the Lord, Esai. 3.14, 15. Ye hauehave eaten vp the vineyard; the spoyle of the poore is in your houses. What meane yee, that yee beat my people to peeces, and grinde the faces of the poore? Woe to these men; a woe from Micah, a woe from Ieremie, a woe from Habakkuk in the now-alleaged places; a woe from Esay too, Chap. 5.8. Woe vponupon woe and yet will they not cease from ioyning house to house, and laying land to land, as if the way to the spirituall Canaan were all by Land, and not through a red Sea of death, as one wittily speaketh.

From this contempt of the Prophets of the Lord, or rather, of the Lord himselfe speaking by his Prophets, it is now come to passe, that many a poore tenant is thrust out of his house; that Villages are depopulated, that those streets which were wont to be sowen with the seeds of men, are now become pastures for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheepe, as Esay speaketh, chap. 7.25.

Now may Hythlodaeus his complaint hauehave place:mmMori Vtopia lib. 1. Our sheepe in England were sometimes the meekest beasts of the field, and contented themselues with a litle: but now are they become so fierce and greedy, that they devoure men, and Towne-fields, and houses, and villages, and lay all waste. Alas, silly sheepe, it is no fault of yours; you are as meeke as euer you were. Whose then is the fault? It is yours, yee grinding oppressors: yours, whose hearts are like the vast Ocean, p. 194fit to swallow vp eueryevery base commoditie, that the earth is able to afford you.

O that th…se men would at length call themselues to a strict account of the oppressions, wherewith they hauehave oppressed the poore, either by depopulating, or by raising rents, or by hoysing fines, or by interest, or otherwise: and would once begin to make some restitution. Did they but know in what estimation they stand in Church and Common-wealth, they would remit somewhat of their Cruelty.

The Church heretofore denied them Christian buriall. Its apparant in the Canon Law: Extra de Ʋsuris, Cap. Quia in omnibus.

How the Common-wealth brooketh them, they may perceiue by two instances. Catillus a British King 170. yeares before Christ, did hang them vp: He hung vp all oppressors of the poore. MynnSt…w in …is S…mmarie. Chronicler writes in the margent, A good example. Long after him, King Edward, commonly called good King Edward, banished them his Land. So writeth Glanvil lib. 7. de Leg. & consuet. Angliae c. 37. The same author in the same booke cap. 16. affirmeth; that by the most ancient lawes of England, the goods of a defamed o…pressor, dying without restitution, were escheated vntounto the King; and all his lands vntounto the Lord of the towne.

Wherefore let the oppressor now at last forsake his oppressions. What can all the wealth, all the mucke of the earth auaile him, if for it he loose the kingdome of Heauen? Momentaneum est, quod delectat; aeternum, quod cruciat. The wealth he here heapeth vp may for a time yeeld him some delight: but what is a moment of delight to the eternitie of sorrow that must follow? Must follow! Yea it must follow, if amendment hinder it not. If he amend not, I say, as God is God, so certainely shall the oppressor be destroyed, though not in the red Sea, as the oppressing Aegyptians once were, yet in a Sea, a blacke Sea of Hellish deeps, where he shall be pained vnspeakably, tormented intolerably, both euerlastingly.

Thus hauehave you the first vse of my doctrine. My p. 195doctrine was, It is not lawfull for any man to oppresse another.

The vse was a generall reproofe of our now-oppressors.

A second vse may be to admonish Iudges, Iustices, and other Magistrates and Rulers, that they suffer not themselues to be stained with this sin of oppression. It is theooPilkinton exposit. in Nehem. c…p. 5. fol. 80. A. dutie of the Magistrate to deliuer the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor.

This dutie is laid vponupon him, Ierem. 21.12. There thus saith the Lord to the house of Dauid: Execute iudgem…nt in the morning, and deliuer him that is oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor. It is likewise laid vponupon him, Esai. 1.17. Seeke iudgement, releeue the oppressed, iudge the fatherlesse, and defend the widow. Where first Gods commandement is, that Magistrates should execute iudgement in the morning. In the morning: Therefore they are not to vse delayes in doing iustice. Secondly, Gods commandement is, that Magistrates should seeke iudgement. Must they seeke iudgement? Therefore in cases of oppression they are not to stay till they be called for. Thirdly, God commendeth vntounto Magistrates, all that are oppressed, but specially the fatherlesse and widow: the fatherlesse, because they want the defence of their parents; and the widow, because she is destitute of the helpe of her husband; and we know, eueryevery man goeth ouer, where the hedge is lowest. Therefore are Magistrates to take vponupon them the defence of the fatherlesse, the defence of the widow, the defence of eueryevery one, that is oppressed.

Is it so? Then are Magistrates to take speciall heed, that themselues be neither principalls, nor accessaries, in the sin of Oppression. They must abhor the practise of the Princes of Ierusalem, who Esay 1.23. are stiled companions of theeues, because they loued gifts, and followed after rewards. They are to detest the corruption of the rulers of Israel, who Hos. 4.18. louelove with shame to cry, Bring yee, Bring yee. They must hate the wayes of Samuels sonnes, who 1. Sam. 8.3. turned aside after lucre, tooke bribes, and peruerted iudgement. p. 196They must loath the courses of cursed Balaam, who 2. Pet. 2.15. Loued the wages of vnrighteousnesse.

Happy is the land that is ruled by such Magistrates. Such may with boldnes stand vp, and make protestation with iust and vncorrupt Samuel, 1. Sam. 12.3. Behold, here we are; witnesse against vsus: whose oxe hauehave we taken? whom hauehave we defrauded? whom hauehave we oppressed? of whose hand hauehave we receiued any bribes to blinde our eyes therewith? and no man shall be able to accuse them.

Are ours such? I stand not here to plead against them. OnelyOnly this I say: If ours be not such, but are of another stampe: if they louelove the wages of vnrighteousnesse, if they louelove gifts, if they follow after rewards, if they turne aside after lucre, if they take bribes, if they shame not to cry, Bring ye, bring yee; I may ranke them with these Israelites in my text: They will sell the righteous for siluer; they will sell the poore for a paire of shoes; they will pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore; they will turne aside the way of the meeke, and they will drinke the wine of the condemned.

Thus hauehave you the second vse of my doctrine. My doctrine was, It is not lawfull for any man to oppresse another. The vse was an admonition to Magistrates, rulers, and other officers, that they suffer not themselues to be stained with the sinne of oppression.

A third vse followeth. It reacheth to the poore oppressed. They may from hence receiue consolation; from hence they may be comforted. Is it not an exceeding great comfort to a poore oppressed wretch, to know, that God taketh notice of the oppressions, vnderunder which he groaneth? That God doth so, I hauehave already made it manifest in the proofe of my doctrine, in the reproofe of oppressors, and in the Magistrates admonition. It is cleare also in the letter of my text. Here God taketh notice of the oppressions of the poore in Israel, in as much as the Iudges, the Rulers, and great men there did drinke the wine of the condemned.

Hereto I adde that Psal. 12.5. For the oppression of the p. 197poore, for the sighing of the needie, now will I arise (saith the Lord) I will set him in safetie from him that puffeth at him, from him that would ensnare him. Behold here, first Gods readinesse to helpe the poore, and secondly, how forcible with God the poore mans prayers are. Are not both these to a poore oppressed man points of singular comfort? Out of doubt they are.

But some poore man pressed downe with the burden of oppression, may here say vntounto me. Hath God promised to deliuer me from mine oppressors? Why then am I still oppressed?

Stay a while, and thou shalt behold the goodnes of the Lord. Its not for thee to make haste, or to seeke by vile, and vnwarrantable courses to winde thy selfe out of thine oppressors hands. Vntill it shall please the Lord to put an end to thy present grieuances, its thy dutie to possesse thy soule in patience. Prescribe not thou vntounto the Lord, what he shall doe. Let his grace, let his fauour be sufficient for thee, whatsoeuer it bring with it; be it want, or pouertie, or aduersitie. One drop of his fauour is better worth vntounto thee, and more of valew, then this whole world. If thou hauehave but a tast, but a touch of it, it will make thee sing with Dauid, Psal. 119.71. Its good for me that I hauehave bin afflicted: good, that I hauehave bin in want, in pouertie, in aduersitie, vnderunder the griping hand of the oppressor. O! how sweet is the quiet fruit of righteousnes, that springeth forth from the bitter roote of tribulation!

I hauehave done with the poore oppressed, when I shall hauehave giuen them a Caveat. The Caveat is, that they themselues oppresse not themselues. There is no oppression to the oppression, that one poore man exerciseth towards another. For a poore man that oppresseth the poore, is like a sweeping raine, that leaues no foode. Salomon avoweth it, Prov. 28.3. A poore man] a man of meane estate, if he oppresse] by force, by fraud, by bargaining, or otherwise, a poore man] such as he himselfe is, whom he should tender and pitie, because p. 198by him he may be put in minde of his owne estate, he is like a sweeping raine] like a floud that riseth through abundance of raine, or he is like a great storme and tempest of raine, that suddenly carieth away corne, hay, and whatsoeuer it meeteth with, and leaues behinde it no foode for men or cattle to liue on. A poore man if he oppresse the poore, is like a sweeping raine, that leaues no foode.

A poore man, and yet an oppressor! Such a one is much more intolerable then a rich man, that oppresseth. For, whereas by the law of God, eueryevery oppressor is bound to make actuall restitution for the wrongs he hath done, the rich man may bee in case to doe it, the poore man neuer.

My exhortation is, to rich, to poore, to all; that all would be of the same minde one towards another. So S. Paul exhorted the Romans, chap. 12.16. Be of the same minde one towards another. Minde not high things, but condiscend to men of low estate. Recompence to no man euill for euill. If it be possible, as much as lyeth in you, liue peaceably with all men. Sith here we hauehave no continuing citie, Heb. 13.14. sith here we are but pilgrims and strangers, 1. Pet. 2.11. sith here is not our rest, Micah 2.10. why vse we fraudulencie and forgerie in our contracts? why bribery in iustice? why crueltie in our dealings? why ouer-beare we right by might? why grinde we the poore like corne with the milstones of oppression? why eat we them vp like bread? yea, why doe the poore grinde themselues? why oppresse they one another? Will we neuer leaue crushing one another? Dearely beloued, we forget our selues: we thinke we are at home, but are not. Our home is aboue; it is Heaven. Here we are but strangers: and say; Is it fit that strangers, when they are but passing through a strange country, should devoure and consume one another?

Beloued in the bowels of Iesus Christ, let vsus for the time to come so liue and louelove togither, whilest we shall be here iornying towards our wished-for-home, that Celestiall Canaan, p. 199that when it shall please God to call vsus to our accounts, how we hauehave here caried our selues, we may with blessed Paul, 2. Cor. 7.2. boldly make our profession: We hauehave wronged no man, we hauehave consumed no man, we hauehave defrauded no man.

Thus far of the second generall part, whose wine it was that these Israelites did drinke. It was the wine of the condemned. I can but salute the third; it noteth the place where the Israelites dranke their wine: it was in domo deorum suorum, in the house of their Gods. They drinke the wine of the condemned in the house of their Gods.

In the house of their Gods.

The Septuagint hauehave foreign. In the house of their God. So readeth the author of the Vulgar Latine: So Luther, and Calvin, and Munster, and Castalio, and Gualter, and so our new English. The reading I disallow not. Yet because the Israelites, the ten tribes of Israel, they to whom this prophesie of Amos was directed, went not now vp to Ierusalem, to the Temple there, there to worship the true and liuing God; but had Temples of their owne, Temples in Dan, in Bethel, in other places, to which they repaired for the worship of their golden calues, and Baal, and other their Idols; I rather read (and the Hebrew text will well beare it) in the house of their Gods. Mercer so readeth it; so doth Vatablus, so Drusius, so Tremellius and Iunius. Ionathan the Chaldee Paraphrast he reads; In the house of their Idols. He hath respect to the purpose of the Holy Ghost. His purpose in this place is to taxe the Israelites for their superstition, for their idolatrie, for their riot and excesse in spending their goods, gotten by the oppression of the poore in the houses, Temples, or Churches of their Idol Gods. The …octrine, we may take from hence is this, p. 200Goods gotten vnlawfully are not fit to be employed in the seruice of God. No, nor in the seruice of Idols.

Not in the seruice of God. They are reiected by Ecclesiasticus, chap. 34.18. He that sacrificeth of a thing wrongfully gotten, his offering is ridiculous. Ridiculous! And will you thinke a ridiculous offering fit for Gods seruice? In the 20. vers. of the same Chapter Ecclesiasticus saith further: Who so bringeth an offering of the goods of the poore, doth as one that killeth the sonne before the fathers eyes. Can a father be pleased to hauehave his sonne slaine before his eyes? You will say, no. No more will it be pleasing to God to hauehave an offering of ill gotten goods presented to him.

Salomon Prov. 15.8. saith, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. He saith it againe, chap. 21.27. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. Its true. Whatsoeuer Sacrifice the wicked man offereth to the Lord, be it offered neuer so solemnly, neuer so sumptuously, it will be an abomination to the Lord, the Lord will abhor it, he will detest it. Much more will he abhor and detest any offering that shall be made of goods ill gotten, of the goods of the poore. Of such sacrificers he saith in Esay, chap. 66.3. He that killeth an oxe, is as if he slue a man: he that sacrificeth a lambe, as he that cut off a dogs neck, he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swines flesh, he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an Idol.

You acknowledge the truth of the first part of my doctrine.

Goods gotten vnlawfully are not fit to be employed in the seruice of God.

But may they be employed in the seruice of Idols? No, they may not. My reason is: The Idolater hauing no perfect knowledge of the true and liui… God, takes his Idol to be his God, and worshippeth him as God. Now …ee worship him amisse, if carelesly, if with goods of oppr… p. 201with ill-gotten goods, he dishonoureth the true and liuing God: and the true and liuing God will be the auenger of such dishonour done vntounto him. This is the very reason why our Prophet here reproueth the Israelites for bringing into the Temples of their Idols, their ill-gotten goods, the wine of the condemned. They thought thereby to do seruice, not so much to their Idols, as to the great God of Heauen, whom by their Idols they represented. Thus hauehave you my whole doctrine established, Goods gotten vnlawfully are not fit to be employed in the seruice of God: No, nor in the seruice of Idols.

1. This may serue to admonish such, as shall hereafter found Colleges, build Hospitals, erect Scholes, ordaine Aniuersaries, that they endow them not, that they enrich them not with lands and possessions, purchased with ill-gotten treasure.

2. Here is a lesson for all such as hauehave heaped vp vntounto themselues abundance of wealth by oppression, by extortion, by vsury, by deceit, or otherwise vnlawfully. Such may here be put in minde to make actuall restitution in their life time. Happily they will by their last Will and Testament bequeath part of their ill-gotten wealth to the Church, and part to the poore, and will leaue but a portion to their heires. A poore shift. Can they thinke that God will be so mocked? He will not.

What remaineth then, but that eueryevery one, who hath increased his substance by wrong, doe while he is liuing, make actuall restitution. Zacheus the Publican professeth vntounto Christ, Luk. 19.8. Behold Lord, the halfe of my goods I giuegive to the poore, and if I hauehave taken any thing from any man, by forged cavillation, I restore him foure-fold. Zacheus of Iericho, he being converted to Christianitie was content to restore foure-fold. It is a good consequent, they are scarse halfe Christians, that will not restore the principall. Thou wilt say, what neede restitution? I will repent for my oppressing p. 202sinnes, and God is gracious; he neuer turnes away the sinner that repenteth. Take heede, deceiue not thy selfe: if thou be able to make actuall restitution, and doest it not, poenitentia non agitur, sed fingitur. S. Austine tells thee so, Ep. 54. which is to Macedonius. Thy repentance is no repentance; thou doest but feigne repentance. It will neuer procure thee pardon for thy sinne. Make thou therefore actuall restitution.

Thus far of the 8. verse.