whereto they shall be enabled by him, both in their number and power to perform it.

13. "And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God."]-Do not rest in an outward ceremony of sorrow, viz. in the rending of your garments, but see that ye humble your hearts and souls before God, &c.

14. "Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?"]-Who knoweth whether your humiliation may not yet prevail with him, and cause him to deject and take off his judgments, and instead thereof to bestow a blessing of plenty upon us; so as there may be both matter and occasion of the sacrifices of our thanksgiving unto the Lord?

16. “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet."]-Let all sorts and degrees and ages be assembled together for a solemn humiliation; both the ancient, and the children, and sucklings: let all be afflicted with a general abstinence; and let the bridegroom and the bride forbear the pleasures of their new-made marriage, and shut up their wedding with mourning.

17. "Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar."]-Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and mourn even in that place where all sorrow and lamentation was wont to be interdicted, between the porch and the altar, &c.

18. "Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people." Then will the Lord be graciously affected towards his people; and in a merciful compassion of them will call off those evils which they groan under.

20. "But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things."]—But I will remove far off from you this mighty army of noisome creatures, which came upon you from the northern coasts; and will drive them into the dry and barren wilderness which lies towards the south; yea, I will disperse them into the four winds, so as the forepart or vanguard of them shall fly to the east sea; and the hinder part,

or the rear, shall be carried to the west sea: and the stink of this vermin where it shall fall shall be exceeding offensive and contagious, &c.

22. "Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring."]-Be comforted again, O ye beasts of the field; for now that this plague is removed, the grass of your pastures begins to spring again, &c.

23. "And he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month."]—And he will cause the rain to descend upon the earth in all fit seasons: both the former rain, which is in autumn, after your seed is cast into the earth; and the latter rain, which is in the spring, in March or April, for the filling of the ear.

28. "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions."]—Neither will I content myself with the abundance of my temporal blessings conferred upon you, but I will pour upon you my spiritual gifts also; and will, in the days of the Gospel, give you plentiful revelations; filling your sons and daughters, your young men and old, with a large measure of the true saving knowledge of me and my Name; as also enriching them with miraculous graces and abilities, by the descending of my Spirit upon them; enduing them with power of tongues and with the gifts of prophecy.

So also verse 29.

30. "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke."]-And after those times, botn before the destruction of Jerusalem, and before the last judgment, I will show wonders and fearful signs, both in heaven and in earth: the heavens shall seem red and fiery and vaporous.

31. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come."] -The sun shall lose his light, and shall seem utterly darkened, the moon shall be turned into the colour of blood, before that great and terrible day of the Lord come.

32. "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call."]-Neither is there any way or means to escape the terribleness of this judgment, but by

BP. HALL, VOL. IV.

D

believing in the Lord Christ, and calling upon his name; for in the Church of God shall only salvation be had, and deliverance from the wrath to come; which salvation shall lie open both to the believers of the Gentiles and to the remnant of those Jews whom the Lord shall call.

III. 1, 2. “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land."]-For, behold, in those days of my Gospel, wherein I shall restore my Church, and deliver it from the spiritual captivity wherein it hath lien distressed, I will gather all nations, and will bring them into the face of my Church; and argue there with them, for the wrongs they have offered to my chosen servants, whom they have persecuted in their several nations, and made havock of mine inheritance.

4.

3. "And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink."] -And they have scornfully and proudly tyrannized over my people, and have cast lots upon them, as some slight commodities for sale or exchange; and have given a boy for the price of their lust to an harlot, and sold a girl only for a cup of wine to drink. "Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head."]-And for you, O ye neighbour nations of Tyre and Zidon, and all the coast of Palestine, what can ye have to plead for yourselves with me? Are ye able to make me amends for the wrongs ye have done me? or do ye think thus to recompense unto me the hard measure which you may pretend to have received from me? Surely if you think thus to recompense me with injuries to my servants, I shall speedily return unto you the due recompense of your sins upon your own

heads.

10. "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong."]-Turn the instruments of your husbandry into weapons of wars, and let those that are weak and fearful pull up their spirits and rouse up their courage.

11. "Thy mighty ones."]-Thy saints and angels.

12. "Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about."]-Let the heathen be stirred up by my summons, and come together into the valley of judgment, which is in the face of my Church: there will I show myself a just and unpartial retributor of all the wrongs of the heathen round about.

13. "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great."]-Put ye in execution those judgments which I have awarded to the enemies of my Church; for the time of my vengeance is now fully come: their wickedness is come to the height.

14. "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”]—O what multitudes, what infinite multitudes of wicked sinners shall then and there be adjudged to torments in that place of the great and last judgment! for that great day of the Lord is near at hand; the terror whereof shall be unspeakable in that dreadful place of judicature.

15. "The sun and the moon shall be darkened," &c.]-See chapter ii. 31.

16. "The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem;' and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel."]-Christ the Lord shall pass a most fearful sentence of judgment from heaven upon the ungodly; which shall be so terrible, that even the heavens and the earth shall shake therewith: but the Lord will be a gracious and merciful Redeemer and Comforter to his chosen ones, in the midst of all those terrors.

17. "So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more."]-So shall ye mine elect know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in the highest heaven figured by Zion in earth: then shall my saints be gathered into that celestial Jerusalem which is above, into which no unclean thing can or shall enter.

18. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley

of Shittim."-And it shall come to pass in those last times, wherein the Gospel shall be published, that God shall give plenty of spiritual nourishment unto his Church; so as every part thereof shall abound with effectual help and means of salvation; and from thence shall flow forth those waters of life which shall water and refresh the souls of all that pertain to the election of God.

19. "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.”]-As for those of Egypt and Edom, and all other the professed enemies of his Church, they shall be confounded and brought to nought; for the violences which they have offered to God's children, and for the innocent blood which they have shed in their cruel persecutions.

20. "But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation."]-But the elect of God shall dwell for ever in his holy habitation; and after their translation from the Church militant on earth, shall reign everlastingly in the glory of heaven.

21. "For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed : for the LORD dwelleth in Zion."]-For I will cleanse and purge away the sins of those mine elect which I had not before done away; and will deliver the chosen of the Gentiles from those iniquities wherewith they were polluted which done, and the number of the elect being fully made up, the Lord shall dwell everlastingly with them in his heavenly Zion.

AMOS.

I. 1. "The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake."]-The words of Amos, who was one of the herdmen of Tekoa in the land of Judah, which he received from God, concerning the ten tribes of Israel especially; in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, who was noted for his presumption in daring to offer incense in the temple; and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before that famous earthquake which fell out in the days of Uzziah.

"

2. And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his