Z Bring them to a temporal Ruine and Deſtrution. How far
ſuch Petitions are lawful we have before ſh:wed; in our Notes on
and gradual, whereas Sodom was overthrown in a mqment, and. that by no humane hands that abode upon her, cauſing her x continued Torment, as there did upon the Jews. David faid, It is berter to fall into the immediate hand of God; than into the hands of Men» : | | : | 7 Her Nazarites ] were purer than ſnow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their poliſhing was of ſapphire y.. . _ | By Nazarites in this place the moſt and beſt Ini ters do. not underſtand Perſons, who vere of the Religious. Order of 'Ns- zarites, the Laws of which Order are to be read, Numb, 6, 3 god ny whom we read mi 2. a I 2 for here is a Beduty defepibs T nde
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2». Kio I The Lamentations of F E EP a! eral Mitaplers ) which could never agree to. them ; » tur Se bes Robly and ing:nucully bred. The word Nezer ; zligoifying a Crown, or Enſign of Honour, 2 : 4a The Name Nazrice was given to Perſons ſplendid for thei: Bree ing, op game; Ine or Honour and Dignity, it is given to J9«p/ Gen. 49. 26. we 1 men | abun 3.17. Her Nazarites 1 n Fa hoenh Es in reſpe& of Birth, Education, Eſtate, Miziftracy or the like, were diſtinguiſhed from rhe reſt of the Peo- | le m He exptefſerh their former ſplendid Eftate by the Meta: EV -phors'of Smw, ME, Rubies, and Sapphirese & rib. , $. Their, viſage- is + blacker than a coal » : they are,
: darker 4 ; han black-"H5gne s* Pr. » They that in the proſperity of the City were fair, plump and *Tuddy, look now black for want of fit nouriſhment, and through 'fofrow and grief. 0 het Comratilcet, Garbs, and Habits, did not now know them. > And by reaſon of the F2mine, (for he ſpeaketh with relation to the $amine during the Siege ) they are almoſt ſtarved, their Skin is w1- *thered, and hard, and even ſtickerh to their Bones, |
: g They that be ſlain with the ſword,are better than they
that are {lain with hunger 9: for theſe T pine away, Fcicken through for want of the fruits of the field 7. © '9 During the Siege many were killed by the Enemies Sword : \, many more periſhed by Famine, *the Propher ſaith the condirion of * thoſe who periſhed by theSword was much better than the condition ®of thoſe who periſhed by Famine, becauſe they had a quicker Death, and were ſooner diſparched and pur our of their pain, wherezs * they who periſhed by Hunger, dyed a miſerable lingring Death, Fr we Pad away, becauſe they wanted Corn and Herbs, the "Pruits + e Field, ro uphold their Souls in Life.
&** The hands of the pitiful women have ſfodden their own: children, they were their meat in the de- ! fraction of the daughter of my people /.
L This was according to what God had threatned in caſe of diſos ence, Deut, 28. 57. and a thing which hath ofcen happened in
— Sizpes, 2 Kings 6. 29. ſuch things did happen in the laſt deſtruQtion | wſalem, as We read in Joſephus, and though we read of no ſuch
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ND c ih -bappening'iri the Siege of ir by Nebuchadnezzar, yet that there | + lee inſtances appears from this Text. * xx The 'LORD hath accompliſbed his fury, he be * 2 n 3 "A 4
th poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a in Zion,and it hath devoured the foundations there- FT, Et _ + An unvſual fire, which burns vp not only the roof, and ſuper- -firnQure bur the foundations, leavingno bottom for hopes of being _ » reſtored. - See Dew. 32: 22, | IE | 1.1122 The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of _ ®*the world would not have believed, that the adverſary _ -”and the enemy ſhould bave enrred into the gates of Je- :ruſalem Hs ? - 4 Jeruſslem was fo naturally and arificially fortified, and fo favour- ed by God, and rakennorice of as a place which the Lord cared for, and. watced overs that it cou!d not have entred into the thoughts of - any of thoſe that were Enemies to ir,that they ſhould ever have been . able ro make themſelves Maſters of it. 1 8} 13 © For the fins of her prophets, and the injquities , of her- prieſts, that have ſhed- the blood of the juſt in .the midit of her w.
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ers, Either incouraging the People to, the wickedneſles they com- "mirred, - or not reftraining them, and denouncing the Wrath of God againſt them. So though they were the corrupe Magiſtrats «that had ſhed. the innocent Blood, yet the Prieſts and Prophets be- 5 - guilty of it, either encouraging the Magiſtrates co it, or g 1 up in their bloody courſes, or by burning the Chil-
1 that were burnt in the Valley of Hinnom. The Eccleſiaſtical -werea great cauſe of the firſt & laſt DeſtruQtion of Feruſalem,and EY are: AR-oher places that come to ruine through their
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.f [ ty,or incouraging others in their wicked courſes,
"which both ſheweth us' how great a Bleſſing to a People, a goodly, veonſcientious Miniſtry is: And how great a Plague and Curſe a Mi- oy, 45 which is otherwiſe. Sec Fer. Fo 31. and LED 2Is
"— F _ © 14" They have wandred' 2s blind wer in the ſtreets,
I D_ they have pollutted rhemſelves with blood,|] ſo that men
& 7hor r4gy 1, could nor rouch their garments x: