This Verſe is word for word the ſame in the former part of it, yi the former part of the firſt Verſe of this Chapter z we refer thither for Explication of it : 'The Prophet having afſerted his Divine Cal and avowed his Faithfulneſs in the Prophetick Office, ver. 8, he here zine us one mor* !roof of it, dealing roundly with the Magiſtrates in both Kingdor 1, Iſrael and Fudab, e Whereas Judgment $hould be the; great. Velight, as it is of every good Magiſtrate, theſe had Hear thac deteſted it, were weary of the Dire&ions of God's Law jr their Polity, and hated to be controlled by it. f, Where you can, you yre& the Law to countenance your unequal Proceedings, and wrong thy. you Should right, and acquit thoſe you Should condemn : And there i; many a Wo denounced againſt ſuch. ;
Jeraſalem with iniquity #.
q Heads, Princes, Judges,and great Ones among them. 7 Enlag} or beautify, ana fortify. | meant the Temple and its Buildings, and the Royal Palace of the King of Fudah, t With Wealth and Gifts,which theſe Builders made they. ſelves 7-laſters of by Violence, taking away the Life of the #wners, elſe fining and amercing them : By this Courſe they wreſted part f their ſtates from them, by the other they ſeized all ; they allot Gain ſometimes acquitted the Guilty,and freed them in capital Ci; and ſo ſold the Blood of the Innocent. a By ſuch Injuſtice Feruſd:n was brought to Ruine at laſt, though ſome particular Perſons ar Families did raiſe themſelyes, their Houſes and Palaces to a preſent Largeneſs and Statelineſs.
11 * The heads thereof judge for reward x, andthe" prieſts thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof? divine for money z - yet will they lean upon the LORD aj Þ and ſay b, 7s not the LORD among us c ? noel aj come upon vs 4d.
x Whereas the Judges were God's Deputies, to hear and determine Caules, as the Merit of the Cauſes were found, without reſpett of Per- ſons ; they ſhould have been careful to give ſuch Judgment as Gol would give, (for the Judgment is the Lord's, and he fits in the milf of the Judges.) Theſe corrupt Judges attended little to the Cauſejut much to Rewards, and with them the greateft Bribe made the juſt Cauſe; and he was moſt guilty who was poor and could not, or h0-
neft and would not, give the expe&rd Reward : This was moſtd- rely againft the Law of God, Exod. 23. 8. Deut. 16.19. and exprelj curſed ; yet *twas the common Courſe and Praffliee with them. » Thek Men ſhould have impartially declared the Law of God to all tol them what was clean or unclean, what was prohibited, what permit ted, what commanded ; what was ſafe to them, being pleaſing toGod; and what dangerous to them, being offenſive to their God : but thel tor Hire would dire& them how to pleaſe themſelves ; and thoug! they broke the Law, not be guilty ; to extort, yet not be guilty Ulury 3 to kill an Enemy, yet not be guilty of Murder, nor break the ſixth Commandment ; to be unnatural to Parents, yet not fin : Who paid them well, ſhould find them moft excellently skill'd in the G ſuiſtical Divinity the Feſuttes at this day are Mafters of. 4 Whit being extraordinary Perſons raiſed of God, and ſent by him to dcliver his Meſſage Impartially to all his People, to all Ranks of Men amy them, without ear, Flattery, Prejudice, or any : By: reſpetts ; there were in this People at this day a ſort of Men called Prophets, but weil indeed meer Fortune-tellers, as we call a vagabond ſort of Peri0:5% mong us, and theſe made a Trade of Divining z and as if 'twereit their Power to frame future things to the Mind and Humour of Me! for a good round Sum of Money they would ſell Proſperity to them: tor they never told great Good to come to any but ſuch as gave a gt Reward, and little Money with them never purchas'd the News great Advantage ; and whoſo had firſt the Miſery to be poor, [1 they could: not buy, or elſe were wiſer than to believe theie 1mPy ſtors,theſe were ſure to be told a (ad Story of Troubles and Afiliftions: Many Diſciples of Balaam, 2 Pet. 2. 15. they loved the 11 ages of Ute righreoujneſs, a Whilſt Magiſtrates, Prieſts and Prophets, arc © abominably corrupt, yet they will preſumptuouſly lean up6n ih? 19% and flacter themſelves that he is preſent with them, that he owe" them as his peculiar People. b Yea, they boaft ſo. c AS Oli as our Shield z whereas he was among them, but provoked to be tie Enemy, though they will not believe it. 4 So they do fallly concluce againft all the Word of God,and againſt all his true Prophets Admo% tions : No Evil of Aftition, ſuch as War, Famine and Captivity, cal come upon them. Thus far theſe corrupt Fews,
ed a5a field gy and Jeruſalem þ ſhall become heaps 2, and che mountain of the houſe k, as the kigh places 0 foreſts, ;
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10 They q build upr Zion s, * with + blood t, ani; 2,
s The Houſes in Zion, or perha s mayhe!!
12 Therefore ſhall Zion e for your ſake / be * [1B
time, al time; .| Micah lp likeliho0 ther thin might a\ format10 Sins of- Should Þ: (ures the! ftruttion would ha Safety tO ſake, NO! Heaven V againſt I 1njuſtice, DangeT., jtto be D Body of t ties of th of the gr he demoli on which | heautified over with
4 promiſe; Church 1 vittory (
1 u f ſhall be « ſhall be « unto it þ, a This 1 us look to that was ? of a happ rance out out of 1gn This latter der them, Years Capt Days of th Days, c T on which th roglyphick and in the Jews returt complished, of the Goſ Hell should the Mounta noured abo' and Reproai ont for Gc worShip Id God ſhall ez thoſe who c: Maids, Exra to the Few? tiles to be cc are ſur? of ; fude, we lod four Miftior Benjamin, li in Multitud Out of Baby red the Jey II, Caf, 4, ( Reafos to b thatit mig] this Type tudes we re: the Apoſt
2 And 1 let us £0 y Houſe of Ways n. ſhall go fl from Jeru 7 This wa and cCircumc; Kingdom, le ers, and mt them to Jery
eliverance Mordecai in t no Requeſt VInces, Eft, C nels, And I 159 Years ble good Cor ao this Pro Montes and |
'S Comman Unciſeq , 2s the Words, | Vel, Il,
ap. IV. M 4
ef e473, that this Sermon was preack*d to Judah and its