piried, preſerved and loved ; Now their Weakneſſes covered and BY, { pardoned,their Good-will approved and accepted, then their Worth oy own'd, publiſhed, and rewarded. c As a tender Father doth witl il the 15 Son, his own Son, that ſerveth him ſo will God ſpare ſuch, a hofts, in an. Atheiſtical World do ſpeak for God, de fear God, and highly u Vi value both his Law and Goyernment, and fo obey him. Deſpile | : = th 1s Then @d ſhall ye e return F, and diſcern g bc | _
tween the righteous and the wicked ; ber! ; h1i8
410. IV. > M4 LACHI Chap. IV.
. that ſeryveth God , and him that ſerveth him} ſhall be fulfilled in the Overthrow of the Bad, and in the Triumphs him | 6 = of the Good : But more particularly this Treaving ſeems to be 11- | terided of thoſe, who after the ſacking and burning of Feraſaler, ſhould return either to view the Ruins, or ro, dwell there, aud fo ſhould in going up and down, tread upon the Wicked, either buried in the Ruins, or conſumed ro Aſhes. y By this it appears, that theſe preſerved Ones did not barbaroufly tread upon the entire Bodies of the Wicked, but upon the Aſhes of thoſe Bodies by the Fire con- ſumed and turned into Aſhes, and mixed with the Afhes of their Houſes and Goods. x Burn Feruſalem and the Temple, with the th wo rms Citizens and Prieſts, whoſe Carcaſes were ſlain by the Sword ; or were wicked, and periih now in your Wickednels, their Perſons ſurprized with the Flames, ſhall be burnt up: And
ſo both this, and much of the firſt Verſe, may be licerally under- 7 Þ E 8: 4 ſtood, and was ſo fulfilled by Tits and his Souldiers, Anno Chri-
The burning of the proud and wicked foretold, x. The ſun cf righteouſ- fi, 73.
neſs promiſed to them _ fear ge hr 253, An — 4 a] Remember a Ve the * law b of Moſes : my * Fx. 20.4 qe ry" _— % __ ſervanr d, which I commanded unto him * in Horeb 7 *Dcu.4.19, rophet foretota, 5, 0s CIV ) -N L £ 4190s ? p x Pp hed PR 9” fan all Ifrael f, wth rhe {tatures and judgments g. OR # behold 5, the ay c cometn « that all burn a Now take leave of all Prophecy, for you ſhall have no more till
as an oven e, and all the proud /, yea , and all the great Prophet, till $hilob come , and attend ve diligently to the ad. 13. that do wickedly £g {hall be * ſtubble Þ, and the Uay | Law of Moſes, keep its Precepts and DrireQions. þ 1g the tull Ex- that cometh 7 ſhall burn them up #, faith the LORD _ _ _ Row or mal ions T0 for all ; 5 1Vo rhe neces Wore \-- | The Ceremonial Preceptsz Rules of your Worſhip, to long as your of hoſts /, that it hall leave them neither roor not Temple ſhall ſtand a Type ot Chriſt $6000, The Judicial Precepts; zanch 7. : : ; whilit you have any Government,or Power of Judicatures: By 2 due aThe words immediately foregoing, (which as we tmve the Chap keeping this, you may eſcape future Judgments, and ovtain future ters divided, did end the third Chapter ) toretold 4 Day to come | Bleffings, Lev. 26. Dext. 23. beſide,by this attending to the Law,they then, though *tis now long fince paſt, in which ſuch Judgments | mjght be enabled ro ſee the Meſſiah, and own him of whom 31ſ*s ſhould be executed upon the Zewiſh Nation a5 ſhould make the {tou- | wr5te in the Law : Now though the Law only be expreſt, the Pro- teſt Contemners of God ro ſee and acknowledg his different Reſpets phetsare included, who alſo wrote of Chrift, Deur. 13. 15. Fab. 5. and Providences towards the Good and towards the Evil: Now in 45, 47. Affs 13. 27, This was excellent Advice to this People, who this Verſe ( which conrinueth the Diſcourſc) he accounteth how it | (had they take it) had eſcaped the Sins they ran into, and the Mi- ſhould be. b Mark well what now the Lord doth foretel. c Be-| ſerics they tell under : They had not crucified the Lord of Glory, fore-mentioned , the Day of Viſitation and Diſcerning of Men. | nor reje&ed their own Mercy, nor pull'd firy Judgments on their dThough it be at ſome 400 Years diſtance from you, yet 'tis coming | own heads, to their utrer Ruin. c Whoſe Memory you venerate, and will overtake you,and overwhelm youu too abou! that time 3 nay, | jn whom you glory, whoſe Law therefore ye ought to obey, 4 Who you ſhall have ſome taſtes of birtcr Cupsbefore, ſome lefs and ſhor- | was my Servant, and delivered my Commands to you : £ do there- ter Troubles, the Preſage and Afurance of that dreadful Day I now | fore expe that my Authority, and Mejes his Efteem among you, ſpeak of, ſaith our Prophet. e The Refiners Fire, ch. 3-2. is now | preyail with you to ſtudy moſt carefully this Law. e With moſt repreſented to us as a fire burning more ereadfully, which really was | Majeſtick Circumſtances to awe you to the Obſervance of all its i're- more-dreadful m the fulfilling than here it is in the Predi&ion; when cepts, and which was an E:oblem of that Terror and Majefty where- Feruſalem and the Temple were on fire, and none_could quench it ; | jn the Lawgiver would appear to judg, to give Rewards or adjudg to when the fire raged every where, but burnt moſt fiercely, where the \ puniſhments. fS0 long as they ſhould be a People ad Church. £ Be arched Roofs did make it as in Ovens or Furnaces to double it ſelf, | not partial 3 Stacutes and Judgments, 2. e. the whole aw mult you at- and infold flames with flames, and with dreadful roarings increas | tend ro, and remember it as God requices, not turn aſide irom any its Terrors ; This Day may well be an Emblem of the Day of Judg- | of irs Preſcripts. ment, and this Place may be accommodated thereto; but it princi-
pally ſpeaks of the Times of Vengeance on Feruſalem 1n its final De- 5 © Behold, I will ſend þ you * Elijah 7 the pro- *115,, 4.x,
ſolation. f Such as chap. 1.13. and-3. 13, 14, 15. are deſcribed. , | | . | £ This 15 another part of the Charafter of theſe Perſons, and explica- pher #, betore rhe coming / of the great 7 and arcad-
m when that Day of the Lord puniſhing the Jews by the Romans ſhall com?, and he ſhall do thus for this Jewels. e The blaſphemous Scoffers, proud Contemners of God and Religion. f Return to your Reaſon, enforced by the convincing Power of God's Judgments to come to your ſelves, or to change your Opinion of God and his Go-
rnment. £ Clearly fee with Envy towards them, with Horror and Grief in your ſelves, the unexpetted Eſcape and Happineſs of the Righteous who ſerved God, and your Miſery that ſerved him not,but