duty; but the prophet's particular address to the priests, shows that this is, in a peculiar manner, the duty of the ministers of religion. III. We have here very positive promises, that God would redeem his people; that he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh in the latter days; and that then all who should call upon the name of the Lord should be saved. This promise relates to the times of the Gospel; and was fulfilled when our Lord sent the Holy Ghost upon his apostles, after his ascension into heaven; as St. Peter shows in the second chapter of the Acts; and this promise is executed in behalf of all the faithful who live under the new covenant, since God pours his Holy Spirit into their hearts, and gives salvation to all such as call upon his name; which should lead us to celebrate the divine mercy towards us, and to make a due improvement of all the spiritual blessings which he so plentifully bestows upon us in his church.

CHAPTER III.

Joel foretells, that God would bring the Jews again after their captivity into their own country; that he would take vengeance upon their enemies for their cruelty and injustice towards them, would deliver his people, and bless them abundantly.

Reflections.

THE promises contained in this chapter, whereby God had engaged to bring again the captive Jews into their own country, and to punish the idolatrous nations who had afflicted them, were fulfilled, when the Jews returned from their captivity at Babylon ; and the Edomites, Egyptians, and Babylonians, who had so greatly afflicted the people of God, felt the divine vengeance. We here see, that God is faithful to his promises, and that his covenant with his people standeth sure; that when he appears most angry with them, he still preserves his love and kind

ness towards them. Lastly, We here observe the care God takes in preserving, protecting, and defending his church, against the power and malice of its enemies. These promises are likewise applicable to the Christian church in a sense still more perfect; and it is in this light that we are to consider them, and to meditate upon them, for our edification and comfort.

The end of the Book of the Prophet Joel.

THE

BOOK OF THE PROPHET

AMOS.

ARGUMENT.

God sent the prophet Amos, who was a shepherd, to exhort the Jews of Israel and Judah to repentance; to denounce his judgments against them; and at the same time to foretell the deliverance of the people of God, and the coming of Jesus Christ. The time in which Amos prophesied, is noted at the beginning of his Book.

CHAPTER I.

GOD says, that he was going to punish the Syrians, Philistines, Tyrians, Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, because of their crimes, and the evils they had done to the Jews.

Reflections after reading the chapter.

On this chapter we are to consider, that all the people here mentioned, felt the effects of the threatenings denounced against them by Amos and the other prophets; and that God punished them, by means of the Assyrians, for their pride and injustice, and the cruelties they had exercised against the Jews, whereby we see, that God is just and true in

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his threatenings, and revenges the injuries done to the innocent, and especially to his church.

CHAPTER II.

I. Amos denounces the ruin of the Moabites. II. He declares next, that the people of Judah and of Israel should be likewise punished, because they had forsaken the service and laws of the Lord, and rendered themselves guilty of foul ingratitude; and because, although God had raised prophets among them, to warn them, they had refused to hearken to them.

Reflections.

THE threatenings contained in this chapter engage us to consider, that God, after he had declared that he would execute his judgments upon the nations round about the Jews, says, he would likewise punish the kingdoms of Judah and Israel for their sins, because they had sinned against God, forsaken his service, abused his favours, and refused to hearken to the prophets, whom he had at several times raised up among them. God punishes sin every where, and particularly in those on whom he has conferred extraordinary favours, when they make ungrateful returns for his mercies, break his laws, and cast his word behind them, and despise the warnings of his

servants.

CHAPTER III.

I. Amos denounces the dreadful judgments of God against the Israelites, and declares, that God was going to execute his threatenings upon them, according to the predictions of the prophet. II. He calls the Philistines, and Egyptians to be witnesses of the sins of the Israelites, and of the vengeance God would take upon them: and he foretells, that the cities and palaces of the Israelites should be overthrown, and that Beth-el, which was the place where they worshipped the idols, should be totally destroyed.

Reflections.

I. GOD's severe treatment of the Jews, whom he had chosen above all the people of the earth, but they had rebelled against him, teaches us, that those whom God has received into covenant, and has distinguished by his favours, are most severely punished when they prove unfaithful. II. Amos teaches us, that when God speaks and threatens, all the world ought to stand in awe; and that no evil happens to men but what proceeds from God. This ought to fill us with a salutary dread of the voice of God and his threatenings; and make us confess, that all the evils, and all the calamities which come upon men, are the dispensations of Providence; and that we ought to adore in all things the justice of God, and to submit to his will. III. When we read, that God calls the neighbouring people to bear witness to the great disorders that reigned among the Jews, and to see the vengeance that he was going to take upon them; this shows to what a height of corruption they were arrived, insomuch that the idolatrous nations themselves had reason to be astonished, and to acknowledge the justice of God's judgments upon them. IV. The same justice appeared, in that Beth-el, which was the place where their idolatry was established, and the palaces and houses of the great men, in which they had committed their crimes, were devoted to utter destruction,

CHAPTER IV.

I. THE prophet foretells, that the Lord would quickly destroy Samaria, the capital of the ten tribes, because of the wickedness, injustice, and violence, which the great men, who are here called the fat kine of Basan, committed in it, and because of the idolatry that was established at Beth-el, and at Gilgal. II. He next reproaches the Jews, that notwithstanding God had chastened them by famine, drought, vermin, pestilence, and other scourges, yet they were not converted to him; and therefore, that they must prepare