contingency there is in their imposition, yet they fall under the certainty of a decree, and are be ter known in heaven ere they be, than on earth while they are. He, that knows what names we shall have, before we or the world have a being, doth not oft reveal this piece of his knowledge to his creature; here he doth, naming the man that should be two hundred years after; for more assurance of the event, that Israel may say, this man speaks from a God who knows what shall be. There cannot be a more sure evidence of a true godhead, than the foreknowledge of those things, whose causes have yet no hope of being; but because the proof of this prediction was no more certain than remote, a present demonstration shall convince the future: "The altar shall rend in pieces, the ashes shall be scattered." How amazedly must the seduced Israelites needs look upon this miracle! and why do they not think with themselves, While these stones rend, why are our hearts whole? Of what an overruling power is the God whom we have forsaken, that can thus tear the altars of his corrivals! How shall we stand before his vengeance, when the very stones break at the word of his prophet? Perhaps some beholders were thus affected; but Jeroboam, whom it most concerned, instead of bowing his knees for humiliation, stretched forth his hand for revenge, and cries, Lay hold on him! Resolute wickedness is impatient of a reproof, and, instead of yielding to the voice of God, rebelleth. Just and discreet reprehension doth not more reform some sinners than exasperate others.

How easy is it for God to cool the courage of proud Jeroboam! The hand which his rage stretches out. dries up, and cannot be pulled back again; a d now stands the king of Israel, like some antique statue, in a posture of impotent endeavour, so disabled to the hurt of the prophet, that he cannot command that piece of himself. What are the great potentates of the world, in the powerful hand of the Almighty? Tyrants cannot be so harmful, as they are malicious.

The strongest heart may be brought down with affliction. Now the stout stomach of Jeroboam is fallen to an humble deprecation: "Entreat now the face of the Lord thy God. and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again." It must needs be a great strait that could drive a proud heart to beg mercy, where he bent his persecution; so doth Jeroboam, holding it no scorn to be beholden to an enemy. In extremities, the worst men can be content to

sue for favour where they have spent their malice.

It well becomes the prophets of God to be merciful. I do not see this seer to stand upon terms of exprobration, and overly contestations with Jeroboam, to say, Thine intentions to me were cruel: had thine hand prevailed, I should have sued to thee in vain; continue ever a spectacle of the fearful justice of thy Maker, whom thou hast provoked by thine idolatry, whom thou wouldst have smitten in my persecution: but he meekly sues for Jeroboam's release, and, that God might abundantly magnify both his power and mercy, is heard, and answered with success. We do not win favour of heaven, if we have not learned to do good for evil.

When both wind and sun, the blasts of judgment and the beams of favour, met together to work upon Jeroboam, who would not look that he should have cast off his cumberous and misbeseeming cloak of his idolatry, and have said, Lord, thou hast stricken me in justice, thou hast healed me in mercy; I will provoke thee no more. This hand. which thou hast restored, shall be consecrated to thee in pulling down these bold abominations: yet now, behold, he goes on in his old courses, and as if God had neither done him good nor evil, lives and dies idolatrous. No stone is more hard or insensate, than a sinful heart; the changes of judgment and mercy do but obdure it, instead of melting.

CONTEMPLATION III. THE SEDUCED PROPHET.

JEROBOAM's hand is amended, his soul is not; that continues still dry and inflexible: yet, while he is unthankful to the author of his recovery, he is thankful to the instrument: he kindly invites the prophet whom he had threatened, and will remunerate him whom he endeavoured to punish. The worst men may be sensible of bodily favours. Civil respects may well stand with gracelessness. Many a one would be liberal of their purses, if they might be allowed to be niggardly of their obedience.

As God, so his prophet, cares not for these waste courtesies, where he sees main duties neglected. More piety would have done well with less compliment. The man of God returns a blunt and peremptory denial to so bounteous an offer: "If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee; neither will I eat bread, nor drink water in this place." Kindness is more

safely done to an idolater, than taken from him that which is done to him obligeth him; that which is taken from him obligeth us: this obligation to us may be occasion of his good; our obligation to him may occasion our hurt; the surest way is to keep aloof from the infectiously wicked.

The prophet is not uncivil, to reject the favour of a prince without some reason; he yields no reason of his refusal, but the command of his God. God hath charged him, "Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest." It is not for a prophet to plead human or carnal grounds for the actions of his function he may not move but upon a divine warrant. Would this seer have looked with the eyes of flesh and blood, he might have found many arguments for his yielding: He is a king that invites me; his reward, by enriching me, may benefit many; and who knows how much my further conversation may prevail to reform him? How can he be but well prepared for good counsel by a miraculous cure! How gainfully should my receipt of a temporal courtesy be exchanged with a spiritual to him! All Israel will follow him either in idolatry or reformation: which way can be devised of doing so great service to God and the church, as by reclaiming him? What can yield so great likelihood of his reclamation, as the opportunity of my further entireness with him? But the prophet dares not argue cases where he had a command; whatever become of Jeroboam and Israel, God must be obeyed; neither profit nor hopes may carry us cross to the word of our Maker. How safe had this seer been, if he had kept him ever upon this sure guard, which he no sooner leaves, than he miscarries!

So deeply doth God detest idolatry, that he forbids his prophet to eat the bread, to drink the water, of a people infected with this sin; yea, to tread in those very steps which their feet have touched. If this inhibition were personal, yet the grounds of it are common. No pestilence should be more shunned than the conversation of the misreligious or openly scandalous. It is no thank to us, if their familiarity do not infect us with their wickedness.

I know not what to think of an old prophet that dwells in Bethel, within the air of Jeroboam's idol, within the noise of his sacrifices; that lives where the man of God dares not eat; that permitted his sons to be present at that idolatrous service. If he were a prophet of God, what did he now in Bethel? why did he wink at the sin of Jeroboam? what needed a seer to come out

of Judah for the reproof of that sin which was acted under his nose? why did he lie? why did his family partake with idolaters? If he were not a prophet of God, how had he true visions? how had he true messages from God? why did he second the menacing word of that prophet whom he seduced? why did he desire that his own bones might be honoured with his sepulchre? Doubtless he was a prophet of God, but corrupt, resty, vicious. Prophecy doth not always presuppose sanctification. many a one hath had visions from God, who shall never enjoy the vision of God. A very Balaam, in his ecstasies, hath so clear revelation of the Messiah to come, as scarce ever any of the holiest prophets; yea. his very ass hath both her mouth miraculously opened, and her eyes, to see and notify that angel, which was hid from her master; yea, Satan himself sometimes receives notice from God of his future actions, which else that evil spirit could neither foretell nor foresee. These kinds of graces are both rare and common: rare, in that they are seldom given to any; common, in that they are indifferently given to the evil and to the good. A little holiness is worth much illumination.

Whether out of envy to hear that said by the seer of Judah, which he either knew not or smothered: to hear that done by another, which he could not have effected, and could not choose but admire ; or whether out of desire to make trial of the fidelity of so powerful a messenger, the old prophet hastens to overtake, to recall that man of God, who had so defied his Bethel; whom he finds sitting faint and weary under an oak in the way, taking the benefit of that shade which he hated to receive from those contagious groves that he had left behind him. His habit easily bewrayed him to a man of his own trade; neither doth his tongue spare to profess himself. The old prophet of Bethel invites him to return to a repast; and is answered with the same words wherewith Jeroboam's offer was repelled: the man of God varies not a syllable from his message. It concerns us to take good heed of our charge, when we go on God's errand. A denial doth but invite the importunate: what he cannot do by entreaty the old man tries to do by persuasion: "I am a prophet as thou also art, and an angel spake to me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water." There is no temptation so dangerous, as that which comes shrouded under a vail of holiness, and pretends authority from God himself. Jeroboam threat

ens, the prophet stands undaunted; Jeroboam fawns and promises, the prophet holds constant: now comes a grey-headed seer, and pleads a counter-message from God: the prophet yields and transgresses. Satan may affright us as a fiend, but he seduces us as an angel of light.

Who would have looked for a liar under hoary hairs, and a holy mantle? who would not have trusted that gravity, when there was no colour of any gain in the untruth? Nothing is so apt to deceive as the fairest semblances, as the sweetest words. We cannot err, if we believe not the speech for the person, but the person for the speech. Well might this man of God think, an aged man, a prophet, an old prophet, will not, sure, belie God unto a prophet; no man will forge a lie, but for an advantage. What can this man gain by this match, but the entertainment of an unprofitable guest? Perhaps, though God would not allow me to feast with Jeroboam, yet pitying my faintness, he may allow me to eat with a prophet. Perhaps now that I have approved my fidelity in refusing the bread of Bethel, God thinks good to send me a gracious release of that strict charge. Why should I think, that God's revelations are not as free to others, as to me? and if this prophet hath received a countermand from an angel of God, how shall I not disobey God, if I do not follow him!

Upon this ground he returns with this deceitful host; and, when the meat was now in his mouth, receives the true message of death, from the same lips that brought him the false message of his invitation; thus saith the Lord," Forasmuch, as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place forbidden thee, thy carcass shall not come to the sepulchre of thy fathers." O woful prophet! when he looks on his host, he sees his executioner; while he is feeding of his body, he hears of his carcass; at the table he hears of his denied sepulchre; and all this for eating and drinking where he was forbidden by God, though bidden as from God. The violation of the least charge of God is mortal: no pretences can warrant the transgression of a divine command. A word from God is pleaded on both sides: the one was received immediately from God; the other related mediately by man: one the prophet was sure of; the other was questionable. A sure word of God may not be left for an uncertain: an express charge of the Almighty admitteth

not of any check: his will is but one, as himself is; and therefore it is out of the danger of contradiction.

Methinks I see the man of God change countenance at this sharp sauce of his pleasing morsels; his face beforehand is dyed with the paleness of death. Methinks I hear him urging many unkind expostulations with his injurious host, who yet dismisses him better provided for the ease of his journey than he found him. Perhaps this officiousness was out of desire to make some amends for this late seducement. It is a poor recompense. when he hath betrayed his life, and wronged the soul, to cast some courtesies upon the body.

This old Bethelite, that had taken pains to come and fetch the man of God into sin, will not now go back with him to accompany his departure. Doubtless he was afraid to be enwrapped in the judgment which he saw hanged over that obnoxious head. Thus the mischievous guides of wickedness leave a man, when they have led him to his bane; as familiar devils forsake their witches, when they have brought them once into fetters.

The man of God returns alone, careful, no doubt, and pensive for his offence, when a lion out of the wood meets, assaults, and kills him. O the just and severe judgments of the Almighty, who hath brought this fierce beast out of his wild ranges into the highway, to be the executioner of his offending servant! Doubtless this prophet was a man of great holiness, of singular fidelity, else he durst not have been God's herald to carry a message of defiance to Jeroboam, king of Israel, in the midst of all his royal magnificence; yet now, for varying from but a circumstance of God's command, though upon the suggestion of a divine warrant, is given for a prey to the lion. Our interest in God is so far from excusing our sin, that it aggravates it: of all others, the sin of a prophet shall not pass unrevenged.

The very wild beasts are led by a providence; their wise and powerful Creator knows how to serve himself of them. The lions guard one prophet, kill another, according to the commission received from their Maker. What sinner can hope to escape unpunished, when every creature of God is ready to be an avenger of evil? The beasts of the field were made to serve us; we to serve our Creator. When we forsake our homage to him that made us, it is no marvel if the beasts forget their duty to us, and deal with us not as masters, but as rebels. When a holy man buys so dearly

I cannot think but this prophet died in the favour of God: though by the teeth of the lion, his life was forfeited for example, his soul was safe; yea, his very carcass was left, though torn, yet fair, after those deadly grasps; as if God had said, I will only take thy breath from thee, as the penalty of thy disobedience: a lion shall do that which an apoplexy or fever might do. I owe thee no further revenge than may be satisfied with thy blood.

Violent events do not always argue the anger of God; even death itself is to his servants a fatherly castigation.

But, O the unsearchable ways of the Almighty! The man of God sins, and dies speedily the lying prophet that seduced him survives; yea, wicked Jeroboam enjoys his idolatry, and treads upon the grave of his reprover. There is neither favour in the delay of stripes, nor displeasure in the haste; rather whom God loves he chastises, as sharply, so speedily, while the rest prospers to condemnation: even the rod of a loving father may draw blood. How much happier is it for us, that we die now, to live for ever, than that we live a while, to die for ever!

Had this lion set upon the prophet for hunger, why did he not devour, as well as kill him? why did he not rather kill the beast than the man? since we know the nature of the lion such, that he is not wont to assail man, save in the extreme want of other prey. Certainly the same power that employed those fangs restrained them, that the world might see it was not appetite that provoked the beast to this violence, but the overruling command of God. Even so, O Lord! thy powerful hand is over that roaring lion, that goes about continually seeking whom he may devour: thine hand withholds him, that though he may shed the blood of thine elect, yet he cannot hurt their souls; and while he doth those things which thou permittest and orderest, to thy just ends, yet he cannot do lesser things which he desireth, and thou permittest not.

The fierce beast stands by the carcass, as to avow his own act, and to tell who sent him, so to preserve that body which he had slain. O wonderful work of God! the executioner is turned guardian; and, as the officer of the Highest, commands all other creatures to stand aloof from his charge, and commands the fearful ass that brought this burden thither, not to stir thence, but to stand ready prest, to carry

hath sufficiently witnessed to all passengers that this act was not done upon his own hunger, but upon the quarrel of his Maker, he delivers up his charge to that old prophet, who was no less guilty of this blood than himself.

This old seducer had so much truth, as both to give a right commentary upon God's intention in this act, for the terror of the disobedient, and to give his voice to the certainty of that future judgment which his late guest had threatened to Israel: sometimes it pleaseth the wisdom of God to express and justify himself, even by the tongues of faulty instruments. Withal, he hath so much faith and courage, as to fetch that carcass from the lion; so much pity and compassion, as to weep for the man of God, to inter him in his own sepulchre; so much love, as to wish himself joined in death to that body which he had hastened unto death. It is hard to find a man absolutely wicked: some grace will bewray itself in the most forsaken breasts.

It is a cruel courtesy to kill a man, and then to help him to his grave; to betray a man with our breath, and then to bedew him with our tears. The prophet had needed no such friend, if he had not met with such an enemy: "The mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

It is no measuring of God's favour by the line of outward welfare: Jeroboam, the idolatrous usurper of Israel, prospers better than the true heirs of David, he lives to see three successions in the throne of Judah: thus the ivy lives, when the oak is dead. Yet could not that misgotten crown of his keep his head always from aching: he hath his crosses too. God whips sometimes more than his own: his enemies smart from him as well as his children; his children in love, his enemies in judgment. Not simply the rod argues love, but the temper of the hand that wields it, and the back that feels it. First, Jeroboam's hand was stricken, now his son; Abijah, the eldest, the best son of Jeroboam, is smitten with sickness. As children are but the pieces of their parents in another skin, so parents are no less stricken in their children, than in their natural limbs; Jeroboam doth not more feel his arm, than his son: not wicked men only, but beasts, may have natural affections. It is no thank to any creature to love his own.