An exposition of the prophecy of Hosea begun in divers lectures upon the first…An exposition of the prophesie of Hosea begun in divers lectures vpon the first…

Whereas the place of my people was confined into a little and narrow room, hereafter it shall be enlarged, and even among the Gentiles that shall be made spiritual Israel, where I was not known, among the Heathen, even there shall I come to be known, and I shall have a people there, and not only people, but sons, the sons of the living God, and that so apparently, that it shall be said unto them. Ye are the sons of the living God.

Whereas the place of my people was confined into a little and narrow roome, hereafter it shall be inlarged, and even among the Gentiles that shal be made spiritual Israel, where I was not known, among the Heathen, even there shall I come to be known, and I shall have a people there, and not only people, but sons, the sons of the living God, and that so apparently, that it shall be said unto them. Yee are the sonnes of the living God.

Thus Saint Peter seems to interpret this place, in the 1 Pet. 2. 10. speaking of the Gentiles whom God would have a people among them, saith the Apostle, Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God. Generally Interpreters do conclude that the Apostle had reference to this very place in Hosea: And so we may build then upon this interpretation howsoever, that it is the intention of the Spirit of God, that God would call home the Gentiles to himself, & so they that were no people should become his people, his sons: It should be said in that place where before it was said that they knew him not, that now they are his sons. Yea the Heathen shall be brought in, so as they shall be convinced of the vanity of their Idolatry. We worshipped dead stocks; our gods were dead stones & stocks that we were vassals unto; but now we see a people that is come in to the profession of this Christian Religion, they worship the living God, their God is the true God, certainly here are the sons of the living God.¹ This is the scope of the holy Ghost. For observation. 1. It is a comfortable thing to consider that in those places where God hath not been known & worshipped, that afterward in those places, God should be known & worshipped. That such nations, such Countries and Towns that have lived in darkness & Idolatry, should now have the knowledge of the true God, that the true God should come to be worshipped amongst them, this is a blessed thing. England was once one of the most barbarous nations in the world, and in that place where it was said you are not my people, where there was nothing but a company of savage barbarous creatures that worshipped the Devil; how in this place, in England is it said, even by the nations round about us, surely they are the sons of the living God! And so many times in dark corners in the Country where they never had the knowledge of Jesus Christ, but were nuzzled up in Popery and in all kind of superstitious vanity, God is pleased to send