An exposition with practical observations continued upon the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of…An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of…

Again, sometimes God creates a sound, or causeth the wicked to hear a dreadful sound (2 Kings 7.6.) The Lord made the Host of the Syrians to hear a noise of Chariots, and a noise of Horses, even the noise of a great Host, &c. Upon this dreadful sound, they arose and fled. Sometimes a wicked heart creates a sound, and what the Prophet threatens, he hears, the stone out of the Wall, the beam out of the Timber crying against him. The Story tells us of one who thought that the Swallows in the Chimney spake, and told tales of him. We say in our Proverb, As the Fool thinketh, so the Bell clinketh; much more may we say, As an evil conscience thinketh, so every thing clinketh. As he that hath a prejudice against another, takes all he hears spoken of him, and all that he hears him speak in ⟨p. 98⟩the worst sense, and most disadvantageous construction to his reputation; so he that hath a prejudice against himself, construes all that he either hears or sees against his own Peace: Hence it is that he doth not only flee when he is pursued, but when none pursue (Prov. 28.1.) The wicked flies when none pursueth (except his own fears) but the righteous is as bold as a Lyon: This terror was threatened in the old Law (Levit. 26.36.) They that are left alive of you in the time of your Captivity, I will send fainting in their hearts, in the Land of their Enemy, and the sound of a shaking leaf shall chase them; What poor spirits have they who are chased by the motion of a leaf? The sound of a leaf is a pleasant sound, it is a kind of natural music. Fear doth not only make the heart move,¹ As the Trees of the Forrest are moved with the wind (Isa. 7.) but it makes the heart move, if the wind do but move the Trees of the Forrest. The Prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem, Thy slain men are not slain with the Sword, not dead in Battle (Isai. 22.2.) With what then were they slain? And how dyed they; a learned Interpreter tells us how: They were slain with fear, and dyed with a sound of Battle before ever they joined Battle. This answereth the judgement denounced by Moses in another place (