Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachi the…Religion our true interest, or, Practical notes upon the third chapter of Malachy the…

Let us Dread this Lord of Hosts:¹ we fear men who are in Power, and is not that God to be adored and feared who acts pro arbitrio. ²He doth what he pleaseth in the Armies of Heaven and earth, Dan. 9.35. His Power is as large as his will, Job 23 13. What his Soul desireth, even that he doth. The Ephori had Power over the King of Sparta; the Tribunes over the Roman consuls; much more hath God a Sovereign Power over all. He poureth contempt upon Princes, Job 12.21. He threw the Proud Angels to Hell. God can with a word unpin the Wheels and break the Axle tree of the Creation. Gods Power is a Glorious Power, ⟨p. 156⟩Col. 1.11. And herein it appears Glorious, it i• never spent or wasted. Men while they exercise their strength, weaken it. But, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, Isa. 40.28. Though God spends his Arrows upon his enemies, Deut. 32.23. yet not his strength. O then tremble before this Lord of Hosts, Remember (O hard-hearted sinner!) how many ways God can be revenged on thee. He can raise an Army of diseases against thee in thy body: he can set the humours of the body one against another, he can make the heat dry up the Moisture, or the Moisture drown the heat; he can Arm every Creature against thee, the Dog, the Boar, the Elephant. He can Arm Conscience against thee, as he did against Spira making him a Terror to himself: O dread this Lord of Hosts.

Let us Dread this Lord of Hosts:¹ we fear men who are in Power, and is not that God to be adored and feared who acts pro arbitrio.