A69234:1501
Lectures upon the four first chapters of the prophecy of Hosea Wherein the text…Lectures vpon the foure first chapters of the prophecie of Hosea Wherein the text…
Lectures upon the four first chapters of the prophecy of Hosea Wherein the text is expounded and cleared, and such profitable instructions observed, and applied, as naturally arise out of this holy Scripture, and are fit for these times. By John Downame Bachelor in Divinity, and preacher of Gods word.Lectures vpon the foure first chapters of the prophecie of Hosea Wherein the text is exponded and cleered, and such profitable instructions obserued, and applied, as naturally arise out of this holie Scripture, and are fit for these times. By Iohn Dovvname Bacheler in Diuinitie, and preacher of Gods word.
London: printed by Felix Kyngston and T. East for William Welby, 1608
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The third & last sin is bribing & extortion, in these words; Their rulers love to say with shame, or shamefully; Bring ye. In which words we are to consider the persons who committed this sin, and the sin it self. The persons were their rulers and magistrates. The word signifieth their shields: whereby is implied; first the office and duty of good magistrates; namely, to shield and defend their subjects from outward violence, injuries, and oppressions: and secondly, the sin of these rulers, & the miserable condition of the people is hereby showed & aggravated; both in that the magistrates, whose chief care and study should have been to defend the people, to right their wrongs, to execute judgement, and repel outward injuries, did greedily bend their minds to covetousness, & both forgetting their place, & neglecting their duty, gaped after bribes: & also in that hereby, nothing could follow but horrible disorder in the state, when as those who should have been the correctors and punishers of vice, and the rewarders of virtue, sought only their own private gain, and spent all their time and whole endeavours in hunting after bribes and rewards, as after a pray; whereby all manner of licentious liberty was given unto the people of running headlong into all manner of sin, seeing their governors regarded them not; or though they should call them into question, yet they could easily blind their eyes, and stop their mouths, and tie their hands with rewards and bribes.
The third & last sin is bribing & extortion, in these words; Their rulers loue to say with shame, or shamefully; Bring ye. In which words we are to cōsider the persons who committed this sin, and the sin it selfe. The persons were their rulers and magistrates. The word signifieth their shields: whereby is implied; first the office and dutie of good magistrates; namely, to shield and defend their subiects from outward violence, iniuries, and oppressions: and secondly, the sinne of these rulers, & the miserable conditiō of the people is hereby shewed & aggrauated; both in that the magistrates, whose chiefe care and studie should haue been to defend the people, to right their wrongs, to execute iudgement, and repell outward iniuries, did greedily bend their mindes to couetousnesse, & both forgetting their place, & neglecting their dutie, gaped after bribes: & also in that hereby, nothing could follow but horrible disorder in the state, when as those who should haue been the correctors and punishers of vice, and the rewarders of vertue, sought onely their owne priuate gaine, and spent all their time and whole indeuours in hunting after bribes and rewards, as after a pray; whereby all manner of licentious libertie was giuen vnto the people of running headlong into all manner of sinne, seeing their gouernours regarded them not; or though they should call them into question, yet they could easilie blinde their eyes, and stoppe their mouthes, and tie their hands with rewards and bribes.