your

they were not satisfied, v. 8. I have fmitten you with Blafting and Mildew, &c. So Chap. 5. V. II. Forafmuch as your treading is upon the Poor, and ye take from him Burdens of Wheat; ye have built Houfes of hewen Stone, but ye shall not dwell in them: Te have planted pleasant Vineyards, but ye shall not drink Wine of them. For I know your manifold Tranfgreffions, and mighty Sins: They afflict the Fuft, they take a Bribe, they turn afide the Poor in the Gate for their Right, V. 12. Therefore the Lord God of Hofts, the Lord faith thus, Wailing shall be in all Streets, and they shall fay in all the Highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the Hufbandman to mourning: And fuch as are skilful of Lamentation to wailing, v. 16. And in all Vineyards fhall be wailing; for I will pass through thee, faith the Lord, V. 17.

THE Prophet Micah likewife threatens the fame Sins with the fame Punishment, Chap. 6. v. 1o. Are there yet the Treasures of Wickedness in the Houfe of the Wicked, and the fcant Meafure that is abominable? Shall I count them pure with the wicked Ballances, and with the Bag of deceitful Weights? For the rich Men thereof are full of Violence, and the Inhabitants thereof have Spoken Lies, and their Tongue is deceitful in their Mouth. Therefore also will I make thee fick in fmiting thee, in making thee defolate because of thy Sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be fatisfied; thou shalt fow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the Olives, but thou fhalt not anoint thee with Oil, and Sweet Wine, but fhalt not drink Wine. And accordingly, whenfoever this Branch of Sin fhall be come to its compleat State or perfect Ful

nefs,

nefs, in any Place, Country, or Nation,
then also may we expect to fee this Plague
more common, Tóπs, i. e. in divers Pla-
ces, as it is expreffed, Matth. 24. 7. before
24.7.
it become strictly Univerfal, which muft
be afterwards. We need not, I think, look
far for Arguments to prove the future In-
crease of this Sin, which is at this Day fo
very rife in the World; and is fo far from
being checked by thofe other Evils, of
War and Poverty, under which we groan,
that we have juft Reason to fear, that it is
growing to its Perfection, and will propor-
tionably bring upon us this fearful Scourge
before we are aware.

§ 4. Now that there fhall be Famines That there thus General and Univerfal, feems plainly hall be intimated in divers places of Holy Scri-univerfal ptures; befides thofe other Arguments drawn Famines. from the Analogy and Proportion that God obferves in the Deftribution of his Vengeance, according to the Degree and Quality of the Sin; and those others that may be drawn from the Nature and Neceffity of the Causes that fhall produce them.

I. THE First Proof that I fhall infift on from Scripture (befides what I have juft touched upon in the beginning, from the Words of our Bleffed Lord, Matth. 24. 7. Mark 13. 8.) fhall be from Ifa. 24. where the Holy Prophet, in lofty and fublime Expreffions, fotetells and defcribes the Punishments that God would bring upon. the Earth in the latter Days, for the Fulnefs of their Iniquities. That this Pro

phecy belongs to the whole Earth in general, and not to Judea in particular, feems very plain; becaufe, Chap. 22. the Prophet had been very particular in his Denunciations against Jerufalem and Judea; as alfo, Chap. 23. againft Tyrus; and it is not likely that the Prophet fhould fo foon return again to the Jews, of whom he had been lately fpeaking fo particularly, especially confidering withal, the Prophecy runs in the moft general Terms, without any par ticular Marks or Characters, that may warrant fo particular an Application. And therefore fays he, v. 5. The Earth is defiled, or prophaned (as the Word * rather fignifies; which is by the LXXII tranflated vanos) under its Inhabitants; a THE EVOmertas, fay the LXXII; fignifying, as if Nature were out of Courfe, and the Earth were barren or irregular in her Productions and Operations, because of the Iniquities of thofe that inhabited it: Because they have tranfgreffed the Law (of God,) changed the (or his) Ordinance, and broken the everlasting Covenant; which is the Law or Covenant of Love, which may be in the most proper Senfe ftiled Everlafting; this being, as our Bleffed Saviour witneffeth, Matth. 22. 38. not only the great but the first Commandment, being indeed coæval with God himfelf, whofe Nature and Effence is Love, 1 Job. 4. 8. From whence alfo it follows, that it must be Everlafting, à parte pòft, के according to which we are told, 1 Cor. 13.8., That Charity never faileth. Because therefore of the Tranfgreffions of this Everlasting

Covenant (or Law, as the Word (2) is fometimes rendred by the. LXXII.) of Love, which is in a more peculiar manner the Character of this Branch of Sin, as we have before obferved. The Curfe hath (or, according to the Prophetick Idiom, fhall) devour the Ground, and they that dwell therein are defolate. Thence he proceeds to a more particular Account of the Caufes and Ef fects of a Famine, which is to be at that time. V.7. The new Wine languifheth, the Vine mourneth, and all the merry-hearted figh; The mirth of Tabrets ceafeth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the Harp ceafeth; They fhall not drink Wine with a Song, Strong Drink fhall be bitter to them that drink it. There is a crying for Wine in the Streets, all joy is darkned, the mirth of the Land is gone, &c, All expreffing a State of great Affliction, or Trouble, to be brought upon the World in the laft Days, to punish their enormous Deviations from the Love of God, and which fhall be effected by fome great ᎠᎥᏝ orders in inferiour Nature; fo that the Earth fhall not bring forth her Fruits, and Mankind fhall be in want of the common Neceffaries of human Life, expreffed by Bread and Wine.

II. THE next Place that I fhall mention, fhall be that Prophetical Description of a dreadful Famine in the Prophecy of Joel, Chap. 1. which, though in its ultimate and compleats enfe it refers to the Times of the Great Antichrift, as I fhall fhow more at large upon that Head, yet I think it may not improperly be touched upon in this

G 2

Place ;

Place; because the Prophet does plainly point out the natural Caufes of that Plague; which, though ultimately referring to the Grand Divifions of the Antichriftian Army, yet in its Beginnings or firft Principles may be placed much nearer. He begins therefore, Chap. 1. v. 4. with a Defcription of the firft and natural Caufes of a Famine; fuch were the Palmer-worm; the Locuft (or Grafhopper, as the Word || may be fometimes rendred ;) the Canker-worm; and the Caterpiller; all being generally reputed very mifchievous Creatures to green Corn and other Fruits of the Earth ; and thefe, he fays, fhall fucceed one another in fuch a manner, as that the latter fhall ftill deftroy what the former left. Now all thefe Creatures are generally produced by exceffive Drought and Heat, which fhall be the prevailing natural Cause, as may be proved at large from many Expreffions, not only in this Place, but many others; of which more hereafter. Now if this Prophecy be capable of a literal Senfe, not excluding the Interpretation which I understand to be couched under it, as referring to the Reign of Antichrift, as I think it fairly may, then it will be difficult to prove, that it has ever been accomplished; the Hiftorical Part of Scripture having made no mention of any fuch Thing: And if it be not accomplished, to what fitter Time can we affign it, than that Great and Terrible Day of Vengeance, to which the Prophet in this whole Prophecy feems chiefly to have refpect, and

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