1. Sin has caused enmity between man and the creatures.

2. Peace with God brings peace with the creatures.

3. Covenant mercy is excellent mercy indeed. Two things observable in mercies coming by covenant. They are more sweet. They are more firm.

4. If it is such a blessed thing for God to make a covenant with the beasts for us, what a mercy is it then for God to make a covenant with our souls.

5. Is it a mercy for God to make a covenant with the beasts for His people? then what a mercy it is for Him to make a covenant with His Son for His people.

II. DELIVERANCE FROM THE HOSTILITY OF ADVERSARIES.

1. It is a great mercy to have the bow and the sword broken. It is a part of the covenant that God makes with His people, to take away the instruments of hostility.

2. Peace is a most amiable thing, and lovely in all our eyes, every man desires it, and God promises it to His people in many places as a most special fruit of His love. The shining of God's face appears in the giving of peace to a nation.

3. Peace is a sweet mercy, therefore it is a pity that it should be abused, and not improved.

4. Peace is sweet, therefore not to be falsified.

5. Peace is a great blessing, therefore it is a pity not to endeavour by every means to attain it. Cursed be that war which has not peace for its end.

6. Peace is a great blessing from God, but we must take heed we buy it not too dear. And you buy peace too dear, if you sell truth for it: if you betray those who have been most active for the public good. if, through desire of peace, you subject yourselves to tyranny or slavery.

7. Peace is God's peculiar work; we may treat about peace, but until God is pleased to permit it, it will not ensue,

8. Thorough reformation is the way to procure peace.

III. THE EFFECTS OF THIS PEACE. "I will make them to lie down safely."

1. God's peace alone brings safety.

2. "To lie down safely" is God's own gift to His people.It is an additional blessing to having the sword and bow broken.

(Jeremiah Burroughs.)

II. HUMAN ENEMIES MIGHT BE MADE TO SUBMIT TO THEM. Those who trust in the Lord need not be afraid of war. The spirit of the good man is to overcome evil with good.

III. THEY MIGHT ENJOY A PERFECT SECURITY. The true safety is not the mere safety of the body. The body is not the man, it is his — not him. Soul-safety is the safety of the man — protection from all that is unholy in thought, impure in feeling, unrighteous in volition.

IV. THEY MIGHT ENJOY VITAL UNION WITH THE EVERLASTING FOUNTAIN OF GOODNESS. Here is union indeed! Represented by that of husband and wife; a union formed of immutable ties. Righteousness, judgment, loving-kindness, faithfulness — who can break these bonds? Learn the supreme importance of moral goodness to man.

(Homilist.)

I. SINNERS MAY BE ESPOUSED TO CHRIST. As to the nature of the espousals. The parties are pleased with one another. As Christ left His Father's house for her, she gives up her own people and her father's house for Him. The glorious Bride-groom's consent to be her husband she finds in the word, which the Spirit applies to her, and which she by faith applies to herself. Sinners may be espoused to the Son of God.

1. This match was from eternity projected and concluded in the cabinet-council of the Trinity.

2. The Bridegroom and all His relations are well pleased with the match.

3. The lawful impediments of this match are all removed at the Bridegroom's expenses and pains.

4. The marriage contract is drawn up already and signed by the Bridegroom.

5. The proxies for the Bridegroom are sent forth to make suit for sinners their consent to be espoused to Him.

6. The Bridegroom has already put on His marriage robes.

7. The wedding garment for the bride is ready, being purchased at the expense of the Bridegroom.

8. The tent for the espousals is set up, even the Church.

9. The feast and seal of the espousals, namely, the holy sacrament, is ready, that the espoused bride may feast and rejoice in her Lord and husband.

10. Here are witnesses now. Here are the friends of the Bridegroom to bear witness to the espousals.

II. THE PERPETUITY AND EVERLASTINGNESS OF THIS MARRIAGE COVENANT.

1. The espousals are for ever in design. Among men espousals are only for term of life. Christ takes the sinner with a design to be that sinner's husband from the moment of the espousals for ever: and His designs are immovable as mountains of brass. He takes her with the fixed purpose never to put her away while she desires to abide with Him: never indeed to part with her, though she should desire to go away. The soul consenting to the espousals takes Christ with a design to be His spouse for ever.

2. The espousals are for ever, in fact.(1) It is everlasting without interruption. Espousals stand firm in the case of the adversity of either party; in the case of the advancement of either party; in the case of desertion on either side.(2) It is everlasting without expiring, either at death, or at the world's ending.

(T. Boston, D. D.)

1. God had indeed from the beginning covenanted with the Israelites in righteousness and judgment; there is nothing disguised or false in His covenant. As then God had in sincerity adopted the people, to what vices does He oppose righteousness and judgment? I answer, These words must be applied to both the contracting parties; then by righteous ness God means not only His own, but that also which is, as they say, mutual and reciprocal; and by "righteousness and judgment" is meant rectitude, in which nothing is wanting.

2. "In kindness and mercies." By these words He intimates that though the people were unworthy, yet this would be no impediment in their way to prevent them to return into favour with God; for in this reconciliation God would regard His own goodness rather than the merits of His people.

3. "In faithfulness." This confirms the fixed and unchangeable duration of the marriage. By faithfulness is to be understood that stability of which I have spoken; for what some philosophise on this expression is too refined, who give this explanation, "I will espouse thee in faith," that is, by the Gospel. For we embrace God's free promises, and thus the covenant the Lord makes with us is ratified. I simply interpret the word as denoting stability.

( John Calvin.)

I. HE IS NOT A FAR-AWAY SAVIOUR; HIS HOME IS ON EARTH. I do not think we greatly help the cause of the Lover by proclaiming the remoteness of the Lover's home.

"There's a Friend for little children

Above the bright blue sky."That is the only line I don't like in that greatly beloved and very beautiful hymn. In my childhood it helped to make my Saviour an absentee, and He was "above the bright blue sky" when I wanted Him on the near and common earth. Destroying all sense of remoteness, we must labour to bring the children into the immediate presence of the Lover Himself. All the three attributes must be regarded in indissoluble union. The quality of each depends upon the presence of all. Strike out one, and you maim and impoverish the rest. There is an imperfect love in which there is no admiration. There is an imperfect admiration in which there is no love. Perfect love admires; perfect admiration loves; and love and admiration are ever associated with the gracious spirit of hopeful aspiration. These three, I say, constitute the very marrow of life, the deep secret springs of character and conduct. "We live by admiration, hope, and love." If the great Lover can win these, the wooing will be followed by the wedding! How can we so represent Him that this triumph shall be won?

1. Present the approachable Jesus. But not only His simplicity must we reveal, but His sympathy too!

2. Present Jesus the Hero. "We live by love." By "admiration," too! "Thou art worthy, O Christ, to receive all honour and glory."

3. Loving! Admiring! These fair dispositions will be assuredly associated with the beautiful genius of hope.

II. WOOING AND LIVING MUST GO TOGETHER. What more shall we say about ourselves? Let this be said: While we are employed in wooing do not let us be heedless as to the manner of our living. Those who woo for the Master must be careful how they live. Let us distinguish between a wedding and a funeral, and in our wooing let it be tire wedding-bells which lend their music to our speech.

III. When shall we begin the wooing? John Ruskin said: "When do you suppose the education of a child begins? At six months old it can answer smile with smile, and impatience with impatience." Perhaps we have to begin the wooing even in the speechless years. In the life of the spirit I believe in early wooings because I believe in early weddings! As for the wedding itself, the betrothal to the Lord, I would have it a very decisive act. It must be a conscious, intelligent consecration. The vow must not be made in thoughtlessness; not in any bewildering and sensational transports. In the rapture there must be the moderating presence of serious and illumined thought.

(J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

I. THE BETROTHING, OR ENGAGING, IS FOR EVER. There is no separation of the parties here, from any cause. No offence can possibly arise, be given or be taken, so as to separate the Church from its Head. No other lover can possibly steal away the affections of believers from Jesus Christ. There are many compacts made between man and man, but time breaks them all. Here is a covenant which time cannot break. God has entered into covenant with Jesus Christ on the part of the Church, and Christ has undertaken to preserve them during the existence of time. But is it not possible for sin to separate? No, not as touching eternity.

II. THIS BETROTHING IS IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. Justice, or righteousness, is that perfection of God, whereby He is disposed to render every man his due. All His .proceedings are in perfect equity. There is no part of our eternal salvation which is in opposition to the essential righteousness of God.

III. THIS BETROTHING IS IN JUDGMENT. That is, with judgment, not with precipitancy. The Most High will not act in anything rashly, but in a judicious, proper, righteous way: He does not save our souls as a manifestation of His mercy, at the expense of His righteousness. It signifies also the satisfaction of God's justice, and it includes the exercise of His mercy.

IV. THIS BETROTHAL IS IN FAITHFULNESS. Look at the faithfulness of Christ, or of God in Christ. Faithfulness to covenant and promises.

V. THIS BETROTHAL IS IN LOVING-KINDNESS AND IN MERCIES. Consider a few of them.

1. The revelation of God contained in the Bible.

2. The love of Jesus Christ our Lord.

3. The gift of the Holy Spirit.

4. The hope for the hereafter.

VI. THE RESULTS. "Thou shalt know the Lord." Thou shalt know that God hath from eternity chosen thee as a vessel of mercy. Thou shalt know Him as thy great Creator, thy Preserver, thy Redeemer, etc.

(T. Bagnall-Baker, M. A.)

(E. B. Pusey, D. D.)

1. There is the nearest possible union. "They twain shall be one flesh."

2. In nothing in the world is there so full a communication of one creature to another as in marriage; so in our spiritual marriage with Christ there is a most intimate communion.

3. In a married condition, there is a mutual, entire love. That is, loving the person more than the benefits received from him. True love can be satisfied with nothing else but love. Entire love is a love in all conditions. In love there is unspeakable delight.There are two soul-staying and soul-satisfying grounds to assure of Christ's betrothing Himself for ever.

1. When a soul is taken into Christ, it receives not only pardon for sins past, but there is forgiveness in store for all future transgressions.

2. Another argument for perseverance is, that it is a spiritual mercy purchased by Christ, as well as any other grace.

(Jeremiah Burroughs.)

"Jesus, Thy boundless love to me

No thought can reach, no tongue declare."

(J. Gregory Mantle.)

     1347   covenant, with Noah
     4906   abolition
     5059   rest, eternal
     5236   bow and arrow
     5511   safety
     5612   weapons

Hosea 2:14-20

     1085   God, love of
     6730   reinstatement

Hosea 2:16-20

     5717   monogamy

Hosea 2:18-23

     1352   covenant, the new
     4209   land, spiritual aspects

The Unknown Giver and the Misused Gifts
"For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax."--Hosea 2:8-9. In reading any of the records concerning the people of Israel and the people of Judah, one stands amazed at two things, and scarcely knows which to wonder at most. The first thing which causes astonishment is the great …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

27TH DAY. Everlasting Espousals.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever."--HOSEA ii. 19. Everlasting Espousals. How wondrous and varied are the figures which Jesus employs to express the tenderness of His covenant love! My soul! thy Saviour-God hath "married thee!" Wouldst thou know the hour of thy betrothment? Go back into the depths of a by-past eternity, before the world was; then and there, thine espousals were contracted: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Soon shall the bridal-hour …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

"I Know, O Lord, that Thy Judgments are Right, and that Thou in Faithfulness Hast Afflicted Me. " -- Psalm 119:75.
"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there." -- Hosea 2:14,15. "I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." -- Psalm 119:75. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength -- Thee shall my rescued heart embrace; Thy love, in all its breadth and length, Shall be my peaceful dwelling place. Whom have …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

The Secret of his Pavilion
Gerhard Ter Steegen Hos. ii. 14 Allured into the desert, with God alone, apart, There spirit meeteth spirit, there speaketh heart to heart. Far, far on that untrodden shore, God's secret place I find, Alone I pass the golden door, the dearest left behind. There God and I--none other; oh far from men to be! Nay, midst the crowd and tumult, still, Lord, alone with Thee. Still folded close upon Thy breast, in field, and mart, and street, Untroubled in that perfect rest, that isolation sweet. O God, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

And After. (xxx, xxxi, xxxix-Xliv. )
There are two separated accounts of what befel Jeremiah when the city was taken. Ch. XXXIX. 3, 14 tells us that he was fetched from the guard-court by Babylonian officers,(609) and given to Gedaliah, the son of his old befriender Ahikam, to be taken home.(610) At last!--but for only a brief interval in the life of this homeless and harried man. When a few months later Nebusaradan arrived on his mission to burn the city and deport the inhabitants Jeremiah is said by Ch. XL to have been carried off …
George Adam Smith—Jeremiah

And that this Race was to Become an Holy People was Declared in the Twelve...
And that this race was to become an holy people was declared in the Twelve Prophets [283] by Hosea, thus: I will call that which was not (my) people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved. It shall come to pass that in the place where it was called not my people, there shall they be called sons of the Living God. (Hos. ii. 23, i. 10) This also is that which was said by John the Baptist: That God is able of these stones to raise up sons to Abraham. For our hearts being withdrawn and taken …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

Entire Sanctification in Prophecy.
The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve prophetic books in the Old Testament following the book of Daniel are called the Minor Prophets. In the writings of both classes we find many allusions and predictions as to the entire sanctification of believers in the gospel dispensation and under the reign of Messiah or Christ. The sixth chapter of Isaiah is usually regarded as his call to the prophetic office. Whether this be so or not, it records a very wonderful experience …
Dougan Clark—The Theology of Holiness

The Prophecy of Obadiah.
We need not enter into details regarding the question as to the time when the prophet wrote. By a thorough argumentation, Caspari has proved, that he occupies his right position in the Canon, and hence belongs to the earliest age of written prophecy, i.e., to the time of Jeroboam II. and Uzziah. As bearing conclusively against those who would assign to him a far later date, viz., the time of the exile, there is not only the indirect testimony borne by the place which this prophecy occupies in …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Controversy Concerning Fasting
"And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say unto Him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?" MARK 2:18 (R.V.) THE Pharisees had just complained to the disciples that Jesus ate and drank in questionable company. Now they join with the followers of the ascetic Baptist in complaining to Jesus that His disciples eat and drink at improper seasons, when others fast. And as Jesus had then replied, that being a Physician, …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

'Fruit which is Death'
'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. 3. For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord; what then should a king do to us? 4. They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Wilderness State
"Ye now have sorrow: But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." John 16:22. 1. After God had wrought a great deliverance for Israel, by bringing them out of the house of bondage, they did not immediately enter into the land which he had promised to their fathers; but "wandered out of the way in the wilderness," and were variously tempted and distressed. In like manner, after God has delivered them that fear him from the bondage of sin and Satan; …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

How the Rude in Sacred Learning, and those who are Learned but not Humble, are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 25.) Differently to be admonished are those who do not understand aright the words of the sacred Law, and those who understand them indeed aright, but speak them not humbly. For those who understand not aright the words of sacred Law are to be admonished to consider that they turn for themselves a most wholesome drought of wine into a cup of poison, and with a medicinal knife inflict on themselves a mortal wound, when they destroy in themselves what was sound by that whereby they ought, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Beginning of Justification. In what Sense Progressive.
1. Men either idolatrous, profane, hypocritical, or regenerate. 1. Idolaters void of righteousness, full of unrighteousness, and hence in the sight of God altogether wretched and undone. 2. Still a great difference in the characters of men. This difference manifested. 1. In the gifts of God. 2. In the distinction between honorable and base. 3. In the blessings of he present life. 3. All human virtue, how praiseworthy soever it may appear, is corrupted. 1. By impurity of heart. 2. By the absence of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly
DO not mistake me, I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse; but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them, they are morally good. As the elements, though of contrary qualities, yet God has so tempered them, that they all work in a harmonious manner for the good of the universe. Or as in a watch, the wheels seem to move contrary one to another, but all carry on the motions of the watch: …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament