Hosea 4:13

They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof [is] good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

Ver. 13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, &c.] As nearer to heaven; and in an apish imitation of the patriarchs, who, before the tabernacle was set up, sacrificed in high places (as Abraham on Mount Moriah, &c.), that their bodies being mounted, aloof, they might the better lift up their hearts and eyes to heaven, saying, as it were, to all worldly cares and cogitations, as Abraham did to his servants whom he left at the foot of the hill, "Abide you here with the ass," Genesis 22:5. Jerome upon this place hath his note: Israel, saith he, loveth high places, for they have forsaken the high God; and they love the shadow, having left the substance. But what could be more absurd than to think, as they did, that God, who is omnipresent, was nearer to them on hills and high places, and farther off them in valleys. See Isa 57:7 Ezekiel 6:13. This they had partly also learned of the heathens; from whom nevertheless God had shut them up, as it were, in an island (so their land is called, Isa 20:6), that having little commerce with them, they might not learn their manners. But our nature is very catching this way; and doth as easily draw and suck idolatry to it as the lode stone doth iron, or turpentine fire.

Under oaks, and poplars, and elms, because the shadow thereof is good] So they proceed from one evil to another; for sin is infinite, and when a man is fallen down one round of hell's ladder he knows not where he shall stop, or how he shall step back. These idolaters, as they had their high places in imitation of the patriarchs, so their groves of shady trees consecrated to their idols; to strike reverence into their hearts, as they conceited, and for the greater solemnity. Sin comes commonly clothed with a show of reason, Exodus 1:10. Come, let us deal wisely, say they: yet every oppressor is a fool, Proverbs 28:16. It will so blear the understanding that a man shall think he hath reason to be mad, and that there is some sense in sinning. But especially will worship hath a show of wisdom, Colossians 2:23, or the reason of wisdom, as the word there signifieth, the very quintessence of it. Hence the Papists write rationals, whole volumes of reason for their rites and ceremonies in divine service, - the shadow is good, say these, therefore we get under trees. (See Dr Sheldon's Mark of the Beast, serm.) And John Hunt, a blasphemous Papist, in his humble appendix to King James, chap. vi, was not afraid to say, That the God of the Protestants is the most uncivil and evil mannered God of all those who have borne the name of gods upon the earth; yea, worse than Pan, god of the clowns, which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all. O tongue worthy to be pulled out, cut in gobbets, and driven down the throat of this hideous blasphemer; for he could not but know the God of the Protestants (as he scornfully termeth him) to be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Did not Rabshakeh rail after this rate upon good Hezekiah, for taking down the high places and altars of God (as he called them), which yet God well approved of? 2 Kings 18:22. Mr Burroughes maketh mention of a lady in Paris, who, when she saw the bravery of a procession to a saint, she cried out, Oh, how fine is our religion beyond that of the Huguenots? They have a mean and beggarly religion, but ours is full of solemnity and bravery, &c. The Catholics, in their supplication to King James for a toleration, plead that their religion is (inter cratera) so pleasing to nature, and so suitable to sense and reason, that it must therefore needs be the right. A proper argument surely; and not all out so convincing as that of Cenalis, Bishop of Auranches, who, writing against the Christian congregation at Paris, and basely slandering their meetings, as if they were to maintain whoredom, will, in conclusion, needfully prove (if he could) the Catholics to be the true Church, because they had bells to call them together; but the Huguenots had claps of harquebuses, or pistolets, for that purpose.

Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom] Impune, they shall do it, and for a punishment of your idolatry; and inasmuch as you have prostituted your souls (that is, my spouse) to the devil, your houses shall be whore houses, to your utter disgrace and heart break. Certain it is, that where there is most idolatry there is most adultery; as at Rome, which is nothing else but a great brothel house, and hath fully made good that of the poet;

“ Roma quod inverso delectaretur amore,

Nomen ab inverso nomine fecit Amor. ”

Thus God punished the idolatrous Ethnics, by delivering them up to passions of dishonour, or vile affections; to Sodomitical practices, which did abase them below those fourfooted beasts which they adored, Romans 1:23,24 . Some put off all manhood, became dogs, worse than dogs, scalded in their own grease, εξεκαυθησαν , Romans 1:27 , and this is there called a meet recompense, αντιμισθιαν , such as God here threateneth. Mr Levely (a very learned interpreter) thinketh that when God saith here, Your daughters shall commit wboredom, and your daughters-in-law (for so he renders it) shall commit adultery, he meaneth it not of voluntary whoredom, but of that which is forced, according to that of Amos to Amaziah Amos 7:17 , "Therefore thus saith the Lord thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and daughters shall fall by the sword"; that is, thy wife shall be ravished by the enemy. Theodoret also is of the same judgment.