The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. Behold, thy godly servants, which not only bear fruit themselves, but are powerful in the provocation of others, present their best services unto thee; and even at our doors (not far to seek, not hard to procure) is offer made unto thee, of all variety of fruit, whether from thy young converts, or thy more settled professors: and all these I spend not lavishly; but, in my loving care, duly reserve them for thee, and for the solemn day of our full marriage. THE JEWISH CHURCH. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Hear me now, O ye of the house of my dear and faithful servant David; whose sin is therefore aggravated by the holiness of your forefathers: Is it a small thing for you, to reject and contemn me, that am a man like yourselves, but ye will, with your hypocrisy and disobedience, provoke and abuse my God also, whose message I bear? Are ye not ashamed and afraid, under a pretence of piety to refuse the gracious offer and command of God that sent me? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Therefore, the Lord shall, without your will or assent, give you a sign; which shall be no other, than that ancient engagement of his to his Church. Behold, in the fulness of time a virgin shall miraculously conceive, and bear a son; and she shall, by the appointment of God himself, call his name, God with us. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. He shall have a true human body; and shall be sustained with that ordinary nourishment, wherewith children are wont to be fed: and shall grow up in experimental knowledge, as well as in stature; and shall thus enable himself, like us, to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. But, because you may plead that it will be long ere this promise be effected, behold, before this child of mine, Shear-jashub, shall come to the age of discretion, this land of Israel and of Syria, shall be forsaken of both these kings, Rezin and Pekah; for they shall both, ere long, be swept away by an untimely death. From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. It was a heavy day to you, when the ten tribes departed away from Judah; but this judgment, which I will bring upon you, shall be rather worse than that, even the sword of the king of Assyria. That the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ISAIAN, CHAP. VII. VIII. The Lord shall call for and excite mighty enemies against thee, out from the further coasts of the river of Nilus, and out of Assyria; even Ethiopians, Edomites, and other puissant nations, which shall come, as thick as swarms of flies or bees. In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. In that day, the Lord shall, by the hand of the Assyrians and their associates, make utter strip and waste of Judah, by the cruelty of those hired forces, which they shall bring up; even as if a man should be hired, with his razor to shave off all the hair of the head and the whole body, even to the very stumps, so as there shall be no mention where it grew. And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep. And it shall come to pass in those days, that a man, which had formerly wont to keep whole flocks and droves, shall now be glad to take up with one young cow and two sheep; And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give that he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. And, though this proportion be very small, yet it shall be answerable to the persons, which shall be left alive to spend it; who shall be so few, that this poor stock of cattle shall be able to feed them: a small quantity of butter and honey shall be enough to sustain that small remainder of men. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. So desolate shall the country be, that where before were towns inhabited and fields tilled, there shall be now solitary deserts, the dens of wild beasts; so as the hunters shall come thither with arrows and bows, to pursue their game: