sinne that is their offering strange fire with strange fire we shall speake afterward in the fift Chapter Heere we will obserue that this fact of theis may seeme in the eyes of many to be a small offence and not to deserue so heauy a censure and so grieuous a punishment For it may be said in defence or them either that they had a good intent and meaning though they missed in the manner or that this fire which they offered would serue to burne the incense as well as any other and what skilleth it by what fire it be done But all these are Doctrine 3 vaine pretences forasmuch as God had commanded the contrary a Gods worâ—â—ip we must â—ot be led â—our owne â—euices but â—y God diâ—ection We learne from hence that nothing in matter or forme concerning the worship of God or the administration of the Sacraments ought to be added or altered or detracted but all must be done as God hath determined and directed Our owne dreames and deuises must not sway vs in the matters of God but it is his will and word that must will and gouerne vs. The Lord himselfe challengeth and defendeth his authority in laying downe the maner and way of his own seruice not leauing it to the liberty of any creature men or Angels to intermeddle with it forasmuch as he will haue all things done as himselfe hath prescribed He is well pleased and contented that men shall make Lawes and statutes for humane matters concerning their temporall estates in this world as shall be fittest for the places where they rule and for the persons whom they rule as touching treasons murthers thefts oppressions slanders routs riots and such disorders but for the diuine worship how God shall be serued we must leaue it vnto him he onely can prescribe what must be done he onely will appoint what must be left vndone It is true the strange fire that Nadab and Abihu tooke was as well able to burne the incense as that which burned euermore vpon the altar and yet because God had not sanctified it for that purpose they were fearefully and dreadfully deuoured with fire from God When God instituted the Passeouer in remembrance of his mercifull deliuerance in passing ouer the houses of the Israelites when the first borne of the Egyptians were destroyed Exod. 12.3 the whole order is set downe both for the matter and manner of celebrating and solemnizing that ordinance hee instructeth what they shall take what ceremonies they shall vse what gesture they shall obserue and what he will haue them not to do Moses doth many times in the booke of the Law giue this direction Deuter. 4.2 Deut. 4.2 and 12.8.32 Ye shall not adde vnto the word which I command you neither shall you diminish ought from it that ye may keepe the commandements of the Lord your God which I command you and in the 12. Chapter ye shall not doe after after all the things that we doe heere this day euery man whatsoeuer is right in his owne eyes and afterward What thing soeuer I command you obserue and doe it thou shalt not adde thereto nor diminish from it On the contrary we see how Saul was punished with the losse of his kingdome because hee would offer sacrifice contrary to the expresse will of God made knowne vnto him 1 Sam. 15.23 The like might bee saide of Ieroboams two golden calues erected at Dan and Bethel without warrant and worshipped without warrant it was the ouerthrow of himselfe and his posterity 1 Kings 14.7 c. For this cause the Apostle speaking of the institution of the Lords Supper saith 1 Corin. 11. 1 Cor. 11.23 I receiued of the Lord that which also I deliuered vnto you that the Lord the same night in which he was betrayed tooke bread c. whereby it appeareth that it is no small matter it is no toy or trifle to worship GOD otherwise then he in his word appointeth vnto vs considering the saying of the wise man Adde not thou vnto his words Prou. 30.6 lest hee reprooue thee and thou be found a lyar This crosseth mans deuises which are Reason 1 bolde to steppe vp in Gods place and therefore let vs see the reasons First God will be acknowledged to be the only Law-giuer the king of his Church and the onely Prophet to instruct it in the will of God This is that which the Apostle Iames witnesseth Iam. 4.12 chap. 4. There is one Law-giuer who is able to saue and to destroy that can cast body and soule into hell fire Matth. 10. He is the master of the house that must set downe orders for the gouernement of his house None can make a Law in the kingdome but by authority of the king none can alter it being made but the king So is it in the Church none can appoint any word any Sacrament any worship but God himselfe none can reuerse any institution without him So that additions or detractions or alterations or any mixtures whatsoeuer are so many abuses of the Sacraments of the word and of the worship of God Reason 2 Secondly there is promise of blessing to them that serue him with a perfect heart and there is threatning of most heauy curses and iudgements to come vpon their soules that worship him after the commandements and precepts of men Our Sauiour chargeth his disciples to obserue all things whatsoeuer he commandeth them Matth. 28.20 and then he addeth Loe I am with you to the ende of the world Matth. 28.20 It appeareth in many places of the booke of Iudges the Israelites are deliuered ouer to their aduersaries for transgressing in this kind Iudg 2.12.14.15 2. Chron. 26.18 19. euen for worshipping him after other waies then he had appointed There is a fearefull denuntiation in the shutting vp of the Reuelation against all that shall dare either to adde or detract any thing in the holy things of God Reuel 22.18 19. I testifie vnto euery man that heareth the wordes of the Prophesie of this Booke If any man shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this Booke and if any man shall take away from the words of the Booke of this Prophesie God shall take away his part out of the Booke of life and out of the holy Citie and from the things which are written in this Booke Wherefore it is no small matter to follow the priuate willes of men in the worship of God and not to suffer our selues to be guided and directed by his word and commandement Obiection This may seeme to tye vp the desires of man too strictly and therefore his wisedome that he hath by nature Ministreth many obiections against this trueth to which wee are to giue answere as briefly as we can First the question may be asked whether Princes haue not power to make lawes in the Church haue they nothing to doe with the Church may they
Iames 2 1. wee should haue the faith of Christ in respect of persons which is forbidden condemned by the Apostle Hence it is that our Sauiour speaketh to his Apostles b Math. 10 20 Luke 10 16. It is not you that speak but the spirit of your Father that speaketh within you And to the 70. Disciples and in them to all his true Ministers to the end of the world He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth mee and he that despiseth me desp seth him that sent me For this cause the Thessalonians practising this point are commended by the Apostle that they esteemed and receiued the doctrine deliuered vnto them c 1 Thes 2 13. Rom. 1 16. Not as the word of men but as it is indeed the word of God which is the power of God to saluation to euery one that beleeueth They are the Embassadors of God sent out of him to call vs to repentance and therefore their word or rather the word of GOD spoken by their mouth is to be heard with reuerence marked with diligence and practised with obedience The writer of this book was Moses Thus much touching the chiefe and principall Author of this booke as of the other Scriptures to wit God nowe followeth the lesse principall or instrumentall namely Moses The Lord could if it had pleased him haue written this booke as he did the morall Law contained in the ten commandements with his owne finger without the ministery of mortall man but it stood with his will and Heauenly pleasure to inspire his worde into the hearts of some holy men set apart for this purpose and to make their pen d Psalm 45 1 as the penne of a swift Writer The writer of this Book as also of the three former and of that which followeth was Moses faithfull in the house of God of whose stocke parents birth preseruation banishment and return into the land of Egypt from whence he brought the children of Israel wee reade at large in the Booke of Exodus Him God hauing set apart from his mothers womb to be the deliuerer of his people doth call as it is a Psal 78 70 7â— 72. saide of Dauid and tooke him from the Sheepfolds euen from behind the Ewes with yong brought he him to feede his people in Iacob his inheritance in Israel so he fed them according to the simplicity of his heart and guided them by the discretion of his hands Him also did God chuse to be one of the Scribes to penne a part of his word the first and most anâ—ient Scripture sufficient to guide that people into all truth necessary to be beleeued of them For as Princes and Noblemen haue their principal Secretaries whose persons and pennes they vse to what purposes they please so hath GOD his selected instruments to write his will and to endite what things he reuealed vnto them by whose Spirit they were wholy guided and directed that they could not erre b 2 Pet 1 21. for the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were mooued by the holy Ghost Such a one was Moses the first chosen vessell of God to pen publish his word that it might bee knowne and conueyed vnto all posterities to him c Num. 12 8. Deut. 34 10. God spake mouth to mouth and by vision and not in dark words like to him there arose not a Prophet in Israel whom hee knew face to face These Prophets of God may rightly bee called second Authors of the Scripture all of them Gods Secretaries but Moses as his principall Secretary This consideration of Gods choosing men to be as his organs and instruments to put his Vse 1 whole will and word in writing doth offer to vs diuers good vses which briefly wee will run ouer First it conuinceth all those that thinke and gather that neither this book nor the other foure were written by Moses as now they are left vnto vs but by Esdras or some other more auncient Scribe that liued before his time Adde heereunto d Iren. lib. 3. cap 25. Tertul. lib. de bab mul. clem Alex. lib. 1. strom Hieron aduers Helu Euseb in Chronic. that manie of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church maintayned that when Ierusalem was assaulted sacked by the Chaldeans all the bookes of Moses and other Scriptures were burned together with the Temple and were afterward written againe and brought to light through the help of the diuine memory of Esdras who remembred al that was written in the former copies But this coniecture so much stood vppon by the Ancients be it spoken with their patience and pardon is no better then a fable may bee conuinced by euident demonstration of vndoubted reasons True it is the fourth of Esdras telleth in sober sadnesse this dreame e Esdr lib. 4. c 4 23. cap. 14 21. but euery one knoweth that booke to bee Apochryphall almost as full of lies as leaues insomuch that the Church of Rome ouer bold to adde to the Canon yet f Bel. de verbo Dei lib 1. cap 20. lib. 2. cap 1. are ashamed of this booke to make it Canonicall And we neuer read that the Babylonians euer attempted this sacriledge and if they had it seemeth vnlikely and vnpossible that euer they coulde bring it to passe the bookes beeing dispersed into many mens hands and extant in sundrie copies in sundry places The Assyrians which were sent as certaine Colonies to inhabite in the waste roomes of the ten Tribes the Kingdom of Israel being ouerthrown by Salmanasar when they were disturbed and destroyed by Lyons that tore them in peeces g 2 Kin 1 7 27 were instructed by one of the Priestes in the Law of Moses and no doubt had it among them Antiochus a most bloody tyrant commaunded the bookes of the Law to be cut in peeces burned so many as hee could finde yet did the faithfull preserue them safe and sound with the danger of their owne liues 1 Mach. 1 59. Besides it is not to be imagined that Ezekiel and Daniel continuing in Babylon the seuenty yeares of the captiuity wanted the word law of God all that time to say nothing of Ieremy the Prophet and Gedaliah the Prince were they all so carelesse or forgetfull that in the ruine of the City and spoyling of the temple they would neglect the Law and not saue one booke out of the fire Was there neuer a godly man left that was mindfull of the booke of God But what place is there lefte for any such surmise and suspition seeing the prophet Daniel had both the prophesies h Dan 9 2 11 of Ieremy the Law of Moses Moreouer it appeareth by the testimony of Ezra himselfe the Scribe of God i Ezra 6 18. that the people beeing returned from their captiuity had the Law of Moses amongst them before
51. but amongst these there was not a man of them whom Moses Aaron the Priest numbred when they numbred the children of Israel in the wildernesse of Sinai for the Lord had sayde of them They shal surely dye in the wildernes and there was not left a man of them saue Caleb the Sonne of Iephuneh add Ioshua the Sonne of Nun Verse 64.45 This muster being taken Moses as his last enterprize appointed out of them twelue thousand to be chosen out to inuade the Cities of Midian Numb 31 5. who together with the Moabites had practised with Balaam to curse Israel Deut. 23 4 5. and to allure them from the worship of the true God to the seruice of Baal-Peor to the rest of their beastly idolatry ouer which Companies Moses gaue the chiefe charge to Phinehas who slew the fiue Princes of the Midianites who were or had lately bene the vassals of Sehon king of the Amorites Numb 31.8 as appeareth in Ioshua chap. 13 21. Thus hauing subdued all their enemies on this side Iordan and none of them being able to stand before them Moses is commanded by God before his death which followed immediately after to charge the Israelites to bound out the land so soone as they were come into it Numb 24 2. and 35 2 and to assigne to the Leuites certaine cities taken out of the inheritance of their possession that there might be no diuision nor contention among them when once they were passed Iordan which haply otherwise might haue disturbed and disquieted them This is the historicall part of this Booke which hath entermingled with it many and sundrie ceremonies of the Leuiticall Law as touching their Fasts and Feasts the yeare of Iubile their feasts of Trumpets and Tabernacles as also of the Passeouer and Pentecost a few chapters whereof I published certaine yeares past which I haue now reviewed and added the interpretation of the whole Booke from the beginning to the ending which I presume to offer vnto your Worships as a testimony of my loue and duty toward you The Iewes in the Gospel commend the Centurion and make it a motiue to perswade Christ our Sauiour to heale his seruant that was deere vnto him being sicke and ready to dye because hee loued their Nation and had built them a Synagogue Luke 7 5 4. So I may truly affirme of you that you loue our nation and are true friends of the church loue the preachers of the Gospel which is so much the more worthy praise and commendation as there are few in these euill dayes especially of your ranke and calling that affect eyther the one or the other It is a true saying as proceeding from the mouth of the author of all truth Them that honor me I will honor they that despise me shal be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2 30. It is the cheefest honor that we can receiue in this world to honour the Lord which is the beginning of that honor which shall neuer decay whereas all other without this is vaine and vncertaine And albeit I confesse you neede not any helpe or furtherance from mee in the race of godlinesse wherein you runne neither is my weaknesse able to affoord any thing that way yet I am so farre from being discoraged hereby to presse into your presence that I acknowledge it as a speciall reason to induce me to this because I offer the same to you that are able to iudge whose learning and sufficiency that way all men know perfectly that know your person in that both of you are well exercised in the Scriptures and in the doctrine which is according to godlinesse so that I nothing doubt but at vacant houres from waightier affaires you will vouchsafe to peruse this Commentary or at least some part of it it being a duty belonging to all high and low rich and poore to search the Scriptuaes in which our hope is to haue eternall life Thus crauing pardon of my great boldnesse and hoping of your Worships good acceptance and praying the Almighty to increase the sauing graces of his Spirit vpon you I humbly take my leaue resting euer Your Worships at commandement William Attersoll A Recapitulation of the particular Doctrines handled throughout euery Chapter of this Booke of NVMBERS Doctrines out of the Preface OBseruations by the way of preface touching the Author of this booke fol. 1. 2 Obseruations by way of preface touching the Writer of this booke fol. 6. 3 Obseruations by way of preface touching the Title of this booke fol. 8. Obseruations by way of preface touching the principall substance and vse of this booke fol. 10. 5 Obseruations by way of preface touching the diuision and parts of this booke fol. 12. CHAP. I. 1. THe people of God may lawfully make warre fol. 16 2 God knoweth the number and names of all such as belong vnto him fol. 20 3 It is our duty to performe obedience to Gods commandements fol. 29 4 The promises of God made to his children shall be accomplished fol. 41 5 It is the office of the Minister to doe the duties proper to his calling fol. 49 CHAP. II. GOd delighteth to haue a comely order obserued both in Church and commonwealth fol. 55 2 Magistrates and rulers are needfull to be set ouer the people of God fol. 63 3 Gods iudgements are alwayes tempered and seasoned with great mercy toward those that be his fol. 71 4 The Tabernacle of the Congregation is placed in the middes of the hoast fol. 80 5 God bestoweth his gifts and graces freely to whom he pleaseth fol. 85 6 Euery one ought to be content with the present condition wherein God hath set him fol. 98 7 God oftentimes maketh choyce of inferiour things to effect great matters fol. 105 8 It is a duty belonging to all Gods children to yeeld obedience to all Gods Commandements fol. 109 CHAP. III. AMong all people vnder heauen the Ministery aboue all other things ought to be established fol. 118 2 Godly Parents haue oftentimes vngodly and disobedient children fol. 130 3 In Gods worship we must not bee carried by our owne deuices but by his direction fol. 137 4 God hath sole authority to ordaine the Officers and Offices of his Church fol. 146 5 The first borne were sanctified to the Lord and the vses thereof to vs. fol. 158 6 The word of God ought to direct all the actions of our life fol. 167 7 God raiseth vp honourable instruments from meane places to do him seruice fol. 175 8 Euery one in the Church hath his proper peculiar Office fol. 179 9 It is the Ministers office carefully to looke to his charge fol. 188 10 God will haue all places and people taught how small and meane soeuer they be fol. 197 11 The Office of the Ministery is an high worthy and honourable Calling fol. 206 CHAP. IIII. 1 THe Ministers must be men of grauity sobriety and moderation fol. 216 2 Euery one must know
that in order followeth after the other Moses declareth the performaÌ„ce of Gods promise touching the multiplying of their seede together with the myraculous gouernment of that people wandering vp and down and iourneying heere and there without any setled estate more then 38. yeares in the Wildernesse When Moses was to bee gathered vnto his Fathers Deut. 32 49 50. and to go the way of all flesh GOD commanded him to go vp vnto the Mount Nebo which is in the land of Moab and from thence to behold as it were in a moment the Land of Canaan and the seuerall parts of it In like maner if wee from this place as from an high Mountaine and as it were looking from the vpper ground shall take a view of the parts proportion of this booke we shall throughly vnderstand what is the purpose and purport of it and what are the ends for which it was committed and commended vnto vs. Wherefore for our better and more orderly proceeding heerein let vs generally obserue and consider these particular points First we will speake of the Author of this booke secondly of the inscription or Title thereof thirdly of the ends and vses and last of all of the seuerall parts and diuision of it The Author for that is the first branch is double either principall or instrumentall The cheefe author of this booke is God For who is the inditer of the Scripture but he or from what spirit can it proceede but from his The Prophets alwayes begin their preaching and prophesying with this note b Esay 1 10. Hab. 1 1. 2 1. Thus sayeth the Lord Heare ye the word of the Lord the vision of Isaiah the burthen which Habakkuk did see Thus the Apostles shew their calling froÌ„ God c Rom. 1. ver 1 Galat. 1 1. Reuel 1 1. Paul a Seruant of Iesus Christ called to bee an Apostle not of men neyther by man but by Iesus Christ The Reuelation of Iesus Christ shewed to his seruant Iohn Thus Zachary in his song teacheth that d Luke 1 70. God spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets which were since the world began To this accordeth the saying of Peter e 2 Pet. 1 20.21 No prophesie of the Scripture is of priuat motion for it came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were mooued by the holy Ghost And the Apostle affirmeth f 2 Tim. 3 16. That the vvhole Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God Al which serue to teach vs that the words of all the holy Prophets are to bee receiued and embraced as the words of God but the doctrine handled in this booke is a part of the word of one of the most ancient most holy most excellent and most diuine Prophets and therefore consequently the doings heere registred and the doctrines heere deliuered are to be holden as a portion of the vndoubted word of God So then as Christ spake to his Disciples g Math. 10 20 It is not you that speake but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you so may we truly say it is not Moses that speaketh heere but the Spirit of God that spake in him and wrote by him in which respect it may iustly be affirmed He that heareth him heareth God and he that despiseth him that is the writer dispiseth God that is the inditer And as the Author of this Booke appeareth to be the Lord himself by an argument drawn from the generall to the speciall so the authority of it will euidently appeare and easily bee demonstrated out of sundry particular places and circumstances out of the booke it selfe Such is the full consent and sweete agreement betweene the old and new Testament that one of them serueth to confirme ratifie and establish the other Hence it is that Christ Iesus himselfe and his Apostles writing by his spirit do alledge sundry examples produce sundry testimonies proue sundry doctrines and disproue sundry errors as by an authenticke witnesse taken from this book of Moses which now we haue vndertaken to expound Moses the man of God reciteth and reckoneth vp in sundry places h Numb 20 21. 25. compared with 1. Cor. 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 c. of this Booke on the one side the great mercies of God to his people that he gaue them and they did eate Manna that is bread from heauen and dranke water out of the rocke and on the other side their wretched vnthankfulnesse toward him they lusted after flesh they murmured against him they committed fornication and perished manie thousands of them The truth of these thinges is confirmed by the Apostle Paul 1. Cor. 10. testifying that they did all eate the same spirâ—tuall meat and all dranke the same spiritual drinke drinking of the rocke that followed them and thereupon alluding vnto the history he saith i Num. 21 6 8 compaâ—d with 1 Corin. 10. Iohn 3 Let not vs commit fornication as some of them committed fornication and fell in one day three and twenty thousand Againe we reade heere how â—od brought among them in the wildernesse fiery Serpents k Numb 12 6 7 compared with Hebr. 3 2 5. that destroyed them but vpon their repentance and humiliation hee was reconciled commanded Moses to make the resemblance and representation of those fierie Serpents and set it vpon a pole that so many as were bitten m ght looke vpon it and liue The truth of these appeareth both by the testimony of Paul 1 Cor. 10 9. Neither let vs tempt Christ as some of them tempted him and were destroyed by Serpents by the words of Christ himselfe Iohn 3 14 15. As Moses lift vp the Serpent in the wildernesse so must the Son of man be life vp that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue eternall life Moses in the 12 chap. saith l Num. 11 29. compard with Iames 4 5. If there be a Prophet of the Lord among you I will be knowne to him by Dreame or vision my seruant Moses is not so who is faithfull in all his house Heereunto the Apostle to the Hebrues alludeth Consider Christ Iesus the high Priest of our profession who was faithfull to him that hath appointed him euen as Moses was in all his house Moreouer in the former chap. when Ioshua saw the two Elders in the hoste to prophesie m Iunius in paralel hee feared that Moses his reputation and authority would be diminished therefore ran to him in haste that hee should forbid them but Moses saide vnto him Enuiest thou for my sake Heereunto the Apostle Iames alludeth Think ye that the Scripture saith in vain Doth that spirite which dwelleth in vs lust vnto enuy Lastly to omit sundry Testimonies that might be produced n Numb 24 14. and 31 16. compard with 2 Peter 2 15. Iude 12. Reu. 2 14. and are remembred by others we haue at large laide
Ezra came into Iudea which no doubt Zorobabel and Ieshua brought with thē Heereunto agreeth the saying of Christ our Sauiour k Ioh 5 46 47 If ye had beleeued Moses ye wold haue beleeued me for he wrote of me but if ye beleeue not his writings how shall ye beleeue my Wordes Whereby wee see that the very writings of Moses himselfe were then read and to be read in the Church Thus also speaketh Philip to Nathaniel l Iohn 1.45 We haue found him of whom Moses did write and the Prophets Lastly to this purpose is Abraham brought in by the Euangelist speaking to the rich man m Luke 16 29 They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them All these testimonies to which wee might adde a surplusage of many others do directlie teach vs that we are not to doubt or to cal in question the ministeriall or instrumentall authour of this booke but acknowledge it to be not Ezra nor anie before or after him but Moses himselfe who was the first penner of it Vse 2 Secondly it is our duties carefully to reade the scriptures and diligently to be conuersant in them being thus published For wherefore were they put in writing Was it not that we should peruse them study them oftentimes search them with carefulnesse This was the purpose and intent of God Ioshua the successor of Moses in the gouernment of the people and General of the host of Israel had weightie affaires of Church Commonwealth to look vnto yet he is charged n Ioshua 1 8. not to suffer the book of the Law to depart out of his mouth but to meditate therein day and night that hee might obserue and do according vnto all that is written therein forasmuch as thereby he should make his way prosperous and haue good successe in his affaires and enterprises To this end Christ willeth vs to search the Scriptures not to reade them carelesly or cursorily but painfully and diligently as they do that digge for Mines of siluer and golde that go deepe and spare no labour to come to that which they seeke after So then there is required of vs study and prayer to God to open vnto vs the mysteries of his word otherwise our reading will be in vaine Vse 3 Thirdly this serueth to conuince the position and practise of the church of Rome who forbid the people the reading of these books and nuzzle them in ignorance the mother of superstition and blinde deuotion Moses deliuered the Law when hee had written it to the Priests and commanded them o Deut 31 1 3. to gather the people together men women and children the stranger that was within their gates that they may heare and learne and feare the Lorde theyr God and keepe and obserue all the words of this law that their children which haue not known it may heare it and learne to feare the Lord their God as long as they liue in the Lande The Scriptures are the onely weapons which we must fight withall against our spirituall enemies and without them wee lie open vnto them to take away our liues and to destroy our soules Wherefore we are commanded to take vnto vs p Eph 6 17. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God When Christ was tempted of the diuell in the wildernesse hee resisted him and ouercame his tentations by no other weapon then this saying q Math 4 4 7 10. It is written This example of Christ our Lord and Maister must be followed of vs we must take this sword into our hand and be able to handle it as men of knowledge that we may be able both to defend our selues and to offend our aduersaries If we be thus armed the day is ours the field is won the victory is gotten we cannot be ouercome But if we presume to fight without it if wee leaue it behinde vs as souldiers that would go light we shall neuer returne without some dangerous or deadly wound Let vs not therfore be so fool-hardy as to go into the battell without our armour We are all warriours we must fight the Lords battels we haue enemies that seeke our destruction against which we must be watchfull being strong in Faith Lastly this reprooueth the cursed crew and damnable sect of the Manichees and their Vse 4 off-spring the Anabaptists a pestilent sort of brainsicke Heretiques sicke indeed as well of pride as of folly which spew out open and odious blasphemies against God and stick not to affirme that it was not the true God but the Prince of darknesse that spake to Moses and so would thrust him out of the church because he hath a veile ouer him alledging or rather deprauing the words of the Apostle r 2 Cor. 3 There remaineth vnto this time the same couering vntaken away in the read ng of the olde Testament which veyle in Christ is put away from whence they gather that Moses with his couering is by Christ quite abolished But this is to corrupt not to interprete The couering indeede remaineth but to whom Is is to vs who behold as in a mirrhor the glorie of the Lord with open face Not to vs but to the Iewes who hearing Moses read and cleauing to the letter of the Law doe despise the Gospell which is the ministery of the Spirite and willingly put out their owne eyes Neyther doth the Apostle say that Moses is taken away by Christ but the couering of Moses which is done not by the abolishing and abrogating of Moses but by the lightning of the Iewes by their conuersion to Christ a 2 Cor. 3 16. For after their heart shall bee turned to the Lord the Veile shall be taken away Againe they obiect that Moses was a seruant Heb. 3 5. But the seruant abideth not in the house for euer it is the Sonne that abideth for euer Iohn 8 35. therefore the Sonne beeing come the seruant is to bee cast out of the house that is Moses out of the Church otherwise wee should paralell and make equall the seruant to the Master A most fond collection and such as ouerthroweth themselues For if this be true that the seruant hath no place in the presence of the Maister then not onely the Prophets and Apostles but all Pastors and Teachers yea the Anabaptists themselues with such as seduce them who glorie to be seruants of Christ must be thrust out of the Church that the seruants departing may leaue the house empty for the Master Again the words of Christ are maliciously wrested against Moses who is expresly honoured by the Lord himselfe to be a most faithful seruant which are spoken against him that is the seruant of sin For thus the words lye in order Verily verily I say vnto you that whosoeuer committeth sin is the Seruant of sinne and the Seruant abideth not in the house for euer c. Therefore wicked seruants such as these frantique heretickes are shall not abide
in the house of God but good faithfull seruants b Hebru 3 5. such as Moses was in all his house shal continue in the house Lastly it is no sound consequent to conclude that the seruant is not to be heard because the Master is rather to be heard neither is this to equall or prefer the seruant before the Master to heare the seruant beare witnesse of his Master For we are taught that he heareth the Lord that heareth the seruant as the Ambassador of his lord The Title of this Booke Hitherto of the Authour and writer of this booke now let vs come to consider the second point which is the Title or inscription being called the book of Numbers The Hebrues haue a threefold maner which they vse in the entituling of bookes For their custom is to call name the bookes either of the first words in the booke as the fiue books of Moses and the Lamentations or of the authors and persons spoken of in them as the Prophets as Iob Samuel Ruth Ezra Ester Nehâ—miâ—h or els of the matter and principall part handled as the Kings the Chroniâ—lâ—s and such like The Iewes call this booke by two names the first by the first word where-with it beginneth Vaiedabber that is and he spake The second Bemidbar that is in the wildernâ—sse either because this word is also vsed in the beginning of this book or else because herein are expounded and expressed such things as were done dispatched in the wildernesse the space of more then 35. yeares The Grecians and Latines whom wee in English follow doe call it The booke of Numbers by reason of the often numbering that is vsed in it aboue other bookes For as the c first booke of Moses is called Genesis The reasons of the names of the bookes of Moses because it containeth the creation of the world and the generation of the first Fathers and as the second is called Exodus that is a departure because the first part thereof is spent in shewing the going of Israel out of Aegypt wherein they were helde in bondage and as the next is named Leuiticus of the Tribe of Leui because it setteth foorth the Office and function of the Priests and Leuites together with the Sacrifices and Ceremonies belonging thereunto their Feasts and solemnities the purifications and differences betweene cleane and vncleane beasts so doth this booke beare the Title of Numbers because beside the Historie of the peregrinations and murmuringes of the people he numbreth them vp particularly vnder seuerall Regiments and rangeth them in order for their better proceeding and trauailing in their iourneyes in the Wildernesse The Reasons why this Booke hath this name aboue all other are these First Causes why this Booke is called Numbers beecause there is comprized heerein a double numbering of the people One in the Desart of Sinai which is described in this Chapter the other in the Plaine of Moab ouer against Iordan mentioned in the twenty sixth chapter of this Booke Secondly by reason of the numbering of the Leuites who were consecrated to the Office of the Priest-hoode and separated for the Ministery of the Tabernacle which is reckoned vp in the fourth chapter Thirdly the Booke may haue this Title in regard of numbering vppe particularly the gifts and Offerings which the Princes of the Tribes at the consecrating of the Tabernacle and the Altar offered of which we reade a large rehearsall in the 7. chapter Last of all for the enumeration and numbering vp of the 42. places of abode where the children of Israel pitched their Tents after they wer come out of Egypt described from iourney to iourny in the 33. chapter Thus we see the causes rendred wherefore this booke hath the inscription of Numbers giuen vnto it Let vs see what vses may be gathered from Vse 1 this Title which is made peculiar and proper to this booke First we learne that the holy Scriptures of God giuen by inspiration are distinctly to be retained in the Church without mixture and confusion For to what end and purpose are the titles giuen but for difference distinction sake to know the one from the other Thus is this booke by this Title discerned from euery other booke of the old new Testament The Church must haue a speciall care of this point seeing the Scriptures d Rom. 3 2 are committed as a Treasure to their trust therefore it is required of them that they be found faithfull and answere the credite that is reposed in them The Church of the Iewes was careful in this point did not content themselues to preserue the Scriptures whole entire but retained them seuerally and distinctly that one booke might be known from the other If a body had all his parts without addition a Hor de aâ—t poet of any strange member or detraction of any that is naturall yet if the partes were hudled and confounded together that the arme did grow out of the legge and the legges bee wrapped about the necke and no limbe remaine distinct from the other but all shuffled together it were a deformed mishapen body and no member could performe his office â—f all parts of the world were so confounded that the Elements were hudled in one rude lumpe or vndigested Chaos that fire were iumbled together with the earth and the aire with water what place were there for anie creature Or what profit could these elements yeeld In like manner if the whole volume of the Scriptures which is as a bodye consisting of many distinct members were put into one confused heape albeit no part were lost yet the comelinesse and profit and beauty of them were taken away For the body b 1 Cor. 12 4.9 20. is not one member but many for if they were al but one member where were the body but now there are many members yet but one bodye So the Scripture is not one booke or one part but it hath many bookes and sundry parts to make it a perfect and a complete body and all must remaine in their proper place that they may be knowne one from another This appeareth by the words of Christ conferring with the Disciples going to Emaus and expounding vnto them the doctrine of the Gospell more perfectly c Luke 24 44 when he saide vnto them These are the words which I spake vnto you while I was with you that all must bee fulfilâ—ed which are written of me in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes Whereby wee see he diuideth the Scriptures into three partes the Law the Prophets and the Psalmes so that they were distinguished one from another so that the old Testament is diuided into three parts This is farther confirmed vnto vs in the Sermon of Paul preached at Antiochâ—a where he saith d Acts 13 33. God hath fulfilled the promise made vnto the Fathers vnto vs their children in that he raised vp
Iesus euen as it is written in the second Psalme Thou art my Son this day haue I begotten thee From hence it appeareth plainly that as the bookes themselues were seuered the one from the other so likewise euery part of one and the same booke kept his order and the proper station wherein it was set by the first Author This reprooueth all confounding and vnfit vsage of the holye Scriptures mingling one booke in another the old Testament with the new that the distinct parts cannot appeare The Turkes receiue the Law of Moses and some other parts of the old Testament but so disfigured deformed so corrupted and confounded with their horrible superstitions and the abhominable impieties of their wretched Alcoran that it ceaseth to be the Scripture of God and is turned into a most detestable idoll Wherefore it standeth vs vpon to keep the scriptures whole and sound without intermingling one part with another that the comely proportioÌ„ of euery part may appeare to euerie one that looketh vpon them whereas if we shall confound booke with booke and part with part wee shall lose the beauty of them and turne them into a mishapen and deformed monster which were monstrous impiety and presumption Secondly by this Title we learne that all Vse 2 the works of God are made in number weight and measure and created exceeding good in regard of the goodly order and comely beauty of euery one of them For that which is said of this booke is true also of the other Scriptures and verified of all the rest of the workes of God Where no order is there is all tumult and confusion A good Father of a family taketh order in his house that euerie one do his dutie A wise Pilot in a Shippe looketh that euery one know his place and so manageth it with discretion A prudent and prouident Magistrate appointeth order in his Citie and Commonwealth and ordaineth lawes to keep men in vnity The order of the heauens and the setting of times and seasons teacheth vs the wisedome of the Creator who gouerneth all things aboue and beneath by a wise and wonderfull disposition So that hee is called by the holy Apostle e 1 Cor. 14 33 The God of order and not of confusion True it is it cannot bee denyed we see it with our eyes there is great confusion and much disorder in the world but from whence doth it come who is the author of it and to whom shall wee ascribe it Not vnto God who hath made all things good and gouerneth all things well And if not vnto God to whom but to the spirit of the diuell the vglinesse of sinne which haue altered the workmanship of God and blemished the glorie of his creatures The wiseman in the Booke of Ecclesiastes leadeth vs to this consideration f Eccle. 7 3 1 Loe onely this haue I found that God hath made man righteous but they haue sought many inueÌ„tions If then there fall to bee any disorder in the creature we must not accuse the Creator but the corruption of man is to bee blamed from whence it proceedeth It is sin that hath turned all things vpside downe and brought a spectacle of all miseries as Moses sheweth Gen. 6 5. The Lord sawe that the wickednesse of man was great in the earth and all the imaginatâ—ons of the thoughts of his heart were onely euil continually Thus wee learne to magnify all Gods works and to acknowledge from what spring and fountaine as well order as disorder do proceede God is the God of peace and of order and requireth that al things be done honestly and in order It is Sathan thâ—t is the author of strife contention and confusion who laboureth to bring all things out of order But of this wee shall haue occasion to speake more in the second chapter where Moses describeth the order of the Tents and the names of the cheefe Heads and Captaines of the Israelites Vse 3 Thirdly seeing there is diuine numeration in this Booke let vs reade it diligently bee more and more in loue with it and with the rest of the Scripture which haue the same author handle the same matter resemble the same forme respect the same end and worke the same effect in the hearts of men Manie there are that come to the Church and professe themselues members of the same that are most ignorant in the Scriptures which are the helpes of our Faith the keyes of our comfort the meanes of our saluation and are able to make vs wise to eternall life Some know no difference betweene them and other Bookes but make them all alike containing some things true and some false Others are so ignorant that they know not the number of the Canonicall books nor the argument of them nor the order how they stand which plainely bewrayeth that they are little conuersant in them Others when they heare any book or chapter of the booke read vnto them full of names either of men or places or of both of which sort are sundry in this Booke they slake their attention they thinke it belongeth not vnto them they perswade themselues there is no profit to bee learned by it But wee must know and vnderstand that the whole Scripture was giuen by inspiration and came by the will of God When such parts and parcels of the word are read vnto vs the vse wherof we see not the purpose whereof wee vnderstand not let vs obserue these few rules and directions following First let vs condemne our own ignorance and sit in iudgement vpon the darknes of our owne hearts who of our selues are able to vnderstand nothing except it bee reuealed from aboue It is the saying of Christ to Peter after his worthy confession that he was the son of the liuing God a Math. 16 17 Blessed art thou Simon the son of Ionas for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it vnto thee but my Father which is in heaueÌ„ And the Apostle witnesseth as much b Rom. 8 7. 1 Cor. 2 10 14 The wisedom of the flesh is enmity against God for it is not subiect to the Law of God neither indeede can bee Likewise in another place God hath reuealed them vnto vs by his Spirit but the naturall man perceiueth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnes vnto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned The manner of many in reading the Scriptures when they come to that which passeth theyr capacity is to condemne them not themselues But if we would profit aright and benefite our selues by them wee must set this downe as the first rule and as a principle of our faith that the fault is in our selues and in our owne weaknesse Secondly it is required of vs to be of humble spirit which is a thing much accepted of God Such onely are right hearers and such God requireth vs to bee when wee heare him come and speake vnto vs. This
heere as afterward in this Booke ch 20. where he obeyeth with doubting but he executeth the charge laide vpon him with readinesse and willingnesse This obedience of Moses and Aaron is set downe first generally then particularly Generally in these words particularly in the verses following Heere a question may be demanded Obiection whether it were lawfull for them to number the people Wee reade in the holy Historie 2 Samuel 24 that Dauid was sharply reprooued and seuerely punished because hee did number them yet Moses numbereth them in this place and is approoued and iustifiedâ— Some thinke Answer that Dauid is reproued not simply for numbring the people but because he would haue all numbred and not onely from 20 yeare old and aboue But this was not the true cause of Dauids offence and of Gods iudgement in as much as it is very euident out of the words of the Text and circumstances of the place that such only were numbred as were strong men and able to draw out their swords 2 Sam. 24.9 Others make this the reason because the Lord promised to multiply the seede of Abraham as the starres of Heauen which are innumerable and as the sand on the Sea Shore which cannot bee tolde Oleast in Exod. and therefore he was angry sore displeased wheÌ„ they were numbred as if it were a calling of his promise into question But if this reason were good and to bee granted it would follow that they could neuer be numbred without sin Neither was this the cause of Gods anger as others imagine Simâ—â—r in Exod because after his numbring of them hee caused not the tribute to be paid that God had appointed Exod. 30.12 for Moses did not alway enioyne any such polle-mony to be paid whensoeuer he nuÌ„bred their persons and besides the punnishment should be inflicted vpon Dauid not for numbring the people but for want of paiment The true causes why Moses is commended Differences between Moses and Dauid in numbering the people Dauid condemned for their numbring of Israel are these First Moses was inioyned vnto it had the expresse commandement of God to direct and warrant him but Dauid was not commaÌ„ded of God he was stirred vp of Sathan who tempted him to this euill in setting before his eies 1 Chron. 21 1 his glory and excellency his power victories Aug. quaest 134 in Exod. This is one difference Secondly it was lawfull to number the people when anie publique collection or contribution was to bee made of tribute or subsidy for vnlesse an exact account were taken some should be omitted others ouerburthened and iniustice committed This maketh it lawful for Princes to number their people muster them by hundreds or thousands albeit they haue no special warrant or particular commissioÌ„ from God Thus did Dauid in another place and at another time number them without sin 2 Sam. 18 1. Againe when any Army is to be gathered forces to be leuied it is necessarie the people should be assembled and mustered that fit choise may bee made of such as are to goe to battell as Dauid did number them without sinne 2 Sam. 18 1. when hee sent an armie against Absolon but in this place hee did not intend any of these ends either that Tribute should be gathered or that souldiers should be mustered and therefore the warrant of his worke was not answerable to the calling of Moses Thirdly as they were stirred vp by diuers causes so they respected diuers ends Dauid propounded to himselfe an euill end hee did it to set forth his owne glorie to reioyce in himselfe to put his whole affiance and confidence in the multitude of his men and therefore his pride and presumption his haughtinesse and ambition his rashnesse and vnthankefulnesse were punished of GOD. Thus we see how one and the same thing is praised in one and reprooued in another because howsoeuer the deede were one yet the cause was not one from whence it proceeded neither were the ends one whereunto it was referred Verses 17.18.19 Moses Aaron tooke these men c And as the Lord commaunded Moses so he numbred them Heere we haue an example of the obedience of Moses Aaron who lingred not the time to discharge the dutie that God had laide vpon them This example offereth vnto vs this instruction that it Doctrine 3 is required of all Gods seruants t is our dutie to obey Gods coâ—mandements to performe obedience to Gods commandements Whensoeuer God speaketh vnto vs wee must heare and obey his voyce Noah receiued a Commandement from God to builde the Arke Genes 6 ver 13. Whereby hee and his houshold might be saued many hindrances might haue stayed him and sundry inconueniences might haue stopped him and infinite dangers might haue terrified him from that enterprize the greatnesse of the Arke the labour of the building the continuance of the worke the tants of the wicked and an hundred such like troubles stood in his way all which he did ouerstride as the Apostle witnesseth Heb. 11 7. By Faith Noah beeing warned of GOD of the things which were as yet not seene mooued with reuerence prepared the Arke to the sauing of his Houshold through the which Arke hee condemned the world and was made heire of the righteousnesse which is by faith In like manner Gen. 12 4. Heb 11 8. Abraham receiued an expresse commandement to go out of his Country and from his Kindred and Fathers house and he also by Faith when hee was called obeyed to go into a place which he should afterwarde receiue for inheritance and he went out not knowing whither hee went So when God charged him to circumcise himselfe his sonne and all his houshold hee did not delay the time Gen. 17 23. 22 1 2 3. Heb. 11 17. 18 19. but did it the same day and when hee commanded him to take his sonne his onely son euen Isaac whom he loued the sonne of promise through whom all Nations should bee blessed By Faith hee offered vp Isaac when hee was tryed for he considered that God was able to raise him vp euen from the dead from whence he receiued him also after a sort When God called Samuel and determined to reueale vnto him the destruction of Elies house and the calamitie that hanged ouer all Israel hee saide vnto him to testifie the willingnesse of his heart to obey Speake Lord 1 Sam. 3 9 10 for thy Seruant heareth This the Prophet Dauid witnesseth Psal 27 8. When thou sayedst Seeke ye my face mine heart answered thee O Lord I will seeke thy face Luke 5 4 5. When Christ commanded Peter to launch out into the deepe and to let out their Nets to make a draught Simon answered and saide vnto him Master we haue trauailed sore all night and haue taken nothing neuerthelesse at thy word I wil let down the net The examples are infinite and endlesse that might bee
vnderstand what the wil of God was they murmure not against it they enquire not the reason of it they stand not vpon their owne priuiledges there is no man thinketh better of himselfe then others nor offereth to breake the order transgresse the Law giuen vnto them But they did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses Verse 34. The former point that concerneth the Commandement of God is double First it is set downe generally in the two first Verses what belongeth to all the Tribes indifferently namely that they must encampe euery one by the Ensigne of his Fathers house then particularly what concerneth the tribes in speciall in the residue of the chapter Verse 1 2. And the Lord spake vnto Moses saying Euery man of the children of Israel shal Campe c. Heere he beginneth to rehearse the order that was to bee obserued among them For there are two things which are most needfull in euerie thing that is done aright to wit number and order Wherefore after the description of their number he beginneth to direct them in the order which was to be kept among them We learne from Doctrine 1 hence to omit sundry impertinent collections and vnprofitable Allegations God delighteth to haue a comely order obserued in the Church Common-wealth which manie stand vpon seruing rather to please the eare then to profit the heart and to delight the outward man rather then to edifie the inwarde man I say we learne that God commandeth a comely order to bee obserued as well in the Church as the Commonwealth When Balaam the false Prophet mentioned hereafter in this booke sawe the Israelites thus ordered in their Tents as God appointeth in this place he was carried into an admiration of it Numb 24 5 6. How goodly are thy Tents O Iacob and thy habitations O Israel As the valleyes are they stretched foorth as Gardens by the Riuers side as the Aloe trees which the Lord hath planted as the Cedars beside the waters As if he should haue saide The Church of God consisting of this people is the verie picture and resemblance of most goodly order This speaketh the Prophet of the place that God had chosen to set his name in it Psal 122.3 4 5. Ierusalem is builded as a Citie that is compact together in it selfe whereunto the Tribes euen the Tribes of the Lord go vp according to the testimony to Israel to praise the Name of the Lord for there are Thrones set for iudgement euen the Thrones of the house of Dauid This Paul saw and obserued and commended in the Church of the Colossians Chapt. 2. verse 5. Though I he absent in the flesh yet am I vvith you in the Spirit reioycing and beholding your Order and your stedfast Faith in Christ These things to which we might adde and annexe sundry other testimonies are sufficient to shew vnto vs that God will haue all things in the Church and Commonwealth done in order The Reasons are euident For first God Reason 1 is the Author of order and not of confusion He appointeth in this Booke the order to bee obserued in their mansion in their peregrination in their possession of the Land The Apostle giueth vs this instruction touching God 1 Cor. 14 33 God is not the Authour of confusion but of peace as we see in all the Churches of the Saints Hence it is that we see an order in God himselfe euen in the holye and blessed Trinity though all the persons be coequall and coeternall yet there is an established order of the first person of the second person and of the third person not in regard of essence which is indiuisible yet for better order of teaching and instructing of vs to attaine to so much knowledge of his nature as the Scripture hath deliuered and we are able to conceiue Hence it is that the Father is first the Sonne is conceiued and deliuered in the next place and the holy Ghost proceeding from them both is expressed in the last place not thereby insinuating any inequality because none is in nature before or after other none is greater or lesse then other but onely intimating an order in existing or working as hee hath manifested himselfe in his worde vnto vs. As then God hath order in himselfe so he commandeth and commendeth an order to be vsed of vs. Secondly all wise men will order their affaires Reason 2 with wisedome and discretion and will dispose of them with seemlinesse comlinesse An expert Captaine that goeth against his enemies will keepe his Souldiours in good array whether he march or retire If he flye out of the fielde out of order one is readie to ouerthrow another and all are left to the mercy of his aduersarie Hence it is Veget. lib. 14 that they haue an eye to these things to the Sunne the Winde and the Dust that the Sunne be not in their faces that the Winde be not against them that the Dust bee not carried vppon them For the Sunne shining in their faces taketh away sight the Winde blowing contrary abateth their strength and the blow but helpeth the weapons of the enemy the Dust cast vppon them filleth and shutteth their eyes to their great hindrance A prouident house-keeper knoweth the necessitie commoditie and profite thereof in the administration of all his businesse and affayres Xenophon speaking of Socrates that nothing is so good as the right ordering of them The Philosophers in all their teaching shew vs this who haue broght the Arts and Sciences into Method and good order Common experience declareth that wee loue order when it is wanting wee doe wish and desire it when it is present we rest in it and at all times wee prayse and commend it Thirdly the Church is not a confused Reason 3 multitude shuffled and iumbled together where no man knoweth his place or his Office and one encroacheth vpon another but it is the house of the liuing God 1 Tim 3 15 the pillar and ground of truth Now in an house well ordered is to be seene the Maister as the Ruler the family subiect to his gouernment euery one imploying his proper gifts and no man vsurping the place and calling of another If this bee to bee seene in our priuate houses which haue a weaker foundation to beare them a lesse anker to holde them a feebler shore to vnderprop them and vnsurer means to containe and continue them how much more must we conceiue this of the Church of God Hebrewes 11. Esay 5 1. Ephes 5. which is the house that he hath builded the vineyard that his right hand hath planted the spouse of Christ which he hath loued the mountaine of the Lord which he hath prepared and the peculiar people which hee hath chosen Thus we see the doctrine sufficiently cleered and confirmed Let vs before we come to the vses diuert a little as it were out of the way and ordinary path to answer an obiection
albeit Iacob promised the crowne and kingdome to that tribe yet it is not by and by accomplished so that albeit his promises shall all be performed yet they are not straightway verified but are oftentimes long deferred True it is that the tribe of Iudah surmounted all the rest of the tribes at such time as God deliuered them out of Egypt yea Nahasson had the preheminence when the people were to be numbred when the Captaines of the tribes were to be chosen and when the offerings were dedicated in the Sanctuary Notwithstanding all this was but a darke shadow of the former prophesie for Iuda still remained without kingdome and principality Besides the former propheticall speech might seeme to many to carry little trueth or likelihood with it inasmuch as wee see God appointeth Moses of the tribe of Leui to be the gouernour of them After his death and decease Ioshua was Captaine and ruler ouer them who was of the tribe of Ephraim after him succeeded the Iudges who were extraordinarily stirred vp to iudge his people deliuer thē out of the hands of their enemies sometime of one tribe and sometime of another Then came Saul who was chosen king of the tribe of Beniamin all this while there is no mention of Iudah as if the prophecy were buryed in deepe silence and the birthright were vtterly forgotten yet in the end the Lord declareth that his word is not a iest and that Iacob though he were old yet did not dote when he foretold the same But to omit those things let vs obserue that God prouiding heere for the good of his people and the ordering of them appointeth officers and Magistrates ouer them and leaueth them not vnto themselues which would haue bene the occasion of all contention Thus we see how he appointeth a captaine and leader Doctrine 2 ouer euery tribe Magistrates and rulers are needfull to be set ouer the people of God From hence we may obserue that God giueth to his people rulers to fight their battels and to guide them in order and godlinesse Faithfull Magistrates are needfull for Church and Common-weath who are not onely a portion among beleeuers but the chiefe parts and stay of them in well-doing not onely in peace but in warre This we see plentifully proued vnto vs in the booke of Iudges where it is testified that the Lord raised them vp Iudges Iudg. 2 16 18. who deliuered them out of the hands of their oppressors and afterward when the Lord had raised them vp Iudges the Lord was with the Iudge and deliuered them out of the hand of their enemies all the dayes of the Iudge for the Lord had compassion of their gronings because of them that oppressed them and tormented them This is it which Iethro the father in Law of Moses saw to be profitable and necessary for the people when he admonished him to prouide men of courage fearing God men dealing truely hating couetousnesse Exod. 18.21 and to appoint such ouer them to be Rulers ouer thousands Rulers ouer hundreths Rulers ouer fifties and Rulers ouer tennes and to let them Iudge the people at all seasons This is it which Hiram acknowledgeth 2 Chron. 2. Because the Lord hath loued his people 2 Chron. 2.11 he hath made Salomon king ouer them This doth the Prophet Esay testifie chap. 22. Esay 22.20 22 In that day will I call my seruant Eliachim the sonne of Hilkiah the Key of the house of Dauid will I lay vpon his shoulder so he shall open and no man shall shut and he shall shut and no man shall open To these testimonies we might adde infinite others but in fo plentifull an argument these shall suffice to teach vs that the people of God stand in need of Rulers to go in and out before them and to order them in the duties of piety and honesty The reasons are euident First they are as the proppes and pillars of the house and Reason 1 the cause of good order among the people of God and the meanes to keepe them in all obedience On the other side through want of them many abuses are committed and much iniquity is practised While Ioshua liued and the Elders that out-liued Ioshua Iudge 2.7 the people serued the Lord all their dayes which had seene his great workes that he had done for Israel but when they were gone and gathered vnto their fathers the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the Lord and serued Baalim And againe chapter 4. Chap. 4.1 The children of Israel began againe to doe wickedly in the sight of the Lord after Ehud was dead And before Chapter 2. Ch. 2.19 and 8.33 and 17.6 and 19.1 and 21 25. When the Iudge was dead they returned and did worse then their fathers in following other gods to serue them and worship them they ceased not from their owne inuentions nor from their rebellious way Adde vnto these the conclusion of this booke In those dayes there was no king in Israel but euery man did that which was good in his owne eyes Whereby we see that so long as God blesseth a land with Princes and Magistrates it is stayed from ruine and destruction but when they are taken away it falleth Reason 2 to the ground and cannot stand vpright Secondly no society can continue without Magistrates neither defend it selfe If an hoste be without a Generall or a city without a Ruler or an house without a gouernour it needeth not forraine force to pull it downe and dissolue it it sufficeth in short time to destroy it selfe and from among themselues will men arise that shall bring it to nothing Parity is the mother of all mutiny and confusion whiles euery one vnderprising anothers value and vertue denyeth to be commanded and being wedded to selfe-loue esteemeth himselfe the best able and most worthy to command in all the company So then whiles men ouervalue their own worth esteem better of themselues then others contrary to the rule of the Apostle Phil. 2 3. they are cast away by the tempest of dissention and torne in peeces as a body without a head by mutual emulations These diseases of a diuided and distracted multitude without vnity and authority of gouernment caused the Lord to take order for his people that when they should come vnto the land which he had promised to giue them Deut. 17.14 and that they should possesse it and dwell therein they should set a king ouer them from among their brethren Wherefore seeing Magistrates are a stay to the people in all well-doing and the want of them is the occasion of all confusion we cannot but conclude them to be so necessary as that they cannot be wanted or spared Vse 1 The vses remaine to be taught and learned of vs. The first reproofe of the Anabaptists First it reprooueth the hellish and more then heathenish Sect of the Anabaptists that ouerturne this order that God hath setled
as the feete in respect that they beare the whole frame that standeth vpon them Hence it is that the Prophet threatning from God a greeuous iudgement to fall vppon the Land for the sinne of the people saith Behold Esay 3 1 2 3 4 the Lord of Hoastes will take away from Ierusalem and from Iudah the stay and the strength euen all the stay of bread and all the stay of water the strong man and the man of warre the Iudge and the Prophet the prudent and the aged the Captaine of fifty and the honourable and the Counseller and the cunning artificer and the eloquent man and I will appoint Children to bee their Princes and babes shall rule ouer them If then the remouing and taking away of the chiefe parts be a punishment surely the giuing of them and the continuing of them must of necessity bee the giuing of a blessing vnto vs the continuing of a blessing among vs. When they are gone the light is taken away and we liue in darknesse our defence is gone and wee lie open to the enemy the foundation is pulled away the house falleth the breath is gone and the whole body dieth The benefit which we receiue by our Kings and Princes by our Rulers and Gouernors will yet farther appeare if we consider the discommodities and confusions of an Anarchy wherein is no Ruler but euery one would sit at the sterne and command ouer others the sword of iustice is banished and the sword of iniustice is in a mad mans hand nay in thousands and millions of mad men force and violence beare sway riotousnesse is set at liberty good men are oppressed innocency is troden vnder foot and all wickednesse is set aloft These effects and infinite other not to be numbred of the same nature must needs follow where Magistrates beare not rule but where they are setled the godly are encouraged the vngodly feare To conclude therefore this point it is an happy Kingdome wherein the Princes are obedient to the Law of God and nature of the Land Magistrates to the Princes priuate men to Magistrates children to their parents seruants to their maisters and all men keepe themselues within the limits of their callings and beeing linked in loue one with another al of them with their Prince do enioy the sweet fruites of peace and true quietnesse of minde Vse 3 Thirdly this must put Magistrates in minde of their duty For wherefore are they necessary to be ouer the people and to what ende hath GOD lifted vp their heads aboue their brethren Is it to giue them bare titles of honour and dignity and to tread vpon their brethren and to trample them vnder theyr feet No God aduanceth no man for such purposes but it is in respect of his people to do them good to procure their wealth and to prouide for the welfare both of their soules and bodies As then they are to haue much honour great reuerence and due obedience performed vnto them so they must know that sundry duties are to bee practised of them First then The duties of Magistrates it is required of them to maintaine and set vp true religion to giue entertainment to it and those that do professe it They must procure that God may bee worshipped and serued to which end they are made keepers of both the Tables to see that God bee glorified among his people as Psal 78 70 71 72. He chose Dauid his seruant and tooke him from the Sheepe-folds euen from behinde the Ewes with young brought he him to feed his people in Iaacob and his inheritance in Israel so he fed them according to the simplicity of his heart and guided them by the discretion of his hands It is not enough for them to haue a care that peace and tranquility may bee maintained among their subiects for so far the Gentiles proceed that know not God but they must take order that the Law of God may bee obserued 1 Tim. 2 2. and piety and godlinesse continued among the people committed to their charge True it is a peaceable and quiet life are great blessings and most worthy effects of a wise religious Magistracy but these are not sufficient nor the principall duties to bee regarded forasmuch as it is not enough to leade a ciuill life but a sanctified life that hath the glory of God euermore before it and therefore they must consider that they shall giue an account at that great day not onely how peaceably and politikely they haue ruled but how religiously and zealously they haue gouerned their people Secondly it appertaineth vnto them to deface Idolatry and abolish all monuments of superstition and to cast out all Idols not onely out of their Temples but so much as lyeth in them out of mens hearts This duty God commended to Moses in sundry places Deut. 7 5 6. Thus ye shall deale with them ye shall ouerthrow their Altars and breake downe their Pillars and cut downe their Groues and burne their grauen Images with fire for thou art an holy people vnto the Lord thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to bee a precious people vnto himselfe aboue all people that are vpon the earth And what his zeale was in maintaining Gods honour and in reuenging the dishonour done vnto him in this kind Exod. 32 1 19 20 28. appeareth by his defacing and destroying the golden Calfe that was erected in his absence for when the people saw that he tarried long ere he came downe from the Mountaine they saide Make vs Gods to goe before vs c. but as soone as hee came neere to the host and saw the Calfe dancing his wrath waxed hot he cast the Tables out of his hands and brake them in peeces he grownd the Calfe to powder hee strewed it vpon the water he made the Children of Israel drinke of it and caused about three thousand of them to bee slaine with the sword It is recorded to the euerlasting commendation of Asa 1 Kin 15 12 13 â—8 4 5 and 23 4 5 6. that he tooke away the Sodomites out of the Land and put away all the Idols that his Fathers had made and he put downe Maachah his mother also from her estate because shee had made an Idoll in a groue Asa destroyed her Idols and burnt them by the brooke Kidron The like we might say of Hezekiah and Iosiah whose names are blessed in the booke of God and renowned for rhe discharge of this duty Thirdly Idolatry being defaced and Idols taken away they must prouide that pure and sincere doctrine may bee deliuered preached by the Ministers of the word For in vaine it is to abolish superstition except care bee had of the true religion that the name of God may bee knowne vpon earth and his sauing health may be spread abroad among all their people When the King of Ashur heard that the Colonies that he had planted in
Samaria were deuoured of Lyons he commanded that one of the Priests which had been brought from thence 2 Ki. 17 26 27. should be carried thether to teach them the manner of the God of the Country so that the superstitious King thought it his duty to see them instructed in the truth A notable example of a godly and religious care this way is in Iehosaphat who 2 Chron. 17 6 7 8 9 10. so soone as hee had taken away the high places and the groues out of Iudah hee sent out sundry of the Leuites that they should teach in the Cities and they taught in Iudah and had the booke of the Law of the LORD with them and went about throughout all the Cities of Iudah and taught the people This is the foundation and stay of all Kingdomes to giue entertainment to the word of God this maketh a wise King and a wise people So long as Magistrates countenance the truth and Preachers of it they secure theyr owne estates and are blessed of God which ought to bee an encouragement vnto them not to bee slacke or slothfull in spreading abroad the Gospell of Christ Lastly because it were troublesome and tedious to go about to rehearse all their duties we breefely number vp the rest It is their duty therefore to be good examples of piety and godlinesse of life to the people and to prouide for them al things necessary for the body to aske counsell of the mouth of the Lord in theyr weighty affaires that is the ministery of the word and to yeeld obedience vnto it to exhort their inferiors in time of publike calamities to earnest repentance and to expresse the same by prayer and fasting to know the cause throughly before they proceed to giue sentence to punish euill dooers and defend the innocent and to establish such positiue lawes as are necessary for the maintenance of order and decency in the Common-wealth Vse 4 Lastly seeing Magistrates are necessary for the Church and Common-wealth it putteth those that are vnder them in minde of theyr duties partly in regard of themselues partly in regard of the Magistrates and partly in respect of God Touching themselues they must know they be no burdens to the Common-wealth nor superfluous parts that may be spared they are as the head or heart of the body or as the eye in the head all depend vpon their welfare so all depend vpon the Kings and Princes welfare If he be vpholden the Common-wealth standeth if he be vnregarded the Common-wealth falleth He is as necessary as the Sunne in the Firmament yea as fire and water and breathing without which we cannot liue If we iudge otherwise of this ordinance of God we are deceiued wrong both them and our selues Againe we learne that their life and continuance is greatly to bee desired of Gods seruants It is the part and duty of all Subiects to craue their safety and protection that they may safe-guard and protect both Church and Common-wealth Yea Rulers themselues in regard of this end which ought daily to bee before their eies may desire of God to lengthen their daies and to continue their happy reigne that together with the Saints they may do seruice to God in his Church in this respect I say they may desire life not so much aiming at their owne priuate good for in that respect it were better to bee dissolued to be with the Lord as respecting the generall vtility of their people What greater glory what higher honour can they haue then this to be the stay and defence of the church that otherwise were like to decay and goe to ruine and to continue the seuerall parts of it in well-doing That good King Hezekiah foreseeing by the word of the Lord the miserable estate of the Church that should bee after his death and considering with great anguish of heart the wofull effects that were like to follow he turned himselfe in his bed to the wall and wept and was greeued to depart hence Esay 38 18 ◠saying The graue cannot confesse thee death cannot praise thee they that go downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth but the liuing the liuing he shall confesse thee as I do this day the father to the children shall declare thy truth He desired of God to liue and prayed vnto God to prolong his daies not to lift vp himselfe aboue his brethren not to glory in the smoke of lofty titles not to tyrannize ouer the people not to command the things that are vniust or to punish such as do not deserue it but to do good to the Church and to set foorth Gods praise Death indeede which bringeth the dissolution of nature is a welcome guest to them that are the Lords all the godly do make themselues ready to receiue him to meete and entertaine him and so Kings Princes among the rest howbeit in this respect that the Church may bee benefited by them it is no matter of impiety to desire a longer continuance among Gods people much more then is it the duty of such as are vnder them and gouerned by them to desire their continuance as the daies of heauen and as the course of the Sunne to bee Nurses to the godly This was wont to be a common salutation vsed of the people toward theyr Princes not onely of the Infidels but by the faithfull seruants of God Dan. 2 4 and 6 21 and 3 9 and 5 10. When the King came to visite Daniel being cast into the den of Lyons the Prophet so soone as hee heard him saide O King liue for euer that is GOD grant vnto thee a long life Last of all whensoeuer we haue a wise and worthy a godly and religious Prince giuen to vs it is our duty to be thankfull If the Lord grant vnto a Land a prudent and prouident Prince to reigne ouer thē whose heart is bent to seeke the Lord and to serue the GOD of his fathers the people that breathe vnder his shadow must praise the holy name of God It is their duty to pray that princes may be such and to commend them to God with all faithfulnesse For if they must pray for others much more for them When Salomon was annointed with oyle taken out of the Sanctuary they blew the Trumpet and all the people said God saue King Salomon 1 King 1 39 So the Apostle writing to Timothy exhorteth that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giuing of thankes be made for all men For Kings and for all that are in authority 1 Tim. 2 1 2 3 that wee may leade a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Sauiour Now as we are to pray for them so wee are to praise God for them wee are not to forget the least blessings nor to be vnmindfull of smaller benefits and therefore we are much more bound to be thankfull
partakers of them The Apostle speaking of the word of God in his Epistle to the Galatians declareth that by the preaching thereof Christ Iesus was so cleerely set foorth Gal. 3 1. that he was as it were crucified among them much more may this bee saide of the Supper of the Lord which is a most liuely remembrance of his death and of the shedding of his most pure and precious blood This vse hath many branches First we must thinke our selues fooles in the matters of God that wee may bee made wise such as thinke themselues wise do thereby professe themselues to be no better then fooles 1 Cor. 3 18. Secondly to account God onely wise yea wisedome it selfe as the wise man saith Prou. 9 1. Wisedome hath built her an house Thirdly adde nothing to the word of the Lord which were to make our selues wiser then God and to shew our selues to bee worse then madde men We must not turne aside to the right hand or to the left Deut. 5 32. Deut. 5 32. and 28 14. nor decline from any of the words which hee hath commanded vs Deut. 28 14. for that were to wrastle against the Lord who is too strong for vs his will must stand vpright when our will shall be ouerthrowne and cast downe to the ground Lastly we must thinke nothing small or little in Gods seruice He tooke order for the least things in the Tabernacle and left them not arbitrary A little thing done amisse bringeth all out of square in the worldly affaires of men and so it is with Gods matters In the businesse that concerneth our selues wherein we take our selues to bee any way interessed we account nothing little if we be iniuried or wronged therein we take it to heart we cannot abide it we storme against theÌ„ that crosse vs. And shall we thinke God is carelesse what becommeth of his seruice and consequently of his glory Woe vnto vs if we iudge so of honouring him Vse 2 Secondly this serueth seeing all worship of God ought to be guided by his word and directed by his commandement not by the priuate wils of men to reproue the wonderfull pride of men in al ages who haue alwaies presumed to adde somewhat of their owne to the ordinance of God in his worship and accounted it too grosse simplicity to cleaue to the bare and naked word so haue made a mixture of his religion with our owne inuention as it were to sowe our field with diuers seeds The Scribes and Pharisies added the traditions of their fathers as washings of cups of beds and of tables â—ark 7 3. yea they so abounded in them that they made the Commandements of God of none effect thinking it great reason they should giue place to their deuices The Papists haue added to the word of God apochryphall bookes many vnwritten verites the decrees and decretals the inuentions of their Popes which they hold in as great reuerence as the holy Scriptures They haue added vnto the two Sacraments instituted by Christ fiue other to make the number amount to seuen To baptisme they haue added exorcismes spittle salt creame and other such like trash and trumpery To the Supper they haue added Transubstantiation the reall presence the merit of the worke the Masse propitiatory for the quicke and dead crossings creepings eleuation reseruation preseruation by sea and land in warres and in iournies To the Ministery of Pastours Teachers they haue added an idle rabble of Pope Cardinals Abbots Monkes Fryers Iesuites Votaries Nunnes Acolytes Exorcistes a multitude of drones as croking frogs arising out of the bottomlesse pit To praier and pure inuocation of the Name of GOD they haue added praiers to Saints praiers in a strange tongue praiers before Images and in their Idol Temples praiers said by tale and numbred or rather mumbled vpon their beades their canonicall houres and such like superstitions partly idolatrous and partly heathenish and partly blasphemous Thus they haue corrupted Gods worship and defiled whatsoeuer they touch and turned his truth into a lye It is reported of Gregory Bishop of Rome the best of all those that followed but the worst of theÌ„ that went before him that in a most greeuous and contagious plague he inuented and appointed sundry superstitions and supplications directed to Saints set downe in the Letany Babing on Leuit 10. not 1. hauing neither commandement nor example nor any warrant in the word but God so reuenged this boldnesse and presumption that in one houre fourescore of those that so praied and rehearsed those suffrages suddenly fell to the earth and breathed out their last breath Thus God disliketh and disclaimeth the deuices of men in his seruice God disliketh the deuises of men in his seruice Col. 2 23. Of all which practises which are no better then meere dotages the Apostle saith They haue a shew of wisedome in will-worship but they bring a bondage to the rudiments of the world froÌ„ which Christ hath freed vs and therefore ought not to be entangled by them being after the commandements and doctrines of men The heathen knew by the light of nature that euery God must needs bee serued according to his owne will and not according to the will of them that are their worshippers All voluntary worship is vtterly condemned Vatabl. annot in Deut. 4. and GOD tieth vs strictly to his word without adding or diminishing Our good intents cannot preuaile with him when the thing we doe is not warranted vnto vs. Hence it is that the Lord saith not You shall not do euill in your owne eyes but Thou shalt not do that which seemeth good in your owne eyes they must keepe them precisely to his commandements There is a way saith Salomon which seemeth right vnto a man Prou. 14 12. but the issues thereof are the waies of death Wherefore let our conceite be neuer so good yet it profiteth nothing beeing not grounded vpon the word but vpon mans wit Our Sauiour foretelling the troubles that shall come vpon the people of God that professe his Name saith They shall excommunicate you yea the time commeth Iohn 16 2. That whosoeuer killeth you will thinke that he doth God seruice They imagine they do good in such persecutions as no doubt it fell out in Paul before his conuersion What then Shall their good intent excuse their euil actions and go for current paiment with God No in no wise because hee measureth not our dooings by our purposes but by his owne precepts When Peter bad Christ his Maister to pitty and spare himselfe Mat. 16 22. and the Disciples forbad little children to come vnto Christ Mark 10 13. Lu. 9 54 55. and at another time would haue commanded fire to come downe from heauen to consume the Samaritans did they not offend or can any defend them because they had no euill intent Why then is Peter called Satan and bidden to come behind And why are the Disciples reproued
had the brest-plate and an Ephod of gold Sigon de rep Hebr. lib. 5. cap. 3. Eucherio which is to be noted because the rest of the Priests did sometimes weare a linned Ephod They might haue no blemish or deformity Leuit. 21 18. They might drink no wine nor strong drinke when they were to enter into the Sanctuary Leuit. 10 9. They might not defile themselues by the dead nor come nigh any that was dead except it were their father or mother sonne or daughter or sister vnmarried Leuit. 21 1. They might not shaue their heads nor beards nor cutte their flesh they might marry no harlot nor woman diuorced Leuit. 21 5 7. The first that were consecrated to this office were Aarons sons Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar From Eleazar in Dauids time who established an exact order among them were issued 16 families 1 Chron. 24 4 and from Ithamar eight that is from them both 24 families These he sorted and separated into foure and twenty classes or courses named each of them after the name of him who was the chiefe of each family and concerning the ordering of them and setting one before another to auoide contention they cast lots All of them could not attend euery day without confusion and disorder they must haue intermission and times of vacation so that one course performed the seruice one weeke and another course another weeke Hence it is that it is saide in the booke of Chronicles 2 Chron. 23 8 that Iehoiada the Priest dismissed not the courses that is he sent not away the troopes and companies of the Priests that attended the seruice of the Temple when their time of waiting was expired so that according to the order appointed they should haue departed and the next course haue succeeded because hee meant to make good vse of them in the deposing of wicked vsurping Athalia and in the establishing of the royal throne of Ioash the lawfull King of Iudah This also appeareth in part in the new Testament Luk. 1 8 9. It came to passe that Zachariah of the course of Abia executed the Priests Office according to the custome of the Priests c. Thus much touching the Priests Office who were Aaron and his sonnes whom God chose out of al the families of the Tribe of Leui to minister before him It remaineth to consider Of the Leuites how the rest or residue of that Tribe were imployed They were not to be idle but to serue also first in the Tabernacle which Moses erected and afterward in the Temple which Salomon builded When these grew vp and encreased in great number they were sorted by Dauid for orders sake into foure rankes Sigon de 〈◊〉 Heb. lib. 5. â— 4 5 6 7. Some were appointed to bee Ministers of the Priests and Temple some to be singers some to be porters and others Scribes and Iudges Touching the first specially called Leuites that attended the seruice of the Sanctuary their Offices were to carry the Tabernacle and the Arke of the Couenant in the remoues of the people vntill God according to his promise fixed and setled them in one certaine place whither the Tribes should resort and then they were to take care of them and the vessels appointed to be vsed in the seruice of GOD. Vnto these offices in latter times were added the flaying of the beasts that were to be offered as 2 Chron. 35 10 11. Touching the second ranke to witte the sweete singers of the songs of Sion we reade in the first booke of the Chronicles chap. 25. 1 Chron. â—â— they were to sing prophesies with harpes with viols and with cymbals Touching the Porters which were the third ranke they were appointed to see that no vncircumcised no polluted or prophane person should enter into the house of the Lord 1 Chron. 26 and to guard the same in such sort that all things therein might bee in safety as the sacred vessels the treasure of the house and the treasure of the dedicated things Touching the Scribes which are the last ranke they were such as read the Scriptures and expounded the Law of God in the Temple at Ierusalem and in the Synagogues that were in all parts of the Land who were also called Doctours that is Interpretors of the Law of God All which we may reade at large in a learned Treatise of the Church Lib. 5. Cap. 5 6. D Field of tâ— Church lib. 5. cap. 6. Hauing thus breefely considered the distinct offices of such as were set apart to the Ministery among the people of GOD who made his Couenant with Leui of life and peace Mal. 2 4 5. let vs now returne to the words of Moses and proceede to the second part of the Preface which is the presentation of the Leuites before Aaron to bee as his hands and helpers that they might minister vnto him Wherein we are to obserue two points first the commandement of God to Moses and secondly the reason of the commandement For touching the execution of it by Moses according to the commandement of God which is in other places most vsually added is in this place omitted but must be supplied and vnderstood from that which followeth for when once the Leuites were offered and presented then presently hee proceeded to the numbring of them so that his obedience in this respect is sufficiently iustified Touching the commandement of God directed vnto him we are to marke these seuerall points and of them the Author is GOD for in diuine matters nothing must be attempted without commandement from him hee must warrant theÌ„ or else they are not to be allowed First the substance of the commandement verse 6 7 8. The Leuites are giuen to Aaron the Priest that they may minister vnto him and that they may doe the seruice of the Tabernacle and that they may keepe the instruments or vessels thereof Secondly the order that Aaron and the Priests should be superiour vnto them and be as Ouerseers of them prouiding that no stranger should thrust himselfe into this calling contrary to the ordinance and appointment of God Heb. 5 verse 4. No man taketh this honour vnto himselfe but he that is called of God as was Aaron so that he excluded from the ministery of the tabernacle al other that were not Leuites â— 7 13. of the other Tribes no man gaue attendance at the Altar they were strangers from the Priesthood and the Priesthood from them Not as though in the new Testament there should be one onely family separated to which the administration of holy things should belong For after Christ was ascended â—bac in â—â—b cap. 3. and had led captiuity captiue the distinction of Tribes and families was taken away in regard of the functions of the Church so that the Ministers may bee ordained and called out of any estate degree whatsoeuer being furnished with sufficient gifts for that purpose Thus much of the commandement
precepts and examples to teach vs the way wherein we are to walke Lastly we must haue the doctrine of the Scriptures plentifully dwelling in vs not in the mouth but seated in the heart that we may be able to stand in the truth to continue vnto the end to rise vp being fallen We are euery houre subiect to be tempted of the diuell his tentations are many and strong hee is an expert and experienced captaine he looketh where we are weakest he is a spie that commeth to search and see the nakednesse of our soules And therefore we must be able to draw out the spirituall sword put into our hands vpon euery occasion that we may put him to flight This is the way to resist him this is the way to ouercome him Iam. 4. We haue the example of our Lord Iesus Christ the head of his Church he said It is written he handled this sword at euery tentation Math. 4 4. to teach vs to furnish our selues plentifully with the doctrine thereof that so we may remember to apply the same to euery present purpose 17. And these were the sonnes of Leui by their names Gershon and Kohath and Merari 18. And these are the names of the sonnes of Gershon by their families Libni and Shimei 19. And the sonnes of Kohath by their families Amram and Izehar Hebron and Vzziel 20. And the sonnes of Merari by their families Mahli and Mushi these are the families of the Leuites according to the house of their fathers Hitherto we haue spoken of that numbring of the Leuites which is generall the particular followeth which is both propounded and concluded the former beginning heere continueth to the end of the 37 verse the latter is comprised in the 38 and 39 verses This particular reckoning vp of the Leuites is perfourmed by setting downe such sonnes or issue as were begotten immediately of Leui himselfe then such as descended of his sons and lastly such as proceeded of his sons sons The sonnes of Leui were three in number Gershon Kohath Merari Gen. 46 11. Exod. 6 16 These are described according to the number of their families so that of Gershon came two families the Libnites and the Shimeits Of Kohath came foure families the Amramites the Izeharites the Hebronites and the Vzzielites Of Merari were spread two families the Mahlites and the Mushites In this diuision is laid downe before vs a description of the genealogy or generation of the Tribe of Leui by their names and by their families wherein is set downe both what children Leui had and what were his childrens children insomuch that many did spring and spread themselues as branches out of that roote This we also finde set downe afterward chap. 26 Numb 26 â— and in other places of the word of God and yet it may seeme vnto some very vnprofitable and to minister little or no instruction at all to the Church of God Besides the Scripture speaking of Genealogies doth oftentimes cal them endles and fruiteles and brand them with this note to minister occasion of strife and contention rather then of godly edifying which is in loue 1 Tim. 1 4 and Tit. 1 4 and 3 9. But we must know that the Apostle condemneth not all Genealogies All Geneâ—gies not coâ—demned forasmuch as the Scriptures are full of them and the Iewes kept publike and priuate records of their tribes and families Numb 1 18. Nehem. 7 62. This was obserued vntill the desolation of the City and the Temple Paul was able to proue himselfe of the stocke of Israel Phil 3 5. of the tribe of Beniamin an Hebrew of the Hebrewes by lineall descent if any had doubted of it The first booke of the Chronicles is full of such genealogies so is Ezra and Nehemiah and few historicall books of the old Testament without them Hence it is that the Apostle ioyneth foolish Questions and Genealogies together where he condemneth not the mouing of euery question in handling the word or conferring of it for both Christ asked his Disciples many things Mat. 16. and there are many questions godly and profitable whereof we may enquire and reason which breed sound knowledge wholesome instruction and fruitfull edification to the hearers He is marked out as with a note of folly that rashly and headily beleeueth euery thing Prou. 14 15. And therefore the questions that are to be suppressed he calleth foolish questions that is idle superfluous vaine and vnnecessary seruing to no vse or profit The same title as a brand set vpon the head of them is to be stretched also to Genealogies foolish genealogies must be staied such as are of no moment such as serue to nourish vaine glory and serue not to the benefite of the faith of the Church But such as the Scripture setteth downe are very profitable sometimes to teach vs the accomplishment of Gods promises sometimes to giue light to other Scriptures sometimes to shew the continuance of the Church from age to age sometimes to discouer the enemies of true religion which often driue it into a corner of the world and sometimes to manifest the true Messiah that the scepter departed not from Iudah till his appearing But to omit this heere we are to consider and to compare the curse of Iacob with the blessings that wee see descend vpon this tribe Simeon and Leui instruments of cruelty in the destruction of the Sichemites haue an heauy curse laid vpon them by their father Gen. 49. Yet God raised out of the same these honourable families and turned the curse into a blessing as he promised to that tribe for their zeale in destroying the idolaters â—octrine 1. â—od chuseth â—eake and â— likely â—eanes maâ— times We learne from hence that God many times chuseth his seruants as his instruments to bring worthy things to passe euen out of low and meane degrees He chuseth weake meanes and vnlikely in the eyes of the world and maketh them his instruments to worke his will This doth Hannah confesse she was contemned and reproched by her aduersarie which caused her in the anguish and bitternes of her soule to pray to the Lord but hauing experience of his mercy toward her she saith The Lord maketh rich Sam 2.6 7 â— and maketh poore he bringeth low and lifteth vp he raiseth vp the poore out of the dust lifteth vp the begger from the dunghill to set them among Princes and to make them inherite the throne of glory So hee dealt with Ioseph he brought him out of prison and lifted vp his head aboue the Princes of Egypt Gen. 41.40 Thus he speaketh to the Israelites Deut. 7.7 8. and putteth them in minde of their naturall condition The Lord did not set his loue vpon you nor chuse you because yee were moe in number then any people for ye were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loued you and because he would keepe the oath which hee had sworne vnto your fathers hath the
shall be put to death 39. All that were numbred of the Leuites which Moses Aaron numbred at the commandement of the Lord throughout all their families all the males from a moneth old and vpward were twenty and two thousand Wee haue already handled the numbring of two of the families that haue their foundation in the sonnes of Leui to wit the Gershonites and the Kohathites Now followeth the third and last that is the Merarites touching whom we are to consider sundry particular points as we haue done in the two former diuisions For first the families descended of Merari are named which are two the Mahlites and the Mushites verse 33. Secondly the number of persons the summe of them according to the number of all the males from a moneth old and aboue was sixe thousand two hundred verse 34. Thirdly the Ouerseer or Superintendent of them all was Zuriel the sonne of Abihail Fourthly the place of their abode in the host was on the North-side of the Tabernacle verse 35. Lastly the office and function committed vnto them was the woodworke and the rest of the instruments These things were committed to their charge and custody Hitherto wee haue handled the numbring of this Tribe simply considered in it selfe according to the particular families of it now let vs obserue how it is concluded In this conclusion set downe in the two last verses of this diuision we are to marke two points first the persons that went before the Arke of the Couenant on the East-side secondly the totall sum of the whole Tribe is reckoned vp The persons that were to pitch on the fore-front of the Tabernacle toward the East are these both Moses himselfe as the chiefe Captaine Commander ouer the whole and also Aaron with his sons the Priests ministring vnto God and his Church whereunto is annexed a certaine prouiso that none should dare to thrust himselfe into their office verse 38. Secondly the totall sum of all the former particulars is brought together and the accounts cast vp which are said to amount to two and twenty thousand v. 39. Out of which generall number must be deducted the Priests and the first borne of the Leuites themselues for otherwise the whole Tribe of Leui consisting of the Priests and such as are called by the common name of Leuites amounted to the number of twenty and two thousand and three hundred soules Verse 33. Of Merari was the family c. In this diuision we see more plainely and particularly that which was in part noted before namely the seuerall mansions and situations that these Leuites had about the Tabernacle which being the place of Gods publike seruice they compassed it round about that they might not be farre from any of the people of God but alwaies resident among them The Gershonites pitched behinde the Tabernacle westward verse 23. The Kohathites pitched on the south-side of the Tabernacle verse 29. The Merarites pitched on the north side of the Tabernacle verse 35. Now lest any part should be left vnfurnished and vnprouided Moses and Aaron and his sonnes are commanded to take vp the fore-front of the Tabernacle and to pitch on the East-side GOD might haue put and placed all the Leuites in one corner of the host if it had pleased him but in great mercy both toward the Leuites and people they are seated in the middest of the army and charged to compasse the Tabernacle round about to the end they might serue the better for giuing direction and instruction indifferently to all the rest of the Tribes that were to vse their Ministery Thus we see that neither the Teachers were constrained to go farre to their hearers nor the hearers to take any tedious iourney to their Teachers This teacheth vs that God will haue euery part of his people taught Such is the goodnesse Doctrine 1 of almighty God God wil haue all places and people taught euen the smallest that he will haue none of his seruants vntaught how small soeuer the places be how meane soeuer the persons be None are too high in regard of their great places none are too low in regard of their obscure callings none are too good to be taught whatsoeuer their degrees be We see this most euidently in the Tribe of Leui it selfe To what end and purpose were they diuided in Iacob and scattered in Israel Gen. 49 Gen. 49 7 but that all the Lords people might be instructed from the highest to the lowest and haue their portion in due season alotted vnto them of God This is giuē as a commendation of the Leuites and of Iehoshaphat that sent them 2 Chron 17 9. They taught in Iudah and had the booke of the Law of the Lord with them and went about throughout all the Cities of Iudah and taught the people This we see in the Apostle Paul writing to the Ephesians and setting downe the notable fruites and ends of the Ministery of the word Eph. 4 13. He gaue some to be Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastours and Teachers Till we all meete together in the vnity of faith vnto a perfect man and the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ Touching the practise of this duty we haue a notable example in Christ our Sauiour in many places of the Euangelists Luke 8 1. It came to passe afterward that he went throughout euery City and Village preaching and shewing the glad tydings of the kingdome of God and chap. 13 22. He went through the Cities Villages teaching and iournying toward Ierusalem The like we reade of the twelue Apostles who walked in the steps of their master going through the Townes preaching the Gospel and healing euery where Luke 9 6. So also it was with the seuenty Disciples the Lord sent thē two and two before his face into euery city and place whither he himselfe would come Luk. 10 1. Seeing then the Priests and Leuites Christ his Disciples went about through all the Citties of Iudah published the Gospel in euery city and village preached euery where and went into all places we conclude that it is the ordinance of God that all places great and small all persons high and low all congregations bigge and little should haue the word of God established and setled among them Reason 1 This will be made plaine and cleere vnto vs by diuers reasons First consider with me the titles that are giuen vnto God in the Scriptures He is worthily called the King of his Church and the Lord Master of his house-Is not he the Shepheard of Israel that leadeth Ioseph like sheepe Psal 80 1. Will a Shepheard that hath any care of his Sheepe or any loue vnto them looke vnto some of them and not to all Or will he not rather if any be gone astray Lu. 15 4 5 6. leaue ninety and nine in the wildernesse and seeke that lost one vntill he finde it So is it the will of our Father that is
is vncleane by a dead body touch any holy thing he maketh it to be vnclean vnto him It defileth also the land and places wherein sinners are conuersant Leuit. 18.24 25. God loatheth the houses and habitations of such soule persons albeit they be decked with ornaments of gold and siluer Sinne depriueth a man of all those graces that did adorne him in the sight of God and men and causeth God to turne away his fauour and louing countenance from vs Deu. 23 14. In his fauour is life and at his right hand are pleasures for euermore if he turne away his face and fauour from vs and deny his louing kindnesse vnto vs nothing shall doe vs any good Vse 1 We are now to handle and heare the vses that arise from hence First we may conclude that such are blessed as keepe diligent watch and ward ouer themselues lest they fall asleep in carnall pleasures in the cares of this world and securely wallow in sinne and so be spoyled of the precious robe and rayment of the soule which is giuen vs in Christ Iesus This admonition is often giuen in holy Scripture especially in the new Testament because as the world groweth neerer to his end so sinfull men will grow lesse wary and watchfull in mind to good things and therefore we must looke the better to our selues This vse is concluded Reuel 16.15 Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walke naked and men see his filthinesse If we had spirituall eyes to see and discerne the vglinesse of sinne and could behold it in it owne nature we would account them happy that escape it On the other side their condition is cursed and wretched that giue themselues ouer to the lusts of all kinde of sinne Mans wretched condition in regard of sinne they are polluted and abominable in the sight of God If we should see a man wallowing in the mire or tumbling himselfe in his owne dung that nothing appeared vpon him but filthinesse how would we loath him and shunne him how squeymish would we be to come neere him how fast would we flie from him Or if we should see a man turning to his owne vomit how would our stomacks abhorre and rise against him we would account such as dogges and swine and no better But thus the case standeth with all vnregenerate persons whose whole life is a continuall practise of sinne they wallow in the most stinking and filthy mire that may bee found and turne to their owne vomit and eat vp worse then their owne excrements No spots and blemishes are like to the spots and blemishes of sinne that doe leaue a staine and guiltinesse in the soule This doth the Apostle Peter ayme at in his second Epistle chap. 2. ver 22. It is happened vnto them according to the true prouerbe the dogge is turned to his owne vomit againe and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire True it is sinne carryeth with it a beautifull shew howbeit it casteth a false light it carryeth with it a false glosse like the harlot that painteth her face that she may seem faire It is like the forbidden fruit whereof our first parents did taste the tree seemed good for food Gen. 3.6 and pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise but when they had once eaten they saw the filthinesse of their owne nakednesse and hidde themselues from the presence of the Lord. It is like the harlot mentioned in the Prouerbes she caught a yong man voyde of vnderstanding she kissed him and with an impudent face said vnto him Come Pro. 7.18 let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning let vs solace our selues with loues With much faire speech she caused him to yeeld and with flattering of her lippes she forced him til a dart strike through his liuer as a birde hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life And in another place the wise man saith Pro. 5.3 4 5. The lippes of a strange woman droppe as an hony combe and her mouth is smoother then oyle but her end is bitter as wormewood sharpe as a two edged sword her feete goe downe to death her steppes take hold of hell Heere we haue a most true and liuely description of the nature of sinne looke vpon this picture of an harlot that Salomon hath drawne before our eyes behold the shape and image of it and wee shall quickely and easily know what sin is It fawneth vpon vs and flattereth vs it speaketh faire vnto vs but in the end it wil destroy vs. It is like vnto Ioab and is ready to serue vs as he serued Amasa 2 Sam. â—0 â— He said vnto him art thou in health my brother he tooke him with the right hand to kisse him but withall he smote him with his sword and shed out his bowels to the ground Or it dealeth with vs as Iael dealt with Sisera Iud. 4.18 5.26 26. She cryed vnto him Turne in my lord turne in to me feare not He asked a little water to drinke and she gaue him milke and brought him butter in a lordly dish but withall shee put her hand to the naile and her right hand to the workmans hammer and with the hammer she smote him and then cut off his head when she had pearsed and stricken through his temples Thus doth sinne come to vs masked and couered it offereth vs many sweete delights many carnall pleasures many goodly profits and commodities so that we wil turne in vnto it and commit it without feare but the issues thereof are the issues of death it taketh an hammer and knocketh vs on the head In the booke of Iob Zophar speaking of the state and portion of the wicked compareth sinne to sweet meates which oftentimes haue sowre sawce Let vs heare it in his own words Iob 20.12 13 14 15 16. Though wickednesse be sweet in his mouth though he hide it vnder his tongue though he spare it and forsake it not but keepe it still within his mouth yet his meate in his bowels is turned it is the gall of Aspes within him he hath swallowed downe riches and he shall vomit them vp againe God shall cast them out of his belly he shall sucke the poison of Aspes the vipers tongue shall slay him Sinne is as an hooke that is cunningly baited euery way to catch vs and entrap vs but the wages of it in the end is death It dealeth with vs as the diuell dealt with Christ â—â—h 4.9 he shewed him all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them but then hee must fall downe and worship him Woe vnto them therefore that haue their eyes closed and shut vp that they cannot see the deformitie of sinne in his naturall colours but looke vpon it in a deceitfull glasse It fareth worse with such then if they had many foule diseases about them that can onely annoy the body but are
If they were demaunded what they thinke of the word and of God the author of the word they would acknowledge the Scriptures to be most true both the promises that are made and the threatnings that are contained in it they would confesse that God is a most iust God euen visiting the iniquity of the fathers vpon the children vnto the third and fourth generation yet it skilleth not what they speak with their tongues so long as we may euen openly reade the secrets of their thoughts and the imaginations of their hearts in their outward practises For touching the word of God it is most true and it cannot be denyed we reade oftentimes that God is also mercifull Rom 2.4 Ephe. 2. we reade of the riches of his grace and bountifulnesse of his abounding in compassions and reseruing mercy for thousands What then or what is all this to them shall we continue therefore in sinne that grace may abound ought not rather the riches of his bountifulnes and patience and long suffering leade vs vnto repentance Shal we after our hardnes and hearts that cannot repent heape vp vnto our selues as a treasure wrath against the day of wrath and the iust declaration of the iudgement of God who shall giue to euery man according to his workes It is a good lesson which the Prophet teacheth vs that there is mercy with God not that we should presume of his mercy and runne into all excesse of ryot but to the end he may be feared Psal 130.4 Hence it is that Moses Deut. 29.20 strippeth all such as flatter themselues with hope of pardon and conceit of mercy and opinion of escaping from that foolish imagination He that blesseth himselfe in his heart saying I shall haue peace though I walke in the imagination of my heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his iealousie shall smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall lie vpon â—im the Lord shall blot out his name froÌ„ vnder heauen These persons may call for mercy but he will not answere them in mercy they may seeke him early but they shall not finde him because they hated to be reformed and did not chuse the feare of the Lord Prou. 1.28 29. He is very gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse Psal 103.17 18. Howbeit it is to the penitent only not to the obstinate The Prophet saith The mercy of the Lord is from euerlasting to euerlasting and his righteousnesse vnto childrens children to such as keepe his couenant and to those that remember his commandements to doe them Where we see the Scripture maketh a difference and diuision betweene man and man and giueth to euery one his portion so that albeit he be mercifull yet it is to those onely that keepe his commandements For although all be sinners and therby seeke to creepe away closely that way as it were in the darke that they might not bee espyed yet we must know this that some are repentant sinners for whom there is mercy in store some are obstinate sinners the Scripture hath no mercy for them but terrors threatnings and iudgements and punishments because vpon such wicked he will raine snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup for the righteous Lord loueth righteousnesse his countenance doth behold the vpright Psal 11.6 7. Now such as continue in the course of their sins are ready to beleeue that God is merciful but they beleeue not the Scripture that he is mercifull onely vnto such as repent they perswade themselues falsely that they may run on in euill wayes and yet find mercy at the latter end which is directly contrary to the whole doctrine of the Scriptures And yet these men aske shall we not beleeue the Scripture to be true Whereas they beleeue one part of the Scripture but they call into question another part they lay holde on his promises but they stop their eares against his iudgements nay they doe not so much as beleeue the promises aright neither will learn to whom they are deliuered in whom they shall be verified which sauoureth altogether of infidelity and vnbeliefe Besides as they derogate from the verity of the Scriptures so they deny God after a sort and turne him into a lie make him an idoll to stand stil and doe nothing For to imagine in our heart a GOD wholly compact of mercy that seeth sinne but will not punish it that knoweth who sinneth but will let him alone is to deny the true God who as he is merciful so he is also iust This the Prophet Nahum testifieth in the beginning of his Prophesie The Lord is iealous â—â—m 1 2 3 and the Lord reuengeth the Lord reuengeth and is furious the Lord will take vengeance on his aduersaries and reserueth wrath for his enemies The Lord is slowe to anger great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked c. And heereunto accordeth the description of him Exod. 34 6 7. The Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiuing sinne and that will by no meanes cleere the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers vpon the children and vpon the childrens children vnto the third and fourth generation Such then as thinke they may proceede and goe forward in their transgressions without controlement or punishment because God is a mercifull God do vtterly deceiue themselues make a snare to entrap their owne soules The wise man saith that to iustifie the wicked and to condemne the innocent are both of them an abhomination vnto the Lord Prou. 17 15. If then he hate it in all the sonnes of men how shall we imagine that the Lord will do or can do either of theÌ„ Let vs therefore so conceiue of God as hee hath taught vs in his holy word let vs not make a counterfeit god nor set vp an Idoll in our heart for he will be serued no therwise then he hath appointed To conclude we must know that whosoeuer denieth 〈◊〉 of the threatnings denounced in the word denyeth a part of the Scripture and as much as lyeth in him maketh God a lyar who will as well execute his judgements as performe his promises forasmuch as hee is faithfull in both And whosoeuer imagineth that God is onely mercifull consequently denieth his iustice hath not the true God for his God but committeth horrible idolatry in coÌ„ceiuing wrongfully of his Maiesty Vse 4 Fourthly seeing such damages and iniuries as are offered to our brethren doe reach to God are condemned as sinnes against him it should teach vs to looke to our own waies to practise iustice and equity toward them to take heed of all fraud forgery falsehood oppression whatsoeuer forasmuch as hee will take an account of vs and bring vs vnto a
dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell Such naughty women are called euery where in this booke strangers though they be too familiar and well known and thrust themselues into the company of others because they should be strangers vnto vs and not of our acquaintance There is nothing more common in them then to entice young men by wanton gestures lasciuous words and plausible perswasions to dalliance and delight It is a great fauour of God to be preserued from their baites and kept from their snares yea it is a farre greater mercy to be secured from harlots then to be kept from the pestilence they shew greater wisdome that shun and passe by their houses and company then they that forsake places persons that are infected with some dangerous and deadly disease Euery one is forward to beware hee come not neere any pest-house for feare of his life but if we assemble into harlots houses we run in danger of soule body It is an easie matter to fall into a pit where a man may be drowned but it is not so easie to get out of it The wanton woman is as a deepe ditch and a narrow pit and a dangerous hole whereinto a man may slip hastily at vnwares but he shall hardly come out from thence or deliuer himselfe without the speciall goodnesse of God pulling him as it were out of the fire and setting his feete in safety For as a theefe lurketh in a denne or wood to get a prey so doth she lye in waite and vseth baites to steale away the hearts of men and thereby preuaileth mightily with many in the world Among all dangers this is not the least that Salomon speaketh of â— 2 19. None that goe vnto her returne againe neither take they hold of the pathes of life These words do not absolutely deny repentance to them that are falleÌ„ or shut the gate of mercy against them that haue sinned but the meaning is that few yea very few escape destruction returne to saluation because they sildome repent It is a very rare thing to see a penitent adulterer they leaue the sinne when it leaueth them because they can follow it no longer but they do not repent of it they do not sorrow for it they do not flie from it Hence it is that you shall hear many old men whose strength is decaied whose bodies are withered whose feet are already entred in a manner into their graues laugh heartily at the remembrance of their tricks of youth and talke wantonly filthily of the prankes which they haue plaied so that from the abundance of the heart â—h 12 34. the mouth speaketh and their corrupt communication testifieth that they neuer soundly repented of their vncleannesse No maruaile therefore if the wise man peremptorily declare that few or none of those that are giuen ouer to this lewdnesse of life do come to repentance for albeit some few find grace yet in comparison of such as run on headlong liue securely to the end in their wickednes they may worthily be said to be none at all They are so blinded besotted that they cannot see their own filthines they are so dull and deafe that they cannot heare those that admonish them nay they hate those that reproue them The Apostle Paul exhorting the Corinthians to flye fornication â— 6 18. which was most common in those daies â—â—es to a â—fornica and esteemed a slight or no sin at all vseth many notable reasons of great weight importance worthy to be considered of vs. One reason or motiue is this that our bodies are the Lords and must be seruiceable vnto him â— 6 13. The body is not for fornication but for the Lord. Wherfore hath he giuen to vs our body but that we should serue him in our body We are not to yeeld our members as instruments of vnrighteousnes vnto sin â—6 13. but we ought to yeeld our selues vnto God as those that are aliue from the dead and so make our members as instruments of righteousnes vnto him First therefore the Apostle reasoneth froÌ„ the end of our creation Secondly the Lord Iesus is ordained appointed to be the Redeemer Sauiour not only of the soule but also of the body therefore he saith the Lord for the body 1 Cor. 6 13. Fornication and sanctification cannot stand together but are contrary one to the other so that they cannot abide in one subiect Christ came into the world to this end that he might redeeme our bodies by his death out of the power of the diuell and sanctifie them by his Spirit If then we giue our selues as seruants to obey the lusts of the flesh wee make void the glorious worke of our redemption wherein mercy iustice and truth kissed one another For herein we see the truth of Gods promise accomplished Gen 3 15. that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpents head and the truth of his threatning fulfilled that man offending shold die the death Herein we may behold the wonderfull iustice of God that because man had sinned man must be punished for otherwise he had not bin a iust God Lastly hereby appeareth the vnspeakable mercy of God toward mankinde who albeit his iustice were such that rather then sin should goe vnpunished he would punish it in his Son 1 Pet. 2 24. Esay 53 12. who bare our sins in his body and made intercession for our transgressions yet found out a way how to redeeme vs when we cast our selues headlong into all misery and made our selues subiect to the greatest thraldome that euer was We are deliuered from the hands of our enemies sin the world and the diuell that we should be holy vnto him that hath called vs. The third motiue is drawne from the glorious resurrection of our bodies as the former was froÌ„ the gracious redemption of our bodies If we would haue them liue with him for euer that shall raise theÌ„ vp we must abstaine from filthy lusts which defile the body therfore the Apostle saith God hath both raised vp the Lord 1 Cor. 6 14. wil also raise vs vp by his own power The author of this great benefit and wonderfull worke is God which passeth and exceedeth mans reason Hence it is that he putteth vs in minde of his power because he is almighty If it were not vnpossible vnto him to create our bodies out of the dust of the earth why shall it not bee possible to raise them out of the dust againe Nay if he were able to make theÌ„ of that which was nothing inasmuch as the Apostle teacheth Heb. 11 3. that the things which are seene were not made of things which doe appeare how much more shall he bee able to giue to euery one his body which he had before Again he teacheth that God hath raised already the Lord Christ froÌ„ death to life therefore
handled before Now wee come to consider the yssue and effect of the whole matter according to the determination of God For as he foretold what should come to passe so hee faileth not in it but accordingly verifieth the same Whatsoeuer hee hath spoken shall fall out whether hee promise any thing vnto vs or threaten any thing against vs. Hee is not as man that he should lye neyther as the sonne of man that hee should repent as Balaam by the Spirit of God prophesieth heereafter in this booke Chapt. 23. verse 19. And Christ our Sauiour teacheth Math. 5 18. that Heauen and earth must passe away but one word of his mouth shall not passe away but all shall be accomplished and fulfilled This euent heere mentioned is two-fold First respecting the guilty in the 27. Verse where it is shewed that shee shall perish according as shee sinned and her name shall turne into a Prouerbe of cursing Secondly in respect of the innocent because by drinking of the water shee shall receiue and feele no hurt but God will turne that wrongfull suspition and causelesse calumniation into a great blessing and so reward her innocency that he wil turne the heart of her husband toward her who hath the hearts of all men in his power and turneth them about as pleaseth him so that they shall mutually loue one another and be blessed in their children that shall be giuen vnto them Now the question may be asked Obiect whether this force to discerne betweene the guiltie and the innocent and to bring to light the things that were hidden in darkenesse were in the water it selfe and a qualitie inherent in it and infused into it I answer Answer we must ascribe no power to the water it selfe which in regarde of the substance was no other then common Water forasmuch as both the guilty and the vnguilty did drinke of it or at least might drinke of it The whole force proceeded from the operation of God and his holy institution The brazen Serpent set vpon a pole and looked vppon by them that were bitten by the fierie Serpents did heale them so that albeit they were stung yet they dyed not Howe came this to passe Was it in regard of the matter or of the forme Surely of neyther but all the vertue proceeded from GOD the author of it When Christ healed the blinde man Iohn 9. verse 6. He spate vpon the ground and made clay of the spettle he annointed the eyes of the blinde man with the clay and bad him wash in the poole of Siloam who went his way and washed and returned seeing All men know and can easily iudge that this could not by any naturall operation restore sight to the blind so that it was Christ that healed him not the spettle not the clay not the annointing not the washing This may bee expressed and conceiued by the miracle that Christ shewed vpon the woman that had an issue of blood Mat. 9 20. Marke 5 28. She came behind him and touched the hem of his garment for she said If I may touch but his clothes onely I shall be whole what then Did his garments heal her or were they the cause that her fountain of blood stanched and dried vp No it was the power of Christ that gaue a blessing to the weake meanes and therefore he saith to his disciples Some bodie hath touched me Luke 8 46. for I perceiue that vertue is gone out of me He saith not out of the border of my garment which shee hath touched Shee touched indeede the garment of Christ but it was her faith in Christ that made her whol So in this place both sorts that came to be tryed drunke of the water and according as they were either innocent or not innocent so it fell out vnto them howbeit it was God that vnderstandeth all secrets that brought the trueth to light not any inherent strength that was in the waters Verse 27. And when he hath made her to drinke the water c. Heere wee haue obserued that the successe of the whole busines is contained wherein Moses declareth what doth follow and most certainly come to passe if the woman haue beene abused Heere is set down the temporall punishment that shall come vpon her The more she hath stood vppon her purgation and the greater her impudency and shamelesnesse hath beene the more notorious is her sinne and the more notable is her punishment God hauing all meanes in his owne hand could haue punished her if it had pleased him otherwise but to make it the better appeare that he is the maintainer and preseruer of marriage which is his owne institution and that all might acknowledge the iudgement to be from his hand hee punisheth her in those parts wherewith shee had offended Hee hath all diseases in his owne power to bring vpon the breakers of his ordinance and the transgressors of his Law he might therefore haue stricken her with the leprosie or with plague and pestilence with the consumption with incurable agues or with such an issue of blood as we heard off before in the woman that was cured by touching of Christs garment but to brand her with a perpetuall marke of infamy and to shew how hee hateth adultery hee meeteth with her in her owne kind and punished those parts of her body which she had abused Ezek 16.25 She had opened her feet as the Prophet speaketh to euery one that passed by so that shee became as a wife that committeth adultery which taketh strangers in stead of her husband Her filthinesse was powred out and her nakednesse discouered her belly and thighes communicated to another howbeit her pleasure should be turned into paine and she should be iudged as women that breake wedlocke she should feele the curse of God end her daies in reproach for as she had sinned with her belly so her belly should swell through greatnesse and anguish and as she had opened her thighes so they should rot away so that she shold be punished where she most deserued and become a fearefull spectacle of a forlorne creature and a liuing carkasse consuming in her flesh and dying being yet aliue We doe all learne from hence Doctrine God punisheth in the same things wherein men and women offend and in the same maner that God doth not onely punish sinne but he punisheth sinne in his owne kinde He dealeth with men and women in his punishments as they deale with him in their transgressions so that according as we sinne so we are punished We see this by infinite examples laid before vs in the word of God Consider with me the enemies persecuters of Daniel that sought his life and caused him to be cast into the Lyons denne but how doth God meete with them he might haue reuenged himselfe vpon them by his owne immediate hand but hee would not for they perish and are punished the same way Dan. 6.14 for the king commanded to bring
to the people of God and to prouide for them in their necessities and to deliuer them from the oppressions of the mighty in consideration whereof he is bold to intreate the Lord to thinke vpon him for good according to all that he had done for his people Neh. 5 19. So is it lawfull for vs to craue of God to be mindfull of vs in goodnesse according as we haue done to others and dealt toward them If we remember God we may be assured that he will remember vs. If we be carefull to heare his word he is carefull to heare our prayers according to his promise He will returne like for like care for care hearing for hearing and blessing for blessing If we be carefull to heare his voyce his eares are open to heare vs and if we blesse him he will blesse vs. And as he hath promised to heare them that heare him so hee hath threatned not to heare them that will not heare him Prou. 1 28 29. They shall call vpon me but I will not answer they shall seeke me early but they shall not finde me for that they hated knowledge and did not chuse the feare of the Lord. And to this purpose speaketh the Lord in the Prophets Micah 3 4. Zach. 7 13. They shall cry vnto the Lord but he will not heare them hee will euen hide his face from them at that time as they haue behaued themselues ill in their doings This is a greeuous threatning and full of all discomfort It is as it were the top of all misery to haue God stop his eares against vs. To liue in this sort is worse then a thousand deaths If a Subiect had a petition to put vp to the Prince and knew he would turne away his face from him how neare would it goe vnto him and how would he bee discouraged Or if a childe knew that whatsoeuer he asked of his father should be denied vnto him except he obeyed his father in that whereunto he exhorted him I suppose it would stirre vp the sonne to doe the will of his father In like manner it ought to be with euery one of vs. Seeing God hath bounded and limited his hearkning vnto our voyce when we speake vnto him with this condition that wee hearken vnto his voyce when he speaketh vnto vs it ought to moue vs to heare his word with feare reuerence and to expresse the power of it in obedience that so we may comfort our selues with assurance of Gods mercy toward vs in regard of our zeale and affection toward him Thirdly from hence we may learne to bee Vse 3 patient vnder the punishments that do befall vs. For seeing God will punish vs in the same manner that we offend when we feele perceiue that he meeteth with vs and hath found vs out and that we can no longer be hidden nor our actions from his eyes let vs stoope downe vnder his hand and hold our peace because he hath done it Let vs not fixe and fasten our eyes vpon the earth beneath nor dwell vpon the meditations of mens dealings toward vs but lift our hearts vnto God who alwaies punisheth vs iustly he being the righteous Iudge of all the world to whom is incident no vnrighteousnesse If we bee slandered and defamed by others let vs consider whether we haue not done the like to others and therefore the Lord recompenceth vs in the same kinde and as it were taketh our feet in the snare that we haue laid for others and casteth vs into the same pit which we digged for them as it fell out to Haman who was hanged vpon his owne gallowes so that as we haue wronged others it falleth out that we must receiue wrong from others This is the vse that Salomon pointeth out in the booke of Ecclesiastes Eccl. 7 21 â— Take no heed vnto all wordes that are spoken lest thou heare thy seruant curse thee for oftentimes also thine owne heart knoweth that thou thy selfe likewise hast cursed others Let vs therefore be patient in iniuries let vs not slander them that slander vs nor reuile them that reuile vs nor speake euill of them that speake euill of vs. Moses is commended that when Miriam and Aaron rose vp against him and moued sedition by reason of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married he possessed his soule with patience and bare all their reproches with meeknesse of spirit for hee was very meeke aboue all the men that were vpon the face of the earth Numb 12 3. Numb 1â— 1 It is said of Saul being made King of Israel that when the children of Belial saide How shall this man saue vs and they despised him in their hearts he gaue them not taunt for taunt nor rebuke for rebuke hee commanded not the standers by to take away their liues albeit they deserued it and he had power in his hand to do it but he held his peace 1 Sam 10 1â— and passed by their reproches as a blinde man that saw them not as a deafe man that heard them not and as a man without sense that felt them not When Shemei reproched Dauid and cursed him with an horrible curse Dauid with patience abstaineth and with perswasion refraineth others from reuenge that offered themselues to take off the head of that dead dogge so that he saide Let him alone 2 Sam. 16 â—2 it may bee that the Lord will locke vpon mine affliction and requite good for his cursing this day Hee could haue returned vpon him curse for curse nay wounds for words but he knew well enough and teacheth it to others in another place that hee which loueth cursing the same shall come vpon him Ps 10â— 1â— â— and hee that delighteth not in blessing it shall be farre from him because as he cloathed himselfe with cursing like as with his garment so it shall come into his bowels like water and like oyle into his bones It is well said of an heathen man Sentâ—â— Feare none more then thine owne conscience This is the right and ready way to get a good name and to keepe it being gotten to iudge of others with right iudgement and christian equity carrying a charitable opinion of euery one thinking well of them speaking the best of them and couering the multitude of infirmities as Shem and Iaphet did the nakednesse of their father This is true charity indeed and heereby we may assure our owne hearts that wee loue not in word and tongue onely but in deed and truth The counsell of the Prophet is good wholesome to this purpose Psal 34.12 13 14 15. What man is hee that desireth life and loueth many daies that he may see good Keepe thy tongue from euill and thy lippes from speaking guile depart from euill and doe good seeke peace and pursue it The reason is because the eyes of the Lord are vpon the righteous and his eares are open vnto their cry whereas the face of the Lord
which are in Egypt and haue heard their cry by reason of their Taske-masters for I know their sorrowes and I am come downe to deliuer them out of the hands of the Egyptians c. He is not ignorant what teares we shead but keepeth them in a bottle of remembrance he knoweth what prayers we poure out for they ascend vp into his presence as incense hee heareth the sighes and grones that come from vs for he vnderstandeth that language The spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what wee should pray for as we ought 〈◊〉 8.26 but the spirit it selfe maketh intercession for vs with gronings which cannot be vttered And albeit he hold his peace for a time and seeme to winke at their cruell practises as if he saw them not or heard them not or knew them not yet when the appointed time commeth he will no longer keepe silence but shew himselfe to be the deliuerer of his people and the reuenger of his and their enemies We saw before out of the booke of Exodus what mercy he promiseth to his people being in misery He had a feeling of their afflictions and after a sort felt what they felt Behold what words of comfort sweeter then the hony the holy combe he vttreth I haue seene I haue heard I know I am come downe He saw their afflictions he heard their cryes he hath knowne their sorrowes he came downe to deliuer them from their persecuters If the Lord had vsed only one of these words I haue surely seene the affliction of my people it had beene as balme to refresh vs it had beene as marrow vnto our bones and as wine and oyle powred into our wounds but when he vseth foure words it is more then a doubling and a trebling of our comfort to asswage the bitternesse of the crosse so that albeit it be more sharp then vineger more bitter then gal wormwood yet they are sufficient to allay the one the other Reasons why God holdeth his peace in our afflictions God doth sometimes after a sort hide himselfe and hold his peace turne his back from vs whē we are in trouble to manifest the more the greatnesse of his power and mercy in our deliuerance to stirre vs vp to prayer and calling vpon him for helpe to teach vs to remoue all confidence and trust in our selues or in the sons of men to weane vs from the loue of the world to encrease our zeale to try our faith and patience and to harden the hearts of our enemies that he may gaine glory to his great name in their destruction He doth not delay to helpe vs and put off the time to deliuer vs because he hath forsaken vs or forgotten vs it is not because he is not able to restore vs it is not because he cannot represse and quaile the fury of our enemies it is not because he hath cast off the care of vs forasmuch as he knoweth what they practise and what we suffer according to the heauenly saying of the Psalmist Psal 34.11 The eyes of the Lord are vpon the righteous and his eares are open vnto their cry but the face of the Lord is against them that doe euill to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth Let vs therefore comfort our selues in God while we finde no comfort at all in men Let vs put on the armour of prayer and teares these are our spirituall weapons strong to throw downe mountaines and mighty to preuaile against the greatest tyrants that seeke to deface the trueth and destroy the Church The weapons of the Church are not swords and staues or speares and shields or munition and multitudes of men but as the warfare of it is spiritual and that it wrastleth not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers against the rulers of the darkenesse of this world and against spiritual wickednes in high places so the weapons thereof must be spirituall answerable vnto the battell which we are to make and fit to encounter such aduersaries as oppose against vs. To this purpose doth the Prophet bring in the Church putting their confidence in him Lord in trouble haue they visited thee Esay 26.16 17 they powred out a prayer when thy chastening was vpon them like as a woman with child that draweth neere the time of her deliuery is in paine and cryeth out in her pangs so haue we beene in thy sight O Lord. The like we see in Iehoshaphat when many enemies came against him and his people to cast them out of the possession which God had giuen them to inherit he rested not in his owne power neither trusted he in his owne policy but dependeth vpon God and flyeth vnto him saying O our God wilt thou not iudge them for we haue no might against this great company that commeth against vs neither know we what to do but our eyes are vpon it hee and all Iudah stood before the Lord with their little ones their wiues and their children 2. Chron. 20.12.13 On the other side as this consideration of Gods infinite knowledge and discouery of all secrets ministreth exceeding comfort to the godly that lie vnder the crosse and putteth them in assured hope of future deliuerance so it serueth as a terrour to all their enemies that oppresse them and trouble them they shall not escape him that seeth their counsels though they digge neuer so deepe to hide them hee heareth their slanders and reprochful taunts though they seeke to couer them neuer so cunningly and secretly God that is omnipotent cannot be vniust he will reward euery one according to his works and therefore Elihu saith in the booke of Iob His eyes are vpon the wayes of man and hee seeth all his goings there is no darkenesse nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselues Iob 34.21 22. They thinke they goe closely to worke but alas poore blinde men they see not that God seeth them They thinke they haue a vizard ouer their faces and cannot bee knowne whereas their foule offences are written in their forehead They thinke they are in the darke and couered with the night whereas the light shineth round about them more cleerly then the Sun at noone day This ought to strike a feare of Gods power and presence into the hearts of all wicked men No man is so impudent and past shame to commit euill in the Magistrates sight and before his eyes whom he knoweth to bee endued with authority armed with power and to beare the sword of iustice in his hand to cut off all euill doers Shall wee then dare doe that before God which we dare not doe before men or shall we presume to doe that in his sight which we are ashamed or afraid to doe in the presence of mortall man He is all an eye to see all he is all an eare to heare all he is all an heart to vnderstand all Or shall we be so
we do not deny that the Scripture being vnderstood doth enlighten our mindes but it is not therfore lightsome because it is vnderstood of vs for then the light therof should wholly depend vpon our vnderstanding Thus if we vnderstand it it shall be lightsome but if we vnderstand it not it shal not be lightsome Nay which is much more absurd if one man vnderstand it it shal be light if another man vnderstand it not it shall not bee light thus at one and the same time it shold be both light not light The truth therefore is that the Scriptures are lightsome two wayes â—â—e holy â—â—â—iptures are â—o wayes â—â—â—â—tâ—ome First in respect of them selues secondly in respect of vs. In respect of themselues they are alwaies lightsome of theÌ„selues and haue light in themselues In respect of vs they are lightsome when we vnderstand them and receiue them and light by them But to returne to the former matter the Minister should be the principall light to hold out the Lanthorne to bring men to heauen and to worke in them repentance as Iohn the Baptist is said to be a burning and a shining light Ioh. 5 35. But euery one also in his place must be a light to shine in knowledge and obedience in doctrine and in life On the contrarie when men are as candles put out there falleth great hurt to the church The danger heereof may be discerned by common experience in an hauen towne if the Lanthorne be taken downe or the candle put out which should direct the ships in the night season into the hauen al the ships and the soules that saile in them are left to the mercy of the winds which are without mercy and so all perish by miserable shippewracke In like manner if men haue no light in their hearts to guide them into the hauen and harbour of the church and consequently of the kingdome of heauen they doe as much as in them lyeth betray their owne soules and drowne themselues in eternall perdition Verse 3. And Aaron did so c. The obedience of Aaron is here described and the Candlesticke set in the Tabernacle described It is saide to be of golde as Reuel 1. the most precious of all Minerals for two causes First because as Gold excedeth all other mettals so the Church exceedeth all other societies of men because in it saluation is only to be found Esay 46 13. all other beeing ordained to preserue this safe and sound Esa 45 14. 49 23. Reuel 21 24 26. Yeâ— it is the glory and honour the beauty and ornament of all other societies kingdomes cities townes houses and persons to be parts of the church inasmuch as otherwise they are parts of the world of the kingdome of darknesse yea aâ— dogs swine and vncleane beasts Ephes 22 11 12 13 c. Secondly because it is most precious deare to God and to Iesus Christ as gold is to man because it is an holye company sanctified by the blood of Christ whom it cost deare to redeeme it Acts 20. The Candlesticke in the Tabernacle was to hold the light for the direction of all that were therein from Euening to morning continually Exod. 27 22. It is the vse of euery Candlesticke to hold to keepe to preserue to continue and to yeelde forth the light to the benefit of others This doth mystically represent the church Doctrine teacheth that the church is as the Lords golden candlestick appointed to hold and keepe the light treasury of the Word for euer It is the office of the church to holde and keep the word for euer that it should neuer bee lost or embeselled from vs to the end of the world And as the Candlesticke was to hold the light to the first comming of Christ so is the church to preserue the truth vntil the second comming of Christ It is therefore the office of the church and of euery true member thereof to keepe in it and to publish abroad and to hold out to those that are in it the truth of Gods word to direct their pathes aright as Deut. 31 20. The booke of the Law after that it was written was by the Lord himselfe committed to the Israelites to be kept in the side of the Arke of the couenant The Prophet Esay sheweth That the Word should go forth out of Sion where it was kept into the middest of the earth Chap. 2.3 And the Apostle declareth that the Iewes had the Oracles of God committed vnto them of trust Rom. 3 2. and that to them appertained who were the onely church the adoption and the glory and the Couenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of God and the promises Rom. 9 4. And Paul is said to haue written vnto Timothy that hee should know how he ought to behaue himselfe in the house of GOD which is the Church of the liuing God the pillar ground of the truth 1 Tim. 3.15 By all which testimonies wee are taught that the Church holdeth and bringeth the truth Esay 41 27. and conueieth it vnto vs and that wee can no otherwise receiue it or be partakers of it For further proofe heereof obserue with Reason 1 me the titles that are giuen vnto it It is a safe keeper or treasurer to keepe as it were vnder locke and key the holy Iewels of the olde and new Testament that they be neither corrupted by Heretikes nor destroyed by other enemies It is as a cunning Goldsmith to try euery thing Whit. de Scrip. quaest 3. Cap. 2. for as he discerneth pure gold from counterfet mettalles so the church discerneth true Scripture from false or forged books and writings It is as a crier to publish and make knowne the decrees of almighty God It is an Interpreter to expound the sence and to open the meaning of the Scriptures according to the proportion of faith set forth in other parts Secondly it is a great honor and wonderfull preferment that God giueth vnto the Church aboue al other societies and places of the world besides And indeede there can bee no greater honor then to be put in trust with such a treasure If a man should vpon trust commit vnto another a great treasure and make choyse of him to leaue it with him it is a signe he honoreth and respecteth him before and aboue others so is it betweene God and his Church he hath laid vp his trueth in his Church as in his store-house Ps 147 19 20. He hath giuen his word to Iacob his statutes and ordinances vnto Israel he hath not dealt so with other Nations as for his iudgements they haue not knowne them This made the Apostle say What is then the preferment or aduantage of the Iew Or what profit is thereof circumcision much euerie day shewing thereby that God committing his Oracles vnto them did aduance and prefer them farre aboue all other Nations Thirdly the church is the house
prayer for the distressed when hee should poure out his Meditation before the Lord as appeareth in their seuerall titles yea Christ our Sauiour that had the greatest grace of prayer who continued the whole night in prayer to God Luke 6 12. yet did not forbeare and abstain in prayer from vsing the same words oftentimes Math. 26. verse 44. This truth will the better appeare if wee Reason 1 consider that the Lord Iesus himself hath left a preâ—cript forme of prayer not as a patterne or platforme onely but likewise to bee vsed as a prayer So that his doctrine is according to his practise he prayed in the garden three times vsing the same words and he alloweth his Disciples to do the like yet who may bee compared vnto him He did it not thorough want of wordes or matter who had the treasures of wisedome in him Therefore he saide to his Disciples After this manner pray you Matth. 6 9. If we may pray after that manner then wee may pray after a set forme whether it bee read in booke or rehearsed without booke Secondly Reason 2 it is the common rule of Christ and his Apostles that whosoeuer asketh in faith shall be heard whether it be in a prescript forme or otherwise It is faithful prayer which pleaseth God and auaileth much and without faith nothing is accepted Thirdly it is requisite Reason 3 for order sake For vniformity is a notable meanes to auoide confusion and therefore the church heeretofore hath vsed the same the most reformed churches at this day vse it from which wee are not slightly to dissent and disagree and so to reiect read praiers and set formes Lastly the Apostle auoucheth That he would pray with the Spirit 1 Cor. 14 15. and he would pray with the vnderstanding also but a new prayer neuer heard of is not so well vnderstood conceiued of the simple neither can they so rightly readily answer Amen vnto it But the same form vsed the oftner it is heard the better it is vnderstood In men there are for the most part sundry wants as ignorance in the minde forgetfulnesse in the memory defect of vtterance fit to be in him that should speake vnto God feare and bashfulnesse in the affections that they cannot deliuer the desires of their heart in the presence of others much dulnesse and deadnesse in the soule yet we are not to debar such from prayer all which wants a set forme helpeth Vse 1 The vse heereof is to conuince those that are of the separation which haue rent themselues from vs and made a rent in the Church as Schismatickes who holde it vnlawfull to vse any set formes of prayer yea euen that forme of prayer which our Sauiour hath taught and commanded These do not onely hold it to be vnlawfull but account it an abhominable idoll The opinion of those of the separation touching set formes of prayer and as loathsome to God as the offering vp of swines flesh in the time of the law These be their owne words to be read in the bookes of Greenwood and Barow two principall Sectaries and ring-leaders in this diuision They account it no better then lippe-labour nay not so good they hold it to bee a stinting of the Spirit But to leaue words and to passe by their bold assertions let vs heare what they answer to our reasons then reason against their answers We alledge that Christ expressely willeth vs to pray thus and the Priests in the law were expressely charged to blesse the people thus This is our warrant to iustifie our practise now marke I pray you their answer and compare the one with the other They tell vs boldly that Christ willeth not his disciples to pray this but thus and that the Priests were not required to vse these very words of blessing because the Hebrew word Coh Coh vsed in that place is an aduerbe of similitude as if it had bene saide vnto them Ye shall blesse them after this maner or after a like sort This cannot bee to tie them to the same words but to do it according to the same instructions For nothing like to another is the same But this by their patience is no better then a shift and cauill For be it that they were not required to vse the same forme and frame of words yet were they forbidden to vse theÌ„ or if they had vsed them had they offered vp swines flesh had they committed Idolatrie had it bene an idolatrous kinde of seruice for they forbid the people to vse the Lords prayer as a prayer Neither do wee say that the Priests were precisely tied to vse the same and no other words but we would know of them whether they wer forbidden to vse the same To which question I thinke they will not answer in hast The Hebrew word vpon which they lay the waight foundation of all their building is vsed throughout the olde Testament and the vse of it by Moses and the Prophets serueth fully and notably to pul vp their conceit by the rootes and that the weaknesse of their answer and exception may appeare the better let vs see the vse of it in some particular places When Moses was sent to the children of Israel to say That the God of their Fathers had sent him vnto them and pleaded for himselfe that they would say vnto him What is his name God saide vnto him I am that I am Exod. 3 13 1â— 15. Thus shalt thou say vnto the children of Israel I am hath sent me vnto you Heere we haue the same word vsed Now according to their exposition Moses is not commanded to speake the same words at any time because Thus as they say is not the same but the like and to that effect and nothing like is the same So then if he were demanded what was his name that sent him hee might in no case say if wee will beleeue these nouelties I am that I am hath sent me forasmuch as he vseth the aduerbe of likenesse for hee sayeth Thus which is not the same Câ—h but some such like thing Nâ—y their opinion is yet more grosse and absurd for they turn Gods precept into a prohibition and whereas God commandeth Moses what hee shall say they say he is forbidden to vse those very words and allowed onely to speake to that purpose And afterward when God said vnto him verse 15. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel The Lord God of your Fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob hath sent me vnto you this is my name for euer and this is my memoriall vnto all generations If their glosse were granted he might not say The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and of Iacob hath sent me vnto you this had beene vtterly vnlawfull for him he must take heede he say not so in any case no though the Lord tell him This is his name
waies First by his merit because his death is the propitiation for our sins whereby the wrath of God is appeased and we are absolued Rom. 3 24 25. and 5 8. Eph. 1 6 7. 1 Tim. 2 6. He paid a great price for vs and thereby hath reconciled vs vnto his Father The other cleansing is made by sanctification of the Spirit regenerating our nature and mortifying sinne in our flesh by the power of his death and resurrection Rom. 6 6 7 8. 1 Iohn 1 7. Heb. 1 3. The heathen had their continuall purgations from offences by sacrifices and they had likewise their sprinklings washings with pure water but all these were impure and vnprofitable vnto them because they wanted the inward truth which was the life of them Hence it is that the Poet saith Ter pura socios circumluit vnda â— Aeneid Spargens rore leui et ramo foelicis oliuae Lustrauitaque viros And againe in another place â— Aeneid Donec me flumine viuo Abluero That is they washed themselues and sprinkled themselues and others with pure waters therby thought themselues cleansed But these actions were meere nullities like Pilates taking water and washing of his hands before them all saying I am innocent of the blood of this iust person see ye to it Mat. 27 24. but the blood of Christ did cleaue neerer vnto him then all the water in the sea could wash away or like the circumcision of the Edomites and other Nations they had the outward action but they wanted the inward signification In like manner the Papists haue their holy-water wherewith they sprinkle such as enter into their Churches and defend their practise from this place But this is as much as to abolish Iesus Christ and to bring vs backe againe to Moses it is no better then when we haue the pure fountaine to seeke the myery puddles of our owne inuentions and to digge to our selues cesternes that will hold no water For the Apostle maketh the Iewish purifyings to be a ceremoniall rudiment Heb. 9.19 where he ioyneth the blood of calues and goates with water and scarket wool and hyssope together wherewith the booke and the people were sprinkled Now if they will retaine this hallowed water ground it likewise from the wordes of Moses they must make it also of the same matter that this was made off to wit of the ashes of a red heifer and that heifer must be first burned and also vse the other actions and rites heere named and remembred But as they haue no commandement to make it so they haue no promise annexed vnto it To leaue them and to come vnto our selues though wee haue iustly abrogated the outward sprinkling with this holy water yet wee haue the true water and the true sprinkling First therefore we learne hereby that wee are by nature vncleane and impure from the which we cannot be freed by the strength of our nature but by the blood of Christ represented vnto vs in baptisme by which wee are washed This is no vaine figure but hath his force from the ordinance of God Rom. 6.3 Gal. 3.27 Againe this teacheth vs that wee ought to come vnto God into his presence with all purity and holinesse therefore it is said that God heareth not sinners such as haue sinne reigning in them but if any bee a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth Ioh. 9.31 and we must lift vp pure hands 1 Tim. 2.8 Psal 26.6 and 134.2 The Prophet reproueth the Iewes that brought many oblations and offered vp many prayers but they were all reiected because their hands were full of blood Esay 1. And the Lord foreshewing the state of the Church in the time of the Gospel declareth that a pure offering should be offered vnto him Mal 1.11 Lastly we are all put in mind from hence to labour after true sanctification and holinesse of life that we may be cleane within and without We must not vainely boast of any inward purity when none appeareth outwardly for if wee cleanse that first which is within the outside will be cleane also neither should wee foolishly glory of that which is outward when there is none at all within for that is meere hypocrisie and dissimulation This also doeth the sprinkling of the water of separation signifie vnto vs as also in that they which medled with the burning of this red heifer were vncleane vntill the euen and must wash their garments before they come into the congregation verse 7.2 The Apostle setteth downe the trueth heereof 2. Corinthians Chap. 7. verse 1.2 Let vs cleanse our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God So that sinne is an vncleane thing like the dung of this heiffer which is commanded to be burned and consumed verse 5. and it maketh vs vncleane and loathsome vnto God Iames 1 21. Rom. 6 19. Reuel 3 18 and 22 11. We see therefore heereby what to iudge of those that liue and delight in their sinnes namely that they are as filthy and polluted persons euen as a man that hath a running sore or issue about him though he be neuer so richly apparelled and haue all the sweet sauours that may bee yet he still remaineth a polluted person so is it with a man that abideth in sinne though he abound neuer so much in riches and pleasures though he bee clad in purple and fare deliciously euery day yet he is filthy odious and abhominable in the sight of God of which we haue spoken before in the 5. chapter Againe this teacheth euery man to be carefull to auoid sinne as a leprosie because it is so foule and filthy and that which will pollute him if he suffer it to continue with him To conclude let euery one bee willing to suffer the word of exhortation and be content to vndergo a reproofe for his sinnes that it may be a sanctified meanes to bring him to be clensed from his filthinesse and so be made a fit vessell to be receiued of the Lord into euerlasting happinesse in his kingdome CHAP. XX. IN the former part of this Booke Moses hath set downe many murmurings of the Israelites against God and against Moses and Aaron the seruants of God through wearinesse of their iourneyes through loathing of Manna thorough the emulation of Miriam through the report of the Spies through the enuy of the Leuites through the indignation and discontentment of the people for Gods iudgements against the rebellious whereby it came to passe notwithstanding they were compassed about with manifold mercies of God as with a wall that they waxed impatient and fretting against God vnthankfull and forgetfull of his former benefits distrustfull disdaining the present blessings they enioyed His right hand had deliuered them out of Egypt his out-stretched arme had diuided the waters of the red Sea and set them on an heap the Cloud had shadowed them the Pillar of fire had conducted them the
as the tree and the fruit so that we may proue the one by the other death by sinne and sinne by death the one giuing light and luster to the other The vses remaine to be considered First see Vse 1 heereby a difference betweene this present life and the life to come Heere the reliques and remnants of sinne as spots and staines in the flesh remaine euen in those that are cleansed by the blood of Christ and washed by the renuing of the holy Ghost But when the faithfull shal be glorified they shal be without blame not hauing spot or wrinkle or any such thing Take heere the best Examples of the best men that haue liued in the best times as Noah Abraham Lot Dauid and Peter yet yee shall see shame in glory darknesse in light folly in wisdome infidelity in faith But when Christ shall appeare and we likewise appeare with him in glory we shall be made like vnto him Therefore the Apostle saith noting out this difference We know in part and we prophesie in part but when that which is perfect is come 1 Cor. 13.9 10 12. then that which is in part shall be abolished Now we see through a glasse darkly but then shall we see face to face Now I know in part but theÌ„ shal I know euen as I am knowne Here we ceasse not to prouoke God and euery day of our life addeth to the number and measure of our sins which should be bitter vnto vs as gall and wormewood but when this corruptible shal put on incorruption and this mortall shall put on immortality and death be swallowed vp into victory theâ— we shall ceasse to sin and shal be as the blessed Angels that are in heauen The feruent desire of the creatures waiteth for these times Rom. 8.19 groning and trauelling in pain euen vnto this present to be deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God Much more therfore should we which haue the first fruits of the spirit sigh in our selues waiting for the adoptioÌ„ euen the redemption of our bodies Vse 2 Secondly we learne that such as say they are without sinne deceiue themselues and as much as in them lieth make God a liar we are depriued of his kingdome wee cannot keepe the Law nor haue iustification by the Law or the works of the Law but are iustified freely by grace and haue need of the benefit of Christs blood If we keepe the law we shal liue by it but if we be transgressors of the law we are vnder the curse For it is written Cursed is euery one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the Law to do them Hereunto commeth that which the Apostle Iohn saith If we say wee haue no sinne Ioh 1.8.10 Rom. 3.10 12 24. we deceiue our selues the truth is not in vs we make God a lyar and his word is not in vs. And to the same purpose the Apostle Paul There is none righteous no not one they haue all gone out of the way there is none that doth good no not one we are iustified freely by his grace thorough the redemption that is in Christ Iesus â—ence falleth to the ground the doctrine of merits that aduanceth proud flesh and lifteth vp the supposed worthinesse of vnperfect workes thereby to procure Gods fauour and euerlasting life The Church of Rome place such an inward and inherent dignity in mens persons as maketh them worthy of grace or saluation Moreouer they dreame of such an excellency in the work as fitteth and inableth them to deserue the fauour of God and forgiuenesse of sinnes But in a sight of our sins and in a feeling of our owne corruptions wee must renounce all merits Basil in Psal 114 Aug in Psal 120. and rest onely on the merits of Christ For when we haue done all we must say and confesse that we are vnprofitable seruants c. True it is God wil reward our works but the reward is of mercy not of merit of promise not of debt of grace not of desert Againe hereby falleth another falsehood of theirs holding that good workes are euery way perfect not stained or tainted with sinne but being tryed in the furnace of Gods iudgement will suffer no losse or detriment But the Prophet prayeth Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant for in thy sight shall none that liueth be iustified Psal 143 2. Esa 64.6 And againe in another place it is written We haue all beene as an vncleane thing and all our righteousnes or good deeds as filthy clowtes and therefore no good deed of righteous men is without some staine of sin neither can we answer him one of a thousand Lastly we learne that they are deceiued which teach preach a possibility for a man in grace to fulfill Gods law For the Apostle taketh it for a grounded and granted conclusion that the law cannot be fulfilled when hee saith Rom. 8. â— Gal 3 10. It was impossible to the Law to giue vs life because we are vtterly vnable to keepe the condition and therefore God hath sent his Sonne to take our nature vpon him and to abolish sin in our flesh If we could fulfil the law Christ dyed in vaine we might be iustified by the law but Christ dyed not in vaine neither can we bee iustified by the law therfore we cannot fulfill the law Furthermore the Apostle complaineth of his failings defects The law is spiritual Rom 7.14 15 21 22 â— but I am carnall sold vnder sinne what I would that doe I not but what I hate that doe I. I find then that when I would doe good I am thus yoaked that euill is present with me I delight in the law of God concerning the inner man but I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind and leading mee captiue vnto the law of sinne Now whereas many of the faithfull are said to bee iust Gen. 6.9 Iob 1.1 Luke 1.6 and to walke in all the commandements of God without reproofe the meaning is they endeuor to perfection striue to obey God with all their heart and with all their soule as Phil. 3.13 God accepteth the will for the deed and the endeuour to obey for perfect obedience 2 Cor. 8.12 Secondly they exempt themselues from none of the precepts of God but labour to walke in all the knowne points of his commandements albeit they faile in the performance of them ceasse not to acknowledge their owne imperfections Lastly God accepteth them in Christ as perfectly righteous so that albeit their obedience be in it self vnperfect yet is it acceptable to God through Iesus Christ as if it were perfect and his righteousnesse is as truly their owne as if they had wrought it in their owne persons Lastly seeing the most faithfull haue their Vse 3 failings in duties of piety and obedience we must take diligent heed we do not
Psal 80 5 where he complaineth that God had giuen them bread of teares and fed them with teares to drinke in great measure Thou hast made vs a reproch to our enemies thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the Heathen and planted it yet the wilde Boare deuoureth it the beasts of the field eate it vp Vpon this consideration he sheweth his affection and oftentimes doubleth it Returne we beseech thee O God of hosts looke downe from heauen and visite this Vine The like care of redressing the distressed condition of the Church appeareth in Habakkuk for when God reuealed vnto him that for the wickednesse and iniquity the strife and contention of the people he would punish and visite them by the Chaldeans a Nation worser then themselues it cōstrained the Prophet to break out into an earnest prayer When I heard thy voice I trembled and was afraid Lord in wrath and in the middest of iudgement remember mercy Hab. 1 3 6 3 2. What should I adde more The booke of Lamentations sheweth that the horrible desolation of the Church did draw vp whole buckets of water and fountaines of teares frō the Prophet euen bowels of compassion and most earnest praier to God for the deliuery of his people being moued with a sensible feeling of the Churches distresses Lam. 1 and 2 and 3. And although this meditation alone be sufficient Reason 1 to enforce this affection of compassion yet it may be more earnestly considered and deepely enforced by sundry reasons For first nothing ought to be more precious and deare vnto vs then to see the florishing estate of the Church nothing ought to go nearer vnto our hearts and to make our eyes a fountaine of teares to weepe day and night then to behold the decayings and desolations of Sion This appeareth euidently vnto vs Psal 137 1 2 5 where the Prophet layeth downe the miserable estate of the Church vnder the Babilonians and the affection of the Church conceiued vpon that distresse We sate downe and wept when we remembred Sion we hanged our Harpes vpon the willowes in the midst therof if I forget thee O Ierusalem let my right hand forget to play If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleaue vnto the roofe of my mouth yea if I preferre not Ierusalem before my chiefe ioy Wherein ariseth this reason that howsoeuer many things are ministred to comfort the people of God as fauor friends honour glory pleasure and prosperity yet aboue all other ioy the peaceable and prosperous estate of the Church affecteth thē as that which sticketh neerest and cleaueth closest vnto them 1 Pet. 1 12. at the sight wherof the Angels take occasion to wonder at the mercies of God Contrariwise the troubles and tumults raised against the Church beginning to preuaile against it and threatning to make hauocke of it haue caused the greatest sorrow of all other incident to the sonnes of men We see a worthy and memorable example of this in the wife of Phinehas when the Philistims preuailed ouer the people of God many sorrowes fell vpon her one in the necke of another the taking of the Arke the fall of her father the death of her husband the slaughter of her brother the ouerthrow of the hoast the triumph of the enemy yet aboue all as if the rest were nothing the report of taking the Arke was as a sword to pierce through her soule and suffered her not to receiue any comfort in her trauaile but she named her childe Icabod that is no glory saying The glory is departed from Israel because the Arke of God was taken and because of her father in law and her husband She saide againe For the Arke of GOD is taken 1 Sam. 4 19 21 22. Whereby we see that howsoeuer we feele nothing but worldly losses being men of this world whose portion is in this life and are acquainted with nothing but worldly sorrowes which cause death chusing rather to leaue Christ then to lose our commodities to sell our birth-right then to want our pottage like prophane Esau or the swinish Gadarens yet she sealeth vp her sorrow in the name of her sonne and repeateth the departure of the glory from Israel as that which most of all doubled and increased her affliction If then all things in this life are not to bee compared and matched with the prosperous proceeding encrease of the Church in spirituall things if no earthly losse of things neerest and dearest vnto them do so far enter into them as the calamities and ruines of the Church maruaile not if the wants thereof go neere vnto the Church and stirre them vp to labour the redresse thereof in their best meditations Secondly the distresses of the Church set Reason 2 open a wide doore to faithlesse and prophane men to insult contumeliously and to triumph vaine-gloriously ouer the Church as though God had forsaken them left them as a prey in the iawes of the enemy whereby the truth is slandred the Name of God which ought to be precious vnto vs is blasphemed This appeareth Psalm 70 1 4 5 8 10. when the heathen rushed into the inheritance of God defiled the Temple and made Ierusalem an heap of stones that they were a reproch vnto their neighbours euen a scorne and derision to them that were round abound them The Prophet expressing his affection saith Lord how long wilt thou be angry for euer Shall thy iealousie burne like fire And thē he addeth this as a reason Wherfore should the heathen say where is their God Let him bee knowne among th◠heathen in our sight by the vengeance of the blood of thy seruants that is shed So then as on the one side the florishing estate of the Church is that which giueth inward ioy and true comfort of heart aboue all other things to Gods seruants on the other side the distresses of the Church do set open a doore to faithlesse and rebellious men to take aduantage to reioyce ouer the Church and in the spirit of Ismael to scoffe at it with taunts more bitter then gall and wormewood it followeth that the troubles thereof must draw vs to pitty moue vs to prayer and incite vs to vse all good meanes to redresse them The vses follow First we must be greeued for the troubles of the Church as fellow-members Vse of the same body Can that be a true and liuely member that is not any way touched with a fellow-feeling of the rest of the members The Apostle teacheth 1 Corin. 12 25 That the members should haue the same care one for another therefore if one member suffer all suffer with it if one member be had in honour all the members reioyce with it Would wee then know whether we haue Christ for our head coupling vs together whether wee be members of Christ and haue him dwelling in vs by faith and whether we be made bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh
see in the booke of Kings 1 Kings 1â— in Hiel the Betheliâ—e according to the word of the Lord which hee spake by Ioshua the sonne of Nun. The like we see in Zachariah when resting in the power of nature and the strength of his owne body he beleeued not the Angel be was striken dumbe and could not speake vnto the people Luke 1 20. A memorable example also we haue in the streight siege of Samaria where a Prince answered the man of God and saide Though the Lord would make Windowes in the heauen could it come so to passe 2 Kings â— 19 20. And hee saide Behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes but thou shalt not eate thereof and so it came vnto him for the people trod vpon him in the gate and he dyed The Reasons heere of are euident For first Reason the Nature of GOD is true and vnchangeable Heauen and earth shall passe but one iote or tittle of his word shall not passe but shall bee fulfilled This is that which is vrged afterward in this booke Chapter 23.19 1 Sam. 1â— God is not as man that he should lie nor as the son of man that he shold repent Hath he said and shall it not bee done hath he spoken and shal he not accomplish it Seeing therefore God is vnchangeable with whom is no variablenesse or shadow of turning hee will let none of his words fall to the ground he is in one mind and who can turne him yea he doth what his minde desireth Reason 2 Again who can hinder him or say vnto him Why doest thou thus No might no power no policy can withstand him in his workes albeit men rebell neuer so much and resist neuer so mightily against him There is great power in Princes they are able to bring mighty things to passe and to crosse the attempts of others yet sometimes they are crossed and resisted themselues It is not so with the Lord our God 〈◊〉 33. Who is in the heauens and doth whatsoeuer he will He hath the hearts of all euen of Princes in his own hand â—â—b 21 1 as the Riuers of waters he turneth them about as pleaseth him This made the Apostle cry out 〈◊〉 11.33 â—5 â—9 19 O the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God! How vnsearchable are his iudgements and his wayes past finding out For who hath knowne the minde of the Lord Or who was his Counsellor Or who hath giuen him first and he shall be recompenced And who hath resisted his will So then whether wee consider the nature of God without change or the weaknesse of man without power wee may safely and truely conclude that all the threatnings which haue bene pronounced and denounced by the mouth of God shal be verified and performed without any altering or diminishing of them Vse 1 Let vs apply this to our selues and gather assuredly from hence the wofull estate of all wicked and vngodly men For seeing he doth not dally with vs or scare vs without cause so that all his threatnings faithfully denounced shall be vndoubtedly accomplished how shal they escape so great condemnation as lyeth at the doore and hangeth ouer their head Howsoeuer therefore they put away the euill day farre from them and liue as if God sate idle in heauen beholding all things but punishing nothing knowing all hearts and thoghts but not regarding the workes of men saying We haue made a couenant with death and with hell we are at agreement 〈…〉 16. though a scourge run ouer and passe thorough it shal not come at vs for wee haue made falshood our refuge and vnder vanity are we hid yet hee that dwelleth in the heauen shall laugh the Lord shall haue them in derision For what followeth Your couenant with death shal be disanulled and your agreement with hel shal not stand when a scourge shal run ouer and passe through then shal ye be troden down by it This is that which the wise man saith Eccles 8.11 12 13. Because sentence against an euil worke is not speedily executed therefore the heart of the children of men is full set in them to do euill Though a sinner do euil an hundred times and God prolongeth his dayes yet I know that it shal be well with them that feare the Lord but it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his dayes he shall bee like a shadow because he feareth not before GOD. And to the same purpose the Prophet Ezekiel speaketh Chap. 12 22 23 24 25 26 27 28. where the Prophet reprooueth two sorts of persons open deriders of Gods word as if it should neuer be performed and such as prolong the euill daies as if the plagues were for many yeares and should not come in their dayes But God expressely and directly meeteth with them both and bindeth them together in one bundle declaring and making it plaine to their consciences that when he speaketh the word it shall be done and when hee pronounceth a decree it shall stand Thus in all ages of the Church satâ—n preuaileth with the children of disobedience and draweth more to destruction by presumption then he is able to do by desperation Let vs not harden our hearts thorough the deceitfulnesse of sinne Esay 55 6. Let vs seeke the Lord while hee may bee found and cal vpon him while he is neere Secondly let vs ground our faith in the vndoubted Vse 2 performance of those iudgements that are yet to come as that the Lord Iesus at the appointed time will breake the heauens and will come to iudge the quicke and the dead at his appearance and in his Kingdome that the wicked shall rise againe and stand before the barre of Gods throne These things we see not yet accomplished for all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation HeÌ„ce it is that Mockers arise which walke after their lusts and say Where is the promise of his coming 2 Pet. 3 3.4 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a theefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a noise and the Elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt vp Yea When they shal say peace and safety 1 Thess 5 3. then shall come vpon them sodaine destruction as the trauaile vpon a woman with child and they shall not escape Thus the Prophet Malachi prophesieth Behold the day commeth that shall burne as an Ouen and all the proud Malachy 4 1. and all the wicked doers shall be stubble and the day that commeth shall burne them vp and shal leaue them neither roote nor branch Thus then we see a day of iudgement is decreed and determined and remaineth for the appointed time but at last it shall come and not lye though it tarry wait for it shall surely come and not stay Thirdly wee must not be dismayed when Vse
as false and vnreasonable declaring as the truth was that Israel took not away that land which they claimed as their owne but wonne it from the Amorites by the law of warre and Verse 20 by right of conquest who denying them passage and moreouer making assault vpon them constrained them to draw out their swords to defend themselues by occasion whereof they obtained victory through the helpe of God and possessed their Cities And as they tooke them by force of armes so they held thē Verse 26 by prescription of time three hundred yeares So that he declareth that if any had right to those Cities or could lay any iust claime or title vnto them it should be the Moabites who were the lawfull owners of them before Sihon had encroched vpon them and taken them away from the first inhabitants But the Moabites hauing once lost them in battell neuer asked Verse 25 them of the Israelites neither laid any claime vnto them therefore much lesse should the Amonites to whom they appertained not by any iust title neither belonged any way vnto them either as owners by law or conquerers by sword and therefore they had no cause to dispute what right Israel had vnto that Land which now they possessed The second point heere amplified and enlarged is touching the well which by a diuine reuelation to them they had digged For when they departed from the Riuer Arnon they came into a dry place where they wanted water such as the wildernesse affoordeth many where the streames are swallowed vp in the hot sandes but at the speciall commandement of God they were directed what to doe as Peter was where he should cast his Net Luke chapter 5 verse 4 they digged and found water in great abundance and therefore they praise God by an effectuall song of thanksgiuing amplified by many rhetoricall figures as goodly flouers or as precious iewels to beautifie and garnish the same withall For first they eloquently by an Apostrophe turne their speech to the Well it selfe though a dumbe and senslesse creature and speake vnto it as if it had eares to heare and vnderstanding to conceiue Rise vp O Well confessing thereby the great power of God who contrary to the nature of all heauy and weighty things made the water to ascend whose property is to descend and exhorting with many acclamations and loud out-cries one another to the worke Secondly they set downe who were the labourers and workmen about the Well together with the tooles and instruments wherwith they laboured to wit the Princes and Nobles directed by Moses by whose ministery they receiued the Law and holpen with their staues and such like instruments wherewith they laboured fit for that purpose And this is the third myracle which God wrought in giuing them waters First in Rephidim immediately after they had passed ouer the red Sea Exod. 17. The second in the desert of Zin whē they came to Kadesh as we shewed before in the former chapter The third is that recorded in this place in the desert of the Moabites Afterward Moses reckoneth vp other places by which they passed as Mattaanah Nahaliel Bamoth and so that Valley which is in the plaine of the Moabites In this History of the passage of the Israelites from place to place a question Question ariseth what is meant by the booke of the warres of the LORD mentioned in the fourteenth verse For where is it now extant or what is become of it From hence also from such like places many conclude that sundry bookes of Canonicall Scripture are lost I answer Answer the word Sepher is taken diuersly and doubtfully it signifieth any publishing or rehearsing whether it be written or vnwritten whether it be set downe by the pen or vttered by liuely voice as also the word Tradition is taken for that which is deliuered eyther by word of mouth or by course of writing So then we cannot necessarily conclude It is rehearsed therefore it is written Nor thus It is written Therefore it is an holy booke and put into the Canon of the Scripture Let these three things be cleered and decided that it was a booke that it was an holy booke and lastly that it was a Canonicall booke and then wee shall easily be satisfied But Moses speaketh barely of rehearsing the warres not of writing them as if he should say Whensoeuer the warres ordered and disposed by the prouidence of God shall be spoken off this warre also and worke of his shall bee remembred which he hath wisely wrought and accomplished for his people against Vaheb King of the Moabites giuing part of his Country to Sihon that so his owne people might recouer the same out of his hands againe and reteine it as a possession for themselues as Iephtah telleth the Ammonites Iudg. 11 23 24 that they had held it by prescription of a long time peaceably without any molestation from the Moabites or desire of re-entry But if this had bene penned in a booke and reserued to posterity no doubt Ieptah would haue produced it as a sure witnesse to cleere the whole matter and to put it out of all doubt Wherefore this truth must be holden of vs that no part of the Canonicall Scripture No canonical Scripture is lost inspired of God is lost and perished I meane such as was committed as the Lords treasure to the Church for the perpetuall instruction thereof in faith and obedience so that no one oracle or sentence of God can fall away True it is 2 King 22 8. 1 Mac. 1 19. these sacred bookes may sometimes bee neglected and carelesly kept of men they may be furiously burned and despitefully handled by cruell tyrants that seeke the ouerthrow of all piety and religion but they can neuer be finally lost and wholly extinguished As he that keepeth Israel cannot slumber or sleepe so he that keepeth the holy Scripture the glory of Israel cannot slumber nor sleepe For first of all who is the author and enditer of thē but God and will not he preserue his truth and keepe it for the good of his Church in all ages Shal we make him vnable or vnwilling to defend and continue them If vnable we make him a weake and impotent God if vnwilling we make him enuious and malicious both which are farre from the pure and perfect nature of God and cannot stand with his essence Secondly all the workes of God remaine for euer and euer and are done in truth and equity Take a perfect view of all creatures vnder the Sunne which are the workes of his hands though they may be abolished and rooted out in one place yet they continue in another If thou wouldst ascend into the heauens or goe downe into the deepe if thou wouldst take the wings of the morning and dwell in the vtmost parts of the sea which of all the Creatures are now missing What place is void empty What hath beene that is not now being and extant in
the world This is it which the Prophet teacheth Psal 111. The works of his hands are established for euer and euer and are done in truth and equity If then all his works abide and continue from the glorious Creatures in the heauens to the silly worme creeping in the earth much more the holy Scripture must abide without decaying or diminishing as the durable Cedar without rotting and consuming which is not onely his handy-worke but a masterworke chiefe aboue all others as the Diamond among pearles of great price And if the least and lowest creature in the world hath beene in his kinde continued hitherto and shall be continued to the end by the mighty hand of God vpholding and supporting all things that he hath made much lesse shall the Scripture perish and fall away which bringeth greater glory to God and greater gaine to his people Thirdly the Scripture was written for these ends and purposes for instruction and admonition for teaching and confutation for comfort and consolation that so the man of God may be absolute 1 Tim. 3 16 17. Neither was God deceiued in his purpose and intent so that it must remaine continue being written for those endes and vses But what errour can be conuinced what comfort can be receiued what vice can bee corrected what truth can be published what grace can be commended to the Church out of those books which are supposed to be lost Let vs not therefore doubt of Gods prouidence and so shake the faith of the Church thereby Fourthly we see the old Testament hath reserued entirely the Genealogies of the fathers which are not absolutely necessary to faith and saluation as also the whole body of the ceremonies set downe in Leuiticus and other places of the Law which notwithstanding were shadowes of things to come why then should we not presume that the same his prouidence hath also watched ouer other books which more properly belong to our practise and times and so more fitly might informe vs against ignorance teach vs in our religion warne vs in dangers and comfort vs in afflictions And if we haue no word missing or sentence wanting in such bookes as are left to the Church that there should need a void roome or a desunt nonnulla or an Asteriscus and some little starre to giue warning of some defect as we see it is in many prophane writings Dionys Halâ— carâ—as Plutâ— Tuâ—â— Poâ—â—â—â—â—pian Lâ—â—â— and otherâ— and those of the best note how should we be induced to beleeue that whole volumes of the old and new Testament are vtterly lost neuer to be repaired Lastly let vs heare the testimony of the Scripture it selfe obserue what it can say and doth witnesse for it selfe Moses an old and ancient witnesse teacheth Deut. 29 29 that secret things belong to the Lord our God but the things reuealed belong vnto vs and to our children for euer that we may do all the words of this Law But how do they belong vnto vs that are not reserued for vs Or how shall our children be directed by them that cannot be found in their daies or in the daies of their fathers before them Or how shall either father or sonne doe that which they cannot know Heereunto Dauid accordeth Psal 119 152. I haue knowne long since by thy testimonies that thou hast established them for euer And our Sauiour giueth his holy consent vnto this heauenly truth saying Truely I say vnto you till heauen and earth perish one iote or one title of the Law shall not escape till all things be fulfilled Mat. 5 18 and 24 35. So then we must hold the durablenesse and continuance of the Scripture in the Church which is the pillar of truth that it cannot faile or fall away as is prooued at large in the answer to the Preface of the Rhemish Testament But before we proceed to the Doctrines of this diuision it shall not bee amisse to answer the obiections that are raised and mooued against this point touching the perpetuity of the whole Scripture and of euery part of it First wee finde often mention made of the bookes of the Chronicles of the Kings of Iudah and Israel â—ect 1. â—ngs 14 19 â—5 7 11 Iosh 10 3 â—am 1 18. of the booke of the iust such like which are lost If then these be lost and by no meanes to be found how shall we truly say that the whole Scripture doeth continue I answer â—sw these bookes were neuer Canonicall Scriptures but ciuill stories and chronicles of the Commonwealth matters not of the Church whereunto the Reader is directed if he be desirous to reade and know the History more at large whereas the Prophets doe onely touch so much as serued for the edification of the Church and the building of it in faith toward God For as all ciuill Nations haue the Chronicles of their fore-fathers and auncestors actes Ester chap. 6 verse 1. Ezra 4 verses 15 19 so had the Iewes their ciuill Histories such were those wee now speake of which were good and profitable bookes of men but were neuer committed or commended to the care of the Church to be preserued and maintained â—ect 2. Againe we reade in sundry places of the bookes of Nathan and Gad the words of Samuel the works of Ahia of Shemaia of Isaiah and other Prophets which likewise seeme to be lost as well as the other wee named before I answer â—er they seeme so to such as do not duely consider of them which indeed are not lost but contained in the olde Testament in the bookes of Samuel and of the Kings which were not written by any one Prophet but by diuers Prophets at diuers times euen in the seuerall ages wherein they prophesied albeit their seuerall names bee not to euery part expressed as appeareth 2 Chron. chapter 26 verse 22 where the Spirit of God testifieth that Esaiah wrote the actes of Vzziah first and last meaning that he wrote them in the second booke of the Kings and in his Prophesies and not pointing out any book which now is lost both the former bookes remaining as a treasure to the Church As then we confesse these bookes mentioned in this obiection to bee of another nature then those expressed in the former so they haue beene preserued and euer shall bee preserued in the Church and be as it were laide vp in the Arke thereof Thirdly it may bee obiected that many Obiect 3 worthy bookes of Salomon are lost which hee wrote I answer Answ his workes are of two sorts first sundry bookes of Humanity and of Philosophy naturall and morall secondly bookes of Diuinity written as he was moued and inspired by the Spirit of God The first sort of humane and earthly things which the Church might best spare without perill or impeachment of faith haue long since failed as it is thought in the captiuity the rest which are parts of the Canonicall Scriptures do abide And marke
the Patriarkes Prophets Prophetesses and other holy men and women in the old new Testament See the examples of Moses singing the praises of God after their deliuerance out of Egypt after the ouerthrow of Pharaoh and after their passage ouer the red sea he footed it not in a low but in a lofty stile praising God in verses not in prose Exod. 15 1. for the greater efficacy of the matter and the better expressing of their affections The like we might say of his sweet song sung not long before his death Deut. 31 19 22. 32 1 2 c. Cygnea cantio which he taught the children of Israel Iudges 5 1. thus did Deborah and Barak And thus did Dauid make an Epitaph in verse vpon the death of Saul and Ionathan after they were slaine by the Philistims not penned after the plaine and vulgar manner but with many rhetoricall flourishes of Tropes and figures according to the nature of the verse and the substance of the matter Reason 1 The Reasons hereof are easie to be conceyued to auouch the lawfulnesse praise-worthinesse of this Art For first euery Art and knowledge is of God Euery good giuing and euery perfect gift saith the Apostle Iames is from aboue and commeth downe from the Father of Lights Euery Mechanical trade and handy-craft is the gift of God there is no excelling in any of them but by his special gift who is the God of knowledge which maketh a difference not onely between man beast but betweene man and man Such as found out curious workes in Gold Siluer Brasse in grauing of stones in caruing of wood in making any Needle-worke about the Tabernacle Were filled with the spirit of God in wisedome Exod. 31.3 35 30. in knowledge and vnderstanding As it is God that frameth the hand to such inuentions so it is he that guideth the pen giueth the tongue of the learned to speake or write after an excellent manner The Heathen men were wont to say That Poets were inspired of God to go beyond the reach of the vulgar sort So then this gift being more then ordinary must needs in a peculiar and speciall sort be from God Reason 2 Secondly sundry parts and bookes of holy Scripture are penned poetically and those of excellent worthy note albeit we know not the kinds and measures of them howsoeuer sundry haue laboured to finde out the seueral numbers and natures of them inasmuch as euery Language hath his peculiar frame fashion yet not onely some certaine parts and parcels but sundry whole bookes as hath bin said were Poetically penned and in that respect may be fitly called Poeticall Bookes Of this kinde and nature are the booke of Iob the Psalmes of Dauid the Prouerbes of Salomon the booke of the Preacher and the Song of songs all which seeme to be contained comprehended by our Sauiour Christ vnder the title of the Psalmes when he diuideth the whole Scripture into the Law the Prophets and the Psalms as Luke 24 14. Besides when any thing of greatest note worthy of greatest remembrance and commendation was to bee set downe in the Scriptures the Prophets did choose to speake in this artificial composition of words sentences to giue a greater grace and adde greater glory vnto the same as appeareth in sundry places of the Law and Prophets Vse 1 The vses of this truth direct vs to sundry profitable meditations and weighty considerations For first it teacheth vs in part the maiesty and authority of the Scriptures They are not certain rugged and ragged writings to be contemned for their rudenesse and simplicity and to be condemned for their basenesse and homelinesse as the Atheists and others that boast and brag of their fine wits are not ashamed to giue out but Bookes full of holy excellency and wonderfull statelinesse not only working grace in the hearts of the hearers but carrying a grace to the eares of the hearers Bookes filled with true eloquence and more able to perswade then all the enticing words of humane wisedome Therefore the Lord to deliuer his word from disgrace reproach doth sometimes flye aloft with a maiesticall grauity and stately port able to astonish the outward senses sufficient to draw the whole man into admiration and thereby sheweth what he could doe in the rest of the holy Scriptures if it had pleased him Let a man reade with singlenesse of heart and with the eye of iudgement the 104. Psalme 1 2 3 4 5. verses describing the Maiestie of God or Ecclesiastes 12. verses 1 2 3 4 5 c. describing the approaching of olde age or the first chap. of Esay vers 1 2 3 4 5 c. describing the vnthankfulnesse of the people and hauing diligently read and aduisedly perused them let him tell me whether hee do not despise in comparison of them not onely the descriptions of Homer and Virgil but the Orations of Tully and Demosthenes as froth and scum hauing onely the empty shadow of the true and right eloquence So the Apostle Paul beeing charged to bee rude in speaking doth not confesse any want in his stile or craue pardon for any fault but doth iustify his maner of writing purposely auoideth the wisedom of mans eloquence He opposeth his plainnesse to the set and curious speech of the false Apostles who came in gay appearance and hunted after fine phrases and shew of words as if they had had all the strength of truth that might be on their side yet notwithstanding in this plaine style the Apostle sheweth himselfe most mightie and most eloquent garnishing his words and adorning his sentences with all the figures that Art can affoord so farre as serued to moue affections and to touch the conscience For the power of the Scriptures inspired by God stādeth in the inward force and vertue working vpon the soule piercing the heart casting downe the imaginations that lift vppe themselues against the truth conuerting the whole man and entering through to the diuiding of the soule and spirit of the ioynts marrow Heb. 4 12. yea discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart The Apostles of Christ subdued the whole world not with fire and sword not with carnall and bodily weapons but by the plaine preaching of Christ crucified as Paul himselfe confesseth 1 Cor. 2 2. He regarded to know nothing among them but Christ Iesus and him crucified And in 1 Cor. 2 3 4. I was among you in weaknesse and in feare and in much trouble neither stood my word and my preaching in the enticing speech of mans wisedome but in plaine euidence of the Spirit and of power that your Fayth should not be in the wisedome of men but in the power of God Seeing therefore it hath pleased God to giue vs a taste and to leaue as it were the prints and footsteppes of all learning and Arts in the world insomuch that no forme of reasoning no ornament of speaking
pressed sore vpon him he sought to the witch at Endor which had a familiar Spirit raysed vp the diuell in the likenes of Samuel The like is approoued vnto vs by the practise of Amaziah King of Israel in the second book of the Kings the first chapter and the second verse When hee was fallen thorough the Lattice window in his vpper Chamber which was in Samaria and thereof grew sicke vnto the death hee directed Messengers to goe and enquire of Baallzebub the god of Ekron whether hee should recouer of this his disease So did Haman likewise an enemy of the Iewes and one of the race of the Amalekites thirsting after the blood of Mordecai and the destruction of the whole Church dealt by Sorcerie for to effect his intended purpose Ester chap. 3 verse 7. And cast Pur that is a Lot to know when hee might haue a luckie and prosperous time to enterprize this businesse Moreouer it is noted by the Prophet that when Nebuchadnezzar King of Babell was come out of his kingdome with a mightie hoast and stoode at the parting of the way doubting vnto what place he should go whether against the Ammonites or against the Tribe of Iudah as in the one and twentieth chapter of Ezekiel and the eleuenth verse He consulted by Diuination and made his Arrowes bright he consulted with Idolles and looked in the Liuer Heereunto commeth the threatning denounced against the Egyptians by the Prophet Esay in chapt 19. verses 3 4. The spirit of Egypt shall faile in the middest of her and I will destroy their counsell and they shall seeke at the Idolles and at the Sorcerers and of them that haue spirits of Diuination and at the Soothsayers And I will deliuer the Egiptians into the hand of cruell Lords and a mightie King shall rule ouer them saith the Lord God of hoastes Thus wee see it was very vsuall with the wicked when they saw no other helpe at hand to seeke vnto witches and to resort vnto enchanters The Reasons hereof are these first Reasoâ— because they want Fayth and beleefe in God they trust not in him they looke not for saluation from him they dare not repose theyr confidence in him This we see in Saul when he had once forsaken God in breaking his commandement by sparing the Amalekites in offering sacrifice in killing the Priests in persecuting the Saints in refusing to consult with God as a needlesse thing and proceeding from one degree of wickednesse to another in the end he sayde vnto his seruants 1. Sam. chap. 28. verse 3. Seeke me a woman that hath a familiar spirit that I may goe to her and aske of her This is that reason which the Spirit of God poynteth out in the first booke of the Chronicles and the tenth chapter Saul dyed for his transgression that he committed agaynst the Lord euen against the word of the Lord which he kept not and in that hee sought and asked counsell of a familiar spirit and asked not of the Lord therefore hee slew him and turned the kingdome vnto Dauid the son of Ishai True it is wee reade in the first of Samuel chapter 28. verse 6. that he asked counsell of the Lord and heere we heare hee asked not counsell of the Lord these are not repugnant and contrary one to another no more then these words in the eleuenth Chapter of S. Matthew and the fourteenth verse Iohn Baptist is Elias and Iohn Baptist is not Elias Christ sayde of Iohn Baptist This is Elias Iohn Baptist sayd of himselfe I am not Elias Iohn 1 21. Notwithstanding heere is no contradiction for Christ vnderstoode it one way Iohn another Christ meant he was Elias in spirit Luke 1 17. as comming in the spirit and power of Elias Iohn meant hee was not Elias in person which the Pharisies thought and imagined So these words seeme contrary in shew but are not in substance and in deed In deed he asked of the Lord but not in faith nor with a purpose to cast himselfe vpon God but in hypocrisie and with resolution to goe to the witch As Ahab consulted with the Prophet of the Lord 〈◊〉 â—2 15. but he was before determined what he would do whatsoeuer the Prophet should say Wherefore that which was not done rightly and religiously is as it were not done at all as the Apostle speaking of vnreuerent comming to the Lords Table saith This is not to eate the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 11 20. Where he denyeth that absolutely which many did corruptly Againe no maruaile if the wicked forsake God in their troubles 〈◊〉 2. betake themselues to Sorcerers and Wizards which are the enemies of God seeing sorcery is the inuention of the diuell and a manifest worke of the flesh If then it came from the father of lyes and be a fruite of our owne corrupt nature it is not strange or to be wondred at that carnall and corrupt men giue themselues ouer to this practise This the Apostle teacheth Gal. 5 19 20. The works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery fornication vncleannesse wantonnesse idolatry witchcraft and such like Seeing therefore euill men want faith ioyning to God purifying the heart working by loue making vp the marriage betweene God our soules and seeing witchcraft is a worke of the flesh it is naturall to naturall men in their distresses to vse vnlawfull meanes as charming figure-casting and such curious actes and artes as are wrought by the deuice of the diuell Now let vs make vse of this Doctrine First Vse 1 this condemneth the common custome and practise of the people in our dayes who when the hand of God is any way on them or theirs when they be strangely visited or their children greeuously afflicted or their Cattle eyther lost or languish with any extraordinary disease at which time especially they should acknowledge Gods ouer-ruling and ouer-swaying prouidence that not a silly Sparrow falleth to the ground without the will of our heauenly Father by and by they send out to that cunning man or that cunning woman so forget God that made them These men will not tarry the Lords leysure nor waite vpon his mercy for ease and comfort they will haue present helpe or else they will runne to the diuell resort to witches and fetch health out of hell it selfe This is the folly and vanity of such as know not God neither acknowledge that all things are disposed according to his purpose and good pleasure Let vs beware of this sinne which is a forsaking of the true God a renouncing of helpe from his holy place and an entertainment of familiarity with the diuell which is the very height and top of all iniquity This the Lord himselfe teacheth Leuit. 20 6 7. If any turne after such as worke with spirits and after soothsayers to go a whoring after them then will I set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people Sanctifie your selues
maketh all other blessings to be curses and iudgements vnto them that are destitute hereof therefore we must all call our selues to an account what account we make of it We should make it our meate and drinke a treasure for the obtaining whereof rather then want it we wold sell all that we haue but alas what thankefulnes hath it wrought in vs We are like vnto the Iewes they had this glorious light brought among them but they loued darkenes more then light because their works were euill If we be weary of this heauenly Manna let vs take heede lest the Lord grow weary of vs if we cast away his word he wil cast away vs and forsake vs for euer The Lord biddeth vs take heed to the sound of the Trumpet Ier. 6 17 let vs not answer presumptuously wee will not take heed let vs beware of securitie remember from whence we are fallen And let him that glorieth glory in this that hee vnderstandeth and knoweth the Lord and his word to his saluation Ier. 9 24. Vse 2 Secondly it followeth that wheresoeuer God hath established this his ordinance there certainly hee hath a Church and chosen people and some that belong to eternall life for whose sake it is sent among them For as the Spirit of God is the soule of the church quickning it and giuing it life so the word is this soules instrument or the seed wherby it worketh and the onely essentiall marke thereof so that where it is sincerely taught 〈◊〉 â—2 and constantly professed there certainly is a Church Where it is not there is no true Church albeit it haue neuer so goodly and glistering a shew but a very carrion carkas of a church without the life of the Spirit but as an house without light as the world without the Sun as a kingdome without the Law The Prophet Esay calleth it the standard of God saying I will lift vp mine hand to the Gentiles and set vp my standard to the people they shal bring thy sonnes in their armes and thy daughters shall be carried vpon their shoulders Esay 49. verse 22 Where the Lord Iesus is compared to a King and Captaine and therefore all that will haue comfort that they are members of the church must range themselues vnder it as soldiers vnder the banner of their Chieftaine otherwise they remaine as men In darknes in the shadow of death as stragling and runnagate soldiers out of the campe and as dissolute men vnder no law to gouerne them For they are the vilest and basest that liue without it very dogges and swine They of the Church are Gods chiidren and the word is the Childrens food belonging to them onely When the Canaanitish woman would haue beene partaker of Christs Ministery Mat. 15 26. he answered It is not meet to take the childrens bread and to cast it vnto whelpes But other are as vncleane and filthy beasts This which now hath bene spoken serueth to ouerthrow two sorts of people first those of the Church of Rome which make other markes and notes of the Church as antiquity vnity vniuersality succession subiection to the Pope and such like counterfet markes of their counterfet church and leaue this which is the most certaine and inseparable note This proueth vnto vs plainly that these which most of all boast of the name of the Church are indeede neyther the Catholike Church nor any sound part thereof because they want the immortall seede to beget them the milke and meate of the word to feede and norish them yea it is accounted an high point of heresie to haue read the Scriptures and none is permitted to looke into them without a license so heinous a sin it is to haue the word Secondly it censureth condemneth the Donatists Anabaptists Brownists and those of the separation which condemne our Churches to be no Churches our Sacraments to bee no Sacraments our Ministers to be no Ministers and in effect our religion to be no religioÌ„ because we do not with them in matters accidental fully agree albeit we do consent in matters fundamental we lay Christ alone for the foundation on which we build our saluation we lay hold vpon him by faith only we preach Christ crucified truly by their owne confession powerfully They hold themselues to haue receiued faith among vs by our Ministery before they made this rent and breach in the Church and that the end of such fayth if they had dyed in it had beene the saluation of theyr soules See the books of Greenwood Iohnson Let them therefore return and cause others to return ioyne with vs in hearing the word preached seeing where it is rightly established there must of necessity be a true Church And albeit some of them haue written many of theÌ„ haue spoken against our Church yet let them follow the example of that sonne Matth. 21 29. who answered his father stubbornly that he would not work in his vineyard but afterward repented earnestly and went his wayes Vse 3 Thirdly all such as are this way honoured and blessed must be carefull to vse the word as an honour and a blessing by imbracing it by entertaining it by magnifying this blessing of God in truth and not in opinion in heart and not in face in workes and not in words that we may walke worthy the Gospel and of the Lord that hath called vs and shew our selues carefull to bring foorth the fruites thereof saying with the Apostle Rom. 10 10. How beautifull are the feete of them that bring glad tidings of peace and bring glad tidings of good things Hitherto rendeth the exhortation of the Apostle 1. to the Thessalonians ch 2 11 12. Let vs be carefull to keepe this treasure among vs lest the kingdome of God bee taken from vs. Otherwise instead of being the water of life to saue vs it will be a sea to drowne vs instead of being the sauour of life to life it will turne to bee the sauour of death to death instead of being meate to feede vs it will bee our bane to destroy vs instead of good tydings to refresh comfort vs it will proue the saddest and heauiest newes that euer came to our eares and that day the blackest day that euer came ouer our heads Thus our Sauiour threatned Capernaum which hee had honoured with his presence blessed with his preaching aduanced by his dwelling in it and lifted vp with his miracles Mat. 11 26. Thou Capernaum which art lifted vppe vnto heauen shalt be throwne downe to hell c. Look vpon the seuen Churches of Asia we see what is become of them Behold what the contempt of the Gospel hath brought vpon the Iewes the like hath not falne vpon any people since the beginning what mischeefe miserie did not fall vpon them It cannot bee denied but God hath blessed vs as much as euer he lifted vp the head of Capernaum and hath magnified his mercies and loue vnto
ouer vs as he hath done them For are wee more excellent or better by nature or desert then they No by no meanes Eph. 2 1 3. we are borne dead in sinnes the heires of wrath as well as others This made the Apostle hauing made mention of the mercies of God shewed vnto him that had bene a blasphemer a persecuter and an oppressor to render thankes vnto GOD and to giue him the praise and glory Thou hast herein greater cause to blesse and praise the Name of GOD then for thy creation which onely gaue thee a being vpon the earth whereas this doth ioyne thee to GOD and entitle thee to the kingdome of heauen Verse 4. He hath said which heard the words of God and saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance Wee heard before how Balaam was inspired of God to deliuer vnto the Moabites Midianites and Ammonites the will of God Now here is offered to our considerations the meanes and manner that God vsed in giuing vnto him his diuine inspiration and that is by a vision or trance We heard before what a trance is to wit an extraordinary worke of the spirit vpon the whole man casting the body as it were in a deepe sleepe making the minde fit to receiue the things which are reuealed of the Lord. Thus it pleased the Lord to deale with Balaam at this present that his words might be knowne to be diuine not humane Doctrine In formeâ— times Goâ— reuealed dâ—uers thingâ— by visions From hence wee learne that God in former times hath reuealed diuers things vnto men by visions by dreames and otherwayes as seemed good to his heauenly wisedome God hath not vsed one meanes alone but diuers to speake to the world either by Angels or by the cloud or betweene the Cherubims or by Vrim or by dreames or by visions To this purpose there is a rule set downe Numb 12 6. If there be a Prophet of the Lord among you I will be knowne to him by a vision and will speake vnto him by dreame This is further taught in the booke of Iob by the words of Elihu instructing Iob in the maner of Gods dealing with sinners shewing how God admonisheth them in dreames and visions God speaketh once or twice and one seeth it not in dreames and visions of the night when sleepe falleth vpon men and men sleepe vpon their beds Iob. 33 14 15. So when Paul was conuerted by the voyce of Christ the Lord spake to Ananias in a vision to goe vnto him and Paul likewise in a vision saw him comming in vnto him and putting his hands on him that he might receiue his sight Acts 9 10 12. When Peter lodging with one Simon a Tanner waxed hungry and would haue eaten he fel into a trance he saw heauen opened and a certaine vessell came downe vnto him as it had beene a great sheete knit at the foure corners and was let downe to the earth c. Acts 10 10 11. So the Apostle being compelled by the false Apostles to glory of himselfe maketh a rehearsall of the visions and reuelations of the Lord that were offered vnto him 2. Cor. 12 1. Vnto these examples wee might adde sundry others out of the Scriptures as of Iacob of Samuel of Ezekiel Gen. 46 â— of Daniel of Iohn all declaring that GOD vsed to reueale many things by visions to his seruants the Prophets and to others when it pleased him The reasons are First to discouer and Reason manifest his will vnto them sometimes to admonish them sometimes to teach them somtimes to terrifie them and alwayes to declare and reueale his heauenly pleasure vnto them as we heard before out of the booke of Iâ—b Iob 33 15 16. For it hath bene the ordinary maner of God euen from the beginning to warne comfort and declare what hee would haue done or forbid what he would not haue done both in the day time and in the night season partly by visions to such as were waking partly by dreames to such as were asleepe Reason 2 Secondly God would haue the reuelation of his will appeare to be onely his and not of themselues For howsoeuer it pleased the Lord to deale with his seruants and what way soeuer he vsed to signifie his good pleasure in all these cases he imprinted in the mindes and hearts of them to whom hee shewed himselfe certaine notes and euident tokens whereby they might expressely and manifestly know that it was his doing This we noted before to be one of the causes why it pleased the Lord to deale by visions that we should chalenge nothing to our owne selues but ascribe all vnto him Vse 1 Now let vs come to the vses First consider from hence the greatnesse and excellency of Gods hand who hath diuers wayes to reueale his will and to teach his people to call them and gather them vnto himselfe Some meanes he hath to preserue a sinner from falling and some to restore him being fallen He is the head Physician of the world he ministreth the best Physicke and of most sure and certain working He neuer faileth in his cures both because hee knoweth the nature of the disease and the working of the ingredient The woman in the Gospel diseased with an issue of blood twelue yeeres suffered many things of many Physicians and spent all that shee had yet it auailed her nothing but shee became much worse Marke 5 26. But such as seeke to God to heale the diseases of their soules and submit themselues to be his patients doe alwayes receiue from him health and depart from him better then they came Hee vseth partly preseruatiues and partly restoratiues He speaketh by admonitions in dreames and visions And these being ceased hee speaketh by chasticements and corrections he preacheth vnto vs by the Ministers of his word and by all meanes desireth to doe vs good True it is the diuell hath his visions being as it were the ape of God which are so many delusions of men as when hee maketh men beleeue they see that which they see not or perswadeth men strange things of themselues that they are that which indeed they are not 1. Sam 28.14 His drift and purpose in both is to deceiue and seduce But God vseth sundry meanes to draw vs to himselfe to draw vs out of our selues to draw vs to his kingdome He is not as a poore practitioner that hath but one plaster for euery sore or one medicine for euery disease he hath variety of meanes store of prouision for al maladies which serueth to commend vnto vs the goodnesse mercy greatnesse power and wisdome of God to be acknowledged and confessed of euery one of vs. Secondly wee learne that God neuer leaueth Vse 2 them destitute of a teacher that in a reuerent feare of his Name seeke vnto him and call vpon him We see he oftentimes admonisheth and informeth of his will such as are out of the Church and know him
Iudea and to carry away the Israelites â—â—remy 25 9. ranging ouer the land raging with fire and sword and wasting the neighbour-Nations they spoyled the Kenites bordering vpon the Iewes which doth verifie the common Prouerbe It is some euil to be neere vnto euill And againe when thy Neighbours house is on fire it is high time to looke vnto thine owne and teacheth vs to esteeme as our owne the damage of our neighbour and to feare lest in the ruines of others our destruction bee conspired This calamity and captiuity was brought vpon them by Saneherib who comming to spoyle Israel spoiled them and as they were carried away out of their owne country together so they returned back againe into their Countrey together as wee reade in the holy history of the 1. Chronicles chap. 2 53. And thus as they tasted of the same misery so God made them partakers of the same mercy as they were afflicted together so also they were comforted together Thus much of the method and meaning of these prophesies The doctrines arising from hence are to be considered according to the seuerall prophesies and first touching the first against the Moabites Verse 17. I see that but not now I behold it but not neere there shall come a Starre out of Iacob c. In this prophesie Balaam foretelleth the future condition of the Moabites declaring both that they shal be destroyed and by whom For God wil raise out of the contemptible stocke of Iacob a bright Starre that shall refresh the Church with his sweete influence and giue them comfort against their enemies This we shewed to be performed in the dayes of Dauid afterward therefore he saith I see it but not now nor neere at hand This teacheth vs Doctrine The Church sometimes hath rest and glory That sometimes God maketh the Church to flourish in this life Howsoeuer God oftentimes bring trouble vpon his Church and affliction vpon his people yet at other times he giueth rest and peace and continueth theyr prosperity a long time This truth receyueth plentifull confirmation out of the booke of Iudges chap. 3.11 30. 5 31. 8 28 it is the maine drift and scope of it to shew how God in the miseries thereof prouideth a remedie and giueth rest round about from all their enemies God sometimes giueth them a time of breathing and recouering their strength and will not suffer the rodde of the wicked alway to rest on the lot of the righteous Psalm 125 3. We haue examples of this in the reigne of Salomon Iehoshaphat Hezekiah Iosiah and other godly Kings which were as strong props and pillars in Gods house a sure stay to the seruants of God in well doing he gaue them an outward estate that flourished both in wealth and peâ—ce This appeareth euidently in the booke of Ester Ester 8 1 16. after he had deliuered them from the mouth of the Lyon that gaped as it were after his prey to deuoure them the Church prospered the head of Mordecai was exalted comfortable letters were published and sent abroad for their safety and vnto the Iewes came light and ioy gladnes honor So the prophet Zacharie prophesying of their returne from captiuity saith That the streets of the City shal be full of boyes girles playing in the streets thereof Zac. 8 5. The booke of Iosuah is a notable storehouse of Gods mercy vnto his church giuing them rest from their enemies as hee had promised them so that none were able to stand before them Iosh 22 4. And as he dealeth with his Church in generall so hee doth with his seruants in particular as we see in Ioseph Moses Dauid and diuers other turning their mourning into ioy Psal 30 11. loosing theyr sack and griding them with gladnes The Reasons of this dealing of the Lord are many and most euident First his eares are Reason 1 open to heare the cries of his children he seeeth their miseries add putteth all their teares in his bottle of remembrance This is it which the Lord declared vnto Moses when he called him to deliuer his people out of the thraldom and bondage of Egypt Exod. 2 7. I haue surely seene the trouble of my people which are in Egypt and haue heard their cry beâ—ause of their Taske-masters for I know their sororwes GOD hath made a couenant of peace with his people hath a compassionate sense of their miseries and a feeling of their afflictions There is a notable agreement and vnion betweene God and his Children They in their crosses and calamities cannot but sigh and mourne and they cannot so soone vtter a groane but by by and by the Lord is touched with compassion This is euidently recorded in the booke of Exodus 2 23 where it is said The childreÌ„ of Israel sighed for the bondage and cried and their cry for the bondage came vp to God The prayers of the faithfull preuaile much with God if they be feruent He vnderstandeth the words of their mouth and the grones of the heart and in his good time will heare them graciously Reason 2 Secondly hee giueth vnto his Church oftentimes a sweet taste of earthly blessings to the end his people might haue all occasions and opportunities to serue him If they should alwayes beare the yoke vpon their necks and haue the heauy burden of affliction lying on their backs though they were strong in faith and had their hope fixed in GOD yet they would be soone dismayed and discouraged and ioyne with the wicked falling into the impieties of their persecuters But God is the sunne and the shield of his Church hee will giue grace and glory vnto it and withholde nothing that is good from them that walke vprightly Psal 84 11. He will comfort and defend them in their danger he will exalt them to dignity after their distresses least they should bee too much daunted and discomforted This is the reason vsed by the Prophet The rod of the wicked shall not alwayes rest on the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put foorth their hand vnto wickednesse Psal 125 3. Vse 1 The vses now are to be marked and obserued of vs. First acknowledge from hence with a sweet feeling the infinite loue compassion of God toward his people he delighteth not to be alwayes chiding and his anger endureth not for euer Hee will not haue his Church to be alwayes vnder the crosse but sendeth it some release For hee endureth but a while in his anger but in his fauour is life c. Psal 30 5 6. Thus doth the Lord giue encouragements and comforts vnto those that faithfully serue and rightly worship him whereby hee not onely testifieth his owne loue toward them but allureth others by their example to trust in him and daunteth all their enemies that hoped to haue seene their destruction Such therefore as are not mooued to confesse the loue of God vnto his seruants and see not his kindnesse toward them haue
labour time and charges it will require in reedifying and repayring An olde disease is more hardly cured The deeper a nayle is driuen with the hammer the more blowes are giuen it the harder it is to plucke out againe He that will not be fit to day shall finde himselfe lesse fit to morrow his heart euery day lesse inclined then other to turne to God and more and more hardened Wherefore let vs while it is called to day repent and be reconciled to God that when his iudgements come sodainely the destroyer may passe ouer vs and we remaine safe vnder the shaddow of the Almighty 23 Againe he vttered his Parable and saide Alasse who shall liue when God doth this 24 The Ships also shall come from the Coasts of Chittim and subdue Ashur and shall subdue Eber and he also shall come to destruction 25 Then Balaam rose vp and went and returned to his place and Balak also went his way Hitherto of the speciall Prophesies belonging to seuerall people both to the beleeuing Iewes and vnbeleeuing Gentiles for he hath spoken of the Israelites Moabites Edomites Amalekites and Kenites Now wee come to the last of his Prophesies The seuenth Prophesie of Balaam appertaining ioyntly and generally to many people wherein we must consider three things First the entrance into it Secondly the Prophesie it selfe Thirdly the conclusion of the history The entrance into it is not set downe simply and nakedly but is garnished with an effectuall and rhetoricall exclamation as it were with an earnest admiration of the greatnesse and horror therof Alasse who shall liue when God doth this As if he should say O how great and greeuous shall those calamities be The which albeit none of vs that are now aliue shall liue to see or feele yet they shall most certainly come to passe and woe vnto them vpon whom they shall fall The Prophesie it selfe followeth setting downe exceeding iudgements of God against great kingdomes and Monarchies of the Assyrians and Grecians The former iudgments were against particular Nations these are against whole Empyres And first of all whereas the Chaldeans vnder Nimrod and the Assyrians vnder Ninus vsurped dominion ouer whole Countries Kingdomes he sheweth that in processe of time ships should come from the shore of Chittim that is the Nauy of the Grecians and the army of the Seleucians which should subdue both the Hebrewes and the Assyrians By Chittim in this place he meaneth Cilicia which descended of Kittim one of the posterity of Iauan of whom wee reade in the booke of Genesis chap. 10 verse 4. Esay 23 1. Ier. 23 10. For Alexander the Great setting out a fleet rigged and furnished especially by them of Cyprus which is now seuered from the continent of Cilicia and after him the posterity of Seleucus Nicanor wasted Assyria Iudea Palestina and all Syria with perpetuall inrodes and incursions which they made into them and in the ende subiected them all to themselues True it is Alexander did rather prosecute his warres by Land seruice then by Sea yet wheÌ„ the Embassadours of Tyre Eze. 28 2 an Island situate in the sea had giuen him a mock trusting in the fortification of the place Q urt 〈…〉 gest 〈◊〉 lib. 4. despising his land power refusing to suffer him to enter into their City and esteeming themselues woorthy rather to ioyne with him as friends and confederates then to become hâ—s subiects and vastalles he was constrained before he could do any thing against them to send for his shippes from Cyprus whereby he preuailed more against the Tyrians then by the Peres and Moles that he builded as Qâ—intus Curtius at large relateth in the fourth book of the noble acts of Alexander This is it which Balaam spake of in this place The Assyrians were vanquished by Alexander the Hebrews which came of Eber were oppressed and vexed by the posterity of Seleucus descending from Alexander Gen. 10 21. 11 15. 14 13. Likewise when the Grecians had ruled their time and had proudly borne themselues as conquerors of the world arising of small beginnings they also perished after a litle time as Balaam heere pronounced long before the euent thereof came Dan 2.34 and as Daniel afterwardes prophesied immediately before the accomplishment thereof which was effected and brought to passe by the power and puissance of the Romanes which serued them as they before had serued others and tooke the Empire and Monarchy from them as they had taken it from others Thus we see how al earthly things euen the mightiest Estates greatest Dominions of largest circuite are subiect to their times and seasons of reuolution Gâ—iâ— â—â—t 〈◊〉 lib 2. so that in mortall felicities there can bee no assurance nor perpetuity For as it is an infallible property belonging to all humane things changing with that swift and violent returne whereby they did rise to their exaltation and fulnes so these great Princes Potentates these Kingdomes and Empires rising with their felicity into humors of pride and security and forgetting in their greatnes the great God of heauen and earth that did set them vp and shewed that hee was able to throw them downe as appeareth most euidently in Alexander who would bee called the sonne of Iupiter and was content to suffer them to fall downe flat vpon the ground worship him these I say saw the declination of their prosperity and great triumphs thereby shewing themselues more happy to get glory then able to keepe it We see therefore in these examples that all Monarchies haue their periods and points of continuance as it were the center to which they tend and in which after sundry mutations and alterations they fully are accomplished Thus much of the Prophesies both speciall and generall Now in the last Verse Moses handâ—â—th the euent both of these Prophesies and generally of the vvhole Historie Balaam rose vp departed and returned that is he went his way with a purpose and intent to returne vnto the place from whence he came but he stayed among the Midianites either to expect the issue and fruite of his counsell among whom also he was slaine 〈◊〉 31.8 as appeareth after in this booke or being hyred of them to doe some other exploite Thus Balaam the sorcerer is defeated the superstitious King is disappointed the people of GOD are eased of a deadly enemy and lastly the exceeding mercy of GOD is commended to the Church ouerturning the practices of them making good the words of his owne mouth and causing the inuentions of his enemies to vanish into smoake according to the saying of Moses Deuter. 23 5. They hyred Balaam to curse thee neuerthelesse the Lord thy God would not hearken vnto him but turned the curse to a blessing vnto thee because the Lord thy God loued thee And the Prophet Micaiah calleth vpon the people to consider this kindnesse of GOD toward them chap. 6 verse 5 O my people remember what Balak King
vncleannesse and filthinesse and pursued them into their filthy stewes and brothel-houses where he thrust them both thorough reuenging the dishonour done to God the scandall laide vpon his people A worthy example for all Magistrates to follow to be sharpe seuere in punishing sinne and taking away euill out of the citty of God Thus the plague was stayed and the anger of God turned away after that iustice was executed and so many thousands at one time and for one sinne swept away But heere two questions arise which are to be discussed before we proceede any further the first touching the fact of Phinehas the second touching the number of the dead heere remembred Touching the fact of Phinehas Obiection it may be thus obiected How can it be lawfull in him being a priuate person to exceede rhe bounds and lists of his calling Hee was of the tribe of Leui and of the family of the Priests to whom it belonged not to draw the sword For as the other tribes were not appointed to the seruice of the Altar so the tribe of Leui was not called to the execution of iustice Besides there are generall rules directing all priuate men and generall Lawes restraining them from shedding of blood as he that sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed hee that smiteth with the sword shal be smitten with the sword loue your enemies and doe good to them that hate you The seruant of God must not striue but must be gentle toward all men suffering the euill and instructing them with meekenesse that be contrary minde 2. Tim. 2 25. How then can we iustify this act of Phinehas departing from these holy rules of Gods Religion I answere Answer there is a double kinde of calling an ordinary calling and an extraordiry calling the one necessarily distinguished from the other For God doth oftentimes giue vnto his seruants a new and special vocation and addeth it vnto their former function Hence it is also that some workes are ordinary and some are extraordinary Ordinary workes must be guided and directed by ordinary rules such as those are which wee haue set downe before Extraordinary workes proceede from a special motion of Gods Spirit warranting them and making them albeit going against the common rules lawful cōmendable and necessary Such was the fact of Moses smiting the Egyptian Exod. 2 12 the fact of Samuel hewing Agag in pieces 1. Sam. 15 35 the fact of Eliah slaying the Priests of Baal 1. King 18 4 the fact of the Israelites spoyling the Egyptians and such like Exod. 12 35 who had an inward motion like to the commandement giuen to Abraham to kill his sonne These actions albeit warranted to the doers Luth in Gen. cap. 29. are not to be drawne into example and imitation vnlesse we haue the inspiration of the same Spirit and therefore Christ our Sauiour answereth his Disciples that would haue called fire from heauen to consume the Samaritanes Yee know not of what spirit ye are for the Sonne of man is not come to destroy mens liues but to saue them Luk. 9 55. Now that this fact of Phinehas is of the same nature it appeareth both because the plague ceased by it and Gods wrath kindled against his people was appeased so that the action is both commended rewarded This the Spirit of God teacheth in the Psalme Phinehas stood vp and executed iudgement and the plague was staied and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse from generation to generation for euer Psalm 106 30 which is not so to be vnderstood as if he were iustified before God by this one acte because whosoeuer will bee iust by the Law is bound to keepe the whole law according to the tenour of the law Do this thou shalt liue Gal. 4 12 20. One good worke doth not serue or suffice to make a man perfectly iust and righteous in the sight of God seeing hee that continueth not in all things written in the booke of the law is accursed So then we must know that the Psalmist meaneth that this fact was lawfull and allowed For hauing set down the vengeance that Phinehas tooke vpon this adulterer and the adultresse hee preuenteth the Obiection which might be made Was not this horrible and damnable murther in him who being a priuate man had not the sword of iustice committed vnto him and being one of the Priests of the Lord was to meddle onely in matters belonging vnto God and not in ciuill things who was to draw out the censures of the church not a materiall sword to strike offenders No saith the Prophet it was not murther it was a righteous and commendable acte he beeing stirred vp by Gods Spirit inasmuch as it proceeded from faith and aymed at the glory of the great Name of God Wherefore this place is falsely alledged and peruersly wrested by the Church of Rome to ouerthrow iustification by faith alone and to establish iustification by good works For there is a double iustification one of the worke the other of the person The Prophet speaketh in that place of the iustification of the worke which albeit in the sight of men it might seeme sauage inhumane yet God did accept of it account it as a good and iust work which pleased him being done in faith which purifieth the heart Acts 15 9. He speaketh not of the iustification of his person which was by apprehending the mercy of God in Christ by beleeuing not by doing Thus the Apostle in the fourth chapter to the Romanes verses 4 5. maketh a double kinde of imputation saying To him that worketh the wages is not counted by fauor but by debt but to him that worketh not but beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is accounted for righteousnesse Thus much of the first question touching the acte of Phinehas whether it were lawfull or vnlawfull whether it were priuate reuenge or publike iustice The second Question is touching the number that dyed in this plague Obiect wherein appeareth some difference and disagreement in outward shew betweene the old Testament and the new For Moses in this place verse 9 sayeth There died foure and twenty thousand But the Apostle Paul alledging this iudgement of God mentioneth onely Three and twenty thousand 1 Cor. 10 8 subtracting one thousand from the former number which Moses added I answer some reconcile these places thus that the Scribes or Penmen fayled in copying out the books of Pauls Epistles which shold haue written foure twenty thousand where they wrote three twenty thousand But this is shifting rather then reconciling cutting the knot with a sword rather then loosing it asunder with the hand inasmuch as all the copies generally with full consent as it were with one voice agree in the former reading Others suppose and surmise that it might bee a slip of memory in the Apostle according to humane infirmity But this answer is worse then the former and these are
12. how is it then that he omitteth this miracle Doubtlesse if he had receiued so great miraculous a benefit he would not haue forgotten it neither indeede could without note of vnthankfulnesse which was farre from that deuout and religious man Furthermore the setting vp of this miracle of the new-found fire hid in the pit and after discouered by the Priests and kindled by the Lord is the weakning and shaking of a great mystery and foundation of the Christian religion For it is written that the Iewes were stirred vp by the Prophets to proceed cheerefully in building of the Temple because the glory of that latter house should be greater then of the former Hag. 2 9 which prophecy is agreed vpon to be fulfilled in that Christ was borne while the second house stood which he made famous and renowned by his presence by his doctrine by his miracles Luke 2 46 7 8. There also did the Apostles begin the preaching of the Gospel which taking his beginning from Sion and Ierusalem was spread abroad from thence into all the earth Many were the priuiledges and prerogatiues of the Tabernacle framed by Moses and of the first house builded by Salomon they had the fire from heauen the Arke of the Couenant the pillar of the cloud the Vrim and Thummim and the succession of the Prophets but the second house built after their returne from captiuity wanted all these therefore while it stood the Messiah must come being greater then all these that through his presence who was to be the ruler in Israel Mic. 5 2 the glory of the latter house might be greater then the former and so the prophecy should be fulfilled But if this story were true which is broached by the writer of that book the latter Temple should bee more glorious and famous through this miraculous fire then the former For in the former the sacrifices were onely consumed with fire that fire was sent from God and nourished by the continuall ministery and attendance of the Priests but in the latter temple they should haue had not onely the same fire with the other but the fire preserued by a wonderfull miracle that in a contrary element Fire burned â—nto water water into fire yea heere are many miracles heaped together for as that fire was preserued in water so of that thicke water into which it was changed was the fire kindled againe 2 Macab 1 22 and that which is more when the sacrifice was consumed Nehemiah is said to haue commanded the water that was left to be powred on the great stones whereby was kindled a flame which was consumed by the light that shined from the altar verse 31 32. And this is so apparent that the Iewish Rabbines that haue the vayle before their eyes or rather before their harts haue acknowledged the truth herof that the 2 house had not that fire which the former had contrary to the opinion of that writer And yet notwithstanding the euidence of the former reasons and the confession of the Iewes themselues hee sticketh not in the next chapter to alleage the Prophet Ieremy as if he had commanded them that were carried away to take with them the Tabernacle the Arke and the fire as hath beene signified 2 Maccab. 2 1. But to leaue all these assertions deliuered with warrant let vs come to the doctrine offred to our considerations in the destruction of the 2. Doctrine It is a sin to decline from the worship of God sons of Aaron because they offred strange fire to wit that it is a sin impiety which the Lord leaueth not vnpunished for any man in the outward worship of God to decline from the Law of God He appointed to burne euery sacrifice with fire taken from the Altar which was continually kept and nourished for that purpose They altered Gods ordinance and are therefore striken suddenly from heauen so that it is a great sinne for any Church or particular person to swarue from the Law of God in the worship of God as appeareth by many examples testimonies of holy Scripture 1 Sam. 13 12 13 14. 2 Chro. 26 16 17 18. Math. 15 9. Col. 2.20.21 22. The grounds are plaine first because the Reason 1 word of God is the rule of all things that wee are warranted to do and more generally it is the rule of Gods worship so that to decline from this rule to the right hand or to the left must needs be a great sinne which GOD abhorreth Deut. 12 8 13 32. In an art to vary from the rules of the art is a great errour thr carpenter and mason are guided by their line and leuell the Law of GOD is the square and rule of his worship the more closely wee keepe our selues to this rule the more warrantable are our workes if wee decline and depart from it wee wander in errour and the farther we goe from it the more we are out of the way Secondly that starting and swaruing from the Law reprooueth and checketh the wisedome of God who is Wisedome it selfe Pro. 9 1 as if we were able to direct him and knew what belongeth to his worship better then himselfe An artificer in his worke cannot abide to bee checked and controlled by those that know not so well what belongeth vnto it as he doth Iam. 4.12 so the wise GOD the supreme Lawgiuer cannot endure that men should decline from the order which hee hath settled and established in his worship and prescribed vnto them in his Word and therefore he accounteth it a great sinne and impiety in any that attempt the same This reprooueth the Church of Rome Vse 1 which is as a body infected with many diseases and running sores For their whole worship in a maner is an apostacy from God full of dangerous wounds that cannot be cured as wee may see by their worshipping of images prayer in a strange tongue communion vnder one kind and an hundred such like horrible corruptions which are so many prophanations of the worship of God These men set the Law of God at nought and thinke themselues wiser then he and preferre their owne traditions before his commandements and so worship him by the precepts of men Math. 15.6 which is a vaine worship and maketh his Law of none effect Secondly it serueth as a direction to the Vse 2 Church what they receiue to godly Magistrats what they establish by their authority that in the worship of God they alwayes set the law of God before their eies allow nothing but that which is grounded vpoÌ„ the rules of the same that they adde nothing to it take nothing froÌ„ it For this cause the King must write him a coppy of the Law in a booke that it may be euer with him that he may reade in it all the dayes of his life and learne to feare the Lord his God Deu. 17 18 19. This was taught to Ioshua chap 1 8 and
Salomon was not ignorant but knew well enough what was true honour yet he giueth this counsell not to seeke any honor by reuenge Prou. 24 29. Say not I will do vnto him as he hath done to mee I will render to the man according vnto his worke It is the common sicknesse and disease of the world to requite like for like taunt for taunt and rebuke for rebuke and they thinke they may doe it lawfully and measure to others that measure which they haue measured vnto them whether it bee in word or deede stripe for stripe blow for blow wound for wound But this is a part of our naturall corruption which did appeare in the auengers of blood mentioned in this place Vse 2 Secondly as it reprooueth errors in opinion so it doth likewise errors in conuersation in the practise of life which meeteth with many abuses First here is reproued the common practise of fighting and quarrelling which alwayes beginneth with hatred oftentimes endeth with blood These are they that make no conscience of doing hurt and iniurie vnto others 1 Thess 4 6. 1 Cor. 6 7 8. Many do hold it vnlawfull to strike the first stroke and to offer the first blow and minister occasion of strife but if another strike them and begin the fray they thinke they may lawfully strike againe and return as good as is brought and that with an ouer-plus and aduantage This is to make Magistrates stand for ciphers and Lawes to bee of none effect or to waxe rusty in bookes as a sword in the scabberd Christ reproueth this retayling of like for like both by word and by example By word Matth. 5 39 40 41. Ye haue heard that it hath bene said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say vnto you resist not euill but whosoeuer shall smite thee on the right cheeke turne to him the other also c. By example for when he was smitten before the high Priest he smote not agayne Iohn 18 22 23 but defended his owne innocency So did Micaiah the Prophet 1 Kings 22 24 25 and Paul the Apostle Actes 23 3 they defended their cause by word but smote not with the fist These examples of the best we ought to haue before vs to bee guided by them who were ledde by the good spirit of God But in our daies when men are charged with contempt of Lawes and Magistrates of God himself in pursuing their priuat grudgings and quarrels if they can say Why did he giue the occasion Why did he begin with me Why did he strike the first stroke They thinke they haue spoken wisely and answered the matter very sufficiently But thus might the Prophets and Apostles as well haue pleaded for themselues and giuen as good a reason of their dealing if they had stricken againe yet they stayed their hands and would not giue blow for blow and they are commended in the word of God The Apostle would neuer haue set foorth the patience of Christ for our imitation who when he was reuiled reuiled not againe and when he suffered he threatned not but committed himselfe to him that iudgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. vers 13 if he might haue done wrong for wrong but he sheweth that Christ suffered for vs leauing vs an example that we should tread in his steps Secondly this condemneth the practise of many masters who doe after a sort nourish quarrels and contentions as much as in them lyeth within their owne doores For if they haue a seruant who being prouoked stricken by his fellow-seruant will not by and by flye in his face and strike again or being challenged the fielde will not take vp the bucklers and answer the challenge they account it the tricke of a coward and esteem such as vnfit seruants to dwell with them For if hauing a defiance giuen him he take not vp the gantlet they thus reason and conclude with themselues If hee will not draw his weapon in his owne cause he will neuer draw it in mine if he will not strike for himselfe being prouoked he will neuer strike stroke for his master if he be assaulted This may be a rule from humane policy but it is no rule in Christian piety neyther is it after the doctrine which is according to godlinesse It is the duty of seruants being stricken to complaine vnto theyr masters and it is no disgrace or reproch to do so except it be a shame and dishonor to submit themselues to Gods word Euery master is a Magistrate within the walles of his owne house to order his seruants family aright Euerie master is a magistrate in his owne house Hee must giue no approbation to priuate reuenge but make peace among them teach them to suffer wrong rather then to offer and prepare to beare a new iniury rather then seek to reuenge an old as we heard before by the expresse commandement of Christ Not that we should vnderstand his words literally to turne the other cheeke to him that hath stricken one or to giue away our cloake vnto him that hath taken away our coat for Christ him selfe being smitten did not so but hee speaketh comparatiuely do so rather then reuenge thine owne cause But as challenges into the field are vnlawfull so none is bound in honor to answer such challenges Neyther let any man thinke it is a disgrace and discredit to refuse a challenge No disgrace to refuse a challenge For besides that true grace and glory standeth in obedience vnto God wherefore I pray you serueth the master in the house and the Magistrate in the common-wealth but to take vp quarrels that arise the one among his seruants the other among his subiects It is a principall part of their office to decide and determine the differences betweene seruant and seruant betweene subiect and subiect And remember this rule that there can bee no credite gotten by sinning against God Vse 3 Lastly we must take notice of this corruption and shew the duties of loue one to another euen toward our enemies Luke 6 33. Esay 11 6 7 9. Matth. 5 44. 1 Pet. 2 21 23. Now the holy Scripture layeth before vs sundry motiues to moue vs to lay aside all maliciousnesse and desire of reuenge Motiues to moue vs to lay downe reuenge and to shew our selues courteous and gentle kinde and tender-hearted one toward another First except we forgiue we can haue no hope or assurance to be forgiuen but iudgment shal be mercilesse to them that shew no mercy Matth. 6 14 15. Iam. 2 13. Matth. 18 35. We shall finde such measure at the hands of God as wee our selues measure vnto others And Christ enforceth the truth of this by doubling of the sentence both for greater certainty of the matter and for deeper impression in the conscience Secondly God hath forgiuen all his children for Christs sake He might haue many iust quarrels and controuersies against vs for our