him to be any way one of Gods principall secretaryes or meete to be entrusted with this rare jmployment of penning any part of scripture especially considering that he was brought vp in Pharaohs court as a Pagan for the first forty yeares of his life But for the cleare manifestation of this matter and for the justification of the authority of this sacred booke against all accursed cavills we answer and doe acknowledge that howsoever every thing reported therein by Moses were acted long before his birth yet neverthelesse all things written therin are as absolutely true as if Moses had beene borne had seene and heard each passage in his owne person The Lord made choyse of a man living so long after these things were done that he might honour himself and this his sacred historie aboue all humane histories vnder heaven For wheras no profane writer is able infaillibly to report any thing for matter of fact but what was done in his owne dayes and came to passe in his owne ceartayne knowledge the Lord is able to instruct such as he will set a worke to report the proceedings of his churches in all ages in the incontroleable truth of all things that came to passe though they that recorde it were vnborne when they were acted And who knoweth whether the Lord hath not done this and of purpose made vse of such persons who had not a being in the world till long after the time wherin the things themselves which they relate had their being that soe he might shew himself an alsufficient instructor of his servants in those things which were done long before their time and declared long after It is not my purpose to digresse into any generall discourse of those evidences that doe authorise and warrant the whole scripture which are discovered at large by many worthy judicious and learned Divines only that it may manifestly appeare that this booke is no lesse scripture then any other let vs take into our harts the due consideration of those things which may as vnreproveably argue God to be the author as Moses to be the penner of the same and they are among a multitude that might be produced these few that follow 1. Moses doth tell vs of some passages concerning God before the creation which no creature could heare or vnderstand as that of the first creature all the rest when he sayd of every of them Let there be light c. who could tell what God spake touching every of these seing as yet they were not when they were yet till man was created all other were voyd of vnderstanding 2. Hee relates to vs touching the creation of man what God sayd of his making to wit the matter and forme of his body and the infusion of his soule as also of the manner of the making of the woman when the man was in a deepe sleepe and perceived it not and what the man sayd of the woman when the Lord brought her to him 3. After the creation he report's the passages of mans fall and discover's the subtiltyes of Satan in seducing the first man and the first woman which relations must needes be of God for we cannot conceit that the divell would soe detect himself in the evill both of his grosse sin and great punishment 4. After mans fall he tell 's vs of divers secret passages as of Adams knowing his wife of Cains anger conceived inwardly and vnjustly against Abel his brother before it brake out of Noahs drunckenes and nakednes of Lots fayling and the manner therof how he was abused by his daughters with their close carriage of the matter how he knew not what was done when he had slept with them both of the close conveyance which Rebecca vsed to obtayne the blessing for Iacob with the most private circumstances therof and a multitude more of the like to these things soe secret that no flesh could know or relate but they must needes be recorded by the Lord himself 5. He make's narration of the sins of the most holy men and women either that which was common in those times to most of them as the Polygamie of the Patriarchs or such offences as any one of them particulerly fell into not sparing Abraham the freind of God nor any of the sincerest of his servants which a good man would have done had he beene guided but by his owne spirit Nay which doth absolutely seale the truth and authority of his writings to be of God Moses spare's not himself in his owne sins but make's a manifest discovery of his owne infidelity and vnadvised anger and the just punishment of God vpon him for them both This impartiality argue's a supernaturall spirit to guide it when a man cannot spare his freind nor himself but will leave both vpon everlasting record to be blamed and blemished to all posterity A thing not vsuall if at all vsed in humane history wherin men speake and write the best they can and many times more then they should of themselves those whome they favour It must be God that must make men thus to doe therefore this is one of the prerogatives royall of his writings 6. And lastly he tell 's vs of the most secret things that can be imagined nothing can be conceived soe close as the counsell of heaven what God speaketh there who can heare especially when he speaketh not in any such sort or soe openly where Angell's may heare but in his owne private closet nay which is yet more in his owne breast or bosome yet Moses can tell the world not only what God sayd in heaven but what he sayd in his hart how he was jnwardly affected Soe we finde in one chapter of this booke where Moses make's knowne how God repented and was greived at his hart at mans wickednes and in another how he was graciously disposed for the continnance of the constant course and succession of all the affaires of this inferiour world saying And the Lord sayd in his hart I will not againe curse the earth c. See Moses is privy to Gods hart and can make vs know what were his most jnwarde resolutions And who could give him the least light or acquaintāce of these things but God himself who made him his secretary and so made these secrets knowne to him And thus by all these evidences which are common to all other scripture as well as this but coummunicable to no bookes but the booke of God we see that there is no reason of doubting or debateing any thing in this parte of holy writ or any parcell of it because it was penned by Moses and he borne so long after all things written and recorded in the same were gone and past He had a singuler and all sufficient tutor even the most wise God and he himself did endite all that he taught and enabled Moses to write so that every jot and tittle of this booke of Genesis must be of absolute
and infaillible truth And soe having now by the way cleared this scruple we should proceede vnto our discovery of Abels sacrifice as we have it here layd downe in the words of the text which make report vnto vs what kinde of sacrifice it was and wherof it consisted But we must first take away another doubt which may be made by some how Abell could know the minde of God for these matters and soe readily offer a sacrifice of this kinde and doe it soe suitably to Gods prescription considering that as yet the law of the offering of first fruits nor any other part of the morall or ceremoniall was not given We answer it was giuen but not written as we have it now it was given in those dayes by divine tradition originaly from God to man and successively from man to man Then did the father informe the childe acquaint him with the dutyes that pertayned to piety and the children they received it from their parents obeyed it as from God And this course and manner of revealing the will of God by this kinde of traditioÌ„ endured all the dayes of the holy Patriarches and such as lived after them till Moses and also during all the dayes of Moses till that part of his life wherin the Lord employd him about the penning of this booke and that is diversly conjectured of some suppose it to be written before he went into Egypt within the compasse of these fourty yeares wherin he kept sheepe in Madian others imagine he did it immediately after his departing out of Egypt even in the first yeare therof Howbeit this as the former is no point of such importance as that we must of necessity have an exact knowledge of the same But that Gods law was delivered by this kinde of tradition till the time we speake off we nothing doubt and therefore the more foule is that slander layd vpoÌ„ vs by the papist that we acknowledg not nor endure any traditions judeede those that are popish and vnwritten we cannot abide but doe abhorre them all because none of them can be defended but by blasphemy and some of them in particular are apparantly blasphemous But that there were traditions â—â—ce to wit such as the Lord by himself or by his Angells made knowne to man man beleeved related to his posterity we doe no more deny then we doe that Moses penned this part of holy scripture which till his time was a tradition and vnwritten but can be none from that time forward And if the Lord have ceased his owne hath any man power to erect more that are none of his especially now that his holy will is sufficiently revealed in the writings of the Law and Prophets the Gospell That there were some traditions we freely confesse that any are of God now we dirictly deny those that are being not of God we detest because they are the fruit of the Popes braine who hath a very crazy head in heavenly things though he be applauded to be the head of the church and able to distill spirituall influence into it But to returne to Abel it is probable that he received the light and knowledge he had to offer sacrifice from his father who from God did instruct him how and what to doe in such duties as were to be required of him And vpon this did he embrace and obey the Lord in his ordinances which course of his and his forwardnes thus to doe in those times wherin no scripture was penned nor every man that spake of the things of God traditionally so infalliblely inspired as were all they by whome the Lord hath left his truth written to vs shall rise vp against vs to condemne our vntowardnes who refuse to be taught of God and to be obedient to him though he hath left vs a more happy way to learne then they had who had but a part of his good pleasure manifested and that not written wheras we have the whole and written vpon such records as can never be razed The saints of those times were most willing to take knowledge of the wayes of God and yeeld their obedience to them by that meanes which in comparison of ours are but meane and were but weake yet enough to bring them to God who lived by faith in the truth thus revealed The sinners of our dayes to whome the Lord hath dispenced a more absolute and most sufficient course of comming neere to him are farre from the Lord and will not give him neither such nor soe much duty as these did whose knowledg and practise is not soe much magnifyed as ours shal be manifested plagued of the Lord who looke's they should be the best schollers who have the best teaching Note Miserable will it be with those men to whome the Lord shall say these knew litle of my minde in respect of you yet have done much I made it all knowne to you yet have you done litle or nothing Let not this consideration be in vaine but thinke we how cheerefully Abel learned how conscionably he performed the worship of his God having but litle helpe to further him that we by due ponderation herof may be both ashamed for our faylings past and enforce our selves as it were by a holy violence for time to come to be more faithfull and industrious both to know and to doe what on our part we owe vnto the Lord what vnsepakeable shame is it that we should lye behinde them that have gone before vs in those dutyes wherin many of them had but few to follow nor any scripture to learne them but we have both Gods whole booke to giude vs and all his blessed saints are gone before vs yet are we exceeding short of those holy ones who lived graciously in that age which may truly be called the infancy both of the world and of the church But I will not dwell here we see the holy Ghoste beare's record of Abels offering let vs now come to the words of the text which tell vs what manner of sacrifice it was And Abel he also brought of the firstlings or first borne of his flock Exod. 22.29.30 cap. 34.19 26. Levit. 23.10.12 Num. 15.20.21 Deut. 12.17 cap. 18.4 cap. 26.1.2.11 and of the fate of them Of the first-lings or first borne that is the first encrease of cattell that the Lord gave him The Lord made a most exact law for the offeriÌ„g of the first borne both of man and beast and of all fruits vnto him and this law of his we finde to be very frequently repeated in divers places of the foure bookes of Moses Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomie And as it was often itterated by God to Jsraell soe was it faithfully obeyed by Israell before the Lord both before the captivity in Hezekiah dayes 2. Chron. 31.1.51 Neh. 10.3.32.35 and after in the dayes of Nehemiah as appeareth in the storie of their lives nay from the begining before this law
as come from that hell originally whervnto they that persist in them must goe eternally And to preserve soe many of them as is possible now they have done pleading for sin against the honour of God and the good of their owne soules we will begin to plead both for God and for them and the happines they may have by this blessed truth of his if they have such harts as may yet be mooved perswaded to embrace the same Vse To which end we now come to our third vse wherin we shall make tender vnto them of such motiues and considerations as may jnduce any hart that is not wholy hardened and sealed vp or seared by Satan to a starke senclesse condition to yeeld both acknowledgment obedience to that which in this behalfe the Lord requireth of them The thing the Lord expecteth is the first fruits of our liues to be his that assoone as we can vndertake any thing we should betake our selves to his service and can we conceit he doth this without right or reason Farre be such jmpious jmmaginations from our harts Let vs pervse seriously some few particulers that may be powerfull and perswaaing with vs herein And first we will begin with those grounds whervpon legally the Lord required them which if we ponder and paralell according to their morall we shall see enough to moue men to doe as God would have them Note then that the first fruits were to be given to these ensuing ends 1. That the Lord might be honoured in this favour and power wherby he gave Isarell that goodly land by giving him his right in the first of every thing The first of all was the Lords right and appropriated to himself by his owne ordinance and decree he that gave it not rob'd God of his due and was guilty of the higest sacriledge that could be committed Yea the Lord was soe absolute herein that all the first should be entyre to himself that if it were not given him Exod. 34.20 yet they might not reserve it to their owne vse as is evident in that instance of the asse which being an vncleane beast it was to be redeemed by a lambe but if the owner aid not redeeme it he might not let it live but must breake the neck of it Now then who seeth not through this shaddow that our first time is the Lords absolute right and that we are theiues to our God if we giue not our selves to him and this fellony we may not jmagine to be easily answered it is no slight matter to be false to the almighty to be a robber of the most high it is not our booke will save vs yet his booke if we wil be ruled by it will shew vs the meanes how to be saved The reproach of being a theife and a robber is great but the punishment is greater he that repent's not sincerely of it will assuredly rue it 2. God will have the first from vs that we might have right to the rest from him Till he have his nothing of all we have is ours when we have given him his right in the first then and not till then he gives vs right to the rest and this is as plaine as the former in the law of Moses in the places forealedged Wherin as we see the great most gracious goodnes of God in providing and caering for our interest that what we have we might holde it from him in a lawfull and comfortable tenure Soe the greater and more heavy is the morall and meaning of this heavenly truth to them who denying the Lord his right doe thereby spoyle their owne by the jmpious neglect of giving the Lord his doe proclaime to all men that nothing they have is theirs Every vngodly man that honours not the Lord with his first is a theife and a vsurper of all he doth posesse and lives vnder the just reproach of a fellon before God and in the danger of that justice due to this offence he is in perpetuall perill every moment hath heavens indignatiō hanging over his head ready at all times to be arrested arraigned cōdemned excecuted by the high posessor of heaven earth the great Lord and owner of all that every man hath who give 's no man title to any thing he hath vnlesse he himselfe first have his due A wicked mans foode rayment riches his whole estate is stolen goods wheresoever he goe's whatsoever he doe's how long or litle soe ever he live's every instant of his life is perilous and may prove the very moment of his eternall death his life is not his owne himself is not his owne he hath no right to the breath he drawe's to the earth he treads on to any thing appertayning to his being all is for feit to the Lord of all for none-payment of these first fruits And herof may we be well assured if we well consider that the Lord would not be soe vnwise as to give vs any thing to serve Satan withall noe he ever gave vs that we might enjoy it to his honour and to our owne advantage Now if he please to give vs harts to give him the first he will graciously continue the same hart in vs to give him the rest also wheras if Satan set in first it is great wonder if he have not the last too for he vseth to holde hard for that which he once hath 3. the Lord will have the first that the rest may be not only ours but sanctifyed to vs also that the right we have in it and the vse we have of it may both be seasoned and sweetened to vs when we have first given God that which is Gods And without a vse sanctifyed what is or can any thing be to vs Beasts that want reason have a naturall vse of earthly comforts Pagans that want religion have a civill vse of that which they have now there is no difference betweene their tenure and ours but this wherin we exceede them that we have both the naturall and civill sanctifyed vnto vs. It is theirs in that state wherin sin left it with the whole curse of sin vpon it It is ours as Christ Iesus hath purifyed it and made it holy to vs. So all is poysoned to him that is in Gods debt for this due and to him that hath discharged it to his best ability all is blessed If the first fruits be holy saith the apostle soe is the lumpe if they be not Ro. 11.16 the lumpe cannot be Tye these two motives together and see how strong they are to binde vs to the obedience of this instruction if we have no right at all then we steale all we have if no sanctifyed vse all we steale is envenomed to vs soe that first we are theives to God in vsing what we have no right in and next we are murderers of our selves in the vnsanctifyed estate of that we vse Now what mighty and vnmatchable misery is it for
the children of God for consolation the vngodly for reprehension all men for instruction Vse 1 And first for the saints the sons and daughters of God it cannot be but exceeding happy comfortable to them who have harts convinced of this truth and lives that have expressed it since the first day it was revealed to them from the Lord before whome they have sincerely endeavoured to give him the first fruits of their knowledge of this lesson though either through their owne personall ignorance therof or through the error of parents in their education they have not given him the first fruits of their practise while they were in their non-age It is a most happy thing to be rightly convicted of a divine truth because many are superficially perswaded an will give a slight consent lesse the Divell if he be put to it wil not doe to many holy truthes of God but they whome the Lord convinceth a right as he doth all his owne he cōforteth in giving them a harts resolution setled in their very soules to say within themselves this is the vndoubted truth of the euerliving God thus we must doe endeavour to stire vp others to doe the same and if it be a truth which we should haue practised before we must repent for neglect past be vpright with God for the time remayning and goe the faster because we began soe late and doe our best to draw others after vs to that way which both they and we should have gone long before He that is thus convicted shall not goe long vncomforted It is a simple impossibility that men called at their ripe yeares or in their age should give their first fruits to the Lord those dayes are gone and past but to give the Lord at what time it pleaseth him to call vs the glory of this truth in our sounde perswasion that it is thus and singleharted humiliation because it had not place in our practise before now most carefull provocation to our vtmost possibility that it may be thus in ours and all others with whome by any good meanes we can prevayle this is to be truly happy and in a most comfortable condition we are accepted of God thus doing as if we had done it our selves from the first day of our life How famous is Abraham few men soe much renowned in religion as he none more yet from his childe hood he had not done service but to Satan in jdolatry and such other jmpiety as vsually accompanieth that jniquity But at the first call he came and assoone as he heard he did obey and perceiving that the Lord had lost such duty by him as in his former dayes he should have received from him he is cōvinced hereof and resolved that his children shall give it though his owne childe-hood was given to sin And the discerning of this in him was that that gave the Lord content and Abraham comfort Is not Moses a man abundantly magnified and that of God himself as if he had beene as indeede he was some extraordinary servant of his yet for forty yeares of his life what was he so farre as we finde but such as others were that lived in the court of that Pagan Prince who was the oppressor and adversary of Gods people it may be he might be lesse grosse then some of his fellow courtiers who were inclined to egregious jmpiety but that he was good or savoured of any saving grace is more then appeareth to me Howbeit inasmuch as he freely and resolutely cast off all the creddit and profsit of his high dignity preheminence in court when the Lord would summon him to serve him it was well taken that from that age and time he wayted on the worke of God though neither his childe-hood nor youth were the Lords in time past What should I multiply more as I might of many other most worthy saints who in the same case have had the same comfort what is over-past and cannot be actually recovered and performed if it be rightly repented of in our selues and reformed in others to our best power it is all one as if we had done it in our owne person Let vs bewayle our owne want of duty and Gods want of glory by vs and doe as Hannah did for such as may come within our possibility to dispose off or perswade namely give them to the Lord from the first instant that we have any interest in them and it shal be well with vs. And this I doe of purpose insert here because Satan is malicious and hungry to gnaw vpon the very harts of Gods saints when once he gett's a truth by the end wherin their time for performance is past then doth he come with his pearceing temptations to wounde and rende the soules of such as are single harted and to lay it in their dish that this and that they should have done long since God should have had their whole lives for his service now many yeares be gone and there can be noe recalling of them and can they thinke which way to make all well when it is an vtter jmpossibility to recover one moment much lesse many yeares with these and the like spight full and greivous suggestions he doth teaze and torture their gracious mindes to breede despayre in them But now we are armed I hope to answer him and that we may doe and pay him double both for himself to whome we may say with joy and scorne better once then never for thy part thy first dayes were as due to God as mine but he will never call but ever accurse thee Note and for our selves but for my part though I have lost my first dayes my God will not lose me ever seing he call's once and be that come's then comes time enough for mercy though he should have came sooner in duty and moreover know the Lord hath made many a happy man for his best service among those who in their first dayes have beene fouly misled I greive that I gave him not my childe-hood or youth but if he please to accept of my age I joy and will joy and doe my best to offer all that I can prevaile withall assoone as I should haue offered my self These and the like answers will confound his cavills and make him weary of vs and he being thus resisted our God and we may be the more intimate and familiar in the sweetest passages of his singuler favour And see we see there is sounde comfort for such as are perswaded herof and would have done it and are humbled because God hath beene robbed of his right in their minority Againe for such as have offered their first fruits to the Lord there comfort cannot be behinde if it exceede not theirs that went before Our A bell here who was soe carefull to give the Lord the first of his flocke and I cannot easily doubt but that he gave the first of himself also how doth the Lord magnify
him in this his service and duty Did he not most graciously regard him and his offering hath he not put it here into his owne booke to his perpetuall prayse Heb. 11.4 1. Joh. 3. and not only here but else-where in the new testament once and againe that from the beginning to the end of the world he might be famous wheresoever either this text or those should be preached that which he hath done should not be forgotten Did he not most deeply avenge his innocent blood vpon his jmpious brother and made him the first and most fearfull spectacle of his justice and malediction to the terror of all succeding generations And which is more then all this hath not the Lord crowned him with glory and immortality in the heavens with himself as well as renouned him for holynes and piety here on earth He is the first whose soule every saw the face of God noe man ever went from earth to heaven before him among the innumerable spirits of just and perfect men who now and for ever live there with the Lord in glory He was the first martyr had the first crowne none every dyed for the Lord before him none could liue with the Lord before him he was the Lords first witnes among all the Lords worthyes this righteous Abel as Christ call's him stood in the fore-frunt of the battell shed the first blood for the faith testimony of Iesus before there was any to back or abett him And as the Lord tooke great notice of this first soe also hath he done in like manner of the rest who have began betime to be acquainted with him in his service How came Samuell to be soe rare a man and to be numbred among the most speciall favourites of God Moses Iob Daniell Noah c Why doe you not remember what we have sayd of his mother how she gave him to God in resolution before she had him and was as good as her word assoone as he was weaned doe you not remember what is sayd of himself the childe Samuell ministred before the Lord the childe Samuell this was worthy to be acounted wonderfull that a childe should minister before the Lord especially being so yong that as yet he knew not the voyce or call of God from Elyes but ranne to Ely once and againe when the Lord called vpon him about the first busines he had to doe for him What may be the cause that Iosiah is soe mightily cōmended that as if he were matchlesse it is sayd of him that there was none like before him nor any to succeede that should be such a one as this peerelesse prince was true it is that never any king either of Jsraell or Iudah no not among the good kings before or after him went soe farre in the worke of Godfor the purgatiō purifying of his worship as he did this king did surmount them all but how is it that he came to doe what none had done more then they all why he begun to worke the worke of God betime that may be a mayne reason why he did so much at eight yeare olde saith the scripture he sought the Lorde 2. King 23.1 and that is but in childe-hood all men know What should I tell you of Solomon of Timothie and such others as I might mention to this purpose nothing is more sure then this that they have beene the rarest and most excellent men in piety and religion and the most able instruments of Gods honour who in the beginning of their dayes have begun to doe good they must needes be neerest heaven who set out on their way soonest continue going on thither-warde Only it is seldome that we see any enter vpon religion soe early now a dayes they are very few that begin to be soe soone faith full Note The more are they to be admired of godly men and the more to be comforted of God who are founde sucklings in grace assoone as they are weanelings in nature and hang vpon Gods breasts when they have given over they mothers So that by all that hath beene sayd it appeareth to be a happy thing and they to be most happy men who have learned this lesson of the Lord and walked according to the light therof which leade's on directly in the way of life wherin howsoever a man may possibly meete with some molestation and misery yet the end of it will vndoubtedly be endles infinite glory with him who wil make those most glorious beyond all time who betooke themselves to glorify him betime Much might be spoken to enlarge their consolation who have harts to doe according to this instruction But of this more hereafter we now passe to our 2. Vse Vse 2 And that concerneth all vngodly persons who howsoever they will because they must and cannot for starke shame say otherwise after a sort acknowledg this our doctrine to be true yet walke most wickedly in a course farre wyde of it nay cleane contrary to it their mouthes cannot be soe monstruously finfull but they must confesse it to be a truth howbeit their hellish harts and lives doe deny it in their most jmpious practise all the dayes of their life yea they have taught their tongues to lye herin notoriously and that not to men alone but to the Lord of whome and of whose service they vse to say it is not yet time it may be time enough heareafter O yee impious children of the father of lyes can you say it is true that every one shoulde begin betime and it were not amisse if it were soe and yet tell God and men to their faces that any time is time enought hereby you shew your selves to be the very jmps of the devill who hath taught you such a language as one part of your speech confutes nay confound's another and such a practise as overturnes Gods truth which you dare not deny and confirmes that falshood which none ought to affirme Miserable soules how are yee given over of God into the hands nay into the bands of Satan who if you speake or breath out but one true word can make your life both to bely and abolish that and to ratify every jot and tittle of those infernall falshoodes that he suggests into your soules Doe yee not sin presumptuously and against the light of your owne knowledg and conscience that can thus speake and dare thus doe and is such a sin a light matter or easy to answer to the judge of the whole worlde know you will not finde it soe in the day of the great and vniversall assize when all flesh shall at once stand before him to give account and receive recompence according to what they have done Notwithstanding the world hath beene ever full hell wil be one day full of soe many of them as repent not of such as either turne God out of all time or bring him in the tayle of all the time they live