a Rule to guide my Conscience by either in Civil or Ecclesiastical matters Verse 4. Gods Actions are general and particular general to all men particular to his Friends So must ours be As therefore by his general Action he suffereth the Sun to shine upon the bad as well as good so must we extend our Love which is the common Bond of Mankind as well to our Enemies as to our Friends by which common Love all hurting of the Bodies or Goods of our Enemies is forbid Again as God hath his special Action to his Friends and his Church namely sanctification so must Friendship which is our special Action reach its self to such only as are of the Houshold of Faith For although we must love with that general Love all Mankind Turks Pagans yet to such may we not be Friends and Familiars but must beware of inward and usual conversation with them that hate God and all his Graces This distinction tels you the meaning of Mat. 5. 44. Love your enemies Verse 5. Estne Deo cura de bobus is the Apostles Question Hath God care of Oxen other mens Oxen how much more of his own Sheep And therefore if thou see one of his Sheep one of thy fellow Christians strayed into sins of infirmity joyn him with thine own Soul in thy Prayers to God Relieve him if what he needs be spiritual with thy Prayers for him and relieve him if his wants be of another kind according to his Prayers to thee Why should not he that is made of the same bloud and redeem'd with the same bloud as thou art why should not he prevail with thee so far as to the obtaining of an Almes when some fellow-servant of thine hath had that interest in God as by his intercession and Prayers to advance thy Salvation wilt not thou save the life of another man that prayes to thee when perchance thy Soul hath been saved by another man that prayed for thee Verse 6. In the third verse God commanded That the poor man should not be spared for pitty Here now he enjoyneth That a poor man should not be wrong'd in respect of his poverty such equal steps would God have Judgement to walk in Verse 11. Blessed is the man that provideth for the poor the Lord shall deliver him in all his trouble Psalm 41. 1. This is proved in the Widdow of Zarepta who fed the Prophet and never suffered in the midst of that Famine 1 Kings 17. When I was hungry you fed me saith Christ Mat. 25. 35. Me I say in the poor with you to whom what you did you did it to me and so I take it and will blesse you for it both here and hereafter Verse 19. You must not seeth the kid c. to shew that we must not use that to the destruction of any Creature which was intended for his preservation CHAP. XXIV Verse 3. IT is better not to promise than not to keep promise the people of the Iews were signified by the Locusts which suddenly leap up and forthwith fall down to the earth again They did as it were leap up when in words they promised to do all things which the Lord had said but they fell to the earth again when in their deeds they denied the same Let us therefore alwayes weigh our weakness and accordingly frame our promises for as we see in this people we may purpose well that which we cannot so well perform Verse 12. It is not many weeks since Israel came out of Egypt in which space God had cherished their Faith by several Wonders yet now he thinks it time to give them Statutes from Heaven as well as Bread The Manna and Water from the Rock which was Christ in the Gospel were given before the Law the Sacraments of Grace before the legal Covenant The Grace of God preventeth our obedience therefore should we keep the Law of God because we have a Saviour O the Mercy of God which before we see what we are bound to do shews us our remedy if we do it not How can our Faith disanul the Law when it was before it It may help to fulfil that which shall be it cannot frustrate that which was not The Letter which God had written in our fleshly Tables were now as some that were carved in some Barks almost grown out he saw it time to write them in dead Tables whose hardness should not be capable of alteration He knew that the stone would be more faithful than our hearts Verse 14. Ministers whether Civil or Ecclesiastical are not to leave their charge without Deputies When Moses here ascended he left Aaron and Hur with the people that whosoever had any matter might come to them So watchful and faithful was Moses in his place that without just cause he is not absent and then he leaveth able Deputies Verse 16. Moses ascending was not admitted to God till after six dayes to teach all men patiently and reverently to tarry Gods leisure and gracious pleasure for any matter of his Will to be revealed to them not curiously searching but humbly waiting for the thing we seek being fit for us At the end of six dayes God called to Moses So will the Lord have a comfortable time for all those that wait for him they shall see and hear at last what he will say unto them But then they must come to God in the Cloud that is in the humanity of Christ whereof this Cloud was a Figure For without him there is no access to God and by him we come and that boldly Verse 17. God appears here like a consuming Fire in the eyes of the Children of Israel but to them whom he drew to him he appeared as a pleasant Saphire verse 10. Just so to carnal men and to such as are his called by his holy Spirit there is a great difference of him the one seeing with fear and trembling the other seeing feeling and tasting Joy and Comfort Verse 18. Moses was with God forty dayes and nights without any repast That God that sent the Quails to the Host of Israel and Manna from Heaven could have fed him with dainties if he had so pleas'd But there is no life to the life of Faith Man lives not by bread only The Vision of God did not only satiate but feast him What a blessed satiety shall there be when we shall see him as he is and he shall be all in all to us Since this very frail Mortality of Moses was sustained and comforted but with representations of his presence Here again I see Moses the Receiver of the Law Elias the Restorer of the Law Christ the Fulfiller of the Law all fasting forty dayes Abstinence prepares best for good Duties Full bellies are fitter for rest Hence solemn Prayer takes ever fasting to attend it and so much the rather speeds in Heaven when it is so accompanied It s good so to diet the body that the soul may be fatned CHAP. XXV
cowardliness as soon as ever we are call'd from the Garrison to the Field to think of running away Then is our fortitude worthy of praise when we can endure to be miserable Verse 4. Why brought ye us up hither say the Israelites when they should have said God hath led us hither this should have been a contentment able to quench any thirst If Moses out of ignorance had misguided us or we changeably fallen upon these dry desarts though this were no remedy of our grief yet it might be some ground of our complaint But now the Counsel of so wise and Merciful a God hath drawn us into this want and shall he not as easily find the way out It is the Lord let him do what he will there can be no more forcible motive to patience than the acknowledgment of a Divine hand that strikes us Verse 6. It was no Expostulating with an unreasonable multitude Moses and Aaron run straight to him that was able at once to quench their thirst and their fury they went from the Congregation to the door of the Tabernacle It is the best way to trust God with his own Causes when men will be intermedling with his affairs they undo themselves in vain We shall find difficulties in all great enterprises if we be sure we have begun them from God we may securely cast all events upon his providence which knows how to dispose and how to end them Verse 11. Out of a stone Water cannot be drawn but by miracles though it be twice striken as Moses here stroke the Rock twice yet the water came by the miraculous power of God and not by Moses second stroke Though God strike twice thrice man will not weep Though inward terrors strike his Conscience and outward diseases strike his body and calamities and ruine strike his Estate yet he will not confess by one tear that these are Judgements of God but natural accidents or if Judgements that they proceed not from his sin but from some decree in God or from some purpose in God to glorifie himself by thus afflicting and that if he had been better he should have fared never the better for Gods purpose must stand CHAP. XXI Verse 4. IT was their way that makes them repine they were fain to go round about Idumea the Journy was long and troublesome They had sent intreaties to Edom for License of passage the next way reasonably submisly it was churlishly denied them Esau lives still in his posterity Iacob in Israel the Combate which they began in Rebecca's room is not yet ended So long as there is a World there will be opposition to the chosen of God they may come at their peril the way had been nearer but bloody they dare not go it and yet complain of length If they were afraid to purchase their resting-place with War how much less would they their passage What should God do with impatient Men they will not go the nearest way and yet complain to go about He that will pass to the promised Land must neither stand upon length of way nor difficulty Every way hath his Inconveniences the nearest hath more danger the farthest hath more pain either or both must be overcome if ever we will enter the rest of God Verse 5. Aaron and Miriam were now past the danger of their mutinies for want of another match they joyn God with Moses in their murmurings though they had not formerly mention'd him yet they could not fever him from Moses in their Insurrection for in the causes of his own Servants he challenges even when he is not challenged What will become of thee O Isral when thou makest thy Maker thine enemy Impatience is Cousin to Frenzy this causes men not to care upon whom they run so they may breath out some Revenge How oft have we heard men that have been displeased by others tear the Name of their Maker in pieces he that will Judge and can confound is fetch'd into the Quarrel without Cause But if to strive with a mighty man be unwise and unsafe what shall it be to strive with the mighty God And what was the ground of this murmuring Our Soul loat heth this light bread This Heavenly Bread was unspeakably delicious it tasted like waters of Honey and yet even this Angels food is cuntemn'd He that is full despiseth an Honey-comb How sweet and delicate is the Gospel not only the Fathers of the Old-Testament but the Angels desired to look into the glorious mysteries of it and yet we are cloyed This supernatural Food is too light the bread-corn of our humane reason and profound discourse would better content us Verse 6. These men when the Spies had told them news of the Gyants of Canaan a little before had wish'd Would God we had dyed in the Wilderness Now God hath heard their Prayers what with the Plague what with the Serpents many thousands of them dyed The ill wishes of our impatience are many times heard As those good things are not granted which we pray for without care so those evils which we pray for and would not have are oft granted The ears of God are not only open to the Prayers of Faith but to imprications of Infidelity It is dangerous wishing evill to our selves or ours it is just with God to take us at our word and to effect that which our Lips speak against our Heart Verse 7. Now the people are glad to seek to Moses unbidden Even heretofore they have been wont to be sued to and intreated for without their own intreaty now their misery makes them importunate There needs no Solicitor where there is sence of smart It were pitty men should want affliction since it sends them to their Prayers and Confessions All the perswasions of Moses could not do that which the Serpents have done for him O God thou seest how necessary it is we should be stung sometimes else we should run wild and never come to a sound humiliation we should never seek thee if thy hand did not find us out Verse 8. The Israelites being stung with Serpents erected a Serpent in the Wilderness Serpens momordit Serpens curavit the Philistines being plagued with Emeroids offered Emeroides unto the Ark. They that gave their Jewels to the making of a Calf did afterwards bestow them on the Lords Tabernacle And Mary Magdalen who was wont to send forth alluring beams into the eyes of her Paramours now the same Eyes send forth a deluge of Tears CHAP. XXII Verse 1. MOab and Midian had been all this while standers by and lookers on If they had not seen the pattern of their own ruine in their Neighbours it had nevet troubled them to see the Kings of the Amorites and Bashan to fall before Israel Had not the Israelites Camp'd in the Plains of Moab their Victories had been no Eye-sore to Balack Wicked men never care to observe Gods Judgements till themselves be touch'd the fire of a Neighbours House would
not worth thanks Nay this very upbraiding Israelite shall save Moses his life For if this mans tongue had not cast him in the teeth with bloud he had been surprized by Pharaoh ere he could have known the fact was known Now he grows jealous flies and escapes no Friend is so commodious in some cases as an Adversary Verse 15. God hath alwayes one place of refuge or other for his Servants to fly unto If Iudea be dangerous for the Child Iesus in Egypt he shall find safety and again if Egypt threaten death to Moses Midian shall preserve him and improve him likewise For God by forty years exile fitted Moses for further light and advancement Much he had learnt in Egypt but more in Midian There is no doubt but he had good School-masters in Pharaohs Court but his own affliction was his best Moses had never been so illuminate a Doctor nor so excellent a Ruler afterwards if he had not been first humbled here Verse 17. Moses when he may not in Egypt he will be doing Justice in Midian In Egypt he delivers the oppressed Israelite in Midian the wrong'd Daughters of Iethro A good Man will be doing good wheresoever he is his Trade is a compound of Charity and Justice But who would have thought in this present condition as Moses was so cast down with his own complaints that he would have had any feeling of others yet how hot is he upon Justice No adversity can make a good Man neglect good Duties he sees in the oppression of the Shepherds the image of that other he left behind him in Egypt The Maids Daughters of so great a Peer draw water for their Flocks the inhumane Shepherds drive them away rudeness hath not respect either to Sex or condition If we lived not under Laws this were our case Might would be the measure of Justice we should not so much as injoy our own water Verse 22. It seems by this Text that Moses his affection was not so tyed to Midian that he could forget Egypt He was a Stranger in Midian What was he else in Egypt Surely either Egypt was not his Home or a miserable one and yet in reference to it he cals his Son Gershom a Stranger there Much better were it to be a Stranger there than a Dweller in Egypt How hardly can we forget the place of our abode or education although never so homely And if he thought of his Egyptian Home where was nothing but bondage and tyranny how should we think of that Home of ours above where is nothing but rest and blessedness Verse 23. This is a Comfort to the Godly as likewise it should be a Warning to all Oppressors of Gods Children they shall die and be packing and shall not continue to deal cruelly with Gods Inheritance The rod of the ungodly lighteth upon the Faithful but the Lord hath said it shall not rest and dwell upon them But however it was but just with God to let them sigh by reason of their bondage Such sobs of sorrow were but due to them that rejected and would not see what God offered them of ease A singular Warning to beware the rejection of Gods Mercy when it is offered for such a refusal hath ever a sure punishment attending upon it Forty years agoe God offered them deliverance by Moses which when they refused they were plagued with forty years more of slavery But yet at length when they sighed God heard that very sorrowful breathing Sweet Father so it is ever with thee just to correct but gracious to give over not ever offended but in due time intreated pittiful loving and of endless mercy CHAP. III. Verse 1. THat great men may not be ashamed of honest Vocations the greatest that ever were have been content to take up with mean Trades The same Moses that in the former Chapter was a Courtier is in this verse a Shepherd The contempt of honest Callings in those which are well born argues Pride without Wit How constantly did Moses stick to his Hook and yet a man of great Spirit of excellent Learning of curious Education and if God had not called him off he had so ended his dayes In the mean time how had he learn'd to subdue all ambitious desires and to rest content with his obscurity so he might have the freedome of his thoughts and full opportunity of holy Meditations he willingly leaves the World to others and envies not his proudest Acquaintance of the Court of Pharaoh He that hath true worth in himself and familiarity with God finds more pleasure in the Desarts of Midian than others can do in the Palaces of Kings Verse 2. This manner of appearing may occasion us to remember how God useth to apply himself to the purpose and intent of his appearing Isai. 6. 1. He is said to appear like a Judge because as then the judgement of Ifrael drew near At the Baptisme of Christ it pleased the Holy Ghost to appear like a Dove because that form might shew the innocency and mild nature of our Saviour And now here like a Bush burning but not consumed that it might declare the present state of his People in Egypt and the condition of his Church unto the Worlds end Verse 5. In this appearance God meant to call Moses to come yet when he is come inhibits him Come not hither We must come to God but we must not come too near him When we mediate of the great Mysteries of his Word we come to him we come too near him when we search into his Counsels The Sun and the Fire say of themselves come not too near how much more the Light which none can attain unto We have all our limits set us and very good reason for it For the Waves of the Sea had not more need of bounds than mans presumption Moses must not come close to the Bush at all and where he may stand he may not stand with his shooes on This Command was significant What are the shooes but worldly and carnal affections If these be not cast off when we come to the holy Place we make our selves unholy How much lesse should we dare to come with resolutions of sin This is not only to come with shooes on but with shooes bemired with wicked filthiness the touch whereof prophanes the Pavement of God and makes our presence odious Verse 6. God could not describe himself by a more sweet Name than this I am the God of thy Father and of Abraham c. yet Moses hides his face for fear If he had said I am the Glorious God that made Heaven and Earth that dwels in Light inaccessible whom Angels cannot behold here had been just cause of terror But why was Moses so frighted with a familiar compellation God is no lesse awful to his own in his very Mercies Great is thy Mercies that thou maist be fear'd For to them no lesse Majesty shines in the Favours of God than in his Judgements and Justice
Law to their hands and before their eyes wherein as St. Ierome and Theodoret well interpret it God meant the meditations and practice of his Law but they like unto the foolish Patient which when the Physitian bids him take such a Prescript eats up the paper they rested in the fringe and not in the garment in the Ceremony not in the Law For if these Jews could but get a list of Parchment upon their left arm next their heart and another scroll to tye upon their fore-head and four corners of Fringe or if these be denied a red thread in their hand though they might say with Saul 1 Sam. 16. Blessed be thou of the Lord I have fulfilled the command of the Lord. CHAP. XVI Verse 1. I See the Levites not long since drawing their Swords for God and Moses against the rest of Israel and that Fact wins them both praise and blessing now they are the forwardest in the rebellion against Moses and Aaron men of their own Tribe There is no assurance of a man for one act whom one sin cannot fasten upon another may yea the same sin may find a repulse one while from the same hand which another time gives it entertainment and that yeildance looseth the thank of all the former resistance It is no praise to have done once well unless we continue We see here likewise that outward priviledges of Blood can avail nothing against a particular calling of God These Reubenites had the right of the natural primogeniture yet do they vainly challenge preheminence where God hath subjected them If all civil honour flow from the King how much more from the God of Kings his hand exalts the poor and casts down the mighty from their Throne the man that will be lifting up himself in the pride of his heart from under the foot of God is justly trodden in the dust Verse 2. There cannot be conceived an honour less worth emulation than this principality of Israel a people that could give nothing a people that had nothing but in hope a people whom their leader was fain to feed with Bread and Water which paid him no tribute but of ill words whose command was nothing but a burthen and yet this dignity had drawn together in a mutinous way 250 Captains of Israel What wonder is it that the Ten-Rulers prevail so much with the multitude to disswade them from Canaan when three Traytors prevailed thus with 250 Rulers famous in the Congregation and men of renown one man may kindle such a fire as all the World cannot quench One Plague-sore may infect a whole Kingdom the infection of evil is much worse than the act It is not like those Leaders of Israel could err without followers He is a mean man that draws not some Clients after him It hath been ever a dangerous policy of Sathan to assault the best he knew that the multitude as we say of Bees will follow their Master Verse 3. Moses and Aaron you take too much upon you was the cry of a Jew once and so it is still by many now a dayes who would manacle and confine them only to an Ecclesiastick power and divest them quite of any civil Authority though Moses had both according to St. Aug. in 98 Psal. and David also placeth Moses among the Priests Ps. 99. 6. Verse 5. Moses argues not for himself but appeals to God neither speaks for his own right but his Brother Aarons he knew that Gods immediate service was worthy to be more precious than his Government Good Magistrates are more tender over Gods honour than their own and more sensible of the wrongs offered to Religion than themselves And Moses took the best course to appeal to God It is safest to trust God with his own cause If Aaron had been set up by Israel Moses would have sheltred him under their Authority now that God did immediatly appoint him his patronage is sought whose the Election was We may easily faulter in the managing of Divine affairs and so our want of success cannot want sin God knows how to use how to bless his own means Verse 9. As there was a difference betwixt the people and Levites so betwixt the Levites and Priests The God of order loves to have our degrees kept Whiles the Levites would be looking up to the Priests Moses sends down their Eyes to the people The way not to repine at those above us is to look at those below us There is no better remedy for ambition than to cast up our former receits and so compare them with our deservings and confer our own Estate with Inferiors so shall we find cause to be thankful that we are above any rather than of envy that any is above us Verse 12. Moses hath chid the Sons of Levi for mutinying against Aaron and so much the more because they were of his own Tribe now he sends for the Reubenites which rose against himself they come not and their Message is worse than their absence Moses is accused of Injustice Cruelty Falsehood Treachery Usurpation and Egypt it self shall be commended rather than Moses want a reproach Innocency is no shelter from ill tongues Malice never regards how true an accusation is but how spiteful Verse 15. Now it was time for Moses to be angry they durst not have been thus bold if they had not seen his mildness Lenity is ill bestowed upon stubborn natures it is an injurious sencelesness not to feel the wounds of our reputation It well appears Moses is angry when he prayes against them He was displeased before but when he was most bitter against them he still prayed for them but now he bends his very prayers against them Look not to their Offering there can be no greater revenge than the imprecation of the righteous there can be no greater judgement than Gods rejection of their services With us men what more argues the dislike of the person than the turning back of his present What will God accept from us if not Prayers Verse 22. The same Tongue that prayed against the Conspirators prayes for the people as lewd men think to carry it with number Corah had so far prevail'd that he had drawn the multitude to his side God the avenger of Treasons would have consumed them at once Moses and Aaron pray for the Rebels although they were worthy of Death and nothing but Death could stop their mouths yet their merciful Leaders will not buy their own peace with the loss of such Enemies O rare and imitable mercy the people rise up against their Governors their Governors fall on their faces to God for the people so far are they from plotting revenge that they will not endure God shall revenge for them Verse 27. Moses had well hoped that when these Rebels should see all the Israelites run from them as from Monsters and should hear that direful Proclamation of Vengeance against them howsoever they did before set a face on their Conspiracy yet
their backs and his Name in their mouths they out-face all reproofs How many are there who if they can keep their Church give Alms bow their Knee say their Prayers and once a year receive the Sacrament think they may say in their heart I have enough my Brother but be not deceived if long Devotions sad looks hard pen ances bountiful Alms would have carried it without the solid substance of Religion the Scribes and Pharisees had never been shut out of Heaven CHAP. VII Verse 9. VVE may be sure that whatsoever God hath promised to his Church and whatsoever God hath done upon the Enemies of his Church heretofore those very performances to them are promises to us of the like succors in the like distresses he will perform reperform multiply performances thereof upon us Therefore is God call'd here The faithful God for that faithfulness implies a Covenant made before and there enters his mercy that he would make that Covenant and it implies also the assurance of the Performance thereof and there enters his faithfulness So he is call'd by St. Peter 1 Pet. 4. a faithful Creator he had an eternal gracious purpose upon us to Create us and he hath faithfully accomplish'd it And so Gods whole Word is call'd so often so very often a faithful Witness an evidence that cannot deceive nor mislead us Verse 13. There is no Man but he hath more about him in his present engagements and obligations to God than he will be able to answer in his best services though he should live out his Eternity here and then add a Christians Reversions to his present Possessions and it may be read running that God is not beholding to the Creature for any work or service that is done to him and yet God is pleased here to promise these Israelites that he will bless the fruit of their Womb and the fruit of their Land if they will hearken to his Iudgements and keep his Commandements But then withall observe from hence that God first hints the service and then expresseth the reward First he saith in the fore-going Verse If you will hearken to my judgements and keep them and then he grants the reward in this verse I will bless the fruit of thy Womb and of thy Land God will stand upon his own Prerogative and his Prerogative is to be served first and simply Though God will not be served for nought and therefore makes large Promises yet he will not be served because of the Promise but because of the Precept and therefore that goes first It is the Devil that makes bargains with his Servants to hire them to serve him Mat. 4. 9. but though God makes many and large promises to those that serve him yet he never makes any bargains with them and therefore in all the obedience that is done to God the Christian must first eye the Command and then the Promise It is not denyed but I may look upon the Promise as a motive as an encouragement as an obligation as an occasion to duty and obedience but not as the end and cause and ground of my obedience I may have respect unto the recompence of the reward with Moses Heb. 11. 26. but to seek Christ because of the Loaves is to respect the Loaves more than Christ or as much as Christ and that is rotten Verse 15. A healthy body is the reward of piety and he that endeavours to keep Gods Commandements God will keep from him all sickness saith the Text. Fear the Lord and depart from evill and it shall be marrow unto thy bones Prov. 3. thou shalt be in good plight both for the outward and inward man thy bones shall be full of marrow and thy Breasts full of Milk thy spirit also lively and lifted up in the wayes of the Lord. For as without marrow in the bones no part of Man no not that which is of greatest value and force is able to do any thing so the strength which Gods faithful Servants receive from him is as Marrow which strengtheneth the Bones and maketh them apt to do good things And as a Man that hath his bones fill'd with marrow and hath abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body he can endure to go with less cloaths than another because he is well lin'd within so it is with a heart that hath a great deal of the fear of God he will go through difficulties and troubles and diseases though outward comforts fail him Verse 18. As some School-masters have used that Discipline to Correct the Children of great Persons whose personal Correction they find reason to forbear by Correcting other Children in their Names and in their sight and have wrought upon good Natures that way so did Almighty God correct the Jews in the Egyptians For the ten Plagues of Egypt were as Moses decem verba as the Ten Commandements to Israel that they should not provoke God Every Judgement that falls upon another should be a Catechism to me CHAP. VIII Verse 1. ALl the commands saith Moses here that I command you this day shall ye observe to do them that you may live and multiply We may look at Gods reward of our obedience as the scope and aime of it 2 Cor. 4. 18. though not our highest aime for that must evermore be the glory of God for otherwise it is an argument of a base and an unworthy Spirit to serve for ends If it were no more but in the service of the State it is most odious and distastful For a Captain to fight that he may divide the spoil or for a Minister to comply with Covenants and Engagements that he may save his own or creep higher it is hist at by all honest Men and therefore much more to serve the great God for ends is an abomination not to be named among Christians It is Merchandizing with God and not obedience to serve God that I may serve my self I am never at the pitch of sincerity till I can see enough in God himself without looking out of him to have him as he was to Abraham Gen. 15. 1. My exceeding rich reward When it comes once to this Kue that the beauties of Gods truth and the pleasantness of his wayes and the holiness of his will and the equity of his Laws are the Arguments and the Wages that hire me to this service I may cry out with David I have found that which my Soul longs for for as sin is punishment enough unto its self though there were no other punishment and to do evill were Hell sufficient if there were no Hell to come after so to do good is reward and Heaven enough unto its self if the Heart be gracious Verse 3. God is a most free Agent neither will he be tyed to the termes of humane Regularities it is enough that he knows and approves the reasons of his own choice and commands Once in forty dayes and nights shall Eliah eat to teach us what God can
men it is ordained for men Verse 10. In this seventh year it was not lawful to require debts but some differance of opinions men have touching this some say their debt was clean lost others say no but for that year deferred and forborn after demanded lawfully and paid willingly which is more likely for as much as those pollitick lâ—ws of God were not ordained of God to overthrow justice but to preserve it and direct it in a commendable and fit manner among men now it is justice to let every man have his own and there was good reason wherefore that debt should be forborn this seventh year because that year there was notillage to make money of a right and true application of this may every feelling heart make in these Cities and Towns where it shall please God to lay his sore visitation of plague or any other infection thereby stopping the trade whereby every man was enabled to get for his maintenance and the discharge of such that were due from him to others God forbid but that mercy should be found towards their brethren in those that look for mercy at Gods hand when men cannot receive money they cannot pay and no dishonest meaning making the stop but only the Lords hand staying trade who will be rigorous in such a case when the earth rested and there was no tillage to raise money by you see the mercy of Gods law here and is it not all one when trade ceaseth let your bowels then shew whose children you are if the Image and superscription of God be upon you surely you will shew mercy and give some set time to your Creditors that mean truly read what God saith Isaiah 58. 3. c. and remember he is the same God still Verse 19. God by Moses made the Children of Israel a Song because as he said howsoever they did by the Law they would never forget that Song and that Song should be his witnesse against them Therefore would God have us institute solemn memorials of his great deliverances that if when those dales come about we do not glorifie him that might aggravate our condemnation CHAP. XXXII Verse 11. THE words spoken here of God himself are thus applicable to his Ministers first the Eagle stirreth up her nest the Preacher stirs and moves and agitates the holy assertions of the Congregation that they slumber not in a sencelessenesse of that that is said and then as 't is added here she flutters over her young the Preacher makes a holy noise in the conscience of the Congregation and when he hath awakened them by stirring the nest he casts some claps of thunder some intimidations in denouncing the judgements of God and he flings open the gates of heaven that they may hear and look up and see a man sent by God with power to infuse his fear upon them so she fluttereth over her young but then as it followeth there she spreadeth abroad her wings she overshaddowes them she enwraps them she armes them with her wings so that no other terror no other fluttering but that which comes from her can come upon them The Preacher doth so infuse the fear of God into his Auditory that first they shall fear nothing but God and then they shall fear God but so as he is God and God is mercy God is love And the Minister shall so spread his wings over his people as to defend them from all inordinate fear from all diffidence and distrust in the mercy of God which is farther exprest in the next clause She taketh them and beareth them upon her wings When the Minister hath performed all the former acts of his calling then he sets them upon the top of his best wings and shewes them heaven and God in heaven raining down his bloud into their emptinesse and his balm into their wounds and preparing their seat where he stands solliciting their cause at the right hand of his Father Verse 35. In this we have a first and a second lesson First that since revenge is in Gods hands it will certainly fall upon the malefactor God doth not mistake his marke and then since revenge is in his hands no man must take revenge out of his hands or make himself his own Magistrate or revenge his own quarrel And as we we that are Christians have our author Moses here that tels us this the natural man hath his secular author Theocritus that tels him as much reperit Deus nocentes God alwaies findes out the guilty man In which the natural man hath also a first and second lesson too first that since God findes out the Malefactor he never scapes And then since God doth find him at last God sought him all the while though God strike late yet he pursued him long before many a man feels the sting in his conscience long before he feels the blow in his body That God finds and therefore seeks that God overtakes and therefore pursues that God overthrows and therefore resists the wicked is a naturall conclusion as well as a divine Verse 40. Where was God now when he lifted up his hands to heaven here here upon earth with us in his Church for our assurance and our establishment making that protestation denoted in his lifting up his hands to heaven that he lived for ever and that therefore we need fear nothing Verse 50. How familiarly doth Moses hear of his end it is no more betwixt God and Moses but Go up and die If he had invited him to a meal it could not have been in a more sociable compellation no otherwise then he said to his other Prophet Up and eat It is neither harsh nor news to Gods children to hear or think of their departure to them death hath lost his horror through acquaintance they have so oft thought and resolved of the necessity and of the issue of their dessolution that they cannot hold it either strange or unwelcome He that hath had such entire conversation with God cannot fear to go to him Those that know him not or know he will not know them no marvail if they tremble Verse 51. It might have been just with God to have reserved the cause to himself and in the generallity to have told Moses that his sin must shorten his journey but it is more mercy then justice that his Children shall know why they smart that God may at once both justifie himself and humble them for their particular offences Those to whom he meanes vengeance have not the sight of their sins till they be past repentance Complaine not that God upbraids thee with thy old sins whosoever thou art but know it is an argument of love whereas concealment is a fearful sign of a secret dislike from God CHAP. XXXIII Verse 2. THough it be not a difficult matter to impose upon the sence and judgement of men with whom tin may pass for silver it is not so with the judge and searcher of the heart he soon