stead be ye reconciled to God Never object against them That they are but men subject to like passions since Christ hath made them his Commission-Officers this is enough to stop all cavills God alwayes made use and still doth of such Earthen Vessels that the power may be of God And as he made use of a select order of men the Priests so still he doth not any cut of the Flock hand over head but some separated for this office to got in and out before his People neither can it be reasonable to pretend The People are gifted as well as they and so they may Officiate Grant it though it rarely prove so and God forbid their gifts should be either envied or denyed But yet they have not Authority and that is as requisite to a subordinate Officer as ability and the Reason is Because God will have Order observed even in his Church take it in which sense you please And as it would be a mad confusion in the Common-wealth for every one who had or rather should onely pretend to have or but barely fancy that he had sufficient knowledge of the Law to take upon as a Iudge to determine the case passe sentence and exercise jurisdiction So would it be in the Church if every conceited Zealot or able Schollar or cathechised Brother should presume to gather a Congregation For if this Objection of theirs have any force it would have served the Israelites to excuse them for their attendance on their Priests in the expedition or any other of their Church observations Every Israelite almost might have pretended they could doe as much as the Priests did here they could kill a Lambe and rost it and eat it as well as they they could kill a Bullock and burn it as well as they yet they durst not And when any of them did they payd for their presumption Numb 16. for they knew though they could carry and sound the Trumpets yet they knew not that God would gratifie their officiousnesse they had reason not to beleeve but to suspect the event They knew they could kill a Lambe but that Lambe would not be a Passcover the Priests Hand must be there to make it so They knew they could kill a Bullock but they could not consecrate it a Burnt Offering to the Lord that the Priests were to doe a sweet savour to him Levit. 1.2.3 c. let the instruments or means be never so unlikely to proud carnall reasoners or the easily deceived and deluded Vulgar yet if God order and make use of the Instruments for our good it were madnesse to dispute our selves out of their profit and question his Instrument And if he commands us the use of the means it were Rebellion to resist and contempt to neglect them It was exstream folly in Naaman to come to Elisha for his Counsell and then in anger to quarrell with it with an Are not Abana and Pharpar Rivers of Damasens better then all the Waters of Israel May I not wash in them and be clean So he turned and went away in a rage 2 Kings 5.12 and therefore his servants took him up sharply for it ver 13. And his servants came neer and spake unto him and said My Father If the Prophet had bid thee d ee some great thing wouldest thou not have done it how much rather then when he saith to thee Wash and be clean Christ will have his Disciples to cast their Net into the Sea when he intended to fill the Vessell with Fishes Though he raysed up Lazarus from the dead by a Miracle yet he will call in his Friends to assistance to loose his napkin and take off his grave clothes Iohn 11.44 In the Ministery of the Gospel though God give the increase yet Paul is to Plant and Aposte to Water Though the People may shout before Jericho yet the Priests have the charge of the Ark and Trumpets 3. God would not have this work of Faith one dayes work onely they must Beseige it seven dayes It is not enough to doe well for a while and give over we must hold out our Christian race till we obtain fight till we be Crowned The promised reward Rom. 2.7 is to the patient continuers in well-doing who hold out and that onely upon hopes The crown of life is reserved for the faithfull unto death Christs Throne is demised and granted to the over-commer And salvation is appointed for the endurer unto the end 4. Iericho a sinfull City whose iniquities were ripe and fore neither the watchfulnesse and valor of Inhabitants and Souldiery within nor the works and warlike fortifications without could defend it from the battery of but seven sounding Trumpets of Rams Horns and the onely shout of the Israelitish Campe. When Nicephorus Phocas Cedren Hist pag. 542. had built a spacious and strong Wall about his Palace to secure it and himself in it in the Night he heard a Voyce crying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O King though thou buildest up to the Clouds the Palace will not be secure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sin within will ruine it and all within it Nothing subverts a glorious Church and flourishing State private Persons and their Estates and Families but the wickednesse of them that dwell in the former and the Personall crimes of the other Psal 107.33.34 He turneth Rivers into a Wildernesse and the Water springs into dry ground A fruitfull land into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them that dwell therein Nay sin is of so destructive a nature that it spoyls dishonours and overthrows a good cause when wicked men take the right side then retro sublapsa referri then we see that side loft and perish by the criminousnesse of the managers A good Cause will never sanctifie the wickednesse of the Undertakers They were vain and lying words The Temple of the Lord c which the Jews confided in Ier. 7.4 such a pretence could not consecrate their evill doings nor prevent their judgements ver 3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11 as long as we incorrigibly persist in our wicked wayes never think to cover and secure our selves under the pretence of the Temple of the Lord If we would have the Temple of the Lord to be a glory and to reside among us a good Cause to goe on and prosper then the respective pretenders must be holy and good men If we would have our Church and State to stand their Walls and Bulwarks Laws and Constitutions to hold out and be undemolished then let us adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Decree is already gone all shall be taken away root and branch Mat. 21.42.43 sin within being the prevailing party will last all down and as nationall sins have this destructive power over the whole so particular personall sins over parts and parcells thereof private Estates and Families Many men call their houses by their Names and their inward thoughts are that they shall continue for ever
10.5 as the elect of God holy and beleved and so his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes 2.10 that is done in respect and regard to our selves this with reference and relation to God This indeed is that which both constitutes and denominateth an act the work of Faith that it is both truely done and truely said to be done by Faith that it is done in obedience to God submission to his will and in order to his glory The same act for the substance may be both morall and spirituall that which differenceth them is the manner and end of doing for some good things are done by a common light of Reason and with a freedom and ingenuity of Spirit and those are heroicall noble actions and it's generosity some with respect to humane society neighbour-hood and conformity to the Laws of that place where they live and these are civill morall actions and it's civility or policy some are with sincere affections to God and obedience to his will and word and those are Divine Spirituall actions and it's Faith and Religion which enjoyns and requires these Aug. lib. 19. de civit Dei cap. 25. throughout 3. But this act of Moses was both morally good for when he was at years he undertook the cause of the oppressed it was heroically good for then also his Reason was at the full and he did work freely and generously it was spiritually good because then also he knew it was the will of his God and he did it faithfully Reason told him the enterprize was both just and honourable and so morally good reason conducted by religion ascertain'd him it was both just honourable and holy and so divinely good And therefore it is added When he was at years 4. When he was at years when his reason was ripe and his faith active and stirring or come to maturity full forty years of age Acts 7.23 For had Moses refused those offers of Pharaohs Daughter c. in his Infancy and tender age it might have been interpreted folly and childishnesse or if after in his minority and lesse discerning age weaknesse and inexperience or if upon the perswasions of his Parents this at the best would be called good Nature at the worst be taken for Indiscretion or vain glory and so still he might be supposed to refuse he knew not what nor why And very likely thus or some one of these wayes it was censured at Court and he esteemed a rash unfortunnate fellow that stood in his own light and hindered his own preferment But as Luther in another case aliter Romae c. so here they were of one Opinion at Court it was thought otherwise in Heaven For Moses was now of a very discerning Spirit being in full height and vigor both of body and mind a great observer of causes and of great abilities to distinguish and separate betwixt the precious and the vile having all advantages to improve his judgement and sufficient opportunities to ballance every thing aright to take and make an exact account of wisdom and folly of a moment and Eternity so that this act of his reprobation and election was not conjecturall upon peradventures or surmises but prudentiall not upon any humane consideration of case pleasure profit or honour c. but upon conviction of conscience not of a scrupulous conscience guided by light and undiscussed Arguments not througly weighed or not right set with an even hand neither by an erronious mistake of good for had nor an opinionative complyance with the examples and conceits of others but of conscience rightly enformed walking exactly according to it's Rule Jesus Christ our Lord would have engagers and subscribers to his Discipleship and Government to ponder and to consider before hand what they are resolving whether they can endure the contempts and hatreds of the world the common attendants of his service whether they can be content to follow and take part with that persecuted Prince the King of sufferings and his little Flock his despised sequestred plundered Subjects les = t in the conclusion they prove like that ridiculous Husband who begun to built without proportioning the charges and his abilities or comparing the expences and his revenues Good Works ought also to be well done with sober advise and religious prudence lest they lose their value and degenerate into indiscretions rashnesse or heat of spirit and therefore the circumstance of time is signanter dictum is taken for a further proof of Moses his Faith When he was at years For 1. Youth is suspected and commonly if that Age produce any good Fruit it soon decayes and if it follow not the vanities of the World it is much under restraint And therefore Aristotle resolves That a young man was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fit hearer of the severer precepts of morality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because usually with them passion and vanity rules all and commands in chief and with them there is an impetus or fervor their passions are violent and head-strong 2. As this clause was added to shew it was a dis-passionate act not moved thereto by any youthfull heat or incitation so it was unprejudicate directly contrary to those prejudices his Education might have infused into him Passion and prejudice are two great tyrants and where these sway Reason and Religion are excepted or exiled and youth is most subject to passion and Education most apt to beget and breed a prejudice and so these words may seem to be inserted both to denote that as this act of Moses was no passionate fit or pange of Youth so it could not be an effect of his Education for this should have biassed him the other way as being all his minority trayned up in Pharaohs Court and tutored in the Egyptian Learning Strange it was his Piety should thus crosse his Education that in the confluence of worldly satisfaction if they deserve that expression he should contemplate the excellencies and perfections of the Eternall Reward For Quod semel est imbuta c. Education especially unto what also we are naturally inclined as all are to folly and vanity hath a great influence on our after dispositions and conversations And those sollies we have been acquainted with in our softer Age we after fancy and dote on and therefore to move in a direct opposite course to Nature and it 's second Education which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a new acquired Nature whereby sin and the world takes possession on us must needs argue great strength of Religion and holy affections by reason of that received Rule intus existens c. and this was Moses his case 3. Had Moses done this in his old Age it might have been conceived dulnesse or policy or dotage and therefore also might these words be used For we reade of severall Princes indeed who have deposited their Robes of Majesty surrendred their Crowns and become reclase Hermits yet this course of
rationall creatures and therefore proposeth rationall methods to engage us to accept his Grace rationall punishments and rewards because we are to deal with a righteous Judge Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternall life But unto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse indignation and wrath Rom. 2.6.7.8 11. It s the Observation of Theoph. Moses accounted it a sin not to suffer with the people of God and unlesse it were a sin not to be sensible of the sins and sufferings of his Flock God would not have caused a mark to be set Ezek. 9.4 nor upbrayded and threatned their either dulnesse or hardnesse of heart who grieved not for the afflictions of Joseph Amos 6.6 nor the Apostle required us to be kindly affectioned and this to be expressed as in others so in this Duty to weep with them that weep Rom. 12.15 12. I shall adde one more from Haymo Quando quisque c. in suffering times and condition look and remember the promised reward and these Texts Mat. 5.10.11.12 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evill against you falfly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us 2 Cor. 4.16.17.18 For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are not seen are Eternall Promises though alwayes necessary yet most usefull in extremities The Third Part. O Lord God of infinite excellencies and mercies who sent thine onely Son holy Jesus to redeem us from an intollerable servitude the commanding and condemning power of sin and to teach us an holy Religion to despise the world the pomps and vanities thereof and the sinfull desires of the flesh strongthen us by thy grace that as we would accept of thy Son for our Saviour so we may follow him as our teacher refusing the glories and treasures of this Egypt this land of darknesse wherein all things shall be forgotten choosing the better part which shall not be taken from us esteeming our Adoption to be called the Sons of God the highest honour the mercies of God and merits of Christ the most desireable treasury the Kingdom of Heaven the best Inheritance the glory and joyes of Heaven the onely satisfactory pleasures the most happy exchange to give or lose all for the fruition of Christ make us to covet the best things And to this end make us wise and prudent in our choice to be men in understanding to approve what is excellent being filled with all spirituall understanding not to be ashamed to suffer for well doing to count it all joy when we are called to endure affliction with the People of God and to beare in our bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Sanctifie them to us by thy grace attend them with thy spirit and reward them with thy glory Satisfie our Soules that we may tast and see how gracious the Lord is even in those his dispensations and fill them with the apprehensions of the excellencies and preciousnesse of the promises in Jesus Christ that we may resolve with David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth we desire besides thee That like as the Hart c. Break O Lord we pray thee the powers infatuate the policies of the persecutors of thy Church Bring her out of Egypt and leade thy People by the Hands of Moses and Aaron Sanctifie all their sufferings and conduct them to the heavenly Canaan to live with their Lord unto all Eternity to whom be honour and power might majesty and dominion for ever Amen MOSES his Courage Heb. 11.27 By Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible MOses had before mastered the false hopes of Egypt now he is to encounter with the foolish fears thereof and having quit himself of the right hand assaults of the World its allurements objects promises he is now to conquer the left hand temptations threatnings force and fury of Pharaoh and his Host the Gyants and Sons of Anak and by Faith in Christ he is in all these more then Conqueror For the Discourses and Reasoning of Faith first taught him to sleight Pharachs Court then his Power First to conquer himself and Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit and then his and the people of Gods enemy It first instructed him with Piety and then furnished him with Resolution and Courage For By Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King c. The first Part. Moses did twice forsake Egypt The first time was as was last Recorded When at forty Years old he fled into Midian Exod. 2.15 The second time was when that after Egypt was smitten in every quarter he and the whole Body of the Israelites departed thence And upon this difference of time a question ariseth which time the first clause here in the Text relates unto Some will have the former to be referred unto here as Iun. Paral. lib. 3. because the Apostle in this Historicall computation strictly observeth the circumstance and order of time through all the fore-going and subsequent instances And it 's clear Moses celebrated the Passe-over before the second time which yet is after related here in the following verse and therefore it cannot relate to this unlesse we invert the Order And also because in the 29. ver the Peoples departure out of Egypt is set by it self as a severall and distinct instance of Faith from this here Others conceive it to be meant of the second time for if the former were here considered the Apostles Position here seems to contradict the Historicall Natration Exod. 2.14 where it is said He feared and fled Others as the most judicious Calvin understand it of both times tam de priore quam secundo For though it be said that at the first he feared yet this fear was a fear of prudence he had not strength to oppose Pharaoh and so he could not he had not as yet sufficient authority and so he might not not of difference or the event that God would not preserve him from Pharaoh if he used the most safe course for his preservation and reserved himself for a
courage is estimated by a good cause He that undertakes a good cause and follows it with a good Conscience must be a man of courage Heat daring and adventuring on a bad cause is wildnesse and passion in a morall sense and so not so much as Heathenish fortitude and in a Christian construction is Murder and Stealth and so farr from any pretence to holy resolution Wife Saint Aug. long since resolved all the famous cryed up and too much imitated Roman Conquest to be magna latrociuia glorious robberies because there was no solid Plea of Justice for them which both Reason and Religion exacts Moses his resolution and enterprize was grounded on both those Principles It was rationall for he knew whom he served And Religious for he had Gods Warrant a competent Authority and his peoples Deliverance a just cause Therefore he feared not Pharah because he feared God therefore he went before the People because God led and guided him therefore he spoyled the Egyptians because God the Chief Proprietor bad stated the spoyles on the Israelites Here was all the requisites to an holy Warr Lawfull Authority a just cause Righteous Prosecution of it and these are sufficient to make the enterprize reasonable and religious and the undertaker stout and Valiant according to that Exhortation 1 Chron. 19.13 Be of good courage and let us behave our selves Valiantly for our People and for the Cities of our God and let the Lord doe that which is good in his sight And the Apostles Admonition Quit you like men be strong 1 Cor. 16.13 11. Invisible God is invisible therefore no visible corporeall representation or similitude of him is to be fancyed or framed See him we may as Moses here did by Faith trusting his Power Wisedom and Goodnesse but not by sight for he hath no demensions who is infinite no composition who is most simple And so we are not to conceive God to be expressed by any Figure because as a Learned Romanist condemning the Opinion of some of that Party and the Practise of that Church praeter hoc besides this that the most spirituall simple being cannot be shadowed by any Image proxima occasio est there is danger simple people may be thereby enduced to take God for a fleshly Father and by his gray haires suppose him mutable Peres Ajala edit Paris An. 1562. lib. 4. cap. 8. So also Durand Dist 9. lib. 3. quest 2. and this is very consonant to holy Writ which therefore forbids any Image of God lest we should conceive him visible and corporeall Isay 40.18 To whom then will ye liken God or what likenesse will ye compare unto him Acts 17.29 Forasmuch then as we are the off-spring of God we ought not to think that the God-head is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by Art and mans device But most clearly Deut. 4.15.16 Take ye therefore good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire Lest ye corrupt your selves and make you a graven Image the similitude of any figure the likenesse of male or female Where there is first a Prohibition ver 16. and the Reason ver 15. and this Prohibition is backed with a Caveat ver 23. Take heed unto your selves lest ye forget the Covenant of the Lord your God which he made with you and make you a graven Image or the likenesse of any thing which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee And this strengthened with two Arguments the one relating to the thing for which this Caveat is entred God hath forbidden The other to quicken and sharpen our care therein For thy God is a consuming fire even a jealous God ver 24. the former is grounded on Exod. 20. v. 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image or any likenesse of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is in the Earth beneath or that is in the Water under the Earth The latter on Exod. 20. ver 5. Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate me Which Abulensis observes on this place as Rain lib. 2. cap. 2. Sect. 33. de Rom. Eccl. Idol 12. Though God be invisible yet he seeth all things this is truely to see the invisible when we beleeve he cannot be corporally seen As Tum dignè aestimamus Deum quum inaestimabilem dicimus Min. Faelix All that we can comprehend of God here is to beleeve him incomprehensible All that we can see of him is that he is invisible yet all things past present and future are visible to him the perswasion hereof is a sure Foundation of Religion and the fear of God For who dare sin though in secret who hath a Conscience within and Quid prodest non habere conscium habenti conscientiam and the invisible Judge above and without him who observes all our paths the most close and recluse knoweth all our projects and contrivances and understandeth all our thoughts The Third Part. O God who are the great God onely to be feared and worthy to be praysed a bountifull rewarder of those who diligently seek and religiously observe thy will Thy will is our sanctification Sanctifie us that thy will may be done Cause thou us to forsake Egypt all false and wicked wayes to walk uprightly in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation that whereas the World lyoth in wickednesse our course may be contrary to keep our selves unspetted from the World that we fear not it's fears nor be afraid of any confederacy of Devills or men who pursue our soules with deadly hatred Be mercifull to us O Lord be mercifull and let our refuge be under the shadow of thy Wings for thou wilt carry us as upon Eagles wings untill all tyrauny be over-past that thou be our fear and our dread to fear thee and thy goodnesse and to fear nothing but thee because thou art with them who fear thee onely because thou art and there is none else there is no God besides thee Devills are slaves and the breath of man is in his nostrills and wherein are they to be compared wherefore should they be feared but thou art the blessed and onely Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who onely hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see for he is invisible to whom be Honour and Power Everlasting Amen MOSES his Festivall Heb. 11.28 Through Faith he kept the Passe-over and the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them THere are certain praecognita Principles in the Christian Profession which are not to be disputed on by the Professors but beleeved The first of which are acknowledged by the more generous
simul oriuntur simul moriuntur here in via at least yet Faith is the first-born and according to the Law of Primogeniture and Birth-right it layes the claim and title to Heaven and gives the jus ad rem Legall Right thereto though the actuall possession thereof the jus in re be from Faith perfected by Works And hence in Scripture account howsoever Faith and Obedience are Philosophically two distinct habits they are the same in as much as true Christian Faith is Obedientiall not meerly Notionall and all Christian Obedience is an emanation of Faith For there we find one and the same Word denoting both Infidelity and Disobedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes unbeleif Acts 14.2 But the unbeleeving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evill affected against the Brethren John 3.36 He that beleeveth on the Son hath Everlasting life and he that beleeveth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Sometimes disobedience undutifulnesse obstinacy Ephes 3.2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this World according to the prince of the power of the ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Col. 3.6 For which things sake the wrath of God commeth on the children of disobedience 1 Pet. 3.20 Which somtimes wore disobedient when once the long suffering of God wayted c. So not providing for our Family which in strictnesse of Language is an act of disobedience because an omission of a prescribed duty is yet made by the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.8 a bad peice of Infidelity and men are said to be absurd and wicked because they have not Faith 2 Thes 3.2 and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not onely barely to assent but also to obey Galat. 3.1 and true sineere conversion is stiled Faith to God ward 1 Thes 1.8.9.10 and the keeping of the Commandements and Faith are inseparably conjoyned Apoc. 14.12 And then the Exhortation will be seasonable What God hath joyned together let no man put asunder what God hath joyned in praecept let no man separate either in Dispute Discourse or Practice For 7. We find Rahabs Faith working by love and her love demonstrated by her Hospitality She received the Spies in peace which the Apostle St James 2.25 urgeth as an instance to demonstrate her Faith to be true and truely Christian Zacheus upon his profession of Faith promised restitution and vowed liberality The Convert therefore on the Crosse even in those dying minutes beleeved and through Faith confessed Christs innocency and his own guilt and in great charity both reproves and exhorts his fellow sufferer If we pretend to Faith and have not Repentance towards God and love towards the Brethren as the Apostle in another case so here our Faith is in vain we are yet in our sins The love of the Brethren is a good expression of our love to God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ If we receive our Lord by Faith we will well-come and receive with kindnesse the people whom he hath chosen for his portion and Inheritance and if we love God as the Soveraigne we must joyntly love them whom he loveth and to whom he communicateth some share and measure of his fulnesse 1 John 4.20.21 If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyar For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandement have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also And no better or clearer expression of love then Hospitality and honourable and liberall entertainment of strangers and exiles and therefore Brotherly love and Hospitality are conjoyned as the antecedent and the consequent Heb. 13.1.2 But 8. Her Faith made her faithfull to God and his Church having undertaken this Profession she will hold it fast neither to desert it nor to comply with its opposite and enemy If we fall away from our holy Profession though but by some secret complyance to the contrary we are not so faithfull nor so clear as we ought to be our Faith is not fincere at least suspitious and Rahabs Zeale will either convince us of coldnesse or luke-warmnesse in a good cause 9. Rahab perished not because she upon Treaty with the Spies had made her Conditions and Articles Wicked faithlesse men are noted to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who will prevaricate with their Word and Promise though solemnly Covenanted Rom. 1.31 Faith is to be kept and Covenants to be observed even with Hereticks and Heathens such was Rahab at the Treaty Thus the Israelites kept touch with the Gibeonites Joshua 9.18.19 And the Children of Israel smote them not because the Princes of the Congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel And all the Congregation murmured against the Princes But all the Princes said unto all the Congregation We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel now therefore we may not touch them And because after they and the House of Saul did prevaricate God severely punished them 2 Sam. 21.5.6 And they answered the King The man that consumed us and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the Coasts of Israel Let seven men of his Sons be delivered unto us and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul whom the Lord did chuse And the King said I will give them So he punished the perfidious Moabites 2 Kings 3.5 34. and the falshood of Zedechiab Ezech. 17 19. 10. She perished not but not onely she even her Relatives shared in this happinesse God blesseth the faithfull and mercifull man in his Relations and Posterity The Generation of the Righteous shall be blessed Never any destruction so totall so universall but a residue escaped Isay 10.20.21 And it shall come to passe in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the House of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them but shall stay upon the Lord the holy One of Israel in truth The remnant shall return even the remnant of Iacob unto the mighty God Rev. 7.3 Hurt not the Earth neither the Sea nor the Treet till we have Sealed the Servants of our God in their Foreheads The Third Part. OAlmighty God and most mercifull Father the giver of all grace and Author of all goodnesse who delightest not in the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live Turn thee unto us and turn us unto thee and so shall we be turned Convert thou us and so shall we be converted O let us not any longer goe a whoring after our own imaginations nor be led by the deceitfulnesse of sin but having Faith to God-ward we may turn from Idols to serve thee the living God and to wait for thy Son from Heaven and in the mean time receive and welcome him in our
unjust unauthorized invasions of others Rights and Possessions to which they had neither just Title nor lawfull authority For tolle justitiam quid sunt magna regna nisi magna latrociuia as most of the Romans Conquests were if ye will beleeve Saint Augustine but these Conquests were for the innocent defence of themselves and for the protection of the innocent to preserve themselves and rescue these from Oppression and Violence neither were they any designes of Covetousnesse Ambition or desire of change but of obedience to God who first intitled them to those Inheritances and then commanded them to enter and take Possession and this not by a pretended imaginary whisper rather then suggestion of the spirit but by a Publique Edict Decree and Voyce from Heaven They wrought Righteeousnesse discharged their trust in the Administration of that Authority and Power which God had put into their Hands operati sunt oa quae justitia requirit that is in plain English They would doe you Justice or Exercuerunt justitiam they Executed Justice impartially and justly not by any Arbitrary Power but by Rule and Law and that an infallible one being a terrour to the evill doers and prayse of the good Rom. 12.3 and so both in their Personall and Politicke caozeities they wrought Righteousnesse But there is another notion of this Attribute they wrought Righteousnesse exercuerunt justitiam Justice in this sense imports Mercy and Almesgiving and so takes under it all the Acts of Charity Thus it s taken Psal 37.21.25 The wicked borroweth and payeth not again but the righteous sheweth mercy and giveth I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread And Psal 112.9 He hath dispersed he hath given to the poor his righteousnesse endureth for ever his horne shall be exalted with honour And from all these different sense the result is the same That is the duty of the truely faithfull to oppose and oppugne whatsoever is contrary to Piety and Justice and to protect and propugne what is conducing and subservient thereto No War is good but where the Cause is good No Conquest just unlesse the Ground be just Justice ought to be administred justly with a cleare indifferency without respect of Persons and all Justice should be tempered with Mercy and executed to the ends and purposes of Charity And as he that doth Righteousnesse is Righteous so none but he that suffers for Righteousnesse is a Christian sufferer It is not enough to consecrate a Man a Martyr to suffer what they doe but to suffer for the Cause of Righteousnesse that makes a Martyr 1 Peter 3.13.14 4.15.16 this is indeed the right the good old way to obtaine the Promises Obtained Promises that 's not Semen promissum for as yet he was not exhibited the fulnesse of time was not come but terram promissam 2 Type of Heaven they had seizure of the Land of Canaan and this they obtained because they wrought Righteousnesse and in their way captivated all opposition no comming to Heaven but by observing the conditions whereon it is promised subduing our rebellious wills and unclean affections and by doing righteousnesse hac itur ad superos The way to obtaine Heaven is to subdue sin and work Righteousnesse the way is obstructed when these are not in conjunction And thus Junius Ex eo studio eventus sequitur they obtained what they sought for and required because they did that which God commanded and required of them and all these they obtained not simul semel at once but occasionally as their respective exigents did require some one way some another as they found them in the dayes of their Pilgrimage for some of them were so hard put to it that they were forced to stop the mouthes of Lyons lest their widened jawes should devoure and enclose them They stopped the mouthes of Lyons Thus Sampson rent the Lyon roaring against him as he would have rent a Kid Judges 14.5 6. Thus David rescued a Lambe from a Lyon and when he arose in revenge against him he caught him by his Beard and smote him and slew him 1 Sam. 17.35 Of Beuaiah it is said he slew a Lyon in the midst of a Pit in time of Snow 2 Sam. 23.20 But most signally and observably this is held forth in Daniels great Deliverance Dan. 6.22.23 And this was very considerable and usefull to these present Hebrews and to all succeeding Christians God many times stops the sury rage and seircenesse of their most eruell and malitious Adversaries putting hooke in their noses bridles in their lips and turning them back Isay 37.29 restraining their violence and settering their sury and chaining up their madnesse when they are hot upon mischeife he will either send his Angels to stop them in their pursuite or divert them or infatuates them stricking them with blindnesse or an Army of Vermine to encounter them or else with the rod of his mouth and the breath of his lips he will tame and temper them that the Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe and the Lyon shall eate straw with the Oxe Isay 11.6.7.8 And as God will be a deliverer thus from unreasonable men whom in these respects our Saviour calls Wolves Mat. 10.16 David Lyons preying young Lyons Psal 57.4 58.6 Saint Paul Beasts of Ephesus Doggs so will our Lord Iesus defend us against the roaring Lyon the Devill who walks about secking whom he may devoure 1 Peter 5.8 This great one who hath all the other Lyons to prey for him is so bafled with the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah that he may roare but he cannot devoure he may assault but he cannot take unlesse you yeild If you face him he flyes if you resist he runs though he be a malitious implacable enemy he is a spoyled cowed and conquered enemy Christ hath overcome him for us and so he may shew his teeth but he cannot bite he may assault he cannot take you unlesse you betray your selves into his hands But they obtained as much as this upon another account they quenched the violence of Fire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vim impetum ignis stopped the inseparable property of fire suspended its present power and which was more gave the flames a distinguishing faculty to consume them who were at a distance from them and to preserve them who were cast into them The History is famously known Dan. 3.16.17.24.25 and so I shall not here adde more but how farr it concerned these Hebrews and the after Christians shortly it affords this Observation That if the Children of God be exposed to Tyranny he will subdue the spirits of Princes and refraine the feircenesse of men he is the same God in Power his Hand is not shortned feare not therefore if thou art his then his promise is good to thee When thou passest through the Waters they shall not overflow thee When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not
be burnt neither shall the flames kindle upon thee Isay 43.2 Againe know assuredly That if by Mortification and true Repentance thou quench the fiery burning flames of sinfull lusts and concupiscences thou shalt escape the scorching flames of Hell fire the portion of the wicked Psal 11.6 and the everlasting burnings thereof These are the great deliverances the lesser they follow but very considerable ones too For it follows They escaped the edge of the Sword the Destroying Bloody Sword passing through a Land This may be exemplified in severall instances David senced off the stroke of Sauls Sword 1 Sam. 26. Elijah the Sword of Ahab 1 Kings 19. Elisha the whole strength of the King of Syriahs Army 2 Kings 6. But when they could not escape thus then they proved Valiant and Victorious for so well were they exercised and experienced that as it is expressed soon after They waxed valiant in fight and turned to flight the Armies of Aliens Neque comitatu legionibus sucoincti communem cum multis Victoriam sed nuda virtute animi singularem de perfidis retulerunt triumphum Ambrose lib. 1. Off. cap. 35. Not by multitudes and numbers but by cleare resolution and gallantry Both which are evidenced in Ioshua Gideon and the succeeding Iudges In David Asa Ichosaphat Kings of Iudah 1 Sam. 14. 2 Chron. 14.12.13 30.24 If God arise the most terrible preparations deepest policies and best furnished strength proves invalid Psal 68.1 Isay 8.9.10 But here is one Deliverance more which though we have over-leapt yet we must not passe by it for its the ground of all the fore-going And that is this Out of weaknesse were made strong Some indeed Expound it Of bodily frailties and infirmities they have recovered from dangerous and tormenting diseases whereof Hezekiah is a strong proofe Isay 38. Convaluit de infirmitate A deadly distemper had seized on him and nothing but Faith and the Prayer of Faith prevailed for his recovery this saves the sick Iames 5.15 Maet 8.13 But I conceive it may justly be understood of all kind of desperate straites dissiculties and hazards when they were at a losse not knowing which way to turne Faith findes them a way directed and established them So Iunius enclines and therefore because so the word is used Rom. 4.20 reads thus the words In rebus infirmissimis divinitus fuerunt confirmati When all was thought to be gone and the businesse done Faith fayled them not but supplyed them with hope resolution and courage And so Saint Chrysostome refers this to the reduction of the Iewes out of the Babilonish Captivity which was when their ease was desperate if we look onely at their then condition their state and juncture of affaires which the Church also Celebrated accordingly and acknowledged Psal 126.1 When the Lord turned againe the Captivity of Zion we were like them that Dreame And so Theophilect in loc applying hereunto Ezekiels Vision of the Dead Bones Ezek. 37.1.2 c. But Lastly The last Enemy Death is yet to be destroyed And this also Faith hath done and that not by the Faith of the stronger party but of the weaker Vessell For it thus lyes Women received their dead raysed to life againe weak women strong in Faith obtained great favours witnesse the widow of Sarephath or Sarepta 1 Kings 17.22 Luke 4.26 for although this high favour might seem to be the immediate effect of Elijahs Prayer and this vertue to proceed from his Devotion yet the widows Faith acted her part and concurred in the production of this effect And herein her Faith was evident that it obliged her with her small stock and pittance to supply the Prophets present necessity being assured that God even in that Famine would releive her and recompence her Charity So that her Faith was the Causa protataretica the externall moving and primitively provoking Cause that which both moved Elijah to entercede and enclined God to be more favourable to his Petition even because she through her Faith working by love was subjectum capax a proper subject to receive such a mercy And this also is seconded and confirmed by the Shunamites Son twice received Once when life was given him 2 Kings 4.17 And then again when restored to her in the 36.37 Versos after Death her Charitable Devotion issuing from Faith obtained this double Concession This the Psalmist declareth Psal 116.8 For thou hast delivered my Soule from Death mine Eyes from teares and my Feet from falling And Saint Paul experimented 2 Cor. 1.9.10 But we bad the sentence of Death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which rayseth the Dead Who delivered us from so great a Death and doth deliver In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us But good Works have usually the fate to be mis-interpreted good men to be flandered and a good cause to be persecuted and hated Because I follow that which good is saith David therefore evill men pursue me with deadly hatred And the Apostle fully satisfies us herein in that positive definition or Aphorisme They that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution that is from absurd and unreasonable men The world hated Christ and hated all his it persecuted them and still persecutes them In the World ye shall have tribulation was our Saviours prediction to his Disciples not as they are single Persons but as Disciples And hereupon it follows That eminent Professors are eminent Sufferers famous as well for their Passive as Active Obedience and Recorded as well as made glorious by their patience and perseverance in their most shamefull and painfull executions Q. But who were these others Were they distinct Persons from the former mentioned Worthics or the same A. Indeed many conceive those others to relate to the severall Prophets succeeding Samuel who was before nominated and particularly instance in Micaiah 1 Kings 22.25.26.27 who was smitten by the false Prophet Zedekiah and after imprisoned by Ahabs order unto Amen the Governour of the City And in Ieremiah who for the same imaginary Malignancy suffered the like punishment for the latter part of it Ier. 38.6 And in Zachariah 2 Chron. 24 2â— And in Isaiah whom the Jows report to have been sawne asunder or in pieces by expresse order from Manasses And those who are said here to have wardred c. are upon this way supposed to be David who is said to be hunted by Saul as a Partridge in the Mountaines 1 Sam. 26.20 And Elijah who upon Jezebels threatning fled to Beer-sheba 1 Kings 19.3 And of those Prophets which Obediah concealed 1 Kings 18.3 Yet with some other Interpreters I rather beleeve That the Apostle was more methodicall in his Induction then thus to goe back and forth off and on And these Reasons seems thus to perswade me 1. The Apostle had formerly spoken of David Samuel and the Prophets and after the mention of them this Relative Particle others follows so that this others seems
necessarily to be others from them premised 2. The Apostle ayming in this induction to bring down the series of the faithfull till the present Age must necessarily in this his induction and deductions thence still descend from the first times pitched on then the succeeding till the present be taken in which course is both agreeable to an induction as such and to this scope and conclusion from it Thus it is apparent he begins at Abel and so passeth to Enoch his Successor in the Faith So to Noah Abraham the Patriarkes the Judges the Kings and Prophets and so downwards still to the following Generations which was the time of the Maccabees they succeeding the Prophets and Kings and so I think that these miseries set down here relate unto these Persecution which the Lewes after their return endured under Autiochus Epiphanes one of the Successors of Alexander the Great in Syria about two hundred years before the comming of the Messiah in the Flesh The Records of whose mischievous designes and horrid cruelties are reserved in the Books of the Maccabees which because they have fallen under suspition censures and severities I shall by the way and the digression may perhaps be usefull adde something in rescrence to those Writings And first I shall suppose and grant That they are not any part of the Writings of Moses and Prophets commended to us in the New Testament as the Oracles of God and Dictates of his Spirit And secondly That the Lewes had not any such esteem of them and therefore never received them into their Canon of Holy Writ But then in the next place it is most certain That they have been and still are generally reputed and taken for an History which may be very usefull in the Church of God though not for the confirmation of any Article of Faith or deciscion of any controversie in Pointe of Religion yet for the edification of the Church to bring down the Church Story after the Writings of the Prophets till Christ and his Apostles lived And therefore the Church of God hath judged them worthy to be incerted in our Bibles and annexed to the Books of the Prophets as a confirmation and continuation of the Historicall part of the Old Testament to acquaint us with the State of the Affaires of the Church then and as Christs comming And yet to prevent mistakes have noted them with the marke of Apocrypha and by that Character hath excluded out of the number of Canonicall Books But 3. These times seem rather to be intended by the Apostle because even to that very time of his Writing these Hebrews had a continued fresh remembrance of the cruell miseries the Jews suffered under that Antiochus Lastly There is a very great and perfect resemblance in the punishments inflicted by that Tyrant with those here specified which will the better appeare by taking a cleare and distinct Cognisance and survey of them first in Generall then in Particular 1. The Persecution was for Religion as was pretended it was Death for the Iewes to observe the Law of God it was Death not to consorme to this Tyrants Idol-service 1 Maccab. 1. and all these Persecutions are usually hot and violent because men thinke they doe God good service when they manage with sury the Devills cause and then the highest and severest Punishments which malice can invent or fancy are but the innocent executions of justice and such were these Punishments of all sorts which have been discovered for here is mention of torments contumelies imprisonments exiles death it selfe and severall sorts of dishonorable cruell deaths For 2. Here we finde that some were tortured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's beaten with Clubbs or bastinadoed till they died aâ— we Reade of the good old man Eleazar for the indeed good old cause Gods Religion and Lawes 2 Maceabes 6.28.29.30 the punishment was to binde the miscrable Patients to a great Logg of Wood or Timber made as I suppose most like a Ships windlesse and for such an use and there distand and racke them and when they were thus distended to a certaine and to the height every part was sesible of the Racke and Strappadoe then they were beaten with Cudgells till they dyed Yet being thus tortured it is further reported of them that they accepted not deliverance That they c. They sleighted those overtures and conditions of dismission and liberty which were tendered them depending on Gods Promises for eternall life not daring to hazard Eternity for a miserable temporall subsistence and being very willing to lose their life to save it Others had tryasts of erneâ— meckings and seourginge nothing was overseen or omitted to render them odious and miserable some will take a mocke who will not endure a stroake others a stroake who yet will not abide a mocke these tormentors therefore to make sure work tryeth them both wayes if the one sayle to provoke and distresse them the other will prove and they are called cruell mockings because nothing more piereing or pressing to a free and generous spirit for they are usually an affliction upon an affliction it is to overloade the oppressed and to kill the wounded Hence Ishmaelâ— mocking of Isaas Gon. 11.9 is expressed Persecution Galat. 4.29 David esteemed a reproach an oppression a killing oppression as with a Sword in his boxes Psal 42.9.10 And his great complaint Psal 44.13.14 Psal 79.4 was That he was a reproach a scorne and derision to be a by-word and shaking of the Head among the People And the uttering and speaking hard things is â—â—iled breaking his people in pieces Psal 94.4.5 But if there be not cruelty enough in mockings there is smart and sname too ignoming sufficient in scourgings a punishment proper onely to the baser and more contemptible sort of Offenders Others againe had tryall of Bends and Imprisonment that is cruell Imprisonments not barely confinements or restraints not onely close Imprisonment but like Josephs their fect were hure with fetters they were laid in Iron Psal 105.18 They were stoned they were sawne asunder You shall finde the barbarons execution of these 2 Maceabes 7. throughout They were tempted This finds some variation for tempting sometimes imports the most cutting piercing griefes and anguishes such as not onely carry with them great pain but a quicke and subtle apprehension also of that pain and sorrow therefore great sorrows or rather the sharpe sense and feeling of them is abstractedly called temptations Heb. 2.13 He suffered being tempted that is he sadly and passionately resented So Heb. 4.15 He was tempted that it as is evident from the precedent terme of opposition noted by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was touched touched to the quick deeply with the feeling of our infirmities and then according to this notation of the Word the sense is They had such a sharps sense of their sad condition that as Christ so their soules were sorrowfull exceeding sorrowfull even unto Death Sometimes it signifies gaining and