haile But these are to terrifie only not to perswade as we may know by the experience of them for they are against sense and reason Now all those that suffer them may well be said to sustaine them and not to doe them they are meerly passive whatsoever is done is rather done upon them then by them that must be their comfort though they be exagitated in this kinde and troubled God gives the Devill leave to play his prises in his owne ground it is for their greater comfort and for the Devills confusion For I have ever observed those people that have felt them in the greatest measure have had tender consciences and have beene more sanctified in their lives and conversations ever after So then beloved we must not thinke strange if God suffer sometimes this wicked one to play his prises hee doth it for the further confusion of him as for Iob as Austen saith Iob was proved and the Devill confounded The second question will be this Why Pharaoh was so earnest to have frogs brought had he not enough of that judgement yet by that that Aaron and Moses had done All the land crawled and they came up upon the body of Pharaoh and into his bed-chamber and molested him to the full what would he have more frogs Know It is the property of way ward froward mindes not to be so sensible of the smart of the judgement as they are willing to illude it If a wicked man could hee would not see God in a judgement and take knowledge of him Surely this was the humour of them in the dayes of Noah when it rained abundantly in that manner they were rather ready to impute it to naturall causes then to see God in it or else they would have waded to the Arke even to the middle and have intreated entertainment there rather then have stood out So you shall finde it was with those Philistines when Dagon was fallen and broken in pieces that they saw apparently he was not able to helpe himselfe he was fallen in the presence of the same Arke the victory over which they ascribed to their god yet they impute it to mischance and to want of attendance they would not see God in it And in the same Chapter when they were smote with Emerods for keeping the Arke they continued seven months before they would see God in it till there was an outcrie among the people none will acknowledge that God was the cause of that fearfull judgement So we see the Assyrians had a great defeat by the people of Israel 1 King 12. yet rather then they would acknowledge God to bee the cause of it they thinke it was the advantage of the place if they fought with them in the valley they should overcome them for they thought God was only the God of the mountaines So it was with the very Pharisees rather then they would acknowledge Gods worke in our Blessed Saviours great Workes of casting out of Devills because they can doe somewhat that way they blaspheme and say He cast out Devills by the Devill So oft in the world if a man have sicknesse and disease he thinks of the meat he hath eaten and imputes it to the house and to the aire but never looks to God So in distresse of conscience when a man comes to trouble and horrour of soule he is loath to thinke other a great while then that it is melancholy and thus he nourisheth himselfe in that vaine and idle conceit Againe you may observe how A wayward froward minde by his owne courses hasteneth his owne woe Pharaoh would have conclusions tried by the Magicians and behold they bring more frogs then there were before So a perverse minde will ever doe mischiefe enough to it selfe Sarah will be trying conclusions because the Lord did not grant her a childe in her owne time but she prayed for it for she was wonderfully troubled by the pettulancie and insolencie of her maid and by the flearing and jearing of Ishmael Nay and all her posterity fared the worse for the Hagarens were great enemies to Israel So it was with those Israelites they were passionate they must have a King nothing will serve them but the satisfying of their owne desire they were confident of their owne purpose though they were forewarned of the difficulty and inconvenience yet they must have it though they repented at large So Davids heart was set upon numbering of the people Ioab modestly and faithfully disswades him it will not be he reaped to himselfe a great measure of repentance so I might shew in other particulars Let a violent minde alone to it selfe and it will be torment enough to it selfe Saith Austen an inordinate minde is alway a sufficient tormenter Let us ever take heed of perversenesse and frowardnesse these are ill guides we follow that that will lead us to fearfull precipices A man that is distempered is ever apt to goe out at the wrong doore Pharaoh had more need to have desired the Magicians to remove the judgement then to bring more frogs But he desired to have his humour satisfied this way though it tend to his further woe So much for that question A third question is What kinde of frogs these were Some say that they were true frogs and that the Devill brought them from other places secretly and invisibly and so laid them there before Pharaoh Beloved there is no impossibility in this for it is well knowne the Devill is of great power he can transport the body of a man from place to place then he can bring creatures quickly from one place to another Many strange things are told Albertus Magnus tells us of the rayning of many great creatures that might be by the Devill The story tells us of Gigas that was invisible to people It might not be so much by vertue of the ring as by the Devill So he made Images to move and to speak Arius Maximus tells us of the Image of Ionia that when it was asked whether it would goe to Rome or no answered I. That Image of Fortune that when they spake to it shee answered You consecrate merightly Certainly the Devills power is great and he is able to doe more then wee are able to expresse Therefore by the way I would not have people sleight his power too much There are a great many people in the world that make a tush of the Devills power We have heard in former times of Fairies and Hobgoblins and walking Spirits and they have learned so to contemne those that the Devill is no way terrible to them But let them know what the Scripture saith concerning him He is the Prince of the aire and is able there to make stormes and fearfull noise he is able to make the sea swell and roare he is able to demolish the greatest building to pull downe trees and plants that are fetled he is able to afflict the bodies of men in a fearfull manner you know how he
end of all our doings wee confirme the seale of our ministery Thirdly we are instruments of doing the greatest good in the world of converting of soules Lastly we procure to our selves the hope of eternall glory for those that turne others shall shine Therefore give us leave to say as John saith We have no greater joy then to see our Children walke in the truth And to say as Paul saith Yee are our crowne and our glory and our joy Therefore in the name of God even for his sake and for your owne soules sake and for the comfort of those that are imployed among you and that take paines in the word and doctrine doe not make the hearts of Gods messengers sad Give them not cause with Jeremiah to desire to lodg in a garden of Cowcumbers to wish that they had never seene your faces because of your improfitablenesse But commend their labours to God by your fruitfulnesse and carry your selves so that they may give account with joy and not with sorrow so much for that Now for the words Glory over me when shall I pray The words in the originall Behoth pergnali glorifie thy selfe upon me expositors are very various in laying out the meaning of these words Glory over me Shall wee take it in this sense as if it were an ejaculation of Moses or a kind of exclamation of this man O the glory that God hath put upon me here is glory upon mee indeed that this great King this proud Tyrant should sue to me and intreat hee that poured contempt upon mee before and for my sake vexed the people of God the more that now hee should intreat O what an honour and glory is over me Surely beloved Peter speaks of a spirit of glory resting on Gods Children and it shines in this that the very wicked sometimes petition to the godly Remember the instances I gave the last day What an honour was it to Isaac to bee sought unto by the Philistins that hated him before What an honour was it to Joseph that all his brethrens sheafes should bow to his according to the presage of his dreame and that he must nourish them that maliced him What an honour was it to David that Saul should desire his favour when he had him in the cave and gave a pregnant instance of his loyaltie What an honour was it to the Prophet that Jeroboam should sue to him to restore his arme And to Job that his friends that were so deeply uncharitable in censuring him must be beholding to him for his intercession Surely whensoever Gods people take knowledg in it they are bound to magnifie God for this great favour But the words will not indure this sense for both the Conjugation and the Mood wherein they are used will not admit it Therefore wee must seeke another sense Glory over me Reverend Calvin takes them by way of Antithesis in this manner as if he should say Thou hast little reason to glory in the Magitians they abuse thee with showes but now it comes to the removall of the plague they cannot helpe thee I make no question but thou hast found how waine they are Glory over me that is in my help for I am able if thou wilt heare the motion that I make I will remove this from thee The Wicked are no securitie to a man the godly must help Well may they be fuell to the fire but never able to quench the flame Hee were a mad man that to secure himselfe from the Fire would pile a many Billets betweene him and the flame such are the wicked No in the day of trouble and vexation one Moses to stand in the gap is worth a thousand of others Ten men in Sodome would have saved those Cities from that conflagration Nay Lot bayled them all the time hee was in it One man should save a Citie One Micaiah is worth foure hundred false prophets There is a third sense that is commonly hearkned unto and I listen to it Glory over me That is take thou the glory of appointing the time when I shall pray Though it be true that I that thou suest to to remove the plague should have my owne time yet take thou the glory to appoint the time and I will doe it That I take to be the full sense and meaning of the phrase Now it will be demanded why Moses did gratifie Pharaoh thus farre that he should appoint the time when the judgement of God should be removed why he was so favourable in this particular divers reasons may be given of it and each of them will yeeld an observation First Moses well weighed that Pharaoh might have a conceite having heard that Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians that he might work by constellations and other Astrologicall practises hee might take advantage of the position and aspects of the planets and presently doe it and so gull Pharaoh with naturall causes and make him beleeve it was a supernaturall miracle Because Moses conceived this might be in Pharaohs imagination hee gives him leave to prescribe his owne time This hath ever been the care of Gods people and instruments for the greater glory of God ever to doe their works after that manner that they might bee free from exception That it might not be imputed to naturall causes but that the vertue and power of God supernaturally might ever be acknowledged Marke it in some instances When Eliah was to confound the Priests of Baal hee caused the sacrifice to bee put upon the Altar hee caused the wood to be layed and when he had done he caused foure barrells of water to be cast upon the wood and the sacrifice the first second and third time and when he had done hee caused a great trench or ditch about to bee filled with water All these things served to make it improbable that ever fire should come to consume it unlesse it were brought by the hand of man hee did it on purpose that they might see the worke of God and so they acknowledged when the fire came to consume the wood and the sacrifice and to lick up all the water in the trench in so much that the people being absolutely satisfied cried out The Lord he is God the Lord he is God The like we see in the proceeding of Elisha with Naaman the Assyrian when Naaman came to be cured of his Leprosie Hee did not speak with him hee did not come out and lay his hand on the sore as Naaman expected why This might have lessened the glory of the Miracle hee would have imputed it to connaturall causes to some vertue or skill in him but when he sends him word Go and wash in such a place and never saw him nor spake to him he must needs acknowledg it to be a miracle The like wee see in the works of Christ in the Gospel how he freed them from all exception and just question in the world When he was to turne the
takes after any businesse without reluctation so shalt thou In the way of sinne there is oft-times a great deale of pleasure in the entrance and it may be there may bee a seeming sweetnesse in the progresse but the further a man goeth the more perplexities offer themselves and then he apprehends the trouble and danger and what will the reckoning be It is otherwise in goodnesse though a man be straitned in the entrance after he is accustomed to good wayes he begins to be free and empty and vacant of feares and still there is more light grows till the perfect day and that that was burthensome becomes lightsome That it is his meat and drinke to doe the will of his Father he longs after the hearing of the word and after the time of prayer and hee is never so well as when he is so imployed that he is as nimble in the performance as a man is in carrying one of the jovnts of his body and there is no man doth that with difficulty O let us labour to have the habit of good enter into the wayes of God and make it a custome let it once be so naturall and we shall have joy enough I will not say but that clouds may sometimes come between us and our Sunne What of all that as they said concerning Iulian It is a cloud that will soone passe away and there will be joy and consolation and comfort afterward As we see it is with a man when he goes into the water in a hot season there is a trembling of his body when he first puts in but after he hath drenched himselfe he is not sensible of the cold so the way of piety is irksome at the first but after it gives great comfort and contentment In the second place Moses may here be an example to all those that God imployes to great persons though they be wicked and prophane and hard hearted they should not refuse to go If Samuel be imployed to Saul if Elias to Ahab and if Ezekiel goe among briers and thornes and scorpions as God tells him in the beginning of that Prophesie If wee bee sent to sow seed among stones we must be contented with the worke For God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham Though their hearts be as Adamant Zach. 7.12 it may be broken Adamant is said to be so hard that it cannot be broken But Plinie in his Naturall History saith that as stiffe as it is to indure the fire and all the blowes yet it may be broken with goats milke Beloved it is possible for the hardest heart in the world to be broken even by the blood of him that was set out by the Scape-Goat if he sprinkle it by our Ministery upon any hee can breake them If otherwise if men block up their owne way yet a man that is obedient to the message of God he hath freed his own soul he is a savor and a good savour to God in those that perish So I have done with those three things The obstinacie of Pharaoh The longanimity of God And the piety and obedience of Moses who though he were refractory at the first now at the last goes on with a great deale of courage I come to the commination laid downe in the second verse But if thou refuse to let them goe I will smite all thy borders with frogs God speakes not to Pharaoh immediatly but he will have Moses commend this message to him And indeed this hath beene Gods manner of dealing to acquaint his messengers with his mind and they to deliver it to the people he sends them to Thus he acquainted Noah with what he purposed against the old world that he meant to bring a flood Gen. 6. Thus he acquainted Abraham with what he would doe with Sodome Thus he acquainted Samuel what he would doe with Saul and the house of Eli. Thus he told Elias what he would do with Ahab and Iezebel and their family and thus he hath dealt in all times Nay as it is Amos 3.7 The Lord will do nothing but he will acquaint his servants the Prophets with it Non quod faciat in Coelo c. saith Ierome not with every thing that he doth in heaven but with what he doth upon the face of the earth God is pleased to reveal it to his Prophets and they must make it known to the sons of men And this God doth out of respect to his servants for they being his favourites and deare to him he communicates his purpose to them Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I doe Gen. 18. Why he was the friend of God he knew that he would instruct his family And then he commends them to others therein hee shews his great prudence and providence that he fits men with messengers like themselves Iob 33.6 saith Elihu I am a man like thee fit for thee God hath appointed me to speake c. We are not able to endure God speaking to us we see it in the Israelites Exod. 19. We are not able to endure not an Angell to appeare for it was a cause of trouble to them that they appeared to as we see in the father of Sampson and the father of Iohn the Baptist Therefore God hath fitted us by condiscending to our weaknesse to speake to us by men Againe God will make triall of men whether they will receive messengers like themselves and so receive their message whether they will reject the treasure because it is brought in a leather purse whether we will receive it as the word of man or as the word of God that is able to save our soules as Peter saith Hence it is for the use of it that we denounce to you the judgements of God upon occasion The Ministers now are full of judgements oft-times How come wee by this You must not say to us as they did to Moses and Aaron You take too much upon you yee sons of Levi And who hath knowne Gods mind or hath been his councellour Isay 45. We arrogate not to our selves to know the minde of God we say not as the Prophets that God communicates himselfe to us as he did to them we abhorre the enthusia's of the Anabaptists But we say this That revealed things belong to us and to our children God hath punished such sinnes with such judgements and still he threatneth the same judgements to such iniquities and we denounce in the name of God such judgements to such sinnes We that are Ministers observe the sinnes of this land to grow to a fearfull height as for quality for nature and proportion they are of the first magnitude and so are growne up to heaven We have observed a long time the pride of the land not only in diet but in apparrell excessive We have observed the Idolatry that is creeping in among us We have observed the uncharitablenesse in people the ignorance as darke as hell the foule lusts the grosse excesse in
men as if the Devill were entred into a company of swine we have observed these and other sinnes that provoke Gods wrath And these and the like we have seene impenitently committed and we have spit in the face of these abominations not only seven times but seventy times seven times And now we see no reformation we are bold in the name of our God to denounce judgements and we have told you that plague and famine would come for the sinnes of the land and hath the Lord suffered one jot of the words of his servants to fall I and yet we must tell you that continuing in your iniquities will provoke God to further wrath and we may boldly say If we be deceived God hath deceived us and though heaven and earth perish there is not one word of God shall perish If thou refuse to let them goe Saith Tostatus upon this place The common way of men that are suppliants to others is to intreat a thing but never to seeme to distrust them that they aske of and to question it for though they bee perswaded that they shall be denied yet they will not intimate so much for feare they should be thought to distrust the goodnesse of the giver And indeed if a man finde himselfe distrusted though he had a prompt minde to satisfie the request he is ready to fall backe againe But if a man goe so farre as to manifest his distrust of the performance yet it is not the fashion of suiters to threaten therefore saith my Author See in what manner Moses comes not in his owne name but in the name of God and though he spake to one that was above him yet he saith Let them goe for God will not brooke a refusall Thus we that are Ministers as we call to men for obedience and threaten them for their disobedience and we speake it out of the dominion and authority and power that God hath invested us with we speake it home For the businesse doth not lye between God and his people as between man and man that are reciprocall that may be equall but it is betweene God and his People as between a King and his Subjects where there is a wondrous disproportion Therefore Moses might speake and speak imparatively and with a commination If thou refuse c. But I will not stand upon that If thou refuse to let them goe Hee doth wisely premise this before hee speake of the judgement that Pharaoh and all the world may take knowledge that God never punisheth without a cause If thou refuse to let them goe I will smite thy Country with frogs God forbid that the judge of all the world should deale unjustly saith Abraham Gen. 18. Ezek. 14. ult And saith the Lord When these things are done you shall know that I have done justly that what I have done was not without a cause Never did God punish any man without a cause Was there not cause for our first parents punishment even that we have heard they refused to heare the command of God and to obey it Was there not cause of the punishing of Cain Yes he refused to heare God when he spake to him fairly to prevent a wickednes Was there not cause of punishing the old World Yes they were full of lusts and of cruelty and refused to heare the Preacher of righteousnesse so Noah is called Was there not cause of punishing Gods people and of the destruction of Ierusalem God saith he sent his Prophets early and late and they refused to heare them We have not hearkned to the voice of thy servants the Prophets acknowlodging the sins of the people Dan. 10. And Christ himselfe when he gives the reason of the destruction of Ierusalem He would have gathered them as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wing but they would not Certainly as St. Austen saith Judgement never knew the way into the world without Sin Sin ushered it in therefore God must be justified in all things For the very childe that is new borne that never committed actuall iniquity nay that was prevented in the birth must justifie God if it be sent to hell for in the rigour of Gods justice it is condemned before it be borne Therefore let no man say when he is afflicted as Rebecah said Why am I thus upon the strugling of the twins in her womb reflect on thy self and thou shalt find cause enough of the judgement of God and greater then thou canst conceive It cannot possibly be but thou shalt finde a cause yet this is a certaine rule Gods judgements may be secret but they cannot be unjust I will smite thy land and all thy borders with frogs Much might be said concerning that party smiting that all the world might know that none but he hath done it Much might be said concerning that word I will smite as if he should say It shall not be a signe it shall now be a plague a stroake on thee thou shalt be sensible of it I will not now deale with signes but will come nearer then before but these I passe and come to speake of the judgement I will smite thy land with frogs Though it be true that God hath all creatures to serve him He being the Lord of Hoasts they are at his beck The fire comes downe to burne Sodome The water drownes the Egyptians The earth swallowes Corah Dathan and Abyram The Lion consumes the disobedient Prophet The Beares destroy 42 children that mocked Elisha The Serpents sting the disobedient in the wildernesse Which by the way will be a shame to man at the last day that all creatures are dutifull to God and man only rebels As one said That beasts shall give evidence at the last day against man that they serve him but he doth not serve God to shew that they are dutifull to their maker but man is refractory and a rebell But now though God have all creatures at his beck to command them and that he can send one disease and one judgement as well as another yet here hee sends frogs And why frogs Reverend Calvin gives two reasons why frogs rather then any other judgement First saith he Ignominio causa c. He would shame Pharaoh that proud monster that cried out Who is the Lord that I should obey him The Lord takes downe the pride of him by base contemptible creatures Certainly you must needs thinke that it troubled Pharaoh much and he would say with himselfe when he saw the abundance of frogs that after God willing we shall speak of What! if we had been overcome by power If a for raine Prince had invaded my land and thrust me out it had been some honour but to have my land overrun with frogs that I cannot eat my meat or lye in my bed with comfort for these contemptible creatures what a vexation is it It must needs vex the heart of that proud King God would take him downe in his insolencie by this poore base
it lets us see Beloved if a multitude may be punished for one mans sinne what a mischiefe a wicked man is to the place he lives in For as it is with the childe of God he is a great blessing wheresoever he comes as God said of Abraham Thou shalt be a blessing Gen. 12. So was Lot he was the party that bare the Sodomites all the time that he was among them Gen. 19. So you shall finde that had there beene tenne good persons in all those Cities they had beene spared The innocent man delivers the Island Iob 22.30 and reprieves it from the sentence that is gone out against it Abab hath so much sense that he thinkes he shall be the better by Ieboshaphats accompanying him to the battell And all the people fared the better for St. Pauls going in the ship Act. 27. Saith St. Ambrose Good men are the wall of the Country and St. Chrysostome saith They are the marrow of the Country On the other side a wicked man is a plague and a curse to the place he lives in let him be never so noble never so honourable or potent or wealthy if he bee a prophase man hee labours to hasten Gods judgements on the place he is in We read of one Byas the Philosopher that travelling in a ship in a tempest with a great number of odd fellowes some of them very rakeshames and naught they began in the tempest in that extremity as men will doe to call upon the gods he comes to them and saith unto them with some jest not in earnest saith he Hold your peace lest the Gods take knowledge that you are here and not only you but we suffer for your sakes And the History saith That Iohn the Evangelist when he came into the Bath where Cerinthus was he got out presently his reason was lest the Bath should fall for that mans sake Many a wicked man being challenged for his impiety and not able to excuse or justifie it any way yet he hath thus much to say What need you trouble your selfe about me I hurt none but my selfe Alas God knowes if it were no more it were too much that a man with Saul should fall upon his owne sword Vtinam vel sic c. as St. Austen saith I would to God it were no more but if thou be a wicked man thou hurtest not only thy selfe but more I speake not of thy example so much thou ingagest the place thou livest in to the wrath of God thou pullest it down The City of Abell entertained Sheba 2 Sam. 20. It had like to cost them all their blood for if the head of that Traitor had not beene throwne over the wall the edge of Ioabs sword had fallen upon the whole City And if the people had not separated themselves from the Tents of Corah Dathan and Abiram they had been involved in the same judgement Num. 16. Therefore it behoves the children of God nearly to take heed what company they consort with not only in regard of suspition that they may not be suspected to be such as they converse with but in regard of infection for sinne is as taking as the plague Thirdly in regard of the malediction Therefore in Revel 18. God saith Come out of her my people that yee be not partakers of her sinnes and that ye receive not of her plagues There is a humour in some people in the world if the seat be pleasant or extraordinary commodious and profitable they will cast themselves into the place though the inhabitants be as full of sinne as may be It was the humour of Lot he liked the plaine of Iordan well and thought Sodome as the garden of Eden thought he My lot is fallen in a good ground he looked not to the inhabitants but hee rued it after So all those that for pleasure or profit cast themselves among the wicked certainly they shall be scorched with those flames that the wicked are apt to kindle where they dwell The second Use since God takes occasion by one mans sinne to punish many and yet those not without fault It should teach us to acknowledge when God punisheth us that it is just and that we our selves deserve it what ever the occasion be Seneca tells a story of Pison a Roman Generall he commanded a Souldier to be put to death because he returned without his fellow that went out with him to the Campe and said he killed him because hee mist him The Captaine that had order to put the fellow to death espying the man comming that was missing stayed the execution Therefore Pison put all three to death What was his reason Saith hee to the first I have condemned you already I will nor reverse my judgement Saith he to the second man you shall dye because of your going away and exposing your fellow to death And to the Centurion you shall dye because you know not what it is to obey a Generall So saith Seneca he busied his head to finde some cause because there was none But it need not be so with God he need not busie his braine to finde cause to punish any of us that can pretend the greatest innocency for our owne thoughts words and deeds God knowes minister hourely occasion and knowledge Therefore I say whensoever it pleaseth God to lay his hand on us though another may be the occasion yet justifie God in his sayings and cleare him when he is judged All the difference is but this as you see it is with a company of fellons that have committed robberies in several places of the County they are all brought to the same Gaol they are all arraigned at the same bar they all perish at the same tree so God gathers the sins of men it may be upon some occasion and punisheth them all together but they have sins enow of their owne in particular that expose them to wrath therefore let us ever acknowledge that God is just I have heard and read of that saying of Prince Henry in the time of his sicknesse that same delitiae humanae as it is said of Titus whose death was to this Kingdome as so much of the best blood let out of the veines of Israel when it was told him that the sinnes of the people caused that affliction on him O no saith he I have sins enow of mine owne So should we all confesse though God take occasion by another mans sinne and by the neglect of another person to fire my house yet God hath just cause to bring it on me God had cause against the seventy thousand that dyed of the plague though Davids sin were the occasion yet there was a meritorious cause in them So though Pharaoh sinned yet all these Egyptians were not without faust for they hated the Isralites and without doubt were glad of the hard measure of the people of God therefore they justly suffered Though the hardnese of Pharaohs heart were the occasion yet there was cause in
betweene the sinne and the punishment for saith he The poore children that were cast into it they were like frogs for the children were not able to stand alone therefore they were faine to goe upon all foure I follow him not upon that My observation shall be this That In that way and in these things wherein men have shewed cruelty God punisheth them usually Adonibezek cut off the thumbs both of the hands and feet of seventy Kings himselfe was so punished and hee confesseth justly for he had served others so Iudg. 1. Agags sword had made many a mother childlesse and he was punished by the sword 1 Sam. 5. you may think that Goliahs sword had been bathed in blood his owne sword cut off his owne head 1 Sam. 17. In the same place where Naboth was stoned to death the dogges licked the bloud of Ahab So you find that Haman upon the same Gibbet was executed that was intended for Mordecai The same Lions that Daniel was thrown unto consumed his accusers Eusebius tells us That the river and that false bridge that Maxentius thought to have trapped Constantine by was that upon which his Army suncke to the bottome And the Tripartite history tells us of one Eutropius under Arcadia the Emperour that because he had a minde to punish those people that did flye to the Temples he desired the King to make a law that none might be priviledged by flying to the Sanctuary and he being obnoxious to the Kings displeasure was slaine though he did flye to the Temple Optatut saith of the Donatists they gave the Eucharist to dogs and they tore them Plutarch saith of Cassius hee stabbed himselfe with the dagger with which he had stabbed another And St. Austen observes that in Ierusalem and and at the Passeover was the destruction of the Jewes by Titus the same time and place where they crucified Christ The Use therefore is thus much First that we abstaine by this meanes from sinne let but a man thinke beforehand would I be served in such a manner let me not doe it to another lest I look for the same sawce Would I have another man to violate my bed why should I be injurious to him would I bee content to have my children disobedient hereafter why should I being a childe be disobedient to my parents would I be content to have theeving servants when I am for my selfe why then should I for the present be unfaithfull to my Master would I bee content to have dead flyes throwne into my oyntment why should I slander other men in their reputation would I be content to have my possession took from me or my children by violence why should I doe so to others we love our selves so well that we will not suffer these things let us take heed of doing them for Gods word and experience makes it good that God usually payes men in their owne coyne In the second place let it be as an antidote against private revenge doth God punish the same way then whensoever we suffer injuries let us reflect upon our selves whether we have beene wrong doers in the like kinde or no. And if it be so that God doth not only lay judgements on us but makes them so fit and so pat for our old offences be content and submit to the will of God Solomon saith Thou shouldest not heare every word they servant speakes against thee It may be thou also hast slandered others As if he should say Be satisfied if it be so But if a man reflect on his former course and be not guilty that hee have not done that to others that hee would not have others doe to him yet revenge not usurpe not Gods right for what saith the Spirit of God in Revel 13. They that lead into captivity shall be led into captivity this is the patience of the Saints That is herein the patience of the Saints is exercised that they wait on God till he right their quarrell that he will doe in his time to his glory and the confusion of their adversaries These poore Israelites all the time that their children were cast into the river they resisted not they freely remitted their cause to God and you see now though it were long after God comes and that very river that choaked these children was made the matter of so many frogs to infest Egypt not only to putrifie the river but to annoy the Country and all their borders So much of that clause The next clause is The river shall bring forth frogs abundantly that shall goe up or ascend Plinie in his Naturall history tells us of two sorts of frogs There were those that were called Rubedi that have their name because they live in bushes and briers among the brambles The other sort were called Calamits because they live among reeds and such things that usually have a watry foundation that grow in the waters These kinde of frogs here were those that came out of Nylus and such as had the water for their proper element Yet it is said here They shall come up They shall leave their place before that was proper and naturall to them and against their kinde and nature come out to dry land to annoy Gods enemies Whence observe The overruling power that God hath over all creatures to make them obey his will contrary to their owne naturall inclination and common course It is the property of the fire to ascend yet the fire descended upon Sodome to consume them It is the property of the fire to burne yet in obedience to God hee commanded the fire not to burne but to the three children it was as a coole arbour to walke in saith Basile The water it selfe is so liquid a nature that it was strange to see it contrary to nature to runne upon heapes to make way for the Israelites to passe Exod. 14 Iosephus may talke of the Pampillians sea dividing he injures the worke of God to compare it with a fabulous discourse It is contrary to the nature of the waters to runne on heaps and to be a wall as it was then to them And so Iordan when the people of God were to passe it ranne upon heaps What ayled thee O Iordan that thou rannest backe The waters saw thee O God and fled It was the overruling power of God So in Elias what a thing above nature and against it was it that a Raven must feed Eliah The Raven is such a creature as is not indulgent to its owne nay if God should not provide for them Psal 145. He feeds the young ravens she would not regard them Aristotle and Plinie both say of her that she casts her young out of her nest let them shift for themselves if they will yet this creature must bring Eliah meat That whereas it is so ravenous that it would rather snatch from men their meat then bring them any yet they must doe it and so obey God So that Elias should be carried to heaven
thistles or are we conceited as some that Austen speaks of in his time that God punished the murthers of Troy but loved those of Rome That God punished the distempers of former times but will not now That there shall be no fregs in our dishes though Pharaoh had them Is not he the same God and our sinnes as foule as theirs and doe they not provoke God to wrath Wee have found it by some experience if we goe backe a little way What spued out those Abbey-lubbers but gluttony What hath beene the ruine of many great families but this What was the cause that God punished us the last yeare with famine Many sins we have but I cannot ascribe it to any more properly then to gluttony God punisheth such licentiousnesse with penury and scarcity And if we goe on and provoke God as we have hitherto God will plague us in our basket and in our store and that that before was but a rod he can whip us with scorpions God be thanked though we had it deare we had it for money but God will cause the earth to denie her strength that it shall not be to be had then we may eat our flesh for bread and our bowells shall sound as a shalme And this may be the cause of the plague for famine and the plague goe together Thus the Lord can curse us in our basket and in our store and send frogs into our kneading troughs and into our chambers Therefore in the fear of God let us be ashamed of our former intemperance and let us now labour to honour God I bridle not men up to necessity only Religion gives a faire way as any reasonable man in the world can desire but take heed that we dishonour not God abuse them not if we doe penury will be the reward of abused plenty THE FOVRTH SERMON Vpon EXOD. CHAP. 8. VERS 4. And the frogs shall come up both on thee and upon thy people and upon all thy servants And the Lord spake unto Moses say unto Aaron stretch forth thine hand c. IN this fourth Verse there is yet a further amplification of the judgement These frogs should not onely bee in the high waies but in the houses not only in the common roomes but in the bedchambers And they should not stay here neither but should crawle upon the bodies of men they should get up upon them and there should be no possibility to brush them off Galerius upon this place observes That the Egyptians were punished in this plague upon all the five senses The sight was punished that was offended with the multitude with the greatnesse with the hideous forme and colour of these frogs Their hearing was offended with the croaking of them for it was but harsh musicke to dainty eares Their smell was offended with the stench of them Their taste was offended that they came into their troughs the places of their dough and so hindred them of the food that was provided for their nourishment And for their feeling that certainly was exercised for not only he but Tostatus upon the place saith That many of these frogs were poysonfull such as we call toads and they afflicted and oppressed the Egyptians when they lighted on them But I stand not upon this but content my selfe with the words of the Text They shall come up and crawle upon thee and upon thy servants So that thou shalt not rid thy selfe of this annoyance What! in their meat and drinke and upon their bodies Then observe with me Beloved God can lay judgements upon people that shall not be more painfull and troublesome then odious loathsome and noysome This you shall see in sundry respects That of Iob Iob 7.5 he complaines that his skin was broken and he was become loathsome I will not follow Pineds the Jesuit that reckons up scores of diseases that this poore man was afflicted with and all of them as the Physitian speakes of the worst kinde and quality The Scripture saith enough and tells us that he was stricken with boyles from the top of the head to the sole of the foot and was faine to retire himselfe from the company of men and to sit upon a heap of ashes that they might receive the corruption from his wounds and to get a piece of a potsheard to scrape himselfe with Iob 2.7.8 Such a noysome disease had David whatsoever it was as hee complaines Psal 38.7 Thou hast filled my loynes with a loathsome disease The Septuagint and the Latine translation read it Thou hast filled my loynes with delusion and mocking but the Chalde paraphrase renders it better Thou hast filled me with burning paine and noysome So the Hebrew word there used will beare it out which comes from a word to roast a thing and it signifies to be made vile So that it seems it was a burning furious disease and that also that made him odious and loathsome to the people and to himselfe a burthen What a loathsome judgement did the Lord send upon Iehoram 2 Chron. 21. ult by which he rotted as it were piece-meale he was wondrously afflicted and troubled and tormented and the Text saith there Ragelat bele Kemdar he departed without being desired Some understand it he was so wicked that every body desired his death he went away and was not missed every one was glad But it may be understood also he was so loathsome by his disease that people were-glad he was gone he was so troublesome and he tooke no pleasure in himselfe by the noysomenesse of his disease In 2 Macab 9.9 we read of Antiochus a great persecuter of Gods people God smote him with a loathsome noysome judgement having received a bruise by a fall from his chariot for very torment and paine saith the Text his flesh fell piece meale from him and the stench of him was grievous to the whole Army every one wished him gone he was such a trouble to them And was it not a noysome loathsome judgement that was sent upon Herod to be eaten up of wormes Act. 12.23 Iosephus saith That the Great Herod the Askalonite was eaten up of wormes also But after him it is certaine that Maximinus as Eusebius tells us had a fearfull loathsome disease upon him and he sent out a filthy smell he saith he was a fearfull spectacle to looke upon Nay the very Physitians saith the Story that came neare him were killed with the stench of his infirmity So we read of Scilla that he had a loathsome fearfull judgement sent upon him And Pliny in his Naturall history saith that he died a more grievous death then ever he inflicted upon any other And was it not an odious loathsome judgement that was sent upon Arrius that scoured out his bowells upon the stoole So Evagrius speakes of Montanus that he had his tongue rotted in his mouth and he dyed miserably I could reckon more examples but these are sufficient in the proofe of this I would not be mistaken because I
submit to the government of the Shepherd That as Justinian the Emperour saith there may be a sweet harmonie between Prince and people that no string may be too high or too low that is the best musique in the eares of God If Pharaoh desire for his people how should they beg of God in the behalfe of their Soverain Paul when he wisheth that Prayers should be made for all men in the first place he puts Kings And it was the practise of holy people of God in former time Cyprian when they were charged with some rebellion We are far from that we wish well to the King saith he And his Master before him for so he calls Tertullian he professeth concerning the Christians that they begged of God in the behalfe of the Emperour they desired long life a secure regiment and reigne a safe house worthy Counsellors strong and valiant Souldiers c. Let not this be forgotten by us we are too defective in this many of us pray in private for our selves but when doe we remember our Governours O the light of our eyes and the breath of ournostrills is deprived of our prayers If it be a sin to forget a naturall father certainly it is no lesse to forget our politicall father The next thing to be observed which is the second generall is the promise that he makes I will let the people goe I will but touch one thing and so conclude you see here that now he cannot get from under the judgement what evapourates from him he will let the people goe that they may sacrifice If god reserve us God willing we shall observe that he did flie off from this But in the meane time somewhat he saith and promiseth and It is no strange thing that the worst of men have good motions sometimes This Pharaoh saith another time I have sinned And the sorcerers say after It is the finger of God And Balaam saith Let me die the death of the righteous Num. 23. And Saul may say he hath sinned and Ahab may humble himselfe and Felix may sometimes tremble and Agrippa will cry out he is almost made a Christian by Paul And it was never known of the most desperate adulterers the most bloudy men or oppressors or excessive persons but some time or other they did thinke ill of their own courses and did think that another way was better and it may be have had motions and resolutions tending to reformation The ground is the light that God puts into the consciences and the power that he hath indued it with that will sometimes put a man in minde of his abberations from the right way that this is not the course hee should take Again there is a generall illumination in the world that enlightens every man by this they come to have some notions But as Bernard saith in another case they come in frequently and passe away as speedily They are like the morning dew or the morning cloud soon dissipated not so good as Ephraims cake that was halfe baked they are soon gone as Tertullian saith of the flower it is a thing to look on and breath on and smell to and it is gone So it is with these motions of the wicked they passe away as smoke Therefore for the use of it Let us not be confident of the motions and flashes of the wicked unlesse they persist and continue in them there is little hope Nay let us not please our selves for motions that are like flashings of lightning in the soule they are not worth the talking of When motions come that are good cherish them keep them on foot that they may be actuated and perfected Thus God would have us to doe it is a sparke of the divine fire therefore the Lord would have it blown till it come to a flame If at any time we finde it dying as like enough the dear Saints of God may doe we must stir it up and excite the grace of God by the use of the Ordinances of God as the Apostle speaks And likewife by reflecting upon our many omissions and neglects and it may be suppression of motions by the consâ—â—â—â—â—tion of the fearfull account we must give one day for these neglects stir it up and keep it fresh and by the blessing of God there may come great matters That that is now a sparke may be a flame that that is like a cloud no bigger then a hand it may after mask the whole heavens That that is now as a grain of mustard seed it may be a great tree wherein the fowles of the air may make their nests Of all take heed of quenching and suppressing this Spirit of puting it out and that is done by wilfull grosse sins When God gives good motions if men would cherish them and keep them alive there might be much good in them but when they run into foul sins that waste conscience the graces of God die and all good motions are as far to seek as if they never had been This will add to a mans judgment when God shall put these things in his heart and he by untimely frosts nipps them in the bud whereas if he would cherish them they would come to great perfection and improvement THE EIGHTH SERMON Vpon EXOD. CHAP. 8. VERS 8.9 And I will let the people goe that they may doe sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses said unto Pharaoh Glory over me when shall I intreat for thee and for thy servants and for thy people c. THere is one thing that remaines of the eighth Verse remaining that I will speedily dispatch and so go on Pharaoh saith here I will let them goe that they may sacrifice to the Lord. Ubi potentiae Ubi superbiae saith one upon my Text. How now Pharaoh what is become of thy power what is become of thy pride not long since thou wast in thy ruffe and said Who is the Lord that I should seare him or let Israel goe Thou wert so farre from dismissing them that thou eldst more intensively hate them and multiply their sorrowes Thou didst contemne Moses and Aaron that came with a Commission from God and now behold thou art under a judgement and knowest not how to extricate thy selfe from this perplexitie now thou wilt let the people goe now thou acknowledgest God now thou suest to Moses and Aaron now thou art glad to dismisse the people Even thus it was and in that it was thus my observation must bee concerning The necessitie of afflictions All faire meanes would do no good with this man God was faine to take the rod in his hand and then wee see the issue so great is the necessitie of afflictions And it drives at divers things First afflictions make a man see his sinnes as wee see in the brethren of Joseph Gen. 41.21 In their trouble in Egypt they reflect upon their unnaturalnesse to their brother they confesse that the cause of this trouble and distresse was because they did not hearken to
mayst know that there is none like the Lord. It shall appeare in the removall of this judgement thou shalt see all the Frogs confined to their proper element of water For the first the yeelding Be it according to thy word Some man may think it would have been more fit for Moses to expostulate then to yeeld to Pharaoh he might thus have said Dost thou request a courtesie at my hands and limit me my time surely if I doe the favour I will observe my own season Beggers must be no choosers if a man give freely all circumstances are left in his discretion to his owne libertie But to answer these people surely Moses had much disparaged himself if having once yeelded to Pharaoh the power of prescribing the time he should have eaten his word First it had been unworthy of Moses to have gone back Pharaoh might have replyed and said what inconstancy is this to give with one hand and to take away with the other thou either distrustest the cause or art diffident of the power of thy God that thou wouldest feare me with Secondly it would have appeared a great neglect in Moses of Pharaoh he had given libertie to Pharaoh to prescribe the time Princes are not to bee dallied with if he should have fallen off now and not have observed the time when Pharaoh had set it certainly he had provoked Pharaoh he had done wrong to the cause the usage of Pharaoh had been course and unworthy of so great a Majestie But to come to the observation it is this It hath ever been the manner of Gods people in all times fairely to intreat and easily to deale with and respectively to use and not to irritate others that have been of place and qualitie though they have been strangers to them both in judgment and affections In Gen. 4.7 saith God to Cain in the behalf of Abel his desire shall be to thee and thou shalt rule over him As if he should say if thou think that my acceptation of his sacrifice will puffe him up feare not that it shall not swell him so as that he shall forget that respect that is due to thee as the elder brother and the first borne God will provide that his desire shall be subject to his brother in all things that are lawfull and he shall rule over him as the Elder In Gen. 33.3 when Esau met Jacob he bowed seven times to the ground and in the course of his speech calls himself his servant which was not a vaine light complement but seriously spoken yet farre was it from betraying of his birthright as some have thought by giving that away but he did it shewing respect to him as hee was a great Prince for so was Esau at this time For the promise he knew should be performed to his posteritie the Idumeans served Israel from David to Joash 120. yeares but the Israelites served not the Idumeans he respected him though as a great Prince The like we see in the carriage of Moses towards Edom in Num. 20. when the Israelites passed through their country Moses sent a faire ambassage and desired a peaceable and free way and urgeth him by many arguments and moves it the second time when he found him so stiffe that he would not encline to the motion they turned another way so respective was he to that great man though he were averse in his affections So in David towards Saul when he hath him at a great advantage as may be there is not one unrespective word comes from him if hee have occasion to speake to him himselfe or to speak of him to others his words and carriage were ever loyall and faithfull and full of reverence How ever some people disfigured him to him certainly there was no passage of his life that had the least touch of disloyaltie to him He knew he was the Lords anointed and it was not a private injury that could wash off his dutie that he ought him as his Prince The like we see in our blessed Lord how respective he was in all his carriage towards those in authoritie how fairely he speaks in regard of Caesar as unwilling to infringe any right or priviledg of that Prince nay paying tribute that he need not because he would not give offence And how soon did Paul retract that word that he sent out hastily and sharply against Ananias God shall smite thee thou whited wall Act. 23. he ingenuously professed that he did not know him to bee the ruler of the people And Cyprian taking occasion to speak of that place saith he they were Sacerdotes c. men unworthy of the place that they held yet Paul was of that mind that the very shadow of that honour he would not neglect he would doe that that was due to the place they maintained As our blessed Saviour himself for all the priesthood was so depraved in his time he diminished none of the right and due of it but when he had healed the man he bid him goe away and shew himselfe to the Priest The use of it meets with such in these times that spie imperfections in the practises of men to dispense with themselves in the duties due to their places Moses could have so reasoned here Pharaoh was a wicked man and a persecutor of Gods people and Moses had a great commission himself but he loved not to irritate and provoke him and use him unbefitting a Magistrate no more should other men Let me tell you Religion and pietie eate not out good manners and Civilitie It is not the greatest zeale of a man against sinne that will beare him out in rude unmannerlinesse Even men that are wicked are to be used according to their place they maintaine if they be never so prophane if they have dignitie it must bee reverenced and their persons respected Moses kindly condescends to Pharaoh But some may say Did not Elisha the prophet forbid his man to salute any Therefore there is a time when men may let downe these actions of common courtesie Let not that be pretended The meaning is hee should make such expedition that he should not delay as men in complements for that would hinder the worke And although Saint John say that there are some men that we should not bid God speed It intimates onely an intimate familiaritie that is forbidden Or else secondly such salutations as carry approbation of the evill wayes that a man is found in But for common offices of humanitie and kindnesse they are not forbidden Christ would have his Apostles when they came to any place to salute the house If a man bee never so flagiciously wicked nay if he bee excommunicated which is the highest curse that can light on him for all that civill courtesies must not be denied Ambrose used Theodosius with all respect though he were excommunicated And he that is excommunicated is not more then a heathen but as a heathen and if so the heathen must be
his power to mischiefe to plague Gods people so as he provoked God to plague all Egypt And my observation shall be this Multitudes are punished oft-times for one mans sinne The borders of Egypt all of them all the places and inhabitants were plagued for Pharaohs offence Examples in Scripture are frequent to prove this Abimelech was the faulter the party that faulted and behold all the wombes in Abimelechs family were shut up Gen. 20. So in Ios 7. Ay was besieged and some were to goe up against it but some of the men come out of Ay and slay 36 of the Isralites It troubled Ioshua and the Elders and they fall downe before the Lord and he satisfies them presently There is an accursed thing among you seeke it out or else you shall not prevaile So there was one Athan that had stollen a Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold Saith Salvianus One mans sinne was many mens misery Saul was the man that sinned against the poore Gibionites you see how all Israel was plagued with three yeares famine 2 Sam. 21. So we finde David whether out of curiosity or vain-glory he would needs number the people yet seventy thousand were slaine by the pestilence 2 Sam. 24. Ionah was the man that faulted and all the ship and the people in the ship were in danger and he himselfe ingeniously confessed that it was for his sake that the storme came and that they should prosper and doe well if they were disburthened of him Therefore the heathen could say the whole City must suffer for one mans ill And another of them observed of the Greeks unius obnoxa furia c. one mans wickednesse is all mens trouble Now will some man say if it may be lawfull to aske the question what justice is there in this that one man should sinne and other folke be punished will not this justifie the cavill of the old Atheists That one man was sicke and another tooke the physicke Doth not God say in Ezekiel The soule that sinneth shall dye and would he not have that cursed proverb suppressed The fathers have eaten soure grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge And doth not St. Paul say Gal. 6 Every man shall beare his owne burthen Why then if Pharaoh sinne let Pharaoh alone be punished why should God smite all the borders of Egypt David said when he saw the Angell forrage the whole Army and the people What have these sheep done 2 Sam. 24. Now for the answer to this there must be one ground necessarily laid in the first place and that is this That however things appeare to us God neither is nor can be unjust as in nothing else so not in punishing God forbid that the judge of all the world should be unjust Gen 18.25 Is God unrighteous Rom. 3.5 when he executes vengeance It is true the wayes of God are far beyond out apprehension beyond the possibility of our attaining we may as well empty the Ocean into a cockle shell The righteousnesse of God is a high mountaine the judgements of God is a great deep Psal 36. The well is deepe and wee have not wherewith to draw Ioh. 4. But this is ever certaine though we doe not alway see the reason there is a reason that we cannot see That God is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works Psal 145.17 That is the ground that I lay in generall More particularly now for the answer some will say That a King and his People make but one person or one body therefore it is free for God since Pharaoh sinned to plague all Egypt since they were his dominion and people it was free for him for a paine in the head to open a veine in the arme As men take liberty when the hand is faulty to put the feet in the stockes But this comes not home sufficiently though it may hold in regard of Pharaoh and his people making one body or in regard of a Master and his family that make but one body or of a Father and his childe because as Aquinas saith The childe is part of the parent But how doth it hold when men are in the same ranke and condition and multitudes of them are punished for one mans sin Therefore to salve it fully know that there is a double impulsive cause of punishment First that that is called pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to perplex you with the nycities of the Schooles thesetwo causes differ thus as the cause and the occasion To put an instance A man that hath fed full a long time comes to have a pletory fulnesse of crude and raw humours in his stomach It falls out that this party riding after in the wet taking cold he begins to shiver and shake and after he falls into a durable lasting Feaver If the Physitian be a wise and understanding man aske him what was the proper cause of this sicknesse and he will tell you the inward ill humours of the body and the abounding of them yet it is like enough that it had not turned to a Feaver so soone if he had not tooke cold of his feet or beene some way troubled in his journey So when God brings punishment upon people the proper cause is in every mans selfe There are personall sins inevery man to make him obnoxious to the curse of God yet may the sinnes of the father or parent or neighbour be the occasion that God will punish sin So that we say the personall sinnes of men are the primary internall antecedent dispositive cause of Gods judgements but the sinnes of other men they may bee the externall irritating exitating cause of Gods judgements for these are the tearmes of the Schoole-men And this helpes to salve that great question Why the children are punished for the fathers sinnes For God in just judgement oft-times gives up the chile to follow the steps of the father There is something in nature for especially those sinnes that are sensuall that symbolize with the predominant humour in the body may prove oft as diseases in the body hereditary Secondly sometimes example that workes much vitius corrumpunt vitia c. examples that are so neare us often corrupt sooner and taint deeper Sometime education may helpe the father may instruct his childe in Idolatry in the rudiments of covetousnesse and the like So many beggars bring up their children to idlenesse and theeving But suppose the childe be free from the fathers iniquity which hee hath committed yet he hath sinnes enow of his owne that may justly cause the wrath of God towards him yet it may be when he shall be punished in such a time in such a measure and manner and other circumstances the sinnes of the father may be the occasion of the childs punishment the remembrance of that may cause God to punish him at that time and with those circumstances Now for the use of this to our selves