now their hearts would have misgiven But loe these bold Traytors stand impudently staring in the door of their Tents as if they would out-face the revenge of God as if Moses had never wrought miracle before them as if no Israelite had ever bled for rebelling those that should perish are blinded Pride and Infidelity obdures the heart and makes even Cowards fearless Verse 31. In Dathan and Abirams case God may seem to proceed apace towards Execution but yet it had all these pauses in arrest of Judgement and these reprieves before Execution First When Moses had information of their factious proceedings he falls upon his face before God and laments and deprecates in their behalf verse 4. he calls them to a fair Tryal and Examination the next day verse 5. and they say We will not come verse 12. and again which implies that Moses cited them again we will not come verse 14. and Moses went up to them again and the Elders of Israel followed and all prevailed not and then Moses comes to pronounce Judgement verse 29. and after and yet not presently after the Judgement Execution followed verse 31. thus still God goes his own way to speak before he strikes to lighten before he thunders to warn before he wounds Verse 41. Here instead of Praying these Israelites murmur instead of praying to God murmur against Moses What have the righteous done It is the hard condition of Authority that when the multitude fare well they applaud themselves when ill they repine against their Governors Who can hope to be free if Moses and Aaron escape not Never any Prince so merited a people he thrust himself upon the Pikes of Pharaoh's tyranny he brought them from a bondage worse than death his Rod divided the Sea and shared life to them death to their pursuers Who would not have thought these men so obliged to Moses that no death could have opened their mouths or rais'd their hands against him yet now when their fellows are justly punish'd of God they murmur against Moses No marvel if we deal so with men when God receives this measure from us One year of Famine one Summer of Pestilence makes us over-look all the blessings of God and more to mutiny at the sence of our evil than to praise him for our varieties of good O God I have made an ill use of thy mercies if I have not learnt to be content with thy Corrections CHAP. XVII Verse 1. HOw desirous was God to give satisfaction even to the obstinate there is nothing more material than that men should be assured their spiritual guides have their commission and Calling from God the want whereof is a prejudice to our success It should not be so but the corruption of Men will not receive good but from due Messengers Verse 2. Before Gods calling all men are alike every Name is alike written in their rod there is no difference in the letters in the wood neither the characters are fairer nor the staff more precious it is the choice of God that makes the distinction so is it in our callings of Christianity all are equally devoid of possibility of Grace all equally liveless by Nature we are all Sons of wrath If we be now better than others who separated us we are all Crab-stocks in this Orchard of God he may graft what Fruit he pleases upon us only the Grace and effectual Calling of God makes the difference Verse 5. Before God wrought miracles in the Rod of Moses now in the Rod of Aaron As Pharaoh might see himself in Moses his Rod who of a Rod of Defence and protection was turn'd into a venemous Serpent so Israel might see themselves in the Rod of Aaron Every Tribe and every Israelite was of himself as a sear-stick without life without sap and if any one of them had power to live and flourish he must acknowledg it from the immediate power and gift of God Verse 6. These 12 Heads of Israel would never have writ their Names in their Rods but in hope they might be chosen to this dignity What an honour was this Priesthood whereof all the Princes of Israel are ambitious If they had not thought it an high preferment they had not so much envied the Office of Aaron What shall we think of this change Is the Evangelical administration of less worth than the Levitical while the Testament is better is the service worse how is it that the Great think themselves too great for this imployment how is it that under the Gospel men are disparaged with that which honoured them under the Law that their ambition and scorn meet in one subject Verse 7. These 12 Rods are not laid up in several Cabinets of their owners but are brought forth and laid before the Lord. It is fit God should make choice of his own attendants Even we Men hold it injurious to have servants obtruded upon us by others Never shall that Man have comfort in his Ministry whom God hath not chosen The great Commander of the World hath set every Man in his station to one he hath said Stand thou in this Tower and watch to another Make thou good these Trenches to a third Digg thou in this Mine He that gives and knows our abilities can best set us on work Verse 8. This Rod was the Pastoral staff of Aaron the great Shepheard of Israel God rectifies his approbation of his charge by the Fruit. That a Rod cut off from the Tree should blossom it was strange but that in one Night it should bear buds blossom and Fruit and that both ripe and hard it was highly miraculous The same power that revives the dead Plants in Winter in the Spring doth it here without Earth without Time without Sun that Israel might see and grant it was no reason his choice should be limited whose power is unlimited Verse 10. The same God which by many transient demonstrations had approved the calling of Aaron to Israel will now have a permanent memorial of their conjunction that whensoever they should see this relick they might be ashamed of their presumption and infidelity The Name of Aaron was not more plainly writ in that Rod than the sin of Israel was in the Fruit of it and how much more Israel finds Rebellion beaten with this Rod appears in the following Complaint Behold we are dead we perish God knows how to extort glory to his own Name from the most obstinate gainsayers CHAP. XVIII Verse 20. IF the Lord himself be Aarons portion and his Inheritance why should not Aaron content himself though he have no other Inheritance among the People And if the Lord be the portion of Gods Children who are his Royal Priesthood why should not they rest well contented although they want an inheritance inthe things of this World and why may not every Child of God as well as the Sons of Levi say God himself is my portion and God all-sufficient in himself is all-sufficient unto me
wonderful this is a fearful Fall Verse 8. Every Earth was not fit for Adam but a Garden a Paradice what excellent pleasures and rare varieties have men found in Gardens planted by the hands of men and yet all the World of men cannot make one twigg or leaf or spire of grass when he that made the matter undertakes the fashion how must it needs be beyond our capacity excellent No Herb no Tree no Flower was wanting there that might be for ornament or use whether for sight or for sent or for taste the bounty of God wrought further than to necessity even to comfort and recreation Why are we niggardly to our selves when God is liberal but for all this if God had not there convers'd with man no abundance could have made him blessed Verse 9. The Tree of Life was a real Tree in Paradice but it was not able to give immortality for no corruptible food can make the body incorruptible and if it could have given immortality it must have had a power to preserve from Sin for by sinning Man became mortal therefore it was called The Tree of Life not effectivè but significativè as a signe of true immortality which Adam should have received of God if he had continued in obedience and so also was that other Tree call'd The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil not because it gave Knowledge but was a Seal unto them of their miserable Knowledge which they should get by the experience of their Transgression which is call'd a Practical Knowledge And yet here by the way though God forbad Man to eat of the Tree of Knowledge yet not of the Tree of Life to shew that he desired we should be Saints not Rabbies and Doctors Verse 15. That which was mans Store-house was also his Work-house his pleasure was his task Paradice serv'd not only to feed his sences but to exercise his hands If happiness had consisted in doing nothing man had not been imployed all his delights could not have made him happy in an idle life Man therefore is no sooner made than he is set to work neither greatness nor perfection can priviledg a folded hand he must labour because he was happy how much more we that we may be so this first labour of his was as without necessity so without pains without weariness how much more chearfully we go about our businesses so much nearer we come to our Paradice Verse 17. Here is a double comfort from these words to the Children of God the first consists in this in that it was the Lord of Life that first named death Morte morieris saith God thou shalt dye the death I do the less fear and abhor Death because I find it in his mouth even a Malediction hath a sweetness iu Gods mouth for there is a blessing wrapt up in it a Mercy in every Correction a Resurrection upon every Death from whence issues the other spiritual comfort that as God did cast upon the unrepentant sinner two Deaths in the Text a temporal and a Spiritual Death so hath he breath'd into us two lives for so as the word for Death is doubled Morte morieris thou shalt dye the Death so the word for Life is expressed in the plural at the seventh Verse of this Chapter Chaim vitarum God breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Lives of divers lives though our Natural life were no life but a continual dying yet we have two Lives besides that an eternal life reserved for Heaven but yet an Heavenly Life too a spiritual Life even in this World Verse 18. One cause of Marriage is to avoid the inconvenience of Solitariness signified in these words It is not good for Man to be alone as if he had said this Life would be miserable irksome to Man if the Lord had not given him a Wife to bear a share in his troubles and afflictions Now if it be not good for Man to be alone then is it good for him to have a Companion and therefore as God created a pair of all other Kinds so also of this And this was that help in the Text in which we see that God did provide an help for Man before he saw his own want and while Adam slept and thought nothing God was working and laying out for his good and preparing him an Helper Shewing that Man is stronger by his Wife for as God hath knit the bones and sinews together for the strengthning of Mans body so hath he knit Man and Woman together for the strengthening of their Life because two are firmer than one Verse 20. As Adam gave every Creature the Name according as he saw the Nature thereof to be so God gives every man reward or punishment the Name of a Saint or Devil in his purpose as he sees him a good or a bad user of his graces When I shal come to the sight of the Book of Life and the Records of Heaven amongst the Reprobate I shall never see the Name of Cain alone but Cain with his addition Cain that kil'd his Brother not Iuda's Name alone but Iudas with his addition Iudas that betrayed his Master God did not begin with a Morte moriendum some Body must dye and therefore I wil make some Body to kill but God came to a Morte morieris yet thou art alive and maist live but if thou wilt rebel thou must dye Verse 21. This Sleep that man was cast into while his Wife was created doth teach us that our Affections our Lusts and Concupiscences should sleep while we go about this Action the choice of a Wife for as the Man slept while his Wife wa◠making so our flesh should sleep while our Wife is choosing lest as the love of Venison wone Isaac to bless one for the other so the love of Gentry or Riches or Beauty should make us take one for the other Verse 22. Woman was not made of the head and therefore must not be the head nor yet of the foot of man and therefore must not be set at his foot but the man must set her at his heart near the place from whence she came She which should lie in his bosome was made in his bosom should be as close to him as the Rib of which she was fashion'd Verse 25. Comparatively Adam was better than all the world beside and yet we find no act of pride in Adam when he was alone When there was none in the world but himself and his Wife who was not another but himself though they were both naked they were neither of them asham'd Soliture is not the scene of pride the danger of pride is in company when we meet to look upon one another Thus in Eve her first act was an act of Pride a harkening to that voice of the Serpent Ye shall be as gods As soon as there were more than themselves there was pride How many have we known that have been content all the week at home alone
hanging over the throat of such a Son would not have been more perplex'd in his thought than that unexpected Sacrifice was in those briars yet he whom it nearest concern'd is least touch'd Faith had wrought the same in him which cruelty would in others not to be moved He contemns all fears and over-looks all impossibilities his heart tells him that the same hand which rais'd Isaac from the dead womb of Sarah can raise him again from the ashes of his Sacrifice With this confidence was the hand of Abraham now falling upon the throat of Isaac who had given himself for dead when suddenly the Angel of God interrupts him forbids him commends him Verse 12. The voice of God was never so welcome never so sweet never so seasonable as now It was the tryal that God intended not the fact Isaac is sacrificed and is yet alive and now both of them are more happy in that they would have done than they could have been distress'd if they had done it Gods charges are oft-times harsh in the beginnings and proceeding but in the conclusion alwayes comfortable true spiritual comforts are commonly late and sudden God defers on purpose that our tryals may be perfect our deliverance welcome our recompence glorious Isaac had never been so precious to his Father if he had not been recovered from death if he had not been as miraculously restored as given Abraham had never been so blessed in his Seed if he had not neglected Isaac for God Verse 13. The only way to find comfort in any earthly thing is to surrender it in a faithful carelesness into the hands of God Abraham came to Sacrifice he may not go away with dry hands God cannot abide that good purposes should be frustrate Lest either Abraham should not do that for which he came or shall want means of speedy thanks-giving for so gracious a disappointment behold a Ram stands ready for the Sacrifice and as it were proffers himself to this happy exchange He that made that beast brings him thither fastens him there Even in small things there is a great providence what mysteries there are in every though the least act of God CHAP. XXIII Verse 1. BEcause the years of Sarah are here distinctly numbred and the Hebrews read thus and the lives of Sarah was an hundred years and twenty years and seven years the Jewish Rabbins collect that here is commended her beauty and her chastity viz. that she was as fair at an hundred years as at twenty and as chast at twenty as at seven but this collection of the Rabbins perchance is scarce warrantable from the words yet from hence we may safely conclude for our comfort that the Lord doth number all our years and whether they be few or many he hath set them down in his Book of Remembrance For here Sarah's daies are punctually numbred and Iob in his Fourteenth Chapter mentioneth moneths and daies how that our daies are exactly determined and the number of moneths which man hath to live are in the Lords hand Wherefore no good man need make any question but that the Lord hath a care of him and that his life doth not depend upon the skill of the Physitian but the good pleasure of our God Verse 2. These words She dyed at Hebron bids us meditate on theformer Story 'T is well known that at Beersheba Abimelech made a league with Abraham the tenure whereof was that the one should not hurt the other whereupon Abraham supposing he should have set up his staff there planted a grove yet for all this Sarah dieth not there but dieth at Hebron certain miles distant from Beersheba and dieth in the absence of Abraham and happily without the presence of her Son and acquaintance dieth in a strange place among strangers which may serve to comfort those whom the Lord will not vouchsafe to die in their own Country among their nearest and dearest Friends wanting them to close up their dying eyes and perform the duties and offices of love For though Friends be absent yet the best Friends God and his Christ are ever present to the faithful and when all forsake yet they never forsake and Heaven is no further from one place than another and then in regard we are all with Sarah and Abraham here liable to a wandering and a wavering condition this should hold up in us all a longing desire of Heaven where all joy remains and is fix'd for evermore seeing here we have no happiness no rest no quietness Here is only the vally of tears and weeping we must look for the happy place of joy and gladness in another World where shall be no more sorrow nor crying nor tears Verse 4. This Sarah that before was the desire of Abrahams eyes is now desired to be removed out of his sight she that before had a beauty to tempt Kings had not now so much left her by death as to take her own Husband I have read of a fair young German Gentleman who living refused to be pictured and put off the importunity of his Friends by giving way that after a few daies burial they might send a Painter to his Vault and if they saw cause for it draw the image of Death unto the Life they did so and found his face half eaten his Midrife and Back-bone full of Serpents and so he stands pictured among his armed Ancestors Thus doth the fairest Beauty change and it will be as bad with you and me as it was here with Sarah and then what nearest Relation will endure our company what Servants shall we have to wait upon us in the Grave what officious people to cleanse away the moist cloud cast upon our faces from the sides of the weeping Vaults which are the longest Weepers for our Funerals all our Friends will then like Abraham in the Text desire to remove us out of their sight Verse 8. The eye affects the heart with sorrow-occasioning objects if sorrow be in the eye it will not stay long from the heart Hence when Sarah was dead Abraham in this Text thus bespeaks the people among whom he dwelt If it be in your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight It did afflict the heart of Abraham with sorrow to see the body of his deceased Wife or the Coffin where she lay whom he had so entirely loved therefore he saith Bury her out of my sight Verse 9. This world is but a thorow-fare we have no place to settle to abide here and therefore our first purchase of possession should be like this of Abrahams a place to bury in not to build upon Our Grave is our long and lasting home all our other houses are but transitory and as short-lived as our selves And therefore to mind us of our mortality it were good with the Patriarch here to make our Sepulchre our first purchase Upon this account when our first Parents had made them Garments of Figg-leaves God gave them Garments of skins
be loved Abimelech and Phicol desire to live peaceably and quietly with Isaac that there may be an Oath and a Covenant between them but yet these being Heathens could not love Isaac as a godly man should be loved they departed from him in peace saith this verse peace is one thing and love is another CHAP. XXVII Verse 2. AS Isaac said here that he knew not the day of his death so may we say both of the time and also of the place and manner of our death For death surprizeth some as Abel when he was walking in the field others as Uz when he was sitting at his door some with Iobs children at a Feast others with the Philistines sporting in a Theater Thus likewise may we say of the manner of our death there is a natural death when a man dies as a Lamp goes out because there is no more Oyl to feed it and there is a violent death when the soul is thrust out of doors and the Lamp of Life not burnt but blown out Iosia dies by the hurt of an Arrow a Prophet of God by the teeth of a Lyon Abimelech by the fall of a stone Boast not thy self therefore of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth if not an end of thy sins it may be an end of thy life if it bring not forth conversion it may bring forth confusion Verse 4. What hath careless Esau lost if having sold his Birth-right he may obtain the blessing Or what hath Iacob gain'd if his Brothers Venison may countervail his pottage Yet thus hath old Isaac decreed who was not now more blind in his eyes than in his affections God had forewarn'd him that the Elder should serve the Younger yet Isaac goeth about to bless Esau. The dearest of Gods Saints have been sometimes transported with natural Affections he saw himself prefer'd to Ismael though the Elder he saw his Father wilfully forgetting Nature at Gods command in binding him for Sacrifice he saw Esau leudly matcht with Heathens and yet he will remember nothing but Esau is my first-born but how gratious is God that when we would will not let us sin and so orders our actions that we do not what we would but what we ought Verse 8. That God which had ordain'd the Lordship for the younger will also contrive for him the blessing what he will have effected shall not want means the mother shall rather defeat the Son and beguile her Husband than the Father shall beguile the chosen Son of his Blessing What was Iacob to Rebecca more than Esau or what Mother doth not more affect the Elder But now God inclines the love of the Mother to the Younger against the custom of Nature because the Father loves the Elder against the promise The Affections of Parents are divided that the Promise might be fulfil'd Rebecca's craft shall answer Isaac's partiality Isaac would unjustly turn Esau into Iacob Rebecca doth as cunningly turn Iacob into Esau her desire was good her means was unlawful God doth oft-times effect his just will by our wickednesses yet neither thereby justifying our infirmities nor blemishing his own actions Verse 19. Here is nothing but counterfeiting a fained person fained name fained Venison a fained answer and yet behold a true blessing but to the man not to the means those were so unsound that Iacob himself doth more fear their curse than hope for their success but Rebecca presuming upon the Oracle of God and her Husbands simplicity dare be his surety for the danger his Counsellor for the carriage of the business his Cook for the Diet yea dresses both the meat and the man And now she wishes she could borrow Esau's tongue as well as his garments that she might securely deceive all the senses of him who had suffered himself to be more dangerously deceived by his affection But this is past her Remedy her Son must name himself Esau with the voice of Iacob It is hard if our tongue do not bewray what we are in spite of our habit This was enough to work Isaac to a suspition to an enquiry not to an incredulity he that is good of himself will hardly believe evill of another and will rather distrust his own senses than the fidelity of those he trusted all the senses are set to examine none sticketh at the Judgement but the ear to deceive that Iacob must second his dissimulation with three lies in one breath I am Esau As thou badst me My Venison Onesin entertain'd fetcheth in another and if it be forced to lodg alone either departeth or dieth I love Iacobs blessing but I hate his lie I would not do that wilfully which Iacob did weakly on condition of a blessing he that pardoned his infirmity would curse my obstinateness Verse 23. Good Isaac had first set his hands to try whether his ears inform'd him aright and then feeling the hands of him whose voice he suspected that honest heart could not think that the skin might more easily be counterfeited than the Lungs a smal satisfaction contents those whom guiltiness hath not made scrupulous Isaac believes and blesseth the Younger Son in the Garments of the Elder If our Heavenly Father smell upon our backs the savour of our Elder Brothers Robes we cannot depart from him unblessed Verse 27. As Isaac said of his Son here The smell of my Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed So the Lord of Heaven as he smelt a savour of rest from the Sacrifice of Noah should smell from us if we intend to be his Sons and Heirs of the Promise as Iacob was the savour of Medicinal Herbs of remorse and repentance and contrition and detestation of former sins and the savour of odoriferous and fragrant and Aromatical Herbs Works worthy of Repentance amendment of Life Edification of others and zeal to his Glory Verse 32. No sooner is Iacob gone away full of the joy of his blessing then Esau comes in full of the hope of the blessing and now blowing and sweating for his reward he finds nothing but a Repulse Lewd men when they think they have earned of God and come proudly to challenge favour receive no answer but Who art thou the hopes of the wicked fail them when they are at the highest whereas Gods children find these comforts in extremity which they durst not expect Verse 33. Both the Father and the Son wonder at each other the one with fear the other with grief Isaac trembled and Esau wept the one upon Conscience the other upon Envy Isaac's heart now told him that he should not have purposed the blessing where he did and that it was due unto him unto whom it was given and not purposed hence he durst not reverse that which he had done with Gods will besides his own for now he saw that he had done unwilling Justice God will find both time and means to reclaim his own to prevent their sins to manifest
The wicked heart never fears God but thundring or raining fire from Heaven but the good can dread him in his very sun-shine his loving Deliverances and Blessings affect them with awfulness Moses was the true Son of Iacob who when he saw nothing but visions of Love and Mercy could say How dreadful is this place Verse 7. If we would have our greif seen and helped we must endeavour to become Gods People For then sighing and groaning in our several afflictions as these did we may be sure in due time to find our comfort as they found We may hence also learn that affliction doth not shew that the party is disliked of God as the Devil often suggests to men and women in trouble for God calleth these Israelites his People which yet were plunged in the depth of misery and affliction Verse 11. This should teach every one of us humility and to say with Moses Who am I Lord that thou should'st thus and thus think of me chuse me and take me to that place that I have no strength to manage and which thousands of my Brethren are fitter for than I am This also may put us in mind of the weighty calling of Ministers For is it such a matter to strive with Pharaoh for Bodies and temporal servitude and is it nothing to fight with the Devil for Souls and freedome from eternal slavery Verse 14. See a sweet comfort in all our fears even his Name I AM. Noting that as he hath been to penitent sinners so ever he will be without any change If I call upon him and depend upon him I AM is his Name and I may not doubt of him he is no Changeling but the same for ever Verse 16. When any new thing is to be published that concerneth any change in Church or Common-wealth we must acquaint the Magistrates Rulers and Governours with it to approve our Commission and matter unto them with all Modesty Humility Fear and Care of Order and Unity and then with their consents and assistance unto the People and Multitude This is a right course and this shall have a Blessing from the Author of it as here it had Then shall they obey thy voice verse 18. Verse 18. See again and still most carefully note it how God regardeth Government For now Pharaoh must be used as was fit for his place he being the King of that Land in which they were wicked Pharaoh I say must not be disorderly dealt with by such as live under his Government although Strangers and not his natural Subjects how much then by natural Subjects But he must be gone unto with all duty and acquainted with their desire with all reverence that neither themselves may be judged factious neither others by their examples moved to any disorder And therefore they must acquaint him with the Author of their desires not their own heads lusting after liberty or novelty but the Lord God Verse 21. All hearts are in the hands of God even as the Rivers of Water and that he turneth them hither and thither at his pleasure He can make them love hate they never so much Yea he can make them so love that fruits from thence shall flow to his People of their love Be they Jewels of Silver or Rayment they shall grant it and send it give it or lend it with so willing a mind as the party taking needeth to wish CHAP. IV. Verse 3. THe heart of man is like the Rod of Moses as long as he held it in his hand it remained a Rod but when he threw it to the ground it turn'd instantly into a Serpent nay a Dragon the Prince of Serpents as Philo the Iew saith so the heart of man as long as there is fast hold of it as long as Man is the Possessor God the Guardian it continues still an heart but if our boistrous unruly sins once throw it to the earth it changeth instantly to be a Serpent From whence all carnal and earthly-minded men may learn whose Consciences at the reading hereof tell them that their hearts are turn'd into Serpents and Vipers by their sins and are now crawling on the earth in their lustful designes to stretch forth a hand of sorrow a hand of true repentance to take them up again in what shape soever they appear For he that was exalted on the Crosse as the Serpent in the Wildernesse shall turn those Serpents into Hearts again their Gall and Poison into Innocence their Sting of Death into Issues of Immortal Life Verse 4. Sin is a Serpent and hath a deadly sting in the tayl of it even the sting of Death For the sting of death is sin saith St. Paul Now as a man would fly from a Serpent so let him fly from sin But if thou hast taken this Serpent into thy hand rest not till like Moses Serpent it be turned into a Rod again to scourge thy Soul till a true sense of thy sins and of Gods Wrath due unto thee for the same bring thee to a serious repentance and contrition to a spiritual loathing and abhorrency of those sins that so thou maist never cast thine eye back upon them but with a new and a particular detestation thou maist never enter into meditation of those sinful passages of thy former life but with shame and horror of soul and that every solemn review of those dayes of darkness and unregeneration may make the wounds of our remorse to bleed afresh Verse 7. When Moses pluck'd his hand out of his bosome it was leprous and again when he pluck'd it out it was white to shew that the actions of our hands receive their denomination from the bosome the heart according to that saying of the Father Tantum habent virtutis aut vitii actiones quantum habent voluntatis Verse 12. He that is singled out to any service of his God for the advantage of his Israel must not give back or waver but go boldly on If a willing obedience second his Command God promiseth to assist I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say was Gods Promise here to Moses and it was his Sons to the Apostles Mat. 10. 19. Take no thought how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak As if he had said be not anxious about matter or manner of your Apology for your selves ye shall be supplied from on High both with Invention and Elocution you shall have your help from Heaven For it is not you that speak saith our Saviour in the next verse but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you who borroweth your mouth for the present to speak by It is he that forms your speeches for you dictates them to you filleth you with matter and furnisheth you with words Fear not therefore your rudeness to reply there is no mouth into which God cannot put words And how oft doth he chuse the Weak and Unlearned to confound
how able the Lord is to encrease his Church notwithstanding all the malice of Man and Devil whatsoever Verse 38. These followed the prosperity hoped for in the Israelites who they saw were not touched with the Plagues of Egypt and rightly set forth what after fell out and ever will that Christ shall be followed of many for the Loaves and his Gospel embraced for the prosperity and peace that often he vouchsafeth unto it Verse 41. This may comfort us in our spiritual fears and conflicts that certainly the Lord will never fail in any Promise but even dayes and hours of comfort fit for his Children as they are known to him so are they observed of him most graciously and most precisely Why then must I needs tie the Lord to my time to my will or else I shall speak or think amiss that the Lord hath forgotten and forsaken me and all that the Devil my sworn Enemy suggesteth is true CHAP. XIII Verse 4. THe Month Abib in the Text is the same with our April when the day lengthning and the Sun ascending each things begins to revive To shew that by the true Pass-over Christ Jesus not only is our time and all other things sanctified but also that we should in fresh remembrance of that benefit of our Redemption all our dayes and years be thankful to our gracious Redeemer and acknowledge that by his Death true Life and reviving is sprung up unto mankind Verse 8. Children are to be carefully catechized and informed that they may know the mind of the Lord betimes For Parents are not only to nourish their Children but to nurture and instruct them this latter is as necessary as the former They that nourish their Children only what do they more than brute Beasts Let Parents therefore labour to mend that by Education that they have marr'd by Propagation else they are Parricides and not Parents Verse 17. This is a singular testimony of Gods fatherly care over our infirmities in not suffering us to be further tryed than in him and through him we shall be able to endure and at last to overcome also 1 Cor. 10. 12. let a troubled Soul ever think upon this Your weakness is known unto God what you can bear and what you cannot what will lead you to the Land of Promise and what will make you turn back to Egypt Secondly in that the Lord would not suffer them to passe by the Philistims least they should start back and so sin greivously against him What if in like sort he prevent my sinning and your sinning against him by taking away from us such things as he in his Wisdome knows would be the occasions of evil to us if we had them as Riches Friends Power Health of Body Peace of mind and the like But could not God have stayed them from returning although they had gone the nearer way Cyril in Exodus answereth God doth not work all things as he can but sometimes doth avoid evils after the manner of men therein teaching us to do the like namely by using meanes even then when most plainly we have God our helper Verse 18. This may teach us wariness and circumspection in our Vocations ever reckoning of the Enemy in this our holy March towards the Land of Promise Verse 21. Consider in the Cloud how it not only directed the way but was spread as the Psalmist saith for a Covering namely against the heat of the Sun comfortably cooling and refreshing them Remember also how the afflictions of this World are in the Gospel noted by the heat of the Sun and be you assured that ever against these heats the Lord in his good time will send you defence and comfort as 2 Cor. 1. 3. the last words put us in mind that in travelling towards the spiritual Canaan we must not rest but labour forward continually The Children of this World are often looking back toward Egypt and often pitch down their Tents so in this Wilderness that they are loth ever to take them up and to remove But the Sons of God say within themselves We have here no abiding City and fixing both eye and heart on their heavenly house they journey on still both day and night in true piety and obedience till they come thither Verse 22. Let this ever assure your fainting hearts that Gods Providence cooling and comforting shining and lighting guiding and directing his little Flock shall never be taken away from any member of it but ever be present with us both by day and night to the eternal praise of his Goodness and unspeakable comfort of our souls And further you may observe from hence the admirable Wisdom of Gods Providence that sits and sorts out his Mercies for his Children and makes every Favour and Blessing proper for every necessity He that afterwards led the Wise-men by a Star led Israel here by a Cloud That was an higher Object therefore he gives them an higher and more heavenly Conduct this was more earthy therefore he contents himself with a lower representation of his presence A Pillar of Cloud and Fire a Pillar for firmness of Cloud and Fire for visibility and use The greater light extinguisheth the lesse therefore in the Day he shews them not Fire but a Cloud in the Night nothing is seen without light therefore he shews them not the Cloud but Fire The Cloud shelters them from heat by Day the Fire digests the rawness of the Night The same God is both a Cloud and a Fire to his Children ever putting himself into those Formes of gracious Respects that may best fit their necessities CHAP. XIV Verse 2. VVE must not fear in every adversity before we see the end but reason thus with our selves Lo here I am distressed on every side as the Israelites were at the red Sea and it is the Providence of God that I should be thus as it was his will that they should pitch in that place But do I know the Lords meaning and what he will do And therefore I will patiently wait his blessed Will not murmuring as the Israelites did but comfortably assuring my self that one way or other the Lord will give Issue to his Glory and my Good and deliver me also as he did these Israelites Verse 3. When the destruction of the wicked is at hand the Lord offereth them some bait or other to put them on So was Ahab drawn to his end with a desire to recover Ramoth Gilead which once was his the bait allured him the wrath of God slew him 1 King 22. So were Senacherib and the Assyrians baited with former success with their multitude and the smalness of Hezekia's number But how gloriously did the Lord deliver his and destroy them that boasted Verse 5. How quickly the wicked repent them of their good but seldome or never of their evil for to let them go was good and yet they repented but to pursue after them was evil and yet they repented not Many such there
by Death we then shall behold the glory of that Trinity and never till then Verse 37. As in the outward Vail of the Tabernacle there were Sockets of Brass as you read in this Verse and in the inward of Silver so God doth adorn for the most part that which is within A Man may seem to be as hard as brass with the outward custom of Sin yet he may sound with the Confession of Sin like Silver within and therefore we must have a care how we pass our Censures upon our Brethren and that we be not like those wild-fire Tongues that do Condemn when they consider the outward Fact and no more not the Circumstances of the Fact which may lesson it not the Intention which might be well propounded though a Fault in the Action it self nor the Cause nor the Evil Company nor that it was done after a vehement Tentation or done by reason of some Violence offered or such a Circumstance as doth excuse a Tanto though not a Toto CHAP. XXVII Verse 3. AS here were divers Instruments belonging to the Altar and the Tabernacle and all for Use and Employment so doth the Church of Christ consist of divers Members and those Members are endowed with several gifts and graces but all for the Edification of the Church For wherefore hath this Christian quickness of Wit that depth of Judgement this heat of Zeal that power of Elocution this man Skil that Experience this Authority that Strength but that all should be laid together for the raising of the common stock and put forth for publick advantage As therefore no true Christian is his own man so he freely laies out himself according to the measure of his several Gifts and Graces for the universal benefit of all his fellow-members How rich therefore is every Christian Soul that is not only furnished with its own Graces but hath a special Interest in all the excellent Gifts of all the most eminent Servants of God through the whole World Surely that Man cannot be poor while there is any special Wealth in the Church of God upon Earth Verse 7. The Staves on which the Ark was to be carried were to be ever ready in the Rings of the Ark upon all occasions of remove We have here no continuing City saith the Apostle we have no place of Residence no fixt Habitation in this Life and therefore we must be ever prepared to take up these Tabernacles of our Bodies and be gone We have but a short time to live and even that short time is uncertain and never continues in one stay but flies away like a shadow and is cut down as a flower He then that would dye well must alwayes look for Death every day knocking at the gates of the Grave and then the gates of the Grave shall never prevail upon him to do him mischief This also will help to confine our hopes and cut short our designs and fit our endeavours to the small portion of our shorter Life And as we must not trouble our Enquiry so neither must we Intricate our Labour with what we shall never Enjoy we must not dispose of Ten Years to come when we are not Lords of to morrow nor discompose our present duty by long and future designs such which by casting our Labours to Events at distance make us less to remember our Death standing at the door But rather let us make use of this instant for this instant will never return again and yet it may be this instant will secure the fortune of a whole Eternity Verse 20. When God received lights into his Tabernacle he received none of Tallow the Ox hath Horns he received none of Wax the Bee hath a Sting but he received only lamps of Oyl And though from many Fruits and Berries they pressed Oyl yet God admitted no Oyl into the service of the Church but only of the Olive the Olive the Emblem of Peace CHAP. XXVIII Verse 3. THis shews that Mechanical Arts and Trades are not found out by Men without the direction of Gods Spirit Many men do condemn Gold-smiths Jewellers or Lace-Weavers Perfumers and such like as though they served only for Vanity and Excess when indeed they be the works of God I mean their several Skils and Fruits of his Spirit as here we see If any man abuse them it is the fault of man not of the skil and what may not be abused Verse 15. Matter not clothed in handsomness of words is but dusted Treasure and like some Gardens where there is fatnessof Earth no Flower The Brest-plate of Judgement which Aaron wore was made with Imbroidered Works and in the Ephod there were as well diversities of colours as of Riches Blew Silk and Purple and Scarlet and fine Linnen That then of Epiphanius is worthy both to be remembred and imitated whose works were read of the simple for the words of the Learned for the matter Verse 21. This may remember a good Minister how dear unto him his Flock and People should be even graven as it were in his breast and eveâ— in his mind to profit them by all the means he may that they may be saved It notes also the love of Christ to his Church and every member of it who beareth us not only in his Arms as a Nurse or on his Shoulder as a strong Man but upon his Heart and in his Heart as a most kind God Isai. 49. Can a mother forget c. CHAP. XXIX Verse 6. IT was not without some mystery that in the Robes of Aaron there was a Crown set upon the Mitre moralizing a possible conjunction at least of Minister and Magistrate in one person The Crown and the Mitre were together then but yet the Crown was upon the Mitre there is a power above the Priest the Regal power not above the function of the Priest but above the person of the Priest Verse 12. This shadowed that the Preaching of the Gospel concerning the Blood and Passion of Christ should be publish'd and sounded through the four corners of the World even over the whole Earth and the rest of the Blood thou shalt pour at the foot of the Altar noting how the Blood of Christ though in its self sufficient for all yet becometh not helpful to all but is unprofitably poured out for many as this here was at the foot of the Altar through their own unbelief treading under feet that most precious Blood Verse 13. That so men might learn to give unto God their best service and Duty most thankfully ever confessing that all fatness that is all Comfort Prosperity and Joy cometh from him as from the Fountain and is due to him as his own from all men But now the very worst is thought good enough for God our worst Corn our worst Calf our worst Lamb and too often neither good nor bad is this to burn the Fat upon the Altar of the Lord. Verse 20. By the Ear was noted obedience to signifie that
the Elder shall suffer no less than the Younger the Rich as well as the Poor there is no regard with God of these things Verse 3. He howled not out with any unseemly cries neither uttered any words of Rage and Impatience but meekly stoop'd to Gods will kiss'd the Rod and held his peace If thus Aaron in so great a Judgement how much more we when our Friends dye naturally sweetly and comfortably so that we may boldly say we have not lost them but sent them before us whether we hope also to follow Verse 5. That which the Father and Brother may not do the Cousins are Commanded Dead Carkasses are not for the presence of God his Justice was shewn sufficiently in killing them they are now fit for the Grave not the Sanctuary neither are they carried out naked but in their Coats It was an unusual sight for Israel to set a linnen Ephod upon the Beer the Judgement was so much the more remarkable because they had the badg of their Calling upon their backs Nothing is either more pleasing unto God more commodious to Men then that when he hath executed Judgment it should be seen and wondered at for therefore he strikes some that he may warn all Verse 12. This is added to comfort and strengthen the shaken Hearts of Aaron and his living Sons who might by this strange punishment have been driven into doubt whether ever the Lord would be pleased that they should meddle again with the Sacrifices and we see therein a gracious God who maketh not his Promises void to all for the faults of some We must therefore cleave to our Calling and even so much the more painfully go forward therein by how much we see others punish'd for ill doing be taught therefore and school'd but never be discouraged and feared from imposed Duty Verse 20. In that Moses admitted of a reasonable excuse we may learn to abhor Pride and to do the like Pride I say which scorneth to hear what may be said against the conceit we have once harboured A modest man doth not thus and therefore holy Iob had an Ear for his Servant and his Maid and did not despise their Judgement their Complaint and Grief when they thought themselves evill entreated by him CHAP. XI Verse 2. LEarn from hence our Duty to depend upon the Word and Will of God in all things yea even in our Meat and how careful likewise we ought to be to seek cleanness of Body and Soul before that God who expects it in our very Diet. Verse 3. This typified a difference of Men and Women in the World some clean and some unclean for they that have a true Faith and a good Life by meditating in the Word are such as divide the Hoof and chew the Cud and they are clean but such as do neither or but one are unclean as he that believeth in God but liveth not well or he that liveth in an outward honesty but believeth not rightly They again may be called clean dividing the Hoof who do not believe in great or in gross but discern and distinguish things as Christ and Moses Nature and Grace not believing every Spirit but trying the Spirits whether they be of God or no. Iohn 4. 1. For chewing the Cud they may be said to do it and so to be clean who meditate of that they hear lay it up in their Hearts and practice it in their Conversations Verse 5. By the Coney are figured out such Men as lay up their Treasures in the Earth because the Conies digg and scrape and make their Berries in the ground whereas we are taught to lay up our Treasure in Heaven Mat. 6. Verse 6. The Hare is a very fearful Creature and therefore is the type of fearful Men and Women despairing of Grace and shrinking from God such persons are unclean and excluded the Kingdom of God Rev. 21. 8. Verse 7. The Swine never looks up to Heaven but hath his mouth ever in the Earth and Mire caring for nothing but his Belly nourish'd only to be kill'd for his Death hath use his Life hath none A good Caveat for the Rich miserable Wretches of the World who never profit any till they dye A Knife therefore for the Hogg that we may have what is useful in him and Death for such Wretches that the Common-wealth may have use of theie Baggs Verse 14. By the Goss-hauk is shadowed forth Men that Prey upon their weaker Brethren and Neighbours By the Vulture Men that delight in Wars and Contention By the Ravens unnatural Parents that forsake their Children unkind Friends which shrink away Ill Husbands that provide not for their Families By the Ostrich painted Hypocrites and Carnal Men that have fair great Feathers but cannot flye By the Seamew that liveth both on Land and Water such as will be saved both by Faith and Works such Ambodexters as the World hath store of that carry two Faces under a Hood Fire in one hand and Water i th' other CHAP. XII Verse 2. THis serves to Confute that gross Error of Pelagius denying the propagation of sin from Parents to Children but if the Birth were clean the Mother by the Birth should not be unclean as this purification did shadow that she was God would therefore have all Men know what they are by Nature and what by Grace through the Remedy provided Christ our only Righteousness and Purity Also that God had rather have them never enter into the Church than to enter with Corruption unsorrowed for and uncared for Verse 4. Although this Ceremonial Law of Moses be abrogated and gone yet honesty of Nature and modesty in Woman-kind is neither abrogated nor gone Therefore even still we retain in the Church a lawful and laudible custome among Women that they should stay a time after Child-birth to gather strength in their Houses and then come to Church to give God Thanks And this is nothing but a needful thing in regard of weakness a modest Ceremony in regard of Woman-hood and a Christian Duty in regard of Comfort and Mercy received to come to Church there thankfully to acknowledg Gods great mercy to them in both giving them safe deliverance and blessing them with Children to their Comfort Verse 5. There is no sin in Marriage if it be not abused but because this is rare therefore after Women were delivered God appointed them to be purified shewing that some stain or other doth creep into this Action which had need to be repented and therefore when they prayed 1 Cor. 7. 5. St. Paul would not have them come together lest their Prayer should be hindred Verse 8. The Sacrifice was indifferent whether Turtles or Pigeons Turtles that live solitarily and Pigeons that live sociably were all one to God God in Christ may be had in an active and sociable life denoted in the Pigeon and in the solitary and contemplative life set out in the Turtle Let not Westminster despise the Church nor the Church
now a dayes we have such Factious and corrupt humors in us out of which issue out such dislikes and bad censures of Magistrates as grieve them hinder Justice and provoke God to that which will smart if he be not the more merciful Verse 22. This restrained that pride which otherwise might have been in the Jews and shews the common care of God for all men as well as for the Jews This indifferency is a blessed vertue to be learn'd from our God For surely we are altogether partial if God guide us not Thus if other Mens Children Servants or Friends hurt ours fire and sword for them but if ours hurt them no such matter all must be boulstered out or bought out or born out and Justice may not be done Again among our own one Child must be Crucified and another not touch'd one made a Saint another a Devil CHAP. XXV Verse 7. THis resting of the Land every seventh year put them in remembrance of that sin which cast out all out of Paradice and brought men to labour and the Earth to need it Whereas if we had stood the Earth should have yeilded of its self Fruits and Profits as in some sort they might see by the seventh year Again it shadowed out the true Sabbath and rest in Heaven where shall be no labour and yet no lack but all comforts and joyes imaginable Verse 9. Upon which blowing it had the Name of Iubilee Iubilaeus a Iobel quod significat buccinam This year was an excellent figure of that true Iubilee and freedom which was confer'd upon us by Christ. For this Jewish Jubilee was proclaimed by Trumpet so is the Christian freedom by the Trumpet of Preaching the Gospel In that Jubilee no debts were demanded and such things as grew of themselves were common so in the Christian Jubilee is freedom proclaim'd by Christ Sathan hath no power to demand what by sin we ow him either Soul or Body and all the graces of God which grow of themselves i. e. are freely bestowed upon us are common in Christ to all there being with him no respect of persons but all accepted that fear him and work righteousness Of this freedom speaks Isai. 61. 1. Thirdly in that Jubilee of the Jews there was a returning to their Lands which were alienated from them so by this Christian Jubilee we return to our old Paradice again from whence we were cast out by sin even that Paradice of Heaven from which we shall never be removed any more Verse 21. In this verse the Lord meets with an objection of some men that might happily say what shall we eat the seventh year and answers I will send my blessing upon you in the sixt year and it shall bring forth fruit for three years Let this verse then strengthen your Faith against all objections of Flesh and Blood made from natural reasons For if God be able even then when the earth is weakest having been worn out with continual tillage five years together to make the sixt year bring forth a triple blessing what unseasonable weather what barrenness of Land what any thing shall make a man despair of Gods providence for things needful Again can God be thus strong when the Land is weak why then cannot he be or why will he not be strong in my weakness in your weakness and in every mans weakness that trusts and leans upon him For when we are weakest then is he strongest and his power is best seen in our weakness Away then fear and diffidence I will trust in him drawing an Argument with David from my weakness to move him to strengthen me Heal me O Lord for I am weak Psalm 6. 2. My weakness shall drive me to thee not from thee and I will tarry thy good leisure Lord strengthen me Lord comfort me in all Temptations and afflictions Verse 43. Let us take notice from this custome of the Jews concerning Servants that although Moses his Law in these particulars hath his end for form yet the equity still bindeth in these things and the estate of servants under the Gospel brought and bought out of spiritual Egypt and bondage of sin by Christ may not be worse than it was under the Law when you see they might not be cruelly ruled and dealt with To this end the Apostles Exhortation tendeth Eph. 6. 9. CHAP. XXVI Verse 5. CAlamities that last long are light and if they be heavy they are short both wayes there is some intimation of some ease But God suffers not this impenitent sinner to enjoy that ease God will lay enough upon his Body to kill another in a week and yet he shall pant many years under it As the way of his Blessing is here Your vintage shall reach to your threshing and your threshing to your sowing so in an Impenitent sinner his Fever shall reach to a Frenzy and his Frenzy to a Consumption his Consumption to a Penury and his Penury to a wearing and tyring out of all that are about him and all the sins of his Youth shall meet in the anguish of his body Verse 12. Behold what need we care whether we go while we carry the God of Heaven with us he is with us as our Companion as our Guide as our Guest No impotency of Person no cross of Estate no distance of Place no opposition of Men no gates of Hell can separate him from us he hath said it I will not leave nor forsake thee shall we think he cannot fare ill that hath mony in his purse and shall we think he can miscarry that hath God in his heart How shall not all comfort all happiness accompany that God whose presence is the cause of all blessedness He shall counsel us in our Doubts direct us in our Resolutions dispose of us in our Estates prosper us in our Lives and in our Deaths Crown us Verse 16. God does not begin with a Morte moriendum some body must dye and therefore I will make some body to kill but God came with a Morte morieris yet thou art alive and maist live but if thou wilt rebel thou must dye So here God did not call up Fevers and Pestilence and Consumptions and Fire and Famine and War and then make Man that he might throw him into their mouths but when man threw down himself God let him fall into their mouths Had I never sinn'd in wantonness I should never have had Consumption nor Fever if I had not sinn'd in riot nor Death if I had not transgress'd against the Lord of Life Verse 44. Some are of an opinion that these words were fulfill'd in the Captivity and Deliverance out of Babylon But the Jews perswade themselves that this promise of regard when they should be in the Land of their Enemies is not yet accomplish'd But whether so or not we may very well apply this promise to a true penitent sinner who shall ever be respected upon his Conversion albeit he neglected the time of Grace
Law to their hands and before their eyes wherein as St. Ierome and Theodoret well interpret it God meant the meditations and practice of his Law but they like unto the foolish Patient which when the Physitian bids him take such a Prescript eats up the paper they rested in the fringe and not in the garment in the Ceremony not in the Law For if these Jews could but get a list of Parchment upon their left arm next their heart and another scroll to tye upon their fore-head and four corners of Fringe or if these be denied a red thread in their hand though they might say with Saul 1 Sam. 16. Blessed be thou of the Lord I have fulfilled the command of the Lord. CHAP. XVI Verse 1. I See the Levites not long since drawing their Swords for God and Moses against the rest of Israel and that Fact wins them both praise and blessing now they are the forwardest in the rebellion against Moses and Aaron men of their own Tribe There is no assurance of a man for one act whom one sin cannot fasten upon another may yea the same sin may find a repulse one while from the same hand which another time gives it entertainment and that yeildance looseth the thank of all the former resistance It is no praise to have done once well unless we continue We see here likewise that outward priviledges of Blood can avail nothing against a particular calling of God These Reubenites had the right of the natural primogeniture yet do they vainly challenge preheminence where God hath subjected them If all civil honour flow from the King how much more from the God of Kings his hand exalts the poor and casts down the mighty from their Throne the man that will be lifting up himself in the pride of his heart from under the foot of God is justly trodden in the dust Verse 2. There cannot be conceived an honour less worth emulation than this principality of Israel a people that could give nothing a people that had nothing but in hope a people whom their leader was fain to feed with Bread and Water which paid him no tribute but of ill words whose command was nothing but a burthen and yet this dignity had drawn together in a mutinous way 250 Captains of Israel What wonder is it that the Ten-Rulers prevail so much with the multitude to disswade them from Canaan when three Traytors prevailed thus with 250 Rulers famous in the Congregation and men of renown one man may kindle such a fire as all the World cannot quench One Plague-sore may infect a whole Kingdom the infection of evil is much worse than the act It is not like those Leaders of Israel could err without followers He is a mean man that draws not some Clients after him It hath been ever a dangerous policy of Sathan to assault the best he knew that the multitude as we say of Bees will follow their Master Verse 3. Moses and Aaron you take too much upon you was the cry of a Jew once and so it is still by many now a dayes who would manacle and confine them only to an Ecclesiastick power and divest them quite of any civil Authority though Moses had both according to St. Aug. in 98 Psal. and David also placeth Moses among the Priests Ps. 99. 6. Verse 5. Moses argues not for himself but appeals to God neither speaks for his own right but his Brother Aarons he knew that Gods immediate service was worthy to be more precious than his Government Good Magistrates are more tender over Gods honour than their own and more sensible of the wrongs offered to Religion than themselves And Moses took the best course to appeal to God It is safest to trust God with his own cause If Aaron had been set up by Israel Moses would have sheltred him under their Authority now that God did immediatly appoint him his patronage is sought whose the Election was We may easily faulter in the managing of Divine affairs and so our want of success cannot want sin God knows how to use how to bless his own means Verse 9. As there was a difference betwixt the people and Levites so betwixt the Levites and Priests The God of order loves to have our degrees kept Whiles the Levites would be looking up to the Priests Moses sends down their Eyes to the people The way not to repine at those above us is to look at those below us There is no better remedy for ambition than to cast up our former receits and so compare them with our deservings and confer our own Estate with Inferiors so shall we find cause to be thankful that we are above any rather than of envy that any is above us Verse 12. Moses hath chid the Sons of Levi for mutinying against Aaron and so much the more because they were of his own Tribe now he sends for the Reubenites which rose against himself they come not and their Message is worse than their absence Moses is accused of Injustice Cruelty Falsehood Treachery Usurpation and Egypt it self shall be commended rather than Moses want a reproach Innocency is no shelter from ill tongues Malice never regards how true an accusation is but how spiteful Verse 15. Now it was time for Moses to be angry they durst not have been thus bold if they had not seen his mildness Lenity is ill bestowed upon stubborn natures it is an injurious sencelesness not to feel the wounds of our reputation It well appears Moses is angry when he prayes against them He was displeased before but when he was most bitter against them he still prayed for them but now he bends his very prayers against them Look not to their Offering there can be no greater revenge than the imprecation of the righteous there can be no greater judgement than Gods rejection of their services With us men what more argues the dislike of the person than the turning back of his present What will God accept from us if not Prayers Verse 22. The same Tongue that prayed against the Conspirators prayes for the people as lewd men think to carry it with number Corah had so far prevail'd that he had drawn the multitude to his side God the avenger of Treasons would have consumed them at once Moses and Aaron pray for the Rebels although they were worthy of Death and nothing but Death could stop their mouths yet their merciful Leaders will not buy their own peace with the loss of such Enemies O rare and imitable mercy the people rise up against their Governors their Governors fall on their faces to God for the people so far are they from plotting revenge that they will not endure God shall revenge for them Verse 27. Moses had well hoped that when these Rebels should see all the Israelites run from them as from Monsters and should hear that direful Proclamation of Vengeance against them howsoever they did before set a face on their Conspiracy yet
God gave me to my self and God gave himself to me God the Father gave his Son to me God the Son gave himself to me and God the Holy Ghost gave his Seal to assure that gift to me and shall I not be content God the Son received all things from the Father for me that in him and through him and with him I might receive all things from the Father and why should I not content my self with him without whom all things are as nothing Verse 31. The end of the gifts and oblations under the Law was not that God had reserved these things for his own spending but for the use and sustentation of his selected Servants that so being alwayes to have Ministers of his own he might have also of his own Goods to feed and maintain them This I take to be clear from Gods own words in this Chapter for having set his mark upon divers things calling them My Gifts and my Offerings he adds These have I given to the Sons of Levi for the service they do me in the Tabernacle verse 21. And it is your wages which I give you for your service in this verse which words plainly shew that God would that such as attend him should receive their maintenance as his pay and not as mans Whereupon he saith not to the people you shall give them your offerings for the service they do you But I have given them my Offerings for the service they do me as if he should say these things are mine not yours to me you shall pay them that as mine not as yours they may receive them and so I may pay them with my own hands and of my own Goods and not they to serve at others cost CHAP. XIX Verse 2. This red Heifer was the type of Christ crucified who as a Father saith was Candidus sanctitate rubicundus passione white and ruddy white in his Innocency and red in his Passion And this Heifer must be without spot and blemish our Saviour was free from all sin the spot of Original and the blemish of Actual Sin It must be a Heifer likewise on which never came yoke Christ never bore the yoke either of sin or slavery he offered up himself he was a willing Sacrifice he was not fore'd and drawn to it It is true there was a necessity of our Saviours Death but it was a necessity of immutability because God had so decreed it Acts 2. 23. not of Co action He dyed willingly therefore when he gave up the Ghost he cryed with a loud voice which shews his life was not then spent he might have kept it longer if he would Lastly this Heifer was to be brought by the people at the common charge because for the common good All the Congregation must get them a bloody Saviour Verse 5. The burning of the Heifer with the Garbage and Dung could yeild no sweet savour but thereto was added Cedar-wood and Hysop by Gods appointment and then there was a savour of rest in it Our Prayers as from us would never please hut as indited by the Spirit and presented by Christ they are highly accepted in Heaven Nay our sins were so odious to God that even Christ himself when burnt up with the fire of his Fathers wrath had no savour in him in respect of our sins but by the everlasting Spirit whereby he offered up himself without spot to God he was a full Sacrifice of sweet smelling Incense to purge offences for the Spirit of God gave both value and vertue to his Death both to satisfie and to sanctifie Verse 9. The gathering of the ashes is the applying of the merits of Christ and laying hold on the mysteries of his Kingdom The laying up of the ashes imports that the Christian accounts Christ merits his chief Treasure The clean place is the clean heart without the Camp notes that the Gentiles were strangers to the Common-wealth of Israel These ashes kept for the Congregation shew the fulness of Christs merits for all his people When he saith It is to make a water of separation it notes that our Sins separate betwixt us and our God but now in Christ Iesus we who sometimes were far off are made nigh in his blood Eph. 2. 13. CHAP. XX. Verse 1. ALl Israel murmured when they wanted Bread and Flesh and yet all Israel departed into the desart of Zin at Gods command The very worst men will obey God in something none but the good in all He is rarely desperate that makes an universal opposition to God It is an unsound praise that is given a man for one good action It may be safely said of the very Devils themselves that they do something well they know and believe and tremble If we follow God and murmur it is all one as if we had stayed behind Verse 2. Those begin to distrust Gods providence in this verse in their necessity that in the former were ready to follow his guidance in their welfare It is an harder matter to endure in extream want than to obey an hard Commandment Sufferings are greater tryals than actions And God will have his throughly tryed he puts them to both and if we cannot endure both to follow him into the Wilderness of Zin and then to thirst in Rephidim we are not sound Israelites God set them on purpose to this dry place he could as well have conducted them to another Elim to convenient waterings or he that gives the waters of all their Channels could as well have derived them to meet Israel but God doth purposely carry them to thirst It is not of necessity that we fare ill but of choice It is all one with God to give us health as sickness aboundance as poverty the treasure of his riches hath more store than his Creature can be capable of we should not complain if it were not good for us to want Verse 3. I looked to hear when they would have entreated Moses to pray for them but instead of intreating they contend and instead of Prayers chide and murmur If they had gone to God without Moses I should have prais'd their Faith but now they go to Moses without God I hate this stubborn Faithlesness to seek to the second means with neglect of the first is the Fruit of a false Faith But why do these mutiners say O that we had dyed as our Brethren did before the Lord and before whom do ye dye O ye fond Israelites if you must perish by thirst God carried you forth God restrain'd his creatures from you God is still present with you and yet you say while you are to dye for want of Water in the presence of God O that we had dyed before the Lord. These Israelites loved their lives well enough I heard how they screek'd while they were in danger of the Egyptians and yet now they say O that we had dyed Although life be naturally sweet yet a little discontentment makes us weary It is a base
Wife as Christ is the head of his Church Eph. 5. to rule to defend it to provide for it therefore as the Church is in subjection to Christ so ought the Wife to be to her Husband And therefore it is the duty of all Wives to acknowledg their duty and to yeild without striving subjection to their Husbands It is also the duty of Husbands seeing Authority is committed unto them over their Wives to love them tenderly even as Christ loved his Church Eph. 5. It is his duty likewise to dwell with his Wife 1 Pet. 3. 7. and why to dwell together but that the Husband should yeild to his Wife these four things First Good Example Secondly Instruction Thirdly Maintenance And lastly Imployment in her Calling for his good and his Families Verse 9. It is in our own power to vow or not to vow but when we have vowed it is not in our power to break it Vovere nusquam est praeceptum saith Bellarm. l. z. de Mona for as for that of the Psalm 76. 11. Vow and perform to the Lord your God is not Purum praeceptum saith Mr. Cartwright a pure Precept but like that in the New-Testament Be angry and sin not where anger is not-commanded but limited So neither are we simply commanded to vow but having voluntarily vowed we must not break it nor yet may we defer to pay it Delaies are taken for Denials Excuses for Refusals We must therefore come off with our vows roundly and readily as those Zech. 5. 9. that had wings and wind in their wings Are not the nine Lepers condemned by Christ for their negligence and unthankfulness Luke 17. God loves a chearful giver CHAP. XXXI verse 2. VVE must first do our work and then God will pay us our wages first fight our good fight against the World the Flesh and the Devil which is to avenge our selves of the Midianites in the Text and then God will give us the Crown of Glory Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites saith the Lord here and afterwards Thou shalt be gathered to thy people to that great Panegyris the General Assembly and Church of the first-born in Heaven to that glorious Amphitheatre where the Saints shall see and say Look yonder is Peter and that is Paul we shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob have communion with them not only as godly men but as Abraham Isaac and Iacob Verse 8. Balaam pretended an hast homeward but he lingred so long that he left his bones in Midian How justly did he perish by the Sword of Israel whose tongue had insensibly slain so many thousands of them As it is usually said of the Devil that he goes away in a stench so may it truly be said of this Prophet of his according to the fashion of all Hypocrites his words were good his actions abominable he would not Curse but he would advise and his Counsel is worse than a Curse for his Curse had hurt none but himself his Counsels cost the blood of four and twenty thousand Israelites He that had heard God speak by Balaam would not look for the Devil in the same mouth and if God himself had not witnessed against him who could believe that the same tongue that uttered so Divine Prophesies should utter so vilanous and cursed advice Hypocrisie gains this of men that it may do evil unsuspected but now he that heard what he spake in Balaac's ear hath berayed and Condemned his Counsel and himself Verse 15. The Women were they that had caused Israel to sin and therefore it was dangerous to save them left they might entice Israel to sin the second time If we would avoid the sin we must have a care to fly the Temptation If we would not commit the act of Uncleanness we must not keep company with unclean persons we must stand a loof and keep at a distance from all occasions of sin And therefore to pray Lead us not into temptation and yet to run upon the occasion of sin is to thrust our finger into the fire and then pray that it may not be burnt a good man dare not come neer the train though he be far off the blow he will not dare to play near the hole of the Asp lest he slip into it He will not dally with the Devil knowing full well that sin is very infinuative and that the old Serpent if he once get in his head will quickly wind in his whole body Verse 16. This policy was fetch'd from the bottom of Hell It is not for lack of desire that I saith Balaam to Balaac Curse not Israel thou dost not more wish their destruction than I do thy Wealth and Honour but so long as they hold firm with God there is no Sorcery against Iacob withdraw God from them and they shall fall alone and Curse themselves draw them into sin and thou shalt withdraw God from them There is no sin more plausible than Wantonness one Fornication shall draw in another and both shall fetch the anger of God after them Send your fairest Women into their Tents their sight shall draw them to Lust their Lust to Folly their Folly to Idolatry and now God shall curse them for thee unask'd Where Balaam spake well there was never any Prophet spake more Divinely where he spake ill there was never any Devil spake more desperately ill Counsel seldom succeedeth not Gods seed falls often out of the way and roots not but the Tares never likely miss Verse 31. It is worth the observation to consider that before the death of Anron Moses and Aaron are joyned together so after his Death Moses and Eleazer the Magistrate and the Minister as the hand and eye are in the body Then doth the Church and Common-Wealth flourish when these two go hand in hand and on the other side they go to wrack when they are separated and draw several wayes Verse 35. The greatness of the Victory that God gave his people here appears by the distribution of the people and reservation of the Women that had not known Man which escaped the edg of the Sword Learn hereby first that the Iniquity of a People or Nation makes the Lord to destroy them and lay them waste sometimes by the Sword of the Enemy as in this place and sometimes by other Judgements Secondly that the eyes of Gods providence are upon all men and all their wayes in that he destroies multitudes and Nations as well as single persons Which may serve to reprove those that magnifie themselves against God thinking to prevail and escape for their multitudes sake Thirdly This admonisheth every Country City and Nation if they would enjoy their Lands and Goods in peace they must seek to be at peace with God and if they would not have destruction come upon them from God let them not draw it upon themselves by their sins Verse 49. There lacketh not one man of us say they here therefore we have brought an
many other examples alledg'd to teach us that it is lawful to gather an Hoast to put on Armour to guird our selves with the Sword and to joyn in Battel with our Enemies Those then that are call'd to be Souldiers must learn from hence not to be feeble and faint-hearted but to be bold as in the work of the Lord. True Religion doth not weaken the hearts of Men and make them Cowards For first it teacheth and informeth the Conscience that the cause of the War is good just and warrantable by the Word of God without which knowledge in the heart how ugly how foul how cruel a thing is the effusion and shedding of Blood Secondly as true Religion establisheth the Conscience touching the lawfulness of War so it teacheth them to commit themselves and their lives into the hands of God as to a faithful keeper and to be perswaded if they Conquer they conquer to the Lord if they be wounded and fall they fall and dye unto the Lord. CHAP. XXI Verse 6. THe Jews were much used to outward Washings and vainly imagined that those were sufficient to cleanse them throughout And here the washing of their hands over the Heifer was as much as to say the guilt of innocent Blood doth no more stick to my Conscience than the filth now washed off doth to my fingers But what Pharisaical washing is this to purifie the hands and pollute the heart O Ierusalem Ierusalem wash thy heart from wickedness saith the Prophet Ier. 4. And cleanse your hands you sinners was the Apostles Exhortation Iames 4. but withall Purifie your he arts ye double-minded and this for many reasons For First God and Nature ever begin at the heart it is the first thing that lives and the last that dyes and therefore it is the first the Devil gives assault to and the last that he gives over Secondly Were there never a Devil the heart hath an ill Spirit of its own to trouble it and had we neither hands eyes nor feet our hearts would find the way to Hell and therefore there is great reason we should look to purge and cleanse that for if this Spring this Fountain be clean the streams that flow from it will be so too Verse 12. Secular Learning is not so Heathenish but it may be made Christian as this Captive in the Text was not such an Infidel but she might become a Convert and part of the Israel of God Aristotle and Plato and Seneca are not of such a Reprobate sence as to stand wholly excommunicate in the Christian Church For Aristotles Metaphysicks may help to convince an Atheist of a God and his Demonstrations prove Shiloes advent to a Jew And therefore though it is true the Scripture was ever the Levites predominant Element yet if you will make him a perfect mixt body the Arts also are to be necessary Ingredients And upon this account when Adrian the sixth in his Tract De vera Philosophia cries down humane Learning with a noise of Fathers yet he concludes Utilem esse scientiam Gentilium dummodo in usum Christianum convertatur that to shave and pare the captive Woman and then Espouse her was ever held lawful Matrimony Verse 13. The Wicked Mans Wine is best at first the good Mans at last the Devil deals by the one as Iael by Sifera speaks them fair at first till he hath lull'd them a sleep in security and then he involves them in misery But God doth by his Children as the Hebrew was to do by the captive Woman in this Text which he had a desire to Marry at first he appointeth us a time of Mourning but afterwards he vouchsafes us the fruition of himself in glory The freshest Rivers of Carnal Pleasure shall end in a salt Sea of despairing Tears whereas the wettest Seed-time of a pious Life shall end in the Sun-shining Harvest of a peaceful Death In a word the Transgressor how pleasant soever his beginnings be his last end shall be dolorous but the upright how troublesome soever his Life be his death shall be joyous For the end of that man is peace Psalm 37. CHAP. XXII Verse 1. IF thou must not suffer thy Brothers Ox or his Ass to go astray much less maist thou suffer his Soul but thou must endeavour in all Christian wisdom and meekness to reduce it from the dangerous precipeces both of sin and error Thou must pull thy Brother out of Hell as the Angel pull'd Lot out of Sodom as ye would save a drowning man though ye pull'd off some of his hair to save him Neither must we of the Gospel be merciful only to our Brother but also to our Enemy This is an hard task you will say but hard or not hard it must be done be it never so contrary to our foul nature We must seal up our love to our Enemies by all good expressions which are to be referr'd to these three heads First We must bless them speak kindly to them and of them they must have our good word Secondly We must do good to them i. e. be ready to help and relieve them upon all occasions Thirdly We must pray for them that God would pardon their sins and turn their hearts This was our Saviours precept to love our Enemies and the same also was his practice He melted over Ierusalem the slaughter-house of himself and his Saints and was grieved at the hardness of their hearts Next for Words he prayed Father forgive them and for deeds he not only not call'd fire from Heaven or Legions of Angels against them but did them all good for Bodies and Souls for he heal'd Malchus ear wash'd Iudas his feet like that good Samaritan he was at pains and cost with them Now if we would be Christs Disciples we must follow his example do good not to our Brethren only but also to our very Enemies Verse 10. This and the following Verses forbid all mixture and Toleration in Religion we must keep our selves to one God and serve him and none with him If Baal be God follow him saith Eliah 1 King 18. and if the Lord be God follow him how long will ye hault between two Opinions It is a foul-imperfection to hault yet more shameful long to hault most of all between two wayes and miss them both To be inconstant in Civil matters which are in their own Nature inconstant is weakness But in Religion which is alwaies constant and one and the same to be unsetled is the greatest folly in the World for he that is not assured of one Religion is sure to be saved by none And there fore it is very strange to me that in this glorious light of the Gospel now among us which we so much boast of we should see so many Bats flying which a Man cannot tell what to make of whether Birds or Mice These are Plantanimals like the wonderful sheep in Muscovy Epicens they are Amphibia animalia Creatures that sometimes live in the Waters
a sweeter note than Soul take thine ease Luke 12. Verse 15. God that bids us to give one another good measure and running over doth look not to be pinched and scantled at our hands as if we counted all too much that he or his are to receive How he liketh such dealings his Law will teach us wherein oftentimes he requireth that his Offerings be of the best without blemish Add to this the solemn protestation which God required here at every Mans hands what time he made his account When thou hast made an end of Tything saith God Verse 12. then thou shalt say I have not eat thereof in my mourning for any necessity whatsoever nor suffered ought to perish by putting it to any prophane usage or carelesly testing it to be spoil'd but have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God and done after all that thou in this case hast commanded me Look down therefore from thy holy habitation even from Heaven and bless me God will have him know he must look no otherwise to be blessed of God and made to prosper in all that he had but according as God knowing the secrets of all hearts did know that he had dealt truly and justly with God and his Ministers in this point Verse 18. Seeing God may be in the mouths of many where he is not in the heart we learn from hence to joyn to our outward profession true Sanctification and inward holiness of Conversation True Profession bringeth with it true Godliness For all such as have this honour given unto them to be the People of God and his precious inheritance must be an holy people Thou hast set up the Lord this day to be thy God and the Lord hath set thee up this day to be a precious people unto him Let us therefore not content our selves to have God in our mouths but labour to be sincere and first of all to look to our hearts he that looketh to have good Fruit of his Trees looketh to the Roots he that would have clear Waters in the Channels looketh to the Fountains so if we cleanse our wayes in Gods sight this is the right order to be observed to begin first to cleanse the heart CHAP. XXVII Verse 15. THe People here were commanded to say Amen to every branch of the Curse because though it be the lowest way of obedience to obey in regard we believe the truth and certainty of the Curse yet it is an high act of obedience to believe it for Satan is as busie against our Faith in the threatnings as he is against our Faith in Promises This unbelief opens the way to the committing of sin and sweetens sin while we are committing it and therefore the Holy Ghost would have us in the first place to say Amen to the Curse that so we might not say Amen to the Sin Verse 17. How hainous a thing this is appears by the Curse annex'd to it by the Holy Ghost O therefore beware of this Caninus appetitus this Dogg-like greediness to swallow up all we can if Dives is Tormented Quia cupide servavit sua What shall be his portion Qui avide rapit aliena if those Fists which too closely keep their own shall be cut off what shall become of those hands that are opened to grasp other mens Estates we see all Creatures know and keep their bounds fishes the Water Beasts the Earth Birds the Ayre let men learn of them but especially let them remember that if it be a sin with an Anathema to remove our Neighbours what is it to alienate the Churches bounds O take heed of a sacrilegious surfeit a disease so perilous that envy its self cannot wish a worse to an Enemy 〈◊〉 iâ— Lord Burleigh gave advice to his Son that he should build no great House upon any Impropriation well knowing it would be built upon a sandy foundation surely for the spoils of the Church private Families yea the whole Nation mourns Verse 24. Those that are cursed in this Verse are such as go about and make baâ—e between Man and Man those Incendiaries that carry Tales that whisper against their Brethren and smite in secret buzzing into mens ears false and scandalous reports to engender strife These are an accursed Generation of people the mouth of God curseth them and his Soul abhors them Prov. 6. Besides as they stand accursed of God men must curse them too as you see here God gives all his people leave to Curse such a one Cursed be he that smites his Neighbour in secret that backbites him and speaks evil of him in a corner slily so to work him out of the good opinions of others and all the people shall say Amen Lo this is the wretched state and condition of all such as breed bate and dissentions between party and party Heaven and Earth concur in a Curse against them CHAP. XXVIII Verse 2. THough strangers may have some portion of Temporal blessings yet the right of Inheritance belongs to the Sons of God Riches and Honours delights and pleasures life and length of dayes Seed and Posterity are entail'd on such as are truly believing and fear the Lord and however the ungodly may lay some claim unto them and that by some kind of right from God as a sustainer of his Creatures yet can he not enjoy them with any great comfort as wanting the best title through the want of Christ. Verse 6. Between these two are contained all the labours and undertakings of this people by their going forth is meant the beginning of their labours and by their coming in is meant the end and conclusion of their labours so that beginning and ending when they set their hands to a business and when they took their hands from a business they should be blessed that is they should have a through blessing upon all their labours Thus doth God bless his people in their goings out and coming in at their birth and at their death and through all the actions and traverses of their lives Verse 15. The same blessings and Curses are repeated here that are recorded Lev. 26. and this most effectually to move any heart that hath grace Wherefore it is requisite that as God repeats the same again so we should read and meditate of it again and again that it may powerfully perswade us to be wise and take time while time serves to turn unto the Lord while his arm is stretched out to receive us This Verse also and indeed the whole Chapter may assure us that sin will have plagues first or last and therefore when they happen complain of sin and not of God remembring that there is no reason at all that we should grieve that God that will not hear us when we our selves will not hear God Or why sigh we that God will not look down to the Earth when we our selves will not look up to Heaven We can despise his precepts and yet we think much that he should despise our