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
that thou shouldest look on such a dead dogg as I am and when he considers from what a low to what an high estate God hath brought him he saith as Iacob here I am less than the least of all thy mercies and when Christ tells a Soul that he will make him a King and a Priest to God he humbly saith as Saul to Samuel am not I a Benjamite of the smallest of the Tribes of Israel yea it saith as Elizabeth said to Mary the blessed Mother of our ever blessed Jesus when she heard the Salutation that the Babe the heart of a true Believer leap'd within her and she spake Blessed art thou whence O whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord Oh saith the Soul that my God should come to see me even me poor worthless me it fares with such a Soul as with the Disciples Luke 24. Jesus stood in the midst and said Peace be unto you and they were terrified and affrighted but he said Why are ye troubled it is I behold my hands and my feet and they believed not for joy and wondred Verse 11. It is like that Esau prepared himself to be revenged of Iacob as may appear by Iacobs prayer and fear here which was not without cause whereby the power of God is also set forth that could in the very way change that purpose of Esau and withall Iacob sheweth in this his weakness and infirmity that although looking to Gods promise he had confidence yet turning himself to the present danger he fear'd and here while Iacob prepared himself by war prayer and gifts to satisfie his Brother he doth well for though God hath promised us deliverance we ought to use all good means and working under Gods providence Verse 12. Prayer is not only a bare manifestation of our mind to God by such a sute or petition but in Prayer there is or ought to be an holy arguing with God about the matter which we declare which is a bringing out and urging of reasons and motives whereby the Lord may be moved to grant what we pray for and this is clear from this example of Iacob in this Chapter Verse 24. When we are most retired from the World then we are most fit to have and usually have most communion with God David shews us divine work when we go to rest the bed is not all for sleep commune with your own hearts upon your bed and be still Psal. 4. be still and quiet and then commune with your hearts God will come and commune with them to his Spirit will give you a loving visit When Iacob fearing the rage of his Brother had put himself into the best posture and defence he could and had sent his Wives and Children over the River the Text saith that he was left alone which is not to be understood as if his company had left or deserted him Iacob's solitariness was not passive but effective he having disposed of all his Family withdrew himself and stayed alone and what then then he had a Vision indeed then there wrestled a man with him till the breaking of the day he spent not the night in carping and caring what should become of him to morrow no he retires to pray for a blessing upon his former cares and a blessing he obtains Verse 25. What a wonder is here Iacob received not so much hurt from all his enemies as from his best Friends not one of his hairs perish'd by Laban or Esau yet he lost a joynt by the Angel and was sent halting to his Grave he that knows our strength yet will wrestle with us for our exercise and loves our violence and importunity O happy loss this of Iacob he lost a joint and won a blessing it is a favour to halt from God yet this favour is seconded with a greater He was blest because he would rather halt than leave ere he was blessed If he had left sooner he had not halted but then he had not prospered that man shall go away sound but miserable that loves a limb more than a blessing Surely if Iacob had not wrestled with God he had been folid with evils how many are the troubles of the righteous Verse 30. Holy men even in this life have a sight of the face of God the Soul of a Believer hath interviews with God God and he do often look one another in the face Wheresoever the Saints are except in cases of desertion the place may be called as Iacob here call'd this where he wrestled with God Peniel that is the face of God yet not in that sence fully in which Iacob calls it so he call'd it the face of God because he had seen God face to face We can call it so only ordinarily because we see his face It is one thing to see the face of God another thing to see God face to face the former is the common priviledge of Saints in this life the latter is the priviledge of but some Saints and those rare ones to have it here Verse 31. At death God wrestles with his people laying hold on their Consciences by the menaces of the Law They again resist this assault by laying hold upon God in Christ by the Faith of the Gospel well assured that Christ hath freed them from the curse of the Law by being made a curse for them on the Cross. God yields himself over-come by this re-encounter but yet toucheth their thigh takes away their life howbeit this hinders not the Sun of Life Eternal to arise upon them CHAP. XXXIII Verse 4. VArious and miraculous are the means which God useth to deliver his People from their Enemies sometimes he divides them and sets the Churches enemies one against another so he did for Gideon's small Army to the Midianites mighty Host setting every mans Sword against his fellow sometimes he changeth their minds and turneth the stream of their affections Thus was Esau's heart mollified towards Iacob who instead of a devouring enemy becomes an embracing friend and meets him with kisses to whom he had intended blowes Indeed what Solomon saith of the Kings heart is true of all mens That they are in the hands of the Lord as the Rivers of Waters and he turneth them wheresoever he will No wonder then if sometimes he mollifies the Obdurate qualifies the Malicious and melts the Frozen Hearts of Wicked men into Love and Compassion towards his Servants Verse 5. Children are the blessings of the Lord nay they are part of his inheritance Children are an heritage of the Lord saith the Psalmist and the fruit of the Womb is his reward they are special blessings Children as it is to be observed are a resemblance of our immortality because man revives again lives a-new as it were in every Child he is born again in a civil sence when others are born to him There are some who count their Children but Bills of Charges but God puts them upon the account of our Mercies And
which Names he had given him of striving and strugling All Gods Israel are Wrestlers by Calling and as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ must suffer hardship Nothing is to be seen in the Shulamite but as the appearance of two Armies maintaining civil broils within her the Spinit warreth against the Flesh and the Flesh against the Spirit Wherefore we have more than need to take unto us the whole Armour of God and to strengthen our selves with every piece of it At no place must we lie open for our enemy is a Serpent if he can but bite the heel he will transfuse his venome to the heart and head Verse 19. We see here how Iacob is tryed with a new cross deprived of his Crown his Stay his Comfort his Wife Which is writ for our instruction to teach us that Gods Children must not look to live at ease in this life They must not Prophecy of Peace to themselves That there shall be no leading into Captivity and no complaining in our streets They must not dream that they shall be alwayes carried on Eagles wings but their dreams must be of Willow-trees by the Waters of Babel of afflictions and crosses a Christian must be a daily cross-bearer which made this Patriarch in another place say Few and evil have the dayes of my Pilgrimage been The Child of God a Son of Iacob must not think to walk in plain and easie paths to heaven but must climb hard it is all up-hill the way lieth inter Epauleum Magdalum as the Septuagint read the text Exod. 14. 2. that is by turreting and towering turning and winding as Origen Expounds it Never any went to Heaven with dry eyes Iacob's life was a continual warfare First Rachel the comfort of his life dieth and when but in her travel and in his travel to his Father Then his Children the staff of his age wound his Soul to the death Reuben proves incestuous Iudah adulterous Dinah ravished Simeon and Levi murtherous Er and Onan stricken dead Ioseph lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin the death of his Mother the Fathers right hand endangered himself driven by Famine in his old age to die amongst the Egyptians a people that held it an abomination to eat with him Thus many are the troubles wherewith the Lord tryeth his Children And if that God with whom he strove and who therefore strove for him had not delivered his soul out of all adversity he had been supplanted with evils and had been so far from gaining the name of Israel that he had lost the name of Iacob Now what Son of Israel can hope for good dayes when he hears his Fathers were so evil It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise If the Angel of the Covenant once bless us no pain no sorrows can make us miserable CHAP. XXXVI Verse 1. DEmosthenes that great popular Orator was wont to hugg himself as he went in the streets to hear the Common People say as he passed by This is Demosthenes There goes the great Orator but it can be no Joy nor Credit for any man to be pointed at and stigmatized by the People for an infamous person This is Edom is no Commendation though Registred in the Book of God no happiness for Esau to find his Name in Scripture in the Book of God unless he could find it also in the Book of Life It had been happier for Ieroboam and Iudas if their Names might have been forgotten than to be remembred under those ignominious Characters of Iudas the Traitor and Ieroboam that made Israel to sin The wicked though they think to get them a Name and to that end lay Plots to keep it up and protect both it and themselves yet their Names shall either rot and perish or if they be remembred it shall be only as his was that burnt the Temple of Diana as a Curse in the Nation wherein they live as the publick fire-brands and incendiaries the common plague ruine and desolation of their Country Verse 6. Esau no doubt was as strong if not stronger than Iacob yet fled before his face surely there was something in it more than the power of Iacob that daunted Esau and something more than ordinary appeared in Iacobs face from which Esau fled there was a divine Majesty seated there and with this Esau was not acquainted and therefore it struck a terror into him and made him fly and all this not without a special Providence of God to make room for the right Heir Canaan was the promised Land but not for Esau he had sold his Birth-right and with that the Promise which was annexed to it the Land flowing with milk and honey was too good for him that valued a mess of Pottage above the Blessing of the first-born A Iacob only one blessed of God was to inherit that Country which should afterwards be blessed by the Son of God the Holy Land was no inheritance for an Esau a prophane person Verse 20. Esau was by Marriage allied to this Seir for he took Aholibamah the Daughter of Anah to Wife vers 2. and yet the Posterity of Esau were so unnatural as to drive their own Kinsmen out of their Country Deut. 2. 12. No tyes either of Bloud or Friendship or Nature or Religion are able to hold wicked men when Ambition or Covetousness drives them on the Sons of Esau value not their nearest Relations an Estate to them is of far greater esteem then Kindred or Friends then either their Brother their Father or their God himself Verse 31. As Esau was the first-born so he was the first King likewise and good reason the Elder Brother should wear the Crown before the younger especially since Iacobs Portion was not so much a temporal Crown as an eternal For though Iacob by Gods Decree was to have the blessing yet not the inheritance of the first-born temporal Estates or Dominions are not entailed to Grace neither can the Children of God as such challenge to themselves the power and authority of other men as their King so their Kingdom is not of this World And therefore let Esau Reign and Edom have Kings while Iacob is a Slave an Israel under and Egyptian Captivity yet Iacob shall Reign at last and that for ever and Israel have a King whose soveraignty shall spread over the whole World and endure longer than it the Scepter shall not depart from Iudah until Shilo come no nor then neither for his Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion endureth throughout all Generations Psal. 145. 13. Verse 43. When Edom in the 31 verse of this Chapter was a King then was Israel a Slave but here when Edom was a Duke Israel was a King which instructs us not to look at the beginning of Gods Providence but the end and design of it Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is Peace saith the Psalm 38. 37. And
Verse 2. THis Offering sheweth first that it is the duty of Gods Servants to bestow part of such things as God blesseth them withall towards the maintenance of Gods Spiritual Temple erected with Us and among Us by the Preaching of his Word the Administration of his Sacraments and all other Offices of the Ministry to the Salvation of our Souls Secondly That our Goods are not ours to waste at our Wills but God looketh to be honoured with them employed to good purposes Lastly in seeking this Offering to erect an External Worship we see that God will be worshipped outwardly also with our Bodies as inwardly with our Spirits for they are both the Lords Verse 3. In the variety and several kindes of what was offered you have shadowed out unto you the difference of Spiritual Gifts and Graces given by God to Men for the building up of his Spiritual Temple or Sanctuary in your hearts and such as God hath given such must they offer and such shall be accepted of God to teach us to despise in no man what God himself accepteth and despiseth not In Mans Body the soveraignty is in the Head the Eyes and Ears and yet cannot the Eye say to the Foot I have no need of thee 1 Cor. 12. 21. the greater may not despise the less nor the less murmur against the greater Verse 7. They offered their Ear-Rings and Jewels which were Ornaments unto them teaching us in this that nothing ought to be so dear unto us which we cannot find in our hearts to bestow willingly to the Service and Honour of God these things that served for superfluity before now serve for Gods Tabernacle Even so should our Bodies that have been Wanton and Sinful serving Sin serve the Lord in his Holy Fear and such humane Learning as hath served Error may be applyed to Religion and Gods service Verse 9. In the Service and Worship of God our Devices and Inventions must have no place but carefully and precisely we must ever serve him according to his own pattern and Prescription left us in his Holy Word as Deut. 4. 12. Numb 15. 38. and the Apostle Col. 2. 23. delivered nothing but what he received Verse 10. The wood whereof the Ark was made was Shittim-wood a durable and lasting Wood not subject to Worms and Corruption as other Wood is so representing the humanity of Christ whose Body in the Grave felt no Corruption as other Mens flesh and bodies neither was subject to sin Verse 20. The Cherubim was a name of Love and Favour and therefore his Wings were stretched over the Mercy-seat to shew us we should be ready to cover the infirmities especially of the Church and Church-men and Constantine professed that should he see a Bishop committing Adultery he would rather cover it with his own Cloak then any should be offended Verse 21. The Mercy-seat was appointed to be a Covering for the Ark where the Law of Moses lay and this Mercy-seat was a figure of Christ who hideth and covereth us from the wrath of God and from the accusation of the Law for without Christ shall no flesh be justified Our first Parents having sinn'd covered themselves with Fig-leaves and many Christians think to cover themselves with the Fig-leaves of their own Merits but Christ only is the cover of the Ark when the Law accuseth to whom whosoever doth fly and in whom whosoever doth trust being justified by Faith they have peace with God through him Rom. 5. 1. and the Mercy-seat was placed above the Altar to shew that Gods Mercy is over all his Works Verse 22. The two Cherubims represented the Two Testaments and from between these two Cherubims God spake so doth Christ still by the two Testaments the Old and the New the Law and the Gospel the Prophets and Apostles and so will he speak still to the end Otherwise we must not now expect Revelations and Dreams Visions and Miracles are ceased and if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets Neither will they believe though one should rise from the dead and come unto them Verse 38. This is a great comfort to Ministers and to all the faithful people of God that although my Gifts are not such as to set me high in the Tabernacle yet am I not therefore utterly unprofitable or unfit or rejected of God but I may be among the meanest vessels of the Sanctuary and of the Church if I may be but as the snuffers or snuff-dishes as a Door-keeper as a Besom as an Ash-pan even this shall please me and herein will I rejoyce thanking my God that he hath looked upon me in that measure the body hath divers members and all good and made by God the Church hath divers degrees of Believers and all beloved of God so if you be one in any place blessed be God for it your joy shall be Eternal also and Incomprehensible Verse 40. From hence you may see the Assistance and the Power that Example hath in Instruction This was Christs Method in the Gospel Quid ab initio how was it from the beginning do as hath been done before So here it was Gods Method to Moses for the Tabernacle look that thou make every thing after the pattern that was shewed thee in the Mount and the same was Gods Method for the Creation its self for though there were no World that was Elder Brother to this World before yet God in his own Mind and Purpose had produc'd and lodg'd certain Idea's and forms and patterns of every piece of this World and made them according to those preconceived Forms and Idea's Lastly this was Gods way likewise through the whole Scripture for there are no Books in the World that do so abound with this Comparative and Exemplary way of Teaching as the Scriptures do no Books in which that word of Reference to other things that sicut is so often repeated do this and do that sicut so as you see such and such things in Nature do and sicut so as you find such and such Men in the Stories of Gods Book to have done CHAP. XXVI Verse 31. OUr Corruption is the only way to our Incorruption and our Mortality to our Glory our Flesh being that Vail that keeps us from entring into the Holiest of Holies To this purpose as a Type of this in the Tabernacle which Moses made there was a Vail hang'd up between the Holy Place and the Holiest of Holies this Vail was made up of four substances blew Silk and Purple and Scarlet and fine Linnen which saith St. Ieremy did represent the four Elements of which our Flesh consists such a Vail was afterwards in the Temple at Ierusalem which at the Death of our Saviour was rent from the top to the bottom so that the People might then and not till then have beheld the Sanctum Sanctorum so when our Flesh this Vail that keeps us from beholding the Invisibility of the Blessed Trinity shall be rent and torn in pieces
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
destruction therefore our only safety standeth in Prayer and begging Gods assistance Fourthly We have daily Temptations Bodily and Ghostly arising from the World the Flesh and the Devil and therefore saith our Saviour Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Mat. 26. So then this Morning and Evening Sacrifice should direct us how and when to Worship God we must remember him in the Morning and Evening he must be the first and last in our thoughts we must begin the day and end it with him Verse 9. Every day in the Week ought to be the Christians Sabbath wherein he is to perform some duties or other of Religion but every Seventh Day should be a double Sabbath wholly taken up in the Service and Worship of God When our whole work must be to beravish'd in Spirit doing no Work but such as whereby we either bless God or look to receive a Blessing from him none but such as wherein we would the Lord should find us at his coming which Lactantius saith Will be on the Sabbath day And therefore the Jews call'd the Sabbath the Queen of dayes blessing the Lord at its coming in and going out that God might have both the first and the last Fruits of the day Verse 26. Here is handled the Feast of Pentecost or of Weeks to give God thanks after the gathering of the Harvest For in as much as God hath not only set us in this World but supplies and feeds us in it so that we live by his bounty and liberality it was his will that the Jews should keep a yearly Feast to him to give him thanks that hereby they might acknowledg all the year after that they were sustain'd by his hand Secondly These first Fruits figured out Gods Church which is a people separated unto him from the rest of the World For as the first Fruits were separated from the rest of the heap unto God so is the state of the Church call'd and cull'd out of the World unto his service CHAP. XXIX Verse 1. THis Feast of Trumpets was to be a Feast of remembrance of Gods manifold mercies received in the Wilderness that thereby they might stir up themselves to be united to God and may serve to stir us up to return unto God Praise and Thanksgiving with joyfulness of heart for all his benefits according to that of Psalm 81. 1 2. Make a joyful noise unto the God of Iacob Take a Psalm and bring hither the timbrel blow up the Trumpet in the New-Moon so David having experience of Gods goodness towards him in many preservations composed the eighteenth Psalm as a testimony of his thankfulness for his deliverance from his Enemies And although this Feast is pass'd away and abolish'd by the coming of Christ yet this remaineth that we our selves should serve for Trumpets For as the Temple being destroyed we must be spiritual Temples unto God so the Trumpets being taken away every one of us must be spiritual Trumpets i. e. we should rouze up our selves from the World and the vanities thereof Our Ears are so possess'd with the sound of earthly things and our Eyes so dazled with the pleasures of the flesh that we are as deaf and blind men that can neither hear nor see what God saith unto us wherefore we must not look till there be a solemn holy-day to call us unto the Church there to keep a Feast of Trumpets but it must serve us all the dayes of our life as a spur to cause us to return to God Verse 7. The Jews were here to afflict their Souls with voluntary sorrow for their sins for the whole year and so dispose themselves to obtain pardon and reconciliation For whereas in their private Sacrifices they durst not confess their capital sins for fear of Death due to them by the Law God graciously provided and instituted this yearly Sacrifice of Atonement and afflicting their Souls for the sins of the whole people without particular acknowledgment of any After the same manner the Lords Supper is with us a day of Atonement or afflicting of our Souls for the Passover must be eaten with four hearbs And further we may observe from hence that this day of afflicting their Souls was to be immediately before the Feast of Tabernacles verse 12. they were to be kept in sorrow five dayes before they might keep their Feast of joy which Feast signified the spiritual joy and gladness of the Saints that are redeemed by Christ all their life long We must first look upon him whom we have pierc'd and weep for him before we can receive any comfort by him We must afflict our Souls for his Passion before we shall partake of the joy of his Resurrection Verse 12. This Feast was call'd the Feast of Tabernacles because during the dayes of this Feast they were to live in Tents and Tabernacles it being a memorial of Gods preserving them in the Wilderness where was no house for them to rest in and from hence we may learn that it is a duty belonging to all to remember the dayes of their troubles and afflictions from which God in great mercy hath delivered us We are ready to forget our former condition when God hath given us rest and therefore God would have his own people year by year to depart out of their Houses and dwell in Tents that thereby they should call to mind both where they were and where they had been that although they now were at rest and ease in the Land of Canaan yet they had not alwayes been so for God had carried them upon Eagles wings and preserved them after a miraculous manner in the Wilderness CHAP. XXX Verse 2. VVHen a man vows he vows unto the Lord and therefore if he breaks it he sins against the Lord. Who expects he should have kept touch with him and accordingly will punish such a vow-breaker for he hath not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 5. As God is true saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 1. 18. our word towards you was not yea and nay but yea and Amen For the Son of God c. Why what 's all this to the purpose may some say yes very much For it implies that what a Christian doth promise to men much more to God he is bound by the earnest penny of Gods Spirit to perform he dares no more alter and falsifie his word than the Spirit of God can lye And as he looks that Gods promises should be made good to him so he is careful to pay what he hath vowed to God seeing Gods Covenant is of mercy ours of obedience and if we expect that God should be all sufficient to us we must be altogether faithful to him Verse 8. The power and authority of the Husband over the Wife is very great for all be it the Wife be at liberty to vow in the Lord when her Husband is dead yet while he lives he hath power to disanul her vows The Husband is the head of the
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