the Morning Exod. 16.21 from 6. a Clock to 9. in the Morning Manna was to be found but when the Sun after waxed hot it melted away by God's appointment though in its own Nature it would abide the Fire in baking or boiling c. when used according to God's command This was to stir up the People that they might get up early and gather it betimes in the Morning that they might have time to prepare it and then attend other business whereas had it been to be gather'd all the Day they would have been sloathful and negligent They must gather it so soon as the Dew that hid it was off the Ground So ought we to gather the hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 The true Bread that came down from Heaven Joh. 6.32 33. In the Morning of our Youth Health and Strength we must seek the Lord while he may be found Psal 32.6 While the Day of Salvation lasteth 2 Cor. 6.1 2. And not shift it off Heb. 2.3 12.25 He that gathers in Summer is a wise Son Prov. 10 4 5. 6.6 8. Joh. 12 35. Gal. 6.10 While Time and Means continue c. and this is supposed to be the â—ur port of Moses Prayer O satisfie us early with thy Manna Mercy Psal 90.14 The Soul of a Sinner cannot have it too soon 2. The Place where Manna was gathered They were to go out of their Tents and beyond the Camp to gather it The Dew lay round about the Camp Exod. 16.13 Thus are we commanded To go forth unto Jesus without the Camp Heb. 13.12 13. We must relinquish our old Conversation and renounce all worldly Interests which are inconsistent with an Interest in Christ and a Participation of him The Spouse could not find Christ upon a Bed of Idleness or in the broad ways and common Worship of the World Cant. 3.1 2. Yet was Manna found nigh their Camp and not far off in the Wilderness nor need we go far for Christ he is nigh us Rom. 10 8. 3. The Persons who were the gatherers namely all Universally Old and Young Male and Female Parents and Children Masters and Servants none excepted or exempted from gathering Manna so nor from getting Christ Gal. 3.28 4. The Measure what each gathered were it more or less there was neither Deficiency nor Redundancy Exod. 16.18 so all sorts of Believers have an equal Portion in Christ our heavenly Manna Gal. 3.28 29. 2 Pet. 1.1 The smallest degree of Grace so it be true sufficeth for Salvation and the weak do partake of Christ in his Word and Sacraments as well as the strong 5. The Extent of this Duty How long As they were to gather it every day and that all along the forty Years until they came to Canaan excepting only the Sabbath-day So ought we to gather this heavenly Manna every day and all our Life long till we come to Heaven and enjoy there an Eternal Sabbath 4ly The Congruity continues in the differing Vses and Effects of this Manna as it was eaten both by good and bad To some it putrefied for not improving it according to God's Prescription and others loathed it as light Bread Numb 11.6 and 21.4 5. Citò parta vilescunt lightly obtained is but lightly esteemed the Wheat of Heaven was lightly set by because lightly come by though to the good it was a spiritual as well as corporal Food Thus God's Word and Sacraments are the savour of Life unto Life to such as make a right improvement of them but to others that mis-improve them and receive them unworthily they are the savour of Death 2 Cor. 2.15 16. breeding that never dying Worm Mar. 9.44 and 46. ever gnawing on the Soul in furious Reflections without Hope of either ending or mending let such squeafie Stomachs as nauseate the Bread of Life and disrelish plain Preaching duly consider this The Second considerable is the Disparity between the Type and the Antitype the Shadow and Substance The First Disparity is this Manna was made in and ministred out of the middle Region only by the Ministry of Angels but the Messiah is the true Bread whereof Manna was only a Figure that came down from the highest Heaven Joh. 6.32 33. and out of the Bosom of the Father Joh. 1.18 Secondly Those that fed upon the Type Manna hungred after the next day and so end way for forty Years together as it was food for the Body but such as feed upon this Bread of Life by Faith shall never Hunger Joh. 6.35 That is shall never be painfully or desparingly hungry as utterly destitute of Grace and Glory Psal 119.8 but shall continually feed upon that Gospel Feast of a good Conscience Prov. 15.15 Where as Luther phraseth it the blessed Angels are Servitors of Sweet Meats being Cooks and Butlers and the three Persons in the Trinity are gladsome Guests making the whole Life one intire merry festival without Interruption Thirdly Those that were eaters of this Manna dyed Joh. 6.49 Manna could not Immortalize them as the Poets feign their Ambrosia did their Dunghil-Deities and many of them died in God's displeasure 1 Cor. 10.3 5. but those that feed by Faith upon this Bread of Life have Eternal Life c. Joh. 6.47 48 50 51 56 57 c. That is in the Purchase of Christ in the Promise of the Father and in the first Fruits of the Spirit that resteth on them 1 Pet. 4.14 This our Lord oft inculcateth both as needful to be known and as comfortable to be considered Fourthly This Manna melted putrefied bred Worms and perished in the using Meats for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God will destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6.13 But this cannot befal Christ who is Life essential and God will not suffer his Holy One to see Corruption Psal 16.10 Fifthly Manna was but the Carcase of the Sacrament which could not give Life therefore many that fed upon that Sacrament daily did perish Eternally But the Soul of it is Christ signified whereof they that partake live for ever Outward Priviledges do not excuse but aggravate Enormities Carnal Professors feed upon Sacraments after a fleshly manner with such God is not well pleased 1 Cor. 10.3 5. c. the Romanists especially when as Christ saith The Spirit quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6.63 We should be wise Men 1 Cor. 10.15 That is skilful in the Doctrine of Sacraments One may go to Hell with Font-Water on his Face and be haled from the Table to Torment Mat. 22.13 Sixthly Manna lasted but forty Years but Christ ever lives and lasts c. and is the sume Yesterday to Day and for ever Heb. 13.8 c. The next memorable Matter concerning Israel in the Wilderness was at their eleventh Station at Rephidim Exod 17. Raph-Jadiem signifies the healing of the Hands God held Israel's hands here from stoning Moses by giving them Water to which place the Lord led them by the Cloudy Pillar that he might again exercise
him with Dominion and Lordship and Jacobs Posterity was in Slavery to Egypt some Hundreds of years after as the days of his Person were few and evil in trouble Gen. 47.9 So the days of his Posterity were many and evil in Bondage therefore there must be a deeper Mystical and Spiritual sense of the Blessing made good in Heavenly Blessings both to him and to his Posterity by the Messiah 2. The Blessing Isaac pronounc'd upon Jacob must be the same Blessing which God Promis'd to Abraham the Grand-Father and to Isaac the Father so to be transmitted in this Patriarchal manner to the Son now none doubt that the Blessing of Abraham c. which was to come upon the Gentiles in the Covenant of Grace Gal. 3.8 14. was a Spiritual Blessing 3. God himself as well as Isaac explains it to be a Spiritual Blessing and further confirms it when Jacob after it flyes to Padan-Aram Gen 28. First Isaac puts this sense upon it v. 3 4. God Almighty Bless thee and give thee the Blessing of Abraham c. what he had done before by a misguided Fancy he now more advisedly doth upon a well grounded Faith according to Heb. 11.20 this the Hebrew Doctors say had an Eternal Foundation which shall have no end either in this World or in that to come Isaac adds to his own Blessing that also of Abraham who had the Original Grant of special Grace Gen. 12.3 17.1 c. which chiefly consisted in forgiveness of Sin Redemption from the Curse and receiving the Promise of the Spirit through Faith in Christ Gal. 3 9 13 29. Rom. 4.7 8 13 c. Secondly God explains it to be a Spiritual Blessing Gen. 28.25 In thee and in thy Seed shall all the Families of the Earth be Blessed which must be meant the Blessing of Eternal Life by Christ who was of his Seed the same Promise was made to Abraham Gen. 12.3 18.18 and performed by Christ Act. 3.25 16. Gal. 3.8 Thus Jacob was made the Heir of the Spiritual Blessing So are all true Christians 1 Pet. 3.9 to whom God spake there as well as to Jacob Hos 12.4 God spake with us there as well as with him Sixthly and Lastly Though Isaac in his Patriarchal Benediction mentions only Temporal Blessings yet there is nothing more frequent and familiar with the Holy Prophets than under such Symbols to signifie Spiritual and Coelestial Blessing not that the Faithful of their times should sit down satisfied with Earthly things and neglect the Heavenly but because the rudeness of the Infant state of the then Church did so repuire it for Christ was not at that time revealed for whom alone the revealing of all Mysteries was reserved and who indeed was himself this Dew of Heaven and this Fatness of the Earth Promised as he is the Bread of Life that came down from Heaven that Coelestial Manna that Meat indeed and Drink indeed without which the Souls of the Faithful would certainly Languish and Die though their Bodies be never so well filled with the most delightful dainties of the Earth wherewith had Isaac put off Jacob as his only portion neither could he have been so well satisfied nor Esau so much grieved at the Bargain who according to our Translation had the same Temporal Blessings and by the Lordship and Dominion Promis'd here to Jacob must not only be understood an External Kingdom but also the Internal and Eternal one of the Messiah descending from Jacob anointed of God above his Fellows and advanced above every Name by whom alone the true and salvifick Blessing is conveyed to all the Faithful of what Family Nation or Country soever This History hath many Remarkable Inferences naturally flowing from it As 1. Besides those that have Offer'd themselves all along That Parents ought to bless their Children too many God knows do Curse and not Bless them but cursing Parents are cursed Parents and 't is well for some good Children whose bad Parents curse them for their goodness that causless Curses shall not come Prov. 26.2 which like a wandring Bird flies about where it will yet no Body cares or is the worse and when her Wings are wearied with wandring after she hath beat the Air to no purpose she returâ—s to her Rest or Nest Thus the causless Curse flies at Random and in vain but returns at last into the Authors Bosom from whence it came Little do such cursing Parents consider they are call'd contrariwise not to Curse but to Bless their Children that they may inherit the Blessing 1 Pet. 2.9 2. Children ought to fear the causeful Curses though not the causless of their Parents As Isaac here Blessed Jacob and Esau but Cursed neither of them no not his prophane Son whom rather he would fain have Blessed So the better Son feared his Fathers Curse Gen. 27.12 So shall I bring a Curse upon me and not a Blessing Jacob justly feared to use deceit to his Blind Father lest not only his Fathers but also Gods Curse Deut. 27.18 should come upon him Oh how many unnatural and cursed Cham's there be in the World that cause their Parents to Curse them for their unnaturalness as Noah did his Son Gen. 9. 22 25. 'T is sad when God saith Amen thereto God himself curseth such Caitiffs Prov. 30.17 That 's a Curse with a witness the Curse of God and the Curse of a Parent when 't is just falls heavy and lamentable Effects have followed even the complaint of a Parent makes a loud cry in Gods Ear Judg. 9.5 6. 'T is said That God by cutting off Abimelech rendred the wickedness he had done to his Father Let all Children think of this and fear undutifulness 3. Parents ought to gather together a Stock of Divine Promises that they may bless their Children more out of Faith than out of Form praying for them out of a Promise as Isaac did here for his Son Jacob praying that the Blessing of Abraham might come upon him Gen. 28.4 And out of that constellation of Promises the Covenant I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed This should be improved with utmost importunity and without any exception not baiting God one of our Children but pleading the Covenant for all them where God makes no exception we need not make any our Prayers for them must be grounded upon some word of Promise for Promises are the Ground as precepts are the Rule of Prayer and our Prayers for them require Faith it must be the Prayer of Faith founded upon a Promise the proper Work of Faith is to turn Promises into Prayers And Oh! that we had a particular Faith for them all saying with David in this will I be confident Psal 27.3 This should be our Confidence that whatever we ask according to his will as this is according to his Covenant without any express exception he heareth us 1 Joh. 5.14 We may lose some Children for want of our earnest asking Oh that
them that they despis'd him and call'd him Blasphemer c. as Joseph's Brethren call'd him Dreamer Gen. 37.19 3. They conspir'd the Death of Joseph So did the Jews against Jesus ut suprà 4. They strip Joseph cast him into a Pit when they had condemn'd him Gen. 37.23 24. Thus they dealt with Jesus Mat. 27.28 casting him when judg'd and strip'd into an horrible Pit of Misery Psal 28.1 5. Both were sold as above and 6. Joseph When Sold was hurried to Potiphar and Jesus to the High Priest 7. The Jewish Synagogue as base to Jesus as Potiphars wanton Wife to Joseph 8. Joseph 'twixt Butler Saved and Baker Hanged So Jesus 'twixt two Thieves one Penitent the other Impenitent 9. As Joseph At thirty after three years was released so Jesus about thirty after three days was raised Thus Congruous is the Type with the Antitype herein but much more in the Exalted State as Joseph's so Jesus's bow abode in strength and as Joseph was raised out of the Dungeon seated at Pharaohs Right Hand saved Egypt and his Brethren from perishing So Jesus was rais'd out of Death's Dungeon seated at his Fathers Right Hand and saves his Church and Brethren from utter Destruction More particularly 1. As Joseph was so Jesus is the grand Zapnath Paaneach the Revealer of Secrets Joh. 1.18 and the Saviour of the World Isa 4.3.11 Act. 4.12 2. As Joseph had fulness of all food laid up for the Hungry So it pleaseth the Father that in our Jesus should all fulness dwell Col. 1.19 3. As Joseph's full Garners invited all Lands to come to him the Lord of the Land for supply yea even his very Brethren who had been so Bruitish to him So our Jesus his fulness invites all Lands to look unto him to be saved Isa 45.22 He hath gifts even for the Rebellious Psal 68.18 Act. 3.20 4. As Joseph provided Storehouses for every City that they needed not to Travail far Gen. 41.48 so Jesus lays up Food in every City 't is our happiness that the Word that Bread of Life we have so nigh us 't is brought home to our Houses God Rains down Manna at our Tent Doors Rom. 10.8 we need not say Who shall go up to Heaven to fetch it For us Neither is it beyond Sea c. Deut. 30.13 14. Manna was Rained down Round about the Camp Exod. 16.13 't was no more but their stepping out of their Tent Doors and it lay ready there for them yea Quails as well as Manna which came down in the Dew as Christ that Angels food doth in the Ministry of the Word Blessed be God we have yet neither a Famine of Bread as those poor Egyptians then had nor a Famine of the Word we need not go from Sea to Sea c. to seek it and yet not find it as Amos 8.11 12. yet though the Word be nigh us our Joseph or Jesus his Store-Houses be in every City and in every part in this City some are so lazy they will not stir to the Door to it nay some are so wretched that unless God would set up a Pulpit at a Play-House or Ale-House Door they will not come to hear it 5. As there was no pressing to Joseph till plain Poverty most Penury most powerfully pinched them Gen. 42.1 2. they were Hopeless and Helpless as to themselves gazing upon one another as at their Wits end and not knowing whither to turn them So till we be emptied of all the Dough of our own Righteousness we bring out of Egypt with us Exod. 12.34 39. Then and not till then do we hunger after the Heavenly Manna 'T is the pinched Soul that prizeth Christ That Soul cries like one ready to perish by Famine Give me Bread give me Christ or I die I cannot live without him I dare not die without him 6. As Joseph the Vice-Roy and Lord of the Land having the Kings Privy-Seal a Gold Chain and Royal Rubes did make himself strange and spâ—â—e roughly to his almost famish'd Brethren when they came to him for Corn Gen. 42.7 Notwithstanding their bowing to him ver 6. wherein they unwittingly accomplish'd his Prophetick Dreams which those Mockers little thought ever to have done to that Dreamer that he might bring them the sooner to a sight and sense of their sin yet all along scattering Pledges of his favour to them as filling their Sacks and restoring their Money ver 25 28. This was all the Revenge he design'd against them for all their Roguery against him He steals these two kindnesses upon them notwithstanding all his strangeness and roughness toward them Even so dealeth our Dear Jesus with his Brethren though they come bowing before him He hideth his love from Job but it was from Increasement of love to make him know his transgression and his sin Job 13.23 24 and 19.11 Job judged himself as hated of God like an Enemy All that Fire of wrath which he complain'd of was but to burn up his Corruptions only and to sever the sin which God hated from the Son whom God loved Jesus was never nearer Mary Magdalen than when she was bleared with Tears for his absence John 20.13 16. and though he spake roughly to the Syrophoenician Woman calling her a Gentile-dog yet had he a design of love upon her Mat. 15.25 28. He giving her the Key of his full Treasury not only fills her Sack but also restores not her Money but what was better her Daughter Our Jesus the Fathers Vice-Roy Lord of all Acts 10.36 having the Signet of the Everlasting Gospel and being Clothed with the Royal Robes of the Richest Righteousness doth sometimes take state upon him seems as a stranger Jer. 14.8 9. and suffers the Children of Light to walk a while in Darkness Isa 50.10 till they be duely truely and throughly humbled then doth he them good at the latter end Deut. 8.16 7. As Joseph could no longer Refrain himself than while his Brethren were brought lew enough upon the Rack of Conscience Gen. 42.21 28 35. and 43.18 and 44.13 14 16 34. but passionately proclaims I am Joseph your Brother Gen. 45.1 3. No sooner had their Sin found them out Numb 31.23 their own Guilt made them timorous and every strange occurrence affrighted them making them mistake and mis-interpret Mercies for Mischiefs but immediately they had Joseph's Steward comforting their distressed Consciences saying Peace be unto you fear not c. Gen. 43.20 23. but bringing Benjamin with them then they shall be cheated with the best of good Cheer They were richly feasted and made exceeding merry v. 29.30 34. yet all this while they knew not that all this Kindness came from Joseph their Brother This was an high point of Heavenly Wisdom in Joseph who well knew how Hypocrites will hang down their heads like a bulrush Isa 58.5 while some Storm of Trouble lyes upon them yet if fair-weather follow they lift up their heads as bolt-upright as ever Something they will do
and tired themselves in vain Elijah Jeers and Ridicules both their Persons Actions and Idols taunting them with saying Baal was so busie in pursuing his Foes that he had no leisure of attending his Friends c. N. B. Which teacheth that all Jesting is not unlawful faith Peter Martyr save that only which intrencheth upon Piety and good Manners saying that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Paul condemns Eph. 5.4 is taken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salt Jests and Scurrility not for an inoffensive Vrbanity or a pleasant facetiousness of Speech Mark 7. When Baal's Priests end and can do nothing with all their ridiculous Endeavours all the day long then Elijah begins at the time of the Evening Sacrifice ver 30 to ver 40. who no doubt did all by divine Direction He 1. calls the People to come away from those falle Prophets that had so long seduced them unto him the true Prophet of God 2. He repairs the Altar of the Lord which Baal's Worshippers had demolished with twelve Stones representing the Twelve Tribes thereby renewing the Covenant betwixt God and Israel now when Ten Tribes were Apostatized ver 30 31 32. 3. He orders twelve Barrels of Water supposed to be fetch'd from the Sea near Carmel when the drought had dried up all their Land-Brooks to be poured upon the Wood and Altar to avoid all suspicion of any Collusion in hiding Fire any where under such a vast quantity of Water which ran upon the Altar and filled the Trench too that the reality of the Miracle might be made the more manifest by a greater fervency of such a Fire as to lick up all ver 33 34. 4. Then betakes he to Prayer for fire c. 36 37 38. wherein though the Prophets of Baal had cried loud yet this Prophet of God cried louder saying Hear me O Lord hear me well knowing that God and not Baal was the true Prayer-hearing God N. B. The Baalites Prayers had been long and tedious to a deaf dumb and dunghil Deity but Elijah's Prayer was short and pithy charging God with the care of his Covenant of his Truth and of his Glory N. B. Nor did his twelve Stones for repairing the Altar and his twelve Barrels of Water wherewith he filled the Altar and Trenches any less rebuke the Ten Tribes for falling off from the Two in the Worship of God N. B. This is beyond doubt that his strong Crys of Faith did reach the Throne of Grace and soon discover to Israel that Elijah's God was unlike Baal neither talking nor travelling nor pursuing nor sleeping not a God of such a narrow Uunderstanding as unable to mind two things at once But as he is the Creator so the Governor of all things both in Heaven and Earth and hath the command both of Fire and of Water at all times and as an Evidence hereof at this time he first sends fire to consume Elijah's Sacrifice and not only to lick up the twelve Barrels of Water that filled the Trenches by that flash of fire but after gives abundance of Water in a plentiful Rain also to remove the Judgment of Drought and Famine insomuch that when Israel saw the first Sign that God had answer'd by Fire to the Prophet's Prayers they cry out as fully The Lord and not Baal is God the Lord is God and he can give us Water as well as Fire if our Sins hinder not N. B. They might say Oh well is it with us that this fearful flash of fire hath not consumed our own flesh for our Idolatries as it hath done the flesh of the burnt Offering and licked up our Blood as it hath all the Water in the Trench and so they might acknowledge God's Mercy as they did his Power twice over ver 39. Remark the Sixth is the Execution of Justice upon Baal's Prophets and the return of Rain after a long Drought of Three Years and six Months from ver 40 to 46. wherein Mark 1. Elijah strikes while the Iron is hot he takes hold of this Opportunity while the Peoples Hearts were warm with the fresh Conviction of this wonderful Miracle and bids them take those juggling Priests and let not one of them escape v. 40. and kill them at Kishon that their Blood might help to fill that River which their Idolatry had emptied by the Drought N. B. All this Elijah might lawfully do at God's direction and according to God's Law Deut. 13.5 and 18.20 for which like Justice Jehu is afterwards commended 2 Kings 10.28 and probably he had the consent of the King who found them Impostors and was assured of Rain when this Work was done c. indeed Luke 9.55 Our sweet Saviour rebukes that over-hot Spirit which would call Fire from Heaven to consume such as slighted him this he said was not suitable to the Gospel of Peace but Elijah was a Restorer of the Law c. Mark 2. After this Execution of Justice Elijah foretels Mercy was now coming ver 41. saying to Ahab Haste thou from Kishon up to thy Tent on Carmel and refresh thy self there after thy long fasting day The chief cause of the Drought being now removed God will send Rain therefore go eat thy Bread with joy and drink thy Wine with a chearful heart c. Eccles 9.7 For Col. Haâ—non c. Hebr. I hear a Wind whistling in the Heavens and presaging abundance of Rain He heard this noise with the Ears of his Faith saith Osiander when none else did hear it Mark 3. Ahab now satisfied with news of Rain goes up to his Repast and Elijah goes up to his Prayer ver 42. minding more God's Glory in that great day's Work than his own Refreshment Josephus saith He prayed sitting but 't is otherwise expressed here He put his face between his knees the very posture saith Peter Martyr wherein the Babe layeth in the Womb with his Head between his Knees N.B. This was a Gesture of his deep Humility as unworthy to lift up his Eyes to God of his remembrance with thankfulness how he was brought to light from a miserable beginning at his Birth and now was about to be as it were born again after his three Years and half absconding in the Womb of Providence The Prophet prays for Rain in this posture which strained all the strings of his Head Heart and whole Body well knowing though God had promised Rain yet would he have his Prayer to fetch it and therefore no wonder if the Apostle say He prayed earnestly James 5.17 18. And though 't is not told us what he prayed yet this is Recorded his Prayer was so earnest that he opened Heaven by that Key Mark 4. The Prophet unwilling to break off his Prayer sends his Servant which Vatablus saith was the Widow of Sarepta's Son to watch the first rise of a vaporous Cloud out of the Sea ver 43. Elijah had pray'd saith Sanctius that the Fire might descend immediately for a speedy freeing of his own Faith and for
things are put under the feet of the Soul Psal 8.5 6 8. The Body is but the Souls servant and all other Creatures are but the slaves and drudges of the Soul God made it the Lord and owner of all 4ly The Soul hath the most noble stamp upon it Gold is precious in regard of its Matter and Substance but when it is Coined and comes from the Mint with a Princes stamp upon it then onely is it currant Coin and more precious than before So this noble nature of the Soul hath a noble Image engraven upon it There is a twofold Image of God upon the Soul The first is in the substance of it as it is one Immaterial Immortal and Intelligent Spirit distinguish'd into three powers the Mind Will and Memory all which make up one Soul This Image is never lost Gen. 9.6 The second is in its Divine Qualities Knowledge Holiness and Righteousness This Image is lost by the first Adam and cannot be restored but by the second 5. The Soul hath the most noble provision made to preserve it The moisture of the Earth feeds the Plants the Grass of the Field feeds the Beasts c. yea and Bread that perisheth feeds the Body but God hath provided Bread from heaven Angels food to feed the Soul his Word and Sacraments exhibits to us a pretious Christ whose Flesh and Blood is Meat and Drink indeed Joh. 6.55 56. Christ is call'd the Shepherd and Bishop of Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 he hath by way of eminency Curam Animarum both the Care and the Cure of Souls therefore hath he ordained Holy Ordinances both for its Food and Physick this Prince and principal Pastor hath appointed the means of Grace as Pabulum Animae the green pastures of the Soul Psal 23.1 2. wherein this chief Shepherd feedeth the Sheep that belong to and keep in his sheepfold bidding them eat and drink abundantly there Cant. 5.1 he feedeth his Church among the Lillies Cant. 2.16 on Mountains of Spices Cant 8.14 Christ feeds them and feasts them daily and daintily with the best of the best Isa 25.6 in those glorious Ordinances wherein the Saints go in and out that is out of one green pasture into another with refreshed Souls what the Tree of life was to Adams Body before the fall that the Tree of Ordinances are to Believers Souls after the fall An Ordinance now is to the Soul what the River Jordan was to Naamans Body 't was not any intrinsick vertue in the water but the Divine Institution which gave it an healing vertue so the Ordinance materially taken hath not in it self any Spiritual good to convey to the Soul save only by Divine appointment And in as much as Christ hath appointed not only feeding but also physicking Ordinances for the Soul and rather than the Soul should not prosper 3 Epist Joh. v. 2. he giveth his flesh and blood to feed and physick it The Travel of Christs Soul is the cure of ours Isa 53.11 As if the Physicians death were the best Medicine to make his Patient live All this Soul-care and Cure from Christ evidenceth the Souls excellency 6ly The most noble price that ever was paid in the world was laid down for the Soul when it was lost taken captive and enthralled by Satan God counted nothing too good and too dear to redeem it The Soul was not then redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold which are the most pretious things in the world yet are they but corruptible things and therefore far below the worth of an Incorruptible Soul but the Peerless price for purchasing the pretious Soul when lost must be no less than that Pearl of great price Matth. 13.45 46. paid down as a ransome for it it was no less than the pretious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. which Bernard calls Animae pretiosae Inestimabile pretium an unvaluable price for a pretious Soul the Blood of this Lamb of God was not the Blood of a mere-man but of God-man hence 't is call'd the Blood of God Act. 20.28 The Soul of Man is so pretious that God is said there to purchase it with his own Blood 'T is call'd there the Blood of God not as if there were any Blood or Flesh in God who is a Spirit but by a Communication of properties in God-Man our Redeemer to set forth the inestimable value and vertue thereof Hence the Schools do say that one drop of Christs Blood was sufficient for the whole world as to the dignity of the person and natural value of the thing yet not so by a value positive in respect of the Covenant Christs Blood was more precious and more profitable than Davids who said what profit is there in my Blood Psal 30.9 but oh how precious and profitable was Christs Blood wherein there was both a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a price of ransome from Hell and a price of purchase for Heaven Now seeing the redemption of the Soul is so precious Psal 49.8 and Money will bear no Mastery in the things of the Soul it follows then that it is a most precious thing 7ly The most noble place that ever was made in both worlds was framed for the reception and Mansion-house of the Soul to wit the Third Heaven that Heaven of Heavens Hebr. 12.23 c. This is the order of Nature that the basest things be below and the choicest and purest be above Thus the dreggy lumpish earth is below our feet but the pure Heaven is above our heads Our worthless lumber we lay in our Cellars underneath but our Treasure and Jewels we chamber them above Those most glorious Bodies the Sun Moon and Stars are placed in the Heavens above us yet is there an Heaven which we cannot see save only the underceiling of it the highest and therefore the richest of all the Heavens this was made for a receptacle of the Souls of just men made perfect Our Jewels which are our choicest treasure we keep them in the richest Cabinets so this highest Heaven the richest and most pretious of all places was created as a Cabinet to contain the most pretious Soul therefore it is called Sedes Beatorum the seat of the blessed the Paradise of God wherein are many Mansions of glory Joh. 14.2 Now if the outside and the underceiling which we behold of this glorious room be so glittering and so glittering and so bespangl'd with Stars how much more glittering and glorious is the inside wherein the Souls of the Saints shall live and reign with Christ for ever 8ly and lastly The Soul is a most noble thing in respect of all its four Causes Efficient Material Format and Final 1. The efficient cause was Elohim who call'd a Counsel only for making Man a living Soul the Lord God consulted not about making any other Creature save only Man 2. The material cause the Soul was a quinta essentia a noble and Divine substance a Spiritual matter more pure than the Heavens
Kingdom of God in time and that within us as the other was done without us 'T is sad to want the touches of the Spirit which are quickening comforting and saving touches We may want its comforting presence yet have its quickning presence but if this latter be lost the former cannot be had for there can be no peace or comfort felt where there is not Life and we may want the Arbitrary Influence of the Spirit which raiseth up Grace to an high Lustre and Eminency yet have the necessary Influence which maintains the Being of Grace as the other doth its Well-being c. If the Holy Spirit doth not touch us with his Divine touches the unclean Spirit will with his Deadly touches 1 John 5.18 Job 2.5 The In-dwelling of the Holy Ghost in us prevents the re-possession of the unclean Spirit after he has had his dispossession for he must find his House empty or he cannot re-enter Mat. 12.43 c. yet though he is hereby kept from re-entring he is not from assaulting although the Man in Christ be assaulted yet the In-dwellings of the Spirit of Christ Rom. 8.9 11. doth secure him from Satans assaults yet the manner of the Spirits workings and in-dwellings be unknown to us John 3.8 c. In a word whatever Christ is as he saith he is Bread a Branch a Door an Heir Light Life an Altar a Lamb a Way a Vine a Lion a Foundation a Corner-stone tryed by all or has whatever the Spirit is a Dove a Comforter c. as before or has yea whatever Heaven or Earth hath in them the Angels the sweet Influence of the Pleiades and of all other Constellations the Covenant conveys all to us Dona Throni Dona Scabelli the good things of the Throne and the good things of the Footstool yea whatever is in Gods Threefold Treasury of the Sea Air and Earth It is a Covenant of Peace with all Creatures Job 5.23 whatever either Creation or Providence hath in them whatever God the Creator hath and is whatever God the Redeemer hath and is and whatever God the Sanctifier hath and is are all made over to us by the Covenant and is not this a full Covenant Fourthly and lastly As it is a full so 't is an Holy Covenant Luke 1.72 Dan. 11.28 30. There Antiochus's his Indignation was against the Holy Covenant as it was against the holy God and his holy People who were in holy Covenant with him his unholy irreligious Heart was against them for their holy Religion which they profess'd and practis'd 'T is call'd an holy Covenant 1. Quoad Fontem from the Fountain from whence it flows to wit from the Holy God who is Glorious in Holiness Exod. 15.11 and is proclaimed by those Heavenly Heralds the Seraphims three times over Holy Holy Holy Isa 6.3 and this Superlative Holiness in God gives a most Immense Lustre and Beauty to all his other Attributes 't is Holy Justice Holy Power Holy Wisdom Holy Love c. Now qualis causa tale causatum à quo aliquid tale est illud est magis tale If God who is the first cause of the Covenant be Holy then the Effect which flows from this Cause and Original must needs be Holy also the Stream is as the Spring 2. Quoad Finem from the End of this Holy Covenant which is to make us an Holy People we are chosen to be holy Eph. 1.4 Hence Holiness is absolutely necessary to Evidence our Interest in this Holy Covenant 't is necessary to Salvation which is the End of the Covenant both necessitate medii praecepti as 't is Gods precept that we should be Holy Levit. 11.44 and 19.2 and 20.7 1 Pet. 1.15 16 c. So Holiness is our means and way to Happiness for without it no Man can see the Lord Heb. 12.14 and therefore 't is promis'd in as 't is an Evidence of the Covenant 3. Quoad Objectum the Grace of the Covenant knows no other Object but an Holy People so made or so found as the Holy God is one Party confederate in this Covenant so his Holy Saints are the other Party Psal 50.5 for God doth not take the wicked by the Hand Job 8.20 to enter into Covenant with them nay he will not allow them so much as to take his Covenant into their Mouths Psal 50.17 he is King of Saints Revel 15.3 and will have no correspondence with the Evil. 4. Quoad Subjectum all the Contents or Subject Matter of this Covenant are Holy Things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13.24 which Isa 55.3 calls sure Mercies are by the Apostle call'd Holy Things all the parts as well as both the Parties are Holy the Promise in it is Holy Psal 105.42 and our Faith that lays hold on it is Holy Jude ver 20. The whole of it was spoke in his Holiness Psal 60.6 Inferences hence 1. This is the true Reason why this Holy Covenant is so little Embraced by the World 't is because they are an unholy People and hate this Covenant for its Holiness John 3.19 c. 2. Let us try our selves by our Holiness for an Interest in this Holy Covenant is it writ on all our Natural Civil and Religious Actions Zech. 14.20 on our Riding Drinking Sleeping c. The Doctrine contrary to Holiness is the Devils Covenant and none of Gods who knows his own Hand and owns no other Some weighty and Soul-awakening Considerations may commodiously conclude this great Concern of the Covenant all having a tendency to the Convincing Converting Quickening Confirming and Comforting the Souls of Men and Women 1. Consider All persons are under either the Covenant of Works or under the Covenant of Grace no Man can be under both Covenants at once for they are incompatible one with another the Law as it is a Covenant hath no consistency with the Covenant of the Gospel these two are two Vicegerents in Mans Heart the Law hath natural Conscience to keep its Courts there but the Gospel hath Faith to keep Christs Court there these are Inconsistent as both being supream principles are opposite till over powered a man may indeed be under a double Image to wit of Flesh and Spirit for that Image of the old Adam is done away and of the second Adam is renewed by Degrees but a Covenant-State is a Legal act so the change from the one to the other both which stand upon contrary Foundations as before is done all at once and therefore the one must make void the other and none be under both 2. Consider There is a natural propensity in the faln nature to desire to be under the Covenant of Works Gal. 4.21 Ye that desire to be under the Law for all men would establish their own Righteousness Rom. 10.2 3. and would be doing something to merit Heaven as Vega that Papist said Coelum gratis non accipiam I will not have Heaven freely given â—â—c Alas Proud Man scorns that Gift of God Rom.
Bethel Gen. 35.1 was only until he had perform'd his Vow 2. It may not be doubted but that this Holy Man having such high Communion with God departed from Bethel by the Command of God he who called him thither must call him thence also 3. But Suppose the time of Jacob's removal from Bethel after his Vow was paid God left to his own Prudence yet it may not be imagined that so Pious and Prudent a Patriarch would wilfully expose both himself to the loss or his Dear Wife and his Rachel to the loss of hâ—r Dear Life The Hebrews do indeed affirm That Rachel being wearied with her Journey was brought to her Travel before the Time If so then there would have been some appearance of Immaturity and Imperfection in Benjamin when Born whereof the Scripture is silent 'T is more probable that Jacob might be ignorant that Rachel was so very nigh her Time otherwise he had not removed for Travelling Women will make but bad Travellers But even to the most prudent Persons many things may happen beyond their Expectation And however this be taken it must be granted Jacob had cause enough to be jealous that he was mistaken in so bold an Adventure his Ignorance of Rachel's so near approaching Travel could not relieve him against his Jealousie that himself was at least the causa sine quâ non if not the Principal yet the Instrumental or Accidental Cause or Occasion of his Dear Wives Miscarriage He could not look upon his so hasty removal of her when so unfit for it without Remorse and Regret especially considering how First Rachels Travel came upon her when she was but a Field-breadth from Bethlehem-Ephratah that fruitful House of Bread as the word signifies where she might have had better Help and more Accommodations This was a sad Circumstance to fall short of such a City only Kibrath haerets Gen. 35. and 48.7 which the Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippodromum an Horse-Race the Chaldee Stadium Pagnin Milliare a Mile Borcardus a fleet-shot and Rab Kimchi a morning-walk to come within a little way as our Reading is of Bethlehem the very place wherein Christ the Son of God was born Mat. 2.1 that Bread which came down from Heaven John 6.33 was born in that City Baith-lechem which signifies the House of Bread and not Reach it with his lovely Rachel This made the Disaster much sadder Oh how happy might Jacob think himself if his Benjamin might be born there where his Shilo whom he foresaw by his Spirit of Prophecy Gen. 49.10 should be born and his Rachel live too to rejoice in the mercy which he might think might have come to pass had she been so happy and he with her therein to have held out to this City call'd also Ephratah for its fruitfulness of all sorts of fruit and food where she might have been corroborated with all good Cordials and Comforts and thereby carried through her Travel Which is the second thing to be considered that must needs pinch Jacob's spirit Rachel's Travel was hard and so hard that 't is twice told in Scripture Gen. 35.16 17. she had hard Travel and if her Travelling on foot that same day of her Travel made her Travel harder as probably enough it did being a Journey of twelve miles betwixt Bethel and Bethlehem this also is another Aggravation and could not but grieve Jacob's Soul for a long time after yet before I say Jacob could possibly have digested his sorrows for the death of his dear Yokefellow who had been a faithful Fellow-sufferer with him in all his hard service in Syria and in all his sore Travels and Sufferings in his Return homeward to Canaan hitherto before he had sung out his sad Song of being exceeding loth to lose her did this fourth Cross of his Eldest Sons Incest befal him Jacob falls far short of David's priviledge and mercy whose two Wives are expresly said to go up with him out of all his Wandrings and Banishments unto Hebron 2 Sam. 2.2 God then thought it a most meet mercy for David and for his two Wives Abigail and Ahinoam to be partakers together of Prosperity as they had been before at burnt Ziklag c. 2 Sam. 30.5 18. Partners together in Adversity And David did judge it but just likewise to hand his two Wives along with him to Hebron that as they had been comforts to him in his misery they might also be Conforts with him in his mercy and communicate together so far as their share should reach with his Dignity and Glory In which they were indeed true Types of Christ and his Church when she for a while hath suffered with him she shall then Reign with him for evermore 2 Tim. 2.12 Luke 22.28 29. The Lord Jesus will likewise in a short time remove his Spouse the Church from the Land of her Banishment and Bitterness even from the Ashes of her forlorn Ziklag to the Hebron of her peace and eternal happiness where she shall have Fellowship as Hebron signifies with glorified Saints and glorious Angels for ever Her Redeemer hath taken order for this already John 17.24 that where he is there she may be also and is only gone before as her Harbinger to prepare the best Rooms for her more honourable Reception John 14.2 3. not reckoning himself right and compleat until this be done and that his Church be with him Eph. 1.23 But alas though this was David's Priviledge which praefigured the Promises to hand both his Wives to Hebron yet Jacob must not be so happy in his going to the self same City even to Hebron Gen. 35.27 but one of and the best beloved of his Wives must lay her bones by the way his dear Rachel must fall short of Mamre that is Hebron where Isaac lâ—ved and where Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebekah and her Sister Leah lay buried Gen. 49.31 Rachel must not be joyned with them in burial which phrase importeth a Judgment Isa 14 20. Such sad circumstances as are all these aforesaid must most probably seize upon her Husbands heart yea and sit long upon his spirit before time alone could wear them off notwithstanding all these Aggravations fore-mentioned Jacob was not got above two miles farther of his Journy towards his Father in Hebron to wit one mile from Rachel's Sepulchre which lay about that distance North from Bethlehem and another mile from thence to the Tower of Edar which lies about the same distance towards the South from Bethlehem 〈◊〉 the Travels of the Patriarchs tell us ere Reuben his Eldest and so should have been his wisest Son climbs up into his Fathers Bed and lyes carnally with Bilhah his Fathers Wife This was an ugly fault in so godly it Family So it sometimes falls out through the malice of Satan who designs thereby to put the greater disparagement upon Profession and upon the pious practice of the good ways of God Satan never tempted Saul to such heinous actions
a numberless Number Rev. 7.9 9. As Joseph was full of Bowels as to his Brethren so towards his Fellow-Prisoners Gen. 40.6 7. who knew not how to help themselves being clapt up close Prisoners Joseph being now enlarged within the Castle 's circumference came early in the Morning to Visit them according to his charge and observ'd an unaccustomed sorrow in their very Visages his tender Heart soon yearns towards them and at the first sight of their Sadness offers his Service and himself to them though unasked Vincula qui sensit Didicit succurrere Vinctis He had been a close Prisoner himself which had taught him to Sympathize with those in that same suffering He was like-affected for them as if he had been like-afflicted with them Rom. 12.15 and Hebr. 13.3 So Jesus hath a most tender Heart towards Men in Misery he had so on Earth and he hath so in Heaven How Compassionate was he to the Widow at Naim when of his own free accord and unrequested he raised her Son Luk. 7.12 13. and because this loving Lord loves not to see his Servants sad He questions his two Disciples just as Joseph did his two Prisoners why were they so sad Luk. 24.17 and with the like Tenderness he saith to Mary-Magdalen Woman why weepest thou Joh. 20.15 He can have Compassion because he hath been touch'd with our Infirmity yea compassed with that Infirmity call'd Miserable though not with that call'd Sinful Hebr. 2.17 18. and 4.15 and 5.2 Christ becoming Man was thereby a more merciful High-Priest for Man from his own Experience of Humane frailty so that thereby he is able to succour and no less Apt than Able such as have been poor pity those that are pinch'd with Poverty such as have been troubled with Tooth-Ach can best condole the Case of those that are under that dolorous Distemper As Christ was thus Compassonate on Earth so he is not less but rather more in Heaven Manet Compassio etiam cum Impassibilitate Though he now be freed from Passion yet retaineth he still his Compassion though freed from feeling yet not from Fellow-feeling Act. 9.5 and Matth. 25.35 Christ hath lost nothing by his Exaltation in Glory the glorified Bowels of this Compassionate Samaritan must needs be Better and Greater He is God and God is Love he was Merciful as a Man but now as God yea God-Man in Glory Jesus as Joseph knows us when we know not him he will meet us in our coming to him he will do all good for us is not he for us under God Gen. 50.19 only our Sheaf must bow to his Sheaf depend upon him for all they both spake of the Church's Deliverance Gen. 50.24 and Joh. 17.1 to last Christ will not leave a little toe or hoof in Egypt or World 10. As Joseph was the feeder of his Father's Family preserving them alive and from being famished to Death in that Famine of Bread so Jesus is the feeder of his Father's Family the Houshold of Faith the Church and chosen of God from being famished to Death by that Famine of the Word Amos 8.11 Joseph saith of himself to his Brethren God sent me before you to preserve you c. The Famine God hath call'd for will last five years longer he hath made me a means of much Mercy to thousands of People by my Provisions laid up for their preservation Gen. 45.5 6 7 8. and David saith the same of Joseph also Psal 105.16 17 c. God called for a Famine as a Master calls for his Servant that is absent and presently he is present and at hand to do his Work and Will God sends out his Mandamus Summons in his four Sore Judgments and when he Serves a Citation and Subpoena's any one of them in then at his Call yea if he do but hiss they come Isa 7.18 Oh how easie it is with God to break the whole staff of Bread which is the staff of man's Life Lev. 26.26 Ezek. 4.16 Isa 3.1 and 57.10 and so to starve us all soon by denying us an Harvest or two If he call a Famine or the Sword or noisom Beasts or Pestilence will surely come Ezek. 14.13 15 17 19 21. and any one of these four sore Judgments will Ride their Circuits as Judges when they have their Call and Commission so to do Jer. 47.6 7. Alas London hath been laid Desolate by the Plague before the Fire which Hippocrates calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine thing because no Humane Cause can be well given for it omnis Pestilentiae caeca Delitescens est causa saith Fernelius no Physicians can render a Reaso of it but looks upon it as the stroke of a Divine Hand Woe is us that so many noisom Beasts are already sent among us Oh that those Bears and Boars those Lions and Leopards c. may not be let loose against us Oh how soon may the Sword come whenever it comes it is bathed in Heaven Hebr. Drunk or Drenched Isai 34.5 would to God it may no more be drunk with the blood of the Saints on Earth Revel 17.6 If the Sword be onces Drunk 't will Reel to and fro like a Drunken Man and Rove up and down till it hath gone its Circuit both in City and Country Oh that its Commission may be for a Sacrifice upon Edom which the Rabbins read Roma and be filled with her blood Isa 34.6 Psal 137.7 8 9. Rev. 16.6 God is now threatning to send a Famine of the Word Amos 8.11 Hebr. to let it out of his Treasury of Judgments where he hath it ready and pressing to be abroad and to turn it loose like a wild beast coopt and kept up hitherto from hurting The Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He will send it out as his Apostle but with a mournful Message quite contrary to the glad Tidings Christs Apostles Preached If it now must come out among us to be sure Pope and Devil will come with it Rev. 12.12 yea Death and Hell will be at the heels of it Rev. 6.8 yet this is for our Comfort there is no Danger that befalleth the Church but God beforehand provideth and procureth some means for her Preservation Thus God sent a Man a famous Man before the Famine to preserve his Church in Jacob's Family from being famish'd by it Joseph shall be then their Feeder so Jesus shall then be our Feeder though not our Feaster in such a Wilderness-Famine Rev. 12.6.14 out of his full Store-houses Christ is our Magazine fulness both of Plenty and of Bounty is in him a fulness which is not Repletive only but Diffusive also oh bless God we have still his Word and Sacraments to feed us c. wherein Christ himself becomes our Bread of Life Joh. 6.48 and our Water of Life Joh. 4.10 Rev. 21.6 and 22.1 Meat indeed and Drink indeed Joh. 6.55 the Heavenly Manna Joh. 6.32.38 our Joseph or Jesus feeds us with this corn of heaven Psal 78.24
that the good Will of God and a Flame of Fire from Man may consist together Yea Gods Visitation may have in it Mans Salvation Job 10.12 Psal 106.4 'T is of great use to understand this we pore too much in beholding the Flames of Fire in our Tryals and Troubles and ponder too little in believing the Good will of our God therein this makes us Harbour hard Thoughts of God with Job as if he dealt cruelly with us and was become our Enemy Job 16.9 and 30.21 with 13.24 and 19.11 we look on our Troubles as mere Streams of fiery wrath whereas indeed they are Messengers of Love and Fatherly Affection Whom God loves he chastens though he do not love to chasten Heb. 12.6 Lam. 3.33 Isa 28.21 calls it his strange Work yet out of faithfulness Psal 119.75 'T is Medicinal as well us Penal The Third Reason is from the Nature of those Troubles befalling God's Church and Children God never stirs up all his wrath therein Psal 78.38 He corrects them only with the Rod of Men Enoshim Shebet the Rod of weak Men 2 Sam. 7.14 that cannot give such a blow as the Rod of God When God comes to take Vengeance upon Babylon he proclaims this thundring Threatning I will not meet thee as a man Isa 47.3 But as a God who is consuming fire Hebr. 12.29 then Babylon which is no better than Briars and Thorns Isa 9.18 the very Curse of the Earth Gen. 3.18 cannot stand before Devouring fire nor dwell with everlasting Burnings Isa 33.14 God goes through those Briars and Thorns and burns them together Isa 27.4 but when God comes to chastize the Children of Sion He smiteth them not as he smiteth those that smote them Isa 27.7 but doth it in measure Hebr. Peck by Peck not whole Bushels at once ver 8. and Jerem. 30.11 for he comes not to them as a Judge with Severity but as a Father with Pity being himself afflicted with their Afflictions Isa 63.9 so he takes not up the Sword to them but only the Rod and that only the Rod of weak men The Rod of God that is Destruction but the Rod of men that is only Correction and 't is such a Rod as Christ hath suck'd out its Curse and Bitterness yea hath made it like Jonathan's Rod which dropped Honey taking from it the Nature of a Curse and giving to it the Nature of a Cure Though the Devil's Temptations have a tendency to Perdition yet God's are for Probation only Gen. 22.1 Deus â—a Vulnerat ut vulnerando Medetur the Chirurgeon launces his own dear Child with all tenderness cuts and weeps weeps and cuts again The wise Physician 's Rule in Pleurisies c. is Sparing then is spilling yet always maintain Nature that it may be able to grapple with the Disease c. This Vision of the burning Bush affords strong Consolation Though the Church Militant and its Members be oft in the fire for the ruling Brambles do not only scratch them but out of those Brambles cometh out a fire to scorch them also Judg. 9.15 and oft in the Water of Affliction yet the Church is preserved The Devil doth with her just as he did with the Daemoniack whom he cast sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water to destroy him Mar. 9.22 the same Power that preserv'd him from his being destroyed by those two merciless Elements even ever after his Childhood to that Day did cast out that cruel Devil and doth as miraculously preserve the Church in the like cases of Danger neither Fire nor Water hath any Power to destroy her Isa 43.2 Suppose her in the Water then is she as was Noah's Ark in that Universal Deluge which the higher that the Waters rose was thereby the nigher lift up to Heaven And as the Ship wherein were Imbarked Christ's Disciples the only Church then in the World Matth. 14.24 c. No Winds no Waves can beat her down into the Deep Though she be afflicted tossed with Tempests and not comforted yet retains she her sure foundation and her fair colours c. Isa 54.10 11 12. The very Gates of Hell in which all Diabolical fraud and force is seated cannot prevail against her Matth. 16.18 Suppose the Church to be in the Fire as well as in the Water there also the good Will of God goes along with her into the flames as here into the burnings of this bush thus the Son of God went with Shadrach Meshek and Abeduego not only to but into the fiery furnace Dan 3.24 25 c. Here the Fire consumes not the Bush as there the flame consumed only their Bonds c. No Natural Agents can act without the Concurrence of Supernatural Providence For l. Here is a suspensive Divine Act where the concourse of God's Providence is suspended there Natures must be is God's may not be The suspension and cessation of the Divine concourse is the Dissolution of the whole Universe 2. Here might be likewise a transmutative Divine Act whereby the Bush was consolidated into such a solid Substance as not to be Combustible The Boughs and Leaves say the Jewish Rabbies were made harder above the solidity of Gold so that they still retained their native greenness being fortified with a quality the flame cannot penetrate 3. Or here might be also a restraining Divine Act whereby the Fire was chained up from its Activity and Violence which it naturally hath in burning up combustible Matter into Ashes This is more than a bare Cessation of the Divine Concourse as was in the Case of the three Nobles of Caldea Dan. 3.27 'T is indeed a great truth If the first wheel in a Clock amp c. stands all the other wheels must stand with it Now God is the Primus Motor and his Providence is the Primum Mobile Hereby All live and move Act 17.28 without God's concourse neither Meat can nourish nor Clothes warm our Bodies for we live not by bread alone c. Matth. 4.4 without this the Heavens could not move nor the Sun shine nor the Earth bear fruit nor the Fire burn c. but in this Case of the Bush as it might be done by a suspensive Act or by a transmtative Act as when Christ enabled Peter to walk upon the Waters which are a fluent Element giving way to a solid Body this was done either by qualifying Peter's Body with levity or by freezing the Waters into a Pavement so more probably by a Restraining Act the God of Nature chains up Nature in its Actings God ties up the Sea in swadling bands so that it cannot overflow the Earth Job 38.8 9 10 11. God shut up the mouths of the Lions so that they could not devour Daniel in the Den Dan. 6.22 The Voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire Psal 29.7 so that they could not consume this Bush c. All this may be for Comfort to God's Church and Children thus 1. That all created Powers are annihilated by a
in Canaan N. B. Behold while God goeth about to prove Israel's patience they make proof of God's patience with a witness and that not only now in this murmuring but in their twenty more murmurings as some have reckon'd them during the forty Years Acts 13.18 c. The most of the Multitude do murmur for want of Victuals preferring the former Flesh-pots of Pharaoh tho' then they had little cause to boast of any full diet in their slavish lives before any present provision the Great God could make for them who only made them fast now to give himself a fairer occasion for more miraculously feasting them and to furnish them with a new and richer diet than Egypt could afford Here might God have said I will rain down Hell from Heaven upon you murmurers as once I did upon Sodom c. but lo the Lord's Language of Love here I will rain Bread from Heaven for you Exod. 16.14 The Remarks upon this Eighth Station Rameses being reckon'd for the first are as follow and all to bring Israel into the bond of the Covenant Ezek. 20.35 36 37. The First Remark is Tho' God brought his Church into a vast Wilderness where the Earth they trode upon under them was dry and barren yet they had an Heaven over their heads that was abundantly fruitful c. Supplying their wants both with flesh and bread in plenty even at such a time when being a while pinch'd with penury they so dreadfully imprecated their own deaths and murmur'd both against Moses and against the Lord Exod. 16.2 3. then came the Promise both of bread v. 4 8. and of flesh v. 8 12. and after the performance of that double promise never was any Mortal tho' Mighty Monarch so serv'd in such state as those murmuring Israelites were Oh how good should we find our God to be unto us could we but be more careful to please him and more fearful to offend him walking before him unto all pleasing Col. 1.10 The Second Remark is This Gracious God gave them first Flesh to gratifie their first lustings after Flesh-pots v. 13. What those Fowls of Heaven were Conjectures be various Rabbi Jonathan on this Text and on Psal 105.40 calls them Pheasants but Rabbi David Kimchi Rabbi Solomon c. take it for the ordinary Quail as we read it No doubt but it was the daintiest of Flesh wherewith the Great Creator fed Israel at this time by Miracle The like whereunto God wrought for them about a year after this Numb 11.31 when they had them for a month together but with a vengeance then the Quails came to them with a Tempest and went away with a Plague Then it was not so much want as now it was but wantonness Ps 78.18 They ask'd to satisfie their Lusts. Nor may we think here that this supply of Flesh was any reward to these Miscreants for their mischievous murmurings whereof God himself complained but to convince them of their infidelity and to shew his own faithfulness in promising provision c. God could have fed them with grosser and courser flesh than Quails yet to testifie his love at Evening they miraculously flye over-Sea in the day further'd by the wings of the wind Psal 78.26 27. and tamely came to hand covering the Camp to be made meat of c. The Third Remark is The Quails thus miraculously sent and in such multitudes as to serve 600 thousand for food and that beyond the course of their own nature who living upon the fruits of the Earth use to flye into fertile Countries not into a barren Desart as here not to feed themselves but to become food unto Israel In order whereunto they did tamely offer themselves to be easily taken c. Notwithstanding all this they are not noted in Scripture to be a Spiritual Meat as was the Manna 1 Cor. 10.3 the flesh therefore which was to fill their bellies came towards night the time of darkness but the Bread from Heaven came in the Morning which usually signifies the time of grace from the Lord Psal 30.6 and 143.8 Lam. 3.22 23. The Fourth Remark is The. Flesh and the Bread came not both at one time as we see above the one at Evening and the other at Morning Hereupon some conceive that as they came severally so they might be eaten severally the Quails without the Bread and the Bread without the Quails each being of such an excellent temper and of so pleasant a taste that both being extraordinary provisions needed not any thing to relish or season them However it holds forth this great truth that God will be waited upon for the giving out of his Blessings Evening and Morning to whose leisure and pleasure all mortals ought to give attendance The Fifth Remark is But above all the glory of God's gracious goodness was mostly manifested in bestowing Manna upon such murmurers to be their Spiritual as well as Corporal food 'T is said the Glory of the Lord appeared upon the Cloud in the great wants of Israel's provision v. 7 and 10. This extraordinary appearance of God's presence did quell and quiet their impatient murmurings denoting to us that nothing but the fresh Appearances of the glory of the Grace of Christ can suppress the inordinate perturbations of a distressed Church and of a disturbed Soul more especially when Christ comes with a promise to give hidden Manna and the new Name c. Rev. 2.17 The Sixth Remark is That such a Race of Rebels should be relieved with such dainty diet as Manna was which signifies Hebrew a prepared portion without Man's labour sent from Heaven to Israel on Earth without their asking it able to please every Man's palate and to give a grateful gust to every ones taste as is said Wisd 16.20 21. And Josephus saith he who had it was so contented and delighted with it as never to desire any other Meat 't is call'd Angel's Food Psal 78.25 not because the Angels do daily feed upon it but because it was both made and Ministred by the Ministry of Angels and that Phrase sets forth the excellency of it as the Tongue of Angels signifies an Eloquent Tongue yet this excellent Bread is not only offered to them without asking but 't is also bestowed upon them without their seeking or purchasing it or labouring for it all they had to do was to go forth and gather it which was all the Imploy they had in the Wilderness at this time And what could the great God have done more for his People having now no other calling This was very near his raining it into their laps or into their mouths when he rain'd down this Corn of Heaven at their Tent doors The seventh Remark is Tho' the proudest Prince in his greatest Grandeur was never served in such Pomp and with such Dainties yet must Israel learn three Lessons 1. That God's gift must not justle out Man's labour they must gather it ver 16. 2. That they shall have
Corn. Thirdly 'T is likened to Wafer-Cakes made of Honey v. 31. to shew the sweetness of its taste Fourthly 'T is compared to fresh Oyl Numb 11.7 for such was its savour when dress'd tho' before its dressing or baking it tasted like sweet Wafers and Fifthly it was like Bdellium Numb 11.7 a transparent Gumm for colour but the Talmudists will have it the white Precious Pearl No wonder then if such Rich and unparallel'd food as precious Pearl was call'd the food of Angels so delicate as might not unbecome Angels to eat if they did eat any at all such as Poets feign their Nectar and Ambrosia was to their Dunghil Gods and as the Jews say it had Saporem omnimodum a particular taste to please every palate yet those murmuring miscreants loath'd it complaining that they were dryed up with it preferring Garlick and Onions before it The Fifteenth Remark is As those that laboured hard upon the sixth day to gather a double quantity of Manna were well provided with what to eat upon the Sabbath-day So all such as do labour hard in Christ in this life while God giveth time to work shall have in the life to come the fruition of their labours with an eternal Sabbath of Rest in Heaven John 6.27 29 58. Gal. 6.7 10. Revel 14.13 Heb. 4.3 4 9 c. This present Life and World is the time and place of working the Life and World to come is the time and place of receiving wages and reward for our work 2 Cor. 5.10 c. If we have gathered no Manna before it will then be too late to seek for it Mat. 25.8 9 10. The Sixteenth Remark is Monuments and Memorials of God's great Mercies are to be erected that the loving kindness of God may be kept in everlasting Remembrance Hence was it commanded here fill an Omer with this Manna put it into a Golden Pot to be kept for the use of succeeding Ages in the Most Holy places v. 32 33 34. Heb. 9.4 lest it should fare with them as it frequently fareth with Children Bread eaten is as soon forgotten Thus Christ Commanded that when he had fed the Multitude with a few Loaves c. the remainder of the broken bread c. might be reserved in baskets that such a signal and singular miracle of mercy might be preserved in a thankful remembrance How much more worthy to be remembred was this unparallel'd Miracle of Mercy wherein Christ sed so many hundred thousand with such dainty diet as was Manna which had such a nourishing vertue above other food in it that where sin hindred not it would draw out a Man's Life rather to an Angelical than to an Humane Duration Thus it kept Moses and Caleb in a continual equality of Strength and Health Deut. 34.7 and Josh 14.11 And that Christ fed them herewith full Forty Years till they came to the Corn of Canaan Josh 5.12 Teaching us two great Truths 1. We shall need Ordinances till we come to Heaven And 2. Where God grants ordinary means there extraordinary Miracles are not to be expected 't is Tempting God But the grand Reason why this Omer of Manna was kept in a Golden Pot was because it was a most pregnant Type of our blessed Messiah as He himself affirmeth Joh. 6.33 48 49 50 51 c. and this is farther Asserted by the great Apostle 1 Cor. 10.3 4 c. N.B. 'T is call'd Angels Food not by way of Position but of Supposition for Angels being Spiritual Substances need no Food at all nor do they eat any unless when they take upon them Humane Shapes as Gen. 18.8 and 19.3 c. but suppose they were to be nourished as Men are they needed not any other dainty Diet than this Manna that came from the Habitation of Angels in whose Name it is commended There is much Congruity betwixt the Type Manna and the Antitype the Messiah yet some Disparity also First Of the Congruity which brancheth it self out in these Particulars 1st In the Causes of sending this Manna which was 1. The Moving Cause God's Compassion to his People when almost famish'd in the Wilderness So God loved the World in sending Christ to nourish Hungry Souls Joh. 3.16 2. The Final Cause of giving Manna was to prove Israel ver 4. Whether his Favours would work them to Obedience unto his Law Thus the Lord trieth the World whether they will receive the Law of his Son to wit the Gospel which Reprobates reject Luk. 7.30 2ly In it's Qualities which are many As 1. Both came from above 2. As Manna descended in the Dew so Christ the Bread of Life comes down in the dew of God's Word Deut. 32.2 Rom. 1.16 17. and 10.8 14. Gal. 3.1 2. Psal 110.3 Falling like dew upon mowen Grass Psal 72.3 The dew that water'd Paradise Gen. 2.6 3ly Israel knew not what Manna was having dew both under it and above it so lying clean betwixt two coverings and appear'd not till the Dew vanish'd ver 14. Thus Christ is an unknown Mystery wrap'd up in Types and Figures the Holy Child Jesus in Swadling Bands yet is God manifest in the Flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 when those shadows wherewith he was wrapped are done away 4ly Manna was but a very small thing like Coriander-seed yet had it a great and most Soveraign Vertue in it for preserving of Health so that there was not one feeble Person among that vast Host Psal 105.37 Thus though Christ came under a small figure in the form of a Servant c. yet is he of such a powerful Efficacy as to begin and beget being the Bread of Life Joh. 6.48 all Spiritual Life in us and not only so but also to uphold and maintain it yea and to nourish us up to Eternal Life ver 68. 5. Manna is said to have all sorts of good Tastes in it pleasing every Palate of them that made a right use of it So hath Christ to all given unto him whether Jew or Gentile Barbarian Scythian Male or Female Bond or Free Gal. 3.28 All are one to him and he all and one to them Col. 3.11 6. As Manna was sweet as Hony Glorious as Bdellium that shining Pearl and wholesome as Oil that makes the Face to shine so and much more than so is Christ to all his Redeemed 7. As this Manna was ground in the Mill beaten in a Mortar boil'd in a Pot or baked in an Oven So was Christ beaten and bruised for us Isa 53.4 5. The Heat of God's Justice was upon him c. 8. As Manna fell every Day and that with the Dew which was extraordinary in this respect for all Dews naturally fall at the Evening but this fell in the Morning so Christ is the Morning Dew Psal 110.3 That falls daily promising to be with his Church to the Worlds end Math. 28.20 in the dew of Grace and Spirit 3ly The Congruity holds in the Circumstances of gathering it As 1. The Time when it must be gather'd in
them with new Dangers and Distresses to teach them their daily Dependency upon their God and Guide for new Deliverances These were twofold First Their Distress by Thirst And Secondly Their Danger by Amalek In the Description of the First is declared 1. Their Malady 2. Their Murmuring at the Malady 3. The Remedy begg'd of God by Moses and granted by the Lord. 4. The Manner of it's Performance c. ver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. The Remarks upon the first Distress are as follow First No Distress comes upon God's Church and Children by Chance but by a Dispensation of Divine Providence God leads us out as well as into Trouble They came to Rephidim after they had been at Dophkah and Alush Numb 33 12 14. where nothing notable happened and therefore omitted here by Moses by the conduct and command of Christ in the Cloudy Pillar Exod. 17.1 where they met with this Distress by Thirst yet the same God and Guide that brought them into this Danger did in the Issue deliver them out of it with great Satisfaction and Delight Oh how good it is to follow God blindfold as Abraham did Heb. 11.8 who after he hath nurtered and chastized his Children will certainly do them good at the latter end Deut. 8.2 5 16. If we be good Children we shall be better for being beaten 't is accounted as an high favour Job 7.17.18 and 14.3 Heb. 12.7 8. and Jeremy praies for it Jer. 10.24 and they are pronounced Happy whom the Lord chasteneth Psal 94.12 13. and it will make us gather together under the Wing of a frowning Father who assuredly will set the Flint abroach as he doth here and Rain Corn from Heaven rather than they shall Pine and Perish The Second Remark is The Wilderness of this lower World is full of Woes wants and weaknesses We are ever wanting something or other being made up of wants and peculiar Indigencies as the Church in the Wilderness here one while she wanted Bread and when she had got Bread rain'd down from Heaven then wants she Water to spring up out of the Earth And as Thirst is a more eager Appetite than Hunger so are they more eager and earnest in their murmurings at Moses for want of Water than they had been before for want of Bread ver 2 3. we will ever want something till we come to Heaven c. The Third Remark is To call upon God in a day of Distress is the best and most blessed expedient for deliverance from it Psal 50.15 and 34.6 c. Moses was here in danger of being stoned by the Mutinous Multitude whose Bellies had no Ears to his Words of Wisdom He therefore betakes himself to a Prayer-hearing God who can still the Tumults of the People Psal 65.7 and finds redress here ver 3 4 5. Prayer was Moses's usual Refuge in the like Trouble Exod. 14.15 and 15.25 Numb 11.10 11. and 14 10. c. The Lord at his Prayer Pardons the Peoples murmurings who expected that from Man which only God could give yet testifies his just displeasure by denying them the Priviledge of beholding the Miracle of Broaching the Rock whereof by their distrust and outrage they were unworthy The Fourth Remark is the miraculous Remedy to their murmuring Malady which containeth in it a great bundle of Wonders As 1. This Rock in Horeb which signifieth Dryness was the very Place which God had given to Moses as a second sign for the fuller and further Confirmation of His Faith in God's Promise that of the burning Bush at the present was the first and this of serving God at Horeb whither the Lord had now brought them for the future doubled the Token Exod. 3.1 3 12. 2. To fetch fire out of this Rock in Horeb a dry Substance had not been so miraculous 't is common to fetch Fire out of a Flint c. as to set it abroach and bring Water out of it This was a Work of Omnipotency and oft celebrated in Scripture Psal 78.15 and 114.8 and 105.41 Deut. 8.15 Neh. 9.15 to the Praise or the Omnipotent God 3. This Rock must be smitten with Moses Rod which Organ or Instrument God had no need of but could have broached the Rock without any such means Yet was it his pleasure to use that Rod not only to convince those Israelites who as Rab. Solomon saith thought Moses's Rod had a power to bring in Plagues only as it did upon Egypt but no blessings to Israel whereas dividing the Waters of the Red Sea by this Rod was a great blessing to them and so was this fetching a River of Water by it out of a dry Rock whereby they were cooled and comforted in their weariness and wandrings when they were ready to perish by Thirst but also because of the Mystical signification of this Rod smiting the Rock to be mentioned afterwards 4. The Lord in the Pillar of Glory must stand upon the Rock which if he had not done ver 6. Moses's Rod had smitten it in vain Means must be used but God must be only depended on for success It 's he alone that turned the Flint into a Fountain 5. This is a wonder of wonders that the same person who stood upon the Rock in the Pillar the badge of his presence should be likewise the Rock it self this is expresly asserted by the Apostle that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 namely in the same sense That the Bread in the Lord's Supper is the Body of Christ being a sign which by Divine Institution doth signifie Christ as this Rock did prefigure him to be shewn in the sequel 6. That a River should flow out of this Rock to follow them till their fortyeth year through the VVilderness This also the Apostle affirms 1 Cor. 10 4. that is the River out of the Rock went along with them not the Rock it self wherein the New Testament supplies the History of the Old with some circumstances not recorded there by Divine Inspiration as the names of Jannes and Jambres c. This must be supposed otherwise how can we imagine that the Israelites were supplied with VVater all the forty years this at Rephidim being their first year And we read of no fresh supply of VVater they had till they came to Kadesh Barnea Numb 20.7 8. which was about 40 years after this The like Miracle to this was then wrought at which time 't is probable God caused that River to cease running for a new Tryal of them as afterward he caused Manna to cease falling being appointed only a supply to present necessity 7. 'T is a wonderful work of the free Grace and Mercy of God that the Lord should thus wait with supplies of VVater and Manna for forty years when their Impatience under pressures and penury so transported them into such provokings of God by distrusting his Promises by reproaching his Providence and by discontentedly demanding Is the Lord among us ver 7. as if that could not be and they
gave to David a Model drawn in writing for the building of the Temple 1 Chron. 28.19 which either God himself wrote down as he did the two Tables of the Law and sent it to David by an Angel or some Prophet as 2 Chron. 29.25 or David himself wrote it down by Divine Direction for he was a man of God so call'd 2 Chron. 8.14 and what he doth herein he did as he was Inspired by the Spirit of God 1 Chron. 28.12 Now the Apostle Heb. 8.5 referreth this Model shewn to Moses in the Mount not only to the design of the Fabrick the Tabernacle but also to the sense and signification perfectly correspondent to the Arche-Type or first Pattern of Heavenly things So all this glorious Furniture of the Tabernacle was not for worldly Pomp but for spiritual mystery of coelestial Graces which should be enjoyed by Christ all shadowed out to the Faith of Israel in their Sanctuary Services Nor might Moses alter any thing from the Model either in matter or form Nor may we any Divine Institution with our Humane Invention that Tool polishes not but pollutes Exod. 20.25 The Tenth Remark upon this 12th Station at Sinai is the Idolatry of Israel in Moses's absence Exod. 32. Their sin is described First By the causes or occasions of it 1. The remote cause was Moses's tarrying so long as forty days and nights in the Cloud out of Israel's sight Moses could not tell the People the time of his Return as Rabbi Solomon saith for it was unknown to himself how long he should tarry Some say that the People thought either the Fire had consumed him at his entrance into the Cloud or that God had taken him into Heaven as he had done Enoch and Elijah afterward or had conveyed him to some other place because he staid so long from them or that he was some way or other certainly dead for want of their Manna and Water so many days We know not what is say they become of the Man Ver. 1. wherein they shew both great Contempt of their Mediator and Saviour in not vouchsafing him his name but scornfully calling him The Man whom on this side Idolatry they could not have too much veneration for And likewise their gross Infidelity is bewrayed hereby that tho' they had daily experience how the Lord fed to vast a multitude with Manna c. yet could not conceive how a single Person Moses should be preserved alive forty days in the Cloud with God without fetching any supplies of food from the Camp But the causa proxima of this heinous sin was the Phrenzy of the People who Rebelled against the Light Job 24.13 became vain in their Imaginations having their foolish hearts darkened c. were as meer mad-men in their actings Rom. 1.22 23. They were mad upon their Idols Jer. 50.38 Such a deep Tincture of Idolatry they had contracted by conversing so long with Idolaters in Egypt that tho' God had Aired them so many days now in the Wilderness yet were they not still sweetened and cleansed from that stinking sin Beside they saw the Cloud fixed upon Mount Sinai and from thence thought it would guide them no more therefore must they madly have a stirring God of their own making and at their own disposal one that would march when and whither they listed and especially one that might make them welcome to Egypt an Egyptian Idol in their Returning thither as after they designed Numb 14. Acts 7. v. 39 40. Secondly Their Idolatry is described by the sinful Circumstances of the Action preparatory thereunto As 1. The People propound to Aaron to make them Gods 2. Aaron's sinful complyance in directing them a method how to accomplish their wicked Design ver 2. 3. Hereupon the People bring their Jewels of Gold ver 3. And 4. Aaron makes the Golden Calf of those materials ver 4. Then follows Thirdly The description of the Idolatrous fact it self Wherein 1. Aaron sets up the Calf to be worshipped 2. Erects an Altar before it 3. Proclaims an holy Day or solemn Feast ver 4 5. 4. The People worship their new Idol and celebrate their new Festival both with Sacrifices and with Dances ver 6. From these two high and heinous pieces of wickedness both in the preparation and the performance of this gross Impiety Observe 1. The great danger of Non-residence in those Persons that have the Charge of a People both Magistrates and Ministers Seeing the People here take an occasion to commit so great a sin in Moses's absence from them but forty days who had a Divine Warrant for his present withdrawment and all that time was negotiating with the Lord for an Instituted Worship to bring Israel yet in the mean time they without all Warrant invent a wicked Worship of their own This shews how necessary it is to attend our Charge if God dispense not Observe 2. The monstrous levity and fickleness of this People who had newly heard the Lord with his own Voice thunder out the Moral Law to them The first Precept whereof did directly prohibit making other Gods before him and to which they had newly two several times promised their Obedience Exod. 19.8 and 24.7 yet now they must have Gods made with hands at the same time that the Mount burned with Fire The terrour of which sight alone might have restrained them from their sin of making and worshipping a Calf seeing the signs of God's presence as consuming Fire was still before their Eyes Deut. 9.15 had they not been mad upon their Idols Jer. 50.38 And while the Cloudy Pillar the evident sign of God's presence remained with them for it was not now withdrawn as some say seeing it is expresly affirmed that the Cloud did not leave them either night or day for forty years till they came to Canaan Exod 13.22 and then the Manna ceased also Josh 5.12 which Manna they had now falling daily for their food yet so soon they forgot God the giver of it turning his Glory into the similitude of a Calf c. Psal 106.19 20 21. as if they had been no better than the blockish Pagans who changed the glory of the incorruptible God into Images made like to corruptible Men Birds Beasts c. Rom. 1.23 Some do wonder that this People who had God so nigh them as no other Nation in the World had Deut. 4.7 did not rather desire the Image of a Cherub or Angel rather than of a Calf But they were so besotted with that Idolatry they had seen among the Egyptians who as some say had the Devil appearing to them once in a year in the likeness of a pied Bullock and used to go before them to their chief City Memphis whom the Egyptians followed after playing upon Harps and other Instruments c. Therefore the Idol of Egypt they constantly worshipped was a pied Bull or Bullock and Israel in Emulation and Imitation of these Egyptians desired a stirring God a walking Calf that might
things to come than what was past For this second month Passover could not look backward respecting Israel's Deliverance from Egypt which was the appointed signification of the first month Passover because it miss'd that very famous night no less than a whole month therefore must it rather look forward as it was in it self a month forward and have respect to the future Oblation of Christ who is our Paschal Lamb Passover sacrificed for us in whom we keep the Feast in Spirit and Truth 1 Cor. 5.7 8. And those in a Journey afar of that could not keep the first Passover yet were admitted to the second Numb 9.10 11. may well represent us Gentiles who were unclean even dead in trespasses and sins and afar off also Ephes 2.1 13. yet should be made nigh by the blood of Christ v. 14. and be admitted to become partakers of that second namely the great Gospel-Passover who now is sacrificed for us and of whom we partake often And we may learn from this Divine Allowance in case of lawful Letts as here and 2 Chron. 30.2 that God in some cases is so gracious as to prefer Mercy to us before Sacrifice to himself for we have far more need of that than he hath of this Yet ought not this Divine Allowance to be stretched too far to a Male-improvement for this indulg'd People had a month granted them but no more and if they kept it not the first or second month then they must forbear the keeping of it till the return of the year But this may far more be questioned where Israel had their Meal for unleavened Bread seeing they had only Manna Answer 1. Some think for want of Meal they kept both those Passovers with Manna They kept no more but this till they came to Canaan Josh 5.10 2. Others say That at Sinai they were not far from Midian from whence they might be furnish'd with Meal so much as might serve this time by Jethro's means 3. Tho' a little piece of unleavened Bread might serve them with the Paschal Lamb the rest be supplied with Manna yet their other Sacrifices requir'd Meal too which might be made of Manna call'd the Corn of Heaven Psal 78.24 whereby all was furnished The 15th Remark upon this 12th Station is the floning of the Blasphemer recorded Levit. 24.10 11 c. wherein these particulars are duly to be pondered 1. The Person ver 10.2 The occasion his quarrelling with an Israelite ver 10.3 His heinous Action he blasphemed and cursed ver 11.4 His heavy passion and suffering for his sin For 1. He was apprehended 2. Imprisoned ver 11.12.3 Condemned by God ver 13 14. And 4. Stoned by the People ver 23. First His Person he is said to be the Son of an Egyptian by an Israelitish Woman His Father was one of that mixed multitude which came out of Egypt with Israel Exod. 12.38 whom this Woman married as many other Women then married Egyptian Men to decline their Rage and Fury for at that time the Law prohibiting Marriages with the Heathen was not given them and some charitably say he was a seeming Proselyte 't is more probable that as his Mother taught him to speak so his Father tanght this his Son to blaspheme Her name is Shalomith which signifies speking peaceably here partus non sequitur ventrem the birth did not follow the belly for her Son learnt not of her either to speak or to act peaceably Secondly The Occasion he was of a quarrelsom boisterous and passionate Temper which demonstrates the danger of mixed Marriages For Children like the conclusion of a Syllogism follow the worser part Lyranus saith He was drunk but then must it be with Water for they had no other drink there Rab. Solomon saith The arose about the Shew-bread or about pitching his Tent among the Tribe of Dan But his Father being a stranger could be concerned in neither These are but uncertain conjectures where God hath not a Mouth to speak Man must not have a Tongue to ask This is an holy Nescience Thirdly His heinous Action he both blasphemed and cursed In the heat and height of contention whan will not graceless cholerick persons both say and do If this Man was drunk it was with Choler and Phrenzy which made him belch forth Blasphemies and horrid Execrations out of his black mouth and blacker Gypsie hearr 1. He blasphemed Nakab Hebr. signifies perforare to bore thorough Thus Blasphemers do pierce and strike through the sacred and tremendous Name of God Such Diabolical wretches would both bore his Name and gore his Person if they could 2. He cursed Kalal Hebr. signifies leviter de aliquo loqui to vilifie and scoff at Thus he set at naught the God of Israel against whom it seems his quarrel was saith Jerome more than against that Israelite he quarrell'd with Thus he like those three unnatural Sons that tryed their Archery which could shoot nighest their Father's heart shot his Arrows at God and cursed himself Cursing men are cursed men such Dogs come not into Heaven by barking 1 Cor. 6 9 c. Rev. 22.15 Fourthly The circumstances of his Suffering As 1. He was apprehended as a grand Malefactor even against God himself impeaching the Divine Honour by blasphemy and cursing out of a deep Intestine Malignity 2. This capital Offender is haled away to Moses the chief Magistrate who soon committed him to custody and probably confin'd him with Chains or Fetters for 't is improbable there could properly be any strong Prisons in the Wilderness where they lived only in Tents tho' Moses might hive put him to death by vertue of that Law against cursing Father c. Exod. 21.17 but the Crime being very heinous against God himself as he used to do in other arduous cases so in this he consults with God for a condign punishment 3. God the Judge of all the Earth denounces his Doom He shall be stoned a punishment answerable to his stony heart Nor could it at all excuse him that he had been provoked greatly by others If Michael durst not bring any Railing Speeches against the Devil lude ver 9. how much more must mortal Men tremble to speak blasphemously against the great God! Let those that teach their Tongues to lye swear curse and blaspheme by a daily custom consider this severe Sentence of God and what danger hangeth over their heads every day 4. The People stone him For 1. It was a common quarrel to vindicate the contempt cast upon their common Benefactor from whom they had their Being and Well-Being 2. That by executing this severity they might be caution'd from committing the like abominable Crime Thus the Reason is render'd That all Israel may fear Deut. 13.11 And 3. This was a means to pacifie God by putting away that evil both person and thing from among them whereas his Anger would have been incensed against them had they permitted the Blasphemer to pass unpunished And whereas
Sallet out of Naboth's Vineyard 1 King 21.4 c. No better was it with those murmuring Male-contents here who though they had Manna though Wheat of Heaven and Food of Angels yet because lightly come by it was lightly set by they accounted it a light Meat loathed it though it was both a Corporal and a Spiritual Food to them as it was a figure of Christ and so their Loathing of Manna and longing for the Meat of Egypt prefigured their rejecting of Christ and their relying for nourishment upon the Righteousness of man Gal. 3.3 10. and 4.9 Yea their Sin was not in Secret only but they as it were proclaimed openly their Iniquity in running to Moses's Tent-Door as Mutineers do to their General 's Tent and by weeping and howling stirr'd up themselves and one another to follow their Lusts This fretting Leprosie their Sin was generally spread over all the People ver 10. by which it appeareth that God chose this untoward Generation not for their Merits Sed ex mirâ merâ misericordiâ He chose them for his Love and loved them for his Choice Observe 3. God heard and saw all their sinful Postures and Practices ver 18. therefore bids them prepare themselves for the Day of Slaughter as Jer. 12.3 so ver 20. here intimates or sanctifie your selves for a Coelestial Banquet by Repentance for your Sins Otherwise you shall have Flesh but with a Vengeance which ye shall eat on Earth but digest in Hell Plenty of Quails an exceeding fat Fowl and Food for Princes is brought miraculously and so plentifully that each Family had ten Homers or ten Ass Loads as some say to satisfie them for a whole Month. All which Time they fed their Lusts with Pleasure and without fear Jude ver 12. Though the Lord had threatned to punish them with nauseating and filthy Vomits A violent Wind miraculously brings them ver 31. Psal 78.26 God rained Flesh upon them as Dust and feathered Fowl as the Sand of the Sea ver 27. N.B. They lay in circuit and compass about the Camp a Day 's Journey Numb 11.31 32. so that the gathering of them lasted all that Time for as in their coming in Droves so in their keeping sweet so long there was an extraordinary Providence of God but at the Month's end for so long God promis'd to feed them with Flesh a dreadful Plague falls foul upon them ver 33 34. which is thought to be that burning Vengeance ver 3. where their Sin is set down in the General and their Plague in particular Thus Deus dat Iratus quod negat propitius God grants Mens desires in Wrath Hos 13.11 yet denies in Mercy sometimes 2 Cor. 12.9 That which here they are was sawced and that which they drank was spiced with the bitter Wrath of God Job 20.23 Psal 78 30.31 Deut. 9.22 1 Cor. 10.6 The Fourteenth Station of Israel in the Wilderness was Hazeroth Numb 33.17 removing from Kibroth Hattavah a new Name those Murmurers by an hasty Testament gave to the Place they lay buried in which signifies the Graves of the Lusters from whence it is plainly implied that the Innocent in not Lusting and Murmuring received no damage by that Plague then they marched to this Place where it is expresly said They were that is they abode or continued there some time Numb 11.35 as the like Phrase bears the same Sense Dan. 1.21 and Ruth 1.2 They were that is they continued there And the Cause of Israel's Continuance at Hazeroth was a new Impediment and Trouble which Moses's Sister and Brother Miriam and Aaron raised against him for exercising a chief Magistracy which is particularly related Numb 12. per totum and ver 15. 'T is expresly said that the People Journeyed not till Miriam was cured and recovered of her Leprosie which was seven Days The Remarks upon this Fourteenth Station are as followeth The First is Here arose another Murmuring against Moses whom His extraordinary endowments and highest Communion with God could not secure from Calumnies far worse than the former Numb 11. for that Sin of Lust which occasion'd it began among the baser sort ver 4. but this Sin of Ambition and Vain Glory began among the chiefest of the Church for those three Moses Aaron and Miriam were the principal Guides whom God sent before his People Mic. 6.4 Here was a Sister a Prophetess Exod. 15.20 and a Brother the High Priest both near Relations against their Brother a Prophet and chief Magistrate Nothing can secure a Man from offensive Exceptions as Satan prevailed first with Eve then by her with Adam so here first with Miriam and then by her with Aaron What is said by the Apostie the Woman was first in the Transgression 1 Tim. 3.14 holds true in this Instance also Miriam is set first before Aaron Numb 12.1 because chief in the Transgression and began the quarrel as principal Author of the Sin which more plainly appeareth in the Original that may thus be read Miriam she spake Therefore she not Aaron was plagued with Leprosie ver 10. Her discontent might arise from this that she being a Prophetess was not chosen one of those Seventy that were to be Helps in Government Numb 11. Miriam Hebrew signifies Exalted and according to her Name she might be ambitious of Exaltation Ambition and Vain-Glory would ride without Reins Nec bic parem nec ille Superiorem serebat as was said of Pompey and Caesar the one could not bear an Equal or die other a Superiour The Second Remark is the occasion of this quarrelsome Obtrectation was Moses's Marrying Zipporah whom they call an Aethiopian but falsly for she was of Midian the Son of Abraham the Son of Shem Gen. 25.1 2. Whereas Cush Hebr. for Aethiopia was the Son of cursed Cham. Gen. 10.6 Beside Zipporah having now subjected her self to the Law of God and become a Proselyte to the Church she should have been reputed an Israelite as well as Rahab and Ruth but what will not Tongues tip'd with Envy and Emulation say in way of Reproach This was an old fault if any for be had been married to her many Years before and therefore should have been buried in the Grave of Oblivion But they were resolved right or wrong to pick an hole in Moses's Goat The offence likely lay mostly betwixt the two Women for Zipporah as is probably Thought might as the Wife so honourable an Husband take too much honour to her self and give too little respect to Miriam who looked for much because she was a Prophetess therefore she hooks in Aaron to side with her pretending Zeal for Religion they would have Moses to put away Zipphorah because not of the stock of Israel and because she had hindred him from Circumcising his Son Exod. 4.24 25 26. and Marry some Israelitish Woman However 't is the Character of ungodly Persons to dig up an old Evil Prov. 16.27 and hereupon to grace themselves they disgrace Moses for this fact and
which came out against them and devoted the Spoils that they took but the payment of their Promise in utterly destroying their Cities was not till long after that they came into their hands as Judg. 1.17 for Arad and its King remained until Joshua's Conquests Josh 12.14 However Moses's Conquest of those Canaanites here gave some glimpse of God's performing his Promise that he would give Israel the Land of Promise Therefore they call'd the place of their Victory Hormah that is Devotement by which name they set up a Memorial both of God's Mercy to them in their Victory and of their own Duty in keeping their Vow afterward The third Remark is A new Impatiency and Murmuring of the People for their turning clean back again in compassing the Land of Edom when they were denied a passage through it Numb 20.18 21. Deut. 2.5 which was the nighest way This they took heinously at the hands both of God and Moses murmuring against both their Souls being grieved that they being now so near to enter into the Land must be turned backward to fetch a new Compass again This new Murmuring displeased the Lord ver 4 5 6. therefore sent he fiery Serpents among them because they also in a fume scorned Manna with a scornful word Hakilokel by doubling the letters they more vehemently vilified that Food of Angels as if it had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitter to be cast to Dogs than to Men. Hakelokel the 72 Rabbi Interpreters who best understood the sense of the word read it in Greek by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inanem vacuum a vain abject empty thing leaving their stomachs empty by its levity tho' they cramb'd themselves with never so much of it looking upon it as of so light a digestion that they felt it not in their hot stomachs in comparison of other meats Thus they despised this Manna as if God were not wise enough for them which was rained down from Heaven Psal 78.23 24. and was also a Spiritual as well as Corporal Food to them a figure of that Heavenly and Hidden Manna wherewith Christ feeds his People unto Eternal Life Rev. 2.17 Joh. 6.48.49 50 51. So the contempt of this was the contempt of Christ and his Grace Thus Belly-Gods loath and leave the Gospel to their own perdition Phil. 3.18 19. This great sin had a great punishment and such a kind of Plague as was peculiar to those Murmurers against the Messiah their God and Guide as it is interpreted 1 Cor. 10.9 as well as against Moses Nor do we read that any such punishment befel any other prevaricatours in any Age or Place The Soul of those Sinners loathed not only their Food God gave them but also their Way that God led them both for the longsomeness and lonesomeness of it and more especially for it's crookedness as if God made them tread a Maze leading them in and out and some time round about and for the many wants and woful troubles that they found therein N.B. Whereas this way into the Land of Promise was a figure of the Way to the Kingdom of Heaven through the Wilderness of this present evil World Gal. 1.6 call'd the Wilderness of Peoples Ezek. 20.35 Into which Kingdom we cannot enter but through much Tribulation Act. 14.22 We must suffer much Persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 because the Gate is strait and the way that leads into it is narrow Mat 7.13 14. and we are to go through Fire and Water Psal 66.12 Therefore need we have more Faith and Patience against humane frailty than those Sinners had lest we know not the ways of the Lord with them Psal 95.10 so err in our Hearts and tempt Christ in the Wilderness as they did and thereby come to be destroyed of Serpents 1 Cor. 10.9 The Fourth Remark is Israel's twisted Sin a Complication both of loathing the way God led them and of Manna wherewith God fed them brings fiery Serpents to twist about the Bodies of those Murmurers and dangerously to sting them c. ver 6. Their new Murmuring brought this new Malady never heard of either before or after Hanechashim Haseraphim fiery Serpents not only so called because they were of a fiery colour but because such as were stung by them burned with extream Heat and Thirst They are now most justly punish'd with burning Serpents who had so much imitated the Virulency of Serpents their Tongues in their Murmurings had been full of deadly Poison and set on Fire from Hell and now are they parched and scorched with venemous Heat and Torments such as were the likest Hell of any other As those ungrateful Israelites had causelesly cryed out of Thirst so now God gave them cause enough to cry for seeing such as were stung were tormented with most vehement Thirst and could not be satisfied though they drank never so largely but were presently as thirsty as before nor could either Nature or the Art of Man cure the bitings of those Serpents which were slying as well as fiery Serpents as some suppose from Isa 14.29 and 30.6 and which made many of the People of Israel to dye N.B. As God's Judgments are inevitable we cannot either avert or avoid them so they are incurable by Man and unbearable also no Man can abide them Though the Wilderness abounded with Serpents Deut. 8.15 yet hitherto God kept them up from hurting Israel till now their Sin set them loose as God saith I will command the Serpent and he shall bite them Amos 9.3 The Fifth Remark is the Marvelous Remedy to this matchless Malady which was removed by manifold Means As 1. By the Penitency of the People ver 7. The Afflictions which God inflicteth upon his People are a blessed Means when sanctified by his Grace to bring them to a sense and sight of their Sins and by an humble acknowledgment of them to seek unto God for redressing the evil of Punishment which the evil of Sin brings upon them When God slew them then they sought him c. Psal 78.34 And in their Affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.14 c. Thus even Heart-hardened Pharaoh was forced to confess his Sin when he lay upon the Rack of the Plagues and to seek Help of God Exod. 9.27 28. The 2 d. Means was by the Prayer of Moses their Minister whom they desired to pray for them And this their desire was rightly placed for their is no hope of the removal of Punishment until there first be a real Repentance for and a cordial Confession of Sin without which Divine Plagues are not only continued but increased Levit. 26.21 23 24 28. Moses then prayed for the People ver 7. His meekness wrought an unmindfulness of all their Injuries done to him and made him ready not only to pardon them but also to pray for them Thus Samuel did in the like Case when Israel rejected him for their Governour who was so prevalent with God as to open
Tyranny of the Midianites They could not thrash a little Bread-Corn for the Sustentation of their Lives but presently the Midianites were upon them to rob them of their necessary Food of their Daily Bread for their Bodies and God knows we have seen of late such a Woful Day wherein we could not Thresh out a little of the Corn of Heaven more precious than our necessary food Job 23.12 but presently the Informers were upon us to take away the Daily-Bread of our Souls By this Fleece it was signify'd that Gideon pray'd herewith that as Midian had long seven years fleeced Israel so he now by the help of his God might be made able to fleece Midian and to spoil the Spoilers N. B. The Poetical fiction of Jason's going with his Argonautes in the Ship Argo his Voyage to Colchos for fetching home the Golden-Fleece might well have its foundation from this Divine History of Gideon's because it was truly Golden as it was made by God the Subject of a double Miracle in its being both wet and dry in two Mornings And this is the more probable seeing Sir Walter Rawleigh maketh this Story contemporary with Gideon's time who wittily descants upon Jasons Enterprize that it was to find out the Philosophers-Stone or rather some Mines of Gold c. so makes it a true History which I rather judge to be some Poet's Fancy grounded upon this Sacred Record because it is so strangely over-ruled to have been done in Gideon's Day Gideon desires of God in the first Sign That the Dew may be on the Fleece only and that spot of ground which encompasseth the Fleece may be altogether dry ver 37. N. B. The Dew here signifies the favour of God the Fleece represented Gideon himself who indeed was a Golden-Fleece to Israel and it may be affirmed beyond a Fable that Israel was the true Jason that found that Golden Fleece when they found Gideon who Redeemed them from Tyranny 't is said ver 38. and it was so though God had said nothing by way of a Verbal Promise that it should be If God perform our Desires when he doth not particularly promise how much more when he binds himself by a promise he abides faithful 2 Tim. 2.13 Psal 89.33 34 35. Rom. 4.21 Gideon rose up early on the Morrow as one longing for a return of his Prayers and not only so but also that he might have a truer tryal of this Experiment in coming to the place where the Fleece was spread abroad in the open Air and exposed to the Wind before the Sun was risen which otherwise might have drawn up this Morning Dew Hos 6.4 and 13.3 and he wringed or squeezed out of the Fleece a bowl full of Water this great quantity of Water did magnifie the Miracle and made the Sign more wonderful for in the common course of Nature it was not possible so much Dew should could fall in so small a compass of ground as one single Fleece of Wooll covered c. Notwithstanding all this Gideon cannot still be fully satisfied but he makes a new Address in the dress of that Lesson he had learnt from Father Abraham Gen. 18.32 Let not the Lord be angry if I tempt thee once more ver 39. The first Miracle sufficeth him not because it is the Nature of Wooll to contract Moisture therefore must he needs have another Miracle quite contrary to the former Let the Fleece be dry and the Ground round about it be wet this was more difficult and preternatural than the first because if any moisture be stirring Wooll above all things is most likely to drink it up N. B. But it may well be supposed that by the ground that surrounded the Fleece Gideon might meah his Army that surrounded and guarded his Person whom he desired might be wet with the Favour of God as with Heavenly Dew as well as himself who was the Wet Fleece in the first Miracle for this double Dew falling both upon the General and upon his Army would double his Confidence in a successful Expedition against the Midianites c. Inquiry Did Gideon sin in asking Signs from God Answer is two-fold The First is Affirmative That he sinned because First He himself suspected some sin in it saying Let not the Lord be Angry and he calls it a Tentation let me prove or tempt thee Secondly He was certain of the Victory before the Battel for God had promised it and he had acknowledged God's Promise thereof ver 36. therefore it was no less than a sin for him still to harbour any doubt of it Answer 2. Is Negative That he sinned not because First He is no where reproved for it nor was God angry with him as he feared but rather was well-pleased with him for his Importunity and readily granted to him his double Request c. Secondly He did not desire this double Sign out of any diffidence in God for now was he full of the Spirit of God ver 34. and had been so animated by the Promise of God as to overthrow the Altar of Baal c. ver 26 27. which was a dangerous and desperate Exploit so it was a clearer Demonstration of Sublime Confidence than of any sordid Diffidence or Distrust in him Thirdly Gideon stands enrolled in that Sacred Register among those Eminent Worthies that were so famous in their Day for their Exercise of a strong Faith Hebr. 11. now had this been any base Diffidence in Gideon it would have been such a blot in his Escutcheon as to have well debarred him from coming with his Name into that Renowned Catalogue therefore 't is most probable he was inspired by the Spirit to do this not only on his own account but that his Soldiers about him might more freely fight under him c. Judges CHAP. VII JUdges the Seventh contains Gideon's famous Fight with the Midianites c. The History of this Battle consists of three parts 1. Antecedents 2. Concomitants And 3. Consequents First The Antecedents of it are the preparation and double purgation God commands Gideon to make and to take in order to it The First Remark upon this first part is Though Gideon's Army which he had prepared for the Battel consisted only of Thirty two Thousand Men and the Host of Midian with their Confederates was made up of an Hundred Thirty and Five Thousand at the least Judg. 8.10 so that they were above four to one odds against Israel Yet God saith to Gideon Thy Men are too many ver 2. This was at the first Purgation they then thought-themselves too few yet God thought them too many his Thoughts being not as ours Isa 55.8 and therefore that Law of Moses every Man that is fearful and faint-hearted let him return home lest his Brethrens heart faint as well as his Deut. 20.8 must be proclaimed in the Ears of this new-raised Army upon which no fewer than Two and Twenty Thousand trips off because they feared that they were too few to grapple
or Queen to her Husband God will surely Plow his own ground whatever become of the wast he may send both those Famines on us and on others Yet after all he will Visit with Bread V. 7. Wherefore she went forth out of the place c. Hence Obser 1. A State of Vanity a Place of Idolatry ought to be gone out of and not rested in Naomi goes out of Moab an Idolatrous Place and People and all Saints are called upon to go out of Babylon a Land of Graven Images Jer. 50 8 38. Isa 52.11 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Rev. 18.4 we should tremble to persist and to live in any Place or State we are afraid to dye in to dye in Sin or in a state of Vanity is worse than to dye in a Ditch or in a Dungeon the latter doth but only endanger the Body in the Life natural but the former endangers both the Soul and Body as to the Life Eternal If this be the place wherein you are then with good Naomi hasten out of it Obser 2. And her two Daughters-in-Law with her is this 'T is very comely and commendable for Mothers and Daughters especially Daughters-in Law to hold a good correspondency together as they did here 't is a very blessed sight to see relations walking hand in hand together all going the right way to wit from Moab to Canaan The very remembrance of David and his Family walking in Troops to the House of God was a sweet comfort to him Psal 42.4 but 't is sad when one goes one way and another another way especially if the way lead to Moab and not to Canaan 't is sad when those of a Man's House are his Enemies Mat. 10.36 And a Man's Foes shall be they of his own houshold 't was a sad time that the Prophet speaks of Micah 7.6 When the Son dishonours the Father Mennabel Hebrew Be-Nabals or Be-knaves him for of Nabal comes Nebulo a Knave this is a Monstrous wickedness Mal. 1.6 and a sure sign Satan hath set his Limbs in that Son that is without natural affection to do so 2 Tim. 3.3 4. which foretells such Sons shall be in the dregs of time the last and worst of days The Daughter riseth up against her own Mother The Daughter in Law against the Mother in Law This happen'd in the Marian days as the Book of Martyrs doth mention some there were so Graceless at that time as to witness against their own Parents and were a means of their martyrdom Those two Daughters of Moab will rise up in Judgment against all such for they were kind to Naomi And they went on the way Hence Obser 3. 'T is the duty of every Soul to make some passage and progress Heaven-ward as they did towards Cannan 't was Naomi's home and Heaven is our Home our Country our Fathers House and Vbi pater ibt omnia a Platonist Plotinus could say and the Penitent Prodigal said better In my Fathers House is Bread enough I will arise and go to my Father c. Luk 15.17 18. though as Naomi we meet with hardship in the way yet Heaven will make amends for all better fare at Home Obser 4. Some sets out sair for Heaven yet goes not far enough to obtain it Orpah set out as fair for Canaan and was as forward as Ruth at first yet fell she short of it by not persisting 'T is the Evening that Crowns the day a fair day should never be praised until night Exitus acta probat The end commends the action The end is better than the beginning Eccles 7.8 He that continueth to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 God loves not lookers back but Thunders against them Heb. 10.26 27 38 39. Remember Lot 's Wife Luk. 17.32 She set out from Sodom with as much seeming Resolution as the rest did yet either out of Curiosity or Covetousness she did but turn her self back and she was turned into a Pillar of Salt Gen. 19.26 to season us and to preserve us from the putrefaction of Apostacy Orpah went out of Moab seemingly resolved V. 8. Naomi said to her two Daughters c. Obser 1. The Woman that feareth the Lord openeth her Mouth with Wisdom Prov. 31.26 her mouth is not always open but duely shut and discreetly opened her tongue did not hang so loose as the Tongue of a Bell which upon the least touch will be tolling no Wisdom opens her Mouth and a tincture of Piety and Charity was upon her Tongue The Jesuits forbid Women to speak of God and his Ways yet do they notoriously nourish their Wantonness Surely the good Women in both Testaments never heard of the Jesuits Doctrine of Devils so called 1 Tim. 4.1 nor bad this good Naomi see what savoury speech proceedeth from her â—o return each to her Mothers house Hence Obser 2. Temptation tries the truth of Affection 'T is true Naomi might say seriously to them Iâ—e Redite Go Return out of her love towards them as she was loth to lead them into an afflicted condition by their living with Her who was now left in most pinching Poverty It grieved her more for their sakes than her own that the hand of the Lord was gone out against her as she says v. 13. she had both Age and Experience that had acquainted her with Afflictions and so could better bear them than they that were young and therefore she thought it best to bear her Affliction by her self alone and not to Involve them into the same also this might be her tender Affection to them but it seems rather a trial of the truth of their Affections to her for hereby the soundness of Ruth's love but the rottenness of Orpah's was discovered v. 14. Orpah thought now she might leave her Mother with Credit because now she might do it with consent Temptation trys what Metal we are of When Satan's Temptations meet with and draws out our own Corruption then and there is our danger The Lord deal kindly with you Hence Obser 3. Parents ought to Pray and to Pray heartily for their Children This she did for them thinking this Motherly Benediction was the most effectual Valediction having neither Gold nor Silver to give them All have Prayer that have Hearts for their Children Oh that Ishmael may live and let Reuben live c. Gen. 17.18 Deut. 33.6 Isa 29.22 23. As ye have dealt with the Dead and with me Those two Daughters of Moab had shewn Conjugal kindness to Mahlon and Chilion Sons of Israel while they lived and gave them an honourable Burial when they died yea and in honour of their dead Husbands they remained Widows in mourning with their Mother-in Law to that time therefore she thus Prays for them Hence Obser 4. 'T is God's usual method of Providence to render like for like either of good or evil This Naomi believed and therefore she thus prayed The Lord be kind to you as ye have been to me and to my Sons your Husbands
way of Divine Wisdom c. 3. This Innobles Man's Nature which was taken up into the God-head till then it was below Angels but hereby it was advanc'd above them 4. Oh what a Consort of Joys was there when the two Mothers met First The Mother of him who was the greatest born of Women and Secondly The Mother of him who was the Baptist's Lord to whom he paid his first homage by springing in his Mother 's Womb. 5. Mary made haste over the Mountains for her burthen was no burthen to her having seen it to teach us Christ's Yoak is easie c. 6. Her joy in Singing Hymns was soon damp'd with just Joseph's intent to put her away to shew our joy here is but Temporal that only in Heaven is Eternal The Third Particular after the Person of whom and time when is the place where Christ was Born One would think that the Maker of the World might have chosen the Grand Cairo of Egypt or the Royal City of Judea or some other stately Place and Palace to be born in No it was not in Jerusalem nor in Nazareth nor in any other Famous City but in a poor Village of Judea call'd Bethlehem one of the least comparatively Mic. 5.2 Nor was Christ born in the bravest House of this little Town but in an Inn nor in the best Room of that House but in a Stable Thus the Son of God was born in a base place though considering his Dignity and Deity the best place in the World has been too base for him Math. 2.1 From this History the first Mystery to be learned is There is an over ruling Providence of God over all the thoughts and ways of Man The great Emperor Augustus must decree that all the World be Taxed and this Decree was so cruel and Tyrannical as not to spare Big-Bellied Womenâ— which occasion'd the Blessed Virgin then great with Child to travel four Miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be Taxed with Joseph As this was a special Providence of God that the Holy Virgin might have with her the Keeper and cover of her Virginity to wit her Husband to prevent the Devil's taking and occasion of raising any false reports about her great Belly So it was no less a sweet providence that Augustus at this juncture must issue forth his harsh Decree which fetcheth Mary out of Nazareth that Christ might be born at Bethlehem The Emperour thought nothing of the Messiah's Birth in these actingâ— no more than Nebuchadnezzar did in another case Isa 10 7. both those Grandees look'd only at proclaiming their own grandeur and uncontroulable Commands to the World However God appoints and disposeth all this to his own end that the Babe of Bethlehem might be born in the place which he had fore ordained and foretold by his Prophet Mic. 5.2 Math. 2.1 5 6. Luke 2.4 5 6. Thus God still over rules the excentrick actings of all Princes to bring forth his own glory and to accomplish his own Decrees and Promises without the least mistake they do God's will while they think to do their own c. The Second Mystery Bethlehem being the place of Christ's Birth signifies in the Hebrew Tongue the House of Bread and Ephrate Mit. 5.2 signifies fruitful or fruit-bearing yea and as some Geographers say that City of David is situated in the very Navel and Centre of the Earth Note well All which do denote to us First That Christ is that Bread of Life which came down from Heaven and Tabernacl'd among us Joh. 6.32 35. and 1.14 Secondly That From him is our fruit found Hos 14.3 and Thirdly He was born in the middle of the Earth because in him all Nations should be blessed The Third Mystery is The Son of God was not born in a place prepared for that purpose as the Porphyro-geniti in Constantinople are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a place of Universal Entertainment as an Inn is all Guests that come from all quarters are bid welcome to an Inn to shew that all commers to Christ have their welcome with him he is ready to receive them all and will in no wise cast them out Joh. 6.37 This was clearly demonstrated not only by the place of his Birth but also by the posture of this Death for he died with his arms spread wide open upon the Cross in a posture ready to embrace all penitent commers to him yea such as come without Mony are wellcome Isa 55.1 The Fourth Mystery is Christ was born in a Hole of the Earth and Under-ground Den as Justin Martyr Epiphanius Eusebius and Origen do jointly testifie the Stable was digg'd out of the ground and Jerom adds in hoc terrae for amine c. In this Cell or Hole was the World's Creator Born Swathed Visited Adorned Circumcised c. His Swadling Cloaths were poor and ragged as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies wherewith he was wrapped and then he was not laid down in a Golden Cradle but in a mean Cratch or Manger all which was done to teach us what an humble Saviour we have that would descend and condescend thus low to make us ascend up on high to procure better places for us both soft Beds and furnish'd Boards c. on Earth and Mansions of Glory in Heaven Oh then murmur not at thy meanness for at thy lowest state 't is better than his was c. The Fifth Mystery is All this did befall Christ as a surety for our sins which shews the heinous guilt thereof Sin is compared to a Curst Dog that lyes at the Door Gen 4.7 No sooner was Christ come into the World but this Bandog Sin caught hold of him stop'd him and strip'd him of his former glory turn'd him into a stinking Stable c. From whence we may know our guiltiness to be such as hath forfeited our interest in all God's favours and that we are less than the least mercy Gen. 32.10 yea unworthy of the worst accommodations either for dwelling or livelyhood c. The Fourth Particular is The manner of Christ's Birth which was 1. in the common and ordinary manner of all Mankind though Christ's Conception was extraordinary and accordingly described in Scripture yet his Birth was no more than ordinary having no other remarks but upon it in Sacred Record but what is on John Baptist's Birth though his Conception hath an higher and a distinct Character 'T is expresly said Luke 2.23 that Christ was born by the opening of the Womb this plainly proves that Mary brought him forth in a Natural way as are others and not Vtero Clauso without opening it Passing through her by a Miracle as the Romaâ—â—â—â—s foolishly fancy the better to prove their fiction of Transubstantiation Oh how 〈◊〉 did Christ stoop herein to be Born as we were 〈◊〉 that we might be Born again was he contented with the pains of a Natural Birth Oh how should we love him and submit to the pains of the Spiritual Birth As
Peter as Prince of the Apostles to detect the folly of Rome in her fictitious Primacy but with him for this was in the Desart of Bethsaida which was Philip's City John 1.44 and he consulted with all his Disciples say Mat. 14.15 16 17. Mark 6.35 36 37. and Luke 9.12 thus what is omitted by one Evangelist is commonly supplied by another both was done successively one after another Christ did this to discover the Diffidence of his Disciples as well as to commend to them the use of ordinary means under an ordinary Call having as yet more Dross than good Oar in them speaking here like meer carnal men though Christ was resolved in himself notwithstanding this Consult to work this Miracle which teacheth Though we be oft at a Non-plus under the failure of means yet Christ is never Non-plust but knows what he hath to do John 6.6 The 2d Circumstance is Christ commanded the multitude to sit down upon the Grass which now at the Passover was well grown by fifties and by hundreds Mark 6.39 40. and Luke 9.14 that is Rank by Rank that the number of them might be more manifest and that an orderly Distribution might be the better manag'd Christ will have all matters in his Church manag'd in Decency and Order 1 Cor. 14.40 The 3d Circumstance is He took the five Loaves and the two Fishes because he took care to feed the multitude not by creating new Loaves which he could have done to confute Arrians but by multiplying the few Loaves which was equivalent for his giving them Bread and Fish did declare him to be Lord of Sea and Land and to make much of a little required no less than Omnipotency The 4th Circumstance is He looked up to Heaven which he did not when he was doing greater works than this as in Raising the dead casting out Devils and subduing the stormy Sea c. yet lifts he up his Eyes in this lesser work not because he could not otherwise do it but as in the case of Lazarus John 11.41 in healing the Deaf and Dumb Mark 7.34 to shew that he came from the Father and acted all by him and nothing contrary to him Sometimes he looked not up in his acting as one equal with the Father and sometimes he doth look up acknowledging his Father greater than he as Man John 14.28 but especially it was to teach us not to cat Meat before we look up to God for his blessing 'T is said Rom. 14.6 He that giveth God thanks eateth to the Lord then he that gives not thanks at eating eateth to the Devil The 5th Circumstance is He blessed and brake c He did not only give thanks to God for what was present John 6.11 but also but his blessing upon the Bread c. to make it abundant provision Psal 132.15 as well as implored the Father's Blessing upon it Had not the Bread been broken as well as blest it had not been multiplied Fragments succeed fragments both in the hands of the Servitors and in the mouths of the Eaters Christ opened his hand and filled them all Psal 104.28 and 145.15 The five Loaves by a strange kind of Arithmetick were multiplied by division and their augmenting Addition was made by a singular Substraction so that there was enough for 5000 men by his Divine operation The 6th Circumstance is When Christ had broken the Bread he gave it to his Disciples c. both that a Decorum's and due order may be duly observed in the Church by the Ministry and that they might be more certain Witnesses of the Truth of this Miracle as also that by them as Ministers this Miracle might be wrought whereby he after a sort transferred the Glory of it from himself to them they fed five thousand and upward to the full c. The 9th Remark is Christ's Ministers shall lose nothing by distributing their little in feeding the People The Disciples here grudged not of their own little to give others some therefore did it grow in their hands as the Widows Oil did in her Cruise as it did in the hands of the Eaters also who could not but expect a Miracle otherwise they would not have sit down so silently at Christ's command and the Disciples here after above five thousand had been fed with their five Loaves do take up twelve Baskets full which was a great deal more than they had laid down nothing was ever lost by liberality especially of this nature Christ bid his Disciples Take up the fragments that nothing may be lost John 6.12 He would have us Thrifty but not Niggardly wilful waste bring woful want The Disciples do so and have one Basket full for each of them If we consider how few were the Loaves and how many were they that fed upon them we may wonder they left any thing and if we consider how there were twelve Baskets full of fragments left we may wonder also that they are any thing Christ taketh care to fill his Ministers Baskets that they may feed others if not with Temporals yet with Spirituals Baskets be but base things yet God uses them to confound the World The Remainder here was more than Moses's Manna Exod. 16.18 or Elias's Meal 1 King 17.16 or that of Elisha 2 Kings 4.44 and signified the Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles being the Remainder of Christ's should feed and fill all Lands Now follows the second grand Miracle of Christ's walking upon the Waters c. which was thus occasioned This five thousand whom he had fed with five Loaves c. had so much Devotion to Christ for so feeding them that they unanimously concluded to cry him up for their King c. John 6.14.15 They could not imagine him the Messias that had not an earthly Kingdom therefore would they force this honour upon him Thus Superstition doth to Christ at this day it will needs obtrude seeming honours upon him whether he will or no though the Word call it no better than Will-worship But this Tumultuous Acting Christ knowing their thoughts did prevent by conveying his Disciples into a Ship and himself into that Mountain where he had been before John 6.3 Matth. 14.23 that he might decline the Tumult for he saith My Kingdom is not of this World John 18.36 N. B. Note well Christ is received in a Regal capacity where the everlasting Doors of the Soul are set open to receive this King of Glory Psal 24.7 that he may Rule in the heart by Faith Eph. 3.17 c. This multitude minded not his Spiritual Kingdom was all for a Carnal Kingdom wherein they might eat and drink with their King c. as they had done in the Miracle and after followed him for Loaves more than for Love Hereupon he avoids them departing all alone into that Mountain where his Disciples had been with him before and had not Christ commanded them to take Ship they had much fail'd of their duty to leave their Lord alone behind them He
the Gaergasens above-said or the former is the name of the City standing upon that lake and the latter is the name of that Country Upon which be these Remarks The 1st Remark is Christ crossed the Country to and fro passing here through Reuben's Lot into the Lot of Manasseh then through Gad's Lot into that of Dan Mark 8.27 That He might not seem to omit his Visits to all the Tribes of Israel round about The 2d Remark is Christ's stay was but short here because he met with four Entertainment for no sooner was He landed upon the shore but presently the Pharisees and Sadducees came forth out of Magdala and assault him in a quarrelling sort with their Cavilling Interrogatories though they pretended to be his friends seeking only satisfaction yet intended to obstruct his doing any good in that place Mat. 16.1 and Mark 8.11 N. B. Note well So active are the Devils Instruments to hinder the Kingdom of God and the good of Souls Truth never wants Adversaries and oft hath a scratch'd face by them The 3d Remark is Such as are the Devil's Children however opposite one to another can well enough agree together to oppose Christ The Pharisees held the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body the Sadducees denied both yet these two can combine against Christ So the Jesuits and Priests the Monks and the Friars are at deadly difference among themselves yet these Dogs leave fighting together to conspire against the poor Hare the Protestants whom they jointly endeavour to devour The 4th Remark is 'T is a palpable Evidence of most stupid Hypocrisie as well as of Tempting God to require Signs that God never promised and new Helps of believing which he never prescribed when there be what is sufficient already Thus Rotten-hearted Pharisees c. would not believe the Messiah notwithstanding all his most convincing Miracles no they must have a new Miracle a Sign from Heaven for his many Miracles they despised as earthly such as Moses shewed in giving Manna from Heaven Exod. 16.13 15 29. John 6.30 32. And as Samuel in fetching Thunder and Rain in a clear Sky 1. Sam. 12.18 And as Joshuah in commanding the Sun to stand still in his sphere c. Josh 10.12 13. And as Isaiah in causing the Sun to run Retrograde ten Degrees or backward five hours Isa 38.7 8. And lastly as Elias in fetching Fire from Heaven twice 1. For consuming his own Sacrifice 1 Kings 18.38 And 2. For consuming his and the Lord's Adversaries 2 Kings 1.10 And again ver 12. Thus they desired he would shew them by all means Them as more worshipful Men than the multitude and therefore might merit more extraordinary Miracles such Signs as those were from Heaven then they pretended they would believe in him whereas they intended a Snare both to his Life and Honour for they with their Master Herod Luke 23.8 looked upon Christ as a common Conjurer who would shew to their Worships the best Trick in his Budget and if he will shew them such a Sign as these they would calumniate him for borrowing his Craft from Beelzebub c. But if he will not them must it be because he could not and that he was an Impostor and so deserved to die as a great and Grand Cheat. The 5th Remark is This gross Hypocrisie and Malicious stupidity Christ answers 1. With a profound sight it put upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 8.12 He breathed ou◠this sigh from the very bottom of the belly as if his Heart had been ready to burst if it had not this vent Christ was more sensible of their misery than they were of their own 2. And this sigh had opened the passage came forth this expostulation first calling them Adulterous Hypocrites as they were Apostates from the Faith and Piety of Abraham as Mat. 12.39 so here Mat. 16.4 a Bastardly Brood so tenacious of their own Traditions as rendred them incredulous of Christ's Doctrine and Miracles secondly He tells them their skill in natural things as being Weather-wise which was not their profession and their Ignorance in Spirituals which was their imploy as Students in the Scripture did detect their Hypocrisie seeing they had the means of Grace in Christ's Doctrine and Miracles sufficient Signs of the Time of Grace as those of the Sky were of fair or foul weather yet would not believe that the Messiah and the Kingdom of Grace was come Thirdly He saith No Sign but that of Jonas they should have granted them Intimating that Christ's Death Burial and Resurrection would declare him to be the Messiah in despight of their Malice Acts 2.24 Rom. 1.4 the mystery whereof was contained in the History of Jonah's Rising out of the Whales Belly after his three days lying as buried in it and that Christ's Victory over Death and over all his Enemies shall declare him to be the only Son of God c. They had signs from Heaven at Christ's Death Mat. 27.45 as if the Sun had been ashamed to behold their baseness to him so hid his Head in a Mantle of Black So the Cloven Tongues sent after his Ascension Acts 2.2 3. The 6th Remark is God-tempting Sophisters must not be too long Associated with but withdraw from and forsaken Christ saw these Black-moors would never wash white all his sweet words were in vain spent and spilt upon their obstinate obdurate Hearts therefore he soon leaves them Mat. 16.4 Mark 8.13 And entring into the Ship again he departed to the other side not so much as going into the Town of Magdala seeing in the very Haven among the Ships the Pharisees c. had thus churlishly Accosted him before he was housed N. B. Note well Thus seekers of Signs must be referr'd to Moses and the Prophets and Apostles Luke 16.31 Eph. 2.20 c. If not hear these be gone as Christ here CHAP. XXIV NOW Christ meeting with this Affront from the Pharisees upon his very Arrival to Shore upon the Coasts of Magdala immediately steps back into the Ship and crosses over to Bethsaida in whose Desart he had fed 5000 with five Loaves as above and therefore it may well be wondred at why his Disciples made such a strange misconstruction upon their Masters words Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees c. wherein they thought he blamed their neglect of bringing Bread Mat. 16.5 6 7 8 c. to 13. and Mark 8.14 to 22. which omission might be occasioned either by their quick return not going up into the Town or from their fervescency in following Christ the Bread of Life However the place they now arrived at might have corrected their mistakes had they call'd to mind their former Experiences they would not have understood literally what Christ delivered mystically to wit the Leaven of Pharisees Justification by Works and Sadducees against Resurrection c. both which they better understood when Christ had well chided them out of their mistake All
was one of his Trinity of Gods so Pleasure and Delight was another his Belly was his God Phil. 3.19 which he daily pleased and delighted with the most dainty and delicious fare hereby his Table became a Snare Ps 69.22 in making duly such Provision for the flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof Rom. 13.14 His Belly he made the Burying place of all sorts of Sumptuous Dyer not considering that plures pereunt Gulâ quà m gladio more Dyes by Gluttony than by the Sword Much less did he mind what Christ saith Take heed your hearts be not over-charged with Gluttony and Drunkenness c. Luke 21.34 Our Bodies should he kept as neither to be Supra nor Infra Negotium but par Negotio neither above nor under his work but in an equal frame to its work One single Forest can suffice an Elephant that through his greedy thirst thinketh he can drink up a whole River dry at one Draught Job 40.23 24. But all the Rarities both by Sea and Land cannot satisfie a Glutton's Appetite Whereas God will destroy both his Belly and his Meats 1 Cor. 6.13 The Third of his Trinity of Gods was his Honour and Ambition Churlish Nabal kept a Feast at his House out of his Pride and Haughtiness like the Feast of a King 1 Sam. 25.36 And this Rich Caitiff out of an Haughty Humour must likewise be Apparelled with the Apparell of a King he thought it was highly for his Honour to be Clothed with Purple which is esteemed Royal Apparell nor did he put upon him those Robes only upon Extraordinary occasions but as the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Verbum frequentativum doth import he put them on frequently yea duly and daily They were his Every-Day wear priding himself therein forgetting that his Silks were but borrowed of the Excrements of the Silk-worm and his fine Linnen was made of the pillings of Line sorry things both and far Inferior to the Dignity of Man yea and not considering that any kind of Clothing is a Monument of Mans fall 't is a Badge of our Shame and a Witness of our Rebellion against out Maker Thus this Mammonist abused his Mammon every way adding unto all his Contempt of the poor he gave too much to himself so that he had nothing to give unto them though the Lord saith withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hands to do it Prov. 3.27 The poor Mans necessity makes him as it were Lord of the Rich Mans Goods and the Rich Man is but a Steward to give the poor Man his Due c. besides 't is said He that hath pitty upon the poor Lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given he will pay him again Prov. 19.17 Here 's Blessed Security for True Charity even a Bill under Gods own Hand for Repayment wherein for God to fail is with Reverence be it spoken to forfeit his own Godhead c. N. B. Note well It was the Omission of an Act of Charity that those Persons were charged with Matth. 25.41 It was the most Conspicuous grace of all others c. This Rich Glutton had not one Morsell for the Poor on Earth and now he himself wanteth a drop of Water to cool his own Tongue in Hell 'T is well said that Customary sinners such as Live and Dye in sin without Remorse the Prince of Darkness Beelzebub hath a Title to them such Ship-wracks do fall into the Devils Royalty and such a sinner was this Glutton here who feasted Sumptuously every Day and went Arrayed in Purple Robes c. every Day yet read we not one word of any Reflections upon himself for his sin c. But as to the other and latter to wit Lazarus He lived a Life of Misery receiving his Evil things quite contrary to the former Cormorant who in his Life-time was always receiving his good things ver 25. Lazarus's Life was a mixture both of Poverty and of Leprosie both which made him a Miserable Man indeed yet was he a Truly Religious Man making his God to be his Help as Eliezer signifies otherwise he could not have been carryed upon the Wings of Angels into Abrahams Bosom when he dyed ver 22. 1. As to his Poverty it was the worst sort of such Poverty as is consistent with Piety indeed there be three sorts of Poor there be Gods poor the Worlds poor and the Devils poor but Lazarus was one of the first sort yet of the lowest sort thereof as he was reduced to Beggary for Christ Instances here two Extreams first an Exceeding Rich Man and then an Exceeding Poor Man c. So that this poor Man's poverty was a pinching poverty and as Lazarus Hebr. quasi loâ—ezer signifying no Help he was Destitute of all Relief from Man There was indeed some difference betwixt him and the Rich Man in Cute in the fleece but none at all in Carne in the Flesh for God is the Maker both of Poor and Rich Prov. 22.2 Though this poor Man was Sine cibo without Bread or a Crust yet was he not sine Christo without a Christ that Bread which came down from Heaven even the Bread of Life John 6.35 48 c. N. B. Note well 1. Those that be poor of Gods making may observe from this Lazarus that Piety and Poverty may consist together and such shall have a Rich Reward in Heaven however they be pinched upon Earth as this poor Man was and had a Mansion of glory at last N. B. Note well 2. Gods poor must consider for their Comfort while they be pinched here below how the Providence of God provides for the little Wren a weak poor Bird which hath sometimes in her Nest a Multitude of helpless little young Creatures yet even then she lives as merrily skips about as lively and sings her Note as pleasantly as at other times Fear ye not therefore ye are of more value with your Heavenly Father than many Wrens many Sparrows Matth. 6.26 32 and 10.29 31. They have only Creation-love but you have also Redemption-Love though the Worlds poor much less the Devils poor who are prophane have no such Encouragement c. If you be Gods poor you may run down Unbelief by Arguing thus though I have nothing before hand no more hath that Merry Wren nor other Fowls of the Air c. though I have a great charge yet so hath she c. and though I have sorry Means and Ways of getting necessary Supplies yet much less hath she notwithstanding her Maker God the great Provider of all his Creatures doth provide duly and daily for her and hers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Multo Magis how much more will my Heavenly Father provide for me and mine for he well knoweth what I have need of c. David had been young but then was old when he said I never saw the Righteous forsaken nor his Seed though Begging Bread Ps 37.25 So
out of every Nation 1. Those led away captive by Salmanasser 1 Kings 17.6 and 18.11 these never returned into their own Countrey but occasionally as here and call'd Parthians Medes Elamites 2. By Nebuchadnezzar who are here call'd Mesopotamites And 3. By Ptolomy those were call'd Hellenists Beside these three were lesser Dispersions James 1.1 and almost in every City where the Apostles Preached among the Gentiles they found Jews there Now to many of these that were come to the Feast not only Peter but all the Eleven Preached For 1. 'T is said They stood up with him verse 14. 2. The Voice of a Stentor could not be heard by those Myriads out of which three thousand were Converts 3. These consult the other Apostles as well as Peter verse 37. 4. These continued not in Peter's only but 1. In the Apostle's Doctrine Preached 2. In their Fellowship for Communion and Conference 3. In Breaking Bread wherein Wine is synecdochically included And 4. In Prayers wherewith they besieged God who was saith a Father well pleased to have Heaven taken by force Matth. 11.12 Oh happy they that be so valiant and violent as to make a prey or a prize of the habitation of happy ones c. CHAP. III. The First Miracle HAving already declared the wonderful Constitution of the first Gospel-Church that ever was in the World in the next place follows the Discourse concerning the Fate and Fare which attended it wherein an intermixture of the Acts of some times all the Apostles and of sometimes some only as touching what they said what they did and what they suffered 't is summarily comprehended Note This Primitive Church being thus prodigiously planted Persecution presently was raised against it to root it up and ruine it Though God's Bridle had hitherto as before restrained the Devil's Instruments so that the very Pharisees and Chief Priests c. had seem'd to favour them as yet not daring to frown upon them But now the Grumbling of their Gizzards inwardly for fear of the loss of their Pharisaical Kingdom began to work up and break out outwardly Note Oh the depths of Divine wisdom in disposing of things thus that where-ever God hath a Church the Devil by God's unsearchable permission must have his Chappel and this cannot become a Chappel of Ease to the Devil's Chimney-Chaplains call'd Chemarim's Atrati or Black-Birds Zeph. 1.4 unless they find a free vent for their Spirit of Persecution which took its first Fire from Peter and John's healing of the Lame Beggar Acts 3.1 2 c. This was the first occasion of the first Persecution Hitherto all the Apostles had acted in conjunction with Peter 1. In their chusing Matthias by a Lot from the Lord to compleat their number of twelve Apostles 2. In their boldness of Preaching to the People when they had received the Holy Ghost 3. In providing for the Poor that received the Gospel for which the Jewish Synagogues out of which they had formerly been Relieved had now cast them out of their care whereof more afterwards As also 4. In their Joint Celebration of a Council and sending their Canons or Decrees to the several Churches c. But in this place here Peter and John only come into play by their going into the Temple at the Ninth Hour the hour of Prayer not to communicate with the Jews in their now Antiquated Worship but that they might have a larger Field for sowing their seed of the Gospel in which they could not miss of but meet with upon the Evening of this great Feast of Pentecost-day about three a Clock in the Afternoon which was the time of their Evening Sacrifice At their entring into the Gate not of the first Court of the Gentiles but of the second Court of the Jews they find the Lame man laid hoping for more Alms from his Countrey-men than from Strangers Note This same Cripple was born lame and was now forty years old therefore the harder to cure and when cured the more credible Witness against the Cavillers at his cure Acts 4.22 This man lay begging daily there and if he had begg'd in that place so many years it may well be wondered at that Christ himself had not cured him long ere this in his passing so frequently through this Porch seeing we do not find that our Lord ever refused any who came for cure To this it may be said that the Lord might reserve this Miracle for this very Time both for confirming the Truth of the Gospel and the Faith of the Apostles in Preaching it All Times and Seasons are in the Lord's hands who both justly forbears to send Salvation at one time and graciously vouchsafes it at another Note This now was the day of sending Salvation to the Cripple who asked Alms of these two Apostles God was better to him than his expectation and so he is to us daily giving us more than we can ask or think Eph. 3.20 Yea he presseth favours upon his Suitors as Naaman did upon Gehazi 2 Kings 5.23 Peter had no Gold to give him but he had Grace to wit a power from Christ wherewith to heal him which as he had freely received so he freely gave it to him when he first excited his expectation with Look on us that he might the more mind the means and the manner of his Cure and be the better prepared to give God the glory of it No sooner had Peter spoke In the Name of Jesus c. Rise up and walk but presently his Feet and his Ankle-bones received strength c. v. 4 5.6 7. Together with this word there went forth a power as Luke 5.17 then was fulfilled that Prophecy Isa 35.6 The Lame Man shall leap as an Hart The Lord raised up the Crooked Psal 146.8 as was this Cripple whose Inside and Soul was now healed as well as his Outside and Body for he went into the Temple with them not only to hang up his Crutches as it were there as Memorials of his Mercy but also to render Praises to the God of his Mercy He praised God not the Apostles Note Instruments must not rob the Author of his glory we may pay the Messenger but we must return Thanks principally to the sending Benefactor Yet this healed Cripple in an Extasie of Thankfulness to them held those his Healers till a great confluence of People came about them all astonished with the unexpected Miracle on this notoriously known Lame Beggar which when Peter saw he embraces this Golden Opportunity and Preacheth his second stinging Sermon to them whereby a great Increase was added again to the Church Not only this Cripple who had cause at last to bless God for his Lameness which brought him as divers Miseries do others to the knowledge of Christ and of Salvation through him a blind Eye hath help'd the healing of a blind Soul c. but also two thousand more believed as an addition to the three thousand Acts 2.41 at the least c. 'T
I will heal him Isa 57.17 18. I will save them with a Non-obstante or Nevertheless Psal 106.8 If I save them not till they seek me they 'll never be saved I will do it for my Name 's sake Ezek. 20.8 14 22 44 c. N.B. This 20th of Ezekiel is the sum both of the Law and of the Gospel In which God sweetly and interchangeably mixeth words of wrath with words of mercy to his God-provoking people 1st Saying as it were though sometimes I swore to be the Lord their God verse 5. espying out a Land for them finding it out by diligent search Numb 10.33 even the choicest of Lands verse 6. as a Father finds out a fit Seat a fit Wife and fit all things for his First-born Son so did I for Israel my First-born Son Psal 89.27 Exod. 4.22 c. Yet they rebelled against me verse 8. I might say to them what I pleased but they would do what they listed always resisting the Holy Ghost Acts. 7.51 insomuch that I had as much ado to forbear killing them as ever I had of killing Moses for neglecting to circumcise his Son Exod. 4.24 Now comes in 2dly That sweet Divine matchless Notwithstanding in those words of mercy But I wrought for my Name 's sake verse 9. Here God stems himself from pouring out his Fury which he seem'd to be resolved before to do as Hos 11.8 9. How shall I give thee up c. His Mercy catches hold of the hands of and triumphs over his Justice James 2.13 and that upon this consideration lest the Heathen should say me non voluisse aut non valuisse eos educere That I either would not or could not bring them out of the house of Bondage Deut. 9.28 This Reproach would greatly redound to the dishonour of my great Name Again 3. When upon new provocation by polluting God's Sabbaths verse 13. then the same motive to Mercy is renewed verse 14. And again 4. It comes in with a Nevertheless v. 17. and 22. as one withdrawing his hand when just ready to strike And lastly 'T is again repeated upon renewed provocations v. 44. All which sheweth 1. That all Divine Dispensations for his Church's Deliverance flow freely out of God's free Grace and meer Mercy for his own Name 's sake and not for our merit 2. Hence may it well be hoped God will deal mercifully with the Reformed Churches in Europe though they alas be much deformed and ill-deserving because of the dishonour that will redound to his own great Name if he do not deliver them 3. The same great and gracious God that by an high hand and an out-stretched arm brought Israel out of Egypt literal and then notwithstanding their many murmurings c. in the Wilderness where God was not a Wilderness to them Jer. 2.31 but furnish'd them with Bread from Heaven and with Water out of the Rock c. And in Canaan where they drove the Trade of Rebellion as they had done of Provocation for forty years long in the Wilderness Psal 95.8 9 10. yet God did not deal with them according to his ordinary Rule of Justice but according to his Royal Prerogative of Mercy So hath he as mightily and marvelously brought England out of Egypt Mystical Rev. 11.8 and accordingly will we may hope save us from returning thither for his Name 's sake See Deut. 17.16 4. 'T is is our most prevalent Argument in prayer to cry with Joshua And what wilt thou do unto thy great Name Josh 7. v. 8 9. And with Moses What will the Nations say Numb 14.13 16. and 20. God is tender of his Glory and so should we be who as it were quarters Arms with God He will suffer in the glory of his Power and Truth if it go ill with his Israel We should desire more that God may be glorified than that our selves may be gratified 'T is the ingenuity of Saints to study God's share more than their own and to drown all By-respects in his honour believing when things are at worst that Christ's Cause shall prevail God's Nevertheless for his Name 's sake may save his People when most unworthy to be saved that he may make his mighty Power known Psal 106.8 The Lord hath his own Glory to look to as well as to punish presently his provoking People See also Psal 78.38 39. God stirs not up all his wrath 't is only some few drops God sheds not the whole shower c. CHAP. X. Of Peter 's Miracles at Lydda and Joppa AS the Sacred Record leaves the Relation of what Saul after call'd Paul spake acted and suffered till afterwards and now returns to Peter's Relation upon the same three heads 1. What he said 2. What he did 3. What he suffered whereof in all these respects we have related some account during the Infancy of this Gospel-Primitive Church at Jerusalem in the five foregoing Chapters c. Accordingly must this History do following the Conduct of that Divine Thread in the intricate Labyrinth of this following Discourse As the Sayings of Simon Peter are found intermixed with his Doings in the former Narratives of him before the Story of his first and second Sufferings The same Method must be observed here reducing those three heads for brevity's sake into two to wit Peter's Doings and his Sufferings with his Sayings among hands 1. Peter's Doings in a new Journey from Jerusalem were three great things The first is the healing AEneas of a Palsie at Lydda The second is the raising Dorcas from the Dead at Joppa And the third his opening the Door of the Gospel to the Gentiles in Caesarea c. In the first of these Recorded Acts 9.32 33 34 35. are remarkable 1. The Time when 2. The Place where 3. The Person healing 4. The Party healed 5. The Manner how this Miracle was wrought 6. The Effects The Remarks hereupon are as followeth First The Time of Peter's working this Miraculous Cure upon the Palsie-man must be when there was a calm of Rest and Peace from Persecution come upon all the Churches which was procured not only by persecuting Saul's Conversion into a Praying Preaching Paul who had been the principal Incendiary of the Church's Persecution but also by this Preaching Paul's Dismission from Jerusalem to Tarsus v. 30 31. For as he had been of all Persecutors the most obnoxious person to the Persecuted Churches formerly so now was he become upon this wonderful change wrought upon him the most obnoxious person to his Quondam Companions his former Fellow-Persecutors For these sort of men were implacably incensed and inraged against him for his so zealously Preaching that Gospel which he had as zealously persecuted therefore did they with the greatest Spite and most vigorous Rigour prosecute him as an Apostate from their Colledge above all the other Apostles but when he was seasonably sent away out of the Reach of the Sanhedrim into Caesarea c. The Storm of Persecution was thereby becalmed This calm
was quickly Metamorphos'd in the Ecclesiastick power of the Bishop of Rome in comparison of whose power that when Phocus had gratified Boniface the Bishop with the primacy for the supporting him in the Imperial Chair after he had murdered the Emperour Mauritious his Master and placed him self in it The Emperor's power was indeed very small ever after Therefore is he said to exercise all the power of the first Beast healing his former wound by reviving the adoration of Images under a new name of Saints by which Idolatry lived again and doth live yet is it also limited to 42 months Rev. ch 13. v. 5 12 15 and those two Beasts are but one Beast ver 17 18 c. N.B. That the Lord may make me as another Barnabas a Son of Consolation Acts 4.36 unto the Disconsolate Church in this our Day with a blessed Voice in the Temple Isa 66.6 I shall lay down this General Rule first that the choicest and most soveraign Cordials wherewith we ought to Refresh and Revive our Trembling Spirits when we are even fainting away with fear prevailing over our hope are the exceeding great and precious Promises of God 2 Pet. 1.4 which are called by the Evangelical Prophet the Breasts of Consolation Isa 66.11 Those are the blessed Suckling Bottles that all God's Children who are taught of the Lord Isa 54.13 John 6.45 must learn to suck that they may be satified so as no longer to look upon the consolations of God like small matters to them Job 15.11 for no small gifts can come from the hand of so great and so gracious a God who is the God of Consolation Rom. 15.5 and the Consolation of Israel Luke 2.25 He is the God of all Comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 that is of all true Comfort of all kinds of Comfort and of all degrees of Comfort He is the Fountain from whom they all flow and such a Father of Mercy as when one comforting Mercy is spent upon us God still abides as a Father able to beget more and new comforting Mercies for us that the Heirs of the Promises might have strong consolation c Heb. 6.17 18. even everlasting Consolation in our Lord Christ 2 Thes 2.16 Now as there is a Natural Instinct which instructeth Lambs and all such like young Animals immediately as soon as brought forth to suck the Teats of their Dams c. So there is a Divine and Spiritual Instinct which teaches all the Lambs of Christ to suck the precious Promises those blessed Breasts of Consolation that they may be as Napthali satisfied with favour and filled with the blessing of the Lord Deut. 33.23 Behold the marvelous congruity betwixt this Instinct of Nature in all young Animals and that great Grace of Faith in all God's Children 'T is said the Just shall live by his Faith Hab. 2.4 a Text so famous as to be three times quoted in the New Testament Râ—m 1.17 Gal. 3.11 and Heb. 10.38 All which Divine Scriptures do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unanimously hold forth the most eminent and most excellent exercise of that great Grace of Faith so exceeding useful to us both while we live and when we die The Just or truly justified ones cannot live without it 'T is as the Merchant Ship that fetcheth our food from far Prov. 31.14 even from Heaven it self sometimes as it did Manna Psal 78.24 25. John 6.31 This Grace makes men able to live even in the worst of times and sure I am none dare die without it 't is the saving Grace as Heb. 11.13 All God's Worthies died in the Faith c. Thus far in the general but now come to particulars N.B. We must learn all of us as becometh the Babes of Christ to suck out satisfaction to our Souls from such blessed Breasts of Consolation as are most suitable to our present condition of any kind of Calamity The first Instance I shall give here is that exceeding great and precious promise which God most graciously granted unto Abraham that Father of all the faithful Rom. 4.16 when a pang of fear came upon him and when his Faith was fallen below his Fear and his Fear was swollen up above his Faith then God comes seasonably and says to him Fear not Abraham I am thy Shield and thy exceeding great Reward Gen. 15.1 When Abraham was made able to suck out the sweet Milk of this precious Promise by the Mysterial Mouth of a lively Faith then his former fainting fits of a desponding fear were done away and then could he walk as it were hand in hand with his God through all his following Tryals and became able to follow his heavenly Father as we may say blindfold not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 yet all along well knowing with whom he went for he always walked as a Child in his Father's hand saying as David said afterward Though my God lead me through the Valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for God is with me his Rod and Staff still comfort me therefore surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Psal 23.4 6. 'T is expresly said of Abraham that he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform c. Rom. 4.20 21. Now what Malady of fear did here befal our Father Abraham may befal any of the Sons and Daughters of Abraham yea undoubtedly often times does so As Faith in God's Promise was this holy Patriarch's Remedy against his Malady of fear So accordingly it ought to be our Remedy also If we could believe more in the Lord our God we should be better established against all distrustful fears and be more prosperous in our works and ways 2 Chron. 20.20 Isa 7.9 for God proportioneth his performing unto the measure of our believing saying to us as to the Man in the Gospel As thou be lievest so be it unto thee Matth. 8.13 Mark 9.23 This is a very great Truth that whosoever of the Sons and Daughters of Abraham do their duty according to that Divine Command Rom. 4.12 of walking in the steps of faithful Abraham in this World they shall be sure of lodging in the bosom of Father Abraham as Lazarus did Luke 16.22 in the World to come c. The second Instance that I shall add alone here concerneth the Church of God in general as the first did every Child of God in particular both which may fall into fainting fits of hopeless fear this is that exceeding great and precious promise out of which all the Children of the Church ought to suck the Milk of consolation in a disconsolating day of distress upon the Church of Christ namely that blessed Breast of comfort recorded by Zechariah Rejoyce greatly O! daughter of Zion c. Behold thy King cometh unto thee Just