of the Ministery that it should not be defrauded of the least thing allotted to it And therefore harden not your heart against God against Law against Right and Truth accustome not your hearts to cover your Neighbours due your hands to purloin it by fraud or take it by strength it is theft spiritual theft sacriledge your house receiveth stoln Goods and the Wrath of God may happily shake the foundation of it for such a sin and you in yours or you and yours be punished Verse 13. Here Leaven is admitted of which before was forbid Leaven therefore is taken in a good sense as well as in an ill Thus the Apostles are resembled to a little Leaven that leaveneth the whole lump they being sent out of God into the unleavened World by preaching to leaven it clean through And there is a Leaven of the new Nature accepted as there is a Leaven of the old Nature rejected For look how the Leaven maketh the Bread savory and strong and wholsome look also how it makes it rise and heave up which otherwise would be sad and heavy So doth Gods regenerate Spirit change us make us savory and all our Duties pleasing to God and we rise up our Hearts and Souls are heaved up in all love in thankfulness to him that in Mercy hath so look'd upon us Verse 15. A Ceremony us'd to signifie that publick Feasts should not be superfluously continued and kept long under the colour of Religion For God loveth not idle banquetting and prodigal spending although he allow graciously what is fit for the occasion Secondly this was done in wisdome by God least if the flesh should have smelt by longer keeping Religion might so have been vile in the eyes of fickle persons Verse 18. We may learn by this that the taking hold of Christ is not to be deferr'd and put off but speedily and quickly to be done whilst time serves and opportunity is offer'd For behold sayes Christ to day and to morrow I cast out Devils and the third day Luke 13. that is a short time I have yet to go on with my Ministery and then I shall be slain More particularly every Man and Woman may be said to have three dayes The first of Youth till Age come the second of Age till Death come and in these two dayes there is Mercy offered but the third day is after Death and then there is no help as here on the third day no Offering was accepted but the sin remained unpardoned and not forgiven Verse 30. The bringing of the Sacrifice with his own hands and not sending it by others taught Humility and Duty to God taught that every one must live by his own Faith and not by anothers Verse 34. The shaking of it to and fro four wayes East West North and South shadowed the spreading of that lifting up of Christ that is of Christs Death and Passion throughouâ— all the World by the preaching of the Gospel CHAP. VIII Verse 2. THe Lord precisely appointed Priests and would not leave it to every man to perform this Office to signifie that not any man butthe-man Christ Jesus could appease Gods Wrath satisfie his Justice and take away the sins of the World This could not be figured out better than by secluding all the Host of Israel from this Office and chusing but Aaron and his Sons as Types of Christ that so by such an Ordinance the Majesty Authority and Property of Christs Office might be resembled and shadowed Verse 5. Nothing but Gods Commandement doth Moses offer unto them For he well knew Gods Will only in his own House must be the Rule Our own heads were never the best heads to follow and for God he knoweth our mould too well to give that swinge unto us Verse 13. Aarons Sons were a figure of the Church which by Faith eateth also of the Sacrifice of Christ being made partakers of his Merits as well as the Priests Their Garments figured out the Graces and Gifts wherewith the Believers in Christ are adorned and beautified casting away the Works of Darkness and putting on daily more and more the Deeds of Light Rom. 13. 12. Verse 30. Upon Aarons Sons Moses did but sprinkle the annointing Oil which was said to be poured upon Aaron verse 12. So plainly shewing that in Christ the Spirit should be without measure and upon his Servants in measure we all receiving of his fulness according to his good Pleasure some more some lesse Verse 35. By this is signified that watch which all our life time is noted by the seven dayes we keep in avoiding sin and working righteousness as the Lord shall enable which indeed may be call'd the watch of the Lord being a holy Christian and happy watch The seventh day we shall be free fully sanctified and delivered from this vail of misery to keep an eternal Sabbath in Heaven to our endless comfort CHAP. IX Verse 7. IN that Aaron was here commanded to offer as well for himself as the People he was herein a figure of Christ not that Christ had any sins of his own but that ours were so laid upon him and he so made satisfaction to God for them as they had been his own Surely sayes the Prophet Isai. 53. 4. he hath born our infirmities c. that is we judg'd him evil as though he were punish'd for his own sins and not for ours Verse 22. Thus doth God blesse us in Christ in whom all the Nations of the World are blessed First with the Blessing of Reconciliation to himself reputing us now just for his Son Christ. Secondly with the Blessing of his Spirit whereby we walk in his Calling being guided thereby in the same Thirdly with the Blessing of Acceptance of all our Works though full of imperfection and weakness And last of all with this great Blessing that all adversity becometh a help to us to draw us to Heaven and Eternal Rest. Verse 24. That God which shew'd himself to Men in fire when he delivered his Law would have men present their Sacrifices to him in fire and this fire he would have his own that there might be a just circulation in this Creature as the Water sends up those vapours which it receives down again in Rain Hereupon it was that fire came down from God to the Altar that as the charge of the Sacrifice was delivered in fire so God might signifie the acceptation of it in the like fashion wherein it was commanded The Baalites might lay ready their Bullock upon the Wood but they might sooner fetch the blood out of their Bodies and destroy themselves than one flash out of Heaven to consume the Sacrifice CHAP. X. Verse 2. NAdab and Abibu were two of Aarons Eldest Sons which after their Father should have succeeded him in his place yet there is no Mercy with God to stay his Judgement when they will not be Ruled by his Word No Prerogative therefore shall save any Man from Wrath if he offend but
admittance which they once denied But now as they formerly rejected God so are they justly rejected of God Ere Vengeance begin Repentance is seasonable but if Judgement be once gone out we cry too late while the Gospel sollicites us the doors of the Ark are open if we neglect the time of Grace in vain shall we seek it with tears God holds it no mercy to pity the obstinate Verse 18. The Faith of the Righteous cannot be so much derided as their success is magnified How securely doth Noah ride out this uproar of Heaven Earth and Waters He hears the pouring down of the Rain about his head the shreeking of Men the roaring and bellowing of Beasts on both sides of him the raging and threats of the Waves under him he saw the miserable shifts of the distressed Unbeleevers and in the mean time sits quietly in his dry cabbin neither fearing nor feeling evil he knew that he which owed the Waters would steer him and he who shut him in would preserve him How happy a thing is Faith What a quiet safety what a Heavenly peace doth it work in the Soul in the midst of all the endeavours of evil Verse 20. There is no doubt but very many hoping to over-run their Judgement and climbing up to the highest Mountains looked down upon the Waters with more hope than fear and now when they see their Hills become Islands they get up into the tallest Trees where with paleness and horror at once they look for death and study to avoid it whom the Waves over-take at last half-dead with famine and half with fear So now from the tops of the Mountains they descry the Ark floating upon the Waters and behold with envie that which before they beheld with scorn By which we may see that he flies in vain whom God pursues and that there is no way to flie from his Judgements but to flie to his Mercy by Repenting CHAP. VIII Verse 1. GOds Providence is here manifest that watcheth not only over man but every particular Beast likewise Whereby man is taught to be like his Creator and to regard the life of his Beast Prov. 12. Xenocrates is commended by Aelian lib. 13. for succouring a Sparrow that flew to him pursued by an Hawk and after let her go saying Se supplicem non prodidisse That he would not betray the very Bird that flew to him for safeguard Verse 3. Now when God had fetch'd again all the life that he had given to his unworthy Creatures and reduced the World unto its first Form wherein Waters were over the face of the Earth it was time for a renovation of all things to succeed this destruction To have continued the Deluge long had been to punish Noah that was righteous After forty dayes therefore the Heavens cleared up after 150 the Waters sink down How soon is God weary of punishing that is never weary of blessing Yet may not the Ark rest suddenly If we did not stay some while under Gods hand we should not know how sweet his mercy is and how great our thankfulness should be Verse 7. God doth not reveal all things to his best servants Behold he that told Noah an hundred and twenty years before what day he should go into the Ark yet fore-tells him not now in the Ark what day the Ark should rest upon the hills and he should go forth Noah therefore sends out his Intelligencers the Raven and the Dove whose wings in that vaporous aire might easily descry further than his sight the Raven of quick scent of gross feed of tough constitution no soul was so fit for discovery the likeliest things alwayes succeed not He neither will venture far into that solitary world for fear of want nor yet come into the Ark for love of liberty but hovers about in uncertainties How many carnal minds fly out of the Ark of Gods Church and embrace the present world rather chusing to feed upon the unsavoury Carkasses of sinful pleasures than to be restrain'd within the strait lists of Christian obedience Verse 9. How exactly doth the Soul of every man resemble this Dove That poor innocent Creature after it was exposed to the wide World was in perpetual motion no rest to be found until it returned to the Ark And just so is the condition of every man so long as we are in the World so long we are in a restless condition perpetual troubles and vexations no rest to be found until we return unto the Ark unto the God that sent us forth thither must we fly or be over-whelm'd in the Deluge of the worlds vanities and perish for ever Mans Soul is Gods Turtle Created for God and therefore can find no rest but in God It may flutter up and down in the World fly from one trouble from one perplexity to another but no peace no rest to be found until it return unto that God who commanded it forth upon his work and employment which causeth it to take up the complaint of the Psalmist Oh that I had the wings of a Dove then would I fly away and be at rest Verse 11. The Dove is sent forth a Fowl both swift and simple She like a true Citizen of the Ark returns and brings faithful notice of the continuance of the Waters by her restless and empty return by her Olive-leaf of the abatement How worthy are those Messengers to be welcome which with innocence in their lives bring glad tydings of Peace and Salvation in their mouths Verse 16. Ambrose and some Hebrews note That when Noah was bid to go into the Ark he and his Sons are joyn'd together and so his Wife and his Sons Wives likewise chap. 6. vers 18. but here in their coming forth He and his Wife his Sons and their Wives are coupled to shew that they lived a part in the Ark and accompanied not together which is most probable though not upon this ground but as he farther notes Maeroris tempus er at non laetitiae It was a time of Mourning and not of Mirth and for that he knew the Deluge came because of the intemperancy of the other world Verse 18. The Ark though it was Noahs Fort against the Waters yet it was his Prison also he was safe in it but pent up he that gave him life by it now thinks to give him liberty out of it At this Noah rejoyces and beleeves yet still he waits seven dayes more It is not good to devour the favours of God too greedily but to take them in that we may digest them O strong Faith of Noah that was not weary of this delay Some man would have so long'd for the open Air after so long closeness that upon the first notice of safety he would have uncovered and voided the Ark Noah stayes seven dayes e're he will open and well neer two months e're he will forsake the Ark and not then unless God that commanded to enter had bidden him depart There is no
He that liveth by his Faith yet shrinketh and sinneth How vainly shall we hope to beleeve without all fear and to live without infirmities Some little aspertions of unbelief cannot hinder the praise and power of Faith Abraham beleeved and it was imputed to him for righteousness He that through inconsiderateness doubted twice of his own life doubted not of the life of his Seed even from the dead and dry Womb of Sarah yet was it more difficult that his posterity should live in Sarah than that Sarahs Husband should live in Egypt this was above nature yet he beleeves it Sometimes the Beleever sticks at easie tryalls and yet breaks through the greatest tentations without fear Verse 14. Holy Iob's Covenant with his Eyes in the Old Testament should be every Christians in the New to look to his looks to set a guard and sentinel over his Eyes for from looking comes lusting from a lascivious glance proceeds a lascivious act and it is all one in Gods esteem with which part of the body we commit adultery so that if a man lets his Eye or his Thought loose and enjoyes the lust of either he is an Adulterer before God It was therefore our Saviours advice Mat. 5. If thy right Eye offend thee pull it out the meaning is this That when thou doest give check to the loose evibrations and wanton twirles of a lascivious Eye thou dost at that very time pull out that wanton Eye from thy body and the lustful Devil that is in that wanton Eye from thy soul. There is great reason therefore that we should set a strict watch over this Cinque-port of our bodies Beauty is a dangerous bait and Lust is sharp-sighted It is not safe gazing on a fair Woman how many have died of the wound in the Eye No one means hath so enrich'd Hell as beautiful faces Verse 19. It is a sad case when an Egyptian shall reprove an Israelite when a Pharaoh shall rebuke an Abraham and therefore all Professors of Religion should so practice it as the very Infidels seeing their good works answer their good words may glorifie their Father which is in heaven For our Calling as it is most eminent so most eyed and worst censured by all the Infidel part of the World If an Apostle rub but an ear of Corn on the Sabbath 't is breaking of the day a heathens Motes are a Christians Beams and a Turks indifferency is my evil somethings being expedient in respect of the man which are scandalous meerly for his Religion none therefore to keep within so strict lines both for words and deeds as the Christian for behold saith the Apostle We are made a gazing stock to the world to Angels and to men CHAP. XIII Verse 2. ALthough the Scripture tells us That it is hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven yet the Scripture saith not that it is absolutely impossible Heaven gate stands open for the Rich as well as for the Poor for rich Abraham here as well as for poor Lazarus in the Gospel and as it is true Blessed are the Poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven So it is also as true Blessed are the Rich for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Thus Adam and Noah flew up to Heaven with the Monarchy of the whole World upon their backs The Patriarchs also as in this Text Abraham with much Wealth many holy Kings with rich Crowns and Scepters It is not Wealth therefore as Wealth but Sin that is the clogg that keeps men from ascending the burthen of covetous desires being more heavie to an empty Soul than much treasure to the full for not the meer Possession and use of riches offends but the affectation Verse 7. When the strife began between Abraham and Lot the Scripture notes it as a special Memorandum here that the Canaanite was then in the Land Doubtless there are at this time also in our Land too many who carry Canaanitish hearts and minds who would no less than the old Canaanites rejoyce and triumph in our discords saying among themselves Aha so would we have it But let those that have the Spirit of Abraham learn also the Speech and Language of Abraham who though he was in Age and Dignity superiour to his Nephew Lot yet came and said unto him I pray thee let there be no strife between me and thee for we are Brethren Verse 9. Before Abraham and Lot grew Rich they dwelt together now their Wealth separates them their Society was a greater good than their Riches many a one is a looser by his Wealth who would account those things good which makes us worse It had been the duty of young Lot to offer rather than to chuse to yield rather than contend Who would not here think Abraham the Nephew and Lot the Uncle It is no disparagement for greater persons to begin treaties of Peace better doth it beseem every Son of Abraham to win with love than to sway with power Abraham yields over this right of his choice Lot takes it And behold Lot is cross'd in that which he chose Abraham is blessed in that which was left him God never suffers any one to lose by an humble remission of his right in a desire of Peace Verse 10. Wealth hath made Lot not only undutiful but covetous he sees the goodly Plain of Iordan the richness of the Soyl the commodity of the Rivers the scituation of the Cities and now not once enquiring into the Condition of the Inhabitants he is in love with Sodom Outward appearances are deceitful guides to our judgement or affection they are worthy to be deceived that value things as they seem It is not long after that Lot payes dear for his rashness He fled for quietness from his Uncle and finds War with strangers by whom he is carried Prisoner with all his substance That Wealth which was the cause of his former Quarrels is made a prey to merciless Heathen that place which his Eye covetously chose betrayes his life and goods How many Christians whilst they have look'd at gain have lost themselves Verse 14. Gods way of appearing unto Abraham was like our Saviours way of appearing in the flesh to the world until such time as there was a general Peace over the whole Earth our Saviour would not appear amongst men and until such time as the strife was ended betwixt Abraham and Lot and they two parted friendly God did not appear unto Abraham God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4. 16. Where Charity is there is an habitation a Temple for the Lord and where it is not there is a dwelling-place for the Devil Religion is but rottenness without it our Devotions unsavory our Sacrifice distasteful and all our front of Holiness but dross and rubbish Therefore Christ saith If thou bring thy Gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee first be
were for sin or for the present pressure only I have not to say but God is so pitiful that he hears and helps our Affliction as he did Hagars in this Text. Verse 15. God presents to us the joyes of Heaven often to draw us and as often the torments of Hell to avert us And to this purpose Origen saith aright as Abraham had two Sons the one of a Bond-woman the other of a Free but yet both sons of Abraham So God is served by two fears and the latter fear the fear of future torment is not the perfect fear but yet even that fear is the servant and instrument of God too Who can so absolutely divest all sense saith Chrysostome but that when the whole City is in a combustion and commotion or when the Ship that he is in strikes desperately and irrecoverably upon a Rock he is otherwise affected towards God then than when every day in a quietness and calmness of holy affections he hears a Sermon Gehennae timor saith the same Father regni affert coronam even the fear of Hell gets us Heaven CHAP. XVII Verse 1. IT is Gods prescript to Abraham here Walk before me and be perfect and that is when as to allude to that known Expression Manus ad Clavum Oculus ad Coelum as our hand is upon the work so our eye must be upon God in every thing we do which is the ground of that uprightness called in the Scripture Dialect perfection Where you may note the difference between these three expressions of the holy Ghost to walk with God after God and before God We walk with God as a sweet companion after God as a commanding Lord before God as an observing Judge we walk with him as his Friends after him as his Servants before him as his Children lastly we walk with him by an humble familiarity after him in a regular conformity before him by a cordial integrity and this is according to Gods rule to Abraham Walk before me and be perfect Verse 3. When God talkes with us in his Word or we talk with God in our Prayers we cannot be too humble you see from this text that Abraham the Father of the faithful fell upon his face at a conference with God and shall we that are his sons not fall upon our knees Certainly were there never a Church standing in the world nor so much as one stone left for a Bethel wheresoever we came to Pray we should worship first looking up to our God and his infinitude with Glory be to thee O Lord then in the Publicans dejected posture reflecting upon the dust our original and our end with Lord be merciful unto me a sinner and indeed can we presume higher than the dust when we reverence before our Maker or do less than hide our own faces with shame appearing before the glorious light of that countenance which we cannot see and live and which we shall one day look upon with trembling if not now with shame Verse 5. There is no Faith where there is either means or hopes Difficulties and impossibilities are the true Objects of Belief hereupon God adds to Abrahams name that which he would fetch from his Loins and made his Name as ample as his Posterity never any man was a looser by beleeving Faith is ever recompenced with Glory Verse 7. God hath in great mercy and goodness promised to shew grace and favour not only to the faithful themselves but to their seed after them and as the mercy of God is great so the Faith of the godly is effectual for themselves and their Children God will be our God and the God of our seed after us If then we consider either the Promise of God to be merciful or the Faith of the godly to beleeve in both respects we may collect and gather this truth That the love of God to the faithful shall so abound that it shall come to their posterity like the pretious Oyntment poured on the head of Aaron that ran down upon his beard and flowed to the border of his garments or as the dew on Hermon and Sion which watered the valleys which were beneath them Now seeing that goodness hath the Promise of bringing a blessing upon the families where it is profess'd it is required of us to profess and beleeve the Gospel that so we may procure a blessing upon our selves and Children The neglect of which bringeth utter ruine to Father and Child So then godly Parents must have a care to bring-up their Children and Families in the true Faith and fear of the Lord which may be a means by the blessing of God to save thy son from death and to deliver his soul from destruction Verse 11. Circumcision is a seal of the Covenant betwixt God and us if we be in God and God in us if we be circumcised within if the fore-skin of our hearts be taken away then is the outward Circumcision a seal unto our Covenant with God otherwise it is a seal indeed but a seal without a Bond a seal without any stipulation betwixt God and us we are no whit priviledged by it no more than are the Turks who yet are circumcised which is the reason that the Jewes at this day have no benefit by this Covenant because they are uncircumcised in their hearts that vail that fore-skin is not taken away and that only is the circumcision which seals the Covenant betwixt God and us the Gospel-circumcision the putting off the old Adam by that circumcision of Christ which is the work of the Spirit wrought by the Word upon the Soul of a poor sinner whereby the corruption of his nature is mortified and himself received into an everlasting Covenant and Communion with God Verse 14. In the first Covenant that God made with his People as we see here That person that would not be circumcised that soul was cut off from the people of God and just so in the second Covenant that God made with his people the Covenant of the Gospel He that is not circumcised in heart and made new by regeneration he shall have no part with the Saints in heaven Joh. 3. 3. The wise man is not priviledged by his wisdom nor the strong man by his strength the King is not freed by his Crown and Dignity nor the Priest by the power of his Keyes For if any one enters himself in Covenant with God under the New Testament and hopes for benefit by that Covenant as Abraham and his Seed did undergo the outward Circumcision of the body so must he the inward Circcmcision of the heart No Circumcision no Son of Abraham no Son of Abraham no Son of God Verse 17. Abraham was old e're this Promise and hope of a Son was given and still the older the more uncapable Yet God makes him wait twenty five years for performance No time is long to Faith which had learned to defer hopes without fainting and irksomness Abraham heard this news
which he doth require hitherto tend all our earthly labours and industries Oh that we were wise to consider this how small a debt we owe to Nature how little would content it CHAP. XXIX Verse 1. SO should it be with a man after his Communion with God in the Sacrament as it was with Iacob after his Communion here with God in Bethel Then Jacob lift up his feet and came into the Land of the People of the East He lift up his feet he went with strength with spirit with cheerfulness and then he went that is after he had had that sweet fellowship with God in Bethel he was so cheer'd and refresh'd with that spiritual bait that in the strength and force of that he went on lively and cheerfully in his journey So when we have had fellowship with God in the Sacrament in the strength of that heavenly bait at the Sacrament we should lift up our feet and go on cheerfully lively lustily in our journey towards Heaven Verse 9. Masters of Families should so order the Duties of their Families that every one under their jurisdiction may have such an employment as is most proper for him Thus here Rachel kept the Sheep while Leah had her task within doors God hath dispensed his Gifts diversly for the common benefit To one man is given Knowledge to another the gift of Utterance to a third is given to speak with diverse Tongues to a fourth the Interpretation of those Tongues There is scarce any one but hath something or other in him that is excellent and extraordinary some special talent to trade with some Honey to bring to the common hive if he have but an heart to it Let every man therefore according to his several ability improve his Talent to the glory of the donor and the common good Verse 17. God hath two Daughters the younger which is Heaven is fair and lovely like Rachel and courted by all the elder is Repentance which with tears is blear-eyed like Leah and neglected by most but if men ask as Iacob for Rachel God will answer as Laban did Iacob 'T is not the custome of the place to Marry the Younger before the Elder he that will not marry the Leah of Repentance shall never have the Rachel of Heaven Verse 20. Iacob thought seven years service a short time that he might enjoy Rachel when his eye was upon his love he thought seven years and seven to them but a small time Did Iacob account so many years but a small time and shall not we account seven dayes seven hours short Admit it be more it is but a short time if we have heaven if we have Rachel in our eye fix our eyes upon immortality upon heaven and then all tribulations will seem not only light but nothing and not only short but as if they had never been but as yesterday or as yesterday is to a thousand years to eternity Verse 23. After the service of an hard Apprenticeship had earned her whom Iacob loved his Wife is changed and he in a sort forced to an unwilling Adultery His Mother had before substituted him who was the younger Son for the elder and now not long after his Father-in-law by the like fraud substitutes to him the elder Daughter for the younger God comes oftentimes home to us in our own kind and even by the sin of others payes us our own when we look not for it Verse 26. Many things may be Customable which yet are not commendable and used to be done which often were better undone Such practise draws nearer the Doctrine of the Pharisees than of Christ. For what was it else that the Pharisees did so much stand upon under the tradition of the elders and what did they censure our Saviour and his Disciples so hardly for but their Customes and what was it that our Saviour did so deeply tax them for but the observation of their superfluous and superstitious Customs The Fathers and Doctors of the Church were most plain and pregnant in this point Veritate manifestata cedat consuetudo veritati for Christ said I am the Truth not I am the Custome And in truth without this limitation and regard if men be carried away with the name of Custome and will enquire no further into any thing than what is the Custome what hath been used heretofore much injury and evil may be committed Thus Laban here deceaving Iacob pretends the Custome of the place it was not forsooth their Custome to marry the younger before the elder but under that pretence he falsifies his promise abuseth his Daughter and deceives his Friend Verse 28. It is doubtful whether it were a greater cross to Iacob to marry whom he would not or to be disappointed of her whom he desired And now he must begin a new hope where he made account of fruition To raise up an expectation once frustrate is more difficult than to continue a long hope drawn on with likelihoods of performance yet thus dear is Iacob content to pay for Rachel even fourteen years servitude Commonly Gods Children come not easily by their pleasures what miseries will not love digest and overcome And if Iacob were willingly consumed with heat in the day and frost in the night to become the Son-in-law to Laban what should we refuse to be the Sons of God Verse 31. Rachel whom Iacob loved is barren Leah which was despised is fruitful How wisely God weighs out to us our Favours and Crosses in an equal ballance so tempering our sorrows that they may not oppress and our joyes that they may not transport us Each one hath some matter of envie to others and of grief to himself Thus Leah envies Rachels beauty and love Rachel envies Leahs fruitfulness yet Leah would not be barren nor Rachel blear-eyed And here also we see how the Lord useth to chastise the preposterous affections of his servants as Iacob's love with Rachels barrenness Verse 35. Leah had praised the Lord before at Rubens and Simeons birth but now upon the occasion of a new benefit she praiseth him again which teacheth us that as Gods Mercies are multiplyed towards us so we should encrease and go forward in giving of thanks CHAP. XXX Verse 2. THough Iacob was as tender an Husband to Rachel as she could be a Mother of Children if she had them yet his love kept within bounds and he would love his Wife so far as she loved his and her God If Rachel be angry with God Iacob will be angry with Rachel and if she inconsiderately will advance him to Gods seat and thrust Gods power into his hands Iacob will make use of it to reprove her and condemne her by asking the question Am I in Gods stead who carrieth the key of the Womb under his own girdle Moses was the meekest man on Earth yet when Gods glory is concerned and a rebellious people have broke the commandements of God Moses will break that Table of stone wherein they were
which Names he had given him of striving and strugling All Gods Israel are Wrestlers by Calling and as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ must suffer hardship Nothing is to be seen in the Shulamite but as the appearance of two Armies maintaining civil broils within her the Spinit warreth against the Flesh and the Flesh against the Spirit Wherefore we have more than need to take unto us the whole Armour of God and to strengthen our selves with every piece of it At no place must we lie open for our enemy is a Serpent if he can but bite the heel he will transfuse his venome to the heart and head Verse 19. We see here how Iacob is tryed with a new cross deprived of his Crown his Stay his Comfort his Wife Which is writ for our instruction to teach us that Gods Children must not look to live at ease in this life They must not Prophecy of Peace to themselves That there shall be no leading into Captivity and no complaining in our streets They must not dream that they shall be alwayes carried on Eagles wings but their dreams must be of Willow-trees by the Waters of Babel of afflictions and crosses a Christian must be a daily cross-bearer which made this Patriarch in another place say Few and evil have the dayes of my Pilgrimage been The Child of God a Son of Iacob must not think to walk in plain and easie paths to heaven but must climb hard it is all up-hill the way lieth inter Epauleum Magdalum as the Septuagint read the text Exod. 14. 2. that is by turreting and towering turning and winding as Origen Expounds it Never any went to Heaven with dry eyes Iacob's life was a continual warfare First Rachel the comfort of his life dieth and when but in her travel and in his travel to his Father Then his Children the staff of his age wound his Soul to the death Reuben proves incestuous Iudah adulterous Dinah ravished Simeon and Levi murtherous Er and Onan stricken dead Ioseph lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin the death of his Mother the Fathers right hand endangered himself driven by Famine in his old age to die amongst the Egyptians a people that held it an abomination to eat with him Thus many are the troubles wherewith the Lord tryeth his Children And if that God with whom he strove and who therefore strove for him had not delivered his soul out of all adversity he had been supplanted with evils and had been so far from gaining the name of Israel that he had lost the name of Iacob Now what Son of Israel can hope for good dayes when he hears his Fathers were so evil It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise If the Angel of the Covenant once bless us no pain no sorrows can make us miserable CHAP. XXXVI Verse 1. DEmosthenes that great popular Orator was wont to hugg himself as he went in the streets to hear the Common People say as he passed by This is Demosthenes There goes the great Orator but it can be no Joy nor Credit for any man to be pointed at and stigmatized by the People for an infamous person This is Edom is no Commendation though Registred in the Book of God no happiness for Esau to find his Name in Scripture in the Book of God unless he could find it also in the Book of Life It had been happier for Ieroboam and Iudas if their Names might have been forgotten than to be remembred under those ignominious Characters of Iudas the Traitor and Ieroboam that made Israel to sin The wicked though they think to get them a Name and to that end lay Plots to keep it up and protect both it and themselves yet their Names shall either rot and perish or if they be remembred it shall be only as his was that burnt the Temple of Diana as a Curse in the Nation wherein they live as the publick fire-brands and incendiaries the common plague ruine and desolation of their Country Verse 6. Esau no doubt was as strong if not stronger than Iacob yet fled before his face surely there was something in it more than the power of Iacob that daunted Esau and something more than ordinary appeared in Iacobs face from which Esau fled there was a divine Majesty seated there and with this Esau was not acquainted and therefore it struck a terror into him and made him fly and all this not without a special Providence of God to make room for the right Heir Canaan was the promised Land but not for Esau he had sold his Birth-right and with that the Promise which was annexed to it the Land flowing with milk and honey was too good for him that valued a mess of Pottage above the Blessing of the first-born A Iacob only one blessed of God was to inherit that Country which should afterwards be blessed by the Son of God the Holy Land was no inheritance for an Esau a prophane person Verse 20. Esau was by Marriage allied to this Seir for he took Aholibamah the Daughter of Anah to Wife vers 2. and yet the Posterity of Esau were so unnatural as to drive their own Kinsmen out of their Country Deut. 2. 12. No tyes either of Bloud or Friendship or Nature or Religion are able to hold wicked men when Ambition or Covetousness drives them on the Sons of Esau value not their nearest Relations an Estate to them is of far greater esteem then Kindred or Friends then either their Brother their Father or their God himself Verse 31. As Esau was the first-born so he was the first King likewise and good reason the Elder Brother should wear the Crown before the younger especially since Iacobs Portion was not so much a temporal Crown as an eternal For though Iacob by Gods Decree was to have the blessing yet not the inheritance of the first-born temporal Estates or Dominions are not entailed to Grace neither can the Children of God as such challenge to themselves the power and authority of other men as their King so their Kingdom is not of this World And therefore let Esau Reign and Edom have Kings while Iacob is a Slave an Israel under and Egyptian Captivity yet Iacob shall Reign at last and that for ever and Israel have a King whose soveraignty shall spread over the whole World and endure longer than it the Scepter shall not depart from Iudah until Shilo come no nor then neither for his Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and his Dominion endureth throughout all Generations Psal. 145. 13. Verse 43. When Edom in the 31 verse of this Chapter was a King then was Israel a Slave but here when Edom was a Duke Israel was a King which instructs us not to look at the beginning of Gods Providence but the end and design of it Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is Peace saith the Psalm 38. 37. And
a Rule to guide my Conscience by either in Civil or Ecclesiastical matters Verse 4. Gods Actions are general and particular general to all men particular to his Friends So must ours be As therefore by his general Action he suffereth the Sun to shine upon the bad as well as good so must we extend our Love which is the common Bond of Mankind as well to our Enemies as to our Friends by which common Love all hurting of the Bodies or Goods of our Enemies is forbid Again as God hath his special Action to his Friends and his Church namely sanctification so must Friendship which is our special Action reach its self to such only as are of the Houshold of Faith For although we must love with that general Love all Mankind Turks Pagans yet to such may we not be Friends and Familiars but must beware of inward and usual conversation with them that hate God and all his Graces This distinction tels you the meaning of Mat. 5. 44. Love your enemies Verse 5. Estne Deo cura de bobus is the Apostles Question Hath God care of Oxen other mens Oxen how much more of his own Sheep And therefore if thou see one of his Sheep one of thy fellow Christians strayed into sins of infirmity joyn him with thine own Soul in thy Prayers to God Relieve him if what he needs be spiritual with thy Prayers for him and relieve him if his wants be of another kind according to his Prayers to thee Why should not he that is made of the same bloud and redeem'd with the same bloud as thou art why should not he prevail with thee so far as to the obtaining of an Almes when some fellow-servant of thine hath had that interest in God as by his intercession and Prayers to advance thy Salvation wilt not thou save the life of another man that prayes to thee when perchance thy Soul hath been saved by another man that prayed for thee Verse 6. In the third verse God commanded That the poor man should not be spared for pitty Here now he enjoyneth That a poor man should not be wrong'd in respect of his poverty such equal steps would God have Judgement to walk in Verse 11. Blessed is the man that provideth for the poor the Lord shall deliver him in all his trouble Psalm 41. 1. This is proved in the Widdow of Zarepta who fed the Prophet and never suffered in the midst of that Famine 1 Kings 17. When I was hungry you fed me saith Christ Mat. 25. 35. Me I say in the poor with you to whom what you did you did it to me and so I take it and will blesse you for it both here and hereafter Verse 19. You must not seeth the kid c. to shew that we must not use that to the destruction of any Creature which was intended for his preservation CHAP. XXIV Verse 3. IT is better not to promise than not to keep promise the people of the Iews were signified by the Locusts which suddenly leap up and forthwith fall down to the earth again They did as it were leap up when in words they promised to do all things which the Lord had said but they fell to the earth again when in their deeds they denied the same Let us therefore alwayes weigh our weakness and accordingly frame our promises for as we see in this people we may purpose well that which we cannot so well perform Verse 12. It is not many weeks since Israel came out of Egypt in which space God had cherished their Faith by several Wonders yet now he thinks it time to give them Statutes from Heaven as well as Bread The Manna and Water from the Rock which was Christ in the Gospel were given before the Law the Sacraments of Grace before the legal Covenant The Grace of God preventeth our obedience therefore should we keep the Law of God because we have a Saviour O the Mercy of God which before we see what we are bound to do shews us our remedy if we do it not How can our Faith disanul the Law when it was before it It may help to fulfil that which shall be it cannot frustrate that which was not The Letter which God had written in our fleshly Tables were now as some that were carved in some Barks almost grown out he saw it time to write them in dead Tables whose hardness should not be capable of alteration He knew that the stone would be more faithful than our hearts Verse 14. Ministers whether Civil or Ecclesiastical are not to leave their charge without Deputies When Moses here ascended he left Aaron and Hur with the people that whosoever had any matter might come to them So watchful and faithful was Moses in his place that without just cause he is not absent and then he leaveth able Deputies Verse 16. Moses ascending was not admitted to God till after six dayes to teach all men patiently and reverently to tarry Gods leisure and gracious pleasure for any matter of his Will to be revealed to them not curiously searching but humbly waiting for the thing we seek being fit for us At the end of six dayes God called to Moses So will the Lord have a comfortable time for all those that wait for him they shall see and hear at last what he will say unto them But then they must come to God in the Cloud that is in the humanity of Christ whereof this Cloud was a Figure For without him there is no access to God and by him we come and that boldly Verse 17. God appears here like a consuming Fire in the eyes of the Children of Israel but to them whom he drew to him he appeared as a pleasant Saphire verse 10. Just so to carnal men and to such as are his called by his holy Spirit there is a great difference of him the one seeing with fear and trembling the other seeing feeling and tasting Joy and Comfort Verse 18. Moses was with God forty dayes and nights without any repast That God that sent the Quails to the Host of Israel and Manna from Heaven could have fed him with dainties if he had so pleas'd But there is no life to the life of Faith Man lives not by bread only The Vision of God did not only satiate but feast him What a blessed satiety shall there be when we shall see him as he is and he shall be all in all to us Since this very frail Mortality of Moses was sustained and comforted but with representations of his presence Here again I see Moses the Receiver of the Law Elias the Restorer of the Law Christ the Fulfiller of the Law all fasting forty dayes Abstinence prepares best for good Duties Full bellies are fitter for rest Hence solemn Prayer takes ever fasting to attend it and so much the rather speeds in Heaven when it is so accompanied It s good so to diet the body that the soul may be fatned CHAP. XXV
uncleanness for our fault may be hid from us and we not ware of it and therefore David prayeth for his secret sins but still it remaineth an Uncleanness though we be blind and it will destroy us if we see it not in time Upon our Garments we endure no manner of Uncleanness not a little Mote but we brush and beat it off Yet our Bodies and Souls are unclean and we see it not we go not about to see it but use all the means we can to put it out of our sight by sports Company and the like Nay we hate him that will rub us that way and we avoid the place where sin is reproved Verse 4. Let this reform our rash Swearing in our common Talk and our foolish Vowing of things neither lawful nor in our power And think with your self whether they err not greatly that think what they have rashly sworn and vowed they must needs keep when you see here God would have them offer a Sin-offering for their rashness and not add more sin unto it by performing their rash Vows Verse 7. Thus gracious is God to his poor People to whom he appointeth smal offerings framing his Law to their powers and so giving them most sweet and true comfort of his Love to them as also in accepting of their little as well as of the greater Sacrifices of Richer Persons Verse 11. Oil signifying gladness and Incense a sweet savour The Lord by this Ceremony shadowed how hateful a thing it is and all that commit it till the Lord be reconciled to them again He hath no joy in us neither yield we any sweet savour And as he joyeth not in us so should not we joy in our selves For if we do we pour Oil into our Sacrifice contrary to the Law and we think our smell is as Incense to God pleasing and acceptable when he abhorres us and all our Works The Lord loveth a sorrowful sinner adorned with sackcloth and ashes and they that so weep shall laugh Verse 15. How little this false and unjust dealing with Gods Ministers is regarded with many in these dayes who knoweth not and they are never troubled for it much lesse do they purpose either restitution or amendment But the day will come when it will smart this Law of God having its enduring equity and God in other places professing that this robbing of his Servants is the robbing of him Mal. 3. 8. for so he taketh it and so will punish it CHAP. VI. Verse 5. GOD is never pleas'd with any thing that is ours whilst we retain and keep that that is not ours unless we make restitution of what we have unjustly taken away that very day we offer our Oblations are abominations Verse 7. The Priest must ever make the Atonement so ever signifying that not in the Sacrifice but in the Priesthood was the matter Now in that Priesthood was typified Christs Office And therefore as then no Sacrifice pleas'd but as offered by the Priest so at this day nothing of ours as Prayer and the like availeth but in Christ and by Christ our only and eternal High-Priest Again the Text sayes Before the Lord the Atonement shall be thereby overthrowing the wicked error of them that affirm a civil purgation only of sin by those Sacrifices and not any spiritual Promise in them Because so those Sacrifices should no wayes have served to breed and strengthen Faith in Man touching his spiritual Estate whereunto indeed they wholly aimed Verse 12. This Fire which God first kindled was not to be as some momentary Bone-fire or a sudden and short Triumph nor as a domestical Fire to go out with the day but it was given for a perpetuity it must neither die nor be quench'd God as he is himself eternal so he loves permanency and constancy of Grace in us If we be but a flash and away God regards us not all Promises are to perseverance Sure it is but an elementary Fire that goes out that which is Celestial continues It was but some presumptuous heat in us that decayes upon every occasion But yet he that miraculously sent down this Fire at first will not renew the Miracle every day by a like supply It began immediately from God it must be nourished by means Fuel must maintain that Fire that came from Heaven God will not work Miracles every day If he have kindled his Spirit in us we may not expect he shall every day begin again we have the Fuel of the Word and Sacraments Prayers and Meditations which must keep it in for ever It is from God that these helps can nourish his Graces in us like as every flame of our material Fire hath a concourse of Providence but we may not expect new infusions rather know that God expects of us an improvement of those habitual Graces we have received Verse 13. First by this he figured the death of Christ from the beginning of the World and by this shadow they were led to believe that although as yet Christ was not come in the Flesh nevertheless the fruit of his Death belonged to them as well as to those that should live when he came or was come for this Fire was continual and went not out no more did the fruit of his Passion fail to any true Believer even from the beginning but they were saved by believing that he should come as we are now by believing that he is come Secondly this shews that God is ever ready to accept our Sacrifices ever ready to hear us and forgive us but we are slow and dull and come not to him as we ought Thirdly no other Fire might be used but this and so they were taught to keep to Gods Ordinances and to fly from all inventions of their own heads Lastly this fire thus kept with all care taught them and still may teach us to be careful to keep in the Fire of Gods holy Spirit that it never die nor go out within us The Fire is kept in with wood with breath or blowing and with ashes so is Gods Spirit kept in by an honest Life as by wood by true sighs of unfained Repentance as by Breath or blowing and by meek Humility as by soft ashes Verse 16. In the Holy Place only and not else where must they eat it to signifie that only in the Church is the benefit of Christ to be had and not out of the Church the Branch beareth not Fruit but in the Vine and the Vine is only in the Vineyard CHAP. VII Verse 8. VVHy God should think of so small and base a thing as the skin some may ask the reason And it is first to confirm our Faith in his Providence that he will never forget us and leave us destitute of things needful and good for us seeing we are much better than the skin of a brute Beast whereof yet he hath care and thought Secondly this shews that sweet and comfortable care that the Lord then had and still hath
familiar with God! he saw they could be content to be happy and merry without him he would not be hapyy without them They had professed to have forgotten him he seeks to pray for them He that will ever hope for good himself must return good for evil unto others Verse 21. Although Moses did here stamp and burn their Idol yet I do not hear any of them say he is but one man we are many how easily may we destroy him rather than he our God It is our act and we will maintain it here was none of this but an humble obeisance to the basest revenge that Moses shall impose God hath set such an impression of Majesty in the face of lawful Authority that Wickedness is confounded in its self to behold it Besides sin hath a guiltiness in its self that when it is seasonably checked it pulls in his head and seeks rather an hiding-place than a Fort. CHAP. X. Verse 1. ISrael recovers the favour of renewing the Tabernacles but with an abatement Hew thee two Tables God made the first Tables the matter the form was his now Moses must shew the next As God created the first Man after his own Image but that once defaced Adam begat Cain after his own or as the first Temple rais'd a second was built yet so far short that the Israelites wept at the sight of it The first works of God are still the purest those that he secondarily works decline in their perfection It was reason that though God had forgotten Israel they should still find they sinn'd They might see the foot-steps of his displeasure in the differences of the Agent Verse 2. When God had told Moses before I will not go before Israel but my Angel shall lead them Moses so noted the difference that he rested not till God himself undertook their conduct so might the Israelites have noted some remainders of offence whiles instead of that which his own hand did formerly make he saith now Hew thee and yet these second Tables are kept reverently in the Ark when the others lay mouldred in shivers upon Sinah like as the repaired Image of God in our Regeneration is preserved prefected and layed up at last safe in Heaven whereas the first Image of our created innocence is quite defaced so the second Temple had the glory of Christs exhibition though meaner in frame The merciful respects of God are not tyed to glorious outsides or the inward worthiness of things or persons he hath chosen the weak and simple to confound the wise and mighty Verse 4. God did this work by Moses Moses hewed and God wrote our true Moses repairs that Law of God which we in our Nature had broken he receivesit for us and it is accepted of God no less than if the first Characters of his Law had been entire We can give nothing but the Table it is God that must write in it Our hearts are but a bare board till God by his finger engrave his Law in them yea Lord we are a â—â—â—gh Quarry hew thou us out and square us fit for thee to write upon Verse 12. God forbids us not here a love of the Creature proportionable to the good that that Creature can do us to love Fire as it warms me and Meat as it feeds me and a Wife as she helps me But because God does all this in all these several instruments God alone is centrically radically directly to be loved and the Creature with a love reflected and derived from him Verse 17. St. Peter took his Text Acts 10. 34. from this Text of Moses where because the words are not the same with these here in precise termes we find just occasion to note that neither Christ in his Preaching nor the Holy Ghost in penning the Scriptures of the New-Testament were so curious as our times in citing Chapters and Verses or such distinctions no nor in citing the very words of the places There is a sentence cited thus indeffinitely Heb. 4. 4. It is written in a certain place without more particular note and to pass over many if we consider that one place Isai. 6. 10. and consider the same place as it is cited six several times in the New-Testament we shall see that they stood not upon such exact quotations and citing of the very words as we do now adayes Verse 20. It is a reverential fear of God as of a Father that is here required causing us first to have high and honourable conceptions of God in our hearts sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and let him be your dread and your fear Isai. 8. 13. Secondly making all honourable mention of him with our mouths whether we speak to him or of him Presume not in a sudden unmannerliness to blurt out the Name of God much less to blaspheme it and bore it through with hideous Oaths and Imprecations To speak evill of ones Father was Death by Plato's Law as well as by Gods Law and Suidas testifieth of the same Plato and other Heathens that when they would swear by their Iupiter out of meer dread and reverence of his Name they forbare to mention him breaking off their Oath with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as those that only dared to owe the rest to their thoughts Thirdly Walking before him in the whole course of our lives with an holy bashfulness being evermore in the sence of his presence and light of his countenance In the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost as those Primitive Christians Acts 9. 31. CHAP. XI Verse 6. THis Element was not used to such Morsels It devours the Carkasses of men but bodies enform'd with living Souls never before To have seen them struck dead upon the Earth had been fearful but to see the Earth at once their Executioner and Grave was more horrible Neither the Sea nor the Earth are fit to give passage the Sea is moist and flowing and will not be divided for the continuty of it the Earth is dry and massy and will neither yeild naturally nor meet again when it hath yeilded Yet the Waters did cleave to give way unto Israel for their preservation the Earth did cleave to give way to the Conspirators in Judgement both Sea and Earth did shut their jaws again upon the Adversaries of God Verse 9. Hence some Lutherans have concluded that God hath not determined the set period of mans dayes but that it is in Mans power to lengthen or shorten them But is there not a time appointed for Man upon the Earth Iob 7. 1. there is certainly our bounds are prescribed us and a pillar set by him who bears up the Heavens which we are not to pass Stat sua cuique dies saith the Heathen Poet our last day stands though all the rest run It is said of the Turks that they shun not the company of those that have the Plague but pointing to their fore-heads say it was writ there at their Birth
when they should dye and therefore Iob describing the shortness of mans Life and withall that his dayes are determined compares them to the dayes of an hireling For with an Hireling we agree to work with us for a certain time and usually by the day whence they are call'd Day-labourers It imports then that the time of mans life is short and set for Hirelings are appointed to an hour Fifteen years just and no more were added to Hezekiah's life Isai. 38. 5. our very hairs are numbred much more then our dayes Verse 11. What ever the Egyptians fancy of their River Nilus both their River and our Rain too are from above there is not any of the Creature not so much as our meer Water but we receive it from Heaven God bottleth up the rain saith Iob and pours it on the earth when God pleaseth to turn the mouths of these bottles downwards This is a great miracle that whereas Water is fluid and beareth downward yet now that God thus binds up these heavy vapours and keeps them in those Vessels of the Clouds as thin or thinner than the liquor that is contain'd in them as a strong Man in a Cobweb till brought by the Winds wheresoever he pleaseth they drop upon the Earth by little and little to make it fruitful this is a wonderful work of God and should bring us to the knowledg of his Power Wisdom and Goodness Verse 12. We read in natural story of some Creatures Qui solo oculorum aspectu fovent ova Plin. l. 10. c. 9. which hatch their Eggs only by looking upon them What cannot the Eye of God produce and hatch in us The Eye of the Lord upon me makes midnight noon and St. Lucies St. Barnabies day and the Winter 's the Summers Solstice what a chearful Spring what a fruitful Autumn hath that Soul that hath the eye of the Lord alwayes upon her The eye of the Lord sanctifies nay more than sanctifies glorifies all the Ecclipses of dishonour makes Melancholy Chearfulness Difidence Assurance and turns the jealousie of the sad Soul into Insallibility Upon the people of Israel Gods eye shined in the Wilderness his eye singled them in Egypt and in Babylon they were sustained by his Eye Verse 19. Fathers should look upon their Children as Gods heritage and labour to make them Sons of God and Heirs of Heaven they must desire and endeavour to become natural as well as spiritual Fathers to their Children by teaching and instruction from their very Infancy For when Children are able to learn any thing that 's bad then certainly it is high time to teach them something that 's good when they can stammer out an Oath or lisp towards blasphemy then it is high time to teach them their Catechism and instruct them in the Principles of Religion And therefore the Holy Ghost hath composed certain Abcedarian Psalms according to the order of the Hebrew Alphabet that Children might learn an Alphabet of Godliness and Parents teach them the Elements of Religion as well as of Learning such Psalms are 25. 34 c. CHAP. XII Verse 1. THe difference between Divinity and other Sciences is that it is not enough to learn but we must observe and do it as lessons of Musick must be practised and a Copy not read only but writ and followed The practical Christian is the best Christian Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour till the evening saith the Psal. 104. 23. he must ever more be doing following his honest imployment in his particular place and calling whether Manual or Mental eating his Bread either in the sweat of his brow or his brain And as it is with Man in his Civil so likewise in his Spiritual Calling he must arise from the bed of sin and go forth out of himself out of his Lusts and sinful affections as out of his House to his work and to his labour working out his salvation with fear and trembling untill the Evening till the Sun of his Life be set Verse 7. There is no one duty almost in both Testaments more press'd than this of rejoycing before the Lord and the contrary is complain'd of and sorely threatned Deut. 28. 47. and therefore it is declared here as a recompence of all their charge and pains Ye shall feast before the Lord with joy this was the sweet-meats of the Feast other dainty dishes there might be but this was the Banquet This made those good Souls Ps. 84. 7. go bodily on from strength to strength though they took many a step yet their comfort was that they should everyone of them in Syon appear before the Lord and then thought their pains though never so great well bestow'd though they then saw Gods face but obscurely in the dark glass of the Ceremonies What then should not we suffer to see God clearly in his Ordinances Verse 8. The words are not you shall not do ill in your own Eyes but you shall not do that which seemeth good good I say and I pray you mark it you shall not do that but shall keep you to my Commandement Be it never so good then in my conceit that is be my meaning never so good it will not excuse The time will come saith Christ that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service What then shall his so thinking excuse his bloody murther What ill meant Ioshua when he wish'd Moses to forbid those that Prophesied Micha's Mother when according to her Vow she made her Sons two Idols the Disciples of Christ when they forbad Little Children to come unto him Peter's meaning had no hurt in it when he bad Christ to pitty himself and when he forbad him to wash his feet yet you know no good intent was accepted in these cases Verse 14. God will not take any of thy pretended Superogations for Sacrifices or Worshipping but will be served after his own way and according to his own Prescriptions and therefore he saith in the former Verse Take heed that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest as if he had said I will be worshipped according to that which I have commanded thee and not after thine own fancy Because indeed that God the very reason and cause of all things hath his end in all whatever he ordains For to direct all Nations to the Sacrifice of his only Son alone he would have but one Temple but one Sanctuary and one Altar whereas thou dost darken and confound his meaning by thy multitude of High Places and Altars Verse 32. God accepts of no service but such as he commands You shall not do every one that which seems right in his own eyes saith the Holy Ghost in the beginning of this Chapter but ye shall do whatsoever I enjoyn you saith the same Spirit in this Verse Our service is limited to that which God liketh Saul thought that Sacrifice had been service but God liked better of his obedience Uzza
very word Subah they would have returned in sackcloth and ashes And so likewise in the 80. Psalme Turn us again O Lâ—rd saith David and we shall be saved There goes no more to salvation but such a turning So that this returning of the Lord is an operative an effectual returning that turns our hearts and eyes and hands and feet to the waies of God and produceth in us repentance and obedience Verse 3. At what time soever man repents of his sins from the bottom of his heart at that very time God will repent of the judgment he intended against that man And thus here when Gods People should be carried away captive into any strange Land if then in their captivity they would turn unto God God would immediately turn unto them For the only reason why God doth not repent of the evil of punishment is because we do not repent of the evil of sinne the onely reason why God delayes to turn away his wrath is because we delay to turn unto him We cry How long Lord how long when wilt thou have mercy upon England and God calls How long O England how long when will you turn unto me with all your heart when will it once be Jer. 13. I appeal to your consciences that read this is it fit God should cease fighting against you by the sword before you cease fighting against him by your sins but if ye would turn unto God let me assure you the very same day that you turn God will turn You have Scripture for it Hag. 2. 18. nay let me tell you the very minute that you begin to repent God will repent Ier. 18. 7 8. At what instant I shall say to a nation c. as a personal repentance is a meanes to obtain a personal salvation so a national repentance is a meanes to obtain a national salvation at that very instance that thou turnest from thy sin God will turn from his anger and have compassion on thee Verse 10. The Decrees of God are not all of them absolute but many of them conditional If thou wilt hearken unto the Lord thy God and keep his Commandments saith the Text then the Lord will blesse thee and rejoyce over thee for good c. And though this condition be not alwaies exprest yet it is to be understood of course there are some Promises absolutely exprest in Scripture but yet made upon condition and so to be understood as some threatnings are made upon condition of impenitency so are some promises upon condition of obedience Yet fourty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed Jonah 3. 4. the Threatning seems to be absolute and definite yet to be understood with this reserve unlesse Nineveh repent So for Promises though Gods decree concerning Elies house seemed to be most absolute I said indeed that thy house should walk before me for ever 1 Sam. 2. yet that God intends a condition is most plain because God adds the condition verse 30. of that Chapter so that you see whether God doth threaten a Judgement or promise a Mercy to his People all is upon Condition that is the steer the rudder that guides all Verse 12. Who shall go unto heaven for us Who but the Son of man which is in heaven Who but those that have in some measure the knowledge of God in Christ which is life eternall heaven before hand let there be therefore continual ascentions thither in our hearts let us lift up hearts and hands to God in heaven and He will shortly send his chariots for us as Ioseph did for his Father and convoy us thither In the mean space how should we every day take a turn or two with Christ upon mount Tabor get up to the top of Pisgath with Moses and take a prospect of heaven turn every solemnity into a schoole of Divinity say as one said when he heard a good consort of musick what musick may we think there is in heaven This this is the principal end and most profitable use of all the Creatures when they become ladders and wings to us to mount up to heaven CHAP. XXXI Verse 2. WE heard before the sin of Moses and Aaron speaking unadvisedly with their lips and striking the rock doubtfully with their hands and therefore the Lord doth here punish Moses and deny him enterance into the promised Land Thou shalt not go over Iordan from which we are taught that God chastiseth his own Children sinning against him thus when David had committed that grand complicated sin in the matter of Uriah by murther and adulterey though he were a man after Gods own heart yet the Lord raised evil against him out of his own house the sword of the enemy departed not from his house his own wives were defiled in the sight of the Sun Now God doth thus chastise his Children least they sinning with the men of this world should be condemned with them for as in punishing us he respects his own justice so also our own good and the great profit which thereby is brought unto us for if we should alwayes enjoy health and liberty peace and plenty we should kick against the Almighty and bitterly esteem the Rock of our Salvation Wherefore affliction is as the messengers of God to call us back from sin to wean us from this World and to kindle in us a desire of the World to come Gods afflictions are our remembrancers and his corrections our instructions And besides we must needs confess from hence that great is the wrath and anger of God for sin seeing he punisheth it so sharply and sincerely in his own children whom he hath engraven as a signet on the palm of his hand and whom he tenders as the apple of his own eye Verse 3. Whereas it is said here that Ioshua should go over before the people as the Lord had said we are taught that Magistrates have their calling and hold their places immediately from God for the good of the people Solomon was set in his throne by God himself not by the high Priest or the People and it is said of David that God chose him from the Sheepfold to feed his people Iacob and Israel his inheritance Psal. 18. The same likewise was spoke of Saul a wicked King the Lord hath annointed thee to be governour of his inheritance 1 Sam. 10. So then Kings hold of God in chief and not of men and upon this ground they are to give up their accounts to God only and not to man For as they are next and immediate unto God and inferiour to none but him so for all their actions they shall reckon with him and if you object that of 1 Pet. 2. 13. Where the People calleth it an ordinance of man I answer the Magistrate is so called not because men are the authors of it or may dissolve it but first because men do execute it and not God or the Angels secondly because it is ordained for the use benefit and profit of