much more for hurting her with both Virulent Tongues and Violent Hands Isa 21.11 34.5 Jer. 49.7 Ezek. 25.12 Joel 3.9 Amos 1.11 Obad. v. 11. Mal. 1.3 Thus oft God tells his People of this lest they should stumble at Edom's Prosperity while they were in Adversity assuring them once and again Yea God spake it more than twice Psal 62.11 yea even eight times that this Grass though never so goodly should be cut down but the Inheritance of the Children of God should endure for ever Psal 102.28 by Vertue of the Covenant and that mystical Union with God therein which is the ground of an everlasting Communion this is that which makes the Church both Immortal and Immutable Moses first extols Esau's Family Gen. 36. as if Gods Blessing had rested rather upon it than upon Jacob's yet afterwards he passeth over it with silence and it almost quite perisheth out of the Minds and Memory of Mankind Esau being equal to Jacob in Blood Birth and Breeding had the Worldly Blessing of pomp principality and prosperity first while Jacob lived obscurely as sojourner only not possessing any part of the Land of Promise in his own right but by the leave of others the true Proprietors then thereof Thus Abraham and Isaac as well as Jacob all confessed themselves to be but Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth Heb. 11.13 14. This Abraham did Gen. 23.4 who purchas'd a possession of the People of the Land the first purchase of possession that is mention'd in Scripture not to Build on but to Bury in ver 9 11 13. where Ephron and Abraham strive to gratifie one another Ephron offers Abraham the free use of their Burial-place saying None of us shall with hold from thee his Sepulchre ver 6. But Abraham was desirous rather to pay for his Propriety in a distinct possession that he might be separated from them in Burial who did not believe with him a better Resurrection therefore he offers the full value for the Cave of Machpelah No saith Ephron The Field I give thee c. v. 13. 'T was a most brave Speech speaking forth a most bountiful Spirit to a stranger especially which is a good Copy of kjndness among Friends and an exalt example of Justice among Chapmen in their bartering and bargaining together v. 15 17 20. such is the care of the truely conscientious that they will give the full worth of the commodity and rather lose of their own than be injurious to or usurp of anothers giving all that is due both in quantity and quality In this bargain the seller doth not ask too much nor the buyer bid too little as it was after here in the Sale of Joseph only one price is pitch'd on and paid down yet though Abraham had hereby purchas'd a little Land in Canaan the Protomartyr Stephen saith God gave him no Inheritance not so much as a Foot it Act. 7.5 that is though he was the Heir of the World Rom. 4.13 and a Prince of God Gen. 23.6 yet God gave him no place whereon to Build a Princely Pallace for himself and his while living to dwell in but only a double Cave as Machpelah by Interpretation was one for men and another for Women or one within another wherein to bury himself and his when Dead to sleep in that Sepulchre till the Resurrection or God gave him not that general and full possession of the Land of promise as he gave it to his Posterity after but lets him be as a stranger in it all his days as he calls himself Gen. 23.4 and a great Traveller travelling to and fro as is computed in the Patriarchs Travels no less than 1794 Miles and as Abrabam confess'd this so did his Son Isaac being another Pilgrim as Heb. 11.13 14 15. Travelling likewise to and fro an Hundred and Forty eight Miles yea and Jacob confess'd the same likewise when he stood before Pharaoh calling the years of his Life the days of his Pilgrimage Gen. 47.9 in very variable and remote Removings 1. From Canaan to Mesopotamia Gen. 28.5 about five hundred Miles distant 2. From thence back again thither Gen. 31.17 18. the same number of Miles and now being return'd to Canaan he shifted from place to place As 3. From Succoth to Shechem Gen. 33.17 18. computed eight Miles 4. From thence to Bethel Gen. 35.1 6. about twenty eight Miles 5. From Bethel to Bethlehem twelve Miles ver 16. 6. From thence to his Father in Hebron which was twenty Miles more there he was but a Sojourner when this unhappy Sale of his only Jewel Joseph happened whereof after so that now this Patriarch had travell'd a thousand and sixty eight Miles yet was he not got to the end of his Pilgrimage for after all the aforesaid he travels 7. From Hebron to Beershebah Gen. 46.1 which was eight German or thirty two Miles English the outmost part of Canaan Southward toward Egypt whither he was forced to go by Famine out of the Land of Promise which was Jacob's seventh Cross or Calamity after this sixth Cross the Sale of his Son Joseph thither to be discours'd upon after in its proper place and order And yet 8. Jacob hath a long Stage from Beershebah to Goshen in Egypt to Heliopolis saith Josephus to On Joseph's chiet Seat of Residency Gen. 41.45 say others which was an hundred sixty and eight Miles a great Journey for Jacob now an hundred and thirty years old Gen. 45.10 and 46.28.34 still 9. He travels thence to Zoan the Metropolis of Egypt where King Pharaoh kept his Court and where Joseph presented his Father to Pharaoh Gen. 47.7 which was twenty eight Miles more into the Land And 10. The compleat Pythagorical Number according to his own choice Jacob removes back from this Metropolitan City and from Pharaoh's Court to the Countrey of Rameses so call'd Gen. 47.11 or Goshen ver 27. which was another twenty eight Miles back again This latter part of the Patriarch's Travels maketh up two hundred fifty and six Miles which being added to his former part thereof being computed a thousand and sixty eighty both these numbers being put together do amount to one thousand three hundred and twenty four Miles No wonder then if this Holy Patriarch be commonly called the Father of the brood of Travellers as the vulgar singing Psalms do Translate that Psal 24.6 He being though the Heir of the Promise and of the Promised Land a most prodigious Traveller having no enduring City Heb. 11.9 and 13.14 Nay he travell'd as it were when he was dead when his Body was carry'd back to be Buried from Goshen to Canaan Gen. 50.7 11 13. Thus was Jacob a profess'd Pilgrim living and dying All this is Recorded for our Instruction and Comfort Rom. 15.4 that though we have the like Afflictions of being constrain'd to remove from place to place in the days of our Pilgrimage as Jacob was and my self have been yet may we but carry along with us the like Affections
into vast Multitudes they spread further than Goshen and had Egyptian Families nigh and among them whence it was that the Destroying Angel did distinguish their Doors by the sprinkling of Blood Exod. 1.2.7.23 and that the Israelites departing borrowed of their Neighbours the Egyptians Jewels and Ear-rings c. v. 35 37. yet none save Joseph are said to live at the Court accounting with David that one Day in God's Courts was better than a Thousand in Saul's or Pharaoh's Courts Psal 84.10 and with Moses esteeming it better to suffer Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Hebr. 11.25 26. 6. It teacheth That as those Shepherd Israelites were an Abomination to the more Courtly Egyptians so every Israelite indeed Joh. 1.47 is still abominable to the Gypsies of the world Solomon saith He that is upright in the way is Abomination to the wicked Prov. 29.27 where he shews there is no love lost betwixt them There be Antipathies in Nature as betwixt the Lion and the Cock the Dog and the Sheep c. but none like that of the old Enmity Gen. 3.15 'twixt the Godly and the Wicked yet thus differing The former hates Non virum sed vitium not the Person but the Sin of a wicked man as the Physician hates the Disease but loves the Patient but the latter hates both the Grace and the Gracious 1. Grace because it contradicts his Vice which he so dearly loveth 2. The Gracious because such have a Counter-motion to his and justles as it were against him with his contrary courses 1 Joh. 3.12 Secondly Having viewed Jacob's Prosperity come we now to his Adversity the Catastrophe and Epilogue of his Pilgrimage-Comedy God did with him as the Bridegroom is said to do Joh. 2.10 kept the best Wine for the last Jacob tells Pharaoh his Days had been full of evil Gen. 47.9 He had many Crosses attending him I have as the Hebrews do numbred Seven principal ones There were others less principal that pinch'd him As 1. His hard Service in Laban's House 2. The Suborning of Leah for Rachel 3. The Fornication of Judah with Thamar unlike Joseph for Chastity 4. The detaining of Simeon in Egypt's Prison 5. The Bereaving him of his dear Benjamin c. yet the Lord was with him bore him through all as Psal 34.19 and at last brought him to a wealthy place Psal 66.12 even to sit down without any more Crosses in the fattest of that fat Land of Egypt for his last Seventeen years Gen. 47.28 so long Jacob had nourish'd Joseph Gen. 37.2 and just so long Joseph nourish'd Jacob Bis pueri Senes Old Men are twice Children The sweetest days Jacob ever saw were these Seventeen His time in Egypt was the largest white of Mercy with the least black of Misery in the whole Table of this Holy Patriarch's Life God reserved his Best for Jacob's Last yet this did not last always for at last the Infirmity and Imbecillity of old Age which is call'd an evil Age Eccles 12.1 came upon him which made his second state a state of Adversity that usher'd in Death by a lingring Sickness yet before this he saw God's Promise began to be accomplished God had said I will make of thee a great Nation in Egypt Gen. 46.3 and he saw before his last Sickness that his Offspring grew and multiplied exceedingly Gen. 47.27 God dies not in any mans debt neither will he let Jacob die till he see some part of the Payment of his Promise God is never short but oft over hit Promise nor will he suffer his Church to suffer this Seventeen years in Egypt though the first five of them were years of sore Famine for Moses in a few words of this 27th Verse minds us How 1. The Church was commodiously seated in Goshen 2. Was Accommodated with peaceable Possessions either Farmed under Pharaoh for the Land sell to him by the Famine ver 21. or frankly rather as a Donative bestowed upon her by him 3. Was wonderfully Advanced with an Increase of Wealth both in Coin and Cattel 4. And was mightily and marvellously multiplied with a numerous Off-spring above ordinary Custom which Moses further mentions as a Divine Miracle Exod. 1.12 But that which was adverse to Jacob after his so long prosperous Estate is his fatal Sickness the Harbinger of his Death The time drew nigh that Israel must die Gen. 47.29 or Hebr. the days of Israel drew nigh to die that is wherein he must yield to the stroak of Death he lying many days under this last Sickness being Sick unto Death this Jacob understood by a natural Instinct or it was Revealed to him by a Prophetick Spirit hereupon by his Paternal Authority he exacts an Oath of his Son Joseph not to Bury him in Egypt but in Canaan ver 29 30. Here we have these following Remarks First While Jacob as a Father did impose an Oath upon Joseph his Son yet as he was a private Person and his Son a publick Magistrate he useth expressions of Homage intermingled with his Injunctions saying If now I have found Grace in thy sight and I pray thee deal kindly and truely with me or Hebr. Do with me Mercy and Truth wherein as he injoins Joseph as a Son so he reverenceth him as a Prince Thus as Joseph did not disdain to Honour Jacob as his Father according to the Fifth Command Honour thy Father and Mother c. though he was but a poor old Shepherd and that in the presence of such Egyptian Courtiers then of his Retinue to whom Shepherds were an abomination at their first meeting Gen. 46.29 So Jacob the Father deems it his Duty to give due honour to his Son Joseph who was Lord of the Land at their last parting As the Divine and Natural Law did command that subjection which the Son paid to the Father in the former Instance So the Civil and National Law did require this Homage that the Father a Subject paid to his Son a Prince in the latter and herein Joseph's Dream was accomplish'd here that the Sun and Moon shall do Obeisance to me Gen. 37.9 The second Remark is God is more gracious to Jacob than his own Sayings Sentiments or Expectations when he met his Son Joseph he said Now let me die c. Gen. 46.30 yet God was so good to him as to give him a longer Lease of his Life than he desired He that could have been content to have died at that instant of having seen his Jewel Joseph shall live by a Divine Grant much longer and that a Life of peace and plenty the best part of Jacob's Life as to the quality of it was then to come when he wish'd to be gone and die few and evil had been his former days as himself says to Pharaoh Gen. 47.9 but his days which follow'd that time were few and good even all those seventeen years wherein Joseph nourish'd him paying his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
often as here to Jacob to Joseph his Son Gen. 37.6 7. to Daniel chap. 2. and 7. to Joseph the supposed Father of Christ Mat. 1.20 and 2.19 22. and to Solomon 1 King 3.5 yet sometimes to those that were not of Gods People as to Abimelech of whom 't is said God came to him in a Dream Gen. 20.3 to Pharaoh's self and to his Butler and Baker Gen. 40. and 41. to Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.1 to Pilates Wife Mat. 27.19 and to Laban the Syrian Gen. 31 24. Thus God Communicates his mind to the minds of Men even in their Sleep Job 33.15 what he would have understood by them and uttered to others This God especially did before the Law was Written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in divers manners c. Heb. 1.1 God spake to Men when they were plung'd in their Sleep and so neither of the number of the Living nor of the Dead then doth he convey Instruction into them wherein God hath the preheminence above all other Teachers amongst Men for they can Teach only those that are awake but he those that are asleep to the Conviction and Conversion of Sinners which no Hand but the Divine can do Divine Dreams again are manifold As 1. They are sent of God to signifie not always future things as did Pharaohs Nebuchadnezzars c. but sometimes things present as did that of Abimelechs Gen. 20.3 wherein he heard the Majesty of God speaking to him that he should not sinfully touch Sarah Abraham's Wife whom he had taken then into his House for which God had smitten it with a Mortal Disease and 't is probable that this Man though an Heathen yet none of the worst came to the knowledge of the true God by his Dream which may make us admire God who out of this evil knew how to extract this good as his Repentance 2. Those Divine Dreams call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as fore-telling future things are of two sorts 1. They are nuda 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked Visions plainly expressing the purport and meaning of the Dream as was that to Joseph concerning Mary how he should dispose of her according to Divine Direction in his Dream Mat. 1.19 20 24. so Gods Mind was most plainly signified to him again in a Dream about his returning out of Egypt into his own Land Mat. 2.19 20 22. Or 2. They are mystica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dark Dreams folded up in Types and Figures which cannot be understood without some Signification and solid Interpretation Such was Pharaoh's Dream of seven fat and lean Kine and of the seven full and lank Ears Gen. 41. and Nebuchadnezzar's of the Tree c. Dan. 4. and of the Image Dan. 2 c. whereas that of Abimelech's as before was of the former without a Figure 3. Those Divine Dreams have not only divers manners of being delivered to wit Plainly or Parabolically as before but they have also divers Objects and Subject Matters whereunto they are concern'd As 1. Concerning those things which properly belong to our selves and therefore be call'd proper Dreams 2. Those call'd Alien do concern other Mens Affairs not our own 3. Those call'd Common do concern both our selves and others 4. Those call'd Publick do concern the publick Affairs And 5. Those call'd General do concern Matters both of Church and State 4 Those Divine Dreams have likewise divers and differing Ends to wit they are sent of God Either 1. To chasten Man as Job 7.13 14 c. Or 2. To comfort him as Mat. 2.19 c. and these are sometimes oft repeated until they be well regarded as King Pharaoh's and young Samuel's were NB. And they are known from other Delusive and Deceitful Dreams either from our own vain Fancies or from the Black Fiend of Hell by these Characters 1. Dreams that be of Gods sending are always holy and good never savouring of sinful or carnal things 2. They do much Affect and Enlighten the Mind make a great Impression upon the Spirit and bring along with them their own Evidence whereby they are discern'd that they come from God as the Sun is discover'd by its own Light it brings with it into the Horizon and the Sacred Scriptures are discerned to be of God by that Lustre Loftiness and Majesty that they are clothed with Thus Joseph's and Daniel's Dreams were thus attended and so was Jacob's here Hence Gregory the Great lib. 4. Dialog 48. saith that holy Men may know that their Dreams are not the Devils Delusions but be Divine by a certain Inward Savour and Spiritual Relish that doth accompany them They do leave an Inward Sense of Gods presence behind them 3. God sends Divine Dreams never upon Trivial but always upon Grave and weighty Matters therefore he doth it rarely and for holy and ponderous Inducements or Reasons as to Pharaoh whose Dream of Seven years Plenty and Scarcity shew'd the occasion of Joseph's Inlargement and Advancement and of Israel's coming down into Egypt both which were Matters of mighty importance and so was that to Nebuchadnezzar which was sent 1. To humble him for his Pride and to make him know the God of Israel whereby he might be made more favourable to his people whom he held then in Babylonish Captivity 2. That Daniel might be Exalted as Joseph had been before him by the like means that both might become as Foster-fathers to Gods Captive People 3. For the Comfort of the Church being instructed hereby that Gods Eye is upon the Mighty Monarchs of the World whom he sets up and pulls down at his pleasure the little Stone shall break all the Four Monarchies 4. Divine Dreams are for the most part sent to Men fearing God if not sometimes at the first Hand yet always at the second as to the Interpretation of them as holy Joseph must be the Interpreter of Pharaoh's Dream and holy Daniel of Nebuchadnezzar's being both folded up in Figures Hereby the God of Joseph and of Daniel was glorified above all false Gods in fore-telling future Contingencies abstruse and hidden Mysteries infinitely transcending all Humane Capacities which are only known to the All-knowing God Isa 46.9 10. with 41.22 23. and 22.12 and 45.5 6. and 48.2 fore-telling the Issue of things long before their Accomplishment all passages and proceedings of Providence in a continued course and progress from first to last though not at present in Being yet all in time come to pass this none can predict but the true God who rarely Reveals them to any but to good Men that have Commerce and Communion with him If ever he doth it to others that are not holy 't is still in Ordine ad Ecclesiam for Zion's good as those above Abimelech's for Abraham's and Pilate's Wife for Christs c. To conclude with a word of Caution and Council whereas the Vulgar saying is that many Natural Dreams do prove Prophetically true therefore not so to be slighted This is to fall below the Knowledge of the wise Heathens
again Still my Promise which though Sealed is not Dated shall in no wise be disannulled but shall in due time have its full Accomplishment God loves to go a way of his own sometimes he fetches a Compass as before and goeth about and about while he goeth about to fulfil his word Hereupon David declareth expresly how God sent a Famine as all publick calamities are of his sending for punishing the wicked and for proving the godly Psal 105.16 which was the chief cause and first occasion of Israel's going down into Egypt ver 23. Therein the Divine Decree began to work concerning Israel's Sojourning and Suffering hardship in Egypt by a wonderful Providence There was a sore Famine at the same time both in Canaan and in Egypt by Gods shutting up his Hand of Bounty and withholding his Blessing whereby their Staff they lean'd upon was broken this God concealeth from the Father though a Prophet before he sent it and therefore Jacob made no Provision before-hand though he then lived in the Glory of all Lands Ezek. 20.6 for Fatness and Fruitfulness insomuch that when his Father Isaac Sowed in that Land which he only Hired then for his use and that in a time of Famine too he had an hundred sold increase which is the very utmost that our Lord mentions Mat. 13.23 in the Parable of the Sower Gen. 26.12 yet his Son Jacob meets at this time with no such overflowing measures so his Stores were soon Exhausted when the starving Famine falls upon his Family But God revealeth this approaching Judgment to Jacob's Son Joseph a Prophet also seven years before it came hereupon he laid up Stores in abundance in Egypt Jacob the Father is Famish'd at Home while Josâ—ph the Son is Fed to the full Abroad The emptiness of Jacob's Barns drives him out of Canaan and the fulness of Joseph's Garners draws him down to Egypt Remark the second Oh that Christs fulness may incite and intice us as Merchants to the Indies c. full of Spices Pearls and precious Commodities as Bees to pleasant Meadows full of fragrant Flowers affording sweet Thyme to that laborious little Insect as the Queen of Sheba to Solomon full of Wisdom to satisfie her Soul in all her Abstruse Questions and as Jacob and all his Family to Joseph in Egypt where he had fulness of Corn for them all in that extream Famine which they the blessed Church smarted under as well as their Neighbours the Cursed Canaanites so had Abraham and his Family and so had Isaac and his Family done before Gen. 12.10 and 26.1 Saints have their share in common Calamities both the good Figs and the bad were carried Captive Jer. 24.1 3 5 8. The sharp Sickle cuts down the Corn and the Weeds both together at the Harvest so that fulness both of Abundance and of Redundance which it hath pleased the Father Col. 1.19 doth dwell in our Joseph in our Jesus should be a strong Charm and an irrestistible Invitation to draw us effectually to him seeing he is Anointed with the Oil of gladness not only above but also for his Fellows Heb. 1.9 then should we return as Jacob's Sons with Sacks full of Corn with Hearts full fraught with the Rich Treasures of Grace and Truth John 1.16 Did they go as Austin saith three hundred Miles to get Food of Joseph for their Bodies and shall we think much to stir a few steps in this City say it be a few Miles in the Countrey to get Food for our Souls Oh how should poor empty Creatures press toward a full Christ for a seasonable and a satisfactory Supply Alas we are made all up of meer wants and he is all fulness to make up our wants We should press towards this precious prize Phil. 3.14 especially if a Famine of the Word fall upon us as is threatned Amos 8.11 12. which God may justly call for Psal 105.16 for our loathing of the Heavenly Manna and accounting light of it Numb 11.6 and 21.5 Mat. 22.5 Lightly come by is but lightly set by Citò parta vilescunt Alas 1. How have we like wanton Children play'd the wantons with wholesom Food we have wasted it instead of supplying our wants with it Many Stomachs have been so Nice and Squeasie that they have even nauseated the Bread of Life their Palates have been too dainty and delicate too critical and curious to find the Genuine flavour and savour of Angels Food plain Preaching hath been plainly puff'd at and disrelished 2. And like froward Children how have we quarrell'd about the Cup till we have almost spilt all the Wine 'T is but a Righteous thing with the most Righteous God who doth always right Gen. 18.25 to teach us more Wisdom than either to quarrel or be wanton He may take all away saying I will not feed you Zech. 11.9 that we may better know the worth of those Blessings by the want of them Thus hath He dealt with the seven Churches of Asia of old Thus with Bohemia the Palatinate and many other parts of Germany c. of late and thus with that large Region of Nubia in Africk which had as 't is thought professed the Christian Faith from the very time of the Apostles but now hath embraced Mahometism their Candlestick is removed Rev. 2.5 This brings in the third Remark 3. Oh that we â—â—y not be like the Murmurers in the Wilderness crying out our Soul loatheth this Light Bread Numb 21.5 or like those other people whose Sins of formality Indifferency and Supine Security were the great snuffs that dimm'd their Light and at last put it out As loathing of Meat and difficulty of Breathing are two sure signs of a Sick and shrewd Symptoms of a dying Body so are carelesness of Hearing and coldness of Praying both these Duties becoming irksome and if not disused yet done without delight certain Signs and Symptoms of a Sick and Dying Soul whether the Soul be consider'd as relating to Christians in particular or to the Church in General A disrelishing of Duty ushers in a disuse and discontinuance of it and the Father will not feed such froward and wanton Children That Vineyard which brings nothing but Wild and Sour Grapes Wild Notions a Sour Spirit against each other the Vine-Dresser will lay desolate Isa 5.1 2 5 6. it brings forth nothing but stinking stuff as the Hebrew word signifies that was nought and noisom Grapes of Sodom and Clusters of Gomorrah Deut. 32.32 33. their wicked Natures produce wicked Works behold here are nothing visible but works of the Flesh Instead of Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.19 22. therefore saith God I will lay it waste utterly ruine it and root it up and never save them for a sinning stock any longer thus Gods old house of the Jewish Church was left desolate Mat. 23.38 first by the Babylonians before Christ and then by the Romans after him by whom God taking away the Gospel from Jerusalem brought Desolation not only upon his
own House the Temple but upon their Dwelling Houses also Thus Gods later House of the Christian Church planted at Rome c. by the Apostles was laid Desolate also for when Religion did degenerate from its primitive power and purity was become Barren being all moss-be grown with Formality and made in time not only a matter of Form but of Scorn also about the Sixth Century the Saracens in the East and those Barbarous People the Goths and Vandals in the West broke in and bore down all before them Thus also we may well expect the removal of our Candlestick a Treading down of our Vineyard and utter Desolation The like Sins bring the like Judgments God may call for a Famine c. If we will not hear his Word we may hear his Rod Mic. 6.9 yea and feel his Sword too Elisha hath his Sword as well as Hazael and Jehu 1 King 19.17 though of another nature to wit his Threatnings and Imprecations all which were infallibly accomplished such as stand it out against the power of two Kings shall yet fall by the Hand and Power of Prayer and when ever our Elisha's unsheath and brandish their Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God Eph. 6.17 't is a fair warning that the Sword of Jehu and of Hazael are at Hand see Hos 6.5 and Jer. 1.10 all these aforesaid are for our examples 1 Cor. 10.6 and for our Caution and Admonition v. 11. God Hangs up as it were some in Gibbets for publick patterns of Divine Justice Alterius perditio nostra fiat cautio The Torture of others should be a Terror to us Lege Historiam nè fias Historia worthily are they made Examples who will take none Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum To take warning effectually at the Destruction of Wicked Men for their wickedness is a right and the best washing of our feet in the Blood of the wicked Psal 52.6 with 58.10 the Righteous seeing the Ruine of the Irreligious are made themselves the more Religious thereby The Perdition of the one is for caution to the other and not to take warning is a sure presage as well as a just Merit and desert of utter Destruction which if we Repent not will be our Portion our Candlestick our God and his Gospel will make a removal from us and then wo unto us Hos 9.12 this may be as surely foreseen and foretold as if Letters had been sent from Heaven to such a purpose as were sent to the seven Churches of Asia The Fourth Remark is Though Jacob had a well grounded Faith and good cause to Hope well both of his Warrant for his Journey into Egypt of his welcom thither and of his welfare there yet some strong pang of fear did possess him in his passage from Hebron Had not his Faith been below his Fear and had not his Fear got above his Faith God had not said to him at Beersheba where he pray'd for a prosperous Journey those chearing up words Fear not to go down to Egypt Gen 46.1 2 3. Jacob might justly see sufficient cause of Fear upon sundry Accounts As 1. His Father had been forbid to go thither in the like occasion of Famine Gen. 26.2 2. The very Journey might seem too far for him now become so frail and feeble through old Age he might fear to die by the way 3. In going to Egypt he feared to seem a forsaker of the Land of Promise which was the Pledge of the Heavenly Canaan 4 He feared that coming into that Impious and Idolatrous Country his Righteous Soul would be vexed with their unrighteous Conversation as Lot had been i◠Sodom 2 Pet. 2.7 and with their Idolatry also for about this time began their worshipping of a Pide Bull or Cow named Apis from whence the Israelites learnt to worship a Calf Augustine de Civit. Dei lib. 18. cap. 4. 5. He might justly fear likewise the Debauching of his Posterity by the Pleasures and Treasures of Egypt Hebr. 11.26 wherewith they being bewitched in that pleasant and plentiful Land might not only become Dissolute and Sensual in life but also lay aside all Thoughts of returning to Canaan 6. Jacob might lastly fear not only the corrupting of his Family both in Worship and Manners but also their Slavery in that Country which was foretold by God to Abraham Gen. 15.13 and so his going now thither seem'd to hasten that Misery upon them which would of it self come soon enough without his going down to fetch it These and the like might be the many Grounds of Jacob's Fears as on the one hand he admits not of that fond Stoical Apathy which is no better than a stupid blockishness so on the other hand his ordinary Faith might be run down by an extraordinary Fear through those carnal Reasonings of a wicked Heart that through Satan's Suggestions pored too much downward upon the rushing and roaring Streams which ran so swiftly under him and his until he was help'd to look upward at his God and the God of his Fathers who had hitherto kept touch with them in his Promise by the Almighty hand of his Power and Providence c. whatever Jacob's Fears were he took the right Method to get rid of them He prays down his Fears and prays up his Faith The very Heathens will not dare to take a Journey without first offering Sacrifice much less ought Christians whose Father Jacob did not dare to neglect it He consults with God as David did after saying Shew me the way I should choose that my Soul may dwell at ease Psal 25.12 13. and 32.8 and the Prayer-Hearing God gives him an Answer of Peace Gen. 41.16 and sweetly counter-comforts him against those his Fears aforementioned As 1. The same God who forbad his Father to go down bids him the Son not Fear to go down 2. As to all those Mischiefs of Soul and Body to thy self and to thine thou fearest may be met with in Egypt fear them not for I will go down with thee c. v. 3 4. thou shalt have me thy Antidote against all those Evils 3. Neither shalt thou die by the way c. but thy Son Joseph shall close up thy eyes when thou diest 4. Whereas thou art afraid that the Egyptian Servitude shall suppress thy Offspring I will there make of thee a great Nation c. This made him couragious Inference hence is First Oh happy and thrice happy are the Children of Jacob the close walking Christians who with their Father Jacob have God saying to them I will go with you both in all your Journeys by Land and in all your Voyages by Sea and not only so but also I will go down with you into your Graves and I will surely bring you back again from thence This is as good Security as can be to God's Servants both while they live and when they die For 1. While they live God is their good and their comfortable Companion
indeed like checker'd work He had there long Mercy but at last some Misery God hath set Adversity over against Prosperity Eccles 7.14 There will be interchanges of fair Days and foul 1. 'T was fair weather with Jacob when he met his Jewel Joseph when he had the Honour to be admitted into Pharaoh's Presence to kiss as we say the King's Hand and to hold a familiar Conference with him about Matters of Man's Mortality and when a free and open Entertainment by the King's Liberality and through Joseph's Intercession was granted him in Goshen but above all when God graciously gave him to live there full Seventeen years in Health Peace and Plenty nothing all that time was he deprived of to render his life comfortable He and all his had abundance of all things by his Son Joseph's means while the Egyptians themselves were so pinched with penury that they sold all they had and at last themselves for Peasants and Vassals to Pharaoh to purchase Bread for sustaining their own single lives Thus it fared better with him and his though mere Strangers than with the proper Inhabitants and Natives of the Land And thus Jacob's last Days were his Best Days He never had so large and so long Prosperity neither in Syria nor in Canaan before as he had now in Egypt though some part of this Prosperity was in the sad time of a sore Famine This in the general but more particularly Joseph is God's Instrument of Jacob's and his whole Families welfare in that sore Famine feeding them all with Bread Hebr. according to the mouths of the little ones Gen. 47.12 that is according to the Number of their Families as well small as great He did provide for them all giving every one their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or full portion and proportion as Luk. 12.42 which seemeth to have Reference to this place express'd by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave them their due measure of Meat or the Hebrew may be read to the mouth of a little one as the Nurse puts meat into the Mouth of her Suckling meaning tenderly and carefully yea and with as little care and pains to Jacob and his Houshold as Children use in providing for themselves yet 't is improbable those Shepherds used always to pains-taking would be idle all that time as if they had been but so many helpless Infants However 't is a figurative Speech signifying Joseph's great Care he had to provide Necessaries for them all from the eldest to the youngest and their strong Confidence for Provisions in their proper Season and Proportion from him 'T is said Joseph nourish'd his Father and his Family for which end he was sent before by God Gen. 45.7 8. and 50.20 and Psal 105.17 and which he himself had promis'd to do Gen. 45.11 and 50.21 whereupon he is called The Feeder or Shepherd and Stone of Israel Gen. 49.24 by whose means and for whose sake so many Thousands were preserved who otherwise would all have perished All which teacheth us these many Remarks As 1. That 't is a blessed thing to begin a Journey with seeking Gods Blessing at the beginning thereof so did Abraham's Steward Gen. 24.12 so did Jacob when come from Beershebah to Bethel Gen. 28.20 He prayed as well as Vowed and so he did at his coming out from Beershebah towards Egypt Gen. 46.1 there he offer'd Sacrifice and as God gave a successful Journey to Eleazar Gen. 24. so he did to Jacob in that long Journey to Laban in Syria and in this perillous one to Joseph in Egypt where he met with both welcome and welfare As 't is said Tithe and be Rich so Pray and be Prosperous the Popish Proverb Mass and Meat hinders no mans Thrift may serve to reprove Neglecters of Prayer As Prayer must be the Alpha of all our Enterprises so Praise must be the Omega thereof Hoc primum Repetas opus hoc postremus omittas Neither the one nor the other ought to be neglected God may indeed give Success without Prayer but certainly it will be nothing so sweet to the Soul that success is sweetest which is won by Prayer and worn by Thanksgiving 2. This teaches us also That it is not only the Duty of Pious Sons to nourish their Aged Parents when they are disenabled to provide for themselves as before but also 't is the Duty of Pious Souls to do good to their worst Emmies as Joseph did not only to his old Father who had been always kind to him but also to his bruitish Brethren who had been some times cruel to him Recompence to no man evil for evil Rom. 12.17 Revenge to carnal Reason seems Justice Aristotle commends it the World calls it Manhood but indeed 't is Belluinum Beastly and Doghood rather the more manly any Man is the milder and more Merciful he is as was Julius Caesar who wept over his Foe 's Pompey's Head presented to him saying Non mihi placet vindicta sed Victoria I seek not Revenge but Victory as was valorous David 2 Sam. 1.11 12. Though he was well pleased with Nabal's Death the case being differing yet he mourned for Saul's and as was vertuous Joseph who while he fed his Brethren heap'd coals of fire upon their Heads Prov. 25.21 22. to melt those hard Metals into a kindly Repentance knowing assuredly that the less he reveng'd himself the more his God would as indeed he had done reward him 3. It teaches what a marvellous Providence of God attends the Church in sending Joseph beforehand into Egypt Psal 105.17 there to lay up great Provisions for sustaining his Church in the Time of Famine while many of the World were famish'd by it 4. It teacheth likewise That seeing All Joseph's Store was laid up for Jacob and his Families the Church's sake whereby Egypt and other Lands were preserved Oh then what Fools are the Men of the World who persecute the Saints that are their Saviours and Safeguard who hate and hunt them to whom they owe all the good things they have what is this but doing as the silly Deer do in eating up those very Leaves which would hide them from the Eyes of the Hunter 5. It teaches That a poor life in the Church of God is to be preferr'd before the Pleasures of the World Joseph taught his Brethren to say Thy Servants are Shepherds Gen. 47.3 that they might not be employed in Pharaoh's Court or in the great Affairs of the Kingdom as himself having special Grace was but chuse rather to live as poor Shepherds in the Church and Service of God than to be proud Courtiers in the Royal Palace estranged from the Houshold of Faith Joseph but especially God had a respect to preserve the Purity and Visibility of the Church separate from the World which could not have been nor her Doctrine kept uncorrupted had they been mingled with that superstitious people therefore were they placed by themselves at the first though afterward multiplying
before and after him he was the Law-giver he was a Mediator though not of Redemption yet of Relation as he fetched Divine Laws from God to Israel and as he carried Devout Prayers from Israel to God Moreover this is very Remarkable and quite cross and contrary to that Popish Doctrine of their Monastick perfection The Romanists affirm that the Married Estate is far less Honourable than the Unmarried because say they the Apostle Paul who was an Unmarried Man had the Honour of going up to God in his Rapture into Paradise but passing by his own saying That he had power to lead about a Sister a Wife c. we Answer that this Moses who was a Married Man had a greater Honour confer'd upon him insomuch as God vouchsafed to come down to him 'T is much more condescention in a Mortal Prince to rise up from his Throne and come down Stairs to his poor Subject than if only he were call'd up to him And as to the latter respect God wrought many Miracles of Mercy upon Israel and of Plagues and Judgments upon Egypt by Moses's Hands whereby the Church of God was delivered out of the House of Bondage and carried through the Wilderness to the very Borders of Canaan No further doth Moses or the Law go 't is Joshua our Jesus leads us into the Land c. The Life of Moses consisted of an hundred and twenty years so that it may most aptly be divided into three distinct Forties In his first forty years he had his Deliverance from Pharaoh's Infanticide as above and lived all those years after as the Adopted Son of Pharaoh's Daughter who gave him that Advantage by the help of his Tutors as to a Princess's Sun to become so mighty in words and deeds as Stephen speaketh Acts 7.22 which Character he giveth Moses not from any express Scripture but by necessary consequence for it could no otherwise be conceived concerning the Adopted Son of a King and of a King of Egypt a Land abundantly addicted to Learning and Study Until he was Forty years old he lived in Pharaoh's Court as the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter and as some say was designed â—o succeed Pharaoh in the Throne He being now grown up to full Maturity of Stature Authority and all Accomplishments both as a great Orator and as a great Warriour was minded to visit his afflicted Brethren Exod. 2.11 This he did partly by Natural Inclination having a Sympathizing Spirit towards their Relief And partly by Divine Instigation intimating to them that he was raised and sent of God to deliver them Acts 7.23 25. The signal whereof was his slaying the Egyptian as a Judge appointed of God his Call thereto being manifested to his own Conscience Exod 2.12 13 14. Moses had Suck'd in such a Savour of Godliness with the Milk of his Mother who with his Father had instructed him that he was of the Seed of Abraham the Heir of the World c. that all the Court-pleasures and Treasures could not wear off Heb. 11.25 26. He refuseth his Courtiers Life offers to be his Brethrens Reconciler and Deliverer they not yet enough humbled refuse their own Deliverance and puts it back forty years longer Pharaoh heard what he had done and to secure himself from so dangerous a Person whom he suppos'd to be the Man foretold by his Priests that would be the Scourge of Egypt and the Deliverer of Israel sought to slay him Exod. 2.15 upon this Moses flies into Midian which brings us to the second forty years which time he tarried there when of an High Courtier he became a poor Shepherd and of a Student in Philosophy was turn'd a Student in Divinity yea and studied even God himself and while he was so doing hath that famous Vision of Christ in a Bush burning but not consumed Exod. 3.2 by the good will in it Deut. 33.16 In this Vision the Place Time and End are very Remarkable 1. The Place 't was not in Pharaoh's Court where he never had such a Vision as this for full forty years he lived therein but it was in the Wilderness When Man is satiating himself with the Honours and Pleasures of a Worldly Court there is no leisure to have or hold Commerce with the Court of Heaven Felix was for his more convenient Season Acts 24.25 Worldly Pomp and Vanity make such a noise in a Courtiers Ears that God may speak once and twice and he perceive it not Job 33.14 Hence Israel was allured into the Wilderness and there God spake kindly to her Heart Hos 2.14 there the Pillar of Glory came to them and walk'd with them from Stage to Stage in a Familiar manner Exod. 13.20 21. When they were in Aâ—tham Hebr. hard Ground God comes when distant from Egypt or the World When the Soul is drawn at distance from the Distractions of the World then is it in the fittest frame for the Visions of God Prov. 18.1 2. The time when relating 1. To Moses and 2 To Israel 1. As to Moses This Vision of the Bush was at the end of his second forty years Acts 7.30 so long had he lived a private Life as a poor Shepherd 'T is a wonder his former forty years Life of an Honourable Courtier had not put his Mouth out of taste for so long a Dishonourable Countrey Life But a good Heart is taught to condescend to all conditions and can be abased as well as Exalted as Paul Phil. 4.11 12. and David was call'd to be a Courtier yet content after to become a Shepherd till his Conquering of Goliath 2. As to Israel both Moses and Israel must wait long for this comforting Vision Moses finds Israel as the Messias did after in the sharpest part of their misery Duplicantur lateres venit Moses Though the Tyrant was dead Exod. 2.23 yet Tyranny was not one Pharaoh succeeds another as afterwards the Bloody Herods did and all of the same Brutish Bran Though Israel's Chief Oppressor was suppressed yet were they Oppressed still for another Pharaoh succeeded as great in Power and as grievous in Persecution They changed only their Master but not at all their Miseries which indeed grew greater and greater this made them sigh and groan and as it was with Job their stroke was heavier than their groaning Job 23.2 3. The final Cause wherefore This is double also not only for comforting Israel in their Bondage but also Moses in his Banishment who spent not his second forty years private Life in Idleness but in Divine Contemplations as above and in Writing the Book of Genesis and as some say the Book of Job for comforting his Countrey-men in Misery teaching them thereby to lean upon the Lord and to learn to live by Faith on the Promises made to their Forefathers the Holy Patriarchs Mens very Miseries cry to God as Hagar's did Gen. 16.11 when her self cried not The Lord knew their Soulâ—â—n Adversity Psal 31.7 Gods Eye saw what the wicked did to Moses and
c. of that Name Exod. 1.11 yet seeing no one City could contain such a vast Number with their Herds and Flocks therefore seems it rather the Countrey Rameses than the City Some Etymologists derive the word Rame-ses from Isis that most famous Goddess of the Egyptians the Wife of Osiris whom they deify'd when Dead for teaching them to plant Vines and to whom they usually sacrificed a Goose so goofish were they in their blind Superstition While Israel was but few at the first they had only a part of the Land of Goshen the Countrey of Rameses but when they multiplied then they mingled with the Egyptians who were the Neighbours they borrow'd their Jewels c. of and in that Countrey they built this City of the same Name which Pharaoh designed for a defenced City in the Frontiers of Egypt that thereby he might the better secure the Hebrews from running away but behold how the Lord over-rules the Man and the Matter This City might be the place of the Rendevouz from whence out of all the Country of Rameses they Dated the Beginning of their March as from the place of their Head-Quarters Thus that City which cost them many a Groan in Burning Brick and Building it therewith c. is now become the beginning of their joyful Jubilee The Third Remark concerns the first place whither Israel went from Rameses namely to Succoth so call'd not only because Israel leaving their Houses in Goshen first built them Booths of the Boughs of Trees in this place for a perpetual Memorial whereof God appointed a Feast of Booths or Tabernacles as Succoth signifies Levit. 23.42 43. but also and more especially because here the glorious Cloud came to cover them spreading it self over the whole Camp Psal 105.39 for Succoth is by Interpretation any sort of Covering whereof this Camp covering Cloud was of the best sort and far better than that made of Boughs which as it would but cover a few Persons in one Booth so would it soon become like the House of Solomon's Sluggard which he saith the Rain droppeth soon thorough but this covering of the Cloud of Glory as it was a more ample covering to cover the whole Camp and a more tight covering insomuch that no annoyance either of Rain or Heat could pierce through it so it was a more lasting Covering that lasted in covering the Camp of Israel until the Death of Moses full forty years Oh how comfortable a covering was this cloudy Pillar to this wandring Camp which was not only a candid Covering to them so that no Thunder Lightning or Rain could annoy them nor any Heat in that hot Climate and in the Summer Season could beat upon their Bodies but was also their Courteous Companion in all their wayless ways always at hand never blown away with any Wind as other Clouds are to direct them in that doleful Desert How well was this Cloud call'd the Cloud of the Lord Exod. 40.38 for though all common Clouds and all created Beings in Heaven and Earth be the Lords yet this Cloud was the Lords after a more special manner because of its special and extraordinary Properties it had all as special Signs of the Lords Presence such as its Substance Matter Situation Duration Motion c. as before To which add here This Cloud had 1. No Natural Motion as ordinary Clouds and Vapours do ascend thereby 2. No Rapid Motion as those Clouds that are aloft follow the Rapid Motion of the Celestial Spheres 3. No Violent Motion as those Clouds below are whirled about by violent Winds whereas this Cloud sometimes moved against the Wind. Nor 4. Had it any Progressive Motion but walked sometimes backward sometimes forward sometimes on the right-hand and sometimes on the left as it pleased the Lord to point out the Journeys to his People leading them in and out as if they had been treading a Maze in God's Garden therefore should not our hearts be troubled Joh. 14.1 If God lead his Church sometime backward and sometime forward in and out in our day Moreover this Cloud was Immoveable and Immutable other Clouds cannot remain near the Earth but are apt to be dispersed by the Reflexion of the Sun-beams if the violence of Wind and Weather dissolve them not but this Cloud rested upon the Tabernacle and never removed out of their sight for the space of forty years Now are the Israelites safely brought out of Egypt to Succoth their first Station and let us suppose this place to be their first Rendevouz because they were so prodigiously numerous God having fulfill'd his Promise to Abraham Gen. 15.14 and that to Jacob Gen. 46.3 in multiplying them to 600000 beside Women and Children insomuch that they were scattered into many Parts of Egypt the Land of Rameses much less the City of Rameses not being able to contain them they might out of all those Parts resort to Succoth where they erected Booths or Tents in the Fields for their Harbour and where the Lord their God met them in his Pillar of Glory to go before them in the way-less Wilderness as Moses told them Deut. 1.32 33. and not only so but also to espy out the good Land which was the Glory of all Lands for them Ezek 20.6 Numb 10.33 with Exod. 13.21 Well might Israel thus accommodated March bravely boldly and in Battel-aray not as Run-a-ways or fugitives for fear but in all comely Order and Equipage so as one hinder'd not another Having such a Captain of Salvation Heb. 2.10 Such a Chief Commander Isa 33.2 to go before them The good Lord grant us such a Pillar of Providence to lead us in our Wilderness-state that we may not march confusedly as Cowards but be couragious and confident in God by faith while we lye under this cloudy dark dispensation wandring in the Wilderness and still falling short of the Land of Promise the New Jerusalem Oh that God would speak comfortably to our hearts in this Wilderness-state as he hath promised Hos 2.14 and be a covering Cloud to us Isa 4.4 5. God hath not been a Wilderness hitherto to us Jer. 2.31 and Deut. 32.9 10 11 12. Now the Cloudy Pillar having undertaken the Conduct of Israel through the Wilderness unto Canaan leads them from Succoth to Etham c. Exod. 13.20 The Remarks in General upon their Journeyings are these following The First is That there were no fewer than forty two of their Journeys and Mansions as Moses gives a Catalogue of them Numb 33. from ver 2. to ver 50. yet not above fifteen are expresly and specially mentioned in the Historical part of their passage through the Desert The Reason why so many are not Recorded before this Catalogue of Moses is because the History takes special Cognisance only of those Stations where some Memorable and more than ordinary Matter happened As at Mara the Waters were bitter at Elim the Palm-trees c. at the Desert of Sin Manna c. at Rephidim Water out
for Righteousness from the Law God saith to them as to Israel here Ye have dwelt long enough about that Mountain press to Sion that lays in the Land of Promise the Gospel-Canaan Deut. 1.6 7 8. Be not saith that Father like Oxen that toil a long time and draw in the Yoke and when they have done their labour are fatted for Slaughter The Law is not for Men to continue under but for a time only till they be fitted for and brought unto Christ Gal. 3.16 17 18 24. and 4.1 to 5. Heb. 3.18 19. and 4.6 to 11. We lay too long naturally at the Mount of Legal Righteousness desiring to be our own Saviours and not to make Christ our All Col. 3.11 The fifth Remark is As the place they went from was Sinai and that which they went to in general is call'd Paran Numb 10.12 the name of a great Wilderness of the length of eleven days Journey whereof the Wilderness of Sinai is one part but 't is taken here for the last part of it next to the Land of Promise This Wilderness was a most barren place which made God's maintaining so vast a multitude for so many years together the more miraculous in this Wilderness Ishimael that wild Man dwelt Gen. 21.21 and in it there was a Mountain mentioned Deut. 1.1 and 33.2 but the particular place God brought Israel to after three days Journey in this Wilderness was call'd Taberah because of the burning there Numb 10.33 and 11.3 Deut. 9.22 and Kibroth-Hattavah that is Graves of Lust Numb 11.34 and 33.16 Deut. 9 12. Moses calling them thus that the very names of that place might leave a memorial both of their sin and punishment which Moses makes mention of to imprint it the more in their hearts Deut. 9.24 The sixth Remark is Tho' God's great kindness to Israel had been all along manifested both in marshalling and in marching them towards their promised Land from Numb chap. 1. to the last of chap. 10. Yet chap. 11 c. gives an account of Israel's gross unkindness and unthankfulness to God in their many Mumurings among so many and great Mercies whereby the Rebellious Nature of Man and the Impossibility of the Law to bring Men to God is evidently declared 'T is supposed that their travelling three days together without Resting from Sinai as they had done Exod. 13.18 And again Exod. 15.22 so now again Numb 10.33 this made them murmure Now is Israel led by the Pillar of Glory to their 13th Station Numb 11. where that one place as some suppose hath two several names Taberah and Kibroth-Hattavah by which latter name it is called in Numb 33.16 upon two several occasions In respect of the punishment for their Murmuring it was called Taberah that is Burning and in respect of the cause and the effect Kibroth-Hattavah that is Graves of Concupiscence Tho' others say That this Taberah or Burning was in their three days Journey before they came to Kibroth-Hattavab yet seeing the Psalmist summs up both those supposed sins of Murmurings into one Psal 78.19 20 21. it is not improbable that both those were names of but one place for these Reasons 1. 'T is not likely that those Hebrews should be slain by an extraordinary Fire from Heaven and for dropping a few muttering and murmuring words at a tedious March wherein the Lord strengthened them from all feebleness Psal 105.37 or that after such a signal punishment and Divine Vengeance on them they durst again murmure by lusting for flesh ver 4. Numb 11. The 2d Reason is Their murmuring for flesh is expresly said to be punished by fire Psal 78.21 3ly The Plague mentioned Numb 11.33 is not specified what it was 't is indeed hinted to be a pining away by leanness Psal 106.15 but it might be done by that fire of God spoken of Numb 11.1 2. where by a Prolepsis 't is briefly touched but in the following verses of the chapter 't is more largely explained This Plague might be as the burning of an Hectick Fever yet dispatching with more expedition being rather the burning of the Pestilence So that want of flesh as well as wearisomness of their way in marching three days with their little ones without any intermission in a barren Wilderness was their cause of murmuring ver 1. tho' particularly set down afterwards ver 4 c. But grant this latter be no Recapitulation of the former because there is nothing to distinguish them but probable conjecture however it was a wickedness which God who had pardoned past murmurings Exod. 14.11 15. and 15.24 26. and 16.2 to 28. and 17.2 5. punishmeth here severely For 1. They were pinched with Penury before but now they had Manna 2. They were Rude for want of the Law which was now given to teach better manners 3. They loathed Manna and desired flesh not for necessity but to gratifie their lusts Psal 78.18 30. Beside these general Notes upon the 13th Station take a few more particular Remarks it being so famous for its two names and so famously circumstantiated in Numb 11. The first particular Remark is Israel had many Impediments in their march to the Land of Promise not only from without as from Pharaoh pursuing from Amalek intercepting as before c. but also from within among themselves by their manifold murmurings as here one or as some suppose two at this Station Even so it is with all those true Travellers toward Heaven many Impediments in the way so that the Righteous are scarcely saved 1 Pet. 4.18 it is with much ado The second is God writes our Sin upon our Punishment as 't is said Per quod quis peccat per idem punitur ipse As Nadab and Abihu sinned by Fire and they perished by Fire Lev. 10.2 so those Murmurers here sinned against the fiery Law so called Deut. 32.2 that was spoken out of the Fire Deut. 5.22 Therefore were they punished by Fire out of the Pillar of Fire from whence the fiery Law was given and published Their Perdition is our Caution we may not be Murmurers 1 Cor. 10.5 11. The third is Evil Company is Infectious and catching as the Plague to converse with bad Companions and not to learn their Manners is marvelous Rare and Difficult 1 Cor. 15.33 This mixt Multitude the Egyptians and Strangers that join'd to Israel in their coming out of Egypt hearing of their going to Canaan c. Exod. 12.38 perceiving by these tedious Stations c. that it would be long ere they could come to the promised Land began the murmuring which yet ran like Wild-fire into the Camp of Israel who thereupon are said to weep again ver 4. which might have Relation to the like murmuring a Year before this Exod. 16.2 now they return to their old Vomit and express their wicked Complaints with salt Tears as well as with bitter Words The fourth is where ever there it sinning again on Man's part there will be punishing again on God's part
and Almonds as a present to his Joseph the Lord of the Land of Egypt Gen. 43.11 How much more ought we to prepare the best of our performances as a Spiritual present to our Joseph our Jesus who is the Lord of all Acts 10.36 Lord of all Lands of all persons of all things Lord of the Church and Lord of the World yea Lord of Heaven as well as of the Earth Mat. 11.27 and 28.18 Can we et any thing too good for so good a Lord. 2. We should tremble to be Cainites in our Worship of God lest Cain's Curse come upon us Josephus gives this Character of Cain that he was Covetous and Narrow-Souled grudging God his best yea turning over many a Sheaf to pick out the worst and lighted for his offering to the Lord. Just such doings are found among too many men There be three sorts of Cainites in the World 1. Such as spend many hours in Vanity yet cannot spare one hour for God and the good of their Souls 2. Such as are profuse in Villany upon their Lusts yet can find nothing to bestow in Pious and Charitable uses upon the Lord. 3. Such as swatter away all their Youth-time while the Bones are full of Marrow and Veins full of Blood both as ponderous Sheafs in ways of both Vanity and Villany and think to put off God with the poor pined Sheaf of their Old-age as if the great God would be put off with the Devils leavings whereas all our four Ages are due to God 3dly Cain offer'd of Dead things as was his Sheaf but Abel of Living things as was his Sheep as sensitive things are of a more noble nature than Vegetative so living services are better than Dead ones and such are all duties done in a formal perfunctory and superficial manner as Cain did 'T is true Abel's Burnt-Offering was more Honourable than Cain's Minchah or Meat-Offering in themselves for shedding of Blood was the staple Service in slaying their Sacrifices which pointed the Lamb slain from the Worlds foundation and there was no shedding of Blood in Cains Sheaf as there was in Abel's Sheep yet had Cain's Minchah been the best of the kind it had been acceptable but Cain's carelesness in the choice was the aggravation and the Dead Fly in the Apothecaries Pot of precious Ointment Eccles 10.1 he did not offer in Faith as Abel did but doubtingly and grudgingly looking upon it as lost labour what he laid out upon the Lord and never minding the recompence of reward Heb. 11.26 'T is the Fathers saying opimum Deo debetur optimum pro Religione pro gratitudine optimum God may challenge all from us who receive our all from him why should we grudge our Fat and our strength for God and lay out as liberally for the Lord as the Lord layeth out liberally for us why should his Heart and Hand be enlarged towards us and our Hearts and Hands be straitned towards him The second Difference in their action was in respect of their Devotion and Affections Abel offer'd in sincerity but Cain in Hypocrisie Abel did it out of Conscience to please God his Heavenly Father but Cain did it out of conformity only to please Adam his Earthly Father who had brought him up in that way of Worship and not out of any love to God Hence the second observation The bare outward action of Divine Worship will not commend us to God without inward affection God is not taken with glozing shows and formalities but requires Truth in the inward parts Psal 51.6 and would be serv'd sincerely out of love to his Name and zeal to his Glory He loves not a seeming without a Being and Real Religion he seeketh true Worshippers Joh. 4.23 24. Inference Then God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of the Saints Psal 89.7 he is to be feared every where but especially in the place of his Worship The Heathen Poet could say Jovis omnia plenae all places are filled with Jehovah especially Bethel the House of God though out of doors and in the open Air Gen. 28.17 Where Christ's Disciples are gathered together in his Name Mat. 18.20 Oh then how should we demean our selves as in Gods presence Act. 10.33 Are Women enjoin'd modesty because of the Angels 1 Cor. 11.10 how much more we sound piety because of the God of Angels We should all be what we seem to be be to God what we seem to be to men and we should be to God at all times what we sâ—â—m to be to men at any time therefore should we have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.28 29. Alluding to that fire which consumed Nadah and Abihu for offering strange fire Lev. 10.1 2. False Affections are no better than strange Fire Oh that all may beware of of strange fire lest consuming Fire come down upon us and so write our sin upon our punishment or at least that Cains Doom come not upon us to be rejected of God But the 3. And principal difference that distinguished Cain and Abels action was Faith which is indeed the prime cause of all the other differences Abel offered in Faith but Cain did not so Heb. 11.4 'T was Faith that denominated Abel a Righteous man and Cain was a wicked man because he wanted Faith It was Faith that made Abel offer uberiorem agnum as Erasmus reads it a fatter and fuller Lamb or Plurimam Hostiam according to the Vulgar Latin a more plentiful Sacrifice by Faith Abel offered up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Mountague Such as was first in nature in order and in excellency But Cains Infidelity or want of Faith undid him he did not only bring Macrum Sacrificium a lean Sacrifice but he did not divide aright for God Cain rectè obtulit non rectè divisit he offered rightly but he divided not rightly he gave God opus personae not ipsam personam not himself but of his Abel offered as well Se ut de suis himself as his Sacrifice which Cain did not From hence the third observation Every devout and Divine action receives from this grace of Faith its due and dignifying denomination 'T is Faith here that distinguisheth the Matter Nature and Property of this Religious action It is Faith that made Abel come to God with an honest and good heart Luk. 8.15 And out of a sense of duty and Love to God but Cain came in his Infidelity with a false and unsound heart so offers up his poor Starvling Sacrifice to God This may thus be exemplified Isaac commanded his Son to make him savoury meat such as he loved Gen. 27.4 And hereupon both Jacob and Esau his two Sons prepare savoury Morsels for him and bring it to their Father but it was Faith that did distinguish both their persons and actions Jacob by his having Faith got the blessing and Esau by his wanting Faith lost it 't
while those cursed Canaanites were then in the Land Gen 12.6 7 and 13 14 15. and then and there did he build an Altar to the Lord Gen. 12.8 and 13.18 Though the Canaanites were in it which Altar and Worship was to wear out those cursed ones at the last Zech. 14.21 In this History is a manifold Mystery as 1. Where-ever Abraham was his chief care was to be going on still toward tie South Gen. 12.9 as towards the Sun So should all the Children of Abraham travel towards the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 Setting forth early as Morning seekers Prov. 8.17 And making Progress in Grace as 2 Pet. 3.18 As from glory to Glory 2. Cor. 3.18 2. His first care in all places where he came was to build an Altar to his God and so it should be ours we are a Kingdom of Priests 1 Pet. 2.5 Rev. 1.6 And we have an Altar Heb. 13.10 Which is Christ who sanctifies the Sacrifice Mat. 23.19 Let us therefore by him offer up the oblation of Prayer and Praise to God in all places and at all times Heb. 13.15 Psal 50.23 We should build this Altar not Stony but Fleshy in our hearts Ezek. 36.26 3. Abraham built his Altars although the Canaanites were thin in the Land and 't is a wonder they did not stone him for so doing which certainly they would have done had not God restrained them Thus ought all the Spiritual seed of Abraham to shine as Lamps in the midst of a crooked and cursed Generation Phil. 2.15 Mat. 5.16 And 1 Pet. 2.12 Holding forth the word of life as an Ensign and bearing up Gods name as a Badge or Beacon yea wearing Christs mark in our foreheads which is the place of our profession Rev. 9.4 We should set up our Altars in Sight and Dispight of Idolaters as Abraham and call them Jehovah nissi the Lord is my Banner Moses did Exod. 17.15 4. Abraham was the first man we read of who had God most familiarly appearing to him and the sight of the Canaanite did not so much discourage him as the sight of his God did encourage him so 1 Sam. 30.6 And thus also 't is a sight of God Especially it frequent and familiar that more encourageth the soul than can all the cursed Canaanites and Corruptions it sees in it self discourage yea though they be as Tall as Cedars and strong as Oaks Amos 2.9 And though they have Iron Chariots and be exceeding Strong Josh 17.18 Indeed when fear through unbelief transcends Faith then the Soul faith I shall one day perish by the hand of those Soul Murthering Sauls As David did 1 Sam 27.1 And despair of a Conquest but when Faith gets above Fear by a fresh sight of God that beatifical Vision it then like Hannibal's Vinegar eats out its own way through the Alps of all opposition when a beam of Divine Light is darted into the Soul This is a Soveraign Cordial to save it from swouning and is to Faith what Boaz was to Naomi a Restorer of its Life and a nourisher of its old or declining age Ruth 4.15 Then goes it forth in the strength of the Lord Psal 71.16 Both Conquering and to Conquer all Canaanites and Corruptions 5. As the Land God gave to Abraham and to his seed was the Lords Land as before and both he and they but Strangers in it Heb. 11.9 10 14 16. Thus Heber or Hebrew signifies a Pilgrim or Stranger in the Holy Tongue So whatever Land Houses Worldly enjoyments we have and in an Earthly sense call'd our own yet all are the Lords Psal 24.1 And we have but a Strangers Interest in them as we have our all from God so we should spend our all for God and while we live in Gods good Land we should live by Gods good Laws and not suffer fulness to breed forgetfulness Deut. 8.11 and 32.15 Laden bodies have often but leaden Souls We should look upon our all with a Pilgrims Eye and Use our All with a Pilgrims mind They that buy great Demesnes should be as if they possessed not 1 Cor. 7.14 And they that build goodly houses Deut. 8.12 which make men unwilling to die as being great losers if they have not also a Mansion-house in Heaven and fill them with Silver and Gold v. 13. Yet the Heart ought not to be lifted up v. 14. Nor prosperity make us Proud Reasty and Rusty Jer. 22.21 Rest must not breed Rust remembring we are but Pilgrims Psal 39.12 2 Cor. 5.9 1 Pet. 1.17 and 2.11 But a brood of Travellers Psal 24.6 'T was a mighty work of Abrahams Faith in this thing as in many others to behave himself as a Stranger on Earth because he knew himself a Citizen of Heaven Heb. 11.9 10. c. So we Eph. 2.19 20. The 4th particular is the end why God call'd Abraham it was only to take possession of Canaan not to enjoy it as a present Inheritance for we find that he was famished twice out of this good Land of Promise first into Egypt Gen. 12.10 And secondly into Gerar the Philistines Countrey Gen. 20.1 Yet did he ever make Canaan his retreating place sojourning in it For an hundred years the remnant of his life From which History learn this Mystery 1. The most fruitful Land may be made barren for the wickedness of those that dwell in it Psal 107.34 God can famish our Canaan to us Zeph. 2.11 2. Suppose we be forced into Egypt of Philistia to seek for that we cannot find in a famished Land of Promise yet this is our best retreating place when God heals our backslidings Hos 14.4 Alas we are over apt to slip out of the Land of Promise as Adam was out of Paradise and Abraham out of Canaan but the Lord keeps the Feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.9 Obj. Though Heb. 11.8 saith God call'd Abraham to Canaan to receive an inheritance there and Acts 7.5 saith Yet God gave him no inheritance in it not so much as to set his Foot on Ans These two seeming contradictory places are thus reconciled Answ 1. Abraham did inherit Canaan mystically as that Land was a Type of Heaven which is call'd Abrahams bosom Luk. 16.23 God may deny literally yet grant Mystically or Spiritually Inasmuch as God gave Abraham the heavenly Canaan though not the Earthly for his inheritance 't was more than equivalent though God deni'd him in Silver he paid him in Gold Ans 2 He did inherit it in his Posterity though not in his person four hundred and thirty years after the promise Gal. 3.17 Thus God kept his promise with him and so he doth with us though we see not the performance thereof Thus Abraham Isaac and Jacob all three are called the heirs of the promise Heb. 11.9 But none of them heirs of the Land promised they all had the promise when they wanted the Land They all enjoyed the promise though the performance of it was afar off yet they saw it embraced it and died
or fewer of them in Scripture-Record who minded any thing of Christs coming he came to his own and his own received him not John 1.11 But after this Oh how did this Barren Church sing c. when three Thousand of them were brought forth at one Sermon Acts 2.37 39 41. 2. The Gentile Church was for a long time as a lone Woman or Widow as it were altogether Barren and without Hope of Issue while the Gentiles were without Christ without Hope and without God in the World c. Eph. 2.1 2 12. yet afterwards in the New Testament Times the Gentile Church which before had brought forth only here and there a Proselyte or two as Jethro c. had a more Numerous and Glorious Off-spring than ever the Jewish Synagogue had Thus Sarah though at first Barren had a far greater Issue than Hagar yea and Hannah than Peninnah notwithstanding both were reproached for their former Barrenness Gen. 16.4 and 1 Sam. 1.6 The second Branch of this second Resemblance is The unwarrantable way Sarah took to supply the want of her own Fruitfulness in giving Hagar to her Husband That she might obtain Children by her Bond-woman Gen. 16.1 2. Gal. 4.22 God had promised a Seed to Abraham but not expresly as yet whether by Sarai or no hereupon Sarai propounded her Handmaid as a Secondary Wife or Bed-fellow to her Husband because the Children of Bond-servants belong'd to their Masters and Mistresses by the Law Exod. 21.4 Thus Rachel reckoned the Issue of her Handmaid Billah must be Hers Gen. 30.3 6 and 8. and thus Sarah sought a Seed to Abraham according to Gods promise though she were not the Mother thereof that so the Blessing God had annexed to his Promise might be obtained The Hebrews most improbably say this Hagar was the Daughter of Pharaoh to put the more Honour upon Abraham in this Act and to equal him with Solomon who Married the Daughter of another Pharaoh but Kings Daughters are most unfit to be Handmaids who are brought up Mistresses of the Highest Rank and had Paul been of that Mind he had never stiled her a Bond-woman Gal. 4.22 'T is more probable she was one of those Maids of Pharaoh's House which were given to Sarai Gen 12.16 Whatever she was and whatever good aim Sarai might haven in giving her to Abraham yet the means were naught this expedient for having Seel was not according to God because it violated the Law of the first Instituted Wedlock Gen. 2.14 but it was after the Flesh Gal. 4.23 Sarai was over-hasly and Abraham was over-facile they were both blame-worthy for want of Faith in Gods Promise as if his power could not have performed it beyond the common course of Nature in their old Age and for Violation of Wedlock contrary to its first Institution Mal. 2.15 and Gen. 2.24 This Act might be their Sin of Ignorance and of Infirmity as was also their and the other Patriarchs Polygamy practised in that time and their slipping out of Gods way brought much evil upon them Sarai is whip'd with her own Rod Hefiod saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evil counsel proves always worst to the Counsellors Hagar now pregnant with Child despiseth Sarah her Barren Mistress as Prov. 30.21 her Sin was writ upon her Punishment Gen. 16.4 5. she was despised as one rejected concerning Gods Promise and Abraham was disturbed with those Domestick dissentions 'twixt the Mistress and her Hand-maid Hereby is also figured the difference betwixt the two Mothers the Bond-Woman and the Free the Law and the Gospel and thus likewise the Soul of Man and the Church of God taketh some wrong ways for accomplishing Divine Promises following and finding out false rest fetching peace from the works of the Law rather than from the Faith of the Gospel this is to establish Hagar the Bond-Woman in the place of Sarah the Free out of whom sprang the Messiah that Blessed Prince of all true Peace and such mistaken methods to peace always end in sad disturbance as this in the History did Besides there is this other Mystery that such as put confidence in the works of the Law as the proud Pharisee did Luk. 18.10 11. will despise the Grace of the New-Covenant as Hagar did Sarah Rom. 10.3 will not submit to the Righteousness of God by Christ The third Mystery of Sarah's person in the History of her Life is in her Beauty she had a fair and Beautiful countenance a most lovely look and comely complexion Gen. 12.11 which Plato calls the principality of Nature Outward Beauty is very attractive which yet Sarai kept although she was now about or above sixty years old being not impaired by breeding or bearing of Children or it was preserved by God for the serving of his providence which followed thereupon and here we see how Beauty may be a double snare both to them that have it and to them that love it yet Sarah had a better even an Inward Beauty her chief Beauty was that of the Hidden Man of the Heart 1 Pet. 3.4 6. Gratior est pulchro Veniens in Corpore Virtus That Vertue hath a better Grace Which shineth from a comely Face Where these two meet they have a most happy conjunction and draw all Hearts to them as Esther obtained Favour of all that look'd upon her Esth 2.15 otherwise where beauty is without Grace and Vertue 't is like a Jewel in a Swines Snout Prov. 11.22 It wants that which should Consecrate and Sanctifie it as in Aurelia Orestilla cujus praeter formam nihil unquam bonus laudavit having nothing commendable to good men save only deceitful Favour and vain Beauty Prov. 31.30 'T was not thus but better with Sarah here who is therefore made a Figure of Jerusalem the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 and of the New-Testament Church v. 24. which is the Spouse of Christ that is all fair Cant. 1.15 and 4.1 c. well looking and well liking to bring forth Fruit in old Age Psal 92.14 and thus as with the Church of God so it ought to be with the Soul of Man which should pray as Psal 90.17 Oh let the Beauty of the Lord be upon me The fourth Mystery of Sarah's Person in the History of her Life is in her Sufferings the chiefest whereof were that She twice did fall into the Hands of two Kings Pharaoh Gen. 12. and Abimelech Gen. 20. both which might have Ravish'd her and made her Disloyal to her Husband yet God mofs Graciously prevented it in both places by Plaguing the former and Diseasing the latter out of both these two Kings Courts God brought her off with Innocency Honour and Advantage Oh how many Snares of Tentation God carries his Church and our Souls thorough oft we are in the Bryars As Sarah was 1. In Egypt when God famish'd Abraham out of Canaan the Glory of all Lands Ezek. 20.6 thither which was the Granary of the World The Hebrews make this a fault in Abraham for
Aegypt Gen. 12.10 and in Gerar supposed upon the same Account Gen. 20.1 yet ever he made this Land of Promise his retreating place we are apt to slip out of Paradise with Adam and out of Canaan with Abraham when God heals our backslidings Hos 14.4 the Land of Promise is our best retreating place Hos 2.7 't is the Lord that keeps the feet of his Saints 1 Sam. 2.9 Thus Isaac when driven out of this fruitful Land made barren by Sin Psal 107.34 by another Famine Gen. 26.1 new Sins brought new Plagues into the Country of the Philistims as his Father had done Gen. 20.1 but durst not go into Egypt as he did Gen. 12.10 for now Gen. 26.2 God had reveal'd that there Abraham's Offspring should suffer a long Servitude Gen. 15.13 which when Abraham went thither God had not then made known so going thither was now more dangerous yet no sooner is the Famine ended but he retreats to Beershebah the place of God's worship in Canaan Gen. 26.23 24 25. Thus likewise Jacob a long Pilgrim to many Remote places by Banishment c. always retreated to Canaan both Living and Dying as before So that the Harmony holdeth among these three Patriarchs both as to their Pilgrimages and as to their retreating places there is a Conformity of Condition one to another yea and they were all conformed unto their Head Christ as Rom. 8.29 who was a Pilgrim indeed not having so much as an Hole where to lay his Head Matth. 8.20 who empty'd himself of all Phil. 2.7 became poor to make us Rich 2 Cor. 8.9 this great Architect who made the whole world for Mankind would not make one house for himself but sometimes lay out of Doors going about and doing good every where Act. 10.38 And if we be made poor Pilgrims 't is but like our Head and a filling up his Measure Col. 1.24 All our Sorrows and Sufferings are but so many Chips and shivers or Splinters of the Cross of Christ Melancton sings Exul erat Christus comites nos exulis Hujus Esse decet cujus nos quoque membra sumus The Third Remark is The Grace of Faith is of such a Soul-satisfying Nature that it enables a Believer to want for a while what a Wise God is at present not willing he should have even these very things that he hath a real right in and 〈◊〉 true title to Thus it was with these Three Patriarchs The Divine Promise gave them over and over again a Propriety to Canaan yet the Divine Performance gave to never a one of them any Possession of it but they all three lived the life of Strangers in it They were satisfied to be only Sojourners therein not Inheritors thereof by the strength of their Faith Heb. 11.9 That was the Grace which taught them both to wan◠and to wait for what a good God had promis'd them Hereby they were willing to walk as Pilgrims upon that very Land wherein they had the best Interest and whereunto the clearest Grant Deed of Gift and Title They all were Content through the Cordials and Comforts in believing Rom. 15.13 to have but a Stranger 's Portion in Earthly things because their Faith did assure them of their interest in the more certain Riches of an Heavenly Inheritance Heb. 11.13 14 15 16. Their Faith was quick-sighted to see the Promise afar off and long-handed too to embrace it at a great Distance The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies they saluted or kiss'd the Promise though it was Remote from them they as it were threw a kiss of love to it and to Christ in it as Christ threw his kisses of love from Heaven to them Cant. 1.1 As they lived in Faith so they died in Faith yea they died in the Faith of those Promises that they lived not to see them turned into Performances as they did not so we may not live to see many Promises and Prophecies fulfilled in our time yet like them we must Die in the Assurance of their Accomplishment to a very tittle and every Iota Matth. 5.18 and 24.34 35. we may not then say Where is the Promise c. 2 Pet. 3.4 for 't is in sure hands in the hands of a faithful Father 2 Tim. 2.13 his word is established in Heaven Psal 119.38 what he hath written he hath written and not the least Letter in it as Iota is in the Alphabet not a tittle or so much as an Hair-stroke or Accent upon the top of the Letter not one hair can perish from that sacred Head of the sacred Scriptures These Holy Patriarchs did as it were hug the Promise in the Arms of Faith and though they had not Possession yet the assurance of Possession did much cheer them and they knew Heaven was their Home which made them reckon this lower world as a strange Country They all therefore desired repatriâsse as Bernard phraseth it to pass only through it as Passengers do foreign Lands homeward returning all along to their Heavenly Country Hence some say Abraham was call'd the Hebrew Gen. 14.13 from Heber or Gneber which signifies a Pilgrim or Passenger thus the Septuagint read it Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Jerom Transitori one that passeth along so did He his Son and Grandson not one of these three Patriarchs did dare to return to their Earthly Country either Chaldaea or Syria for fear of Idolatry Josh 24.2 and Gen. 31.19 They renounced the World and Avouched the Lord for their God Deut. 26.17 Therefore God was not ashamed to Avouch them for his Servants v. 18. and to prepare for them a city Heb. 11.16 seeing they were so well satisfied to Sojourn to and fro and to dwell only in Tents and Tabernacles as those that were in but not of this World John 15.19 hastening home 2 Pet. 3.12 to Heaven which ever moves yet is the place of our Rest as the Earth ever rests yet is the place of our Change and Flitting Thus outward motion may hold a good consistency with inward rest and outward rest may stand in congruity with inward disturbance and unquietness 'T were well if we would mind more Gods own method who at the Creation did first spread the Vault of Heaven and then laid the Foundation of the Earth which Divine Method doth manifestly teach us that our first thoughts should be for Heaven and our second only for the Earth 'T is said Heaven is Gods Throne and the Earth is his Footstool Isa 66.1 But alas Fond Man disorders the God of Orders Order in making the Earth his Throne and Heaven but his Footstool as he in his folly prefers Earthly before Heavenly things placing the World in his Heart Eccles 3.11 whereas God placed it under his Feet Psal 8.6 but trampling upon and treading under foot the Coelestial Treasure Alas The corrupt and carnal Nature of faln Man minds more the Heathens false and fallacious gloss O Cives Cives quaerenda pecunia primùm est virtus
Rebuke from his Father for both his Dreams and his declaring them did proceed from a Divine irresistible Impulse and what was the Child Joseph He could not be disobedient to the Heavenly Vision Act. 26.19 and whatever were Jacob's first Thoughts of it his second Thoughts were better for he did suspect those Dreams were sent from God and therefore did expect they might be made good by God So that Jacob soon recovered himself when he had more seriously consider'd the matter and meaning thereof Much less 2. did Joseph deserve the Reproof Envy and Hatred of his Brethren because all these redounded and rebounded upon God himself seeing Joseph was but God's Instrument herein The Seventh Remark is the marvellous Harmony and Agreement betwixt the Matter or Expressions of the first Dream and the right Interpretation thereof Behold we were binding Sheaves in the Field c. Note by the way that Jacob notwithstanding his Indulgency to Joseph brought him not up in Idleness but made him cast his gay-Coat in Harvest-time to bind Sheaves and other Harvest-work Multitude of such like business made him naturally Dream of such like Things Eccles 5.3 but as it was no vanity a real Prophecy of future Events so it was a supernatural Dream excellently Adapted and Accommodated to them both as to Joseph and as to his Brethren 1. As to Joseph who was a right Sheaf of Corn a whole bundle of Mercy as Jesus was whom Joseph typified and who saved much People alive This holds true both in the Type and in the Antitype Gen. 45.5 and 50.20 and Matth. 1.21 Joh. 3.16 and Heb. 5.9 therefore his Name was Jesus a Saviour in Greek as Joseph signifies Increasing in Hebrew who was a means of much Mercy to Thousands of People by his Providence and Provision out of the Increase of the Earth in the plentiful years Gen. 41.47 48. when every Grain of Corn yielded an handful of Increase This Sheaf must Rise and stand upright but when not till the Harvest which usually signifies the End of the year Psal 126.5 6. and Rev. 14.15 as 't is the end of the world Matth. 13.39 wherein God foreshewed Joseph's Advancement which he dream'd of yet withal was implied a considerable time of his Sorrows and Sufferings of his Imprisonment which he Dream'd not of must go before his Seed-time and Harvest must not be both in a day together 2. As to his Brethren who were but empty Sheaves in comparison of his when famish'd out of Canaan to him in Egypt Gen. 42.1 2 3. where they came bowing to him vers 6. to get some Corn out of his Sheaf as also Gen. 43.26.28 and 44.14 and 50.18 doing Homage and Obeisance to the Master of the Corn and to the Lord of the Land whereby they made good his Prophetick Dream though unwittingly and which those Scorners scorn'd ever to have done Gen. 37.7 8. to this Dreamer but the Will of the Lord that must stand Prov. 19.21 The Eighth Remark is the like Harmony appeareth 'twixt the Expression and the Interpretation of the second Dream as of the first Behold the Sun Moon and Eleven Stars bowed down to me Gen. 37.9 There is much more in this latter than in the former Dream yet all had its due Accomplishment The first concern'd his Brethren only under the notion of Sheaves but this second not only concerns them under the Metaphor of Eleven Stars but also his Father and Mother under the Resemblance of the Sun and Moon and this is thus Interpreted even by Jacob himself v. 10. Where 1. He takes himself to be the Sun and so should the Father of every Family be as the Sun full of celestial Light and inlightening all that live under his shadow Hos 14.7 wherein also he takes notice of his own Preheminency which the Husband hath over the Wife whom 2. He Interprets to be meant by the Moon Teaching hereby that the Mother as the Moon should be shining forth with her Splendor in her Husband's Absence and Veiling to him when he is in his place and presence And 3. The Children as Stars which was according to Gods Promise to his Grandfather Abraham Gen. 22.17 which should all be Stars of Light shining in their several Orbs as so many Lamps or Lights of Heaven Phil. 2.15 The first Dream relates only to those Sons of Jacob under one figure only to wit that of the Sheaves because it was only a Prognostick of their going alone without their Father c. to Buy Corn of Joseph to whom they did then their Obeisance But the second Dream relates to the whole Family of Jacob which was forced out of Canaan by Famine into Egypt where they all did Obeisance to Joseph Hence an Objection ariseth How did Joseph's Father and Mother do Obeisance to him seeing 1. The Scripture mentions no such thing done by Jacob and 2. Rachel was dead the year before this Dream Answer the first As to Joseph's Father the case is very plain that he did humble Homage to his Son which some say was done when he bowed himself upon the Beds-head leaning upon his third Leg his Staff taking in both the Hebrew Mittah a Bed and the Septuagint reading it without points Matteh a Staff which the Apostle follows Heb. 11.21 Gen. 47.31 Or if we read it when he bowed himself upon his Bed-staff but this was a Wodship due to God alone Mat. 4.10 c. and not done to Joseph for herein he solemnly praised the Lord with a strong Faith in his weak old decayed Carcase because he had seen Joseph alive and his Children also and because he though now in Egypt had hope to be Buried in Canaan But 't is more plain that Jacob paid this Respect to his Son Joseph when he sent Presents by his Sons to him while unknown as to the Deputy Commissioner or Lord Lieutenant to that great King of the Land of Egypt and therefore those Brethren of Joseph then call'd their Father his Servant and with that word in their Mouths bowed their Heads and made Obeisance Gen. 43.28 Yea and Jacob sent Presents which were a sign of subjection to Joseph so that it may well enough be said That Jacob the Father did Homage to Joseph his Son at least by a Proxy and 't is also probable when Jacob came personally to Joseph in Egypt that he paid due Respects to him according to the Dignity of his Place and that he Honour'd him by his Person as he had done before by a Proxy though not as Joseph was his Son but as he was Pharaoh's Vice-Roy so he adored God who had thus exalted him Answer the second As to Joseph's Mother it cannot be meant Rachel though Caietan Oleaster c. do think the was then alive for she died before Jacob came to Hebron Gen. 35.18 19. and while she lived Benjamin was not Born to make up the Eleven Sons or Stars in the Dream beside Joseph So in Respect of Rachel it seemed an idle
Joseph whom they barter'd and bargain'd for as for some base abject or common Slave and the Sellers of him set no higher a price upon him though he became a Prince in Egypt Thus Christians are call'd Princes in all Lands Psal 45.16 the many Righteous in Mat. 13.17 is read many Kings Luk. 10.24 They are no less though obscure ones as was Melchisedek King of Salem They are great Heirs but now in their Non-age They are Kings for Christ hath made them no less Rev. 1.6 but they go Incognito as being in a strange Country Heb. 11.9 Their life is hid Col. 3.3 and their Glory is inward Psal 45.13 none of this the World knoweth but this may satisfie us that our Good God knows it and All that have a spiritual discerning know it 1 Cor. 2.14 yea and All our Under-valuers shall in time know it too 1 Joh. 4.1 2. as Joseph's Brethren did him in his Bravery to their unspeakable Horrour and Astonishment Gen. 45.3 for when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory v. 4. All Glorious then at the Resurrection of Names though for a time Denigrated with devilish Nick-Names as Joseph aspersed here for a Dreamer c. as well as of Bodies though then Rotten in the Grave Psal 37.6 God will then clear all wronged Innocency and then the right Value and estimation of all God's Jewels that have been so under-valued and under-rated by a wicked World as Joseph was here shall be made manifest to all men ☞ Suppose this Sale of the Jewel Joseph should be a little examin'd by the Standard and try'd by that received Rule There must be a due Proportion betwixt the Price and the Commodity propounded to be Sold in Buying and Selling As to Selling of Persons I refer to what is aforesaid upon Man-stealing and Man-selling which are both evil in their own Nature especially in Joseph's Circumstances but as to Things bought and sold where there is any odds either in the Excess or Defect betwixt the Price and the Purchase there is Injustice usually imputed There be Three sorts of Prices in contracting for Commodities First the kind Price which our English Phrase most fitly expresseth 'T is worth so much betwixt Brother and Brother Secondly The discreet Price is thus expressed So it is not dear but is no more than reasonable betwixt Man and Man But then there is Thirdly The rigid or rigorous Price which is the Price in the Extremity and at the utmost value and which is expressed also to be of no more worth to a Turk All these Three are the degrees among Casuists of a justifiable Price yea even the Third which is the worst may under some Circumstances consist within the due limits of Commutative Justice Suppose a Commodity to be Sold really worth Ten Pound according to the kind Price betwixt Brother and Brother worth Ten shillings more according to the discreet Price betwixt Man and Man and at the utmost not worth above Eleven Pound even to a Stranger or Turk Even this rigid Price may be just in case a considerable time is given wherein to pay the Price for then the Overplus of the Price is required only in consideration of apparent Damage in wanting so long both his Commodity and his Money provided what exceeds the kind Price doth but bear a due proportion to the undoubted Damage then there is therein no violation of Justice though there would he so and it were unjust in case of present Payment Again There is excess of Price in Extortion and Defect of it in Simplicity and sometimes in Necessity As the Extortioner asks too much which he imposeth upon the necessitous and over reacheth the Simple hence Callings are call'd Crafts and Mysteries I would they were not so in the worst sense even crafty Frauds and Mysteries of Iniquity So the Simple who want the Judgment of Discretion and cannot discern things that differ ask too little as the simple or silly Indians who part with their Pearls as if they were but Pebbles even for mere Toys and Trifles And the Fool according to Law who will change his right Guinea's for more glittering and broader Counters c. Now the Sellers of this Jewel Joseph were as those simple and silly Fools that certainly ask'd too little for him He was certainly of more worth than twenty shekels or Shillings Especially 1. 'twixt Brother and Brother for here were Brethren selling a Brother and their simplicity appear'd the more in this that they were so incens'd against Joseph barely for his Prophetick Dreams as if therein some Felicity had been presaged to a Stranger and not to their own Brother with whom as Josephus well observeth they could not but rationally expect to share when his Advancement dream'd of came to an Accomplishment in his prosperous Estate for as they were Allied to him in Consanguinity they must also be made Partakers with him as it is the common Custom of all persons highly prefer'd themselves to prefer their Kindred and Relations and as indeed he did them in his Prosperity 2. Joseph was certainly more worth than twenty shekels or shillings 'twixt Man and Man For 1. The Judicial Law of Moses put an higher Value and Estimation upon the loss of a good Name even of a Woman the weaker Sex and of less worth in the Law and therefore the Man that brought up an evil Report of a Virgin in Israel was both to be chastised that is to be beaten with forty stripes save one which was a Punishment next to Death and to be Amercied or Fined with the Mulct of an Hundred shekels of Silver Deut. 22.17 18 19. which was the Dowry of Virgins v. 29. with Exod. 22.17 further explained after 2. That Law likewise Fined the Man that forced a Woman in the Summ of fifty Shekels in case he would not make her Amends by Marrying her that thereby she might have a Dowry wherewith to Marry her to another Deut. 22.29 Or in case the Father refused to give his Daughter in Marriage unto him that had Humbled her the Offender must pay this Summ to her Father for wrong to Children redounds to Parents Exod. 22.17 where the Dowry of Virgins only named in the general is particularly express'd how much it is Deut. 22.29 3. The Law also prescrib'd a greater Mulct for the loss of a Slave or Servant which leaving Women is the lowest Rank of Men to wit Thirty shekels of Silver Exod. 21.32 'T is probable Judas in chaffering to sell Christ Matth. 26.15 proposed the lowest price of Man to wit that price of a Slave which was undoubtedly but the half-price of a Freeman yet though Christ was Free-born Matth. 17.26 27. He coming into the World in the form of a Servant Phil. 2.7 submits to be sold at this price but Joseph here was Free-born the Grandson of a Prince among the Hittites Gen. 23.6 yet purchas'd at a lower rate than any of those
Holy Martyrs of Jesus since the first planting of the Gospel to this day have gone before us in the same path we should therefore account it an Honour to have such Associates and we should fetch comfort from hence that 't is but for a time Deus dabit his quoque finem better will come after Post tenebras splendet surgit post nubila Phoebus The upright shall have deliverance out of Prison Psal 146.7 as Peter had Acts 12. and therefore spoke his own Experience saying The Lord knows how to deliver the Righteous 2 Pet. 2.9 and as Joseph had here yea and they shall have Dominion as well as Deliverance Psal 49.14 when God hath fitted them by their Affliction as he did David by Saul's persecuting him for many years till his Soul became as a weaned Child Psal 131.2 as he did Moses by his Forty years Banishment into the Land of Midian and as he did our Joseph here by his Eleven years Slavery or Servitude and his above two years Imprisonment Then to wit at Gods time King Pharaoh sent and loosed him Psal 105.20 and that by his own Master Potiphar who had clapt him up there by his wanton Wives wicked Instigation He had been bound Ignominiously but now comes he to be loosed Honourably and this is not all Joseph is not let loose and so bid to shift for himself no but Pharaoh makes him Lord of his House Psal 105.21 who had been made a lesser Lord twice in Prince Potiphar 's Palace and in the Royal Prison he had Palace-preferment and Prison-preferment before his grand Deliverance as Pledges of it Now Joseph is mounted to that height of Dominion as that he might bind Pharaoh 's Princes at his pleasure Psal 105.22 even Potiphar himself and his Fellow-prince the Prison-keeper if he had listed he could have paid them home in their own Coin but that Gods Law of recompensing to no Man evil for evil Rom. 12.17 was writ in his Heart And that his Adulterous Mistriss might tremble more than his Injurious Master at Joseph's Investiture with such an over-awing and over-ruling Authority is easie to imagine All this Moses mentions the means and manner c. in Gen. 40. and 41 c. Section the Eighth Moses having demonstrated the first Mercy of God to his Suffering Servant Joseph to wit the abatement and mitigation of his Sorrows and Sufferings comes next to the second to wit his Releasement out of Prison where he 1. Declares the Preparatory Providences falling out in tendency towards it and 2. The Providential Performance of it First of the First First The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Preparation towards it is most Remarkable in many Eminent Occurrences concurring to Joseph's Deliverance for in order to it 1. Two of Pharaoh's Princes must offend King Pharaoh 2. These two must be cast into Prison for that Offence 3. Into that very Prison where Joseph was 4. Joseph must then be the Ruler of that Prison 5. The Provost Marshal even Potiphar must have these two Offenders committed to him as his Prisoners 6. Potiphar must give Joseph now the Ruler of the Prison the charge of those two Princes 7. These two Prisoners must have each their troubling Dreams there and then 8. Joseph in his administring to them as he did to all the other Prisoners according to his Ruling Office must observe the sadness of them both and enquire after the cause of it 9. They hereupon must declare their several Dreams congruous to their distinct conditions unto Joseph 10. Joseph by the help of his God whom he had present with him in Prison must be made able to Interpret both these Dreams in correspondency to the Events in both 11. Pharaoh must Dream too and twice such Dreams as none of his Magicians could Interpret either his first or last 12. At this non-plus the Butler must remember Joseph mind Pharaoh how he had Interpreted his Prison-Dream Hereupon Joseph must be releas'd out of Prison in all haste brought before Pharaoh interprets both his Dreams for which he was exalted to be the second Man to the King From hence have we many most famous remarks As 1. Observe here the marvellous contexture of many Divine Dispensations which the most wise God did as it were link together in a way of Subserviency one to another and all to bring about this one his own glorious End to wit Joseph's Deliverance David enquiring of God must not go the direct way but he must fetch a Compass 2 Sam. 5.23 As David must not so David's God and our God will not go the direct way but he will fetch a Compass and so undoubtedly God is doing at this day God loves to go a way of his own which is always a good way yea the best way though it seem to Humane Eyes oft but a crooked way God loves to walk the Maze in many Meanders Windings and Turnings and is never at such a loss in any Labyrinth but by the Clew of his own Wisdom he can extricate himself and his own work upon the Wheel and he will certainly unravel all those Intricacies of our present times bringing them all to a Glorious Issue as he did all those Intrigues about poor Joseph The like limits are allotted to us now as were allotted to Gods people of old even a limit or border of fetching a Compass Numb 34.5 Though we be Passive and God only Active herein and though Providence hath its pauses it hath also as the Planets its Eccentrick motion yet even in those Oblique Lines wherein it moveth its Eye hath a direct prospect to its proper period which in the appointed time it alway attaineth and none can frustrate it Thus the Great God goeth about while he goeth about to do some great work 'T is a Law the Creator hath put upon his Creature the Sun to traverse the Oblique Lines about the Equinoctial of the Zodiack yet neither the Sun nor God much less who made the Sun ever lost their way The second Remark is Observe the predominancy of Divine Providence overall Humane-Affairs as manifestly appeareth in all these twelve particular Instances aforementioned All which teach us that there is an admirable Providence of God which Governs all Matters in the World and that many things happen to Mankind which to us seem altogether fortuitous casual and contingent yet at the length appears to be so disposed and ordered by a Divine Hand that God is all that time and in all those Circumstances leading his Servants by the Arm Hos 11.3 through many crooked ways and windings to a very happy and joyful event What things seem to happen by Accident or according to the Custom of the Countrey as that those two Courtiers offending the King should be cast into the Kings Prison which was under Potiphar's chief Charge c. as to Men yet as to God they fall out necessarily and unavoidably as this did that these two Offenders must be cast into the same Prison
his Honourable Principality For he was going on seventeen when he was sold Gen. 37.2 and he was thirty compleat when he stood before Pharaoh Gen. 41.46 about nine years after he received his Father into Egypt after which he lived in Honour seventy one years and Died at an hundred and ten years old Gen. 50.26 This may comfort Gods suffering Servants and cheer up their Hearts that though for a season they suffer hard things under the prevailing power of ungodly Persecutors yet may they be assured that if they suffer not as evil doers 1 Pet. 4.15 God will plead their cause do them Justice and make them full amends for all their injuries as he did to Joseph and if he do it not as to him here be sure it shall be done hereafter Here was the second thing to wit the Providential Performance and Accomplishment of Joseph's Deliverance This brings in the Third General Head to wit Joseph's Exercise in this his Highest state of Exaltation and the second sort of sore Archers whereby he had 1. A Passive Exercise and secondly His Active Exercise or Employ in his Exalted Estate which was to lay up the fifth part of the seven Plenteous years against the seven years of Famine In performance of which Office he discharg'd his Duty 1. In his Fidelity to Pharaoh keeping Him and his People from being Famished 2. In his Filial respects to his Father 1. By sending Corn twice to him Gen. 42. 43. 44. 45. 2. By sending for him and all his into Egypt 3. By placing them in Goshen Section the Ninth By this time the Devil who plyes his time Rev. 12.12 thought it now high time to call out his Artillery-Company his Archest-Archers all to shoot at this High mark with their Forked and Poisoned Arrows This was fit matter for soul Malice in that envious one that even in one hour he enviously beheld Joseph's Iron-Fetters changed into a Chain of Gold his filthy Rags into fine Robes his straining stocks into a stately Chariot his Dark and Nasty Dungeon into a Splendid and Glorious Palace yea Potiphar's Slave and Captive Satan saw was now become his Old Masters Lord and Master and the ratling Noise of his Fetters which could not but be Irksome to Joseph's Ears but delightsome to the Devils was turned into the Honourable Trumpeting forth of Abrech or Bow the Knee before him as he Rode in the Royal Chariot up and down the Kingdom to gather in the Corn of the seven years of plenty When God had lifted up Joseph from a contrary Evil as he commonly doth to a Good just contrary to that Evil as of a Servant and Prisoner be was made a Prince and Ruler Nazianzen noteth well that Joseph was more afraid of Satan's Snares in his Prosperity than he was in his Adversity Then I say the Devil envied him and Muster'd up the Men of his House as his Tool the Lewd Lady had Muster'd up the Men of her House Gen. 39.14 to make them suborn'd Witnesses again Joseph even his Slaves and Vassals the Children of Disobedience Eph. 2.2 Those He employed as his Arch-Archers to shoot sore at Joseph who was now become a fair Butt to shoot at The Devil had already shot Jâ—seph down successfully three times from his Preferment As 1. When he was his Fathers White-boy and preferr'd before all his Brethren in his Fathers House then Satan got him sold into Egypt for a Slave by his Brutish Brethren 2. When he was preferr'd to be Lord High Steward in Prince Potiphar's Palace then the Devil sets on a Delilah to tickle him on the Right side and to tye him with the Green Withes of Youthful Pleasures and when this would not do then he by her subornation got him cast into the Traitors Prison sed pari successu the Devil lost his Labour in this also 3. When Joseph had found favour through Gods Presence with him there in the Eyes of the Prince-Jayler so that he was again preferr'd by him as a Lord-Steward over all his Prisoners yea over the Prince Butler and the Prince Baker whose Dreams He rightly Interpreted yet the Devil prevail'd to get Joseph still detain'd in Prison for two full years longer Gen. 40.1 He undoubtedly ordering that Courtier the Butler to forget Joseph so long Gen. 39.23 and 40.9 10 11 12 13. so that this Poor Man was kept Prisoner about three years for Joseph had lain long there and was made Steward of the Prison before the Butler and the Baker were brought thither This must be the Devils Design to drive Joseph into Despair who had hoped by the Mediation of the Restored Butler to be immediately delivered but being detained two years longer after this Hope it could not but be a very grievous Temptation to him causing him to cry out There is no Hope Jer. 2.25 because of this long delay no doubt but the Devil had an Hand in all this that this Butler while he fill'd Wine in Bowls for his Master and drank Wine in Bowls himself for two years together yet all this time remembred not the affliction of Joseph as the Prophet expresly saith Amos 6.6 but the Great God who is the God of all Spirits had sent a Dream into Pharaoh's Sptrit which none of the Devils Magicians could Interpret at the end of the two years the Devil is thereby baffl'd Joseph must be deliver'd must Interpret and for that Advanced to be Lord of the Land I am afraid we have too many such Butlers advanced Courtiers who all forget poor Joseph and never Request Pharaoh for his Favour and Freedom Yet though they do God will remember his Joseph's and may pull those Forgetters of him by the Ears in due time as he did the Butler Gen. 41.9 to Release and Advance Joseph Now when Satan had so successfully shot Joseph down as he thought these three times Oh how slippery then are all Worldly Promotions some Exemplifications we have in our time c. as is aforesaid though his Bow abode still in strength and saw Joseph made or to be made the second Man in the Land then in all probability he bestirr'd himself against him Though Moses doth not mention expresly the particulars hereof yet gives he some such hints from whence it may be rationally inferred As the Devil had assaulted Joseph upon the Left Hand before in his State of Humiliation so now He sets upon him on the Right Hand as to his State of Exaltation designing either to prevent it beforehand or to procure his downfal after In order hereunto His first Archers must be the malicious Magicians who could not chuse but much malign Joseph for Interpreting Pharaoh's Dreams which they could not do Gen. 41.8.15 from this short Relation Moses mentioned 't is no improbable deduction to say that these Chartummim Hebr. the Wise-men and Wizzards of Egypt must withstand this Holy Hebrew young Man seeing they were of the same sort of Sorcerers so called Exod. 7.11 as
against Joseph Yea they furiously raged at him as the Hebr. Vatelah signifies and is so rendred Prov. 26.18 where and here only that word is used in Scripture they were transported into such a fury by their sore Famine that it made them Mad Men and furiously to cast their Firebrands at him even the Devils Arrows and so became they Arch-Archers indeed letting fly at Joseph for want of Bread He had foretold them of the seven years Famine but Saturity and Security had so besotted them that they feared nothing till they felt it fulness had bred forgetfulness and now when they are pinched with that penury which they might have by a prudent Provision out of the seven years plenty prevented they come with their outragious clamours to Joseph crying Why should we die in thy presence c. Gen 47.15 when it is in thy power to save us alive in this our extream indigency This Speech And why or for why savours of strong passion spoken in a murmuring mad mutinous manner agreeable to the word Labah v. 13. which is the Radix of Vatelah and which signifies to be frantick or out of their Wits both Junius and Tremellius and the Tigurine Version renders it fùrebat extream Famine made them extream mad And that they were so may seem also more probable even from a Natural Cause it might be the effect of their feeding upon course and foul matters such as Carrion Hemâ—â—â— and other sordid stuff that Brutes do devour of bad juice to humane stomacks as well as of bad tast to their Palates this is done in Famines as both Civil and Sacred History holdeth forth as 2 Kin. 6.25 c. Thereby might they fall into a Phrenzy which was the farther punsh'd on by the permanent power and lasting force of the Famine besides the many aggravations they lay under to blow them up into this Madness against Joseph As 1. Their loss of Meat Famine is such a merciless Tyrant that it hath made even a tender Mother to use her Teeth instead of her Lips to her own Dear Child to bite it without pity whom she used to Kiss with love and instead of giving it Suck to let out its Blood Deut. 28.57 Lam. 4.10 yea sometimes it hath made Men Eat the Flesh of their own Arms Isa 9.20 the People here lay under the lash of this fierce Tyrant the loss of Meat 2. The loss of Money they come and complain to Joseph all our Money is exhausted and expended Gen. 47.14 15. Now Money bears the Mastery with most Mortal Men and with some Worldlings the loss of their Wealth hath cost them the loss of their Wit they have run distracted upon it Misers will assoon and as easily part with their Blood as with their Good yet here Meat was better than Money and therefore so they may have the former they will part with the latter but now all their stock is spent they can purchase no more Meat for want of Money they Gaze upon one another as Men out of their Wits Gen. 42.1 what to do they know not yet sobering better upon it They come to Joseph with a 3. Complaint who gave them Meat in exchange for their Cattel This was their third loss now they soften yet more as to words at least saying we will not hide from my Lord Gen. 47. ver 17 18 c. NB. Alas all this time they could not plead Kindred they were Aliens to Joseph and he to them but our Joseph our Jesus is not ashamed to call us Brethren Heb. 2.11 if we hide not our wants from him he will supply us with food much more than Joseph did these Aliens even for Soul and Body Then comes their 4. Loss the loss of their Lands in the second year to wit of the extreme Famine which was the sixth year thereof for the fifth year of it was the first year which brought them to such straits as they had no Money left but bought bread with flesh even the Flesh of their Cattel and when no Cattel were left by the fifth which was the first year of extremity as is express'd Gen. 45.11 they come to him at the beginning of the sixth year call'd here the second of cruel hardship and sell their Lands to Pharaoh for Bread and then 5. Their Bodies themselves as Slaves Gen. 47. ver 18 19 20 23 25. It may not therefore seem absurd to suppose that this Hunger-starv'd people were sometimes enraged at Joseph according to the genuine signification of the Hebrew word Vatelah to be mad or transported into phrentick and furious Fits and to be reckon'd as the last sort of those Arch-Archers which let fly their Arrows at least words of Reproach against Joseph We say Losers may have leave to talk and greater losers than these who lost their Meat Money Cattel Lands and Liberties cannot well be To want Corn Coin and Cattel must needs pinch them much but when Joseph will have their Lands and Liberties too destroy their property in their Antient Patrimonies by removing them into Rented Farms ver 20 21. and so set up Imperium Despoticum un Absolute Monarchy the Property of their Lands must be altered and they must all turn Tenants and Farmers to Pharaoh whereas time out of mind they and their Progenitors had been true Proprietors and right Owners of those Antient Possessions yet now had made no new forfeiture of them they knew of no Praemunire in their case therefore may it seem strange that this many-headed Multitude so pinched with penury c. should not part with those five near dear and precious things especially the two last rather with great passion than patience when of Free Subjects they must now be made the Kings Slaves and Vassals all the Free born people must hereby become the Princes Peasants Solomon saith that oppression makes wise-men mad Eccles 7.7 which he sets off with a surely and he further saith that therefore Oppressing Princes are no better than Fools void of understanding Prov. 28.15 16. they are out of their wits themselves for driving their poor people out of their wits by exhausting their All from them and utterly undoing them Though they think they deal wisely as another Pharaoh did Exod. 1.10 yet these Lion-Rampants do foolishly in inraging their Subjects for they usually come to untimely Ends as most of the Caesars till Constantine did If Oppression makes Wise-men much more these half-famish ' d-men Mad 'T is a wonder saith Rivetus that the Mad multitude being made Mad by the Famines Extremity did not meet Tumultuously make a Mutiny and having now lost their Minds as well as their Means by force break ope the Barns so plunder all the Store-houses in every City where the Corn was kept Thus Junius and Piscator in concurrence with Rivet Interpret Vatelah to signifie that the Egyptians made Tumults the Famine bereaving them of their wits Assuredly they could never give up their Liberty and Property had not stark hunger
as the Proverb runs drove the Wolf out of the Wood All a Man hath will he give for his Life Job 2.4 There the Father of Lies did speak a great Truth what would their Lands and Liberties signifie should they lose their Lives by the Famine which is an Irresistible Tyrant but so is not Oppression in which case Liberty is oft prefet'd above Life and Men especially Free-born will chuse to lose the latter rather than the former Philo-Judaeus tells of an Heathen-people who in their Wars used only this Expression estote viri libertas agitur quit your selves brave Soldiers rather lose your Lives than your Liberties for that is the Cause you now Fight for 't is for sweet Liberty our Native and Birth-right Liberty And Daniel in his History of England declareth that there was a contention held very hot in this our Land between Prince and People for full fourscore years together about Liberty and Property which ceased not until the Grand Charter was granted the whole and sole design whereof was wisely contrived to keep the Beam right even and equal without tilting on either side between Soveraignty and Subjection And to end that long Controversie this Magna Charta so called was happily gained in the Maturity of a Judicious Prince Edward the first who frankly granted and fully ratified it to the Peoples Satisfaction And if any violence for breaking into Joseph's Store-houses was not acted by the people of Egypt when they came under those sad Circumstances every one of the five being sadder than the other that went before it it may 1. Be ascribed to Joseph's prudence as to a secondary cause of that effect for 't is probable saith Rivet that Joseph wisely laid up his Corn in strong Towers or Castles which were not easily broke into and 't is certain as Recorded in Scripture that he removed the people from one end of the Land to the other ver 21. not only to alter the Property of their Possessions from themselves to Pharaoh the present Purchaser of them but also it was his prudence and policy that by this change of Habitations they might be separated from their Brethren as he himself had been Gen. 49.26 from their Kindred and all their Acquaintance hereby they were render'd altogether uncapable to move Sedition against the Government to which Thargum Jerusal addeth a third Reason hereof that the Egyptians should not deride Joseph's Brethren for being Strangers among them seeing this Translation made themselves Strangers to their own Relations and former Companions yea and brought them into Bondage under Pharaoh according to the Curse Gen. 9.25 they also being a part of Cham's Posterity Gen. 10.6 Psal 105.23 when both their Persons and Possessions were translated into Pharaoh's power But the great Question is Whether Joseph be justifiable in thus provoking a poor pinched and half-pined people He seems to have put off all Bowels of Humanity thus to take the advantage of their necessity and that to the utmost Rigour both to the Ingrossing of all their Goods and to the Inthralling of all their Persons contrary as to appearance to all the common Rules both of Charity and Justice Answer 1. Our Lord expresly forbids to judge according to Appearance but commands to judge Righteous Judgment John 7.24 It need not be doubted but those Blind Egyptians were precipitant enough in their judging and censuring godly Joseph whose Office it was to teach them as well as their Senators wisdom Psal 105.22 that he might both learn them the worship of the true God and unlearn them the worship of their false Gods This was enough to prejudice them against him Tully a Man of great Knowledge as well as Eloquence could say Me à Religione quam à majoribus traditam accept nulla unquam suadebit oratio all the World shall never perswade me to relinquish that Religion which I received by Tradition from my Fore-fathers though it was but a Rotten Romish Idolatrous Religion How much more might these silly Souls say so and therefore they must have a prejudicate opinion of all that he said and did especially if as some say that he press'd upon this people the Doctrine and Practice of Circumcision Though this sâ—â—lls like a Jewish Fable and was not done to their provocation yet was there enough done in all these premised passages to provoke them into rage as before notwithstanding all his prudence and therefore that no mischief follow'd flowing from those that were too apt to judge according to appearance c. must be Attributed more to Gods Power and Providence than to Joseph's Prudence and Policy No doubt but those poor people of Egypt would not only reprehend what they could not comprehend as to the Reason of Joseph's Actings in his high Office but would also Rage at them so Gen. 41.13 as before importeth yet 't is the mighty work of the Almighty's Power and Providence to restrain that rage of Man which will not turn to the praise of God Psal. 76.10 As the Huntsman ordereth the rage of the Hunting Dog to his own pleasure restraining it at his will by a slip or string in his Hand so the Great God hath his Hunters or Hunting Dogs that Hunt Gods Joseph's from Mountain to Hill and from Hill to Mountain Jer. 16.16 even mighty Hunters such as Nimrod was Gen. 10.8 9. Caldeans Babylonians or Roman-Babel Butlders that have Hunted Gods people out of their Meeting-places in our Day yet are they all but as Gods Dogs in a String who restrains them at his pleasure and orders their rage for his Honour the Hebrew word for restrain there signifies to curb and to keep within Compass the Greek Septuag reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall keep Holy Day to thee that is cease from working as upon an Holy or Resting-day as to outwárd Objects how restless soever it be within It is the Great God who is girded with prevailing power as the Hebrew Gibber signifies Psal 65.6 that girds in all extravagant Rage as within a Girdle yea God hath a Girdle for that most unruly Element the wide Ocean and that must be both a wide and a strong Girdle indeed ver 7. He hath the raging Sea it self fast in his swadling Bands Job 38.9 'T is but as a weak Babe when most outragious in the Hands of the mighty God who orders it at his pleasure turning it this way and that way in its Fluxes and Refluxes as easily as the Nurse doth the swadl'd Infant when he listeth Yea God hath a Girdle for the Mightiest Monarchs girding their Loins with a Girdle Job 12.18 19. with a Rope reads the vulgar wherewith he restrains them laying Affliction upon their Loins Psal 66.11 and removing such as seem unmoveable pouring contempt upon them Job 12.21 Dan. 2.21 and 4.30 c. So God hath a Girdle for the Tumults of the people as well as for the Pride and Usurpations of Princes which are oft as outragious as the raging
Sea foaming out Mire and Dirt yet God stills them and makes as at his check and beck a sweet calm at his pleasure All Masterless Men yea and spiteful Devils who would lay Sion level God muzzles their Mouths and Manacles their Hands from harming his Joseph's Man indeed may stir up strife but God alone can stint it with Bounds Answer the second as to Joseph's vindications 1. All Joseph did to this people as above was not only with their consent but also at their request as Buy us and our Land for Bread Gen. 47.18 19. Volenti non fit injuria 2. As his Actings were not injurious so nor uncharitable for it was Charity in him to remit their Services and retain only their Lands when both were sold him 3. He used Liberality in his Charity towards them for whereas he might have taken half or four parts of their Lands when he restored them to their Liberties and left them but the other half or but one of five yet he allow'd them four parts and was contented to take but one part for Pharaoh which was no more than was laid up in the years of plenty Gen. 41.34 whereas 't is common in the Countrey to Lett Land to half-part for half the profit 4. The Corn which Joseph sold them was the Kings bought with the Kings Money and therefore was he bound in fidelity to the King to take a valuable consideration for it the King was no way oblig'd to give his Corn gratis to them seeing they had the same liberty that Pharaoh had to buy in and lay up Stores of it in the years of plenty Joseph having foretold them of the approaching Famine Had he given them the Corn freely he had been an unfaithful Steward to the King 5. Though Joseph seem'd to make a Monopoly of all the Money as well as Corn He gather'd up all the Money of the Land Gen. 47.14 as he had done all the Corn Gen. 41.48 49. yet did not convert either the Corn or the Money to his own private profit as for the Corn he laid up in Apothecas Regis the Kings Store-houses so Junius reads Gen. 41.35 under the Hand of Pharaoh and not for his own particular use and so the Money Joseph gather'd up he did not hoard in his own private Coffers to enrich himself by his Office but like a faithful Officer to Pharaoh laid it all up in the Kings Exchequer Gen. 47.14 and so infinitely increased his Treasure There be few such just Treasurers and Stewards now-a-days Joseph was faithful to his King because he feared his God Gen. 42.18 without which there can be no true faithfulness 6. Whereas it seems harder in Joseph to take all the peoples Cattel as it seem's hard in him to take all their Money seeing their Cattel was part of their Livelihood in affording them Milk Work c but seeing he neither used any wicked wiles to compass their Cattel nor Acted any thing against the Laws of the Land nor in any way of force Extorted them it was done by a free and fair open Contract with the Owners who now had as little to feed their Cattel with because of the Famine as to feed themselves It was now become cruelty in their owners to keep them any longer and it would be a courtesie and kindness in Joseph to keep them alive for common good and what good could their Goods or Cattel do them if themselves should die for want of Corn as doubtless many did die both by Famine and Plague though Moses mention it not for these two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are very rarely found asunder 7. But it seems hardest of all that Joseph will take their Lands and Liberties too when both their Coin and their Cattel were gone from them yet still all along here was a lesser good exchanged for a greater and a lesser loss or evil still prevented a worser Life is a greater good and the loss of Life a greater evil than Coin Cattel Lands or Liberties or the loss of them all Jacob reckon'd thus It is enough Joseph is yet alive Gen. 45.28 that 's a Mercy in the midst of Misery he rejoiced more for his Life than for his Honour Why should the living Man complain Lam. 3.39 So 't was enough for this people that Joseph preserv'd them alive they perish'd not with many others so could not complain of an hard Bargain No doubt put their Cattel as well as Coin yea their Lands and Liberties had a due value and price put upon them by mutual consent and that Joseph gave them the full worth in Corn according to the Contract for them And though some may say Joseph might have been more merciful to the poorer sort it must be considered that Joseph was but a Steward for Pharaoh not Administring his own Goods but his Masters now no Man must be liberal of that which is another Man 's without the Owners Consent Yea the Poor and the Rich. 8. And Lastly They did all universally acknowledge that Joseph had been truely liberal as well as merciful to them Insomuch that though God was now punishing them for their Riotous and Licentious Lives in the years of plenty by these years of extream and starving scarcity teaching them hereby the worth of those Blessings by the want of them yet Joseph had preserv'd them from perishing as many others did and had saved their Lives which was far better than all they parted with to purchase them yea and their Liberties too to become Farmers to Pharaoh upon which account he restored their Lands and all their lnstruments of Husbandry as Ploughs Carts c. they were so far from complaining that they thank'd him for his kindness Gen. 47.25 Thus 't is plain it was not Injustice in Joseph but his Equity Fidelity and pious Prudence whereby he saved both King and Kingdom Alive c. N B. In this History of Joseph there is a manifold Mystery 1. As he is a Type of Christ 2. Of the Church 3. Of a Christian 1. As of Christ something is said before to which more is here to be added as to both his states of Humiliation and Exaltation 1. In his Humbled Estate Joseph represents our dear Jesus thus 1. As Jacob being sollicitous for his Sons welfare sent his dearest Joseph as his Embassadour to bring him Tidings how it fared with them and with their flocks Gen. 37.13 14. Thus God so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son Job 3.16 Christ was sent to the lost Sheep of the House of Israel his Brethren Mat. 15.24 not so much to know as to purchase and procure their Peace Luk. 19.42 2. As Joseph so Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not Joh. 1.11 when he came to seek and save that which was lost Luk. 19.10 yea and found them in Dothan too in a state of Defection as before They were so far from receiving this their Physician who came to heal and help
Portion Gen. 48.5.22 Num. 1.10 1 Chron. 5.1 Thus Christians are the first-born of God Hebr. 12.23 having special Prerogatives as those under the Law had Deut. 21.17 even a double Portion of Grace and Glory 2. As Joseph wore a parti-coloured Coat so Christians are clothed with variety of Graces Joh. 1.16 2 Per. 1.4 5 6 c. 3. As Joseph was the best beloved of his earthly Father Gen. 37.3 so are Christians of their Heavenly 4. They are envied by false Brethren Nick-named Persecuted c. as Joseph was 5. The Keepers of them will take away their Coat or Vail Cant. 5.7 and if the World or Sin become their Mistriss 't will make them naked Exod. 32.25 6. Their Bow also abides in strength c. being made more than Conquerour Rom. 8.37 even Triumphers 2 Cor. 2.14 7. They are first Humbled then Exalted 8. They are Exalted to high Honour 1 Sam. 2.30 made Kings and Priests to God Rev. 1.6 9. They likewise feed many Prov. 10.21 10. Their Bones also be Buried in the Valley of Achor in the Door of Hope viz. of a better Resurrection Hebr. 11.35 Prov. 14.32 CHAP. XV. The History and Mystery of Jacob and Joseph Intermingled unto both their Deaths HAving handled the History of Jacob's sixth Cross to wit the supposed Death of his Jewel Joseph under which he long mourned even Twenty three years Gen. 37.34 but at last was comforted with that joyful News Joseph is yet alive Gen. 45.26 he is Lord of the Land of Egypt and he hath sent for us all to dwell with him Though these glad Tidings at first seem'd absurd and incredible to Jacob for those Men had crack'd their credit with their Father in telling him a Tale when they could first cause his woe and then come to comfort him Gen. 37.32 35. and therefore now were hardly believed His Heart fainted for his believed them not his fear prevailing over his hope in the Conflict put him into a swooning or fainting Fitt yet when he saw the Waggons c. ver 27. his Spirit revived Septuag 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Fire stirred up that lay buried under Ashes such assurance have deeds above words his Sons stifly affirm it for Truth their Brother Benjamin also Attesting it with them and they likewise confirm it by producing before his Eyes the change of Raiment or Rich Robes Joseph had given them Benjamin shews him the three hundred Shekels and five costly Suits bestow'd by his Brother upon him above all they all set before him the ten He Asses loaded with the precious things of Egypt as well as the ten She-Asses carrying Corn and Bread c. for himself by the way and lastly the Waggons and Royal Chariots relating withal all they had seen and heard were the undeniable demonstrations Then his Spirit return'd to his Heart after a sad Recoil and he recovers out of his sudden Consternation being cheered up with a belief of all Gen. 47.19 22 23 26 27 28. Hereupon as strangely transported he cryeth It is enough leaping levalto's as it were he rejoiced more for his Son Joseph's Life than for his Lordship ☞ Thus Jacob's twenty three years sorrow and that for a matter which was only suspected not real for all this time Joseph was Alive ever and anon in great Favour while his Father sorrow'd for him as if Dead God graciously converted into great joy He then was no Stoick as one without passions His belief rais'd him up as his unbelief cast him down Rom. 5.1 4. and thus also we Childishly torment our selves with our oft conceited and groundless fears as he did fear hath torment 1 John 4.18 setting the Soul as it were upon the Rack and rendring it restless but Faith worketh Hope Peace and Joy Rom. 15.13 filling the Soul with a contentful Complacency and Acquiescency No sooner had he well digested this fear but another fear comes upon him to wit Jacob's seventh Cross to make up his calamities into the perfect Sabbatical number of seven his fear to go down to Egypt though it was to see his Jewel Joseph there and his own late resolve so to do This grand Doubt lay first about his Warrant for his Peregrination or Journey to Egypt when this was removed he trusts God for his welcome thither and welfare there Such fears did fall upon him that in his consulting with God about it God gave him this answer Fear not to go down to Egypt Gen. 46.1 2 3 4. though he had good grounds of hope as to his prospect of present Providences in Humane Matters For 1. He was now forced out of Canaan by that Famine which God had call'd for Psal 105.16 so his Call from that place seem'd clear to him 2. He understood that there was Corn no where but in Egypt hereupon he saith to his Sons VVhy gaze ye one upon another as at your Wits end we must have Corn from thence or we cannot live we must certainly die Gen. 42.1.2 Therefore his call to that place seemed clear also 3. He had likewise the Royal invitation of Pharaoh thither and all accommodations for ease and honour as well as for subsistency in his undertaking the Journey 4. He had as joyful as well as lawful an Errand as ever Mortal Man had to see his own best-beloved Joseph whom he had not seen for twenty three years but thought verily he had been buried so long ago in the Bellies of some Brute Beasts that had devoured him 5. The Lord of the Land was his Jewel Joseph who had sent for him also by Royal Authority and sent both such Waggons and such Provisions not only of common but of precious things as made him his Sons their Wives and Children all willing and desirous to take this tedious Journey Remark first The common course of Divine Providence in Humane Affairs is That Parents do provide for their Children not Children for Parents 2 Cor. 12.14 'T is their Duty to lay up Portions and Provisions for their Posterity But here it was just contrary the Son was the Storer and the Father was the Starved Gods ways are not as Mans had Man been Gods Counsellor he would have counsell'd thus Seeing Canaan is promis'd to Abraham's Off-spring Let Jacob lay up Provision in his own Land and let Joseph be Famish'd out of Egypt and forced Home to his Fathers House and so possess the Land of Promise No saith the most wise God it shall be thus Jacob the Father must be Starved in that Land of Promise which flows with Milk and Honey and Joseph the Son must be the Storer in Egypt that Cursed Countrey of Cham as David calls it Psal 105.23 27. and 78.51 and though this seem absurd to Humane Apprehensions and apparently repugnant to my Express Promise yet Jacob must leave his Land of Canaan wherein he had seated himself as now a Possessor of my Promise so oft renewed and must go down into a strange Countrey there to be a poor Pilgrim
their Convoy by Sea and their Conduct by Land If Caesar's Barge-man could be comforted with Caesar's words in a Storm Quid Times Caesarem vehis ejus Fortunam Be not too timorous in this terrible Tempest but chear up thou carries Caesar so cannot miscarry A child of light walking in darkness need fear nothing while his Heavenly Father holds him fast by the hand Psal 23.4 and 138.7 Isa 50.10 2. When they Die and go down to the Grave as Jacob did go down to Egypt God so saith to them as he said to him Fear not to enter into that Sleeping-place of the Sepulchre I will surely awake you again and bring you back from the Jaws of a Temporal Death to the Joys of an Eternal Life and your frail Bodies that now Death and Grave do swallow up shall certainly rise again and by their very rotting shall be the more refined at the grand Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.36 42 43 44 c. The Second Inference is God comes usually to his Servants as he came here to his Servant Jacob while he was in suspense and did hang betwixt Hope and Fear God loves to perfect his strength in our weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 The Heart of Man is not in a capable case for receiving Divine Promises till it be first freed from false Fears Therefore God came to comfort Abraham with Fear not before he gave him the Promise Gen. 15.1 so his Grandson Jacob had the same Cordial Fear not before the promise both of his own personal safety and of his numberless Posterity Had God given Jacob only that General Promise I will be with thee It indeed had been enough had he said no more for a sufficient Security against all his particular Doubts and Fears yet out of his super-abundant Bounty he gives a distinct Answer and what might be satisfactory in every particular saying in effect to him 1. I Approve of thy Enterprise my Command is thy Warrant I will make thy Journey Prosperous according to thy Prayer 2. Thy change of place shall neither change my Promise to thee nor thy Company with me I am not chained to one place but am present in every place not tied to Canaan but will be with thee in Egypt 3. Though thou for a time forsake the Land of Promise yet thither will I again bring thee when Dead and thy Posterity while living for whom thy Body Buried there shall take and keep Possession till their Return so that this Promise contains the History of many yea more than two hundred years 4. And thy Jewel Joseph whom thou thought was lost hath been but lent to the Lord who will return him whom now thou so much longest to see with Advantage he was lost a Slave but shall he found a Lord yea a Lord of Lords and of the whole Land 5. Yea thy Joseph whom thou gave up for Dead shall close up thy Eyes when thou diest wherein God promised him both a quiet Life and a comfortable Death in Egypt his dear Joseph being present with him should have the Honour above all his Sons to do that last Office of Love of putting his hand upon his Fathers Eyes which were lift up wide open toward Heaven when he died having Hope in his Death Prov. 14.32 to shut them up which shall shortly be opened again to see God in the Flesh Job 19.26 By all these particulars God assured Jacob and so he doth no less to us the Children of Jacob that there is a Paternal Providence of God always attending upon him and all his whom he will never fail nor forsake Josh 1.5 and Hebr. 13.5 the particular Promise to Joshua is generally applied by the Apostle to all Believers Blessed shalt thou be in thy going out and Blessed in thy coming in Deut. 28.6 I will carry thee down and I will bring thee up saith God to Jacob thou shalt not want my presence at no time and in no place Semel Electus semper Dilectus saith Austin which is well Englished whom God once loveth he ever loveth even to the end Joh. 13.1 This Blessed Patriarch having now this Double Compellation Jacob Jacob and this Treble yea Quadruple Consolation from Heaven his Heart was much eased of his Fears his Spirit lightned from his Doubts his Faith now got above his Fear by the help of this Heavenly Vision that he Rose up from Beershebah v. 5. The word Rose up hath an Emphatical sense signifying Alacrity Importing that his Faith was now confirmed his Joints were Oiled and his Legs made nimbler by this Oracle of God as it had been with him by his Vision at Bethel Gen. 28.12 so that he doth now as he did then Gen. 29.1 Hebr. even lift up his feet went lustily on his way as fast and as far as his Legs would carry him He did so from Bethel though now he had Pharaoh's Royal Chariot to rest his old Legs in He goes cheerfully end ways to Egypt when his Encouragements outweigh'd his Discouragements as in David when distressed 1 Sam. 30.6 taking along with him his Cattle and Goods v. 6. though Pharaoh had in a Court Complement forbad it Gen. 45.20 yet this prudent Patriarch would not go down like a Beggar by carelesly casting away his All in this transport of Joy as 2 Sam. 19.30 and so to become a Trencher-fly to others He had learnt that Lesson 't is better to trust in the Lord in the lawful use of means subservient to Providence than to put Confidence in any man though his own Son or in the greatest of Men who are Princes as Pharaoh Psal 118.8 9. who oft proved but a lye Psal 62.9 They may die or their love may die and they themselves may live He had learnt that also why should we be chargeable to thee my Son 2 Sam. 13.25 Therefore he carries what Provision he had with him and his Family consisting of Sixty six Souls v. 26. went along with him to which if Jacob Joseph and his two Sons Manasseh and Ephraim be added they make up the Number of Seventy v. 27. though they are reckon'd by following the Septuagint then most in use to be five more Act. 7.14 Suppose so yet even that is but a small Number to descend from Abraham in 215 years time after the Promise of multiplying his Seed as the Stars c. The Fifth Remark is Moses mentions this small number that went down with Jacob thus industriously not only for distinguishing the Twelve Tribes nor to shew out of what Family Christ should descend naming Perez and Hezron which are named in Christ's Genealogy Matth. 1.3 and Luk 3.33 but the principal Reason is that this inconsiderable Number at Israel's going into Egypt might the more magnifie the Mercy Truth and Power of God in multiplying these few into an Innumerable Number in Egypt so that these Seventy Souls were become Six hundred Thousand besides old People Women and Children in 215 years more when Israel came out of Egypt This
could not without a Divine Miracle and a signal singular Blessing of Heaven be accomplish'd upon Earth All which do shew 1. That the Promise of God must not be over-hastily expected in its Performance God gave Abraham his Promise of making him a great Nation c. Gen. 12.2 3. yet two Hundred and fifteen years after that his Offspring were increased to no more than to seventy Souls God had signified to him that his Seed should be evil intreated four hundred years Gen. 15.13 which must begin when Ishmael mock'd Isaac he being the Son of Hagar the Egyptian Gen. 21.9 Gal. 4.29 This Persection happen'd Thirty years after that first Promise Gen. 12.2 3. which Promise was Four hundred and thirty years before the Law Gal. 3.17 and Four hundred and thirty years after that Promise came Israel out of Egypt Exod. 12.40 when Jacâ—b came down into Egypt he was 130 years old and then the just half of the 430 years betwixt the Promise to Abraham and Israel's Deliverance out of Bondage to wit the 215 years were exactly expired This half is thus reckon'd by parcels 't was 25 years after Abraham was come into the Land before he had Isaac 't was 60 years more before Isaac had Jacob and 't was 130 years more which was the Age and Time of Jacob's coming to Joseph All which amounts to 215 yet all this long Period God's Promise lay Dormant as to its Performance the Number of Stars and Sands promised was circled in only 70 Souls Thus that Promise which was the first in the World of the Womans seed breaking the Serpents head had not its Accomplishment till Shilo came which was about Four thousand years after the making of that Promise to Adam Thus that Promise to Ahaz that a Virgin should conceive a Son Isa 7.14 yet neither he nor his saw its Performance Thus also Daniel's 70 weeks or 490 years had a long Commencement after Daniel's Day before the Messiah came to take away Transgression c. Thus Abraham's 430 years was a long Parenthesis betwixt the Promise and the Performance of God's giving him that Land yea we must reckon 40 years move to the 430 for so long Abraham's Seed wander'd in the Wilderness before they came to possess the Land of Promise and indeed the Performance of that Promise of all Nations to be blessed in Abraham's Seed was much longer after that even not till Christ came The Oath which he sware to our father Abraham Luk. 1.73 Note 2. God's Church is oft reduced into a narrow compass and small number as here into 70 Souls unable to subsist among the 70 Nations which Apostatiz'd at the building of Babel yet God the Churches Rock protects her from their Malice Psal 105.12 13 14 15. and raised her up from this small Foundation to a Prodigious Multiplication v. 26. and that all the Time under the Cross in despite of all the Powers of Egypt engaged against them the more molested they the more multiplied Having handl'd Jacob's peregrination into Egypt the next Remark is his commoration in Egypt wherein two things are considerable 1. His Honourable welcome thither And 2. His comfortable welfare there First of the first 1. Jacob had not only a common welcome but an honourable one When he had quell'd and kill'd his fears for he first fear'd to go till God promis'd him his presence and protection by the power and force of his Faith Gen. 46.3 4 5. He came down thither comfortably committing his All to a faithful Creator whom he found far better to him than his own fears who gave him not only a welcome thither but also a welfare there for Jacob's best and happiest days were those he spent in Egypt with his Jewel Joseph Lord of the Land 't was for Joseph's sake that Jacob and his Family had their welcome to Egypt and welfare in it so 't is for Jesus sake that we have both these both in the Kingdom of Grace and in that of Glory That Jacob might have his welcome thither he sent Judah as his Praecursor or Harbinger being a Man of more excellent Parts and of greatest Authority among his Sons both wise and well-spoken as appears by that exquisite Oration he made to Joseph Gen. 44.18 to the 34. wherein he prefers his Fâ—thers Life before his own Liberty he could not live to see Jacob die Him he sent to give Joseph notice that his Father Was at hand Gen. 46.28 Thus this good Man guided his matters with discretion Psal 112.5 in sending this Son Judah as his Messenger who did not only excel all his other Sons in Prudence and Power but also was most acceptable to his Father in becoming surety for Benjamin his Brother wherein he was a Type of Christ descending from him who is our surety Heb. 7.22 Gen. 43.9 yea and he was most acceptable to his Brother Joseph too for his Cogent Arguments wherewith he overcame his Bloody-minded Brethren to save Joseph from perishing in the Pit Gen. 37.26 c. Thus Jesus of the Tribe of Judah delivers us out of the Pit Zech. 9.11 ☞ Behold here the Prudence and Providence of this pious Patriarch thus to prepare his way for his welcom lest the Inhabitants should make an Insurrection against him when they saw him a meer Stranger intrude as an under settle and an Interloper among them to eat the Bread whereof they then had too little for themselves out of their Mouths with his seventy Souls besides his great Train of all sorts of Cattel This admonishes us to do nothing unadvisedly lest our rashness work our Ruth and ruin give no offence carelesly take no offence causlesly As Jacob would not trouble any so he prudently prevents his being troubl'd by any Joseph hearing by Judah that Jacob was got to the Borders of Egypt goes forth to give him his welcom and Oh what a joyful meeting was this of Father and Son who had not seen one another in long twenty three years How joyful this was to Jacob appeareth 1. In his falling upon the Neck of Joseph and weeping over him with Tears of exceeding great joy Oh how joyful will be the meeting of Saints in Heaven As Jacob might here say to Joseph Oh my dear Child where hast thou been all this while I thought thou had been dead Thus the Father said to his penitent Prodigal with exceeding joy Thou wast dead but now alive thou wast lost but art found Luke 15.20.32 and thus Christ shall say Come ye blessed of my Father Mat. 25.34 as if he said My dear Children where have ye been all this time John 17.24 'T is his joy to have them with him c. He will have all his redeemed with him he doth not so much pray it as say it with Authority he says I will have it so he says it as one in joint-commission with God I will have mine with me I have merited it for them and I cannot account my self happy enough without them
Eph. 1.22 23. Thus Joseph will have as Pharaoh's Vice-Roy all him Fathers Family with him that where he was in Pomp Peace and Plenty there they might be also And thus Jesus our Brother will have all his Brethren with him it was part of his joy on Earth while he was below to have them about him Mat. 28.10 Go tell my Brethren they must meet me in Galilee c. Mark 16.7 how much more to have them with him in Heaven the Head will draw up all the Members not leaving so much as a little Toe here below into the Fathers Bosom This meeting of Head and Members one with another shall be a more joyful meeting than that of Jacob and Joseph c. or of the two Cousins Mary and Elizabeth the presence of Christ though but then in the Womb made John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to skip and spring more like a suckling at the Breast than an Embrio in the Womb and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Dance a Galliard as the two Greek words import Luke 1.44 46. leaping levalto's for the Saviours coming what shall the presence of our Joseph or Jesus do in the Joys of Heaven If that joy of Jacob and Joseph's meeting cannot be conceived much more incomprehensible is the joy of our meeting our Lord in the Air 1 Thes 4.17 as Jacob's Family met Joseph in Goshen Gen. 46.29 Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est 'T is fitter to be believed than possible to be discoursed yea 't is impossible to be discovered 1 Cor. 2.9 we may as soon compass Heaven with a Span or contain the Ocean in a Nut-shell The second evidence of Jacob's joyfulness at this meeting of Joseph was his saying Now let me die c. Gen. 46.30 Jacob could hardly hear the News of Joseph and live His Heart fainted when he heard that Joseph was yet Alive Gen. 45.26 but when once he saw him now saith he let me die He had said before upon the Tidings of Joseph's life 'T is enough Joseph is yet alive I will go down to see him before I die Gen. 45.28 He had almost pined away in a lingring Desire of his Son Joseph long 23 years and hearing he was living when he thought him all that time Dead then he cryeth it is enough I have enough of Content and enough of life may I be but so happy as to see him once before I die And now having obtained that Desireable and Delightful fight of his supposed lost Son He calmly composeth himself to a willingness to die Saying I have lived enough I have my life for his life was bound up in the life of the Lad I have longed enough I have my love for he loved him above all his Sons I have sorrow'd enough I have my joy and I have seen enough in seeing him whom my Soul desired to see The sight and embracement of Joseph was to Jacob so transporting as was that of the Blessed Babe Jesus at Bethlehem to good old Simeon who Sung his Soul as it were out of his Body when he had laid Christ in his Heart as well as lapt him in his Arms singing I fear no Sin I dread no Death sweet Babe of Bethlehem let this Song serve for a Lullaby to thee and for a Funeral to me Oh sleep thou in my bosom and let me sleep in thy Peace Luk. 2.29 30. Thus Jacob in his embracing of Joseph was under the like Raptures rejoycing more for Joseph's life he had from him his Father than for his Honour he deriv'd from Pharaoh Thus as Jacob was welcom First to Joseph So Secondly was he welcom to Pharaoh for Joseph's sake That it might be so Joseph putteth forth his great Prudence Piety and Humility in many particulars As 1. He at this merry Meeting instructs his Brethren unacquainted with Courtship being wholly Educated in Countrey Affairs how they might comport themselves before the King and his Courtiers when he presented them to him for he brought his Brethren to Pharaoh before he brought his Father Gen. 46.31 32 33. with 47.2 7. wisely supposing that the King would desire to see these same new strange Guests his highly honoured Joseph's Relations 2. He foresaw his next work after meeting his Father and his Family was that he might now procure a commodious place of Residence for them which Pharaoh had promis'd in the general Ye shall eat of the fat of the Land Gen. 45.18 20 Now he would have that Royal general Promise confirmed to that particular place of Goshen in their Presence and Audience 3. Though Joseph had this frank Offer of Pharaoh was his great Favourite and Vice-Roy yea and had Invited his Father with a promise to nourish him and his Family particularly in Goshen Gen. 45.10 11. all the five following years of the sore Famine yet will Joseph do nothing for his Friends notwithstanding his Princely Power to fix them in that Fertile Countrey without the Kings Privity and Approbation 4. As Joseph promis'd Goshen to Jacob either out of Conference he had with Pharaoh concerning it or out of confidence of his Royal Assent whenever the motion was made to him as it was Gen. 47.4 6. So for his actual performing of that Promise he effectually obtains the Kings Grant and Royal Licence whereby he prudently prevented the Arrows of those Arch-Archers afore-mentioned the envious Courtiers who were never wanting to wait for his halting and would have shot sore at him for abusing his Authority well-knowing that envy attends upon Honour and always aims at the highest The tallest Trees are weakest at the Tops His Providence in avoiding that offence had he acted by his single Principality was as a Back of Steel to make his Bow abide in strength 5. His marvellous W sdom and pious Modesty appear in this also that he did not send any of those Courtiers that attended him in his Riding to meet his Father in Princely Equipage with his Charet and much attendance Gen. 46.29 but as he humbled himself to his Father and his Family jumping out of his Charet as the Rabby's relate and casting away his Princely Bonnet and other Ornaments of Honour that they might the better discern him and falls down before his Father in all Filial Subjection and Reverence wherein he was not to act the part of a potent Prince but of a dutiful and submissive Son so here he humbles himself to become their Messenger himself to Pharaoh saying I will go up and shew Pharaoh c. Gen. 46.31 for none could expedite that Affair so well as himself having the Kings Ear and so high in his Favour that Pharaoh could deny him nothing he requested This teacheth that what we can and ought to do our selves and that best of all with our own Hands we may not commit it to be done by other Hands as is the custom of careless and slothful ones Non-residents carry on their cure of Souls by their Curates or Journey-men 6. Joseph
nourishment for nourishment to the utmost penny the sweetest years the good old Patriarch had ever seen And this is the more Remarkable that Gods grant of addition to Jacob's Life was two years more than that granted to Hezekiah for that was only for fifteen years 2 Kings 20.6 but this to Jacob was for seventeen Whereas we are wont to reckon seven years for the Life of a Man as God granted more by one year than two lives to Hezekiah so he added to Jacob more than two lives even three years which is almost half of a third life and what it wanted in quantity or number it was supplied in quality or sweetness so God out-bade his hopes desires and deserts as he oft doth ours Gen. 48.11 I had not thought to see thy Face and now I see thy Seed too thus God shews us things not hoped for Isa 64.2 The third Remark is Jacob took care for his Burial and the place of it before his Sickness being sensible of some Summons to Death by the decay of Nature and learning to die daily as 1 Cor. 15.31 yet will not be Buried in Egypt though the Earth be the Lords and the fulness of it Psal 24.1 and though he was then conveniently seated there with his whole Family but Requests he might be Buried in Canaan not from any Superstitious conceit that one Countrey is holier than another and nearer Heaven but upon far graver grounds As 1. To testifie his Faith concerning the promised Land a Type of Heaven and the Doctrine of the Resurrection 2. To confirm his Family in the same Faith that they might live as Strangers in Egypt weaned from its Pleasures and Treasures and wait for their return to Canaan which God had promis'd to give them and which he though dead would not relinquish his right in lest he should seem to distrust God though yet he saw it not fulfilled 3. To declare his love to his Godly Ancestors above all vain Idolaters these latter Jacob never loved while living and therefore will not lye among them when dead But the former he judg'd it his Felicity to have Fellowship with both in Life and Death 4. Because Canaan not Egypt was the Countrey Christ the Worlds Redeemer was to lead his Life receive his Death be raised therein and from thence to Ascend into Heaven Jacob therefore desir'd to be Buried there where the Worlds Redemption was to be transacted where Christ must die and rise again that he might at length rise again with him Hence some of the Antients say that this Jacob and the other Patriarchs did Bodily Rise again with Christ because 't is said Mat. 27.52 53. The Graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose c. to wit those Holy Patriarchs who before were kept bound in their Sepulchers till the very Heart-strings of Death now swallow'd up in Victory by Life Essential were quite broken even by the Death and Resurrection of the Lord of Life then were they inlarged to become Witnesses and Attendants of Christs Resurrection and who appearing were known to many in the City as Moses and Elias were known to the three Apostles in the Mount at Christs Transfiguration either by a special Revelation or by that Coelestial Illumination which will be much more in Heaven as Adam knew Eve in his state of Innocency Gen. 2.23 or lastly by the Familiar Conference wherein they might learn who they were betwixt Christ and them Mat. 17.3 But Modern Authors say they were such as were lately dead who were well remembred by those that were living supposed to be Simeon the Just Anna the Prophetess Zacharias Lazarus and others lately dead whose Bodies were not yet consumed as those of the Patriarchs were not only Buried so long before but also so far off as Makpelah Hebr. the double Cave was thirty Miles from Jerusalem We shall therefore leave it undecided whether Jacob requested to lye in that Land because he hoped as Lyranus affirms to be one of those which should Rise out of his Grave at Christs Resurrection and to accompany him in his Ascension into Heaven this seems something too curious though it seem more comely and more glorious both to the Patriarchs and to Christ The Jews add a fifth Reason why Jacob would not be Buried in Egypt because he foresaw the Dust of Egypt would be turned into Lice c. When Jacob did thus give order for his Burial Swearing his Son Joseph to observe the place of it this he did not as if he distrusted Jeseph's naked Promise but he requires an Oath Gen. 47.31 Because 1. He would have them all know it was no trifle he required but a weighty matter and of great moment for fortifying his Families Faith and for obliging them more firmly to expect their Return 2. That Jacob might die in full satisfaction and assurance that this thing he desired would be faithfully done knowing that the Sanction of a Sacred Oath would better outweigh opposition than a bare Promise 3. That Joseph might do it with less offence and envy to the King and his Courtiers for the carrying away of Jacob's Corps did seem to carry a kind of contempt with it The Egyptians might well object Is our Land good enough for you to live in while alive and is it too bad for you to lye in when dead Hereupon Joseph might have been otherwise perswaded and over-ruled by Pharaoh But this Oath answer'd all contrary objections for they that liked not to have their Land under-valued yet allowed that Joseph's holy Oath should be religiously observed therefore Joseph to procure this grant of the King urgeth this Oath which he made to his Father Gen. 50.6 with 4 5. ☞ Whence we learn that Oaths are both lawful and needful for Men are mutable even betwixt these two Holy Patriarchs the Son must be bound by an Oath to the Father though Joseph might otherwise have fulfilled Jacob's will yet was it not judg'd amiss to lay this Sacred Obligation upon him which was so reverenc'd among Heathens How may this condemn Christians both such as allow no Swearing at all though Paul call it the end of strife Heb. 6.16 and especially such as make no Conscience to keep Oaths when Sworn but Sport with them as Children do with their slips or as Monkeys with their Collars who slip them on for their Masters pleasure but off for their own both play at fast and loose according to their liking Pharaoh and the Egyptians will rise up in judgment against such Jesuitical Mock-Christians and God himself will in time take his vengeance upon them Yea and how Pharaoh's approving Joseph's Filial respect and obedience to his Fathers will condemneth such graceless Children who frequently contemn the Authority of their Parents and tear in pieces their last Wills and Testaments 'T is a notorious shame that so many Nominal Christians should be so far out-done by those poor Blind Heathens who had a reverence both for
Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for be his Beginning and Middle never so Troublesom yet the End of that man is Peace Psal 37.37 or at least his After-End He shall have a Goshen a Shalom or Salem Hebr. Peace either here or in Heaven he shall by Death enter into Peace Rest in his Bed Isa 57.2 though he should not die in his Nest as Jacob did here and Job desired Job 29.18 and accordingly did so notwithstanding all his Afflictions both Job and Jacob had this commendable Confidence grounded upon God's Promises 't was not a Carnal but a Spiritual Security a blessed Calm and Composedness a Sabbath of Spirit flowing from Faith and founded upon a good Conscience of their own uprightness which caused Shalom Shalom great Peace and Joy Isa 26.3 There be two Branches of Jacob's first part of his Will The First concerns Joseph whose presence and influence had so affected his old Father's Heart and quickned his dying Spirits so with new Strength as to rouze himself up from his lying along upon his Death-Bed to whom Jacob declareth how he had full power to bequeath the Land of Canaan as he pleased though then he was but a Pilgrim in Egypt yet prizes he and disposes of his Interest in Canaan so we in Faith of Heaven absent in Body yet possess it with our Hearts as he did with his Bones c. because God had given it him by Promise for an everlasting Possession upon Condition of keeping Covenant with God v. 4. Intimating thereby that Joseph being now a mighty Prince in Egypt might possibly the less think of the Promised Land therefore his Father gives him a grave and godly Avocation from the Treasures Pleasures and Honours of that Land whereof he was now the Lord and a solemn and serious Invitation to consider of and comply with that great Promise of Canaan that he would now take up new Thoughts to joyn himself again to the People of the God of Abraham from whom he now seemed for a little to be separated Gen. 49.27 and to corroborate his Confidence the more in God's Promise of that Country he wills Joseph as his Legacy and Portion some part of the Promised Land to wit the City and Country of Shechem over and above all his Brethren Gen. 48.21 21. so that as Judah had the Dignity from Reuben who forfeited it by his Incest Joseph had the Double Portion 1 Chron. 5.1 2 3. Joseph hath his part in the latter part of his Father's Will among the rest of his Brethren Gen. 49.23 c. as well as this part here his was a double part or portion And this Shechem was Ephraim's Joseph's Sons Inheritance Josh 20.7 with 16.1 c. Joh. 4.5 and thither were Joseph's Bones carried out of Egypt and there Buried Josh 24.1.25.32 And Jacob mentions his dear Rachels Death with a great conflict and concussion of passionate Affections as his as for me she died by me importeth Gen. 48.7 upon a double account First to Render a Reason why he buried not Rachel in the double Cave where his Ancestors were buried by Couples Abraham und Sarah Isaac and Rebekah and where he had sworn Joseph to bury him because she died in Child-bed by the way so could not be kept unburied till brought to the Patriarchs Sepulchre through the slow march of his tender Flocks Secondly That Joseph might know why he gave him a double Portion because his Mother Rachel was intentionally and by Right his first Wife and had not Laban cheated him Joseph had been his first-born This brings in the second Branch of the first part of Jacob's Will which Secondly Concerns Joseph's two Sons Manasseh and Ephraim whom Jacob here Adopteth not as his Grandchildren but as his Immediate Children yea as his Eldest Sons as in room of or for Reuben and Simeon so bequeaths them the Birthright and therewith a double Portion making them two distinct and particular Tribes which was not vouchsafed to any of the Children of his other Sons Joseph's Brethren and therefore seeing Joseph's two Sons were hereby made the Fathers of two Tribes This made Joseph's their Fathers part double to all the rest of Jacob's Sons v. 5. Moreover Jacob might mention Rachel upon other Respects As 1. To mind Joseph that as his dear Mother forsook her Father's House in Syria and sojourned with her Husband in Canaan so her Son Joseph must be willing by his Mothers pious Example much more to leave his Honours in Egypt which was not his Native Country and go take possession of the Land of Promise which he did in his bones when dead Exod. 13.19 Josh 24.32 though he could not for many cogent Reasons aftermentioned do it with his Body while living 2. Jacob might hope that seeing my dear Rachel was snatch'd away from me by a preposterous Death when I expected she would live being young and bring me forth a numerous Offspring which God promis'd should spring from my Loins yet brought forth only two Sons Joseph and Benjamin therefore God would Recompence me and make up my loss by Adopting Joseph's two Sons that God's Promise in multiplying his Seed might be fulfill'd in and by them two The Remarkable Mysteries that lye couched in this Famous History are these 1. As Joseph presented his Sons to his Earthly Father to be Blessed by him saying These are my Sons whom God hath given me Gen. 48.9 So Jesus presents all his Saints to his Heavenly Father saying in like sort Here am I and the Children which thou hast given me Isa 8.18 Joh. 6.37 39. As the High-Priest did present the Twelve Tribes to God as well as represent them before him Exod. 28.29 So doth Christ us Col. 1.22 Jude v. 24. Eph. 5.27 Hebr. 9.24 c. and to him the Father Replies as Jacob did to Joseph here bring them now to me and I will bless them which he doth likewise with Kisses and Embraces This Congruity is yet attended with one Disparity Jacob adopted Joseph's Children at first as absent v. 5. but after discerning two Young men standing at Distance probably behind their Father's Back for Reverence-sake but through the dimness of his decayed Eyes he was disenabled to distinguish their Persons therefore he asks Who are these upon which Joseph informs his dim-sighted Father but Christ's Father and ours in him 2 Thess 1.1 2. with Eph. 1.3 c. can never be so dim-sighted as not to discern and distinguish us either at a distance or in the dark He can distinctly discover us when under the Fig-tree covering as Joh. 1.48 His All-seeing Eyes run to and fro throughout the whole Earth 2 Chron. 16.9 and behold what Men do in the dark Ezek. 8.22 yea Darkness and light are all one with him He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Eye and knows all Psal 139.2 to 14. Neither doth God Bless any as Absent from him Enter praesenter Deus hic ubique potenter God's Presence fills all places he
when together 't is only from God The third thing is the Action Wait for this Now waiting is a Servants work Psal 123.2 If I be a Master saith God where is my Service Mal. 1.6 David expectando expectavit Hebr. Kavah Kivethi Psal 40.1 in waiting waited he prayed and waited he waited and prayed he first prayed and then waited to see the Issue Psal 5.3 Waiting is an Act of the Soul wherein it earnestly looks for some promis'd good from the Hands of God Waiting is a Compound of many Graces Faith and Patience like the two Cherubims which covered the Mercy-seat have their Faces looking one toward another and join their Wings together over-shadowing the Soul in this waiting work These two Graces do support the Heart of Man as Aaron and Hur did the Hands of Moses Exod. 17.12 Hope is the Pulse of the Soul and expectation is its Perspective-glass As the Body lives spirando by breathing so the Soul lives sperando by hoping and the more lively that hope is the more lively is the Soul for God Expectation discovers things afar off in Faith's Perspective glass as if they were at Hand John 8.56 hereby Abraham saw Christs Day and as Faith hath a strong sight so it hath a long Hand wherewith it both Espies and Embraces remote Mercies Heb. 11.13 'T is not enough to believe the Promises in the truth of them nor to hope for the good of them which is laid up in them but we must patiently wait and expect till that good be given out to us by the God of Judgment timing all our Mercies for best to us The remaining part of the Patriarch Jacob's History may be reduced to these few Remarks The first is When Jacob had bestowed his Patriarchal and Prophetical Benediction upon all his Sons being both broken with old Age and wearied with so long a Funeral Oration which he had delivered with his utmost Extension of Speech Intention of Spirit and Retention of Memory he quietly composeth himself to Die and sweetly to sleep in Jesus well knowing with Job that his Redeemer lived and was ready to receive him into a Mansion of Glory Gen. 49.29 33. He had hitherto raised up himself into so reverend a posture 't is supposed he sat on his Bed-side with his Feet hanging down as his infirm Body would permit in reverence to the Word of God which he then delivered c. so drew up his Feet and died The Apostle expresseth dying Jacob's posture leaning on his Staff Heb. 11.21 where likewise he mentioneth only Jacob's blessing the two Sons of Joseph because Born out of his Family in a Forreign Land yet by Faith both are Adopted by Jacob for his own Children and where the Apostle also follows the Septuagint who in their unprick'd Bibles did read Matteh a Rod for Mittah a Bed the Hebrew reading is He bowed himself upon the Beds-head Gen. 47.31 The Romish Vulgar reading leaveth out upon to make way for their worshipping the Cross Suppose the reading be upon the top of his Staff instead of the head of his Bed then might it figure the Rod or Scepter of Christ otherwise it had not been Faith as the Apostle calls it here but Superstition but the genuine true sense is that Jacob raised himself on the Pillow being now a Clynick or Bed-rid at the Beds-head supporting his feeble Arms with his Staff which some not improbably putting both the Hebrew words Mittah and Matteh together suppose was his Bed-staff when he took Joseph Sworn to Bury him in Canaan so bows himself forward with his Head in thankfulness to God who had not only given him the sight of Joseph whom he had reckoned dead and devoured by wild Beasts and his two Sons also in great Grandeur and likewise some sure hope to be Buried himself in the Land of Promise as an Earnest and Hansel of the Twelve Tribes Possessing it The second Remark is The sweetest days that ever Jacob saw were those days he lived in the Land of Egypt immediately before his Death Joseph feedeth his Father with his whole Family full seventeen years before his Fathers Death Gen. 47.28 and so long Jacob had nourished Joseph full seventeen years before he was sordidly sold by his Brethren whom he now nourished Gen. 37.2 That the Son should feed his old Father and Family in a time of most dangerous Famine was but his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a paying nourishment to him from whom he had first his own before yet such was his Sons Capacity as Lord of the Land that it made Jacob's last days his best days He was an hundred and thirty years when he was brought before Pharaoh Gen. 47.9 and he lived in Goshen till he was an hundred and forty seven years old ver 28. God reserved his best Wine till the last for him As his Nature and outward Man was most comfortably accommodated by his Son in Goshen so no less was his Grace and Inner Man by his God to the last for his Graces like good Liquor as above ran fresh to the bottom Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for be his beginning and his middle never so troublesom the end of that Man is peace Psal 37.37 A Goshen he shall have either here or in Heaven hereafter The third Remark is At Jacob's coming down into Egypt did the first half of the four hundred and thirty years mentioned in Exod. 12.40 and Gal. 3.17 expire commencing from Abraham's going out of Canaan Gen. 12.4 10. as a Sojourner c. so that from this time Israel were in Egypt for two hundred and fifteen years more before their Deliverance thence It is plain that these four hundred and thirty years are to be computed from the first Promise made to Abraham Gen. 12.1 2 c. to the giving of the Law Gal. 3.17 and 't is plain also there were only four hundred years of this term to come in Gen. 15.13 for then the thirty years were expired The Text Exod. 12.40 doth not confine their Sojourning to Egypt only but in Canaan also which was not theirs then by Actual Possession Gen. 15.13 but Abraham and Isaac c. were Strangers in it Gen. 17.8 Psal 105.11 12. The Hebrew words Moshab and Toshab Sojourner have their Emphasis Abraham was the first Founder of this famous peregrination or Sojourning which first began in Canaan while Israel as Levi was in his Loins Heb. 7.9 and ended in Egypt when the other Moyety of two hundred and fifteen years expired after Jacob came thither The Remaining part of the Patriarch Joseph's History is also reducible to these sew Remarks The first is as they are methodized in the last Chapter of Genesis His great Filial Honour to and care of his dear Father's dead Body both in weeping upon it as willing if possible to have wept him alive again and in Imbalming it Gen. 50.1 2 3. according to the Custom of the Egyptian Country wherewith he complied partly in
Veneration and godly Affection to so worthy a Parent and Patriarch who had so long mourned for him when he supposed his Son was devoured by an evil Beast therefore he honours him with these Solemnities and partly to preserve the Corps sweet so long as the many days time of Mourning and the long Journey to Machpelah his Burying-place in Canaan required but principally to testifie his Faith of the Resurrection and that Incorruption he hoped for at the last day The second Remark of Joseph concerning Jacob also is the Funeral Solemnities of his Fathers Interment when Joseph had got leave of Pharaoh by the mediation of Messengers for he being a Mourner must not come before Kings Esth 4.2 to fulfil the will of the Dead and the command of his Father together with the Obligation of his Solemn Oath the sacredness whereof and the Execration of Perjury the Light of Nature discovered to these Heathens Pharaoh and his Courtiers he marcheth to Canaan with a most Pompous Retinue both of Courtiers Counsellors Captains and a strong Convoy or Conduct for their Defence in case of Opposition and there affordeth his Father a most Honourable Burial Gen. 50.4 5 6 7 8 9. making a grievous Mourning for him beyond Jordan ver 10 11 12. the place was thence called Abel-Mizraim the Mourning of the Egyptians which was a good Providence for confirming the Faith of the Israelites when they were to pass over Jordan afterward by this standing Monument of Jacob's Transportation out of Egypt into Canaan for his Burial The third Remark is Joseph's kindness to his Brethren who had been notoriously unkind to him and who were now Jealous he would be reveng'd of them ver 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. See the force of Conscience though for a while it be still and seemingly asleep yet is faithful in Recording and fearful in Reproving albeit it doth not alway execute the acts of accusing yet then hath it always the habit of it and when awakened with Losses and Crosses brings old sins to a new reckoning What they say to Joseph of their Fathers command looks like a loud Lie ver 16. for had Jacob known of their ill usage of Joseph he would have branded them with it Gen. 49. as he did Simeon and Levi for their cruelty and he would himself have spoke to Joseph before he died for pardoning them They repented this purchas'd Joseph 's pardon and he nourish'd them that would have starved him in the waterless Pit c. Gen. 37.22 24. The fourth Remark is concerning Joseph in four Respects 1. His Age ver 22. 2. His Off-spring ver 23. 3. His Last Will and Testament ver 24 25. And 4. His Death and Burial ver 26. First of the first of these Joseph's Age he lived an hundred and ten years ver 22. Mark the Divine Comment God made upon Solomon's Sapiential saying Prosperity is set over against Adversity Eccles 7.14 and the marvellous proportion of both He did not only receive good from the Hands of the Lord as well as evil Job 2.10 but also his good far exceeded his evil seeing for his about thirteen years Adversity he enjoyed after that full eighty years of the most Honourable Prosperity even as much Happiness as this lower World could well afford him Thus also God dealt with Job giving him an hundred and forty years of Temporal as well as Spiritual Blessings in abundance after the Lord turned his Captivity Job 42.10 12 16 17. Thus God Honoured Joseph in Egypt where he had no Divine Oracle or Angel to speak to him as the other Patriarchs had yet was he all along like a Pearl in a Puddle keeping his Vertue still where-ever he came as God was with him Gen. 39.2 and last so Gods fear was before him ver 9. though the Iron entred into his Soul Psal 105.18 or his Soul came into Iron Hebrew yet sin could not enter into his Heart because it was fraught with the fear of God when it was suggested to him that his becoming a Minion to one of the greatest Ladies in Egypt would not only afford him much Carnal Pleasure but also Release him out of Prison and Advance him to the Highest Worldly Honour he contemns the Temptation furnishing the Tempter with nothing but wet Tinder to strike Fire upon resolving to lye still in the Dust rather than rise by any way of wickedness This was strong Faith and therefore is he made the tenth Exemplary Witness of Faith Heb. 11.22 Secondly Joseph's Off-spring God blessed him for his Holiness with so long a Life after his Affliction that he lived to see his Son Ephraim's grand Childrens Children Gen. 50.23 yea and to Dance and Dandle with great delight upon his Lap the Grand-Children of his Son Manasseh This was another Branch of Gods Blessing upon him for his Holiness shining forth so splendidly in him notwithstanding his want of those helps in Egypt of God or Angels speaking audibly to him which his Fore-fathers had Dr. Lightfoot affirmeth that Ephraim at Joseph's Death could not be less than threescore and fifteen years old and therefore that passage concerning Ephraim's Sons being slain by the Men of Gath 1 Chron. 7.21 22 23. seemeth to be not very long after Joseph's Death if not before it 'T is probable saith he that third Generation of Ephraim mentioned Gen. 50.23 were the Persons so unhappily slain by the Inhabitants of the Land In those Antient Times it was usual for one Countrey to Invade another Adjacent as Philistims or Men of Gath the Egyptians their next Neighbours and to carry thence their Booties This probably had been done upon Goshen the utmost part of Egypt and Bordering on the Philistims The Children of Ephraim presuming on their Numbers and Strength might Attempt to Requite the Plunderers and Recover their Losses wherein they miscarried as is related for which Ephraim Mourned many days c. Thirdly Joseph's Last Will and Testament Gen. 50.24 25. which he delivered by Faith Heb. 11.22 consisting of two Branches 1. His mentioning Israel's Exodus or departure out of Egypt foreseeing they would be hardly used after his Decease yet God would visit them with Grace and Mercy after he had visited them with Justice and Anger to wean them from the Idolatry of Egypt that they might not carry it along with them into the Land of Promise and because they were tainted therewith therefore the Lord Aired and Sweetned them from the stench thereof full Forty years in the Wilderness and then brought them into Canaan Joseph lived with his Brethren after his Return with them from Burying Jacob in Egypt fifty three years or more in great peace and plenty but at his Death began their Egyptian Bondage Their Liberty and Worldly Felicity died with Joseph as afterwards Israel's Prosperity died with Josiah Yet dying Joseph foretold them by Faith that the Promise of fetching them forth and giving them Canaan would assuredly be Accomplished which Prophecy of Joseph was fulfill'd
about an hundred and sixty years after his Death so long did their Misery and Slavery last before Moses came The second Branch of Joseph's Last Will was a command concerning his Bones Heb. 11.22 He saith not my Body but my Bones because he foresaw that his Body would be consumed in the Coffin before their departure out of Egypt and nothing but his Bones would then remain unchanged This highly commends Joseph's Faith who though he saw the Promise afar off Heb. 11.13 even an hundred and sixty years distance betwixt his Death and Israel's Departure yet he Imbraced it neither despising it nor doubting of its Truth Hence the fourth Respect is introduced to wit his Death and his order of the place of his Burial His good Father left his Son a good Example Jacob would not be Buried in Egypt the Jewish Rabbies say because he foresaw that the Dust of Egypt would by Moses be turned into Lice c. What a shame it is that many Men are Buried quick in the World and in Sin This shews Joseph's goodness in imitating 1. So good a Father not to lay his Bones in so bad a place hoping a better Resurrection 2. In discharging the Duty of a dying Saint remembring Gods Promise whereby David did still all murmurings Psal 77.9 10 11. 3. In retaining his love to the Land of Promise it seems hereby Egypt had not Joseph's Heart and Affections though he had his Honour and Grandeur therein For he takes care his Bones shall be carried thence 4. In providing such a standing Memorial of Israel's Deliverance from Bondage the sight of Joseph's Bones did Preach Deliverance to them during that tedious time of their Slavery Thus our Lord hath left his Body and Blood amongst us as Remembrancers of our Deliverance from Sin 5. In resolving when his living Body cannot go to Canaan that his Dead Bones should be carried thither Thus our Edward the first had a strong desire to go to the Holy Land but being prevented charg'd his Son upon his Death-bed to carry his Heart thither leaving 32000 l. to defray charges His Superstition shames our remissness in not sending our Hearts to those Ordinances which we cannot now come at The want of an Ordinance may be an Ordinance especially where there is love to it longings and lamentings after it We do all things when we purpose and indeavour to do all things and mourn that we can do no more 6. In taking such care to keep possession of the Land of Promise even while he lived and laid in Egypt The Amorties in Jacob's absence had Seized on his purchased Field yet the Title is still claimed and recovered Oh that we could maintain on Earth good Intelligence with Heaven and claim our Title there by just means The Fifth Remark is it was during this long Interval betwixt Joseph's Death and Israel's Deliverance out of their Egyptian Bondage that Joseph's Nephews the Ephraimites attempted their own Deliverance before the time appointed by God not long after Joseph's Death and even while their Father Ephraim was yet alive Hasty work seldom ends well sure I am this ended with ill success to the great Grief and Regret of their Aged Father who mourned for this miscarriage many days 1 Chron. 7.22 This seems to have happen'd a little before the rigour of the Egyptian Slavery and before the Reign of that new King mentioned Exod. 1.8 who knew not Joseph as the five Kings of Egypt his Predecessors had done Those Ephraimites would have been carrying their Grandfather's Bones out of the Land before God's time and before the Sins of the Amorites were full Gen. 15.16 therefore the Inhabitants of the Land fought fiercely pro Aris Focis for holding fast their own Lands and Livings and not to be turned out of their Tenements before the time This furious fight of the Philistims upon their own ground the Ephraimites because the Lord was not amongst them as afterward among the Murmâ—rers Num. 14.42 were not able to stand before so sharp a shock but turned their Backs in the Day of Battel as is said Psal 78.9 and then was it that it went so ill with the house of Ephraim 1 Chron. 7.23 Notwithstanding this Joseph's Prophecy concerning the carriage of his Bones was in God's time accomplished Moses was mindful of Joseph's last Will and Israel's Oath they Swore to him Gen. 50.25 therefore in Conscience of Duty the Coffin was carry'd out with Israel Exod. 13.19 which was Buried in the Valley of Achor that Door of Hope of a better Resurrection namely in that Field near Shechem c. Josh 24.32 Thus long did Joseph willingly wait for his Burial in Canaan being not immediately after his Death carried thither as Jacob was but defers his Interment to this time because he would not disoblige the Egyptians who would have censur'd him for contemning their Land as if that which had been the place of his living in Honour were not thought good enough by him for his lying in when Dead this would have highly incens'd them against his Survivers The Sixth Remark The History of Job c. falls in order of time betwixt Joseph's Death in Egypt and Israel's Departure out of Egypt This may rationally be concluded from these Grounds 1. No mention is made in the whole Book of Job either of the Children of Israel or of their grievous Sufferings in Egypt and Deliverance out of it which had been most suitable and pertinent to the purpose 2. Job is preferr'd for his Piety before any man then alive even before his patience had given such a lustre to his Piety then the Church must be in a very low Ebb. 3. After the giving of the Law Sacrificing was confined to the Tabernacle c. but Job Sacrificed in a Country of the Gentiles Men after were bid to Sacrifice at God's Altar Exod. 20.24 4. After Moses time the knowledge of God was extinct among the Gentiles which before had been made known to divers by Dreams and Visions but then peculiar to Israel 5. Job lived near two Hundred years old Chap. 1 2 3. and 42.16 whereas after Moses Man lived far shorter Psal 90.10 God began to cut Man's life much sooner off in Israelites and all others 6. If Eliphaz was the fourth from Esau of Teman as Amram was from Jacob and Levi this shews their Contemporizing and that Job lived when it went sadliest with Israel in Egypt The particular Remarks concerning Job are First That the Book is no parable or poetical Fiction as some have dotingly said but a real History which is clearly demonstrated both by the contexture of the whole giving a distinct account of all circumstances of Persons Places Actions c. and by the succeeding Pen-men of the sacred Scripture more especially who mention Job as a real and eminent Pattern of Piety and Patience as Ezek. 14.14 where he is quoted and coupled with Noah and Daniel two Persons that acted glorious Works in the
World and Jam. 5.11 Some suppose that Job was a Son of Nahor Abraham's Brother descended from him by his Son Uz as Elihu was of his Son Buz Gen. 22.20 21. Job 32.2 and so Elihu came to live near to Job who was Son of the Elder Brother as he was of the Younger others suppose him to be that Jobab of Esau's Posterity Gen. 36.33 34. being a Magistrate and Judge in his Country Job 29.7 8 9 c. whose Name was contracted into Job by his Adversity who before was call'd Jobab at length in the day of his Prosperity There is an odd Story Jacobus Justus relates in the Notes to his Map of the Holy Land that Balaam Job and Jethro were Pharaoh's Counsellors when Moses was born and found by Thermutis the King's Daughter who brought him into the Court Moses while a Child trampled Pharaoh's Crown under his feet Balaam said It presaged Destruction to the State Job would have nothing determin'd against him but Jethro said it was only a childish Trick so not to be regarded whence these three sped afterward accordingly Balaam was slain Job afflicted and Jethro made happy by Moses affinity The Second Remark is the Book of Job is a Tragi-Comedy writ either First by Job himself who wished the History were written in a Book Job 19.23 24. so after his Deliverance might answer his own with Or Secondly Elihu who came not from far as the other three did but neighboured upon him and nameth not himself as coming with them and who saith I will shew my opinion c. Job 32.15 16 17. Or Thirdly By Moses in Midian who wrote it for the comfort of Israel sorely distressed in Egypt Whoever was the Penman it matters not God was its Author and Paul quotes Job 5.19 as canonical 1 Cor. 3.19 the whole Book setting forth Job's fall from a very great height of Dignity into the very depth of Misery by Satan's Malice first against his Estate and then against his Body The Dialogues his three Friends held with him were to convince him that his Sinning had been extraordinary because his Suffering was so The Doctrinal part of whose Disputations was sound but their prejudice misled them in the Application Job vindicates himself all along but not prevailing that way He stops their Mouths by imprecating himself in particulars Job 31.1 to last then comes Elihu in as Moderator but inclining to the same Misprision of the others the Lord himself convinceth them all of Job's Integrity not only by an Oracle from Heaven but also by reviving Job's Prosperity doubling all he had lost save only his Children who were with God and making him the longest liver that was born after Terah who died at two hundred and five years old Gen. 11.32 and supposing Job Seventy years old when his trouble came he lived two hundred and ten years old having his years doubled also Behold a Miracle here How Job a Camel for Grandeur and Riches passeth notwithstanding through the eye of a Needle yea with Six thousand Camels c. Job 42.12.16 He entreth that strait Gate into a Mansion of Glory c. his eminent Piety had eminent Misery which yet ended in both Temporal and Eternal Felicity CHAP. XVI The History and Mystery of Israel's Bondage in Egypt and Deliverance out of it THE Ending of the History of Jacob and Joseph introduceth the Beginning of the History of Moses who with his Sacred Pen gives an Account of those two great Patriarchs Periods Gen. 49.33 and 50.26 before he relate his own Birth Life and Death Exod. 1 c. and Deut. 34.6 Now come we to the most grievous part of Israel's Bondage in Egypt where good Joseph had left them after his Death and where they through God's singular Blessing exceedingly multiplied notwithstanding their cruel Oppression according to God's Promise to Jacob Gen. 46.3 Deut. 26.5 This Offspring of Israel after the Death of all the twelve Patriarchs do by Degrees fall into all manner of Abominations As First They commit Idolatry Josh 24.14 Ezek. 20.8 Secondly They forget and forego Circumcision the Covenant of their God and this was the Reproach of Egypt Josh 5.9 c. Thirdly They joyned in Marriage with the Egyptians who were notoriously addicted to Idolatry and all Impiety Levit. 24.10 Exod. 12.38 whereby they were infected with the Vices predominant in that Country for this cause good Jacob seared to go down into Egypt which not only had been some Damage to Abraham Gen. 12.15 and flatly forbid to Isaac Gen. 26.2 and would expose his Posterity to many Perils of both Soul and Body Therefore was their Father afraid to go thither till he had God's Warrant for so doing Gen. 46.2 3 4. Now as in Abraham's Vision of a smoaking Furnace at Sun-set c. Gen. 15.12 17. The Sun of Religion was gone down among those degenerate Israelites walking according to those wretched Principles and Practices aforementioned Therefore the Lord cast them into a Furnace of Affliction call'd an Iron Furnace Deut 4.20 1 King 8.51 Jer. 11.4 An horrid Darkness as of Impiety so of Misery came upon them which afterwards ended in a burning Lamp the other Branch of Abraham's Vision God commanding light to shine out of darkness in their deliverance out of Bondage Psal 112.4 and 97.11 now it was that a new King arose that knew not Joseph who had made such vast Additions both of Wealth and Power to the Crown of Egypt called Busiris a most savage Tyrant even in Heathen Histories This brutish Man envying the wonderful Efficacy of the Promise of God made to Jacob Gen. 46.3 in Israel's increasing so abundantly the Strength of that Promise made the Men strong to beget Children though over-pressed with intolerable labour and the Women also to have no Abortions but to be more lively than other Women in bringing forth c. This became a most grievous Eye-fore to this envious King that to be revenged of them he falls upon them in Cruel Methods 1. Private in his cursed Command to the Midwives for Killing all the Males whom he mostly feared at their Birth which the Midwives not daring to do fearing God more than the King in their contrary Commands It put the Tyrant 2. Upon Publishing that Publick and bloody Edict that seeing neither the Intolerable toil of the Israelites under hard Taskmasters nor the holily refractory Midwives would suppress their spawning Procreation It should be lawful for any of his Subjects to drown the Males as soon as Born Exod. 1.7 8 9 10 11 16 22. In these bitter Times Heman and Ethan 1 Chron. 2.6 Prophetically penn'd the Eighty eighth and Eighty ninth Psalms In this time also was Moses born The first Remark concerneth his Parents who are Canonized in the Canonical Scripture for eminent Believers Hebr. 11.23 where the Apostle being about to bring in Moses's Faith speaketh first of the Faith of his Parents Amram Hebr. High and Jochebed Hebr. God's Glory both of Levi's Race and
God on the eighth day Exod. 22.30 corresponding with the Law of Circumcision limited to that day Gen. 17.12 Nor must they work any First-born Bullock nor Shear any First-born Sheep Deut. 15.19 They being appropriated to God must not be for the Service of Man but without any Diminution or Detriment be wholly Offer'd up to him This was Adam's plundering Elohim Hebr. Mal 3.8 and will a Man dare to Rob God 'T is a Scripture-wonder Nor may they cheat God with any First-born in voluntary Oblations being his already Lev. 27.26 The Sixth Remark Nor would the Lord accept the first-born of any unclean Beast much less that of â—n Ass Exod. 13.13 that stupid dull and sluggish Animal saith Lavater was unworthy to be an Oblation to the living God therefore must it not be paid in kind but either redeemed with a Lamb or where the owner of it was of such a sordid Soul as would rather see his own Beast so useful for bearing burdens killed than redeem it its Neck must be broken whereas if Redeemed the owner might use it for his own Service otherwise not Deut. 15.19 Nor would God be served with the Sacrifices of Mans Flesh as the Heathen did in Sacrificing their Sons to Moloch Levit. 20 2. Therefore the first-born of Sons were to be redeemed also in stead of which afterward the Lord took the Levites into his special Service Levit. 8.15 16 c. We read how Abraham's first-born Isaac was redeemed by a Ram Gen. 22.9 10 11 12. CHAP. XVIII The History and Mystery of Israel's Departure into the Wilderness NOW come we to the Third Particular namely The Consequents of Israel's glorious Deliverance out of Egypt which contains their Exodus or Departure as Exodus signifies wherein many things are mostly considerable First In General There be three Terms offer themselves to our Consideration 1. The Terminus à quo or place from whence they went and that was from Egypt 2. The Terminus per quem or place through which they went and that was through the Wilderness 3. The Terminus ad quem or place to which they went and that was to Canaan wherein are included all the Accidents that happened to them in their intervening way or Peregrination for forty years a long Journey from Egypt to Canaan But Secondly More particularly There be observable First Their Departure it self cloathed with many marvellous Circumstances Secondly Their Conduct or Guide in a way-less Wilderness Thirdly Their Journey or Passage and Way they went under this Conduct And Fourthly Their forty two Removes in their Wilderness Pilgrimage before they came to Canaan and what did befall them in their several Stations First Their Departure it self in its several Circumstances attending it affords sundry Remarks The first Remark is Israel left not Egypt without leave both from its Prince and its People First It s Proud Prince was constrained to give them his Royal Commission for their free Departure Exod. 12.31 32. his Conscience though seared was so far convinced by the last Plague that it was a Sin to oppress God's People any longer and therefore he not only sends them a Passport for packing them away but also begs their Prayers that no more Curses as many had done might come upon him Nor Secondly Had Israel less leave from the People in whose Eyes God gave them favour So that they denied them nothing of their Wealth or Weapons but were willing to be rid of them at any Rate ver 35 36. even hiring them to be gone by giving to them much Silver Gold Garments and Substance all which they had most dearly earned in their long Slavery but could never come at Wages for their Work till now that God the true Proprietary of all Goods set them into a ready way to receive them and that rightly God herein dispensing with his own Law And thus what God had promis'd to Abraham I will bring thy seed forth with great Substance Gen. God had promis'd to Abraham I will bring thy seed forth with great Substance Gen. 15.14 was now performed and the Egyptians were glad at their Departure to purchase their own lives by sending them away richly laden Psal 105.37 38. ☞ Note here Though their borrowing thus of their Neighbours spoiling them and inriching themselves was an extraordinary Command and may not be made a President but in the same Case and upon the same Warrant for the Lawgiver only can dispense with his own Law and ordinarily 't is the Character or a wicked person to borrow and not pay again Psal 37.21 either because he cannot he is so unable being alway in straits and wanting in the midst of his wealth Job 20.22 or because he cares not he is so unconscionable whereas the Righteous giveth of his own and takes great care to pay his Debts Yet doth this Recorded-Instance hold forth this great truth that All the Saints Abasements at present are but in order to their future Advancements as were those of Joseph's and David's and of Israel's here whom God brought forth out of their tedious Bondage with Silver Gold Jewels and other Wealth And thus the Afflicted Church that is tossed with Tempests and not comforted God builds her Walls and lays her Foundations with Saphires Agats and fair Colours Isa 54.11 12. and see Isa 62.3 4. Oh happy is he that comes richly with Israel out of Tryals and Temptations that can say with Job When God hath tryed me I shall come forth as Gold Job 23.10 Such Tryals are Gold 1 Per. 1.7 The Second Remark is Israel's Departure out of Egypt was on the self-same Day when the 430 years were expired Exod. 12.40 41. Reckoning from God's Promise of the Land of Canaan made to Abraham Gen. 12.7 and of his first going to sojourn in Egypt ver 10. to this miraculous Deliverance and Departure were so many years Gal. 3.17 whereof for a great part Abraham and his Offspring were Strangers and Sojourners partly in Egypt and partly in Canaan and as Levi is said to pay Tithes in Abraham's Loins so it may be said of his Posterity that they began betimes in the Loins of Abraham to be no better than Sojourners c. It may not be imagined that the whole of 430 years was spent under Egyptian Slavery for though the account of that Term did end at Israel's Departure from thence yet did it not begin at their coming thither for 215 years were passed away betwixt the first Promise of God unto Abraham Gen. 12.1 2 3 4 5 c. and Jacob or Israel's passage into Egypt as is declared in the abovesaid The former part of the latter 215 years Israel was kindly treated in Egypt for Joseph's sake The latter part thereof was first spent about Sixty years in Tolerable Servitude after that about Ninety years more under Intolerable Tyranny and the most slavish Severity which moved the Lord to pity his People and to rescue them out of the Hands of that proud persecuting Tyrant and
his firm fast hand-hold and heart-hold of Faith he had of Heaven its Antitype at his Death 〈◊〉 This faithfulness of Moses and Israel in fulfilling the Promise their Fore-fathers had sworn to Joseph Gen. 50.24 25. bolds forth to us this great truth That the will of the Dead must faithfully be performed so the Apostle saith The Testament it confirmed when the Testator is dead Hebr. 9.17 God will surely revenge their quarrel whose Souls he hath received into his Heavenly protection whose godly Legacies and Bequeathings are reversed and their Last Will and Testament not rightly fulfilled for as God professeth himself the special Protector of the Fatherless and Widow so he will maintain the cause of the Dead that are Fatherless as to the World and their Souls are as it were Widows for a time while they are absent from their Bodies Woe to them that are unfaithful to the Dead who will assuredly be much more so to the living This is also considerable that whereas the Patriarchs sold Joseph into Egypt they did not only sell him thither but their Children carry'd his Bones thence and not his Bones only but of those Patriarchs also Acts 7.16 who had equal Title to that Land of Promise with Joseph so would not be left in the Land of Bondage Now the carrying of the Bones of all the Twelve Patriarchs along with them out of Egypt could not but be a continual corroboration of Israel's Faith in the Wilderness and encourage them to expect with patience the accomplishment of Gods Promise c. But Israel's carrying dead mens Bones in their Company was nothing comparable such an encouragement to them and a Corroboration of their Faith as was that of having the living Lord not only for their Companion but also for their Captain Conduct and Convoy from Rameses through the Wilderness all their two and forty Journeys coming to them in their Removal from Rameses though not mentioned till their third station at Aetham for they had then a need of Gods guidance to direct them the right way as well as afterwards and the Lord their Guide never left Israel till they came to pass over Jordan where they were commanded to follow the Ark not the Cloud The Remarks upon this are many and eminent as follow The first Remark is The Lord could by many other means have manifested the presence of his Majesty in his guiding Israel but here for their greater comfort he doth shew himself by some visible signs of his presence 'T is said The Lord went before them in the Cloudy Pillar by Day and in the Pillar of Fire by Night c. Exod. 13.21 Divine condescention is marvellous here now was the Church but a Child Israel is so call'd when call'd out of Egypt Hos 11.1 God puts her not off with naked Signs or verbal Promises barely but give her a most lively Representation of his presence in this Cloud not as if the great Jehovah could be included in a Cloud for his Immensity is incomprehensible and he fills both Heaven and Earth with his Omnipresence the very Light of Nature in the Sage Heathens could say Jovis omnia plena and praesentem monstrat quaelibet herba Deum God is every where Ubiquity is his Attribute and therefore this Cloud could not include or conclude the Omnipresent God but he only condescended here to the Childish capacity of his Infant-Church by letting forth one single Ray of his Invisible Majesty in this glorious manner for his Churches Encouragement and Direction in a wayless Wilderness And indeed this is the glory of the Old Testament that it had so many glorious Appearances of the great God in such a familiar way c. The second Remark is who this Person is that thus gloriously manifested himself in this Cloudy Pillar He is call'd Jehovah here Exod. 13.21 and the Angel of God Exod 14.19 and such an Angel as was both of Gods Name and Nature Exod. 23.20 23. the Angel of Gods presence Isa 63.9 who was indeed the Lord of Angels even the Son of God whom Paul plainly calls Christ and whom the Israelites tempted by their Disobedience in the Wilderness 1 Cor. 10.4 9. and who is Typified by this Cloud Isa 4.6 leading his people c. for Christ protects and directs yea every way is a congruous Salvo to the wants and weaknesses of his Church and Children in the Wilderness of this lower World as this Cloudy Pillar was here which various ways represented our Redeemer 1. As Christ is the Pillar and Supporter of his Church in the World as upon a Sea of Glass mingled with Fire Rev. 15.4 where her standing would be both too hot and too slippery were it not that Christs Left Hand is both under and over her Head and his Right Hand doth embrace her Cant. 2.6 as her Upholder 2. As Christ sheweth us the way to Eternal Life This Cloudy Pillar did direct Israel through the Wilderness to the Earthly Canaan but Christ leads his Redeemed to the Heavenly Countrey Heb. 11.14 through this present evil World so call'd Gal. 1.4 taking them by the Arms and teaching them to go Hos 11.3 4. yea himself saith I am the way the truth and the life John 14.6 He is the way to walk in the truth to walk by and the life to walk with c. 3. As Christ openeth to us an open passage through the Red Sea of our severest Afflictions which even threaten to swallow us up but indeed by his Grace doth preserve us He led Israel by the Head as well as by the Hand down the Deep as the Rider doth his Horse down the Hill and made their way so firm and plain that there was nec lutum nec lapis in semitâ suâ neither Quagmire nor Mud to stick fast in nor any Stones to stumble upon He led them gently and leisurely with his glorious Arm till he brought them to rest in the Land of Promise Isa 63.11 12 13 14. so he will do so to us may but our Souls and Sufferings he Dyed Red with his Blood Heb. 9.12 13 14. 4. As this Pillar was call'd a Pillar of Fire and of a Cloud Exod. 14.24 for it was but one in Substance though divers in Offices 'T is call'd one in the singular number Exod. 40.38 Numb 9.15 16 21. 1 Cor. 10.3 Psal 105.39 c. yet the same Cloud covered the whole Camp from the heat of the Sun in those not Countreys very injurious to Travellers especially in that Sandy Defart of Arabia directing them all the day in their Journeyings but was as Fire to give them light in the Night whether they rested or travelled So Christ consists of two Natures the Fire represented his Divine Nature and the Cloud his Humane both handing us to Heaven Thus there is much congruity more in the Sequel but some disparity The third Remark is The excellent properties of this Cloud far exceeding and excelling all other common and ordinary Clouds shewing
Sea therefore they go not the nighest way Fourthly God would not let them go the way of the Philistims because as some say the Philistims had been favourable to Abraham and Isaac c. So their Country must be spared not wasted by War Fifthly The Sins of the Canaanites were not yet full Gen. 15.16 and the Philistims were reserv'd for Israel's Exercise Sixthly And chiefly that God's Glory might be more manifest in leading and feeding his People forty years there Deut. 28.2 c. Objection May not that Reason rendered for Israel's not going the nighest way lest they repent when they see War seem no Reason seeing they both saw and felt War with Amalek in that other way which God led them about Answ 1. Had they gone the nearest way the Philistims within a few Days would have faln upon them lying so nigh to Egypt as before whereas they met not in the other way with the Amalekites till forty days after their departure as is intimated before Numb 33.15 2. Before they had this War with Amalek they were well corroborated in their Confidence of God's Presence with them both by the Destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea and by their being nourished with Quails and Manna from Heaven Exod. 16.13 15. and with Water out of the Rock Exod. 17.6 and this Experience they had wanted if they had gone the other shorter way 3. Had they been afraid of the Philistims in that near way they might soon have step'd back to Egypt without any stop in their way but they could not now do so in fear of Amalek because they had the Red Sea upon their backs 4. The Amalekites did but fall upon the Rear of their Camp where the mixt Multitude their lumber was supposed to be placed and at worst cut off only the hindmost and feeblest of them Deut. 25.18 whereas had they gone through the Philistims Country that stronger and more Martial People might have endangered the whole Body of the Camp in a long War c. ☞ God led Israel about by the Wilderness out of Egypt not like fâ—â—rful Fugitives but in Marshal Order as Chamushim signifies Exod. 13.18 with their Loins girt on the fifth Rib as was their posture at the Passeover Exod. 12.11 all Unarmed for Pharaoh objected not against them their providing Arms nor could they poor Slaves be well betrusted with any being so exasperated and made desperate by Slavery unless some had Arms for the defence of Goshen from Incursions or borrow'd with Jewels to defend themselves in the Wilderness from wild Beasts Serpents and Robbers c. Herein the Power of God was more manifest in saving all along this unarmed Army which was Pharaoh's great Inducement to pursue them to the Red Sea after whose Drowning with his whole Host Israel got all their Arms cast up on the Shore before God led them to fight with Amalek Thus God led them out with an high hand Exod. 14.8 and train'd them a long time for Canaan's Wars CHAP. XIX The History and Mystery of Israel's Wandrings in the Wilderness NOW come we to the fourth Special or Particular namely Israel's Journeyings and Wandrings in the Wilderness under the Conduct of the Cloudy Pillar Herein consider First The Terminus à quo the place from whence they Journeyed which was from Rameses as before 2. The Terminus per quem the place through which that is in General the Wilderness but more particularly the forty two Stages Stations or Mansions and Removes the Camp of Israel had all mentioned by Moses Numb 33. from vers 1. to 50. before they reach'd the River Jordan where they came to the 3d. Terminum ad quem to Canaan The Remarks on each of these Three Terms in order first upon Rameses upon which add something to what is abovesaid thereon The First Remark concerns the Time when Israel removed from Rameses 1. In General the self-same day in the first Spring Month when the four hundred and thirty years were exactly expired as before Exod. 12.41 upon the 15th day of Abib which answers to our March then was the time of their sojourning accomplished either in their Persons or in the Loins of their Progenitors whereas the Law was not given till a year after their coming out of Egypt yet the Apostle pitches upon this same number of four hundred and thirty years from the Promise to the giving of the Law Gal. 3.17 which reckoning must be understood for about or near that term because it concern'd not to enervate Paul's Argument though it fell out a year beyond that Account but it is of great Importance in this Calculation of the Time by Moses in Exod. 12.41 which yet some read in the strength of the Day for the self-same Day as Gen. 7.13 and 17.23 that is when it was broad light Day the Egyptians beholding them but could not hinder them 2. As to the time when whether by Night or by Day Evening or Morning Israel began their Journey out of Egypt at least seemeth doubtful because of seeming Contradictions in Scripture for 't is said that They went out by Night Bemits raim lailah Deut. 16.1 And again at the Evening thou shalt offer the Passeover in the season that thou camest out of Egypt whereas indeed 't is plainly affirmed by other places of Scripture which is most probable that they went by Day-light yet Early in the Morning that the Type might answer the Antitype about the same time that Christ rose out of the Grave for our Redemption to wit early before the Sun was risen Mar. 16.2 did the Church rise out of her Grave of Egyptian Bondage This Moses speaks positively where he purposely describes all their Journeyings from first to last saying They Journeyed from Rameses on the Fifteenth Day of the first Month on the Morrow after the Passeover They went out with an high hand in the Eyes of all the Egyptians and at that time when they were burying their dead first-born c. Numb 33.3 4. Considering therefore 1. That the Israelites were commanded not to stir out of their Houses all the Passeover Night till the Morning Exod. 12.22 2. That the Egyptians could not bury their Dead that Night till the next Day and then saw Israel's marching out 3. That God brought Israel out with an high hand or Chaldee with an uncovered head that is openly boldly powerfully insomuch that Israel's hands did not hang down which posture betrays fear Hebr. 12.12 but came forth couragiously and not like Cowardly fugitives Exod. 13.3 and 14.8 and Numb 33.3 c. It must be concluded the other Scriptures speak Inchoativè of Israel's preparing in the Night for their Morning March The Second Remark concerns the place whence Israel took their first Journey to wit Rameses Exod. 12.37 which most probably was the Land of Rameses so called Gen. 47.11 a Province in the Countrey of Goshen though we read of a City which Israel in their Slavery built for Pharaoh's Treasure
of the Rock c. and so of others from whence I take my Measure to confine my Method of Discourse only upon such of the forty two Stages The Second General Remark is that as this Church in the Wilderness so call'd Act. 7.38 wandred up and down in it having so many Journeyings and pitching of Tents So 't is a figure of the State of God's Church in this lower World an unsteady unstayed thing rolling and tumbling to and fro as yet out of its Center and Resting-place the World is like that Wilderness wherein were fiery Serpents Scorpions and Drought no way no water in it c. Deut. 8.14 15. it was a Land of Pits and Deserts the very shadow of Death no man dwelling or passing through it Jer. 2.6 yet there must she wander to shew we must through many Afflictions enter into God's Kingdom Act. 14.22 and 2 Tim. 3.12 Heirs of Heaven are Pilgrims on Earth and like younger Brothers have no fixed Seat but as Sojourners are forced to shift from place to place Gen. 47.9 1 Chron. 29.15 Heb. 11.9 10 13 14. the Church must ring Changes Psal 55.19 and be pour'd from Vessel to Vessel Jer. 48.11 12. to hide Pride from her Job 33.17 c. The third General Remark is The wonderful Preservations of and Provisions yea Prodigies for this Church in the Wilderness which God wrought there for her do prefigure the like Care of and Providence over his Church God now exerciseth In general Moses tells Israel both together how miraculously Jehovah their God both led them and fed them Deut. 8.15 16. see also Deut. 32.10 11 c. at large to ver 15. He led them the right way through that way-less Wilderness in his glorious Chariot the Pillar of a Cloud and Fire Riding before them only at the distance of a Leader and he fed them by giving pluviam escatilem petram aquatilem to them when he Rained down Manna for Food for them and set the Flint abroach for Drink Psal 78.20 24. This he doth for the Church in the VVilderness in Gospel Times Rev. 12.6 14. He will again work Miracles in the failure of means rather than She pine and perish Moreover that they should not be troubl'd with the carking Cares of Heathens saying VVhat shall we eat and drink and what shall we put on Mat. 6.25.32 God took care that their Garments were never worse for wearing forty years Deut. 8.4 yea as some say their Clothes grew with their Bodies so that never any Monarch was served and supplied in such State as the Israelites were Nor were they foot-sore with forty years Travel Deut. 8.4 nor one feeble Person among them though of so vast a number Psal 105.37 Would to God we could say so now Alas How many are Surbated and Halt upon hard ground as Etham signifies having got a Thorn in the Foot in this Thorny Wilderness as that of Sinai was Oh that we were thus accommodated with these four things necessary for a Traveller 1. Strength of Body 2. Food 3. Raiment And 4. A Guide or Director All these Israel had though their Camp could not take up less compass than ten or twelve Miles None but the Almighty could Accommodate them thus in the Wilderness where no way no Water c. were this is writ for our comfort Rom. 15.4 1 Cor. 10.2 3. The fourth General Remark is Yet may not we fetch false comfort from hence as the blinded Jews do at this day saying Moses therefore did so distinctly describe all Israel's wandrings in the VVilderness after their departure out of Egypt declaring by Name the places of all their Stations and Motions therein together with all the Molestations they met with all along yet at the length they were brought to the Land of Promise Accordingly say they shall it be with us Jews that after our many Tribulations our Messiah whom we duely and daily expect to come into the World he in the Gospel being as we judge but a Mock-Messiah will lead us into our Land again It were to be wished that those blind Jews would well weigh what one of their Famous Rabbins Rabbi Moses Hadarschan most truly saith That before he is Born who hath reduced Israel into this new and last Captivity is Born the true Redeemer The fifth Remark in General is But the variety of Conditions this Church in the VVilderness met with sometimes evil and sometimes good may teach us that the present Church may expect the same variety even the Checker'd work a comely mixture of the black of Misery with the white of Mercy Thus was it with this old Church sometimes She was brought into straits and troublesom paths as at Pihahiroth Exod. 14.2 3 10 c. and at Zalmonah Numb 21.4 c. sometimes God gave them room enough as in the Plains of Moab a large and ample place such an one as Isaac had call'd Rehoboth when God had made Rooms for him in the Land Gen. 26.22 Sometimes to places of Hunger and Thirst as at Rephidim and Kadesh Exod. 16. and Chap. 17. and Numb 20. Sometimes to places of sweet Refreshment as at Elim Exod. 15.27 and at Beer Numb 21.16 Sometimes to places of bitterness as at Marah which they met with at the first as soon as their Deliverance from the Egyptians was compleated at the Red Sea and sometimes all sweetness as at Mithcah which so signifieth From whence they went to Cashmonah which signifies swiftness Numb 33.29 to teach us that when we have tasted of Gods sweetness Psal 34.8 we should use all possible swiftness in the ways of Godliness as Jacob like a generous Horse after a Bait or a Giant refresh'd with Wine did lift up his Feet and went on his way lustily after he had his sweet refreshing Vision at Bethel Gen. 28.12 and 29.1 Sometimes also where they had Wars as at Rephidim Kadesh Edrehi Exod. 17.8 12. Numb 21.1 33. And sometimes where they had a long Rest as at Mount Sinai Deut. 1.6 They came to Sinai the third Month after their departure from Egypt Exod. 19.1 2. and removed not from it till the twentieth of the second Month in the second year Numb 10.11 12. then the Cloud removed ver 13.33 so they rested long there almost a whole year wherein they Received the Law and Rear'd the Tabernacle to shew by their removing thence that the Law is not for Men to rest under but for a time only till they be fitted for Christ Gal. 3.16 17 18. and 4.1 to 5. Heb. 3.18 19. and 4.6 to 11. Sense of misery for a Season must go before sense of mercy Sometimes likewise they went right forward towards Canaan Deut. 1 6 7 8 c. and sometimes they turned quite backward Numb 14.25 Deut. 2.1 3. with 1.19 40. from Kadesh Barnea to the Red Sea wherein they had been Baptiz'd 1 Cor. 10.2 and whither they were sent back again to learn Repentance and newness of Life for all their
it but small in comparison of what was to come when God shall speak to his People by his own Son whom this Ark Mercy-Seat and Oracle did represent as all the Sacrifices did represent his Death and the Tabernacle it self represented his Body Heb. 9.11 John 2.19 21. who by himself purges sin Heb. 1.1 2 3 c. Note Thirdly That the death of Nadab and Abihu fell out in this Month on the very day that the service of the Altar began Levit. 10.1 2 c. These young Priests overjoyed perhaps with their new imploy or haply over-warmed with Wine as some gather from v. 9. overshoot themselves in the first day of their Service in offering strange Fire c. Our Materials of Worship must have Divine Warrant wherein God's Command not Man's Wit or Will must be our Rule By Fire they sinned and by Fire they perished They slighted that Fire sent down in favour from God Levit. 9.24 and a Fire of Judgment comes down from God to consume them Thus the service of the Sanctuary by their means began with Death and Judgment on those Priests as in the practice of the Moral Law the People began with Idolatry which shews both the Law 's weaknefs and it's Priesthood's imperfection which gave way to that better of Christ seeing the Law could make nothing perfect Heb. 7. ver 18 19 26 c. The 14th Remark here is So soon as the Tabernacle was reared the Rules concerning Sacrifices and the consecration of the Sacrificers were given and those Priests had on the eighth day of the first Month of the second year on which day Nadab and Abihu perish'd by their presumption had accomplish'd their first Sanctuary service then drew near the fourteenth day of that first Month whereon God had commanded the Celebration of the Passover Exod. 12.2.6.14 Now because that old Command the last year in Egypt seems to enjoyn them this service only when they were come into the Land of Canaan Exod. 12.25 therefore they would not have kept it at all in the Wilderness without special Warrant nor did they keep any more Passovers but one all their forty years wandrings because of their often and uncertain removes 'till they came to Canaan Josh 5.10 Hereupon God gave them a New and Second Command to Celebrate one Passover in the Wilderness of Sinai before their removal thence that they might compleat the whole Service of the Sanctuary at this most Famous their Twelfth Station This is not Recorded 'till Numb 9.1 to 15. tho' this Passover was kept a few days after the death of Nadab and Abihu Levit. 10. and in the Month before the numbring of the People all along the former Chapters of Numbers which was not begun 'till the second Month of the second year expresly Numb 1.1 2. Whereupon the Rabbies as Sol. Jarchi here do observe there is no order of former and latter in the Law The Holy Spirit that indicted the Scriptures binds not up himself to the order of time so much as to the observation of truth and seeming dislocations may upon good grounds be found upon Record tho' the Reason thereof do not readily appear to us as is plain here for Moses's chief aim in Numb 9. was to relate the new Dispensation for a Passover in the second Month which was a matter of great moment because God's first Institution had confined the Passover to the fourteenth day of the first Month Exod. 12.2 14. and had there been no divine direction for such a Translation in cases of casual uncleanness's journeyings afar off c. it had been no better than Will-Worship and so abhorred of God This Story therefore of the Passover transferred being that which Moses mainly respected in this Relation he Records it in its proper place after the muster of the Twelve Tribes which was made in the second Month and at the mention thereof he brings in the mention of the right Passover in the first Month from which God dispenses for one in the second Although there was yet no express Law for excluding any persons from the Passover or at least the practice of it was not yet brought in nevertheless grounds of a just scruple these Men had who said Why are we kept from the first Passover Numb 7.9 well knowing in the general that God who is pure in himself requireth purity in all persons that approach his presence as 2 Chron. 30.18 c. The very light of Nature informed the Heathens that their Sacrificers were to purifie themselves some days before they Sacrificed and they had their Coena pura the night before c. Those Persons therefore being conscious to themselves of some legal pollutions yet having an ardent desire to partake of the Passover they propound their Case of Conscience to Moses knowing him to be a Messenger an Interpretr one among a thousand c. Job 33.23 a Merchant to Sell Oil and the Balm of Gilead to cure consciences Math 25.9 Jerem. 8.22 Not like the Romish Casuists who write Cases that is Covers of Conscience but rightly resolve none Nor doth Moses resolve this case out of his own head but humbly confesses he was but the Eccho of God's Voice who must give an answer of peace as Joseph said Gen. 41.16 Stand still and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you Numb 9.8 This Man of God and Master of Israel undertakes not to take God's work out of his hand who alone is able to resolve Religious doubts and tho' God doth not this nown an extraordinary manner as he did then by the mouth of Moses yet speaketh he now to all our cases of Consciences in his holy Scripture which we must own as our Standing Oracle and rely upon that not on any man's word without it much less against it Isa 8.20 Moses himself dare do nothing without a word from God Paul dare deliver nothing to the Church but what he first had received from the Lord 1 Cor. 11.23 that the Faith of his hearers might not be fixed on the Wisdom of Man but on the Power of God 1 Cor. 2.4 5. Yea one far above either Moses or Paul namely Christ neither spake nor did any thing of himself but what his Father taught him Joh. 7.16 17. and 8.28 To this Religious Demand of those scrupling persons God returns a gracious Dispensation which the Hebrew Doctors call a Command by it self and which if they had not received their Passover in the second month had been as bad as Jeroboam's Feast of Tabernacles which he kept in the eighth month whereas God had appointed it in the seventh Levit. 23.4 34. a month which he had devised of his own heart 1 King 12.32 33. The appointed season was the first month Numb 9.3 God dispenses ver 9 10 c. Nor may it be question'd Numb 9. but this Translation of the Passover from the first month to the second by Divine Authority had its weighty significancy which pointeth rather at
Plague sent of God to fulfill his Promise Levit. 18.24 of removing the Cursed Canaanites to make room for Israel which they attributed to a bad Air a thing altogether improbable and incompatible to that Land which was the glory of all Lands Ezek 20.6 Secondly They urge the monstrous magnitude of the Men of that Country in Comparison of whom themselves were but as Grashoppers v. 34. which was a loud lying Hyperbole purposely projected to dishearten the People and no farther true than for this end Those mighty Men might despise those Searchers as far below them in stature and so disdained to meddle with them as Goliah did with little David by which means the Spyes passed through their Land the more safely as Chaskuni saith for the Giants who said There be Pismires like Men come into the Vineyard but we scorn them c. The 6th Remark is The sad Effects of this unseasonable Sedition raised by the Ten sinful Spyes even when Israel was brought to the very Borders of Canaan by an high hand of Almighty God This is at large related Numb 14. per totum wherein may be observed First The Wicked Posture and practice of those over-credulous People that believed the Lyes of the Ten Spyes and took them for Oracles as being too light of belief those do express three signs of their Sedition 1 By their weeping all that night v. 1. and making hideous out-cries in their weeping whereby they openly uttered their rebellious thoughts and seditious conceptions of their wicked hearts without either fear or shame 2. By their direful imprecations upon themselves saying Would God that we had dyed c. v. 2. which were words of high unbelief despair and gross ingratitude to the most gracious God who had hitherto born them as upon Eagle's Wings c. This was so grievous a sin that God takes them all at their word and brought their own wishings and wouldings upon them v. 28. c. 3. By their murmuring mistakes of what measures to take saying Were it not better for us to return into Egypt c. v. 3. Wherein they murmured not against Moses only but against God himself Psal 106.24 25. Thus they nourished the first insurrections of their unruly passions which fumed up into their heads and gathered there into so thick a Cloud as they quite lost the sight of themselves and what was best to be done by them Principiis obsta venienti occurrito Morbo Meet a Malady betimes c. is a safe Rule both for Soul and body 4. By their most mad Motion their unruly Passion put them upon Let us make â—a Captain c. ver 4. Thus they proceed from bad to worse Moses their Chief Magistrate must be Deposed by those Mutineers a new Captain-General must be chosen by them such an one as was like their former Golden-Calf that would be guided by them to go back to Egypt Whether this People did make such a Tame and Pusillanimous Captain for any such Purpose is uncertain However their very Intention of doing it is expresly charged upon them as if they had done it Neh. 9.16 17. Their wild Words they let fly in a mad Mood are there Construed as a done Deed before the Lord if they did not put in Execution this impious Intention of setting now a King over them as Thargum Jonathan and Sol Jarchi interpret it to which they so earnestly excited one another But behold the madness of this Motion c. For First Observe What Captain could they call out that was able to lead them back to Egypt and conduct them safe thither as Moses had both led them and fed them from Egypt to the borders of Canaan 2. How could such a prodigious number of People be fully furnished with daily Food in such a Desolate Wilderness as lay now betwixt them at the very borders of Canaan it this Time and the Land of Egypt 3. How could they expect that their Holy Redeemer would again Rain down Manna from Heaven upon such a race of Rebels and would send whole Showers of Quails to sustain them No these were most dainty Provisions for such as travell'd towards Canaan not for such rascally Revolters towards Egypt whither they were expresly forbid to return Deut. 17.16 4. By what means could they hope to pass through the Red Sea again they could not expect that the Waters thereof would a second time stand upon Heaps as a Wall on each side that they might pass through it on dry ground 5. What Security could they have of a safe Passage through the very borders of those Warlike Nations that bordered upon the Wilderness Assuredly the Great Jehovah would not Work any such wonderful Works for such desperate Apostates who thus returning toward Egypt better deserved all the Plagues of Egypt to way-lay them and to overwhelm them Oh the sublime Folly and Infatuation in them c. Secondly Observe The Means and Motives made use of for the pacifying those tumultuous Mutineers 1. Moses and Aaton fell on their Faces either in supplicating the People to desist from their Sedition which humble Posture being publick before all the Assembly and that of those publick Persons their Prince and Priest c. must needs be most probable Means for their Pacification And what Words they spake to them in this Prostration which shew'd how deeply they were affected with their Rebellion are Recorded Deut. 1.29 30. Or it might be in supplicating to the Lord that he would divert the People from their wicked purpose and spare them from being now universally destroyed as Moses prays ver 13 to 20. 2. Joshua and Caleb Rent their Cloaths ver 6. and made a pathetical Oration to the Rebels and the Ten Ring-leaders where they press many cogent Arguments from both the Vtility and the Facility with God's help of Canaan's Conquest c. ver 7 8 9. for which Speech they had like to be stoned but that God seasonably interposed for his faithful Servant's relief ver 10. The Third Observable is God himself becomes Plaintiff and draws up a Bill of Attainder against Israel The Glory of the Lord in the Cloudy Pillar appeared ver 10. High Treason against the King of Kings is laid to the charge of those Rebels in the highest Provocation ver 11. where their unbelief is branded as the bitter Root not only of their Rebellion and Apostasy as Heb. 3.12 but also at last of their final Destruction in the Wilderness Deut. 1.32 Heb. 3.18 19. Hereupon the Lord resolves to destroy them all at one blow with a Pestilence that they might live no longer to provoke him no farther ver 12. where also God offers Moses to stop his Mouth that a multiplied offspring should descend from his own particular Loins whereby he would make good his Promise in carrying them to Canaan for though God destroy a Multitude of wicked Persons He can raise out of one surviving Saint a Nation and Church unto Himself yea of
very Stones Children unto Abraham Math. 3.9 Fourthly Observe Moses piously and prudently refuseth this great offer God offer'd him because it was but a private Fortune as the Vulgar phraseth it to himself and God would have been a great loser by it in the Diminution of Glory Therefore He becomes the Defendant against God the Plaintiff and prays most powerfully for a fresh pardon This was the second time God would have stop'd up Moses's Mouth from praying work with the like private Proposal once before when Israel had made the Golden Calf Exod. 32.10 The Greek addeth I will make thee and thy Father's House a great Nation c. And surely saith a Divine here as God was displeased with Balaam for going though he bad him go So the Lord would not have taken it kindly at Moses's hands if he had taken him upon the offer made him in this beat or Provocation against his Covenanted People Hereupon self-denying Moses began most ardently to mediate for a Pardon again draws forth his strongest and most cogent Arguments 1. From the Glory of God whose Holy Name would then be blasphemed both by the Egyptians ver 13. and by the Canaanites ver 14. c. 2. From the gracious Nature of God ver 17 18 And 3. From all the forepast eminent Providences wherein God had pardon'd that People from the Day of their coming out of Egypt till that Time ver 19. More plainly Moses thus argueth with God If Lord thou do this which is by an Aposiopesis pathetically suspended but must be supplied ver 13. that is If thou destroy all this People at one blow both the Egyptians and the Canaanites will hear of it and will take an occasion blasphemously to say that either God could not for want of Power or would not for want of good Will now save Israel because he hated them Deut. 9.28 Exod. 32.12 This Moses makes his first Argument intimating that both those prophane Nations would soon make Comedies out of the Churches Tragedies ver 14 15 16. His second Argument is raised from the Name and Nature of God both which were gracious as was proclaimed at Mount Sinai when Israel had formerly sinned in Idolizing the Golden Calf Exod. 34.5 6 7. And in pleading the Covenant with God He thus argues ver 17 18. Thou Lord art a none such God for pardoning none-such Sinners none like thee for pardoning such Sins as none else could or would pardon none like thee c. Mic. 7.18 for multiplying Pardons Isa 55.8 as thy People multiply their Sins their many and mighty Transgressions Yea though they murmur many times more than they have done yet out of tender respect to thy own great Name which otherwise would be basely blasphemed thou wilt most graciously pass by pardon and spare them And his inserting that Clause by no means clearing the Guilty while he is praying for Mercy is not any Contradiction to his Request for he could not Hope that so great a Sin should escape scot-free but his Scope was that the whole People might not be destroyed the chief Murmurers and the ten Searchers lie referr'd to God's Justice He only prays Lord thou art slow to anger as God himself had taught him to say Exod. 34.5 6 7. that is puts off punishing to the Third or Fourth Generation therefore delay thy displeasure And then presseth He his third Argument ver 19. as if he had said Lord thou art an Unchangeable God who loves thy People with an Unchangeable Love thou hast hitherto multiplied thy Pardons towards them in all former Provocations Oh that thou wouldst still do as thou ever hast done N.B. God's Almighty Power pleaded ver 17. and his Infinite Mercy ver 19. are the two Pillars whereon Faith rests as the Temple did on Jachin and Boaz which signifieth Stability and Strength Then are we Temples of God c. The Fifth Observable is Moses becomes the Lord-Chancellour of Heaven as one calleth him that could Rule with God and over-rule this present Cause depending in the Court The Lord saith I have pardoned them according to thy Prayer ver 20. 'T was said of Luther Iste Vir apud Deum potuit quod voluit He could obtain of God whatever he pleased but much more may it be said of Moses at whose Prayer God spared them often Nehem. 9.17 Psal 106.7 8. Ezek. 20.8 to 22 c. at other times as well as now yet not without some Limitation saying Though I have at thy Request pardon'd them so as not utterly and at once to extirpate them but leave their Posterity to enter Canaan yet will I do Justice upon the Rebellious ver 21. and so he did in destroying the Ten Spyes who were ring-leaders of Rebellion with a sudden Plague ver 36 37. as he had threatned ver 12. and now by his own hand executed Note the Sixth is The punishment of the Seditious in general as well as of the Authors of that Sedition in particular as above whereof there be many Branches 1. God takes them at their word v. 28. Their wish was that they might dye in the Wilderness v. 2. Here their own imprecation comes upon them as it did upon the Jews afterward who wished that Christ's Blood might be upon them c. Mat. 27.25 No less may befal those desperate Damn-me Varlets whose Rhetorical flourish in their common Discourse is frequently interlaced with a wish that God would Damn them that is all the Mercy they desire from God Such self-cursing seldom escapeth God's Visible Vengeance 2. They were deprived of the promised Land all in General excepting Caleb and Joshua and the new Generation that had not been tainted with the Idolatry of Egypt ver 22 23 24 29 30 31. And who knows whether God may not wearout us of the old Generation who have been polluted with the Superstitions of the Land we live in that we may not see the good things to come which God hath spoke concerning Israel and will bring upon his Church in latter Times Assuredly we have tempted the Lord ten Times in our Wilderness-state as they did ver 22. 3. They are returned back into the Wilderness towards Egypt ver 25. when here they had nothing but the Mountains of Edom betwixt them and Canaan it was but their passing over Mount Seir their Brother Esau's Countrey and they would have been in the Land of Promise Thus God fills those backsliders with the Evil of their own ways Prov. 14.14 Since they had such a Mind to make a Captain and return to Egypt ver 4. God denies his own Conduct of them any farther and bids them go back towards the Red Sea and Egypt thus their Choice was their Judgment yet here in the midst of Wrath God remembers Mercy Hab. 3.2 for he takes Care they should not fall into the Hands of their Enemies that were come down from the Mountains and lay in Ambush for Israel in the Valleys Therefore also the Lord bid them go
and Priesthood or you c. v. 5 7 and 15. And this very speech of Moses's â—aith Paul maketh use of saying The Lord knoweth who are his c. 2 Tim. 2.17 18 19 20. Seeing those two grand Services afore-â—amed did figure forth the great grace given by Christ unto his Elect whom he maketh Kings and Priests Rev. 1.6 and 5.10 a Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 therefore doth the Apostle Peter most aptly accommodate this very History to God's knowledge care and love of his Elect c. whom he sanctifieth and preserveth from backsliding as certain Hereticks did in those days against whom also the other Apostle Jude applyeth the same Rebellion of Korah wherein many perished Jude v. 11. N.B. Evil will befall Sinners to morrow as upon Sodom Gen. 19.23 24. upon Egypt Exod. 7.15 and 8.20 and 9.13 and 10.13 and upon Israel 2 Sam. 24.15 and so upon others Zeph. 3.5 Psal 73.14 Isa 47.11 3. Moses in his Pathetical Oration singleth out the Sons of Levi and takes them to task prudently apart as hoping haply to withdraw them from their purpose and to hide pride from them Job 33 17. But they proved incorrigible uncouncelable for tho' he principally spake to Korah the Captain of the Conspiracy yet so as what he said to him concern'd all the other Levites therefore beginning his Speech in the singular number he presently turns it into the plural telling them God had preferred them above the People being in the place of the First-Born of Israel Numb 3.41 and 8.14 1 Chron. 9.2 Psal 135.19 20. The Levites being Assistants to the Priests in the Service of the Sanctuary and having this great honour on them they should not ambitiously aspire to the Priesthood ver 9. for they were not to approach God's Altar Numb 18.2 3. 1 Chron. 6.48 49. therefore God severely punished them for Usurping it here as he did King Vzziah for the same sin 2 Chron. 26.19 21. Thus wisely dealt Moses with those ambitious Levites who would be looking up to the Priests that they might be such themselves he sends their Eyes down to the People over whom they were advanced N.B. Thus the way not to Repine at those above us is humbly to look down at those below us c. Then Moses Impeaches them of High-Treason against Jehovah himself ver 10 11. that they in contemning God's Ministers such are Magistrates Rom. 13.4 Moses as well as Aaron contemned God himself 1 Saw 8.7 Luke 10.16 and Joh. 13.20 What is Aaron As if he had said Do not ye wound God through Aaron's sides Thus Christ glorified spake Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9.4 Thus are they charged with murmuring against the Lord also Exod. 16.7 And thus here they take offence at the settling of the Priesthood upon Aaron and his Posterity which was the Lord's own doing and not Aaron's and what or who is he to God c. 4. When Moses had thus expostulated the matter with Korah and his Company of ambitious Levites in vindicating the Sacerdotal Office he next takes Dathan Abiram and Hon to task in vindicating the Political or Civil Office from their aspiring to it contrary to God's Institution for the Conspirators were become by Combination plain Levellers to cast down both Magistracy and Ministry and to bring in an Anarchy Regnum Cyclopicum a Kingdom of Confusion wherein every man might offer his own Sacrifice and do that which seemed right in his own Eyes Hereupon Moses summons those Conspirators that were absent for Korah only was present at the Publick place of Judgment ver 12. where Dathan and Abiram are only named and not Hon as in ver 1. for 't is probable he upon second thoughts knock'd off from the Rebellion and is therefore no more mentioned praestat recurrere quà m malè currere as that Emperour said Better stop or step back than run on to utter ruine Those two sturdy Rebels that persisted being Ripe for Destruction Prov. 29.1 send a saucy and contumacious Answer back to Moses the chief Magistrate We will not come up Thus they obstinately avoid the means of their bettering by Moses's debating about the matter with them whereby they might have been dissuaded and so have desisted and found mercy This Refusal to appear was an high crime and was after punished with confiscation of Goods and excommunication of Persons Ezra 10.7 8. N.B. Those Rebels at unawares most remarkably read their own dismal Doom for they rightly resolve We will not ascend up to Moses in the Mount because they were to descend down to the Devil in Hell ver 33 c. But before this they draw up an high Charge against Moses accusing him both for a Tyrant ver 13. and for an Impostor ver 14. wherein they lay Load upon their Lord Moses both for domineering over them tyrannically by Pride as not a Brother and Companion but a proud Prince and for cheating them out of Egypt which they praise just as Caleb and Joshua had praised Canaan Numb 14.8 so preferring the place of their cruel Bondage their Iron Furnace Deut. 4.20 before the Land of God's gracious Promise deceiving them with fair pretences Exod. 3.8 and 33.3 Levit. 20.24 promising plenty in a fruitful Land to cast a Mist upon their Eyes but performing nothing either of Milk or Honey c. seeing he still leads us up and down in this wild desolate Wilderness wherein we are famished with extreme want of all necessary sustenance Thus they profess themselves not to be so blind but they could discern and discover Moses's fraudulent Impostures And whereas at the first they pretended a quarrel against the Priesthood only now they rise higher in their Rebellion and quarrel with the Principality also blaming Moses for his tyrannical and deceitful Conduct which teacheth N.B. If the Ministry once be removed the Magistracy is next c. They here conclude their cavilling Criminations saying thus wilt thou abuse us as if blind men to lead us whither thou listest and rule us according to thy tyrannical Rigour c. as if Moses had been no better to Israel than the Philistines were to Samson Judg. 16.21 and the Ammonitish King to the Men of Jabesh Gilead 1 Sam. 11.2 in thrusting out their Eyes Hereupon they refractorily resolve again We will not come up 5. By all this those Refractory Rebels moved Moses tho' the meekest Man upon Earth Numb 12.3 to high Indignation ver 15. So that he makes his solemn Appeal to God both for owning his Innocency and for disowning the Rebels Incense For the former he calls God who knoweth all things Joh. 20.17 to witness that he had not made any Trade of his Administration of Justice by any unconscionable and unquenchable desires of filthy Lucre which is but a Robbery by Authority I have not taken one Ass from them nor have I hurt any one of them ver 15. which is not the manner of Usurpers and abusers of Authority See 1 Sam. 8.11
because the Word Aven rendred Iniquity signifies also and Idol Isa 66.3 and Beth-Aven Hos 4.15 an House of Vanity or Idolatry and the other Word Gnamal rendred perverseness signifies Labour Toil or Drudgery such as is in Idolatrous Worship as the Worshippers of Baal wounded themselves c 1 King 18.28 Therefore the Sense that seemeth most approved of this Text is that God saw at this Time no peccatum flagrans no heinous Iniquity flaming in God's Eyes and stinking in his Nostrils such as Idolatry is for the Golden-Calf worship was immediately upon Moses's return from the Mount demolished nor yet Adultery to which Balaam afterwards brought Isarel by his Pestilent Counsel and so put them under God's great displeasure Numb 25. when he saw none of his Inchantments could take hold of this People at this Time without those Provocations The Eighth Remark is The blessed Estate of a People consists principally in the presence of God with that People herein chiefly lay Israel's blessednest which Balaam could not reverse with his cursing Inchantments for 't is said His God is with him ver 21 No Nation was like them in having God so nigh them Deut. 4.7 therefore when Israel's Idolatry had incens'd the Lord to say I will not go up in the midst of thee lest I consume thee in the way c. Exod. 33.3 then Moses pray'd Let the Lord go amongst us c. Exod. 34.9 So that this Phrase God is with them signifies Israel's State of Favour with God without which they could have no fellowship with him 1 Job 1.6 7. and while they were under God's banner of Love they were out of the Gun shot of Balak and no less than Cannon-proof against all the Curses of Balaam the same Sense hath Immanuel Deus nobiscum Christ with us 't is our great Privilege also to be a People nigh unto the Lord Psal 148.14 The Ninth Remark is The Presence of God gives not only Preservation to a People but also Privileges them with Joy and Triumph over all their Enemies Here Israel had likewise The shout of a conquering King among them ver 21. Hereupon Abijah disswaded the ten Tribes from warring against Judah c. saying Behold God is with us for a Captain General and his Priests with the Silver Trumpets Numb 10.9 sounding a Triumph c. 2 Chron. 13.12 As the sounding of these Silver Trumpets being of God's own appointment c. threw down the Walls of Jericho Josh 6.16 20. represented by Rams-horns with a shout c. and discomfited Midian Judg. 7.20 So the Joy of the Spirit of Christ the King of Saints Rev. 15.3 throws down the strong holds of Satan in us and causeth us to Triumph in Christ over all our Enemies 2 Cor. 2.14 Rom. 8.33 34 37. The Tenth Remark is Man's way is not directed by himself but his steps are ordered by the Lord Jer. 10.23 Psal 37.23 Balak telleth Balaam There is a People come out of Egypt Numb 22.5 As if they had come from thence of themselves and like a vast number of outragious Robbers they came to plunder other Nations and to possess themselves of their Lands where being Strangers they had no just right c. wherein God is not in all his Thoughts Psal 10.4 for in all this He concealeth how God had of old promised the Land of Canaan to Israel Gen. 15.18 and how the Canaanites Sins were grown now so great that their Land would spue them out Levit. 18.24 25. nor speaketh He one word of Israel's hard Bondage and injurious Oppressions in Egypt for which God pitied them and brought them thence by an high Hand and out of Egypt called his Son Exod. 4.22 23. Hos 11.1 c. Hereupon God makes Balaam's Mouth to answer Balak's complaint of Israel's Excursions out of Egypt and their Invasions of other Countreys saying God brought them out Numb 23.22 and again the same words Numb 24.8 to shew that Israel's motions were not of themselves but of the Lord. The Elventh Remark is God gives his Church and Children the strength of an Vnicorn ver 22. and Numb 24.8 in Balaam's third Blessing 't is confirmed again And ver 9. with ver 24. of Chap. 23. God gives them also the Courage of a Lion The Strength of an Vnicorn is great Job 39.11 therefore the prowess of a People is set forth by this similitude Deut. 33.17 this Beast is much commended in Scripture Psal 92.10 and 22.21 Job 39.9 c. So God giveth the Strength of an Vnicorn to his People Psal 68.36 by which they overcome the World 1 Joh. 5.4 and the Wicked one 1 Joh. 2.14 and Sin as well as Satan Rom. 6.14 He renews their strength so that they run and are not weary c Isa 40.31 and God gives them the courage of a Lion making them bold as Lions Prov. 28.1 and 30.30 this blessing of Judah Gen. 49 9. is applied to all Israel which are in Christ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Rev. 5.5 2 Sam. 22.38 as David did so the Church shall do Mic. 5.8 9. The Twelfth Remark upon Balaam's second Attempt is the Disappointment of it being over-power'd by a Divine Power and made as successess as was the first Balaam acknowledgeth ver 23 24. that his going to meet Inchantments these two times by-past to curse Israel was all in vain because the Lord wrought for Israel and would the next Year work more wonderfully for them in drying up Jordan and demolishing the Walls of Jericho and in conquering Canaan c. then did Israel after his long couching in the Den of Egypt and in the Wilderness rouze up like a couragious Lion and devoured his Prey This mad Prophet is made to Prophesy all these things and therein to ascribe the Honour of all the Valiant Acts of Israel unto the Lord of Hosts their noble exploits were not to be done by themselves but by God for them as in Psal 44.1 2 c. accordingly 't is said the Lord works all our works in us and for us Isa 26.12 God worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2.13 and as he begins a good work in us so he will perform it c. Phil. 1.6 Here begins Balaam's third Attempt wherein three Particulars are observable the 1. Is the Original 2. The Organs And 3. The Event 1. The Original or Impulsive cause of this third Attempt was Balak's Indignation to which is opposed Balaam's Apology in the Expostulation ver 25 26. 2. The Organs Instruments or Means for promoting it which were twofold 1. The Transmutation of place again ver 27 28. And 2. The Reiteration of Altars and Sacrifices ver 29 30. Then follows 3. And Lastly The Event thereof which is express'd at large in Chapter the twenty fourth The First Remark upon the first Particular namely the Original is Balak's breaking forth into a furious Phrensie and Rage both against Balaam and against God himself his Indignation now was so much incensed and
him from any farther Conquering yet was he still Vigorous and Vivacious enough for Counselling saying to them with Old Augustus Audite senem Juvenes quem Juvenem senes Audierunt If Old Men heard me while I was young much more must Young Men hear me when I am Old as the Emperour settled his Mutineers hereby so Joshua by this Argument and his Counsel set Israel in a way both how to keep what they had got and to gain in time also those Lands yet Unconquered and he Intituleth the Lord of Hosts unto all his Conquests as David did after him intimating thereby that Israel must be dutiful to God as God had been merciful to them and not Receive much yet Return but little this is to buy with a large Bushel but sell with a small one which Solomon saith is Abominable Prov. 11.1 and 20.10 The Second Remark is Joshua's Proposal to this Parliament in two Branches First What Israel must observe to do namely they must keep tight to the Law of Moses without declining from it either to the Right hand or to the left ver 6. and they must cleave unto the Lord ver 8. that he might cleave unto them and they must likewise watch over their own wicked hearts ver 11. Seeing their Temptations were now more and stronger in Canaan than they had been in the Wilderness Then Secondly What Israel must avoid to do namely they must not hold any Commerce with the cursed Idolatrous Canaanites ver 7. to wit in any familiar Conversing among them much less in any Contracting of Marriages with them because Sin is as catching and as Contagious as the Plague but most of all must they avoid their Idols and not so much as Name them as David saith Psal 16.4 with their Mouths for that would cause their Minds to think they were something when the Apostle saith an Idol is nothing 1 Cor. 8.4 Intimating by all these various Cautions how likely their Persons would be brought even by insensible steps to the Worship of their Idols The Third Remark is Joshua's pressing his Proposition home by backing it with two Cogent Arguments drawn from the two Topicks of profitable is the one and perilous is the other First His Argument ab Utili is his reminding them of God's Promise to give them a compleat Conquest of Canaan whereof their conquering of great and Strong Nations already was a good Pawn and Pledge that they should assuredly Conquer those Numerous Nations yet Unconquered if they hindered not their own Happiness by breach of Covenant and by back-sliding from God ver 9 10. Secondly His Argument à periculoso as the former being a promise of larger Victories had great profit in it for enlarging their present Lots whereof some of them complain'd that they were too narrow Josh 17.14 c. So this Latter being a Threatning of most direful Evils in case of their Commerce and Converse with the Canaanites had great peril in it For 1. He Threatneth them that they will be Snares and Traps to you ver 12 13. Intimating that as the Fowler catcheth Wild Birds and the Hunter Wild Beasts in their Snares and Traps so those Canaanites will catch you in their Commerce with you and draw you to participate both of their Sins and of their Plagues as Numb 25.1.2.18 And 2. If they cannot draw you by their Alurements they will drive you by their Vexations they will lash your Sides with Scourges and prick your Eyes with Thorns as Moses had threatened them long before Joshua did here Numb 33.55 Exod. 23.33 and Deut. 7.16 all Importing this one Truth That if the Jebusites were spared by them and allowed Indulgence among them they would certainly prove most Notorious Mischiefs to them N. B. The same must be said of the Jesuites who are no less Mischievous to all Christian Countries than the Jebusites where they are Harboured by Authority at this Day c. And 3. Joshua threatens them with an utter loss of their New-Conquered Land at the last saying those Jebusites if permitted will not only push you forward as with Whip and Spur into their ways of Wickedness but also will make God your Adversary for the sins they seduce you into and then the Land shall Spew you out as it had done the Wicked Inhabitants before you No doubt but this last branch of the Divine Threatning went like a Dagger to their Hearts when they reflected upon their Hardships in Egypt their Wants and Wandrings in the Wilderness their Weariness in Conquering of Canaan and now hear of a new Exile and must be Banish'd again out of this Fruitful Land when they were but beginning to taste the sweetness of it now they must be put to wander again and yet not know whither c. The Fourth and last Remark upon this Chapter is The Summing up of this Session of Parliament ver 14 15 16. wherein Joshua concludes the Convention and his Oration to it with a smart Epilogue telling them First That himself was going the way of all the Earth ver 14. the way which all Men are appointed to go Hebr. 9.27 So 1 Kings 2.2 N. B. Let the Words of a Dying Man that speaks from former experience with most Simplicity and without all sinster ends be as Living Oracles in your Hearts As Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.13 the last Words are the best and make most impression Secondly He Recognizes to them how God had been Faithful in fulfilling his Promises to a Tittle to them ver 15. For though some part of Canaan was not yet Conquer'd yet God had not promised to give the Land all at once but by little and little Deut. 7.22 as was most convenient for them N. B. Thus God makes not his Promises good too soon to us which is four our good though not so soon as we list or do wish Thirdly He lets them know God would as surely fulfil his Threatnings as he had done his Promises seeing both of them were bottom'd upon the same Faithfulness of God Thus Joshua appeareth as good an Oratour as he was a Warriour using according to the Rules of Oratory Mild Expressions in his Prologue but piercing Passages in his Epilogue well knowing that sweet and sowre make the best Sauce Promises and Menaces mixed keep Man's Heart in the best Temper CHAP. XXIV JOshua the twenty fourth concludes this Book with Joshua's death consisting of three parts 1. The Antecedents 2. The Concomitants 3. The Consequents of the Death of Joshua First The Antecedents which be many and so do afford the more Remarks The First which indeed must be looked upon as the Principal is Israel's renewing of the Covenant with the God of Israel It was the chiefest care of godly Joshua insomuch that living and dying he labours to his utmost for maintaining that Holy League betwixt God and his People Therefore doth he solemnly renew the Covenant made with Abraham Originally Gen. 12.6 7. now with the People of the God of
Tribe must be honoured in reference to the Messiah the Lyon of this Tribe who by his Scepter should Rule all Nations Gen. 49.8 as likewise because this Tribe marched under the Conduct of Caleb their General unto whom Joshua had allotted Hebron Josh 14.8.13 Ten or Twelve Years saith Dr. Lightfoot before this all which time was spent in dividing the Land and bringing every Tribe into its Possession So that Caleb had hitherto little leisure because of Publick Service or if he had any leisure he knew himself distinct from the publick too weak to work his own settlement especially considering the Canaanits during this interval of time had gathered great strength Hereupon the whole Tribe of Judah and of Simeon do unanimously engage for him they make him their General so under the Conduct of Caleb Hebron and Debir are Conquered and the Anakins subdued Judg. 1.2.3.9 10 11 12 c. Thus Caleb became thus far Joshua's Successor in the Generalship though but over two Tribes and who more fit than he who had been Joshua's Faithful Partner in Espying Canaan c. And therefore the same Story set down in Josh 15.14 comes in there as some suppose by way of Anticipation N. B. 'T is not at all improbable that God would not have so Faithful a Servant of his as Caleb had been who followed the Lord so fully c. Numb 14.24 c. to depart this World in obscurity without bearing any considerable figure therein before his Death therefore the Lord conferr'd this Signal Honour upon him to become a chief General to Judah and Simeon's whole Tribes though not universally so over all the other Tribes as Joshua had been and though he was not constituted one of the Judges of all Israel as Othniel c. for these were extraordinarily raised up of God after Caleb to save Israel from those sad Calamities which came upon them for their abominabl Apostacies which happened not in Caleb's time The Second Remark is The Success of this first Expâ—dition which is expresly said to be wholly transacted after the Death of Joshua ver 1. The Tribe of Judah and of Simeon had First For Humane Help the Kenites to assist them ver 16. being the Posterity of Jethro Moses Father in Law who left their own Country and for Religion-sake follow'd Israel into the Land of Promise whom Saul Respected in his time for old kindnesses 1 Sam. 15.6 But Secondly For Divine Help the presence of the Lord of Hosts ver 4. and 19. by whose assistance principally they became Victorious over 1. Bezek ver 4 5. 2. Jerusalem ver 8. 3. Hebron ver 9. to 16. 4. Hormah ver 17. 5. Gaza Askelon and Ekron ver 18. The first of all these was most famous in the Narrative the King whereof being described First By his Name Adonibezek that is Lord or King of Bezek Secondly By his State He lost the Field fled was taken and had his Thumbs and Great Toes cut off that he might no more fight with his Hands nor run away with his Feet ver 5 6. And Thirdly By his Cruelty ver 7. He had done the same to Threescore and Ten Kings and therefore this was done to him by Divine Direction to retaliate upon himself his own barbarous Tyranny over others Whom he had thus inhumanely tortured and then trode upon them lying under his Table as Trophies of his Victories However here was an over-ruling hand of God in suffering such Civil Uncivil Wars among the Canaanites wherein one Tyrant subdues so many of their Kings this made the Conquest of Canaan the more easie to Israel for Judah c. under Caleb's Conduct Conquers Seventy Kings in the Conquest of one Adonibezek This Tyrant they bring before Jerusalem to strike a terrour upon the Jebusites and there they kill him in terrorem to all such Tyrants Then sacks and burns the City ver 8. Moreover the City Hormah we find was once utterly destroyed by Moses Numb 21.3 but being since that time Re-edified as a City Anathematized and devoted to Destruction as the Word Hormah Hebr. signifies it is utterly destroyed the second time here ver 17. N. B. Now by a small transposition of one Letter and laying by the Aspirates which is usual as in Anna and Hannah then Horma resembleth Roma devoted to Destruction also Roma diu Titubans Variis erroribus Acta Corruet Mundi Desinet esse Caput Rome was once destroyed when it was Pagan and when now Papagan the second time it shall be destroyed The Third Remark is The sad Consequences of this Victorious Success Namely Israel sins and God punisheth them for their sins First Israel sinned in suffering those sinful Nations contrary to God's Command to live among them those Sinners became Snares and Traps c. to Israel as they had been forewarned Exod. 23.32 Josh 23.13 and Numb 33 55 c. for by Conversing with them they learned their Works served their Idols Sacrificed their Sons and Daughters to Devils c. Psal 106.34 35 36 37 38 39. in which Dreadful Apostacy they impudently declared their Horrible Ingratitude to that most Gracious God who by such a Mighty and Miraculous Hand had brought them out of the Bondage of Egypt had fed them Forty Years with daily Miracles in the Wilderness and had now according to his Promise driven out the Cursed Canaanites brought them into the possession of the Land of Promise a Land flowing with Milk and Honey Besides their shameful sin bewrayed their most shameless persidiousness in so soon breaking that Solemn Covenant which Joshua had lately sworn them into twice Josh 8.33 c. and Josh 24.14 Notwithstanding all these stupendious Obligations yet sundry Tribes are branded here for their sinful neglect of routing out those sinful Nations which was indeed the Inlet of all their Apostacies either out of Cowardly fear or love of ease c. for this the Tribe of Judah is found fault with ver 19. Benjamin ver 21. Manasseh ver 27 28. Ephraim ver 29. Zabulon ver 30. Asser ver 31 32. Naphthali ver 33. but above all Dan was singular in this sinful sloth ver 34 35 36. which occasion'd through the straitness of their Borders their Expedition to Laish mention'd Judg. 18 c. Secondly God punished them for those sins Psal 106.40 41 42. his Wrath was kindled against them c. Therefore 1. God refuseth to drive out the Nations as he had promised Judg. 3.1 2 3. c. And 2. God delivers them into the hands of Cruel Oppressors round about and renders all their Enterprizes unsuccessful Judg. 2.14 15. CHAP. II. JVdges the second Chapter giveth an account how the Messiah himself comes as the great Shâ—phard of his Sheep Hebr. 13.20 and as the Chief Bishop of our Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 to make his solemn Visitation just as Joseph sought his Brethren and found them in Dothan which signifies Defection Gen. 37.17 So this blessed Joseph or Jesus who is not
at Gilgal where Saul had now his Solemn Enthronization Intrat Rex exit Judex N. B. Saul comes in as a King and Samuel goes out as a Judge Samuel declares his own Abdication in a most excellent Oration Remarks upon it are First The Apologetical part of it He begins his ensuing Apology with Arguments to move their Attention that as He had hearkened unto them in confirming a King over them so now they ought to Hearken unto him in this his Farewell Sermon the Prologue whereof consists of three Arguments to make them attentive N. B. The first is drawn from his own Merits towards the Common-Wealth appealing to their own Consciences concerning his Integrity and the Justice of all his Administrations v. 1 2 3. to which the People gave an Ingenious and Publick Acquittance v. 4. N. B. The second Is drawn from the Imbecility of his Age v. 2. I am now unable to bear the burden of Government therefore have I freely resigned it up into Saul's Hands I now feel my self at much more ease when that burden which so much pinched my Shoulders is now removed to the Shoulders of Saul whom you so impetuously pressed upon me to make your King N. B. The third Argument is drawn from the Private Capacities of his Sons v. 2. intimating as he had made himself a private person by the resignation of his Power in so voluntary a manner and was not Deposed by the People for any Male-Administration So my Sons are much more now Private Persons and subject to the Lash of the Law wherein they have been wrongful to any Deal with them as they have deserved I will not intercede for them The Second Remark is The Reprehensory part of his Oration or Proposition telling them that notwithstanding their Peace-Offerings to God at the Inauguration of their King Chap. 11.15 Yet God was not at peace with them but had a just quarrel against them saith he for your violent voices in asking a King your sinning hath been greater than yet you are aware of and your sorrowing must be greater than yet ye have attained to There must be a better proportion betwixt these two Manasseh sinned greatly and he humbled greatly 2 Chron. 33.12 otherwise saith Samuel your sin will find you out if you do not find it out Numb 32.23 You shall pine away in your Iniquity Lev. 26.39 But if you Repent Your sin shall not be your ruine nor the ruine of your King Ezek. 18.30 This is the scope of v. 7. to v. 19. This in General only now more Particularly Samuel confirms his convincing them of the greatness of their Sin First By opposing their former Experience of Gods Government of them both under Moses and Aaron's Conduct v. 8. and under the Judges v. 9 10. Unto their present Ingratitude in asking a King when the former Being Alsufficient might have contented them v. 12. wherein Samuel argueth most accurately N. B. 1st By reminding them of the great things God had done for them when Jacob the Syrian ready to perish Deut. 26.5 came with a few into Egypt and being blest by God into a great Nation there he was then cruelly oppressed and then did the Lord raise up Moses to deliver them and as a Captain to conduct them through the Wilderness and seated some of them in those Conquered Lands beyond Jordan yea and substituted Joshua to seat all the other Tribes in Conquered Canaan on this side of Jordan c. Thus in few words he includes a long series of Gods Providence towards Israel after they became a Nation mentioning nothing of the Patriarchs before that came to pass And N. B. 2ly By reminding them of later Deliverances the Lord had wrought for them under all their Judges when they had revolted from God for which they had oft been sold into their Enemies hands and as oft upon their Repentance for their revolts were delivered And in the close of the Judges he nameth himself not out of any Vain Ostentation but for a just Vindication of himself and for a necessary Justification of his following Reproof of their gross Ingratitude towards himself as well as toward God by whom God had so lately delivered them out of the hands of the Philistines Chap. 7.10 11. All which might clearly them that it was not any necessary Want but meer Wantonness and Wilfulness which prompted them so to a desire of an alteration of Government and hereupon he lays a great stress upon their peremptory Word Nay v. 12. But we will have a King whatever it cost us as if God were grown Impotent and Unfaithful to them Secondly When Samuel had aggravated their present Ingratitude by opposing it to their former experience then like a Pious Prophet and a Prudent Preacher he dips his Divine Nail in Oyl that it might drive the Deeper in allaying the Tartness of his Reproof with the Sweetness of his Counsel and Comfort well knowing that Sowre and Sweet make the bes Sawce Therefore he then as it were corrects himself saying Although you have grievously sinned in asking a King through your incredulty and distrust in God who hitherto hath been your King and Saviour so faithfully preserving you in all former Ages that he never gave you any just cause to cast off his Government Yet seeing it is no wicked thing of it self and in its own Nature to Ask a King and seeing God hath now given you a King at your Asking If for the time to come ye will Walk before the Lord unto all pleasing and worthiness of his presence Col. 1.10 then the Lord will not forsake you but will vouchsafe both to direct and to protect both you and your King v. 13 14. But if ye will not fear the Lord but Rebel against him then will he pour forth his Plagues upon you as he did upon that Race of Rebels your Predecessors and upon your King whom you have chosen who shall not be able to secure you from Gods displeasure v. 15. Thirdly and Lastly Samuel drives his Nail of Reproof and Conviction to the very Head by a marvellous Thundring Lightning and Tempestuous Rain in the very throng of Wheat Harvest v. 16 17 18. 'T is certain that in Judea they had only the former and the latter Rains their Harvest seasons being more certain and the Weather more temperate than it commonly is found in our Northern-Islands Therefore such an unseasonable Storm to hinder Harvest which God had promised should not cease Gen. 8.21 and Rain rately obstructed it Prov. 26.1 Amos 4.7 this made it the more Amazing a Miracle Therefore as Samuel had bid them before Stand and Hear v. 7. so now he bids them Stand and See v. 16. that they might take in Instruction by those two Learned Senses as Aristotle calls them the Doors and Windows of the Soul that even the Deaf might Hear and the Blind might Behold Isa 42.18 lest God should Desert them and leave them desolate Jer. 6.8 N. B. Though Old
and as a Dove out of the Talons of an Eagle had so melted down his mind that he received the Prophet's Reproof not only without passion and prejudice which had been his Father's fault but also with much calmness and resolution to reform for as he will no more be ensnared to venture unto Samaria but continues at Jerusalem so he took a progress in person to Review that Reformation he had begun before but was Deformed by his Absence at Ramoth ver 4 5 6 7 8. to the end of chap. 19. 2 Chron. CHAP. XX. THIS Chapter Lavater calls a truly Golden Chapter which contains in it many and great matters nor is there any Chapter in this whole Book of Chronicles wherein saith he more may be learned It consists of two general parts First The Felicity of Jehosaphat in his waging War victoriously with the Ammonites c. The second is his Infelicity in falling into his old sins again c. In the first part there be Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents Remarks First upon the Antecedents are 1. The best of men must not count it strange that they fall into divers Tryals and Temptations James 1.2 3. Here God suffers a potent Enemy to set upon good Jehosaphat after his great care to reform and to set all to the right throughout his Kingdom chap. 19. After all this ver 1 2. the men of Moab of Ammon c. moved with envy at his growing greatness and stirred up by the Syrians against whom he had lately joyned with Ahab were let loose upon him this was that wrath of God which Jehu the Prophet denounced against him for his loving those that hated the Lord chap. 19.2 yet because good things were found in him as well as evil v. 3. therefore in wrath God remembred mercy Hab. 3.2 Tho' God suffered him to be tryed notwithstanding the good in him yet his tryal turns to his greater glory and so God deals with all his Servants Remark the Second This sudden Invasion by so vast a multitude so far as Engedi put Jehosaphat into a panick fear tho' he was alway well prepared chap. 17.14 19. yet was this an unexpected surprize N. B. Hereupon he proclaimed a Fast that they might the better fit themselves for prayer plenus venter non orat ardenter the full belly prays dully ver 3. Fasting gives wings to praying all his Subjects are summoned up Armed to Jerusalem to fast and pray in the Temple ver 4. Jehosaphat stands up upon the Scaffold in the great Court to be the mouth of the People unto God ver 5. as Solomon had been before him 1 Kings 8.22 'T is called the New Court because newly repaired chap. 15.8 Ora labora pray first then fight c. Remark the Third Jehosaphat's prayer from ver 6 to 13. wherein Mark 1. He maketh these two Attributes of God his might and his mercy to be the two main Pillars of his prayer of faith ver 6 7. as Jachin and Boaz were the stability and strength of the Temple N. B. Choice of fit Attributes to represent God in prayer helps faith and causes fervency Mark 2. He is God's Remembrancer ver 8 9. as God commands Isa 62.6 Thus he argues with God Lord thou didst favour Abraham as thy friend and gavest him this Land his Seed hath dwelt in it and hath built thee a Sanctuary and Solomon prayed in it that thou would turn away the evil of the Sword c. 1 Kings 8.37 c. We are still thy Tenants wilt thou oh our great Landlord defend us Surely thou wilt c. Mark 3. He spreads before the Lord the injurious Ingratitude of Moab and Ammon whom we molested not at thy command when we came out of Egypt Deut. 2.5 9 19. Numb 20.21 yet now do they come to dispossess us whom God hath put into possession of that good Land promised to Abraham and performed to his Posterity Didst thou Lord accept of Solomon's prayer by fire from Heaven and shall these Enemies now cast us out c ver 10 11 12. Thus he engaged God in his Cause c. Mark 4. All Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones v. 13. at Jehosaphat's prayer N. B. Not only the Jews but even the Gentiles did this in great distress as Jonah 3.4 5. saith Sanctius partly to promote their hearts to more fervent Devotion having their Eyes upon their harmless Children c. and partly to move God's compassion not as if God were changeable at such sights but because he had declared such means and methods should prevail with him Deut. 29.11 and 31.12 Joel 2.16 such an holy violence is well pleasing to God saith Tertullian Remark the Fourth Is God's Answer to Jehosaphat's powerful Prayer Mark 1. Jahaziel a Levite was immediately inspired by God ver 14 a man famous saith Piscator therefore is his Genealogy so distinctly described he stood up in the midst to declare God's Message to them Mark 2. In his comfortable Message from God Regem post Plebem nominat he nameth the King after the People ver 15. Grotius saith he did it as Christ named Peter after the Disciples Mark 16.7 tho' Peter was most concerned in the comfort N. B. Jehosaphat is not displeased with it yet the Pope is highly affronted if he be once named after the greatest Kings and Emperours Mark 3. This inspired Levite foretells them their God would fight for them and he alone will do the work they shall not need to strike one stroke therefore fear not their vast multitudes Mark 4. He foretells them for the better confirming their Faith against their Fear the very Motion of their Enemy ver 16.17 they are marching to Ziz which signifies a Pot or Caldron because saith the Gloss this was the place in which God did cut the Enemy in pieces and made them as it were meat for the Pot And he bids them go down to morrow and ye shall only be Spectators saith Vatablus Remark the Fifth Is the marvelous Influence this Levite's Prophecy had upon both the Prince and the People ver 18 19. Mark 1. Jehosaphat bows his head to the ground making a low obeysance in token of his due Veneration to God for this gracious Answer to his Prayer of his belief of it and of his thankfulness for it Mark 2. The People did likewise prostrate themselves with their faces towards the Most Holy Place where the Ark of God was Mark 3. The former part of this night was spent in Doxologies and solemn Thanksgiving to God for his exceeding great and precious Promise The Levites in general at Jehosaphat's Appointment stood up to sing praises to the Lord with loud voices and with lifted up hearts too they sang a Triumphant Song their Faith ensuring the Victory Secondly The Concomitants of the first part ver 20 21 22 23 24. Remarks are 1. Jehosaphat's Oration to his People rising up early the next morning to march against the Enemy ver 20. This
wretch Ahaz makes unto God for vouchsafing him all those Mercies Mark 1. No sooner had Tiglath-pileser taken Damascus but away hastens Ahaz thither to congratulate his Victory and to ingratiate himself farther with his great Deliverer 2 Kings 16.10 but God cross'd him of his Expectation of a farther continuance of Assyrian Favour for that King distressed him but strengthened him not 2 Chron. 28.20 N.B. This Assyrian Beast observing the Hedge to be now low went over it and though he had help'd Ahaz against the Syrians yet hereby he smoothed his own way into Canaan for Syria laying between them had hitherto been a Bulwark against the Assyrians So that though the Syrians had been troublesome the Assyrians became much more invading the Land in the very next Reign Mark 2. Ahaz seeing an Altar of an excellent structure in Damascus sends the pattern of it to Vrijah the Temporizing High Priest who complying with the King's Command contrary to God's Command and the Light of his own Conscience if he were the same mentioned Isa 8.1 2. This new Altar he made ready for Ahaz's returning from Complimenting Tiglath pileser a Kings 16.11 12. Mark 3. Ahaz himself offers upon this new Altar the Apostate Vrijah suffering him to do so whereas zealous Azariah would not suffer Ahaz's his Grandfather Vzziah a far better man to do it and though Vzziah was smitten with Leprosie for so doing yet Ahaz was smitten with a far worse Plague to wit with an incurable Obduration 2 Chron. 28.22 as appears in the fifth Mark and here he sacrifices to the Syrian Gods ver 13. that could not save themselves Mark 4. Instead of a Reformer he turns Deformer of God's Temple thrusting God's Altar out of it's Place and Use to make room for his Syrian and finer one ver 14 15. And of the Brazen Altar Lyra saith he made his famous Dyal mentioned Chap. 20.11 He also removed Musach Sabbati the Covert wherein the Priests reposed themselves and the Gallery 'twixt his Palace and the Temple and all this he did to ingratiate himself with Tiglath-pilezer by all this publick contempt cast on God's worship Vrijah having once Debauch'd his Conscience conforms to all ver 16 17 18. Mark 5. Though God plagued him with many Adversaries as Edomites Philistines and Assyrians 2 Chron. 28.16 17 18 19 20 21. yet so stubborn and stiffnecked was Ahaz that his Distress made him worse ver 22. resolving rather to break than bend so that this Monster of Mankind became a branded Belialist This is that King Ahaz stigmatiz'd to make up a Triumvirate 1. Cain Gen. 4 15. 2. Dathan Numb 26.9 And 3. Ahaz here who shut up the House of God c. ver 23 24 25. yet dy'd a natural Death though a detestable Wretch All changing their Temporal into Eternal Woe c. God puts off punishing some Wicked Men here for hereafter 2 Kings CHAP. XVII THIS Chapter contains the Expiration and Extirpation of the Kingdom of Samaria or that of the ten Tribes wherein Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents are very considerable Remarks first upon the Antecedents are First A Description of this last King of Israel Hoshea whose Name signifies Salvation yet his Traiterous and King-killing Nature quite contrary to his Name brought and wrought Destruction both to himself and to his Samaritan Kingdom Though this King was bad enough in slaying his Soveraign Chap. 15.30 and setting himself in his stead reigning four Years in the Days of Ahaz and five Years in the Days of Hezekiah ver 14. yet was he not so bad as those Kings that went before him ver 2. for he suffer'd his Subjects to go up to the Passover saith Lavater celebrated by Hezekiah when he invited them 2 Chron. 30.11 Remark the Second Notwithstanding this Hoshea was not so notoriously bad as Jeroboam had been who forbad the ten Tribes to worship God at Jerusalem 1 Kings 12.28 yet the measure of the Israelites Sin◠being now full Vengeance comes upon them without Remedy Chap. 23.26 of 2 Kings for now the Lord let loose Shalmaneser the Son of Tiglath pilezer and Father to Sennacherib he comes up against him and brings him into Vassalage ver 3. and executed many other outragious Cruelties intimated in Hos 10.14 N.B. This sheweth that God executeth his Judgments not only for the Sins of the present times but also for the Sins of former times Hoshea's smaller Sins added to the greater Sins of his Predecessors they were now greater Aggravations and did still more highly provoke the Lord to greater Indignation Remark the Third Though this Hoshea was Content to pay Tribute according to his Covenant sworn to the King of Assyria yet soon was he weary of that Vassalage and thereupon sends to So King of Egypt betwixt whom and the King of Assyria there was continual Emulation for his Aid and Assistance ver 4. which being promis'd Hoshea by So he paid no more the Annual Tribute to Assyria according to Custome and Covenant this enraged Shalmaneser whereupon he came up and besieged Samaria the Septuagint reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hedge up the City and so strong and well fortified was Samaria that it held out three Years Siege ver 5. at the end the King of Assyria took it put Hoshea in Prison to make sure of him when he had compleated his Conquest over the Country as well as City and when he had done that Work he then carries away both the King till then fettered in Prison and his Subjects also all Captives into Assyria and into Media then in Subjection to the Assyrians ver 6. not only to replenish those Countrys but also to cut off all Hopes of their returning into their own Country seeing those Captives were removed so far distant from Canaan Remark the Fourth The procuring Cause of this Utter Rejection of Israel or the Ten Tribes is described from ver 7. to ver 18. Mark 1. God Accuseth them for Worshipping strange Gods after the manner of the Heathen ver 7.8 which Grotius calleth Gravis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gravium Malorum a grievous Catalogue of the Peoples grievous Sins and their long continuance in them even from the time of their coming out of Egypt which Deliverance did much aggravate their so soon learning to be Idolatrous after it Ezek. 20.8 c. but much more their continuing so long to be such tho' God long before this had Threatned that their Land should spue them out for such Abominations Lev. 18.26 28. Mark 2. They are blamed both for affronting the Right Object and for Debauching the Right Office and Action of Divine Worship ver 9.10 11 12. The first they did in contemning God's Temple preferring their High Places before God's House and adoring their own Images before Himself the Most High And they did the second in working wicked things on purpose to prooke God instead of worshipping Him according to God's Word with any purpose to
Years up Ezek. 4.5 reckoning from Jeroboani's Apostasy for Israel and the forty Years for Judah from Huldah's Prophecie in the eighteenth of Josiah then the last Reliques of Israel and Judah were carried Captive c. Remark the Third The Case and Condition of the Jews after this dismal Destruction of their City and Temple The Conqueror saith Sir Walter Rawleigh exercised his absolute Dominion over the Conquered who upon a second search flew seventy two more that had hid themselves beside the seven Men seiz'd upon before Jer. 52.25 but only five of them were slain 2 Kings 25.19 for Jeremy and Ebedmelech were two of the seven taken by Nebuzaradan saith Dr. Lightfoot and they both were delivered Yet seventy two others were slaughter'd at Riblah Jer. 52.25 26 27. which number hath a considerable Reflection on the seventy two Elders that made up the Sanhedrim who had been first chosen over them Numb 11.26 27. and after this he took the strongest of the People Captive to Babylon leaving the weaker sort behind to Till the Ground 2 Kings 25.12 who would rather be a Burden than a Benefit to them Remark the Fourth The Conquerour appoints Gedaliah who according to Jeremy's Advice had submitted in due Season to the King of Babylon to be Governour over this poorer sort of People 2 Kings 25.22 whom Josephus calls Virum aequum bonum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a moderate and just Man in whom the King of Babylon much Confided and therefore made him Vice-Roy and Tributary saith Menochius It appears that this Ahikam the Son of Shaphan was a righteous Man and a Friend to the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 26.24 Ahikam had been one of good Josiah's Counsellours 2 Kings 22.12 by this Man's Authority and Influence Jeremy was delivered and God rewarded him in making his Son Gedaliah Governour Gedaliah Hebr. signifies a great Lord he was a Pious Prudent and meek spirited Man The Prophet Jeremy is committed to Gedaliah's care Jer. 39.11 12 13 14. yet by some oversight of Officers he is brought bound to Ramah the Place of the Chaldees Rendezvouz Jer. 40.1 2 3 4 5 6. there was a sad Mourning of all the Captives at Ramah Jer. 31.15 Matth. 2.18 but Jeremy is loos'd from the Bonds which the Jews had put upon him and was dismiss'd to go back to Gedaliah when 't was perceiv'd he had no mind for Babylon now that Promise took place I will cause the Enemy to treat there well Jer. 15.11 Probatum est Nebuzaradan is now as Active in honouring the Lord's Prophet as before he had been in destroying the Lord's Temple and the Place where his Honour dwelt Remark the Fifth the mighty over-ruling Power that the Almighty God hath over the Hearts of the most Mighty Men as here over that most mighty Monarch Nebuchadnezzar who now bid fare to be the absolute Monarch of the World when he conquer'd Nation after Nation Jer. 25.15 to 32. In whose Eyes God gave Jeremy so much Favour as to take a Fatherlike Care for his Preservation and future Provision Jer. 39.11 c. Having heard of his preaching Submission to the Will of God in yielding c. As this Divine Heart-changing Power was made more manifest upon Nebuchadnezzar afterwards when God sent him a Grazing c. Dan. 4.31 to 37. so now it most eminently appear'd in changing the Heart of Nebuzaradan that praefectus Laniorum the Prince of Butchers and causing him to become so Divine a Preacher Jer. 40.2 3 4. saying The Lord by God hath brought all this Evil he had pronounced against this Place c. N.B. A strange good and pious Speech to come out of the Mouth of so had a Man How could the Captive Jews who were now present hear it but be much affected with it especially hearing him say Behold I dismiss thee with all due Honour as a true Prophet however despised and afflicted by thy own worthless Countreymen I will not only loose those Bonds which they basely put upon thee but I will look well to thee so that thou shalt lack nothing and behold all the Land is before thee c. what could Pharaoh say more to Joseph Gen. 47.6 or Abraham to Lot Gen. 13.9 in granting so noble a Choice and moreover he gave Jeremy necessaries for his Journey coming so Naked and Needy out of his late Prison and a Present fit for a Prophet Jer. 40. ver 5. Remark the Sixth The Fate of that Remnant who the King of Babylon left behind 2 Kings 25.23 to 26. Jer. 40.6 7. Mark 1. 'T was God's kindness to this poor People in moving Nebuchadnezzar to make so good a Man one of their own Countrey as Gedaliah was to be their Governour had a Babylonian Officer been set over them he would have rul'd over them with Rigour Gedaliah being known to be a Prudent and Pious Man Jeremy being left to his choice came to him and so did the Remnant of the Jews even all the Captains of the Army which had been scattered from Zedekiah in his flight 2 Kings 25.5 23. Mark 2. And among the rest came Ishmael of the Blood-Royal Jer. 40.8 and 41.1 Therefore he envy'd Gedaliah for such great preserment looking upon him as a Traitor to his Country in becoming Governour by a Babylonish Power which yet he did in Obedience to Gods Word by the Prophet Jeremy but who can stand before Envy that sharp fang'd Malignity Prov. 27.4 which after cut down good Gedaliah Mark 3. Though Ishmael proved a very Judas yet other Jews came for juster Ends to whom Gedaliah sware his good Affection Jer. 40.9 10. bidding them fall to their Husbandry under his Protection c. Moreover many Jews who had fled into Foreign Parts for Succour and Safety resorted likewise to Gedaliah in Mizpah and they also did gather Wine and Summer-fruits in abundance ver 11 12. which was God's Blessing upon them for loving that Holy Land above prophane Nations Mark 4. Johanan the then honest Captain came and informed Gedaliah that the King of the Ammonites had employ'd Ishmael to slay him but good Gedaliah believed it not ver 13.14 thinking probably that Ishmael durst not do it both because of his own Innocency and the Babylonian Power to avenge such Attempts beside he might suspect likewise that the other Captains did Envy Ishmael for his so much pretended Familiarity with him therefore he hinder'd Johanan from executing Ishmael ver 15 16 from his too much Credulity and Security c. Mark 5. The Murder of good Gedaliah by that wicked Wretch Ishmael 2 Kings 25.25 this he did within two or three Months after the Destruction of Jerusalem Jer. 41.1 2. He and ten Desperado's with him to whom Ishmael probably had promised to restore their Principalities when he should be King or at least Vice-Roy under Baalis King of Ammon who was the Chief Engineer of all the ensuing Mischiefs set on work undoubtedly by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils to hinder so good a
hereunto saith Wolphius they stir up themselves by many Symbols of Godly Sorrow as Mark 1. They Assembled all together in Sackcloth as acknowledging themselves unworthy of the coursest Clothing and had it not been for shame they could have now strip'd themselves Naked Mark 2. And with Earth upon their Heads that is Dust and Ashes says Wolphius as those that had forfeited all and deserved to be as far under ground as now they were above ground Esth 4.1 c. Mark 3. The Seed of Israel who were Israelites indeed John 1.47 did both confess and forsake their Sins in seperating from their strange Wives Children and other Pagans who had mixed themselves with them according to Ezra's Covenant Ezra 10.3 and Neh. 13.3 This saith Wolphius was a true sign of a sound Repentance and such as do so after a due manner shall find mercy with the Lord Prov. 28.13 N. B. Israel whose Seed these Fasters are said to be signifies a Power with God to prevail Hos 12.4 Gen. 32.24 26 c. and Judah from whence those Jews had that denomination signifies Confession denoting 1. That as Jacob or Israel was a Prince prevailing with God so every true Israelite seeks not God in vain but concerning the work of God's hands may command him Isa 45.11 19. And 2. As Judah the Confessour Hebr. got the Kingdom from Reuben so Confession is the way to God's Kingdom for us to walk in thither and we shall surely obtain it at the end of that Walk especially if our Confession of Sin be conjoin'd with the Confusion of Sin as here abandoning their darling Sins keeping themselves from their Iniquities Psal 18.23 God receives such as so Separate 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Mark 4. Nor had they yet got enough much less too much of Reading the Law which had so prick'd them to the heart as Acts 2.37 and convinced their Consciences of their great and many Sins Chap. 8.7 8 c. but here again they return to Reading it and to give the sense of it applying it close to all cases of Conscience this was Preaching indeed and in this Work they continued for three hours that is from Nine to Twelve for they divided the Day into twelve hours John 11.9 The first three saith Junius was spent in the Morning Sacrifice that is from Sun rise or Six to Nine after which when all the People were Assembled together they began the Reading and Expounding the Law from Nine to Twelve yea and the third part of the Day from Twelve to Three they spent in Preaching to the People and in Praying to God and praising of God N. B. This Sacred Scripture-Practice is both a Pattern and a Warrant for our Preaching Fast-Sermons tho' Prayer be the proper and principal Duty of such a Day See Jerem. 36.6 7. Acts 6.4 c. Then they closed those extraordinary Exercises with the Evening Sacrifice c. Remark the Second The Particular Exemplification of that which was said before in the General ver 4 5 6. Eight Holy Levites are named here each standing up in his proper place to teach and excite the People that were for more conveniency divided into eight several Congregations for had they all Preached at one time say Junius and Piscator and in one place only this would have bred a Confusion and one would have hindred another The Septuagint adds to ver 6. Hebrew Text and Ezra said from whence some suppose that Ezra the Principal Priest Preach'd to and Pray'd with the Head Governours and the Principal Men of Judah who might all be in one Company in the Court of the Lord's Temple for all this great Congregation could not probably hear one Man together at once and Ezra pray'd this following Prayer before these Princes c. Remark the Third The following Prayer consists of a Prologue of an Enumeration of God's favours to them and lastly of an Epilogue Mark 1. In the Prologue or Preface he gives to God whom he pray'd unto all possible praise due unto his Name which indeed is above all Praise and when we have done our utmost we cannot overdo but we fall infinitely short in praising enough the great Creator of all c. ver 5 6. Mark 2. He reckons up four Gracious Favours of God 1. In chusing their Father Abraham for his Love and then loving him for his Choice c. ver 7 8. 2ly In Delivering Abraham 's Off-spring out of Egypt ver 9 10 11. 3ly In Preserving them in the Wilderness wherein he bestowed seven great and gracious Grants to them As First His Conduct ver 12. Secondly His Law ver 13 14. Thirdly His Maintenance of Meat and Drink ver 15. Fourthly His Pardon both of the Murmurers who were for Returning to Egypt and the Idolaters who made the Golden Calf ver 16 17 18 19. Fifthly His Holy Spirit ver 20. Sixthly Not only Food but also Raiment sufficient for forty Years ver 21. And Seventhly His Land of Promise by Moses Joshua and the Judges ver 22 to ver 31 32. This Seventh was the fourth Favour acknowledg'd here namely God's giving the Land of Canaan Mark 3. More Particularly As there is in Ezra's Prayers an Enumeration of God's Mercies from ver 7 to 16. so there is a Confession of the gross Ingratitude both of their Fore-fathers and of themselves from ver 16 to 27. and likewise a Declaration of God's Just Judgments in every Generation till that Day for their Sins from ver 27 to 32. Remark the Fourth Is the Epilogue wherein we have a Recapitulation and an Explanation of the aforesaid both from the Persons of God and from their own Persons also Or more briefly thus There is 1st An Humble Supplication for Mercy he pleads with God that the many Evils they had undergone might not seem small to him from ver 32 to 37. And 2ly He binds the People in a Covenant to a better behaviour for the future ver 38. Nehemiah CHAP. X. THIS Chapter consists of Two General Parts The First is the Persons that Sealed the Covenant before mentioned Chap. 9.38 from ver 1 to 29. And Secondly The Contents of this Covenant thus Solemnly Sealed to from ver 29 to the end Remark the First Upon the First Part Nehemiah is placed the first in this Sealing-Work not out of any Ambition saith Wolphius but as he was the Chief Ruler He was the Ring-leader to Ratifie it more firmly and to be a Loadstone or Star to Priests and People for Magnates are Magnetes N. B. Great Men draw many by their Example as the Loadstone doth Iron and Superiors are as Looking-glasses for Inferiors to Dress themselves by them Regis ad Exemplum totus componitur orbis qualis Rex talis grex Like Prince like People as it is in a Beast the whole Body follows the Head Hence it was that Nehemiah was so forward to Seal first accounting it an Honour to be foremost in so good a Matter Remark the Second The
Man-Child newly born Rev. 12.4 Herod intended to worry Christ while he pretended to worship Him Mat. 2.8 This the Angel told Joseph in a Dream therefore bids him take the young Child and Flee into Aegypt ver 13. which they did ver 14. This was also together with his Bleeding Circumcision a part of his Passion for from his Cratch to His Cross Christ suffered many a little Death all his Life long Banishment is call'd in Law a Civil Death And here Christ was Banished betimes to bring back his Banished as 2 Sam. 14.13 not to the Paradise which was below out of which Adam cast us by his fall and which was destroy'd by the Deluge but to that Paradise which is Above which is our proper Country Heb. 11.14 16. and toward which we groan and aspire even with outstretched Necks as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Rom. 8.19 let us here make a pause and ponder a while as Moses did at the Burning Bush Exod. 3.3 At this great Wonder of Christ's so early Banishment for which and for all his series of Sufferings the Prophet Isaiah calls Him a Man of Sorrows Isa 53.3 c. The long Journey and Irksome way This young Child with his Parents was to take from Judea to Aegypt lay through that vast and howling terrible and roaring Wilderness of Arabia Petraea Deut. 1.19 c 8.15 32.10 A Land very Barten full of Rocks Sands and Mountains Destitute of Waters and subject to many Dangers 1. From the perilous Sands which the violent Winds there blow up in the Face of Passengers with that violence that many Men and Beasts are suffocated thereby 2. From the Savage Creatures as wild Beasts Mark 1.13 Fiery Serpents Numb 21.6 which made the Soul of Israel to melt into Discouragement because of the way ver 4. 3. From the Saracens of Ishmael their Patronymick whose hand was against every man Gen. 16.12 who were the Inhabitants of that Wilderness and lived wholly of Robbing and Spoiling all that pass'd by that way 4. Beside all these It was a wayless Wilderness Therefore God made a way for Israel there Isa 43.19 by the Fiery Pillar which as the Rabbins say burnt up every bush levell'd all the Rubbish that hindred Israel's passage yea 't is now so pathless that Passengers are constrained to guide their Journey by a Compass as Mariners do at Sea 5. And a Waterless-way c. Note well Through this wast and woful Wilderness Joseph and Mary with the Child Jesus passed from Judea into Aegypt All exposed to Danger of being Suffocated with Sands of being devoured by Wild Bears Bores by Lions Leopards c. which greatly abounded in that place and of being Robbed if not Murdered of their Gold Frankincense and Myrrhe which the Eastern Sages had lately offered as an Homage and Viaticum to Christ by those Thieves that Infested the Wilderness There were they exercised with the want of Water of Meat and Drink and no doubt but their Rest and Sleep was troublesome enough in the midst of so many perplexing fears All these miseries did those two good Souls Joseph and Mary sustain from the beginning for the sake of their Son Jesus And N. B. Note well Why should we murmur at our sufferings for the sake of Christ seeing He hath told us that Through many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 Yea all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 and such are Blessed who are Reviled and Persecuted for his sake Mat. 5.11 1 Cor. 4.10 Acts 5.41 c. N. B. Note well 'T is matter of amazement also how those two poor Parents durst attempt such an hazardous undertaking with a Young Child being no better accommodated nor attended with either Guard or Guide Yet having the Lord's warrant for their way Hereupon they made haste and delayed not as David did Psal 119.60 and the same God that bid them go provided for them by his presence with them in the Wilderness brought them safely down to Aegypt and up again into Judea N. B. Note well 'T is a work of wonder likewise that Aegypt must be a Sanctuary of Safety to the Son of God which had been an house of Bondage to the Children of Israel Especially considering That when Christ came thither as some say All the Idols of Aegypt fell flat to the ground Isa 19.1 which must be an high Provocation to that Idolatrous Country But God can say effectually Let my Out-casts dwell with thee Moab Isa 16.4 and sure I am when Christ comes into the Heart the Idols there Ezek. 14.3 fall down Hos 14.8 CHAP. VI. FROM the foregoing Histories many more Remarkable Mysteries may be learned As 1. Christ humbled himself so low as Conception wherein we receive our first Tincture of sinful Corruption that he might become a compleat Saviour to us who are Conceived in Sin Oh how humble should we learn to be from Christ Mat. 11.29 and to be humbled for him as He was humbled for us be cloathed with Humility 1 Pet. 5.5 which is the Root Mother Nurse Foundation and Riband or String that tyes together as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies all those precious pearls the rest of the Graces if this string break they are all scattered yea it also keeps them all sweet for God As the lowest Vaults and deepest Cellars keep Wine in the briskest Flavor So humblest Hearts preserve our Graces in their sweet taste and relish c. Christ is call'd the Lilly of the Valleys Cant. 2.1 growing in the Lowly not in the Lofty Heart 2. Christ took upon him not only our whole Nature but also the frailties of it He took not the best of Man's Nature to wit that in the State of Innocency but the worst of it even our weaknesses c. This should teach us we must be contented to take not only the best but also the worst things for Christ Shame as well as Honour 3. Oh stand and wonder at this Born Babe of Bethlehem Did ever Man see a branch of the Tree Elder than the Root from whence it sprang Was it ever Heard off that a Child in the Womb should be the Maker of the World that an Infant was Father to his own Mother that Eternal Life began to live That the Antient of Days was a Babe not of an hour old that He whom the Heavens could not contain should be but a Span long That he who was from Eternity should come within the compass of Time And that he who was an Infinite Being should be comprehended in a finite place both in the Womb and in the World Behold this blessed bundle of Wonders c. 4. Augustin saith excellently Christ was born as a Child lived as an Angel Died as a Lamb Rose again as a Lion and Ascended to Heaven as an Eagle c. 5. Chrysostom wâ—ll observeth that the Angel told no Christ's Birth to mighty Monarchâ—
gives no occasion here for any undutifulness to Parents but only that Natural Offices and Carnal Respects must give way to those that are Spiritual and Heavenly and that opportunities for Grace are hasty and headlong so must be quickly caught as the Eccho catcheth the Voice There is no use for after-wit His Father might be Buried by other hands v. 22. Let the dead in Sin bury their dead in Nature Sinners are but breathing Ghosts c. 1 Tim. 5.6 Be thou an Heir of Life 1 Pet. 3.7 The Third Remark is Luke 9.57 c. Mentions a third that proffer'd to be Christ's Follower ver 6 62. but he must bid farewel to his Friends Christ alludes in his Answer v. 62. to what Elisha did 1 Kin. 19.19 shewing that Preaching the Kingdom of God was more necessary than all these excuses and he that lookâ— back cannot make straight Furrows with the Plow of the Gospel c. CHAP. XVIII THE next mighty Miracle after this reproving Farewel to those three pretending Followers aforementioned was Christ's calming the Tempestuous Sea which the Prince of the Air Eph. 2.2 had blown up to drown Christ and his little Church Mat. 8.23 Mark 4.36 Luke 8.22 Assuredly the Devil was in this mighty Storm as he was in that which brained Job's Children Job 1.19 Though the Lord was not in that Ruach Gedolah or Strong Wind 1 Kin. 19.11 The First Remark hereon then is As 't is said the Disciples took him even as he was in the Ship Mark 4.36 So it may be said the Devil took him there also for no sooner had our Lord opened his Mouth to Preach that excellent Parabolical Sermon in the Ship Mark 4.1 2 c. but launching out a little from shore to Sea in the same Ship presently Hell opens its Mouth and pours out a Mighty Tempest which es call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 8.23 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 8.23 which signifies a Sea quake the Sea-Man's Misery another Euroclydon Acts 27.14 that strikes upon all the thirty two Points of the Compass it being not one Wind properly but the conflict of many contrary Winds overturning all in its way to drown Christ Rev. 12.5 and his Church tho' the Disciples were Fishermen and so used to Storms yet this unusual one affrighted them yea tortur'd and tormented them as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Mark 6 48. The Second Remark is This Ship wherein Christ was Imbarqued with his Disciples is an Emblem of the Church which is in name the Ship Royal or Soveraign most superlatively so having the King of Kings imbarqued with his Queen in it there is much Congruity betwixt them beside name though some disparity The Parallel parts be these 1. Christ is the Captain of this Mystical Ship Heb. 2.10 2. Christ's Cross is the Mast 3. The Sails are Divine Affections 4. The Ballast is Humility 5. The Tackling is Patience and Perseverance 6. The Mariners are the Angels 7. The Cargo or Fraught and Lading is the Souls of Just men 8. The Card for guiding her Course is the Word of God 9. The Wind that drives her end-ways is the Breathings of the Spirit 10. The Haven she is hastning unto is Heaven and Happiness 11. Her Rudder is Love 12. Her Anchor is Hope 13. Her Top-Flag is Faith 14. Her Stern is the Power of God 15. Her Materials she is made up of as Mystical Oak-Planks are the Saints Rivetted together and close clinked one with another by the Union of Grace and Bond of Peace And 16. The Word or Motto Written on it is onemimur non suppremimur We are perplexed but not destroyed 2 Cor. 4.8 9 c The Third Remark is Though there be so much Congruity not only in that Royal name and in all these parallel Parts and Materials but also in state and motion the Church being as a Ship a rolling tumbling thing yet there is a Disparity in other Circumstances that cannot run through in Parallel lines As First Time Rots the stoutest and strongest built Ship but it cannot the Church which endureth for ever Indeed the Sea that the Church Sails in is the World which is call'd a Sea of Glass mingled with fire Rev. 15.2 for she subsists not by worldly strength the World being too brickle a thing as brickle as Glass and cannot sustain her yet fills her with many Combustions and Fires of Tribulation John 16.33 wherein also she meets with many a Stormy Tempest 'T is mostly with the Church here as with the Ship Mat. 14 23. which had the Winds quite contrary and like those passing the Straits of Magellan where which way soever a man bends his course he shall be sure to have the Wind sit cross against him yet here is the Difference for the Church's comfort that Christ her Pilot can fail with contrary Winds and causeth all Winds both the North and the Southwind to blow good to her Cant 4.16 and though she roll and tumble about in her natural civil and spiritual capacities and relations as in particular Men Common-wealths and Administrations sometimes she is in Egypt sometimes in the Wilderness so in Canaan and in Babylon c. yet is she sure to pass her Militant State in Earth and to Land safe and Triumphant in Heaven besides Tossing the Church with Tempests makes her better and not worse Jer. 48.12 Psal 55.19 The Second Disparity betwixt the Church and a Ship is not only as before in respect of Duration the Church lasting longer than the strongest Ship in the World but also in respect of a different Motion for the proper way and motion of a Ship is a descending downward into the Deep Psal 107.23 26. but the peculiar motion of the Church is an Ascending upward toward Heaven Prov. 15.24 The way of Life it above to the wise c. Phil. 3.20 c. The Third Disparity Some Sea-faring Man may by some mischance miscarry in the Ship and be drowned but such as are truly of and in the Church cannot totally and finally fall If you be really imbarqued in the same bottom with Christ you shall certainly be saved Christ loses none of those whom his Father gave him John 17.12 18.9 If God gave to Paul the Lives of all that sailed with Him So that not one man lost his Life in that Shripwrack Acts 27.22 24. How much more hath the Father done this to the Son only there must be a tarring in the Ship v. 31. Eâ—tra Ecclesiam nulla salus All out of Noah's Ark were drowned so Isa 60.12 c. The Fourth Disparity Yea the Ship it self as well as some Shipman may be Shipwrack'd as Paul's Ship was Acts 27.41 but the Church can never Founder at Sea c. Jerome saith â—anquam polus septentrionalis semper versatur nunquam mergitur She is like the North Pole Stars call'd the Little Bear always Wheels round about the Axis but never descends down out of the Horizon and much less is drowned
If this Penitent Sinner had such Incouragement to believe in Christ while He was but a Crucifying and so but in paying the Debt for his Sin how much more may we do seeing Christ is now Crucified and the whole Debt is paid and our Surety who paid it is now set down having done all that Work at the Right Hand of God The Second Miracle Christ wrought upon the Cross was that strange Ecclipse of the Sun at that Juncture which was not a Natural or Ordinary but a Miraculous and Extraordinary Eclipse because it was upon the Fifteenth day of the Paschal Feast which was always in Plenilunio or Full-Moon whereas every customary Eclipse is alway in Novilunio or New-Moon Those cursed Kill-Christs call'd for a Sign and then they would believe behold here is a greater Sign and Miracle than if Christ had come down from the Cross c. Such a wonderful Eclipse not made by the Interposition of the Body of the Moon betwixt the Earth and the Sun as always happeneth in the New-Moon meeting the Sun's Body in the two Nodes either the Dragon's Head or the Dragon's Tail but by the Almighty Power of our Wonder-working Redeemer even at the Full-Moon when in a direct opposition to the Sun which brought an universal Darkness upon the whole Land to the Amazement of all Beholders and which was the more Astonishing because it began at Noontide or Twelve a Clock when the Sun is in its greatest strength for Heat and Light and lasted full three Hours till three a Clock in the Afternoon and therefore must be Miraculous and Extraordinary seeing no Natural and Ordinary Eclipse lasteth so long because in the common Course of Nature the Interposition of the Moon taketh away the Light of the Sun only Gradually and by Inches and the Sun by his swift Motion soon wadeth out of the Moon 's shadow and accordingly recovers his Natural Lustre Gradually and by Inches again So that no natural Eclipse can cause any Darkness of such a long continuance as this was besides there cannot properly be a total Eclipse of the Sun by the Interposing Moon because her Body is much too narrow in its Circle to cover the vastly more large Body of the Sun no not with all its Advantage of being Situated in the lowest of the Seven Celestial Orbs wherein the seven Planets have their several distinct Motions Eclipsing one another at their full Conjunctions But this extraordinary Eclipse caused by Christ's Miraculous might covered the whole Land with a continued uninterrupted Darkness more like that Plague of Darkness which Moses by a Miracle did punish the Land of Egypt with Exod. 10.21 23. A Darkness that might be felt yet could not the Egyptians see one another or stir out of their Places c. It was a thick sudden and a continued darkness without any successive Increasing or Decreasing as is done in a Natural Darkness Such a Darkness was this for three Hours at Mid-day to three as was that for three Days without succession of Degrees yet differing in this as well as in time that the Egyptians were more sensible of their Plague than the Jews were of theirs here though this Darkness for the time was worse than that because there was light in Goshen when Darkness overshadowed Egypt but this was Universal no place was exempted from it as Goshen was It covered at the least all that whole Country of Judea even the whole Land without any exception Mat. 27.46 Mark 15.33 and though many Expositors do confine this Darkness to the Jews Country only as understood by that phrase The whole Land yet other Authors do judge it more extensive both because the Evangelist Luke affirms it to be over all the Earth Luke 23.44 but also because the same Miracle Amazed many men in the Remoter parts of the World 'T is true Luke's phrase of the whole Earth may be Interpreted thus narrowly by his other phrase The whole World Luke 2.1 which is no more than the Roman World to wit those Provinces only that pertained to the Empire of Rome But this limited sense is opposed by various Testimonies that this strange Eclipse was Observed and Admired in other Countries far distant from Palestine Phlegon Lucian and Dionysius learned Heathens good Historians and great Philosophers all three recorded both the Day of the Week and the very Hour of the Day when it happened and that in Plenilunio or Full Moon too It was so Amazingly observed in Egypt by Dionysius that he wrote of it to Policarp as History tells us which farther affirmeth that it was seen of Tiberius the Emperor at Rome as also that Proâ—omy was so affrighted with it that he broke out into that passionate speech Aut Natura terminatur aut Deus Naturae paâ—itur Either Nature in the whole World was about Determining or the God of Nature and the Maker of the World was now in Suffering c. Many Reasons may be rendered why our Dying Redeemer wrought this Miracle of Darkness at this juncture As First That by this stupendious Prodigy the Divine Majesty of Christ the Messiah might be vindicated even in the lowest ebb of his humane Infirmity for he did not so empty himself in his state of Humiliation as not at some times to let out some sparklings of his Glory and Deity thus that he might shew himself the Lord of Heaven and Earth here he commands the Sun to be Eclipsed in Heaven and this Darkness to cover as with a black Curtain the whole Face of the Earth The Second Reason was Our Lord hereby did as it were spread a black Vail and draw this Curtain of Darkness over his own naked body while he hung on the Cross in open view that the Good Women might be present and himself die with Modesty Therefore suffered he not the Sun to shine out with its light and to shew forth its Lustre and Glory while its Maker is suffering the extremity of shame Thirdly This prodigy was wrought at this time to demonstrate the heinousness of the prodigious sin of those Kill-Christs at which the very Sun of the Firmament hid his Head and wrapped it self up as in a Mantle of black Darkness as disdaining to behold so sad a Spectacle and even ashamed to see those indignities and injuries done by those worst of the Sons of Men to that Innocent Lamb of God the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 Fourthly This Work of Wonder might be now wrought also to declare the Aggravation of our Mediator's Suffering as well as his Murtherers Sinning insomuch as our Lord had not that common comfort and benefit of Sun-light while he suffered death upon the Cross Solomon saith 't is a comfortable priviledge for the Eyes to behold the Sun and the Light thereof is very sweet Eccles 11.7 yet is dying Jesus denied of this also and of other Allays of his Sorrows and Sufferings Fifthly This three hours Darkness was to give an opportunity for all the
ones and not to the World John 14. v. 22. It concerned not those Enemies whose impenitency and unbelief he foresaw any otherwise than that they should see him to their sorrow when he cometh again in the Clouds to judge them Zech. 12.10 Rev. 1.7 c. yet those Witnesses of Christ's Ascension may be supposed to be not a few but many even 500 at once 1 Cor. 15.6 It was God's good pleasure that their Faith should be confirm'd by seeing who were to teach the whole World who should not see it This great Article whose Faith is ordained to come by hearing those Eye witnesses Rom. 10.17 6ly The Reasons why our Saviour Ascended into Heaven which are many As. 1st That he the Second Adam might open a way into Paradice for us which the First Adam by his Fall had shut up against us Gen. 3.28.24 Rev. 2.7 and 22.2 N.B. The Vail which divided betwixt the Holy Place and the most Holy Eâ—â—â— 26. v. 32. 2 Châ—â—â— 3.14 was Rent by Christ's Death Matth. 27.53 Now by his Ascension he made a new and living way to enter within the Vail even into Heaven it self whereof the Sanctum Sanctorum was but a Type Heb. 9.8 12. and 10.19 20. which way Christ himself is John 14.6 1st Hereby the Throne of Grace is Accessible by Believers and their Prayers may pierce Heaven 2dly This should teach us to hate every false way as David did saying twice so Psal 119.104 128. There is no way to Heaven but by Christ Acts â— 12 not by Popish Saints as Co-Saviours Christ is the only way both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 newly made manifest and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quickening way giving life and refreshment to those that walk in him as the way which will bring to Heaven 3dly All others are but by ways and crooked paths to this way Isa 35.8 9 10. Christ hath the Key to open hearts as Lydia Acts 16.14 as well as he did open Heaven here for all Saints c. The second Reason was to prepare a place for us John 14.2 3. Those Mansion-places of Glory were prepared in the unchangeable counsel and purpose of God before the Foundation of the World for all the Lord 's Redeemed Matth. 20.23 and 25.34 Their Heads as Tertullian's phrase is were long since destinated to a Diadem long before they lived in the World much more before they could merit any such blessed Mansion Some Kings we read of were crowned in their Cradles as our King James the First and Sapores King of Persia before he was born for his Father dying the Nobles set the Crown upon his Mother's Belly But the Saints were crowned in God's Eternal Decree before the World was founded Eph. 1.4 Tit. 1.2 c. Now though places of Glory were eternally prepared by the Father Matth. 20.23 c. yet must they actually be prepared also by the Son for thus the Apostle argueth from the sprinkling of the Tabernacle and its Vessels all sprinkled with Blood Heb. 9.21 22 23 24. These were the Types of the heavenly things themselves Now our Lord by his Ascension leap'd first as our Fore-Runner upon the Shore of Glory Heb. 6.20 and as it were took the first hansel of Heaven in our Humane Nature he went thither not in his own Name only but in the Name of all his Redeemed who have right to and have taken possession of Heaven in their Head and Redeemer Eph. 2.6 N.B. 1. As he is our Lord and Master Servants do make a bold claim to Lodgings in those Places or Palaces where their own Lord is gone in and entertain'd before them 2dly As he is our Father we his Children Heb. 2.10 13. have a Room prepared by him 3dly And as he carried thither our Flesh taken from among us as a Pawn Pledge and sent his Spirit as an Earnest this raises our right to Heaven beyond a bare Hope even to a full Assurance The Antient Father cryed with great joy Rejoyce ye Righteous c. Rendring this reason for thus Rejoycing saying Vsurpastis Coelum in Christo securi estote caro sanguis Christus vexit in Coelum pignus totius summa illuc quandoâ— Redigendae c. That is ye have Usurped even Heaven it self in your Head Christ be ye satisfied oh flesh and blood Christ hath carried his Body into Heaven as a Pledge of the whole sum that all the Bodies of his Redeemed shall be reduced thither at the last c. 4thly Hereby that preparation which was but partial to the Patriarchs and Prophets who were all saved by the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 and 17.8 was now compleatly accomplished by Christ's Personal Ascension into Heaven 5thly As this teacheth us our duty that we be careful to prepare our selves for Heaven while Christ is thus careful to prepare Heaven for us Thus the Lamb's Bride made her self ready Rev. 19.7 being first prepared by the Grace of Christ for to her was granted to be Arayed in fine Linnen c. verse 8. which she could no more put on by her self than she could purchase it The Bowls of the Golden Candlestick had no Oil but that which drop'd from the Olive Branches Zech. 4.12 and that freely without pressing or squeezing Yet is it the duty of wise Virgins to Trim their Lamps Matth. 25.7 It must be the care of every pious Soul to be furnished with Oil in their Vessels that is Grace in their hearts as well as burning Lamps but with gifts in their heads only verse 4. that they may be prepared both for their Meeting and Reception of the Bridegroom So frome hence note 6thly We learn this comfort that though we dwell but poorly in a Cottage on Earth wherein we cannot tarry long but in a little time must depart c. yet have we a stately Mansion house and Palacâ— prepared for us in Heaven where we shall ever be with the Lord which is far the best of all 1 Thes 4.17 Phil. 1.23 It was a comfort to the Sons of Jacob c. that Joseph was gone before them into Aegypt to prepare the best of the Land for their entertainment in it And tooâ— possession of it for them till themselves came thither No less yea much more doth our Brother Joseph our Jesus for us in a better nay the best of places even in Heaven and not only keeps that blessed Inheritance for us but also mightily keeps us for it till we be ready 1 Pet. 1.4 5. The 3d Reason of Christ's Ascending up on high was to lead Captivity Captive Psal 68 18. Which David by the Spirit of God foretold the Son of David should do Eph. 4.8 Alluding to the Famous Customs of the Roman Conquerors who rode in their Stately Triumphal Chariots to the Capital Palace leading their numerous Captives some before them and some behind them all with their hands bound behind their backs c. which intimateth as understood of Christ how he
Syrian Army were smitten with Blindness so that they could not captivate that one single Servant of God Elisha 2 Kings 6.18 Their senses being so deluded by a Divine Operation yet was this Conjurer worse confounded than they and stopped in his perverting carreer The seventh Remark is In the midst of wrath God remembers mercy even in his dealing with wicked men Hab. 3.2 and stirs not up all his wrath Psal 78.38 This Blindness therefore was not a perpetual as it might have been but only a temporary Blindness Thou shalt not see the Sun for a season N.B. This phrase intimateth that it was inflicted upon him not so much in a poenal as in a medicinal way that he might be reclaimed from his Villany be reduced by Repentance and receive his sight again The Antients do without Book affirm that he did hereby Repent of his sin and was restored to his Eye-sight again yet after this they say he returned with the Dog to his Vomit and with the Sow to his wallowing in the Mire not only of his old Judaism but to his devilish Magick Tricks again which shews he repented of his very Repentance but so did not Paul who was struck blind also Acts 9.8 for he saw savingly c. The eighth Remark is God over-shoots Satan in his own Bow That which the Devil designed for obstructing the Gospel was over-ruled by the Lord for a farther promoting it Sergius Paulus was set upon by Satan in this Sorcerer to be turned aside from becoming a Proselyte yet when this prudent man saw that the Gospel which Paul Preached was attended with so much Majesty and with such a power of working Miracles accompanying it he the more firmly believed being astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord verse 12. N.B. The Word never works more kindly than when it is received with admiration The second Journey Paul and Barnabas took from Cyprus when they had done their work there N.B. Was to Perga in Pamphilia verse 13. whereof we have nothing of note Recorded save only how their Collegue that ministred to them verse 5. plaid them a slippery Trick there though some say this was that John Mark who wrote the Gospel called by his name yet his departure from them at this juncture when they were walking their Biennial Circuit was blame-worthy Acts 15.38 Whatever was the cause of this withdrawment from the Yoke of Christ Sundry Conjectures there be why he did so N.B. As 1. That he foresaw from this short Experience what difficulties and dangers attended the Gospel and therefore in time provided for his own safety and avoided it as one soon weary of his work There be too many who can be content to be doing something for Christ yet care not to meet with suffering little or nothing for him as the King of Navarr told Beza He would launch no farther into the Sea of Religion than so as that he might be sure to save himself by returning safe home to Shore at night 2. N.B. Some suppose Mark returned to Jerusalem out of an over-fond affection to his Aged Mother who lived there But he had learnt a better Lesson in his own Gospel Mark 10.29 30. to forsake Mothers for Christ who promised to be worth ten Mothers to him c. N.B. The third Conjecture is That Mark heard of the Imprisonment of Peter with whom he had some special familiarity yea a peculiar Interest in him as appeareth from 1 Pet. 5.13 whom Peter there calls his Son and in that Peter was so well acquainted with Mark 's Mother's house Acts 12.12 therefore his extraordinary respect to Peter might draw him back to see what became of him at Jerusalem N.B. The fourth Opinion is That his Relation to Peter who was the special Minister of the Circumcision made him the more shy and nice to venture among the Uncircumcised Gentiles not only lest he should not shun that occasion of offence to the Jews and Peter but also because he fore thought of the Tediousness of that two years Journey they having now but newly entred therein who had met with a Temple of Venus at Paphos in Cyprus and now were come to Perga in Pamphylia where there was another Temple of Diana which would unavoidably create trouble enough to those that cried down their Idolatrous Worship and they were now like to go deeper into the thickest of these Idol worshippers every day more than other this might become Mark 's discouragement N.B. But whatever was the cause of Mark 's withdrawment from this work it was so unwarrantable as to make a breach betwixt him and them for the present nay it occasioned that bitter Paroxism betwixt Paul and Barnabas afterward even the great commotion or perturbation Acts 15.39 Let us leave Mark in his Journey to Jerusalem learning this Lesson only from his frailty Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10.12 whither when he came he did abide there till Paul and Barnabas came thither again N.B. Beside this Remark of Mark 's departure from his Ministry here we find nothing remarkable concerning Paul and Barnabas at Perga in Pamphylia no more is Recorded of them Their third Journey was to Antioch in Pisidia verse 14. so called to distinguish it from the other Antioch of Syria from whence they set forth verse 1 3 4. and Acts 11.19 which was next to if not part of Pamphylia Here these two Apostles as we read went into the Jews Synagogue upon their Sabbath day N.B. Either to joyn with the Jews in their Worship which was not then unlawful or rather to get an opportunity of Preaching the Gospel more publickly to them for this was the grand Errand of their coming thither And the Rulers of the Synagogue soon gave them a candid Invitation thereunto after the Reading of the Law and the Prophets v. 15 c. The other part of this Chapter begins with the special Remarks upon Paul and Barnabas's Actings at this Antioch where Paul Preacheth a most powerful Sermon wherein a general prospect may be presented as to the form and manner of his Convincing Discourse in these following particulars As 1st His Prologue or Preface v. 16. wherein he craves their careful attention which he intimates none could do but only such as truly feared God for that is the proper Character of a right Attentive Hearer 2ly His Narrative of the Divine Benefits which the Lord of old bestowed upon his People Israel frankly for the Messia'hs sake and these he reckons up to be four 1. God's free Electing of them above all Nations and his wonderful delivering them out of Egypt verse 17. 2. God's Indulgency towards them for forty years in the Wilderness as a Mother bears with her Child's frowardness or as an Huband bears with his Wife's crossness verse 18. 3. His giving them the Possession and Improvement of the Land of Promise verse 19. 4. His constituting them into a form of Government there both that of
with this Holy Patriarch we may remember to our comfort that our good God is not leading us through any untrodden paths for the greatest Friends and Favourites of Heaven hath gone before us in the same Dispensations we should follow their footsteps in patience and piety Heb. 6.12 Solamen miseris socios adhibere doloris 't is a comfort to the miserable to have Companions in misery yea patterns on Record that in this very path have run before us into Heaven Thus David was a Pilgrim and all Gods people 1 Chron. 29.15 and Psal 39.12 13. The Law taught this Truth Levit. 25.23 and the Gospel teaches the same 1 Pet. 2.11 commending to us those Patriarchal patterns Heb. 11.13 14 15. God dealing with us no otherwise than with them whom he dearly loved therefore should we be content to live in Tents as they did on Earth till we obtain our Mansion in Heaven and while our Commoration is below see that our Conversation be above Phil. 3.20 and Col. 3.1 2 3. Jacob was a poor Pilgrim still when Joseph his Jewel was Sold though he dwelt in Hebron a City at that time yet wanted he then the property and propriety of a Native or of a Citizen there but only dwelt in that City by a Tenure of Courtesie and then also the greatest part of his Family dwelt abroad by the same Tenure of Courtesie in Tents feeding their Flocks and Herds one while at Shechem and another while at Dothan Gen. 37.12 13 17. the former about sixty Miles from the City Hebron and the latter Dothan as far distant from Shechem being constrained to keep them at great distance for good pasture as Laban's and Jacob's Flocks were fed at the distance of three days Journey Gen. 30.36 Thus Righteous Lot so called twice 2 Pet. 2.7 8. dwelt in the City Sodom as a Sojourner only by a right of Courtesie So the Sodomites upbraid him as such and therefore his becoming a Judge say they was but an usurpation above Right Gen. 19.9 which shews also that Lot lived in an House of that City so strong that those furious Sodomites could not break in upon him nor break the Door thereof while a better Man his Unkle Abraham was content to dwell by the same Tenure of Courtesie in Tents only in the Plains of Mamre Gen. 18.1 9 10 c. even at that time when he had Gold and Silver enough Gen. 13.2 wherewith either to Build or Buy a stately Pallace and where he kept a good House even for entertaining of Angels three of them he most Hospitably Feasted with plenty of Provision choice of the best and fattest yea and with speedy preparation three Pecks for three Mens Dinners the best of the best too fine Meal the fat Calf Butter and Milk and Gods plenty of all yea and the good Man the Master of the Family standing by to bid them fall to and heartily welcome Gen. 18.5 6 7 8. while his Nephew Lot was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sore vexed with the sinful Sodomites shameless sin and labouring under it as under an heavy Burden yea tortured as upon a Rack as the word signifies 2 Pet. 2.7 8. in his better dwelling-place Hereupon the Author to the Hebrews makes all these three great Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob to be no better than Pilgrims in the World Heb. 11.9 only Sojourning in their own Land by Promise which is so exceeding Remarkable that I cannot omit it without making some more Remarks upon it As 1. It was better with Abraham in his Countrey House though but a Tent and with his Countrey Fare no Wine Venison or Delicates do we read of in the Treat aforesaid than it was with Lot in his City-Hall and with all his City-accommodation both for absolute necessity and delightful variety When the difference happen'd betwixt these two good Men as the Devil that grand Make-bait will disquiet the best with dissentions using Servants here to set their Masters at variance Abraham chuseth rather to suffer wrong from Lot than to strive for his own Right which he willingly parts with for peace sake He gives his Nephew the choice of either the Right Hand or the Left of the Land He loved Lot's Society so well as Communion of Saints is undoubtedly a great priviledge both in Heaven and on Earth that he said seeing we cannot fadge together we will not be any farther asunder than the Right Hand is from the Left that we may still be helpful each to other as the two Hands be Lot look'd upon his Left Hand the well-watered Countrey of Sodom and loved it so as to make it his choice He might have had the good manners to let his Unkle the better Man chuse first but the Dust of Worldly Wealth and the Lust of the Eye had so far blinded him that he saw not what at present beseem'd him as after wards he did when God so cross'd him in that which he chose and so blessed his Unkle in that Right Hand part which Lot left him See Gen. 13.7 8 9 10. And when Lot was taken Captive in his Left Hand choice of Sojourning in the City of Sodom he found Abraham a right Right Hand Man for his Rescue Gen. 14.14 16. Notwithstanding his living in Tents of the Field only yet was it on the Right Hand in Canaan after called the Holy Land and then better to dwell in than was wicked Sodom Gen. 13.13 The three Angels whom the Hebrews Name Michael Gabriel and Raphael found better Entertainment in Abraham's Countrey Tent Gen. 18.5 6 7 8. where he spake sparingly inviting them only to eat a Morsel of Bread but treats them nobly and bountifully his deeds were better than his words his performances than his promises than the two Angels were hansell'd with at Lot's City House where they were assaulted with that unnatural and beastly Buggery Gen. 19.5 Thus Abraham's not being curious in his own and his Families dwelling yet was courteous in Entertaining Strangers and so had better Guests than he look'd for even Angels Heb. 13.2 may serve to condemn the gross practice of Great Persons whose curiosity is expensive enough in trimming their great Houses but their Courtesie is too narrow to open their Doors to Strangers in kind Hospitality The Second Remark is There is a Conformity of Conditions in the Heirs of Grace and Glory All those Heirs of the Promise and of the Promised Land not only Abraham as above but also Isaac and Jacob were under the same Predicament of Pilgrimage They are all joyn'd together as sojourners Heb. 11.9 and 13 14 15. Sojourning sometimes in that Land of Promise and sometimes in other Lands Abraham himself sojourn'd off and on as we say in Canaan a compleat Hundred years being 75 years old when God call'd him out of Chaldaea to Canaan Gen. 11.4 and 175 when he died out of it Gen. 25.7 yet twice was he famish'd and forc'd out of it by Famine hereupon we find him in