Aegypt so we at the administration of the other might remember Christ by whom we are saved from our enemies and from the hands of all that hate us This Supper is not onely a representing a sealing and a conveying signe but a commemorative signe Do this in remembrance of me saith Christ There is no Gospell-ordinance whether prayer reading or hearing of the Word but there is such mention made of Christ as we ought to remember him But this ordinance of the Supper hath this signall note of excellency stamped upon it above all a speciall charge from Christ to remember him when that is administred Do this in remembrance of me for as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye shew that is ye make a commenoration of the Lords death till he come Sometimes that we may come to the subject matter intended God appointed Records and Registers of his mercies Histories and Journalls of the noble acts and loving kindnesses of the Lord to his people to be kept and conveyed to posterity that the generations to come might know them even the children that should be born who should arise and declare them to their children Thus the Lord commanded that the History of Amalek should be written in a Book their malice and Gods mercy their war and overthrow and it must be rehearsed to posterity that it might never be forgotten What this Book was we shall not much enquire Some say it was the Book of Jasher mentioned Josh chap. 10. which was a Chronicle of the acts of the people of the Lord which is lost Some say it was the Book of the Judges Some say it was a Book of the Battails of the Lord mentioned Numb 21. 14. Others and that most probably that it was no other but this Book of Exodus Junius and Calvin But why this History must be written in a Book is more worthy of our inquiry and more sutable to our purpose And the reasons may be these two 1. That a thankfull remembrance of so great a deliverance from so malicious an enemy might be continued in the generations following 2. That the people of God knowing what sentence was denounced against Amalek which should be executed in due time as it was in the Reign of Saul might be the better encouraged to fight against them and through faith expect the victory over them And thus in this Chapter God would have the Journals of the people of Israel from Aegypt to the Land of Canaan recorded that the great things God had done for them by the way might not be forgotten for so it is said in the Text. Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandement of the Lord. In this Chapter two parts are observable 1. An Israelitish Journall is recorded from vers 1 to v. 50. 2. A direction is given them concerning their proceedings in and with the Land of Canaan Which is threefold 1. That they should cast out the inhabitants v. 52 53. 2. That they should destroy their idols v. 52. 3. That they should divide the Land amongst them by lot v. 54. The two former whereof are seconded with a most sharp threatning that if they did not punctually observe Gods command therein 1. For the present that people should prove a continuall snare unto them 2. For the future what God had intended to these their enemies should fall upon their own heads all this to the end of the ch In the Israelitish Journall two things are to be considered 1. The duty is in generall propounded v. 1 2. 2. You have an Historicall enumeration of their severall Journeys in v. 2. In which three things are to be noted 1. The matter that stands upon record and that is their journeys according to their goings out 2. The Scribe that recorded them and that was Moses Moses wrote c. 3. The authority by which he did it and that was the commandement of the Lord he had very good warrant for what he did The first of these namely the matter that stands upon record their journeys is that which I shall principally take notice of In which Journall this is observable That there is not onely a particular relation of the place from which and the place to which they journeyed as from Rameses to Succoth c. but also a singular mention is made of all the great passages of Gods good hand of providence over them together with their murmurings and rebellions by which they provoked him All which are in this ch implyed and some particulars are expressed as you may finde v. 9 14 38 40. This ch being but a short Epitome or abridgement of the whole History So that in the Israelitish Journall you shall finde how here God gave them bread from heaven there water out of the rock in one place he delivered them from the violence of the mighty waters in another from the fury of their potent enemies Now he saved them from the cruelty of the Aegyptians at another time from the malice of the Amalekites and soon after from the sting of the fiery Serpents To day he gives them Manna and Quails good food for their hungry bodies to morrow he delivers them his Law with many divine ordinances and statutes for the good of their souls In all their goings out he afforded them plentifull pledges of his care of them bounty to them and patience towards them Who notwithstanding the many grievous sins by which they provoked him being full of compassion forgave their iniquities and destroyed them not yea many a time he turned away his anger and did not stir up all his wrath for he remembred that they were but flesh c. By this time we are come to the Observation that is intended and may hence be collected and that is this To keep a Journall or Diary by us especially of all Gods gracious dealings with us is a work for a Christian of singular use I say of Gods gracious dealings with us in a more especiall manner because it is good also to observe and keep a good account of the severall occurrences of the Times we meet with as they have reference to the Countrey and Nation we live in It is good to keep an History a Register a Diary an Annales not onely of the places in which we have lived but of the mercies that have been bestowed on us continued to us all our dayes This was the practice of David the Servant of the Lord who made a Psalm and Song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul Moses writes his Book called Deuteronomy which is nothing else but a repetition of the Journeys of the people of Israel and the great things God had done for them in their goings out to that day There was scarce any thing in Israel but was typicall their Meats their Drinks their Mannâ— their water out of
Son All comfort is divided amongst the creatures as by severall channels but united in God as the fountain The King of Bohemia as some have reported when he was beaten out of Prague and therefore almost out of all in that Kingdome was encouraged by some great Commanders about him that he had many Princes his friends and Allies that were potent and would readily assist him to which he made no answer but wrote the word DEVS in great letters implying thereby that all these must be found in God or they could do him no good whence some pickt out his meaning and found Denmark in D England in E Hungary in V and the Swedes in S. But I have read that Herod in a speech that he made in the head of his Army that was ready to joyn battle with the enemy the better to encourage his Souldiers had this passage Where justice is God is and where God is there is no want of men or fortitude God is a perfect good as well as a solid good Id bonum perfectum dicitur saith Lactantius euj nil accedere solidum cui nil decedere potest That is a perfect good to which nothing can 〈◊〉 added that a solid from which nothing can be spared Hence it is that God in wisdom and mercy plucks these stools from under us that we sit so securely upon that we may look up to him and finde that comfort in him that we lost in them When David's Captains and Commanders that so long had ftuck so close to him spake of stoning stoning him he comforted himselfe in his God When Habbakuk could finde no blossome in the fig-tree nor fruit in the vines when he could finde nothing in the fold nor in the field nor in the stall yet he would rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of his salvation because all might be found in a God When Micah looked upon the miserable face of the Time in which he lived wherein there was scarce a good man to be found nor a friend to be had the best was but as a bâ—yar and a mans enemies were those of his owne house so that neither the childe of a mans loyns nor the wife that lay in his bosome were to be trusted he resolves to look up to God Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation there I shall finde all comfort How happy is he then that hath the Lord for his God! He is one of St. Paul's rich men as having nothing yet possessing all things So that I shall conclude this passage with that of the Prophet Let not the wise man glory in his wisdome neither let the mighty man glory in his strength nor the rich man in his riches but let him that gloryeth glory in this that he knoweth me c. Not the wise man in his wisdome Satan is wiser then he and yet a Devill nor the strong man in his strength for the Horse is stronger then he and yet a Beast nor the rich man in his wealth the Earth is richer then he and yet he treads upon it every day but let him that gloryeth glory in this that he knoweth the Lord to be his God Happy is the people that is in such a case saith the Psalmist yea happy is that people that hath the Lord for their God That any of us have the cap and the knee from our inferiours is our priviledge but not our happiness that any of us have the uppermost seat in the Church or chiefest room at a feast is our honor but not our happinesse that any of us eat the fat and drink the sweet when others eat ashes as bread and mingle their drink with their tears is our comfort but not our happinesse but happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that soul that can say The Lord is my God Thirdly observe well the mediums the choyce wayes and means by which all good things are conveyed to us It is good to know how we come by what we have These three wayes take speciall notice of as most observable All good things come to us 1. By Christ savingly 2. By the promise certainly 3. By the creatures sensibly 1. Observe how all good things come in by Jesus Christ savingly God gives all good things to his through Jesus Christ If God spared not his owne Son but delivered him 〈◊〉 for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Peace with him and liberty and riches and honor with him are a good portion indeed All things are yours saith the Apostle to the Corinthians Paul and Apollos things present and things to coâ—e c. But how come they in Ye are Christs saith the Apostle and Christ is Gods All comes to us by Jesus Christ as all the corn in Aegypt came through Joseph's fingers so all comforts come to us by Jesus Christ who is our Mediatour who hath not onely by his blood purchased all things for us but sanctified all to us he turns our waters into wine and makes our bitter waters sweet Hence as all our duties are presented from us to God by Jesus Christ and therefore are accepted so all things are conveyed to us from God by Jesus Christ and so are sanctified Christ is not onely our Mediator but our Husband also and so we enjoy all good things with him and by him we have conjugal communion with him so that we may say as Hamor and Sechem said to their people the better to perswade them to be circumcised and to marry into Jacob's family Shall not all their cattle and substance and every beast of the field be ours So if we be married to Jesus Christ and become one with him shall not all be ours through him who is heir of all Not onely his wisdome to inlighten us and his power to uphold us but the world to supply us so that if this Husband of ours he honorable we cannot be mean if he be rich we cannot be poor and so a little with him is a great portion when the whole world without him is nothing Hence the Saints of God out of their love to Jesus Christ do use to set Jesus Christ above all his name also shall be above every name Princes in their Proclamations Charters and Grants set their names in the beginning on the top as James by the grace of God King of England c. Subjects do alwayes use to subscribe their names to their Wills Letters Leases in the bottome Both the Old Testament and the New wherein the Will of God is contained have the name of God set down in the beginning as In the beginning God created c. Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Joh 1. 1. It is good to set Jesus Christ above all for he is the summa
Lord of Israel the kindnesse of thy youth the lose of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wildernesse in a land that was not sown Our first works and our last works are commonly our best works when we begin first to live the life of grace and when we are ready to die and are entring upon the life of glory how excellent is our marriage how savoury our words how heavenly our conversation Even so it is when we are delivered from any great danger when enlarged with any singular comforts how lively how zealous and how active are we Call to minde the fifth of November 1605. when we were delivered from that barbarous Gunpowder-treason how forward were we in making laws against Papists how severe in suppressing Jesuites how zealous in setling true Religion Iâ— Iâ— reported of the City of Berne when first delivered from Antichrist when that State cast off that Romane bondage and reformed Religion that they wrote the day of their Redemption upon pillars in letters of gold And it is observable that in all the ages of the Church God hath set out himself to his people by such names and titles as were most suitable to his present dispensations or such as were of the last edition And why so But that his late mercies might be the better considered and remembred Hence in the beginning he was called the most high God the possessour of heaven and earth who had made all by the word of his power Under those times Melchisedech blessed Abraham Blessed be Abraham saith he of the most high God possessor of heaven and earth And Abraham covenanted to take nothing from the King of Sodome and that under these terms I have lift up my hand unto the Lord the most high God possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a thread to a shoe-latchet and that I will not take any thing that is thine Afterwards when God entred into a covenant with Abraham and his seed he was called the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And under those titles God gave his charge to Moses when he sent him to bring his people out of the Land of Aegypt I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. After that he was called the God that brought them out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage Such was the preface to his law I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt out of the house of bondage And so it continued for many generations even until he brought them out of Babylon And then saith the Lord It shall be no more said The Lord liveth that brought them out of the land of Aegypt but The Lord liveth that brought the children of Israel out of the land of the North. And now under the Gospel he is known by this most excellent name The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ And why so But because our redemption by Christ is the last and the great work he hath done for his Church and most fresh in our memories Whilest therefore mercies are fresh and work most upon the heart doe something in remembrance of Gods goodness and why not then write them downe in a Journall A small matter I should think whilest the heart is warm and well affected with the present sense of some singular pledge of Gods loving kindnesse may easily perswade to this duty 5. And finally love the Lord for his goodnesse If any thing under heaven will constrain us and help forward this duty love will Oh! love the Lord all ye his Saints saith the Psalmist And indeed none but Saints can love him He knocks at every dore and as it were pulls every man by the sleeve and saith Oh! love you the Lord Let the drunkard love his cups and the adulterer his harlots and the covetous person his bags but do you that are Saints love the Lord. For the Lord preserveth the faithfull and pletifully rewardeth the proud doer When one bucket goes downe the other will come up When Pharaoh is drowned Israel is saved When Haman is hanged Mordecai is advanced When proud doers are plagued the faithful are delivered Oh! love the Lord therefore And indeed love is all that God looks at in us and expects from us and where there is love there is no lack After so large a repetition of the great things God hath done for Israel What saith Moses to them doth God now require for all this but that you would love him And indeed love is complementumlegis the fulfilling of the Law Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing saith the Apostle but faith that worketh by love Faith and Love are like a pair of Compasses Faith like one point fastens upon Christ as the center and Love like the other goes the round in all the works of holinesse and righteousnesse Now certainly Love hath a good memory or would have a good memory What we slight we soon forget but what we love we endevour to lay up sure in our memories Vbi amâ—r ibi animus Where our love is our minde is Where our treasure is there will our heart be It was the eye that made the match That which which the eyesees not the heart desires not And as love came in by the eye so it delights by the same dore to look after that beloved object Such a soul that hath seen God in all things and therefore loves God above all things delights still to look after God in all his wayes that he may love him more and more Such a soul loves God as Jonathan loved David 1. Amore unionis with a love of union the soul of Jonathan was knit to David for he loved him as his own soul 2. He loved him amore complacentiae with a love of delight for it is said that Jonathan delighted much in David 3. He loved him amore benevolentiae with a love of good will for Jonathan said to David Whatsoever thy souldesireth I will even do it for thee Even so doth a gracious heart love God not onely with a love of union and a love of delight but with a love of good will too who saith to God as Paul at his conversion Lord what wilt thou have me to do Such an one is ready to suffer what ever may be inflicted on him and to do what ever may be required of him especially whatsoever may testifie how well he remembers God and his loving kindnesse to him CHAP. VIII Severall arguments propounded by which Christians may be provoked to keep such a Journall or Diary as hath been commended THat such Christians as have any abilities for the keeping of such a Journal or Diary as hath been commended to them may be encouraged thereunto I shal in the second place propound these foure arguments First it is
they say and a book of remembrance shal be written of it before the Lord. Cornelius was a most devout benefactor and the Angel tell him that his prayers and alms were come up in remembrance before God It is a mercy that God will remember us though it be with a rod to correct us but it is a rich favour indeed if he remember us with a staffe to support and comfort us As our remembrance of God or men is the summe of all we do for them Remember me saith Joseph to Phaaroh's Butler that is speak a good word for me do me the favour as work out my deliverance But the chief Butler did not remember Joseph but forgat him that is he did nothing for him Even so Gods remembrance is the summa totalis of his goodnesse to us He remembers us indeed for he pities us and spares us and pardons us supplyes us in all our necessities and supports us in all our extremities he will not leave us in our straights nor leave us in our sins and if we do or suffer any thing for him he hath a book of remembrance and it shall be written down At the last day it is said the books shall be opened and is not this one of those books and the dead shall be judged out of those things which were written in those books according to their works Jesus Christ will read to all the world the good works of his people out of that book I was anhungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in â—â—ked and ye clothed me You never did anything for God but he hath put it down in his book it is very just and equall then that what he hath done for you should be written down in your book Thirdly it is very necessary you should keep such a Journall and that in three regards 1. In regard of the badnesse of your memory Memoriaprimùm senescit say Physicians The memory decayes first old men and dying men will tell you so but the memory of a benefit sooner the memory of divine favours soonest of all Some things we can hardly forget as our sorrows and our pleasures It was about 20 yeers ere Esau could forget the sorrow he conceived for the losse of the blessing and the injury Jacob did him in getting it away from him And he was so mindfull of his pleasures that he forgat his bread And there be some things we can hardly remember â—as our faults and our friends It was two full years saith the story ere Pharaoh's Butler could remember Joseph or call his faults to minde for which he suffered imprisonment Many O Lord my God saith David are thy wonderfull works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to 〈◊〉 ward they cannot be reckoned up in order to thee if I should declare and speak of them they are more then can be numbred Then certainly many of these mercies that God hath vouchsafed to us would quite be forgotten did we not keep such a Diary by us 2. It is necessary that thereby we prevent the great fin of forgetfulnesse To forget God is a mother fin a root-fin What will not that man be what will not he doe that forgets God He is a very wicked man The wicked shall be turned into hell saith the Psalmist and all the nations that forget God He is a proud man and I am sure a proud man is a wicked man Through the pride of his countenance he will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts his thoughts are not of him or his thoughts are not of him or his thoughts are that there is no God He that forgets God forgets that God is He that forgets God is an hypocrite and an hypocrite is a very wicked man Consider this ye that forget God But who were they Such as took Gods name into their mouths and yet hated instruction and cast Gods words behinde them He that forgets God is a most unthankfull person and an unthankfull man is a most wicked man Dixeris ingratum dixeâ—is omnia Call a man an unthankfull man and call him any thing There was a little City saith Solomon besieged by a great King and a poor wise man delivered that City by his wisdome yet no man remembred that poor wise man It was a wicked part to forget that man but most wicked it is to forget God When Tamerlane that victorious Emperor had beaten Bajazet in battle and taken him prisoner he sent for him and amongst other questions asked him Whether ever he were thankfull to God for making him so great a King he answered that he never so much as thought of him which was a most wicked speech of a wicked man 3. It is necessary to prevent the great danger of forgetting God To forget God is a provoking sin He that forgets God sins not at an ordinary rate and therefore shal be punished not after an ordinary manner Consider this ye that forget God saith the Lord lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver you Eli forgat God and so did Saul and Jeroboam they forgat the great things God had done for them and did not God plague them and their posterity Forgetfulnesse of God makes him rage not onely against the work of his hands but the sheep of his pasture David forgat God and so did Solomon and how severely were they punished The one by his Son who rebelled against him the other by his Servant that pluckt the greatest part of the Kingdome from his posterity A Souldier of Philip King of Macedonia having begg'd the lands of one that had entertained him kindly was branded with Ingratus hospes on the forehead to his perpetual shame It is reported of Caesar and Alexander two of the most valiant Souldiers that ever the world had that the one would never give to and the other forgive an unthankful man Because saith the Lord Pharaoh King of Aegypt saith the river that is Nilus is mine owne I have made it for my self therefore will I dry up the river and cause the fish to stink What became of Herod the proud who after his oration and the peoples acclamation The voyce of a god and not of a man gave not the glory to God the Angel of the Lord â—mote him and he was eaten of worms and gave up the Ghost He that forgets God is unthankful to God and he that is unthankful forfeits all mercies as the not paying of Custome forfeits all a Merchants goods It is written of one Timotheus the Son of Conon a noble Citizen of Athens that after he had proudly said in a great assembly Haec ego feci non fortuna These things I have done and not Fortune which that people adored as God he never prospered but lost all the glory he had gotten A poor