materiall anointing make those other inviolable no marvell if this spirituall anointing have with God the same effect in regard of those that partake of it that he will not endure to see them in the least degree wronged whom he holdeth as his anointed 2. They are Gods adopted ones adopted to be his children and coheires with his Christ. I will receive you I will take you to me take you into my family and will be a father unto you and ye shal be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty And understand and consider in thine heart saith Moses to this people that as a father chastiseth his children so the Lord chastiseth thee And doth he carry himself towards them as a father in chastising of them onely and not in taking care of them also in matter of provision in case of protection yes undoubtedly as well in the one kind as in the other For is it not so with earthly meer naturall parents yea even with the dumb creatures with brute beasts How chary are affectionate parents wont to be of the safety and welfare of their children more chary of theirs ordinarily then of their own it is an usuall speech with parents when their children are ill used Do to me what you will but meddle not with my children yea nature hath taught and by a secret instinct doth incite not the stronger and stouter onely but even the weakest the most timerous and cowardly of the creatures to expose themselves and their lives to hazard for the safety and indemnity of their young And is not Gods affection as great and as tender to his as the affection of any parent can be to his child or any creature to its issue Yes undoubtedly and infinitely much more it being he that hath put this affection into them Hence when Sion complaineth that the Lord had forsaken her her God had forgotten her can a woman saith God so forget her sucking child that is ever in her eye never out of her lap or arms almost ever and anon at her brest that she should not have compassion on the fruit of her own womb thâ— some should proove so unnaturall as so to do yet cannot I forget thee I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands that I may no sooner open my hands but I may be put in mind of thee and thy wals which lying desolate as a rufull spectacle can not but move to compassion are continually in mine ey And when he heareth Ephraim bemoaning himself with hearty remorse and regret for his forepassed unruly and rebellious carriages Is this Ephraim saith God my deare son is it the child I delight in for so the words would there be read to wit that bemoaneth himself in this manner Surely even since I spake against him I do still seriously or constantly remember him Notwithstanding my sharp reproofs and severe menaces I have him in mind still tho I may seem not to regard him yet I cannot but remember him mine affection continueth intire and tender still towards him my bowels within me are troubled they yearn or sound for him they work and yearn towards him as a tender mothers are wont to do towards her child when it lieth in pain or when it is in danger and distresse I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. In a word imagine we how ill an affectionate father or mother Princes and great ones especially that thinke theirs priviledged above others can endure to see their children whom they are so tender of ill intreated and thence may we well gather how ill God can brooke any ill-usage of his 3. They are Gods first born not his children onely but his first born God when he will most pregnantly expresse his tender affection to David and his singular respect of him J will make him saith he my first born And men can have but one such but Gods children are all such with him the assembly of the first born saith the Apostle in allusion to the Law wherein all the first born were consecrated to God were peculiarly his The affection of parents to their children where many are is in some sort entire to each and there is somewhat usuall in each out of which tho it be but some weaknesse yet a tender-hearted parent can pick matter enough whereon to ground his affection if there be nothing else that is enough that they are hiâ— But if the affection be in any considerable degree carried more to some one than to the rest it resteth coÌ„monly in the greatest eminency unlesse some other by-consideration abate it upon the first born he is the prime of his strength and the head of the house and as the care therefore of provision for the first born is the greatest so the grief for the losse of the first born is the most grievous They shall mourn saith he as one mourneth for his onely child and grieve bitterly as one grieveth for his first born If then the affection of parents to their first born be such no marvell if Gods affection be no other to his first born and such are his all to him It is the argument he useth by Moses to Pharao Israel is my son even my first born and I say unto thee take it from me Let my son goe to serve me Or if thou refuse to let him goe I will slay thy son even thy first born and God made his word good for so upon his refusall after many other sad judgements at last accordingly he did 4. They are his first fruits as his first born so his first-fruits too Of his own will he begat us saith the Apostle by the word of truth that we might be the first fruits of his creatures As the first born so the first fruits were holy to God and were therefore reserved and preserved for his use and for any to detain them or to imbecil them was sacriledge nor is it any lesse or lower a degree of sacriledge to abuse or wrong any of these Gods spirituall first fruits It is the plea that God by the Prophet useth in the behalf of his people Israel is holinesse to the Lord. he is consecrated to him as the first fruits were he is the first fruits of his increase and what followeth all therefore that devour him shall contract guilt by so doing some evill or other shal befall them as it fared usually with those that devoured any holy thing 5. They are Gods darlings his deer ones Save my soul from the sword saith David my darling from the hand or power of the Dog my darling saith he and thy darling he might as wel have said for David was indeed one of Gods darlings and so are all the faithfull his darlings his deâ—r ones his deerly beloved ones as deere and pretious to him yea more deere and pretious to him I may safely say then to themselves The sonnes of Sion are pretious one and Because thou wast pretious in my sight saith God
plotted or attempted and practised against him that God can endure to sâ— And this leadeth me on to the fourth question to wit what sight or manner of seeing it is that Balaam here speaks of There is therefore a twofold sight as with man so with God to speak of him as humane capacity is able to conceive the things of God and to utter them in such language as our infirmity will affoard There is first a vision or sight of simple contemplation or consideration whereby God vieweth and taketh notice of all things in the world and among the rest of all men and of all mens actions good and bad For tho God dwell on high yet he stoopeth so low as to behold and take notice of the things that are and are done not in heaven onely but on earth also He beholds the ends of the earth and seeth all that is under any part of heaven And there is an eye of God in every place beholding both the good and the bad For the Lord looks down from heaven and beholds all the sonnes of men from his dwelling place he viewes all that dwell on the earth and as he framed alike the souls of each of them as well of one as of another so he considereth all their works His eyes are upon all the wayes of men and he vieweth all their goings he seeth every step they take and there is no darknesse nor deadly shade wherein wrong-doers can be sheltered and concealed from his sight Of such a sight therefore the words of seeing and beholding here cannot be understood For thus he seeth wickednesse or wrong and considereth it too saith Eliphaz and he beholdeth mischief or grievance and spite saith the Psalmist And that then especially when it is done to those that are more peculiarly his I have seeing seen I have certainly considerately wistfully seen the affliction of my people saith God to Moses when they suffered so much in Egypt and as he seeth it so he taketh notice of it and taketh it to heart If thou seest saith Salomon oppression of the poore and violent perverting of judgement and justice in a Province marvell not at the matter be not troubled so much about it as if there were no redresse for it for he that is higher then the highest of observeth it to wit God by Job styled the observer of men and there be higher then they who therefore both can and will call them to account 2. There is a vision of comprobation and complacency wherewith God is said so to see things that withall he approveth and liketh well of them Thus saith God to Noah Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation when looking upon the whole world besides he saw it all corrupt and full of wickednesse and I have seen thy tears saith God to Ezekiah I have beheld them with acceptation and I will look unto him that is poor or lowly and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word to approve his person and accept his service So on the other side in the Lamentations of Ieremy For one to crush prisoners under his feet to turn aside or overthrow a mans right before the face of the most high and to subvert a man in his cause the Lord seeth it not that is the Lord approves not of it tho some reading the words by way of interrogation understand it rather as spoken in the former fense and of the former sight Doth not God see it But so without all question in a place parallel to this where the Prophet as he complaineth to God that he had made him to see wrong and as the words are almost generally rendred caused him to behold grievance the very tearms by Balaam here used in the former sense So he affirmeth of God that he is of purer eyes then to see evill and that he cannot behold or look on vexation or grievance that is he is one that cannot endure to see or behold it but with detestation and dislike and by way of expostulation therefore he demandeth of him why he himself beholdeth grievance for so indeed the words would be read and some render them aright and doest thou or wilt thou behold grievance or while thou thy self beholdest the grievances that the godly sustain at the hands of the wicked as they elsewhere we have been afflicted so and so in thy sight and again as Ester sometime to Assuerus How can I endure to see the evill of my people and the destruction of my kindred so how he can endure to look on as if he liked well enough of it or did not greatly mislike it and be silent as if he were deafe hold his peace and say nothing while the wicked devoureth him that is more righteous then himself and make or suffer men to be as the fish of the sea that are without ruler and live without rule where the greater preyeth upon and swalloweth down the lesser as the most Interpreters expound that place or as some other and make men to be as the fish of the Sea whom who will may catch without controle and as the creeping things as worms that crawl on the ground which men kill at pleasure because they have no governour either to order them or to protect them against the violence of others not fish or creeping things of their own kind so much as either men in generall the one or fishermen more especially the other who dâ—aw up whatsoever commeth to hand with the hooke and sweep all away hand over head with their net as in the next words whereto such tyrans and oppressors of Gods people are compared the Prophet explaining himself doth complain Now as in that passage of the Prophet it is said of God that he cannot endure to see evill and behold grievance so in the wisards speech here the like is said of him concerning wrong and grievance done to his people and the words may be rendred either in the time past he hath not seen wrong nor beheld grievance done to his people by any adversary hitherto but hath righted and revenged it witnesse his judgements executed on Pharao and the Egyptians for their cruell oppression hard usage and malicious pursuit of them and that sad severe and irrevokable sentence passed upon the Amalekites for their molesting of them in their passage Or in the time to come for the tenses in the originall are oft promiscuously used he will not see any wrong done to Iacob or grievance done to Israel as we use to say I will not see such an one wronged when our meaning is that we will not endure it but will either protect and secure them against it or be revenged on those that shall either attempt it or doe it Or in the time present but as in a potentiall form which in either tense is not unusuall He cannot endure to behold wrong offered to Iacob nor to see grievance done to Israel Or putting all together as all closely
implyed and joyntly both intended and included He hath not seen or beheld will not see cannot endure to see or behold any wrong or grievance that hath been shall be is or may be by any offered unto or attempted against his Iacob his Israel And this I conceive to be as the true and genuine so the full and entire sense of the place and it is indeed in effect the same with that which Calvin not without some good approbation relateth as the exposition of some before him to wit that God is said not to see wrong or molestation in or against Israel because he will not suffer them to be wrongfully vexed and grieved nor endure to see the same and if any therefore shall attempt to harm them he will not admit any violence or wrong against them but will oppose himself thereunto whereunto also he addeth that being so understood it may be indefinitely and passively thus rendred as of many other places the like may be shewed No wrong shal be seen done to Jacob nor molestation beheld done to Israel and so saith he the context will run more clearly the reason thereof being rendred in the words next ensuing because God is present with them ready at hand to protect them and to oppose any that shall attempt to wrong or to molest them Thus then it appeares that an other sense may be given of these words then that which these corrupters of Scripture would fasten upon them and that such as well agreeth both with the truth of story and the analogy of faith whereas theirs agreeth with neither and receiveth further coâ—firmation from the ordinary and most usuall signification of the words from the connexion of them with the residue of the context and from the collation of other Scriptures And the result of all that hath hither to been said is this that that which these men would make them to speak doth directly crosse the tenor of the story and the truth of Gods word doth contradict their own tenents and is inconsistent with them could not be the mind and meaning of him by whom they were uttered nor can duly and justly be by them pressed as a ground for such a point of doctrine as they would build thereupon since that they may well bear another sense Let us in the next place proceed now we have the true sense to consider what the proper doctrine is of the place The Text then thus cleared the point of instruction that of it self it naturally yeeldeth and affordeth us is this that God cannot endure to see any wrong or grievance done or offered unto his This he manifested and made known to the world from the very first beginning of his sequestration of persons and people to himself When albeit they were but few in number yea very few and those strangers in the lands wherein they lived what time they wandred from Nation to Nation out of one Kingdom to another when the paucity of them together with their present estate and condition as not strangers onely but travellers might in all likelyhood expose them to contempt and despight and consequently to much wrong and abuse yet it is said that even then he suffered no man to do them wrong but sharply reproved yea and severely punished Kings themselves and that not one alone as the sacred stories shew for their sake for attempting to wrong them And when they were grown now to a greater multitude to be a numerous people tho he suffered them for a while to be oppressed in Egypt yet as he had long before threatned on the King and people that so oppressed them he executed judgement and that in such manner as made all the world ring of it and the fame of it being spread abroad farre and neer made other Nations also to stand in aw of them Too long and tedious it would be to trace this point as might easily be done through the whole body of the holy story to relate thence the heavy doom first past and after executed on Amalek for molesting them in their passage the overthrows and slaughters of Sihon and Og with their forces that denied them passage through their Land opposed them in their way and of those numberlesse multitudes of the Cushites Syrians Assyrians and others that invaded them in their own Countrey under Asa Iehoshaphat and Ezekiah together with the shameful flight of Senacherib the execution done on him by the hands of his owne sonnes and of the exemplary judgement shewed on Haman and his whole house who by plotting and attempting the ruin of that people ruined himself and all his Suffice it may in generall to have observed that no people or person are in Gods booke read of ever to have either wronged Gods people or attempted so to do but that first or last they have paid full dear for it The reasons hereof may be drawn either from those relations that such have unto God or from Gods own nature and disposition as in generall so more especially toward those who in more speciall manner are his First I say the relations that such have unto God and these are manifold and various but all herein concurring that they necessarily imply that affection in God toward them and care of them that is intimated in my Text. For they are his anointed ones his adopted ones his first-born his first-fruits his deer ones his darlings his spouse his turtle his people 1. They are Gods anointed ones Touch not saith he mine anointed take heed how you but touch them how you offer the least wrong to them how you make the lightest or sleightest attempt against them they are mine anointed whom I will not have once touched Kings are justly deemed sacred because they are the Lords anointed and who can be guiltlesse saith David that shall stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and God himself of David With mine holy Oyle have I anointed him and the enemy therefore shall not exact upon him nor the sons of any wrong-doers afflict him I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him They are not indeed such anointed ones of whom God there speaks and in whose behalf he claimeth this prerogative and priviledge and proclaimeth such immunity and indemnity as you have heard they are Kings whom he speaks to and whom he is said to have rebuked for their sakes of whom he there speaks But the anointed he there speaks of and for whom Kings are said to have been reproved were Abraham Isaak and Jacob with their issue and retinue so tearmed in regard of that spirituall ointment that being powred without measure on Christ their head doth from him descend and is derived in its due measure unto every member of that body whereof he is head by vertue whereof they are enabled to become Kings and Priests unto God and so all sound interpreters generally as well ancient as modern expound that place Howbeit if the
in some good measure by the furnace of affliction And I will bring a third part of them through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and try them as gold is tried and then they shall call upon me and I will hear them having made them by their afflictions fit for my service And Many of those saith Daniel that have understanding shall fall by fire and sword and by plundering and thraldome but to what end or with what effect to try them and to purifie them and to whiten them and many accordingly shall be purified and whitened and tried And The Lord saith Malachie when he cometh in judgement shall be as the finers fire and as the fullers soap and he shall sit down as a finer or trier of silver to refine the sonnes of Levi and to purifie them as gold or silver that the offrings they offer may be righteous offrings and wel-pleasing to the Lord. Hereunto might be added that as no trials are usually sharper or fiercer then those that Gods people sustain at the hands of their malitious and mercilesse adversaries and their reproachfull and despitefull usages the rather because therein they seem to insult not so much over them as over God himself in them so in no trials doth the courage and confidence of Gods people more manifest it self then by their undaunted constant and unmoveable carriage in such cases Nor is God himself in ought more glorified nor the might of his grace in his by any means more magnified then when Gods people tho they seem left to the will of their cruell enemies yet notwithstanding all their might and malice all their rage and excesse of outrage and cruelty they cannot have their own will on them are not able to work them to what they would but that they conquer them then when they seem to be conquered by them they prevaile against those that seem to prevaile against them When thou wast yong saith our Saviour to Peter thou didst gird thy self and walkedst whither thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch out thine hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not and withall it is added that this he spake signifying by what death he should glorifie God and There was power given to the beast to make war upon the Saints and to overcome them and yet did they prevail against him and overcame him as they had done the Dragon before him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony or by their word of testimony their free and undaunted witnesse-bearing to Gods truth or by the matter of their martyrdome whereby they gave a reall testimony thereunto and by not loving their lives unto death by being willing to lay down their lives in Gods cause and to seal both the truth of it and their love to it with their blood for thus had they the victory over the beast and over his mark and his image and the number of his name even then when he seemed most victorious against them to wit when refusing to worship the beast or his image or to beare his name on their forehead or hand they were beheaded or suffered otherwise for their refusall And in all these things saith the Apostle we are not conquerours onely but more thâ—n conquerours even triumphers as he elsewhere expresseth it through him that hath loved us When I shall be advanced saith our Saviour thereby intimating what death he should die as if the lifting of him up on the crosse had been the lifting of him to some chair of estate or some seat of honour some royall throne or some triumphant Charet that which the Apostle also seems to intimate where he saith that on it he triumphed over principalities and powers and led them in triumph as captives Captains and great commanders especially taken in war had anciently in solemn manner wont to be as to their greater ignominy so for the greater honour of him by whom they had been subdued And as the crosse was as Christs triumphant charet so are the constant sufferings of Gods servants their conquest 's their triumph since that thereby they overcome and even triumph over the might and malice of the adverse party thereby acquiring abundance of glory to God and atchieving a large measure of true honour to themselves in the eyes and minds both of God and man The consideration whereof also maketh Gods children tho not willing if no need were and so take we that before spoken by our Saviour of Peter to undergo such sad and heavy things as these usually are yet in regard that their sufferings bring so much glory to God and as from them are a service very acceptable unto him to be not onely not unwilling but most ready and forward with much alacrity and cheerfulnesse to offer themselves unto them or rather to offer themselves up to God in them esteeming it as no dishonour but an honour to be dishonoured for Christ and for his cause so no pain but a pleasure to endure be it what it will or can be that they suffer for Christ or for the good of those that are his They went from the consistory saith the story of Peter and Iohn when they had been rated and beaten rejoycing that they were vouchsafed the honour to be dishonourably used for Christ that they had been so much graced as to be disgraced for him And Now I rejoyce in my sufferings saith the Apostle Paul to the Colossianâ— for you while I help for my part to fill up or fulfill in 〈◊〉 flesh whâ—â—iâ— yet behind or remaineth to be made up of the sufferings of Christ besides what he personally endured by Gods appointment for other ends such are above-mentioned and the like to be sustained by the severall members of his body each of them his portion assigned him in his turn and time for his body which is the Church And to the Ephesianâ— at Miletus on the way in his journey to Ierusalem Behold I go to Jerusalem bound in the spirit by a solemn tho secret instinct of the Spirit led thither not knowing what things will there befall me whether I shall there end my daies or no save that the holy Ghost by persons therewith inspired some or other in each City where I come assureth mâ— that bands and imprisonment there abide me but none of these things at all move me nor is my life deare unto me so I may consummate my course with joy and the ministery which I have received from the Lord Jesus to testifie the Gospell of the grace of God and after that when some of the Disciples at Tyrus speaking by the Spirit said to him that he should not goe to Ierusalem that is by divine inspiration foretold him what would there befall him and withall out of their kind but corrupt affection gave him carnall counsell such as Peter did before-time in the like case to our Saviour that
tender parent one that cannot abide to see the least wrong done in word or deed either by servant or stranger unto any of his children yet to be oft chiding with them chastising of them himself so that neighbours take notice how the rod walketh in his house and his children some or other of them come daily under the lash we will easily conclude that there is sure somewhat amisse in them that he would have reformed their carriage is some way or other such as it should not be the cause therefore of his so dealing with them contrary to his own disposition otherwise is not from ought in himself being of himself averse thereunto but from somewhat in them that induceth or even constraineth him so to do In like manner when we shall see and observe how God who is so chary of the good and welfare of his children and so tender over them that he cannot endure to see them sustain the least injury at the hand of any other yet to be so frequently correcting theÌ„ himself and dealing with them so severely as oft-times he doth we may well thence conclude that there is not somewhat onely but very much amisse with them many things out of order that he would have reformed and amended in them that it is from them and their corruption not from himself or his own disposition that he deals in such wise with them It is that which the Prophet thence inferres in that dispute of his wherein he debates and discusseth the ground causes of those afflictions that his people then in captivity sustained The Lord saith he doth not from his heart afflict or grieve the sonnes of men and yet he doth it that is acknowledged For Who is he that can or dare say that ought comes to passe and the Lord hath not commanded it It is he that creates evill as well as good as well darknesse as light as well war as peace and there is no evill in City Country or family no evill whatsoever that befalleth persons or people which he hath not done he hath ever a hand tho a pure and a just one in it and as well evill as good comes out of his mouth either comes by his appointment But if he do what is done and yet that which is done goeth against the heart with him surely there must be somewhat without him that incites him to do what he doth yea that is true saith our Prophet the cause of the evils we sustain is in our selves not in him Why doth the living man complaine what is the first and principall procuring cause of his grief man suffereth for his sinne it is his own sinne that is the procuring cause of his sufferings it is mans sinne that kindleth wrath in God Thou art incensed because we have sinned it is sinne that wrings and wrests it as by force and violence from God Zedekiah did evill in the sight of the Lord his God and would not humble himself before Jeremiah the Prophet at the commandement of the Lord but stiffened his neck and hardened his heart that he might not returne to the Lord God of Israel all the chief of the Priests also the people transgressed exceedingly according to all the abominations of the Gentiles and polluted the Lords house which in Ierusalem he had halowed Yet the God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising early and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his place of abode among them and was loath to destroy either But they mocked his messengers and slâ—ighted their message and misused his Prophets untill his wrath was incensed that there was now no remedy he bare with them so long that he could no longer forbeare till he were even wearied and tired out with repenting and revoking of his former doomes of destruction Hence so frequent in the holy story the book of Iudges especially The children of Israel sinned against God and God thereupon sold them into the hand of this or that oppressing enemy And because it may be said that the sinnes there mentioned are mostly the sins of idolatry and the sins of the worse tho the greater part of that people To omit what might be replied hereunto that tho such sinnes are most commonly named as the chief yet other sinnes no doubt were rise also among them and for other sinnes also as well as these are Gods judgements threatned by Gods Prophets as also that both sorts as well good as bad had their share and suffered either with other in the common calamities of the times It is apparent by the confession of Gods own choise people that they also had their failings not a few and that the hand of God for those defaults of theirs was oft heavy also upon them Thine arrowes saith David stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me sore there is no soundnâ—sse in my flesh by reason of thy wrath nor rest in my bones because of my sinne and while I kept silence concealing my sinne my very bones wasted so that I roâ—red for paâ—n and grief all the day long For night and day incessantly thy hand was so heavy â—pon me that the moisture of my body was all clean dried up it was turned into a sommers drought And because it may again be objected that thus it was before Christs coming in the flesh in the time of the Old Testament but it is not so with the faithful now since the death of Christ under the New Not to insist on that which yet well we might that God is no changeling and that his affection to his children hath been ever the same The Apostle even in the New Testament telleth us that for their sinne in irreverent and unworthy repair to Gods board and unseemly carriage of themselves there some of them at Corinth were from God smitten with weaknesse some with sicknâ—sse and by sicknesse some of them unto death Nor will it serve to say that these were of the infidels at Corinth for they had accesse to the Lords Table or that it might be spoken of some profane and unsound ones among them such as many in that Church might be for to omit that he saith noâ— the unworthy receiver but he that unworthily receives he that tho in regard of his personall estate is not unfit to be a guest at Gods board yet comes not so fitted and prepared as he ought or demeanes not himself as is meet when he is there is not so cautious as he should and might be in the manner of his addresse or of his approaches thereunto To let this passe which yet is of some moment it is added presently after by the Apostle putting himself also in among the rest that if we would judge or sift our selves to wit so as to repent of and redresse what upon search we find amisse in our selves God would not judge us by inflicting such sad and heavie things upon us and that when God doth