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spirit_n	bear_v	flesh_n	john_n	7,151	5	7.0455	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67153	A practical commentary or exposition upon the Pentateuch viz. These five books of Moses Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Wherein the text of every chapter is practically expounded, according to the doctrine of the Catholick Church, in a way not usually trod by commentators; and wholly applyed to the life and salvation of Christians. By Ab. Wright; sometime fellow of St. John's Colledge in Oxford.	Wright, Abraham, 1611-1690.	1662 (1662)	Wing W3688; ESTC R221054	292,675	224

temporary temporal and spiritual death Verse 9. Adultery is called here a great sin not only for the uncleanness and filthiness of it but because of the punishment that follows and sometimes overtakes whole Cities and Kingdoms for that sin in their Governors as it would have done here had not God with-held Abimelech from that sin verse 6. Now God keeps his Children from sinning either by instinct of his Spirit or the instruction of his Word or by the guiding and guard of Angels or by diseases as here Verse 11. Wheresoever is wickedness there can be no fear of God these two cannot lodge under one roof for the fear of God drives out evil Ecclus. 1. 26. As therefore Abraham here argues well from the Cause to the Effect because the fear of God is not in this place therefore they will kill me So David argues back from the Effect to the Cause they imagine wickedness on their Bed therefore the fear of God is not before them I would to God neither of these Arguments were demonstrative but our lives shew they are For if we feared the Lord durst we dally with his Name durst we tear it in pieces Surely we contemne his person whose Name we contemne The Iewes have a conceit that the sin of that Israelite which was stoned for Blasphemy was only this that he named that ineffable Name Iehovah Shall their fear keep them from once mentioning the dreadful Name of God and shall not our fear keep us from abusing it Durst we so boldly sin against God in the face if we feared him Durst we mock God with a formal flourish of that which our heart tells us we are not if we feared him Verse 14. Thus God comes as it were out of an Engine and helps his people at a pinch Abraham had brought himself into the bryars and could find no way out Many a heavie heart he had no doubt for his dear Wife who suffered by his default and she again for him God upon their Repentance provides graciously for them both She is kept undefiled he greatly enriched and now they are both secured and dismissed with rewards and priviledges Oh who would not serve such a God as turns our errors and evil counsels to our great good as the Athenians believed their Goddess Minerva did for them Verse 16. Abraham is said to be a veil of Sarahs eyes First That no man knowing her to be Abrahams Wife should look upon her to desire her Secondly It putteth Sarah in mind of her subjection to Abraham whereof the veil is a sign 1 Cor. 11. 10. Thirdly Abraham was her veil that is her just excuse that she did this for his cause being by him perswaded but the former Exposition is the better For the following words the meaning is that all this was that she might he reproved or in all this she reproved her self so that they seem to be the words rather of the Writer concerning Sarah than of Abimelech to Sarah Verse 18. Barrenness is a just punishment for an Incontinent life This may be seen in Solomon who of 300 Concubines and 700 Wives left but one Son Rehoboam and he not very wise to succeed him CHAP. XXI Verse 6. VVE must rejoyce in the least Mercy how greatly then in the greatest our joyes take their measure by our mercies When Sarah had a Son she said God hath made me to laugh so that all that hear me shall laugh with me Her mercy in receiving a Son was so great that it would serve a whole world to make merry with The man that had found his lost Sheep laid it on his shoulders rejoycing it was a pleasant burthen to him and when he came home he called together his Friends and Neighbors saying Rejoyce with me As some afflictions are so big that all our own sorrows are not large enough to weep and mourn over them so some blessings are so big that they call out more than our own affections to rejoyce over them Verse 9. It is not alwayes a disparagement to be laugh'd at the best may be laugh'd at the just upright man is so holiness is under disgrace among unholy men Saint Paul telling this story reports it as a great example of unholy scorn he that was born after the Flesh did persecute him that was born after the Spirit Ishmael persecuted Isaac Moses here tells us the manner how and the weapon wherewith Ishmael did not lift up his hand against Isaac as Cain did against Abel but his tongue he mocked him Those greatest differences in divine Heraldry of being born after the flesh and after the Spirit shew where the quarrel lay it was the spiritualness of Isaac which rendered him so obnoxious to his Carnal Brother Ishmael Isaac was born after the Spirit and doubtless he shewed some fruits of the Spirit which Ishmael did not relish and therefore mocked him And the Apostle gives the reason The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him 1 Cor. 2. 14. Verse 10. Sarah speaks angerly concerning Ishmael This son of the Bond-woman shall not be Heir with my son and might not God have said as roundly concerning us these bond-slaves of sin and Satan shall not be Heirs with my Son But such is the goodness of our gracious God he deals with us like the Father of the Prodigal Child the Son feared a sharp rebuke and the Father provided a dainty feast And thus God not only pardons our indignities but crowns us with mercies and loving kindness So that we may confess ingeniously with the Prodigal Child We are not worthy to be called thy Sons make us as one of thy hired servants vouchsafe us even the least measure of thy favour and it is more than we can deserve or expect Verse 12. Let us never be ashamed to follow the counsel of such as are discreet and godly Neither is it greatly material who they be that give us good counsel whether our superiors equals or inferiors For we must not weigh so much who is the counsellor as what is the counsel The child is somtimes made able to advise the Father the Servant may somtimes see more than his Master the Wife may sometimes give good counsel to her Husband and it is no dispraise or disparagement for them to hearken to their inferiors but they ought to receive it as a Message brought unto them from God yea if an enemy should perswade us to that which is good we ought to make this benefit and advantage of him as to hearken to our own profit Abraham accounted it no reproach or reproof unto him to obey the Counsel of his Wife when she perswaded him to cast out the Bond-woman and her Son and Abraham is commanded to listen unto it for God said unto him In all that Sarah shall say unto thee hear her voice Away then with the pride and pevishness of all those that take it as a discredit unto

not worth thanks Nay this very upbraiding Israelite shall save Moses his life For if this mans tongue had not cast him in the teeth with bloud he had been surprized by Pharaoh ere he could have known the fact was known Now he grows jealous flies and escapes no Friend is so commodious in some cases as an Adversary Verse 15. God hath alwayes one place of refuge or other for his Servants to fly unto If Iudea be dangerous for the Child Iesus in Egypt he shall find safety and again if Egypt threaten death to Moses Midian shall preserve him and improve him likewise For God by forty years exile fitted Moses for further light and advancement Much he had learnt in Egypt but more in Midian There is no doubt but he had good School-masters in Pharaohs Court but his own affliction was his best Moses had never been so illuminate a Doctor nor so excellent a Ruler afterwards if he had not been first humbled here Verse 17. Moses when he may not in Egypt he will be doing Justice in Midian In Egypt he delivers the oppressed Israelite in Midian the wrong'd Daughters of Iethro A good Man will be doing good wheresoever he is his Trade is a compound of Charity and Justice But who would have thought in this present condition as Moses was so cast down with his own complaints that he would have had any feeling of others yet how hot is he upon Justice No adversity can make a good Man neglect good Duties he sees in the oppression of the Shepherds the image of that other he left behind him in Egypt The Maids Daughters of so great a Peer draw water for their Flocks the inhumane Shepherds drive them away rudeness hath not respect either to Sex or condition If we lived not under Laws this were our case Might would be the measure of Justice we should not so much as injoy our own water Verse 22. It seems by this Text that Moses his affection was not so tyed to Midian that he could forget Egypt He was a Stranger in Midian What was he else in Egypt Surely either Egypt was not his Home or a miserable one and yet in reference to it he cals his Son Gershom a Stranger there Much better were it to be a Stranger there than a Dweller in Egypt How hardly can we forget the place of our abode or education although never so homely And if he thought of his Egyptian Home where was nothing but bondage and tyranny how should we think of that Home of ours above where is nothing but rest and blessedness Verse 23. This is a Comfort to the Godly as likewise it should be a Warning to all Oppressors of Gods Children they shall die and be packing and shall not continue to deal cruelly with Gods Inheritance The rod of the ungodly lighteth upon the Faithful but the Lord hath said it shall not rest and dwell upon them But however it was but just with God to let them sigh by reason of their bondage Such sobs of sorrow were but due to them that rejected and would not see what God offered them of ease A singular Warning to beware the rejection of Gods Mercy when it is offered for such a refusal hath ever a sure punishment attending upon it Forty years agoe God offered them deliverance by Moses which when they refused they were plagued with forty years more of slavery But yet at length when they sighed God heard that very sorrowful breathing Sweet Father so it is ever with thee just to correct but gracious to give over not ever offended but in due time intreated pittiful loving and of endless mercy CHAP. III. Verse 1. THat great men may not be ashamed of honest Vocations the greatest that ever were have been content to take up with mean Trades The same Moses that in the former Chapter was a Courtier is in this verse a Shepherd The contempt of honest Callings in those which are well born argues Pride without Wit How constantly did Moses stick to his Hook and yet a man of great Spirit of excellent Learning of curious Education and if God had not called him off he had so ended his dayes In the mean time how had he learn'd to subdue all ambitious desires and to rest content with his obscurity so he might have the freedome of his thoughts and full opportunity of holy Meditations he willingly leaves the World to others and envies not his proudest Acquaintance of the Court of Pharaoh He that hath true worth in himself and familiarity with God finds more pleasure in the Desarts of Midian than others can do in the Palaces of Kings Verse 2. This manner of appearing may occasion us to remember how God useth to apply himself to the purpose and intent of his appearing Isai. 6. 1. He is said to appear like a Judge because as then the judgement of Ifrael drew near At the Baptisme of Christ it pleased the Holy Ghost to appear like a Dove because that form might shew the innocency and mild nature of our Saviour And now here like a Bush burning but not consumed that it might declare the present state of his People in Egypt and the condition of his Church unto the Worlds end Verse 5. In this appearance God meant to call Moses to come yet when he is come inhibits him Come not hither We must come to God but we must not come too near him When we mediate of the great Mysteries of his Word we come to him we come too near him when we search into his Counsels The Sun and the Fire say of themselves come not too near how much more the Light which none can attain unto We have all our limits set us and very good reason for it For the Waves of the Sea had not more need of bounds than mans presumption Moses must not come close to the Bush at all and where he may stand he may not stand with his shooes on This Command was significant What are the shooes but worldly and carnal affections If these be not cast off when we come to the holy Place we make our selves unholy How much lesse should we dare to come with resolutions of sin This is not only to come with shooes on but with shooes bemired with wicked filthiness the touch whereof prophanes the Pavement of God and makes our presence odious Verse 6. God could not describe himself by a more sweet Name than this I am the God of thy Father and of Abraham c. yet Moses hides his face for fear If he had said I am the Glorious God that made Heaven and Earth that dwels in Light inaccessible whom Angels cannot behold here had been just cause of terror But why was Moses so frighted with a familiar compellation God is no lesse awful to his own in his very Mercies Great is thy Mercies that thou maist be fear'd For to them no lesse Majesty shines in the Favours of God than in his Judgements and Justice

the Elder shall suffer no less than the Younger the Rich as well as the Poor there is no regard with God of these things Verse 3. He howled not out with any unseemly cries neither uttered any words of Rage and Impatience but meekly stoop'd to Gods will kiss'd the Rod and held his peace If thus Aaron in so great a Judgement how much more we when our Friends dye naturally sweetly and comfortably so that we may boldly say we have not lost them but sent them before us whether we hope also to follow Verse 5. That which the Father and Brother may not do the Cousins are Commanded Dead Carkasses are not for the presence of God his Justice was shewn sufficiently in killing them they are now fit for the Grave not the Sanctuary neither are they carried out naked but in their Coats It was an unusual sight for Israel to set a linnen Ephod upon the Beer the Judgement was so much the more remarkable because they had the badg of their Calling upon their backs Nothing is either more pleasing unto God more commodious to Men then that when he hath executed Judgment it should be seen and wondered at for therefore he strikes some that he may warn all Verse 12. This is added to comfort and strengthen the shaken Hearts of Aaron and his living Sons who might by this strange punishment have been driven into doubt whether ever the Lord would be pleased that they should meddle again with the Sacrifices and we see therein a gracious God who maketh not his Promises void to all for the faults of some We must therefore cleave to our Calling and even so much the more painfully go forward therein by how much we see others punish'd for ill doing be taught therefore and school'd but never be discouraged and feared from imposed Duty Verse 20. In that Moses admitted of a reasonable excuse we may learn to abhor Pride and to do the like Pride I say which scorneth to hear what may be said against the conceit we have once harboured A modest man doth not thus and therefore holy Iob had an Ear for his Servant and his Maid and did not despise their Judgement their Complaint and Grief when they thought themselves evill entreated by him CHAP. XI Verse 2. LEarn from hence our Duty to depend upon the Word and Will of God in all things yea even in our Meat and how careful likewise we ought to be to seek cleanness of Body and Soul before that God who expects it in our very Diet. Verse 3. This typified a difference of Men and Women in the World some clean and some unclean for they that have a true Faith and a good Life by meditating in the Word are such as divide the Hoof and chew the Cud and they are clean but such as do neither or but one are unclean as he that believeth in God but liveth not well or he that liveth in an outward honesty but believeth not rightly They again may be called clean dividing the Hoof who do not believe in great or in gross but discern and distinguish things as Christ and Moses Nature and Grace not believing every Spirit but trying the Spirits whether they be of God or no. Iohn 4. 1. For chewing the Cud they may be said to do it and so to be clean who meditate of that they hear lay it up in their Hearts and practice it in their Conversations Verse 5. By the Coney are figured out such Men as lay up their Treasures in the Earth because the Conies digg and scrape and make their Berries in the ground whereas we are taught to lay up our Treasure in Heaven Mat. 6. Verse 6. The Hare is a very fearful Creature and therefore is the type of fearful Men and Women despairing of Grace and shrinking from God such persons are unclean and excluded the Kingdom of God Rev. 21. 8. Verse 7. The Swine never looks up to Heaven but hath his mouth ever in the Earth and Mire caring for nothing but his Belly nourish'd only to be kill'd for his Death hath use his Life hath none A good Caveat for the Rich miserable Wretches of the World who never profit any till they dye A Knife therefore for the Hogg that we may have what is useful in him and Death for such Wretches that the Common-wealth may have use of theie Baggs Verse 14. By the Goss-hauk is shadowed forth Men that Prey upon their weaker Brethren and Neighbours By the Vulture Men that delight in Wars and Contention By the Ravens unnatural Parents that forsake their Children unkind Friends which shrink away Ill Husbands that provide not for their Families By the Ostrich painted Hypocrites and Carnal Men that have fair great Feathers but cannot flye By the Seamew that liveth both on Land and Water such as will be saved both by Faith and Works such Ambodexters as the World hath store of that carry two Faces under a Hood Fire in one hand and Water i th' other CHAP. XII Verse 2. THis serves to Confute that gross Error of Pelagius denying the propagation of sin from Parents to Children but if the Birth were clean the Mother by the Birth should not be unclean as this purification did shadow that she was God would therefore have all Men know what they are by Nature and what by Grace through the Remedy provided Christ our only Righteousness and Purity Also that God had rather have them never enter into the Church than to enter with Corruption unsorrowed for and uncared for Verse 4. Although this Ceremonial Law of Moses be abrogated and gone yet honesty of Nature and modesty in Woman-kind is neither abrogated nor gone Therefore even still we retain in the Church a lawful and laudible custome among Women that they should stay a time after Child-birth to gather strength in their Houses and then come to Church to give God Thanks And this is nothing but a needful thing in regard of weakness a modest Ceremony in regard of Woman-hood and a Christian Duty in regard of Comfort and Mercy received to come to Church there thankfully to acknowledg Gods great mercy to them in both giving them safe deliverance and blessing them with Children to their Comfort Verse 5. There is no sin in Marriage if it be not abused but because this is rare therefore after Women were delivered God appointed them to be purified shewing that some stain or other doth creep into this Action which had need to be repented and therefore when they prayed 1 Cor. 7. 5. St. Paul would not have them come together lest their Prayer should be hindred Verse 8. The Sacrifice was indifferent whether Turtles or Pigeons Turtles that live solitarily and Pigeons that live sociably were all one to God God in Christ may be had in an active and sociable life denoted in the Pigeon and in the solitary and contemplative life set out in the Turtle Let not Westminster despise the Church nor the Church

were the Lords Inheritance and when men began wickedly to alienate the same and usurp upon his sacred Right then his re-claim and re-seizure thereof condemns the usurpers of down-right theft Mal. 3. Is it so then that these things are Gods it is therefore but equity to pay them to God for equity requireth and Justice biddeth that we give to every one his own on the other side to with-hold them or to take them or any part of them from God is injury because so the right owner is wrong'd more seeing the owner of these things is not man but God it is impiety yea it is sacriledge the highest and the horriblest sin in that kind that can be Verse 15. Christ as a Prophet teacheth spiritually and powerfully spiritually the Word and the Spirit go both together the word is but a dead letter in its self further than the Spirit goes along with it according to that of Iohn 6. 63. If the Spirit goes with the Word then the Word proves Spirit and Life the Spirit worketh freely in the Preaching of the Gospel the Word is but an instrument in the hand of the Spirit by which it works Then Secondly Christ as a Prophet teacheth powerfully therefore the Gospel is call'd The power of God unto salvation and he is said Mat. 7. to teach as one having Authority his word had a commanding power and authority over their Spirits Whensoever Christ comes to preach to thy Soul he will come with power he will make a separation between thy soul and thy sins he will pluck thee off from thy base lusts and cursed practises as once he did Paul and so will Christ deal with thy Soul who ever thou art that cleavest as close to thy sins as thy skin to thy flesh he will fetch thee off from those by his powerful Preaching CHAP. XIX Verse 4. ALl sins then are not equall neither are all to be alike punish'd as by Draco's Laws they were in a manner which Laws are said to be writ not with Ink but blood because they punish'd every Peccadillo almost with blood There are difference in sins and must be so in their punishments He that hates his Neighbour and smites him that he dyes thine eye shall not pitty him verse 13. let him dye without mercy let no man mediate for him lest he draw upon the Land guilt of Blood and hinder the Man-slayer from Repentance But in case a Man kill his Neighbour ignorantly here is a City of refuge to fly unto that he may live And here in an Evangelical sence Christ is our City of Refuge to whom if we fly when we are pursued by the guilt of an evill Conscience we shall live none can take us out of his hands if we be in Christ the Rock Temptations and Oppositions as Waves dash upon us but break themselves Verse 14. How hainous a sin this is appears by this strict prohibition given by God himself back'd with a Curse Chap. 27. and that Curse seconded with a Woe by the Prophet Isaiah A vice so injurious that it was odious to the Heathen and therefore the Romans condemned the meaner sort who were guilty of it to the Mettal houses and banish'd the better sort with the loss of the third part of their Estates so that I cannot but wonder with what face our Anabaptists assert a Community of Goods I grant the Primitive Christians had all things common but that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard of use not right and that by voluntary consent not necessary command the truth is that moral prohibition of stealing must be abolish'd and the Evangelical precept of Charity is needless if either men might not erect bounds of their possession or others might lawfully remove them at pleasure Verse 15. To blame then are those that proceed upon every idle surmize supposition or report and here it is further to be noted that three manner of persons can make no credible Witness or Information First Adversaries for evill will doth never speak well Secondly Ignorant men and those without judgement for he must be both a wise man and an honest man that ought to be a Witness for else if he be a wise man and not an honest man he is a Knave and again if he be an honest man and no wise man he may be a fool and therefore he is to be both wise and honest that is to be a Witness Thirdly whisperers and blowers in mens ears that will spue out in hugger-mugger more than they dare a vow openly To all such we must turn the deaf Ear the Tale-bearer and the Tale-hearer are both of them abominable to God Psalm 15. what matter therefore soever is established must be established at the mouth of two or three Witnesses that are both honest and wise Verse 20. They shall fear with a reverential fear from which will spring sincere service Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio let other Mens destruction be your Caution which is in the Psalmist expression to wash our feet in the Blood of the Wicked Psalm 59. 10. when the Righteous seeing the ruine of the Wicked shall become more Cautious And certainly worthily are they made examples that will not take them The fearful judgements that fall upon others should be a terror to us It is a just presage and desert of ruine not to be warn'd CHAP. XX. Verse 8. ALl the Lords Souldiers that fight his Battels and inroll their Names in his Muster-book must be men of stout courage and valiant men at Arms as they that go about a good Work he receiveth none into his Camp that are faint-hearted which are not able to encourage themselves but discourage others Hence it is that the Lord charg'd the Heralds at Arms to make Proclamation in the audience of the people Whosoever is afraid and faint-hearted c. God would have Wars made in his Name and therefore he would have Souldiers go to them without fear If a man be afraid it is a sign he hath no trust in God for he hath power to overcome fearfulness This serves to reprove all those who wanting the vertue of Valour and this gift of magnanimity do betray themselves and yeild to most unequal conditions and make an agreement upon dishonourable termes When Benhadad the King of Aram laid siege to Samaria and sent unto Ahab saying Thy silver and thy gold is mine Ahab stooped and submitted himself unto him saying My Lord according as thou hast said I am thine But our trust and confidence must be in God and then we shall not fear what man can do unto us Verse 12. The people of God may lawfully make Wars both offensive and defensive against their enemies Thus when Amalek fought with the people of God in Rephidim Moses said to Ioshua Chuse us out men and go sight Amalek so he discomfited Amalek and his people with the edg of the Sword Many other testimonies might be brought and