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
sigh and tremble certainly whatever it was it was a signe of Gods wrath that others seeing this might fear to commit the like and that he might have the greater punishment in prolonging so wicked and miserable a life Verse 16. It appears by this that Cain stood excommunicate For otherwise how could Cain go out from God who was every where so that this presence of the Lord signifies a peculiar place dedicated to God as the Ark the Temple were usually call'd in Scripture The face of the Lord Psalm 43. Exod. 23. So Ionas fled from the presence of the Lord i. e. from the place where the Lord had spoken to him This then should strike a terror into Christians and cause them to live in the fear of God and in an awful respect of his Ministers who have the power delegated to them from God to drive obstinate sinners from his presence and are as that Angel with a flaming Sword to keep them out of Paradice and deprive them of the joyes and blessedness of the life to come Verse 20. If the author the inventor of any thing useful for this life be called the Father of that invention by the Holy Ghost himself as here Iabal was the Father of such as dwelt in Tents and Tabal his Brother the Father of Musick how absolutely is God our Father who invented us made us found us out in the depth and darknesse of nothing at all he is Father and Father of Lights of all kinds of Lights He is Lux lucisica as Saint Augustine expresses it the Light from which all the Lights which we have of Nature or Grace or Glory have their emanation CHAP. V. Verse 1. THe Soul of man as it came from God so it is like God as he so it is one immaterial immortal understanding Spirit distinguish'd into three powers which all make up one spirit So thou the wise Creator of all things wouldest have some things to resemble their Creator the other creatures are all body man is body and spirit the Angels are all spirit not without a spiritual composition thou art alone after thine own manner Simple Glorious Infinite No creature can be like thee in thy proper being because it is a creature How should our finite weak compounded nature give any perfect resemblance of thine yet of all visible creatures thou vouchsafest man the nearest correspondence to thee not so much in the natural Faculties as in those divine Graces wherewith thou beautifiest his soul how then should our Souls rise up to thee and fix themselves in their thoughts upon thee how should they long to return back to the Fountain of their Being and author of their being glorious that so we may redeem what we have lost recover in thee what we have lost in our selves Verse 3. Adam begetting a Son in his own likeness is not to be understood in the shape and image of his body but hereby is signified that original corruption which is descended unto Adams posterity by natural propagation which is express'd in the birth of Seth because it might appear that even the Righteous Seed by nature are subject to this depravation Verse 22. In that Enoch first walk'd with God on earth before he walk'd with him in Heaven is shewed that we must first seek Gods glory on earth before we can be admitted into his Everlasting glory Verse 24. If you will sit at the right hand of God hereafter you must walk with God here so Abraham so Enoch walked with God and God took him God knows God takes not every man that dies God saies to the rich secure man This night they shall fetch away thy soul but he does not tell him who that therefore you may be no strangers to God then see him now and remember that his last Judgement is express'd in that word Nescio vos I know you not not to be known by God is damnation and God knows no man hereafter with whom he was not acquainted here Verse 29. Forasmuch as Lamech said of his Son Noah This same shall comfort us concerning our work c. it appeareth that the faithful then look'd for a Comforter that should deâ—iver them from the Curse for of this Comforter Noah was a figure Heb. 11. 7. and the Ark was a type of Baptism 1 Pet. 3. 21. Verse 32. Sem is here first named though Iaphet was first born as being first in dignity though not in birth because from him and not from Iaphet our blessed Saviour descended in a direct line Now any relation to Christ enableth either place or person For let the person be never so mean if God please to claim an interest in him a poor Fisherman upon his Embassie is more honourable then the Embassador of the greatest Monarch in the world and so likewise for any place in the world be it never so mean and contemptible yet if God please to send his Ministers to preach the Gospel and the power thereof in such places they become glorious to the whole world Thus it was not the great circumference and populousness of Nineveh but the preaching of Ionah there that made it known to after-ages nor was it the City but the Temple of Ierusalem and the presence of Christ in that Temple that made it the glory of the whole earth It is the Christian Religion only whose Fame shall last for ever that is able to make both Men and Towns as famous and as eternal as it self CHAP. VI. Verse 2. THe world was grown so foul with sin that God saw it was time to wash it with a floud if there had not been so deep a deluge of sin there had been none of the waters from whence then was this superfluity of iniquity whence but from the unequal yoak with Infidels these marriages did not beget men so much as wickedness from hence religious Husbands both lost their piety and gained a rebellious and godlesse generation Thus that which was the first occasion of sin was the occasion of the increase of sin a Woman seduced Adam Women betray the Sons of God the beauty of the Apple betrayed the Woman the beauty of these Women betrayed this holy Seed Eve saw and lusted so did they this also was a forbidden Fruit they lusted tasted sinned dyed the most sins begin at the eyes by them commonly Satan creeps into the heart that Soul can never be at safety that hath not covenanted with his eyes Verse 3. It is meant that God would no longer strive with them in reproving and admonishing them which they regarded not but if they amended not in short time within the set space he would certainly destroy them and therefore it was supposed that the Ark was a building 120 years to the end they might repent enough to justifie Gods mercy in forbearing and his Justice in executing his Judgements upon sinners Verse 12. Man is every Creature as 't is said here all flesh hath corrupted his ways upon the earth though this
the image of the Devil and not his own God then accepts or condemnes man secundam allegata probata according to the evidence that arises from us and not according to those Records that are hid in himself Our Actions and his Records agree we do those things which he hath decreed but only our doing them and not his decreeing them hath the nature of evidence Verse 23. Draw neer to thy self as Abraham drew neer to God and admit thine own expostulations as God did his Let thy own Conscience tell thee not only thy open and evident rebellions against God but even the immoralities and incivilities that thou doest towards men in scandalizing them by-thy sins and the absurdities that thou committest against thy self in sinning against thine own reason and the uncleanness and consequently the treachery that thou committest against thine own body and thou shalt see that thou hadst been not only in better peace but in better state and better health and in better reputation a better friend and better company if thou hadst sinned less because some of thy sins have been such as have violated the band of friendship and some such as have made thy company and conversation dangerous either for temptation or at least for defamation Verse 25. So long as there lies a Certiorari from an higher Court or an Appeal to an higher Court the Case is not so desperate if the Judge do not right for there is a future Remedy to be hoped If the whole state be incensed against me yet I can find an escape to another Country if all the world persecute me yet if I be an honest man I have a supream Court in my self and I am at peace in being acquitted in mine own Conscience But God is the Judge of all the Earth of this which I tread and this earth which I carry about me and when he judges me my Conscience turns on his side and comfesses his Judgement to be right And therefore Saint Pauls Argument Rom. 3. seconds and ratifies Abrahams expostulation here Is God unrighteous God forbid how then shall God judge the World A particular Council may err but then a general Council may help to rectifie that particular the King may err but then God in whose hand the Kings heart is can rectifie him But if God that judges all the earth judge thee there is no error to be assigned in his Judgement no Appeal from God not throughly informed to God better informed for he alwayes knows all evidence before it is given And therefore the larger the jurisdiction and higher the Court is the more careful ought the Judge to be of wrong Judgement for Abrahams expostulation reaches in a measure to them Shall not the Iudge of all or of a great part of the earth do right CHAP. XIX Verse 3. THough Lot would be a guest of Sodom yet because he would not entertain their sins he becomes an Host to the Angels and indeed where could the Angels have lodged in Sodom if not with Lot The houses of holy men are full of these heavenly spirits when they know not they pitch their Tents in ours and visit us when we see not and when we feel not protect us It is the honour of Gods Saints to be attended by Angels Verse 5. The filthy Sodomites being now flocked together and stirred up with the fury of Envie and Lust dare require to do that in Troopes which to act single had been too abominable to imagine unnatural Continuance and society in evil makes men outragious and impudent it is not enough for Lot to be Witness but he must be Bawd also bring forth these men that we may know them Behold even the Sodomites speak modestly though their acts and intents be villanous What a shame is it for those who profess purity of heart to speak uncleanly and lasciviously Verse 8. Lot craves and pleads here the Lawes of Hospitality and when he sees head-strong purposes of mischief chooses rather to be an ill Father than an ill Host his intention was good but his offer was faulty If through his allowance the Sodomites had defiled his Daughters it had been his sin if through violence they had defiled his Guests it had been only theirs There can be no warrant for us to sin lest others should sin it is for God to prevent sins with Judgements it is not for men to prevent a greater sin with a less the best minds when they are troubled yield inconsiderate motions as Water that is violently stirred sends up bubbles God meant better to Lot than to suffer his weak offer to be accepted Verse 11. When men are grown to that pass that they are no whit better by afflictions and worse with admonitions God finds it time to strik Now Lots Guests begin to shew themselves Angels and first deliver Lot in Sodom then from Sodom first strike them with blindness whom they will after consume with fire how little did the Sodomites think that vengeance was so neer them While they went groping in the streets and cursing those whom they could not find Lot with the Angels is in secure light and sees them miserable and fore-sees them burning It is the use of God to blind and besot those whom he means to destroy the light which they shall see shall be fiery which shall be the beginning of an everlasting darkness and fire unquenchable Wickedness hath but a time the punishment of wickedness is beyond all times Verse 12. If thou beest a Child of God Gods Spirit shall deal with thee as his Angel did with Lot in Sodom He told Lot over-night that he would burn the City and bad him prepare God shall give thee some grudgings before he exalt thy feavor and warn thee to consider thy state and consult with thy spiritual Physitian Again the Angel call'd Lot up in the morning and then hastned him and when he prolong'd saith the text the Angel caught him and carried him forth because though there was no co-operation in Lot yet there were no resisting neither God was pleased to do all with Lot for his temporal preservation and he will do all for thee too in thy spiritual Verse 13. One would have thought that the late plundring of Sodom should have reformed that City from their sins but wicked men grow worse with afflictions as Water grows more cold after an heat And as they leave not sinning so God leaves not plaguing of them but still follows them with succession of Judgements In how few years did Sodom forget she was spoyled and led Captive If that wicked City had been warned by the Sword it had scap'd the Fire but now this Visitation hath not made Ten good men in those Five Cities How fit was this heap for the fire which was all chaff Only Lot vex'd his righteous Soul with the sight of their uncleanness he vex'd his own Soul for who bade him stay there yet because he was vex'd he is delivered He
which he doth require hitherto tend all our earthly labours and industries Oh that we were wise to consider this how small a debt we owe to Nature how little would content it CHAP. XXIX Verse 1. SO should it be with a man after his Communion with God in the Sacrament as it was with Iacob after his Communion here with God in Bethel Then Jacob lift up his feet and came into the Land of the People of the East He lift up his feet he went with strength with spirit with cheerfulness and then he went that is after he had had that sweet fellowship with God in Bethel he was so cheer'd and refresh'd with that spiritual bait that in the strength and force of that he went on lively and cheerfully in his journey So when we have had fellowship with God in the Sacrament in the strength of that heavenly bait at the Sacrament we should lift up our feet and go on cheerfully lively lustily in our journey towards Heaven Verse 9. Masters of Families should so order the Duties of their Families that every one under their jurisdiction may have such an employment as is most proper for him Thus here Rachel kept the Sheep while Leah had her task within doors God hath dispensed his Gifts diversly for the common benefit To one man is given Knowledge to another the gift of Utterance to a third is given to speak with diverse Tongues to a fourth the Interpretation of those Tongues There is scarce any one but hath something or other in him that is excellent and extraordinary some special talent to trade with some Honey to bring to the common hive if he have but an heart to it Let every man therefore according to his several ability improve his Talent to the glory of the donor and the common good Verse 17. God hath two Daughters the younger which is Heaven is fair and lovely like Rachel and courted by all the elder is Repentance which with tears is blear-eyed like Leah and neglected by most but if men ask as Iacob for Rachel God will answer as Laban did Iacob 'T is not the custome of the place to Marry the Younger before the Elder he that will not marry the Leah of Repentance shall never have the Rachel of Heaven Verse 20. Iacob thought seven years service a short time that he might enjoy Rachel when his eye was upon his love he thought seven years and seven to them but a small time Did Iacob account so many years but a small time and shall not we account seven dayes seven hours short Admit it be more it is but a short time if we have heaven if we have Rachel in our eye fix our eyes upon immortality upon heaven and then all tribulations will seem not only light but nothing and not only short but as if they had never been but as yesterday or as yesterday is to a thousand years to eternity Verse 23. After the service of an hard Apprenticeship had earned her whom Iacob loved his Wife is changed and he in a sort forced to an unwilling Adultery His Mother had before substituted him who was the younger Son for the elder and now not long after his Father-in-law by the like fraud substitutes to him the elder Daughter for the younger God comes oftentimes home to us in our own kind and even by the sin of others payes us our own when we look not for it Verse 26. Many things may be Customable which yet are not commendable and used to be done which often were better undone Such practise draws nearer the Doctrine of the Pharisees than of Christ. For what was it else that the Pharisees did so much stand upon under the tradition of the elders and what did they censure our Saviour and his Disciples so hardly for but their Customes and what was it that our Saviour did so deeply tax them for but the observation of their superfluous and superstitious Customs The Fathers and Doctors of the Church were most plain and pregnant in this point Veritate manifestata cedat consuetudo veritati for Christ said I am the Truth not I am the Custome And in truth without this limitation and regard if men be carried away with the name of Custome and will enquire no further into any thing than what is the Custome what hath been used heretofore much injury and evil may be committed Thus Laban here deceaving Iacob pretends the Custome of the place it was not forsooth their Custome to marry the younger before the elder but under that pretence he falsifies his promise abuseth his Daughter and deceives his Friend Verse 28. It is doubtful whether it were a greater cross to Iacob to marry whom he would not or to be disappointed of her whom he desired And now he must begin a new hope where he made account of fruition To raise up an expectation once frustrate is more difficult than to continue a long hope drawn on with likelihoods of performance yet thus dear is Iacob content to pay for Rachel even fourteen years servitude Commonly Gods Children come not easily by their pleasures what miseries will not love digest and overcome And if Iacob were willingly consumed with heat in the day and frost in the night to become the Son-in-law to Laban what should we refuse to be the Sons of God Verse 31. Rachel whom Iacob loved is barren Leah which was despised is fruitful How wisely God weighs out to us our Favours and Crosses in an equal ballance so tempering our sorrows that they may not oppress and our joyes that they may not transport us Each one hath some matter of envie to others and of grief to himself Thus Leah envies Rachels beauty and love Rachel envies Leahs fruitfulness yet Leah would not be barren nor Rachel blear-eyed And here also we see how the Lord useth to chastise the preposterous affections of his servants as Iacob's love with Rachels barrenness Verse 35. Leah had praised the Lord before at Rubens and Simeons birth but now upon the occasion of a new benefit she praiseth him again which teacheth us that as Gods Mercies are multiplyed towards us so we should encrease and go forward in giving of thanks CHAP. XXX Verse 2. THough Iacob was as tender an Husband to Rachel as she could be a Mother of Children if she had them yet his love kept within bounds and he would love his Wife so far as she loved his and her God If Rachel be angry with God Iacob will be angry with Rachel and if she inconsiderately will advance him to Gods seat and thrust Gods power into his hands Iacob will make use of it to reprove her and condemne her by asking the question Am I in Gods stead who carrieth the key of the Womb under his own girdle Moses was the meekest man on Earth yet when Gods glory is concerned and a rebellious people have broke the commandements of God Moses will break that Table of stone wherein they were
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
Verse 2. THis Offering sheweth first that it is the duty of Gods Servants to bestow part of such things as God blesseth them withall towards the maintenance of Gods Spiritual Temple erected with Us and among Us by the Preaching of his Word the Administration of his Sacraments and all other Offices of the Ministry to the Salvation of our Souls Secondly That our Goods are not ours to waste at our Wills but God looketh to be honoured with them employed to good purposes Lastly in seeking this Offering to erect an External Worship we see that God will be worshipped outwardly also with our Bodies as inwardly with our Spirits for they are both the Lords Verse 3. In the variety and several kindes of what was offered you have shadowed out unto you the difference of Spiritual Gifts and Graces given by God to Men for the building up of his Spiritual Temple or Sanctuary in your hearts and such as God hath given such must they offer and such shall be accepted of God to teach us to despise in no man what God himself accepteth and despiseth not In Mans Body the soveraignty is in the Head the Eyes and Ears and yet cannot the Eye say to the Foot I have no need of thee 1 Cor. 12. 21. the greater may not despise the less nor the less murmur against the greater Verse 7. They offered their Ear-Rings and Jewels which were Ornaments unto them teaching us in this that nothing ought to be so dear unto us which we cannot find in our hearts to bestow willingly to the Service and Honour of God these things that served for superfluity before now serve for Gods Tabernacle Even so should our Bodies that have been Wanton and Sinful serving Sin serve the Lord in his Holy Fear and such humane Learning as hath served Error may be applyed to Religion and Gods service Verse 9. In the Service and Worship of God our Devices and Inventions must have no place but carefully and precisely we must ever serve him according to his own pattern and Prescription left us in his Holy Word as Deut. 4. 12. Numb 15. 38. and the Apostle Col. 2. 23. delivered nothing but what he received Verse 10. The wood whereof the Ark was made was Shittim-wood a durable and lasting Wood not subject to Worms and Corruption as other Wood is so representing the humanity of Christ whose Body in the Grave felt no Corruption as other Mens flesh and bodies neither was subject to sin Verse 20. The Cherubim was a name of Love and Favour and therefore his Wings were stretched over the Mercy-seat to shew us we should be ready to cover the infirmities especially of the Church and Church-men and Constantine professed that should he see a Bishop committing Adultery he would rather cover it with his own Cloak then any should be offended Verse 21. The Mercy-seat was appointed to be a Covering for the Ark where the Law of Moses lay and this Mercy-seat was a figure of Christ who hideth and covereth us from the wrath of God and from the accusation of the Law for without Christ shall no flesh be justified Our first Parents having sinn'd covered themselves with Fig-leaves and many Christians think to cover themselves with the Fig-leaves of their own Merits but Christ only is the cover of the Ark when the Law accuseth to whom whosoever doth fly and in whom whosoever doth trust being justified by Faith they have peace with God through him Rom. 5. 1. and the Mercy-seat was placed above the Altar to shew that Gods Mercy is over all his Works Verse 22. The two Cherubims represented the Two Testaments and from between these two Cherubims God spake so doth Christ still by the two Testaments the Old and the New the Law and the Gospel the Prophets and Apostles and so will he speak still to the end Otherwise we must not now expect Revelations and Dreams Visions and Miracles are ceased and if they will not hear Moses and the Prophets Neither will they believe though one should rise from the dead and come unto them Verse 38. This is a great comfort to Ministers and to all the faithful people of God that although my Gifts are not such as to set me high in the Tabernacle yet am I not therefore utterly unprofitable or unfit or rejected of God but I may be among the meanest vessels of the Sanctuary and of the Church if I may be but as the snuffers or snuff-dishes as a Door-keeper as a Besom as an Ash-pan even this shall please me and herein will I rejoyce thanking my God that he hath looked upon me in that measure the body hath divers members and all good and made by God the Church hath divers degrees of Believers and all beloved of God so if you be one in any place blessed be God for it your joy shall be Eternal also and Incomprehensible Verse 40. From hence you may see the Assistance and the Power that Example hath in Instruction This was Christs Method in the Gospel Quid ab initio how was it from the beginning do as hath been done before So here it was Gods Method to Moses for the Tabernacle look that thou make every thing after the pattern that was shewed thee in the Mount and the same was Gods Method for the Creation its self for though there were no World that was Elder Brother to this World before yet God in his own Mind and Purpose had produc'd and lodg'd certain Idea's and forms and patterns of every piece of this World and made them according to those preconceived Forms and Idea's Lastly this was Gods way likewise through the whole Scripture for there are no Books in the World that do so abound with this Comparative and Exemplary way of Teaching as the Scriptures do no Books in which that word of Reference to other things that sicut is so often repeated do this and do that sicut so as you see such and such things in Nature do and sicut so as you find such and such Men in the Stories of Gods Book to have done CHAP. XXVI Verse 31. OUr Corruption is the only way to our Incorruption and our Mortality to our Glory our Flesh being that Vail that keeps us from entring into the Holiest of Holies To this purpose as a Type of this in the Tabernacle which Moses made there was a Vail hang'd up between the Holy Place and the Holiest of Holies this Vail was made up of four substances blew Silk and Purple and Scarlet and fine Linnen which saith St. Ieremy did represent the four Elements of which our Flesh consists such a Vail was afterwards in the Temple at Ierusalem which at the Death of our Saviour was rent from the top to the bottom so that the People might then and not till then have beheld the Sanctum Sanctorum so when our Flesh this Vail that keeps us from beholding the Invisibility of the Blessed Trinity shall be rent and torn in pieces