retein the number of ten words so loth are Hereticks to have their assâ—â— cars seon they divide the last which yet is called the Commandement not the Commandements Rom. 7.7 Vasques not able to answer our Argument saith That the second Commandement belonged to the Jews onely Ver. 2. Which have brought thee God's blessings are binders and everie deliverance a tie to obedience Ver. 3. Thou shalt have This Thou reacheth everie man Xenophon saith of Cyrus that when hee gave anie thing in command hee never said Let som one do this but Do thou this Hoc tu facias Xenophon Cyropaed No other Gods before mee But know and serv mee alone with a perfect heart and with a willing minde 1 Chron. 28.9 Hoc primo praecepto reliquorum omnium observantia praecipitur saith Luther In this first Commandement the keeping of all the other nine is commanded Ver. 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee i. e. For religious use for civil they may bee made Mat. 22.20 Howbeit the Turks will not indure anie Image no not upon their coins becaus of this second Commandement The Papists by their sacrilegeous practices have taken away this Commandement out of their vulgar Catechism This is a great stumbling-block to the Jews and a let to their conversion for ever since their return from Babylon they do infinitely abhor Idolatrie And for their coming to Christian Sermons they saie That as long as they shall see the Preacher direct his speech and praier to that little wooden Crucifix that stand's on the Pulpit by him Specul Europ to call it his Lord and Saviour to kneel to it to embrace it to kiss it to weep upon it as is the fashion of Italie this is preaching sufficient for them and perswade's them more with the verie sight of it to hate Christian Religion then anie reason that the world can allege to love it Ver. 5. Thou shalt not bow down Images came first from Babylon For Ninus having made an Image of his father Belus all that came to see it were pardoned for their former offenses whence in time that Image came to bee worshipped through the instigation of the Divel who is saith Synesius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that rejoiceth in Images Am a jealous God Bee the gods of the Heathens good-fellows saith one the true God is a jealous God and will not share his glorie with another nor bee served by anie but in his own waie They that wit-wanton it with God may look to speed wors then that Citizen in K. Edward the Fourth's daies did who was executed in Cheapside as a traitor Speed's Chron for saying hee would make his son heir of the crown though hee onely meant his own hous having a crown for the sign Visiting the iniquitie This second Commandement is the first with punishment becaus men do commonly punish such as worship God in spirit and truth As therefore one fire so one fear should drive out another the fear of God the fear of men Ver. 6. Vnto thousands Of succeeding generations Personal goodness is profitable to posteritie And this promiss though made to all yet is more specially annexed to this second Commandement to teach saith one that parents should chiefly labor to plant pietie in their families as they would have God's blessing intailed upon their issue Ver. 7. The Name of the Lord That holie and reverend Name Psal 111.9 that Nomen Majestativum as Tertullian calleth it dreadful among the Heathen Mal. 1.14 The verie Turks at this daie chastise the Christians that live amongst them for their oaths and blasphemies darted up against God and Christ The Jews also are much offended thereat and it should bee no small grief to us to hear it When one of Darius his Eunuchs saw Alexander the Great setting his feet upon a low table that had been highly esteemed by his master hee wept Diod. Sic. lib. 17. Beeing asked the reason by Alexander hee said It was to see the thing that his master so highly esteemed to bee now contemned and made his foot-stool Ver. 8. Remember the Sabbath daie Hee saith not The seventh daie from the Creätion but the daie of religious rest such as is now our Christian Sabbath called a Sabbath-daie by our Saviour Mat. 24.20 who is Lord of this Sabbath called therefore the Lord's-daie Rev. 1. 1 Cor. 10. as one of our Sacraments is called the Lord's Supper and the table of the Lord becaus instituted by him Pope Sylvester presumed to alter the Christian Sabbath Hospin de fest Christ decreeing that Thursdaie should bee kept through the whole year becaus on that daie Christ asscended and on that instituted the blessed Sacrament of his bodie and bloud And generally Papists press the sanctification of the Sabbath as a mere humane institution in religious worship an ordinance of the Church and do in their celebration more solemnly observ the Festivals of the Saints then the Lord's Sabbaths making it as Bacchus's Orgies c. that according to what their practice is it may more fitly bee styled Dies daemoniacus quà m Dominicus The divel's-daie then God's To sanctifie it Let everie one of us keep the Sabbath spiritually saith Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist 3.2d Magnesian rejoicing in the meditation of Christ's Law more then in the rest of our bodies The ox and ass must rest wee must consecrate a rest â—s God on the seventh daie rested not from his works of preservation John 5.17 Ver. 9. Six daies shalt thou labor God hath reserved but one daie in seven as hee reserved the Tree of knowledg of Good and Evil. Gen. 2. yet wretched men must needs clip the Lord's coin In manie places God's Sabbaths are made the voider and dunghil for all refuse businesses The Sabbath of the Lord the sanctified day of his rest saith one is shamelesly troubled and disquieted B. King on Jon. Lect. 7. The world is now grown perfectly profane saith another and can plaie on the Lord's-daie without book Ver. 10. But the seventh daie Or a seventh daie Not onely Hebrews but also Greeks and Barbarians did rest from work on the seventh daie witness Josephus Clemens Alexand. and Eusehius That which they tell us of the river Sabbatius it's resting and not running on that daie I look upon as fabulous Thou shalt not do anie work Onely works of Pietie of Charitie and of Necessitie may bee don on the Sabbath daie Hee that but gathered sticks was paid home with stones The first blow given the Germane Churches was upon the Sabbath daie Dike of Cons pag. 276. which they carelesly observed Prague was lost upon that daie Thou and thy son c. Everie mother's childe The baser sort of people in Swethland do alwaies break the Sabbath David's desire by R. Abbot saying That it 's for Gentlemen to keep that daie Thy man-servant There is an old law of the Saxon King Ina If a villain work on Sundaie
by his Lord's command hee shall bee free Sr. H Spelman in Concil Ver. 11. For in six daies God took six daies to make the world in to the end that wee might bee in a muse when wee think of it and think on his works in that order that hee made them And rested the seventh daie Not as tired out for hee made all without either tool or toil his Fiat onely did the deed but to give us example as John 13.15 Wherefore the Lord blessed c. How God esteemeth the strict observation of the Sabbath daie may appear by the exact deliverie of it For hee hath fenced it about like Mount Sinai with marks and bounds that profaneness might not approach it 1. By his watch-word Remember 2. By his bountie Six daies c. 3. By his sovereigntie It is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God 4. By the latitude Thou and thy son c. 5. By his own example And rested the seventh daie 6. By his benediction as here Hee blessed it and ordained it to bee a means of much blessing to those that observ it Add hereunto that God hath placed this Command in the midst of the Decalogue betwixt the two tables as much conducing to the keeping of both It stand's like the sensus communis between the inward and outward senses Boâ—in Theat Naturae beeing serviceable to both And hallowed it Diem septimam opifex ut mundi natalem sibi sacravit Ver. 12. Honor thy father c. Philo well observeth that this fifth Commandement which therefore hee maketh a branch of the first Table and so divide's the Tables equally is a mixt Commandement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and differ's somwhat from the rest of those in the second Table They consider man as our neighbor in nature like us this as God's Deputie by him set over us and in his name and by his autoritie performing offices about us That thy daies may bee long A good childe lengthneth his father's daies therefore God promiseth to lengthen his Ill children as they bring their parents graie hairs with sorrow to the grave so they are manie times cut off in the midst of their daies as Abimelech was God rendring upon him the evil that hee did to his father Judg. 13.5 Besides the pnnishment they have in their posteritie to whom they have been peremptores potiùs quà m parentes Bern. One complained that never father had so undutiful a childe as hee had yes said his son with less grace then truth my grandfather had Ver. 13. Thou shalt not kill A crying sin Gen. 4. For the which God make's inquisition Psalm 9.12 and strangely bring 's it to light It was a saying of King James that if God did leav him to kill a man hee would think God did not love him Ver. 14. Thou shalt not commit adulterie Adulterie onely is named because bestialitie Sodomie and other uncleannesses though more hainous yet they do not directly fight against the puritie of posteritie and humane societie which the Law mainly respect's Ver. 15. Thou shalt not steal i.e. Not rob or wrong another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. either by force or fraud 1 Thes 4.6 See the Note there Basil chargeth the Divel as a thief of the truth in that hee had decked his crows with her feathers And it was of the Divel surely that Shee had learned her answer who beeing charged by her mistress for stealing her linnens Light for smoke p. 85. and other things which shee found in her trunk said that shee stole them not and when shee was asked how came they to bee laid and locked up there Did not you do this No said shee it was not I but sin that dwelleth in mee Ver. 16. Thou shalt not bear Neither bear it nor hear it rais nor receiv wrong reports of another Deut. 19.16 Make a lie nor love it when it is made Rev. 22.15 The truth must bee spoken and that in love Doeg had a fals tongue though hee spoke nothing but truth against David Psal 120.3 Ver. 17. Thou shalt not covet See the Note on Rom. 7.7 and on Heb. 13.5 Thy neighbor's hous House is here first set as that which hold's and harbor's all the rest To these ten words written by God himself in the daie of the Assemblie Divines have reduced those other Laws Moral Judicial and Cerimonial written by Moses 34.27 28. Deut. 10.4 And herein Alstedius that excellent Methodist hath in his Harmonia Musica as in all those brief but pithie Notes upon the Pentateuch don the Church of Christ singular good service whom therefore for a Preface to that which follow 's in the opening of this and the three next Books and for the use of mine English Reader I have abbridged translated and the same here inserted SECT I. Of reducing all the Moral Laws to the Decalogue TO the first Commandement belong laws that concern Faith Hope and Love to God First Faith as that there is but one God and three Persons Jehovah Elohim that hee will send them a Prophet greater then Meses Deut. 18. that hee is to bee honored with our confidence patience and inward worship Next Hope of Favor Grace and Glorie Thirdly Love to God with the whole heart filial fear humble praier holie vows constant care to avoid idolizing the creature seeking to the Divel tempting of God listening to Seducers c. To the second Commandement belong laws made against gross Idolatrie will-worship c. and for right worship To the third pertein laws for Praier Thanksgiving Oaths Lots Blasphemies worthie walking c. To the fourth all laws of sanctifying the Sabbath To the fifth of honoring and reverencing Parents Princes Elders c. and of punishing rebellious children To the sixth may bee reduced all laws concerning Murther Revenge Rancor Smiting Fighting cursing the Deaf laying a block before the blinde c. To the seventh all that is said against Fornication Adulterie Sodomie Incest wearing the Apparel of the other Sex To the eighth Laws against Robberie Rapine Usurie Sacrilege deteining Wages or Pledges removing Land-marks accepting of Persons taking of Gifts fals Weights c. To the ninth belong laws against Back-biting Tale-bearing Fals-witnessing judging not admonishing c. To the tenth no laws are referred becaus it is wholly spiritual and hath no visible violations SECT II. Of reducing Judicial Laws to the Decalogue TO the first Commandement It was death 1. to denie obedience to the Priest who was a type of Christ 2. To perswade Apostacie from the true God 3. To seek to witches and wizzards It was likewise unlawful to make a covenant with the Canaanites whom God had cursed to make mixtures of divers kindes of creatures c. whereby they are taught sinceritie in Religion and conversation To the second Commandement God commanded to abolish Images Pictures Idolatrous temples Altars Groves c. and forbad them upon pain of death to bow to Sun Moon or anie other strange
we have a more sure word of prophesie Gods blessed booke assures us of a third heaven 2 Cor. 12.2 called elsewhere the heaven of heavens the Paradise of God the bosome of Abraham the Fathers house the City of the living God the Country of his pilgrims A body it is for bodies are in it but a subtile fine spirituall body next in purity to the substance of Angels and mens soules It is also say some solid as stone but cleare as chrystall Rev. 21.11 Job 37.18 A true firmament indeed not penetrable by any no not by Angells Yates his Modell spirits and bodies of just men made perfect but by a miracle God making way by his power where there is no naturall passage It opens to the very Angels Job 1.51 Gen. 28.12 who yet are able to penetrate all under it The other two heavens are to be passed through by the grossest bodies Verse 8. And the evening c. Here 's no mention of Gods approbation of this second dayes worke Not for that hell was then ceated or the reprobate Angels then ejected as the Jewes give in the reason of it but because this dayes worke was left unperfected till the next to the which therefore the blessing was reserved and is then redoubled God delights to doe his workes not all at once but by degrees that we may take time to contemplate them peece-meal and see him in every of them as in an opticke glasse Consider the lillies of the field saith our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6.18 Prov. 6.6 Goe to the Pismire thou sluggard saith Solomon Luther wisht Pontanus the Chancellour of Saxony to contemplate the Starchamber of Heaven that stupendious arch-worke born up by no props or pillars Proponit contemplandam pulcherrimam coeli concamerationem Nullis pilis columnis impositam c. Scultet Annal. 276. and yet not falling on our heads the thicke clouds also hanging often over us with great weight and yet vanishing againe when they have saluted us but with their threatning lookes And cannot God as easily uphold his sinking Saints and blow over any storme that hangs over their heads An Artificer takes it ill if when he hath finished some curious piece of work and sets it forth to be seen as Apelles was wont to do men slight it and take no notice of his handy-work And is there not a woe to such stupid persons as regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands A sino quispiam narrabat fabulam Esay 5.12 at ille movebat aures is a proverb among the Greeks Christ was by at the Creation and rejoyced Prov. 8.30 Angels also were by at the doing of a great deale and were rapt with admiration Job 38.4 5 6. Shall they shout for joy and we be silent Oh how should we vex at the vile dulnesse of our hearts are no more affected with these indelible ravishments Verse 9 10. Let the waters under the heaven be gathered c. The water they say is ten times greater then the earth as is the ayre ten times greater then the water and the fire then the ayre Sure it it is that the proper place of the water is to be above the earth Psal 104.6 Saylers tell us that as they draw nigh to shore when they enter into the haven they run as it were downe-hill The waters stood above the mountains till at Gods rebuke here they fled and hasted away at the voyce of his thunder Psal 104.6 7. to the place which he had founded for them This drew from Aristotle Lib. de mirabil in one place a testimony of Gods providence which elsewhere he denyes And David in that Psal 104. which one calleth his Physicks tells us that till this word of command Let the waters c. God had covered the earth with the deepe as with a garment For as the garment in the proper use of it is above the body so is the sea above the land And such a garment saith the divine Cosmographer would it have been to the earth but for Gods providence toward us as the shirt made for the murthâ—ring of Agamemnon Psal 104.6 9. where he had no issue out But thou hast set a bound saith the Psalmist that they may not passe over that they turn not againe to cover the earth God hath set the solid earth upon and above the liquid waters for our conveniâ—nâ—y so that men are said to goe downe not up to the sea in ships Psal 107.23 See his mercy herein as in a mirrour and believe that God whose work it is still to appoint us the bounds of our habitations will not faile to provide us an hospitium Act. 17.26 a place to reside in when cast out of all as he did David Psal 27.10 and Davids parents 1 Sam 22.4 and the Apostles 2 Cor 6.10 and the English exiles in Queen Maries dayes Sculâ—et Aâ—â—al and before them Luther who being asked where he thought to be safe answered Sub Coelo and yet before him those persecuted Waldenses Rev. 12.15 after whom the Romish Dragon cast out so much water as a flood but the earth swallowed it and God so provided that they could travell from Cullen in Germany to Millain in Italy Cade of the Church p. 180. and every night lodge with hosts of their own profession The waters of affliction are often gathered together against the godly but by Gods gracious appointment ever under the heaven where our conversation is Tareus in loc Philip. 3.20 though our commoration be a while upon earth and unto one place as the Text here hath it The dry-land will appeare and we shall come safe to shore be sure of it Esay 26.4 The Rock of eternity whereupon we are set is above all billows washt we may be as Paul was in the shipwrack drowned we cannot be 1 Pet. 1.5 because in the same bottome with Christ and kept by the power of God through faith to salvation Verse 11.12 Psal 104. Let the earth bring forth c. Grasse for the cattle and herb for the use of man and both these before either man or or beast were created He made meat before mouthes He fills for us two bottles of milke before we come into the world Herbes and other creatures we have still ad esum ad usum Our land flowes not with milke onely for necessity but with hone too for delight Nature amidst all is content with a little Grace with lesse Sing we merrily with him Hoc mihi pro certo Georg. Fabricius Chemnicensis quod vitam qui dedit idem Et velit possit suppeditare cibum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 12. and the earth brought forth c. St. Austine thinks that thorns and thistles brambles and briars were before the Fall Aug de Gen. 〈…〉 cap. â— 8 though not in that abundance that now
2.20 21 22. Verse 29. Behold I have given you By this Behold God stirs up them and us to confidence thankfulness and obedience to so liberall a Lord so bountifull a Benefactor And surely as iron put into the fire seems to be nothing but fire so Adam thus beloved of God Psal 16.12 was turned into a lump of love and bethinks himselfe what to do by way of retribution All other creatures also willingly submitted to Gods ordinance and mans service well apaid of Gods provision that great house-keeper of the world that hath continually so many millions at bed and board This is intimated in that last clause And it was so An undoubted argument surely of Gods infinite goodness thus to have provided for so divers natures and appetites divers food remedies and armour Psal 104. for men especially filling their hearts with food and gladnesse Act. 14.17 Verse 31. Behold it was very good Or extream good pleasant and profitable a curious and glorious frame full of admirable variety and skill such as caused delight and complacency in God and commands contemplation and admiration from us like as a great garden stored with fruits and flowers calls our eyes on every side Wherefore else hath God given us a reasonable soule and a Sabbath day a countenance bent upward and as they say peculiar nerves in the eyes to pull them up toward the seat of their rest besides a nature carried with delight after playes pageants masks Bodin Theas Naturâ— strange shews and rare sights which oft are sinfull or vain or at best imperfect and unsatisfactory Surely those that regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands God shall destroy and not build them up Psal 28.4 which to prevent good is the counsel of the Prophet Amos that upon this very ground Prepare to meet thy God O Israel For loe he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind c. Amos 4.12 13. when he had made man he made an end of making any thing more because he meant to rest in man to delight in him to communicate himselfe unto him and to be enjoyed by him throughout all eternity And notwithstanding the fall he hath found a ransome Job 33.24 and creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 he rejoyceth over his new workmanship with joy yea he rests in his love Roderit sanctii Hist Hisp p. 4. c. 5. â—xantiq Annalib and will seek no further Zeph. 3.17 But what a mouth of madness did Alfonso the Wise open when he said openly that if he had been of Gods counsell at the Creation some things should have been better made and marshalled Prodigious blasphemy CHAP. II. Verse 1. All the host of them HIs upper and nether forces his horse and foot as it were all creatures in heaven earth or under earth called Gods Host for their 1. number 2. order 3. obedience Kimchi These the Rabbines call magnleh cheloth and matteh cheloth the upper and lower troopes ready prest Verse 2. He rested That is He ceased to create which work he had done without either labour or lassitude Esa 4.28 He made all nutu non motu Verse 3. God blessed the seventh day i. e. made it an effectuall meanes of blessing to him that sanctifieth it as a rest from bodily labour and spirituall idleness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist 3. ad Magnesiâ—s Spec Europâ— as Ignatius exhorteth And sanctified it i e. Consecrated and set it apart for holy use as they sanctified that is appointed Kedesh for a City of refuge Josh 20.7 Verse 4. Jehovah God Moses first calls God Jehovah here when the universall creation had its absolute being This is the proper name of God The Jewes pronounce it not we profane it which is to them a great stumbling block The first among the Christians that pronounced Jehovah was Petrus Galatinus But if ye would pronounce it according to the own letters it should be Jahuo of Jarmuth Jagnakâ—b Verse 5. The Lord God had not caused it to rain And none but he can give raine Jer. 14.22 the meanes of fruitfulnesse which yet he is not tyed to as here The Egyptians used in mockery to tell the Grecians that if God should forget to raine they might chance to starve for it Verse 6. But there went up a mist The mater of raine And hereby God tempered the morter whereof he would make man as he did the clay with spittle wherewith he cured the blinde Ioh. 9. Verse 7. Zuinglius Formed man of the dust not of the rocks of the earth but dust that is soon disperst to note our frailty vility and impurity Lutum enim conspurcat omnia sic caro But why should so glorious a soul called here Neshamah of affinity to Shamajim Heaven whence it came dwell in this corruptible and contemptible body Lomb lib. 2. dist 1. For answer besides Gods will and for order of the universe Lombard saith that by the conjunction of the soul with the body so far its inferiour man might learn and beleeve a possibility of the union of man with God in glory notwithstanding the vast distance of nature and excellence the infinitness of both in God the finiteness of both in man And breathed into his nostrils Quidam volunt metaphoram sumptam à vitrorum formatione The greatest man is but a little ayre and dust tempered together Nazian What is man saith One but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soul and soyle Breath and Body a pile of dust the one a puffe of wind the other no solidity in either And man became a living soul Dicaearchus doubted of the soul â—usc quaest whether there were such a thing in rerum natura He could not have doubted of it without it as man cannot prove logicke to be unnecessary but by logick Verse 8. And the Lord God planted Had planted to wit on the third day when he made trees for mans pleasure a garden or paradise in Eden whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the upper part of Chaldea whereabout Babel was founded It was destroyed by the Deluge the place indeed remained but not the pleasantness of the place cecidiâ— rosa mansit spina 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod l. 1. Plin. l. 6. c 16 Donec à spâ— ad speciem transtret And yet that Country is still very fruitfull returning if Herodotus and Pliny may be believed the seed beyond credulity He put the man whom he had formed And formed him not far from the garden say the Hebrewes to minde him that he was not here to set up his rest but to wait till his change should come Verse 9. Every tree c. The Hebrewes think that the world was created in September because the fruits were then ripe and ready 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The tree of life also A symbolicall tree by the eating of the fruit whereof Adam should have had Gaius his prosperity his
but many of their spirits are in prison so saith Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3.19 But withal in the next Chapter the same Apostle tells us That for this cause the Gospel was preached also to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the Spirit Compare these words with those 1 Pet. 3.18 19 20. and it will appear the Apostle speaks of these Antediluvians All were not saved that were in the Ark nor all damned we may well think that were out of it Could they see their foundation overflown with a flood as the phrase is Job 22.16 and not lay for themselves a good foundation by laying hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.19 Saint Ambrose conceiveth that Noah was seven days in the Ark afore the flood came That as God was six days in creating the world and rested the seventh so these perishing persons admonished by the number of the days of the Creation Eccles 12.1 might remember their Creator and make their peace Nunquam serò si seriò Vers 5. And Noah did according unto all This All is a little word but of large extent He doth not his masters but his own will that doth no more then himself will A dispensatory conscience is an evil conscience God cryes to us Quicquid propter Dâ—â—m fit aqualis or fit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He will have universal obedience both for subject and object We must be entirely willing in all things to please God or we utterly displease him Herod did many things and was not a button the better Jehu's golden calves made an end of him though he made an end of Baals worship He that doth some and not all Gods wills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13.22 with David in desire and affection at least doth but as Benhadad recover of one disease and die of another yea if he take not a better course for himself he doth but take pains to go to hell Psal 119.6 Then shall we not be ashamed when we have respect at least to all Gods Commandments Vers 7. And Noah went in and his sons c. Not till he was compelled by the coming in of the flood say the Jews Of no good will but because there was no other remedy Thus they belye the good old Preacher Let no man think much to be mis-judged Jo. Wooveâ—ius in Polymath Novit sapiens ad hoc scomma se productum ut depugnet cum iis qui maledictis aluntur ut venenis capreae Vers 9. There went in two and two Of their own accord by divine instinct Noah was not put to the pains of hunting after them or driving them in Onely he seems to have been six days in receiving and disposing of them in their several cells and fetching in food When God bids us do this or that never stand to cast perils but set upon the work yield the obedience of Faith and fear nothing The creatures came into Noah without his care or cost He had no more to do but to take them in and place them The Prophet allâ—des hereto â—sai 11.6 7. all bloodiness and rapine laid aside Vers 10. The waters of the flood were upon the earth God is as faithful in his menaces Zeph. 3.5 as in his promises The wicked think them but wind but they shall feel them to be fire Jere. 5.14 Your fathers where are they Vexatio dat intellectum Did not my words though never so much slighted lay hold upon them And they returned that is changed their mindes when they smarted and said Like as the Lord thought to do unto us so hath he delt with us Zach. 1.5 6. There wanted not those in the old world that held all the threats of a flood to be interrorem onely and when they heard Noah thundering Luke 20.16 put off all as those in the Gospel with God forbid We cannot get men to believe that God is so just or the devil so black or sin so heavy or hell so hot till it hath even closed her mouth upon them Prov. 14.16 Prov. 12.3 The fool rageth and is confident passeth on and is punished and will not be better advised But what said the Martyr Brâ—dford They that tremble not in hearing shall be crusht to peeces in feeling Gods wrath is such as none can avert or avoyd Vers 11. In the second moneth In April as it is thought then when every thing was in its prime and pride birds chirping trees sprouting c. nothing less looked for then a flood then God shot at them with an arrow suddenly as saith the Psalmist Psal 64.7 1 Thes 5.3 So shall sudden destruction come upon the wicked at last day when they lest look for it So the Sun shone fair upon Sodom the same day wherein ere night it was fearfully consumed What can be more lovely to look on then the corn-field a day before harvest or a vineyard before the vintage Nos quasi medios inter duo sâ—pulchra posuit All the fountains of the great deep c. So we live continually betwixt two deaths the waters above and below us Serve the Lord with fear Vers 13. In the self same day Things are repeated that they may be the better observed and the greatness of the mercy the more acknowledged that God should single out so few and save them c. Vers 16. And the Lord shut him in A mean office one would think for God to shut the door after Noah He could not well do it himself the door doubtless being great and heavy and others that were without would not do him so much service God therefore doth it himself and therefore it could not but be well done indeed In a case of necessity we need not question Gods readiness to do us any good office so long as we keep close to him in a holy Communion In a Letter of B. Hoopers 2 Chron. 15.2 to certain good people taken praying in Bowe Church-yard and now in trouble thus he writes Read the second Chapter of Luke there the shepherds that watched upon their sheep all night assoon as they heard Christ was born at Bethlehem by and by they went to see him They did not reason nor debate with themselves Act. Mon. fol. 1347. who should keep the Wolf from the sheep in the mean while but did as they were commanded and committed their sheep to him whose pleasure they obeyed So let us do now we be called commit all other things to him that calleth us He will take heed that all things shall be well he will help the husband comfort the wife guide the servants keep the house preserve the goods yea rather then it shall be undone he will wash the dishes and rock the cradle Cast therefore all your care upon God c. Thus he Vers 17. It was lift up above the waters Afterwards it went upon the
all which and a great deal more this good old Patriark was to his sorrow not onely an ear but an eye-witness All which considered it must needs be granted that living so long never any Martyr or other out of Hell suffered more misery then Noah did And the like may be said of Athanasius of whom Master Hooker witnesseth That for the space of fourty six yeers from the time of his consecration to succeed Alexander Archbishop of Alexandria till the last hour of his life in this world his enemies never suffered him to enjoy the comfort of a peaceable day Was not he to be reckoned a Martyr though he dyed in his bed Erasm in vitae Chrysost Cur veriar Chrysostomum appellare Martyrem saith Erasmus And why may not any man say as much of Luther c. CHAP. X. Vers 5. By these were the the Isles of the Gentiles THat is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 en 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi dilaâ—atio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignis Domini Q. Curtius saith of Darim that he called upon the sacred and eternall fire the Countries of Europe and Asia the less inhabited by Japhets posterity Europe hath its name in Greek from the latitude and large surface of it which answers well to the name of Japhet signifying inlargement who together with his off-spring was by Gods appointment to rule there far and wide toward the West and North. Asia hath its name from two Hebrew words that signifie the fire of the Lord which in Persia and other parts thereof they superstitiously deified Asia the less was so called first by Attalus King of Pergamus who being the last of that name and race made the Romans his heyrs by will They turned his Country into a Province and called it Asia by the name of the Continent as devouring doubtless in hope that whole part of the world by this small beginning Hence likely came that first distinction of the lesser Asia Vers 8. Nimrod he began to be a mighty one His name signifies a Rebell he was the chiefe Babel-builder and there began to be a mighty one a Giant saith the Greek such another as Goliah was in his generation 1 Sam. 17.51 where the same word is used a Magnifico a Grandio such a one as sought to make himself great even to a proverb vers 9. But there is a double greatness First Genuine Secondly Belluine This latter is no such commendation a beast in this may and doth exceed us as in the latter we exceed our selves and others Vers 9. He was a mighty hunter Of men whose lives he sacrificed to his lust not of beasts for sacrifice to the Lord as Aben-Ezra will have it and takes occasion thereupon highly to commend him Epiphan heres 38. But there wanted not those that commended Cain also for killing his brother and were therefore called Cainites Of others we read that extolled the Sodomites Core and his complices Judas the Traytor Yea there was one Bruno found that wrote an Oration in commendation of the Devill who hath given him his Guerdon no doubt by this unless he recanted that monstrous madness Vers 11. Out of that land went forth Assur Either because wickedness dwelt there Zach. 5.11 for Ashur was a son of Sem and might have so much goodness in him vers 22. Or else he was hunted there-hence by Nimrod who made himself the first Monarch and had Babel in the land of Shinar or Chaldea for the beginning of his Kingdome Vers 12. The same is a great City As consisting of three Cities and having more people within the walls then are now in some one Kingdome See the greatness of this City set forth in the Preachers Travels pag. 89. The greatest City in the world at this day is said to be Quinsai in Tartary Paul Venet. which is a hundred miles about as M. Paulus Venetus writeth who himself dwelt therein Turk hist fo 75 about the year 1260. Cambalu the Imperiall City and seat of the great Cham of Tartary is in circuit twenty eight miles about Nineveh was three dayes journey in Jonah's dayes Now it is destroyed as was long since prophesied by Nahum being nothing else then a sepulchre of her self a little Town of small trade Nah. 2. 3. where the Patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his seat at the devotion of the Turk As Susa in Persia once a Lilly as the name signifies for the sweet scite and so rich as afterwards is reported cap. 11. Preachers Travels 88. vers 30 is now called Valdac of the poverty of the place Vers 20. These are the sons of Ham More in number and more sweetly situated then the posterity of either Shem or Japhethâ— thirty sons and nephews of cursed Ham are here recited and registred when of blessed Shem we finde but six and twenty and of Japheth but fourteen And for their Countries Canaan hath the navell of the world Sumen totius orbis as one calls that Country a land that floweth with milk for necessity and hony for delight where the hardest rocks sweat out hony and oyl Deut. 32.13 Exod. 3.17 Nihil mollius câ—â—lo nihil uberius solo L. Flor. l. 1. c. 16 See Deut. 8.7 8 9 cap. 11.11 12. as Florus saith of Campania a land that God had spied out among all lands for his own peculiar people yea for himself to dwell in Lo this was Hams possession when his two better brethren dwelt in the more barren waste Countries of the East and West God deals by his people here as the host doth by his guests who lets them have the best meats and fairest lodgings but reserves the inheritance for his children The Lord holds his servants to hard-meat many times but then they have it of free-cost whereas the wicked eat of the fat and drink of the sweet but their meat in their bowels is turned into the gall of â—spes God shall cast it out of their bellies Job 20.14 15. In fatting them he doth but fit them for destruction as he did these Canaanites whose pleasant land he afterwards made a spoyl to his own Israel They grew a burden to that good land which therefore for their wickedness spued them out Lev. 18.25 after they had filled it from corner to corner with their abominable uncleannesses Ezra 9.11 Vers 25. Peleg for in his dayes was the earth divided Eber of whom came the Ebrews or Israelites Exod. 1.15 that he might have before his eyes a perpetuall monument of Gods just displeasure against the ambitious Babel-builders â—alls his sonne Peleg or Division because in his dayes was the earth divided It is good to write the remembrance of Gods worthy works whether of mercy or justice upon the names of our children or otherwise as we can best to put us in minde of them for we need all helps such is either our dulness or forgetfulness What was it else that made David
conjurgium Shee was not so hot but Moses was as meek Ver. 26. A bloodie husband thou art This peal shee ring 's oft in his ears and so taught him patience Conjugium humanae divina Academia vitae Certain it is that wee are a bloodie spous to Christ the Church is Acheldama a field of blood Ver. 27. And the Lord said unto Aaron To this religious Familie rather then to anie other God appeareth which mercie is remembred 1 Sam. 2.27 Met him in the mount of God His wife either had left him or was sent back by him to her father God suppli'es that comfort by the coming of Aaron Ver. 28. And Moses told Aaron So clouds when full powr down and the spouts run and the eavs shed and the presses overflow Aromatical trees sweat out their precious oils and as Amber-greece is nothing so sweet in it self as when compounded with other things so good men are great gainers by communicating themselvs to each other Ver. 31. They bowed their heads An ordinarie gesture among the Jews then as at this day the reverence they shew is in standing up Spec. Europ and the gesture of adoration in the bowing forward of their bodies for kneeling they use none neither stir they their bonnets in their Synagogues to anie man but remain still covered CHAP. V. Ver. 1. That they may hold a Feast CHap. 4.23 That they may serv mee Let us keep the feast 1 Cor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5.8 which is the same with Let us serv God acceptably Heb. 12.28 It is a Feast and better for a good soul to convers with God Psal 63.5 Isa 25.6 Ver. 2. Who is the Lord God's attributes either shew what hee is or who hee is To the question of Moses what hee is God gave a short answer I am To this second by Pharaoh Who hee is God made a large replie till Pharaoh was compelled to answer himself The Lord is righteous Ver. 3. Three daies journie viz. to mount Horeb. They made it three months journie e're they came there Exod. 13.17 18. God lead's his people oft not the nearest but the safest waie to their journies end Ver. 4. Let the people from their works Moses talk's of sacrifice Pharaoh of work Anie thing seem's due work to a carnal minde saving God's service nothing superfluous but religious duties Aug. de Civit. Dei Seneca saith the Jewes cast away a seventh part of their time upon a weekly Sabbath To what end is this loss said Judas Ver. 5. The people of the Land are manie nihil agendo malè agere discent Iphicrates never suffered his souldiers to bee out of emploiment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Polym stratag lib. 3. but if out of militarie services hee set them to dig or lop trees or carrie burdens c. to keep them from mutining or wors doing Ver. 6. And Pharaoh commanded Hee raged the more for the message of dismission so wholesom admonitions make ill men wors Corruptions encreas and biggen by the Law Rom. 7. ver 8. Ver. 7. Yee shall no more give the people straw Speculum tyrannidis semper augescentis atque invalescentis The matter mend's with us Acts and Mon. said those Martyrs in prison as sowr Ale doth in Summer Ver. 8. For they bee idle I heard a great man once say saith Luther Necesse est otiosos esse homines qui ista negotia Religionis curant They must needs bee idle fellows that are so much taken up about the business of religion See the Note on vers 4. Vers 9. And not regard vain words Vain lying words So this profane Prince calleth and counteth the word of God What 's Truth saith Pilat scoffingly Vers 10. I will not give you straw Cold comfort things commonly go backward with the Saints before they com forward as the corn groweth downward ere it grow upward Hold out faith and patience deliverance is at next dore by Cùm duplicantur lateres venit Moyses When things are at worst they 'le mend Vers 11. Yet not ought Such hard service put 's Satan his slaves to and yet they rejoice in their bondage Vers 12. So the people were scattered So are most people now-a daies busied about trash and trifles neglecting the one thing necessarie In the inthronization of the Pope before hee put 's on his criple Crown a wad of straw is set on fire before him and one appointed to saie Sic transit gloria mundi the glorie of this world is but a blaze of straw or stubble soon extinct They that highly esâ—eâ—m it rejoice in a thing of nought feed upon ashes c. Amos 7.8 9. with 13. Vers 13. And the task-masters Who were Egyptians as the officers under them were Israëlites and beaten vers 14. Vers 14. Were beaten It is the miserie of those that are trusted with autoritie that their inferiors faults are beaten upon their backs Vers 15. Came and crie'd unto Pharaoh They did not rail upon him to his face as the Janizaries did in an uproar upon Bajazet the second their Prince saying that they would by and by teach him as a drunkard Turk hist fol. 444. a beast and a rascal to use his great place and calling with more sobrietie and discretion Neither did they go behinde his back and call him as Sanders did Q. Elisabeth his natural Sovereign Lupam Anglicanam the English wolfe or as Rhiston calleth her leaenam omnes Athalias Maachas Rivetti Jesuita vapulans page 263. Jezabeles Herodiades c. superantem a lioness wors then anie Athaliah Maacha Jezabel A foul-mouthed Jesuite made this fals Anagram of her Elisabeth Jezabel T is omitted Fuller's holy State fol. 317. the presage of the gallowes whereon this Anagrammatist was afterwards justly executed Aretine by a longer custom of libelous and contumelious speaking against Princes had got such a habit that at last hee came to diminish and disesteem God himself Vers 16. But the fault is in thine own people Fffugiunt corvi vexat censura columbas As a man is friended so is his matter ended And where the hedg is low a man may lightly make large leaps Or as the French man saith Qui son chien vult tuer la rage luy met sus Hee that hath a minde to kill a dog give 's out that hee is mad It was fault enough in God's Israël that they would not bee miserable Vers 17. Yee are idle See the Note on vers 4 and 8. Vers 18. Yet shall yee deliver the tale of bricks Or bee miserably beaten if but one bee missing The Spaniards besides other intolerable burdens and bondages that they laie upon the poor Indians suppose they shew the wretches great favor when they do not Sir Fran. Drake World encompas pag. 53. for their pleasure whip them with cords and daie by daie drop their naked bodies with burning bacon Regiment without Righteousness turn's into tyrannie Vers 19. In an evil case For
the several members of the Church Militant and Triumphant are but one Tabernacle The Covering of the Tabernacle was two-fold Inward and Outward whereby was signified the internal and external estate of the Church The glorious gate signified the hearts of God's people made glorious by faith whereby wee entertein Christ The Tabernacle fitly knit together by it's joints and rightly erected signified the Church of Christ fitly compacted by that which everie joint supplieth and making increas with the increas of God Ephes 4.16 Col. 2.19 The Veil signified the flesh of Christ whereby his Deitie was covered and a waie paved for us to heaven The Veil was filled with Cherubims to shew how serviceable the Angels are to Christ and his people The Holie of Holies shadowed out the third heaven into the which Christ onely entred and wee by him The Ark of the Covenant covered with gold figured Christ in whom the God-head dwelleth bodily and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom c. The Testimonie laid up in the Ark signified Christ the end of the Law which also hath it's testimonie from him The golden Censer signified that all our services must bee perfumed and perfected by Christ before they can bee accepted The golden pot of Manna in the side of the Ark was a sacrament of that eternal life that is laid up for us in Christ Col. 3.3 Aaron's rod blossoming was a sign of God's fatherlie affection whereby it com's to pass that wee bloom and flourish under the cross The Sanctuarie or Tabernacle of the Congregation was the waie into the Holie of Holies and signified the Church-Militant through which wee enter into heaven The brasen Altar for Burnt-offerings shadowed out the humanitie of Christ which is sanctified by his Deâ—tie and supported under all his sufferings for us The Altar of Incens signified that Christ appeareth for us before his Father and maketh all our services accepted by the sacrifice of himself once offered for sin The Table furnished with so manie loavs as there were Tribes in Israël signified that God keep 's a constant table in his Church for all believers The golden Candlestick with his seven lamps figured the glorious light of the Gospel whereby God hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg of the glorie of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 The Laver wherein the Priests washed themselves before they ministred in the Tabernacle signified that wee cannot draw nigh to God in his services without due preparation The outer Court signified the visible Church wherein hypocrites also partake of external privileges Lo these are the things typed out by the Tabernacle and and they cannot bee better understood then by God's own interpretation of them when hee saith Exod. 25. Let them make mee a Sanctuarie that I may dwell in the middest of them For in those words as learned Junius observeth is conteined an explication of all the above-said Cerimonies SECT IIII. Treating of Holie Times COncerning holie Times the Law is either general or special The general Law is partly concerning the most strict rest from all servile works and partly concerning the Sacrifices which were on those holie daies to bee offered The former figured that Rest whereunto God in his due time will bring us The later served not onely to exercise the Jews prone to excess with the hard yoke of great expens but also by the great charge they were at to shadow out the great worth of Christ far beyond all worldly treasures The special Law concerned 1. holie Daies 2. Holie Years Holie-daies were either quotidian or solemn And these later were partly the New-moons partly the Sabbath and partly the Feasts which Feasts were either more solemn as the Passover Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles or less solemn as the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Attonement Holie years were 1. the Sabbatical or seventh year Or 2. the Jubilee or fiftieth year The explication of all these is as followeth 1. The continual Sacrifice was offered twice everie daie that the people might everie morning and evening bee admonished of their sin-guiltiness and withal might bee exercised in the remembrance and belief of the continual sacrifice of Christ for their sin It signified also our daily service or continual sacrifice of Prais and Holiness offered up to God in the name of Christ 2. The New-moon-sacrifice served to set forth that all our time and actions don therein are sanctified unto us by Christ 3. The Sabbath was a memorial of the Creätion it was also a type partly of Christ's resting in the grave and partly of our rest in Christ the begining whereof wee have here the perfection of it in heaven And whereas special order was taken that no fire should bee kindled on that daie it was to signifie that Christ his rest and ours in him was and should bee free from the fire of affliction 4. The holie Feasts were in general appointed for these ends and uses 1. To distinguish the people of God from other nations 2. To keep afoot the remembrance of benefits alreadie received 3. To bee a type and sigure of bâ—nefits yet further to bee conferred upon them by Christ 4. To unite God's people in holie worships 5. To preserv puritie in holie worships prescribed by God 5. The Passover of those that were clean celebrated in the begining of the year figured out the time manner and fruit of Christ's Passion The Passover kept by those that had been unclean signified that Christ profiteth not sinners as long as they persist in their uncleanness and so it figured out the time of repentance 6. At the Feast of Pentecost there was a daie of waving and of offering the First-fruits The former signified that the handful of our fruits that is our faith and good works are not accepted of God unless they bee waved by Christ our High-priest The later that God's blessings are to bee joyfully and thankfully received and remembred 7. The Feast of Tabernacles besides that it brought to minde the Israëlites wandering in the wilderness it did notably set forth the Church's pilgrimage in this present world which yet is so to bee thought on as that with greatest spiritual joie wee remember and celebrate our Redemption by Christ's death 8. The Feast of Trumpets signified that continual caus of cheerfulness and thankfulness that the Saints should have by Christ's death 9. The Feast of Attonement signified that the sins of God's people in their holie-meetings and daily services should bee expiated by Christ Moreover Attonement was also made for the most holie Place and for the Sanctuarie That signified that the visible heaven also was defiled by our sin and need bee purged by Christ's blood This that the Catholick Church is by the same blood of Christ made alone acceptable to God By the application that was made for several persons was set forth the applicatorie force of faith Furthermore that application and expiation was
is a rich roial virtue best beseeming the best Princes Ver. 6. Where I will meet with thee To give oracles and answers of Mercie God still meeteth him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness Isa 64.5 Ver. 7. Shall burn thereon sweet incens Facium vespae favos The Heathens had the like custom Verbenásque adole pingues Virgil. mascula thura Ver. 8. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps To shew that our praiers must bee made according to the light and direction of God's Word lest wee ask wee know not what and worship wee know not how Ver. 10. An attonement upon the horns of it Pardon must bee sought for the defects found in praiers as Nehemiah craved mercie for his Reformations Ver. 12. That there bee no plague David in numbering the people neglected this dutie thence the plague Ver. 13. half a shekel Towards the making of the Tabernacle and as an amercing himself for his sin that subjected him to utter destruction Vers 15. Ver. 15. The rich shall not give more They are both of a price becaus in spirituals they are equal 2 Pet. 1.1 Ver. 16. That it may bee a memorial A perpetual poll-monie in token of homage and subjection to the Almightie Ver. 18. Between the Tabernacle and the Altar The laver and Altar situated in the same court signified the same as the water and blood issuing out of Christ's side viz. the necessarie concurrence of Justification and Sanctification in all that shall bee saved Ver. 19. For Aaron and his sons Here they were to wash before they praied for the people Heb. 10.22 Wee must first make our own peace with God before wee take upon us to intercede for others So did David Psalm 25.22 and Psalm 51.18 19. So wee are advised to do Lam. 3.39 40. Ver. 21. That they die not Com not to an untimelie end as they did Lev. 10.1 2. Ver. 26. And thou shalt annoïnt the Tabernacle So to consecrate the same to God's service and to set forth how joifully and gladly men should serv the Lord. Ver. 29. Whatsoever toucheth them So are all those annointed holie that by a lively faith touch the Lord Christ Ver. 30. Aaron and his sons Those onely that succeeded him in the office of High-priest Lev. 4.3 5 16. and 16.32 Ver. 32. Vpon man's flesh A Latine Postiller hence infer's in an hyperbolical sens that Priests are Angels not having humane flesh Ver. 33. Whosoever compoundeth anie thing like it Holie things must not bee profaned on pain of death No people so abuse Scripture to common and ordinarie use as the Jews do CHAP. XXXI Ver. 3. And I have filled him GOd gift's whomsoever hee call's to anie emploiment Ver. 4. To devise cunning works All skill in lawful callings whether manual or mental is of God Isa 28.26 Ver. 5. And in cutting of stones Moses might well doubt where hee should finde fit work-men among those brick-makers for Egypt Ver. 6. I have given with him Two is better then one four eies see more then two God usually therefore coupleth his agents See the Note on Mat. 10.2 3. Luke 10.1 Ver. 13. Verily my sabbaths yee shall keep q. d. Though this sanctuarie-Sanctuarie-work is to bee don yet it shall bee no Sabbath's-daies work The good women in the Gospel forbare on the Sabbath to annoint the dead bodie of our Saviour resting according to the Commandement For it is a sign And withal an effectual means to conveigh holiness into the heart Ver. 14. For it is holie unto you Hence the Hebrews gather but falsly that onely Israël was charged with the Sabbath-daie and not the nations of the world But the Sabbath was kept before Israël was born Ver. 15. Whosoever doth anie work A certain Indian that had been taught by the English coming by and seeing one of the English profaning the Lord's daie by felling of a tree said to him New-England's first-fruits Do ye not know that this is the Lord's daie in Massaqusets one of the English Plantations much machet man that is verie wicked man why break you God's daie Ver. 18. Written with the finger of God Of the Decalogue above all other holie Writ God seem's to saie as Paul Philem. 19. Behold I have written it with mine own hand i. e. by mine own power and operation CHAP. XXXII Ver. 1. Vp Make us Gods A Aron might make a Calf but the people made it a God by adoring it Qui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus Martial Non facit ille Deos qui rogat iste facit Ver. 2. Break off your golden ear-rings Hereby hee hoped to break their design but all in vain for they were mad upon their Idols Jer. 59.38 Ver. 3. Brake off the golden ear-rings which they had got of the Egyptians Exod. 12.35 To make use of Heathen Autors for ostentation is to make a Calf of the treasure gotten out of Egypt Ver. 4. A molten Calf In imitation of the Egyptian Idol Apis a Pied-bullock A man may pass through Ethiopia unchanged but hee cannot dwel there and not bee discolored Ver. 5. A feast to Jehovah Whom these Idolaters pretended to worship in the golden Calf as did also Jehu 2 King 10.16 29. 2 Chron. 11.15 and as the Papists at this daie but with what face can som of their Rabbins excuse this people from Idolatrie Ver. 6. Rose up to plaie To dance about the Calf Now if they were so cheared and strengthned by those baneful bits those murthering morsels should not wee much more by God's spiritual provisions to dance as David did to do his work with all our might Ver. 7. For thy people which thou broughtest God will own them no longer they are now dis-covenanted The Saints by gross sins may lose their jus aptitudinale non jus haereditarium their fitness for God's Kingdom they may sin away all their comfortables Ver. 8. They have turned aside quickly Moses's back was but newly turned as it were I marvel that you are so soon removed c. Gal. 1.6 See the Note there When wee have spent all our winde on our people their hearts will bee still apt to bee carried away with every winde of doctrine Ver. 9. A stiff-necked people And so they are still to this verie daie Hierom complain's that in his time they thrice a daie cursed Christ in their Synagogue Hieron in Isa lib. 12. cap 49. tom 5. lib. 14 cap. 42. and closed up their praiers with Maledic Domine Nazaraeis They are thought to advise most of that mischief which the Turk put 's in execution against Christians They counterfeit Christianitie in Portugal even to the degree of Priesthood and think they may do it either for the avoiding of danger or increasing their substance There are verie few of them that turn Christians in good earnest Adeò in cordibus eorum radices fixit pertinacitas River Jesuita Vapul 322. So stubborn they are to this daie and stiff-necked their
the Covenant the Seals Ministers c. But alas are not these blessings amongst us as the Ark was amongst the Philistims rather as prisoners then as privileges rather in testimonium ruinam quà m in salutem Rather for our ruine then reformation Ver. 28. Fortie daies and fortie nights Moses Elias and Christ those three great Fathers met glorious in Mount Tahor Abstinence merit 's not but prepare's the best for good duties Hee wrote That is Weems Exer. God wrote as som will have it Ver. 29. The skin of his face shone God hereby assuring the people that hee had inwardly inlightned him for their better instruction Ver. 30. And they were afraid This was another manner of Brightness and Majestie then that which sate in the eies of Augustus and of Tamerlan whose eies so shone as that a man could hardly endure to behold them without closing of his own and manie in talking with them and often beholding of them became dumb which caussed them oft-times with a comlie modestie to abstein from looking too earnestly upon such as spake unto them Turk histâ— fol. 236. or discoursed with them Ver. 33. Hee put a veil on his face And had more glorie by his veil then by his face How far are those spirits from this Christian modestie which care onely to bee seen and wish onely to dazle others eies with admiration not caring for unknown riches This veil signified the Laws obscuritie and our infidelitie Ver. 34. But when Moses went in Hypocrites on the contrarie shew their best to men their worst to God God see 's both their veil and their face and I know not whether hee hate's more their veil of dissimulation or face of wickedness CHAP. XXXV Ver. 1. And said unto them These c. HEE often go's over the same things as the knife doth the whetstone Good things must bee repeted sicut in acuendo 'T is Moses his own metaphor Deut. 6.7 Ver. Six daies shall work bee don This dutie is so oft inculcated to shew the necessitie excellencie difficultie of well doing it Ver. Yee shall kindle no fire sc For the furtherance of the work of the Tabernacle or at least that is not of absolute necessitie It might also signifie that in the kingdom of heaven wee shall bee set free from all the fire and scorching heat of affliction Ver. 22. And brought bracelets Glad they had anie thing of price to dedicate to God and to seal up their thankfulness for this re-admittance into his love and favor See the Note on Matth. 9.10 Nazianzen put this price upon his Athenian learning wherein hee was verie famous that hee had somthing of value to part with for Christ Ver. 32. And to devise curious works This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts Lib. 23. who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working Isa 28.29 Plinie make's mention of som famous Painters whose rare pieces were Oppidorum opibus venditae Sold for so manie Towns-wealth A certain artificer set a watch-clock upon a ring that Charls the Fifth wore upon his finger Sphinx philos pag. 90. King Ferdinand sent to Solyman the Turk for a present a wonderful globe of silver of most rare and curious device daily expressing the hourly passing of the Time the motions of the Planets Turk Hist fol. 713. the change and full of the Moon lively exepressing the wonderful conversions of the Celestial frame To which I may well add that admirable invention of Printing a special blessing of God to mankinde CHAP. XXXVI XXXVII c. Ver. 2. And Moses called Bezaleel GOd qualified them Mâ—ses called them Ministers also must have an outward calling too See Acts 13.1 2 3. Heb. 5.4 and bee sent ere they preach Rom. 10.15 And whereas 1 Cor. 14.31 It is said Yee may all prophecie the meaning is All yee that are Prophets may But are all Prophets 1 Cor. 12.29 Ver. 7. And too much Thus in outward ordinances of service and for the making of a worldlie sanctuarie Heb. 9.1 they could do and over-do So John 6.28 They said unto him What shall wee do that wee may work the works of God Men would fain have heaven as a purchase I would swim through a sea of brimstone said one that I might com to heaven at last But what said our Saviour to those questionists John 6 This is the work of God that yee believ on him whom hee hath sent And what said Luther Walk in the Heaven of the Promiss but in the Earth of the Law that in respect of Believing this of Working Manie poor souls can think of nothing but working themselvs to life Do wee must all righteousness but rest in none but Christ's Ver. 8. And everie wise-hearted man Let no man look upon this and the following Chapter as an idle repetition nor saie as one said once Did wee not know that all Scripture was divinely inspired wee should bee readie to saâ—e Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus But know that here is see forth a Table Index or Inventorie of what Moses and the workmen did in obedience to God's command for everie particular about the Sanctuarie This Inventorie was taken by Ithamar at the commandement of Moses Et sic in archivum Ecclesiae relatum and so laid up in the charter-hous of the Church for the use of posteritie See the Notes on Exod. 26. and consider that saying of an antient Prosper Epist ad Augustin Necessarium utile est etiam quae scripta sunt scribere nè leve existimetur quod non frequenter arguitur CHAP. XL. Ver. 36. The Children of Israël went THe Jews conceiv that this Cloud that led Israël through the wilderness levelled mountains raised vallies and laid all aflat that it burnt up bushes and smoothed rocks and made all plain c. See Luke 3.5 Isa 4.5 A COMMENTARIE OR EXPOSITION UPON THE Third BOOK of Moses called LEVITICVS CHAP. I. Vers 1 And the Lord called A Continuation of the former Historie from the rearing of the Tabernacle to the numbering of the people beeing the historie of one moneth onely Ver. 2. Bring an offering Whereby they were led to Christ as the Apostle sheweth in that excellent Epistle to the Hebrews which is a just Commentarie upon this Book Ver 3. Burnt sacrifice A whole-burnt-offâ—ring Heb 10.6 purporting whole Chriâ—â— uffering for us Isa 53 12 and our sacrificing our whole selvs to him â—s a reasonable service Rom. 12.1 Ver. 4. And hee shall put his hand As acknowledging his own guilt and transferring the same upon Christ resting upon him with full assurance of faith handfasting us unto him Ver. 5. And bee shall kill the bullock The Priest shall kill it for it was death for anie man to offer his own sacrifice so it is still for anie to com to God otherwise then in and by Christ Ver. 6. And hee shall flaie the burnt-offering To shew the grievousness of our Saviour's sufferings the
obedience and praie for God's Spirit to bee poured upon them Ver. 7. And Moses brought Aaron They did not intrude themselvs See the Note on Heb. 5.4 Ver. 8. Hee put in the brest-plate the Vrim c. Hence it may bee God appointed the brest-plate to bee made double that the Urim and Thummim might bee put within and lie hid on everie side This Urim and Thummim signified saith one that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg Col. 2.3 and that hee hath all secret things most perfectly known and numbred out before him which hee revealeth continually to his Church and chosen as need requireth by such means as himself hath sanctified Psal 25.14 John 14.21 26. 17.14 17 26. CHAP. IX Ver. 1. On the eighth daie THe verie next daie after the Priest's consecration that no time might bee lost I made haste and delaied not c. Psalm 119.16 Then said I lo I com in the volume of the book it is written of mee c. Psalm 40.7 Live live live saith one quickly much long let no water go by no daie bee lost c. Preach preach bee instant quick at work c. Praecipitat tempus mors atra impendet agenti Ver. 2. Take thee alyoung calf In remembrance and sor the remission of Aaron's sin about the golden calf as som Hebrews are of opinion Ver. 3. Take yee a kid of the goats for a Sin-offering Quia gravis odor peccati The smell of sin is grievous it offendeth all God's senses yea his verie soul Isa 1.12 13. c. Ver. 4. For to daie the Lord will appear unto you And hee may not sinde you emptie-handed unprepared See the Notes on Fxod 19.10 Ver. 6. And the glorie of the Lord shall appear unto you so shall it one daie to us yea wee shall bee like him and appear with him in glorie and must therefore purifie our selvs as God is pure 1 John 3.2 3. Ver. 7. Make attonement for thy self See Heb. 5.3 7.27 28. with the Notes there Ver. 8. Went unto the Altar i. e. The brasen Altar for hee had not yet access to the Altar of Incens Wee must staie our corruptions before wee present our supplications wash our hearts from wickedness and then compass God's Altar Ver. 22. Lift up his hands Hee put the blessing upon them A type of Christ Luke 24.50 with Acts 3.26 Ephes 1.3 Ver. 24. They shouted and fell on their faces The consideration of God's gracious acceptation of us in Christ should make us to lift manie an humble joiful and thankful heart to God CHAP. X. Ver. 1. And Nadab and Abihu THese jollie young Priests over-joied haply of their new emploiment and over-warmed with wine as som gather out of Vers 9. over-shoot themselvs the verie daie of their service Vers 19. and are suddenly surprised by a doleful death So was that inconsiderate Priest oâ— Naples Anno Dom. 1457. of whom Wolphius report's Wolph Mcmorab Lect. Câ—â—â— 15. that when the hill Vesuvius had sent huge flames and don great spoil hee to make proof of his pietie read a Mass and would need 's go up the hill to finde out the caus of such a calamitie But for a reward of his fool-hardiness hee perished in the flames and was never heard of anie more Ver. 2. And there went out fire By fire they sinned and by fire they perished Per quod quis peccat per idem punitur ipse Nestorii lingua vermibus exesa est Evag. lib 1. So Archbishop Arundel's tongue rotted in his head The Archbishop of Tours in France made suit for the erection of a Court called Chambre Ardent wherein to condemn the Protestants to the fire Hee was afterwards stricken with a diseas called the fire of God Act. and Mon. fol. 1911. which began at his feet and so asscended upward that hee caussed one member after another to be cut off and so hee died miserably Ver. 3. This is that the Lord spake Where and when Lev. 8.35 Exod. 19.22 Or perhaps no where written but at som other time spoken by God Moses might but set down the short Notes of his discourses as the Prophets used to do I will bee sanctified Either actively or passively Aut à nobis aut in nos either in us or upon us sure it is that hee will bee no loser by us Sanctified hee will bee either in the sinceritie of men's conversation or els in the severitie of their condemnation Singular things are exspected of all that draw nigh to God in anie dutie but especially in the office of the Ministerie Those that stand in the presence of Princes must bee exact in their carriages God appointed both the weights and measures of the Sanctuarie to bee twice as large as those of the Common-wealth to shew that hee exspect's much more of those that serv him there then hee doth of others The souls of Priests must bee purer then the sun-beams saith Chrysostom D. Hakw on Psalm 101. And Aaron held his peace Hee bridled his passions and submitted to the divine Justice The like did David Psalm 39.9 which words were taken up by Du-plessis in the loss of his onely son Ver. 5. In their coats These were not burnt as neither were their bodies the fire Tostat beeing of a celestial and subtile nature might pierce their inward parts not touching their outward as the lightning kill 's by piercing not by burning Ver. 6. And Moses said unto Aaron Philo reporteth that the High-priest of the Jews to keep alwaies his soul pure never saw anie mournful object Tiberius counterfeiting grief at the funeral of Drusus had a veil laid betwixt the dead and him that hee might not see the bodie becaus hee was as the rest of the Emperors also were Pontifex Maximus or the High-priest and therefore a sacred person Mourning in Aaron might have seemed murmuring hee is therefore forbidden it and accordingly hee forbear's Manlii Loc. com p. 215. So did Luther when hee buried his daughter hee was not seen to shed a tear No more did reverend Mr. William Whatelie late Pastor of Banburie when after hee had preached his own childe 's Funeral upon this Text The will of the Lord bee don hee and his wise laid the childe in the grave with their own hands Bewail the burning It 's fit enough ordinarily that the bodie when sown in corruption bee watered by the tears of those that plant it in the earth Ver. 7. For the annointing oil of the Lord is upon you This is everie true Christian's case who should therefore carrie himself accordingly There is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seemlie carriage belong's to everie calling You have an unction c. 1 John 2. Ver. 9. Do not drink wine nor strong drink As som are of opinion Nadab and Abihu had don Ex malis moribus honae leges which miscarriage of theirs occasioned this precept The perpetual equitie
mindedness c. purported by these bodilie imperfections Ver. 22. Hee shall eat the bread So might not the unclean Priests Levit. 22.3 Our involuntarie weaknesses shall not debar us from benefit by Christ CHAP. XXII Ver. 2. That they separate THough Priests yet they may not hold themselvs privileged above others to commit sin but are the rather obliged to dutie Why should anie Chrysostom have caus to saie Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui salvi fiant I do not think that manie of our Ministers can bee saved 't is well if anie Or anie Campian to exclaim Ministris eorum nihil vilius Ver. 6. Vnless hee wash his flesh with water Whereby hee was led to the laver of Christ's blood which is opposed to legal washings Heb. 9.9 Run wee to that open fountain Zach. 13.1 and bee everie daie washing and cleansing our selvs therein from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Everie Jew had his water-pots for dailie purification John 2.6 Wee have a far better Bath Ver. 7. Becaus it is his food Animantis cujusque vita in fuga est and must bee preserved by food Ver. 9. And die therefore It is no dallying with God Either do it wee must or die for it Ver. 10. There shall no stranger The equitie of all this was that Ministers should have a comfortable subsistence for them and theirs and that the things that are appointed to that purpose should not bee converted to other uses 1 Cor. 9.13 It is certainly a sad complaint that Luther make's Nisi superesset spolium Aegypti quod rapuimus Papae Luther in Gen. 47. omnibus Ministris verbi fame pereundum esset c. Were it not for such spoils of Aegypt as wee have won from the Pope God's Ministers might starve and perish And if ever it com to that that they must bee mainteined by the people's benevolence a miserable maintenance they are like to have of it That little that wee have now diripitur à Magistratu is got from us by the great Ones who rob our Churches and Schools as if they meant to make an end of us with hard hunger Thus hee See Hag. 2.14 All the water in Jordan and the Cerimonies in Leviticus cannot cleans a man so long as the polluted thing remain's in his hand Ver. 16. Or suffer them From my other men's sins Good Lord deliver mee said One Have wee not enough of our own to answer for See 1 Tim. 5.22 wich the Note That cannot bee wholsom meat that is sauced with the blood of souls and spiced with the wrath of God Ver. 20. It shall not bee acceptable Nay it shall bee abominable Mal. 1.7 God require's the best of the best fine flour without bran Levit. 2.1 c. and curseth that cousener that having a sound or a fat male in his flock bringeth to him a corrupt carrion or a lean starvling for Sacrifice Vers 14. Ver. 23. That maiest thou offer Though it have som kinde of defect yet in free-will offerings it might pass This was to signifie that our imperfect obedience after that wee are once in Christ is accepted by Christ who is without all blame and blemish Ver. 24. Neither shall you make anie offering No not a free-will offering Religion love's to lie clean God will take up with a poor but it must bee a pure sacrifice Ver. 25. Their corruption is in them As not having their hearts purified by faith and therefore not in case to pleas God Ver. 27. It shall bee seven daies As not beeing man's meat till then but legally impure and in their blood as were likewise infants Ver. 28. Yee shall not kill it and her young Becaus it bear's a shew of crueltie and of adding affliction to the afflicted See Gen 32.11 Hos 10.14 Ver. 29. Offer it at your own will God strain 's upon no man Virtus nolentium nullaest Ver. 30. On the same daie See the Note on Chap. 7.15 Ver. 31. I am the Lord Your rightfull Lord and my reward is with mee to give unto everie man according to his works Ver. 32. My holie name Holie and therefore reverend Psal 111.9 Holiness hath honor CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. And the Lord spake SEE the Note on chap. 7.22 Ver. 2. To bee holie convocations Not bare rests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. de legib as Plato said that the Gods pittying men's labor appointed their festivals to bee a remission of their labor See the Notes on Exod. 20.8 9 10 11. Ver. 3. Yee shall do no work therein Save onely works of pietie charitie and necessitie These are allowed by our Saviour Mark 2.29 and 3.4 and 3.27 The Jews superstitiously hold that it is not lawfull for a blinde man to lean upon a staff on a Sabbath-daie as the lame may That if a Flea bite a man on that daie hee may take it but not kill it that if a thorn prick him in the foot on that daie hee may not pull it out That a Tailor may not carrie a needle much less a sword that a man may not spet or bee taken out of a jakes Ranulph lib. 7 c. 37. as that Jew of Tewksburie who said Sabbata sancto colo de stercore surgere nolo Whereunto the Earl of Glocester replied Sabbata nostra quidem Solomon celebrabis ibidem Sir reverence of the Sabbath keep 's mee here And you Sir reverence shall our Sabbath there In all your dwellings Where you are to sanctifie this rest and to repair to your Synagogues Act. 15.21 Ver. 5. In the fourteenth daie See the Notes on Exodus 12.18 Ver. 11. And hee shall wave the sheaf This signified that they and theirs were accepted of God through Christ On the morrow after the Sabbath Here the Lord's daie was prefigured saith one therefore prescribed and instituted of God This shake-daie-sheaf was a pregnant type of Christ's rising again the first-fruits from the dead It was fulfilled in Christ's resurrection the daie after the Sabbath And becaus this Sabbath bath was chiefly meant of the Passover which was an high Sabbath it was a double Sabbath wherein Christ rested in the grave The verie next morning was Christ waved before the Lord when in the earth-quake hee rose from the dead the first fruits of them that sleep and there-hence entered the everlasting gates as a King of glorie Psal 24.7 which Psalm is in the Greek called A Psalm of David of the first daie of the week Ver. 15. Seven Sabbaths That is seven weeks The Sabbath is queen of all the daies of the week and therefore carrie's the name of the whole week Ver. 17. Out of your habitations That is out of the new corn growing of the same land which God gave them to inherit not â—orrein The first fruits viz. of their wheat-harvest as the shake-sheaf vers 10. was of their barlie-harvest Thus were they to express their thankfulness to God for those pretious fruits of the earth Jam. 5.7 Ver. 22. And when
enemy Vers 4. A man of every tribe These were men of renowne Vers 16. To do worthily in Ephrata is the way to be famous in Bethlebem Ruth 4.11 It is said of a great States-man in Queen Elizabeths dayes Camdens Elisab that he was in the number of those few that both lived and dyed with glory Vers 16. Princes of the tribes Thesâ— were those officers over them in Egypt saith an Hebrew Dectour that had been beaten for them Exad 5.14 Now they are raised to great preferment Sic per augusta ad angustum per spinas ad rosas per motum ad quietem per crucemâ—ad caelum contendimus Vers 17. Which are expressed by their names And they are all excellent good names and very significant hereby is testified to posterity that they forgat not the Name of their God when they were in the iron furnace but could say as Psal 44.17 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons c. Vers 19. So he numbred them See the note on Exod. 30.12 At every generall muster they paid poll-money See ib. vers 16. Such a taxation was first granted in this kingdome to Edward the third Danicls hist but in the next raign proved of ill consequence the exactours receiving from the people no less summes of curses then of coyn whereupon also followed the first and greatest popular insurrection that ever was seen in this kingdome Vers 47. Were not numbred Because by speciall priviledg enempted from secular and military employments that they may wholly devote themselves to the service of the Sanctuary Peter in like sort must put up his sword and Timothy not intangle himself with the affaires of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a souldier of another nature 2 Tim. 2.4 But Timotheâ—s Herulus that warlike Bishop of Alexandria Theophilus Alexandriae Episcopus primus inter Christiani nominis episcopos arma tractavit Socrat. Anno Dom. 467 was a gallant fellow in his generation And some of Peters pretended successours were viri biliosi et bellicosi cast the keyes into Tiber and took up Saints Pauls sword and the Imperiall habit So have divers of their dear sons done as Philip Bishop of Beau-viâ—â— in France who being taken in battell by Richard the first in a skirmish had his armour he was taken in sent to the Pope with these words engraven thereon Vide utruâ— filii tui tunica sit vel non See whether this be thy sons coat or not Vers 53. Shall pitch round about As the living creatures the Ministers are between the 24 elders the congregation of the faithfull and the throne Rev. 4. CHAP. II. Vers 1. ANd the Lord spake He being the Lord of these Hoasts of Israel Exod. 12.41 gives order for the marshalling of them in such good array and allcomely equipage as made them as a city that is compact together both beautifull as the Moon and terrible as an army with banners Psal 122.3 Cant. 6.10 This Balaam beheld with admiration Num. 24.5 6. Vers 2. Far off about the Tabernacle About it The Emperours tent is among his Souldiers Xerxes pitched his tent not only among but above his souldiers that he might look on them when in fight for their encouragement So the Lord who as he is round about his people Psal 125.2 so they are round about the Lord Psal 76.12 A people neer unto him Psal 148.14 Yet not so neer but they must know and keep their just distance as here they pitched far off about the Tabernacle a mile off as is gathered from Iosh 3.4 God though he loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience yet he takes State upon him in his ordinances and will be trembled at in our addresses to his Majesty Vers 3. And on the East-side Judah encamped foremost It was fit the Lion should leade the way Better an army of Harts with a Lion to lead them on c. This order in their march shewed the principality that should continue in this tribe till Shiloh came Judah herein also was a type of Christ who is the Captain of the Lords Hoasts Iosh 5.14 and of our salvation Heb. 2.10 and goeth before his heavenly armies Rev. 12.7 Vers 10. And on the South-side The order proceedâ—th from East to South and so to the West and North according to the course of the Sun and climates of the world saith one I may add according to the course and progress of the Gospell which went out of Iudea lying East into Greece which lyeth South And from thence passed to the Western parts the Latine Church and so to us of the North. And because Vespera nunc venit nobiscum Christe maneto Extingui lucem nec patiare tuam CHAP. III. OF Aaron and Moses Of Aaron by nature of Moses by education and instruction See 1 Cor. 4.15 Gal. 4.19 with the Notes there So the Jesuites call themselves Padres and require of their Novices blinde obedience which is more then ever Moses did Vers 3. Which were anointed And so should have walked as became Gods anointed leaving a sweet smell behind them every where but they went out in a stench they fell as if they had not been anoynted with oyle 2 Sam. 1 21. Vers 4. And Nadab and Abihu Such a cross had David in his two eldest Amnon and Absalon See the Notes on Levit. 10.1 2. Vers 9. They are wholly given unto him Heb. they are given they are given So the Ministers of the Gospell are called gifts Eph. 4.8 11. honouraries such as Christ bestowed upon his Church at the day of his Coronation and solemne inauguration into his throne at his wonderfull Ascention Vers 10. And the stranger Though a Levite yet if not of Aarons seed Num. 18.3 Heb. 5.4 Let this be thought upon by our over-bold intruders into the work of the Ministery Vers 13. Because all the first-born So they were from the beginning but here is noted a continuance of this ordinance when it is said that he sanctified the first-born to himself what time he smote every first-born in Egypt Now the first born are said to be Gods by a singular right Exod. 13.2 and so they were types 1. Of Christ Rom. 8.29 to whom therefore we must give the honour of his first-birth-right all our sheaves must veyle and bow to his sheafe 2. Of Christians those first-born whose names are written in Heaven Heb. 12.23 who are dear to God as his first born Exod. 4.22 and so higher then the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 for they are Kings and Priests unto God Rev. 1.6 to serve him day and night in his temple Rev. 7.15 CHAP. IIII. Vers 2. OF the sons of Kohath Kohath was not Levies first born but Gershom and yet he hath the preheminence and chiefe charge as of the Arke Table Candlestick Altars c. Num. 3.31 Vers 3.
And this is that great offence Psal 19.11 The same reproacheth the Lord As if he wanted either wisdome to observe or power to punish such as take themselves to be out of the reach of his rod See Ezek. 20.27 Vers 31. That gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day This he did with an high hand as vers 30 in contempt of God and his Law Mr. Abbots his sermons The baser sort of people in Swethland do alwaies break the sabbath saying that 't is only for gentlemen to keep that day How much better that poor Indian in new-England who comming by and seeing one of the English profaning of the Lords day by felling of a tree said unto him New-Engl first-fruites pag. 4. do you not know that this is the Lords day Much machet man i.e. Very wicked man what break you Gods day The best and wealthieft of the Iewes to prevent servile work on the Sabbath day with their own hands chop the hearbs sweep the house Buxtorf Synagog cleave wood kindle fire c. on the day before Vers 38. That they may make them fringes See the Note on Mat. 23.5 Aribband of blue This sky-colourd ribband band taught them that though their commoration was on earth their conversation should be in Heaven Philip. 3.20 CHAP. XVI Vers 1. THe son of Izhar And so couzen german to Moses and Aaron for Izhar was brother to Amram their father Exod. 6.18 Sons of Reuben Who being next neighbours to Korah in the Camp were the sooner corrupted by him Vvaque corrupta livorem ducit ab â—â—a Juven Vers 2. Princes of the Assembly A very dangerous conspiracy For as in a beast the body followes the head so in that bellua multorum capitum the multitude Great men are the looking-glasses of the Country according to which most men dress themselves their sins do as seldom go unattended as their persons Height of place ever adds two wings to sin Example and Scandal whereby it soares higher and flyes much further Vers 3. Against Moses and against Aaron They were against both Magistracy and Ministery as our late Levellers and would have brought in Anarchy that every man might offer his own sacrificâ—â— and do that which is good in his own eyes Regnum Cyclopicum Vers 4. He fell upon his face As a suppliant to them not to proceed in their rebellion or rather to God not to proceed against them for their sin Vers 5. And he spake unto Korah By the instinct of the Spirit who had given into his heart a present answer to his prayer and furnished him with this answer Vers 7. Ye take too much upon you He retorts that upon them that they had falsly charged upon him and Aaâ—on So doth Elias upon Ahab 1 King 18.17.18 So do we worthily upon Popery the charge of novelty When a Papist tauntingly demanded of a Protestant Where was your Religion before Luther he was answered In the Bible where yours never was Vers 8. ye sons of Levi He took these to task apart as hoping haply to withdraw them from their purpose and to hide pride from them Job 33.17 but they proved uncounsellable incorrigible Vers 9. Seemeth it but a small thing Whiles these ambitious Levites would be looking up to the Priests Moses sends down their eyes to the people The way not to repine at those above us is to look at those below us Vers 10. And seek ye the Priesthood also Ambition is restless and unsatisfiable for like the Crocodile it grows as long as it lives Vers 11. And what is Aaron q. d. Is it not God whom ye wound through Aaron's sides Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9. Vers 12. We will not come up Sturdy rebels ripe for destruction See Prov. 29.1 with the Note there One perhaps had knockt off and is therefore no more mentioned Satius est recurrere quam male currere as that Emperour said Better stop or step back then run on to utter ruine Vers 13. That floweth with milk and honey So they falsly and maliciously speak of the land of Egypt in derision of the land of Canaan whereunto that praise properly belonged Those that were born in hell know no other heaven Altogether a Prince over us So their quarrel was against Moses his principality though they pretended the Priesthood only at first If the Ministery once be taken away let the Magistâ—ate see to himself hee 's next Vers 14. We will not come up Sc. to the place of judgment so they add rebellion to sin and justifie their treasonful practices as did Ravilliac Faux Saunders others Vers 15. And Moses was very wroth Or very sore grieved He might have said as One once did Felix essem si non imperitassem Happy had I been if I had never been in place of authority Egypt is said by Seneca to have been loquax ingeniosa in contumeliam praefectorum provincia in qua qui vitaverit culpam non effugit infamiam a Province apt to find fault with and to speak hardly of their Rulers though never so innocent These rebels had haply learned those Egyptian manners by living so long amongst them I have not taken one asse from them Moses was not of them that follow the administration of justice as a trade only with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain This is but robbery with authority and justifies the common resemblance of the Courts of justice to the Bush whereto while the sheep flyes for defence in weather he is sure to lose part of his fleece Vers 16. Thy company Or thy congregation thy faction or Church-Malignant as Psal 26.5 Act. 19.32 40. Vers 17. And take every man his censer Which they had ready provided when first they combined to thrust themselves into the Priests office Vers 18. And stood in the door Such an impudency had sin oaded in their faces that they stood stouting it out before the Lord and made open profession of their wickedness there was no need to dig to find it out Jer. 2.34 for they set it as it were upon the cliff of the rock Ezek. 24.7 Vers 19. All the Congregation Not his own company onely for the whole multitude was too ready to favour his attempt as he perswaded them God also would his design being to introduce an equal popularity an ochlocratie that Rule of rascality as One calleth it Vers 21. Separate your selves Good men are taken away from the evill to come When God pulls away the pillars what will become of the building Lot was no sooner taken out of Sodome but Sodome was taken out of the world Vers 22. The God of the Spirits The Former and Father of Spirits Zech. 12.1 Heb. 12.9 that giveth to all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life and breath Act. 17.25 in whose hand is the soul of all living and the spirit of all flesh Job 12.10 Vers 24. Get you up from about Save your selves from this untoward generation Act. 2.40 force
to another and proceeded as far as excommunication postea comperti idem sentire so did Cyrill and Theodoret. Vers 23. Be sure your sin will find you out The guilt will haunt you at heels as a bloodhound and the punishment will overtake you as it did that Popish Priest in Lancashire who being followed by one that found his glove with a desire to restore it him but pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience leaps over a hedge plunges into a Marle-pit behind it unseen and unthought of wherein he was drowned Or as it did that other Priest who having escaped the fall of Black-Friers Anno 1623. where two of his fellow-shavelings with about a hundred more Jac. Rev. de vit Pontific 312. perished and taking water with purpose to sail into Flanders was east away with some others under London-Bridg the boat being over-turned Vers 38. Their names being changed Out of detestation of those idols Baal Nebo c. See Exod. 23.13 Psal 16.4 Isai 46.1 Absit ut de ore Christiano sonet Jupiter omnipotens Mehercule Mecastor coetera magis portenta quam numina saith Hierom. Heathenish gods should not be so far honoured as to be heard of out of Christian mouthes nor Popish Idols neither I my self saith Latimer Serm. in 3. Sund. in Advent have used in mine earnest matters to say yea by the Rood by the Masse by St. Mary which indeed is naught Some simple folk say they may swear by the masse because there is now no such thing and by our Lady because she is gone out of the Country CHAP. XXXIII Vers 2. ANd Moses wrote Moses was primus in historia as Martial saith of Salust Vers 4. For the Egyptians buried As iron is very soft and malleable whiles in the fire but soon after returns to its former hardness so was it with these Egyptians Affliction meekneth men hence affliction and meeknesse grow upon the same Hebrew root Vers 29. From Mithcah Which signifies sweetnesse And pitched in Chasmonah Which signifies swiftnesse We must also when we have tasted of Gods sweetness use all possible swiftness in the wayes of holiness as Jacob when he had seen visions of God at Bethel he lift up his feet Gen. 29.1 and went on his way lustily like a generous horse after a bait or a giant after his wine the joy of the Lord is your strength Neh. 8. Vers 38. And dyed there in the fourtieth year Nec te tua plurima Pentheâ— Labentem texît pietas The righteous dye as well as the wicked yea the righteous oft before the wicked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God sends his servants to bed when they have done their work as here he did Aaron and as within these few dayes he hath done to mine unspeakable loss and grief my dearest brother and most faithful friend Mr. Thomas Jackson that able and active instrument of Gods glory while he lived in the work of the Ministery at Glocester the sad report of whose death received whilest I was writing these things made the pen almost fall out of my singers not for my own sake so much as for my Countrey whereof he was I may truly say Paulin. Nolan in vita Ambros the Bul-wark and the Beauty as Ambrose is said to have been the walls of Italy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Theodosius Ambrose whiles alive was the only Minister to speak of that I knew in the whole Countrey And dilexi virum qui cum corpore solveretur magis de Ecclesiarum statu juam de suis periculis angebatur said the same Emperour of the same Ambrose I could not but love the man for that when he dyed his care was more for the Churches welfare then for his own I can safely say the same of the man in speech without offence to any be it spoken and I greatly fear lest as the death of Ambrose fore-ran the ruine of Italy so that it bodes no good to us that God pulls such props and pillars out of our building But this by way of digression to satisfie my great grief for so dear a friend deceased as David did his for his brother Jonathan and made him an Epitaph 2 Sam. 1.17 Vers 52. Destroy all the pictures Those Balaam's blocks those excellent instruments of idolatry such as was the rood of Hailes and Cockraâ— rood which if it would not serve to make a god yet with a pair of horns clapt on his head might make an excellent Devil Act. and Mon. 1340. as the Mayor of Doncaster perswaded the men of Cockram who came to him to complain of the Joyner that made it and refused to pay him his money for the making of it Vers 55. Shall be pricks in your eyes The eye is the tenderest part and soon vexed with the least mote that falls into it These Jebusites preserved should be notorious mischiâ—fs to them as the Jesuites at this day are to those Christian States that haâ—bour them Shall we suffer those vipers to lodg in our bosomes till they eat out our hearts Sic notus Vlysses Jesuites like bells will never be well tuned till well hanged Among much change of houses in forraign parts they have two famous for the accordance of their names the one called the Bow at Nola the other the Arrow la Flescâ—e given them by Henry 4 whom afterwards they villanously stabbed to death in France Their Apostate Ferrier plaid upon them in this distich Arcum Nola dedit dedit illis alma sagittam Gallia quis funem quem meruere dabit Nola the bow and France the shaft did bring But who shall help them to a hempen-string CHAP. XXXIV Vers 2. THis is the land that shall fall It is God that assigns us our quarters and cuts us out our several conditions appointing the bounds of our habitation Act. 17. This should make us rest contented with our lot and having God our portion say howsoever as David did The lines are fallen to me in a fair place Psal 16.6 It is that our Father sees fit for us Vers 3. Then your South-quarter shall be Judaea was not above 200 miles long and 50 miles broad not neer the half of England by much but far more fertile called therefore Sumen totius orbis and yet England is for good cause counted the Western granary the garden of God whose valleys are like Eden whose hills are as Lebanon whose springs are as Pisgah Speeds hist whose rivers are as Iordan whose walls is the Ocean whose defence is the Lord Jehovah Vers 6. The great Sea Commonly called the Mediterranean Sea betwixt which and the Jews lay the Philistims as now betwixt the Church and the Turk lies the Pope and his followers Italy being the mark that the Turk shoots at Loe a sweet providence of God Vers 8. Vnto the entrance of Hamath Called Hamath the Great Amos 6.8 affecting haply to be held the greatest Village as the Hague in Holland doth and remains therefore unwalled
his providence had so ordered that he should see them passing and invite them to his house How glad was this good man of an occasion to shew kindness acknowledging Gods good providence And how improvident are we for our selves that will not offer a sacrifice when God sets up an altar before us So do as thou hast said The Angels needed not his courtesie yet kindly accept of it Good offers or offices even from inferiours are not to be rejected but regarded yea rewarded Vers 6. Make ready quickly Habent aulae suum Ciâ—ò Ciâ—ò saith One. So had Abrahams house here He she the boy and all hasted and had their severall offices The very expression it self here used is concise and quick Much like that of the Prophet in the case of returning to God If ye will enquire enquire return come Esa 21.12 Silius Praecipitatempus mors atra impendet agenti Three measures of fine meal Three pecks for three mens dinners and the best of the best too fine meal the fat calf butter and milk Gods plenty of all and hearty welcome the good-man himself standing by and bidding them Go to which shews his humanity and his humility also Dat bene dat multum qui dat cum munere vultum Vers 9. Behold in the tent David compares a good woman to the vines upon the walls of the house because she cleaveth to her house Others to a snail that carrieth her house on her back St. Paul reckons it for a vertue in a woman to keep at home Tit. 2 5. Prov. 7.11 and Solomon for a sign of a lewd huswife that her feet abide not in her house Vers 10. According to the time of life That is when this time shall return again this time twelve-moneth See vers 14. with the Note to it Sarah heard it in the tent door She was listning out of womanish curiosity Yet some think the Angel asked for her on purpose that she hearing her name mentioned might listen Vers 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old So when we were altogether without strength according to the time of life Christ dyed for the ungodly Rom. 5.6 Vers 12. Sarah laughed Gods promises seem absurd and ridiculous many of them to humane reason which therefore must be silenced and shut out as Hagar was for it will argue carnally as that unbeleeving Lord 2 King 7.2 storms at Gods offers as Naaman at the message looks upon Gods Jordan with Syrian eyes as he and after all cryes out with Nicodemus How can these things be measuring God by its own modell and casting him into its own mould After I am waxed old shall I lust Old and cold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is our English proverb and the Greek word for an old body signifies one in whom naturall heat is exstinct It is a most undecent thing to see the pleasures of youth prevailing in times of age among old decrepit goats Were it not monstrous to behold green apples on a tree in winter My Lord being old also This was the onely good word in the whole sentence God takes notice of it and by St. Peter records it to her eternall commendation 1 Pet. 3.6 yea he was so well pleased with her subjection to her husband whom she here in her heart calleth Lord that he is content to forgive her great sin of unbeliefe Vers 1.3 Said to Abraham wherefore did Sarah laugh The wives sin reflects upon the husband But Solomon shews that some wives are so intemperate and wilfull that a man may as well hide the wind in his fist or oyl in his hand as restrain them from ill-doing Prov. 27.15 16. Liberum arbitrium Hcidfeld pro quo tantopere contenditur viri amiserunt â—â—xores arripuerunt saith One wittily Vers 14. Is any thinâ—â—oo hard for God He can do all things pessiâ—le and honourable He cannot lye dye deny himself for that implyeth impotency He could not do any mighty work in his own Country because of their unbeleef Mark 6.5 6. He could not because he would not He can do more then he will as of stones raise up Churches Matth. 3.9 Call for legions Matth. 26.53 Create more worlds in an instant But whatsoever he willeth that he doth in heaven and earth and none can saâ— What doest thou Our God can deliver us Dan. 3.17 Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean Matth. 8.2 c. I will return to thee according to the time of life He returned not personally that we read of but virtually he did by making good his promise at the appointed time That of Doctour Sands afterwards Bishop of Worcester is wonderfull and worth relating He departing the land for fear of Q. Mary took his leave of his Host and Hostess who was childless and had been married eight years When the wind served as he went toward the ship he gave his Hostess a fine hand-kerchief and an old royall of gold in it thanking her much and said Be of good comfort Act Mon. fol. 1874. ere that one whole year be past God shall give you a child a boy And it came to pass that day twelve-moneth lacking one day God gave her a fair son Vers 15. I laughed not for she was afraid And well she might for as every body hath its shadow so hath every sin its fear Her sin she saw was detected and her conscience she felt was troubled hence her fear Nay but thou didst laugh A lye must be roundly reproved and the truth asserted She laughed but within her self but as good she might have laughed out aloud for God searcheth the heart I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I was in my Country Jon. 4.2 No Jonas it was not thy saying it was onely thy thinking but that 's all one before him who understandeth thy thoughts afar off Psal 139.2 Vers 16. To bring them on the way A special piece of courtesie and much spoken of in Scripture 3 Joh. 6. Acts 20.38 21.5 Ram. 15.24 1 Cor. 16.11 Tit. 3.13 Vers 17. Shall I hide from Abraham My bosom-friend He shall be both of Gods Court and his Councel His secret is with them that fear him The Kings of Israel had some one Courtier called the Kings Friend by a specialty to whom they imparted arcana Imperii State-secrets Such an Office had Abraham about God who calls him Abraham my Friend See what our Saviour saith to all his John 15.15 This honor have all his Saiâ—as Vers 18 19. Seeing that Abraham c. Gods first motive here is from his own antecedent love to Abraham as the second from his consequent Vers 19. For I know him God hath a quick eye to see our good works He weighs and rewards every circumstance Christ could tell that the people had come from far to heat him that they had fasted three days John 6. that they went in a Wilderness where they could not cater for themselves that if they should be
sent home so they would faint by the way What was it that he took not knowledg of I know thy works and thy labor in doing them Revel 2.2 That he will command his children c. A good houshâ—â—der whatsoever he gets abroad he brings home to his family Prov. 10.21 as Bees bring all their hony to the hive The lips of the righteous feed many those under his own roof especially Welfare Popery for that Old folks will tell us that when in those days they had holy bread given them at Church they would bear a part thereof to those that did abide at home The way to get more it to communicate that we have according to that Hâ—benri dabitur No man hath received ought from God for private use Neither is any one born for himself much less new-born He that kid his talent was soon shred of it Vers 20. Because their sin is very grieâ—oâ—â— Or very heavy such as the very ground groans under The Aâ—â—le-trâ—e of the â—arth is ready to break under it Sin is a burden to God Aâ—â—â— 12. It was so to Christ he fell to the ground when he was in his agony It was so to the Angels who sunk into Idâ—ll under in It was so to Kore and his company the earth could not bear them It was so to the Sodomites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 James 1.23 they were so clogged with this excrement of naughtiness as Saint James calleth it that God came from Heaven to give their land a vomit Vers 21. I will go down now and see c. The Sodomites sined as freely and securely as if God knew nothing Now therefore he is come to know that is to give them to know that he knew all as well as if he had been in their bosoms Vers 22. Abraham stood yet before the Lord And without such to stand and pray the world could not stand they bear up the pillars of it Oh the price with God and profit to men of praying persons God will yield something to such when most of all enraged Matth 24.20 or resolved Lot was saved for Abrahams sake when all the rest perished Vers 23. And Abraham drew neer A priviledg proper to â—uch as have a true heart full assurance of Faith and a good conscience Heb. 10.22 The hypocrite shall not come before him Job 13.16 He must stand without as a vagrant at the gate that knows not whether the master is providing for him an alms or a cudgel But the upright comes into the â—arlor yea dwells in Gods presence Psal 140.13 In the light of his countenance Wilt thou also destroy the righteous Single suites speed not we must back them with sound Arguments and Reason the case with God concerning his judgments Jere. 12.1 Vers 24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous Charity presumes the best hopes the best The Disciples could not imagine that Judas was so very a Traytor each one suspects himself sooner then him And when our Saviour said What thou doest do quickly they thought he had meant of making provision or giving something to the poor Vers 25. Shall not the Judg c. He fills his mouth with Arguments Let us also This will encrease Faith and Fervency Vers 26. If I finde fifty righteous The Saints are the Salt of the earth that keep the rest from rotting and putrefying Vers 27. Which 〈◊〉 but dust and ashes Gâ—aphar veephar 〈◊〉 cinis None so humble as they that have nearest communion with God The Angels that stand before him cover theâ—◠〈◊〉 with two wings as with a double scarie Isaiah Chapâ—â—â— 6. verse 2. Vers 29. Alsted And he spake unto him yet again Cùm in colloquium descendimus cum Deo replicemus licet duplicemus triplicemus quadruplicemus The bolder we make the better welcome Vers 30. I will not do it c. If God so yielded to Abraham interceding for wicked Sodom will he not hear us for his laboring Church Joaâ— never pleased David better then when he sued to him for Absolâ—m What shall we think of God in like case How angry is he with those that help forward the anger Zach. 1.15 How ready to answer those that speak to him for his Church with good words and comfortable words Zach. 1.13 Yea should there be no praying Christians amongst us as there are many thousands yet there is hope if any of another Kingdom make intercession for us as Abraham here did for Sodom to the which he was a stranger Vers 32. Peradventure ten shall be found there Lo all that slavery and misery they had sustained hath not yet made ten good men in those five bad Cities Till God strike the stroke and work upon the heart afflictions Gods hammers do but beat upon cold Iron The wicked are no whit better by them but much the worse as water becomes more cold after a heat and naughty boyes more stubborn and stupid after a whipping Vers 33. And the Lord went his way Abraham hucked with the Lord so long till he had brought him down from fifty to ten And mark that he left begging are God left bating Let us finde praying hearts and he will finde a pittying heart CHAP. XIX Verse 1. Lot sate in the gate NOt as a Judg as the Hebrews will have it nor as a Merchant much less as a Noveller but as a good housholder looking for his herds and as a good house-keeper looking for guests Vers 2. Nay but we will abide in the street They would have done so Luke 24. but for Lots importunity So our Saviour would have gone further but that the two Disciples constrained him to stay This was no simulation or if so yet it was onely exploratory without deceit or hypocrisie And if Solomon sinned not in making beleeve he would do that which was unlawful to be done 1 King 3.24 It can be no sin to do the like in things indifferent Vers 4. Both old and young Nulla aetas erat culpae immunis ideò nec exitii Ambros Sin spreds as leaven and is as catching as the plague like the Jerusalem Artichoke plant it where you will it over runs the ground and chokes the heart Vers 5. That we may know them O faces hatcht with impudency They shroud not their sin in a mantle of secrecy but hang out these sowre Grapes to the Sun to ripen Vers 6. Lot went out So he exposed himself to save his strangers hoping to save them from that abominable violence The right of strangers is so holy that there was scarce ever any nation so barbarous that would violate the same When Steven Gardiner had in his power the Renowned Clark Peter Martyr then teaching at Oxford he would not keep him to punish him but when he should go his way as it is reported gave him wherewith to bear his charges But these Sodomites had not so much humanity left in them They had put off the man and were become dogs and worse
suo palpet quisque sibi Satan est saith a Father _____ which the Lord thy God hath divided And shall we fight against God as Jehn did against Jehoram with his own servants nay with those things which he hath given us for common servants to us all Vers 20. But the Lord Deliverance commands obedience Servati sumus ut serviamus Vers 21. And sware that I should not So that you have a priviledg above me only beware how you provoke him as I did thorow unbelief Vers 22. But I must dye This was a sore affliction to this good man and is therefore so often mentioned Plut. Cato Major also dyed three years before the destruction of Carthage which he had so vehemently urged and would so gladly have out-lived Vers 24. For the Lord thy God And should therefore be served truly that there be no halting and totally that there be no halving Heb. 12.28 29. Vers 25. And shalt have remained long So that thou thinkest there is no removing thee thou art so rooted and rivetted Nicephorus Phocas having built a mighty wall heard from heaven Though thou build as high as heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin is within all will be lost Vers 28. And there ye shall serve gods As ye have made a match with mischief so ye shall have enough of it Ephraim is joyned to Idols c. See Act. 7.42 Vers 29. But if from thence Sweet and soure make the best sauce Promises and menaces mixt soonest operate upon the heart The Sun of righteousness loves not to set in a cloud nor the God of consolation to leave his children comfortlesse Vers 30. Even in the latter dayes This is by some understood of the Messias his dayes which are the latter times of the world as Hos 3.5 1 Cor. 10.11 and they believe that here is pointed at the great and last conversion of the Jews Vers 32. For ask now of the dayes Historiae sunt fidae monitrices great good use is to be made of history this holy history especially whereof every word is pure pretious and profitable Vers 37. Therefore he chose He chose for his love and then loved for his choyce After Gods example deligas quem diligas Vers 39. Empedocles That the Lord he is God in heaven A Philosopher could say that God is a Circle whose Center is every where whose circumference is no where ubi est Deus quid dixi miser sed ubi non est Where is God or rather where is not God He is higher then heaven lower then hell broader then the sea longer then the earth Nusquam est ubique est quia nec abest ulli Bernard nec ullo capitur loco He is no where and yet every where far from no place and yet no contained in any place Vers 40. That thou mayst prolong thy dayes Hence some Lutherans have gathered that God hath not determined the set period of mans dayes Heming alii but that it is in mens power to lengthen or shorten them But this is against Job 7.1 14.14 Eccles 2.3 Isa 38.5 15. Stat sua cuique dies Our haires are numbred much more our dayes Vers 42. That the slayer See the Note on Numb 35.9 10 c. Vers 44. And this is the law That is this that followeth in the next chapter whereunto these verses serve for a preface CHAP. V. Vers 1. ANd keep and do them The difference between Divinity and other Sciences is that it is not enough to learn but we must keep and do it as lessons of Musick must be practised and a copy not read only but acted Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour untill the evening Psal 104.23 He must arise from the bed of sin and go forth out of himself as out of his house to his work and to his labour working out his salvation with fear and trembling until the evening till the Sun of his life be set Vers 2. God made a Covenant with us We also have the Covenant the seals Ministers c. But alass are not these blessings amongst us as the Ark was among the Philistims rather as prisoners then as priviledges rather in testimonium ruinam quà m salutem Vers 3. With our fathers i. e. With our fathers only Or if it be understood of all the foregoing Patriarches then it is to be expounded by Gal. 3.17 Vers 4. Face to face i. e. Openly and immediately by himself and not by a messenger or mediatour Prosper's conceit was that the Israelites were called Judaei because they received jus Dei Vers 5. I stood between the Lord Sc. after the decalogue delivered by God himself out of the fire For of that he might say as once Joseph did to his brethren Behold your eyes see that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you Gen. 45.12 And as Paul did to Philemon vers 19. I Paul c. so I the Lord have written it with mine hand I will require it Vers 6. I am the Lord c. See the Notes on Exod. 20. It is well observed by a Reverend Writer Mr. Ley his Pattern of Piety that the two tables of the Law are in their object answerable to the two natures of Christ For God is the object of the one man of the other And as they meet together in the person of Christ so must they be united in the affections of a Christian Vers 12. Keep the Sabbath-day In this repetition of the law some things are transposed and some words changed Happly to confute that superstitious opinion of the Iewes who were ready to dreame of miraculous mysteries in every letter Vers 15. And remember that thou It being a figure of our redemption by Christ and so a fit subject for Sabbath-meditations Vers 18. Neither shalt thou commit Or And thou shalt not commit c. and so in the following laws to teach us that the law is but one copulative as the Schooles speak Lex tota est un◠copulatioa For the sanction indeed it is disjunctive but for the injunction it is copulative The sanction is either do this or dye but the injunction is not either do this or that but do this and that too See Mat. 23.2.3 Ezek. 18.10 11 13. Iam. 2.10 Do every thing as well as any thing to leave one sin and not another is with Benhadad to recover of one disease and to dye of another Vers 22. These words the Lord spake If humane laws are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the invention of the gods as Demosthenes calls them how much rather this perfect law of God that needs no alteration or addition Vers 23. Even all the heads of your tribes These are called all Israel vers 1. as being their representatives Vers 25. Why should we dye But why should they fear to dye sith they had seen that day that God doth talk with man and he liveth It is answered that they looked upon their present
safety as a wonder but feared what would follow upon such an interview if continued And indeed it is still the work of the law to scare men and to drive them to seek for a Mediatour Vers 27. We will hear it and do it This is well said if as well done Many can think of nothing but working themselves to life spinning a thread of their own to climb up to heaven by But that will never be CHAP. VI. Vers 1. NOw these are the Commandements Moses having repeated the Decalogue begins here to explain it and first the first of the ten in this present Chapter that first Commandement being such Primo praecâ—pto reliquerum omnium ob ervantia praecipitur Luth. as that therein the keeping of all the other nine is enjoyned as Luther rightly observeth Vers 2. That thou mightest fear the Lord Fear God and keep his Commandements Eccles 12.13 fear the Lord and depart from evill Prov. 16.6 this is the beginning Prov. 1.7 and end of all Eccles 12.13 This is the whole of man or as some read it Hoc est enim totus Homo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the whole man ib. It is a problem in Aristotle why men are credited more then any other creatures The answer is man alone reverenceth God Deum siquis parum metuit valdè contemnit hujus qui non memor at beneficentiam auget injuriam Fulgentius Not to fear God is to slight him as not to praise him is to wrong him saith an Ancient Vers 3. That it may be well with thee Respect may be had to the recompence of reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We may make it our scope our ayme 2 Cor. 4.18 though not our highest ayme Moses cast an eye when he was on his journey Heb. 11.26 he stole a look from glory and got fresh incouragement Vers 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord our God is one Lord One in Three and Three in One. Here are three words answering the three persons And the middle word Our God deciphering fitly the second who assumed our nature as Galatinus well observeth Others take notice that the last letter of this first word Hear is extraordinarily great in the Hebrew as calling for utmost heed and attention And so is the last letter in the word rendred One See the Note on Exod. 34.14 This last letter Daleth which usually stands for four signifieth say the Hebrews that this one God shall be worshipped in the four corners of the earth Vers 5. And thou shalt love See the Note on Mat. 22.37 This shewes the impossibility of keeping the law perfectly Ità ut frustrà sint sophistae c. The true Christian counts all that he can do for God but a little of that much he owes him and that he could gladly beteem him But what a wretched Monk was that that dyed with these words in his mouth Redde mihi aeternam vitam quam debes Lord pay me heaven for thou owest it Vers 6. Shall be in thy hears A bible men should get stamped in their heads and another in their hearts as David had Psal 119.11 Knowledg that swims in the head only and sinks not down into the heart does no more good then rain in the middle region doth or then the Unicorns horn in the Unicornes head Vers 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently Heb. Thou shalt whet or sharpen them as one would sharpen a stake Shaâ—an acuerâ— Sâ—anah repetere affineâ— sunt when he drives it into the ground Or as one would set an edge upon a knife by oft going over the whetstone A learned Hebrician observes a neer affinity between the word here used and another word that signifies to repeat and inculcate the same thing Innuit studium et diligentiam qua pueris praecepta dei inculcari debent saith Vatablus Children should be taught the principles that they understand not First that they might have occasion much to think of the things that are so much and commonly urged Secondly that if any extremity should come they might have certain seeds of comfort and direction to guide and support them 3. That their condemnation might be more just if having these so much in their mouthes they should not get something of them into their hearts Vers 8. And thou shalt binde them See the Note on Mat. 23.5 Vers 9. And on thy gates In a foolish imitation whereof the English Iesuites beyond sea have written on their Church and Colledge-doores in great golden letters Jesu Jesu converte Angliam Fiat Fiat Habent et vespae favos Vers 11. When thou shalt have eaten and be full Saturity oft breeds security fulness forgetfulness The best when full fed are apt to wax wanton and will be dipping their fingers sometimes in the devills sauce Platina ipsis opibus lascivire caepit Ecclesia The Moon never suffers eclipse but at the full and that by the earths interposition The young mulets when they have suckt turn up their heeles and kick at the damme Vers 12. Lest thou forget the Lord Should we with the sed hawk forget our master Or being full with Gods benefits like the Moon be then most removed from the Sun from whom she hath all her light See Prov. 30.8 9. Vers 13. And shalt sweare by his name An oath rightly taken is a peece of our holy service to God and may well be reckoned amongst our prayers and other pious performances Vers 14. Thou shalt not go See the Note on Exod. 34.14 Vers 15. A jealous God amongst you Let the gods of the heathens be good-fellowes our God will endure no corrivals He is both a jealous God and is ever amongst us so that our faults our furta's cannot be hid from his eyes Now he that dares sin though he know God looks on is more impudent in sinning then was Absolom when he spred a tent upon the top of the house and went in to his fathers concubines in the sight of all Israel and of the Sun Vers 15. Ye shall not tempt the Lord By prescribing to God and limiting the holy one of Israel as these men did at Massah Psal 78.41 See the Notes on Mat. 4.7 and on Act. 5.9 and on Exod. 17.2 Vers 17. You shall diligently keep So Psal 119.4 Howbeit the most that David could do towards it was to wish well to it vers 5. Vers 20. What mean the testimonies Here we have a briefe Catechisme which is a course and practice of singular profit Luther scorned not to profess himself Discipulum Catechismi and the Iesuites by the example of our Churches do Catechise their novices CHAP. VII Vers 1. ANd hath cast out many nations God did all Psal 78.55 He cast out the heathen before them and divided them an inheritance by line c. Hence Josephus calls the Common-wealth of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sic Polydor. Virgil Regnum Angliae Regnum Dei. Vers 2. Nor shew