of the Ministery that it should not be defrauded of the least thing allotted to it And therefore harden not your heart against God against Law against Right and Truth accustome not your hearts to cover your Neighbours due your hands to purloin it by fraud or take it by strength it is theft spiritual theft sacriledge your house receiveth stoln Goods and the Wrath of God may happily shake the foundation of it for such a sin and you in yours or you and yours be punished Verse 13. Here Leaven is admitted of which before was forbid Leaven therefore is taken in a good sense as well as in an ill Thus the Apostles are resembled to a little Leaven that leaveneth the whole lump they being sent out of God into the unleavened World by preaching to leaven it clean through And there is a Leaven of the new Nature accepted as there is a Leaven of the old Nature rejected For look how the Leaven maketh the Bread savory and strong and wholsome look also how it makes it rise and heave up which otherwise would be sad and heavy So doth Gods regenerate Spirit change us make us savory and all our Duties pleasing to God and we rise up our Hearts and Souls are heaved up in all love in thankfulness to him that in Mercy hath so look'd upon us Verse 15. A Ceremony us'd to signifie that publick Feasts should not be superfluously continued and kept long under the colour of Religion For God loveth not idle banquetting and prodigal spending although he allow graciously what is fit for the occasion Secondly this was done in wisdome by God least if the flesh should have smelt by longer keeping Religion might so have been vile in the eyes of fickle persons Verse 18. We may learn by this that the taking hold of Christ is not to be deferr'd and put off but speedily and quickly to be done whilst time serves and opportunity is offer'd For behold sayes Christ to day and to morrow I cast out Devils and the third day Luke 13. that is a short time I have yet to go on with my Ministery and then I shall be slain More particularly every Man and Woman may be said to have three dayes The first of Youth till Age come the second of Age till Death come and in these two dayes there is Mercy offered but the third day is after Death and then there is no help as here on the third day no Offering was accepted but the sin remained unpardoned and not forgiven Verse 30. The bringing of the Sacrifice with his own hands and not sending it by others taught Humility and Duty to God taught that every one must live by his own Faith and not by anothers Verse 34. The shaking of it to and fro four wayes East West North and South shadowed the spreading of that lifting up of Christ that is of Christs Death and Passion throughouâ— all the World by the preaching of the Gospel CHAP. VIII Verse 2. THe Lord precisely appointed Priests and would not leave it to every man to perform this Office to signifie that not any man butthe-man Christ Jesus could appease Gods Wrath satisfie his Justice and take away the sins of the World This could not be figured out better than by secluding all the Host of Israel from this Office and chusing but Aaron and his Sons as Types of Christ that so by such an Ordinance the Majesty Authority and Property of Christs Office might be resembled and shadowed Verse 5. Nothing but Gods Commandement doth Moses offer unto them For he well knew Gods Will only in his own House must be the Rule Our own heads were never the best heads to follow and for God he knoweth our mould too well to give that swinge unto us Verse 13. Aarons Sons were a figure of the Church which by Faith eateth also of the Sacrifice of Christ being made partakers of his Merits as well as the Priests Their Garments figured out the Graces and Gifts wherewith the Believers in Christ are adorned and beautified casting away the Works of Darkness and putting on daily more and more the Deeds of Light Rom. 13. 12. Verse 30. Upon Aarons Sons Moses did but sprinkle the annointing Oil which was said to be poured upon Aaron verse 12. So plainly shewing that in Christ the Spirit should be without measure and upon his Servants in measure we all receiving of his fulness according to his good Pleasure some more some lesse Verse 35. By this is signified that watch which all our life time is noted by the seven dayes we keep in avoiding sin and working righteousness as the Lord shall enable which indeed may be call'd the watch of the Lord being a holy Christian and happy watch The seventh day we shall be free fully sanctified and delivered from this vail of misery to keep an eternal Sabbath in Heaven to our endless comfort CHAP. IX Verse 7. IN that Aaron was here commanded to offer as well for himself as the People he was herein a figure of Christ not that Christ had any sins of his own but that ours were so laid upon him and he so made satisfaction to God for them as they had been his own Surely sayes the Prophet Isai. 53. 4. he hath born our infirmities c. that is we judg'd him evil as though he were punish'd for his own sins and not for ours Verse 22. Thus doth God blesse us in Christ in whom all the Nations of the World are blessed First with the Blessing of Reconciliation to himself reputing us now just for his Son Christ. Secondly with the Blessing of his Spirit whereby we walk in his Calling being guided thereby in the same Thirdly with the Blessing of Acceptance of all our Works though full of imperfection and weakness And last of all with this great Blessing that all adversity becometh a help to us to draw us to Heaven and Eternal Rest. Verse 24. That God which shew'd himself to Men in fire when he delivered his Law would have men present their Sacrifices to him in fire and this fire he would have his own that there might be a just circulation in this Creature as the Water sends up those vapours which it receives down again in Rain Hereupon it was that fire came down from God to the Altar that as the charge of the Sacrifice was delivered in fire so God might signifie the acceptation of it in the like fashion wherein it was commanded The Baalites might lay ready their Bullock upon the Wood but they might sooner fetch the blood out of their Bodies and destroy themselves than one flash out of Heaven to consume the Sacrifice CHAP. X. Verse 2. NAdab and Abibu were two of Aarons Eldest Sons which after their Father should have succeeded him in his place yet there is no Mercy with God to stay his Judgement when they will not be Ruled by his Word No Prerogative therefore shall save any Man from Wrath if he offend but
be loved Abimelech and Phicol desire to live peaceably and quietly with Isaac that there may be an Oath and a Covenant between them but yet these being Heathens could not love Isaac as a godly man should be loved they departed from him in peace saith this verse peace is one thing and love is another CHAP. XXVII Verse 2. AS Isaac said here that he knew not the day of his death so may we say both of the time and also of the place and manner of our death For death surprizeth some as Abel when he was walking in the field others as Uz when he was sitting at his door some with Iobs children at a Feast others with the Philistines sporting in a Theater Thus likewise may we say of the manner of our death there is a natural death when a man dies as a Lamp goes out because there is no more Oyl to feed it and there is a violent death when the soul is thrust out of doors and the Lamp of Life not burnt but blown out Iosia dies by the hurt of an Arrow a Prophet of God by the teeth of a Lyon Abimelech by the fall of a stone Boast not thy self therefore of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth if not an end of thy sins it may be an end of thy life if it bring not forth conversion it may bring forth confusion Verse 4. What hath careless Esau lost if having sold his Birth-right he may obtain the blessing Or what hath Iacob gain'd if his Brothers Venison may countervail his pottage Yet thus hath old Isaac decreed who was not now more blind in his eyes than in his affections God had forewarn'd him that the Elder should serve the Younger yet Isaac goeth about to bless Esau. The dearest of Gods Saints have been sometimes transported with natural Affections he saw himself prefer'd to Ismael though the Elder he saw his Father wilfully forgetting Nature at Gods command in binding him for Sacrifice he saw Esau leudly matcht with Heathens and yet he will remember nothing but Esau is my first-born but how gratious is God that when we would will not let us sin and so orders our actions that we do not what we would but what we ought Verse 8. That God which had ordain'd the Lordship for the younger will also contrive for him the blessing what he will have effected shall not want means the mother shall rather defeat the Son and beguile her Husband than the Father shall beguile the chosen Son of his Blessing What was Iacob to Rebecca more than Esau or what Mother doth not more affect the Elder But now God inclines the love of the Mother to the Younger against the custom of Nature because the Father loves the Elder against the promise The Affections of Parents are divided that the Promise might be fulfil'd Rebecca's craft shall answer Isaac's partiality Isaac would unjustly turn Esau into Iacob Rebecca doth as cunningly turn Iacob into Esau her desire was good her means was unlawful God doth oft-times effect his just will by our wickednesses yet neither thereby justifying our infirmities nor blemishing his own actions Verse 19. Here is nothing but counterfeiting a fained person fained name fained Venison a fained answer and yet behold a true blessing but to the man not to the means those were so unsound that Iacob himself doth more fear their curse than hope for their success but Rebecca presuming upon the Oracle of God and her Husbands simplicity dare be his surety for the danger his Counsellor for the carriage of the business his Cook for the Diet yea dresses both the meat and the man And now she wishes she could borrow Esau's tongue as well as his garments that she might securely deceive all the senses of him who had suffered himself to be more dangerously deceived by his affection But this is past her Remedy her Son must name himself Esau with the voice of Iacob It is hard if our tongue do not bewray what we are in spite of our habit This was enough to work Isaac to a suspition to an enquiry not to an incredulity he that is good of himself will hardly believe evill of another and will rather distrust his own senses than the fidelity of those he trusted all the senses are set to examine none sticketh at the Judgement but the ear to deceive that Iacob must second his dissimulation with three lies in one breath I am Esau As thou badst me My Venison Onesin entertain'd fetcheth in another and if it be forced to lodg alone either departeth or dieth I love Iacobs blessing but I hate his lie I would not do that wilfully which Iacob did weakly on condition of a blessing he that pardoned his infirmity would curse my obstinateness Verse 23. Good Isaac had first set his hands to try whether his ears inform'd him aright and then feeling the hands of him whose voice he suspected that honest heart could not think that the skin might more easily be counterfeited than the Lungs a smal satisfaction contents those whom guiltiness hath not made scrupulous Isaac believes and blesseth the Younger Son in the Garments of the Elder If our Heavenly Father smell upon our backs the savour of our Elder Brothers Robes we cannot depart from him unblessed Verse 27. As Isaac said of his Son here The smell of my Son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed So the Lord of Heaven as he smelt a savour of rest from the Sacrifice of Noah should smell from us if we intend to be his Sons and Heirs of the Promise as Iacob was the savour of Medicinal Herbs of remorse and repentance and contrition and detestation of former sins and the savour of odoriferous and fragrant and Aromatical Herbs Works worthy of Repentance amendment of Life Edification of others and zeal to his Glory Verse 32. No sooner is Iacob gone away full of the joy of his blessing then Esau comes in full of the hope of the blessing and now blowing and sweating for his reward he finds nothing but a Repulse Lewd men when they think they have earned of God and come proudly to challenge favour receive no answer but Who art thou the hopes of the wicked fail them when they are at the highest whereas Gods children find these comforts in extremity which they durst not expect Verse 33. Both the Father and the Son wonder at each other the one with fear the other with grief Isaac trembled and Esau wept the one upon Conscience the other upon Envy Isaac's heart now told him that he should not have purposed the blessing where he did and that it was due unto him unto whom it was given and not purposed hence he durst not reverse that which he had done with Gods will besides his own for now he saw that he had done unwilling Justice God will find both time and means to reclaim his own to prevent their sins to manifest
evil Beast hath devoured him So Christ will say to us at the day of Judgment This is the face and figure of a man but an evil Beast hath devoured my image The Drunkard hath lost the Image of God and laid a Swine in the room of it The Covetous hath lost the Image of God and laid a ravenous Wolf in the room of it The Adulterer hath lost the Image of God and laid a Goat or an Horse in the room of it The Crafty and Contentious person hath lost the Image of God and laid a Fox and a Dog in the room of it CHAP. XXXVIII Verse 2. I Find not many of Iacobs Sons more faulty than Iudah who yet is singled out from all the rest to be the royal Progenitor of Christ and to be honoured with the dignity of the Birth-right that Gods Election might not be of Merit but of Grace else howsoever he might have sped alone Thamar had never been joyn'd with him in this line Even Iudah marries a Canaanite it is no marvel though his Seed prosper not and yet that good Children may not be too much discouraged with their unlawful propagation the Fathers of the Promised Seed are raised from an Incestuous Bed Iudah was very young searce from under the rod of his Father yet he takes no other counsel for his Marriage but from his own eyes which were like his Sister Dinahs roving and wanton what better issue could be expected from such beginnings Those proud Jewes that glory so much in their Pedigree and Name from this Patriarch may now chuse whether they will have their Mother a Canaanite or an Harlot Verse 7. Even in wicked and sinful Courses oft-times the birth follows the belly Iudahs eldest Son Er is too wicked to live God strikes him dead ere he can leave any Issue not abiding any Sience to grow out of so bad a stock notorious sinners God reserves to his own vengeance He doth not inflict sensible Judgements upon all his enemies lest the wicked should think there were no punishment abiding for them elsewhere and again he doth inflict such Judgements upon some lest he should seem careless of evil It were as easie for him to strike all dead as one but he had rather all should be warned by one and would have his enemies find him merciful as well as his Children just Verse 9. Onan sees the Judgement of his Brother Er and yet will follow his sins Every little thing discourages us from good nothing can alter the heart that is set upon evil Er was not worthy of any love but though he was a miscreant yet he was a Brother Seed should have been raised to him Onan justly leeses his life with his seed which he would rather spill than lend to a wicked Brother Some duties we owe to humanity more to neerness of bloud Ill deservings of others can be no excuse for our injustice for our uncharitableness Verse 11. Iudah hath lost two Sons and now doth but promise the third whom he sins in not giving it is the weakness of Nature rather to hazard a sin than a danger and to neglect our own duty for wrongful suspition of others Though he had lost his Son in giving him yet he should have given him a faithful mans promise is his debt which no fear of damage can dispense with But whereupon was this slackness Iudah fear'd that some unhappiness in the bed of Thamar was the cause of his sons miscarriage whereas it was their fault that Thamar was both a widdow and childlesse those that are but the patients of evil are many times burthened with suspitions and therefore are ill thought of because they fare ill afflictions would not be so heavy if they did not lay us open unto uncharitable conceits Verse 14. Now Thamar seeks by subtilty that which she could not have by award of justice the neglect of due retributes drives men to indirect courses neither know I whether they sin more in righting themselves wrongfully or the other in not righting them She therefore takes upon her the habit of an harlot that she might perform the act If she had not wish'd to seem a whore she had not worn that attire nor chosen that place Immodesty of outward fashion or gesture bewraies evil desires the heart that meanes well will never wish to seem ill for commonly we affect to shew better then we are many harlots will put on the semblances of Chastity of modesty never the contrary It is no trusting those which doe not wish to appear good Vers. 15. Iudah esteems her by her habit and now the life of an harlot had stir'd up in him a thought of lust Sathan finds well that a fit object is half a victory Who would not be asham'd to see a Son of Iacob thus transported with filthy affections At the first sight he is inflamed neither yet did he see the face of her whom he lusted after It was motive enough to him that she was a woman neither could the presence of his neighbour the Adullamite compose those wicked thoughts or hinder his unchast acts Vers. 20. That sin must needs be impudent that can abide a witness yea so hath his lust besotted him that he cannot discern the voice of Thamar that he cannot foresee the danger of his shame in parting with such Pledges there is no passion which doth not for a time bereave a man of himself Thamar had learn'd not to trust him without a pawn he had promised his Son to her as a Daughter and fail'd now he promised a Kid to her as an harlot and performeth it Whether his pledge constrain'd him or the power of his word I enquire not Many are faithful in all things save those that are the greatest and dearest If his credit had been as much endangered in the former promise he had kept it Vers. 23. Now Thamar hath requited Iudah She expected long the enjoying of his promised Son and he performed not but here he performes the promise of the Kid and she stayes not to expect it Iudah is sorry that he cannot pay the hire of his lust and now feareth least he should be beaten with his own staffe least his Signet should be used to confirm and seal his reproach resolving not to know them and wishing they were unknown of others Shame is the easiest wages of sin and the surest which ever begins first in our selves Nature is not more forward to commit sin then willing to hide it Vers. 24. Three months hath Iudahs sin slept and now when he is securest it awakes and bates him News is brought him that Thamar begins to swell with her conception and now he swels with rage and cals her forth to the flame like a rigorous Judge without so much as staying for the time of her deliverance that his cruelty in this justice should be no lesse ill then the injustice of occasioning it If Iudah had not forgotten his sin his pitty had been more
knows as Iacob answered Ioseph what he doth and it becomes us to acquiess in what he doth though we know it not And though God turn Kingdomes upside down though he send great afflictions upon his own People and make them a reproach unto the Heathen though he give them up unto the power of the Adversary and make all their enemies to rejoyce yet no man may say unto God Why doe you thus his Works are unsearchable It is beyond the line of the Creature to put any question a Why or a Wherefore about thr Work of the Creator Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the Clay Verse 21. This good Patriarch that had before wrestled with an Angel did not now fear to wrestle with Death and therefore speaks of it without the least fear or consternation of spirit It was no more betwixt Iacob and Death but Behold I die He knew he was to change his Place indeed but not his Company Death was to him but the day-break of eternal brightness it was but as that Martyr said winking a little and he was in Heaven immediately Why then should this sad toil of Mortality dishearten us why should we be so foolish as to fear that which is the Port which we ought one day to desire never to refuse And therefore some have welcom'd Death some met it in the way some baffied it in persecution sickness torments knowing it to bethe end of a temporal Misery and the beginning of an everlasting Joy CHAP. XLIX Verse 6. GOdly men are not at all pleased with the way of the wicked how much soever they thrive in it Iob had said much of the Greatness Riches and Glory of the Wicked but saith he However the counsel of the wicked is farre from me Chap. 21. the wayes of the godly and wicked differ as much as their ends their counsels are as distant as their conclusions will be Every good man saith of the counsel and ways of the wicked how prosperous soever as Iacob said of his Sons Simeon and Levi O my soul come not thou into their secret Let me be far from their secret far from their Cabinet Counsel and close Committees O my soul come not thou into their secret Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly The further we keep from their counsel the nearer we are to blessedness Verse 7. Many times Man though forbidden curses then it is his Sin and he is Satans Minister for evil against his Brother Yet in some cases to curse is Gods Command and our Duty and then we are Gods Ministers for wrath against the Wicked Thus when the Patriarch Iacob was upon his death-bed and bed of blessing yet he pronounced a Curse upon the rage and anger of his two Sons here Simeon and Levi. Now in all lawful cursings we must observe these two Rules First to aim the Curse at the destruction of the Sin not the Sinner Secondly where the Sinner appears incorrigible yet to desire the clearing up of Gods Justice in punishing not the punishment its self To curse any thing or person passionately is infirmity to curse any thing or person maliciously is grosse impiety Verse 8. What difference the Holy Ghost is pleased to put here betwixt sinners when yet the sins of those men were in a manner equal Reubeus Incest in the fourth verse was punished with a Curse and the like sin of Iudahs is pardoned and in a sort prospereth If this sin had not cost Iudah many a sigh he had no more escaped his Fathers Curse then Reuben did I see the difference not of sins but men Remission goes not by the measure of the sin but the quality of the sinner yea rather the Mercy of the Forgiver Blessed is the man not that sins not but to whom the Lord imputes not his sin Verse 10. This Hebrew word Shilo is derived from Shalah which signifies security and safety So that Christ is Shilo that is he in whom all persons may securely trust You may sit down in safety in Christ and rest your souls for ever he is Shilohs our Lord Protector our Saviour And the Hebrews use the same word to signifie the fleshly Mantle in which the Infant is wrapped in the Mothers belly because the Infant lieth there quietly and securely it is out of fear and hath no thought of any danger but lieth securely out of harmes way Verse 18. Gods Children upon the discovery of his glory and that happiness of the next Life are fill'd with longing desires after God and those Enjoyments Lord I have waited for thy salvation said Iacob he speaks this upon his death-bed as that he had been looking for all his life as if that were the account of all his actions in the World and the Story of his whole Life I have longed for thy salvation said David All desires are summ'd up in longing There is a strong desire in the Saints to see and injoy God in his Ordinances Now if there be so great and so longing a desire to see the Lord through these Mediums and in these Glasses how much more to see him immediately face to face How would that desire swallow up all our desires in glory And indeed we could not abide in Glory with any other desire but that The Saints are described in their present state by this Periphrasis such as love the appearing of Christ as if they loved nothing else What then will Christ be to them when he shall appear They who love Christ whom they have not seen how will they love Christ when they see him Verse 23. God sometimes seems an Enemy to his faithful Servants For one to be before God as a Butt continually shot at what other interpretation can sence make of it but this that God looks upon him as an Enemy Iacob said of Ioseph here The Archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him Ioseph was the common Mark of his Brethrens Envy But in this case as it is said of Ioseph when his Brethren came to him he made himself strange to them Ioseph was of a meek and loving disposition and therefore like a Player upon a Stage he only acted the part of a rigid Master or Governour thus many times the Lord takes upon him the posture of an Enemy and forces a frown upon a poor Creature whom he loves and delights in with all his heart he makes him as his Mark to shoot at whom he layes next to his heart Besides observe from hence further that God takes the most eminent and choisest of his Servants for the choisest and most eminent afflictions Thus Ioseph was made the White here that the Archers shot at Ioseph was the most eminent for Grace and Goodness of all his Brethren he was the most remarkable man for Grace and Holiness therefore he must be the Mark. Verse 27. Tertullian will have
down upon the Disciples in fiery Tongues for the propagation of the Gospel The promulgation of the Law makes way for the Law of the Gospel No man receives the Holy Ghost but he that hath felt the terrors of Sinai Verse 10. This being but one single sheaf that God demanded it might strike their hearts with a pious sense of his Goodness that giveth so much and taketh so little that giveth without measure and taketh by measure yea by a very small measure So let it still profit us to this day for even now also we receive much and give little would we give that little thankfully and chearfully what a comfort would God take in it Though he need none of our Goods only seeking to exercise our obedience and love Verse 11. This shaking of the sheaf before the Lord taught them to acknowledge that the blessing of new Corn every year cometh neither from the fertility of the ground nor the labour and industry of man but from the Lord. Verse 14. This Feast having its time assigned they could not enter upon their Harvest before it was full ready which by this time it would be unless they would either reap before they offered this first sheaf or offer it before the day appointed And so you see it had an use to restrain ill Husbands and to make them more careful that old Corn might be kept till new came A gracious God that will so care for sinful Man Verse 24. Some think that this Feast was instituted for a remembrance of the pardoning of that grievous Idolatry committed by erecting and worshipping the Golden Calf others that they might learn holy Assemblies to be appointed by the voice of God and if they then when they heard these Trumpets blow might think God called for them to the meeting why should not we now having our Bells for their Trumpets think God calleth for us to the Assemblies of the Faithful when we hear them ring in our Ears Surely I know a feeling heart doth and therefore cannot be quiet without going And upon this account this Feast might be a figure shewing how Christ by the preaching of the Gospel as by a loud Trumpet should be spread over the World and our Salvation by him In regard whereof the Prophets bids the Ministers lift up their voices like Trumpets Isai. 58. 1. Verse 34. The use of this Feast was to remember the Jews of their Estate when they had no Houses but lived in Tents or Tabernacles and Booths as also to preach unto them the Doctrine afterward delivered by the Apostle That here we have no abiding City but should reckon of our Honses as of Tabernacles for a time And might we not heretofore remember upon our Feasts our state past under cruelty bondage our wars and Dissentions in this Land the fall of our Friends and the change of many Houses our Imposions and Taxes and in a word very many Miseries and Calamities laying them to those then present times wherein we enjoyed Truth and Liberty of Conscience without either death or danger what a change was this to a Man that knoweth and feeleth the blessing Let us therefore do what we ought to do and what the Jews did thank God most heartily for the change and beseech him to restore us such times that in peace we may live in peace dye and in peace that never endeth live with him for ever Verse 37. These Feasts you may see were in remembrance for the most part of some benefits and mercies of God and therefore plainly teach us what a due duty from us to God it is to remember carefully and thankfully his loving favours shewed to us at any time upon any occasion Thus the stones were commanded to be set up by Ioshua 4. 6 7. for a sign to the Jews that when their Children should ask their Fathers c. CHAP. XXIV Verse 2. IN these times of Shadows and Figures those Lights signified that while they were thus used the true Light was not yet come by which all true Believers should be delivered from the darkness of Death And further this Light was a figure also of true Doctrine which ever must shine in the Church of God The Oyl Olive which they are commanded to bring must be pure likewise to shew that that Doctrine must have no mixture of Mans devices but be pure Verse 10. Though the Father of this Offender was a stranger an Egyptian yet God would not spare him how much less then his own people I mean Christians by Father and Mother Baptized in his Faith brought up in his fear hearers of his Word and Professors of it Secondly Though this Man committed this fault in his anger yet God spared him not how then do we excuse our Offences by our Anger saying it was in my wrath I said so or did so Verse 11. This Blaspheming was Cursing the other by the Name of God such as our fearful and Damnable Phrases are Gods Curse light on thee the Plague of God take thee which kind of Speaking is not only a breach of the Second Table concerning the love to our Neighbour but a breach also of the First Table by taking Gods most Holy Name in vain and then to use God in your Revenge and to make him a party or an Executioner of your Rage wishing that he may Curse and Plague where you will he being all Mercy all Goodness all Justice O what an encrease of your sin is this Verse 12. This grievous Offender is not winked at by them that heard him neither yet punished by them that had no Authority out of a colour of Zeal but he is orderly and by a right Zeal carried to Moses the Magistrate and his offence opened there Moses again although such a man yet will do nothing hastily in Judgement and especially touching Life but he will be advised by God and in the mean time committeth him to Ward Verse 14. By this Ceremony of putting their hands upon his Head the Lord made the Witnesses careful what they said for it taught them that if they bare false Witness then were they guilty of the Blood of him so shed but if they spake truly then as he that offered a Sacrifice by laying his Hand upon the head of it did cast his sins upon the Beast so they by that Ceremony laid his Blood upon his own head and they remained clear and blameless yea the whole Congregation by such Execution of Justice is cleansed So that when Phineas had slain the wicked Person it is said he turned the wrath of God from the Land Numb 25. and the killing of the wicked is called Victima Dei the sacrifice of God Isai. 34. Ier. 46. Verse 16. When the Lord will have the whole Congregation to stone him he maketh tryal of the zeal of all and teacheth all to concur with the Magistrate in love and liking of Justice and in furthering of it so far as belongeth to every mans place Whereas
now a dayes we have such Factious and corrupt humors in us out of which issue out such dislikes and bad censures of Magistrates as grieve them hinder Justice and provoke God to that which will smart if he be not the more merciful Verse 22. This restrained that pride which otherwise might have been in the Jews and shews the common care of God for all men as well as for the Jews This indifferency is a blessed vertue to be learn'd from our God For surely we are altogether partial if God guide us not Thus if other Mens Children Servants or Friends hurt ours fire and sword for them but if ours hurt them no such matter all must be boulstered out or bought out or born out and Justice may not be done Again among our own one Child must be Crucified and another not touch'd one made a Saint another a Devil CHAP. XXV Verse 7. THis resting of the Land every seventh year put them in remembrance of that sin which cast out all out of Paradice and brought men to labour and the Earth to need it Whereas if we had stood the Earth should have yeilded of its self Fruits and Profits as in some sort they might see by the seventh year Again it shadowed out the true Sabbath and rest in Heaven where shall be no labour and yet no lack but all comforts and joyes imaginable Verse 9. Upon which blowing it had the Name of Iubilee Iubilaeus a Iobel quod significat buccinam This year was an excellent figure of that true Iubilee and freedom which was confer'd upon us by Christ. For this Jewish Jubilee was proclaimed by Trumpet so is the Christian freedom by the Trumpet of Preaching the Gospel In that Jubilee no debts were demanded and such things as grew of themselves were common so in the Christian Jubilee is freedom proclaim'd by Christ Sathan hath no power to demand what by sin we ow him either Soul or Body and all the graces of God which grow of themselves i. e. are freely bestowed upon us are common in Christ to all there being with him no respect of persons but all accepted that fear him and work righteousness Of this freedom speaks Isai. 61. 1. Thirdly in that Jubilee of the Jews there was a returning to their Lands which were alienated from them so by this Christian Jubilee we return to our old Paradice again from whence we were cast out by sin even that Paradice of Heaven from which we shall never be removed any more Verse 21. In this verse the Lord meets with an objection of some men that might happily say what shall we eat the seventh year and answers I will send my blessing upon you in the sixt year and it shall bring forth fruit for three years Let this verse then strengthen your Faith against all objections of Flesh and Blood made from natural reasons For if God be able even then when the earth is weakest having been worn out with continual tillage five years together to make the sixt year bring forth a triple blessing what unseasonable weather what barrenness of Land what any thing shall make a man despair of Gods providence for things needful Again can God be thus strong when the Land is weak why then cannot he be or why will he not be strong in my weakness in your weakness and in every mans weakness that trusts and leans upon him For when we are weakest then is he strongest and his power is best seen in our weakness Away then fear and diffidence I will trust in him drawing an Argument with David from my weakness to move him to strengthen me Heal me O Lord for I am weak Psalm 6. 2. My weakness shall drive me to thee not from thee and I will tarry thy good leisure Lord strengthen me Lord comfort me in all Temptations and afflictions Verse 43. Let us take notice from this custome of the Jews concerning Servants that although Moses his Law in these particulars hath his end for form yet the equity still bindeth in these things and the estate of servants under the Gospel brought and bought out of spiritual Egypt and bondage of sin by Christ may not be worse than it was under the Law when you see they might not be cruelly ruled and dealt with To this end the Apostles Exhortation tendeth Eph. 6. 9. CHAP. XXVI Verse 5. CAlamities that last long are light and if they be heavy they are short both wayes there is some intimation of some ease But God suffers not this impenitent sinner to enjoy that ease God will lay enough upon his Body to kill another in a week and yet he shall pant many years under it As the way of his Blessing is here Your vintage shall reach to your threshing and your threshing to your sowing so in an Impenitent sinner his Fever shall reach to a Frenzy and his Frenzy to a Consumption his Consumption to a Penury and his Penury to a wearing and tyring out of all that are about him and all the sins of his Youth shall meet in the anguish of his body Verse 12. Behold what need we care whether we go while we carry the God of Heaven with us he is with us as our Companion as our Guide as our Guest No impotency of Person no cross of Estate no distance of Place no opposition of Men no gates of Hell can separate him from us he hath said it I will not leave nor forsake thee shall we think he cannot fare ill that hath mony in his purse and shall we think he can miscarry that hath God in his heart How shall not all comfort all happiness accompany that God whose presence is the cause of all blessedness He shall counsel us in our Doubts direct us in our Resolutions dispose of us in our Estates prosper us in our Lives and in our Deaths Crown us Verse 16. God does not begin with a Morte moriendum some body must dye and therefore I will make some body to kill but God came with a Morte morieris yet thou art alive and maist live but if thou wilt rebel thou must dye So here God did not call up Fevers and Pestilence and Consumptions and Fire and Famine and War and then make Man that he might throw him into their mouths but when man threw down himself God let him fall into their mouths Had I never sinn'd in wantonness I should never have had Consumption nor Fever if I had not sinn'd in riot nor Death if I had not transgress'd against the Lord of Life Verse 44. Some are of an opinion that these words were fulfill'd in the Captivity and Deliverance out of Babylon But the Jews perswade themselves that this promise of regard when they should be in the Land of their Enemies is not yet accomplish'd But whether so or not we may very well apply this promise to a true penitent sinner who shall ever be respected upon his Conversion albeit he neglected the time of Grace
men it is ordained for men Verse 10. In this seventh year it was not lawful to require debts but some differance of opinions men have touching this some say their debt was clean lost others say no but for that year deferred and forborn after demanded lawfully and paid willingly which is more likely for as much as those pollitick lâ—ws of God were not ordained of God to overthrow justice but to preserve it and direct it in a commendable and fit manner among men now it is justice to let every man have his own and there was good reason wherefore that debt should be forborn this seventh year because that year there was notillage to make money of a right and true application of this may every feelling heart make in these Cities and Towns where it shall please God to lay his sore visitation of plague or any other infection thereby stopping the trade whereby every man was enabled to get for his maintenance and the discharge of such that were due from him to others God forbid but that mercy should be found towards their brethren in those that look for mercy at Gods hand when men cannot receive money they cannot pay and no dishonest meaning making the stop but only the Lords hand staying trade who will be rigorous in such a case when the earth rested and there was no tillage to raise money by you see the mercy of Gods law here and is it not all one when trade ceaseth let your bowels then shew whose children you are if the Image and superscription of God be upon you surely you will shew mercy and give some set time to your Creditors that mean truly read what God saith Isaiah 58. 3. c. and remember he is the same God still Verse 19. God by Moses made the Children of Israel a Song because as he said howsoever they did by the Law they would never forget that Song and that Song should be his witnesse against them Therefore would God have us institute solemn memorials of his great deliverances that if when those dales come about we do not glorifie him that might aggravate our condemnation CHAP. XXXII Verse 11. THE words spoken here of God himself are thus applicable to his Ministers first the Eagle stirreth up her nest the Preacher stirs and moves and agitates the holy assertions of the Congregation that they slumber not in a sencelessenesse of that that is said and then as 't is added here she flutters over her young the Preacher makes a holy noise in the conscience of the Congregation and when he hath awakened them by stirring the nest he casts some claps of thunder some intimidations in denouncing the judgements of God and he flings open the gates of heaven that they may hear and look up and see a man sent by God with power to infuse his fear upon them so she fluttereth over her young but then as it followeth there she spreadeth abroad her wings she overshaddowes them she enwraps them she armes them with her wings so that no other terror no other fluttering but that which comes from her can come upon them The Preacher doth so infuse the fear of God into his Auditory that first they shall fear nothing but God and then they shall fear God but so as he is God and God is mercy God is love And the Minister shall so spread his wings over his people as to defend them from all inordinate fear from all diffidence and distrust in the mercy of God which is farther exprest in the next clause She taketh them and beareth them upon her wings When the Minister hath performed all the former acts of his calling then he sets them upon the top of his best wings and shewes them heaven and God in heaven raining down his bloud into their emptinesse and his balm into their wounds and preparing their seat where he stands solliciting their cause at the right hand of his Father Verse 35. In this we have a first and a second lesson First that since revenge is in Gods hands it will certainly fall upon the malefactor God doth not mistake his marke and then since revenge is in his hands no man must take revenge out of his hands or make himself his own Magistrate or revenge his own quarrel And as we we that are Christians have our author Moses here that tels us this the natural man hath his secular author Theocritus that tels him as much reperit Deus nocentes God alwaies findes out the guilty man In which the natural man hath also a first and second lesson too first that since God findes out the Malefactor he never scapes And then since God doth find him at last God sought him all the while though God strike late yet he pursued him long before many a man feels the sting in his conscience long before he feels the blow in his body That God finds and therefore seeks that God overtakes and therefore pursues that God overthrows and therefore resists the wicked is a naturall conclusion as well as a divine Verse 40. Where was God now when he lifted up his hands to heaven here here upon earth with us in his Church for our assurance and our establishment making that protestation denoted in his lifting up his hands to heaven that he lived for ever and that therefore we need fear nothing Verse 50. How familiarly doth Moses hear of his end it is no more betwixt God and Moses but Go up and die If he had invited him to a meal it could not have been in a more sociable compellation no otherwise then he said to his other Prophet Up and eat It is neither harsh nor news to Gods children to hear or think of their departure to them death hath lost his horror through acquaintance they have so oft thought and resolved of the necessity and of the issue of their dessolution that they cannot hold it either strange or unwelcome He that hath had such entire conversation with God cannot fear to go to him Those that know him not or know he will not know them no marvail if they tremble Verse 51. It might have been just with God to have reserved the cause to himself and in the generallity to have told Moses that his sin must shorten his journey but it is more mercy then justice that his Children shall know why they smart that God may at once both justifie himself and humble them for their particular offences Those to whom he meanes vengeance have not the sight of their sins till they be past repentance Complaine not that God upbraids thee with thy old sins whosoever thou art but know it is an argument of love whereas concealment is a fearful sign of a secret dislike from God CHAP. XXXIII Verse 2. THough it be not a difficult matter to impose upon the sence and judgement of men with whom tin may pass for silver it is not so with the judge and searcher of the heart he soon