saue her familie from the common destruction If our soules haue this tincture of the precious blood of our Sauiour vpon our doores or windowes wee are safe But if any one of the brethren of Rahab shall flye from this redde flagge and roue about the Citie and not containe himselfe vnder that roofe which hid the Spyes it is in vaine for him to tell the auengers that he is Rahabs brother That title will not saue him in the street within doores it will If wee will vvander out of the limits that GOD hath sette vs wee cast our selues out of his protection wee cannot challenge the benefit of his gracious preseruation our most precious redemption when we fly out into the by-waies of our owne hearts Not for innocence but for safety and harbour the Church is that house of Rahab which is saued vvhen all Iericho shall perish Whiles wee keepe vs in the lists-thereof wee cannot miscary through mis-opinion but when once we run out of it let vs looke for iudgement from GOD and error in our owne iudgement Iordan diuided THe two Spyes returned with newes of the victory that should be I do not hear them say The Land is vnpeopled or the people are vnfurnished vvith armes vnskilfull of the discipline of warre but They faint because of vs therefore their Land is ours Either successe or discomfiture begins euer at the hart A mans inward disposition dooth more then presage the euent As a man rayses vp his owne heart before his fall and depresses it before his glory so God rayses it vp before his exaltation and casts it downe before his ruine It is no otherwise in our spirituall conflicts If Satan see vs once faint he giues himselfe the day There is no way to safety but that our harts be the last that shall yield That vvhich the heathens attributed to Fortune we may iustlie to the hand of GOD That he speedeth those that are forward All the ground that we lose is giuen to our aduersaries This newes is brought but ouer night Ioshua is on his way by morning and preuents the sunne for hast Delayes whether in the businesse of God or our owne are hatefull and preiudiciall Many a one loses the Land of Promise by lingring if wee neglect Gods time it is iust with him to crosse vs in ours Ioshua hastens till hee haue brought Israel to the verge of the promised Land Nothing parts thē now but the riuer of Iordan There hee stayes a time that the Israelites might feed themselues a while with the sight of that which they shold afterwards inioy That which they had bin fortie yeers in seeking may not be seized vpon too suddenly God loues to giue vs cooles heats in our desires and will so allay our ioyes that their fruition hurt vs not Hee knowes that as it is in meates the long forbearance wherof causes a surfet when we come to fullfeed so it fares in the contemners of the mind therefore hee feeds vs not with the dish but with the spoone and will haue vs neither cloyed nor famished If the mercie of GOD haue brought vs within sight of heauen let vs be content to pause a-while and and vpon the banks of Iordan fit our selues for our entrance Now that Israel is brought to the brimme of Canaan the clowd is vanished which ledde them all the way And as soone as they haue but crossed lordan the Manna ceaseth which nourisht them all the way The clowd Manna were for their passage not for their rest for the Wildernesse not for Canaan It were as easie for GOD to worke miracles alwayes but hee knowes that custome were the way to make them no miracles He goes by-waies but till he haue brought vs into the rode and then hee referres vs to his ordinarie proceedings That Israelite should haue been very foolish that would still haue said I will not stirre till I see the clowd I will not eat vnlesse I may haue that food of Angels Wherefore serues the Ark but for their direction Wherefore serues the Wheat of Canaan but for bread So fond is that Christian that will still depend vpon expectation of miracles after the fulnesse of Gods kingdome If God beare vs in his armes when we are children yet when we are well grown he looks we should go on our owne feet it is enough that hee vpholds vs tho hee cary vs not He that hitherto had gone before them in the clowd doth now goe before them in the Ark the same guide in two diuerse signes of his presence The clowd was for Moses the Arke for Ioshuas time the clowd was fit for Moses the Law offred vs Christ but enwrapped in many obscurities If he were seene in the clowd hee was heard from the couer of the Arke Why was it the Ark of the Testimonie but because it witnessed both his presence loue And within it were his Word the Law and his Sacrament the Manna Who can wish a better guide then the God of heauen in his word and Sacraments Who can know the way into the Land of Promise so well as hee that owes it And what meanes can better direct vs thither then those of his institution That Arke which before was as the heart is now as the head It was in the midst of Israel whiles they camped in the desert now when the clowd is remooued it is in the front of the Army That as before they depended vpon it for life so now they should for direction It must go before them on the shoulders of the sonnes of Leui they must follow it but within sight not within breathing The Leuites may not touch the Ark but onely the barres The Israelites may not approach neerer then a thousand pases to it What awfull respects doth GOD require to bee giuen vnto the testimonies of his presence Vzzah payd deere for touching it the men of Bethshemesh for looking into it It is a dangerous thing to bee too bold with the ordinances of GOD. Tho the Israelites were sanctified yet they might not come neere either the mount of Sinai when the law was deliuered or the Ark of the couenant wherein the law was written How fearfull shall their estate be that come with vnhallowed hearts and hands to the word of the Gospell and the true Manna of the Euangelicall Sacrament As we vse to say of the Court and of fire so may we of these diuine institutions we freeze if wee be farre off from them and if we be more neere then befits vs wee burne Vnder the Law we might looke at Christ aloof now vnder the Gospell we may come neare him He calls vs to him yea hee enters into vs. Neither was it onely for reuerence that the Arke must be not stumbled at but wayted on a far but also for conuenience both of sight and passage Those things that are neare vs tho they be lesse fill our eye Neither could so many thousand eyes see the same
fight then all theirs The successe must rise and fall with it Amalek rose and Israel fell with his hand falling Amalek fell Israel rises with his hand raysed Oh the wondrous power of the prayers of faith All heauenly fauours are deriued to vs from this chanell of grace To these are wee beholden for our peace preseruations and all the rich mercies of GOD vvhich vve enioie VVe could not vvant if wee could aske Euery mans hand would not haue done this but the hand of a Moses A faithlesse man may as well holde his hand and tongue still hee may babble but prayes not he prayes ineffectually and receiues not Onely the prayer of the righteous auaileth much and onely the beleeuer is righteous There can be no merit no recompence answerable to a good mans prayer for heauen and the eare of God is open to him but the formall deuotions of an ignorant and faithlesse man are not worth that crust of bread which hee askes Yea it is presumption in himselfe how should it be beneficiall to others it profanes the name of God in stead of adorning it But how iustly is the feruency of the prayer added to the righteousnes of the person When Moses hand slackned Amalek preuayled No Moses can haue his hand euer vp It is a title proper to God that his hands are stretched out still whether to mercy or vengeance Our infirmity will not suffer any long intention either of body or mind Long prayers can hardly maintaine their vigour as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused The strongest hand will languish with long extending And when our deuotion tyres it is seene in the successe then straight our Amalek pruayles Spirituall vvickednesses are maistered by vehement prayer and by heartlesnes in prayer ouercome vs. Moses had two helps A stone to sit on and an hand to raise his And his sitting and holpen hand is no whit lesse effectuall Euen in our prayers will God allow vs to respect our owne infirmities In cases of our necessity he regards not the posture of body but the affections of the soule Doubtlesse Aaron and Hur did not onely raise their hands but their minds with his The more cords the easier draught Aaron was brother to Moses there cannot be a more brotherly office then to help one another in our praiers and to excite our mutuall deuotions No Christian may thinke it enough to pray alone Hee is no true Israelite that will not be ready to lift vp the weary hands of Gods Saints All Israel saw this or if they were so intent vpon the slaughter and spoyle that they obserued it not they might heare it after from Aaron and Hur yet this contents not God It must bee written Many other miracles had God done before not one directly commanded to be recorded The other were onely for the wonder this for the imitation of Gods people In things that must liue by report euery tongue addes or detracts something The word once written is both inalterable permanent As God is carefull to maintaine the glory of his miraculous victory so is Moses desirous to second him God by a book and Moses by an altar and a name God commaunds to enroll it in parchment Moses registers it in the stones of his altar which hee raises not onely for future memory but for present vse That hand which was weary of lifting vp straight offers a sacrifice of praise to God How well it becomes the iust to be thankfull Euen very nature teacheth vs men to abhor ingratitude in small fauours How much lesse can that fountaine of goodnes abide to be laded at with vnthankfull hands O God we cānot but confess our deliuerances where are our atars where are our sacrifices where is our Iehouah-nissi I doe not more wonder at thy power in preseruing vs then at thy mercy which is not weary of casting away fauours vpon the ingratefull The Law IT is but about seuen weekes since Israell came out of Egypt In which space God had cherished their faith by fiue seuerall woonders yet now hee thinkes it time to giue them statutes from heauen as well as bread The Manna and water from the rock which was Christ in the Gospell were giuen before the Law The Sacraments of grace before the legall couenant The grace of GOD preuenteth our obedience Therfore should we keep the law of God because wee haue a Sauiour Oh the mercy of our God! which before wee see what wee are bound to doe showes vs our remedy if we doe it not How can our faith disannul the Law when it was before it It may helpe to fulfill that which shall be it cannot frustrate that which was not The letters which GOD had written in our fleshy tables were now as those which are carued in some barks almost growne out hee saw it time to write them in dead Tables whose hardnes should not be capable of alteration Hee knew that the stone would bee more faithfull then our hearts Oh maruellous accordance betwixt the two Testaments In the very time of their deliuery there is the same agreement which is in the substance The ancient Iewes kept our feasts and we still keep theirs The feast of the Passe-ouer is the time of Christs resurrection then did hee passe from vnder the bondage of Death Christ is our Passe-ouer the spotlesse Lambe whereof not a bone must be broken The very day wherein God came down in fire and thunder to deliuer the Law Euen the same day came also the Holy-ghost downe vpon the disciples in fiery tongues for the propagation of the Gospell That other was in fire smoke obscuritie was mingled with terrour This was in fire without smoke befitting the light and clearnesse of the Gospell Fire not in flashes but in tongues not to terrifie but to instruct The promulgation of the Law makes way for the Law of the Gospell No man receiues the Holy-ghost but he which hath felt the terrours of Sinai God might haue imposed vpon them a law perforce They were his creatures and he could require nothing but iustice It had been but equall that they should be compelled to obey their Maker yet that God which loues to doe all things sweetly giues the law of iustice in mercy and will not imperiously command but craues our assent for that which it were rebellion not to doe How gentle should bee the proceeding of fellow-creatures who haue an equality of being with an inequality of condition when their infinite Maker requests where he might constrain GOD will make no couenant with the vnwilling How much less the couenant of grace which stands all vpon loue If wee stay til God offer violence to our wil or to vs against our will wee shall dy strangers from him The Church is the spouse of Christ hee will inioy her loue by a willing contract not by a rauishment The obstinate haue nothing to doe with God The title of all conuerts is a willing people That
so pretious a monument as the Tables written with Gods owne hand If we see but the stone vvhich Iacobs head rested on or on which the foot of Christ did once tread we looke vpon it with more then ordinary respect With what eye should wee haue beheld this stone which was hewed and written with the very finger of God Any manuscript scroll written by the hand of a famous man is laid vp amongst our iewels What place then should we haue giuen to the hand-writing of the Almighty That which hee hath dictated to his seruants the Prophets challenges iust honour from vs how dooth that deserue veneration which his owne hand wrote immediately Prophecies and Euangelicall discourses hee hath written by others neuer did hee write any thing himselfe but these Tables of the Law neither did hee euer speak any thing audibly to whole mankinde but it The hand the stone the Law were all his By how much more precious this record was by so much vvas the fault greater of defacing it What King holds it lesse then rebellion to teare his writing and blemish his seale At the first hee ingraued his image in the Table of mans hart Adam blurr'd the image but through Gods mercy sav'd the Tablet Now he writes his will in the Tables of stone Moses breakes the Tables and defac't the writing If they had beene giuen him for himselfe the author the matter had deserv'd that as they were written in stone for permanency So they should be kept for euer and as they were euerlasting in vse so they should bee in preseruation Had they been written in clay they could but haue been broken But now they were giuen for all Israell for all mankind He was but the messenger not the owner Howsoeuer therefore Israell had deserued by breaking this Couenant with GOD to haue this monument of Gods Couenant vvith them broken by the same hand that wrote it Yet how durst Moses thus carelesly cast away the treasure of all the world and by his hands vndoe that which was with such cost and care done by his Creator How durst he faile the trust of that GOD whose pledge he receiued with awe and reuerence Hee that expostulated with God to haue Israel liue and prosper why would hee deface the rule of their life in the keeping wherof they should prosper I see that forty dayes talk with God cannot bereaue a man of passionate infirmity Hee that was the meekest vpon earth in a sudden indignation abandons that which in colde blood hee would haue held faster then his life He forgets the Law written when he saw it broken His zeale for GOD hath transported him from himselfe and his duty to the charge of God Hee more hates the golden Calfe wherein hee saw ingrauen the Idolatry of Israell then hee honor'd the Tables of stone wherein God had ingrauen his commandements and more longed to deface the Idol then hee cared to preserue the Tables Yet that God which so sharply reuenged the breach of one Law vpon the Israelites checks not Moses for breaking both the Tables of the Law The Law of God is spirituall the internall breach of one Law is so haynous that in comparison of it God scarce counts the breaking of the outward Tables a breach of the Law The goodnes of God winks at the errours of honest zeale and so loues the strength of good affections that it passeth ouer their infirmities How highly God doth esteeme a well gouerned zeale vvhen his mercy crownes it with all the faults The Tables had not offended the Calfe had and Israel in it Moses takes reuenge on both Hee burnes and stamps the Calfe to powder and giues it Israel to drinke that they might haue it in their guts in stead of their eies How he hasteth to destroy the Idoll wherein they sinned that as an Idoll is nothing so it might be brought to nothing and Atomes and dust is nearest to nothing that in stead of going before Israel it might passe through them so as the next day they might finde their God in their excrements To the iust shame of Israel when they should see their new God cannot defend himselfe from being either nothing or worse Who can but wonder to see a multitude of so many hundred thousands wheÌ„ Moses came running down the â—ill to turne their eies froÌ„ their god to him And on a sudden in stead of worshipping their Idol to batter it in pieces in the very height of the nouelty In stead of building altars kindling fires to it to kindle an hoter fire then that wherewith it was melted to consume it In stead of dancing before it to abhorre and deface it in stead of singing to weep before it There was neuer a more stiffe-necked people Yet I doe not heare any one man of them say Hee is but one man We are many how easily may we destroy him rather then he our god If his brother durst not resist our motion in making it Why will wee suffer him to dare resist the keeping of it It is our act and we will maintaine it Here was none of this but an humble obeysance to the basest and bloodiest reuenge that Moses shall impose God hath set such an impression of Maiestie in the face of lawfull authoritie that wickednesse is confounded in it selfe to behold it If from hence visible powers were not more feared then the inuisible God the world would be ouerrunne vvith outrage Sinne hath such a guiltinesse in it selfe that vvhen it is seasonably checked it puls in his head and seekes rather an hiding place then a fort The Idoll is not capable of a further reuenge It is not enough vnlesse the Idolaters smart The gold was good if the Israelites had not beene euill So great a sinne cannot be expiated vvithout blood Behold that meeke spirite vvhich in his plea vvith GOD vvould rather perish himself then Israel should perish armes the Leuites against their brethren and reioyces to see thousands of the Israelites bleed and blesses their executioners It was the mercy of Moses that made him cruell Hee had beene cruell to all if some had not found him cruell They are mercilesse hands which are not sometimes embrued in blood There is no lesse charitie then iustice in punishing sinners vvith death GOD delights no lesse in a killing mercy then in a pittifull iustice Some tender hearts would bee ready to censure the rigor of Moses Might not Israell haue repented liued Or if they must die must their brethrens hand be vpon them Or if their throates must bee cut by their brethren shall it be done in the very heat of their sinne But they must learne a difference betwixt pitty and fondnesse mercy and vniustice Moses had an hart as soft as theirs but more hote as pittiful but wiser Hee was a good Physician and saw that Israel could not liue vnlesse he bled he therefore le ts out this corrupt bloud to saue the whole body There cannot
be a better sacrifice to God then the bloud of malefactors and this first sacrifice so pleased GOD in the hands of the Leuites that hee would haue none but them sacrifice to him for euer The blood of the Idolatrous Israelites cleared that tribe from the blood of the innocent Sichemites The end of the fist Book Contemplations THE SIXT BOOKE The vayle of Moses Nadab and Abihu Aaron and Miriam The Searchers of Canaan Corah's Conspiracy At London printed by H. L. for Samuel Macham are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head 1614. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THOMAS LORD VISCOVNT FENTON Captaine of the Royall Gard one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuy Counsellors One of the happy rescuers of the deare life of our gratious Soueraigne LORD A worthy patterne of all true Honor I. H. Dedicates this part of his Meditations and vvisheth all increase of Grace and Happinesse ⸪ CONTEMPLATIONS THE SIXT BOOKE The Vayle of Moses IT is a woonder that neither Moses nor any Israelite gathered vp the shiuers of the former Tables Euery sheard of that stone and euery letter of that writing had beene a relique woorth laying vppe but hee well saw how headlong the people vvere to superstition and how vnsafe it were to feede that disposition in them The same zeale that burnt the Calfe to ashes concealed the ruines of this Monument Holy things besides their vse challenge no further respect The breaking of the Tables did as good as blot out all the writing and the vvriting defaced left no vertue in the stone no reuerence to it If GOD had not been friends with Israell hee had not renued his Law As the Israelites were wilfullie blinde if they did not see GODs anger in the Tables broken so could they not but holde it a good signe of grace that GOD gaue them his Testimonies There was nothing wherein Israel out-stripped all the rest of the world more then in this priuiledge the pledge of his couenant the Law written with GODs owne hand Oh what a fauour then is it vvhere GOD bestowes his Gospell vpon any Nation That was but a killing letter this is the power of God to saluation Neuer is GOD throughlie displeased vvith any people where that continues For like as those vvhich purposed loue vvhen they fall off call for their tokens backe againe So vvhen GOD beginnes once perfectlie to mislike the first thing hee withdrawes is his Gospell Israel recouers this fauor but with an abatement Heaw thee two Tables God made the first Tables The matter the forme was his now Moses must heaw the next As God created the first man after his owne image but that once defaced Adam begat Cain after his owne Or as the first Temple razed a second was built yet so farre short that the Israelites wept at the sight of it The first workes of God are still the purest those that hee secondarily vvorkes by vs decline in their perfection It was reason that though God had forgiuen Israel they should still finde they had sinned They might see the foot-steps of displeasure in the differences of the agent When GOD had tolde Moses before I will not go before Israel but my Angel shall lead them Moses so noted the difference that hee rested not till God himselfe vndertooke their conduct So might the Israelites haue noted some remainders of offence whiles in stead of that which his owne hand did formerly make he saith now Heaw thee And yet these second Tables are kept reuerently in the Arke when the other lay mouldred in shiuers vpon Sinai Like as the repayred image of God in our regeneration is preserued perfited and laid vp at last safe in heauen whereas the first image of our created innocence is quite defaced So the second Temple had the glory of Christs exhibition tho meaner in frame The merciful respects of God are not tyed to glorious out-sides or the inward woorthinesse of things or persons Hee hath chosen the weake and simple to confound the wise and mighty Yet God did this vvorke by Moses Moses heawed and God wrote Our true Moses repayres that Law of GOD which wee in our nature had broken Hee reuiues it for vs and it is accepted of GOD no lesse then if the first characters of his Lavv had beene still entire Wee can giue nothing but the Table it is GOD that must write in it Our hearts are but a bare-board till GOD by his finger ingraue his Law in them Yea Lord we are a rough quarrie heaw thou vs out and square vs fit for thee to write vpon Well may wee maruell to see Moses after this ouersight admitted to this charge again Who of vs would not haue said Your care indeede deserues trust you did so carefully keepe the first Tables that it would doe well to trust you with such another burden It was good for Moses that hee had to doe with GOD not with men The GOD of mercy will not impute the slippes of our infirmity to the preiudice of our faithfulnes Hee that after the misse-answere of the one talent would not trust the euill seruant with a second because hee saw a wilfull neglect will trust Moses with his second Law because hee saw fidelitie in the worst errour of his zeale Our charity must learne as to forgiue so to beleeue vvhere vvee haue beene deceiued Not that wee should wilfully beguile our selues in an vniust credulity but that wee should search diligentlie into the disposition of persons and grounds of their actions perhaps none maie bee so sure as they that haue once disappointed vs. Yea Moses brake the first therefore hee must heaw the second If GOD had broken them hee would haue repayred them The amends must bee where the fault was Both GOD and his Church looke for a satisfaction in that wherein wee haue offended It was not long since Moses his former fast of fortie dayes When he then came down from the hill his first question vvas not for meate and now going vppe againe to Sinai hee takes not any repast with him That GOD which sent the Quayles to the host of Israel and Manna from heauen coulde haue fedde him with dainties Hee goes vppe confidently in a secure trust of GODs prouision There is no life to that of faith Man liues not by bread onely The vision of GOD did not onely sate but feast him VVhat a blessed satiety shall there bee when wee shall see him as hee is and hee shall bee all in all to vs since this verie frayle mortalitie of Moses vvas sustained and comforted but with representations of his presence I see Moses the receiuer of the Lavv Elias the restorer of the Lavv CHRIST the fulfiller of the olde Law and authour of the nevv all fasting fortie dayes and these three great fasters I finde together glorious in Mount Tabor Abstinence merits not For Religion consists not in the bellie either full or emptie what are meates or