not admit changes in some places fix'd indeed in respect of Fundamentals but yet a moveable Pillar for things indifferent and arbitrary CHAP. XXXIV Verse 1. GOds Ministers by preaching and crying unto men may as it were hew their stony hearts that is prepare them for writing but only the Lord must write in them by the finger of his blessed Spirit and no man can make any thing enter without him Paul may plant c. but God giveth the encrease Secondly as God did not write before the stones were hewed so no more assure your self will he ever in your heart set any good if you contemn the outward hewing and preparing of you by the Word in the Ministery of his Servants Thirdly by the former Tables broken and these new made some have thought to be figured the abrogation of the Law and establishing of the Gospel our old corruption which must be broken and our new Regeneration which must come in place Verse 8. The greater manifestation of God and his Truth is vouchsafed unto us the more ought we to humble our selves and be thankful worshiping that God which so mercifully dealeth with us Again when God gives signes of his presence let us make hast to him and not suffer him to passe away while we are hindred with this and that God gives signes of his Presence in the Word preach'd in the Sacrament in my heart by good Motions O let him not passe away but make hast as Moses here did bow down and worship Verse 9. God in the former verse had promised to be gracious and in this Moses fals to prayer to shew us that the Promises of God kindle Prayer Wherefore use when you are dull to pray to meditate upon the Promises of God general particular so many so sweet so full of power to enflame a heart half dead and when you feel the fire kindle then pray it will flame out at last Verse 13 It is you in the singular to signifie that publick things were to be done by publick persons the Altars here were to be pull'd down by Moses But for private matters private men may do them as Iacob purg'd his own House of his Wives Idols Private men to meddle with publick matters is dangerous Paul came to Athens and found an Altar yet he threw it not down Therefore beware of false Spirits that will rashly write of Reformation without tarrying for the Magistrate So every man may be a Magistrate and the sweet society of man with man turn'd to bloud and slaughter Some yet are too mild and they tell us Idolatry must be first taken out of the heart by true teaching 'T is true teaching must go before but what then is therefore the Magistrates work excluded No For are not the sins also of the second Table to be taken out of the heart by teaching and yet I hope the Magistrate may concurre with teaching and punish Theives and Murtherers Much more then in the first Table touching Gods Honour and Service Verse 29. Modest men are not carried away with knowledge of their own gifts but are as it were ignorant of them In matters of Almes the Lord saith Let not your right hand know what your left hand doth Verse 30. To note first that Ministers Faces that is their outward actions and words which appear to men should glister and shine So let your light shine that men may see your goodworks Secondly to shadow that the Law which Moses now represented is only bright and shining in the Face a meer outward Justification before men whereas the Righteousness of Christ is all glorious within and without Thirdly to teach that the Law lightneth the Conscience which is as the Face of the inward man making it see and know sin but it lightneth not the Mind by Faith to save from sin Christ only doth this by his Spirit Therefore saith the next verse the people fear'd and durst not approach The Law ever striking a terror into the hearts of them that behold their sins in it and by it Such a Fear there is in Guiltiness such Confidence in Innocency When the Soul is once clear'd from sin it shall run to that Glory with Joy the least glimpse whereof now appales it and sends it away in terrour Verse 35. Nihil in lege gloriosum habet Moses praeter solam faciem His hands were leprous by putting them into his bosome his feet also had no glory he being bid to put off his shooes and so by that Ceremony was to deliver the Spouse unto another But in the Gospel he appeared in the Mount with Christ totus glorificatus this sheweth the preheminence of the Gospel before the Law The Latine reads facies ejus erat cornuta but this is for the mistake of our Hebrew word Keren an Horn for Karan to shine Tostatus sayes the meaning of the Latine is emittebat radios sicut cornua This also shews the righteousness of the Law only a shining of the Face that is of the external Works before men The Vail over Moses signifies the blindness of the Iewes that when Moses is read they understand not the end of the Law CHAP. XXXV Verse 1. IF God had not been Friends with Israel he had not renewed his Law As the Israelites were wilfully blind if they did not see Gods anger in the Tables broken So could they not but hold it a good sign of Grace that God gave them his Testimonies There was nothing wherein Israel out-stripped the rest of the World more than in this Priviledge the pledge of his Covenant the Law written with Gods own hand Oh what a Favour then is it where God bestows his Gospel upon any Nation That was but a killing Letter this is the Power of God to Salvation Never is God throughly displeased with any People where that continues For like as those which purposed love when they fall off call for their tokens back again so when God begins once perfectly to mislike the first thing he withdraws is his Gospel Verse 21. It is a very great blessing to have an importunate Conscience to stirre us up in all good Duties Such a Conscience regards not what pleaseth us but what is good for us that it looketh too and that it perswadeth too and that it urgeth This blessing had these willing Israelites in the Text who gave freely to the building of the Tabernacle Observe here their Heart that is their Conscience stirr'd them up ye have Bracelets ye have Rings offer them sayes Conscience to further this pious Work in hand their Spirit made them willing their faithful Friend in their bosome Conscience overcame them with Arguments and strong perswasions This then must needs be a great Blessing to have such a faithful Conscience it will make a man part with all his Lusts Pride Self-love Covetousness carnal Delights for Gods Glory and our own true Good Verse 22. When God was once reconciled to his People in the Wilderness after their sin
were for sin or for the present pressure only I have not to say but God is so pitiful that he hears and helps our Affliction as he did Hagars in this Text. Verse 15. God presents to us the joyes of Heaven often to draw us and as often the torments of Hell to avert us And to this purpose Origen saith aright as Abraham had two Sons the one of a Bond-woman the other of a Free but yet both sons of Abraham So God is served by two fears and the latter fear the fear of future torment is not the perfect fear but yet even that fear is the servant and instrument of God too Who can so absolutely divest all sense saith Chrysostome but that when the whole City is in a combustion and commotion or when the Ship that he is in strikes desperately and irrecoverably upon a Rock he is otherwise affected towards God then than when every day in a quietness and calmness of holy affections he hears a Sermon Gehennae timor saith the same Father regni affert coronam even the fear of Hell gets us Heaven CHAP. XVII Verse 1. IT is Gods prescript to Abraham here Walk before me and be perfect and that is when as to allude to that known Expression Manus ad Clavum Oculus ad Coelum as our hand is upon the work so our eye must be upon God in every thing we do which is the ground of that uprightness called in the Scripture Dialect perfection Where you may note the difference between these three expressions of the holy Ghost to walk with God after God and before God We walk with God as a sweet companion after God as a commanding Lord before God as an observing Judge we walk with him as his Friends after him as his Servants before him as his Children lastly we walk with him by an humble familiarity after him in a regular conformity before him by a cordial integrity and this is according to Gods rule to Abraham Walk before me and be perfect Verse 3. When God talkes with us in his Word or we talk with God in our Prayers we cannot be too humble you see from this text that Abraham the Father of the faithful fell upon his face at a conference with God and shall we that are his sons not fall upon our knees Certainly were there never a Church standing in the world nor so much as one stone left for a Bethel wheresoever we came to Pray we should worship first looking up to our God and his infinitude with Glory be to thee O Lord then in the Publicans dejected posture reflecting upon the dust our original and our end with Lord be merciful unto me a sinner and indeed can we presume higher than the dust when we reverence before our Maker or do less than hide our own faces with shame appearing before the glorious light of that countenance which we cannot see and live and which we shall one day look upon with trembling if not now with shame Verse 5. There is no Faith where there is either means or hopes Difficulties and impossibilities are the true Objects of Belief hereupon God adds to Abrahams name that which he would fetch from his Loins and made his Name as ample as his Posterity never any man was a looser by beleeving Faith is ever recompenced with Glory Verse 7. God hath in great mercy and goodness promised to shew grace and favour not only to the faithful themselves but to their seed after them and as the mercy of God is great so the Faith of the godly is effectual for themselves and their Children God will be our God and the God of our seed after us If then we consider either the Promise of God to be merciful or the Faith of the godly to beleeve in both respects we may collect and gather this truth That the love of God to the faithful shall so abound that it shall come to their posterity like the pretious Oyntment poured on the head of Aaron that ran down upon his beard and flowed to the border of his garments or as the dew on Hermon and Sion which watered the valleys which were beneath them Now seeing that goodness hath the Promise of bringing a blessing upon the families where it is profess'd it is required of us to profess and beleeve the Gospel that so we may procure a blessing upon our selves and Children The neglect of which bringeth utter ruine to Father and Child So then godly Parents must have a care to bring-up their Children and Families in the true Faith and fear of the Lord which may be a means by the blessing of God to save thy son from death and to deliver his soul from destruction Verse 11. Circumcision is a seal of the Covenant betwixt God and us if we be in God and God in us if we be circumcised within if the fore-skin of our hearts be taken away then is the outward Circumcision a seal unto our Covenant with God otherwise it is a seal indeed but a seal without a Bond a seal without any stipulation betwixt God and us we are no whit priviledged by it no more than are the Turks who yet are circumcised which is the reason that the Jewes at this day have no benefit by this Covenant because they are uncircumcised in their hearts that vail that fore-skin is not taken away and that only is the circumcision which seals the Covenant betwixt God and us the Gospel-circumcision the putting off the old Adam by that circumcision of Christ which is the work of the Spirit wrought by the Word upon the Soul of a poor sinner whereby the corruption of his nature is mortified and himself received into an everlasting Covenant and Communion with God Verse 14. In the first Covenant that God made with his People as we see here That person that would not be circumcised that soul was cut off from the people of God and just so in the second Covenant that God made with his people the Covenant of the Gospel He that is not circumcised in heart and made new by regeneration he shall have no part with the Saints in heaven Joh. 3. 3. The wise man is not priviledged by his wisdom nor the strong man by his strength the King is not freed by his Crown and Dignity nor the Priest by the power of his Keyes For if any one enters himself in Covenant with God under the New Testament and hopes for benefit by that Covenant as Abraham and his Seed did undergo the outward Circumcision of the body so must he the inward Circcmcision of the heart No Circumcision no Son of Abraham no Son of Abraham no Son of God Verse 17. Abraham was old e're this Promise and hope of a Son was given and still the older the more uncapable Yet God makes him wait twenty five years for performance No time is long to Faith which had learned to defer hopes without fainting and irksomness Abraham heard this news
The larger is our preparation the larger is our vessel the larger our vessel the larger our dole at a Sermon or Sacrament If we carry not away as much as we would it is our own fault that by preparation we did not furnish our selves with a larger vessel Verse 4. This blind Nature saw to be the sum of all sins ingratum dixeris omnia dixeris Some vices are such as Nature smiles upon though frown'd at by Divine Justice not so this Philip King of Macedon caused a Souldier of his that had offered unkindness to one that had kindly entertained him to be branded in the forehead with these two words hospes ingratus Unthankfulnesse is a Monster in Nature a Solecisme in Manners a Paradox in Divinity a parching Wind to dry up the Fountain of further favour Benjamins fivefold Messe was no small aggravation to the theft here laid to his charge Verse 12. The Graces which God finds in us are like the silver which Ioseph found in Benjamins sack of his own putting in For our will herein is like the lower Sphere quae non nisi mota movet moves not unlesse it be first moved Why should we then be loth to acknowledge to have all our ability of doing good freely from God and immediately by his grace when as even those faculties of Nature by which we pretend to doe the offices of Grace we have from God himself too For that question of the Apostle involves all What hast thou that thou hast not received Thy natural faculties are no more thine own than the Grace of God is thine own But as thy body conceived in thy Mothers womb could not claim a soul at Gods hand nor wish a soul no nor know there was a soul to be had so neither by being a man indued with natural faculties canst thou claim Grace or wish Grace nay those natural faculties if they be not pretincted with some infusion of Grace before cannot make thee know what Grace is or that Grace is To a Child rightly disposed in the womb God does give a soul to a natural man rightly disposed in his natural faculties God doth give grace but that soul was not due to that Child nor that grace to that Man Verse 14. If I am bereaved of my Children saith Iacob here I am bereaved Which was spoken by him not rashly or desperately as if he cared not what became of himself but through the obedience of Faith in sacrificing his will unto Gods And this is according to that Petition in the Lords Prayer Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven A godly Man sayes Amen to Gods Amen and puts his fiat and placet to Gods As one said He could have what he would of God Why How was that Because whatever was Gods will that was his And thus to submit unto Gods will is to serve him with a true heart a heart truly and entirely given up to God delighting to doe his will and therefore well content to wait or if God see good to want what it most desires be it Health or Wealth or Wife or Children being ambitious rather that Gods will should be done than our own and that he may be glorified though we be not gratified Verse 16. This iniquity which God is said here to find out is not to be referred to this present Accusation whereof they were not guilty but to their former trespass committed against Ioseph as they in like manner confessed Gen. 42. and by this we should learn to look to God in our afflictions whereof we see no evident cause Verse 17. How easie is it to find advantages where there is a purpose to accuse Benjamins sack makes him guilty of that whereof his heart was free Crimes seem strange to the innocent well might they abjure this fact with the offer of bondage and death For they which carefully brought again that which they might have taken would never take that which was not given them But thus Ioseph would yet dally with his Brethren and make Benjamin a Theif that he might make him a Servant and fright his Brethren with the peril of that their charge that he might double their joy and amazedness in giving them two Brothers at once Our happiness is greater and sweeter when we have well fear'd and smarted with evils Verse 23. Iosephs Steward like a good Man speaks comfort and life unto these fainting dis-spirited Patriarkes He knew there was a warre in their Consciences and therefore he brings peace unto their afflicted spirits To break the bruised reed to greive one that is in the agony of his soul to strike the breath out of a mans body who is giving up the Ghost is cruelty upon cruelty And therefore it was the complaint of Saint Cyprian against the Persecutors of Christians in his time In servis Dei non torquebantur membra sed vulnera they laid stripes upon stripes and laid wounds upon sores and tortutured not so much the members of Gods Servants as their bleeding wounds CHAP. XLV Verse 1. VVHen Iudah had seriously reported the danger of his old Father and the sadness of his last complaint compassion and joy will be conceal'd no longer but break forth violently at Iosephs voice and eyes Many passions do not well abide witnesses because they are guilty to their own weakness Ioseph sends forth his servants that he might freely weep He knew he could not say I am Ioseph without an unbeseeming vehemence Verse 4. I am Ioseph never any word sounded so strangely as this in the ears of the Patriarkes Wonder doubt reverence joy fear guiltiness struck them at once No marvel if they stood with paleness and silence before him looking on him and on each other the more they considered the more they wondred and the more they beleived the more they feared For those words I am Ioseph seemed to sound thus much to their guilty thoughts you are murtherers and I am a Prince in spite of you my power and this place give me all opprotunities of revenge my glory is your shame my life your danger your sin lives together with me But now the tears and graicous words of Ioseph have soon assured them of pardon and love and have bidden them turn their eyes from their sin against their brother to their happiness in him and have changed their doubts into hopes and joyes Thus actions salv'd up with a free forgiveness are as not done and as a bone once broken is stronger after well setting so is love after reconcilement Verse 5. Let us remember this in all oppressions we meet with that they fall not upon us without divine providence What Eliphaz saith of affliction in general is true of oppression in particular it comes not forth of the dust neither doth it spring out of the ground And this truth was confirmed by Ioseph in this text who though sold by his envious brethren into Egypt yet saith that God had sent him into Egypt
without blemish neither lame nor blind saith the Text. And certainly if the Sacrifice were to be without blemish much more is the Priest who was stil'd holy to the Lord from a two-fold holiness the one of his Life the other of his Person For all Sanctity is not inward nor is all perfection that of the Soul Gods holy one must be his fair one too without blemish no less in body than in mind Thus under the Law no monstrous issue no blind seer might offer the bread of his God Lev. 21. and shall the Evangelical ministration be worse served than the legal while the Sacrifice is more noble shall the Priest be less only the fattest in the Heard the fairest in the Flock were the oblations of the Law and shall the poorest of the Tribe the most deformed of all the issue be the Offerings of the Gospel the Lords house is no Hospital neither the Sacrifice nor the Priest must be admitted unsound and imperfect CHAP. XVI Verse 16. LEst Men should altogether neglect the service of God here is an injunction given from the Lord that all the Males should go up to the Temple three times a year still to keep them in use and love of the Church albeit they dwelled a great way off Where you may observe that although the Law reach'd but to the Males because God graciously considered that the Women might be with Child or Nurses and not able to come yet godly Women when they were able and had no impediment would go up also with their Husbands such a zeal had they to the House of God So went up Hannah with her Husband so went up the Blessed Virgin to Ierusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover both of them when there were gross and foul Corruptions For when Hannah went up what read we of the Sons of Heli and when Mary went up the Scribes and Pharisees were in their Ruffe yet they went up to teach us not to fall out with God for Mens faults nor to absent our selves from Church and Church exercises because all things are not perfect in the Ministers Verse 19. Gifts and Rewards put out the Eyes of those that saw clearly before and stop the Ears of those that could hear before and shutteth up the mouth of those that could speak before If then the receiving of Bribes and taking of Gifts be a setting of Justice to sail if they have force to pervert and corrupt not only such as are lewd and lime-finger'd to draw Presents unto themselves but the wise and righteous then we must acknowledg them to be dangerous Temptations this Moses teacheth the Judges and Officers which were to be chosen in their Cities Thou shalt not wrest the Law c. neither let them say though I take Rewards I will never swerve from Justice for that is to presume vainly of thine own strength and to give the Spirit of God the lye that speaketh the contrary Now seeing that Gifts and Rewards offered be as baits laid up to ensnare the Soul let us refuse them in the first place and next let us follow after the best Gifts which may further the Salvation of the Soul Those indeed are good Gifts which make the possessors of them better and which in the day of trouble and hour of Temptation shall minister more true comfort and peace than all earthly and transitory things which end in corruption CHAP. XVII Verse 13. IT is the duty of a Child of God to fear the Judgements of God We should fear the Judgements of God whilst threatned and only heard of what though we see them not what though we feel them not what though we are not the persons intended in them or to be smitted by them yet the report of them as directed against others should make us tremble Now if we are to fear God for his Judgements when they are but threatned then certainly we are to fear him much more for his Judgements inflicted And therefore in the old Law here when Judgements were executed 't is said they shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously they shall fear what had been already executed upon offenders and so fear to offend Moses here sheweth what all ought to do not what all did upon the appearances of Judgement and the execution of Divine wrath upon high Transgressors Verse 17. Here the King is commanded not to multiply Wives and that upon very good ground for if one Woman undid all Man-kind what marvel is it if many Women may undo one And Satan hath found this bait to take so well that he never chang'd it since he crept into Paradice How many have we known whose heads have been broken with their own Ribs In the first World the Sons of God saw the Daughters of Men and took them Wives of all that they liked they multiplyed not Children but Iniquities Balaam knew well if the Dames of Moab could make the Israelites Wantons they should soon make them Idolaters all lies open where the Covenant is not both made with the Eye and kept Verse 20. Learn to fear the Lord saith the Holy Ghost in the former Verse that thy heart be not lifted up above thy Brethren The best counterpoison against Pride is to get the heart seasoned with the fear of God for the fear of the Lord is to hate evill as Pride Arrogancy Prov. 8. 13. Ioseph truly fear'd God and therefore hated not only gross Evils as Adultery but close Evils as Pride and Arrogancy It is not in me God shall give Pharaoh an answer Gen. 41. as he insinuates himself by this dutiful comprecation so he extenuates his gifts that he may give the glory to God So St. Iohn Baptist was full of the fear of the Lord and thereby of Humility For these two go coupled Prov. 22. 4. and so close that there is no Copulative in the Original for thus it runs in the Hebrew By humility the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life What Riches the Baptist had I know not but for honour that hand of his that he thought not worthy to unloose the latchet of Christs shooe Christ thought worthy to be laid on his head in Baptism There are that say that for his humility here on Earth St. Iohn is dignified with that place in Heaven from which Lucifer fell who told them that I know not but this I know that he that humbleth himself shall be exalted Luke 4. 11. CHAP. XVIII Verse 1. YOu have here in this Verse the reason wherefore Tythes ought to be paid to Gods Ministers We must give to God what the things of God why because they are Gods they do properly belong unto him as his own possession they are a peculiar Inheritance or special portion reserved to himself So that although he hath given the Earth to the Sons of Men yet these like a chief Rent to a Landlord or a certain Tribute to a King were alwaies excepted and reserved they
corruption were but in man and other Creatures were flesh as well as man but man is every creature because as Gregory saith Omnis creaturae differentia in homine all the properties and qualities of all other creatures how remote and distant how contrary soever in themselves yet they all meet in man In man if he be a flatterer you shall find the grovelling and crawling of the Snake and in man if he be ambitious you shall find the high flight and piercing of the Eagle in a voluptuous sensual man you shall find the earthliness of the Hogg and in a licentious man the intemperance and distemper of the Goat ever lustful and ever in a Feaver ever in sickness contracted by that sin and yet ever in a desire to proceed in that sin and thus man is every creature and all flesh Verse 14. That God might approve his mercies to the very wicked he gives them 120 years respite of repenting verse 3. and here in this verse he gives them a faithful Teacher It is an happy thing when he that teacheth others is righteous Noahs hand taught them as much as his tongue his business in building the Ark was a real Sermon to the world wherein at once were taught Mercy and Life to the Believer and to the Rebellious destruction Verse 18. Doubtless more hands went to this work of making the Ark than Noah and his Children and yet none were saved but they many a one wrought upon the Ark which yet was not saved in the Ark our outward works cannot save us without Faith we may help to save others and perish our selves what a wonder of mercy is this that we here see one poor Family call'd out of a world and as it were eight grains of Corn fann'd from a whole Barnful of Chaff one hypocrite was saved with the rest for Noahs sake not one righteous man was swept away for company for these few was the earth preserved still under the waters and all kind of Creatures upon the waters which else had been all destroyed Still the world stands for their sakes for whom it was preserved else fire should consume that which could not be cleansed by water CHAP. VII Verse 2. THe unclean Beasts God would have to live the clean to multiply and therefore he sends to Noah seven of the clean and of the unclean two he knew the one would annoy man with their multitude the other would enrich him those things are worthy of most respect which are of most use But why seven Surely that God that Created seven dayes in the Week and made one for himself did here preserve of seven clean Beasts one for himself for Sacrifice he gives us Six for One in earthly things that in spiritual we should be all for him Verse 9. This difference is strange I see the savagest of all Creatures Lions Tygers Bears by an instinct from God come to seek the Ark as we see Swine fore-seeing a storm run home crying for shelter men I see not Reason once debauch'd is worse than bruitishness God hath use even of these fierce and cruel Beasts and glory by them Even they being Created for man must live by him though to his punishment How gently do they offer and submit themselves to their Preserver renewing that obeysance to this Repairer of the World which they before sin yielded to him that first stored the World And thus these savage Creatures went in saith the rext to Noah not to prey but fawn upon him He that shut them into the Ark when they were entred shut their mouths also while they did enter The Lions fawn upon Noah and Daniel what heart cannot the Maker of them mollifie Verse 10. By this is shewen the Lords patience for Noah is warned seven dayes before of the Flouds coming that by his preparation and entrance others might be warned and whereas God might have destroyed the World at once it was encreasing forty dayes that the World seeing every day some perish might at length have turned to God And the same was Ninevehs case yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed Our God is a gracious merciful and long-suffering God and never strikes but he gives warning that sinners may prevent the blow by Repentance and Contrition Before Nineveh shall be destroyed a Prophet must be sent to give notice of that destruction and to teach them a way how to avoid it and in case they should prove dull schollars here is forty dayes given to learn the lesson And as God dealt with this great City and with the whole World before the Deluge to fore-warn them of his judgements and their own ruine so deals he likewise with particular men to some he gives forty dayes to others forty months nay forty years to repent in even a whole life time is to some men but a continued warning of their final destruction and yet they like the old World never beleeve it till they feel it mock and jear at a Deluge until they are over-whelm'd with the Floud and perish in their own presumptuous imaginations So hard a thing it is to perswade sinners to beleeve that God is so just or his Judgements so infallible or their sins so destructive until the Floud come and a second Deluge a Deluge of Fire sweeps them away as that first of Waters did their unbeleeving fore-fathers Verse 11. It agrees with the nature of God who is goodness That as all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of Heaven were opened and so came the Floud over all so there should be diluvium spiritus a flowing out of the holy Ghost upon all as he promises Effundam I will pour it out upon all and diluvium gentium that all Nations shall flow up unto him For this spirit spirat ubi vnlt breaths where it pleaseth him and though a natural Wind cannot blow East and West North and South together this spirit at once breaths upon the most contrary dispositions upon the presuming and upon the dispairing sinner and in an instant can denizon and naturalize that soul that was an Alien to the Covenant empale and in-lay that soul that was bred upon the Common among the Gentiles transform that soul which was a Goat into a Sheep unite that soul which was a lost Sheep to the Fold again shine upon that soul that sits in darkness and the shadow of death and so melt and pour out that soul that yet understands nothing of the divine nature nor of the Spirit of God that it shall become partaker of the divine nature and be the same Spirit with God Verse 16. Now that Noah and all his Guests are entred the Ark is shut and the windows of Heaven opened God first provides for Noah before the Wicked are destroyed of whom many no doubt when they saw the violence of the waves descending and ascending according to Noah's prediction came wading middle-deep unto the Ark and importunately craved that
of a Son and laughed but not as Sarah in the next Chapter as if it were impossible For Abraham laughs and beleeves expects and rejoyces he saith not I am old and weak Sarah is old and barren where are the many Nations that shall come from these withered Loins It is enough to him that God hath said it he sees not the means he sees the promise he knew that God would rather raise him up seed from the very stones that he trod upon than himself should want a large and happy issue Verse 23. Abraham is not content only to wait for God but to smart for him God bids him cut his own flesh he willingly sacrifices this parcel of his skin and bloud to him that was the owner of all How glad he is to carry this painful mark of the love of his Creator How forward to seal this Covenant with his bloud betwixt God and him not regarding the soreness of his body in comparison of the confirmation of his soul. The wound was not so grievous as the signification was comfortable For herein he saw that from his loins should come that blessed Seed which should purge his soul from all corruption Well is that part of us lost which may give assurance of the Salvation of the whole our Faith is not yet sound if it hath not taught us to neglect pain for God and more to love his Sacraments than our own flesh CHAP. XVIII Verse 2. ALthough he appeared in men yet it was God that appeared to Abraham though men Preach though men remit sins though men absolve God himself speaks and God works and God seals in those men Again remember that nothing appeared to Abrahams apprehension but men yet Angels were in his presence And therefore though we bind no man to beleeve necessarily that every man hath a particular Angel assisting him yet know that ye do all that ye do in the presence of Gods Angels and though it be in its self and should be so to us a stronger bridle to consider that we do all in the presence of God who sees clearer than the Angels for he sees secret Thoughts and can strik imediately which they cannot do without commission from him yet since the presence of a Magistrate or a Preacher or a Father or an Husband keeps men often from ill actions let this prevail something with thee to that purpose that the Angels of God are alwayes present though thou discern them not Verse 3. And he said My Lord Where note that though Christ himself were not among these Angels yet Abraham apprehended a greater Dignity and gave a greater respect to one than to the rest but yet without neglecting the rest too Apply thy self to such Ministers of God and such Physitians of thy Soul as thine own Conscience tells thee do most good upon thee but yet let no particular affection to one defraud another in his dues nor impair another in his esteemation Verse 10. As the Angel which came to Abraham at the Promise and Conception of Isaac gave Abraham a further assurance of his return at Isaac's birth I will certainly return unto thee and thy Wife shall have a Son So the Lord which is with thee in the first Conception of any good purpose returns to thee again to give thee a quickning of that blessed Child of his and again and again to bring it forth and bring it up to accomplish and perfect those good intentions which his Spirit by overshadowing thy Soul hath formerly begotten in it Thus God comes to us in nature and he returns in grace he comes in preventing and returns in subsequent graces he comes in thine understanding and returns in thy Will he comes in rectifying thine actions and returns in establishing habits he comes to thee in zeal and returns in discretion he comes to thee in fervor and returns in perseverence he comes to thee in thy perigrination all the way and returns in thy transmigration at the last gaspe So God comes and so he returns to his Children Verse 12. In the former Chapter Abraham heard this newes and laughed and in this Chapter Sarah hears it and laughs too they did not more agree in their desire than differ in their affection Abraham laughed for joy Sarah for distrust Abraham laughed because he beleeved it would be so Sarah because she beleeved it could not be so the same act varies in the manner of doing and in the intention of the doer yet Sarah laughed but within her self and it is bewrayed How God can find us out in secret sins How easily did she now think that he which could know of her inward laughter could know of her Conception And now she that laughed and beleeved not beleeveth and feareth When she hears of an impossibility to Nature she doubteth and yet hides her diffidence and when she must beleeve feareth because she did distrust Verse 15. Sarah thinks in this verse to cover her distrust with a Lye one sin with another Thus any thing serves us for a cover of sin even from a net that every man sees thorow to such a cloud of darkness as none but the Prince of Darkness that cast that cloud upon us can see us in it nor we see our selves That we should hide lesser sins with greater is not so strange that in Adultery we should forget the circumstances in it and the practises to come to it but we hide greater sins with lesser with a manifold and multiplied throng and cloud of lesser sins all comes to an indifferency and so we see not great sins As for instance Easiness of conversation in a Woman seems no great harm adorning themselves to please those with whom they converse is not much more to hear them whom they are thus willing to please praise them and magnifie their perfections is little more than that to allow them to sue for the possession of that they have so much praised is not much more neither nor will it seem much at last to give them possession of that they sue for Verse 21. God does not reward or condemne out of his Decrees but out of our actions Thus God sent down his Commissioners his Angels to Sodom to enquire and to inform him how things went And thus God went down himself to enquire and informe himself how it stood with Adam and Eve Not that God was ever ignorant of any thing concerning us but that God would prevent that dangerous imagination in every man that God should first mean to destroy him and then to make him that he might destroy him without having any evidence against him God goes not out as a Fowler that for his pleasure and recreation or for his commodity or commendation would kill and therefore seeks out game that he may kill it God made man ad imaginem suam to his own image If he had made him under an inevitable and irresistable necessity of damnation he had made him ad imaginem Diabolicam to
therefore how holy and piously doth Iacob speak here concerning his Children These saith he are the Children which God hath graciously given thy Servant Verse 9. The carnal minded man looks no further than this world and if he can get but his Chests and his Barns fill'd thinks he may say with Esau here I have enough Brother and that he may sing a Requiem to his Soul with that rich man in the Gospel Soul take thine ease thou hast Goods laid up for many years when God in the mean time is not thought upon without whom there can be no true fulness no sincere abundance Let us therefore accustome our selves to find out God in the Creature and in all our gettings in all our preferments in all our studies and then be we as covetous as we will as ambitious as we can we shall be sure to have enough for God will be abundantly sufficient to us for all God is treasure and God is honour enough Wouldst thou have all this World wouldst thou have all the next World too Plus est qui fecit Coelum Terram saith a Father he that made Heaven and Earth is more than all that and thou mayest have all in having him Verse 10. Wicked men cannot be so ill as they would That strong Wrestler against whom Iacob prevailed prevailed with Esau and turned his wounds into kisses An Host of Men came with Esau an Army of Angels met Iacob Esau threatned Iacob prayed His prayers and presence have melted the heart of Esau into love And now instead of the grim and stern countenance of an Executioner Iacob sees the face of Esau as the face of God Both men and Devils are stinted the stoutest heart cannot stand out against God He that can wrestle earnestly with God is secure from the harms of men Those minds which are exaspearated with violence and cannot be broken with fear yet are bowed with love when the wayes of a man please God he will make his enemies at peace with him Verse 11. If we want this Worlds good let us not be discouraged God oftentimes recompenseth the want of earthly blessings with great abundance of heavenly graces This Christ declareth in Rev. 2. I know thy works and tribulation and poverty but thou art rich He maketh them rich in Knowledge in Faith in Obedience and Joy in the holy Ghost He blesseth them with inward comfort and with peace of Conscience that passeth all understanding He giveth them patience in trouble meekness of spirit and an holy contentation to sustain the weight of their affliction and albeit they bear a gracious burthen yet he hath eased them of a greater the burthen of their sins which in Christ they feel to be lightned and remitted This the Apostle testifieth We are as dying and yet behold we live as having nothing and yet possessing all things This is that Iacob perswaded his own heart and told it to his Brother God hath shewed mercy unto me and therefore I have all things for so it is in the Original not I have enough as it is in our English Bibles but I have all Esau had much but Iacob had all because he had the God of all Verse 13. A Conscientious Minister should follow Iacobs example in this verse and so order their flocks as he did his They must have an eye to the weak ones of their Congregations and so to respect all as they over-drive none He must so Preach as his people are able to hear and not alwayes as he is able to Preach He must divide and chew and masticate his Matter and his Doctrines as Nurses do their Childrens meat and speak to the shallowest Capacities of his Hearers else he shall be a Barbarian to them and they to him And as in their instruction so likewise in their reproofs and correction they must have a care of the little Ones of the tender Lambs of Christ's flock and deal gently with them A Venice-glass must be otherwise handled than an Earthen-pitcher some must be rebuked sharply severely but of others we must have compassion making a difference Jude 22. CHAP. XXXIV Verse 1. CHristians should of all others be very shy of the occasions of evil and take heed of the Wine when 't is red in the glass and have an eye to their eye when they look on a Maid Dinah out of a gadding curiosity must needs visit the Daughters of the Land and while she goeth to see the Daughters the Son saw her visamque cupit and having seen her he took her having taken her he lay with her the report whereof coming to Iacobs Sons they were grieved being grieved they were wroth being wroth they meditate revenge meditating revenge they speak deceitfully having deceived they slew having slain they spoyle See how great a fire a little matter kindleth what great evils issue from small beginnings take heed then of these beginnings Verse 3. Shechem in this verse bewrays a good nature even in filthiness he loves Dinah after his sin and would needs Marry her whom he had defiled Commonly Lust ends in loathing Ammon abhors Tamar as much after the act as before he loved and beats her out of doors whom he was sick to bring in But Shechem would not let Dinah fare the worse for his sin And now he goes about to entertain her with honest love whom the rage of his Lust had dishonestly abused Her deflouring shall be no prejudice to her since her shame shall redound to none but him and he will hide her dishonour with the name of an Husband Those actions that are ill begun can hardly be salved up with late satisfactions whereas good entrances give strength to the proceedings and success to the end Verse 4. I find but one only Daughter of Iacob who must needs therefore be a great Darling to her Father and she so miscarries that she causes her Fathers grief to be more than his love As her Mother Leah so she hath a fault in her eyes which was curiosity She will needs see and be seen and whiles she doth vainly see she is seen lustfully It is not enough for us to look to our own thoughts except we beware of the provocations of others If we once wander out of the Lists that God hath set us in our Callings there is nothing but danger her virginity had been safe had she kept home or if Shechem had forced her in her Mothers Tent this loss of her virginity had been without her sin now she is not innocent that gave the occasion Her eyes were guilty of the temptation only to see is an insufficient warrant to draw us into places of spiritual hazard If Shechem had seen her busie at home his love had been free from outrage now the lightness of her presence gave encouragement to his inordinate desire Immodesty of behaviour makes way to lust and gives life unto wicked hopes Verse 14. The two old men Iacob and Hamor would have ended the matter
scent and savour of their Actions as the sound of their Words CHAP. XL. Verse 13. MOses that is appointed here to annoint and consecrate others was never annointed and consecrated himself that so we might learn not to value external Sacraments or Signs by the Dignity of the Minister but by the Ordinance of God Again that the invisible Grace is of force without the visible sign when God will have it so as in Moses here but then withal we must know that this was an extraordinary Command of God to Moses who was then Gods Vicegerent or Vicar-general and therefore what he did God did And certainly God who is the Author of all order may prescribe the form and manner of it Verse 16. Observe how often from this to the two and thirtieth verse is repeated as the Lord commanded Moses and see how sweet commanded Obedience is Were it as acceptable to God to be served with inventions never would these repetitions be made Beware therefore of these wayes and in very reason conclude that if you expect from your Servant your Commands to be fulfill'd according to your will much more may God expect the same obedience from you Verse 32. Those that dispense Gods Ordinances that wait upon his Altar must come with clean hands and a pure heart Holiness becomes every man well but best of all publick persons and that not only for example of good but liberty of controlling ill The Snuffers of the Sanctuary made to purge others must be of pure Gold themselves and the Priest that is to purifie and cleanse the Congregation must be first washed himself But now suppose the Priest be unclean be vicious and who can say he is not so must â—he People notwithstanding seek the Law at his mouth follow his Doctrine Yes certainly For what if the Sacrificer be unclean is the Offering so Scripture is Scripture though the Devil speak it Verse 34. That thus he might grace that outward place now appointed for holy Assemblies to serve him and so to the Worlds end teach how great account all People ought to make of their Churches and Church-meetings Verse 36. The Children of Israels Journey to Canaan was thorow the Wilderness of Arabia Their Guides were a Pillar of Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night The manner of their Journey was this When the Pillar moved they moved when the Pillar stood still they stood still By all which a further matter namely the regiment of Christ over his Church is signified Every one of us is as Passengers and Travellers to an heavenly Canaan and in this Journey we are to passe through the desart Wilderness of this World Our Guide is Christ himself figured by the Pillar of Fire and Cloud because by his Word and Spirit he sheweth us how far we may go in every Action and where we must stand and he goes before us as our Guide to life everlasting A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY UPON THE THIRD BOOK OF MOSES CALLED LEVITICUS CHAP. I. Verse 4. THE party bringing the Sacrifice did by this sign of laying on his hand c. acknowledge that he himself deserved to die but by the Mercy of God he was spared and his desert laid upon the Beast Secondly that it is not enough to believe that Christ was to die for sin but he must lay his hand upon Christ i. e. lay upon him all his iniquities by the hand of his Faith apply Christ to himself and believe that he died for his sins my sins your sins being the only Propitiation for sin Thirdly this laying on the hand shewed that men bringing Sacrifices to God should rather sacrifice their exorbitant affections than those Beasts Verse 5. The reason why God tyed them to a place and not suffered them to sacrifice where they pleased was that by this means they might be kept from using any unlawful manner in their Sacrifices which they might have done if in every place at their pleasure they might have Sacrificed The same reason is now for our set publick places of Gods Worship where the people are to perform their Duties to God after one manner not allowed at their will every one to have a several place lest private places should breed private Fancies Errors and Heresies in the Church Verse 6. This was to teach the Party that offered the Sacrifice to offer up himself to the Lord flayed and without skin that is without all counterfeit and hypocritical shews without all earthly vain and proud Confidence in himself or any Works or Worth whatsoever in him but naked and bare to present himself to his God with a single and faithful heart boasting of no Desert but humbly craving Mercy and Pardon for Christs sake the true Sacrifice Verse 17. This was a great comfort to the poorer sort of Offerers for thus are they assured that although they were not of ability to Offer unto him Oxen and Sheep yet were they as dear to him as those that could so do and their Sacrifice of Pigeons or Turtles yeelded as sweet a savour And thus gracious will God ever be even two Mites of a poor Widdow shall be accepted and a little Spice or Goats-hair or what my power is to bring unto him shall be received For it is not the Gift but the Heart of the Giver that God looks upon and respects and thus the poor Widdows Mite could weigh but little very little with God but the Heart weigh'd heavy and so her Heart being put to her Mite gave it weight above the greater but far more heartless largesses of the Pharisees CHAP. II. Verse 6. THis Offering thus parted and sprinkled with Oyl signified the Graces of Gods Spirit where with Christ was fully annointed within and without above his fellows For they were only singly annointed either as Kings or as Priests or as Prophets but Christ was a thrice Sacred annointed Person a Prophet to teach us by his Word a Priest to purge us by his Blood a King to guide us by his Spirit And this three-fold Office of our Saviour was really represented by the Oyl wherewith he was annointed For first Oyl is said in the Psalms to make a chearful countenance and thus doth Christ as a Prophet make not only a cheerful Countenance but a cheerful Heart and Soul by Preaching the glad Tydings of Salvation Secondly Oyl doth supple and cure Wounds and so doth Christ as a Priest the Wounds of our Souls and Consciences with that precious Ointment of his Blood Thirdly Oyl will still be the uppermost of all Liquors so likewise Christ as a King is above Men and Angels hath the Soveraignty over all the Creation Verse 11. By this Rule of having no Leaven they were taught the purity of Christs Doctrine and the Holiness of his Life his Doctrine so pure that it maketh others pure Iohn 15. 3. and his Life so pure that not only his false Accusers could fasten no fault upon him but by his Innocency he appeased
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
Royal Prophet sings Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound Psalm 80 15. that can discern and feel the comfortable sound of Gods Word the free use of his Ordinances serving God with chearfulness and giving him thanks with exaltation of heart and rapture of Spirit Verse 31. Why doth Moses so earnestly desire this Hobab to be their guide in the way was not the All-seeing Eye of God sufficient had not he promised to conduct them and had they not the pillar of Cloud to go before them most true yet humane helps when they may be had and God offers them to our hand may not be neglected The using of lawful means doth not oppose or afront the providence of God who it is true can work without means but yet we must attend unto his will and not stand upon his naked power without his will Verse 35. It is a great encouragement to know the forms that the Saints prevailed with God of old that God accepted such Prayers at their hands he that accepted them then if we send them by the same Spirit will accept them now And therefore it is that we have mention upon Record of the Prayers of Abraham of Iacob of Moses here and in other places of David of Hezekiah and divers others To what end and purpose but that we might thereby learn to fit our selves with words to attain a habit of Prayer by studying these forms For which reason also it was that in the Old Testament for all duties of piety and Religion there were forms set For the blessing of the People there was a form set Numb 6. In time of Repentance and Humiliation the Prophet sets them a form Ioel 2. and so here when the Ark removed there was a form for that Sacrifice Arise O Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and when the Ark stood still Return O Lord to the many thousands of Israel CHAP. XI Verse 4. THe thirst of Israel is well quench'd and now they complain as fast for hunger the other mutiny for Water was of some few Male-contents this was of the whole Troop Not that none were free Caleb Ioshua Moses Aaron Miriam were not yet tainted Usually God measures the state of any Church or Country by the most the greatest part carries both the Name and Censure Sins are so much greater as they are universal so far is evill from being extenuated by the multitude of the guilty that nothing can more aggravate it With men commonness may plead for favour with God it pleads for Judgement Many hands draw the Cable with more violence than few The leprosie of the whole Body is more loathsome than that of the part Verse 5. Contentation is a rare Blessing because it arises either from a fruition of all Comforts or a not desiring of some which we have not Now we are never so bare as not to have some benefits never so full as not to want something God hath much ado with us either we lack Health or Quietness or Children or Wealth or Company or our selves in all these We remember when we sate by the flesh-pots of Egypt and did eat freely of their Cucumbers and Melons and Leeks and Onyons Every Mind remembers and affects that which is like its self Carnal minds are for the flesh-pots of Egypt though bought with servitude spiritual are for the presence of God though Redeem'd with Famine and would rather dye in Gods presence than live without him in the sight of delicate and full dishes Verse 8. The same hand that rain'd Manna into the Israelites Tents could have Rain'd it into their Mouths or Laps God loves we should take pains for our spiritual food Little would it have availed them that the Manna lay about their Tents if they had not gone forth and gathered it beaten and baked it Let Salvation be never so plentiful if we bring it not home and make it ours by Faith we are no whit the better If the work done and means us'd had been enough to give life no Israelite had dyed their Bellies were full of that Bread whereof one Crum gives life yet they dyed many of them in displeasure As in Natural so in Spiritual things we may not trust to means the Carkals of the Sacrament cannot give life but the Soul of it which is the thing represented Verse 9. The meat of these Israelites was strange but nothing so strange as their Bread from the first day that their Manna fell till their setling in Canaan God wrought a perpetual miracle in this food a miracle in the place other bread rises up from below this fell down from above neither did it ever Rain Bread till now yet so did this Heavenly shower fall that it is confined to the Camp of Israel a miracle in the quantity that every morning should fall enough to fill so many hundred thousand maws and mouths A miracle in the Composition that it is sweet like Hony-Cakes round like Corianders transparent as dew A miracle in the quality that it melted by one heat by another hardened A miracle in the difference of the fall that as if it knew times and would teach them as well as feed them it fell double in the Evening of the Sabbath and on the Sabbath fell not A miracle in the continnance and ceasing that this shower of Bread followed their Camp in all their removals till they came to tast of the bread of Canaan and then withdrew it self as if it had said ye need no miracles now you have means Verse 18. God tells the Jews here that they had wept in his ears God had heard them weep but for what and how they wept for Flesh there was a Tincture a deep die of murmuring in their Tears Christ goes as far in the passion in his agony and he comes to a passionate deprecation in his tristis anima and in this Si possibile and his Transeat calix But as all these Passions were sanctified in the root from which no bitter Leaf nor crooked Twigg could spring so they were instantly wash'd with his veruntamen a present and a full submitting of all to Gods pleasure yet not my will O Father but thine be done Verse 22. When our own provision fails then not to distrust the provision of God is a noble tryal of Faith Shall our flocks and herds be slain cries even Moses Whereas he should have said God who stopp'd the mouth of the Sea that it should not devour us can as easily stop the mouth of our stomack he that commanded the Sea to stand still and guard us can as easily command the Earth to nourish us he that made the Rod a Serpent can as easily make these stones Bread Why do we not wait on him whom we have found so powerful Now they set the Mercy and Love of God upon a wrong Last while they measure it only by their present sence While we see our daily Bread on our Cubbord we believe let God
were the Lords Inheritance and when men began wickedly to alienate the same and usurp upon his sacred Right then his re-claim and re-seizure thereof condemns the usurpers of down-right theft Mal. 3. Is it so then that these things are Gods it is therefore but equity to pay them to God for equity requireth and Justice biddeth that we give to every one his own on the other side to with-hold them or to take them or any part of them from God is injury because so the right owner is wrong'd more seeing the owner of these things is not man but God it is impiety yea it is sacriledge the highest and the horriblest sin in that kind that can be Verse 15. Christ as a Prophet teacheth spiritually and powerfully spiritually the Word and the Spirit go both together the word is but a dead letter in its self further than the Spirit goes along with it according to that of Iohn 6. 63. If the Spirit goes with the Word then the Word proves Spirit and Life the Spirit worketh freely in the Preaching of the Gospel the Word is but an instrument in the hand of the Spirit by which it works Then Secondly Christ as a Prophet teacheth powerfully therefore the Gospel is call'd The power of God unto salvation and he is said Mat. 7. to teach as one having Authority his word had a commanding power and authority over their Spirits Whensoever Christ comes to preach to thy Soul he will come with power he will make a separation between thy soul and thy sins he will pluck thee off from thy base lusts and cursed practises as once he did Paul and so will Christ deal with thy Soul who ever thou art that cleavest as close to thy sins as thy skin to thy flesh he will fetch thee off from those by his powerful Preaching CHAP. XIX Verse 4. ALl sins then are not equall neither are all to be alike punish'd as by Draco's Laws they were in a manner which Laws are said to be writ not with Ink but blood because they punish'd every Peccadillo almost with blood There are difference in sins and must be so in their punishments He that hates his Neighbour and smites him that he dyes thine eye shall not pitty him verse 13. let him dye without mercy let no man mediate for him lest he draw upon the Land guilt of Blood and hinder the Man-slayer from Repentance But in case a Man kill his Neighbour ignorantly here is a City of refuge to fly unto that he may live And here in an Evangelical sence Christ is our City of Refuge to whom if we fly when we are pursued by the guilt of an evill Conscience we shall live none can take us out of his hands if we be in Christ the Rock Temptations and Oppositions as Waves dash upon us but break themselves Verse 14. How hainous a sin this is appears by this strict prohibition given by God himself back'd with a Curse Chap. 27. and that Curse seconded with a Woe by the Prophet Isaiah A vice so injurious that it was odious to the Heathen and therefore the Romans condemned the meaner sort who were guilty of it to the Mettal houses and banish'd the better sort with the loss of the third part of their Estates so that I cannot but wonder with what face our Anabaptists assert a Community of Goods I grant the Primitive Christians had all things common but that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard of use not right and that by voluntary consent not necessary command the truth is that moral prohibition of stealing must be abolish'd and the Evangelical precept of Charity is needless if either men might not erect bounds of their possession or others might lawfully remove them at pleasure Verse 15. To blame then are those that proceed upon every idle surmize supposition or report and here it is further to be noted that three manner of persons can make no credible Witness or Information First Adversaries for evill will doth never speak well Secondly Ignorant men and those without judgement for he must be both a wise man and an honest man that ought to be a Witness for else if he be a wise man and not an honest man he is a Knave and again if he be an honest man and no wise man he may be a fool and therefore he is to be both wise and honest that is to be a Witness Thirdly whisperers and blowers in mens ears that will spue out in hugger-mugger more than they dare a vow openly To all such we must turn the deaf Ear the Tale-bearer and the Tale-hearer are both of them abominable to God Psalm 15. what matter therefore soever is established must be established at the mouth of two or three Witnesses that are both honest and wise Verse 20. They shall fear with a reverential fear from which will spring sincere service Aliorum perditio tua sit cautio let other Mens destruction be your Caution which is in the Psalmist expression to wash our feet in the Blood of the Wicked Psalm 59. 10. when the Righteous seeing the ruine of the Wicked shall become more Cautious And certainly worthily are they made examples that will not take them The fearful judgements that fall upon others should be a terror to us It is a just presage and desert of ruine not to be warn'd CHAP. XX. Verse 8. ALl the Lords Souldiers that fight his Battels and inroll their Names in his Muster-book must be men of stout courage and valiant men at Arms as they that go about a good Work he receiveth none into his Camp that are faint-hearted which are not able to encourage themselves but discourage others Hence it is that the Lord charg'd the Heralds at Arms to make Proclamation in the audience of the people Whosoever is afraid and faint-hearted c. God would have Wars made in his Name and therefore he would have Souldiers go to them without fear If a man be afraid it is a sign he hath no trust in God for he hath power to overcome fearfulness This serves to reprove all those who wanting the vertue of Valour and this gift of magnanimity do betray themselves and yeild to most unequal conditions and make an agreement upon dishonourable termes When Benhadad the King of Aram laid siege to Samaria and sent unto Ahab saying Thy silver and thy gold is mine Ahab stooped and submitted himself unto him saying My Lord according as thou hast said I am thine But our trust and confidence must be in God and then we shall not fear what man can do unto us Verse 12. The people of God may lawfully make Wars both offensive and defensive against their enemies Thus when Amalek fought with the people of God in Rephidim Moses said to Ioshua Chuse us out men and go sight Amalek so he discomfited Amalek and his people with the edg of the Sword Many other testimonies might be brought and