When hee goeth in before the Lord sc to consult with God who answered the Priest by voice Num. 7.89 Ver. 31. The robe of the ephod Which signified the roial robe of Christ's righteousness reaching down to the feet large enough to cover all our imperfections Ver. 32. That it bee not rent To shew that there should bee no rents or schisms in the Church 1 Cor. 1.10 13.1 Tim. 1.3 Ver. 34. A golden bell and a pomegranate Shadowing out 1. The Prophetical office of Christ here and his perpetual intercession in heaven 2. The dutie of Ministers which is Vivere concionibus concionari moribus to live sermons to bee fruitful as well as painful teachers Not like him of whom it was said that when hee was out of the pulpit it was pitie hee should ever go into it and when hee was in the pulpit it was pitie hee should ever com out of it Ver. 35. And his sound shall bee heard Necesse erat ut Pontifex totus vocalis ingrederetur sanctuarium nè fortè non audito sonitu morte lueret silentium A dumb dog is a childe of death Isa 56.10 Ministers must bee both able and apt to teach upon all occasions Ver. 36. Holiness to the Lord Hence it was not lawful for the High-priest saie the Jews to put off his bonnet to whomsoever hee met were hee never so great a man lest the Name and Glorie of God whose person hee susteined should seem to submit to anie man Ver. 37. Vpon the mitre Which had an holie crown with it Chap. 29.6 signifying the Deïtie and Dignitie of Christ Ver. 38. The iniquitie of the holie things Get the people's pardon This Christ did indeed for all his 1 John 2.1 2. Ver. 39. Embroider the coat Rev. 1.13 Christ is clothed with such a robe as King and Counsellor of his Church Ver. 40. Coats Linnen garments for innocencie 2. Girdles for constancie and stabilitie 3. Bonnets for safetie from the rage of Satan and his instruments 4. Breeches for comlie reverence in God's service CHAP. XXVI Ver. 1. Take one young bullock ALL sorts of Sacrifices Sin-offerings Burnt-offerings Peace-offerings were to bee offered for the Priests becaus of the special holiness and honor of their calling Ver. 2. And unleavened bread See 1 Cor. 5.7 8. with the Notes there Ver. 4. Wash them with water A type of Christ's Baptism Matth. 3. Ver. 6. The holie crown See the Note on Chap. 28.37 Ver. 7. The annointing oil Typing out that abundance of the holie Spirit powred upon Christ Isa 61.1 and upon Christians 1 John 2.27 Psalm 133.2 Ver. 8. Coats c. See the Note on Chap. 28.40 Ver. 9. Consecrate Heb. Fill their hands se with sacrifices they were not to fill their own hands as Jeroboam's Priests did 1 King 13.31 See Heb. 5.5 Ver. 10. Shall put their hands As transferring the guilt of their sins upon Christ Isa 53.6 Ver. 11. By the door Pointing to Christ the door into heaven Heb. 10.20 Ver. 12. The blood of the bullock For without blood there was no remission of sin Beside the bottom of the Altar To signifie the plenteous Redemption wrought by Christ Ver. 13. All the fat that covereth God must have the verie best of the best sith Christ offered himself and the best parts hee had Ver. 14. Without the camp See the Note on Heb. 13.12 and on Heb. 7.27 28. Ver. 15. Thou shalt also take After the Sin-offering other offerings till sin bee expiated no service is accepted Ver. 16. Sprinkle it See 1 Pet. 1.2 Ver. 17. Wash the inwards of him This signified that intire holiness that through sanctification 1 Thes 5.23 Ver. 18. The whole ram Rom. 1.1 with the Note Ver. 19. Put their hands Both their hands between the horns of the ram Ver. 20. Vpon the tip of the right ear To set forth the holie obedience required of them in all their senses actions and motions Iohn 13.5 6 9. Ver. 21. Of the blood and of the annointing oil Signifying Christ's Merit and Spirit Ver. 22. A ram of the consecration A Thank-offering to God for advancing Aaron to the Priest-hood See the like in S. Paul 1 Tim. 1.12 Ver. 23. Vnleavened bread See 1 Cor. 5 7 8. with the Notes there Ver. 24. And shalt wave them As acknowledging God's Omnipresence and that manie should com from East West North and South to partake of the Merits Benefits of Christ our true sacrifice Ver. 25. It is an offering made by fire Christ in like sort having offered himself for a Burnt-offering for a sweet savor before the Lord asscended up into heaven and gave gifts unto men Ver. 26. It shall bee thy part Becaus hee did for this time extraordinarily execute the Priest's office Ver. 27. The breast of the Wave-offering and shoulder To teach the Priests to serv the Lord with all their hearts and with all their strength Ver. 28. A Heav-offering Signifying the heaving of Christ upon the Cross and the heaving up of our hearts to God for so great benefits Ver. 29. Shall bee his sons after him His garments remained for ever so doth the robe of Christ's righteousness Isa 61.10 Ver. 30. And that son There were garments but for one there is but one Mediator the Man Christ Jesus Ver. 31. And thou shalt take the ram i. e. The remnant of him Ver. 33. And they shall eat those things Applie Christ's death by faith to their own souls John 6.51 Ver. 34. Thou shalt burn the remainder The Thank-offering was not to bee kept till the morrow to teach us to bee prompt and present in praising God and applying Christ Ver. 35. Seven daies To teach the Priest's to consecrate their whole lives to God's service Ver. 36. Cleans the Altar Which as well as the creatures may bee defiled by man's sin Lev. 16.16 Ver. 37. Whatsoever toucheth the Altar See Matth. 23.19 with the Note there Ver. 38. Daie by daie continually When this dailie sacrifice was intermitted as in the daies of Antiochus that little Anti-Christ they counted it an abomination of desolation Ver. 39. Thou shalt offer in the morning These two lambs were types of the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world with a commemoration of whose benefits the daie was begun and ended Wherefore also from David's daies and forwards they sang the 22 Psalm at the Morning Sacrifice and the 136 Psalm at the Evening Ver. 45. And I will dwell See the Note on 2 Cor. 6.16 CHAP. XXX Ver. I. An Altar to burn incens in SHadowing Christ as perfuming and presenting the Praiers of Saints Rev. 8.3 and 5.8 and obteining answer thereto from the four horns of the golden Altar Rev. 9.13 Ver. 2. A cubit shall bee the length That in Ezekiel Chap. 41.22 is much larger as setting forth the service of God under the Gospel Ver. 3. Overlaie it with pure gold Shadowing Christ's Deïtie yielding glorie to his humanitie A crown of gold round about To shew that Devotion
are manifest Gal. 5. Neither need wee half so much caution or curiositie to bee persuaded of our spiritual leprosie which is too too apparent onely those manie cerimonies as one well noteth may put us in minde how much more exquisite our diligence ought to bee in finding and ferreting out our special sins Ver. 10. And there bee quick raw flesh It is one of the most remarkable things in all this law saith a learned Divine that quick or sound flesh in the sore should bee judged leprosie and the man unclean whereas if the leprosie covered all his flesh hee was pronounced clean vers 13. Hereby 1. May bee meant such as justifie themselvs and their wickedness as Jonas did his anger whereas hee was judged himself is like him who had the leprosie all over and might bee declared clean Or 2. Such who sin against the light of knowledg and the quickning yea rawness of a galled conscience Ver. 12. And if a leprosie So called becaus so counted at first but it prove's no more then a kinde of scurf or scab Ver. 13. Hee shall pronounce him clean i. e. not infectiously or incurably unclean Ver. 14. But when raw flesh Becaus it shew'd that there were still corrupt and poisoned humors in the bodie not easie to bee expelled till death Ver. 15. It is a leprosie Properly so called a fretting soreness or scabbedness The Greeks call it Elephas or Elephantiasis when the skin grow's hard as the Elephant's skin This the Israëlites brought likely out of Aegypt for it was bred onely about Nilus and is therefore called the botch of Aegypt Deut. 28.27 Ver. 16. Turn again Viz. to bee white like the rest of the bodie so if a sinner stop or step back c. Ver. 18. Was a bile and is healed Seemed to bee healed as apostates to have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of Christ 2 Pet. 2.20 and to have known the waie of righteousness vers 21. and yet the later end is wors with them then the begining They becom altogether filthie Psalm 53.3 Forsakers of the Covenant yea wicked doers against the Covenant Dan. 11.30 32. These sin not common sins as Core and his companie died not common deaths Ver. 22. And if it spread much abroad So if sin reign there is no pardon rebel it may reign it must not Ver. 23. But if the bright spot staie Sin if it reign not is not imputed for wee are not under the law but under grace Rom. 6.12 14. Ver. 25. A leprosie broken out of the burning Seldom do passions burn but there is a leprosie breaking out of that burning such as causseth the climate where such lepers live to be like the torrid Zone too hot for anie to live neer them Ver. 30. A yellow thin hair Which is a true sign of a skall Ver. 34. Hee shall wash his clothes See the Note on ver 6. Ver. 35. After his cleansing See the Note on ver 18. Ver. 37. Black hair A sign of soundness Quod sanitas in corpore id sanctitas in corde saith Bernard Ver 39. A freckled spot Or white-morphew This made not a man unclean no more do meer infirmities make God abhor us Ver. 44. His plague is in his head Such a leper is everie ignorant man how much more the man that is an heretick whom therefore after the first and second admonition wee must reject Titus 3.10 yea from such stand off 1 Tim. 6.5 Keep aloof as from lepers Purchas Pilgr their verie breath is infectious and like the dogs of Congo they bite though they bark not Ver. 45. His clothes shall bee rent To shew his sorrow for sin the caus of his calamitie And his head bare That men might not mistake him and further to shew his humilitie whereof this also was a cerimonie A covering upon his upper lip His Moucbaches that by his breath hee might not insect others and to shew that God will not hear a good motion from an ill mouth Vnclean unclean Saie wee the same in our humblest acknowledgments but withall add that of the leper in the Gospel Yet Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee clean Ver. 46. Without the Camp And that utterly if incurable as Vzzias A livelie type of Excommunication which the Apostle describeth 2 Cor. 5.11 12. and our Saviour Mat. 18.17 Ver. 47. The garment also A plague not anie where els read or heard of beeing nothing like clothes now-adaies infected with the plague but far more strange and dangerous whether it did spread or fret inward the garment was to bee burnt with fire This signified that all instruments of idolatrie or of anie other sin are to bee destroied and made awaie As the Law commandeth The graven images of their gods shall yee burn with fire Deut. 7.25 26. And Jude alludeth to it when hee biddeth us save som with fear pulling them out of the fire bating even the garment spotted by the flesh Jude 23. See Isa 30.22 Acts 19.19 Justiciaries also shall one daie finde that though to the worldward they wash themselvs with snow-water and make their hands never so clean yet God will plunge them in the ditch and their own clothes shall make them to bee abhorred Job 9.30 31. CHAP. XIIII Ver. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses ANd to Aaron also though not here mentioned as hee is vers 33. Ver. 2. Hee shall bee brought unto the Priest To teach us to go to Jesus Christ the high-Priest of our profession who healeth all our diseases Psalm 103.3 He cured the leprosie to others altogether incurable by a touch of his hand onely Mark 1.41 Yea hee sent his word and healed them Psalm 107.20 and so hee doth the souls of sinners that com unto him Ver. 3. If the plague of leprosie bee healed As it was in Simon the leper that entertained Christ Jealousie Phrensie and Heresie are counted incurable diseases not so leprosie though the most carried it to their death as Gehazi Azariah c. Ver. 4. Command to take That the leper might shew his thankfulness to Jehovah his Physician as hee is called Exod. 15.26 See Mat. 8.4 Men praie and paie Physicians of their bodies who yet do but officiosè occidere manie times And shall God have nothing Must hee ask as once Where are the other nine Shall wee not turn again with Naaman now cleansed and offer our service renounce our idols dedicate all wee are and have to the God of Israël Two birds Or sparrows whereof two were sold for a farthing to shew how lightly set by Christ is in the world whose blood nevertheless is more worth then a thousand worlds Ver. 5. Over running water Heb. Living water Life consist's in motion in action hence waters that spring and run are for their continual motion called living waters O Lord saith Hezekiah By these things men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit Isa 38.16 Ver. 6. That was killed over
the running water Pointing at Christ who came not by water onely but by water and blood 1 John 5.6 See the Note there and on 1 Cor. 6.11 Ver. 7. And hee shall sprinkle This led them to that blood of sprinkling Heb. 12.23 applied unto them by that hysop-bunch of faith whereby the heart is purified And shall let the living bird loos This figured sale som that neither Christ's deïtie without the shedding of his blood nor Christ's blood but for the quickning life of the God-head personally dwelling in him could have been available for the purging of sin Both which himself declareth John 6.53 with 63. And hither belongeth 2 Cor. 5.19 Acts 20.28 Moreover it figured that Christ by his death conquered him that had the power of death Heb. 2.15 whilest hee fled as a bird to the everlasting mountains from the jaws of death to the joies of heaven Heb. 7.26 Ver. 8. Shall wash his clothes and shave This the leper was to do the first daie of his cleansing 1 Tim. 6.18 to teach men to bee thorough in the practice of mortification at the first conversion laying a good foundation for the time to com that they may laie hold on eternal life And shall tarrie abroad Men must not bee too hastie at first to catch at comfort but let humiliation have her perfect work and our sorrows bee sutable to our sins Ver. 9. Ezra 10.13 Even all his hair hee shall shave off To shew that repentance and mortification is not the work of a daie as hee said in another case but of a man's whole life There must bee a dailie shaving and paring of lusts and superfluities which are to the soul as excrements are to the bodie Yea the more a sinner is exercised in mortification the more hee searcheth out his corruptions Now hee shaveth off the hair not of his head onely but of his beard and eie-brows Ver. 10. Hee shall take two hee-lambs That by these sacrifices hee might bee taught to seek for the cleansing of his soul together with the healing of his bodie that there might bee mens sana in corpore sano a cure don on both inside and outside too Ver. 11. At the door of the tabernacle There God is to bee found viz. in the publick assemblies and that wee are indeed saith one when wee are at the door of the Tabernacle Ver. 12. And wave them This may note 1. Christ's extreme sufferings 2. The waving of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel 3. The motion of the sinner's lips in confession and supplication Ver. 13. It is most holie The waie of holiness in and by Christ is an absolute waie as ever was devised Ver. 14. Vpon the tip of the right ear To signifie that all Christ's sanctified ones have a hearing ear an active hand a nimble foot to walk in the waie that is called holie Ver. 15. Som of the log Christ's comforts must bee warily propounded to men and with good discretion Ver. 16. Seven times This might note the perfection of the joies God hath for his and our imperfection in believing it in that it was so manie times sprinkled Ver. 17. Vpon the tip of the right ear To assure him of comfort in hearing doing persevering Ver. 18. Vpon the head Everlasting joie shall bee upon the heads of Christ's ransomed ones Isa 35. ult Ver. 19. And afterwards the burnt-offering Wee must bee reconciled by Christ our sin-offering before the sacrificing of our selvs which is our reasonable service can bee accepted Ver. 20. And the meat-offering The meat-offering annexed to the burnt-offering shew's saith one either that Christians grow marvellously in this life Bifield on 1 Pet. 1.22 after they have full assurance of pardon of sin or els that Christ will bee their eternal food in heaven Ver. 21. And if hee bee poor Here 's a proviso for poor people God make's no difference but accept's of a little where much is not to bee had Ver. 32. Whose hand is not able to get This is often urged to shew that the best can bee got must not bee thought too good for God and that if through carelesness or niggardice men do not their utmost that 's a just exception Ver. 34. Plague of leprosie in a hous Such is the contagion of sin that it will infect the verie hous wee dwell in the garments wee wear even all the creatures wee use so as all things are to us impure Titus 1.13 even the hous of God also Levit. 16.16 and his holie ordinances The Canaanites had defiled the land from one end to another with their uncleannesses Ezra 9.11 and so infected the air This Law taught men 1. Upon all occasions to shew their utter detestation of sin but especially of idolatrie 2. To take heed of despising admonition lest they bee utterly ruined and that without remedie Prov. 29.1 CHAP. XXV Ver. 2. Arunning issue AN involuntarie flux of seed such as David imprecateth upon Joab 2 Sam. 3.29 Ver. 3. It is his uncleanness Hereby they were taught the turpitude of sin of original sin especially that peccatum peccans as the Scholes call it that sinfull sin as S. Paul Rom. 7.13 for so filthie it is that hee can call it no wors then by it's own name as wanting a fitter Epithite Ver. 4. Everie bed Sin is more catching then anie plague and more defiling then anie jakes Mark 7.23 Paul found it as noisom to his soul as a dead bodie to his sens Rom. 7.24 or as the sanies of a plague-sore to a rich robe Job abhor's himself for it in dust and ashes Chap. 40.4 And Isaiah look's upon himself as an undon man by reason of it Chap. 6.5 Ver. 8. Spit upon him Noting the pollution that com's to men's souls by those that spit heresies and belch out blasphemies Ver. 13. Bathe his flesh This taught them to run to that open fountain that Kings-bath Zech. 13.1 with Ezekiel 36.29 Ver. 15. And the Priest shall offer them This Priest and these sacrifices led them to Christ who bore our sicknesses and expiated our sins Seest thou then the bloodie issue of thy corruptions alwaie running and gushing out at thine eies ears month flesh the issue of blood and water opened in Christ's side run's alwaie for washing it awaie Ver. 16. Seminifluus Go out from him By nocturnal pollutions filthie dreams c. Ver. 18. With seed of copulation Though lawfull in it self as beeing the ordinance of God Gen. 2.24 Sin is like copres which will turn wine or milk into ink or leaven which turn's a verie pasâ—eover into pollution Ver. 24. And if anie man lie with her Unawares or scecretly For to do it presumptuously and upon publick notice it was death Levit. 20.18 Ezek. 22.10 And God often punisheth such unclean copulations now-a-daies with monstrous deformed or diseased births Ver. 25. Have an issue As shee had Mark 5.25 Ver. 31. That they die not Which is wors then to
countries and because the labour was the easier and his right the better sith they had once been his fathers Vers 19. A well of springing water Heb. living so called for their continual motion Life consisteth in action and the godly esteem of life by that stirring they finde in their souls O Lord saith Hezekiah by these things men live and in all these things is the life of my spirit And thus many a man lives more in a shorter then others in a longer time S. Jerome tells of One Hieron Epist ad Fri. qui in brevi vitae spacio tempora virtuâ—im multa replevit As Seneca of another qui non diu vixit sed diù fuit Non multum navigavit sed multum jactatus est Oh live live live saith a Reverend man quickly much long else you are but histed and kickt off this stage of the world as Phocas was by Heraclius Nay Abners fun by M. Harris many as Job 27.23 and v. 15. who were buried before half dead Vers 20. And the herd-men of Gerar Not content to have cast him out they pursued him with cruel hatred and by denying him water went about to destroy both him and his herds Crosses seldom come single Eccles 12.2 but in a croud James 1.2 The clouds return after the rain and cluster against a new storm See therefore that ye keep your cloke close about you Vers 21. And he called the name of it Sitnah Of Satan to hate deadly as the devil doth So the Preacher in his travels tells us of a place called The mouth of hell And we read of a Country called Terra del fuego Preach trav pag. 106. Heyl. Geog. 130. Savoy for the strait passages infested with thieves was once called Malvoy till a worthy adventurer cleared the coasts and then 't was called Salvoy or Savoy quasi salva via Ibid. 474. So King Alfred as he divided the kingdom into shires so the subjects in the several shires into Tens or Tythings every of which should give bond for the good abearing of each other The ancientest of the ten was called the Tything-man And the Kingdom was called Regnum Dei Polyd. Virg. and Albion quasi Olbion happie as Angli quasi Angeli for that then a poor girl might safely travel with a bag of gold in her hand and none durst meddle with her Vers 22. And he removed from thence c. See here a pattern of a patient and peaceable disposition not broken by the continual injuries and affronts of the Philistims that maligned and molested him Psal 120.7 I am peace saith David and I saith Isaac and I saith every son of peace every childe of wisdom How well might good Isaac take up that of David Psal 26.12 Psal 4.2 and say My feet stand in an even place now that he was at Rehoboth especially and God had made room for him The scales of his minde neither rose up toward the beam Barthol Westmer in Psal 26. through their own lightness nor were too much depressed with any load of sorrow but hanging equally and unmoved between both gave him liberty in all occurrences to enjoy himself Our mindes saith a Divine should be like to the Adamant Ambros Hexam 4. that no knife can cut the Salamander that no fire can burn the Rock which no waves can shake the Cypress-tree which no weather can alter the hill Olympus higher then storm or tempest winde or weather can reach unto or rather like mount Sion Psal 1â—5 1 Philip. 4.11 Act. Mon. that cannot be removed but standeth fast for ever Thus Paul had learned how to abound and to be abased Bradford if the Queen would give him life he would thank her if banish him he would thank her if burn him he will thank her if condemn him to perpetual imprisonment he will thank her as he told one Creswel that offered to intercede for him Praeclara est aequabilitas in omni vita idem semper vulius eademque frons Aelian lib. 9. Solin cap. 8. ut de Socrate idemque de C. Laelio accepimus saith Tully in his books of Offices which book the old Lord Burleigh Peachams comp Gent. pag. 45. Lord high Treasurer to Queen Elisabeth would always carry about him to his dying day either in his bosom or pocket And what use he made of it take M. Camdens testimony Camd. Elis fol. 495. Burleigh Lord Treasurer was wont to say that he overcame envie more by patience then pertinacy His private estate he managed with that integrity that he never sued any man no man ever sued him He was in the number of those few that both lived and died with glory Vers 23. And he went up to the place of Gods worship Strabo writeth that the Metapontines Dedicasse in Delphis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they were enriched by a good yeer of corn dedicated to Apollo a golden harvest Vers 24. Fear not for the continued opposition of the Philistims or what-ever other discouragement The best mindes when troubled for any long time yeeld inconsiderate motions and suffer some perturbation as water that is violenly stirred sends up bubbles They cannot be so much master over their passions as not otherwhiles to be disquieted for not the evenest weights but at their first putting into the balance somewhat sway both parts thereof not without some shew of inequality which after some little motion settle themselves in a meet poize Potissimùm verò fidei murus Bucholcer Chronol 320. tentationum ariete durius aliquantò pulsatus concussus facilè nutare ac ruinam minari incipit nisi divinitus sustentetur Vers 25. And called upon the Name of the Lord that had made room for him and now by his presence and promise comforted him Let the streams of Gods bounty lead us as the water-course doth either to the spring upward or downward to the main Ocean to the source and fountain whence they flow Let God taste of the fruit of his own planting Otherwise it is no better then the refreshing of him that standeth by a good fire and crieth Ah ah I am warm Isai 44.16 We are no better then bruit beasts if contenting our selves with a natural use of the creatures we rise not up to the Author if in stead of being temples of his praise we become graves of his benefits Isaac first built an altar and then digg'd a Well Vers 26. And Abimelech went to him Not of any great love but as 1. prickt in conscience 2. to provide for posterity It was a mercy to him howsoever that strangers and Heathens should do him this honour as it was to Luther that when the Pope had excommunicated him the Emperour proscribed him two Kings written against him c. the Elector of Saxony should nevertheless stick to him Manh. loc com and that the Great Turk should send him word not to be discouraged for he would
cruel witness the Popish Inquisition to Lithgow who in ten houres received 70. several torments And the Massacre of Paris wherein they poisoned the Queen of Navarre murdered the most part of the pearless Nobilitie in France their wives and children with a great sort of the common people an hundred thousand in one year in divers parts of the Realm som saie three hundred thousand So in Ireland what havock have those breathing-Divels made of the innocent English c And what threatnings and slaughter do our desperate Malignants now breathe out against us Vers 27. As hee shall command us Manner as well as matter circumstance as well as substance is to bee heeded in God's service els there may bee malum opus in bona materia as one saith an evil work in a good matter Vers 28. Onely yee shall not go verie far So loath was hee to loos his hold â—useb so is the Divel The Pope made large offers to Queen Elisabeth as also to our King when in Spain Intreat for mee So Simon Magus in a fright begg's Peter's praiers so Maximinus the persecuting Emperor sent to the Church for Praiers when God had laid upon him a grievous diseas So Ezra 6.10 praie for the King's life and for his Sons Vers 29. Deal deceitfully anie more Som are so slipperie there 's no believing of them Egesippus saith of Pilate that hee was vir nequam parvi faciens mendacium a naughtie man and one that made no conscience of a lie No more did Pharaoh Vers 30. Intreated the Lord See the Note on Vers 12. Vers 31. There remained not one Praier make's clean work it can do wonders in heaven and earth Saie thou with David Cleans thou mee from secret faults Psal 19.12 those that are of dailie and hourlie incursion Praier will scour the coast clear the conscience of dead works Acts 8.22 Vers 32. And Pharaoh hardened All blows and pressures were so far from mollifying him that hee hardened and emmarbled more and more CHAP. IX Ver. 1. Let my People go THe verie same message to a word as before often Austin perswade's God's Messengers so long to insist upon the same point De Dâ—ctrina Christianâ— beating and repeating of it in the same words till they perceiv by the gesture and countenance of the hearers that they understand and embrace it Chrysostom at Antioch preached manie Sermons against swearing and told the people that seemed to bee wearie of that subject that till they left their swearing hee would never leav preaching against that sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Socrates Vers 3. Is upon thy Cattle Both those ad esum and those ad usum Men sin these suffer and therefore groan Rom. 8. Ver. 4. And there shall nothing die It is fair weather oft with the Saints when it is foulest with the wicked God hideth his in the hollow of his hand Psal 91. till the indignation bee overpast Isa 26.20 Hee giv's the like charge of them as David did of Absolom 2 Sam. 18.5 Ver. 6. And all the cattel That is a great sort of them Non universâ—liter sod commaniter not all chap. 9.19.25 And this was the fifth of those ten plagues a number of perfection to note that God therein did most perfectly administer and execute his judgments Ver. 7. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened like a Smith's anvil hee grew harder for hammerine There was little need to saie to Pharaoh as the Smith did to the Lantgrave of Thuring Pet. Nicol. Gelstronp Durescite durescite O infeâ—â—x Lantgravi Hee hardned fast enough Ver. 8. Sprinkle's it toward the heaven in token that this plague should in a special manner bee inflicted from heaven The Philistims by their golden emrods acknowledged that the emrods in their flesh were from God Hippocrates called the pestilence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the divine diseas as wee call the spots thereof God's marks The Falling sickness was antiently called morbus sacer as an immediate hand of God Life of K Edward 6. by Sir John Heywood pag. 127. And what can wee conceiv less of the Sweating sickness with which no stranger in England was touched and yet the English were chased therewith not onely in England but in other countries abroad which made them like tyrants both feared and avoided wherever they came Ver. 9. A boil breaking forth this Moses threatneth to all disobedient persons Deut. 28.27 Job's boils were rather probational then penal So were Munster's ulcers medicinal they were howsoever which hee shewed to his friend and said He sunt gemmae pretiosa ornamenta Dei quibus Deus amicos suos ornat ut eos ad se attrahat These bee those gems and jewels wherewith God adorneth his best friends that hee may bring them nearer to himself Ver. 11. For the boil was upon the Magicians who were convicted but not converted Exod 8.9 They stood still to withstand Moses as Balaam against the light of his own conscience was resolved to curs howsoever and therefore went not aside as at other times to speak with God but set his face toward the wilderness Like a head-strong hors that get's the Bit in his teeth and run's away with his Rider Ver. 12. And the Lord hardned See ver 7. and chap. 4.21 c. Ver. 13. Let my people go See ver 1. Ver. 14. All my plagues upon thine hart Hart-plagues are the worst plagues of all A hard Hart is in som respects wors then Hel sith one of the greatest sins is greater in evil then anie of the greatest punishments Ver. 15. For now I will stretch out His former preservation was but a reservation and hee hath hitherto escaped with his life not for anie love that God bare to him but to shew his power on him Wicked men may have common mercies and deliverances but the Lord loveth the righteous Psal 146.8 Ver. 16. Have I raised thee up Heb. I have constituted and set thee up as a But-mark that I may let flie at thee and follow thee close with plague upon plague till I have beaten the verie breath out of thy bodie See Prov. 16.4 Rom. 9.17 Ver. 17. As yet exaltest thou thy self q. d. No amendment yet A sore sign of a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction It is ill with the bodie when physick will either not enter or not staie with us Ver. 18. Such as hath not been in Egypt Dio maketh mention of a shower of blood and of water Dio in Aug. that fell in Egypt a little before it was subjected by Augustus in quae loca ne stilla quidem aquae antè ceciderat saith hee where never anie drop of water much less of blood ever fell before Ver. 19. Jam. 2.13 Send therefore now Here mercie rejoiceth against judgment Solinus if by anie means hee might bee wrought upon Sed Rhinoceros interimi potest capi non potest It was past time of daie to
mindedness c. purported by these bodilie imperfections Ver. 22. Hee shall eat the bread So might not the unclean Priests Levit. 22.3 Our involuntarie weaknesses shall not debar us from benefit by Christ CHAP. XXII Ver. 2. That they separate THough Priests yet they may not hold themselvs privileged above others to commit sin but are the rather obliged to dutie Why should anie Chrysostom have caus to saie Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui salvi fiant I do not think that manie of our Ministers can bee saved 't is well if anie Or anie Campian to exclaim Ministris eorum nihil vilius Ver. 6. Vnless hee wash his flesh with water Whereby hee was led to the laver of Christ's blood which is opposed to legal washings Heb. 9.9 Run wee to that open fountain Zach. 13.1 and bee everie daie washing and cleansing our selvs therein from all filthiness of flesh and spirit Everie Jew had his water-pots for dailie purification John 2.6 Wee have a far better Bath Ver. 7. Becaus it is his food Animantis cujusque vita in fuga est and must bee preserved by food Ver. 9. And die therefore It is no dallying with God Either do it wee must or die for it Ver. 10. There shall no stranger The equitie of all this was that Ministers should have a comfortable subsistence for them and theirs and that the things that are appointed to that purpose should not bee converted to other uses 1 Cor. 9.13 It is certainly a sad complaint that Luther make's Nisi superesset spolium Aegypti quod rapuimus Papae Luther in Gen. 47. omnibus Ministris verbi fame pereundum esset c. Were it not for such spoils of Aegypt as wee have won from the Pope God's Ministers might starve and perish And if ever it com to that that they must bee mainteined by the people's benevolence a miserable maintenance they are like to have of it That little that wee have now diripitur à Magistratu is got from us by the great Ones who rob our Churches and Schools as if they meant to make an end of us with hard hunger Thus hee See Hag. 2.14 All the water in Jordan and the Cerimonies in Leviticus cannot cleans a man so long as the polluted thing remain's in his hand Ver. 16. Or suffer them From my other men's sins Good Lord deliver mee said One Have wee not enough of our own to answer for See 1 Tim. 5.22 wich the Note That cannot bee wholsom meat that is sauced with the blood of souls and spiced with the wrath of God Ver. 20. It shall not bee acceptable Nay it shall bee abominable Mal. 1.7 God require's the best of the best fine flour without bran Levit. 2.1 c. and curseth that cousener that having a sound or a fat male in his flock bringeth to him a corrupt carrion or a lean starvling for Sacrifice Vers 14. Ver. 23. That maiest thou offer Though it have som kinde of defect yet in free-will offerings it might pass This was to signifie that our imperfect obedience after that wee are once in Christ is accepted by Christ who is without all blame and blemish Ver. 24. Neither shall you make anie offering No not a free-will offering Religion love's to lie clean God will take up with a poor but it must bee a pure sacrifice Ver. 25. Their corruption is in them As not having their hearts purified by faith and therefore not in case to pleas God Ver. 27. It shall bee seven daies As not beeing man's meat till then but legally impure and in their blood as were likewise infants Ver. 28. Yee shall not kill it and her young Becaus it bear's a shew of crueltie and of adding affliction to the afflicted See Gen 32.11 Hos 10.14 Ver. 29. Offer it at your own will God strain 's upon no man Virtus nolentium nullaest Ver. 30. On the same daie See the Note on Chap. 7.15 Ver. 31. I am the Lord Your rightfull Lord and my reward is with mee to give unto everie man according to his works Ver. 32. My holie name Holie and therefore reverend Psal 111.9 Holiness hath honor CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. And the Lord spake SEE the Note on chap. 7.22 Ver. 2. To bee holie convocations Not bare rests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. de legib as Plato said that the Gods pittying men's labor appointed their festivals to bee a remission of their labor See the Notes on Exod. 20.8 9 10 11. Ver. 3. Yee shall do no work therein Save onely works of pietie charitie and necessitie These are allowed by our Saviour Mark 2.29 and 3.4 and 3.27 The Jews superstitiously hold that it is not lawfull for a blinde man to lean upon a staff on a Sabbath-daie as the lame may That if a Flea bite a man on that daie hee may take it but not kill it that if a thorn prick him in the foot on that daie hee may not pull it out That a Tailor may not carrie a needle much less a sword that a man may not spet or bee taken out of a jakes Ranulph lib. 7 c. 37. as that Jew of Tewksburie who said Sabbata sancto colo de stercore surgere nolo Whereunto the Earl of Glocester replied Sabbata nostra quidem Solomon celebrabis ibidem Sir reverence of the Sabbath keep 's mee here And you Sir reverence shall our Sabbath there In all your dwellings Where you are to sanctifie this rest and to repair to your Synagogues Act. 15.21 Ver. 5. In the fourteenth daie See the Notes on Exodus 12.18 Ver. 11. And hee shall wave the sheaf This signified that they and theirs were accepted of God through Christ On the morrow after the Sabbath Here the Lord's daie was prefigured saith one therefore prescribed and instituted of God This shake-daie-sheaf was a pregnant type of Christ's rising again the first-fruits from the dead It was fulfilled in Christ's resurrection the daie after the Sabbath And becaus this Sabbath bath was chiefly meant of the Passover which was an high Sabbath it was a double Sabbath wherein Christ rested in the grave The verie next morning was Christ waved before the Lord when in the earth-quake hee rose from the dead the first fruits of them that sleep and there-hence entered the everlasting gates as a King of glorie Psal 24.7 which Psalm is in the Greek called A Psalm of David of the first daie of the week Ver. 15. Seven Sabbaths That is seven weeks The Sabbath is queen of all the daies of the week and therefore carrie's the name of the whole week Ver. 17. Out of your habitations That is out of the new corn growing of the same land which God gave them to inherit not â—orrein The first fruits viz. of their wheat-harvest as the shake-sheaf vers 10. was of their barlie-harvest Thus were they to express their thankfulness to God for those pretious fruits of the earth Jam. 5.7 Ver. 22. And when
Justnian Cedrenus when he had offered up in the Temple of Sophia at Constantinople a communion-table that had in it saith the Authour all the riches of land and sea Vers 8. And four wagons and eight oxen Double the number of what the Gersonites had because their carriage was heavier God proportions the burden to the back none of his shall be oppressed though pressed out of measure above strength 2 Cor. 1.8 as Ioseph was whom the archers hated and shot at But his how abode in strength and the armes of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob ever reserved for a dead lift Gen. 49.23 24. Mat. 8.17 See the note there Vers 9. Bear upon their shoulders Therefore when David carted the Ark. as the Philistims had done before God was angry and made a breach upon Vzza because they sough him not in due order 1 Cor. 15.13 Vers 11. For the dedicating of the Altar No warrant at all for Popish dedications of Altars Churches religious houses built for superstitious uses as appears in stories Act. Mon. as pro remissione redemptione peccatorum pro remedio et liberatione animae pro amore caelestis patriae pro salute regnorum in honorem gloriosae virginis c. Vers 12. For the tribe of Judah Vt ubique superemineat praerogativa Christi a juda oriundi Vers 17. And for peace-offerings Sacrifices of all sorts they brought whereby having made their peace they kept a feast with joy before the Lord for his mercy to them through the merits of his son Vers 18. On the second day Their offerings are severally and largely described to shew how highly accepted in Heaven Vers 19. And when Moses was gone in c. Scipio Africanus was wont before day to go into the Capitoll in cellam jovis and there to stay a great while quasi consultans de Rep. cùm Jove as if he had advised with his god about the publike businesses Gell. lib. 7. c. 1. CHAP. VIII Vers 3. HE lighted the lamps This Candlestick on the South-side of the Tabernable over against the Table figured the Law of God shining in his Church Prov. 6.23 2 Pet. 1.19 and the lighting of one lamp from another shewed the opening of one text by another The Rabbines have a saying Nulla est objectio in lege quae non habet solutionem in latere i. e. there is not any doubt in the law but may be resolved in the context Vers 4. Beaten work To shew that Ministers must beat their brains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to beat out the sense of the Scriptures as the fowl beats the shell to get out the fish with great vehemency Vers 7. sprinkle water of purifying c. This taught that none were meet for the holy Ministery but by the free favour of Christ and by the sanctification of his Spirit 2 Cor. 2.16 Gal. 1.15 Ministers are fullones animarum their office is to whiten others themselves therefore should be as those Nazarites Lam. 4. whither then snow Shave all their flesh As the Lepers did Levites are by nature no better then Lepers Ministers men subject to like passions as others and liable to more temptations Vers 9. The whole assembly By their Representatives the Elders or the first-born figuring the Church of Christ those first-born which are written in heaven Heb. 12.23 Vers 10. shall put their lands Imposition of hands is an ancient rite at the Ordination of Ministers Vers 11. And Aaron shall offer the Levites Heb wave the Levites with might figure ministers miseryes and afflictions by Satans sifting them Jer. 15.10 and wicked mens turmoyling them as Jeremy that man of contentions Vers 12. The one for a sin-offering The sin-offering for actual sin the burnt-offering for Original Vers 19. As a gift to Aaron Clarissima semper Munera sunt Eph. 4.11 Author quae pretiosa facit Ministers also are given as an honourary to the Church Vers 24. From twenty five years See the Note on Chap. 4.30 CHAP. IX Vers 2. KEep the Passeover This Passeover for they kept no more but this till they came into the land of Canaan Josh 5.10 with Exod 12.25 because of their often and uncertain removes The feast of Tabernacles likewise was for many ages omitted or at least not in due manner observed as by dwelling in boothes reading the book of the law c. Neh. 8.16 17 18. which a man would wonder at but Vexatio dat intellectum those Jews were newly returned from captivity Vers 3. According to all the rites It was a true saying of Socrates in Xenophon Deum eo cultus genere coli velle quem ipse instituerit that God must be worshipped in his own way only Whereunto agreeth that of Cicero Deum non superstitione coli velle sed pietate Vers 5. And they kept the Passeover See the Notes on Exod. 12. Vers 6. They could not keep the Passeover Because they were to be unclean seven dayes Numb 19.11 Demosth Now among the very Heathen the Sacrificers were to purifie themselves some dayes before they had their coena pura the night before c. and having expiated the company they cryed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is here to which they made reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Atistoph Many and good are here Vers 7. And those men said unto him Moses they knew was a meet man to resolve this Case of Conscience He was a Messenger an Interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Job 33.23 a Merchant to sell oyl and balm from Gilead to cure consciences Matth. 25.9 Others may write Cases that is covers of conscience but resolve none Conscience is a Diamond and will be wrought on by nothing but dust of diamond such as contrition hath ground it to Vers 8. Stand still and I will hear Moses was but the eccho of Gods voyce John Baptist the voyce of one crying in the Wildernesse St. Paul received of the Lord what he delivered to the Church 1 Cor. 11.23 and took care that the faith of his heaters might not be in the wisdome of man but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.4 5. Unwarranted doctrines come not cum gratia privilegio Vers 10. Or be in a journey afar off This rendred a man unfit to partake because either his head would be so taken up about his business then or his mind so set upon home that he would have little leisure or liberty to prepare for the Passeover Vers 11. With unleavened bread Teaching them to purge out the old leven that fusty swelling sowring spreading corruption of nature and practice And bitter herbs Directing them to true humiliation and bitterness for sin without which there can be no sweetness in the blood of Christ Vers 12. They shall leave none The Lord in his infinite wisdome would hereby prevent all occasions of idolatry which is easily admitted in the reservations
clean heart Without the Camp notes that the Gentiles were strangers from the Common-wealth of Israel c. These ashes kept for the Congregation shew the fulness of Christs merits for all his people when he saith it is to make a water of separation it notes that our sins separate betwixt us and our God But now in Christ Jesus we who sometimes were far off are made nigh by his blood Ephes 2.13 Vers 10. Shall wash his clothes To note that even the nearer a Christian comes to the merits of Christ the more he is affected with the sense of his own uncleanness yea he retains it till Bven that is till death Vers 11. He that toucheth To teach them to observe Gods cuâ—se in death and to avoid the society of sinful men Vers 17. And running water Signifying the ashes of Christs merit and the water of his Spirit See 1 Cor. 6.11 Ioh. 7.38 39. Vers 18. Shall take hyssop No benefit by Christ without mortification of sin CHAP. XX. Vers 1. I In the first moneth To wit of their fortieth year after they came out of Egypt For from this Chapter to the end of Deuteronomy are described the passages of the last year only of their journeying in the wilderness little being regarded of the thirty eight years since the Spies report And Miriam dyed there A good woman and of great use to the people in their travells Mic. 6.4 But once she raised a great storme against her brothers wife Chap. 12.1 about precedency probably as did likewise in this kingdome Anne Stanhop Dutchesse of Sommerset against Katherine Parre Life of Edw. 6. pag. 81. Camb. Elis fol. 356. Queen Dowager wife to her husbands brother the Lord Admirall in the dayes of King Edward the sixth This Anne dyed Anno Dom. 1587 being 99 yeares of age Miriam could be no less likely then 130 taking her to be the same that was set to watch what would become of Moses when he was laid out in an Ark of bulrushes Exod. 2.4 Ver 3. And the people chod Wanting both water and patience they broke the peace with their Superiours See the Note on Chap. 15. vers 15. Vers 4. And why have ye brought up See how this new generation doth patrissare this is but the old coccysmus of those ancient Malecontents Exod. 17.2 So much the worse in these because they made no better use of Gods dealing with their fathers Dan. 5.22 Vers 5. Neither is there any water to drink Thirst a most eager appetite eneagreth their affections and makes them thus hot with Moses Vers 8. Take the rod God puts up their rebellion and satisfies their thirst by a miracle Speak unto the rock He is not bidden now to smite it as once Exod. 17.6 which because he did unbidden God was deeply displeased as some are of opinion Vers 9. And Moses took the rod The same rod that once smote the river to destroy the Egyptians The same word is a savour of life to believers 2 Cor. 2.16 and of death to unbelievers Vers 10. Hear now ye rebels They could hardly hear for the belly hath no eares and their tongues scarce knew to utter any language but that of Sampson Give me water or I dye Jud. 15.18 But why did Mosos speak to them when he should have spoken to the rock only vers 8. This was ill but worse to speak so unadvisedly He struck at the rock and as ready almost to split against it he makes two arguments against it 1. Hear now ye rebels q.d. Will the Lord ever give water to such rebels 2. Shall we give you water out of the rock will that ever be done To fetch fire out of a flinty rock is far more likely but to distill water out of it how can that be done Loe Moses is staggered Bucolc and now at a stand Adeâ— nihil est in nobis magnum quod non queat minui the strongest faith much assailed may flag and hang the wing The best carry their treasure but in earthen vessels which dashing against the rock of unbeliefe miseras rimas ducunt c. leake pittifully Vers 11. He smote the rock twice In a great heate and pang of passion Horat. qui non moderabitur irae Infectum velit esse dolor quod suaserit et mens Sometimes both grace and wit are asleep in the holiest and wariest breasts The best may be mis-carried by their passions to their cost And the water came out abundantly This cleaving of the hard rock was a work of Omnipotency Psal 78.15 The works of God are Luther in contrariis mediis This rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.4 fitly compared to a rock 1. For despicable appearance Isai 53.2 3. 2. Next for exaltation and advancement 3. For firmness and stability Mat. 16.18 4. For scandall and offence to the wicked Rouâ— 9.32 5. For weight and danger Mat. 21.44 And their beasts also The wicked in like sort comming to the Lords Supper do receive there panem Domini not panem Dominum Vers 12. Because ye believed me not Ye could not conceive and were not very willing that I should shew such favour to so undeserving a people so measuring my thoughts by your thoughts and my wayes by your wayes Isai 55.8 casting me into a dishonourable mould as it were and this publikely before all the people Therefore ye shall not bring So God was unto them a God that forgiveth and taketh vengeance of their practices as the Psalmist saith Psal 99.8 Repentance may come too late in regard of temporall chastisement as here it did Deut. 3.24 25. Vers 13. And he was sanctified in them By overcomming their evill with good striking the rock for them when he might justly have stricken them with utter destruction Mans badness interrupteth not the course of Gods goodness his unbelief maketh not the faith of God without effect Rom. 3.3 Vers 14. Thus saith thy brother A brother is born for adversity Prov. 17.17 and good blood will not bely it self But a brother offended is harder to be wonne then a strong city and their contentions are like the barrs of a castle Prov. 18.19 Vers 16. Sent an Angell This was Christ or as some would have it Moses like as Phineas is thought to be that Angell at Bochim â—udg 2.1 Vers 17. We will not pass So should a Christian bespeak the world Let us pass through thy country we will neither touch nor tast of thy cates but go by the Kings high-way that good old way that God hath scored out unto us untill we arrive at the key of Canaan at the Kingdome of Heaven Vers 18. Thou shalt not pass As fearing what so great an army once got in might do they are not usually so easily removed It was therefore great injustice in Pope Iulius to excommunicate and depose John King of Navarre as an heretike and publike enemy to the See Apostolike because being himself a Peere of the Realm of France and having
might nor the mean for their miserie Ver. 4. Ox or his ass going astraie How much more his soul See the Notes on Jam. 5.20 Jude 22 23. Ver. 5. Thou shalt surely help with him So the Spirit help 's with us or list's over against us Rom. 8.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee look's ut acti agamus Ver. 6. The judgment of the poor I have seen saith one the King of Persia manie times to alight from his hors The Preachers Travels by J. Cartwright onely to do justice to a poor bodie Causses are to bee heard and not persons the Athenian Judges passed sentence in the dark Ver. 7. Keep thee from a fals matter Stand aloof of keep at a distance See Isa 33.15 A publike man should bee above all price or sale and everie man should carefully keep himself from the occasions of sin A good man dare not com near the train though hee bee far off the blow Ver. 8. And thou shalt take no gift Rain is good and ground is good yet Ex eorum conjunctione fit lutum saith Stapleton So giving is kinde and taking is courteous yet the mixing of them make's the smooth paths of Justice foul and uneven Ver. 9. Thou shalt not oppress c. See the Note on Exod. 22.21 Ver. 10. Thou shalt sow thy land Here the wise man's counsel would bee remembered Laudato ingentia rura exiguum colito To bee called a good husbandman was of old an high prais Ver. 11. But the seventh year That they might learn to live by faith and bee at good leisure to wait upon God Deut. 31.10 11 12. Let everie of us keep a spiritual Sabbath saith Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 3. ad Magnes Better apaid of the meditation of the Law then of the relaxation and rest from labor Ver. 12. Six daies See the Note on Chap. 20.8 Ver. 13. Bee circumspect Or warie keep you close to the rule and up to your principles See the Note on Ephes 5.15 Of the names of other Gods sc Without dislike The Primitive Christians would not call their daies of the week Dies Martis Mercurii c. as Mercurius Trismegistus had named them but the first second third c. daie of the week Deastrorum nomina nè nota quidem esse voluerunt inter Christi cultores saith one They desired that Christians should spit out of their mouths those dunghill-deïties with utmost contempt as David did Psalm 16.4 Ver. 15. Thou shalt keep the feast Let us also keep the feast or Holie-daie 1 Cor. 5.8 See the Note there Ver. 16. And the feast of harvest Pentecost when their wheat-harvest came in In the end of the year See the reason of this law Deut. 11.12 It was a land which the Lord cared for the eies of the Lord were alwaies upon it from the begining of the year even unto the end of the year Ver. 17. All thy males The female are not required to appear becaus they were weak and not so fit for travel they were also the hous-keepers and sanctified in their husbands Howbeit manie of them came up to these feasts as Hannah 1 Sam. 2.19 And the virgin Marie Luke 2.41 And this was well accepted as a Free-will-offering Ver. 18. Of my sacrifice Especially of the Passover See Exod. 34.25 Lev. 2.1 2 3. Ver. 19. The first of the first-fruits The best of the best is not to bee held too good for God His soul hath desired the first ripe fruits Jer. 2.2 Thou shalt not seeth a kid Hereby seemeth to bee forbidden either crueltie or curiositie to pleas the palat See my Common-place of Abstinence Ver. 20. Behold I send an Angel i. e. Christ Immediately after God had given the Law by the rule and threats whereof God the Father in his government was to proceed Mr. Th. Goodwin saith a Divine and after they had transgressed it Exod. 33.2 3 4. hee could not go along with them for hee should destroie them but his Angel that is his Son hee would send with them who also would destroie them if they turned not nor repented according to the rules of his Law the Gospel Ver. 21. My name is in him i. e. Hee is of the same nature with my self See Phil. 2.6 Heb. 1.3 with the Notes there Ver. 22. An enemie to thine enemies There is a Covenant offensive and defensive betwixt God and his people Tua caussa erit mea caussa said that Emperor to his wronged friend So saith God to his Ver. 23. For mine Angel Heb. Malachi which is by transposition of letters Michael as som Rabbins have observed Ver. 24. Thou shalt utterly overthrow them As Hen. 8. began here to do in demolishing the Monasteries and saying Corvorum nidos esse penitùs disturbandos nè iterùm ad habitandum convolent This Sanders relateth and exagitateth Schism Angl. lib. 1. Ver. 25. Bless thy bread God's blessing is the staff of bread and strength of water See the Note on Mat. 4.4 Ver. 26. The number of thy daies Thou shalt die as Abraham did with a good hoar head bee satur dierum as Job fall as a full-ripe-apple into the hands of God the gatherer Ver. 27. My fear before thee Strike a panick fear into the hearts of thine enemies so that they shall flee at the nois of a driven leaf they shall bee made à corde suo fugitivi as Tertullian hath it Ver. 28. Hornets before thee Understand it either literally as Josh 24.12 or figuratively of the stinging terrors of their self-condemning consciences Ver. 29. In one year God's time is best and to prescribe to him is to set the sun by our dial His help seem's long becaus wee are short Wait upon him who wait's to shew us mercie Isa 30.18 Ver. 30. By little and little God crumble's his mercies to us wee have his blessing by retail So the cloud emptie's not it self at a sudden burst but dissolv's upon the earth drop after drop Ver. 31. The sea of the Philistims i. e. the Mediterranean Ver. 32. No covenant with them becaus devoted to destruction and they will bee drawing thee to Idolarrie as it also fell out Judg. 1. 2. CHAP. XXIIII Ver. 1. Worship yee afar off THus under the Law but now by grace wee draw nigh with boldness and have access with confidence by the faith of Christ Ephes 3.12 See the Note there Ver. 2. But they shall not com nigh But half-waie onely Vers 19. See the Note on Chap. 19.12 Ver. 3. And told the people So hee became a Mediator Gal. 3.19 Non redemptionis sed relationis Will wee do God's people are willing Psalm 110.3 But weak through the flesh Rom. 8.3 See the Note on Heb. 13.18 Ver. 4. An Altar Representing God on the one partie as the twelv pillars did the people on the other partie So here was a formal covenant Ver. 5. Young men The first-born of the families Exod. 19.12 Ver. 6. Half of the blood
Having mingled it first with water Heb. 9.19 See 1 John 5.6 with the Note Ver. 7. Will wee do and bee obedient Christ will enjoie his spouses love by a willing contract not by a ravishment Ver. 8. On the people The representative people the elders or as others will the twelv pillars See Vers 4. Ver. 9. And seventie of the elders See Vers 2. Ver. 10. And they saw God A glimps of his glorie See the Note on 1 Tim. 6.16 Ver. 11. Hee laid not his hand i. e. They came off without hurt which is reckoned as a great mercie sith no man ordinarily can see God and live besides the infinite distance that is betwixt God and the greatest Nobles And did eat and drink i. e. They were much acheared and made merrie in the Lord. Others sens it thus Though they had seen God yet they turned again to temporal pleasures they soon after ate drunk at that idolatrous feast of the golden calf and rose up to plaie It is set as an aggravation of Solomon's sin that hee departed from God that appeared to unto him twice 1 King 11.9 Ver. 12. Tables of stone To shew 1. the stonie-hardness of the people's hearts 2. The lastingness of the Law Ver. 13. And Moses went up Joshua staid the while in som convenient place Ver. 14. And Hur See the Note on Chap. 17.10 Ver. 16. Six daies The people had but three daies of preparation to receiv the Law Moses hath six Singular holiness is required of Ministers the measures of the Sanctuarie were double to the ordinarie as the shekel cubit c. Ministers had need wish as Elisha did a doubled and trebled spirit that they may save themselvs and those that hear them Ver. 17. Was like devouring fire So it is still Heb. 12.29 which so terrisieth the sinners in Sion that they run away with these words in their mouths Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33.14 Ver. 18. Fortie daies All which time hee neither ate nor drank Deut. 9.9 and so better merited the sirname of Nesteutes the Faster then that proud Prelate John Bishop of Constantinople CHAP. XXV Ver. 2. That giveth it willingly VIrtus nolentium nulla est God strain 's upon no man If yee consent and obeie c. If there bee a willing minde God accepteth c. 2 Cor. 8.11 12. Si desint vires tamen est laudanda voluntas Ovid. Hác ego contentos auguror esse Deos. Ver. 3. Gold and silver and brass No mention of iron Confer 1 King 6.7 8.51 Ver. 4. And blue and purple and scarlet i. e. Wool died with these colors Heb. 9.19 To teach the Church that both themselvs and their actions should bee washed and died in the bloud of Christ Ver. 5. Shittim wood A kinde of cedar that rotteth not Gal. lib. 1. Antidit Ver. 6. Spices As cinnamom which in Galen's time was verie rare and hard to bee found but in Prince's store-houses Ver. 8. That I may dwell amongst them But will God in verie deed dwell with men upon earth 2 Chron. 6.18 What can hee do more to make them happie As hee in Plutarch said of the Scythians that although they had no musick nor vines amongst them yet as a better thing they had Gods and as the Philosopher having little els in his hous yet could saie of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here bee Gods so may everie good man boast of his hous and of his heart Heb. 3.6.2 Cor. 6.16 Gen. 28.17 This is the habitation of the most High As for the publick assemblie of Saints This is the hous of God this is the gate of Heaven Ver. 10. An Ark Chest or Cabinet wherein to keep the two Tables of the Law signifying thereby that Christ is the end of the Law covering the imperfection of our works Ver. 11. A crown of gold To set forth the Majestie of Christ's kingdom or the eternitie of his Deïtie which as a crown or circle had neither begining nor end Ver. 14. That the Ark may bee born with them The Ark was transportative till settled in Solomon's Temple so till wee com to heaven shall wee bee in a continual motion Ver. 15. The staves shall bee c. That they might not touch it for reverence sake it beeing a visible sign of God himself amongst them Ver. 16. The Testimonie Those tables of the Testimonie Exod. 31.18 That testified what God required of them and would bee a testimonie against them if disobedient Deut. 31.26 Ver. 17. A Mercie-seat Heb. A Covering or coffering up of men's sins the appeasing of an angrie God Confer Gen. 38.20 By Christ who is our propitiation or Mercie-seat Rom 3.25.1 John 2.2 Two cubits and a half c. Just so big everie waie as the Ark. Vers 10. Get into Covenant with God saith one for as the Mercie-seat was no larger then the Ark so neither is the grace of God then the Covenant And as the Ark and Mercie-seat were not asunder so God is near to all that call upon him in truth Ver. 18. And thou shalt make two Cherubims Golden winged images made by God's special appointment and set out of sight Hence then is no warrant for the use of images in Churches These here were to represent the holie Angels attendent upon God looking intently into the mysterie of Christ as the Cherubims did into the Propitiatorie 1 Pet. 1.12 and joined to the societie of Saints Ver. 19. Even of the Mercie-seat Of the matter of it to shew that the verie Angels have their establishment in and by Christ and that if they need mereie how much more do wee Angels also are under Christ as a head of Government of Influence of Confirmation though not of Redemption Ver. 20. Toward the Mercie-seat shall the faces c. Angels in the Syriack are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the face becaus they look ever on the face of God waiting his commands Ver. 21. Above upon the Ark The Ark covering the Law within it the Mercie-seat upon it and over them two Cherubims covering one another did typifie Christ covering the curses of the Law in whom is the ground of all Mercie which things the Angels desire to prie into as into the pattern of God's deep wisdoms Ver. 22. From between the two Cherubims which covered the place from whence the Lord spake to restrain curiositie Ver. 23. Of Shittim wood Which corrupteth not Isa 41.19 Christ's bodie could not putrefie in the grave Ver. 24. Pure gold Pointing to the glorie of Christ's Deïtie and the Majestie of his Kingdom Ver. 25. A golden crown To hide the joints and for ornament Christ also is said to have manie crowns Rev. 19.12 Ver. 30. Shew-bread See the Note on Mat. 12.4 Ver. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick called the candlestick of light Exod. 35.14 A Type of Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉