only to the people but to the Priest himself to sustain him yea and to countenance and favour and protect him too in the execution and exercise of his Priestly Office As we see in the first plantation of those two great Cedars the Secular and Ecclesiastical Power which that they might alwayes agree as Brethren God planted at first in those two Brethren Moses and Aaron there though Moses were the Temporal and Aaron the Spiritual Magistrate yet God sayes here to Moses I have made thee a God to Pharaoh and not only to Pharaoh but Aaron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet for as he sayes Exod 4. Thou shalt be to him instead of God So useful so necessary is man to man as that the Priest who is of God incorporated in God subsist also by Man Verse 3. Concerning this hardning of Pharaoh some understand it by permission i. e. God suffered him to be hardened as we say in the Lords Prayer Lead us not into temptation i. e. suffer us not to be lead Greg. Moral 31. cap. 12. saith Non duritiem contulit sed exigentibus ejus meritis nulla infu sa timoris sensibilitate mollivit he did not impose hardness but his merits so deserving he softned him not by any infused sense of fear This should ever work in us care and zeal to crave at Gods hands fleshy hearts which may tremble at his Judgements and tast his Mercy saying with Samuel Speak on Lord thy Servant heareth and with David O my God I am content to do it yea thy Law is within my heart Verse 10. Pharaoh was now from a staffe of protection and sustentation to Gods People turn'd to a Serpent that stung them to death God shews himself in this real Emblem doing that suddenly before him which Sathan had wrought in him by leisure And now when he crawles and hisses threatning peril to Israel he shews him how in an instant he can turn him into a senseless stick and make him if not useful yet fearless The same God which wrought this gave Sathan leave to imitate it in the next verse The first Plague that God meant to inflict upon Pharaoh was delusion God can be content the Devil should win himself credit where he means to judge and holds the honour of a Miracle well lost to harden an Enemy Verse 12. Here we may see the end of Falsehood and Error at the last Truth shall devour it in Gods good time for great is truth and prevaileth Truth may be oppressed for a time God so pleasing either to punish or try his People but finally suppress'd it shall not be God being stronger than all his Enemies Moses than all Enchanters shall disperse all dusky Clouds bringing his glorious Truth out to bear sway again at his good pleasure Verse 17. This Plague God brought upon them for the Children which were drown'd and the River thus turned into bloud complained to God for that slaughter We may further note an encrease of terror in this Miracle above the former of the Serpents to signifie that where milder means will not serve God both can and will add sharper and heavier He encreaseth his crosses from Goods to Body from Body to Mind from our Selves to our Children and still maketh us abound with more want in greater and sharper measure that we may repent and return if not in the end he can destroy us with misery that never shall have an end Verse 20. First God begins his Judgements with Waters As the River Nilus was to Egypt instead of Heaven to moisten and fatten the Earth so their confidence was more in it than in Heaven Men are sure to be punish'd most and soonest in that which they make a corrival with God This change also of the Waters into bloud was an image of their future destruction They were afterward overwhelmed in the Red Sea and now before-hand they see the River red with bloud CHAP. VIII Verse 3. VVHat an Army is here against such a Prince God could have made use of Men or Angels But here he will confound the pride of such a conceited King by an Host of Frogs rather than by either of the other The Lord by contemptible and base things will cast down our high looks if we swell against him and of this he would have all high minds at this day to make use unto humility before they find it too late Verse 7. Gods Adversaries seek often to impugne the Truth by the self same means whereby he doth teach it As if Scripture be alledged Sathan will do the like Mat. 4. If the true Prophets use a Sign then will Zedekiah make him hornes too and say When went the Spirit from me to thee 1 Kings 22. 11. all which God doth suffer to draw us to true and sound knowledge without which we cannot stand but shall be shaken to and fro with doubts and fears most unfit for Believers Col. 1. 23. Verse 8. Let this Comfort Gods Ministers in the midst of all contempts that God is able to force the wicked to the acknowledgement of him and them In their extremities they shall acknowledge our Callings justifie our Love and wish our Prayers Thus many who at other times regard not Ministers either going to Sea or to Battel or being fick or vexed at home will send and seek for the Prayers of Gods Ministers And what is this but a sign of Gods omnipotent hand over all Pharaohs whatsoever and that he can revenge our contempts and give our truth and careful walking in our places a due regard and reverence when he will with them and in them But here it may be demanded Why did Pharaoh call now for Moses and Aaron rather than in the former Plague Why because this Plague touched him nearer than the former When the Rivers were Bloud he might have Wine to drink and so not feel the smart of that Plague Whence we see that howbeit other mens harmes should affect us yet unless the Lord touch our selves we are dull and dead without sense Which certainly makes God reach us a blow many times when otherwise he would spare us did we make but use of other mens miseries Verse 10. Wicked men do not only deferre their Duties from day to day but put over others also that offer good things unto them As for instance if a Preacher tender his service this Sunday he is told the next will be farre more fit and if he come the next Sunday then is either the Master from home the Gentlewoman sick the Weather too hot or cold or some such thing that be Moses never so ready yet Pharaoh is not ready but to morrow to morrow is still the Song till the Lord strike and all morrows end in their eternal torment Verse 14. The Lord could have taken the Frogs quite away but this was done to shew the truth of the Miracle that they were Frogs indeed and no Inchantments thereby to meet with the unbelief of the King
admittance which they once denied But now as they formerly rejected God so are they justly rejected of God Ere Vengeance begin Repentance is seasonable but if Judgement be once gone out we cry too late while the Gospel sollicites us the doors of the Ark are open if we neglect the time of Grace in vain shall we seek it with tears God holds it no mercy to pity the obstinate Verse 18. The Faith of the Righteous cannot be so much derided as their success is magnified How securely doth Noah ride out this uproar of Heaven Earth and Waters He hears the pouring down of the Rain about his head the shreeking of Men the roaring and bellowing of Beasts on both sides of him the raging and threats of the Waves under him he saw the miserable shifts of the distressed Unbeleevers and in the mean time sits quietly in his dry cabbin neither fearing nor feeling evil he knew that he which owed the Waters would steer him and he who shut him in would preserve him How happy a thing is Faith What a quiet safety what a Heavenly peace doth it work in the Soul in the midst of all the endeavours of evil Verse 20. There is no doubt but very many hoping to over-run their Judgement and climbing up to the highest Mountains looked down upon the Waters with more hope than fear and now when they see their Hills become Islands they get up into the tallest Trees where with paleness and horror at once they look for death and study to avoid it whom the Waves over-take at last half-dead with famine and half with fear So now from the tops of the Mountains they descry the Ark floating upon the Waters and behold with envie that which before they beheld with scorn By which we may see that he flies in vain whom God pursues and that there is no way to flie from his Judgements but to flie to his Mercy by Repenting CHAP. VIII Verse 1. GOds Providence is here manifest that watcheth not only over man but every particular Beast likewise Whereby man is taught to be like his Creator and to regard the life of his Beast Prov. 12. Xenocrates is commended by Aelian lib. 13. for succouring a Sparrow that flew to him pursued by an Hawk and after let her go saying Se supplicem non prodidisse That he would not betray the very Bird that flew to him for safeguard Verse 3. Now when God had fetch'd again all the life that he had given to his unworthy Creatures and reduced the World unto its first Form wherein Waters were over the face of the Earth it was time for a renovation of all things to succeed this destruction To have continued the Deluge long had been to punish Noah that was righteous After forty dayes therefore the Heavens cleared up after 150 the Waters sink down How soon is God weary of punishing that is never weary of blessing Yet may not the Ark rest suddenly If we did not stay some while under Gods hand we should not know how sweet his mercy is and how great our thankfulness should be Verse 7. God doth not reveal all things to his best servants Behold he that told Noah an hundred and twenty years before what day he should go into the Ark yet fore-tells him not now in the Ark what day the Ark should rest upon the hills and he should go forth Noah therefore sends out his Intelligencers the Raven and the Dove whose wings in that vaporous aire might easily descry further than his sight the Raven of quick scent of gross feed of tough constitution no soul was so fit for discovery the likeliest things alwayes succeed not He neither will venture far into that solitary world for fear of want nor yet come into the Ark for love of liberty but hovers about in uncertainties How many carnal minds fly out of the Ark of Gods Church and embrace the present world rather chusing to feed upon the unsavoury Carkasses of sinful pleasures than to be restrain'd within the strait lists of Christian obedience Verse 9. How exactly doth the Soul of every man resemble this Dove That poor innocent Creature after it was exposed to the wide World was in perpetual motion no rest to be found until it returned to the Ark And just so is the condition of every man so long as we are in the World so long we are in a restless condition perpetual troubles and vexations no rest to be found until we return unto the Ark unto the God that sent us forth thither must we fly or be over-whelm'd in the Deluge of the worlds vanities and perish for ever Mans Soul is Gods Turtle Created for God and therefore can find no rest but in God It may flutter up and down in the World fly from one trouble from one perplexity to another but no peace no rest to be found until it return unto that God who commanded it forth upon his work and employment which causeth it to take up the complaint of the Psalmist Oh that I had the wings of a Dove then would I fly away and be at rest Verse 11. The Dove is sent forth a Fowl both swift and simple She like a true Citizen of the Ark returns and brings faithful notice of the continuance of the Waters by her restless and empty return by her Olive-leaf of the abatement How worthy are those Messengers to be welcome which with innocence in their lives bring glad tydings of Peace and Salvation in their mouths Verse 16. Ambrose and some Hebrews note That when Noah was bid to go into the Ark he and his Sons are joyn'd together and so his Wife and his Sons Wives likewise chap. 6. vers 18. but here in their coming forth He and his Wife his Sons and their Wives are coupled to shew that they lived a part in the Ark and accompanied not together which is most probable though not upon this ground but as he farther notes Maeroris tempus er at non laetitiae It was a time of Mourning and not of Mirth and for that he knew the Deluge came because of the intemperancy of the other world Verse 18. The Ark though it was Noahs Fort against the Waters yet it was his Prison also he was safe in it but pent up he that gave him life by it now thinks to give him liberty out of it At this Noah rejoyces and beleeves yet still he waits seven dayes more It is not good to devour the favours of God too greedily but to take them in that we may digest them O strong Faith of Noah that was not weary of this delay Some man would have so long'd for the open Air after so long closeness that upon the first notice of safety he would have uncovered and voided the Ark Noah stayes seven dayes e're he will open and well neer two months e're he will forsake the Ark and not then unless God that commanded to enter had bidden him depart There is no
familiar with God! he saw they could be content to be happy and merry without him he would not be hapyy without them They had professed to have forgotten him he seeks to pray for them He that will ever hope for good himself must return good for evil unto others Verse 21. Although Moses did here stamp and burn their Idol yet I do not hear any of them say he is but one man we are many how easily may we destroy him rather than he our God It is our act and we will maintain it here was none of this but an humble obeisance to the basest revenge that Moses shall impose God hath set such an impression of Majesty in the face of lawful Authority that Wickedness is confounded in its self to behold it Besides sin hath a guiltiness in its self that when it is seasonably checked it pulls in his head and seeks rather an hiding-place than a Fort. CHAP. X. Verse 1. ISrael recovers the favour of renewing the Tabernacles but with an abatement Hew thee two Tables God made the first Tables the matter the form was his now Moses must shew the next As God created the first Man after his own Image but that once defaced Adam begat Cain after his own or as the first Temple rais'd a second was built yet so far short that the Israelites wept at the sight of it The first works of God are still the purest those that he secondarily works decline in their perfection It was reason that though God had forgotten Israel they should still find they sinn'd They might see the foot-steps of his displeasure in the differences of the Agent Verse 2. When God had told Moses before I will not go before Israel but my Angel shall lead them Moses so noted the difference that he rested not till God himself undertook their conduct so might the Israelites have noted some remainders of offence whiles instead of that which his own hand did formerly make he saith now Hew thee and yet these second Tables are kept reverently in the Ark when the others lay mouldred in shivers upon Sinah like as the repaired Image of God in our Regeneration is preserved prefected and layed up at last safe in Heaven whereas the first Image of our created innocence is quite defaced so the second Temple had the glory of Christs exhibition though meaner in frame The merciful respects of God are not tyed to glorious outsides or the inward worthiness of things or persons he hath chosen the weak and simple to confound the wise and mighty Verse 4. God did this work by Moses Moses hewed and God wrote our true Moses repairs that Law of God which we in our Nature had broken he receivesit for us and it is accepted of God no less than if the first Characters of his Law had been entire We can give nothing but the Table it is God that must write in it Our hearts are but a bare board till God by his finger engrave his Law in them yea Lord we are a â—â—â—gh Quarry hew thou us out and square us fit for thee to write upon Verse 12. God forbids us not here a love of the Creature proportionable to the good that that Creature can do us to love Fire as it warms me and Meat as it feeds me and a Wife as she helps me But because God does all this in all these several instruments God alone is centrically radically directly to be loved and the Creature with a love reflected and derived from him Verse 17. St. Peter took his Text Acts 10. 34. from this Text of Moses where because the words are not the same with these here in precise termes we find just occasion to note that neither Christ in his Preaching nor the Holy Ghost in penning the Scriptures of the New-Testament were so curious as our times in citing Chapters and Verses or such distinctions no nor in citing the very words of the places There is a sentence cited thus indeffinitely Heb. 4. 4. It is written in a certain place without more particular note and to pass over many if we consider that one place Isai. 6. 10. and consider the same place as it is cited six several times in the New-Testament we shall see that they stood not upon such exact quotations and citing of the very words as we do now adayes Verse 20. It is a reverential fear of God as of a Father that is here required causing us first to have high and honourable conceptions of God in our hearts sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and let him be your dread and your fear Isai. 8. 13. Secondly making all honourable mention of him with our mouths whether we speak to him or of him Presume not in a sudden unmannerliness to blurt out the Name of God much less to blaspheme it and bore it through with hideous Oaths and Imprecations To speak evill of ones Father was Death by Plato's Law as well as by Gods Law and Suidas testifieth of the same Plato and other Heathens that when they would swear by their Iupiter out of meer dread and reverence of his Name they forbare to mention him breaking off their Oath with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as those that only dared to owe the rest to their thoughts Thirdly Walking before him in the whole course of our lives with an holy bashfulness being evermore in the sence of his presence and light of his countenance In the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost as those Primitive Christians Acts 9. 31. CHAP. XI Verse 6. THis Element was not used to such Morsels It devours the Carkasses of men but bodies enform'd with living Souls never before To have seen them struck dead upon the Earth had been fearful but to see the Earth at once their Executioner and Grave was more horrible Neither the Sea nor the Earth are fit to give passage the Sea is moist and flowing and will not be divided for the continuty of it the Earth is dry and massy and will neither yeild naturally nor meet again when it hath yeilded Yet the Waters did cleave to give way unto Israel for their preservation the Earth did cleave to give way to the Conspirators in Judgement both Sea and Earth did shut their jaws again upon the Adversaries of God Verse 9. Hence some Lutherans have concluded that God hath not determined the set period of mans dayes but that it is in Mans power to lengthen or shorten them But is there not a time appointed for Man upon the Earth Iob 7. 1. there is certainly our bounds are prescribed us and a pillar set by him who bears up the Heavens which we are not to pass Stat sua cuique dies saith the Heathen Poet our last day stands though all the rest run It is said of the Turks that they shun not the company of those that have the Plague but pointing to their fore-heads say it was writ there at their Birth
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
action good without Faith no Faith without a word Happy is that man which in all things neglecting the counsels of flesh and bloud depends upon the Commission of his Maker Verse 20. No sooner is Noah come out of the Ark but he builds an Altar not an House to himself but an Altar to the Lord. Our Faith will ever teach us to prefer God to our selves delay'd thankfulness is not worthy acceptation of those few Creatures that are left God must have some they are all his yet his goodness will have man know that it was he for whose sake they were preserved It was a priviledge to those very bruit Creatures that they were saved from the Waters to be offered up in Fire unto God What a favour is it to men to be reserved from common destructions to be sacrific'd to their Maker and Redeemer Verse 21. God had accepted sacrifices before but no sacrifice is call'd Odor quietis it is not said that God smelt a favour of Rest in any sacrifice but that which Noah offered after he had been variously tossed and tumbled in the long hulling of the Ark upon the Waters and this was a sacrifice in which God himself might rest himself For God hath a Sabbath in the Sabbath of his Servants a Fulness in their Fulness a satisfaction when they are satisfied and is well pleased when they are so and therefore the Lord said That he will not Curse the Earth again speaking not generally of all kind of Cursing the Earth but only of this particular Curse by Waters And whereas 't is added for a Reason for the imagination of mans heart is evil it is not meant that God would spare the Earth and Beasts because man is subject to sin but the Promise is made specially for man that being he is by nature subdued to sin he is to be pitied and not for every offence according to his deserts to be judged for then the Lord should continually over-flow the world moreover where it is said Gen. 6. 6. That the Lord would destroy the World because the imaginations of their hearts were evil it may seem strange that the same cause should be here urged why he would not therefore this is here added to shew the original of this Mercy not to proceed from man but Gods own favour CHAP. IX Verse 1. THere is a lawful nay a necessary desire of being better and better and that not only in spiritual things for so every man is bound to be better and better better to day than yesterday and too morrow than to day but even in temporal things too there is a liberty given us nay there is a Law an Obligation laid upon us To endeavour by industry in a lawful Calling to mend and improve to enlarge our selves and spread even in worldly things And therefore when God delivers this Commandment the second time to Noah for the repairation of the World Encrease and Multiply which is not only in the multiplication of Children but in the enlargement of Possessions too he accompanies it with this Reason in the second vers The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all and all are delivered into your hands which Reason can have no relation to the multiplying of Children but to the enlarging of Possessions God planted Trees in Paradise in a good state at first at first with ripe fruits upon them but Gods purpose was That even those Trees though well then should grow greater God gives many men good Estates from their Parents at first yet Gods purpose is That they should encrease those Estates He that leaves no more than his Father left him if the fault be in himself shall hardly make a good account of his Stewardship to God for he hath but kept his Talent in a Napkin Verse 13. That little fire of Noah which he kindled in the former Chapter through the vertue of his Faith purged the World and ascended up into those heavens from which the Waters fell and caused a glorious Rain-bow to appear therein for his security And here behold a new and a second rest first God rested from making that World now he rests from destroying it even while we cease not to offend he ceases from a publick revenge His Word was enough yet withal he gives a sign which may speak the truth of his Promise to the very eyes of men Thus he doth still in his blessed Sacraments which are as real Words to the Soul The Rain-bow is the pledge of our safety which even really signifies the end of a shower And further the Rain-bow having two special Colours in it one Coeruleus exterior which is waterish is a sign the World shall not any more be drown'd the other Rubeus which may be a sign the World shall be consumed with Fire Thus all the signs of Gods institution are proper and significant Verse 21. Who would think after all the favours that God had shewn Noah to have found this Righteous man lying Drunken in his Tent Who would think that Wine should over-throw him that was preserved from the Waters That he who could not be tainted with the sinful examples of the former World should begin the example of a new sin of his own What are we men if we be left to our selves While God upholds us no tentation can move us when he leaves us no tentation is too weak to over-throw us Behold he of whom God in an unclean World had said Thee only have I found Righteous proves now unclean when the World was purged The Preacher of Righteousness unto the former age the King Priest and Prophet unto the World renewed is the first that renewes the sins of the World which he had reproved and which he saw condemned for sin Gods best Children have no fence for sins of infirmity which of the Saints have not once done that whereof they are ashamed Verse 22. Ungracious Cham saw his Fathers nakedness and laughed at it His Fathers shame should have been his and should have begot in him a secret horror and dejection How many graceless men make sport at the causes of their Humiliation Twice had Noah given him life yet neither the Name of Father and Preserver nor Age nor Vertue could shield him from the contempt of his own I fee that even Gods Ark may nourish Monsters some filthy Toads may lie under the stones of the Temple And further Cham was not content only to be a witness of this filthy sight he goes on to be a proclaimer of it Sin doth ill in the eye but worse in the tongue as all sin is a work of darkness so it should be buried in darkness The report of sin is oft-times as ill as the Commission for it can never be blazoned without uncharitableness seldom without infection Oh the unnatural and more than Chammish Impiety of those Sons which rejoyce to publish the nakedness of their spiritual Parents even to their enemies Verse 23. Behold here
be in these dayes who grieve at an hour spent in the Church but never of dayes and years spent in sin Secondly observe that when we are once delivered out of spiritual Egypt then doth the Devil muster up his Chariots and Horse-men He cannot abide to loose his Servants so his we were and he hath lost us and his we must be again if by all his strength he can possibly gain us A Land that floweth with Milk and Honey may not be inherited without resistance Out of Egypt we may be delivered but from following persecutions we shall not be quite freed Think of that Devil in the Gospel who when he must needs depart and loose his possession did rend and tear the poor party most miserably Mar. 9. 26. Verse 13. In all spiritual Conflicts say thus with your self O my soul fear not though Sathan thrust sore at thee and seek thy destruction but look unto him that is mightier than all Hell believe his Promises believe his Word and the Egyptians whom thou hast seen to day thou shalt never see again that is those frights and those fears Enemies to thy peace thou shalt never be troubled with them any more but God shall so drown them in the red Sea of Christs bloud that they shall never hurt thee The Lord shall fight for thee O my Soul therefore stand still and wait upon him Verse 14. A Silence before a not praying hath not alwayes a fault in it because we are often ignorant of our own necessities and ignorant of the dangers that hang over us but a silence after a benefit evidently received a dumb ingratitude is inexcusable Thus when Moses sayes here to his People The Lord shall fight for you c. Moses means you shall not need to speak the Lord will do it for his own glory you may be silent There it was a future thing but the Lord hath fought many battels for us he hath fought for our Church against Schisms and Heresie for our Land against Invasion for every soul against Presumption or else against Desperation Dominus pugnavit nos filemus Verse 15. See the force of Prayer though it be but in groans of your heart it even crieth in Gods ears it pierceth the Heavens and pulleth down comfort See likewise the duty of all faithful Servants of God to go forward as here is said to the Israelites notwithstanding Seas before us Hils about us and whatsoever it may be that is against us leaving all to the Lord who knoweth his own purpose and will manifest the same in his good time Forward forward saith God here Speak to the Children of Israel that they go forward But why did Moses cry thus in his heart to God when it was revealed to him what should be the end of the Egyptians Because neither Promises nor Revelations hinder Gods Children from using ordinary means but do rather stirre them up more and more to beg and crave the performance and effect of them Verse 22. If you look at the Waters on either side you may see the condition of Gods Children in this World beset on the right side with a Floud of Prosperity and beset on the left side with a floud of Adversity And yet through a true Faith walking through both and hurt by neither they arrive on the other side safely when by either of these many others are destroyed pray then for this Faith CHAP. XV. Verse 1. T Is a good form of giving thanks when every particular person out of his own feeling sayes I I good Lord do yield unto thy Majesty my bounden thanks for my self and for my Brethren for my self and for thy whole Church and so every one feeling and every one thanking the Lord is praised of all as his Mercy and goodness reach to all Thus David Psal. 118. 28. I I again in my own person and with my own heart and with my own tongue So here I will sing when they were many thousands Verse 5. They sank as a stone that is without all recovery and help For a stone swimmeth not out being cast in but goeth to the bottom and there abideth Fearful and very fearful was their destruction to the terror of all those that shall persecute the Church of God and his People Verse 6. Not our Vertue not our Merits not our Armies or men of Might Gods Servants do never rob him and cloath themselves but with Moses here they give all to God where indeed it is due and say with David Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name give the praise Verse 7. In that they are said to have risen against God when they rose but against his People observe the Union between God and his Church even such as who so toucheth the one toucheth the other For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Zach. 2. 8. And Saul Saul why persecutest thou me me in my members and by my members Verse 9. The same ambition and covetousness that made Pharaoh wear out so many Judgements will not leave him till it hath wrought out his full destruction All Gods Vengeances have their end the final perdition of his Enemies which they cannot rest till they have attained Pharaoh therefore and his Egyptians will needs go fetch their Bane instead of their Victory They bragg'd of their Conquest before-hand and gave Israel either for Spoil or Bondage But the Sea will shew them that it regards the Rod of Moses not the Scepter of Pharaoh and therefore in the next verse as glad to have got the Enemies of God at such an advantage shuts her mouth upon them Extraordinary favours to wicked men are the fore-runners to their ruine Verse 19. As the Act of the Egyptians for drowning the Israelitish Children was cruel Chap. 1. so is their own issue and punishment but just here The People must drown their Males there themselves are drown'd here they died by the same means by which they caused the poor Israelitish Infants to die That Law of Retaliation which God will not allow to us because we are fellow-creatures he justly practiseth on us God would have us read our sins in our judgements that we might both repent of our sins and give Glory to his Justice Verse 20. In common Duties due to God none must sit out The deliverance concern'd both Sexes and therefore both Sexes were to thank God for it Man and Wife must joyn and agree together to honour him that saveth them Ioseph will go up to Ierusalem according to the Law and Mary his Wife will go with him No division no difference betwixt them in Gods matters If the one owe a Duty the other thinks she doth so too and with one heart according to one rule they both worship God and so come home Verse 24. A fitter course it had been for a People so taught with passed Favours to have assured themselves of future helps in Gods good time and with Patience and Faith to
have expected the same Remember said our Saviour how many baskets full of broken meat were taken up and never to fear any want where such a powerful God is To remember what God hath done for me and to make it an argument both of my Prayer and Hope with David Psal. 4. 1. and with Iob chap. 13. 15. Verse 25. Such vertue was in the Wood given to it by God first that he might manifest by this means his Love and Goodness to us much more when he maketh all his Creatures serve to our Health and Good and so to stir us up to true thankfulness unto him for it Secondly that he might teach us thus not to abuse those his Creatures which with so excellent Vertues and Qualities are created for us to do us good Thirdly that we might learn by this means not to contemn second causes and means by abusing through presumption the holy Doctrine of Gods Providence For When God himself is pleased to use these Instruments who are we that we should reject them Verse 27. Thus cometh Comfort after Sorrow and Plenty after Scarcity And surely the Tryals of the Church or of any particular Member therein shall have a joyful end and though they be never so many yet the Lord delivereth out of them all who would not trust then in such a God and tarry his time that never faileth CHAP. XVI Verse 1. THe time is named the fifteenth day to let us know that their ingratitude was so much the more detestable by how much the remembrance of so great and wonderful a deliverance from their Enemies was more fresh in memory being so late Therefore let us think in the morning of our safety by Gods Mercy all the night and at night of our safety all the day which unlesse I be thankful for I must needs be a great Offender seeing it is not possible to plead forgetfulness in such fresh and new things Verse 3. The Gospel is welcome to many at the first and they greatly rejoyce in it but when either trouble groweth for it or they are restrained by it from their accustomed sins of Swearing Drunkenness Sensuality Covetousness and such like then they wish they had never been troubled with such preaching and all Gods Mercy is returned to him with great unthankfulness as here it was of these murmuring Israelites And thus likewise in Matches and Marriages O what impiety is in many many times cursing the parties and almost cursing God that gave them such a Match when yet at the beginning all was well and every body pleased Secondly this murmuring of the Israelites may shew us what is the course of too many in the world even to prefer the Flesh-pots of Egypt before the Land of Canaan and bellies full of Bread before a blessed Deliverance out of cruel bondage that is Earth before Heaven and the Joyes of this World before those of the next Such were those in Ier. 44. 16 17 18. who measured Religion by plenty and scarcity judging that best which brought most profit and that worst wherein there was any want Verse 4. God is not tied to ordinary Means nor our maintenance to the Fruits of the Earth The Ravens shall both find Meat and bring Meat to Eliah if God command and a little Oil shall continue running till many Vessels are full if he so please Iacob was provided for in that extream Famine Gen. 47. 11. and Gold was brought to Mary and Ioseph from far when they little thought on it Mat. 2. 11. Lift up your thoughts therefore above the course of Nature when you think upon God and although you have neither Bread nor Money nor the whole Land any Corn yet past Hope take hold on Hope and leave God to himself Verse 8. Murmuring against Gods Ministers is murmuring against God They have not cast thee away but me away 1 Sam. 8. 7. And he that despiseth you despiseth me said Christ Luke 10. 16. Verse 16. As God doth something for his part towards our maintenance so likewise must we do something on our parts He will give Manna but we must go out and gather it He will provide Meat and Money and Cloth and whatever is good for us but we must labour in some honest Vocation and so come by these things Corn he will give to the Husband-man but conditionally that he plow and sow Idleness he will not endure Verse 18. God doth here restrain the covetous who are never satisfied and withall comfort his own Children who have not such heaps For what hath the greatest Raker that lives among us but a subsistance and hath not the poorest man as much God will make my little stretch out to an Omer that is to enough and his much shall be no more doe what he can Verse 21. We must take time while time serves We have a Morning and we have an Evening our able Youth and good Health is our Morning our Age and sick estate is our Evening Spend not the first vainly and you shall not want in the last Work in the Morning and we shall eat the fruit of our labours when the Evening of Age and Sickness comes Gods Blessings are not at our election to have them when we will but when we seek and he bids then we shall find His Manna is ready if we come in time but if we linger till we list he hath his Sun to melt it away and it is gone Verse 24. It corrupted not No more shall any Goods you get and gather with the Will and good liking and Commandement of God that is truly and lawfully and with a good Conscience but the Lord shall bless that basket and that store to you whilst you live and to yours when you are gone CHAP. XVII Verse 2. LEt us in all our wants set our Faces the right way and look to Heaven not to Earth to God not to Man And let us not follow these Israelites who when they wanted Water did not cry unto God but fly upon Moses with an unfitting speech as though Moses were God to create Fountains and Springs Thus did Rachel come upon her Husband Gen. 30. 1. and so alwayes doth corrupt man possessed with impatiency take a wrong course leave God and run to man and speak according to his rage without due consideration of mans ability and power Only therefore to God we must go in our wants For there is the Treasury and bottomless Store-house of all Comforts Ask there seek there knock there and you have a Promise Mat. 7. 7. but run to the Creature and you have none Verse 4. Rely not upon the multitude nor hunt after the peoples applause Do not the Scriptures shew us how reverently the Pharisees sent unto Iohn Mat. 11. 18. and yet after affirm'd him to have a Devil whereupon said our Saviour he was c. Ioh. 5. 35. thus all credit is but for a season with worldly men with the common People To day a man to morrow
a Rule to guide my Conscience by either in Civil or Ecclesiastical matters Verse 4. Gods Actions are general and particular general to all men particular to his Friends So must ours be As therefore by his general Action he suffereth the Sun to shine upon the bad as well as good so must we extend our Love which is the common Bond of Mankind as well to our Enemies as to our Friends by which common Love all hurting of the Bodies or Goods of our Enemies is forbid Again as God hath his special Action to his Friends and his Church namely sanctification so must Friendship which is our special Action reach its self to such only as are of the Houshold of Faith For although we must love with that general Love all Mankind Turks Pagans yet to such may we not be Friends and Familiars but must beware of inward and usual conversation with them that hate God and all his Graces This distinction tels you the meaning of Mat. 5. 44. Love your enemies Verse 5. Estne Deo cura de bobus is the Apostles Question Hath God care of Oxen other mens Oxen how much more of his own Sheep And therefore if thou see one of his Sheep one of thy fellow Christians strayed into sins of infirmity joyn him with thine own Soul in thy Prayers to God Relieve him if what he needs be spiritual with thy Prayers for him and relieve him if his wants be of another kind according to his Prayers to thee Why should not he that is made of the same bloud and redeem'd with the same bloud as thou art why should not he prevail with thee so far as to the obtaining of an Almes when some fellow-servant of thine hath had that interest in God as by his intercession and Prayers to advance thy Salvation wilt not thou save the life of another man that prayes to thee when perchance thy Soul hath been saved by another man that prayed for thee Verse 6. In the third verse God commanded That the poor man should not be spared for pitty Here now he enjoyneth That a poor man should not be wrong'd in respect of his poverty such equal steps would God have Judgement to walk in Verse 11. Blessed is the man that provideth for the poor the Lord shall deliver him in all his trouble Psalm 41. 1. This is proved in the Widdow of Zarepta who fed the Prophet and never suffered in the midst of that Famine 1 Kings 17. When I was hungry you fed me saith Christ Mat. 25. 35. Me I say in the poor with you to whom what you did you did it to me and so I take it and will blesse you for it both here and hereafter Verse 19. You must not seeth the kid c. to shew that we must not use that to the destruction of any Creature which was intended for his preservation CHAP. XXIV Verse 3. IT is better not to promise than not to keep promise the people of the Iews were signified by the Locusts which suddenly leap up and forthwith fall down to the earth again They did as it were leap up when in words they promised to do all things which the Lord had said but they fell to the earth again when in their deeds they denied the same Let us therefore alwayes weigh our weakness and accordingly frame our promises for as we see in this people we may purpose well that which we cannot so well perform Verse 12. It is not many weeks since Israel came out of Egypt in which space God had cherished their Faith by several Wonders yet now he thinks it time to give them Statutes from Heaven as well as Bread The Manna and Water from the Rock which was Christ in the Gospel were given before the Law the Sacraments of Grace before the legal Covenant The Grace of God preventeth our obedience therefore should we keep the Law of God because we have a Saviour O the Mercy of God which before we see what we are bound to do shews us our remedy if we do it not How can our Faith disanul the Law when it was before it It may help to fulfil that which shall be it cannot frustrate that which was not The Letter which God had written in our fleshly Tables were now as some that were carved in some Barks almost grown out he saw it time to write them in dead Tables whose hardness should not be capable of alteration He knew that the stone would be more faithful than our hearts Verse 14. Ministers whether Civil or Ecclesiastical are not to leave their charge without Deputies When Moses here ascended he left Aaron and Hur with the people that whosoever had any matter might come to them So watchful and faithful was Moses in his place that without just cause he is not absent and then he leaveth able Deputies Verse 16. Moses ascending was not admitted to God till after six dayes to teach all men patiently and reverently to tarry Gods leisure and gracious pleasure for any matter of his Will to be revealed to them not curiously searching but humbly waiting for the thing we seek being fit for us At the end of six dayes God called to Moses So will the Lord have a comfortable time for all those that wait for him they shall see and hear at last what he will say unto them But then they must come to God in the Cloud that is in the humanity of Christ whereof this Cloud was a Figure For without him there is no access to God and by him we come and that boldly Verse 17. God appears here like a consuming Fire in the eyes of the Children of Israel but to them whom he drew to him he appeared as a pleasant Saphire verse 10. Just so to carnal men and to such as are his called by his holy Spirit there is a great difference of him the one seeing with fear and trembling the other seeing feeling and tasting Joy and Comfort Verse 18. Moses was with God forty dayes and nights without any repast That God that sent the Quails to the Host of Israel and Manna from Heaven could have fed him with dainties if he had so pleas'd But there is no life to the life of Faith Man lives not by bread only The Vision of God did not only satiate but feast him What a blessed satiety shall there be when we shall see him as he is and he shall be all in all to us Since this very frail Mortality of Moses was sustained and comforted but with representations of his presence Here again I see Moses the Receiver of the Law Elias the Restorer of the Law Christ the Fulfiller of the Law all fasting forty dayes Abstinence prepares best for good Duties Full bellies are fitter for rest Hence solemn Prayer takes ever fasting to attend it and so much the rather speeds in Heaven when it is so accompanied It s good so to diet the body that the soul may be fatned CHAP. XXV
the Exchange God in Christ may be had in every lawful Calling And then the Pigeon was an Emblem of fecundity in Marriage and the Turtle may be an Emblem of chast Widdow-hood for I think we find no bigamy in the Turtle but in these Sacrifices we find no Emblem of an unnatural or of a vow'd barrenness nothing that countenances a vowed Virginity to the dishonour or undervaluing of Marriage CHAP. XIII Verse 2. THis prefigured the holy Priesthood of our blessed Saviour who doth see and handle and touch regard and heal all our Spiritual spots as these Priests dealt here with this bodily Infection so that if we be unclean we cannot deceive him Away therefore with our Figg-leaves for they cannot cover us if I be a Swearer an unclean Liver a Drunkard an envious person or the like I am a Leper a spiritual Leper and Christ is Judge whom I cannot mock he will never say I am clean till indeed I be so and so without amendment of Life I must out of the Host out of the Church and number of his Chosen to dye for ever in my Impurity Verse 45. So careful was God to have unclean persons known and discern'd from others in those dayes And we may take occasion also to wish that with us also in these dayes all bold and presumptuous mis-livers being most unclean before God and all good Men were distinguished from them that hate their wickedness by some such open marks as these were to the end that others might avoid them and they themselves be stricken with some shame to amendment of Life and saving of their Souls Allegorically these things in the Leper shadowed the state and condition of all wicked men in this World As the rent Cloaths that they are vile and odious before God his bare head that in Christ their head they have no Portion but are deprived of him his Lips or Mouth covered that such graceless persons cannot open their Mouth before God in any Prayer to be heard his shutting out of the Camp that such are to be Excommunicate from the number of the Faithful and are deprived of the Heavenly Inheritance Verse 50. Before thou condemn thy Brother put thy hand into thine own bosom as Moses did and tell me if it be not leaprous with that sin which thou condemnest in thy Brother and therefore Cause the Priest should not give rash Judgement the Leaprous was shut up seven dayes We must not be hasty to condemn others nay youmay reason further with your self thus that if in a matter thus subject to the Eye as these Sores were yet God would have no haste but a stay for seven dayes before Judgement should be given that the Party was unclean O how more doth he abhor hast in pronouncing of the Hearts and Thoughts of our Friends and Neighbours which are not seen nor subject to an easie Censure A wise gatherer of Grapes gatheeth only the ripe and good Grapes and medleth not with the four and ill Grapes so a good Christian noteth mens Vertues and speaketh of them when a Fool will be medling with their imperfections CHAP. XIV Verse 2. THe Law of the Leper here was that he should be brought unto the Priest men come not willingly to this manifestation of themselves nor yet are they to be brought in chains by a necessity of an exact enumeration of all their sins but to be led with that sweetness with which the Church proceeds in appointing sick persons if they feel their Consciences troubled with any weighty matter to make a special confession and to receive absolution at the hands of the Priest and then to be remembred that every coming to the Communion is as serious a thing as our transmigration out of this World and that we should do as much here for the settling of our Conscience as upon our Death-bed Verse 3. That it is still the duty of all Faithful Ministers to go to the sick to see them and consider their estate towards God ministring comfort to them in due season whilst their hearing is good their understanding good and their memory good And I would God that they that are sick had more care to send for their Ministers in due time and the Ministers when they know it to go and with all care and diligence to labour with them while time serves Verse 6. By the two Sparrows sayes Theodoret the cleansed person was put in mind to offer unto God both Soul and Body a living Sacrifice The Sparrow slain might teach him the necessity of Mortification in the Body which indeed is an earthen vessel the killing of it over pure Water that nothing more worketh this Mortification than the pure Water of Gods Word contained in the Scriptures and that by the bloud of Christ we are truly cleansed and set at liberty as here the live Sparrow dipped in the bloud of the slain Sparrow is set free Verse 7. This sevenfold sprinkling might happily shadow an earnest and tontinued meditation of Gods Goodness to him that thus was comforted and not for a day or two and then no more Surely our thoughts of Mercy vouchsafed to us are ever too short and transitory and therefore seven sprinklings are little enough to teach us our duty herein God of his Mercy so sprinkle us over and over that we may ever remember his kind Goodness towards us a thousand wayes CHAP. XV. Verse 3. OUr Nature whether running or stopp'd is unclean We have uncleanness corruption in us though it doth not shew it self and this is Original Sin call'd here our uncleanness and by Saint Paul Rom. 7. Sinful sin so evil in its self that it could not have a worse Epithete given it than its own name call'd also by the same Apostle in the same Chapter The body of death a dead body or carcass to which we are tied as noisome every whit to our soul as a dead body to our senses and as burthensome as a withered arme or mortified limb which hangs on a man as a lump of lead Now some remnants of sin God hath left in us to clear to us his justifying Grace by Christs Righteousness And this also will make the Saints seem nothing in their own eyes even when they are fill'd brim full with Grace and Glory in another World Verse 12. So contagious a thing is sin that it defileth the very visible Heaven and Earth which therefore must be purged at the last day with a Deluge of Fire because they were not made clean by a Deluge of Water as here the earthen Pot which was but touch'd by an unclean person was broken and the wooden Vessel scour'd and rinsed in water How therefore ought we to fly from sin when even the touch of an unclean person defileth a man And if the Garment spotted with the flesh be so contagious how mortal must the life and conversation of such a man needs be to the Soul Verse 13. When you read thus often of Water
withdraw his hand no fight no trust CHAP. XII Verse 1. VVHat is this I see is not this Aaron that was Brother in Nature and by Office joynt Commissioner with Moses and is not this Miriam the Elder Sister to Moses which laid her Brother in the Reeds and fetch'd his Mother to be his Nurse both Prophets of God both the Flesh and Blood of Moses And doth Aaron repine at the honour of him who gave himself that honour and saved his life when he had sinn'd so grosly in making the Calf Doth this Miriam repine at the prosperity of him whose life she saved But now Envy had so blinded their Eyes that they could neither see this priviledge of Nature nor yet the honour of Gods choice Miriam and Aaron are in mutiny against Moses Who so holy as sins not What sin though never so unnatural that even the very best can avoid without God Again who can look for love and prosperity at once when holy and meek Moses finds enmity in his own flesh and blood rather than we shall want a mans Enemies shall be those of his own house Authority cannot fail of opposition if it be never so mildly sway'd that common make-bate the Devil will rather raise it out of our own bosom To do well and hear ill is Princely Verse 2. Seditions do not ever look the same way they move Wise men can easily distinguish betwixt the visor of actions and the face The Wife of Moses is mentioned his superiority is shot at Pride is likely the ground of all sedition Which of their Faces shined like Moses which of them received the Law twice in two several Tables from Gods own hand and yet they dare say Hath God spoken only by Moses they do not deny Moses his Honour but they challenge a part with him And yet how unfit they were one a Woman whom her Sex debarr'd from Rule the other a Priest whom his Office sequestred from Earthly Government Self-love makes men unreasonable and teaches them to turn the glass to see themselves greater others lesser than they are It is an hard thing for a man willingly and gladly to see his equals lifted over his head in worth and opinion Nothing will more try a mans grace then questions of Emulation That man hath true light which can be content to be a Candle before the Sun of others Verse 3. Carry a meek spirit along with you in all your actions When Christ rode as King to Ierusalem he rode meek meek those that would accompany Christ to his Kingdom must be of the same spirit their King is of Moses never fail'd but once and it was then when he lost this meek spirit Numb 20. 10. Expounded Psal. 106. 32. They angered him at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes for what reason see verse 23. Because they provoked his Spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips God is oft-times in the small and still voice when neither in the whirl-wind nor the Earth-quake nor the fire 1 King 19. 11 12. Verse 4. God might have spoken so loud that Heaven and Earth should have heard it so as they should not have needed to come forth for audience but now he calls them out to the Bar that they may be seen to hear It did not content him to chide them within doors the shame of their fault had been lesse in a private rebuke but the scandal of their repining was publick Where the sin is not afraid of the light God loves not the reproof should be smoothered Verse 10. It was time to look for a Judgement when God departed so soon as he is gone from the Eyes of Miriam the Leprosie appears in her face her foul Tongue is punish'd with a foul Face Since she would acknowledg no difference betwixt her self and her Brother Moses every Israelite now sees his face glorious hers leaprous Deformity is a fit cure of pride Because the venome of her Tongue would have eaten into the Reputation of her Brother therefore a poisonous Infection eats into her flesh Now hath Moses and Miriam need to wear a vail the one to hide his glory the other her deformity Verse 15. The Israelites are stayed seven dayes for the punishment of Miriam the sins of the Governors are a just stop to the people all of them smart in one all of them must stay the leisure of Miriams recovery Whosoever seeks the Land of Promise shall find many lets Amalek Og and the King of Canaan met with Israel these resisted but hindred not their passages their sins only stay them from removing Afflictions are not crosses to us in the way to Heaven in comparison of our sins CHAP. XIII Verse 2. THe basest sort of men are commonly held fit enough for Intelligencers but Moses by the Commandement of the Lord chooseth forth the best of Israel such as were like to be most judicious in their enquiry and most credible in their Report Those that rul'd Israel at home could best descry for them abroad what should direct the body but the Head Men can judg but by appearance It is for him only that sees the event ere he appoint the means not to be deceived It had been better for Israel to have sent the Offal of the multitude By how much less the credit of their persons is by so much lesse is the danger of seducement The error of the mighty is arm'd with Authority and in a sort commands assent whether in good or Evil Greatness hath ever a train to follow it at the heels Verse 6. Amongst those twelve Messengers which our second Moses sent thorow the Land of Promise there was but one Iudas but amongst those twelve which the former Moses addressed thorough the same Land there is but one Caleb and yet those were chosen out of the meanest these out of the Heads of Israel As there is no society free from some corruption so it is hard if in a community of men there be not some faithfulness Verse 27. Forty dayes they spent in this search and this cowardly belief in the search shall cost them forty years delay of the fruition who can abide to see the Rulers of Israel so basely timerous They commend the Land the Fruit commends its self and yet they plead difficulty their shoulders are laden with the Grapes and yet their hearts are overlaid with unbelief It is an unworthy thing to plead hardness of atchieving where the benefit will more than requite the indeavour Our Land of Promise is above we know the Fruit thereof is sweet and glorious the passage difficult The giantly Sons of Anak the powers of Darkness stand in our way If we sit down and complain we shall once know that without shall be the fearful Rev. 21. 8. Verse 30. Ioshua was silent and wisely spared his Tongue for a further advantage only Caleb spake I do not hear him say who am I to strive with the multitude
oblation It was a great blessing of God to overcome the Enemy and obtain the Victory but thus to overcome and to have such a Victory required an extraordinary Thanksgiving As men ought to return thanks to God for all his blessings so they ought for extraordinary Blessings to return extraordinary Thanks As in extraordinary visitations it is our duty to use extraordinary humiliation so when God shews us extraordinary mercy we must be thankful accordingly Hezekiah return'd great thanks for his great Deliverance Isai. 38. We must therefore consider what blessings we have received from God that so we may render what thankfulness we owe him else his Blessings will be turn'd into Curses and his Mercies into Judgements CHAP. XXXII Verse 5. THis was an unseasonable demand of these Men at this time but Covetousness had blinded their eyes that they could not see what was fit for them to ask and therefore were afterwards the first of the Children of Israel that were carried away Captive 1 Chron. 5. 25. After the same manner it befel Lot who looking after the goodness of the Plains of Sodom more than the goodness of the People preferr'd that place in his choice and was carried away Prisoner for it Gen. 14. Thus God will not pass by the sins of his dearest Children without a sensible check These Reubenites and Gadites for affecting the first choice had soon enough of it Strong affections bring strong afflictions as hard knots require hard wedges Earthly things court us that they may cut our throats these Hosts welcome us to our Inne with smiling countenance that they may dispatch us in our Beds Beware therefore of the Worlds cut-throat kindness Verse 18. Reuben and Gad were the first that had an Inheritance signed them yet they must enjoy it last so it falls out oft in the Heavenly Canaan the first in title are last in possession They had their lot assign'd them beyond Iordan which though it were then in peace must be purchas'd with their War that must be done for their Brethren which needed not be done for themselves they must yet still fight and fight foremost that as they had the first Patrimony they might endure the first encounter I do not hear them say this is our share let us sit down and enjoy it quietly fight who will for the rest but when they knew their own Portion they leave Wives and Children to take possession and march arm'd before their Brethren till they have conquered all Canaan Whether should we more commend their Courage or their Charity others were moved to fight with hope they only with love they could not win more they might lose themselves yet they will fight both for that they had something and that their Brethren might have Thankfulness and Love can do more with Gods Children than desire to merit or necessity no Israelite can if he might choose abide to sit still beyond Iordan when all his Brethren are in the field Verse 23. When God is searching it is high time for us to search our selves It is sad when God is searching for our sins if we are not searching for them too and it is more sad if when God comes to search for our sins we be found hiding our sins These are searching times God is searching let us search too else we may be sure as Moses tells the people of Israel here Our sins will find us out They who endeavour not to find their sins shall be found by their sins our Iniquity will enquire after us if we enquire not after it But what if Iniquity enquire after us What if Iniquity enquire after us it will find us and if Iniquity find us Trouble will find us yea if Iniquity find us alone without Christ Hell and Death will find us If Iniquity find any man he hath reason enough to say unto it what Ahab said to Eliah without reason Hast thou found me O mine enemy the best of men have reason to look out what evill is in them when God brings evil upon them or wraps them up in common evils They who have no wickedness in them to cast them under Condemnation yet have sin enough in them to make them smart under Correction CHAP. XXXIII Verse 8. THis is that place where the Israelites after three dayes journey found the bitter Waters The long deferring of a good though tedious yet makes it the better when it comes Well did the Israelites hope that the Waters which were so long in finding would be precious when they were found Yet behold they are cross'd not only in their desires but their hopes for after three dayes travel the first Fountains they find are bitter Waters If these Wels had not run pure Gall they could not have so much complained Long thirst will make bitter Waters sweet yet such were these springs that the Israelites did not so much like their moisture as abhor their relish I see the first handsel that God gives his People in their Voyage to the Land of Promise is thirst and bitterness Satan gives us pleasant entrances into his wayes and reserves the bitterness to the end God invites us to our worst at first and sweetens our conclusion with pleasure O my Saviour thou didst drink a more bitter Cup from the hands of thy Father than that which thou refused'st of the Jews or than that which I can drink from thee Verse 9. God taught his People by actions as well as words This entrance shewed them their whole Journey wherein they should taste of much bitterness but at last through the mercy of God sweetned with much more comfort and for one Fountain of bitter Water they should have no less than twelve of sweet Or did it not represent the Israelites rather in their Journey in the Fountains of whose Hearts were the bitter Waters of manifold corruptions yet their unsavory Souls are sweetned by the more abundant Graces of Gods Spirit O blessed Saviour that Fountain of Water and Blood which issued from thy side that is the application of thy Sufferings is enough to sweeten a whole Sea of bitterness I care not how unpleasant a portion I find in this Wilderness if the power and benefit of thy precious Death may season it to my Soul Verse 14. Bread they had from Heaven but wanted Water Our condition here in this World is a condition of singular indigency we are ever wanting somewhat or other Verse 42. Among the several stations which the Israelites made through the Wilderness one was Punon or Phinon which as one of the antient Fathers observes signifieth silence or sparingness of Speech upon which he maketh this useful Application Let us be careful to take up our station here sometimes while we are travailing through the Wilderness of this World It may he our wisdom to pitch in silence The hand is well imployed while we stop the mouth with it from broaching and maintaining that which is evill or from opposing that which is good
when they should dye and therefore Iob describing the shortness of mans Life and withall that his dayes are determined compares them to the dayes of an hireling For with an Hireling we agree to work with us for a certain time and usually by the day whence they are call'd Day-labourers It imports then that the time of mans life is short and set for Hirelings are appointed to an hour Fifteen years just and no more were added to Hezekiah's life Isai. 38. 5. our very hairs are numbred much more then our dayes Verse 11. What ever the Egyptians fancy of their River Nilus both their River and our Rain too are from above there is not any of the Creature not so much as our meer Water but we receive it from Heaven God bottleth up the rain saith Iob and pours it on the earth when God pleaseth to turn the mouths of these bottles downwards This is a great miracle that whereas Water is fluid and beareth downward yet now that God thus binds up these heavy vapours and keeps them in those Vessels of the Clouds as thin or thinner than the liquor that is contain'd in them as a strong Man in a Cobweb till brought by the Winds wheresoever he pleaseth they drop upon the Earth by little and little to make it fruitful this is a wonderful work of God and should bring us to the knowledg of his Power Wisdom and Goodness Verse 12. We read in natural story of some Creatures Qui solo oculorum aspectu fovent ova Plin. l. 10. c. 9. which hatch their Eggs only by looking upon them What cannot the Eye of God produce and hatch in us The Eye of the Lord upon me makes midnight noon and St. Lucies St. Barnabies day and the Winter 's the Summers Solstice what a chearful Spring what a fruitful Autumn hath that Soul that hath the eye of the Lord alwayes upon her The eye of the Lord sanctifies nay more than sanctifies glorifies all the Ecclipses of dishonour makes Melancholy Chearfulness Difidence Assurance and turns the jealousie of the sad Soul into Insallibility Upon the people of Israel Gods eye shined in the Wilderness his eye singled them in Egypt and in Babylon they were sustained by his Eye Verse 19. Fathers should look upon their Children as Gods heritage and labour to make them Sons of God and Heirs of Heaven they must desire and endeavour to become natural as well as spiritual Fathers to their Children by teaching and instruction from their very Infancy For when Children are able to learn any thing that 's bad then certainly it is high time to teach them something that 's good when they can stammer out an Oath or lisp towards blasphemy then it is high time to teach them their Catechism and instruct them in the Principles of Religion And therefore the Holy Ghost hath composed certain Abcedarian Psalms according to the order of the Hebrew Alphabet that Children might learn an Alphabet of Godliness and Parents teach them the Elements of Religion as well as of Learning such Psalms are 25. 34 c. CHAP. XII Verse 1. THe difference between Divinity and other Sciences is that it is not enough to learn but we must observe and do it as lessons of Musick must be practised and a Copy not read only but writ and followed The practical Christian is the best Christian Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour till the evening saith the Psal. 104. 23. he must ever more be doing following his honest imployment in his particular place and calling whether Manual or Mental eating his Bread either in the sweat of his brow or his brain And as it is with Man in his Civil so likewise in his Spiritual Calling he must arise from the bed of sin and go forth out of himself out of his Lusts and sinful affections as out of his House to his work and to his labour working out his salvation with fear and trembling untill the Evening till the Sun of his Life be set Verse 7. There is no one duty almost in both Testaments more press'd than this of rejoycing before the Lord and the contrary is complain'd of and sorely threatned Deut. 28. 47. and therefore it is declared here as a recompence of all their charge and pains Ye shall feast before the Lord with joy this was the sweet-meats of the Feast other dainty dishes there might be but this was the Banquet This made those good Souls Ps. 84. 7. go bodily on from strength to strength though they took many a step yet their comfort was that they should everyone of them in Syon appear before the Lord and then thought their pains though never so great well bestow'd though they then saw Gods face but obscurely in the dark glass of the Ceremonies What then should not we suffer to see God clearly in his Ordinances Verse 8. The words are not you shall not do ill in your own Eyes but you shall not do that which seemeth good good I say and I pray you mark it you shall not do that but shall keep you to my Commandement Be it never so good then in my conceit that is be my meaning never so good it will not excuse The time will come saith Christ that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God good service What then shall his so thinking excuse his bloody murther What ill meant Ioshua when he wish'd Moses to forbid those that Prophesied Micha's Mother when according to her Vow she made her Sons two Idols the Disciples of Christ when they forbad Little Children to come unto him Peter's meaning had no hurt in it when he bad Christ to pitty himself and when he forbad him to wash his feet yet you know no good intent was accepted in these cases Verse 14. God will not take any of thy pretended Superogations for Sacrifices or Worshipping but will be served after his own way and according to his own Prescriptions and therefore he saith in the former Verse Take heed that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest as if he had said I will be worshipped according to that which I have commanded thee and not after thine own fancy Because indeed that God the very reason and cause of all things hath his end in all whatever he ordains For to direct all Nations to the Sacrifice of his only Son alone he would have but one Temple but one Sanctuary and one Altar whereas thou dost darken and confound his meaning by thy multitude of High Places and Altars Verse 32. God accepts of no service but such as he commands You shall not do every one that which seems right in his own eyes saith the Holy Ghost in the beginning of this Chapter but ye shall do whatsoever I enjoyn you saith the same Spirit in this Verse Our service is limited to that which God liketh Saul thought that Sacrifice had been service but God liked better of his obedience Uzza
Prayers We beat our Servants if they offend us being but men as they are and may not God then beat us for our faults he being our Creator and we but dust Thus make use of these Curses and instead of them God ever give us for Christs sake his blessings both Temporal and Eternal both of this World and also of that better to come Verse 23. How oft have we seen the same Field both full and famishing how oft the same Waters safe and by some irruption or new tincture hurtful Howsoever natural causes may concur Heaven and Earth and Ayre and Waters follow the temper of our soules of our lives and are therfore indisposed because we are so He turneth the Heavens into brasse saith this Text and the Earth into iron And so Psal. 107. He turneth the Rivers into a wildernesse and water-springs into a dry ground for the wickedness of the Inhabitants Verse 31. If sorrow be in the eye it will not stay long from the heart And therefore the Lord here threatens his People thus in case of disobedience Thine oxe shall be slain before thine eyes And vers 67. he shewes what Convulsions and Divisions of spirit the Visions of the Eye would bring upon them The fear of the Heart and the sight of the Eye are near adjoyned The sight of the Eye caused the fear of the Heart and both were as concauses of those distracting thoughts and wishes there of hasting the morning to the evening and againe suddainly reducing back the evening to the morning Unlesse sorrow be hid from the Eyes it can hardly be kept from the Heart It is an usuall custome if a man be but let bloud to bid him turn away his head if he be faint-hearted for the sight of his bloud will make his heart faint and so from more gashly spectacles men commonly turn away their faces which is to keep sorrow from their sorrow and so from their Hearts Verse 47. As there is no affliction so there is no outward blessing can change the Heart or bring it about unto God Abundance as you see here doth not draw the heart unto God yet Satan when he came before the Lord Iob 1. would infer that it doth asking God the Question Doth Iob serve God for nought which might well be retorted upon Satan himself Satan why didst not thou serve God then Thou didst once receive more outward blessings from God then ever Iob did the blessedness of an Angel Yet that glorious Angelical estate wherein thou wast created could not keep thee in the compasse of obedience thou didst rebel in the abundance of all blessings thine own apostacy refutes thine errour in making so little of Iobs obedience because he had received so much and confirms the truth of this Text that it is not Abundance that makes Gods People serve him CHAP. XXIX Verse 4. VVE see no further than God gives us light and so far as he leads us we go right if he withdraw we turn aside and quickly wander from the way of truth and righteousnesse Thus Moses speakes here of the many signes and wonders which God wrought in the midst of that People which they did not understand Why what was the reason Moses tels us expresly The Lord had not given them an heart to conceive c. They had sensitive Eyes and Ears yea they had a rational heart or mind but they wanted a spirituall Eye to see a spiritual Ear to hear a spiritual Heart to apprehend and improve those wonderful works of God and these they had not because God had not given them such Eyes Ears and Hearts Wonders without Grace cannot open the Eyes fully but Grace without wonders can And as man hath not an Eye to see the wonderful works of God spiritually until it is given so much lesse hath he an Eye to see the wonders of the Word of God till it be given him from above Verse 12. This hath been the practise of Gods Children in Scripture to consecrate themselves to God by Vow or Covenant Thus Moses here after he had given the Law to the People causeth them to enter into Covenant for the performance of it Nor is it without singular reason that godly men have taken this course that hereby they might be the more strongly obliged to God and God to them There is indeed a sufficient obligation in Gods Precepts to require our obedience but when to his Precepts we add our own Promise it is so much the more engaging True it is the Creatures natural Obligation to his Creators Command is so great that in its self it is not capable of addition but yet our voluntary Promises serve to inflame our Luke-warmnesse and stir up our backwardnesse to obedience Indeed a religious resolution is as the putting of a new rowel into a spurre which maketh it the sharper the twisting of another thred into the rope whereby it is the stronger And hence it is that as God in condescention to our weakness hath annexed an oath to his Promises not to make them firmer in themselves but to confirme us the more So godly men in consideration of their own dulness adjoyn their Promises to Gods Precepts not to strengthen their force in enjoyning but to quicken themselves the more in observing Verse 18. Nothing is more bitter then sin and therefore compared here to gall and wormwood Lest there be among you any root that beareth gall wormwood i. e. least any person among you should commit this wickednesse namely Idolatry which will be as distastefull to God as gall is to man and which will be as bitter as gall to the man who commits it whether we consider the bitternesse of repentance if it be pardoned or the bitternesse of paine if he persisting in it impenitently be punished Verse 29. When secret things are revealed unto us of God we ought to endeavour to learn them to understand them to publish them and speak of them to others Whensoever God hath a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear Therefore Moses saith Secret things belong to the Lord but the things revealed belong unto us to our children Which may serve to reprove all such as refuse to look into these revealed things of God but dwel in blindnesse and ignorance Of this sort are the greatest number of Christians they are wise enough to look into their own profit but they care not for the wisdome that is of God they are brought up in the Church but know not the Doctrine of the Church whereas being brought up in the Schoole of Christ they must every day be profiting and going forward CHAP. XXX Verse 2. THere is no returning without hearing nor hearing without believing nor believing to be believed without doing Returning is all these therefore where Christ saith that if those works had been done in Tyre and Sidon Tyre and Sidon would have repented in sackcloth and ashes In the Syriack translation of saint Matth we have this
many other examples alledg'd to teach us that it is lawful to gather an Hoast to put on Armour to guird our selves with the Sword and to joyn in Battel with our Enemies Those then that are call'd to be Souldiers must learn from hence not to be feeble and faint-hearted but to be bold as in the work of the Lord. True Religion doth not weaken the hearts of Men and make them Cowards For first it teacheth and informeth the Conscience that the cause of the War is good just and warrantable by the Word of God without which knowledge in the heart how ugly how foul how cruel a thing is the effusion and shedding of Blood Secondly as true Religion establisheth the Conscience touching the lawfulness of War so it teacheth them to commit themselves and their lives into the hands of God as to a faithful keeper and to be perswaded if they Conquer they conquer to the Lord if they be wounded and fall they fall and dye unto the Lord. CHAP. XXI Verse 6. THe Jews were much used to outward Washings and vainly imagined that those were sufficient to cleanse them throughout And here the washing of their hands over the Heifer was as much as to say the guilt of innocent Blood doth no more stick to my Conscience than the filth now washed off doth to my fingers But what Pharisaical washing is this to purifie the hands and pollute the heart O Ierusalem Ierusalem wash thy heart from wickedness saith the Prophet Ier. 4. And cleanse your hands you sinners was the Apostles Exhortation Iames 4. but withall Purifie your he arts ye double-minded and this for many reasons For First God and Nature ever begin at the heart it is the first thing that lives and the last that dyes and therefore it is the first the Devil gives assault to and the last that he gives over Secondly Were there never a Devil the heart hath an ill Spirit of its own to trouble it and had we neither hands eyes nor feet our hearts would find the way to Hell and therefore there is great reason we should look to purge and cleanse that for if this Spring this Fountain be clean the streams that flow from it will be so too Verse 12. Secular Learning is not so Heathenish but it may be made Christian as this Captive in the Text was not such an Infidel but she might become a Convert and part of the Israel of God Aristotle and Plato and Seneca are not of such a Reprobate sence as to stand wholly excommunicate in the Christian Church For Aristotles Metaphysicks may help to convince an Atheist of a God and his Demonstrations prove Shiloes advent to a Jew And therefore though it is true the Scripture was ever the Levites predominant Element yet if you will make him a perfect mixt body the Arts also are to be necessary Ingredients And upon this account when Adrian the sixth in his Tract De vera Philosophia cries down humane Learning with a noise of Fathers yet he concludes Utilem esse scientiam Gentilium dummodo in usum Christianum convertatur that to shave and pare the captive Woman and then Espouse her was ever held lawful Matrimony Verse 13. The Wicked Mans Wine is best at first the good Mans at last the Devil deals by the one as Iael by Sifera speaks them fair at first till he hath lull'd them a sleep in security and then he involves them in misery But God doth by his Children as the Hebrew was to do by the captive Woman in this Text which he had a desire to Marry at first he appointeth us a time of Mourning but afterwards he vouchsafes us the fruition of himself in glory The freshest Rivers of Carnal Pleasure shall end in a salt Sea of despairing Tears whereas the wettest Seed-time of a pious Life shall end in the Sun-shining Harvest of a peaceful Death In a word the Transgressor how pleasant soever his beginnings be his last end shall be dolorous but the upright how troublesome soever his Life be his death shall be joyous For the end of that man is peace Psalm 37. CHAP. XXII Verse 1. IF thou must not suffer thy Brothers Ox or his Ass to go astray much less maist thou suffer his Soul but thou must endeavour in all Christian wisdom and meekness to reduce it from the dangerous precipeces both of sin and error Thou must pull thy Brother out of Hell as the Angel pull'd Lot out of Sodom as ye would save a drowning man though ye pull'd off some of his hair to save him Neither must we of the Gospel be merciful only to our Brother but also to our Enemy This is an hard task you will say but hard or not hard it must be done be it never so contrary to our foul nature We must seal up our love to our Enemies by all good expressions which are to be referr'd to these three heads First We must bless them speak kindly to them and of them they must have our good word Secondly We must do good to them i. e. be ready to help and relieve them upon all occasions Thirdly We must pray for them that God would pardon their sins and turn their hearts This was our Saviours precept to love our Enemies and the same also was his practice He melted over Ierusalem the slaughter-house of himself and his Saints and was grieved at the hardness of their hearts Next for Words he prayed Father forgive them and for deeds he not only not call'd fire from Heaven or Legions of Angels against them but did them all good for Bodies and Souls for he heal'd Malchus ear wash'd Iudas his feet like that good Samaritan he was at pains and cost with them Now if we would be Christs Disciples we must follow his example do good not to our Brethren only but also to our very Enemies Verse 10. This and the following Verses forbid all mixture and Toleration in Religion we must keep our selves to one God and serve him and none with him If Baal be God follow him saith Eliah 1 King 18. and if the Lord be God follow him how long will ye hault between two Opinions It is a foul-imperfection to hault yet more shameful long to hault most of all between two wayes and miss them both To be inconstant in Civil matters which are in their own Nature inconstant is weakness But in Religion which is alwaies constant and one and the same to be unsetled is the greatest folly in the World for he that is not assured of one Religion is sure to be saved by none And there fore it is very strange to me that in this glorious light of the Gospel now among us which we so much boast of we should see so many Bats flying which a Man cannot tell what to make of whether Birds or Mice These are Plantanimals like the wonderful sheep in Muscovy Epicens they are Amphibia animalia Creatures that sometimes live in the Waters
sometimes on the Land Monsters bred of unlawful conjunctions which should not see the Sun Now if the Image of this vice be so horrid odious in Nature what shal we judge of the vice its self in Religion I am sure that God can away with any sort of sinners better than these for these he threatneth to spew out of his mouth Rev. 3. 16. as we therefore tender the Salvation of Body and Soul let us take heed of this plowing with an Ox and an Ass in the Text of this Laodicean temper in Religion if we ever look to be saved by our Religion we must save and preserve it entire and unmixt for God is a jealous God and will not give any part of his glory to another Verse 12. Upon these Fringes was some parcel of the Law written that so looking upon them they might be put in mind of Gods Commandements which should teach us that all sorts both young and old of what condition soever are enjoyn'd to know the Doctrine of the Scriptures and the will of God reveal'd in them and this because ignorance is the ground of error The natural man perceiveth not the things that be of God so then being of our selves blind and wanting the light of the Word we must needs go astray hence it is that Christ saith to the Sadduces Ye err not knowing the Scriptures Mat. 22. and then again the want of Knowledg is the cause of sundry fearful judgements Spiritual and Temporal inward and outward for as Ignorance is the cause of sin so it is the cause of judgement the reward of sin If we care not to know God but neglect the meanes of Knowledge no marvel if we be punish'd Verse 19. God will not suffer his Children to be evill-spoken of unjustly but will both clear them from the scandal and punish it God will so Oyl their good Name that infamy shall not stick on it Dirt will stick upon a Mud-wall but not upon Marble and therefore say thou be aspers'd and denigrated by the Calumnies and contumelies of black Tongues and thou lye under them for a time as the Earth doth under the darkness of the Night yet as the morning suddenly arrising driveth away that darkness so God shall clear up thy wronged innocency and as the Moon wadeth out of a cloud so shalt thou get out of all thy troubles in this kind or any other It shall be with thee as it was once with Cato whom Seneca calls the lively Picture of Vertue who was two and thirty times openly accused in Court and as many times cleared and absolved CHAP. XXIII Verse 7. THe relation of Flesh and Blood should be a strong tye among Christians and all Men indeed but we find the quite contrary For the difference of Brethren are of all others most irreconcileable whether they be Brethren by Race or Grace And for the first of these see it exemplified in Cain and Abel Esau and Jacob for thus it is written in nature that those that loved most dearly if once the Devil cast his Club between them they hate most deadly and as for Brethren by Profession and that of the true Religion too you shall meet with many divisions and those prosecuted with a great deal of bitterness No War breaks out sooner or lasts longer than that among Divines or about the Sacrament a Sacrament of Love a Communion and yet the occasion by accident of much dissention Great care therefore must be taken that Brethren break not Friendship or if they do that they unite and peece again as soon as possible for remember saith the Text he is thy Brother and therefore to be born with though unkind and injurious Verse 9. Seeing War is a lawful Ordinance of God it teacheth us to use it lawfully and to behave our selves uprightly when we go unto it So soon as War is proclaimed and the Trumpet sounded all Laws for the most part keep silence and equity is buried there is no mean or measure observed every Man thinks he may do what he list Hence it is that the Lord giveth these Precepts to his People When thou goest out with an host against thine Enemies c. Where Moses teacheth that we must not bear our selves in War as if all things were lawful nor give our selves a lawless liberty to be carried head-long into all Wickedness when we are come into the Field and there stand against the Enemy we must not think we have a pardon purchased to fall into all outrage and villany For whose are the Battels that we fight who is it that giveth the Victory If we look for any blessing from God we must have the more care to serve him faithfully and depend upon him religiously Prophane and ungodly men must not be listed in his Army The Lord will be the greatest Enemy unto such and they have more cause to stand in fear of him than of all their Enemies besides Verse 14. Seeing God is ever in his Church it is our duty to behave our selves in all our actions as in his presence It behooveth us to set him alwayes before us and to know how that he continually walks among us If the Child were alwayes in the sight of his Father the servant of his Master the Subject of his Prince they would not have an unseemly gesture a disordered action how much more doth it stand us upon to look to all our wayes that we offend not before the Majesty of God in whose presence we stand When the Minister Prayes and Preacheth when the people attend and hearken we must know that God looks upon us This is that use which Moses sets down here in giving directions to the people that they should have a place without the hoast c. the truth of which Ceremony leads us as it did them to a further matter and teacheth us that we must be an holy people to God in soul and body and to take heed of defiling our selves with sin we must all of us learn to purge our selves from such foul and filthy Corruptions if we will have God to rule and be resident among us Verse 18. Some understand this Text literally and Grammatically according to that expression of the Prophet Isa. 66. 3. He that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a Doggs neck Others take it metaphorically of impudently shameless sinners that blush not to commit Uncleanness in the sight of the Sun these shall never enter into Gods House the Kingdom of Heaven The Irish ayr will sooner brook a Toad or Snake to live there than Heaven will brook a sinner It was not permitted to a Dogg to enter into the Acropolis which was the chief Tower or Temple at Athens for his heat in Venery and ill savour saith Plutarch Goats likewise saith Varro come not there unless for Sacrifice once a year upon the same account no filthy Doggs or nasty Goats shall ever enter into Heavens Tower The Panther smells well among Beasts