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1 NOw the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle, tand when they saw the land of Iaazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold the place was a place for cattle,

2 The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses and to Eleazar the Priest, and unto the Princes of the congregation, saying,

3 At aroth, and Dibon, &c.
4 Even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, & thy servants have cattle.
5 Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan.

COncerning the great victory given over the enemies of Israel we have already spoken: now we come to the dividing of the inheritance among the Conquerors, according to their estate and condition: wherein consider three things. First the occasion of distributing the land of the Midianites, the victory being obtained. Secondly, the conditions of this distribution. Thirdly, the agreement and sending of them into the possession. The occasion is in these verses; the two tribes, and the half had many cattle, upon which occasion they come to Moses, and request this land which they had lately seized into their hands, the chief towns whereof are reckoned up, that they might sit down there, & not be compelled to pass over Jordan, they thought they might speed themselves nearer home, and never trouble themselves to go so far. The sons of Reuben are in the first verse set before the sons of Gad, because Reuben was the eldest and first borne: and yet oftentimes in this Chapter the sons of Gad are set before them the cause whereof seemeth to be this, because they were the authors of this counsel to shift and provide for themselves, and to ask of Moses the land of the Midianites. From hence sundry doctrines may be pointed out. Doubtless every tribe had store of cattle, for Gen. 46, 32, they are said to be shepherds & men of cattle; and Exod. 12, 38: there went up with them out of Egypt flocks and heardes, even very much cattle: yet the tribes here mentioned did especially and above the rest abound with cattle. We learn hereby that God doth distribute his blessings differently, he giveth things temporal to one more, and to another less, as in his own wisdom he seeth to be expedient and profitable for them. He would have us stand in need one of another, one nation of another, one land of another, one person of another, that we might hold a communion among our selves, & all depend upon him as upon our sovereign Lord. It is therefore the duty of one member to help another, and to do good one to another, even as it is in the members of the body, all have not one office, but everyone his special function, but for the good & comfort of the whole. And as it is in temporal blessings, so also it is in spiritual, God giveth & disperseth them variably. These tribes do come to Moses to obtain their suit. They attempt not by force or by fraud to get it; they use lawful means, they have recourse to the Magistrate. It is our duty therefore to go to the Magistrate to obtain our right, & to make petition of lawful things to him. Again, albeit the children of Israel smote this land of the Midianites, yet it is said the Lord smote it; because the labors & endeavors of men come to naught, & of every good action, God is the principal agent, & the creature only y ^e instrument & is supported by his power. From hence this ariseth, that all good actions of the second cause are to be ascribed to y ^e first cause as the chief worker thereof. See also the manner of their speech, if we have found grace in thy sight, thus they speak to the Magistrate; which teacheth y ^t we ought to use & show all reverence & humility both in word & gesture to Magistrates and to our superiors. Al these things are good, & serve for imitation: but there is one thing more, & also must serve for our instruction, though it be evil. These tribes do seek their own profit, & altogether forget their brethren; their mind was more vpō their own cattle, then the procuring of the good estate of the rest. We learn hereby, that the immoderate love of this world is dangerous, drawing to sin against God and to break the bonds of nature. Where y ^e love of the world & of our selves is thoroughly settled it worketh a careless neglect of all others. Abraham & Lot loved as natural brethren, nothing could separate them, they went out of their country, and from their kindred together, Gen. 11, 31, what severed these but matters of the world? when Lot looked on Sodom, & saw it fruitful as Eden, he left Abraham and dwelled there, which brought great trouble upon himself, Gen. 13. And afterward what caused Lots wife to look backward, &c. was it not the love of the things w ^c he had left behind? Gen. 19. Luke 17. Saul looked upon the fattest of the sheep, & fell into disobedience, & lost his kingdom. Achan looked vpō the wedge of gold & the Babylonish garment, & set his heart upon thē, & provoked God against himself & the host of Israel, Ios. 7 The like we might manifest by sundry other examples, of y ^e young man y ^t came to Christ, Ma. 19 of Judas that betrayed his Master, Math, 26: & of Demas that forsook Paul, and embraced this present world, 2. Tim. 4.

[Reason 1] And no marvel. For the love of God & the love of the world are contrary the one to the other, there is no affinity between them, they are enemies, and one cannot abide the other. These can never look each other in the face, but by and by they turn their backs, 1. John 2, 15, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. These two are as two contrary Masters, no man therefore can serve them both, for both require the whole service of a man, & both command contrary things, Mat. 6, 24. Secondly, the desire of these worldly things is a rank thorn, Luke 8, and is the root of all evil, 1. Tim. 6. The hearts of men are hardened by it, when once they are ensnared and taken in love with it. The world is a very harlot, it speaketh fair, & promiseth much good; it hath a painted face, but within it is nothing but filthiness, like sepulchers that appear beautiful without, but are nothing within, but full of rottenness and dead men's bones.

[Use 1,] This teacheth us that worldly things profit not: we think, when once we have gotten them, that we are happy men, when we are by them never the nearer to God, never the more beloved of God, never the nearer to his kingdom. Why then should we be slaves and servants to them, or suffer our selves to be carried by them from duties belonging to God & men? Hence it is that Solomon showeth, that riches are reserved to the hurt of the owners thereof, Eccl. 4, and 5. And many while they seek wholly after these things, they do lose peace with God, and heap up wrath against themselves, I am. 5.

[Use 2] Secondly, we see hereby how hardly they enter into the kingdom of Heaven that have them, Math. 19. Christ teacheth this out of the example of the rich man that went away sorrowful, when he heard mention of forsaking his riches. His riches was his joy and chief treasure, he had set his heart upon them, and therefore to leave them was as irksome to him as to leave his life. This man's case is not singular, neither may other men think themselves by nature to be better. The same corruption hath taken hold upon all: whosoever have the worlds good, have need of a special grace of GOD to assist them, that they be not blinded and hardened by the love of them.

[Use 3] Thirdly, let us not be immoderately careful for them, and let us have our conversation without covetousness. We brought nothing with us into the world, and we shall carry as little with us, 1. Tim. 6. Heb. 13. It is no profit to win the whole world and to lose our own souls, Math. 16.26: and therefore let us be contented with our estates wherein GOD hath set us. It is our duty to labor against this immoderate love of the world; not that the things in the woe • ld are of themselves evil, but because we are ready to abuse them. Now if any desire to have some helps to keep him from the excessive love of the world, and from putting his trusts in his riches, let him meditate upon these things. First, such is the wickedness of a man's heart, and the corruption of his nature, that he maketh his outward estate, if he have riches and a plentiful and prosperous condition, to be his glory, and the thing wherein he rejoiceth and triumpheth, Psal. 62, 10. Ier, 9, 23. Dan. 4, 27. Luke 12, 19. Psal. 36, 6, 7, Isaiah 39, 6. Psal. 49, 16, For how do men judge of themselves? They imagine that others will prize them, as they have learned to value themselves, and that they shall be honored and esteemed for these things: they think that all men will admire them for their wealth, and that men will account them so much more excellent then others, as they are more rich and wealthy. And such is the misery of our times, that for the most part it is so indeed, they hold an opinion of every man, not according to his properties, but according to his possessions; not according to his virtues, but according to his goods. Howbeit in this, both sorts are deceived. For by this means it cometh to pass, that it is not the man that is honored, but his riches; for if they were gone, the honor would fall away also. We see by experience, that where there is much riches, there is much pride; nothing is more common then to have the heart lifted up in prosperity. They think riches are given unto them, because they deserve them better then others. It is hard to keep pride out of the heart, when God sendeth wealth into the house.

Secondly, the desire of riches is like the grave that is not satisfied. It is like the sea that receiveth all waters, and yet it is not full. So long as the rich man seeth another before him or beyond him, he cannot be quiet. If he have attained to be equal with one, he will strive to be like another, and so proceedeth till he come to the highest degree & measure of all. The more a man drinketh of the water of the sea, the more he thirsteth and desireth; so it is with riches, such as have tasted the sweetness of them, & delight greatly in y ^e taste, they greatly provoke the appetite to long after more, and therefore no marvel if they use all means lawful and unlawful to come unto them. Thirdly, abundance of riches are hardly gotten without sin; for whether we obtain them by excessive gaining, or by excessive sparing, neither are done without sin. And how many are there in the world among those that are grown great & wealthy in the world, who, so often as they behold their riches, may justly challenge themselves, & say, These sins have I committed in the getting of my goods, and these duties have I omitted in the keeping of them? How then should we dote upon these things, which are unto us the badges and signs of our sins? and which are as witnesses ready to open their mouths against us, when no other either can or dare accuse us? Fourthly, riches are common blessings, to be found as well among the ungodly, as among the godly: yea oftentimes the ungodly have the greatest portion of thē. They have their heaven in this life, and they want nothing. So then if it were possible for a man to have the treasures of a kingdom, yet he must know that he hath gotten no more then a most wicked man may have, and is by them no nearer to the kingdom of Heaven then a reprobate may be. Fifthly, riches are ordinarily, without God's especial restraining and reforming hand, the occasions of much evil and wickedness, of oppression, of fraud, of cruelty and profaneness. Riches can never make a man good, but oftentimes make those naught that otherwise might be good; why then should we rejoice in them, and be possessed with the love of them? If we respect the virtue that is in riches, or the power that is in man, it is not possible for a man to be rich and good together: nevertheless, to him, to whom all things are possible, it is possible to make a man good in the middes of his riches, without whose grace it cannot be. Sixthly, the vanity of the world appeareth in the uncertainty and mutability of riches; should we set our hearts upon that which taketh her wings and flieth up to Heaven? They arise in a moment, and suddenly they are gone, and never appear again. They are gotten with much care, they are kept with much fear, they are lost with much grief. Therefore it is the precept of the Apostle, Trust not in uncertain riches, 1. Tim. 6: we are not soon possessed of them, but we may soon be deprived of them. Lastly, we must give an account to God how we have used them as well as how we have gotten them. Many in the world might be accounted happy men, if there were no day of reckoning. But we must depart from hence, and leave them, and they us, our pomp will not follow us, Psal. 49, 17. Let us therefore labor against the immoderate love of the things of this life, neither suffer any such corruption to be nourished in us.

[Use 4] Lastly, we must learn to prefer the best things, such as the Apostle speaketh of, when he showeth what danger hangeth over their heads that love nothing else but the goods of this world, he breaketh out into this exhortation, 1. Tim. 6.11. Thou, O man of God, fly these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. And that we may see the excellency of heavenly & spiritual graces above earthly things, let us in the properties of them compare the one with the other, that so the love of the world to come may swallow up all love of this present world. All the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them are vanity, Eccl. 2, 11: but Solomon opposeth to this the fear of God and his commandments. The riches of this life are oftentimes gotten with doing wrong and with oppression, Ier. 5, 27. Luke 16, 9, 11: it is not so with piety and godliness which is the true riches and gain, 1. Tim. 4. Riches are kept with grief and anguish, he cannot rest & sleep that is vowed with them as with a frenzy, Eccl. 5, 12: but godliness is the mother of all peace and comfort, and maketh the sleep to be sweet, and bringeth no fear, or grief, or care with it, Prov. 3, 24. Riches are corruptible, the moth may corrupt them, and the thief may steal them, Math. 5, 19. I am. 5, 2, 3: but heavenly graces can never fade, they shall endure forever, they shall follow us after we are gone, they can never be lost when once they are gotten. Earthly riches make the owners as slaves, they nail the mind of man to the earth, that he cannot lift up his eyes to Heaven, Math. 6, 21: but piety beareth us up as it were with Eagles wings, that we learn by little and little to mount up to Heaven, and to have our conversation there, even while we sojourn upon the earth. Riches can deliver no soul from eternal death, nay sometimes they are means to thrust the same into hell, Prov. 10, 2, and 11, 4: but godliness freeth a man from everlasting death, and setteth him in the path that leadeth to life. We are forbidden to heap up transitory riches, Math. 6, 19. and 10.9, 10. Ptou. 23.4: and if we have them, it is only in this life, they serve no further, and afterward there is no need or use of them, 1. Tim. 6, 7. Job 1, 21. Psal. 49.11: but godliness serveth for the next life, and we are commanded to treasure it up, and the more we labor to increase it, the happier we are. Riches are often taken from the right owners, and come into the hands of our enemies, not only after we are departed this life, but even whiles we live, as we see by many examples of sundry cities and provinces, 1. King. 14, 25, 26 and 2. King. 24, 15. Ezek. 29, 19. 2. Kings 23, 35. Heb. 10, 34: but piety shall never be taken away, nor be bestowed upon our enemies, but layeth up for us an enduring substance in heaven, and it maketh the greatest enemies to be the greatest friends; it maketh the wolf & the lamb dwell together, and the leopard to dwell with the kid, and the sucking child to play upon the hole of the asp, Isaiah 11, 6.7, 8. Many of the godly have been without the earthly riches, Christ our Lord did not desire them, 2 Cor. 8, 9. Math. 8.20: nor his servants covet after them, Heb. 11, 26, 37, 2 Cor. 6, 4. Act. 3. But none of the godly have been without the heavenly riches, all have desired them, all have obtained them, some in one measure and some in another: and herein they have accounted their happiness and blessedness to consist,

6 And Moses said unto the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?

7 And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land, which the Lord hath given them?

8 Thus did your fathers when I sent them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land.

9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the the Lord had given them.

10 And the Lord's anger was kindled, &c.

11 Surely none of the men that came out of Egypt from twenty year old and upward shall see the land, &c.
14 Behold ye are risen up in your fathers stead an increase of sinful men, &c.
15 But if ye turn away, &c.

Here beginneth the second part of the Chapter, to wit, the conditions of agreement, how the matter was decided & ended: wherein observe the debating and pleading of the matter, then the determining of the controversy. Touching the demure or debating; first Moses sharply reproveth and rejecteth the request of these tribes, and showeth the unfitness and unlawfulness thereof, which he proveth both by the dangerous effect that would follow, the discouragement of the rest of the people, and by example of the like practice of the false-hearted spies, who, after they returned from searching of the land, spread abroad false news, whereby the hearts of the Israelites were weakened, & God was so greatly provoked, that he pronounced the sentence of death against all above twenty years old, Caleb and Joshua excepted; This history we saw before Chapter 13, 24. This doth Moses press and urge to the full, and showeth what heavy judgment came upon the host for discouraging of the people, whereby we see, that nothing is more forcible to repress and hold from sin, then urging the examples of God fearful judgments in former times against those that have committed the like sins, 1. Cor. 10.7, and Jude verse 6, 7. 2. Pet. 2.4, 5, 6. Nehem. 13.17, 18. Josh. 22, 17: for examples are oftentimes more powerful and piercing then precepts or threatenings are, and therefore Moses is so earnest in this kind. Again, whatsoever was written afore time was written for our instruction. This reproveth those that will take no warning by any examples, but are secure till the judgment begin to take hold upon them: like to those careless people, that when a city is on fire never look to their own house, till it take hold upon it, and be ready to burn it down to the ground. Everyone would condemn such reckless persons; but such are all those that see the judgments of GOD break out upon others, and yet will not look to themselves. Furthermore, we must all take notice of such examples, & no man ought to be ignorant of them, 1. Cor. 10, 1, neither suffer them to pass away from them without observation. But to omit this, we see in the behavior of Moses what ought to be the practice of the Ministers of God. He was a great Prophet of God, and he reproveth the people (to prevent further evil) very sharply. Hence we see, that the Ministers of God, that have the office of teaching committed unto them, must not reprove faintly, coldly and carelessly; but sharply, earnestly, zealously, fervently, and powerfully, Isaiah 40, 3: they must be as the voice of a crier, not of a whisperer, Hos. 4, 1, 2. Thus did all the Prophets teach, and so did the Apostles, Ier. 2, 2. John. 7, 20, 37.

The grounds of this are very apparent. [Reason 1] First, because we often deal with those that are dull of hearing; men commonly are deaf, and so unfit to hear those things that belong to their peace, therefore doth the Lord require of his Ministers that they cry aloud, and lift up their voice like a trumpet, Isaiah 42, 18: & Christ our Savior, when he was preaching, oftentimes crieth out, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Secondly, many are fast asleep, & had need to be awaked. He that will speak to a man that is fallen asleep, had need to cry aloud, as Elijah telleth the Priests of Baal, 1, Kings 18, 27. So the Ministers must deal with such as sleep in sin and security, nay, they are cast into a dead sleep, that they can never be raised but by the powerful voice of God speaking in his word, Ephes. 5, 14. John. 5, 25. Thirdly, the hearts of men are forestalled and possessed with the pleasures and delights of the world, and so they speak to men occupied about other matters, and such as have no leisure to attend to the word, nor anything but the world. If a man have a quick ear, and be broad awake, yet if he be talking or not attentive, or muse upon other matters, he cannot hear, he must be called and cried unto, and all little enough to stir him up. Such as were busy about the world, when they were called, set light by the word, Math. 22, 5: they regarded not the messengers sent unto them. Fourthly, the Minister is God's mouth and Messenger, as the Magistrate is God's hand: the mouth denounceth his anger, the hand executeth his judgment and vengeance. The Minister is his mouth to accuse, convince and threaten: the Magistrate is his hand to punish, for which end he hath committed a sword unto him, 2. Cor. 10.4.5.6. 1 Cor. 4.20.21. Fifthly, such as are in danger of their lives, or see other in danger, do not speak coldly, but earnestly call for help, with all the strength they have. So dealt the Angel with Lot, when he lingered in Sodom, Gen. 19, 15.16, he had a commandment given unto him to arise and to take his wife and his daughters, and a threatening annexed, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city; and then he caught hold upon him, and took him and his wife & his daughters by their hands, and brought them forth, and set them out of the city. Now the people of God are in like danger through sin, how then should the Minister deliver his own soul, or save the people, if he perform his message coldly and not earnestly as if he would pull them out of the fire lest they be burned? Jude verse 22, 23: or out of the waters lest they be drowned.

[Use 1] We learn from hence, the great backwardness and untowardness of men to every good work. For what need this sharp reproof & zeal in the Minister, if they were ready to hear, and pliable to be taught? But we are so dull and deaf of hearing, so fast asleep in sin, and so forestalled with the world, that we hear no more then dead men. A man would think, that when we are called to life and salvation, nay before we are called, we should run of our own accord; so soon as it is said to us, Arise, the Master calleth, who should sit still? ought not everyone to cast away all impediments, and to make haste unto him? and yet we see how backward the most part are in the best things. The things that we affect and desire and delight in, half a word will serve to persuade; whereas on the contrary, there must be no small ado to make us apprehend heavenly things, we are so dull and dead to conceive them. One observeth well, that most men are like unto hounds w ^c have long ears, that hinder them from looking upward, and yet they are sharp scented for the earth: so is it with earthly-minded men, they are sharp scented touching earthly things, but they are slow to hear and understand heavenly things, Deuter. 29, 2. Moses complaineth of the Israelites, that albeit they had heard and seen, yet they knew and discerned nothing. This people (though dead long ago) seem to be revived and risen again: for this is true of this age, (if ever of any) that when we should be awakened by the preaching of the Gospel, we are made the more obstinate and have our ears stopped either with the pleasures or the profits of the world, that we cannot hear the voice of the charmer charm he never so wisely. These are spiritually possessed by Satan's policy, like him in the Gospel that was made both deaf and dumb, Mat 9. Man is said to stop his ears, so is Satan, and so is God also; all work and concur in this. Man stoppeth his ears first through his own corruption: the devil stoppeth man's ears by his allurements and temptations; God stoppeth them by his just judgment. Man stoppeth them as a sinner: the devil as a tempter: and God as a Judge. Whosoever would not have God give him over either to his own corruptions or to Satan's temptations, must take especial heed of the stopping of his own ears. For the true cause why the devil stoppeth, and the cause why God stoppeth, is nothing else but a man's own stopping of his ears which goeth before. Let every man therefore take notice of his own natural deadness, and seek to him unfeignedly that only can open the ear, who openeth & no man shutteth, who shutteth and no man openeth. Let us labor to hear God speaking unto us in his word, and so shall God hear us when we cry unto him, and we shall receive every good thing needful for us, and have them sanctified unto us for our benefit in this life, and for our comfort and salvation in the life to come.

Secondly, this teacheth the Ministers (for [Use 2] I must come to them, lest I may seem to pull on eyes when I go abroad, and to be blind at home) to put on zeal and fervency in delivering the word of God to the people, as the Prophets were commanded. There are many that regard not how it be delivered, so it be delivered; they care not how the hour be spent, so it be spent, and respect not what they say, so they have said somewhat: which is as fond a thing, as if he that buildeth an house should never regard with what stuff he buildeth, or he that soweth, whether he sow in the highway, among the rocks and thorns, or in his field. Many there are that go up into the pulpit that never spend themselves, nor waste their spirits, nor decay their strength, they are rather like those that are half asleep, or stand up to tell a tale, or to utter a dream. Whosoever is ignorant of the state of his people, that never considereth he speaketh to a deaf people that cannot hear, but is careless in his place, endangereth his own soul and the soul of the people committed to his charge. He then that would teach aright, must put on zeal and be earnest in the Lord's cause, that so he may work upon their hearts, and leave stings in their consciences, as Acts 2.37, while Peter preached, they were pricked in their hearts, and said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? We say commonly, that cold coals heat nobody. It must therefore first come from his own heart, there must be heat there, or else there shall never come any heat to others. We see by experience, that cold iron and hot can never be mixed together: but before they can be tempered, they must both of them be well heated in the fire; so except the heart of the Minister and of the people be heated, he shall never fasten anything upon them, or work any good in them. It is true, it is the work of the Lord to heat the soul, as it is he that warmeth the body: this he doth by instruments the fire and the Sun, so he doth the soul and conscience by his Ministers and by his word. All parents are charged to whet the Law upon their children, Deut, 6, 7: if parents must do this to their children, then much more ought the Ministers of God to be earnest in this duty. If any ask wherein this earnestness and fervency consisteth, I answer, not barely in crying out with a loud voice, as many suppose. For many men have no voice to speak loud, and there are many that speak loud, who have little heat or zeal in them. Some will be as earnest in alleging a bare testimony of Scripture, as others can be in making application. These do it more out of use or custom, then from any feeling or touch of conscience in themselves. Seeing then the earnestness that we require may be without the loudness of voice, and the loudness of the voice may be without earnestness, we must find it elsewhere, to wit, in the power of the Spirit that speaketh in him. It is not the earnestness of the voice that is so much required, albeit it falleth out many times where the heart is truly affected, that there the voice will be extended to the uttermost: and yet even in a weak voice proceeding from a weak body, a Minister may truly show the zeal of his heart, as well, as if the word were delivered with a loud and powerful voice; and God requireth no more then a man hath, 2 Cor. 8, 12. The Apostle saith, that his bodily presence was weak among the Corinthians, and his speech held as contemptible, 2 Cor. 10, 10: whereby it seemeth he was not one of the sons of thunder that had a great voice; nevertheless we find that the power and efficacy of the Spirit did both appear and abound in him. So then the Ministers of God must be zealous and fervent in their places, that so they may the better discharge their consciences, and also bring the more profit to those that are committed unto them.

[Use 3] Thirdly, it condemneth those that censure the Ministers of God for their earnestness and zeal in delivering the word of God. Such persons as are ready to commend a servant that is earnest in doing his Masters will with a good affection, will condemn the Minister of God when he delivereth the word with such earnestness. These spare not to say to him as Paul did to Festus, Act. 26, 24, that they preach as if they were mad or beside themselves. But if the answer of Paul will not serve and suffice these men, who replied to that accusation, I am not mad most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness, Acts 26, 24.25: let them take the words of the Prophet Hosea, chap. 9, 7: the spiritual man is mad for the multitude of thine iniquity. The abundance of iniquity, and the obstinacy of wicked men running on in their sin (as a violent flood that runneth over the banks) were able to make the Minister mad with crying to them to leave their sins, and to forsake their evil ways, when they are so set upon them, that say the Minister what he can, and let him cry out as loud as he list, they will not abate one hair or a pin of their pride, or remit one hour of their profaning the Sabbath, or drink one draught, nay not one drop the less, or the covetous person give one penny or half penny the more to relieve the needy members of Christ, I say the consideration of this were able to make the Minister even mad in delivering of his message which God hath put into his mouth. If a father should be beside himself for the wickedness of his graceless children; would not every man pity the father, and spit in the faces of those children, and hold them worthy of all punishment? but what would they say to such children, as should go up and down, and boast themselves that they were the causes of their fathers madness? Are there not some graceless hearers (O that there were not too many) that when they have made their Minister as it were mad with reproving them, that will insult over them, and glory among their companions, that they have made their Minister preach as if he were mad: howbeit, if it be for the glory of God, and the benefit of his people, they need not care, nor esteem to be judged of men, or account it any disgrace from the mouths of graceless people to be accounted mad; we must walk through good report and evil report, it skilleth not therefore though we be reputed mad, so it be for a good cause, for the beating down of profaning the Sabbath, of contempt of the word, of oppression, pride, covetousness, and such like enormities. There was not a man more meek upon the earth then Moses; yet when he came from the mount, and saw that the people had sinned, he presently grew so angry, that having the two Tables of the Law in his hand written by the finger of God, he threw them down to the ground and brake them in pieces. The people of this generation account their Ministers for a lesser matter then this to be mad and out of their wits: but while they cry out aloud that their contempt of God & his holy word is damnable, that the open profanation of the Lord's day is damnable, that the horrible pride whereof our whole nation is sick, is damnable, that drunkenness that aboundeth & over-spreadeth everywhere is damnable; if this be madness, we confess we are mad, and God make us yet more and more mad to lay open these abominations. But indeed and in truth (if we will judge aright) it is quite contrary, for they are the maddemen, and the Minister is sober. Paul was charged to be mad; but who was mad, Paul or Festus? The mad man laugheth, and the Physician bewaileth him; even so it is between the Minister and the people, they scoff at him, while he mourneth for them & for the hardness of their harts, knowing them to be beside themselves, forasmuch as they will not refrain from those things which they reprove. Alas, what do these men herein, but like foolish patients, who pull off the plasters which the Surgeon hath laid upon their wounds, and in the mean time lie rotting and festering in their corruptions? If these men continue thus resolute & obstinate in their evil ways, the time shall one day come, (O that it be not at hand, O that it be not too late) when they shall confess that the Ministers of the Lord were sober, and that themselves were the mad men, when they shall feel themselves for their iniquities thrust down to the place of the damned, and see the Ministers that reproved them among y ^e Saints of God in great glory.

[Use 4] Lastly, learn from hence the great desire that God hath of the good and salvation of his people, who thus carefully sendeth his Ministers to call so earnestly and effectually for the conversion and repentance of sinners. The Lord doth not appoint them for a form and fashion, but to deal with power & zeal, if by all means they may save some, 1, Cor. 9. Isaiah 55, 1: would the Lord make so much ado, if he were not desirous that the sinner should repent him of his evil ways, that so he might blot all his wickedness out of his remembrance? Ezek. 18. A man would be accounted very desirous to sell his wares and utter his commodities, who not only hath a broker to vent them for him, but maketh open proclamation at the cross or in the market place, that he hath such and such wares to be bought: and yet all this while he respecteth his own private good and gain only. But when a man will proclaim and say, Ho, come and buy without money or without money worth, doubtless this argueth a man's great love and desire of the good of his brother. The Ministers, they stand upon their watch-tower, and cry from the house tops, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money: come ye, buy and eat, ye come buy wine and milk without money, and without price, Isaiah 55, 1. He requireth no more but this, to lay down their vices, and to take up his graces. The Physician sometimes giveth strong purgations, but the end of them is the curing of the disease, and the recovering of the diseased. So is it with God, when he armeth his Ministers with the two edged sword of his word, & giveth them courage and boldness to open their mouths against all iniquity. It is therefore a token of a desperate heart, and a sign of one cast into a reprobate sense, when the threatenings of God's judgments drive not to repentance. Such as hate to be reformed, there is more hope of a fool then of them.

Wherefore discourage ye the hearts of the childron of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? This is one reason of the reproof, and why he dealeth so sharply with them; they did weaken the hands, yea the hearts of their brethren, whom they ought to have strengthened and encouraged. This teacheth us, that it is a grievous sin to give offense to others, or to do anything whereby our brethren may be discouraged from walking in God's ways, or encouraged to y ^e breach of any of his Commandments. Hereunto come sundry examples set down in the Scriptures. While the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, and were going toward the land of Canaan, they had many means offered to pull them back, as we have seen before, some of them would have made them an Electo or Captain, and so return back again into Egypt, Chapt. 14, 4: the spies that were sent to search the land discouraged the hearts of their brethren, saying, The people is greater and taller then we, the cities are great, and walled up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there, Deuter. 1, 28. Numb. 13, 28. Thus it was with the people of GOD when they were returned from captivity, and began to build the altar and the Temple to the Lord God of Israel: for the adversaries of Judah and Biniamin sought to weaken their hands, and to trouble them in building, Ezra 4, 4. Neither was it any better afterward, when Nehemiah came up to build the walls of Jerusalem, and to revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish: for Sanballat, Tobiah, and the rest of that rank scoff at them, and say, Even that which they build, if a fox come up, he shall even break down their stone wall, Nehem. 4, 3. The Lord likewise chargeth his people, that if there did arise among them a Prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, that should go about to seduce them and draw them away to serve other gods, they should not believe the signs, nor hearken to the words of that Prophet, but cleave fast unto God, obeying his voice, and keeping his Commandments, Deuter. 13, 1.3.4. The grounds hereof.

First, such as offend by giving offense to [Reason 1] others, and withdraw them from their holy obedience to God, are guilty of a grievous sin, yea are partakers of their sins whom they have terrified and discouraged from obeying the Lord. For whomsoever we have hindered from good things, we are guilty of their sins, and their blood shall be required at our hands. The sin of the Israelites committing fornication with the daughters of Moab, was th • sin of Balaam also, because through his counsel they committed that trespass against the Lord, Num 25, 1, and 31, 16, Secondly, such are the seed of that wicked one, the children of the devil; they are his instruments, and set on work by him that was a murderer from the beginning, John. 8, 44. He tempted our first parents in the garden, & discouraged them from hearkening to the voice of GOD; so are all those tempters that any way hinder y ^e course of their brethren walking in the ways of God, and are stamped in the image of the first tempter, and are made like unto him. And therefore when Peter dissuaded Christ from the work of man's redemption; (for when Christ began to show to his disciples, that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the Elders and chief Priests and Scribes, & be killed and be raised again the third day; he took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee:) the Lord Jesus turned about and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offense unto me; for shou sauourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men, Mat. 16, 23: where by we are taught, that such as are an offense to others, are no better then the instruments of Satan, & therefore justly bear his name.

[Use 1] The uses follow. First, this setteth down the unlawful condition of such as hinder others in the profession, and labor to make them fall from God. Thus did the devils as we heard before, they threw down our first parents from the hight of their happiness, & therefore are reserved in chains unto judgment, 2 Pet. 2, 4. In the Law he is accursed that layeth a stumbling block before the blind to cause him to wander out of the way, and all the people shall say, Amen, Deut. 27, 18: he therefore that seeketh to subvert and supplant the faith of men, and to destroy the soul, must needs be under a far greater curse of God and man. The souls of such as perish through their procuring shall cry out against them, and bring down an heavy judgment upon them. Hence it is that Christ our Savior saith, Who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea; woe unto the world because of offenses, it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom offenses come, Math. 18 6, 7: we see therefore the wretched estate and condition of all those that give offense to others. They are guilty of horrible sins against God and against their brethren; O that they had eyes to see them, and hearts to bewail them. Every man is prone through the corruption of his nature to fall from God, but much more when occasions are laid before them for two are stronger then one: and if we have always one foot ready to slip, we are in more danger of falling when we are pushed forward. Let all such consider as have caused others to fall, that the time will come when it will be required at their hands. These do hunt for the precious life of a man, they are soul-hunters and soul-killers and destroyers, and murder those for whom Christ died. These are the chief causes of the coldness and backwardness of Religion, and that so few profess it in sincerity. Our Savior pronounceth an heavy woe against them that neither entered into the kingdom themselves, neither suffered others to enter, but hindered them, Luke 11, 52. This woe lieth upon the shoulders of all those that stop the way of others, that they cannot enter into it.

[Use 2] Secondly, think it not strange when we have this measure offered unto us, and when men whisper us in the ear to take heed we be not too forward or precise, and that thereby we shall lay our selves open to the reproaches of the world; if sinners thus entice us, hearken not unto them. It hath been an old practice to discourage and discountenance others from obeying God. It is bitter to hear and bear the railings and revilings of carnal men, and many start aside from the truth by such taunts. And if these reproaches proceeded only from open enemies, they might be borne more easily: but it pleaseth God many times to try the faith and to prove the patience of his faithful servants farther, and they receive much discouragemēt from their acquaintance, & from their friends, with whom they took sweet counsel together, and walked with them into the house of God. Job received much disgrace by his own wife that lay in his bosom, as also by his three friends that were as his own soul, and came to visit and to comfort him; but miserable comforters were they all, as himself complaineth chapt. 16, 2, and chapt. 19, 2, 3, How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? these ten times have ye reproached me, &c. Was not this, think you, a great temptation and assault to the faith of this righteous man to be thus taunted and tormented by his dear friends, and by his dearest wife? was he not flesh and blood as well as others, to have an inward feeling of these sorrows, & to drink up the very lees of this bitter cup? was he as brass and iron, or had he a body of steel that these afflictions could not pierce him or enter into him? No doubtless, for then his patience could not be commended unto us, and set before us for an example, I am. 5, 11. If then it go so with us, we have the Prophets and holy men of God for an example of suffering affliction that have gone before us. The Church complaineth in Solomon's Song, that the watchmen, that went about the city, found her, they smote her, the keepers of the walls took away her veil from her, Cant. 5.7. They that should be her guard, turned to be her grief: and they that watched for her, wounded her.

The people that profess the truth in sincerity look to have all encouragement from their Ministers in well-doing: yet oftentimes it falleth out (as with the Church before) that such work them all the disgrace they can, and seek to put them to shame that should be their glory, Phil. 4, 1, and vex them with the cross that ought o the their crown, and discomfort them that indeed might be their joy and their comfort. Paul complaineth oftentimes of the Jews and of false brethren, by whom he received greater hurt, then ever he did at the hands of the Gentiles, Tit. 1, 10, 11. 2 Cor. 11, 26. Sometimes children have hard measure offered unto them by their fathers and mothers, whose rejoicing it should be to see their children prosper in good things, yet oftentimes it falleth out, they are scoffed at by them: and this falleth out not only in the bloody days of persecution when parents have betrayed their own children the fruit of their bodies into the hands of cruel persecutors, but likewise in the times of peace and prosperity and the general and public profession of the Gospel, when we seem all to embrace one faith and one Religion; yet if their sons and daughters be zealous in the truth, they mock & taunt them for their preciseness, and grieve the bowels of those that are and should be their own bowels, not only by nature, but in love and affection. And therefore Christ teacheth such children, Math. 10, 34, 35, 36. I came not to send peace upon earth, but a sword, and to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter. &c. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household: he that loveth father or mother more then me, is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more thē me, is not worthy of me. If then it fall out with us at any time as it hath come to pass to the Saints of God before us, that we are sought to be drawn from our faith and obedience by friend or enemy, by wife or children, by father or mother; we must not think the trial strange, but rather rejoice and be glad that we are made like unto the Prophets and holy men of God, nay like to our head JESUS CHRIST.

[Use 3] Thirdly, this should teach us to be bold to reprove such as stand in the way, and suffer not the people of God to go forward in good things. Every man will cry out against those varlets that stand with long Poles on their necks, or long Blades by their sides, and hinder passengers in their journey, and rob them of their money and treasure that they have about them. But these men y ^t lie in wait to hinder the passage of God's people in their pilgrimage toward the holy Land, I mean the heavenly Canaan, are worse then the former, for they seek to take from them the treasure which they have laid up in heaven. When the Disciples of Christ saw those that brought young children • o him that he might touch them, they reproved and rebuked those that brought them; But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God, Mar. 10, 13, 14. The Disciples reproved the people, but he reproved the reprouers: he would not wink at them that discouraged those that performed a good duty toward their childrē, but encouraged the people in their well-doing. When the multitude rebuked the two blind men sitting by the high way and crying unto Jesus to have their sight restored, because they should hold their peace, they cried out the more earnestly, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David, Math. 20, 31. The like we see in Paul, when the Disciples besought him not to go up to Jerusalem, he answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus, Act. 21, 13. Whensoever therefore we meet with such impediments & hindrances that would stay us from glorifying the Name of God, and performing good duties to him, let us labor to remove them, let us leap over these stumbling blocks, and break through these hedges though they be fenced with thorns. S. Jerome hath an excellent saying to this purpose, he counseled Heliodorus to go on in the course of piety, & follow after Christ, whatso-soever discoragements he found, & frō whomsoever, though his father stood weeping before him, and his mother hanging on his neck behind him, and all his brethren, sisters, children and kinsfolks howling on every side to retain him in a sinful trade of life with them, and to keep him from the kingdom of God; he should tread them under his feet, that he might run to Christ when he calleth him. His words are these, Licet paruulus ex collo pendeat nepos, licet sparso crine, &c. that is, Though thy Nephew hang about thy neck, though thy mother with her hair hanging down and her garments rent, show thee her breasts that gave thee suck, and though thy father should cast himself down upon the threshold to stop thy passage, yet go thou forward, trample upon thy father, and with dry eyes follow after Christ. This is the only kind of piety to be cruel in this matter. Christ Jesus in this case willeth us to hate father and mother, brethren and sisters; so that we should fling them to the ground, and run over them also, rather then they should hinder us from being the Disciples of Christ and from following him.

Fourthly, it is the duty of all men to take [Use 4] heed we walk without offense our selves, & then we shall be sure to give no offense to others. The Apostle chargeth us to walk wisely toward them that are without, Col. 4, 5. For if they should see daily offenses before them, it would be a means to keep them to be without still, that are without. 1 Thess. 4, 12, he moveth the Thessalonians to behave themselves honestly toward thē that are without. And to the Corinthians he saith, Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Grecians, nor to the Church of God, 1 Cor. 10, 32. So then we ought to be so far from discouraging any, that we should encourage everyone to the faith, gain those that are without, strengthen those that are within, comfort thē that are feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, and labor to turn many unto righteousness. The Apostle saith, Rom. 14, 1. Him that is weak in the faith receive you, but not to doubtful disputations; and verse 13. Let no man judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block, or an occasion to fall in his brothers way. Let us all that call upon the Name of Christ, and are called by his Name, walk circumspectly, and give no just occasion of sinning to any either word or deed, either to drive them by our evil example from God wholly, or to cause them to go on less cheerfully. Jeroboam is often described by this note, He made Israel to sin; and God hath set this mark upon him to know him wheresoever we find him, as he set a mark upon Cain. The Apostle speaking of such as become stumbling blocks to thē that are weak, saith, that they sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, and sin against Christ, 1 Cor. 8, 12. Such as break one of these least commandments and teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, Mat. 5, 19. This is the means to edify men in iniquity, & to open a gap to all licentiousness.

[Use 5] Lastly, to remove these discouragements & hindrances that we be not entrapped by thē, we must all labor after spiritual courage, & to tread upon all injuries and reproaches y ^t sinners cast out against us. Let us, when we hear their railings, stop our ears, & gather our spirits about us, & take courage to our selves. He that hath attained to a Christian resolution to go forward in y ^e duties of godliness hath got̄ the victory. The difficulty of this lieth more in our faintnes & fearfulness, then in the thing it self. Our own slothfulness & negligence make all things hard, that otherwise are easy; we must go to God, and pray to him to increase our faith, Luke 17: This is our victory which overcometh the world, even our faith, 1 John. 5, 4. This overcometh all temptations, and all offenses whatsoever in the world, & without it, it is not possible to be kept & preserved in the way of truth. What held Nicodemus among the Pharisees, but only the fear of men? he could not resolve to follow Christ, John. 3, 1: & 12, 42, 43 And the reproaches of the Pharisees cast out against him, whē he defended y ^e cause of Christ, put him to silence, & made him give over, until at length he shake off all impediments, and betake himself to follow him. A good example for us to follow: If we faint for reproaches, our strength is little, our faith is weak. The words of enemies cannot hurt us, except we through weakness and faintness hurt our selves. For if we neglect and reject them, they return upon him that cast them.

Behold ye are risen up in your fathers stead, an increase of sinful men, &c. Moses putteth these two tribes & the half in mind of the former provocations of their fathers, which had caused many judgments to break in upon them, & these were risen up in their stead, walking in their steps, so y ^t it fell out according to the Proverb: like father, like sons. We learn hereby, by this sharp charge, that it is an usual thing with God to punish the sins of the parents with y ^e sins of their children. The parents sin, & the children are oftentimes given over to follow them & to commit the same sins, or such like notorious sins, whereby he taketh vengeance of their sins, Gen. 21, 9, 10, & 9, 24 27, 1 King. 11, 11, Hos. 4, 13. This is evident in the Kings of Israel; of whom we may truly say, that y ^e fathers sinned, & the children rose up, an increase of sinful men, they were a wicked seed, and augmented the fierce anger of the Lord, until he removed Israel utterly out of his sight. So he threateneth oftentimes to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third & 4. generatiō of them y ^t hate him, Ex. 20

[Reason 1] And God doth deal thus for sundry causes. First, God respecteth the good of such parents as belong unto him; for he doth it to humble them, & to bring them upon their knees to repent for their sins w ^c happily they had forgotten long ago. It is a far greater grief to Christian parents to see them lie under this spiritual judgment, then afflictiō whatsoever. Secondly, such parents as are wicked & belong not unto him, are hereby hardened, & grieved and vexed. He doth it in part to pardon them, because when evil parents see their children commit any sins against the 1 table, w ^c are committed immediately against God. as to delight in swearing and blaspheming, in contempt of the word, neglect of his worship, and in profaning of the Sabbath; they are not touched or troubled at it, because they think it no judgment, & their sons to have committed no sins at all, & so it cometh to pass y ^t they are the more hardened: again, if they see their children commit any sin against the second Table, as murder, theft, or the like, whereby they undergo the punishment of the Magistrate, they are grieved and vexed for it, not because they have sinned against God, & provoked him to anger, but because their childrē & posterity are brought to shame and reproach before the world.

This serveth first of all to teach us that the [Use 1] ways of God are just & equal, against those that are ready to accuse him of injustice. God is a most just and righteous God, he dealeth with everyone according to his deserts. And he oftentimes punisheth sin with sin. For he doth not only punish sin with the sword of the enemy, with sicknesses & diseases, with famine and mortality, and such like which all do acknowledge and confess to be punishments, but he punisheth former sins with later sins. Thus he punished the Idolatrous Gentiles, when they knew God, and glorified him not as God, but worshipped & served y ^e creature instead of the Creator, by giving them up to their own vile affections and to a reprobate sense, to work uncleanness even with greediness, Rom. 1. And in these last times of the world, because men will not love and embrace the truth, He sendeth among them strong delusions that they should believe lies, 2 Thess. 2, [Object.] 12. But how doth God punish sin with sin, may some say? Doth he tempt unto evil? or doth he infuse any evil into them? Doth he allure and provoke men to sin? I answer [Answer.] with the Apostle, God tempteth no man to sin, I am. 1, 13: but he punisheth this way secretly, by withdrawing his grace, and giving them over to be entangled in their own corruptions. Thus God punished Pharaoh by hardness of heart, not by making that to be hard which was soft and pliable before, but by denying the oil of his grace whereby it should have been mollified. Thus also he tempted David to number the people, because his wrath was kindled against Israel for their sins. This is the most grievous punishment that can be inflicted in this life, howsoever many men never regard it: for other punishments through y ^e blessing of God, and a sanctified use of them, are usual means to bring us to true repentance: but when we are smitten with this adding of sin to sin, and are stricken with this plague sore we do more and more fly from him. Other punishments are as sharp eye-salves to make us see our own misery, that we may be moved to sue and seek for his mercy: but this judgment doth us no good at all, nay it blindeth our minds, it hardeneth our hearts, it scareth our consciences, it increaseth our sins, and doubleth our condemnation. Thus doth God show himself a just Judge.

[Use 2] Secondly, it directeth parents what they ought to do in the sins of their Children; w ^c may be reduced to these four heads. First, they must search to find out the cause of it: secondly, they must be humbled and sorrow for it: thirdly, they must labor to reclaim them: and lastly, they must abstain from sinning themselves, lest by their example they corrupt and infect them. Touching the first, it belongeth unto all parents in the sins of their children which they commit, to search & inquire diligently, whether this punishment fallen upon their children be not the punishment of some particular sin of their own formerly committed? and doubtless in searching, they shall not lose their labor, but oftentimes find that some fearful sin of theirs before committed, is the cause of those notorious sins that they see and behold in their children. For example: we see some Ministers and men of other callings, have their children fall to idolatry and superstition, and are gone after Antichrist, and fled into Babylon, the mother of whoredoms; this is no other then a just recompense of their fathers contempt, y ^t were neuters and lukewarm professors, neither hot nor cold, that never had the power of religion & godliness planted in them, no more then for the time to serve their turns, or to perform their places for fashion sake to which they were called. Many men's children are given to extreme riot, wasting their own substance that they have, and afterward their fathers living also that they have given them, & that oftentimes justly, to let their parents see, how God bloweth upon goods gotten by unlawful courses, so that being wickedly gathered, they are wastefully consumed. Again many children are exceeding obstinate and stubborn against their parents, neither will they be ruled and ordered by any doctrine or discipline: & this is oftentimes a due recompense of their parents cockering & indulgence, whē they let them have the rains cast in their own neck: when it had not been amiss to have given them the rod 7. years after. So it was with Eli, 1 Sa. 2. so it was David: they did not keep their children in awe, and therefore it came to pass that they knew neither God nor their parents, nor themselves. Many men's sons and daughters make many unlawful vows and sinful promises of marriage against their Parents consent: this is often a just recompense of those parents that had no care to provide for their children, nor to restrain them, but gave them liberty to walk & talk with others at their own pleasures, and that at unseasonable times; and so entangle themselves in such manner. Many men's children are given over to drunkenness, to excess & riot, loving the cups and the wine bottles: a just recompense upon their parents that delighted in the same sin before them, and therefore God even in their own sight & before their eyes, taketh vengeance of their former sin, by suffering their children after them to fall into the same sin. Many men have not that respect & honor given to them of their childrē that they ought to have; a just recompense unto them for dishonoring and disobeying their, own parents. Manie children do not so tender & regard the good name and credit of their parents as they ought when they hear them evil spoken of, nay they have been heard and known to curse their own parents, even to their death: a just recompense upon such parents that have heard the name of God rent & torn by horrible oaths, yea, by their own families, & yet would never reprove them, nor labor to reclaim them from it. So then, this is the first duty that is required of all parents, that they make speedy enquiry and search, whether God hath not justly taken vengeance of their former sins by this kind of punishment, that so they may be brought to repentance for them. The second duty required of parents, when they see the sins of their children in the vengeance of God against their own former sins, is to show their sorrow for their sins, and to be humbled for them, not so much because they are the sins of their children (and yet it becometh every father to mourn and lament for the sins of his children) but much more because they are their own, when they shall apprehend that God doth thereby take hold of some special sin of their own before committed. All parents are apt enough by nature to grieve and mourn for the temporal plagues that God layeth upon their children, and indeed if they should not do so we would account them unnatural parents, & very monsters: and yet how many of them do incur the everlasting displeasure of God, in that they cannot bewail the spiritual plagues of sin that are in their children, especially when they know them to be the just vengeance of God's judgments upon their own sins formerly committed? Let every man labor for this measure of humiliation, otherwise it is a certain sign that we did never truly mourn for our own sins. The third duty required of parents, is, that when they have made enquiry, & found that God punisheth their sins with the sins of their children in the first place, & when they have truly sorrowed and lamented for it in the second place, then in the third place, they must seek to recall and reclaym their children from such sins as God hath given them over to commit, as a just vengeance for their own proper sins formerly committed. If any parents should apprehend that any bodily sickness were on their children by their means, or through any occasion given by them, they would labor to remove it from them, & to have them cured of it, otherwise we would hold them to be unnatural parents. How much more then, when thenselves have so far provoked God by their former iniquities that he hath therefore forsaken their children, and given them over to commit the same sins after them, ought they to labor by all means to remove that spiritual judgment that lieth upon them? & if they do not, may we not truly pronounce y ^t these are cruel and bloody parents, nay indeed not parents at all, but rather spiritual murderers of their children? It is no small offense to be guilty of blood, especially of the blood of the soul, which cost the precious blood of Christ to redeem. Lastly, it belongeth to parents to be watchful & careful for the time to come. For, seeing the danger is so great to give thenselves to wickedness, it is their duty to labor & strive against sin hereafter, and to give all diligence to work righteousness, and that not only in respect of themselves, but of their children & posterity. If then they love themselves or their posterity, and would not have y ^e Lord to punish their sins with the sins of their children, let them take heed they do not provoke the Lord by their sins, and he in his just judgment make the children rise up in the fathers stead an increase of sinful men: for if they be sinful & wicked, we cannot but expect from God that he should punish their sins with the sins of their children to destruction, both of the one & of the other. We see how parents that put out their children to nurse, have a special care what manner person the nurse be, and prescribe that she neither eat nor drink those things that may hurt the child, forasmuch as the effects thereof are likely to appear in time to come in the body of the child. All parents are very careful to look to the diet of their children, let them be careful to look to the diet of their own lives: for doubtless as the course of their lives hath been, so it will afterward appear in their children. O you parents, whom God hath blessed and stored with Children, if there be any true love in your hearts towards yourselves and your children, look unto this duty: sin not in your own sins against y ^e fruit of your own bodies, but turn ro God betimes, that he may turn unto you. He is faithful in his word. Whatsoever he hath threatened it is surer then the heavens, it must certainly come to pass. If you provoke him by your sins, he will provoke you to your faces with his judgments, unto the utter confusion of yourselves, & of your posterity after you forever.

[Use 3] Lastly, this doctrine also belongeth to children, & putteth them in mind of sundry duties to be performed by them, which may be reduced to these branches. First, they must not imitate their fathers sins: secondly, they must pray to God not to remember their fathers iniquities: thirdly, they must be careful to look to their children, & that they lead an holy & sanctified life, that so they may call in God's judgments which otherwise he might justly bring on them. Touching the first, they must not follow their fathers in that which is evil. All inferiors are ready to walk in the steps of their superiors, and for the most part think themselves discharged from all crime or punishment if they be like to them, & no other then they have been before them. The prophet requireth this duty of the people, Psal. 78, 8. The Apostle willeth the church to follow him so far as he followed Christ, 1 Cor. 11, 1. So is it required of children to follow their fathers, but no farther then they follow the truth. This many among the Turks and Infidels may plead for themselves, and allege that they worship God as their forefathers did for many generations, & yet this shall not serve their turns. The 2. duty is, to pray to God not to remember the iniquities of their forefathers, as justly he might do to the confusion of their posterity. For why doth he not leave them to walk in their ways, but that he is merciful? Hence it is that the Lord saith, Isaiah 65, 6, 7. Behold it is written before me, I will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, your iniquities, & the iniquities of your fathers together, &c. God punisheth the sins of the fathers in their posterity, and thereore do punishments fall upon the posterity by reason of the sins of the ancestors. This doth Daniel in his prayer acknowledge, Let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy City Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, &c. chap. 9, 16: and therefore in the confession of sins that he made before, verse 8. he saith, O Lord to us belongeth confusion of face, to our Kings, to our Princes, and to our Princes, and to our Fathers, because we have sinned against thee. So Ezra 9, 7. Neh. 9, 34. Ier. 32, 18. Lam. 5, 7. Exod. 20, 5. When diverse generations continue in one sin successively, the Lord useth ordinarily to punish the latter more severely then the former, that thereby the sons might be provoked to fear to do the like when they see the sins of their fathers, Ezek. 18, 14: and the longer his patience is abused, the greater sin is committed, & the greater vengeance is deserved. Thirdly, all children must be careful of their posterity, and lead an unblameable & sanctified life, that so God may give them the grace of his Spirit, & not leave them to themselves to walk in the evil ways of their fathers that have gone before them.

16 And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our Cattle, & Cities for our little ones.

17 But we our selves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, &c.

18 We will not return unto our houses, &c.

19 For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side, &c.

The Tribes being reproved, do answer for themselves, expounding their meaning, or at lest propounding equal conditions, that they will go up armed before their brethren, and that they will not return till all their brethren were possessed of their inheritance, & that they would claim no inheritance beyond Jordan, but rest in that already purchased. The Israelites would have been much weakened, if these had staid behind. Therefore they do here promise that they will go foremost of all. We saw before that it is God only that giveth the victory, yet we see the means are not neglected. Howsoever therefore we ought not to put our trust & confidence in the means, yet we must carefully use the same, that so we may be able to perform those things which the law of God and our calling require of us. Again, in their disclaiming inheritance beyond Jordan, we learn that everyone should be contented with that estate that God hath allotted unto him, whatsoever it be. Moreover, we see how these two Tribes offer themselves to be companions with their brethren, in passing over Jordan, and in conquering the land, & in taking such part as they did. This teacheth, That it is the duty of all God's Children, to have a fellow-feeling and compassion of the miseries & afflictions of their brethren, 2 Sam. 11, 11. Heb. 13, 3. 1 Cor. 12, 26. Rom. 12.15. When Abraham heard that Lot was taken prisoner, he armed his servants, & sought to recover him out of the hands of the enemies, Gen. 14, 14. Moses also chose to suffer adversity with the people of God, & to leave all his preferment in Pharaohs Court, Heb. 11: he would not enjoy the pleasures of sin, when the church endured the misery of adversity.

[Reason 1] The grounds follow. First, we ought to have brotherly love in us, not only love, but brotherly love: this will work in us a pitiful heart toward those that are afflicted. The Apostle John professeth himself a companion with the Church in tribulation, in the kingdom and patience of Christ: he was grieved for their greef, & the bowels of compassion were moved in him for their afflictions, Re. 1, 9. And the writer to the Hebrews saith, Let brotherly love continue, Heb. 13, 1. Secondly, this duty performed leaveth a blessing behind it, God hath rewarded it, for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares, Heb. 13, 2: and he will reward it always. Thirdly, Christ accounteth this as done to himself: when his children are refreshed, he is refreshed: when they are clothed, or fed, or visited, or comforted, he is clothed, & fed, and visited, & comforted, Math. 25, 35. Fourthly, we are members one of another, as we are joined unto Christ, as members to the head, & are mystically made one with him; so all the faithful are fellow-members of the same body. In the members of the body, if a thorn run into the foot, the head stoopeth to it, the eyes look upon it, the fingers pull it out, the ear will hear what is good for it, the hand will apply salve to it, the tongue will ask counsel for it. So it should be with the members of Christ, if they be not dead or rotten. Lastly, we ought to show our selves to be careful one for another, and desirous to do good one to another, as 1 Cor. 12, 25. There should be no schism in the body, but the members should have the same care one for another.

This teacheth, that there is a communion among [Use 1] the Saints, consisting not only in rejoicing & in the use of gifts & blessings, but also in compassion and mourning one for the hurt of another; and therefore Peter exhorteth, Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another: love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. The heart of one must be the heart of all, & whosoever shunneth the communion of Saints in time of misery, shall never have their communion in the kingdom of glory. Everyone is ready to profess this communiō in prosperity, but are ready to deny it in adversity. But as they that will reign with Christ must first suffer with him, so they that will reign with his members in heaven, must first suffer with them also on the earth. This is an excellent privilege, to have our communion with the Saints. We are as freemen of God's City which is above, we must therefore enjoy the privileges thereof in common. And hereby we may assure our selves to belong to God, if we be alike affectioned one to another. Do we at any time hear of the tribulations of the Church? and do we inwardly lament for it? Let us comfort our selves in this, it is a notable sign y ^t we are members of the church. Do we hear that our neighbor churches are troubled with dissensions & divisions, that heresies are broached among them that heretics and pestilent seedmen are entertained among them, that the ancient doctrine preached & professed, is repealed, and that the parts of that body are ready to be miserably torn in pieces? & doth the meditation of this affect us, that we can secretly mourn for it, and say with the Apostle, I would they were even cut off which trouble you? this showeth indeed that we are of the communion of Saints. Are any of our brethren in particular in heaviness? have they sorrow? and can we grieve for them as if the affliction were our own? then we may persuade our selves that we have a communion not only with our brethren, but with our head Christ Jesus himself, which is the foundation of all true comfort and consolation.

Secondly, we may conclude, that dead-heartedness, [Use 2] and the want of Christian compassion in the distress of the Saints, proveth us to be no true members at all of the body of Christ. If we have means put into our hands, and do not help them and relieve them; or if we want ability, if there be not a passion and commiseration in our hearts, how doth the love of God dwell in us? Nay, this is a fearful token and manifest sign of little or no grace as yet bestowed upon us. Here is no mutual affection, to rejoice together, and to mourn together. There is a generation that repine and grudge at the good and happy estate of their brethren, and have evil eyes toward them, because God hath been gracious unto them: this was in Cain towards Abel, in Saul toward David, in the Scribes and Pharisees toward Christ, in Abimelech toward Isaac, in Laban toward Jacob. There is a generation that feast and fill themselves, that laugh and rejoice, that are merry & sport themselves when the poor Saints groan and are grieved; whereas we should be ready to communicate with them, & somewhat to asswage their greef and comfort their hearts in their affliction, we should help them to bear their burden in a common affection. The holy man Job protesteth that he never rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated him, neither lift up himself when evil found him, chap. 31, 29. The Prophet Obadiah telleth the proud & insolent Edomites that shame should cover them, & they should be cut off forever, because they rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, and spake scornfully and despitefully in their distress, Rase it, rase it even to the foundation thereof, Psal. 137, 7. Thus doeth the Prophet Amos reprove the wantonness of Israel, chap. 6, 1, 4. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, that put away far from them the evil day that lie upon beds of Ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, that eat y ^e Lambes out of the flock, and the Calves out of the midst of the stall, that drink wine in bolles, and anoint themselves with the chief ointment, but no man is grieved for the affliction of Joseph. There is a generation that can mourn and rejoice in temporal things, when they see their brethren in affliction they are grieved, and when they behold them prosper they are glad, when both these may be mere natural affections, and may also proceed from natural men. But we must extend this fellow-feeling (if we will be assured, that it is right) more to spiritual then to temporal cases. For let us mourn never so much for their losses in temporal things, yet except we can more earnestly lament their spiritual decays thē their worldly distresses, and rejoice more heartily for the access of heavenly graces, then the increase of transitory riches, this our affection is no better then a corruption, it can minister no comfort unto us at all, Luk 1, 58. Phil. [Use 3] 1, 3. 2 John 1, 2. Thirdly, we ought to be so careful of the good one of another, that we should inquire of the state of the church & of God's people in other places, how they fare, what they want, in what condition they stand. Many think themselves excused from helping those that are in need, if they can say, I knew not how it went with them, I was ignorant of their condition: but they are ignorant, because they will be ignoran • ; they know it not because they will not learn. This is a willing, nay a willful ignorance. It is noted of Nehemiah that he asked his brethren concerning the Jews that were delivered, which were of the residue of the captivity, &c. Neh. 1, 2, So did David inquire after he was put in peaceable possession of the kingdom, who was left of the house of Saul, that he might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake, 2 Sam. 9, 1. So did Paul & Barnabas return back to the places where they had preached the Gospel, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, Acts 14, 21, 22. & 15, 36. And Paul often inquired of the brethren that came unto him, whether they stood firm and fast in the faith, and resisted the false Apostles that sought to corrupt the sincerity of the Gospel. We should make diligent search of the temporal estate of our brethren, but much more how they stand toward God, how they do increase in the best things, that we may rejoice in their standing, and mourn in their decaying, and thereby be provoked either to give God praise & glory for their continuance and perseverance; or to pray to him to open their eyes to see their weakness, their standing still, or going back, or leaving their first love, that so they may repent and do their first works.

Lastly, it is our duty even to adventure our [Use 4] persons and estate for our brethren, if by any means we may relieve the distressed. This we see in Abraham toward Lot, Gen. 14: Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, but visited his brethren, and when he saw an Egyptian offer one of them wrong, He defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, Acts 7, 24. So it was with Obadiah that lived in Ahab's Court, when Jezebel raised hot persecution against the prophets of God, he took them, and hid them, and fed them in a Cave, not fearing the fierceness of their enemies, 1 Kin. 18. The like we see in Ester, a notable nursing mother of the Church, she went boldly to the King with this resolution, If I perish, I perish, Ester 4. verse 16: to have the lives of her people given at her request, chapt. 7. verse 3. Many in our days think they have gone far in Christianity, and take themselves to be notable and zealous Christians, if they wish well unto the state of the Church, or be not open enemies unto it. But it is not enough to wish the good of it, except by all means we labor to procure it, and learn to cast down all that we have, and be content to lick the dust of the Churches feet. Many will needs be accounted to be the friends of the Church, who will hazard neither goods, nor friends, nor honor, neither the favor of great men, nor the credit of the world, much less either limb or life: whereas the Apostle teacheth, y ^t this is true love, To give our lives for the brethren, 1 John chapt. 3. verse 16.

20 And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war:

21 And will go all of you armed, &c. until he have driven out his enemies, &c.

22 And the land be subdued, &c.

23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

24 Build you Cities, &c.

25 And the children of Gad, &c.

26 Our little ones, our wives, &c.

27 But thy servants, &c.

Here we have the conclusion of the whole controversy between these tribes and Moses, and under what conditions he assenteth unto them, that there might be no mistaking one of another. The sum whereof is this: If they would go up armed before their brethren, and go forward with them until their enemies were cast out, then they should return back again, and be guiltless before the Lord, and this land should be their lawful possession: if not, they should be guilty of sin before the Lord, and should not be able to escape the vengeance of God. These conditions propounded by Moses, are approved by the Tribes, who promise that they will leave their wives, and children, and families behind thē, and pass over armed for war before the Lord to battle. From hence I might handle sundry instructions that arise: in Moses we see his patience in hearing and determining, and therefore it is the duty of Magistrates willingly & patiently to hear the people. Again, these two Tribes and half might not be discharged, till they had finished the Lord's work, and therefore in all good duties perseverance is necessary, and we must continue to the end, as we have shown, chapt. 7. Lastly, Moses threateneth, that if they sinned against the Lord, they might be well assured their sin would find them out, that is, the punishment of sin shall certainly fall upon you, therefore sin and the punishment of sin are inseperable companions, as we see in Kingdoms, Cities, Families, and particular persons that have offended against him. And hereby we may observe that the only cause of judgment and punishment is sin. God is never displeased with any people or person but for their sins, Isaiah 43, 24. & 63, 10. Hos. 4, 1, 2. This is farther confirmed in the examples of his judgments, that fell upon men and Angels, kingdoms and States, houses and persons, they have been destroyed & subverted for sin, 1 Cor. 10.8, 9, 10.

[Reason 1] The grounds hereof follow. First, sin is the transgression of the law, so defined by the Apostle, he gave a law to all, which he would have to be kept: now then when this is broken and transgressed, it cannot be but he should be offended, and execute punishment against those that break it. Secondly, God is holy, yea most holy, and therefore cannot but punish sin w ^c is directly opposite to the holiness of his nature. The more just and righteous a Judge is, the more he is grieved at the enormities of malefactors that he hath to deal withal: so in this case, God being most holy and righteous, nothing can be so offensive and displeasing unto him as the sins of men which are committed against him. Thirdly, sin is the destruction and condemnation of the creature, and bringeth the ruin of soul and body. The Apostle teacheth, that the wages of sin is death, Rom. 6, 23: it is the cause of natural death, of spiritual death, of eternal death.

If God do thus hate sin, that it draweth [Use 1] from him all plagues upon us, then it giveth wicked men to understand what they are in y ^e sight of God; nothing but such as displease, grieve, and provoke him by their sins, and therefore he hateth them as his enemies, and setteth his face against them, as the Judge setteth himself against evil doers, and a Prince setteth himself against rebels that do resist against him. There cannot be a greater misery then for a man to commit sin, because it is that which is so highly displeasing to God, & the procurer of his displeasure and indignation against the committers of it, and therefore this pointeth and painteth out the most fearful estate of all wicked sinners that live & yet are dead in their sins, seeing God is such an enemy unto them, and they unto him. Some think the only miserable condition to be, to live in poverty and need and want of all things, in reproach and contempt, in famine & dearth of all things, in hunger and nakedness, in sickness and diseases: howbeit these are greatly deceived, who are themselves so much the more miserable that they know not what misery is, neither wherein it consisteth. Our sins are the true sores and sicknesses. To follow them with greediness, & desire them as the hungry man doth after meat, or he that is a thirst after drink, is the true misery. Such as live in sin are the only dead men. Luke 9, 60. 1 Tim. 5, 6.

Secondly, it instructeth everyone of us how [Use 2] we ought to walk before God, namely, to be grieved for our grieving of God with our sins, & to be offended wit • our selves for offēding of him. A father will be very angry with those persons w ^c draw on their children to destruction: it is not therefore much to be marvelled at, y ^t sin is so hateful to God, seeing it is that which is the ruin & downfall of his chiefest creatures. And as sin is in the account of God, so it ought to be esteemed of us: he hateth and detesteth nothing more, nothing so much: if then we will approve our selves to be his children, we must abhor it as God's sworn enemy and ours. Nothing can provoke him against us but our transgressions. He will never hate us for our poverty, or penury, or necessity, or infirmity; it is only impiety that can make a separation between God and us, and therefore we must take heed we do not provoke him to anger by them, and let us rather be grieved for our sins, then grieve the Lord with them. If a son see his father grieved with him for his wicked ways, he will be grieved with himself for it. So ought it to be with us if we be the children of God, and belong unto him; we must labor to be out of love with our selves for our sins, and to hate them all whatsoever they be, least the Lord should be compelled to hate us, and make us grieve and weep for them when it shall be too late, and when our shedding of tears shall be joined with gnashing of teeth, and neither of them prove to be acceptable unto him, or profitable to our selves.

[Use 3] Thirdly, it leadeth and preacheth unto us repentance of our former sins, and never to return unto them again, because they are so displeasing unto God, and so effectual, to bring down all his judgments and punishments upon us. If God were indifferent when we have sinned, and neither pleased nor displeased with us, then the matter were not great, we also might be indifferent, & not regard whether we repent, or do not repent; but seeing sin bringeth all judgment, it is time for us to judge our selves, that so we may prevent his judgments. For seeing it is that which is so odious and loathsome unto him, we ought to avoid it, and to take heed of delighting in it. They that love, fear to offend him whom they love: that we may therefore show our selves to be the lovers of God, let us labor to the uttermost of our power, to take heed of grieving and offending him by our sins. But when a man committeth sin against God, doth he think God will punish him, or not? If he think he will, then what great folly is it for him to run on still in his sins, for which he must be punished? If he think he will not, then what wickedness & unthankfulness is it for him to offend so loving a God, that is not offended with him for all his sinning against him? All these things do serve as so many motives to stir us up to the practice of repentance, that so God may repent of his plagues toward us.

[Use 4] Lastly, this serveth for matter of imitation. For if God be thus displeased with sin, which never leaveth or ceaseth to hunt after the sinner till it find him out, then everyone of us that would show our selves to have any part in God, or to bear his image, must labor to be of the same mind, and to have the same affection against sin that God hath, to hate it as he hateth it, and so to be displeased as well at our own sins, as at the sins of others. For he can never be truly displeased with his own sins, that is not also grieved with the sins and offenses of others. As then we are touched and troubled for our own sins, so should we be for the sins of our friends, of our families, and of those that we have any way to deal withal, forasmuch as it is that which doth so much grieve the Spirit of God.

28 So concerning them, Moses commanded Eleazar the Priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel.

29 And Moses said unto them, If the children of Gad, and the children, &c: will pass with you over Jordan, &c: then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession.

30 But if they will not pass, &c.

31 And the children of Gad, &c: answered, saying, As the Lord, &c.

32 We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan, may be ours.

The third part of the chapter followeth, handling the full agreement of y ^e whole matter, and the execution following after the agreement, whereby these tribes are put in possession. Moses committeth the matter to Eleazar the Priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, & gave charge to them to see it performed. For inasmuch as he was not himself to enter into the land, he taketh order, that if the former conditions were observed by the Reubenites and Gadites, they should have the land of Gilead for a possession: if not, they should be compelled to have possession among the rest in the land of Canaan; teaching thereby, that it is our duty to further & promote the good of the Church and Commonwealth not only while we live, but also after our departure out of this world. And in the tribes we see that all lawful promises, even such as are made to our hindrance, are faithfully to be performed. But in the example of these tribes mark a further point, how willing they are to join together to procure the common safety, and set the rest of their brethren out of danger, w ^c was like to be great & long: they would not forsake them til their enemies were subdued. This teacheth y ^t it is the duty of God's children to put forth themselves in the common cause, to help the church, and to free it from danger. This point hath warrant both by precept & practice. It is the counsel of Solomon's mother, Prov. 31, 9. Open thy mouth in the cause of the dumb, &c: and to show the great importance of this precept, he repeateth it again, Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy, verse 10. The Apostle chargeth the Hebrews to remember those that are in bonds, and in affliction, as if themselves were afflicted, Heb. 13.3. And they are remembered not so much when they are thought upon, or are in our minds, as when they are relieved and helped out of their misery. For as we remember God when we serve him, so we remember the needy when we succor them. It is noted of Saul and all Israel, that they went to relieve Jabesh Gilead when it was beleaguered by Nahash the Ammonite, who would make a covenant with them upon no other condition, but that he might thrust out all their right eyes, and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel, 1 Sam. 11, 1, 2. So did David and his men go to relieve Keilah, spoiled and oppressed by the Philistines, chap. 23, 5. The book of the Judges is full of this argument, they thought it their duty to relieve the enthralled estate & poor condition of the Church, lying under the hard yoke and heavy servitude of the Moabites, the Canaanites, the Midianites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and sundry others. So that all God's servants, although themselves were free from trouble, yet must they put too their hands, and set too their shoulders, and employ all their strength, as far as God enableth them, to deliver the Church from trouble, and to procure the present benefit and good estate thereof. We shown before in this chapter, that we must have some compassion and a fellow-feeling of the miseries and afflictions of God's people: this doctrine goeth farther and pierceth deeper, and teacheth that we must put forth our selves to maintain the public cause of the afflicted church, and procure the peace thereof.

[Reason 1] And so much the rather we ought to do this, because of the wicked minds and wretched ends that the ungodly set before their eyes. For what is it, I pray you, that the enemy, the common adversary and oppressor of the Church looketh after and layeth before him? Is it the persons of them that they seek to spoil? or is it to take away their goods and substance from them? or any other thing that might be dear unto them in earthly things? All these indeed are sought after, but are these the chief mark and scope that they aim after? or would these (taken away) content them? No, no, they shoot at a farther thing, to deface the service and worship of God, and to blaspheme his glorious Name, being themselves the children of darkness and not able to bear the light of the truth, they oppose themselves against the same. The Cities and Altars of our GOD ought to be of greatest account and in highest price, more dear to us then thousands of gold and silver, for w ^c we must be content to leave father and mother, wife and children, that we may with freedom of conscience enjoy & profess the truth. This meditation was it that moved Joab, when he went out with a strong hand & saw the enemies gathered together to root out the Church out of the Land, and the truth out of the Church, to fight against them, 2. Sam. 10, 12. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the Cities of our God, and the Lord do that which seemeth him good: whe • e he showeth, that the chief motive to wax strong and valiant in battle, was to maintain the Cities and service of God.

Seco ••• y, this hath promise of a great blessing [Reason 2] and a good issue; it is no vain or fruitless thing whereunto we are moved. Many men are discomfited and quite out of heart, because they see no blessing annexed. But howsoever the persecutor and oppressor for a time prevaileth and entereth into the houses and habitations of God, yet their destruction sleepeth not: God hath reserved them as the chaff before the wind, and as the stubble before the fire. Resting therefore on the gracious promises of God, and knowing that Heaven and earth shall perish, but no one jot shall pass or fail from his word, being assured that the covenant that he hath made, is surer then the covenant of the day and the night, of the Sun and of the Moon; we must arm our selves with this assured persuasion, that the destruction of the enemy is determined: as Isaiah 16, 3, 4. speaking to Moab, he saith, Take counsel, execute judgment, &c: then he addeth the reason, for the extortioner is at an ende, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the Land, Isaiah 16, 3, 4. Wherefore, albeit the enemies of God and his people seem long to flourish, to glory in their wickedness, and to insult over the godly that are under the cross, yet they shall not escape the wrath and vengeance of God: so that none should be ashamed to thrust thenselves into danger to maintain the common cause of the Church.

The uses follow. First, this putteth us in [Use 1] mind of the estate of the faithful, which oftentimes endure more trouble in this world both inwardly & outwardly, then any other; as were easy to be shown and proved by the examples of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Jeremiah, David, and Christ himself the perfect pattern of suffering affliction. It was no otherwise with his Apostles also, and experience teacheth us, that the church in this world fareth no better, as it complaineth, Lamen. 1, 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of his anger. Thus it pleaseth the Lord to wean them from the love of the world, because he loveth them, & would have them long after heaven and heavenly things. We are oftentimes so perverse and untoward, that we must be put into the fire that we may be refined and reformed, and must endure many grievous corrections that we may be framed to delight in spiritual things. Besides, Satan and his instruments do hate us and labor continually to seek our destruction; and therefore let us never promise to our selves worldly peace and prosperity, neither be offended at the great afflictions which we hear to come upon the godly, but rather prepare our selves to look for one trouble to come upon the neck of another, whiles we live upon the earth.

[Use 2] Secondly, conclude from hence the fearful, woeful, & miserable estate of the church, when all the friends and comforters of it are gone, when they that should be the shield and shelter of it do fly back and dare not show their faces, as often it falleth out, then only faith for the present, and hope for the time to come, must hold up our heads that we sink not into the bottom of despair. This is it which the Prophet saith, I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation to me, &c. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, &c. Isaiah 63, 5, 6. When Haman the adversary of the Jews, whose malice was hereditary unto him and derived from his fathers, had plotted the ruin of the Church, in what weak and desolate estate had it been, if Mordecai and Ester had not procured the safety of it? Was it not taken out of the jaws of the Lyon, and pulled out of the pit of death? In such times, we must cast anker in heaven, and make the Lord of hosts our only confidence.

[Use 3] Thirdly, conclude from hence, that it is a fearful thing when men become oppressors of the Church. For if everyone from the highest to the lowest should be a succourer & defender thereof, then none brought up in the bosom of the Church should be an oppressor of it. But how many have there been who have lifted up themselves against it, not only open enemies, but close underminers, who kindle the coals of their own confusion, and have been consumed in the flame that they have raised? The Prophet Obadiah concludeth this point, ver, 10: For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever, &c. as thou hast done, it shall be done to thee, thy reward shall return upon thine own head, Obad. verse 10, 15. And touching the persecuting Babylonians that carried the people away captives, and scoffed at them in the day of their calamity, the Prophet foretelleth their final overthrow, Psalm. 137, 8, 9. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed: happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us: happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Woe therefore to all the enemies of the Church in general, or to any particular soul that serveth the Lord; they are also enemies to God himself.

[Use 4] Lastly, none living in the Church must be ignorant of the state of the Church; everyone must take notice how things go in it, whether it go forward or backward, increase or decrease, grow better or worse. We are come for the most part to this, to content our selves with looking to our private wealth & particular estate, as if we had nothing else to think upon, but to follow our profits and delights. So it was with the people after their return from captivity, they built their own houses, but they let the house of God alone: they were very busy in seeking their own commodities, but they were wholly unmindful of the service of God, and therefore they said, The time is not come, y ^e time y ^t the Lord's house should be built: whom the Prophet reproveth, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, & this housely waste, Hag. 1, 2, 3. Others there are that shrink back for fear, and dare not adventure, and being moved, they plead ignorance, they pretend they know nothing. But the Prophet denounceth a woe against them that are at ease in Zion, Amos 6, 1. If everyone ought to be helpful to the Church, and to put on the bowels of pity and compassion, how shall we excuse our selves & say, we knew not what was wanting, or what was amiss or out of course? For everyone at his own peril, must know the perils of the Church, and be touched with a feeling of thē, and ignorance shall excuse no man. It is an excellent saying of Solomon, Prov. 24, 11, 12, 13. If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small: if thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn forth to death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew not of it, doth not he that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? The Lord suffereth his people to fall into sundry temptations and into great dangers, not only to try their faith, and to prove their constancy, but likewise to manifest their love & affection that seem to be out of gunshot, as Ester 4, 14. 2 Tim. 1, 16, 17, 18. Ier. 39, 16, 17, 18.

33 And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, & unto half the Tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon King of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og King of Bashan, &c.

34, 35, 36. And the children of Gad built Dibon, and &c.

37, 38, 39. And the children of Reuben, &c. 40. And Moses gave Gilead, &c.

The inheritance that was given unto these Tribes is here particularly described, to wit, what Cities befell unto them, which they diligently fortified, and courageously expelled the enemies that dwelt in them. Out of these words some questions are briefly to be decided. And first touching the changing of the names of the Cities which befell to the children of Reuben, verse 38, the question may be asked, Wherefore their names were changed? The answer is, that without question y ^e cause of this change was, that the former names given of ancient time were merely Idolatrous, for both of them had their names of the Idols, which ought not to be had in remembrance, neither to be heard out of their mouths, Exod. 23, 13. [Objection.] Psal. 16, 4. Secondly, from hence a doubt ariseth, how Moses can be said to give Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and how he dwelt therein? for may we think that Machir was then alive? I answer, [Answ.] It is not likely that he lived unto this time; rather we must understand the sons and posterity that came of him. So the children of Israel are called Israel, and the sons of Edom by the name of Edom. He that knoweth not this, knoweth nothing. Thus it is said that Judah spake unto Simeon his brother, Judge. 1, 3, yet neither of them was alive in many ages before, & therefore it must be understood of their posterity. The like we see, Gen. 48, 22. I give unto thee one portion above thy brethren, which I have taken out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Where Jacob bequeatheth unto Joseph by his last will and testament a double portion of the Land, 1 Chron. 5, 2. By Joseph we must understand his posterity, for in his own person he inherited nothing, but died long before: and by the sword and bow of Jacob, we must understand the Ephraimites which helped to conquer the Land, and were a mighty people in Joshua's time, Josh. 17, 14, 18. [Object.] But it is an harder question to determine how Iaer is said to be the son of Manasseh who doubtless did belong to another Tribe? For in the Genealogies mentioned in the book of Chronicles, it is evident that he was the son of Segub, the son of Hetzron of the Tribe of Judah, 1 Chron. 2, 22. I answer, [Answ.] he is reckoned of the Tribe of Manasseh by the mothers side, not by the fathers. For it is plain in the Chapter before named, that Hetzron the son of Judah married the daughter of Machir the son of Manasseh, 1 Chro. 7, 13. And Drusius observeth, that many such examples are found in the Priests which married wives of other Tribes. Now the cause that he had possession in another Tribe is, because his inheritance fell in the Land of the Amorites on this side of Jordan, not in the Land of Canaan on the other side. Out of this division, we might observe, in that the children of Gad build Cities, that the building of fortifications and strong holds is not unlawful, provided that we put not our trust & confidence in them, Obad. verse 3, 4. And that the children of Machir took the Cities of the enemies, we learn that the people of God are oftentimes victorious in battle. But to pass over these, observe a notable point of their sincerity in cleaving to God, and abolishing the monuments of Idolatry, that they would not retain y ^e former Idolatrous names of the two Cities, Nebo, and Baalmeon, but changed them, that they might no more be had in remembrance, nor the people whom God had chosen to be holy unto himself, be acquainted with them. This teacheth that God will have the remnants and monuments of Idolatry to be utterly abolished, and all occasions that might draw unto it to be taken away: not only Idolatry it self to be destroyed, but the memorial of it, and the means that may bring it among his people again. Hence it is, that the Apostle John chargeth the Church, not only to beware of Idolatry, but of the Idols themselves, 1 John 5, 21, for he shutteth up the Epistle with this, Little children, keep yourselves from Idols. If we suffer Idols to have entrance into the Church, we shall not long be free from Idolatry it self. Therefore the Prophet declareth his hatred as well of the one as of the other, when he saith, I will not make mention of their names with my lips, Psalm. 1 • , 4. Zach. 13, 2. When God promiseth the overthrowing of Idolatry, he promiseth withal the utter destroying of the Idols themselves, and that the remembrance of them shall be cut off and perish out of the minds and mouths of men, Isaiah 1, 18, and 30, 22. Hos. 2, 17.

The reasons are plain; First, because God [Reason 1] would not have his people snared by such occasions: for they are as stumbling blocks laid before his people to cause them to fall, and therefore the Lord saith, Deut. 7, 25. The graven Images of their gods shall ye burn with fire, thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein.

Secondly, it is said to be an abomination [Reason 2] to the Lord, Deut. 7, 25: for whatsoever is impure is abhominable unto him, and our nature is prone to this false worship, & is hardly kept from a corrupted religion.

This teacheth us first of all what to think [Use 1] of the religion of the Church of Rome; for as it is a false Church, so it is upholden by a false religion, wherein not only some relics and remnants of Idolatry are to be found, but most gross, open, and palpable Idolatry is maintained, like to that, practiced by the Gentiles themselves. To manifest this to be true in sundry particulars, first observe that they teach men to worship things that are without sense, images of silver and gold, of wood and stone, and yet they are uncertain what worship to give them. Aquinas, one of the chief schoolmen, and a principal pillar of the Roman faith, hath delivered, that the Image of Christ is to be worshipped with the same worship that is due to Christ himself, & that Christ himself remaineth in the Image. Bellarmine denieth this, and teacheth that they may not teach so: nevertheless he holdeth a middle course, that the image may be worshipped, so far as it doth represent Christ.

Again, they teach that we are to worship the Saints: and yet it is certain that some of them are false and feygned Saints, such as are so far from being holy men, that they were neither holy, nor men: as I have shown at large elsewhere, because they never had life nor being. Some they worship for Saints that are now by all probability in hell, and of whom themselves make question whether they were saved, or not. Moreover, they say we are to pray to the Saints, & that the Saints hear our prayers, and by that means they pray to the Image of the Saint: but whether they hear us by the swiftness of their hearing, or by the revelation of some Angel that standeth by us and reporteth it to the Saint, we shall know of them when they know thenselves, but I believe they will take time and leisure to resolve us. The like we might say of their breaden god, whom they worship also, and look for help from it: and yet they are altogether uncertain, whether it be the body of Christ or not, because their consecration dependeth upon the Priests intention: so that we may truly say unto them as Christ did to the woman of Samaria, Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship, John 4, 22.

[Use 2] Secondly, this teacheth us to abhor and abandon all false worship whatsoever, as that which can never minister any peace or comfort of conscience; and labor to lay a good foundation that so we may be established in the present truth. For doubtless this is the cause why many fall away and embrace superstitiō, because they were never well grounded, neither tasted the sincere milk of the word of God that they might grow thereby, 1 Peter, 2, ver. 2, 3.

And howsoever the Gospel have been purely preached, and professed in this Land, yet the greatest sort remain as neuters, or as indifferent men, neither hot nor cold, and consequently fit to be made a prey unto the wolves, I mean to the Priests and Jesuits that lie watching in corners for such proselytes, and when they have gained them, they make them sometimes twofold more the children of hell then themselves. We must therefore be careful to have the principles of true religion planted in us, that there is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ; and that there is but one means to attain to salvation. But the greatest part of our people know nothing at all as they ought to know. And let the Minister in conscience of his duty to GOD and the Church, preach in season and out of season, 2 Tim. 4, 2, yet scarce one among ten is able to give an account of their faith. They are content to live in their ignorance, and despise knowledge, & are blindly led by blind guides that cannot inform them in the ways of the Lord, and so both of them fall into the ditch. Many shut their eyes because they will not see, and refuse to hear the word, which is a precious pearl of such price, that rather then they would want it, they should sell all that they have to purchase it. The Prophet teacheth, that the people are destroyed for want of knowledge, Hos. 4, 6, & thereby deprive themselves of the means of salvation.

[Use 3] Lastly, we should learn to eschew & avoid Idolatry in the very beginning, before by custom and continuance it be increased. If we once entertain it with the least liking and approbation, we shall never or hardly reclaim our selves, till we fill up the measure of it. The Apostle exhorteth us to abstain from all appearance of evil, 1 Thess. 5, 22. And Jude admonisheth us to hate the garment spotted with the flesh, verse 23. We must hate therefore as well the occasions and appurtenances of Idolatry, as Idolatry it self; as those things which bring much dishonor to God, and much hurt unto our own souls. [Objection.] But some peradventure will say, What need all these things? or what cause is there of so many words touching Idolatry & the remnants thereof? all this might well enough be spared and passed over, forasmuch as here are none of us that are Idolaters; and if any have been so, that is forgotten and forgiven long ago. I answer, [Answ.] it is not to be denied, but confessed, that we live in a reformed Church, wherein Idolatry is swept away; and yet many do in this point much deceive themselves, and are like the Pharisees that justified themselves. For if we would examine our selves by the strict rule of the word of God, what Idolatry is, and what it is not, then certainly it will manifestly appear, that in the Church of England there are Idolaters, yea notable Idolaters to be found. The Law is plain, and do we not read what God saith, Exodus 20, verse 4, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, neither the similitude of anything: thou shalt not bow down to thē, nor serve them? If these were asked of this Commandment, they would be ready to answer with the young man in the Gospel, All these things have I kept from my youth, Matth. 19, 20. For we think commonly, that unless we be popish Idolaters, to fall down before an Idol & worship it, we be no Idolaters at all. But hereby we show that we do not understand the Law of God, neither the rules of interpretation. For as murder consisteth not only in taking away life, but in hatred also and revenge, as the Apostle John testifieth, Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him, 1 John, chapter 3, verse 15. Matth. chapter 5, verse 22: and as adultery consisteth not only in the outward act, but also in the inward and secret lusts of the heart: so may there be Idolaters, that do not fall down and worship an Idol, and there is an Idolatry in the heart, as well as in the practice.

The Apostle Paul in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 4, calleth the devil, The god of this world; and yet there are none in the Church that worship the devil in any outward or visible shape, but they hate the thought of it no less then the deed. How then is it that many or that any make him their god, but that they believe in him, obey him, and trust more in him then they do in almighty God? Whereupon he concludeth that they are no better then worshippers of the devil, howsoever not in outward fashion, yet in the inward affection. So if we would examine our own hearts and spirits by this law which is spiritual, we shall find our selves to be gross Idolaters many ways. Many worship their wealth, and make their riches their god, and set it up as an Idol in their hearts, and this is one relique of Idolatry. These are they that think gain to be godliness, and are gross Idolaters in their hearts, howsoever they never worshipped any visible Image. Again, there are some that worship GOD with their bellies, Phil. 3, 19, such are the drunkards & gluttonous persons, howsoever otherwise they hate an Image, yet are they notable Idolaters in their hearts. There are also Idolaters of other sorts, and other relics of Idolatry, some have made their pleasure their god, this is the common sin of great men; and these worship and serve their own delights and pastimes, & love them more then the Lord. Now whatsoever a man loveth better then GOD, that same he maketh to be his God. Many such there are among us, who albeit they abhor the open worshipping of Images, yet in their hearts they retain the dregs of Idolatry and are indeed notable Idolaters. And if we would make diligent trial of our selves, and search into the secret corners of our harts by the clear light of the word as with a candle, we should find our places, persons, and times to be full of Idolatry; forasmuch as the most part have preferred their pride, their covetousness, their lusts, before God himself, and therefore these are Idolaters, & have joined themselves to Idols. And concerning those that have lived heretofore in Idolatry, and think that now they have forsaken it, & therefore shall do well enough: let them take heed they do not deceive themselves. For a man may leave sin, and yet not repent for it. A man may cease from the practice of it, and yet not hate it, neither turn unto God. And doubtless, if these men can yet laugh heartily at their former practices, and make a jest and sport in telling what they have done before an abhominable Idol, they may justly suspect that they remain filthy Idolaters still, and if occasion were presented unto them again, they would fall afresh to their former Idolatry, as the dog to his vomit. I say therefore unto such, that without unfeigned repentance there is no salvation, but as they lived in Idolatry, so they shall die Idolaters, and be condemned with Idolaters eternally, Revel. 21. verse 8.

CHAP. XXXIII.

1 THese are the journeys of the Children of Israel which went forth out of the Land of Egypt, with their armies, under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys, by the commandment of the Lord: and these are their journeys according to their goings out.

3 And they departed from Rameses in the first Moneth, on the 15 day of the first Moneth: on the morrow after the Passover, the Children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.

4 For the Egyptians buried all their first borne which the Lord had smitten among them: upon their gods also the Lord executed judgments.

5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.

6 And from Succoth, &c.

AFter the inheritance was given to the two Tribes & the half on this side Jordan, Moses describeth by the commandment of the Lord the places of their abode in the Wilderness, their several mansions where they pitched, & their Tents until they entered into the Land of promise. In this Chapter consider two points. First, the several mansions and stations where the Israelites rested and stayed. Secondly, a law and commandment how they should behave themselves toward the Canaanites, and how their land should be divided among thē. Touching the first, that is, their journeys in the Wilderness, it is set down generally, v. 1, and 2. and then particularly how God led them from place to place; first he noteth the place from whence they went till they came to the red sea; & afterward, notwithstanding their often infirmities and fallings from God, he brought them in despite of their enemies and all opposition of flesh and blood to the borders of the Land, which many of the faithful before them desired to see, but did not see it, only they believed the promise in their heart. The people of God had long been detained in slavery and bondage, now GOD brought them forth with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arm, killing all the first born of Egypt, and destroying their Idols in which they trusted; whereupon the Egyptians were stricken with such a sudden astonishment and amazement, that they were not able to resist and withstand the Israelites, but were compelled to open them a free passage to depart. Thus thē they went out early in the morning, having eaten the Paschal Lamb the evening before: they had lived many years in great heaviness, and endured many temptations in the Land of Egypt, but they go out thence with their young and with their old, with their sons and with their daughters, with their flocks and with their herds in great joy & much comfort of heart: so that they might say with the Prophet, Psal. 126, 1, 2. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream: then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing, then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them: the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Thus doth the Lord turn the joy of the wicked into heaviness, and contrariwise the heaviness of his children into joyfulness. This teacheth us, that God preserveth his Church in the midst of dangers, when it wanteth human defense and protection, and delivereth it out of bondage and slavery wherein it is holden, Exod. 12, 22. Ezek. 9, 6. True it is, God doth many times give over his people to serve hard masters, and to suffer many calamities for a time, yet in the end he delivereth them when they call upon him, Ier. 25, 11, 12. Mic. 2, 10. This truth standeth upon good grounds.

[Reason 1] For first, when he delivereth them into the enemies hands, he doth it to correct them, and not to corrupt them; to bring them the nearer unto him, not to cast them farther off from him; whereby it appeareth that he hath a purpose and meaning to redeem them, and to bring them out of their hands. Secondly, God will never cast off his people, he loveth them with an unchangeable love, and therefore will accept them and receive them upon their repentance and humiliation. He hath a special feeling of their miseries, and therefore he will give them deliverance. Thirdly, God will magnify his own mercy and power toward his people, by giving them deliverance. It would have been a great dishonor to the great Name of God, if he had suffered the Egyptians to hold their rod evermore over the Israelites, and the loins of his people to be clasped and compassed therewith; therefore to show his mercy and power toward them, & to magnify his own honor, he sent them deliverance and brought them out of that horrible servitude and captivity.

[Use 1] This gracious dealing of God admonisheth the enemies of God, into whose hands he hath for a time delivered his people to be Lord's over them, not too much to tyrannize and triumph over them: because howsoever God suffer them to be under their power for a while, that they lift up their hands against them, and trample them under their feet, yet the Lord will not forget either to be just or merciful, he will take them out of the snare of the hunter: and the more they have insulted over them in the pride of their harts, the greater shall be their deliverance: yea their deliverance shall be the cause of the destruction of these enemies. Thus did Moses speak to the Israelites, These Egyptians which ye have seen, ye shall never see them again anymore forever. Exod. 14, 13. So then we may conclude the woeful and wretched condition of all the Churches enemies, because albeit they seem for a time to be as it were Lord's of the earth, and to have power in themselves to do what pleaseth them, yet their turn shall be the next, and their destruction sleepeth not. For when the Israelites were delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians that were cruel masters over them, it was not only the cause of their shame, but of their destruction also, as appeareth in the death of all the first borne, and in that he drowned Pharaoh and his host in the red sea: so that these things being duly considered, the wicked have no cause at all to triumph and insult over the children of GOD when they have gotten them in subection under them.

Secondly, this teacheth every soul that [Use 2] belongeth to God, if he fall into this captivity and estate to be ruled by cruel Lord's, that they should suffer it with all patience: this is but for a while, Heauines may abide at evening, but joy cometh in the morning, Psal. 30, for God will surely deliver them. What though the bondage be sharp and bitter? yet this must be their comfort, they shall have deliverance out of all, and ought to nourish such hope in them, that although they see no means of deliverance, yet they must look up to God, and wait his leisure, and in the ende they are sure of an happy issue, Exod. 3, 9. God never afflicteth us without just cause, and therefore we should look upon our selves, and search our own hearts: and labor to bear patiently our afflictions, whatsoever they be, whether they come before or after repentance. For doubtless whosoever shall search his own ways, shall not only find that God hath been just in punishing his sins, but that he hath also been merciful in not laying greater judgments upon him, as justly he might have done; and therefore he ought not to murmur against him, but patiently to bear his hand, knowing that the greatest punishments that almighty God inflicteth upon us are nothing so great as those which we have deserved at his hands.

Thirdly, we ought all to labor to be members [Use 3] of the true Church, that so these privileges may belong unto us. It is a very great honor to live under God's protection, and to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. If we be delivered at any time from dangers, acknowledge that it is God's preservation, and be thankful for it.

This should put us in mind of two things: first, that if we happen to live under such a judgment, we must stoop down our necks under this yoke, and humble our selves under the most mighty hand of God, that hath brought so fearful a judgment upon us. For if we think it to be a judgment, when the earth bringeth not forth her fruit unto us; then much more may we think it to be a judgment, when the earth is not able to bear a man, but casteth and vomiteth him out into captivity, as the stomach doth gross and evil humors out of the body. For this cause doeth the Lord charge the Israelites to keep his statutes and his judgments, That the Land do not spew them out also when they defile it, as it spewed out the Nations that were before them, Levite. chapter 18. verse 25, 28. & 20. verse 22. And afterward he showeth, that if they did not walk obediently before him, the land whither he bringeth them to dwell therein, should spew them out; as Reu. 3, 16. Of all judgments to be carried into captivity, is one of the greatest. The very mercies of the wicked are cruelty. David made choice to be under the plague and pestilence, rather then to fly before the enemy, because he is unmerciful.

We sit under our own Vines and Fig-trees, we have seen no invasion, nor heard any complainings in our streets: we know not what bondage meaneth, or to be carried captives into a strange Land: howbeit it is apparent that we have been very near unto it, as near to the pit as could be, and yet not fallen into the same. For, if the Gunne-powder Treason had taken place, which was very near unto the time appointed for the execution of it, we had long ere this been in slavery and bondage again unto the bloody Papists, who have long lain in wait for such a day: and albeit that be defeated, and all their imaginations be scattered as chaff before the wind; yet who knoweth how near we may be to as great captivity? We are secure, and put away the evil day far from us, but the greater our security is, the nearer our captivity may be. We have close and secret enemies amongst us, never more lusty, and never more courageous then they are at this day, which are left to remain amongst us to be pricks in our eyes, and Thorns in our sides, and to vex us in the Land wherein we dwell, verse 55.

These never leave plotting and conspiring our overthrow and destruction. We hear of rumors of War abroad, and spreadings of errors and heresies, which threaten ruin both to Church and Common-wealth; these are but the beginnings of sorrow. Again, if we look unto our selves, our sins are very great, and call continually for vengeance unto heaven at God's hands, and no doubt he is coming down to see whether we have done altogether according to the cry which is come unto him. All these laid together and weighed as it were in a balance, what can we in reason and justice expect, but that GOD deliver us into the enemies hands, and suffer them to carry us captive, and so make slaves and bondmen of us?

Secondly, if any desire to enjoy the land wherein he dwelleth in peace and safety, let him labor not to pollute and defile it by his sins.

The Jews had a promise of God to be his people, yet because of their sins, he suffered them to be carried into captivity, where they remained long in a strange land. Have we any greater privilege then they? or may we expect to escape? No, if we follow them in contempt of the word and other open sins, we shall be sure to follow them also in the punishment which will be answerable to our iniquities.

Lastly, this assureth us that as GOD delivereth his people from temporal danger and bondage, so he will deliver them much more from spiritual bondage. For if he will deliver our bodies, he will much more deliver our souls; that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life, Luke 1, 74, 75.

Wherefore we ought patiently to wait his leisure, knowing that if he have such a special care of our bodies that must lie in the dust, to set them free from temporal bondage, he will much rather deliver our souls from spiritual bondage, wherein Satan holdeth us. When Christ our Savior would show that he came to redeem the souls of men, he taught them by delivering their bodies from diseases.

For when he restored sight to the blind by opening their eyes, what did it signify but that he came to scatter the darkness of the mind, and to make them see that before saw not the light of the truth? as Math. 4, 16, The people that sat in darkness saw great light: and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.

The Prophets in the time of the Law smote the people with blindness, that they knew not what they did, neither whither they went, 2 Kings 6, 18: as the Angels did the Sodomites, so that they wearied themselves to find the door, Gen. 19, 11.

But Christ, to show that he came to seek and to save that which is lost, restored sight to the blind, and opened the eyes of their understandings: when he healed the bodies of such as were lame and halted, what was it but a teaching of them that he came to heal the broken-hearted? to preach deliverance to the captives? and to set at liberty them that were bruised?

When he raised some to life from the dead, what did it teach and show, but that he is able to raise out of the grave of sin and to give the life of the spirit? When he cleansed the lepers, what was it but a making known to the world, that he will cleanse from the foul and filthy leprosy of sin? And when he did cast out devils that possessed the bodies of men, what was it but to show that he casteth the devils out of the hearts and consciences, where they desire to dwell as in an house? If then it be no small comfort unto us to know that the Lord will deliver his people from an earthly bondage: certainly it cannot but minister much more comfort unto us to consider that the Lord is more careful of our souls; and if he be mindful of us for things of this life, he cannot be forgetful of us for the life to come, seeing he hath sent his only begotten Son, to the end, that all which believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

7 And they removed from Etham, and turned again to Pihahiroth, &c.

8 And they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea, &c.

9 And they removed from Marah, and came unto Elim, &c.

9 And they removed from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth Hattaauah.

36 And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the wilderness of Zin, which is Kadesh.

38 And Aaron the Priest went up into mount Hor, at the commandment of the Lord, and died there, &c.

40 And King Arad the Canaanite, &c.

48 And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

49 And they pitched by Jordan from, &c.

Here we have a short abridgement of the forty two mansions and journeys of Israel during their abode in the wilderness, until they passed over Jordan, and entered into the land promised to their fathers. The twelve former journeys they dispatched the two first years: for they abode at Sinai where the Law was given, an whole year and more. From Sinai to Kadesh which is in the wilderness of Zin, they finished 31 mansions, in thirty and seven years with the beginning of the 38, year. And in the fortieth year which was the last of their wandering in the wilderness, they dispatched and finished the other nine mansions.

These journeys of the Israelites Moses setteth down in diverse places, as Exodus 13, 17: when Pharaoh had let the people go, God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near: for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the red sea. This is further declared, Exod. 14, and 15: and in other Chapters following. Of these journeys also we have seen in part before in this book. And Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, chapt. 1, 31, putteth the people in remembrance, that they had seen in the wilderness, how the Lord their God bare them (as a man doth bear his son) all the way: that they went. And in the Chapter following he telleth them how they took their journey in that great and terrible wilderness, by the way of the red sea, and compassed mount Seir many days. In these several mansions and stations, many memorable accidents fell out, which Moses by naming the places would have them to consider, that none of all the works and miracles of God might be forgotten, neither their own stubborness and rebellion, nor the greatness of the mercies of God toward them, as Psalm 102, 19. This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord: and Psalm 78, 6, That the generation to come might know them, and the children which should be borne, who should arise, and declare them to their children.

The land of Canaan promised to the fathers was fair and fruitful, flowing with milk & honey; but the way unto it was rough and ragged, like the way of Jonathan to the Philistines, 1, Sam. 14, 13: which was sharp and steepy, to which he and his armor-bearer crept with hand and foot. Hence it came to pass, that the people of God, being delivered out of the land of Egypt by a mighty hand and out-stretched arm, did enter into a sea of troubles, not only at the red sea, but while they trotted and traveled up & down the wilderness, sometimes they went forward, and sometimes they went backward, Numb. 14, 25: sometimes they marched, and sometimes they retired, and never stood at one certain and settled stay. Besides, they met with many enemies, open and secret, which they were to encounter withal, all which in the end they saw destroyed: albeit not all at one time, but by little and little, & at last after many dangers escaped, and infinite troubles over-passed, under the happy conduct of Joshua, they found rest and peace in the promised land.

Now let us come to the uses of all these [Use 1] things toward our selves: forasmuch as if we consider them aright, they were as figures to them, & as glasses to us, to behold in them spiritual things. And first we see hereby what the life of a true Christian is. The charges of a Christian building is great. If we will be the disciples of Christ, we must not imagine that we shall lead a soft, easy, and pleasant life, in hight of honor, in abundance of riches, in pride of lifc, in rivers of pleasure, as if we were in another Paradise: or to be clad in purple, and to fare deliciously and sweetly every day, Luke 16: but we must know the gate is straight, and the way is narrow that leadeth to life, Math. 7: we must sit down and cast our accounts what our profession will cost us, and resolve to forsake all that we have for the Name of Christ, and account nothing so precious or dear which we cannot or will not forgo. Such was the whole life of the Patriarchs and Prophets, such was the life of Christ and his Apostles, and such is the life of all the faithful servants of God. They endured afflictions, they suffered reproaches, they resisted unto blood. They had fears without, and terrors within. They had experience of many miseries, they felt sharp storms, and mighty tempests that went over their heads. This Christ our Savior showeth, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you, John. 15, 19. And in another place, Whosoever will be my disciple, must take up his cross and follow me, Math. 16, 24. And hereunto the Apostle accordeth, teaching that through manifold afflictions we must enter into the kingdom of God, Acts 14, 22. Christ and the cross go always hand in hand, and accompany each other. If we will live with Christ, we must first die with him: if we will reign with Christ, we must suffer with him, 2 Tim. 2, 11, 12. So then they are greatly and grossly deceived, that suppose all such to be highly in God's favor that flourish and prosper in the world, and such to be the worst sort of people, whom God doth most commonly strike and correct with his hand: having forgotten that he doth not here keep an ordinary rate below, to punish everyone as he is worst; and to favor or cocker him as he is best: But he singleth out such as pleaseth him, and maketh them examples to others to serve for their instruction, and in them willeth and warneth us to look upon our selves.

[Use 2] Secondly, as the children of Israel traveled up and down in the wilderness, and went from place to place, from one station to another, whereas Moses reckoneth up 42 in this Chapter: so it is with all the faithful here upon the earth, they must testify and profess themselves to be pilgrims and strangers in the world, because we abide not in our own country.

This David confessed unto God, Psalm 39 12, that he was a stranger and a foreigner as all his fathers were. This also the Apostle witnesseth of the fathers, Heb. 11, 13, They died in faith, and received not the promises, but saw them afar off, and believed them, and received them thankfully, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Strangers be not inhabitants, and trauailers be not liegers and continuers in one place. This should teach us to use this world as though we used it not: to buy as though we possessed not: considering that the fashion of this world goeth away, and the glory of man fadeth as the flower.

We must cast off all lets that may stay and hinder us in our journey, like unto travelers, who will carry nothing with them in the way, but that which may help and further them to their journeys end. If they find by experience anything to clog them, they will cast it from them, as the blind man cast away his cloke, Mark 10, 50, that he might run with speed to him that called him; and rather lose their present profit, then lack the place of blessedness to which we are going. For our light affliction which is but for a moment, causeth unto us a far more excellent, and an eternal weight of glory, while we look not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Let us therefore learn contentation of heart in every estate of life which GOD will bring upon us.

Let us, while we converse upon the earth, have our conversation in Heaven, and live as citizens of that kingdom, accounting our selves here to be from home, esteeming this life a place of banishment, and sighing to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, and restored to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. We all desire to inherit God's kingdom, as Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous, but we would not willingly be soiourners here. Soiourning importeth a temporary abode, not a settled life, but a passing forward in hope of translatiō to a better estate: we must all embrace and receive this as a ruled case, that every citizen of Heaven is a pilgrim on earth, Genes. 47, 9. 1 Chronic. 29, 15. 1 Peter 1, 17, and 2, 11, 12.

If then we desire to be citizens of God's kingdom, we must behave our selves as pilgrims on the earth. We are as it were exiles and banished men in a foreign land, ought we not then to desire earnestly and heartily to come into our own country, and among our own people? Whosoever hath a rich patrimony in his own country, great wealth, much honor, noble friends, and is forced for a season to sojourn in a strange land, among strangers, nay enemies, where he is evilly entreated, reproached, reviled, disturbed, and persecuted on every side; certainly he will set his heart and affections upon nothing there, but all his mInde is set upon his country, desiring above all things to return and come again thither.

Thus it ought to be with us: our country is in heaven, where we have an everlasting inheritance, and an incorruptible treasure, and are pilgrims upon the earth, where we are hated and assaulted by Satan, the world, and the flesh; and are daily subject to sundry troubles and infirmities. What folly therefore is it, to place our happiness and felicity upon the earth, and to set our hearts upon earthly things?

[Use 3] Thirdly, the people of God during their abode in the wilderness, (after they were called out of the bondage of Egypt) did not go forward toward the land of Canaan with a constant and a settled course, but made many stays and delays: sometimes they marched forward with a courageous resolution under the banner of God and his servant Moses; and sometimes they retired backward by the way of the red sea toward Egypt, and often wished themselves again in Egypt, When they remembered the fish which they did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leekes, the onions, and the garlic, Numb. 14, 25, and 11, 5. These do the Jews delight in to this day, which maketh them loathsome and unsavory, which diet their fathers learned in Egypt. So it is with us, being called with an holy calling to the knowledge of the Gospel.

True it is, we do here run for a prize, this life is the race, the runner in it is every true Christian, the Angels are the beholders, eternal life is the Crown for which we strive, the high Judge of all is God, the enemies that seek to subvert and supplant us are Satan, the world, and our corruptions, against which we are to wrestle with might and main as for life and death: yet we begin slowly, and set forward faintly, and being entered into the way, we make many starting-holes that stay us in our course, that we do not proceed with such a good courage and settled resolution as becometh us.

The truth hereof we may behold in all the faithful throughout all ages of the Church, who have found hard beginnings in their first calling, an unwillingness to yield, a difficulty to resolve, an untowardness to enter, a backwardness to proceed, and a dullness to persevere. The Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and called him to speak to Pharaoh, and to bring his people the children of Israel out of Egypt, Exodus 3, 2, and 4, 1: but he maketh many exceptions and replies to the call of God. And to the end to pull his neck out of the yoke, sometimes he alleged their infidelity, that they will not believe that GOD appeared unto him: sometimes he objecteth his own infirmity, that he was not eloquent, but slow of speech, & slow of tongue: and sometimes he breaketh out into open obstinacy, denying to yield unto the voice of God, saying, Send by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send. So Jeremiah had many excuses and exceptions, when the word of the Lord came unto him, that he had sanctified and ordained him to be a Prophet unto the Nations; for he replied by and by, O Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child, Ier, 1, 3,

The like we see in Jonah, who fled from the presence of God, because of the charge enjoined to him to go to Nineue, Jonah 1, 3. Lot, albeit a righteous man, whose heart was grieved for the unclean conversation of the Sodomites, yet being called to depart out of Sodom, did linger and loiter behind in his departure, his pleasures whispered him in one ear, and his profits rounded him in the other, so that he prolonged the time, and the Angels caught him, his wife, and two daughters by the hand (the Lord being merciful unto him) they brought him forth, and set him without the city, Gen. 19, 16.

The disciples that were called of Christ, made sundry delays, one would first go and bury his father, and afterward he would return and attend upon Christ, Luke 9, 39: another would first go bid his friends farewell which were at his house, and when he had more leisure Christ should be served. So it fared with them that were bidden to the marriage-feast, who all with one consent began to make excuses; the first said, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: and another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come, Luke, 14, 18, 19, 20, Math, 22, 5.

Thus we see our nature is slow and untoward to follow the Lord, we shift off and shrink back as long as we can, and many goodly excuses our corrupt flesh findeth to linger and put from us all true obedience to Christ Jesus. Faine we would seem desirous to follow God to come unto Heaven, but we are loath to soil and defile our feet, Cant. 5, 3: so that we must be violently thrust forward, before we will yield, so sturdy and stubborn our necks are, John. 6, 44. We see y ^e truth of this in Nicodemus, he bare a love to Christ, and a liking to his doctrine; but first he came to him by night for fear of the Jews, John. 3, 2: afterward he waxed more bold in the cause of Christ before the face of the Pharisees, and that in the open day (though he received a check) John. 7, 50: and lastly, he shown himself more constant and zealous in professing himself to be one of his disciples in the burial of Christ.

The like we see in Joseph of Arimathea, who at the first was a disciple of Jesus secretly, John. 19 38: but after declared himself manifestly in the costly and honorable burial of his Master.

Thus it appeareth that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which is one of the least of all seeds, Matthew 13, 31: and that the Elect themselves are brought on by small degrees; their hands hang down, their knees are weak, they go halting and limping, and quickly turn out of the right way: they hang off and on a great while, they meet with many lets and incombrances, both at home in themselves, and abroad in others.

And albeit for further proof and certainty of this point it were sufficient to send every man (that knoweth what true vocation and conversion mean) home to his own doors, to examine his own heart; yet consider, I pray you, briefly the heavenly calling of Saint Augustine, as it is testified by himself in his books of confession. For when God began to speak to his conscience, he felt a world of temptations, he was tossed and troubled with infinite combats and conflicts between the flesh and the spirit, between God drawing on the one side, and the flesh, the world, and the devil holding back on the other part. His pleasures past presented themselves before his eyes, and he thought he might prolong the time, at length he began to break through this army of enemies, and to speak unto God after this manner, O Lord, how long wilt thou suffer me thus? how long, how long shall I say, tomorrow, and tomorrow? why should I not do it now? why should there not be an end of my filthy life, even at this hour? Then he was bidden to take up and read in the Scripture, after which followed his wonderful and final conversion, joined with much weeping and lamentation. This difficulty the Apostle found in his practice, that when he would do good, he was so yoked, that evil was present with him: he did delight in the Law of God concerning the inner man, yet he saw another law in his members, rebelling against the law of his mind, and leading him captive unto the law of sin, so that he did not those things which he would, but the euilsi which he would not he did, Rom. 7.21, 22, 23, 29. This should teach us to call upon God by earnest prayer that we may receive of him the presence of his grace, & the assistance of his Spirit, that we may over-stride all doubts and difficulties that would stay us, and so entangle us in the snares of sin. Let us use all holy and lawful means to strengthen our faith, that we may proceed from faith to faith, and grow in the graces of God, until we come to be perfect men in Jesus Christ. And let us not doubt of our calling, when we see, to y ^e grief of our hearts, and the discomfort of our souls, such wants and weaknesses in us; it is not otherwise with us then with all the faithful: but let us strive and fight against these lets which would withdraw our minds from God, and take heed we quench not the Spirit, nor grieve him by whom we are sealed unto the day of redemption, 1 Thessalon. 5, 19. Ephes. 1, 30.

And although Satan and the world make never so much suit unto us, to entertain the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season, and sing never such sweet songs to enchant us and lull us asleep in carnal security, let us stop our ears, and strengthen our hearts against such lusts as fight against the soul. We see sundry persons after their calling by the preaching of the word, and after a long profession of the faith, to turn back again as the dog to his vomit, 2 Peter 2, 22, Prouerb. 26, 11. 2 Timoth. 4, 4: some to their vain company, others after the love of the world, the lusts of the flesh the cares of this life, and grow to be more filthy and profane then they were before. Let us take heed of such dangerous examples, their doings are evil, their fall is fearful, & their end will be more fearful without repentance and practicing of their first works.

Fourthly, we see the people of God, before [Use 4] they could enter into the land of Canaan, were constrained to buckle and encounter with sundry enemies, the Amalekites, the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Bashanites, the Midianites, and sundry others, Exodus 17, 8. Numbers 21, 1, and 31, 1, 2, &c. all which in the end they subdued, so that not one of them was able to look them in the face. Thus it fareth with all the faithful in this life. As soon as we enter into the race of Christianity, by and by we must expect many and sundry enemies, y ^t cross us in the way, some secret y ^t seek to undermine us, some open, that with all violence fly upon us, and drive against us, & both seek to overthrow us: yea, such as before our calling seemed our friends and familiars, now begin to reject and renounce us, now fall to nod the head at us, and to set themselves against us, because it seemeth strange to them that we run not with them into the same excess of riot, and therefore they speak evil of us; which shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and dead, 1 Peter 44, 5.

It is noted concerning Christ by the Evangelist, that before he entered upon the work of his high calling, to preach the Gospel, and shown himself a Redeemer to Israel, he increased in wisdom and stature, and grew in favor with God and man, Luke 2, 52: but when once he left his private life in the private houfe of Joseph where he was brought up, and set upon the office whereunto he was appointed, albeit he continued in the favor of God, as his only begotten Son in whom he is well pleased, Matthew 3, 17: yet he grew out of favor with men who were not contented with him.

Paul, before his conversion, was in great estimation with the Pharisees, and obtained letters of them, to put in prison all them that called upon the Name of Christ: but when he began to preach faith in Christ which before he persecuted and sought to destroy, he lost their favor and friendship, as appeareth in that they plotted his death, and sought his life to take it away, more vehemently and violently then he had practiced against the disciples.

Let us not therefore think it strange that we meet with many enemies, cunning, subtle, cruel, and malicious; but seek to be at peace with God, and reconciled unto him, and then if God be with us, who shall be against us? Rom. 8, 31.

[Use 5] Fifthly, the enemies of Israel, albeit they were overthrown and defeated, yet were not all discomfited and consumed at once, but by little and little, sometimes one, and then afterward another, as they did not arise and appear all together: so it is evermore with his Church to the end of the world. We shall never be without some enemies. God will ever try the faith and patience of his children. When David sat at home, and went not to war against his enemies, he was surprised by a subtle enemy whom he never suspected, and fell into two grievous sins, adultery and murder, 2 Sam. 11, 1, 4, 1 Chron. 20, 1. The water by standing still, gathereth filth, mud, and corruption. The iron by lying still, gathereth r • st. The Church free from enemies oftentimes groweth secure: and the godly are ready to say in their prosperity, they shall never be removed, Psal. 30, 6. Let all the wicked therefore know, that their peace and prosperity cannot give them assurance (though they endure long) of the favor and love of God, but he will bring down his judgments upon them, when they have filled up the measure of their sins. And albeit for a time they escape, yet they are appointed to wrath and destruction, forasmuch as the Lord is jealous, and the Lord avengeth, he will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies, Nah. 1, 2. Yea, thus it shall be with the spiritual enemies of our souls and of our salvation, albeit they have received their deaths wound, and are crushed in the head, that they can never fully recover their strength, but shall finally be subdued; yet they are always hissing and stinging, they are trying & tempting the members of Christ. So long as we are Christ's, we must look for the devil and his Angels to set themselves against us. They will take no denial or repulse, but being beaten and vanquished, will gather their forces, and unite their power together, to build up the kingdom of darkness. When he tempted Christ in the wilderness, and received a notable foil and glorious overthrow in all those several combats, and had ended his temptations that he had prepared, he departed from him but a little season, Luke 4, 13. As he dealt with the head in the wilderness, so he dealeth with the members in this world, we must never look to be wholly rid of this importunate enemy. Whensoever he leaveth us, it is not as a confession that he is utterly convicted and confounded; for it fareth with him as with one that wrestled, who, how soever he spedde, would always persuade the standers by, that he gave him the fall and foil that buckled and clasped with him: and so it is when we wrestle with these principalities and powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places, they will never yield the victory, but rather gather their broken and disbanded companies, leuy new forces, provide and procure stronger weapons, and make better provision and preparation against us. If then he depart from us, and break up his siege, it is not to free us from danger, and to take a truce with us, but to muster a fresh army, and to take us at an advantage, if he see us to grow secure: and therefore let us never promise rest unto our selves from his assaults, so long as we continue here, and carry about us this earthly Tabernacle; but always stand upon our gard and in our watch-tower, to be ready for his coming and returning, that so resisting him, (being strong in faith) he may fly from us, I am. 4, 7. 1 Pet. 5, 8, 9. Yea, let this serve as a great comfort and consolation to those that have experience of his manifold assaults and invasions, that they never distrust or despair, though their troubles be many, though their temptations be great & continual, seeing this was the lot and portion of Jesus Christ the Son of GOD, Who shall tread down Satan under their feet shortly, Rom. 16, 20.

Lastly, the people of Israel, after the enduring [Use 6] of all their troubles and afflictions, after the experience of many sorrows and miseries that came upon them, had rest given unto them, and victory over all their enemies round about them, so that they were safely brought into the land of promise, where they inherited and possessed cities that they built not, houses full of all manner goods which they filled not, welles which they digged not, vineyards, and oliues which they planted not, and saw all the good things performed which the Lord had promised unto them. This serveth to comfort the children of God, though for a time they sustain many injuries, bear many disgraces, receive many losses, feel many pinches & instraightments, yea many fierce and fiery trials, it is but while they wander in the wilderness, they are not yet come into Canaan the place of rest; howbeit the blessedness of the issue and end of all, will fully recompense the hardness of the way, and make amends and satisfaction for all their sorrows, being fully assured that the afflictions of this present world are not worthy of the glory which shall be shown unto us hereafter, for then God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, Rom. 8, 19. Revel. 7, 16, 17. Thus God giveth comfort to his servants, after they have been humbled in this vale of misery. They shall hunger no more, they shall thirst no more, they shall want no more. Then this corruptible shall put on incorruption, this mortal shall put on immortality, and death shall be swallowed up in victory, 1 Cor. 15, 53 54. This made the Apostle say, Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them, Revel. 14, 13. This must make us to make light & ittle account of this transitory life, and of the vain profits, pleasures, honors, and friendship thereof, all which are as dung in comparison of the profit, pleasure, and honor that shall be enjoyed in the next life. Let us lay a good foundation in this life, and begin our heaven while we are here upon the earth. Let us make the first entrance into it in this mortal body which we carry about us, that so this work may be finished and fully accomplished in the life to come.

50 And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

51 Speak unto the thildren of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan.

52 Then shall ye drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places.

53 And ye shall dispossess, &c.

54 And ye shall divide the land by lot, &c.

55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to pass, that these which ye let remain of them, shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

56 Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I though to do unto them.

Commentary on Numbers

CHAP. XXXIII.