Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 2, Collection of lectures · Lecture 15

Twenty-One Sermons on Amos 2 · Collection of lectures · Lecture 15

p. 241THE XV. LECTVRE.

AMOS 2.10.

Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt, and led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse, to possesse the land of the Amorite.

IN this tenth verse are recounted two other benefits, which Almighty God was pleased to bestow vponupon his people, the people of Israel. One was, Their deliuerance from Aegypt. The other, Their protection and preseruation in the wildernes.

Their deliuerance from Egypt is set downe, in the first clause; Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt.

Their protection and preseruation in the wildernesse, in the next: And led you forty yeares through the wildernesse.

The end of both followeth in the end of the verse: To possesse the land of the Amorite.

They were deliuered from Egypt, and were for forty yeares protected in the wildernesse, that at length, and in their appointed time, they might possesse the land of the Amorites.

We are to begin with their deliuerance from Egypt. Its in the first clause of the verse: Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt.

This deliuerance of theirs out of Egypt was before the Amorites were destroyed, and yet the destruction of the Amorites is specified in the former verse. Why is the order of Gods benefits so inverted? Why is the benefit, that p. 242was first collated vponupon Israel, spoken of in the second place?

Some thinke it was aduisedly and of purpose done, to preoccupate and preuent an obiection, which otherwise Israel might hauehave made. In the former verse, ver. 9. it is said, that the Amorites were destroyed, root and fruit, vtterly destroyed before Israel. Now that Israel should not boast of that ouerthrow, or ascribe it to the prowesse and valour of their ancestors, their deliuerance out of Egypt is nex set downe, in this 10. verse, to put them in minde of the miserable estate and condition, wherein their forefathers liued in Egypt: to this sense: Thinke yee, O yee children of Israel, that the Amorites were destroyed by the prowesse and valour of your fore-fathers? Thinke it not. Remember Egypt. Remember how there they groaned vnderunder the heauy yoke of oppression, and were not able to helpe themselues, and must of necessitie hauehave perished, had not the Lord with his stretched-forth arme deliuered them.

Others are of opinion, that this deliuerance of Israel out of Egypt, is in the second place, and after the destruction of the Amorites, set downe, onelyonly by a custome of the Scripture.

Of this opinion I finde S. Hierome to be. His rule is: The Scripture in setting forth the praises of God, doth not alwayes obserue the order of the Historie: but it often comes to passe, Ʋt quae prima facta sunt, extrema dicantur, & quae novissima, referantur ad prima: Things first done are last spoken of, and things last done are first recited. This he will hauehave vsus to learne out of two Psalmes, the 78. and 105. in which signorum potentia, non ordo describitur, the power of Gods wonderfull workes, and not their order is described: and out of two other Psalmes, the 3. and 52. Vbi, quae priùs facta sunt, narrantur extrema, & quae extrema, referuntur in principio: What is first done is last spoken of, and what is last done is first mentioned. The third Psalme was composed by Dauid, when he fled from p. 243Absalom, his sonne: the 52. when Doeg the Edomite came vntounto Saul, and told him, that Dauid was come to the house of Ahimelech. That of Absalom is registred, 2. Sam. 15.14. This of Doeg, 1. Sam. 22.9. The relation of Doeg is first chronicled, and long after that, Dauids flight from Absalom: & yet Dauids flight frō Absalom is first mentioned in the Book of the Psalmes, and long after that, the relation of Doeg vntounto Saul. The order of the Historie is not obserued.

Nor is it obserued in this our text. The order of the Historie is: first God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, Exod. 12.51. He made them to passe through the middest of the red Sea, as vponupon dry land, Exod. 14.22. And when they had finished their two and forty iourneyes, through diuers wildernesses, then gaue he them victorie ouer Sihon King of the Amorites, Num. 21.24. The Amorites were last of all destroyed, and yet are they here first mentioned. Non est obseruatus ordo, saith Mercer; the order of the Historie is not obserued. Ribera also notes it. Mathurinus Quadratus here frames a rule, like to that of S^t. Hierome, Scriptura in recensendis Dei beneficijs curiose non seruat ordinem. The Scripture in rehearsing Gods benefits doth not curiously keepe the order, but oftentimes it falls out by a figure, which the Greekes doe call foreign, that what was first done, is last of all rehearsed; and what was last done is first of all recited. From hence we may deduce this conclusion: Though it be our dutie carefully to remember the manifold blessings and benefits, which God in mercy from time to time hath bestowed vponupon vsus; yet is it not necessarie, that we euer curiously obserue their order, and the time when they were bestowed.

You see the custome of Scripture is our warrant, to speake of that first, which was last done for vsus; and of that last, which we first receiued. But, first or last, we must remember all.

Hereto belongeth holy Dauids admonition, Psal. 103.2. which he there proposeth vnderunder the forme of an exhortation. p. 244He exhorteth himselfe to blesse the Lord: Blesse the Lord, ô my soule, and forget not all his benefits. Forget not all his benefits! Nay: Forget not any of his benefits. So much the Hebrew phrase intendeth. Blesse the Lord, ô my soule, and forget not any of his benefits. A necessarie admonition. We forget nothing sooner then a benefit, whether we receiue it from God or man. But iniuriarum tenacissima est memoria; our memorie for iniuries, is very tenacious; its a hold-fast. Let an iniurie be done vsus, we will not forget it. Yea let one of vsus bestow vponupon another any benefit, be it neuer so litle, the knowledg whereof should not be imparted from the right hand to the left, as our Sauiour Christ speaketh in his Sermon vponupon the Mount, Matth. 6.3. how long, how long will we reteine the memorie of it? Our nature! its corrupt. Our disposition! its peruerse. Who seeth not, what neede there is, that we exercise our selues in reteyning the memorie of Gods benefits? Wherefore let eueryevery one of vsus stirre vp himselfe to so holy an exercise, as Dauid did himselfe: Let vsus daily sing vntounto our soules: Blesse the Lord, ô my soule, and forget not all his benefits. Forget not All! Nay; Forget not any of his benefits. Remember them all, either first, or last.

Now from the non-obseruance of the order of the Historie in this enumeration of Gods benefits vponupon Israel, we are particularly to speake of the benefit mentioned in the second place. It is their deliuerance out of Egypt. The words are, Also I brought you vp from the land of Egypt.

I] Iehovah. It is his name, ver. 6. & 11. I] Iehovah, the onelyonly true, euerlasting and Almighty God; I, a Trinitie in Vnitie, and the Vnitie in Trinitie; Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost; I, who destroyed the Amorites before you and for your sakes; I also brought you vp from the land of Egypt.

I brought you vp.

It well expresseth the originall, which word for word is, ascendere vos feci. I made you to ascend. Nam ex Aegypto p. 245ascenditur Iudaeam versus, sayth Drusius: from Egypt to Iudaea you must ascend: and it is a tradition of the Hebrews, Iudaea est altior Egypto: Iudaea stands higher then Egypt. Its affirmed, Deut. 10.22. Its there sayd, that Iacob with threescore and ten persons went downe into Egypt. Ia… with his familie went from Canaan, from Iudaea; and went …ne into Egypt. Canaan therefore and Iudaea stood higher then Egypt. I brought you vp [or, I made you to ascend] from the land of Egypt.

From the land of Egypt.

aaMaginus in descrip. Aegypti pag. 203. aEgypt is a most noble region, and famous, much spoken of by writers, sacred and prophane.

Some would hauehave it to be one of the parts of the world, a diuerse part from Asia and Africa; and to be betweene them both.

Others supposing the riuer Nilus, the great riuer of Egypt, to be the fittest bound to part Asia from Africa, doe make Egypt to pertake of both, Asia and Africa. One part of Egypt they place in Asia, the other in Africa.

The Iesuite Lorinus, Comment. in Act. Apost. cap. 2.10. makes it a part of Asia Maior. He sayth it is a well knowne region of Asia the greater neere vntounto Africa.

ButbbLib. 4. Geogr. cap. 5. Tab. 3. Aphricae pag. 98. Ptolomee, and the greatest part of Geographers, and other writers, holding the gulfe of Arabia, or the Red Sea, to be the fittest bound to sever Asia from Africa, hauehave placed Egypt in Africa. This is the most receiued opinion, and worthiest to be embraced. The land of Egypt is in Africa, and is by anccGeorg. Abbot the description of the world. I. 4. b. Isthmos, or a narrow streit of ground, ioyned to the Holy land. It was of old a land very fruitfull, as fruitfull, as any almost in the world: though in these dayes it doth not answere to the fertilitie of former times.

From the land of Egypt] The Hebrew cals it the land of Mizraim. Its so called in my text, and else-where generally in the holy Scriptures: and hath its name from Mitzraim, one of the sonnes of Ham: of whom we read, Gen. 10.6. He first inhabited that part of Africa, which was afterward called Egypt.

p. 246When it first began to be called Egypt, its not easily defined. Some say, it was first called Egypt in Moses his time: when Ramesses surnamed Egyptus, sonne of Belus, and brother of Danaus, was King of the land. Ramesses, otherwise called Aegyptus, began his raigne in the 29. yeare from the going of Israel out of Egypt. Of this opinion isddAd annum Mundi 2482. Funccius in his Chronologie.

S.eeWillet vponupon Gen. c 10. p. 120 Peret. in Gen. Tom. 2. lib 15. Disp. 1. p. 412.Gen 10 Augustine lib. 18. de civ. Dei. cap. 11. followingffAd annum Mundi 3720. Eusebius in his Chronicle, sayth, this happened in Iosuahs time, more then eight hundred yeares after the floud.

According to the computation of Manethon an Egyptian Chronographer, cited by Iosephus in hisggPag. 451. b first book against Apion. It was three hundred ninetie and three yeares after Moses leading Israel out of Egypt.

Whensoeuer it was first called Egypt, its not much materiall. Were it first so called in Moses his time, or after, in Iosuahs time; or yet after 393. yeares from Israels going vp from thence, it was many a yeare so called before our Prophet Amos wrote this his Prophecie. And yet our Prophet here retaineth the old Hebrew name Mizraim. Also I brought you vp foreign from the land of Mizraim, it is in our Language, from the land of Egypt.

But what benefit was it for Israel to be brought vp from the land of Egypt? Had they not there a sweete habitation? Were they not planted in the best of the land? in the land ofhhGen. 47.11.Gen 47:11 Ramesses, in the land ofiiVers. 6. Goshen?

It may not be denyed, but that Egypt of it selfe was a very goodly, fruitfull, and commodious countrey: yet was it very beneficiall to the Israelites, that they were thence deliuered: and that in two respects: one was, because the people of the land were superstitious the other, because they were full of crueltie.

First, the Egyptians were a superstitious people. They had as the Greeks, and Romans had, their Gods maiorum gentium, and their Gods minorum gentium. Gods of greater authoritie, and Gods of lesse. They had for their Gods manie a b…ast. Athenagoras a Christian Philosopher, in his embassage p. 247or apologie for the Christians to the Emperours Antoninus and Commodus, witnesseth, that they bestowed diuine honors vponupon Cats, and Crocodils, and Serpents, and Aspes, and Dogs.

Arnobius in his first Booke against the Gentiles, sayth; they built stately Temples felibus, scarabais, & buculis, to Cats, to Beetles, to Heyfers.

Cassiodore in his tripartite historie lib. 9. cap. 27. tels of the Image of an Ape, which they adored: and cap. 28. hee sayth, that a nest of Rats was their God.

Many otherkkAccipitres Noctuas Hircos, Asinos Hieronym. in Esai 11. Tom. 5. p. 51. a Cironius Hieron. in Ioel. 3. Tom. 6 pag. 67. d.Isa 11Joel 3 beasts did they adore. Here their superstition rested not: it proceeded to the plants of the earth, to base plants; to leekes, and onyons. Leekes and onyons were to them for Gods.

Porrum & llHieron. in Esai 46. Tom. 5. pag. 172. aIsa 46caepe nefas violare—Iuvenal. Sat. 15. could note it. O, it was a wicked and detestable act, to doe any hurt to a leeke or onyon. At such their ridiculous superstition he by and by scoffeth, O sanctas gentes, quibus haec nascuntur in hortis Numina?

Surely, they are holy Nations, that hauehave such Gods growing in their gardens. Mad Egypt. So the Poet stiles it in the beginning of his Satyre. And could it be lesse then mad, when it was besotted and bewitched with such foule and monstrous adoration?

Well might Minutius Felix in his Octavius call those Gods of the Egyptians, non numina, sed portenta. Gods they were not, they were monsters. Well mightmmGeverharl Elmenhorst. com. ad Minutium Felicem. pag. 41. Salisberiensis in his first Booke de nugis cvrial. cap. 10. call Egypt, Matrem superstitionis, the mother of superstition. For, asnnTom. 5. pag. 170. c. S. Hierome in his Comment. vponupon Esay 45. witnesseth: Neuer was there any Nation so giuen to Idolatrie, or worshipped such a number of monsters, as Egypt did.

This notorious superstition and Idolatrie of the Egyptians, so much spoken of by Christian writers and others, is also in the sacred volumes of Holy writ censured and controlled. In Exod. 12.12. the meanacing of the Lord is against them: Against all the Gods of Egypt I will execute iudgment, p. 248I the Lord. The gods of Egypt, that is, the Images, and the Idoles which the Egyptians adored and worshipped. Concerning whichooDe quadraginta duabus mansionibus Mans. 2 Tom. 3. pag. 42. S. Hierome in an Epistle of his to Fabiola, reporteth out of the Hebrew writers, that in very same night the Children of Israel departed out of Egypt, all the Temples of Egypt were ouerthrowne, siue terrae motu, sine iactu fulminum; either with earth quakes, or thunderbolts. These Hebrew writers say further, eâdem nocte lignea idola putrefacta fuisse, metallica resoluta & fusa, lapidea comminuta: that in the same night all the wooden Images were rotten, all the mettall Images were dissolued and moulten, all the stone Images were broken. If so it were, it was doubtlesse a great worke, a great iudgement of God vponupon those Egyptian monsters.

In Esay 19.1. their confusion is againe foretold. Behold, saith the Prophet, the Lord rideth vponupon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the Idoles of Egypt shall moue at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. Where the Idoles of Egypt are the heart of Egypt. They are called the heart of Egypt; because the heart of the Egyptians did wholy depend vponupon them, for reliefe and succour. The Lord rideth vponupon a swift cloud and shall come into Egypt: and the Idoles of Egypt shall moue at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. The Idols of Egypt shall moue and melt at the presence of the Lord.

In Ierem. 43.13. their desolation is likewise denounced. There the Lord threatneth to send Nabuchadnezzar, the K. of Babylon, his seruant into Egypt. What shall he doe there? He shall breake the Images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the Gods of the Egyptians shall be burnt with fire.

Thus you see it confirmed not onelyonly by Christian writers, and others, but also, by the sacred volumes of holy Scripture; that the Egyptians were a superstitious and an Idolatrous people.

Superstitious were they, and Idolatrous? Happie then wast thou, O Israell, that the Lord brought thee vp from the p. 249land of Egypt. Liue in Egypt thou couldst not with a good conscience, nor would the Egyptians willingly suffer thee to worship God, otherwise then themselues did. To hauehave worshipped as they did, must needs hauehave beene a Hell vntounto thy soule: and to hauehave done otherwise, must needs hauehave brought certaine daunger to thine outward estate. Acknowledge it therefore for a great benefit and blessing of God vponupon thee, that he brought thee vp from the land of Egypt.

God in reckoning vp this fauour of his, his bringing vp Israel out of the land of Egypt, teacheth vsus, what an intollerable thing it is, to liue among Idolaters; and what a speciall fauour it is, to be deliuered from amongst them. And this should stir vsus vp to a thankfull recognition of Gods goodnesse towards vsus, who hath deliuered the Church, wherein we liue, from the Babylonish and Romish Idolatrie; wherein our auncestors were nus-led and trained vp, to worship and adore, not the true and liuing God, but Angels and Saints, damned …les it may be; silver and gold; stocks and stones; Images and Idoles; and what not?

From such grosse and palpable Idolatry we are by Gods goodnesse deliuered: and now doe (as a long time we hauehave done) enioy the bright Sunne-shine of thepp1. Tim. 1 11.1 Tim 1:11 glorious Gospell of the blessed God, our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. Being now deliuered from theqqColos. 1.13.Col 1:13 power of darknesse, vnderunder Antichrist, and translated into the light of Christs Gospell, Let it be our daily care (for it is our dutie) to walke worthy the light,hhEphes. 5.8.Eph 5:8 as children of light; to walke in truth, Ep. 3. Ioh. ver. 3. to walke in louelove, Colos. 5.2. to walke in newnesse of life, Rom. 6.4. to walke, not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Rom. 8.1. If we walke after the flesh, we shall mind the things of the flesh; we shall be carnally minded, and our end shall be death; but if we walke after the spirit, we shall mind the things of the spirit, we shall be spiritually minded, and our end shall be life and peace.

The choise is not difficult. Life is better then death. If you chuse life, you must abandon and forsake theiiGal. 5.19.Gal 5:19 workes p. 250of the flesh, which cause death. Adulterie, fornication, vncleannesse, lasciuiousnesse, kkVers. 20.hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, llV…rs. 21.envyings, murthers, drunkennesse, revellings, vsurie, extortion, oppression, and such like, are workes of the flesh, and doe shut you out from life. Yet may life be yours, if you will bemmVers. 18. led by the spirit. nnVers. 22.LoueLove, ioy, peace, long suffering, gentl…nesse, goodnesse, fayth, meeknesse, temperance, are the fruit of the spirit. Let these dwell among you, and life shall be yours. The God of life shall giuegive it you.

Hitherto you hauehave the first respect, why it was beneficiall & good for the people of Israel, that they were brought vp from the land of Egypt. It was good for them because the people of the land were superstitious and idolatrous, and among such there is no good liuing.

The other respect now followeth. It was beneficiall and good for the people of Israel, that they were brought vp from the land of Egypt; because the people of the land were full of crueltie, and held Israel in subiection and seruitude.

Egypt was long a harbour to the Israelites, but at length it prooued a Gaole vntounto them. The posteritie of Iacob finds too late, what it was for their forefathers, to sell Iacob, a slaue into Egypt. There arose vp a new Pharaoh, a new king ouer Egypt: he knew not Ioseph. Then, then were the Israelites contemned as drudges.ooExod. 1.11.Exod 1:11 Task masters must be set ouer them, to afflict them with their burdens. Why so? How had they offended? They prospered too fast. For thus sayth Pharaoh to his people, Exod. 1.9. Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier then we. Come on, let vsus deale wisely with them, lest they multiplie, and it come to passe, that when there falleth out any warre, they ioyne also v…to our enemies, and fight against vsus. For this cause, because they prospered too fast, were task-masters set ouer them, to afflict them with their burdens.

But, the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew. This did not a little grieue the Egyptians. The Egyptians therefore made the children of Israell to serue p. 251ppVers. 13.with rigour, qqVers. 14.and held them in bondage without merciemercy: and made their liues bitter vntounto them in that cruell bondage, in clay, and bricke, and all manner of worke in the field. All their bondage wherein they serued them, was full of tyrannie.

The crueltie of the Egyptians here stayeth not. The hopes of succession for Israel must be preuented. Women, midwiues must be suborned to be murtherers, to kill eueryevery manchilde that should be borne of an Hebrew woman. A prodigious crueltie, that a man should kill a man for his sexes sake! yet would Pharoah hauehave done it.

TherrVers. 17. feare of God taught the midwiues to disobey the vniust commaund of Pharaoh. They disobeyed it; they well knew it was no excuse for so foule a fact, to say, we were bidden to doe it. God sayd vntounto their hearts, Thou shalt not kill. This voice was louder, and more powerfull, then Pharaohs.

What the midwiues would not, that must Pharaohs people doe; they mustssVers. 22. cast into the riuer and drowne, all the sonnes that were then borne. They did it. The crueltie which did but smoke before, doth now flame vp: its become so shamelesse, that now it dares proclaime tyrannie. All the male children are cast into the riuer.

Nor could Pharoahs furie here be appeased. He will hauehave thettExod. 5 6.7 8.Exod 5:6Exod 5:7 taske of the Children of Israel to be encreased. They must make bricke as before, as much as before; yet shall they not hauehave any allowance of straw, as they were wont to hauehave. While possible taskes were imposed, there was some comfort; their diligence might saue their backes from stripes. But, to require taskes not possible to be done is tyrannicall, and doth onelyonly picke a quarrell to punish. They could neither make straw nor find it, yet must they hauehave it. O crueltie! O tyrannie.

For such crueltie and tyrannie, practised against the children of Israel by the Egyptians, Egypt it selfe is in holy Scripture, stiled, The house of seruitude, or bondage. Exod. 13.3.14. Exod. 20.2. Deut. 5.6. And in sundryuuDeut. 6.12. And 7.8. & 8.14 & 13.5.10 Iosh. 24.17. Iudg. 6.8.Deut 6:12Josh 24:17Judg 6:8 other places. p. 252It is stiled likewise the yron furnace, Deut. 4.20. 1. Kin. 8.51. Ierem. 11.4.

Egypt (you see) was the house of bondage, it was the yron furnace, wherein the children of Israel werexxAct. 7.19.Acts 7:19 euill intreated, suffered affliction, and endured much miserie. You will confesse, that therefore it was beneficiall and good for them that they were from thence deliuered. And well may you. For the Lord himselfe reckons vp this their deliuerance for a benefit vntounto them, and by them to be remembred. From hence issueth this doctrine: Temporall benefits, and bodily fauours are not to be forgotten.

I will not now stand to amplifie or enlarge this doctrine. In the beginning of this exercise, I exhorted you, that you would not forget any one of Gods benefits bestowed vponupon you. Temporall benefits, and bodily fauours, hauehave beene plentifully shewred downe vponupon vsus by almighty God. It isyyPsal. 100.3.Ps 100:3 He that hath made vsus, not we our selues: it is He that prouideth for vsus, not we our selues. S. Austin in his 21. chap. of his Soliloquies, sweetly meditateth hereupon: From Heauen, from the Aire, from the Earth, from the Sea, from light, from darknesse, from heate, from shade, from dew, from raine, and winds, and showers, and birds, and fishes, and beasts, and trees, and from the diuersitie of hearbes, and fruit of the earth, and from the seruice of all creatures, which serue for mans vse, Thou, O Lord hast prouided, to comfort man withall.

S^t Austines Lord is our Lord, the Lord of all the world. He hath preserued vsus, our bodies, and all our lims, to this very houre: he hath deliuered vsus from many dangers, and distresses: He hath so blessed our going out, and comming in, when we hauehave trauelled from home, that we hauehave returned home in good health, and disposition: whatsoeuer good we hauehave had, we hauehave had it from the Lord. Offer we therefore vntounto him, the sacrifice of prayse.

Hitherto you hauehave seene the deliuerance of the people of Israel out of Egypt. It was an exceeding great benefit vntounto them, that they were thence deliuered: First, because the p. 253Egyptians were Idolaters, and to liue among Idolaters is a very Hell. Secondly, because they were kept vnderunder by the Egyptians with extremitie of seruitude and bondage. The seruant in the ^z Poet could say,xxPlautus Captivis Act. 1. Sc. 2. vers. 10.Acts 1

Omnes profectò liberi Inbentiùs

Sumus, quam servi:

EueryEvery man preferreth freedome before slauery. The Israelites could doe no lesse: they could not but account it a great fauour of God towards them, that they were by him freed from the slauerie they endured in Egypt. God when he beginnes a good worke, will perfect it. He brought the children of Israel out of Egypt: if he had then left them, he had left them a prey and spoyle vntounto their enemies. It was against Gods goodnesse so to doe: and therefore he protected and preserued them in the wildernes, which is the next benefit in this verse mentioned to hauehave beene bestowed by the Lord vponupon his people, the people of Israell, in these words, I led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse.

A wonderfull benefit. Wonderfull: whether we consider the multitude that were led; or the place, through which they were led; or the time, wherein they were led. EueryEvery circumstance is wonderfull, and proclaimeth the great power of the Lord. The multitude, that was led, was very great; the place, through which they were led was very barren: and they were a long time in leading.

The first circumstance, is of the multitude, which were led. The number of this multitude is set downe, Exod. 12.37. They were sixe hundred thousand men on foote, besides children. A most wonderfull increase from seauentie soules. Old Iacobs seauentie soules which he brought downe into Egypt, in spight of their bondage and bloud-shed, goe forth six hundred thousand men, besides children. Tyrannie is too weake, where God bids increase and multiplie. The Church of God shall increase, mauger the malice of man, or Deuill. In affliction, in oppression, in tyrannie the good herbe ouergrowes p. 254the weeds: the Church out-strips the world. Had the Israelites liued in ease and delicacie, while they were in Egypt, would they hauehave beene so strong, so numerous? Who can say it? This I am sure of; neuer did any true Israelite loose by his affliction.

Six hundred thousand men, besides children, goe vp out of Egypt. All Israelites. But these were not all. For there went vp also with them, a mixed multitude: and flockes and heards, euen very much cattell; as you may read, Exod. 12.38.

This mixed multitude what it was, it is not certaine. It is probable, that it consisted of Egyptians, and other Nations, soiourning in Egypt, who being moued and prepared with those mightie wonders and myracles which they saw in Egypt, might thereupon resolue to ioyne themselues to Israel, to the people of God. Whatsoeuer they were, this mingling of diuers other Nations with the people of God, was a liuely type and euident demonstration of the calling of the Gentiles.

Six hundred thousand men on foote, besides children; and a mixed multitude, a multitude of sundry sorts of people, went out from Egypt with Israel, and flockes, and heards, euen very much cattell. But which way went they? They went through the wildernesse: It is the second circumstance I am now to poynt at.

I led you through the wildernesse.

Through the wildernesse! A sandie and an vntracked wildernesse! There they might erre: there they might starue for want of food, and other prouision.

But against all such accidents and casualties, they were secured. God himselfeaaExod. 13.21.Exod 13:21 went before them. How could they but cheerefully follow, when they saw, God led them? God led them bybbNum. 14 14. Deut. 1.33. Psal. 78.14.Num 14:14Deut 1:33Ps 78:14 pillars: by a pillar cc1. Cor. 10.1.1 Cor 10:1of cloud, and by a pillar of fire. Pillars they were for firmenesse: they were of Cloud and fire, of visibilitie and vse. The greater light obscureth the lesse; therefore in the day time he led them, not by fire, but by a Cloud. In the night nothing is seene without light; therefore in the night time he led them not by a cloud, but p. 255by fire. The cloud defended them from heate by day: the fire digested the rawnes of the night. God put himselfe into those formes of gracious respects, which might best fit their then necessities.

But where did God shew himselfe so graciously present vntounto his people Israel in the cloud, and fire? or in what wildernesse was it? It was in the wildernesse of Etham, which was a great and a sandie desart, lying from the land of Goshen in Egypt, to the Red Sea and beyond it. This is plaine by, Exod. 13.20. where we read, that the Children of Israel tooke their iourney from Succoth, and encamped inddNum 23.6.Num 23:6 Etham in the edge of the wildernesse And the Lord went afore them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to giuegive them light, to goe by day and night. He tooke not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

FromeeV…rs. 7. Etham they remoued, and encamped before Piha-hiroth, betweene Migdol and the Red Sea, ouer against Baal-zephon: so we read, Exod. 14.2.

From hence, from Pi-hahiroth they remoued againe and passed through the middest of theffExod. 14.22.Exod 14:22 Red Sea. Through the Red Sea, and not drowned? It was euen so. The Lord caused the Sea to goe backe by aggVers. 21. strong East wind, a whole night, and made the Sea drie land: And the Children of Israell went into the middest of the Sea vponupon drie ground, and the waters were a wall vntounto them, on their right hand, and on their left. Were the waters a wall vntounto them? O, the neuer too-much admired protection of the Almightie. That, the Sea, the Red Sea, which they feared would be their ruine, became their preseruation. I now see, God can easily make the cruellest of his creatures to become our friends, and patrons.

The Israelites were safely passed through the Red Sea: they passed byhhHeb. 11.29.Heb 11:29 faith. The Egyptians pursued after themiiExod. 14.23.Exod 14:23 to the middest of the Sea, and were drowned; for they had not faith. It was Gods pleasure to get him honor vponupon them:kkVers. 17. vponupon Pharaoh, vponupon all his host, vponupon his charrets, and vponupon p. 256his horsemen. The Sea was readie to worke his will; shee shut her mouth vponupon the Egyptians, shee swallowed them vp in her waues, and after shee had made sport with them a while, shee cast them vp vponupon her sands for a spectacle of triumph to their aduersaries.

Let our contemplations be lifted vp to those walls of waters, which gaue Israel safe passage, and ouerwhelmed the Egyptians: we shall see the condition of the children of God, and his enemies in this world. In this world the children of God are beset with walls of waters too: on the right hand with the waters of prosperitie; on the left hand with the waters of aduersitie: and yet, through a true faith they walke through both, they are hurt by neither, they ariue on the other side at their wished-for harbour in safetie: whereas the enemies of God, the sonnes of vnbeleife and impietie, are confounded in middest of the waters. The waters of prosperitie make them forget God, the waters of aduersitie make them curse God. Both, the waters of prosperitie, and the waters of aduersitie, doe ouerwhelme them with confusion.

We are not yet out of the wildernesse of Etham. For from the Red Sea, Israel went three dayes iourney in the wildernesse of Etham, and pitched in Marah. The storie is so, Num. 33.8. In the 15. of Exodus, vers. 22. it seemeth to be called the wildernesse of Shur. For there you may thus read: Moses brought Israell from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wildernesse of Shur, and they went three dayes iourney in the wildernesse.

From hence many thinke this wildernesse of Shur, to be the same with the wildernesse of Etham. Some will hauehave Etham to be the generall name of the whole wildernesse, and Shur onelyonly a part of it. Others will hauehave Shur to be the generall name of the whole wildernesse, and Etham onelyonly a part of it. But neither can be so. The wildernesse of Shur, and the wildernesse of Etham are not the same: they are altogether diuerse. The wildernesse of Etham was a part of Egypt, as hath alreadie beene shewed: the wildernes of Shur was not a part of Egypt: therefore the wildernes of Etham, p. 257and the wildernesse of Shur were not the same.

That the wildernesse Shur was no part of Egypt, I gather from the first of Samuel, Chap. 15. vers. 7. where I read, that Shur is ouer against Egypt. Its ouer against Egypt; therefore it is no part of Egypt. The like collection I make from the 25. of Genesis, ver. 18. there I find, that Shur is before Egypt, as a man goeth to Assyria. Its before Egypt; therefore not in Egypt, nor any part of Egypt: therefore Shur is not Etham.

Why then doth Moses in the places now alledged, seeme to make Shur and Etham all one? I answere, if wee rightly vnderstand Moses, Moses doth not make them all one. The words of Moses I thus explicate: Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, that they might goe forward into the wildernes of Shur: but before they came thither, they spent three daies iourney in the wildernesse of Etham.

We hauehave almost lost our selues in these two wildernesses, Etham, and Shur. We must make more hast through the rest. I will not much more then name them. The next wildernesse they came vntounto was the wildernesse ofllNum. 33.11.Num 33:11 Sin, Exod, 16.1. After that they pitched in the wildernesse ofmmVers. 15. Sinai, Exod. 19.1. From Sinai they came to the wildernes of Paran, Num. 10.12. thence to the wildernesse ofnnVers. 36. Zin, which is Kadesh, Num. 20.1. and then to the wildernesse ofooVers. 44. Moab, Num. 21.11. Here at Ieabarim they finished their 38. iourney. They had foure more to make. They soone made them; and last of all they pitched in the plaines of Moab by Iordan nere Iericho, Num. 33.48.

You hauehave now heard of many wildernesses. They are all conteined in the wildernesse mentioned in my text: I led you through the wildernesse. The wildernesse. Not the wildernesse of Etham onelyonly; but the wildernesse of Shur too, and the wildernesse of Sin, and all other the wildernesses, through which the Children of Israel trauailed in their way to the land of promise. They were many wildernesses; yet my text speaketh as of one, p. 258I led you through the wildernesse.

So speaketh the Psalmist, in that his remarkeable exhortation, to giuegive thankes to God for particular mercies. It is Psal. 136.16. O, giuegive thankesppPsal. 136.1.Ps 136:1 vntounto the Lord, vntounto theqqVers. 2. God of Gods, vntounto therrVers. 3. Lord of Lords, to him, who led his people through the wildernesse. So also he speaketh, Psal. 78.52. The Lord! He guided his owne people in the wildernes like a flocke. In both places, you heare onelyonly the sound of a wildernesse: and yet were they wildernesses, through which the Lord led and guided his people Israel.

Let it be our comfort. God neuer forsakes his people. When he hath led them through one wildernesse, he will lead them through a second, through a third, through all: He will neuer leaue them, till he see them safely arriued in the place, where they wish to be. No expense of time can make him to relent. If we shall need his protection for fortie yeares together, for fortie yeares together we shall be sure of it. Israel had it. My text avowes it.

I led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse.

It is the third circumstance I noted in Gods protection of his people in the wildernesse; the circumstance of Time. Fortie yeares.

Fortie yeares were the people of Israel in the wildernesse. From Egypt to the wildernesse of Sinai, where theirssNum. 33.15. …xod. 19.1.Num 33:15 twelfth mansion was, they came in seauen and fortie dayes. There they continued almost a yeare. From thence, from the wildernesse of Sinai, by many iourneys they came to mountttNum. 20.22. & 33.37.Num 20:22Num 33:37 Hor, where was their foure and thirtieth mansion, in the wildernes of Zin or Cades. In comming thither they spent nine and thirtie yeares. There in mount Hor, uuNum. 20.23. & 33.38. Deut. 32.50.Num 20:23Num 33:38Deut 32:50died Aaron their priest. He died in the fortieth yeare after the Children of Israell were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fift monethmonth. Now had they but few iourneys to make: they had but eyght to make; all eyght with good successe they p. 259made in the remainder of that fortieth yeare: and they pitched in the plaines ofxxNum. 33.48. & 22.1.Num 33:48Num 22:1 Moab by Iordan neere Iericho, where was their two and fortieth, and their last mansion.

Well might that be their last mansion. For now they had gotten the possession of the land of the Amorite: which in my text is put for the end, why they were brought vp out of the land of Egypt, and were led fortie yeares through the wildernesse: I brought you vp out of the land of Egypt, and led you fortie yeares through the wildernesse,

To possesse the land of the Amorite.

HEre was the fulfilling of that promise, which was long before made to Abraham. The promise was first made to Abraham, when from Haran he was come into the land of Canaan, Gen. 12.7. VntoUnto thy seed will I giuegive this land. It was renued vntounto him after his returne from Egypt to the land of Canaan, Gen. 13.15. All the land which thou seest, to thee will I giuegive it, and to thy seed for euer. It was once more renued, Gen. 15.18. VntoUnto thy yyGen 26.4. Deut. 34.4.Gen 26:4Deut 34:4seed hauehave I giuen this land from the riuer of Egypt, vntounto the great riuer, the riuer Euphrates. ThezzGen. 15.19.Gen 15:19 Kenites, and the Kenizites, and the Kadmonites, aaVers. 20.and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, bbVers. 21.and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgasites, and the Iebusites. Ten sundry Nations are rehearsed, whose countries are promised to the seed of Abraham. Among them are the Amorites.

The Amorites countrey is by promise giuen to Abrahams seed, and Abrahams seed in the posteritie of Iacob possessed it; but, some foure hundred and seauentie yeares after the promise. From the promise to their going forth out of Egypt, were foure hundred and thirtie yeares: to which if you will adde, their fortie yeares iourney in thc wildernesse, you hauehave the full number of foure hundred and seauentie yeares, the space betweene the promise, and the performance.

Abraham, he beleeued the promise so many yeares before p. 260it was to take effect. Great was his faith. He leauing his owne countrey, his kinred, and his fathers house, comes vntounto a people who knew him not; (and he knew not them) takes possession for that seed which he had not, which in nature he was not like to hauehave; of that land, whereof hee should not hauehave onecc…rt. 5.7. foote, wherein his seed should not be setled for almost fiue hundred yeares after. O, the power of fayth! It preuents time: it makes future things as present. If we be the true sons of Abraham, and hauehave but one graine of his faith, we hauehave alreadie the possession of our land of promise the celestiall Canaan: though we soiourne here on earth, as if we sought a countrey, yet hauehave we it alreadie: we hauehave it by fayth.

The seed of Abraham, the children of Israel, after their fortie yeares trauaile in the wildernesse, got possession of the land of the Amorite, which long before was promised vntounto them. It may teach vsus thus much:

In whatsoeuer God promiseth, he approueth himselfe most faithfull, both in his abilitie, and performances. At the verie time prefixed, and not before, he vnchangeably performeth what he promised.

If so: then when we are in any distresse, and hauehave not speedie deliuerance according to our desires, we must waite the Lords leasure, and must expect with patience till the time come, which is appointed by him for our ease and releife. We must euer trust our God on his bare word: we must do it with hope, besides hope, aboue hope, against hope. For the small matters of this life we must wholy relie vponupon him. How shall we hope to trust in him for greater matters, for impossibilities, if we trust him not for smaller matters, for probabilities. How can I depend on God for raysing my bodie from the graue, and for sauing my soule from Hell, if I will distrust him for a morsell of bread towards my preseruation.

The Lord, who brought Israel out of Egypt, and led them fortie yeares through the wildernesse, to possesse the land of p. 261the Amorite, and all that while nourished and fed them; not with bread nor wine, nor strong drinke, but miraculously with water out of the hard rocke, with Quailes, with Manna from Heauen; and so blessed the very clothes and the shoes they wore, that neither their clothes nor shoes all that while were waxen old; he is the same Lord still: still, as readie to be to his faithfull ones a present helpe in all their troubles.

He hath brought vsus out of Egypt too. Attendamus ergo nos, fratres; so S. Austin bespake his Readers, Tract. 28. in Iohan: and so let me conclude: Attendamus ergo nos fratres: Brethren, and the rest dearely beloued, let vsus diligently obserue it, and make we it the matter of our daily meditation: Educti sumus de Aegypto, we are brought out of Egypt. There were we in bondage to the Deuill, as to a Pharaoh; there Lutea opera in terrenis desiderijs agebamus, dirtie workes in the earthly desires of our flesh were the fruits of our labours. Let it suffice that we hauehave beene such, that we hauehave beene seruants, Luteis operibus peccatorum, to the dirtie workes of sinne, as to the tyrannie of the Egyptians. Now are wee passed through Baptisme as through the Red Sea, therefore Red, because it is consecrated with the Bloud of Christ. In this Sea, the Red Sea of Baptisme, the Egyptians our enemies, euen all our sinnes, are drowned. Now are wee in the wildernesse, in eremo huius vitae (sayth the same Saint Austine lib. 50. Homil. 20.) we are in the wildernesse of this life. Here Christ is with vsus. He protecteth vsus, he preserueth vsus, he feedeth vsus with his Word and Sacraments. His word is a light vntounto our steps, to guide vsus that we erre not. His Sacraments are two: that of Baptisme assureth vsus, that the Bloud of Christ, applied to our soules, clenseth vsus from all our sinnes: the other, of his Supper, is a signe, a seale, a pledge vntounto vsus, of him, our Sauiour, Christ Iesus, giuen for vsus, and to vsus.

p. 262Thus passing through the wildernesse of this world, wee shall in the prefixed time, the due time appoynted by the Lord, Patriam promissionis ingredi; We shall hauehave the full fruition of the promised land, of the supernall Ierusalem, of the land of the liuing, of the Kingdome of Heauen. To which God bring vsus all.