pened, he returns words to the beast, full | numbers! as if the Almighty would have of anger, void of admiration. Whether his trade of sorcering had so inured him to receive voices from his familiars in shape of beasts, that even this seemed not strange to him; or whether his rage and covetousness had so transported him, that he had no leisure to observe the unnatural unusualness of the event. Some men make nothing of those things, which overcome others with horror and astonishment. I hear the angel of God taking notice of the cruelty of Balaam to his beast; his first words, to the unmerciful prophet, are in expostulation of his wrong. We little think it, but God shall call us to an account for the unkind and cruel usages of his poor mute creatures. He hath made us lords, not tyrants; owners, not tormentors; he that hath given us leave to kill them for our use, hath not given us leave to abuse them at our pleasure: they are so our drudges, that they are our fellows by creation. It was a sign the magician would easily wish to strike Israel with a curse, when he wished a sword to strike his harmless beast. It is ill falling into those hands, whom beasts find unmerciful. his power either divided or limited! Here is nothing but a glorious and magnificent pretence of devotion. It hath been ever seen, that the false worshippers of God have made more pompous shows, and fairer flourishes of their piety and religion, than the true. Now, when Balaam sees his seven bullocks and seven rams smoking upon nis seven altars, he goes up higher into the mount, as some counterfeit Moses, to receive the answer of God. But will God meet with a sorcerer? will he make a prophet of a magician? O man! who shall prescribe God what instruments to use? He knows how to employ, not only saints and angels, but wicked men, beasts, devils, to his own glory. He that put words into the mouth of the ass, put words into the mouth of Balaam : the words do but pass from him; they are not polluted, because they are not his as the trunk, through which a man speaks, is not more eloquent for the speech that is uttered through it. What a notable proclamation had the infidels wanted of God's favour to his people, if Balaam's tongue had not been used! How many shall once say, "Lord, we have prophesied in thy name," that shall hear, "Verily, I know you not!" Notwithstanding these rubs, Balaam goes on, and is not afraid to ride on that beast, whose voice he had heard. And now posts are sped to Balak, with the news of What madness is this in Balaam? He so welcome a guest; he that sent princes that found himself constant in soliciting, to fetch him, comes himself on the way to thinks to find God not constant in denymeet him. Although he can say, "Aming; and, as if that infinite Deity were not not I able to promote thee?" yet he gives this high respect to him as his better, from whom he expected the promotion of himself and his people. O the honour that hath been formerly done by heathens, to them that have borne but the face of prophets! I shame and grieve to compare the times and men. Only, O God, be thou merciful to the contempt of thy servants! As if nothing needed but the presence of Balaam, the superstitious king, out of the joy of this hope, feasts his gods, his prophet, his princes; and, on the morrow, carries him up to the high places of his idols. Who can doubt whether Balaam were a false prophet, that sees him sacrificing in the mount of Baal? Had he been from the true God, he would rather have said, "Pull me down these altars of Baal, than build me here seven others." The very place convinces him of falsehood and idolatry. And why seven altars? what needs all this pomp? When the true God never required but one at once, as himself is one, why doth the false prophet call for no less than seven? As if God stood upon the same everywhere, hopes to change success with places. Neither is that bold forehead ashamed to importune God again, in that wherein his own mouth had testified an assurance of denial. The reward was in one of his eyes; the revenging angel in the other: I know not whether (for the time) he more loved the bribe, or feared the angel. And, while he is in this dis traction, his tongue blesses against his heart, and his heart curses against his tongue. It angers him that he dare not speak what he would; and now, at last, rather than lose his hopes, he resolves to speak worse than curses. The fear of God's judgment, in a worldly heart, is at length overcome with love of gain. CONTEMPLATION IV. OF PHINEAS. BALAAM pretended a haste homeward, but he lingered so long, that he left his bones in Midian. How justly did he perish with the sword of Israel, whose tongue had insensibly slain so many thousands of them. As it is usually said of the devil, that he goes away in a stench, so may it be truly said of this prophet of his, according to the fashion of all hypocrites, his words were good; his actions abominable: he would not curse, but he would advise, and his counsel is worse than a curse; for his curse had hurt none but himself; his counsel cost the blood of twenty-four thousand Israelites. He that had heard God speak by Balaam, would not look for the devil in the same mouth: and if God himself had not witnessed against him, who could believe that the same tongue, which uttered so divine prophecies, should utter such villanous and cursed advice? Hypocrisy gains this of men, that it may do evil unsuspected: but now, he that heard what he spake in Balak's ear, hath bewrayed and condemned his counsel and himself. This policy was fetched from the bottom of hell. It is not for lack of desire that I curse not Israel; thou dost not more wish their destruction, than I do thy wealth and honour; but so long as they hold firm with God, there is no sorcery against Jacob withdraw God from them, and they shall fall alone, and curse themselves; draw them into sin, and thou shalt withdraw God from them. There is no sin more plausible than wantonness. One fornication shall draw in another, and both shall fetch the anger of God after them: send your fairest women into their tents; their sight shall draw them to lust, their lust to folly, their folly to idolatry; and now God shall curse them for thee unasked. Where Balaam did speak well, there was never any prophet spake more divinely; where he spake ill, there was never any devil spake more desperately. Ill counsel seldom succeedeth not: good seed falls often out of the way, and roots not; but the tares never light amiss. This project of the wicked magician was too prosperous. The daughters of Moab come into the tents of Israel, and have captivated those whom the Amorites and the Amalekites could not resist Our first mother Eve bequeathed this dowry to her daughters, that they should be our helpers to sin: the weaker sex is the stronger in this conquest. Had the Moabites sent their subtilest counsellors to persuade the Israelites to their idol sacrifices, they had been repelled with scorn; but now the beauty of their women is over-eloquent and successful. That which in the first world betrayed the sons of God, hath now ensnared God's people. It had been happy for Israel, if Balaam had used any charms but these. As it is the use of God to fetch glory to himself out of the worst actions of Satan, so it is the guise of that evil one, through the just permission of the Almighty, to raise advantage to himself from the fairest pieces of the workmanship of God. No one means hath so much enriched hell as beautiful faces. All idols are abominable; but this of Baal-peor was, besides the superstition of it, beastly: neither did Baal ever put on a form of so much shame as this. Yet very Israelites are drawn to adore it. When lust hath blinded the eyes, it carries a man whither it lists; even beyond all differences of sin. A man besotted with filthy desires, is fit for any villany. Sin is no less crafty than Satan himself: give him but room in the eye, and he will soon be possessed of body and soul. These Israelites first saw the faces of these Moabites and Midianites; then they grew to like their presence; from thence to take pleasure in their feasts; from their boards they are drawn to their beds, from their beds to their idols; and now they are joined to Baal-peor, and separated from God. Bodily fornication is the way to spiritual. If we have made idols of flesh, it is just to be given up to idols of wood and stones. If we have not grace to resist the beginnings of sin, where shall we stay? If our foot slip into the mouth of hell, it is a miracle to stop ere we come to the bottom. Well might God be angry to see his people go a-whoring in this double fornication; neither doth he smother his wrath, but himself strikes with his plague, and bids Moses strike with the sword. He strikes the body, and bids Moses strike the head. It had been as easy for him to plague the rulers, as the vulgar; and one would think these should be more properly reserved for his immediate hand; but these he leaves to the sword of human authority, that he might win awe to his own ordinances. As the sins of great men are exemplary, so are their punishments. Nothing procures so much credit to government, as strict and impartial executions of great and noble offenders. Those whom their sins have embased, deserve no favour in the punishment. As God knows no honour, no royalty in matter of sin, no more may his deputies. Contrarily, connivance at the outrages of the mighty cuts the sinews of a state; neither doth any thing make good laws more contemptible, than the making difference of offenders; that small sacrileges should be punished, when great ones ride in triumph. If good ordinations turn once to spider's webs, which are broken through by the bigger flies, no hand will fear to sweep them down. God was angry; Moses and all good Israelites grieved:, the heads hanged up, the people plagued. Yet behold, one of the princes of Israel fears not to brave God and his ministers, in that sin which he sees so grievously revenged in others. I can never wonder enough at the impudence of this Israelite. Here is fornication, an odious crime, and that of an Israelite, whose name challenges holiness; yea, of a prince of Israel, whose practice is a rule to inferiors; and that with a woman of Midian, with whom even a chaste contract had been unlawful; and that with contempt of all government; and that in the face of Moses, and all Israel; and that in a time of mourning and judgment for that same offence. Those that have once passed the bounds of modesty, soon grow shameless in their sins. While sin hides itself in corners, there is yet hope; for where there is shame, there is a possibility of grace: but when once it dare look upon the sun, and send challenges to authority, the case is desperate, and ripe for judgment. This great Simeonite thought he might sin by privilege: he goes, as if he said, Who dares control me? His nobility hath raised him above the reach of correction. Commonly the sins of the mighty are not without presumption, and therefore their vengeance is no less than their security: and their punishment is so much greater, as their conceit of impunity is greater. All Israel saw this bold lewdness of Zimri, but their hearts and eyes were so full of grief, that they had not room enough for indignation. Phineas looked on with the rest, but with other affections. When he saw this defiance bidden to God, and this insultation upon the sorrow of his people (that while they were wringing their hands, a proud miscreant durst outface their humiliation with his wicked dalliance), his heart boils with a desire of a holy revenge; and now that hand, which was used to a censer and sacrificing knife, takes up his javelin, and, with one stroke, joins these two bodies in their death, which were joined in their sin, and, in the very flagrance of their lust, makes a new way for their souls to their own place. O noble and heroical courage of Phineas! which, as it was rewarded of God, so is worthy to be admired of men. He doth not stand casting of scruples: Who am I to do this? The son of the high priest. My place is all for peace and mercy; it is for me to sacrifice, and pray for the sin of the people, not to sacrifice any of the people for their sin. My duty calls me to appease the anger of God what I may, not to revenge the sins of men; to pray for their con version, not to work the confusion of any sinner. And who are these? Is not the one a great prince in Israel, the other a princess of Midian? Can the death of two so famous persons go unrevenged? Or, if it be safe and fit, why doth my uncle Moses rather shed his own tears than their blood? I will mourn with the rest; let them revenge, whom it concerneth. But the zeal of God hath barred out all weak deliberations; and he holds it now both his duty and his glory, to be an executioner of so shameless a pair of offenders. God loves this heat of zeal in all the carriages of his servants: and if it transport us too far, he pardoneth the errors of our fervency, rather than the indifferences of lukewarmness. As these two were more beasts than any that ever he sacrificed, so the shedding of their blood was the acceptablest sacrifice that ever he offered unto God: for both all Israel is freed from the plague, and all his posterity have the priesthood entailed to them, so long as the Jews were a people. Next to our prayers, there is no better sacrifice than the blood of malefactors; not as it is theirs, but as it is shed by authority. Governors are faulty of those sins they punish not. There can be no better sight in any state than to see a malefactor at the gallows. It is not enough for us to stand gazing upon the wickedness of the times, yea although with tears, unless we endeavour to redress it; especially public persons carry not their javelin in their hand for nought. Every one is ready to ask Phineas for his commission: and those that are willing to salve up the act, plead extraordinary instinct from God, who, no doubt, would not have accepted that which himself wrought not. But what need I run so far for this warrant, when I hear God say to Moses, 66 Hang up all the heads of Israel;" and Moses say to the under-rulers," Every one slay his men that are joined to Baal-peor?" Every Israelite is now made a magistrate for this execution; and why not Phineas amongst the rest? Doth his priesthood exempt him from the blood of sinners? How then doth Samuel hew Agag in pieces? Even those may make a carcase, which may not touch it. And if Levi got the priesthood by shedding the blood or idolaters, why may it not stand with that man seems to die casually, another by unexpected violence: both fall by destiny and all is set down to us by an eternal do cree. He that brought us into the world, will carry us out according to his own purposes. Moses must ascend up the hill to die. He received his charge for Israel upon the hill of Sinai; and now he delivers up his charge on the hill of Nebo: his brother Aaron died on one hill, he on another. As Christ was transfigured on a hill, so was this excellent type of his neither doubt I, but that these hills were types to them of that heaven whither they were aspiring. It is the goodness of our God, that he will not have his children die any where, but where they may see the land of promise before them: neither can they depart without much comfort, to have seen it: contrarily, a wicked man that looks down, and sees hell before him, how can he choose but find more horror in the end of death, than in the way! How familiarly doth Moses hear of his end! It is no more betwixt God and Moses, but Go up and die. If he had invited him to a meal, it could not have been in a more sociable compellation: no otherways than he said to his other prophet, Up and eat. It is neither harsh, nor news to God's children, to hear or think of their departure: to them, death hath lost his horror through acquaintance. Those faces which at first sight seemed ill-favoured, by oft viewing grow out of dislike: they have so oft thought and resolved of the necessity, and of the issue of their dissolution, that they cannot hold it either strange or unwelcome. He that hath had such entire conversation with God, cannot fear to go to him. AFTER many painful and perilous enterprises, now is Moses drawing to his rest. He hath brought his Israelites from Egypt, through the sea and wilderness, within the sight of their promised land: and now himself must take possession of that land whereof Canaan was but a type. When we have done what we came for, it is time for us to be gone. This earth is only made for action, not for fruition. The services of God's children should be ill rewarded, if they must stay here always. Let no man think much, that those are fetched away which are faithful to God; they should not change, if it were not to their preferment. It is our folly that we would have good men live for ever, and account it a hard measure that they were. He that lends them to the world, owes them a bet-made Moses of his counsel what he meant ter turn than this earth can pay them. It were injurious to wish, that goodness should hinder any man from glory. So is the death of God's saints precious, that it is certain. Moses must go up to mount Nebo and die. The time, the place, and every circumstance of his dissolution, is determined. That one dies in the field, another in his bed, another in the water, one in a foreign nation, another in his own, is fore-decreed in heaven. And though we hear it not vocally, yet God hath called every man by his name, and saith, Die thou there. One Those that know him not, or know that he will not know them, no marvel if they tremble. This is no small favour, that God warns Moses of his end. He that had so oft to do with Israel, would not now do aught But what is this I hear? displeasure mixed with love, and that to so faithful a servant as Moses. He must but see the land of promise; he shall not tread upon it; because he once, long ago, sinned in distrusting. Death, though it were to him an entrance into glory, yet shall be also a chastisement of his infidelity. How many noble proofs had Moses given of his courage and strength of faith! how many gracious services had he done to his master! yet, for one act of distrust, he must be gathered to his fathers. All our obediences cannot bear out one sin against God. How vainly shall we hope to make amends to God for our former trespasses, by our better behaviour, when Moses hath this one sin laid in his dish, after so many and worthy testimonies of his fidelity! When we have forgotten our sins, yet God remembers them, and although not in anger, yet he calls for our arrearages. Alas! what shall become of them with whom God hath ten thousand greater quarrels, that, amongst many millions of sins, have scattered some few acts of formal services! If Moses must die the first death for one fault, how shall they escape the second for sinning always! Even where God loves, he will not wink at sin; and if he do not punish, yet he will chastise. How much less can it stand with that eternal justice, to let wilful sinners escape judgment ! It might have been just with God to have reserved the cause to himself; and, in a generality, to have told Moses, that his sin must shorten his journey; but it is more of mercy than justice, that his children shall know why they smart; that God may, at once, both justify himself and humble them for their particular offences. Those to whom he means vengeance, have not the sight of their sins, till they be past repentance. Complain not that God upbraids thee with thy old sins, whosoever thou art but know it is an argument of love: whereas concealment is a fearful sign of a secret dislike from God. But what was that noted sin which deserves this late exprobration, and shall carry so sharp a chastisement? Israel murmured for water; God bids Moses take the rod in his hand, and speak to the rock to give water: Moses, instead of speaking, and striking the rock with his voice, strikes it with his rod. Here was his sin; an overreaching of his commission, a fearfulness and distrust of the effect. The rod, he knew, was approved for miracles: he knew not how powerful his voice might be therefore he did not speak, but strike, and he struck twice for failing; and now, after these many years, he is stricken for it of God. It is a dangerous thing in divine matters to go beyond our warrant. Those sins, which seem trivial to men, are heinous in the account of God. Any thing that savours of infidelity, displeases him more than some other crimes of morality. Yet the moving of the rod was but a diverse thing from the moving of the tongue : it was not contrary; he did not forbid the one, but he commanded the other: this was but across the stream, not against it. Where shall they appear, whose whole courses are quite contrary to the commandments of God? Upon the act done, God passed the sentence of restraining Moses, with the rest, from the promised land: now he performs it. Since that time, Moses had many favours from God; all which could not reverse this decreed castigation. That everlasting rule is grounded upon the very essence of God: I am Jehovah; I change not. Our purposes are as ourselves, fickle and uncertain; his are certain and immutable. Some things which he reveals, he alters; nothing that he hath decreed. Besides the soul of Moses, to the glory whereof God principally intended this change, I find him careful of two things; his successor, and his body. Moses moves for the one; the other God doth unasked. He that was so tender over the welfare of Israel, in his life, would not slacken his care in death. He takes no thought for himself, for he knew how gainful an exchange he must make. All his care is for his charge. Some envious natures desire to be missed when they must go, and wish that the weakness, or want of a successor, may be the foil of their memory and honour. Moses is in a contrary disposition; it sufficeth him not to find contentment in his own happiness, unless he may have an assurance that Israel shall prosper after him. Carnal minds are all for themselves, and make use of government only for their own advantages. But good hearts look ever to the future good of the Church, above their own, against their own. Moses did well, to show his good affection to his people; but, in his silence, God would have provided for his own. He that called him from the sheep of Jethro, will not want a governor for his chosen to succeed him: God hath fitted him whom he will choose. Who can be more meet than he, whos? name, whose experience, whose graces might supply, yea, revive Moses to the people? He that searched the land before, was fittest to guide Israel into it. He, that was endued with the spirit of God, was the |