much better was that faith of Thomas, that would believe his eyes and hands, though his ears he would not! O the deep infidelity of these Israelites, that saw and believed not!

And how will they know if God be amongst them? as if he could not be with them, and they be athirst. Either God must humour carnal minds, or be distrusted. If they prosper, though it be with wickedness, God is with them: if they be thwarted in their own designs, straight, "Is God with us?" It was the way to put God from them, to distrust and murmur. If he had not been with them, they had not lived. If he had been in them, they had not mutinied. They can think him absent | in their want, and cannot see him absent in their sin; and yet wickedness, not affliction, argues him gone: yet then is he most present, when he most chastises.

Who would not have looked, that this answer of Moses should have appeased their fury? As what can still him, that will not be quiet to think he hath God for his adversary? But, as if they would wilfully war against heaven, they proceed; yet with no less craft than violence, bending their exception to one part of the answer, and smoothly omitting what they could not except against. They will not hear of tempting God; they maintain their strife with Moses, both with words and stones. How malicious, how heady is impatience! The act was God's; they cast it upon Moses: "Wherefore hast thou brought us?" The act of God was merciful: they make it cruel; " To kill us and our children;" as if God and Moses meant nothing but their ruin, who intended nothing but their life and liberty. Foolish men! what needed this journey to death? Were they not as obnoxious to God in Egypt? Could not God by Moses as easily have killed them in Egypt, or in the sea, as their enemies? Impatience is full of misconstruction. If it be possible to find out any gloss, to corrupt the text of God's actions, they shall be sure not to escape untainted.

It was no use expostulating with an unreasonable multitude. Moses runs straight to him that was able at once to quench their thirst and their fury; "What shall I do to this people?" It is the best way to trust God with his own causes. When men will be intermeddling with his affairs, they undo themselves in vain. We shall find difficulties in all great enterprises: if we be sure we have begun them from God, we may securely cast all events upon his pro

| vidence, which knows how to dispose, and how to end them.

Moses perceived rage, not in the tongues only, but in the hands of the Israelites : "Yet a while longer, and they will stone me." Even the leader of God's people feared death, and sinned not in fearing. Life is worthy to be dear to all; especially to him whom public charge hath made necessary. Mere fear is not sinful; it is impotence and distrust that accompany it, which make it evil. How well is that fear bestowed, that sends us the more importunately to God! Some men would have thought of flight: Moses flies to his prayers; and that not for revenge, but for help. Who but Moses would not have said, This twice they have mutinied, and been pardoned; and now again thou seest, O Lord, how madly they rebel, and how bloodily they intend against me! Preserve me, I beseech thee, and plague them. I hear none of this; but, imitating the long suffering of his God, he seeks to God for them, which sought to kill him for the quarrel of God.

Neither is God sooner sought than found. All Israel might see Moses go towards the rock: none but the elders might see him strike it. Their unbelief made them unworthy of this privilege. It is no small favour of God to make us witnesses of his great works: that he crucifies his Son before us, that he fetches the water of life out of the true rock in our sight, is a high prerogative: if his rigour would have taken it, our infidelity had equally excluded us, whom now his mercy hath received.

Moses must take his rod: God could have done it by his will, without a word, or by his word, without the rod; but he will do by means, that which he can as easily do without. There was no virtue in the rod, none in the stroke; but all in the command of God. Means must be used, and yet their efficacy must be expected out of themselves.

It doth not suffice God to name the rod, without a description: "Whereby thou smotest the river." Wherefore but to strengthen the faith of Moses, that he might well expect this wonder, from that which he had tried to be miraculous. How could he but firmly believe, that the same means which turned the waters into blood, and turned the sea into a wall, could as well turn the stone into water? Nothing more raises up the heart in present affiance, than the recognition of favours, or wonders passed. Behold, the same rod that brought plagues to the Egyptians, brings deliverances to Israel. By the same means

can God save and condemn; like as the same sword defends and kills.

That power which turned the wings of the quails to the wilderness, turned the course of the water through the rock. He might, if he had pleased, have caused a spring to well out of the plain earth; but he will now fetch it out of the stone, to convince and shame their infidelity.

What is more hard and dry than the rock? what more moist and supple than water? That they may be ashamed to think they distrusted, lest God could bring them water out of the clouds or springs, the very rock shall yield it.

And now, unless their hearts had been more rocky than this stone, they could not but have resolved them into tears for this diffidence.

I wonder to see these Israelites fed with sacraments: their bread was sacramental, whereof they communicated every day. Lest any man should complain of frequence, the Israelites received daily; and now their drink was sacramental, that the ancient church may give no warrant of a dry communion.

Twice, therefore, hath the rock yielded them water of refreshing; to signify that the true spiritual Rock yields it always. The rock that followed them was Christ. Out of thy side, O Saviour, issued that bloody stream, whereby the thirst of all believers is comfortably quenched. Let us but thirst (not with repining, but with faith); this rock of thine shall abundantly flow forth to our souls, and follow us, till this water be changed into that new wine, which we shall drink with thee in thy Father's kingdom.

CONTEMPLATION IV. —the FOIL OF AMALEK:

OR THE HAND OF MOSES LIFT UP.

No sooner is Israel's thirst slacked, than God hath an Amalekite ready to assault them. The Almighty hath choice of rods to whip us with, and will not be content with one trial. They would needs be quarrelling with Moses without a cause; and now God sends the Amalekites to quarrel with them. It is just with God, that they which would be contending with their best friends, should have work enough of contending with enemies.

In their passage out of Egypt, God would not lead them the nearest way, by the Philistines' land, lest they should repent at the sight of war; now they both see and feel it. He knows how to make the fittest

choice of the times of evil, and withholds that one while, which he sends another, not without a just reason why he sends and withholds it: and though to us they come ever, as we think, unseasonably, and at some times more unfitly than others, yet He that sends them knows their opportunities.

Who would not have thought a worse time could never have been picked for Israel's war than now? In the feebleness of their troops, when they were wearied, thirsty, unweaponed; yet now must the Amalekites do that which before the Philistines might not do. We are not worthy, not able to choose for ourselves.

To be sick, and die in the strength of youth, in the minority of children; to be pinched with poverty, or miscarriage of children in our age,-how harshly unseasonable it seems! But the infinite wisdom that orders our events, knows how to order our times. Unless we will be shameless unbelievers, O Lord, we must trust thee with ourselves and our seasons, and know, that not that which we desire, but that which thou hast appointed, is the fittest time for our sufferings.

Amalek was Esau's grandchild, and these Israelites the sons of Jacob. The abode of Amalek was not so far from Egypt, but they might well hear what became of their cousins of Israel: and now, doubtless out of envy, watched their opportunity of revenge for their old grudge. Malice is commonly hereditary and runs in the blood, and, as we used to say of runnet, the older it is, the stronger.

Hence is that foolish hostility which some men unjustly nourish upon no other grounds than the quarrels of their forefathers. To wreak our malice upon posterity, is, at the best, but the humour of an Amalekite.

How cowardly and how crafty was this skirmish of Amalek! They do not bid them battle in fair terms of war, but without all noise of warning, come stealing upon the hindmost, and fall upon the weak and scattered remnants of Israel.

There is no looking for favour at the hands of malice: the worst that either force or fraud can do, must be expected of an adversary; but much more of our spiritual enemy, by how much his hatred is deeper. Behold, this Amalek lies in ambush to hinder our passage unto our land of promise, and subtilely takes all advantages of our weaknesses. We cannot be wise or safe if we stay behind our colours, and strengthen not those parts where is most peril of opposition.

Then only can we pray with hope when we have done our best. And though the means cannot effect that which we desire, yet God will have us use the likeliest means on our part to effect it. Where it comes immediately from the charge of God, any means are effectual: one stick of wood shall fetch water out of the rock; another shall fetch bitterness out of the water; but in those projects which we make for our own purposes, we must choose those helps which promise most efficacy. In vain shall Moses be upon the hill, if Joshua be not in the valley. Prayer without means is a mockery of God.

Here are two shadows of one substance: the same Christ in Joshua fights against our spiritual Amalek, and in Moses spreads out his arms upon the hill; and, in both, conquers. And why doth he climb up the hill rather than pray in the valley? Perhaps that he might have the more freedom to his thoughts, which, following the sense, are so much more heavenly, as the eyes see more of heaven. Though virtue lies not in the place, yet choice must be made of those places which may be the most help to our devotion; perhaps that he might be in the eye of Israel.

The presence and sight of the leader gives heart to the people: neither doth any thing more move the multitude than example. A public person cannot hide himself in the valley; but yet it becomes him best to show himself upon the hill.

The hand of Moses must be raised, but not empty; neither is it his own rod that he holds, but God's. In the first meeting of God with Moses, the rod was Moses', it is like, for the use of his trade; now the propriety is altered: God hath so wrought by it, that now he challenges it, and Moses dare not call it his own.

Those things which it pleases God to use for his own service, are now changed in their condition. The bread of the sacrament was once the baker's; now it is God's the water was once every man's; now it is the laver of regeneration. It is both unjust and unsafe to hold those things common wherein God hath a peculiarity.

At other times, upon occasion of the

For when the Israelites should cast up their eyes to the hill, and see Moses and his rod (the man and the means that had wrought so powerfully for them), they could not but take heart to themselves, and think, There is the man that delivered us from the Egyptian; why not now from the Amalekite? There is the rod which turned waters to blood, and brought varieties of plagues on Egypt; why not now on Amalek?

Nothing can more hearten our faith, than the view of the monuments of God's favour: if ever we have found any word or act of God cordial to us, it is good to fetch it forth oft to the eye. The renewing of our sense and remembrance makes every gift of God perpetually beneficial.

If Moses had received a command, that rod, which fetched water from the rock, could as well have fetched the blood of the Amalekites out of their bodies. God will not work miracles always; neither must we expect them unbidden.

Not as a standard-bearer, so much as a suppliant, doth Moses lift up his hand. The gesture of the body should both express and further the piety of the soul. This flesh of ours is not a good servant, unless it help us in the best offices. The God of spirits doth more respect the soul of our devotion; yet it is both unmannerly and irreligious to be misgestured in our prayers. The careless and uncomely carriage of the body helps both to signify and make a profane soul.

The hand and the rod of Moses never moved in vain; though the rod did not strike Amalek, as it had done the rock, yet it smote heaven, and fetched down victory. And that the Israelites might see the hand of Moses had a greater stroke in the fight than all theirs, the success must rise and fall with it. Amalek rose, and Israel fell, with his hand falling; Amalek fell and Israel rises with his hand raised. O the wondrous power of the prayers of faith! All heavenly favours are derived to us from this channel of grace. To these are we beholden for our peace, preservations, and all the rich mercies of God which we enjoy. We could not want, if we could ask.

Every man's hand would not have done this, but the hand of a Moses. A faithless man may as well hold his hand and tongue still: he may babble, but prays not;

he prays ineffectually, and receives not: only the prayer of the righteous availeth much; and only the believer is righteous.

Moses by an altar, and a name. God commands to enrol it in parchment; Moses registers it in the stones of his altar, which he raises not only for future memory, but for present use. That hand which was weary of lifting up, straight offers a sacrifice of praise to God. How well it becomes the just to be thankful! Even very nature teach

But how justly is the fervency of the prayer added to the righteousness of the person! When Moses' hand slackened, Amalek prevailed. No Moses can have his hand ever up; it is a title proper to God, that his hands are stretched out still, whether to mercy or vengeance. Our infirmity will not suffer any long intention, either of body or mind. Long prayers can hardly maintain their vigour, as in tall bodies the spirits are diffused. The strongest hand will languish with long extending: and when our devotion tires, it is seen in the success; then straight our Amalek prevails. Spiritual wickednesses are mastered by vehement prayer, and, by heartlessness in prayer, overcome us.

Moses had two helps-a stone to sit on, and a hand to raise his; and his sitting and nolpen hand is no less effectual. Even in our prayers will God allow us to respect our own infirmities. In cases of our necessity, he regards not the posture of body, but the affections of the soul.

Doubtless Aaron and Hur did not only raise their hands, but their minds with his. The more cords, the easier draught. Aaron was brother to Moses: there cannot be a more brotherly office, than to help one another in our prayers, and to excite our mutual devotions. No Christian may think it enough to pray alone. He is no true Israelite, that will not be ready to lift up the weary hands of God's saints.

All Israel saw this: or if they were so intent upon the slaughter and spoil, that they observed it not, they might hear it after from Aaron and Hur. Yet this contents not God: it must be written. Many other miracles had God done before, not one directly commanded to be recorded: the other were only for the wonder; this for the imitation of God's people. In things that must live by report, every tongue adds or detracts something. The word once written is both unalterable and permanent.

As God is careful to maintain the glory of his miraculous victory, so is Moses desirous to second him; God by a book, and

favours: how much less can that fountain of goodness abide to be laded at with unthankful hands! O God, we cannot but confess our deliverances ! Where are our altars? Where are our sacrifices? Where is our Jehovah-nissi? I do not more wonder at thy power in preserving us, than at thy mercy, which is not weary of casting away favours upon the ungrateful.

CONTEMPLATION V.-OF THE LAW.

It is but about seven weeks since Israel came out of Egypt: in which space God had cherished their faith by five several wonders: yet now he thinks it time to give them statutes from heaven, as well as bread. The manna and water from the rock (which was Christ in the gospel) were given before the law; the sacraments of grace before the legal covenant. The grace of God preventeth our obedience; therefore should we keep the law of God, because we have a Saviour. O the mercy of our God, which, before we see what we are bound to do, shows us our remedy, if we do it not! How can our faith disannul the law, when it was before it? It may help to fulfil that which shall be; it cannot frustrate that which was not. The letters which God had written in our fleshy tables, were now (as those which are carved in some barks) almost grown out: he saw it time to write them in dead tables, whose hardness should not be capable of alteration. He knew that the stone would be more faithful than our hearts.

The

O marvellous accordance betwixt the two testaments! In the very time of their delivery, there is the same agreement which is in the substance. The ancient Jews kept our feasts, and we still keep theirs. feast of the passover is the time of Christ's resurrection; then did he pass from under the bondage of death. Christ is our passover; the spotless lamb, whereof not a bone must be broken. The very day wherein God came down in fire and thunder to deliver the law, even the same day came also the Holy Ghost down upon the disciples in fiery tongues, for the propagation of the

gospel. That other was in fire and smoke; obscurity was mingled with terror: this was in fire without smoke, befitting the light and clearness of the gospel; fire, not in flashes, but in tongues; not to terrify, but to instruct. The promulgation of the law makes way for the law of the gospel. No man receives the Holy Ghost, but he which hath felt the terrors of Sinai.

God might have imposed upon them a law by force; they were his creatures, and he could require nothing but justice. It had been but equal, that they should be compelled to obey their Maker; yet that God which loves to do all things sweetly, gives the law of justice in mercy, and will not imperiously command, but craves our assent for that, which it were rebellion not to do. How gentle should be the proceeding of fellow-creatures who have an equality of being, with an inequality of condition! when their infinite Maker requests, where he might constrain! God will make no covenant with the unwilling; how much less the covenant of grace, which stands all upon love? If we stay till God offer violence to our will, or to us against our will, we shall die strangers from him. The church is the spouse of Christ : he will enjoy her love by a willing contract, not by a ravishment. The obstinate have nothing to do with God. The title of all converts is, a willing people.

That Israel inclined to God, it was from God. He inquires after his own gifts in us, for our capacity of more. They had not received the law, unless they had first received a disposition fit to be commanded. As there was an inclination to hear, so there must be a preparation for hearing. God's justice had before prepared his Israelites by hunger, thirst, fear of enemies; his mercy had prepared them by deliverances, by provisions of water, meat, bread; and yet, besides all the sight of God in his miracles, they must be three days prepared to hear him. When our souls are at the best, our approach to God requires particular addresses; and if three days were little enough to prepare them to receive the law, how is all our life short enough to prepare for the reckoning of our observing it? And if the word of a command expected such readiness, what shall the word of promise, the promise of Christ and salvation?

The murrain of Egypt was not so infectious as their vices; the contagion of these stuck still by Israel. All the water of the Red Sea, and of Marah, and that which gushed out of the rock, had not washed it off. From these they must now be sanc

tified. As sin is always dangerous, so most when we bring it into God's sight: it envenometh both our persons and services, and turns our good into evil. As, therefore, we must be always holy, so most when we present ourselves to the holy eyes of our Creator. We wash our hands every day; but, when we are to sit with some great person, we scour them with balls. And if we must be so sanctified only to receive the law, how holy must we be to receive the grace promised in the gospel?

Neither must themselves only be cleansed, but their very clothes: their garments smelt of Egypt, even they must be washed. Neither can clothes be capable of sin, nor can water cleanse from sin. The danger was neither in their garment nor their skins; yet they must be washed, that they might learn by their clothes with what souls to appear before their God. Those garments must be washed, which should never wax old, that now they might begin their age in purity; as those which were in more danger of being foul than bare. It is fit that our reverence to God's presence should appear in our very garments, that both without and within we may be cleanly; but little would neatness of vestures avail us with a filthy soul. The God of spirits looks to the inner man, and challenges the purity of that part which resembles himself: "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purge your hearts, ye double-minded."

Yet even when they were washed and sanctified, they may not touch the mount, not only with their feet, but with their eyes. The smoke keeps it from their eyes, the marks from their feet. Not only men, that had some impurity at their best, are restrained, but even beasts, which are not capable of any unholiness. Those beasts which must touch his altars, yet might not touch his hill. And if a beast touch it, he must die; yet so, as no hands may touch that which hath touched the hill. Unreasonableness might seem to be an excuse in these creatures; that, therefore, which is death to a beast, must needs be capital to them, whose reason should guide them to avoid presumption. Those Israelites which saw God every day in the pillar of fire, and the cloud, must not come near him in the mount. God loves at once familiarity and fear; familiarity in our conversation, and fear in his commands. He loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience; yet he takes state upon him in his ordinances, and will be trembled at in his word and judgments. 1 see the difference of God's carriage to