ritual eye: always provided that their search and inquiry be regulated according to the will of God, in a due use of the means; for to this purpose not only the private endeavours of men are required, but the use also of the public ministry, which is ordained of God to lead men gradually into continual further acquaintance with the will of God in the Scripture.

Some think that it belongs unto the fulness of the Scripture that each place in it should have various senses, some say three, some four. But this, indeed, is to empty it of all fulness; for if it have not everywhere one proper determinate sense, it hath none at all. This it hath; but the things which the words of it are signs of and are expressed by, are so great, deep, and mysterious, and have such various respects unto our light, faith, and obedience, as that it is unsearchably instructive unto us. commandment is exceeding broad," Ps. cxix. 96, 7-the word used to express the wideness of the sea, Ps. civ. 25, Sing

"The

"

277,—“The great sea," that hath "wide and large arms,' which it stretcheth out to comprehend the whole earth. So doth the command widen and stretch out its arms, to comprehend the whole church of God, to water it and to make it fruitful. God having enstamped his authority and wisdom upon it, every concernment of it, every consequence from it, every circumstance reported in it, hath its authority in and upon the consciences of men for the end whereunto it is designed. Hence we may observe, that in the quotations of testimonies out of the Old Testament in the New, it is very seldom that the principal aim and intendment of any place is insisted on, but rather some peculiar specialty that is either truly included in the words or duly educed by just consequence from them.

And this may teach men what diligence they ought to use in searching and studying of the Scripture. Slight, inadvertent considerations will be of little use in this matter. Especially is this incumbent on them whose duty and office it is to declare and expound them unto others. And there is amongst many a great miscarriage in these things, and that both in some that teach, and some that only privately read or meditate on the word. Some men preach with very little regard to the Scripture, either as to the treasury and promptuary of all the truth they are to dispense, or as to the rule whereby they are to proceed. And some are ready to coin notions in their own minds, or to learn them from others, and then attempt to put them upon the Scripture, or obtain countenance from thence unto them: and this is the way of men who invent and vent false opinions and groundless curiosities, which a previous due reverential observance of the word might have delivered them from. And some again, and those too many, super

ficially take up with that sense of the words which obviously presents itself unto their first consideration, which they improve to their own purpose as they see cause. Such persons as these see little of the wisdom of God in the word; they enter not into those mines of gold; they are but passengers, they do not "stand in the counsel of God, to hear his word," Jer. xxiii. 22. It is certain that the diligent search into the Scriptures which is commended unto us, which the worth of them and the things contained in them requires, and which that fulness and comprehension of truth that is in them doth make necessary, is by most neglected. And the same may be observed in multitudes of commentators and expositors. They express things otherwise one than another, but for the most part directly the same. Seldom any one ventures into the deep one step beyond what he sees his way beat before him, and, as he supposes, his ground secure; though a diligent inquirer may often find the most beaten path either to turn away from the fountain, or at least to end and fail before it comes there. I would not speak any thing to encourage men in bold adventures, groundless conjectures, and curious pryings into things hidden, secret, and marvellous; but it is humble diligence, joined with prayer, meditation, and waiting on God for the revelation of his will, in the study of the Scripture, upon the account of the fulness of its treasury, and the guiding, instructive virtue wherewithal its concerns are accompanied, that I would press after. And hence I am persuaded that the church of God hath, through his care and faithfulness, had great advantage from their opposition unto the truth who, to countenance their own errors, have searched curiously into all the concernments of the words of many testimonies given unto the truth. For though they have done this to their own destruction, yet "out of this eater there hath come forth meat;" for they have not only given an occasion unto, but imposed a necessity upon us to search with all diligence into every concernment of some most material passages in the Scripture, and that to the clearing of the truth and the stablishing of the minds of many. That which I would press from these considerations, grounded on the precedent before us, wherein the apostle, from sundry latent circumstances of the text, draws out singular useful observations in reference unto our faith and obedience, is, that our utmost diligence, especially in them who are called unto the instruction of others, is required in this neglected, yea despised work of searching the Scriptures. And as a consequent of the neglect hereof, I cannot but say that I have observed a threefold defect amongst sundry teachers, that was in general intimated before; as, first, When men scarce at any time make use of the Scripture in their preaching any further than to make remarks and observations on the obvious sense of any place, neither entering

themselves, nor endeavouring to lead their hearers into the secret and rich recesses of them. And secondly, which is worse, When men without the Scripture design their subjects, and project the handling of them, and occasionally only take in the words of the Scripture, and that guided more by the sound than the sense of them. And thirdly, which is worst of all, When men by their own notions, opinions, curiosities, and allegories, rather draw men from the Scripture than endeavour to lead them unto it. The example of our great apostle will guide us unto other ways of proceeding in our work.

Ver. 16.-For some, when they heard [the word], provoked; howbeit not all who came out of Egypt by Moses.

The intention of the apostle in this and the ensuing verses, as hath been observed, is to confirm his preceding exhortation from the example proposed unto them, and that on the consideration of the various events that befell their forefathers in the wilderness, with respect, on the one hand, unto the promises and threatenings of God, and on the other, to their faith and disobedience. To this end, in this verse he makes a distribution of the persons who came forth of Egypt under the conduct of Moses, and heard the voice of God in the wilderness:-They all "came out of Egypt," they all "heard" the voice of God; howbeit all did not "provoke," but only "some." Two things, then, are affirmed of them all in general;-First, That they "all came out of Egypt by Moses;" Secondly, That they all "heard" the voice of God. And the limitation respects one instance only, some of these all "provoked," and some did not. The first thing in general ascribed unto them is, that they "came out of Egypt by Moses." A few words, but comprehensive of a great story; a work wherein God was exceedingly glorified, and that people made partakers of greater mercies and privileges than ever any before them from the foundation of the world: the pressing whereof upon the minds and consciences of the people is one main end of the Book of Deuteronomy. Moses sums up much of it, chap. iv. 34: "Did ever God assay to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God hath done for you?"

"Tantæ molis erat Judæam condere gentem."

And besides the other circumstances that the apostle expressly insists upon, this is mentioned here to intimate what obligation was on this people to attend unto the voice of God, in that he brought them up out of Egypt; and therefore it pleased God to preface the whole

Διὰ Μωυσέως.

law of their obedience with the expression of it, "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt," Exod. xx. 2. Διὰ Μωυσέως, “ By Moses.” "By the hand of Moses," saith the Syriac. That is, either under his conduct and guidance, or through the prevalency of the miraculous works which God wrought by him. Both these senses the prophet expresseth, Isa. lxiii. 11, 12: "Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? that led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?" Both the conduct of Moses, and the miracles that God wrought by him, are comprised in their coming up "by Moses." And, by the way, it may be observed, that in this preparation and consultation, as it were, about new mercies to be bestowed on that people, there are several persons in the Deity introduced treating about it, and calling to remembrance their former actings towards them. He that speaks is the person of the Father, whose love and compassion are celebrated, verses 7-9, as they are everywhere peculiarly ascribed unto that person. And he that is spoken of, and as it were inquired after to appear again in the work of their salvation, which peculiarly belongs unto him, he is called the "Angel of his presence," verse 9, and the LORD himself, verse 14; that is, the person of the Son, unto whom the actual deliverance of the church in every strait doth belong, and he is therefore here, as it were, inquired after. And with reference unto this work by Moses it is said, "And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved," Hos. xii. 13. And this belongeth unto the whole people, none excepted.

Secondly, This also is ascribed to them, that they "heard:" for whereas it is said, "Some, when they heard, provoked," it is not meant that some only heard, and provoked; but of them that heard, some only provoked. What they heard was declared before, -the voice of God, as it is said, "To-day, if ye will hear his voice." And this may be taken either strictly, for the hearing of the voice of God at the giving of the law on mount Sinai, when the whole congregation heard nibip, those voices of God in thundering and dreadful agitations of the mount wherewith it was accompanied, and the voice of God himself whereby the law was pronounced, that is, an audible voice framed for that purpose by the ministry of angels; or it may be taken more largely, for a participation in all those instructions which God granted unto them in the wilderness. There seems, indeed, to be an especial respect unto the giving of the law, though not merely the promulgation of the ten words on Sinai, but the whole system of precepts and ordinances of worship that attended;

for therein "they were evangelized, even as we," Heb. iv. 2. And also, their hearing is spoken of as that which was past (" When they had heard") before their provoking, which yet signally happened in the second year after their coming out of Egypt. This, then, was the voice of God which they heard.

Παρεπίκραναν.

The sin which is appropriated unto some of them who thus "came out of Egypt," and "heard," is that apsmixpavay, they "provoked,"—that is, God, whose voice, or word, or law they heard. The meaning of this word, and the nature of the sin expressed by it, have been spoken to before. I shall add one place that explains it: Hos. xii. 15, 'yan, “Ephraim hath provoked bitternesses;" that is, very bitterly. Great provocations have a "bitterness" in them, as the word here denotes, which causeth God to loathe the provokers.

By these considerations doth the apostle enforce his exhortation before insisted on, and show the necessity of it. This is, that they would diligently attend unto the word of the gospel, and steadfastly continue in the profession thereof. 'For,' saith he, when the people of old heard the voice of God in that dispensation of his law and grace which was suited unto their condition, some of them provoked him; whereas they may do so also who hear his voice in the dispensation of the gospel, therefore doth it highly concern them to take care that this be not the event of their mercy therein.'

Lastly, The apostle adds expressly a limitation, with respect to the persons who heard and provoked: "Howbeit not all." In his preceding discourse he had expressed the sin and punishment of the people indefinitely, so as at first view to include the whole generation in the wilderness, without exception of any. Here, out of the story, he puts in an exception of some even of them who came up out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses. And there are three sorts of persons who lay claim to an interest in the privilege:-1. Those who, being under twenty years of age, were not numbered in the wilderness of Sinai, in the second year after their coming up out of Egypt, Num. i. 1-3; for of those that were then numbered there was not a man left, save Caleb and Joshua, when the people was numbered again in the plains of Moab by Moses and Eleazar, chap. xxvi. 63, 64. These are they who died because of their provocation; those who before were under twenty years old being now the body of the people that was numbered. 2. The tribe of Levi: for the threatening and oath of God were against all of them that were numbered in the wilderness of Sinai, Num. xiv. 29, and the account is accordingly given in of the death of the numbered ones only, chap. xxvi. 63, 64; but in the taking of that first muster-roll Moses was expressly commanded not to take the number of the Levites, chap. i. 47-49. However, I much fear, by the course