and care which the governors continually do a matter that we inferiors can little skill of; but to read Eá nocte dormire non Esther 6.1. potuit rex, "Such a night the King could not sleep;" and

again, Such a night "no meat would down with the King, and Dan. 6. 18. he listed not to hear any music." To endure this, I say, is supernatural; and it is God which, above all nature, by His mighty Spirit worketh it in them.

Again, whereas there is in every inferior a natural wildness 2.

&c.

or unwillingness to brook any ruler or judge over them, as Nu. 16. 12, was told Moses flatly to his face, for by nature the people are not like sheep; it is not certainly any power of man, but 1 a mere supernatural thing, to keep the nations of the earth in such awe and order as we see them in. Quis potest, saith 1Kings3.9. Solomon, "Who is able to manage this mighty multitude," 【 so huge in number, so unruly in affection? Nonne potestatem Joh. 19.10. habeo ? "Have not I power," saith Pilate? But our Saviour Christ very fitly telleth him, Power he hath indeed, but it

is not innata, but data desuper; and except it were given him Joh. 19.11. from above, he should have none at all. It is Tu duristi that doth it; even Thou, O Lord, and Thine Almighty power, that holdest them under. And very fitly from the wonder in appeasing the sea, in the last verse before, doth the Prophet Ps. 77. 19. pass in this to the leading of the people. Their natures are alike, himself in one verse matcheth them; "Thou rulest the Ps. 65. 7. raging of the sea, and the noise of the waves, and the madness of the people." That is, no less unruly and enraged by nature is the multitude, than the sea. No less it roareth, Dirumpamus vincula eorum, and Nolumus hunc regnare super Ps. 2. 3. nos, when God unlooseth it. Of one and the same power it proceedeth, to keep them both within their banks. Thou that calmest the one, charmest also the other.

Lu. 19. 14.

Wherefore when we see that careful mind in a prince, I will use Moses' own words, to carry a people in her arms, as Nu. 11.12. if she had conceived them in her womb, as no nurse, nor mother more tender; and again, when we see this tumultuous and tempestuous body, this same sea of popularity kept in a quiet calm, and infinite millions ebbing and flowing as it were, that is, stirring and standing still, arming and disarming themselves, killing and being killed, and all at the monosyllables of one person, "Go and they go, Come and they Mat. 8. 9.

II.

say

SERM. come, Do and they do it ;" let us see God sensibly in it, and the power of God, yea, the miraculous power of God; and with the Prophet, "Thou art the God That doest wonders, Thou leddest Thy people like sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron." And so much for the first part, first word, and Person.

II.

The second

part.

The second word compriseth the benefit issuing from God, which is a leading or conduct, the second part. A word of Duristi, great compass, and includeth many leadings under it. For, Ex. 17. 15. to be our Jehovah-Nissi, our "Standard-bearer," and to lead Isa. 9. 6. our forces in the field; to be our "wonderful Counsellor," and Ps. 82. 1. to lead that honourable board; to sit in the midst of our Judges,

and to lead them in giving sentence;—all these and more than these are all in duxisti. And all these are especial favours; but the chief of all, and that whereof all these are but the train, is the leading us in His heavenly truth, and in the way of His Commandments, to the land of the living. All the rest attend upon this; this is chief, and therefore the leading of principal intendment.

And in this leading there be these four points. For that it be a leading, it must be orderly without straying, skilfully without erring, gently without forcing, and certainly without missing our journey's end. First, orderly without straying; led and not wandered. Second, skilfully without erring; led and not missed. Third, gently without forcing; led and not drawn. Fourth, certainly without missing; led, and not led about, ever going, but never coming to our place of repose. 1. In the first whereof, we are but let see the wandering and stayless estate we were in, till God vouchsafed to send us this Ezek. 34. gracious conduct; sicut oves, like Ezekiel's "stray sheep, straggling upon every valley and upon every hill." The very case these people here were in, when God in mercy sent them Ex. 5. 12. these two guides, scattered all over the land to seek stubble. Which estate of theirs, is the express pattern of the world, wandering in vanity, picking up straws, and things that shall Wis. 1. 12. not profit them, "seeking death in the error of their life,” till 'God look mercifully upon them, and from this wild wandering reduce them into the right way.

5, 6.

2.

Which right way is the second point; for else it is not duxisti, but seduxisti; and as good no leading at all, as mis

leading. Now this right way, if we ask where it lieth, the Prophet will tell us, "Thy way, O God, is in the Sanctuary;" Ps. 77. 13. that is, it is the word of God which is the load-star, when God is the Leads-man. Sicut oves it must be, and this is the voice of the true Shepherd to be listened to of all his flock, that will not rove and run headlong into the wolf's den. This is the "pillar of the cloud" in regard of this people here, Ex. 14. 19, to be kept in view of all those that will not perish in the wilderness, wherein is no path. Indeed it is both 1. "the pillar of the cloud" before, directing us in the way; 2. and the voice of the shepherd behind us, as Esay saith, telling us Isa. 30. 21. when we miss, and crying, Hæc est via, ambulate in eâ, “This is the way, the right way, walk in it."

&c.

And in this way our guiding must be mild and gentle, else 3. it is not duxisti but traxisti; drawing and driving, and no leading. Leni spiritu non durâ manu, rather by an inward sweet influence to be led, than by an outward extreme violence to be forced forward. So did God lead this people here. Not the greatest pace, I wis, for they were a year marching that they might have posted in eleven days, as Deu. 1. 2. Moses saith. No nor yet the nearest way neither, as Moses

telleth us. For he fetched a compass divers times, as all wise Ex. 13. 18. governors by his example must do, that desire rather safely to lead, than hastily to drive forward. "The Spirit of God Isa. 63. 14. leadeth this people," saith Esay, "as an horse is ridden down the hill into a valley;" which must not be a gallop, lest horse and ruler both come down one over another, but warily and easily. And sicut oves still giveth us light, seeing the text compareth it to a sheep-gate. Touching which kind of cattle, to very good purpose, Jacob, a skilful shepherd, answereth Gen.33.13. Esau, who would have had Jacob and his flocks have kept company with him in his hunting pace. Nay not so, sir," saith Jacob, "it is a tender cattle that is under my hands, and must be softly driven, as they may endure; if one should overdrive them but one day, they would all die," or be laid up for many days after. Indeed, Rehoboam left ten parts of Kings 12. his flock behind, only for ignorance of this very point in duxisti. For when in boisterous manner he chased them before him, telling them what yokes he would make for them-a far unmeet occupation for a prince to be a yoke-maker-they

66

10, 11.

II.

SERM. all shrunk from him presently, and falsified his prophecy clean. For whereas he told them sadly, "His little finger should be as big as his father's whole body," it fell out clean contrary; for his whole body proved not so big as his father's little finger. A gentle leading it must be, and in the beginning such was the course. Therefore ye have the Kings of Canaan in Genesis for the most part called by the name of Abimelech, that is, Pater Rex, a King in place, a Father in Nu. 12. 3. affection. Such was Moses our leader here, "a meek man above all the men on the earth." Such was David himself, 2Sam.3.39. who full bitterly complaineth, "Ah, these sons of Zeruiah are

too hard, too full of execution for me." And, to end this point, thus describeth he his good prince in the seventyPs. 72. 6. second Psalm; "He shall come down," not like hail-stones on a house-top, but "like the dew into a fleece of wool,” that is, sweetly and mildly, without any noise or violence at all.

Last of all. All this reducing and right leading and gentle leading must end in an end; they must not go and go still in infinitum; that is no leading but tiring outright. It must be Ps. 23. 2. sicut oves, whom the good Shepherd, in the three and twentieth Psalm, leadeth to a place, and to a place meet for them, "where there is green pasture by the waters of comfort." So was it in this people here. They were led out of Egypt to sacrifice to God, and to learn His law in the Mount of God, Sinai; and from thence also to Sion itself, His own rest, and holy habitation. And even so our people are led from the wanderings of this world unto the folds of God's Church, where, as the Prophet saith in the seventy-third Ps. 73. 24 Psalm, first God "will a while guide them with His counsel, and after will receive them into His glory." And this is the end of all leading. To bring us all from the vain proffers of the world, which we shall all find, as Solomon found it, Ecc. 1. 2. vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas, to the sound comfort of His word in this book, which is indeed veritas veritatum et omnia veritas; in the knowledge and practice whereof, when they shall have fulfilled their course here, God will bring them to His own rest, to His Heavenly Jerusalem, where is and ever shall be felicitas felicitatum et omnia felicitas.

Ps. 78. 54.

But in this life here, we come no farther than "the borders of His Sanctuary," as he telleth us in the next Psalm, in the

way whereof if God lead us constanter, 'constantly,' not after our wanton manner, out and in when we list, all the other inferior leadings shall accompany this one. For this leading leadeth them all. He shall lead our Counsellors, that they shall advise the counsels of His own heart; He shall lead our Judges, that they shall pronounce the judgments of His own mouth; He shall lead our forces into Edom, the strong cities and holds of the enemy; He shall lead our navy in the sea by unknown paths to the place it would go; and I can say no more. Through all the dreads and dangers of the world, through the perils of the Red sea, through the perils of the desert, through the malice of all our enemies, He shall safely lead us, and surely bring us to His promised kingdom, where we shall "see the goodness of the Lord in the land of Ps. 27. 13. the living." And this is the benefit, and thus much for that part.

Тиит.

The value of which benefit we shall the better esteem, if The third part. we consider the state of the parties on whom it is bestowed, set down in these words populum Tuum; which is the third Populum part. That all this good is for the people, worthy not so much as the least part of it. For, what is the people? Let Populum. Moses speak for he knew them, Siccine popule stulte et insi- Deu. 32. 6. piens? And Aaron too, for he had occasion to try them, "This people is even set on mischief." And, if you will, Ex. 32. 22. David also, Inter belluas populorum. And to conclude, God Ps. 68. 30. Himself, Populus iste duræ cervicis est. This is the people. Ex. 32. 9; We may briefly take a view of all these.

33. 3.

Will you see the folly and giddiness of this multitude? ye may, Acts 19. There they be at the town-house, some crying Acts 19.32. one thing, some another; "and the more part knew not why

they were come together." Therefore Moses truly said, it was a fond and giddy-headed people.

Will ye see the brutishness of the people? In the twenty- Acts 22.23. second of Acts, you shall see them taking up a cry, upon a word spoken by St. Paul, and "casting off their clothes and throwing dust into the air," as if they were quite decayed of reason; that David truly might say, Inter belluas populorum.

Will ye see the spite and malice of the people? In the sixteenth of Numbers, for Korah's death they challenge Moses and Aaron, "ye have persecuted and killed the people of the Nu. 16. 41.