fittest deputy for God. He, that abode still in the tabernacle of Ohel-moed, as God's attendant, was fittest to be sent forth from him, as his lieutenant. But O the unsearchable counsel of the Almighty! Aged Caleb, and all the princes of Israel, are past over, and Joshua, the servant of Moses, is chosen to succeed his master. The eye of God is not blinded either with gifts, or with blood, or with beauty, or with strength; but as in his eternal elections, so in his temporary, " He will have mercy on whom he will.' And well doth Joshua succeed Moses. The very acts of God of old were allegories. Where the law ends, there the Saviour begins. We may see the land of promise in the law only Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament, can bring us into it. So was he a servant of the law, that he supplies all the defects of the law to us. He hath taken possession of the promised land for us: he shall carry us from this wilderness to our rest. It is no small happiness to any state, when their governors are chosen by worthiness; and such elections are ever from God; whereas the intrusions of bribery, and unjust favour, or violence, as they make the commonwealth miserable, so they come from him which is the author of confusion. Woe be to that state that suffers it! woe be to that person that works it! for both of them have sold themselves, the one to servitude, the other to sin. I do not hear Moses repine at God's choice, and grudge that this sceptre of his is not hereditary; but he willingly lays hands upon his servant, to consecrate him for his successor. Joshua was a good man, yet he had some sparks of envy; for when Eldad and Medad prophesied, he stomached it: "My lord Moses, forbid them." He, that would not abide two of the elders of Israel to prophesy, how would he have allowed his servant to sit in his throne? What an example of meekness, besides all the rest, doth he here see in this last act of his master, who, without all murmuring, resigns his chair of state to his page? It is all one, to a gracious heart, whom God will please to advance. Emulation and discontentment are the affections of carnal minds. Humility goes ever with regeneration; which teaches a man to think, whatever honour be put upon others, I have more than I am worthy of. The same God, that, by the hands of his angels, carried up the soul of Moses to his glory, doth also, by the hands of his angels, carry his body down into the valley | of Moab to his sepulture. Those hands which had taken the law from him, those eyes that had seen his presence, those lips that had conferred so oft with him, that face that did so shine with the beams of his glory, may not be neglected when the soul is gone. He that took charge of his birth, and preservation in the reeds, takes charge of his carriage out of the world. The care of God ceaseth not over his own, either in death, or after it. How justly do we take care of the comely burials of our friends, when God himself gives us this example! If the ministry of man had been used in this grave of Moses, the place might have been known to the Israelites: but God purposely conceals this treasure, both from men and devils, that so he might both cross their curiosity, and prevent their superstition. If God had loved the adoration of his servants' reliques, he could never have had a fitter opportunity for this devotion, than in the body of Moses. It is folly to place religion in those things which God hides on purpose from us: it is not the property of the Almighty to restrain us from good. Yet that divine hand, which locked up this treasure, and kept the key of it, brought it forth afterwards glorious. In the transfiguration, this body, which was hid in the valley of Moab, appeared in the hill of Tabor, that we may know these bodies of ours are not lost, but laid up, and shall as sure be raised in glory, as they are laid down in corruption. "We know that when he shall appear we shall also appear with him in glory." BOOK VIII. CONTEMPLATION I.-OF RAHAB. JoSHUA was one of those twelve searchers which were sent to view the land of Canaan; yet now he addresses two spies, for a more particular survey. Those twelve were only to inquire of the general condition of the people and land; these two to find out the best entrance into the next part of the country, and into their greatest city. Joshua himself was full of God's spirit, and had the oracle of God ready for his direction: yet now he goes not to the propitiatory for consultation, but to the spies. Except where ordinary means fail us, it is no appealing to the immediate help of God; we may not seek to the postern, but where the common gate is shut. It was promised | Joshua, that he should lead Israel into the promised land; yet he knew it was unsafe to presume. The condition of his provident care was included in that assurance of success. Heaven is promised to us, but not to our carelessness, infidelity, disobedience. He that hath set this blessed inheritance before us, presupposes our wisdom, faith, holiness. Either force or policy is fit to be used unto Canaanites. He that would be happy in this spiritual warfare, must know where the strength of his enemy lieth; and must frame his guard according to the other's assault. It is a great advantage to a Christian to know the fashion of Satan's onsets, that he may the more easily compose himself to resist. Many a soul hath miscarried through the ignorance of his enemy, which had not perished, if it had well known that the weakness of Satan stands in our faith. The spies can find no other lodging but Rahab's house. She was a victualler by profession, and (as those persons and trades, by reason of the commonness of entertainment, were amongst the Jews infamous by name and note) she was Rahab the harlot. I will not think she professed filthiness; only her public trade, through the corruption of those times, hath cast upon her this name of reproach: yea, rather will I admire her faith, than make excuses for her calling. How many women in Israel (now Miriam was dead) have given such proofs of their knowledge and faith! How noble is that confession which she makes of the power and truth of God! Yea, I see here not only a disciple of God but a prophetess. Or, if she had once been public, as her house was, now she is a chaste and worthy convert; and so approved herself for honest and wise behaviour, that she is thought worthy to be the great grandmother of David's father: and the holy line of the Messias is not ashamed to admit her into that happy pedigree. The mercy of our God doth not measure us by what we were. It would be wide with the best of us, if the eye of God should look backward to our former estate; there he should see Abraham an idolater; Paul a persecutor; Manasses a necromancer; Mary Magdalen a courtezan; and the best vile enough to be ashamed of himself. Who can despair of mercy, that sees even Rahab fetched into the blood of Israel, and line of Christ! If Rahab had not received these spies, but as unknown passengers, with respect to their money, and not to their errand, it had been no praise: for in such cases, the thank is rather to the guest than to the host. But now she knew their purpose; she knew that the harbour of them was the danger of her own life; and yet she hazards this entertainment. Either faith or friend- " ship is never tried, but in extremities. To show countenance to the messengers of God, while the public face of the state smiles upon them, is but a courtesy of course; but to hide our own lives in theirs, when they are persecuted, is an act that looks for a reward. These times need not our favour; we know not what may come. Alas! how likely is it they would shelter them in danger, which respect them not in prosperity! All intelligences of state come first to the court. It most concerns princes to hearken after the affairs of each other. If this poor inn-holder khew of the sea dried up before Israel, and of the discomfiture of Og and Sihon; surely this rumour was stale with the king of Jericho: he had heard it, and feared; and yet, instead of sending ambassadors for peace, he sends pursuivants for the spies. The spirit of Rahab melted with that same report, wherewith the king of Jericho was hardened. All make not one use of the messages of the proceedings of God.. The king sends to tell her what she knew; she had not hid them, if she had not known their errand. I know not whether first to wonder at the gracious provision of God for the spies, or at the strong faith which he wrought in the heart of a weak woman. Two strangers, Israelites, spies (and noted for all these), in a foreign, in a hostile land, have å safe harbour provided them even amongst their enemies; in Jericho, at the very court-gate, against the proclamation of a king, against the endeavours of the people. Where cannot the God of heaven either find, or raise up friends, to his own causes and servants? Who could have hoped for such faith in Rahab? which contemned her life for the present, that she might save it for the future; neglected her own king and country, for strangers which she never saw; and more feared the destruction of that city, before it knew that it had an adversary, than the displeasure of her king, in the mortal revenge of that which he would have accounted treachery. She brings them up to the roof of her house, and hides them with stalks of flax. That plant, which was made to hide the body from nakedness and shame, now is used to hide the spies from death. Never could these stalks have been improved so well with all her housewifery, after they were bruised, as now, before they were fitted to her wheel: of these she hath woven an everlasting web, both of life and propagation. And now her tongue hides them no less than her hand. Her charity was good, her excuse was not good. "Evil may not be done, that good may come of it;" we may do any thing, but sin, for promoting a good cause: and, if not in so main occasions, how shall God take it, that we are not dainty of falsehoods in trifles? No man will look that these spies could take any sound sleep in these beds of stalks: it is enough for them that they live, though they rest not. And now, when they hear Rahab coming up the stairs, doubtless they looked for an executioner; but behold, she comes up with a message better than their sleep, adding to their protection advice for their future safety; whereto she makes way by a faithful report of God's former wonders, and the present disposition of her people; and by wise capitulations for the life and security of her family. The news of God's miraculous proceedings for Israel have made her resolve of their success, and the ruins of Jericho. Then only do we make a right use of the works of God, when, by his judgments upon others, we are warned to avoid our own. He intends his acts for precedents of justice. The parents and brethren of Rahab take their rest; they are not troubled with the fear and care of the success of Israel, but securely go with the current of the present condition. She watches for them all; and breaks her midnight sleep, to prevent their last. One wise and faithful person does well in a house: where all are careless, there is no comfort but in perishing together. It had been an ill nature in Rahab, if she had been content to be saved alone. That her love might be a match to her faith, she covenants for all her family, and so returns life to those of whom she received it. Both the bond of nature and of grace will draw all ours to the participation of the same good with ourselves. It had been never the better for the spies, if, after this night's lodging, they had been turned out of doors to the hazard of the way; for so the pursuers had lighted upon them, and prevented their return with their death. Rahab's counsel therefore was better than her harbour; which sent them (no doubt with victuals in their hands) to seek safety in the mountains, till the heat of that search were past. He that hath given us charge of our lives, will not suffer us to cast them upon wilful adventures. Had not these spies hid themselves in those desert hills, Israel had wanted directors for their enterprises. There is nothing more expedient for the church, than that some of God's faithful messengers should withdraw themselves, and give way to persecutions. Courage, in those that must die, is not a greater advantage to the gospel, than a prudent retiring of those, which may survive, to maintain and propagate it. It was a just and reasonable transaction betwixt them, that her life should be saved by them which had saved theirs: they owe no less to her, to whom they were not so much guests as prisoners. And now they pass not their promise only, but their oath. They were strangers to Rahab, and, for aught she knew, might have been godless; yet she dares trust her life upon their oath. So sacred and inviolable hath this bond ever been, that a heathen woman thought herself secure upon the oath of an Israelite. Neither is she more confident of their oath taken, than they are careful both of taking and performing it. So far are they from desiring to salve up any breach of promise by equivocation, that they explain all conditions, and would prevent all possibilities of violation. All Rahab's family must be gathered into her house; and that red cord, which was an instrument of their delivery, must be a sign of hers. Behold, this is the saving colour! the destroying angel sees the door-cheeks of the Israelites sprinkled with red, and passes them over. The warriors of Israel see the window of Rahab dyed with red, and save her family from the common destruction. If our souls have this tincture of the precious blood of our Saviour upon our doors or windows, we are safe. But if any one of the brethren of Rahab shall fly from this red flag, and rove about the city, and not contain himself under that roof which hid the spies, it is in vain for him to tell the avengers that he is Rahab's brother. That title will not save him in the street-within doors it will. If we will wander out of the limits that God hath set us, we cast ourselves out of his protection. We cannot challenge the benefit of his gracious preservation, and our most precious redemption, when we fly out into the bye-ways of our own hearts, not for innocence, but for safety and harbour. The church is that house of Rahab which is saved, when all Jericho shall perish. While we keep us in the lists thereof, we cannot miscarry through misopinion; but, when once we run out of it, let us look for judgment from God, and error in our own judgment. CONTEMPLATION II.-JORDAN DIVIDED. THE two spies returned with news of the victory that should be. I do not hear them say, The land is unpeopled; or the people are unfurnished with arms, unskilful in the discipline of war; but," They faint because of us, therefore their land is ours." Either success, or discomfiture, begins ever at the heart. A man's inward disposition doth more than presage the event. As a man raises up his own heart before his fall, and depresses it before his glory; so God raises it up before his exaltation, and casts it down before his ruin. It is no otherwise in our spiritual conflicts. If Satan sees us once faint, he gives himself the day. There is no way to safety, but that our hearts be the last that shall yield. That which the heathens attributed to fortune, we may justly to the hand of God, that he speedeth those that are forward. All the ground that we lose, is given to our adversaries. This news is brought but over night; Joshua is on his way by morning, and prevents the sun for haste. Delays, whether in the business of God or our own, are hateful and prejudicial. Many a one loses the land of promise by lingering. If we neglect God's time, it is just with him to cross us in ours. Joshua hastens till he has brought Israel to the verge of the promised land: nothing parts them now but the river of Jordan. There he stays a time, that the Israelites might feed themselves a while with the sight of that which they should afterwards enjoy. That which they had been forty years in seeking, may not be seized upon too suddenly. God loves to give us coolз and heats in our desires; and will so allay our joys, that their fruition hurt us not. He knows, that as it is in meats, the long forbearance whereof causes a surfeit when we come to full feed; so it fares in the contentments of the mind: therefore he feeds us not with the dish, but with the spoon, and will have us neither cloyed nor famished. If the mercy of God have brought us within sight of heaven, let us be content to pause a while, and, upon the banks of Jordan, fit ourselves for our entrance. sage, not for their rest; for the wilderness, not for Canaan. It were as easy for God to work miracles always; but he knows that custom were the way to make them no miracles. He goes bye-ways but till he have brought us into the road, and then he refers us to his ordinary proceedings. That Israelite should have been very foolish, that would still have said, I will not stir till I see the cloud; I will not eat, unless I may have that food of angels. Wherefore serves the ark, but for their direction? wherefore serves the wheat of Canaan, but for bread? So fond is that Christian, that will still depend upon expectation of miracles, after the fulness of God's kingdom. If God bear us in his arms when we are children, yet when we are well grown, he looks we should go on our feet: it is enough that he upholds us, though he carry us not. The He, that hitherto had gone before them in the cloud, doth now go before them in the ark; the same guide in two diverse signs of his presence. The cloud was for Moses', the ark for Joshua's time. cloud was fit for Moses; the law offered us Christ, but enwrapped in many obscurities. If he were seen in the cloud, he was heard from the cover of the ark. Why was it the ark of the testimony, but because it witnessed both his presence and love? and within it were his word the law, and his sacrament the manna. Who can wish a better guide than the God of heaven, in his word and sacraments? Who can know the way into the land of promise so well as he that owns it? and what means can better direct us thither than those of his institution? That ark, which before was as the heart, is now as the head: it was in the midst of Israel, while they camped in the desert; now, when the cloud is removed, it is in the front of the army; that, as before they depended upon it for life, so now they should for direction. It must go before them on the shoulders of the sons of Levi: they must follow it, but within sight, not within breathing. The Levites may not touch the ark, but only the bars: the Israelites may not approach nearer than a thousand paces to it. What awful respects doth God require to be given unto the testimonies of his presence! Uzzah paid dear, for touching it; the men of BethsheNow that Israel is brought to the brim mesh for looking into it. It is a dangerous of Canaan, the cloud is vanished which led thing to be too bold with the ordinances them all the way; and, as soon as they of God. Though the Israelites were sanchave but crossed Jordan, the manna ceas- tified, yet they might not come near either eth, which nourished them all the way. the mount of Sinai, when the law was deThe cloud and manna were for their pas-livered, or the ark of the covenant, wherein the law was written. How fearful shall | Jordan, that flowed with full streams when their estate be, that come with unhallowed hearts and hands to the word of the gospel, and the true manna of the evangelical sacrament? As we use to say of the court, and of fire, so may we of these divine institutions, We freeze, if we be far off from them; and if we be more near than befits us, we burn. Under the law, we might look at Christ aloof; now, under the gospel, we may come near him he calls us to him; yea, he enters into us. Neither was it only for reverence that the ark must be not stumbled at, but waited on afar; but also for convenience, both of sight and passage. Those things that are near us, though they be less, fill our eye; neither could so many thousand eyes see the same object upon a level, but by distance. It would not content God, that one Israelite should tell another. Now the ark goes, now it turns, now it stands; but he would have every one his own witness. What can be so comfortable to a good heart, as to see the pledges of God's presence and favour? To hear of the lovingkindnesses of God is pleasant; but to behold and feel the evidences of his mercy is unspeakably delectable. Hence the saints of God, not contenting themselves with faith, have still prayed for sight and, fruition, and mourned when they have wanted it. What a happy prospect hath God set before us of Christ Jesus crucified for us, and offered unto us! Ere God will work a miracle before Israel, they have charge to be sanctified. There is a holiness required, to make us either patients or beholders of the great works of God; how much more, when we should be actors in his sacred services! There is more use of sanctification when we must present something to God, than when he must do aught to us. The same power that divided the Red Sea before Moses, divides Jordan before Joshua, that they might see the ark no less effectual than the cloud; and the hand of God as present with Joshua to bring them into Canaan, as it was with Moses to bring them out of Egypt. The bearers of the ark had need be faithful; they must first set their foot into the streams of Jordan, and believe that it will give way; the same faith that led Peter upon the water, must carry them into it. There can be no Christian without belief in God; but those that are near to God in his immediate services, must go before others, no less in believing, than they do in example. The waters know their Maker. That Christ went into it to be baptized, now gives way, when the same God must pass through it in state. Then there was use of his water, now of his sand. I hear no news of any rod to strike the waters; the presence of the ark of the Lord God, the Lord of all the world, is sign enough to these waves, which now, as if a sinew were broken, run back to their issues, and dare not so much as wet the feet of the priests that bore it. "What ailed thee, O sea, that thou fleddest, and thou Jordan, that thou wert driven back? Ye mountains, that ye leaped like rams, and ye little hills, like lambs? The earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob!" How observant are all the creatures to the God that made them! How glorious a God do we serve, whom all the powers of the heavens and elements are willingly subject unto, and gladly take that nature which he pleases to give them! He could have made Jordan like some solid pavement of crystal, for the Israelites' feet to have trode upon; but this work had not been so magnificent. Every strong frost congeals the water, in a natural force, but for the river to stand still, and run on heaps, and to be made a liquid wall for the passage of God's people, is for nature to run out of itself, to do homage to her CreaNow must the Israelites needs think, how can the Canaanites stand out against us, when the seas and rivers give us way? With what joy did they now trample upon the dry channel of Jordan, while they might see the dry deserts overcome, the promised land before them, the very waters so glad of them that they ran back to welcome them into Canaan! The passages into our promised land are troublesome and perilous, and even at last offer themselves to us the main hindrances of our salvation, which, after all our hopes, threaten to defeat us: for what will it avail us to have passed a wilderness, if the waves of Jordan should swallow us up? But the same hand that hath made the way hard, hath made it sure; he that made the wilderness comfortable, will make Jordan dry: he will master all difficulties for us; and those things which we most feared, will he make most sovereign and beneficial to us. O God! as we have trusted thee with the beginning, so will we with the finishing of our glory! Faithful art thou that hast promised, which wilt also do it! tor. He that led them about, in forty years' journey through the wilderness, yet now leads them the nearest cut to Jericho; he |