2. What the greater mercies were, he expected beyond Jor* dan ?
3. How the former strengthen faith in prayer for the latter ?
4. Why the completing of mercies begun is so desirable to the saints ?
1. What those mercies were which are here called the beginnings of mercy ? And they were great and manifold : In this catalogue are to be placed all the mercies they had received for forty years, from the day they came out of Egypt, unto this great deliverance at Edrei inclusively.
(1.) God began to shew his great power in their wonderful de- liverance out of Egypt with mighty signs and an out-stretched arm* This deliverance from Egypt was a pattern or model of the future deliverances of his churches in New-Testament days, Mic. viL 15. " According to the days of thy coming out of the land of " Egypt, vn\{ I shew unto him marvellous things.'' Which seemeth to have relation to the time of the restitution, and saving of all Israel. After the manner of Egypt also hatli God begun to save the Gentile churches from Rome, which is spiritually called Egypt, Rev. xi. 8. And this begun deliverance from the mysticah
is greater tlian that from literal Egiipt, and so much greater, by- how much spiritual bondage and slavery of men's souls, is worse that that on their bodies. The hand of God was evidently seen in that, and is no less admirable in this. The wonders of the re-^ Jbrmation are, hke those in Egypt, wrought out by the mighty hand and power of God.
(2.) The hand and power of God Was seen in making provision for them in all their wilderness-straits after they came out of Egypt. There were no tilled fields or barns, no store-houses in the Tsilderness, nor shops to furnish them with clothes for forty years in the desert ; yet God took care to sustain them. It is said, Neh. ix. 21. " Forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, " so that they lacked nothing, their clothes waxed not old, and " their feet swelled not."" And certainly it would furnish an ad- mirable history of Providence, if the instances of God's care over his poor^ scattered, persecuted saints were collected, and how the Lord hath sustained them from the beginning of the reformation, though none were suffered to buy or sell that received not the mark of the beast in their foreheads, or right-hand. Rev. xiii. IT. Their enemies would have starved them, but their God hath won- derfully provided for them.
(3.) The Lord frustrated all the plots of their enemies to destroy them, and there was no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel : " Remember, O my people (saith God) what Ba- " lak, king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor ^' answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal ; that ye may know the ^' righteousness of the Lord." They built many altars^ and offered many sacrifices ; what would they not have done to have gotten but a word or two out of God's mouth against his people ? But their God was true and faithful to them, and would not hearken to Balaam's insinuations against them. There have been plots upon plots to destroy the begun reformation. Rome and hell have con- sulted our destruction, as they did theirs, but to no purpose.
(4.) The Lord discomfited and defeated the open force, as well as the great treachery of their enemies, and no weapon formed against them ever prospered; The kings, several kings, by whose lands they travelled towards Canaan, fell upon them in their way, but still to their own cost, they forfeited their lives and lands by their quarrel with Israel. And now the last of those kings and kingdoms that opposed their passage is fallen into the hands of Is- rael : These were the mercies wherein God had begun to shew his greatness to Moses and his people ; and, after the manner of Egypt, unto us also.
2. But what were the greater mercies he expected beyond Jor- 4iin^ which he so vehemently desires to see, and in comparisoa
wherewith he stiles all these great things but the be^nnlngs of mercy F Certainly Moses expected better things than these, as great and glorious as they were : And these were,
(1.) The full and free enjoyment of all God's ordinances, which the people had not enjoyed for forty years before. All that were born by the way were not circumcised, Josh. v. 5. and for the passover we find but three of them celebrated all that space, the first in Egypt, Exod. xii. the second at mount Sinai, Numb. ix. the third at Gilgal in Joshua's time. Josh. v. 10. and as for their other sacrifices and offerings appointed by the Lord, they were either omitted, or very disorderly performed, which, because of their many troubles, and frequent removes, they could not enjoy : and when they did, they were not performed as he required, which the Lord smartly rebuked them for, Amos v. 25. " Have ye ofFer- " ed unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, ** O house of Israel ?" No, they had not, at least not in the due order as God required. But when they should arrive to a settled condition in Canaan, then the ordinances of God should be more frequently enjoyed, and that after the due order, for so Moses had told them, Deut. xii. 8, 9. " Ye shall not do after all the things " that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his " own eyes ; for ye are not as yet come to the rest, and to the *' inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you." When they should be settled in Canaan, and the ark find rest, Moses knew that all things should then be reduced to the rule and pattern God had given them. And truly nothing is more beautiful, more desirable in the eyes of the saints. For so much of God's order as is found in his worship, so much of his presence and blessing may be expected, and no more. And as he expected more purity in ordinances, so,
(2.) Rest and peace were expected in Canaan, mercies the people had long wanted. The arh had been ambulatory a long time, re- moving now here, now there: but in the temple it was to find rest. Therefore you read in Psal. cxxxii. 8. the temple called the place of rest : " Arise, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of " thy strength," because there it was to have a fixed abode. And as the ark was there to find a place of rest, so the people also, who instead of tents, should now be placed in towns and cities.
(8.) But especially that which Moses desired to see in Canaan, was the fulfilling and accomplishment of the promises of God made to the patriarchs, in the faith and comfort whereof they lived and died. This privilege Joshua enjoyed, chap, xxiii. 14. Not ons thing hath Jailed, all are come to pass. O what a lovely and desir* able sight was this ?
But ill these latter days, we, for whom better things are provided, look for greater mercies than Moses and the people could expect in Canaan. For we, according to the promises, expect,