An exposition of the morall lavv, or Ten Commandements of almightie God set dovvne by vvay of exercitations, wherein is contained an explanation of diverse questions and positions for the right understanding thereof, together with an explication of these scriptures which depend upon, or belong unto every one of the commandements, all which are cleared out of the originall languages, the customes of the Iewes, and the distinctions of the schoolemen / by Iohn Weemse ...

EXERCITAT. VI. How the Lord enquireth for blood and punisheth it. Commandement. VI.

Psal. 9.12. When hee maketh inquisition for bloud, he remembreth them.

THe Lord enquireth for bloud,* 1.1 and then revengeth it. First, hee enquireth for bloud: Gen. 4.9. And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? So Gen. 42.22 Behold now his blood is required at our hands.* 1.2 Da∣resh, est summo judicio inquirere, to search diligently.

The Lord requireth this blood,* 1.3 at the stones and tim∣ber of the house. Habak. 2.11. and at the hands of a beast, Gen. 5.9. and at the hands of a man, that is, of a com∣mon

man, and at the hands of a great man, and at the hands of a mans brother: and hee enquireth after the blood, from the shedder of the blood, to the author or first cause; there was the hand of the Ammonite that kil∣led Vriah;* 1.4 there was the hand of Ioab that set him in the forefront of the battell, and there was the hand of Da∣vid that invented this: yet Nathan passed by them all, and said to David, Thou hast killed Vriah the Hittite with the sword. 2 Sam. 12.9. So there were the false witnes∣ses who testified against Naboth and stoned him, and the false Iudges who condemned him, and then Iezabel the Queene, and last the King, who sealed all with his signet: and yet it is said, that Ahab killed him. 1 King. 21.19. Hast thou killed and taken possession? The Lord sayes, Num. 32.23. Your sinnes shall find you out; The guilt of sinne leaveth such a scent behind it, that the pu∣nishment followeth it and findeth it out, even as the dog by the scent findeth out the Hare, and as the hew and cry followeth the murtherer;* 1.5 so doth the reveng∣ing hand of God follow the sin of murther home to the doore of him that committed it. Gen. 4.7. Sin [Robhetz] lyeth at the doore, that is, the guilt of sin, as a mastive dog lyeth at the doore. Deut. 31.17. Many evills and trou∣bles shall find them; man findeth out sinne first, and sinne findeth him out againe. And see how the senselesse creatures discover the blood and enquire after it; Iob saith, Let not the earth cover my blood. Cap. 16.18. When sense is given to heaven and earth, then the Lord signi∣fieth by this,* 1.6 that this sinne is such, that it inverteth the nature of the senselesse creatures settled by God: and therefore they seeke to bee revenged of this sinne, and cry out for a vengeance, which is spoken of such sinnes in the Scriptures which must presently bee punished without any delay.

As the Lord searcheth and enquireth for the blood,

so hee revengeth it,* 1.7 when Zachariah was killed betwixt the porch and the altar, what said hee? The Lord looke upon it, and require it. 2 Chron. 24. and the Lord answe∣red to his request, Luc. 11.51.* 1.8 I say unto you it shall be re∣quired. A yere was scarcely past when the Princes who condiscended to this bloudy murther, were all killed by the Assyrians, and the King himselfe was wounded, and there hee died; see how the Lord revenged this blood.

And we see this more evidently in David. 2 Sam. 12.9.10. Because thou hast slaine Vriah the Hittite,* 1.9 with the sword of the Ammonite, the sword shall never depart from thy house; which was performed, first, in the slaughter of his sonne Ammon; secondly, of Absolon: thirdly, in Adonijah; then in the five sonnes of Iehosaphat. 2 Chron. 21. And of all the sonnes of Ioram except Achazia who was also killed by the King of Iezreel. 2. Chron. 22. And Athalia killed all the Kings seed except Ioas, who was al∣so killed afterwards by his servants. 2 Chron. 24. and his sonne Amaziah was killed, 2 Chron. 25.27. and Iosi∣as was killed in the battell, 2 Chron. 35.23. and lastly, the sonnes of Zedekias killed by Nebuchadnezzar, 2. King. 25.7. see how the sword never departed from his house.

Secondly,* 1.10 the Lord maketh the conscience to bee vindex sanguinis, the revenger of the blood; for when a man hath once committed this sinne, how fearefully doth his conscience torment him? When Ioab wrote to David that Vriah was killed at Rabba, David thought but lightly of the matter at the first, what wrote hee back to Ioab? Let not this matter trouble thee, for the sword devoureth the one as well as the other. 2 Sam. 11.25. But see how this matter troubled him after his conscience was wakened, then hee said that this blood was alwayes before him. Psal. 51.3. it is verbum forense, alwayes

standing up in his face, and pleading against him; and he prayed,* 1.11 that the Lord would deliver him; [Midda∣mim] from bloods in the plurall number, to signifie the greatnes of this sinne; or because hee was not onely guilty of the blood of Vrijah,* 1.12 but also of those who were killed with him. Abigail when shee disswaded David from killing of Nabal, 2. Sam. 25.31. shee said, That this would be no griefe to David,* 1.13 nor offence of heart to my Lord, in the originall it is, [Lepukah alemicshol] it shall be no staggering or stumbling; the conscience is offen∣ded at the remembrance of the shedding of innocent blood, as when a man dasheth his foot against a stone. David when hee remembred this, would not drinke of the water which was gotten out of the well of Bethleem by the hazard of the bloud of men; see what difference is betweene the conscience wakened and not wakened, and how little David esteemed of shedding of blood in the first case, and how much in the second.

* 1.14Thirdly, the soules of those who have beene mur∣thered, cry from the heavens for a vengeance upon those who have murthered them. Rev. 6.10. How long Lord holy and true, dost thou not judge and revenge our blood upon those that dwell upon the earth? this crying of the soules is not from sinfull passion,* 1.15 as the Apostles de∣sired that fire might come from heaven and burne the Samaritans, Luc. 9.54. but this desire of the glorified soules is without sinne; and all desires without sin, which are absolute desires, must be fulfilled; I say absolute desires, because Christ desired without sinne that the cup might passe from him, but it was not an absolute, but a conditionall desire: but absolute desires must be fullfilled; this is one of the grounds of the resurrection, because the soules now without sinne,* 1.16 doe long to be joyned to their bodies againe, therefore it must be granted to them.

The conclusion of this is, let us pray with David to keepe us from blood, and let us study to wash our hands in innocencie, that wee may compasse the Lords altar, Psal. 26.6. and that the Lord would not gather our life with bloody men, vers. 9.

Notes

• * 1.1

  God first enquireth for blood, and then puni∣sheth it.
• * 1.2

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 quaesivit scisci∣tatas, percunctatus est.
• * 1.3

  God requireth the blood of man from rea∣sonable, unreasonable, and senselesse creatures.
• * 1.4

  God searcheth out blood from the shedder to the first inventer.
• * 1.5

  How a mans sinne fin∣deth him out. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 cubavit, excuba∣vit, proprie bestiarum est.
• * 1.6

  Why is sense attributed to senselesse creatures.
• * 1.7

  God revengeth blood when he hath searched it out.
• * 1.8

  How hee revenged the blood of Zachariah.
• * 1.9

  How the Lord revenged the blood of Vriah upon David and his posterity
• * 1.10

  God makes the consci∣ence of man to revenge the blood that he hath shed.
• * 1.11

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a sangui∣nibus.
• * 1.12

  Blood a great sting to the conscience.
• * 1.13

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 non crit titubationi aut of∣fenfioni cordi.
• * 1.14

  The soules departed de∣sire their blood to be revenged.
• * 1.15

  Absolute desires with∣out sinne shall be gran∣ted.
• * 1.16

  A ground of our resur∣rection.