Of the Commandments
Exodus 20:2. Out of the House of Bondage.
2. These words are to be understood mystically and spiritually. By Israel's deliverance from the house of bondage, is typified their spiritual deliverance from sin, Satan and hell.
1. From Sin.] The house of bondage was a type of Israel's deliverance from sin. Sin is the true bondage, it enslaves the soul: Nihil durius Servitute, Cicero. Of all conditions servitude is the worst. I was held before conversion (says Austin) not with an iron [reconstructed: chain], but with the obstinacy of my own will. Sin is the enslaver; sin is called, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a law (Romans 7:23), because it has such a binding power over a man: And it is said, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to reign (Romans 6:12), because it exercises a tyrannical power: And men are said to be the servants of sin (Romans 6:17), because they are so enslaved by it. Thus sin is the house of bondage; Israel was not so enslaved in the iron furnace, as the sinner is by sin. Those are worse slaves and vassals who are under the power of sin, than those are who are under the power of earthly tyrants.
1. Other slaves have the tyrant's only rule over their bodies; but the sinner has his soul tyrannized over: The soul, that princely thing, which sways the scepter of reason, and was once crowned with perfect knowledge and holiness, now this prince goes on foot, it is enslaved and made a lackey to every base lust.
2. Other slaves have some pity shown them, the tyrant gives them meat, and lets them have hours for their rest: But sin is a merciless tyrant, it will let men have no rest. Judas had no rest till he had betrayed Christ; and after that he had less rest in his conscience. How does a man hackney himself out in the service of sin, waste his body, break his sleep, distract his mind? A wicked man is every day doing sin's drudgery-work.
3. Other slaves, though they are set about servile work, yet about lawful; it is lawful to work in the galley, tug at the oar; but all the laws and commands of sin are unlawful: Sin says to one man defraud, to another be unchaste, to another take revenge; to another, take a false oath. Thus all sin's commands are unlawful, we cannot obey sin's law but by breaking God's law.
4. Other slaves are forced against their will: Israel groaned under slavery (Exodus 2:23). But sinners are content to be under the command of sin, they are willing to be slaves, they love their chains, they will not take their freedom: They glory in their shame (Philippians 3:19). They wear their sins, not as their fetters, but their ornaments: They rejoice in iniquity (Jeremiah 11:15).
5. Other slaves are brought to correction, but sin's slaves are without repentance brought to condemnation: Other slaves lie in the iron furnace, sin's slaves lie in the fiery furnace. What freedom of will has a sinner to his own conversion, when he can do nothing but what sin will have him? He is enslaved. Thus sinners are in the house of bondage, but God takes his elect out of this house of bondage: He beats off the chains and fetters of sin: He rescues them from their slavery: He makes them free, by bringing them into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8). The law of love now commands not the law of sin: Though the life of sin be prolonged, yet not the dominion: As those [reconstructed: beasts] in Daniel had their lives prolonged for a season, but their dominion was taken away (Daniel 7:12). The saints are made spiritual kings, to rule and conquer their corruptions, to bind these kings in chains: This is matter of the highest praise and thanksgiving, to be thus taken out of the house of bondage, to be freed from enslaving lusts, and made kings to reign in glory forever.
2. The bringing Israel out of the house of bondage, was a type of their deliverance from Satan. Thus men naturally are in the house of bondage, they are enslaved to Satan: Satan is called the Prince of this World (John 14:30), and the God of this World (2 Corinthians 4:4), because he has such power to command and enslave them: Though Satan shall one day be a close prisoner in chains, yet now he does insult and tyrannize over the souls of men: Sinners are under the rule of Satan, he exercises over them such a jurisdiction as Caesar did over the Senate. The Devil fills men's heads with error, and their hearts with malice (Acts 5:3): Why has Satan filled your heart? A sinner's heart is the Devil's mansion-house (Matthew 12:44): I will return into my house. And sure that must needs be a house of bondage which is the Devil's mansion-house. Satan is a perfect tyrant. 1. He rules men's minds, he blinds them with ignorance (2 Corinthians 4:4): The God of this World has blinded the minds of them that believe not. 2. He rules their memories; they shall remember that which is evil, and forget that which is good: Their memories are like a strainer that lets go all the pure liquor, and retains only the dregs. 3. He rules their wills: Though the Devil cannot force the will, yet he draws it (John 8:44): The lusts of your father you will do. He has got your hearts, and him you will obey: His strong temptations do more draw men to evil, than all the promises of God can draw them to good. This is the state of every man by nature, he is in the house of bondage, the Devil has him in his power: A sinner grinds in the Devil's mill; he is at the command of Satan, as the ass is at the command of the driver: No wonder to see men oppress and persecute; these slaves must do what the God of this World will have them: How could those swine but run, when the Devils entered into them (Matthew 8:32)? When the Devil tempted Ananias to tell a lie, he could not but speak what Satan had put in his heart (Acts 5:3). When the Devil entered into Judas, and bid him betray Christ, Judas would do it though he hanged himself. This case is sad and dismal to be thus in the house of bondage under the power and tyranny of Satan: When David would curse the enemies of God, how did he pray against them, that Satan might be at their right hand (Psalm 109:6)? He knew he could lead them into any snare: If Satan be at the sinner's right hand, let the sinner take heed he be not set on God's left hand: Is not this a case to be bewailed, to see men taken captive by Satan at his will (2 Timothy 2:26)? He leads sinners as slaves before him in triumph: He possesses them; If people should see but their beasts bewitched and possessed of the Devil, they would be much troubled: Yet their souls are possessed by Satan, but they are not sensible. [What can be worse than to be in the house of bondage, to have the Devil hurry men on in their lusts to perdition?] Sinners are willingly enslaved to Satan, they love their jailer; are content to sit quietly under Satan's jurisdiction; they choose this bramble to rule them, though within a while fire will come out of this bramble to devour them (Judges 9). Now what an infinite mercy of God is it, when he brings poor souls out of this house of bondage, when he gives them a jail delivery from the Prince of Darkness! Jesus Christ redeems captives: He ransoms sinners by price, and rescues them by force: As David took a lamb out of the lion's mouth (1 Samuel 17:34), so Christ rescues souls out of the mouth of this roaring lion. O what a mercy is it, to be brought out of the house of bondage, to be taken from being made captives to the Prince of the Air, and to be made subjects of the Prince of Peace! And this is done by the preaching of the Word (Acts 26:18): To turn them from the power of Satan to God.
3. The bringing of Israel out of the house of bondage, was a type of their being delivered from Hell. Hell is Domus Servitutis, a house of bondage; a house built on purpose for sinners to lie in.
1. That there is such a house of bondage where the damned lie (Psalm 9:17): The wicked shall be turned into Hell (Matthew 23:33): How can you escape the damnation of Hell. If any one shall ask where this house of bondage is, where is the place of Hell? I wish you may never know feelingly — Chrysostom says, let us not so much labor to know where Hell is, as how to escape it. Yet to satisfy curiosity, Hell is Locus subterraneus, some place beneath (Proverbs 5:24): Hell beneath. Hesiod says, Hell is as far under the earth, as Heaven is above it. Luke 8:31: The Devils besought Christ, that he would not command them to go into the deep. Hell is in the deep.
2. Question: Why there must be this house of bondage, why a Hell? Answer: Because there must be a place for the execution of divine justice: Earthly monarchs have their prison for malefactors, and shall not God have his? Sinners are criminal persons, they have offended God, and it would not consist with God's holiness and justice, to have his laws infringed, and not appoint penalties for the transgressors.
3. The dreadfulness of this place: Could you but for one hour hear the groans and shrieks of the damned, it would confirm you in this truth, that Hell is a house of bondage: Hell is the emphasis of misery: Besides the Poena damni, the punishment of loss, which is the exclusion of the soul from the glorified sight of God, which divines think the worst part of Hell. I say besides this, there will be Poena Sensus, the punishment of sense. If when God's wrath is kindled but a little, and a spark of it flies into a man's conscience in this life, it is so terrible (as in the case of Spira) then what will Hell itself be? That I may describe this house of bondage.
1. In Hell there will be a plurality of torments. 1. Bonds and chains (2 Peter 2:4). 2. The worm (Mark 9:44), this is the worm of conscience, and the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15) — other fire is but painted to this.
2. This house of hell is haunted with devils (Matthew 25:41). Anselm has a saying, I had rather endure all torments, than see the devil with bodily eyes. Such as go to hell must not only be forced to behold the devil, but must be shut up in the den with this lion: they must keep the devil company. The devil is full of spite against mankind: this red dragon will spit fire in men's faces.
3. The torment of hell abides forever (Revelation 14:11). The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever (Mark 9:44). Time cannot finish it, tears cannot quench it: the wicked are salamanders who live always in the fire of hell, and are not consumed. After sinners have lain millions of years in hell, their punishment is as far from ending, as it was at the beginning. If all the earth and sea were sand, and every thousand years a bird should come and take away one grain of this sand, it would be a long time before that vast heap of sand were emptied. Yet if after all that time the damned might come out of hell, there were some hope, but this word EVER breaks the heart.
Quest. But how does this seem to stand with God's justice, for a sin committed in a moment, to punish it with eternal torment?
Resp. 1. Because there is an eternity of sin in man's nature. 2. Because sin is Crimen laesae Majestatis, it is committed against an infinite majesty, therefore the sin is infinite, and proportionably the punishment must be infinite. Now, because a finite creature cannot bear infinite wrath, therefore he must be eternally satisfying what he cannot satisfy at once. Now then, if hell be such a house of bondage, what infinite cause have they to bless God, who are delivered from it? (1 Thessalonians 1:10) Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come. Jesus Christ suffered the torments of hell in his soul, that believers should not suffer them. If we are thankful when we are ransomed out of prison, or delivered from fire, oh how should we bless God to be preserved from wrath to come! And that which may cause the more thankfulness, is because the most go into this house of bondage, the most go to hell: therefore to be of the number of those few that are delivered from it, is matter of infinite thankfulness. I say, most go to this house of bondage when they die; most go to hell (Matthew 7:13). Broad is the way which leads to destruction, and many there be that go in there. The greatest part of the world lies in wickedness (1 John 5:19). Divide the world, says Brerewood, into 31 parts, nineteen parts of it are possessed by Jews and Turks, seven parts by Heathens; so that there are but five parts of Christians; and among these Christians so many seduced Papists on one hand, and so many formal Protestants on the other, that we may conclude the major part of the world goes to hell. 1. The Scripture compares the wicked to briars (Isaiah 10:17). There are but few lilies in your fields, but in every hedge thorns and briars. 2. To the mire in the streets (Isaiah 10:6). Few jewels or precious stones in the street, but you cannot go a step but you meet with mire. The wicked are as common as the dirt in the street: look into the generality of people; how many drunkards for one that is sober? How many adulterers for one that is chaste? How many hypocrites for one that is sincere? The devil has the harvest, and God only a few gleanings. Oh then such as are delivered from the house of bondage, hell, have infinite cause to admire and bless God. How should the vessels of mercy run over with thankfulness? When most are carried prisoners to hell, they are delivered from wrath to come.
Quest. How shall I know I am delivered from hell?
Resp. 1. Those whom Christ saves from hell, he saves from sin (Matthew 1:21). He shall save his people from their sins. Has God delivered you from the power of corruption, from pride, malice, lust? If he has delivered you from the hell of sin, then he has delivered you from the hell of torment.
2. If you have got an interest in Christ, prizing, confiding, loving him, then you are delivered from hell and damnation (Romans 8:1). No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ, then he has put the garment of his righteousness over you, and hell fire can never singe this garment. Pliny observes, nothing will so soon quench fire as salt and blood: the salt tears of repentance, and the blood of Christ will quench the fire of hell, that it shall never kindle upon you.
