Sermons upon Deuteronomy

That is the thing which Moses showeth us in this ⟨p. 453⟩text, in that he speaketh not simply of the great multitude whereinto the people had bin increased, but also saith that God had multiplied them as the stars of the sky, to the intent that every man should think upon the promise which was universally known among them, & thereby confirm themselves, inasmuch as God had so kept touch with his servant Abraham: & every man consider thus in himself, Indeed we ought to receive gods simple & single word, although the effect of it §10were not scene. But now that Gods hand & his mouth go jointly together, so as he hath showed a true proof of his presence before our eyes, and that he meant not to disappoint the hope of his servants; we know that our God hath a care of us, & forgot us not at such time as we were in the land of Egypt. For the time of the peoples abode there was as a kind of burial in their graves, so as it might have seemed that all Gods promises had bin quite dashed. When he drew Abraham out of the §20land that he was borne in, he said unto him, I give thee all this land from one side to another,¹ to thee & to thine offspring for ever. And yet for all this, ye see how Abraham did but sojourn there as a stranger: he was hunted & fain to fleet from place to place, & he trotted up and down like a poor man that had not a corner to hide him in.² The like befell to his son Isaac, Jacob was banished thence during all the flower of his youth, & when he returned thither again, he was fain to remove §30oftentimes in his old age, and in the end God conveyed him away into Egypt. Thus was that house as it were broken up & clean banished out of the country. And where is the land of Canaan which was the heritage that God had promised them? They were bereft of it. Indeed Jacob caused his body to be conveyed thither again when he was dead: but yet did the people abide still in Egypt, & god seemed to have mocked them in saying, ye shall inherit this land. But when god §40