of the Godhead The Blasphemer was by God's immediate Command stoned to death by the whole Congregation Levit. 24.24 because as the Sin and Scandal were publick so was the Punishment to be and here the Law alloweth the Ecclesiastical Courts to proceed against Offenders in the Capital Cases of Heresy and Blasphemy Capital I call them for if in human Things Treason and Rebellion be so then fundamental Heresy and Blasphemy are such in those of a Divine Nature * Sir Tho. Ridley's View of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws p. 59. see the Margin against such is provided Sentence of Death which here hath actually been executed upon some thus one Bartholomew Legat for these Arian and Socinian Blasphemies was on the 18th of March in 1611. burnt in Smithfield and in the following Month of April Edward Wightman was for the same burnt at Litchfield Queen Elizabeth having heard of some of them in her time said She was grieved to hear she had such Monsters in her Kingdoms If Bishop Hall was now alive how much more cause would he have had to say Irem Sect. 23. hoc avo c. In this Age the Souls of Christians are seduced not only by Papists Anabaptists Antinomians and Pelagians sed per infernalem Socinianorum haeresim but by means of the hellish Heresy of Socinians Anti trinitarians New Arians we have cause here in England to fear the utmost and last Destruction of Christian Religion Let upon this account no just Cause be given to renew that Lamentation of Jeremiah the Law is no more chap. 2.9 least out of a just Judgment of God this should follow the Gospel is no more for us I tremble to think how at last God will with a witness take notice of those who now take no notice of him nor of his Concerns We read the Character of a wicked Man in the Person of Pharaoh Exod. 5.2 when he said Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Well saith God I will make thee know me before I have done with thee wherefore in Scripture by the Prophets especially by Ezekiel in so many places God's usual Stile when either he threateneth or executeth Judgments is this and they shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 30.19 chap. 20.26 he saith thus will I execute judgments in Egypt and they shall know that I am the Lord and sometimes these Punishments are inflicted to the end they might know that I am the Lord. God grant none in this Land for want of performing their Duty in his Station do provoke God in the way of Judgments to make them know he is the Lord who both acts and speaks with a strong hand Isa 8.11 Whether or not the Ecclesiastical Court hath in this occasion of Socinianism acted its part according to Laws I must not take it upon me but leave it for the World to judge but this I now do insist upon that whether or not it be done in conformity to Law the Magistrate is about it to be addressed to for in such cases he at last is to act his part as ever 't was practised by those Christian Emperours who upon the like occasion minded the Glory of God But here we must stop a little for fear of being thought to insinuate to our Superiours any thing relating to the Duty of their place which we are not so vain as to think of in the least but one of the Grounds we go upon is out of the Book called the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws began in the days of Henry VIII and continued in the time of Edward VI. under the Head of Judgment against Heresies these words are positive Tùm consumptis omnibus aliis remediis ad extremum ad Civiles Magistratus ablegetur puniendus Every other Remedy proving useless the obstinate Heretick must at last be sent to the Civil Magistrate to be punished De judiciis contra haereses c. 4. de contumacibus Haereticis and as to the point of Blasphemy in the first Chapter under that Head is pathetically expressed the detestableness of that most wicked and in some Sense unpardonable Sin in Chap. 2d quomodo sit punienda blasphemia 't is said sit igitur hoc à nobis constitutum ut haec execrabilis blasphemiarum impietas quà m primùm de eà ritè constiterit ab Episcopis nulla ratione toleretur sed eodem supplicio confixa sit quâ pertinax haereticorum insania plectitur c. wherefore we order thus that the execrable Impiety of Blasphemy assoon as the Bishops have found it out shall by no means be tolerated but shall suffer the same Punishment as is inflicted upon obstinate Hereticks the constiterit is not so much in relation to Blasphemy it self which is easily known when either things belonging to God as Infiniteness Eternity Unchangeableness Holiness c. are denied him and attributed to the Creatures or when things contrary to his Nature as to lye to deny himself c. are fathered upon him or when Men do curse him but the constiterit doth regard the Blasphemer and guilty Wretch when he is found out according to this Ridley in his View c. p. 35 36. Bishops are to take Cognizance inquire into and declare whether or not the Person or Persons be guilty of Blasphemy which being clear he or they are to be delivered into the Civil Magistrates hands but if through neglect or otherwise any of the Bishops happen not to act their Part but stop the Course of Justice certainly the Magistrate is to look into 't and do his Duty though others do not theirs 't is nothing but what is very Just that every Man's hand should be against those Ishmaels whose hand is against every Man As to the Laws I mentioned just before they were by the Excellent Persons named by the King collected and finished under Edward VI. the Pious Josiah of that Age and so were then received with great and general Approbation both Kings Father and Son by right of their Supremacy as we may see 't in both their Letters gave them a Character of Authority and if they were not passed into an Act the only Cause was the untimely Death of that young Prince who designed it and the Business had already been proposed in Parliament as we see 't out of these words of his Epistle to Archbishop Cranmer c. Cum vos triginta duos viros ad leges nostras Ecclesiasticas perlegendas componendas juxta vim formam effectum cujusdam Acti Parliamenti in tertio regni nostri anno c. So that there is something of a Parliament's Authority and if there be any thing wanting it lyeth in your Power to set a Parliamentary Stamp upon it especially those Heads that relate to the Divine Moral Law as do those about Heresy Blasphemy and Idolatry wherein God's
after the Example of the good Kings of Judah begin with God's purge it of all its Filth and he will take care of yours prosper and establish them If ye mind the Honour of God and the Good of his Church with keeping out the Ravenous Wolves that would break into it then he will guide and direct in the weighty Affairs which now are and hereafter shall be before you and will preside among you with his Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge and Understanding extricate and overcome the greatest Difficulties and his gracious Providence will be as a Wall of Fire round about you God's Commands are attended not only with Promises to the Observers but also with Threatnings to the Breakers and Neglecters thereof for this Scripture is full of Proofs and therein God hath pronounced a Curse against those who do his work deceitfull Jerem. 48.10 in the case of executing Justice and Judgment and 't is but Justice what we now call for the very same Person the Eternal Son of God whose Cause within your Station I do humbly commend unto you shall at last come into the World in the glory of his Father with his Angels Matt. 16.27 chap. 25. to reward every man according to his works and the unprofitable as well as the wicked servant which with him is but one and the same shall be cast into outer darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth When Men neglect to Secure and Promote the Glory of God he hath in his Hand ways and means enough to lay their Honour in the Dust This I speak not of my self for 't is God's Language and indeed it ought to be look'd upon as the Voice of God not of Man because grounded upon God's and not Man's Word and I could almost be content never to be able to persuade if at this Time and Occasion I could effectually do 't upon these Considerations that soon or late we all must die how soon God alone knows not we for we have no certain Leases of our Lives then cometh Judgment and our Works whether good or bad shall follow us which we must give an account of and indeed this should make us tremble as well as Felix Acts 24.25 when Paul reasoned of judgment to come The Parable of the Talents shall then actually become matter of fact and the slothful and careless for want of exercising them shall be severely dealt withal Negative Sins though many mind them not shall be the cause of Damnation for we see in the Description of the last Judgment made by our Saviour the only Sins named for which Men shall be damned are all of omission ye gave me no meat ye gave me no drink ye clothed me not ye visited me not ye minded me not and ye did not for me what ye ought and might have done Matt. 25. therefore depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels This is terrible to hear and shall be more to feel O that to prevent this dreadful Doom in our several Stations we were able with Bernard to say Wherever I am and whatsoever I do it seems to me as if I had heard the voice of the Archangel saying arise ye dead and come to judgment this is the ready way to be prepared for it and to avoid being surprised therewith and to live every moment as if that same was the last of our Life and the next Luk. 16.2 give an account of thy Stewardship this ought to make every one keep his accounts ready for though Men are apt to put off till to morrow what can be done to day there shall then be no procrastination whilst 't is time Matt. 24. let us do our Duty and blessed yea thrice blessed shall that servant be whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing but wo be to him that shall be found doing the contrary as if because his Lord delayeth his coming he was never to come and call to an account David gives us the Character of a wicked Man to say God will not require it though he speaks it not with his Tongue but only saith it in his Heart and his saying so is there called a Contempt of God wherefore doth the wicked contemn God Psal 10.13 he hath said in his heart thou shalt not require it Now the Second thing to be laid before you Heb 4.13 I shall but name 't is this all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do he is present every where Psal 139. and Ezek. 11.5 all seeing and all knowing he is acquainted with all our ways all our words and he understandeth all our thoughts afar off so cannot be deceived nor imposed upon and if Men forsake the Lord's Cause he will forsake them then look for nothing but Misery and Calamity which I think again and again I now may safely say for I hope we at this time have no Amaziah to speak thus but prophecy not again any more of Bethel Amos 7 1â— for it is the King's chappel and it is the King's court for in such places they loved not to hear the Truth nor of unpleasant Things but 't is spoken of the Court of the Kings of Israel who after the renting of the Ten Tribes from first to last proved bad every one which was not altogether of those of Judah where was a mixture of some good and some bad Seeing Arguments drawn out of God's Word the common and general Consent of the Christian Church since the Apostles time and out of true sound Reason cannot work upon or prevail with a sort of Men hardened and obstinate in their Opinions and of whom long ago David said Psal 64.5 they encourage themselves in an evil matter and the Apostle fore-told of such false teachers who should privily 2 Pet. 2.1 at first and then openly bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them that is the Lord Jesus Saviour of the World to be true God natural and consubstantial Son of God I say 't is not improper to apply our selves unto the Civil Power that he would make use of the lawful Authority which God for his own Glory hath put into his hands with some others we have done our part with offering in this Discourse good Arguments to assert and bear Record for the Truth but remembring the Apostle's Rule a man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself we think such may well be condemned by those who have right to do 't thereby to put a stop to the spreading of a mortal Gargrene in a most corrupt and backsliding Age. Herein we go upon Two Heads Heresy and Blasphemy against which we have both Gospel and Law Divine and Human no Error more fundamental than that which impiously strikes at the Nature and Persons
Honour is immediately concerned for certainly we are come to the last days and perillous times foretold by the Apostle 2 Tim. 3.1 2. when amidst other Sins Men shall be Blasphemers 2 Kings 19.3 And I think I may be allowed in King Hezekiah's Words to say this is a day of trouble and blasphemy which I hope shall by your lawful Authority be rebuked as now we do most humbly sue for and I make bold once to say what a Prophet said twice upon the account of neglecting God's House Hagg. 1.5 7. Thus saith the Lord God of Hosts consider your ways like Mary keep and ponder these things in your Hearts for what she heard and you hear relate to the same Person and are the Concerns of the Son of God Out of those Words ariseth in me the Consideration of what our Saviour saith Matt. 12.42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this nation and shall condemn it When those that want Light go farther in a good way than they that have it greater these shall meet with a harder usage Luke 12.47 for that servant which knew his lords will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes 'T is very sad and afflicting to think how some Heathens who in some things minded the Glory of God may at the last day rise up in the Judgment against some Christians for too much neglecting it One I name Nebuchadnezzar Ezech. 7.24 whom God by his Prophet calls one of the worst of the heathen yet that Man having seen how God had preserved in the fiery Furnace the Three young Men who had refused to fall before and worship his golden Image how much was he wrought upon He blessed the Most High God but stop'd not there for he made use of his Authority therefore saith he I make a decree that every people nation and language which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses be made a dunghil because there is no other god that can deliver after this sort this after the sight of a Miracle And is not the whole Life of Christ the God of Christians a continual working of Miracles But as to Belshazzar Nebuchadnezzar's Son let me take notice of Daniel's words to him which declare the cause of his Ruin and of the Loss of his Kingdom and Life Dan. 5.23 And the God in whose hand thy life is and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified But I must not omit to take notice of some Canons and Ecclesiastical Constitutions agreed upon in the Convocations of both Provinces Canterbury and York in 1640. and by Charles the First for himself Heirs and lawful Successors by virtue of his Prerogative Royal and Supream Authority in Ecclesiastical Causes according to the Form of an Act of Parliament in the 25th Year of the Reign of Henry VIII straightly enjoyned and commanded by the said Authority and his Letters Patents dated at Westminster the 30th day of June in the Sixteenth Year of his Reign to be diligently observed and executed I shall mention only the Fourth Canon against Socinianism which is to my purpose to shew how at that time they took care to provide against it thus it beginneth Whereas much Mischief is already done in the Church of God by the spreading of the damnable and cursed Heresie of Socinianism as being a complication of many antient Heresies condemned by the Four first general Councils and contrary unto the Articles of Religion now established in the Church of England And whereas it is too apparent that the said wicked and blasphemous Errors are unhappily dilated by the frequent divulgation and dispersion of dangerous Books written in favour and fartherance of the same therefore to provide against this it is decreed that no Stationer Printer or Importer of the said Books or any other Person whatsoever shall print buy sell or disperse any Book broaching or maintaining of the said abominable Doctrine upon pain of Excommunication ipso facto to be thereupon incurred and that no Preacher shall presume to vent any such Doctrine in any Sermon under pain of Excommunication for the first Offence and Deprivation for the second and that no Student in either of the Universities of this Land nor any Person in Holy Orders excepting Graduates in Divinity or such as have Episcopal or Archdeaconal Jurisdiction or Doctors of Law in holy Orders that is they who are either able to refute them or at least in no great danger of being thereby seduced shall be suffered to have or read any such Socinian Book or Discourses under pain if the Offender live in the University that he shall be punished according to the strictest Statutes provided there against the publishing reading or maintaining of false Doctrine or if be live in the City or Country abroad of a Suspension for the first Offence Excommunication for the second and Deprivation for the third unless he will absolutely and in terminis abjure the same And if any Lay-man shall be seduced into this Opinion and be convicted of it he shall be excommunicated and not absolved but upon due Repentance and Abjuration and that before the Metropolitan or his own Bishop at least And we likewise enjoyn that such Books if they be found in any prohibited hand shall be immediately burned and that there be a diligent search made by the appointment of the Ordinary after all such Books in what Hands soever And that all who now have them except before excepted be strictly commanded to bring in the said Books in the Universities to the Vice-Chancellours and out of the Universities to the Bishops who shall return them and shall cause the rest to be burned And we farther enjoyn that diligent enquiry be made after all such that shall maintain and defend the aforesaid Socinianism and where any such shall be detected that they be complained of to the several Bishops respectively who are required to repress them from any such Propagation of the aforesaid wicked and detestable Opinions Here is the Judgment of the Church against Socinianism called a damnable and cursed Heresie and contrary to the Articles of Religion now established in the Church of England which hitherto hath taken care how to suppress it and 't is a Precedent for these Times to follow for our Zeal should be no less than theirs was now when the Danger is greater and the Poyson more spread thus worse should be prevented The Skill of a Physician who doth prevent an Evil and Sickness is more commendable than his who cures it when broken out however in this last Case Remedies to do 't ought to be used and never despair of a Cure as long as there is sign of Life let the Distemper be never so far gone or by unskilful Doctors be counted uncurable great Distempers are reserved to be cured by the Skill
different things thô pertaining to one and the same Subject or else every Lord were a God thus a Husband were a God unto his Wife because Sarah called Abraham her Lord the Lord of the unfaithful Servant were his God because he calls him his Lord the Lord of the Vineyard were the God of the Vineyard because called it's Lord and many more such Instances And I shall illustrate the thing by a trivial Saying among us A Servant may say his Master is Lord but not God at home The Text that saith * 1 John 2.22 23. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father these words do import how he that denyeth Jesus to be the Christ doth thereby deny the Son not that Christ and the Son do formally signifie the same in themselves but because to be Christ and Son of God do meet in one Person so that none but the Son of God is Christ and Redeemer of the World Withall after this Socinian way of arguing it would follow in this Text that the Names Christ Father and Son do signifie the same for here the Apostle offereth two Propositions the first He is a Lyar that denyeth Jesus to be the Christ the last He is Antichrist that denyeth the Father and the Son The Adversaries make them both equivalent for in both is the same Object of denyal whence they infer that Christ and the Son are of the same signification but according to this Kule it may be concluded that Christ the Father and the Son signifie the same because in the first Proposition Christ is the Object of the denyal and in the last the Father and Son together Any one may see the Absurdity of such Consequences But because Christ to prove himself to be the Son of God speaks to the Jews about his Sanctification by the Father which Sanctification is the anointing spoken of by Peter †Acts 10.38 wherefore they would have that to be the cause of his being Son of God but if there was no other reason of that divine Filiation but the Sanctification and Anointing then the cause by the Angel given in ‖ Luke 1.35 Scripture were false So then Christ is called the Son of God not only upon the account of his extraordinary Birth and of his kingly Office as Socinus saith but for being of the same Nature and Essence with the Father which that Text of John 10. is not against for in that place our Saviour doth not give in the cause why he is Son of God but only goes about to refute the Slander of Blasphemy by the Jews cast upon him not by an Argument à pari taken from equal things but from the lesser to the greater He had said v. 30. I and my Father are one thereby expresly asserting his Consubstantiality and Oneness of Nature with the Father whereupon they took Stones to stone him because of that pretended Blasphemy in that he being man made himself God which Objection he answereth with an Instance from less to greater Thus if those are without Blasphemy called Gods who exercise a divine Office in their ruling and judging of Men much more and upon a better account may Christ the Messiab from eternity begotten by the Father and in time sent down from Heaven into the World be called God wherefore there is no Blasphemy nor have ye any just cause of stoning me because I said I am the Son of God one with the Father The Name Son of God relates to the eternal Generation by and Consubstantiality with the Father therefore not a Name of Office but of Nature and Person and the Names Christ and Son agree as to the material in one Person but not in the formal the Name Son is by reason of an eternal Generation and that of Christ upon the account of a temporal Anointing to an Office In the mean while we retain the proper and literal Sense of the word and not the metaphorical till we see cause to the contrary And this we leave for them to prove how because Magistrates by reason of their Office are called Children of the most high therefore not because of an eternal Generation and Coessentiality with the Father but for his Royal Dignity the Lord Jesus is called Son of God To be short we have other Texts to prove how the Name God's Son signifieth some essential thing in Christ as that heretofore quoted Christ was made of the seed of David according to the Flesh c. the Flesh signifies his Humanity as doth Declared the son of God according to the spirit of holiness his Divinity for we see * Dan. 9.24 To anoint the most holy doth denote by the most holy his divine Person and by to anoint his Office of Mediatour So we have that of the Angel to the Virgin The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God The Angel's meaning is that in Christ's Conception the Power of God was necessary to the end he that was to be born might be called Son of God but if that Name had related only to the Office and he that was to be invested with it had been a meer Man no need of that Power of the Spirit in the Conception now the Angel calls holy that which it Essential in Christ he was holy before he should be born and that essential holy thing is called the Son of God The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not that Man that was to be born not holy in the Concret but holy in the Abstract Withall seeing in Baptism the word Son doth not in Christ signifie his Office but his Nature for the Names Father and Holy Ghost do not denote any Office but Persons so in Christ it signifies his divine Nature not his Office All this may also be proved out of other Texts as this †John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. compared with ‖ Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all wherein God's Love towards the World and us is so highly comended which if it were only an Office laid upon Christ would come very short of that inflnite Love of God which as Paul saith * Ephes 3.19 18. Passeth knowledg and gives it the four Dimensions bredth length depth and height But to say that God spared not his own beloved and only begotten Son but deliver'd him to death this is Love indeed The same we may learn out of this Heb. 5.8 that though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered What Man is he that would sacrifice his Son to the Safety and Preservation of his Enemies Yet God hath done it
with the People but being appeased by Moses promised to send an Angel before them which Moses and the People were fully satisfied with Who and what this Angel was Chap. 23.20 21 22. we have it in the Book of Exodus with the End for which he was to go before namely to guide them and 't is thus expressed Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared But hear the Charge he gives them concerning this Angel Beware of him and obey his voice provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him Such terms doth the God of Israel use when he speaks of himself Two things here we must observe first what is here spoken belongs only to the true essential God of Israel the second is the Angel or Person here spoken of is the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God out of which Premises we may well conclude he is the true God of Israel The Caution here given to take heed have a care and beware of him as if he had said take heed to thy self in thy Carriage before him this I say joyned with the Command to obey his Voice is very remarkable The absolute Obedience which God requires them to yield unto the Angel is due to God alone and is never related to the Creature only to himself for his Voice is God's Voice and when he speaketh God speaketh as the words of v. 22. do intimate If thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies The Angels Voice and all that God speaketh is the faâ—â—e and upon their obedience to his Voice depended the performance of the Promises The Lord never so expresly charged any People or Person not to provoke any created Angel or Man as here he doth Provoke him not offend and displease him not why For he will not pardon your Transgressions Rebellions or Sins in Scripture Phrase for Sin is the transgression of the law So then to disobey and to provoke this Angel is to sin and this very same Angel hath right and power if he will to pardon Sin which none but the true God hath power to take upon him to do and 't is Blasphemy for any Creature whatsoever to pretend to 't Another great and unanswerable reason is For my Name is in him a more excellent Name than any of the Angels do enjoy Heb. 1.4 The Name is that appellation by which one thing is distinctly known from another so Gods Name signifieth God himself as to call upon Gods name Gen. 4.26 Exod. 33.19 2 Chron. 7.20 't is his Titles God Jehovah Elohim Lord. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee said God to Moses compared with Chap. 34.3 6. in the former Verse 't is called to proclaim the name of the Lord and in the later to proclaim the Lord the Lord. And in Scripture Phrase the Name of the Lord is taken for God himself that is all in him Majesty Almightiness Psal 29.2 33.21 34.3 61.5 This house saith God which I have sanctified for my name for my self my honour and worship So here when God saith of that Angel my name is in him he meaneth his Nature Titles Attributes Authority Power and Glory In a word I my self am in him which afterwards was well interpreted by the Lord Jesus The Father is in me and I in the Father Now this by the God of Israel being attributed unto another it must be to another himself for his Name is his Glory and he hath solemnly declared my glory will I not give to another Isa 42.8 Exod. 3.2 The Angel spoken of in this place is as already observed the same as before had appeared unto Moses in a flame of Fire out of the midst of a Bush who v. 4 is called Lord and God who out of the same place called unto and required of him divine Honour Draw not nigh hither but put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground And if any doubt should remain 't is cleared v. 6 Moreover be the same Angel said I am the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This very same Angel or Person upon the Peoples entring into the Land of Promise under the shape of a Man appeared unto Joshua under the name of Captain of the host of the Lord and in the posture for it was with a drawn Sword Josh 5.13 14 15. to execute his Office of General as God had promised to bring them into the place he had prepared for then the People were just entering upon the Siege of Jericho and this same Angel or Son of God under the shape of a Man exacted of Joshua the same Worship as he before had required of Moses and of him afterwards Joshua said to the People He is a holy God he is a jealous God Josh 24.19 he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins These last words are the same which God said to Moses in the fore-quoted place and so belong to one and the same Now I say this Angel who appeared unto Moses out of the Bush who through the Wilderness went before the People into the Land of Promise and appeared unto Joshua is the Son of God the second Person of the most holy Trinity the same who afterwards took on him our human Nature and was born of the Virgin Mary and among other reasons this I take to be a very good one Acts 7.30 35. because Stephen the first Martyr for this glorious Cause and a good Interpreter of the place makes mention of the Angel of the Lord which appeared unto Moses and this Moses God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hands or power of the Angel which appeared to him in the bush Moses was the Minister or Servant Heb. 3.6 but Christ as a Son over his own house saith the Apostle So things were done by the power of the Angel Moses was in the Church in the Wilderness but the Angel was with him Stephen's mentioning the Church and the Angel doth relate to Christ our Lord the Son of God who is the only Head thereof and by whose Directions Moses took care of it as also Moses spoke of him under the name of a Prophet whom God would raise up unto them Acts 3.22 23. and It shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people saith Peter And tho' from the beginning the Son of God was not made Flesh yet as Head of the Church he took care of his People exercis'd his Mediatorship and administred his spiritual Kingdom of Grace which the bringing out of Egypt and introducing into Canaan was a Figure of and we may easily perceive the