he saw would grow greater every day albeit his Predecessors cruel Project against the Male-children had succeeded according to his intention for the Female Sex would still have multiplyed and these he thought to be a secure Possession as being not likely to make insurrection against him or to become confederates in warr with his Enemies Nor is it probable that either of the two Pharaohs ever intended the extirpation of the males any further then that they might have enough to propagate such a perpetuall generation or succession of Slaves so competent in number as the Egyptians might easily master them 7. This Attempt had been lesse dangerous and the cruel Practise lesse wicked against any other People under heaven then against the Seed of Abraham and of Isaac because these were the Lords own inheritance His Peculiar Charge This People when they were first invited into Egypt was scarce an Oligarchie a small Congregation of men indued with no other power or Jurisdiction but only such as every Father of a Familie hath over his Children and Grand-children and theirs And this Jurisdiction after Jacobs death was divided amongst his sons Every one of them was a Patriarch that is a Chief over his own Tribe or Clan Nor had these twelve Patriarchs any Civil or Coercive Power one over another or respectively over their several Families after they setled in Egypt but as the King and State of Egypt would permit or allow of Not any power at all to make any Warr whether offensive or defensive or Leagues of Peace with any other Nation Free-men notwithstanding they were de jure and this new King of Egypt which knew not Joseph much lesse considered upon what Title of deservings Jacob and his sons were permitted to enjoy a Competent measure of the Land of Egypt did most unjustly attempt to put the yoke of slavery upon their necks Yet how to right themselves they knew not as having no Superior Lord on earth unto whom they might appeal from Pharaoh But the more destitute they were of any help from earth the more easie and speedy entrance their Prayers found into heaven their teares and cries were accepted of the Lord God of their Fathers for more then Legal Appeals 8. But from the time of His appearance to Moses in the Bush which was after the first hard-hearted Pharaohs death the Lord himself vouchsafed to to become their King not in general only as he is Lord of all Lords and King of all Kings and People throughout the World but in a Proper and peculiar manner Whatsoever Authoritie or Power of Jurisdiction the Kings or Supreme Majesties of other Nations or Soveraignties did exercise or by Divine permission and Ordinance of Providence do now exercise over their People as Power of Life and death or of making Lawes or Leagues whether of Peace or Warr with other States all these and the like Prerogatives the Lord of heaven and earth did reserve immediately unto himself alone over the Seed of Jacob and of Abraham his Friend Upon the Lords Reservation of this Royal Power entire unto himself Moses is delegated to be his Embassador unto the King and State of Egypt and constituted his Deputy or Vice-Roy over Israel Nor shall the Reader whether Christian or other be ever able to understand the Literal or Punctual meaning of the Historie of Exodus to the 14. chapter or of those places in St Paules Epistle to the Romans which referre unto that Historie unlesse he take This Rule or Principle along with him whil'st he reads them viz. That all the Messages which Moses delivered to Pharaoh from God all the Answers which Pharaoh returned by him were true and formal Treaties of a Legal and Solemn Embassage The Law of Nature and of Nations was never so accurately observed by any Embassador as it was by Moses whilst he exercised this Function in his many Treaties with Pharaoh One Principal if not the only Fact that can come within the Suspicion of Injustice on Moses's part was the spoyling the Egyptians of their Jewels But if we consider what unsufferable wrongs the King and people of Egypt had done unto this People of God which had now become His Peculiar Subjects or his Proprietarie Lieges This Fact even by Course of Humane Law or Law of Nations was more justifyable then Royall Grants of Letters of Mart or other like remedies against such other Nations as have wronged their Subjects or suffered them to be wronged by any under their command without restitution when they solemnly or by way of Embassage demanded it are Whatsoever the Hebrew women had borrowed of or taken from the women of Egypt they took and did possess it Reprisaliorum jure by the Law of Reprisal that is by way of special Warrant granted by God himself as he was now become not only this peoples God but their King in Special This warrant for spoiling the Egyptians not by any strong or violent hand but with their own Consent we have Registred Exod. 3. 21. c. And I will give this people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians and it shall come to pass that when ye go ye shall not go emptie But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour and of her that sojourneth in her house jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters and ye shall spoil the Egyptians 9 In all this time or in all the instructions given by God to Moses Exod 3. there is no mention of Gods purpose or menacing to harden Pharaoh but only a Divine Prediction that Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel go and yet be at length as willing to let this people of God depart as Pharaohs people should be to bestow their Jewels and other rich Presents upon them The Miracles which Moses was for the present and afterward authorized and enabled to work Moses's miracls Letters of Credence both in the sight of his own people and in the presence of Pharaoh were as Authentick Letters of Credence legible enough to the Egyptians that the Lord of Hosts had designed him unto this Embassage and given him power to command all the hosts of reasonless creatures to fight for Israel against the Egyptians All the several Armies of inferiour Creatures which brought the many ensuing plagues upon the Egyptians were but as so many fingers of that mighty hand by whose strength God had lately foretold Moses that Pharaoh would in the â—ssue be content to let the Israelites depart upon fair terms out of his Land 10 The former Pharaoh and his Predecessor according to the apprehension of their proud imaginations had played the Foregame so cunningly against the seed of Jacob that this present or later Pharaoh at least thought himself sure of winning the Sett or of drawing the whole Stake about which the controversie was and that was the present libertie or perpetual thraldom of Israel Now God instructs his
Lands or Goods or of his own Actions or Imployments Every one likewise is a Servant that being come to full yeares is deprived of this Right or power to dispose of himself of his Lands of his Goods of his Actions or imployments either in whole or in part As for Children or such as are under Yeares though borne to be Lords over others yet whilest they are under yeares they are properly neither Free-men nor Servants Although as the Apostle teacheth us Gal. 4. 1. 2. they participate more of the Nature of Servants then of Free-men Now I say that the Heire as long as he is a Child differeth nothing from a Servant though he be Lord of All but is under Tutors and Governours untill the time appointed of the Father For this Reason one and the same word in the Original is promiseuously used for Children and for Servants because Neither of them are at their own disposals but at the disposals of their Guardians or masters 3. According to the severall Extents of this want of Power or Right to dispose of themselves of their Actions or Imployments Or rather According to the Extent of others Right or Power to dispose of them in all these there be severall Degrees of Servitude and divers sorts of servants Some as the great Philosopher in his Politicks would have it are Servi à Natura were framed by Nature only to serve or to be at other mens disposals as not being able to dispose of themselves Such as had strong Bodies but weake Braines were in his judgment more fit to be governed by Others then to govern themselves But this kind of servitude is improper For Omnis servus est alicujus Domini Servus Every Servant is the Servant of some particular Lord or Master whose Interest whether in his Person or imployments must be grounded upon some Speciall Title Such as by Nature are destitute of witt or Reason Qui ubique est nusquam est He that is every where is no where do not thereby become Servants unlesse we should say they were every mans Servants that are disposed to imploy them And this Priviledge they have of others That they are not capable of any Contract or Legall Title by which they may make themselves or be made This or That mans servants And being no mans servants they can be no servants 4. Though our English Servant be derived from the Latin Servus yet servants in our English tongue we call many which a good Latinist would rather call Famuli then Servi being indeed Servants that is at other mens disposals but in part only not in whole whom for Distinction sake we call Apprentices or Hired Servants Over whose Actions or Imployments their Masters during the time of their hire or Apprentiship have full right and Interest and Authority likewise over their Bodies or Persons to correct or punish them if they take upon them to dispose of their Actions or Imployments otherwise then for their Masters Behoof or as they shall appoint But over their Persons their Bodies their Goods or Children their Masters have no Right nor Interest They may not take upon them by our Laws to dispose of These as they do of their Day-Labours or bodily Imployments Yet are these properly called Servants as having made themselves such or are so made by their Parents or Guardians upon some Contract or by some Branch or Title of Commutative Justice in which there is alwayes Ratio dati accepti somewhat given and taken that binds both the Parties As in this particular case The Master gives and the Servant receives meat drink and wages And in Lieu of these Benefits received the Servant yields up and the Master receives a Right or interest in his bodily and daily Labours and a Power to dispose of these Yet are they Servants as we said only in part not meer servants 5. Meer Servants or servants absolutely or in whole were such as the Latines called Mancipia such as we call in English Slaves or Bondmen or such as sometimes out of a superfluity of speech or expressing our selves in our Native Dialect we term Bondslaves For a Slave is as much as a Bondman and no Bondman can be any more then a slave A Bondslave is a Name which hath no Reality answerable or fully commensurable unto it Unto this state or Condition of life that is of being a Slave or Bondman no man is bound or subject by Nature No Man will willingly or voluntarily subject himself Such as heretofore have been and in divers Countries yet are Servants in this sense were made such by others from a pretended right or Title of Conquest and were called Mancipia quasi manu Capti because they had been taken in War and might by rigour of Justice at least by rigour of Hostile Law be put to Death as men convicted of Rebellion by taking Armes Now the price of their Redemption from death was losse of Civil Liberty as well for themselves as their posterity These were truly and properly called Servi according to the native Etymologie of this name in Latin Servi quasi Servati They were again wholly and meerly Servants according to the utmost extent of the Nature and of the Real Conditions or properties of Civil Servitude that is Their Lords or Masters had an absolute Right or Interest not only in their Bodily Actions or Imployments but over their very Persons their Bodies their Children and whatsoever by any Title did belong unto them The Interest Power or Dominion which Masters by the Civil Law or Law of Nations had over their Servi or Mancipia their Slaves or Bondmen was altogether such and as absolute as a Free-holder hath over his own Inheritance or Fee simple that is a power or Right not only to reap or take the Annual Fruits or Commodities of it but full Right to Let or Sett for Term of years or to alienate or sell the Propertie For so were Bondmen and their Children bought and sold as Lands and Goods or Cattle are with us All the Right Dominion or Interest which Masters with us have over their Servants or Apprentices is only such as a Tenant or Lease-holder for some limited time or Terme of years hath over the ground or soyl which he payeth Rent for that is a Right or Property in the Herbage a right or power to reap the Fruits or increase of it during the time of his Covenant but no right to alienate or sell so much as the Earth or Gravel much lesse to alienate or make away the Fee-Simple or Inheritance which is still reserved unto the Owner Thus the Bodies or persons of hired Servants are their own Their mindes and Consciences are Free even during the time of their service But the Use or imployment of their Bodies in services Lawful and Ingenuous is their Masters So are the Services of their wit for accomplishing with care and diligence what by duty they are bound to perform CHAP. XVI That the former
Difference of Servitude or Distinction of Servants is set down and allowed by God himself 1. THis Difference of Servitudes or Distinction of Servants is expresly delivered in Holy Scripture allowed and approved of by God himself Levit. A Paraphrase upon Levit. 25 39 c. 25. 39 c. If thy Brother that dwelleth by thee be waxen poor and be sold unto thee thou shalt not compel him to serve as a Bond-servant But as an hired servant and as a Sojourner he shall be with thee and shall serve thee unto the year of Jubilee And then shall he depart from thee both he and his Children with him and shall return unto his own Family and unto the possession of his Fathers shall he return For they are my Servants which I brought forth out of the Land of Egypt they shall not be sold as Bond-men From this place these two points are clear First That if an Israelite were waxen poor or in debt he might Lawfully sell or alienate the use of his own or of his Childrens bodily imployments unto his Brother for the maintenance of his and his Childrens lives or for the discharge of his debt until the year of Jubilee but no Longer But to sell the bodies or persons of himself or of his Children was not permitted by the Law of God Nor might any Son of Abraham or Jacob buy or sell any of their Brethren though willing to sell themselves or their Children But on the contrary If through necessity that knows no Law any Son of Jacob sold himself unto the Heathen or in case he and his Children had been seized upon for debt his Kinsmen or Brethren were to redeem him or at least not to suffer him to serve any longer then the year of Jubilee And during that terme he was to serve only as a hired Servant and not as a Bond-man From this Law if they had no other Reason the Jews here spoken of might safely plead That in asmuch as they were Abrahams seed they neither were nor could be in bondage unto any man de jure .. The reason why the Lord would not have them to be in bondage unto any man is in the Law expressed Because they were His Servants by a peculiar Title because he had redeemed them from the bondage and thraldome unto which the Egyptians had de Facto not de Jure most unjustly brought them 2. Secondly from this Law it is clear That God did both allow and authorize the Israelites and seed of Abraham to have Bond-men of the Nations round about them or of the strangers that sojourned amongst them that they might bequeath the very bodies and persons of them and their Children as an inheritance and possession unto their Sons and posterity forever ver 45 46. That is They had the same Title or interest in them the same absolute power or Dominion over them as they had over their Lands their Goods or Cattle that is power to alienate or sell them or their Children for their best commodity at their pleasure Of this second sort of Servants or Bondmen which were in Bonis alterius the goods or possessions of their Masters are our Saviours speeches in most Parables to be understood wherein mention is made of Servants without distinction So we read Mat. 18. 25. That the Lord of that ungratious Servant which would not forgive his Fellow an hundred pence commanded him to be sold and his Wife and Children and all that he had and paiment to be made Our Saviours speech though it be a Parable rather then an History is grounded upon an Historical or positive truth He speaks according to the common Custome of those times and places by which not only the Servants themselves and their Children but whatsoever they had gathered together were wholly at their Lords or Masters disposing For as we say Superficies sequitur Solum He that is Lord or owner of the soyl or ground becomes thereby Lord and owner of the House which another man builds upon it So in like case He that is Lord of another mans person or body doth thereby become Lord of all his goods or whatsoever he may be thought to possesse But so it is not with hired servants amongst us for in as much as their bodies or persons are Free and are no part of their Masters goods or possession they may be true Owners Lords or Possessers of whatsoever they got either by their own industry or what otherwise may fall unto them by deed of Gift by death of friends or the like 3. Wherein Bond-men and Hired Servants do in divers points agree But though Bond-men and hired Servants do in other points differ yet in many they agree Most Maxims whether Legal or Moral which are true of the one are true likewise though in different manner or proportion of the other As for Example When our Saviour saith No man can serve two Masters but he shall either love the one or hate the other or lean to the one and despise the other This saying in many cases may be specially and more remarkably true of Slaves or Bond-men yet very true of hired Servants For every man is so far truly and properly a Servant as he is at another mans disposal And every man is so far truly and properly a Lord or Master over another man as he hath right or power to dispose either of his body or of his actions or Labours Now in as much as the Master of an hired Servant or Apprentise hath as absolute right or interest in his Actions his Labours or imployments as the Master of a Slave or Bond-man hath in the actions or imployments of his Bond-man it is as impossible for the One as for the other to execute the will and pleasure of two men that differ in their particular imployments or designs It is the duty of a faithful Servant to execute not his own will but the will and pleasure of his Master But if so it happen that two Men or more may concur or consent to imploy One and the same Man in the self same businesse and service then as we say Many stones make but one Load and many things of several weight but one burden So in this case two or three or more Men thus concurring in the same designs make but one Master But faithfully to execute the wils of men that differ in their Designes or fully to satisfie two or more men that have several and ful Interests in one mans actions and Labours is as impossible as for a body to move two contrary wayes at once 4. The most General and most Essential property wherein both sorts of Servants do univocally agree How Bondmen or Hâ—red Servants are differenced from Freemen by which they formally differ from a man absolutely Free is thus gathered by Tully Liber est qui vivit ut vult He is Civilly Free for that was the chief Freedom that he knew and the Freedom whereof we now
had perished in the wildernesse But the Apostle further demands with whom was he grieved forty years Was it not with them which had sinned whose carcases fell in the wildernesse And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his Rest but to them that believed not so we see what they could not enter in because of unbeliefe He saith not they did not enter in because of unbelief but they could not enter in because of Unbelief This argues that the Possibility of entring in was utterly cut off and we know it was so cut off because the Lord had sworn they should not enter in But what was the true or adequate Cause why they could not enter in or why their former Possibility of entring in was utterly cut off The Apostle mentioned only Two Vnbelief and Sinne. But are his words only to be understood of ordinary Sinne or Simple unbelief or was there any Sin or Vnbelief for Specifical Quality so deadly as could utterly exclude them from all Possibility of entring in or do these Termes though Indefinite in themselves necessarily Include a certain Measure or high Degree of Vnbelief or Sinne. This Point may best be resolved by the Historicall Relations of Moses whereunto our Apostles discourse throughout the whole 3. Chapter to the Hebrews hath speciall Reference and on which his Exhortation or main Argument is wholly grounded This Story is set down at large Numbers the 14. 21. Of Promises or threats without or under Oath See his 7. Book Ch. 13. 9. Book Ch. 18. As truly as I live saith God to Moses all the earth shall be filled with the Glory of the Lord. This is the Express form of the Oath The Contents of the same Oath or the Articles unto which God Swears are set down at large in the words following in which likewise the Measure and Quantity as well of their Positive Sin as of their Vnbelief is Emphatically expressed All those men which have seen my Glory and my Miracles which I did in Egypt and in the wildernesse and have temptea me these ten times and have not hearkened unto my voyce surely they shall not see the Land which I sware unto their Fathers neither shall any of them that provoked me see it They had seen or known by certain Relation Ten several Mighty Wonders which God had wrought in Egypt upon Pharaoh upon his Land and People Now the contempt and neglect of so many Wonders besides the Miracles which he had wrought for them in the wildernesse argue a great Measure of Disobedience or Vnbelief a great Measure of Omission or neglect of this Duty of Mortification which is Necessary to All a great Measure of Life stubbornly led after the Flesh Howbeit Their Sins were most grievous which had seen the Good Land which God had promised by Oath unto their Fathers as is clear from Numb 14. 36 37. The men which Moses sent to search the Land who returned and made all the Congregation to murmur against him by bringing up a slander upon the Land Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the Land dyed by the plague before the Lord and so they dyed before their brethren which had given credit unto their report and out of their Vnbelief did murmur against their God Howbeit even these with all the rest above twenty years old Except Caleb and Joshua were utterly cut off from all Possibility of entring in before the time or hour of their death yea they dyed before their Ordinary Times for this their Provocation as is Emphatically exprest ver 34. Ye shall bear your Iniquities forty years And you shall know my breach of promise that is the Revocation of the Blessing promised 7. That Caleb and Joshua had their Estate or Interest in the same promise irrevocably confirmed unto them long before their time of their entring into the promised Land may be gathered from the Exception interserted in the Oath for the Lord had sworn that none of the rest should enter in besides Caleb and Joshua Num. 14. 30. This Exception in Ordinary Construction seems to include that the Lord did Positively swear That These Two should enter into his Rest Howbeit this Exception alone is but a Presumption or a proof not Concludent without Favourable Construction and as Lawyers say Favorabiliora sunt amplianda Favourable promises are to be taken in the ampler Sense But thus we may not interpret Gods Promises without warrant from Him That Gods meaning in the former Clause or Exception concerning Caleb and Joshua was to be taken in this Favourable and ample Sense we have a further Positive and Concludent Proof from the Petition which Caleb exhibited unto Joshua and Joshua granted Josh 14. 6 9 10 11 12 13. Thou knowest saith Caleb unto Joshua the thing that the Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Cadesh Barnea Moses sware in that day saying surely the Land whereon thy feet have troden shall be thine inheritance and thy Childrens for ever because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive as he said these fortie and five years even since the Lord spake this Word unto Moses whilest the Children of Israel wandred in the Wildernesse and now lo I am this day fourfcore and five years old As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day when Moses sent me as my strength was then even so is my strength now for warre both to go out and come in And Ioshua blessed him and gave unto Caleb the son of Iephunneh Hebron for an inheritance Such is the Force and Efficacy of Gods Promise confirmed by Oath that it not only kept Caleb alive but in the same strength and Activity of body till 85. years in which he was at 40. years It was as Remarkable in preserving his life and strength as it was in bringing mortality upon others Yet was not his Promise so confirmed by Oath unto all that were excepted from the Plague denounct by Oath as it was unto Caleb and Ioshua For all that were under twenty years old were excepted from the plague denounced by Oath yet were they not all assured by Oath that they should enter into the Land of Promise The Exception of Them in the Oath only reserves that Possibility or that Interest which their Fathers had in the Promise as Entire to them as it was at the first Their Estate was but Conditional and held as it were the Mean between the Estate of Caleb and Ioshua which was Confirmed by Oath and the Estate of their Forefathers which were Excluded by Oath For so Moses saith unto the Tribe of Reuben and God whose disobedience and backsliding he feared Numb 32. 14 15. Behold ye are risen up in your Fathers stead an increase of sinful men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord towards Israel For if ye turn away from after him he
Embassador Moses to play the After-game with such skill and circumspection that unless Pharaoh would give over in good time he should be sure to lose his own life and the life of his Princes or chief Commanders in War besides the loss of everie First-born Male in Egypt whether of man or beast besides the loss of the greatest part of that years revenew of the whole land of Egypt Pharaoh in all this process demeans himself first like a bold then like a wilful Chafeing Gamester who after once he have begun to Vie upon or provoke his adversarie resolves to Revie upon him and to provoke him further when the game is desperate as will further appear in his Answer to every severall Message delivered unto him from God by Moses and Aaron 11 The Summe or Abstract of the fourth Chapter contains Moses his debate with God or humble entreatie to be spared from this great Service in respect of his slowness of speech and insufficiencie as he took it to be his Embassador And in this mind he continued until God Himself did over aw him by His Authoritie and yet withall gently perswade him by Reason Then the Lord was very angry with Moses and said Do not I know Aaron thy brother the Levite that he himself shall speak for lo he cometh also forth to meet thee and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart Therefore thou shalt speak unto him and put the words in his mouth and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you ought to do And he shall be thy spokes-man unto the people and he shall be even he shalâ— be as thy mouth thou shalt be to him as God Chap. 4. 14 15 16. The Reason which specially moved Moses to undertake this Service is expressed ver 19. For the Lord had said unto Moses in Midian Go return to Egypt for they are all dead which went about to kill thee Then Moses took his Wife and his Sons and turned toward the Land or Egypt c. The instruction For his Embassage undertaken upon these Motives follows ver 21 22 23. And the Lord said unto Moses when thou art entred and come into Egypt again see that thou do all the wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand but I will harden his heart and he shall not let the people goe Then thou shalt say to Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord Israel is my Son even my First-born Wherefore I say to thee let my son go that he may serve me If thou refuse to let him go Behold I will slay thy Son even thy First-born This Passage containes the first mention either of Gods purpose or Prediction to harden the heart of Pharaoh 12. Exod. 4. 27. Upon Moses and Aarons meeting in the Mount of God not by humane compact or contrivance but by Gods special appointment and upon the sight of the miracles which God enabled Moses first to work in private the people of Israel believed that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and had looked down upon their tribulation And upon this Belief they bowed down and worshipped Exod. 4. 31. Now upon this Consent and obedience unto their Proposal Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh like Embassadors of State Let my people go that they may celebrate a feast unto me in the wildernesse And Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should hear his voice and let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go c. Chap. 5. 12. Unless the former Bent of Pharaohs Pride and avarice had taken occasion to enlarge and stiffen it self from this fair Message delivered unto him he would not have returned that haughtie supercilious Answer unto Moses Gods Embassador and Aaron his Interpreter Moses and Aaron why cause ye the people to cease from their works get you to your burdens Chap. 5. ver 4. Nor was his Choler or Superciliousness only against Moses and Aaron but against the whole People of Israel on whose behalf God had made them his Embassadors For Pharaoh said furthermore behold much people is now in the Land and ye make them leave their burdens Therefore Pharaoh gave commandement the same day unto the Task-masters of the people and to their Officers saying Ye shall give the people no more straw to make brick as in time past but let them go and gather them straw themselves Notwithstanding lay upon them the number of brick which they made in time past diminish nothing thereof for they be Idle therefore they cry saying Let us go to offer sacrifice unto our God Lay more work upon the men and cause them to do it and let them not regard vain words Chapt. 5. ver 5 6 7 8 9. 13. That which did most discourage Moses from having any more to deal with Pharaoh was his Experience of his uninclineable disposition to any good Motion which he could make on the behalf of Gods People And this diffidence or backwardnesse in Moses received Nutriment from the wayward and grumbling disposition of the Israelitish People against him and Aaron after Pharaoh had given them a peremptory charge to perform the same task which they had done before when they had allowance of straw from the Egyptians Then the Officers of the children of Israel saw themselves in an evil case because it was said Ye shall diminish nothing of your brick nor of every daies task And they met Moses and Aaron who stood in the way as they came forth from Pharaoh And they said unto them The Lord look upon you and judge because you have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants to put a sword in their hand to slay us verse 19 20 21. After the Lord had given Moses more Special Instructions and new Encouragements Chapt. 6. vers 1. and laid a stronger Tie upon him and Aaron to deliver his Message unto Pharaoh then he did upon Pharaoh to obey it And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Go in speak unto Pharaoh King of Egypt that he let the children of Israel go out of his land And Moses spake before the Lord saying Behold the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me how then shall Pharaoh hear me who am of uncircumcised lips And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel and unto Pharaoh King of Egypt to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt vers 10 11 12 13. Yet this Charge doth not altogether charm Moses his muttering for he takes up as it seems the same Note again vers 30. Then Moses said before the Lord Behold I am of uncircumcised lips and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me But perhaps this last Clause might be a meer Repetition of the former interserted by Moses the writer of this Storie rather then a Reiteration or resumption of
the former Complaint or matter of grievance Unto this Conjecture I should the more incline had not the Lord given Moses a Second Encouragement much different from the former immediately after the Repetition or Resumption mentioned Chap. 6. verse last For so it follows in the next words Chapt. 7. vers 1 2. Then the Lord said to Moses Behold I have made thee Pharaohs God and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet Thou shalt speak all that I command thee and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send the children of Israel out of his land Here was a great Incouragement to undertake so hard a Service But what Incouragement could either Moses or Aaron take from the next passage of Gods Instructions or Declaration of His Will unto them verse 3 But I will harden Pharaohs heart and multiply my miracles and my wonders in the land of Egypt This is a Question worth the asking and the Resolution of it worth considering For that which most discouraged Moses from obeying the Lords commands was his suspicion or presumption that Pharaoh would not hearken to him nor regard his Signs as Aequivalent to Letters of Credence How then should he take heart and courage by knowing that perfectly which before he did but suspect or fear to wit that Pharaoh would not or that he could not hearken unto him Now thus much Moses could not but know from Gods own Declaration of his purpose to harden the heart of Pharaoh verse 3 4 c. And this Question will beget a Second on whose Resolution the clearing of the main Difficultie wil most depend This Second Question or Quaerie is What manner of Hardening the Lord meant in the fore-cited 3. verse Whether he meant a Positive and direct Hardening by way of Necessary Causalitie See Chapt. 42. Numb 4. or Physical Determination of Pharaohs Will or Spirit unto obstinacie or unrelenting stubbornnesse at least from the Date of Gods fore-mentioned Declaration of his will unto this purpose or a Privative or some other way 14 This Question is so Captious that it is uncapable of any One Punctual Answer whether Affirmative or Negative The best is that the whole Knot may be clearly dissolved by distinguishing the Differences of Times or several Treaties between Moses and Pharaoh In respect of the three or foure last Signes and the Treaties upon them This Affirmative Answer is Punctual Pharaohs heart was Positively hardened by God or rather infatuated by means extraordinary and altogether unusual unless in two or three like extraordinary Cases In respect of the Five or six first signs or miracles wrought by Moses and Aaron in the sight of Pharaoh This Negative Answer is as punctual Pharaohs heart was not hardened by God either Positively or directly much less Irresistibly The Means or manner how his heart became hardened were but Ordinarie only by Moses his Proposal of such Conditions unto him as his proud heart was naturally averse from and by pressing him to grant them in such a manner as would Provoke his avaritious mind to resist or deny them The true Tenor of Gods former Speech to Moses is but this This is the Answer to the former Question propounded in the 13. Paragraph What incouragement could either Moses If Pharaoh will not hearken unto thee nor let my people go upon the sight of the first signs and wonders which thou shalt be enabled to work before him and his people let not this dismay thee or make thee give over thy Charge for the longer he is or shall be in yeilding the greater will be thy victorie and his Case the harder For assure thy self in the end he shall be willing to let you go both he and his people shall intreat you to be gone out of their Coasts I will multiply my Signs so fast upon them that Egypt and all other Nations shall be taught to know who is the Lord even the Lord God of the Hebrewes and of Israel 15. All the Discouragements that Moses had either from Pharaoh from the Egyptians or from the Israelites are cured by This that God would break through all difficulties He would lay his hand on Egypt and bring forth his Armies and make the Egyptians c. know that He was the Lord. See Exod. 7. ver 4. 5. But more particularly to revise the Characters of Mosaical Expressions How Pharaohs heart upon the sight of Moses his signes and miracles became hardened by several degrees Upon the exhibition of the First Wonder which was the Turning of Aarons Rod into a Serpent it is thus written Chapt. 7. ver 13. So Pharaohs heart was hardened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he haâ—kened not to them as the Lord had said This Phrase Pharaohs heart was hardned may referre more properly to Aaron then unto God as the Agent if the speech be to be construed Personally or otherwise to Aarons Rod or to the Sign or Wonder it self in which to speak with due reverence unto the truth there was no such extraordinary force as would have inclined an unregenerate mans heart though by nature and habit no way so stubborn as Pharaohs was to have yeilded forthwith to Moses's requests or demands seeing the Magicians of Egypt did the like This only may be said and it is all that can be said to the contrary that the devouring of the Magicians rods turn â— d into serpents by Aaronâ— rod first so turnd was very ominous so ominous as the observation of it could not but either mollify or harden Pharaohs heart as perhaps it did both according to the several times or vicissitudes of reflecting upon it For his heart and desires being once drawn a little from their natural Bent by the sight of this Wonder but not fully broken must either stand at the Point to which they were drawn or return with greater violence to their former station The Lord speaking in His own Person to Moses ver 14. saith not I have hardened Pharaohs heart but Pharaohs heart is hardened he refâ—seth to let the people go which can imply no other hardening then such as did result or rebound upon the sight or consideration of the wonder Upon the exhibition of the second Sign to wit the turning of the waters of Pooles and Rivers into bloud which was somewhat more fearful then the former Moses his expression of Pharaohs disposition is Impersonal ver 22. And Pharaohs heart was hardened And it was no extraordinarie wonder that his hart should be hardned again in such a sense or after such a manner as it was upon the sight of the first Wonder seeing the Magicians or sorcerers did the like Thus much only may seem extraordinarie or to carrie a great deal of odds on Moses and Aarons behalf in that this plague could not be removed by any Magicians Spell or skill in sorcerie but onely by Mose's prayers unto God This might well have wrought relentance in any ordinarie Heathen Prince which had but the
patience to take the circumstances into consideration But the Holy Ghost to my apprehension gives the true reason why and by what means Pharaohs heart was at this time hardened verse 23. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house neither did he set his heart to this also And his not setting his heart to This Wonder with its circumstances did bring a necessitie upon him to have his heart hardened in some further degree then it had been with the First wonder But Pharaoh as we read was more terrified with the sight of the Froggs which notwithstanding the Egyptian Magicians did by sorcerie produce or at least which Pharaoh their Master was perswaded that they did produce But the Production could not be without his help nor the Perswasion but by his permission or sufferance who had enabled Moses to do this strange work In which This is most remarkable that Pharaoh should so earnestly entreat Moses and Aaron to remove this plague or to confine the Froggs unto the River onely verse 8. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said Intreat the Lord that he may take away the froggs from me and from my people and I will let the people go that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord. And Moses is as readie to grant as Pharaoh was earnest to request this Favour of him verse 9 10 11. And Moses said unto Pharaoh Glorie over me that is you shall command me When shall I intreat for thee and for thy servants and for thy people to destroy the froggs from thee and thy houses that they may remain in the river onely And he said Tomorrow And he said Be it according to thy word that thou mayst know that there is none like unto the Lord our God And the froggs shall depart from thee and from thy houses and from thy servants and from thy people they shall remain in the river onely But this relentance in Pharaoh was but like the Divels vow to turn Monk in a languishing Fit but as soon as the Fit was off him as the Fable is he turned to his wonted Byas and became and so continues an erranter knave then he was before For so it follows verse 15. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite he hardened his heart and hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said This cannot be understood save onely of such an Indirect or Concomitant Obduration as hath before been expressed that is a Resumption of his former proud and avaritious Resolutions the Resultance of which could be no other but a measure of Induration so much greater then the former that had befallen him by how much the sight of the Froggs had mollified his heart more then the two former wonders had done Yet doth not Pharaoh upon the sight of any of these three bewray such a stubborn wilfull disposition as he did upon the exhibition of the Fourth Miracle which his Enchanters did plainly confess surpassed their skill Chapt. 8. 18 19. And the Magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice but they could not so there were lice upon man and upon beast Then the Magicians said unto Pharaoh This is THE FINGER OF GOD And Pharaohs heart was hardened and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said The finger of God then was remarkable in Working the Miracle which the Magicians could not but no way remarkable in hardning Pharaoh Nor is it either said or intimated that the Finger of God did harden Pharaohs heart but Pharaohs heart remained obstinate and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had said verse 19. His not hearkening unto them was the cause of his Induration 16. But this Miracle of the lice was to Pharaoh more loathsome then terrible And for this reason haply he did not either so fairly or so earnestly intreat Moses and Aaron to pray for him as he had done upon the sight of the Froggs and as he straight way after did upon the noysome experience of the miraculous swarmes of Flies ver 21 22 23 24. And ver 25. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said Go do Sacrifice unto your God in this Land The offer is so niggardly that Moses disdains to accept of it cannot so much as hear it without such Indignation as is exprest ver 26. It is not meet to do so for then we should offer unto the Lord our God that which is an abomination unto the Egyptians Lo can we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes and they not stone us Notwithstanding all the former Documents of Gods power and wisedom in still over-reaching Pharaohs skill or Potencie Yet the Caitiffe out of covetousnesse seeks to drive his bargain as low as may be For when Moses was peremptory to go three dayes journey into the wildernesse to sacrifice Pharaoh yeilded somewhat more then he had done in the former Gâ—ant to witt that they might go into the wildernesse but as if he had known neither what to say nor what to do he instantly limits his Commission ver 28. And Pharaoh said I will let you go that you may sacrifice unto the Lord your God in the wildernesse But go not farr away And as if that had been the least part of his present intentions he adds immediately and as it were with the same breath Pray or Intreat for me And so Moses did as it follows ver 29. but with this Canonical and peremptorie Monition But let Pharaoh from henceforth deceive no more in not suffering the people to sacrifice unto the Lord. Upon his fraudulent contempt of this Peremptory monition the Lord begins to deale more severely with him and to proceed unto sentence and that a more dreadful one then had befallen him if he had not dealt so deceitfully as he did at this turn also for it follows ver 32. Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also and did not let the people go Moses in his next Treatie repeates the summe of his first Embassage unto him and presseth him by thronging new plagues upon him to come to his tryal Chap. 9. ver 1 2 3. Then the Lord said unto Moses Go in unto Pharaoh and tel him Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews let my people go that they may serve me for if thou refuse to let them go and wilt hold them still Behold the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattel c. This word Ecce as in most other places is here a special Character of the speedy execution of the Plague that was threatened and of the remarkable manner how it was executed ver 4. And the Lord shall sever between the cattel of Israel and the cattel of Egypt and there shall nothing dye of all that is the Childrens of Israel And the Lord appointed a set time saying To morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the Land And the Lord did that thing on the morrow and the cattel of Egypt died but of the cattel of the
could wish that my self were accursed from Christ for my Brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the Adoption the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the promises whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh CHRIST came who is over all GOD blessed for ever Amen He concludes his sorrow as though he had still prayed for them whilest he sorrowed If it be further demanded what Peculiar occasion he had to be overtaken with these suddain Pangs of sorrow rather in this place the beginning of this ninth Chapter then any other the Special occasion as I intimated before was the present Opportunitie or necessitie of answering an Exception which from the Rejection of these Iews might have been taken against those confident Assertions wherewith He had concluded the former And being to anatomize their wounds for others instruction unto the quick the sight of their grievousnesse could not but make his heart to bleed 4. Against his former Assertions he saw the Gentile or Iew late converted would be ready thus to object If they of whom Christ according to the flesh came If They for whose miscarriage Christ in the dayes of his flesh was more sorrowfull then thou canst be yet They notwithstanding all these Prerogatives and peculiar Interests in Gods Promises are fallen away and utterly separated from God Where is the Infallibilitie of our assurance What is the ground of thy boasting that Neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8. 38 39. Have we any warrant thus to perswade our selves besides Gods Word any better Assurance then his Promise and seeing these Jews thy Country-men as thou often inculcates had both These in as ample manner and Form as we can expect if neither took effect in Them why may not Both want their effects in us With this Objection the Apostle if we duly mark the Closure of his protested sorrow for the Jews Fall directly meets ver 6. Not as though the word of God had taken none effect It was in his eye when he fell into the former Trance out of which awaked he falls in hand with it afresh again 5. The more often and more seriously we read the Doctrinal Part of this Epistle to the Romanes or of those other to the Galatians and the Hebrews the juster occasion we shall have alwaies to admire our Apostles skill as well in right applying the Typical Praenotions or Aenigmatical Portendments of the Old Testament to the Events in the New as also in making use of whatsoever by the Iews or any on their behalf could be Objected for establishing the truth which he maintained against them For Instance at this time take only The manner of his Retorting the former Objection wherein this whole Chapter and the other Two following are wholly spent The manner is thus It is true The Iews my kinsmen who had greater Interest in Gods Love and Promises then any people besides them hitherto have had as great as any after them can expect are become Cast-awaies But spend your thoughts not so much in wondering at this as in Considering that the only Cause of their Fall was no other then Ignorance of this Doctrine which I now teach being formerly taught by the Law and the Prophets Be ye not therefore Partakers with them in this their Error and so Gods Promises shall undoubtedly take effect in you for he hath ordained that their Fall shall be the means of your establishment The Ignorance of these his Country-men was not Ignorantia purae negationis but pravae dispositionis an Ignorance rooted in Carnal Pride the offspring of another Pernicious Error They thought it sufficient to salvation that they were Israelites and the seed of Abraham herein most grosly ignorant and more inexcusable then the Heathen seeing the Scripture had plainly given them to understand that They are not all Israel that are of Israel neither all Children that are of the seed of Abraham for Abraham had Ishmael and many other children besides Isaac and yet the Lord had said to Abraham In Isaac shall thy seed be called The Mystical or Evangelical sense of which words in our Apostles Exposition ver 8. is this They which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the Promise are accounted for The Seed The true and Orthodoxal Construction of this Apostolical Declaration upon Moses's words if we apply it unto the Romanes to whom or unto our selves for whose good he wrote it and referr it to the End by him intended and supposed throughout this whole Discourse is as much as if he had said Stand not ye upon the Prerogatives of the flesh as my rejected Country-men have done but betake your selves wholly to Gods Promises as Abraham did and ye shall undoubtedly remain the chosen seed of Abraham and Children of God His Assertion or Assurance is the same in effect with that of St John Chapt. 1. ver 12 13. As many as received him to them he gave power to be the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh but of God Nor doth our Apostle either here or in any other part of his writings once intimate any other Cause of these Jews Rejection besides that hereditary disease whereof the Baptist foresaw their best teachers dangerously sick and for whose prevention he prescribes a wary dyet whilest he offers the medicine of baptism unto them When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadduces come to his Baptism he said unto them O Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath â—o come Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance and think not to say within you selves We have Abraham for our Father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to Raise up Children unto Abraham Mat. 3. 7 8 9. Had they stedfastly relyed upon Gods Power manifested in the miraculous birth of Isaac and the mightie increase of his Posteritie as they did upon this glorious Title of being Abrahams and Isaacs seed they might have been sons not of Abraham only but of God And no place of Scripture in my observation warrants us to think that they were excluded by any Immutable Decree or irrevocable Act of Omnipotencie from thus relying on Gods Power or from following Abrahams foot-steps Let us not then I beseech you in a matter of so great Cosequence Presume to understand above that which is written or to make a further Resolution of mens Reprobation then our Apostle hath done And the First and only Cause into which he resolves the Rejection of these Jews as from the Conclusion
of this discourse ver 32. is apparent is That they sought salvation not by Faith but by works not by relyance on Gods Power or Promises but by Confidence in these Carnal Prerogatives 6. As it is dangerous to assign any Cause of Reprobation without warrant of Scripture so is it a Preposterous presumption to pronounce their Persons Reprobated or accursed whom the Scripture hath proclaimed for Blessed Yet some in our times unlesse my memory fail me have ranked Ismael amongst the Reprobates when as Moses hath registred the Grant of Abrahams Petition for him Gen. 17. 20. As for Ishmael I have heard thee Behold I have blessed him Now Abraham doubtlesse did pray in Faith and his Faith questionless did as well respect the Kingdom of God and his righteousnesse as the blessings of this Life Yea his Prayer for him was conceived in that very form which as I have learned from some too rigid in the doctrine of reprobation is the true Character of Gods Elect and Chosen And for justifying their observation of this use of the Phrase in other places of Scripture they alledge this Petition of Abraham Gen. 17. 18. O that Ishmael might live before thee which is as if he had said O that thou wouldest take Ishmael to be thy servant and admit him into thy favour Just Abraham prayes for and the Almightie grants I shmaels admission into that presence of God from which David desires he might not be cast out Psal 51. 11. 7. But whatsoever became of Ishmael Our Apostle foresaw the proud Jew would Except against this instance as they did against the like of our Saviours John 8. 41. We are not born of fornication We are Abrahams sons not by the Bondwoman but by Sarah and why then Twit'st thou us with Ishmael His Rejoynder followeth in the next words to this effect Esau was Isaacs Son by Rebecca conceived at the same time and born before your Father Jacob who notwithstanding got the blessing of Birthright from him Was Esau therefore an accursed Reprobate God knowes I cannot tell The bounds of my present enquirie is to what End or Use this Instance is brought by our Apostle and how it inferrs the Conclusion here in this 16. verse Now from our Apostles Principal Intent or Scope we can gather no other pertinent Use of his Instances in Esau and Jacob save only this That God in his allseeing wisdom did by these Types mystically forewarn their Posteritie as John Baptist his Messenger and his Son our Lord and Saviour expresly and literally afterwards did not to stand on their Genealogie their Birthright or other Prerogatives wherein flesh and bloud Abrahams seed above all others were apt to boast but wholly to betake themselves to his Promises The Circumstances which evince and justifie this Observation are remarkably contained in the holy Stories whereto our Apostle as his manner is briefly and in Transcursu referrs us that we might see the Truth which he taught with our own eyes and Rear our Faith upon the same Foundations from which his faith had been raised Abraham after God had promised him I will make of thee a mightie Nation In thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed did yet suspect lest all this might be fulfilled in his heir by Adoption though by Birth a stranger and by condition a servant untill the Lord made a fuller Declaration of his meaning Gen. 15. 4. This. Eliezer shall not be thine heir but he that shall come forth of thine owne bowels he shall be thine heir After all this Sarah complains Behold now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing And Abraham hearkening to her counsel which this distrust had suggested took Hagar her maid to wife hopeing the former promise might be accomplished in her Off-spring as it is Gen. 16. Abraham to speak with Reverence of his Infirmitie did herein mistake the Tenour of Gods promise as he had done once before And to rectifie his error God further explicates his meaning in promising Isaac Gen. 17. 15. c. Now that which our Apostle would have us specially to observe is That the Almighty in thus crossing righteous Abrahams Will and purpose first to make Eliezer then Ishmael his heir did hereby give posteritie to understand They were not to relye on the Will of man or any Inventions of flesh and blood for attaining the blessing but meerly on His Will revealed who is able and willing to effect his promise though by meanes more miraculous then was Isaacs birth or to use S. Iohn Baptists words though it were by raising up children out of stones to Abraham 8. Isaac also had a greater longing to bestow his birth-right upon Esau his eldest son then to eat of his Venison for he sent him out to catch it to the end he might blesse him with greater chearfulnesse And Esau was more forward to gratifie his old fathers desire then was his brother Jacob. Yet that posterity might alwaies bear in memory the blessing did neither depend on Isaacs Willingnesse to bestow it nor on Esau's Running to deserve it of his father but wholly and meerely on Gods purpose Rebecca to whom his purpose was long before made known findes a meanes to derive the Birth-right to her Younger son while the Elder was rangeing abroad to compasse it It seemes she had not imparted the Oracle to old Isaac before Or He perhaps had forgotten it untill the Event did call the meaning of it to his memory And this perchance may be the reason why he is so patient of Circumvention by his wife as now perceiving it to be the Lords doing However the Lord before the children were born before they had done either good or evill had told Rebecca their mother That the Nation which should spring from the Elder should be the weaker and serve the off-spring of the Younger And from this intimation she wisely gathered that the Birth-right or blessing was according to the Tenour of Gods Free Donation to be convaied unto the Younger Had not this purpose of the Almightie been revealed before the children had been born before either father or mother could have had any reason to affect the one more then the other Iacobs posterity as they have been too foolish and arrogant would have baosted That either their father Iacob or his mother Rebecca which loved him more then his brother Esau had better observed those rites and customes wherein they placed righteousnesse then Isaac or Esau had done and that God upon these motives had bestowed the birth-right or blessing upon Jacob before Esau And to no other Purpose for ought I can by Analogie of Scripture conceive save only to Prevent this pride and hypocrisie in the Iew or to leave it without excuse doth our Apostle note that Circumstance of the Story before they were borne or had done good or evill 9. But as this takes away the former Reply or Apologie so it breeds a new Objection for did not God
before him his First Titles are The Lord The Lord God mercyful and gratious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving transgression Iniquitie and sin c. Visiting the iniquitie of the fathers upon the children c. Exod. 34. 6. This Sense well fitts our Apostles Instance in Iacob and Esau See Geu 36. For God was mercyfull unto Esau whom he blest and made a Father at least of One considerable Nation but exceeding mercifull unto Jacob because his purpose was to give the world a manifest proof of his extraordinary Goodnesse in him as he did of his severitie in hardening Pharaoh who had made up the measure of his forefathers iniquitie which God as in the former place he had said to Moses did visit upon him But of this Instance concerning Pharaoh and the similitude which the Apostle borrowes from the Potter we shall speak if God permitt hereafter 13. See Chap. 42. Numb 9. If we put the former verses and the words of this verse together our Apostle saith neither more nor lesse in them then our Saviour implyed in that speech Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple And not being his disciple it is impossible he should find mercy Or professing himself to be his disciple and not willing to learn this Lesson of denying himself the latter end shall be worse then the begining that is he shall be hardened But shall all that truely forsake themselves be assuredly his disciples and find that mercy which God promised unto Moses Yes Christ hath promised to all without exception There is no man that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and for the gospels but he shall receive an hundred fold in this life and in the world to come eternal life Mark 10. 29 30. 14. But if there be a possibilitie for All unfainedly to fly unto Gods mercyes and if All that fly unto them shall undoubtedly find them and make their Election sure See Chap. 32. how is not election ex Praevisis operibus seeing to fly unfainedly to Gods mercyes is truly a Work yea an industrious Work Now to make workes necessary or ordinarily available to our First Conversion may seem a point of Poperie if not a degree of Pelagianism To this purpose some sons of our common Mother would interpret My meaning should I utter this Doctrin in some publik Audience This was a Sermon preached in C. C. C. Chappel in Oxon 20 or 30. yeares since Howbeit in truth and veritie there is no doctrine under heaven with which my former Assertion may better stand then with the Doctrine of the English Church No Tenet or Principle of any other Religion whatsoever that can so directly clear the former Objection as doth the Fundamental Article of that Religion which is professed by all the Reformed Churches Do not all these expressly teach That men are Iustified by beliefe in Christ without works Now let any man rightly answer an Argument usually made by the Papists and as commonly denyed by every Protestant and I shall make his Answer as well fitt the former Objection or any inconvenience that can be pretended against the former Assertions The Argument used by our Adversaries is Works of Faith are true Workes and to believe in Christ is a true work of Faith Now if we cannot be Iustified but by believing in Christ it is impossible we should be Iustified Without good workes The Answer to this Captious Syllogism most used by the Reformed Writers is Fides justificat non quà Opus sed Relativè I like their Meaning well but their Manner of expressing is not so Artificial as it might be and therefore more Obnoxious to Exception I would answer as I take it more appositely to the same Effect To renounce all works and seek salvation only by Plea of mercy is the proper and Formal Work of Faith and therefore is essentially included in the Act of Justification not included in the universalitie of works which are excluded from justification Did not Priests as the Proverb is forget that they had been Clerkes Or rather could great Clerkes in Divinitie remember what they had learned when they were Punie Artists the former Objection or the like could never have troubled them the Form of it drawn into Mood and Figure being so childishly Captious as would be exploded out of the Schooles of Arts should it be stood upon in good earnest If such Divines as urge it most should come into our Per-vices and apply it to matters there discussed thus Omne visible est Coloratum Omnis color est visibilis Ergo Omnis color est coloratus I hope a meaner Artist then this Nursery God be praised hath any would quickly cut off their progress with a Distinction of Visibile ut quod visible ut quo and shew that the Major though universally true of every Subject or body that may be seen did not nor could not comprehend Colour it self by which they are made visible and by whose Formal Act they are denominated colorata The Fallacie of the former Objection drawn into Mood and Figure is the same but more apparent Every Will or Work of Man must be utterly renounced from the Act of Justification or Conversion But to deny our selves and renounce all works is a Work Ergo This work must be excluded from the suit of mercy as no way available Cujus contrarium verum est Seeing This is opus quo renunciamus the Formal Act by which all works must be renounced This Work must of Necessitie be included in the suite of mercy and is alwaies Precedent to every mans first Conversion whose calling is not extraordinary Neither may we that are Ministers of Gods word and Sacraments presume to give any man hope of being converted without this work or Act. Unlesse we thus distinguish between Works and Renouncing of Works and grant in man before his effectual Vocation or Conversion as true a possibilitie to do the One as want of abilitie to perform the Other we shall sett the soules of our hearers in a perpetual Backwater or cause them to flote Ambiguously as it were between the main Current of sacred Scriptures and the stream of antient Interpreters both gratiously inviting all to Gods mercy and the fierce Current of modern opinions which deny all possibilitie of running in any sort to Gods mercy before Grace infused do draw us The unseasonable overflow of Which newly-out-burst doctrine through out our Land doth more mischief to mens soules then the summer floods do to their fields But if we give that Vent or issue to this Eddye or whirlepool which the former Distinction naturally implies we shall lett our Auditors or Hearers at liberty to take sea-room enough And the breath of Gods spirit plentifully diffused throughout the whole Current of His Word will as a gentlegale impell
Means much available for strengthening of Faith or for repairing those decayes or ruines which the subtiltie of Satan works in our soules yet the Reiteration of the Sacrament of Baptism is neither Necessary nor allowable much lesse Commendable for such purposes And the Raritie or rather Singularitie of It was to my apprehension Emblematically prefigured by the Sacrifice of the Red Heifer or the Water of sprinkling which was Legally sanctified or consecrated by her Ashes The Law concerning this kind of Purification is not to be found I take it in Leviticus at least not in that sixteenth Chapter wherein the Law of the Sacrifice of attonement is punctually set down However the forementioned Glossarie upon the Romish Canon for consecrating Holy Water either through negligence See Chapt. 48 Num. 6. or ignorance or both avouch that place for it If the sacrifice of the Red Heifer had belonged unto the Feast of attonement it must have been reiterated once every year whereas the Hebrew Antiquaries affirm that this solemnitie was not used above tea times during all the time of the Law of the Tabernacle or Temple And whether it were so often used may be questioned because there is no Law or Precept for the Continuation of it but only for the use of the water of sprinkling being once consecrated by it so often as the occasion specified in the Law did require 2. But unlesse the frequent use of the water so mingled with the ashes did wast or exhaust the ashes of that one sacrifice which Eleazar not Aaron was commanded to offer These might have been preserved without putrifaction for a longer time then the Law of Ceremonies was to endure For Ashes as good Naturalists tell us being well kept are immortal or an Emblem of Immortalitie But it may be that as soon or as often as the Ashes of any such sacrifice were by frequent use of the water of sprinkling exhausted or wasted the Legal Priests were bound by the Law mentioned to offer another for consecrating the water of sprinkling whose use was to continue as long as the reason mentioned in the Law did indure 3. The chief use or End of the water of sprinkling mingled with the Ashes of this sacrifice was to purifie such as had made themselves Legally unclean or had casually fallen into such uncleanness One branch of this uncleanness was the touching or being touched by any Dead Corps And unto this use of the water of sprinkling mentioned Numb 19. 11. that of our Apostle Heb. 9. 14. hath special Reference more then Allusion How much more shall the bloud of Christ purge our Consciences from DEAD works That this Legal Sacrifice for sinne was an Exquisite Type of Christs Bloudy Death and sufferings or an exact picture of his bloud wherewith the heavenly Sanctuary or Holy places were purified although the bloud of this Legal sacrifice were not brought into the Earthly Sanctuary no good Writers which I have read either deny or question That the Water of sprinkling consecrated by the aspersion of the Ashes of this Legal Sacrifice did truely resemble the water of Baptism by which we are washed from sin and consecrated unto God as clean persons that is made members of his Church here on earth is so evident in it self that it needs no Paraphrase or Laborious Comment upon the fore-cited Law Yet to this purpose the learned Reader may find much pertinent matter in Chytraeus his Comments upon the Book of Numbers and in many others It will be more needful or better suiting with my intentions in this place to prevent the captious exceptions which some Anti-Papists have heretofore taken and now resume against the expressions of our Publick Liturgie in that Part of it which concerns the Administration of Baptism Almighty and everlasting God which of thy great mercie diddest save Noah and his Familie in the Ark from perishing by water and also diddest safely lead the children of Israel through the red sea figuring thereby thy holy Baptism and by the Baptism of thy wel-beloved Son Iesus Christ diddest sanctifie the floud Iordan and all other waters to the mystical washing away of sin We beseech thee for thine infinite mercies that thou wilt mercifully look upon these Children Sanctifie them and wash them with the holy Ghost that they being delivered from thy wrath may be received into the Ark of Christs Church and being stedfast in faith joyful through hope and rooted in charity may so passe the waves of this troublesome world that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life there to reign with thee world Without end through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen Seeing now dearly beloved Brethren that these Children be regenerate and grafted into the body of Christs Congregation let us give thanks unto God for these Benefits and with one accord make our prayers unto Almightie God that they may lead the rest of their life according to this beginning We yeild thee heartie thanks most merciful Father that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant with thy holy Spirit to receive him for thine own Child by adoption and to incorporate him into thy holy Congregation and humbly we beseech thee to grant that he being dead unto sin and living unto righteousness and being buried with Christ in his death may crucifie the old man and utterly abolish the whole body of sin that as he is made partaker of the death of thy Son so he may be partaker of his resurrection so that finally with the residue of thy holy congregation he may be Inheritor of thine everlasting Kingdom through Christ our Lord. Amen 4. It is no part of our Churches Doctrin or meaning that the washing or sprinkling infants bodyes with Consecrated water should take away sinnes by it's own immediate Vertue To affirm thus much implies as I conceive a Contradiction to that Apostolical doctrin The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us not the putting away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is gone into heaven c. 1. Pet. 3. 21. The meaning of our Church intends no further then thus That if this Sacrament of Baptism be duely administred the blood or bloody Sacrifice of Christ or which is all one the Influence of his spirit doth alwaies accompany or is Concurrent to this solemn Act. But whether this Influence of his spirit or Vertual presence of his body and blood be either immediatly or only terminated to the soul and spirit of the party Baptized or have some vertual influence upon the water of Baptism as a mean to convey the Grace of Regeneration unto the soule of the partie Baptized whilest the water is poured upon him is Too Nice and curious a Question in this Age for sober Christians to debate or contend about It may suffice to beleive that this Sacramental pledge hath a Vertual Presence of Christs Blood or some Real
children of Israel died not one ver 5. 6. Pharaohs experience of the former Plagues fore-told by Moses and accomplished in his own sight did perswade him so farr to believe his Prediction of this that he sent into Goshen to know the truth of that part of it And behold there was not one of the cattel of the Israelites dead v. 7. And yet as it follows in the same verse The heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he did not let the people go 17. All or most of the former signs were respectively rather more noysome and terrible then detrimental unto Pharaoh and his People We do not read before this time of the death or destruction of any useful creatures besides of Fishes when the waters were turned into bloud And this calamitie was neither so grievous nor so universal as the murrain of cattel was It extended only to that part of the River or those waters that were nigh to Pharaohs Court otherwise the Magicians or Inchanters could have had no Place to practise their skill in But this murrain of the most useful creatures was very general Nor would the Magicians have attempted the like if it had been apprehended as facible by them seeing both the Egyptians and themselves should have been greater Losers by the Practise of their own cunning But seeing this Plague did not infect Pharaohs coffers or treasure Cities which the Israelites were enjoyned to build or to prepare materials for their building nor yet Pharaohs Chariots or Stables hence haply it is that he is not so much affected with the wonder as he had been with some of the former And yet because this wonder did give little or no check unto his proud stubborn thoughts the Lord instantly and without further Commission as being now in Processe of Sentence commands Moses to bring another Plague upon the Egyptians more terrible noysome then any of the rest had been ver 8. Then the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron Take to you handfuls of the ashes of the furnace c. And they took ashes of the furnace and stood before Pharaoh and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven and it became a boyl breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast And the Magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boyles for the boyl was upon the Magicians and upon all the Egyptians ver 10 11. Whether Pharaoh did resume or continue his former Resolutions without any relentance the Text is silent but expresse enough to this purpose That the Lord did from this time harden the heart of Pharaoh after a more extraordinary manner then it had been hardened before for so the words do run ver 12. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had spoken unto Moses But what was it that the Lord had spoken unto Moses Or where did he specially speak to this purpose The place whereto these words As the Lord had spoken unto Moses do punctually referr is as our English margin directs us Exod. 4. 21. And the Lord said unto Moses when thou goest to return into Egypt See that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thine hand But I will harden his heart that he shall not let the people go In most of the former Treaties between Moses and Pharaoh Or in the relation of the successe or effect of his speech or works this Epiphonema or Close comes often in That Pharaoh hearkened not to Moses and Aaron as the Lord had spoken But in none of them besides this present is it so expresly added that the Lord did harden the heart of Pharaoh as he had spoken unto Moses This different Character of this Close from the rest gives us to understand or intimates at least That this plague of blaines was the first of all the plagues in which the Lord did harden the heart of Pharaoh after any extraordinary manner But after what manner did he now harden it Not by Infusion of any bad Qualitie or new unhallowed Resolutions but by giving him up to his own lusts or by leaving him more open and exposed to the temptations of Sathan then he had been From this time and not before doth That of our Apostle Rom. 9. 17. For this very purpose have I made thee stand that I might shew my power in thee Commence or begin to take place Now thus to infatuate Pharaoh or suffer him to infatuate himself after he had so often hardened his own heart and slighted Gods forewarnings was a true Act of justice and withall a Prognostick that the just Lord was now Purposed to destroy him So the heathens out of their broken Speculations of Divine Providence have observed Quos Jupiter vult perdere prius deâ—entat Infatuation is commonly the Usher of fearful destruction God in all this deals no otherwise with Pharaoh then pharaoh had done with the poor oppressed Israelites immediately after the delivery of Moses first Embassage unto him Pharaoh upon this occasion as was observed before severely exacts the same Tale of bricks after he had prohibited the Task-masters to afford them any straw which they performed before when they had plenty of straw allowed them The Lord in like manner requires but the same obedience of Pharaoh after he had deprived him of understanding and of the sweet influence of his ordinary general Providence which he had required of him before or at the exhibition of the first signs or wonders And this only is it which ministred the occasion or matter of that question made by our Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why doth he yet chiâ—e unto which I have no more to say for the present then may be found in the Treatise upon that place Rom. 9. 19. See Chapter 42. of this Book Number 6. 18. But to finish this present Survey of the Mosaical Story concerning this proud and foolish Pharaoh it is a witty Character which * Kaì 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lib. 2. Antiq. Iud. Cap. 5. Josephus hath made of his humorous wilful disposition That after he had seen and in some measure felt three or four several plagues he had a kind of itching humour or longing desire to have more variety of experiments in the like kind This the diligent reader may with me easily observe That upon his sight of the first signs and experiments of the Plagues which did accompany them he demeand himself like a proud Phantastick Humorist and did many waies bewray such a temper as it was impossible for him to become wise untill he had abandoned his former dispositions or resolutions But after the Plagues of the Murrain of cattell and of the blaines upon the Inchanters themselves this proud Phantastick falls into a Phrenzie and fares like a distracted Bedlam and raves as if his brains had been blasted by the fumes or steames of his cauterized heart or seared conscience Witnesse those Passages following Exod. 9. 27. And Pharaoh