endearments be either inconsistent with or prejudiciall to our holy profession any lets or hinderances to us in the discharge and performance of the duties of Piety or Charity the love of God and Man then we are by all means to quit and dis-own them we must come out of Babylon though our Interests be there if we cannot stay but we must partake of their sins we must forsake Egypt if she distresse the People of God and our precious Faith for we cannot serve God and Mammon Christ and Belial Q. But what is there such a power and faculty in man to refuse or choose what he will And if so then doth not this power necessarily inferr a freedom in the will of man A. Certainly man is a free Agent in all his exercises and operations and what he doth not freely he doth not as a man but as a horse and mule which have no understanding and we are forbidden to be such Psal 32.10 for it is naturall for the will of man to move freely rationally and deliberately and this freedom or liberty of the will is an essentiall of humanity and the proper act of that freedom is Election which is exposed both to coaction and compulsion Voluntas non cogitur for that which is compelled is against the will and that which is against the will is not willed It is true the will may be letted changed and the commanded actions thereof compelled that is those inferiour faculties which are moved by the will but the immanent actions of the will that is to deliberate will and choose cannot be so and also to necessitation and determination to one For if the will be determined by the Physicall and speciall influence of outward causes then morives were in vain reason in vain deliberation in vain all perswasions and threats in vain but therefore are these used because man hath a power of Election that he may deliberate and act indifferently and either doe or not doe or doe this or the contrary For what exercise have we of our wills if we act not voluntary And how act we voluntarily if we be necessitated absolutely And to what end and designe are those terrors and promises of the Lord the danger we shall incurr by our disobedience and the reward we shall reape by our obedience if they be not as rationall motives and have not with them a persuasive efficacy It is true indeed that the will often mistakes and errs in her choyce putting bitter for sweer evill for good and one the contrary But this proceeds not from any forfeiture of what was naturall to the will and all or certainly very few excepted confesse that Adam had true and entire liberty but from the corrution of nature or the naturall faculty depraved which is a contracted contagion whereby we are averse and indisposed to good we are refractory and rebellious to the very Laws of Nature as well as of Grace of right Reason as holy Religion and we are prone and strongly enclined to observe and follow the desires and delights of the carnall sensitive appetite and to satisfie the lusts of the flesh for the understanding is full of ignorance and darknesse during this state of corruption of pride and contradiction against all sacred and saving truth the will is full of enmity and opposition against that which is good the conscience full of impurity and sophystry the heart of folly and madnesse of infidelity and hypocrysie and therefore no wonder if every imagination fancy and conception of the heart be unto evill and that continually Yet even in these aptnesses inclinations and prejudices the will moves freely and acts by choyce For as Angels and good Spirits by a most free agency doe good and nothing but good because their understandings are taken up with the contemplation and satisfaction and their affections with the desires and delight of good onely So Devills and wicked men long and thirst pursue and prosecute sin by chusing the evill and refusing the good having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse of their heart Ephes 4.18 and so allowing and approving of sinne and wickednesse So that whether the object be chosen good or evill the will acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by deliberation and with indifferency though that the good is chosen be from the causality of Faith and influences of spirituall Grace that evill from the corruption of Nature either transmitted and passed over to us by carnall propagation or contracted by vitious habits customes and education and this properly concerns not the liberty of the Agent but onely expresseth the reasons causes and motives for which he thus exerciseth and manageth his liberty It was from Nature that Moses chused or made a choyce it was by Faith he made this choyce He chused rather to suffer affliction c. Q. But what doth Faith Catechise and direct men rather to suffer affliction Can sufferings be the objects of our desires and longings Or are afflictions in numero eligibilium matters worthy of our election and complacency A. Doubtlesse they are in some degree and measure though not of themselves yet secondarily in respect of their uses as they relate either to the prevention of a greater threatned and demerited impendant evill or as they conduce to some present or future good For sometimes they are Fatherly corrections to avoyd the wrath and severity of dis-inheriting When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 1 Cor. 11.32 and that is an happy temporall judgement which barrs an Eternall a desireable chasticement which wards off future condemnation Sometimes they are Instructions It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy Statutes Psal 119.71 and to receive Instruction is highly appetible and that with the most ingenuous and noble as well as holy and religious spirits Sometimes they are preparatives for Glory having not onely a purging but also a purifying quality 2 Cor. 4.17.18 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of Glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporall but the things which are not seen are eternall Sometimes they are discoveries of the truth of the inward parts of our sincerity That the tryall of our Faith being much more precious then of Gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire might be found unto prayse and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 that though they be sharp and biting yet have they in them somewhat of the bonum jucundum but indirectly and by consequence For we are to count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations Knowing this that the trying of your Faith worketh patience James 1.2.3 much of
rationall creatures and therefore proposeth rationall methods to engage us to accept his Grace rationall punishments and rewards because we are to deal with a righteous Judge Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternall life But unto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse indignation and wrath Rom. 2.6.7.8 11. It s the Observation of Theoph. Moses accounted it a sin not to suffer with the people of God and unlesse it were a sin not to be sensible of the sins and sufferings of his Flock God would not have caused a mark to be set Ezek. 9.4 nor upbrayded and threatned their either dulnesse or hardnesse of heart who grieved not for the afflictions of Joseph Amos 6.6 nor the Apostle required us to be kindly affectioned and this to be expressed as in others so in this Duty to weep with them that weep Rom. 12.15 12. I shall adde one more from Haymo Quando quisque c. in suffering times and condition look and remember the promised reward and these Texts Mat. 5.10.11.12 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evill against you falfly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Rom. 8.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us 2 Cor. 4.16.17.18 For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are not seen are Eternall Promises though alwayes necessary yet most usefull in extremities The Third Part. O Lord God of infinite excellencies and mercies who sent thine onely Son holy Jesus to redeem us from an intollerable servitude the commanding and condemning power of sin and to teach us an holy Religion to despise the world the pomps and vanities thereof and the sinfull desires of the flesh strongthen us by thy grace that as we would accept of thy Son for our Saviour so we may follow him as our teacher refusing the glories and treasures of this Egypt this land of darknesse wherein all things shall be forgotten choosing the better part which shall not be taken from us esteeming our Adoption to be called the Sons of God the highest honour the mercies of God and merits of Christ the most desireable treasury the Kingdom of Heaven the best Inheritance the glory and joyes of Heaven the onely satisfactory pleasures the most happy exchange to give or lose all for the fruition of Christ make us to covet the best things And to this end make us wise and prudent in our choice to be men in understanding to approve what is excellent being filled with all spirituall understanding not to be ashamed to suffer for well doing to count it all joy when we are called to endure affliction with the People of God and to beare in our bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus Sanctifie them to us by thy grace attend them with thy spirit and reward them with thy glory Satisfie our Soules that we may tast and see how gracious the Lord is even in those his dispensations and fill them with the apprehensions of the excellencies and preciousnesse of the promises in Jesus Christ that we may resolve with David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none on Earth we desire besides thee That like as the Hart c. Break O Lord we pray thee the powers infatuate the policies of the persecutors of thy Church Bring her out of Egypt and leade thy People by the Hands of Moses and Aaron Sanctifie all their sufferings and conduct them to the heavenly Canaan to live with their Lord unto all Eternity to whom be honour and power might majesty and dominion for ever Amen MOSES his Courage Heb. 11.27 By Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible MOses had before mastered the false hopes of Egypt now he is to encounter with the foolish fears thereof and having quit himself of the right hand assaults of the World its allurements objects promises he is now to conquer the left hand temptations threatnings force and fury of Pharaoh and his Host the Gyants and Sons of Anak and by Faith in Christ he is in all these more then Conqueror For the Discourses and Reasoning of Faith first taught him to sleight Pharachs Court then his Power First to conquer himself and Fortior est qui se quam qui fortissima vincit and then his and the people of Gods enemy It first instructed him with Piety and then furnished him with Resolution and Courage For By Faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King c. The first Part. Moses did twice forsake Egypt The first time was as was last Recorded When at forty Years old he fled into Midian Exod. 2.15 The second time was when that after Egypt was smitten in every quarter he and the whole Body of the Israelites departed thence And upon this difference of time a question ariseth which time the first clause here in the Text relates unto Some will have the former to be referred unto here as Iun. Paral. lib. 3. because the Apostle in this Historicall computation strictly observeth the circumstance and order of time through all the fore-going and subsequent instances And it 's clear Moses celebrated the Passe-over before the second time which yet is after related here in the following verse and therefore it cannot relate to this unlesse we invert the Order And also because in the 29. ver the Peoples departure out of Egypt is set by it self as a severall and distinct instance of Faith from this here Others conceive it to be meant of the second time for if the former were here considered the Apostles Position here seems to contradict the Historicall Natration Exod. 2.14 where it is said He feared and fled Others as the most judicious Calvin understand it of both times tam de priore quam secundo For though it be said that at the first he feared yet this fear was a fear of prudence he had not strength to oppose Pharaoh and so he could not he had not as yet sufficient authority and so he might not not of difference or the event that God would not preserve him from Pharaoh if he used the most safe course for his preservation and reserved himself for a
an Enthusiasme or immediate Revelation but such motives and inducements as were before recited which amounted onely to strong and high probabilities yet sufficient enough in an humble modest heart to produce Faith a certainty of adhaerence though not of evidence and this sufficient to produce acts and operations of Faith to provoke to the obedience of Faith A bruised Reed God will not break nor quench a smoaking Flax Mat. 12.20 if we have but Faith so much as a graine for a little Faith if sound is true Faith of mustard seed let the motives be what they will if this encline and promote obedience the least degree thereof is well pleasing to God he will accept without being furnished with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full Armour of infallibilities and demonstration Nathaniels Faith had neither Enthusiasme nor demonstration but a Topick or Argument a paribus backed by an humane testimony or report John 1.48 and Christ approved this his Faith and rewarded it with an higher concession of grace ver 30.51 and so Christ accepted Thomas his Faith though enduced by senfible experiments John 20 28. whatsoever the instrument or beginning or motive of beleife be if that work by love and work in us a care and desire to find the truth humility in following and constancy in professing it this shall be our reasonable service of God The third Part the Prayer O Eternall Lord God in whom to beleeve is Eternall life give to us thy grace which may suppresse every motion of infidelity that there be not in us an evill heart of unbeleife and however we be not able to manage the shield of Faith yet perfect thou thy strength in our weaknesse making it mighty through thy power working in us to pull down strong holds cast downe imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the Knowlege of God O holy Jesus the Eternall Word of the Father we beleeve thou hast the Words of Eternall Life Lord help thou our unbeleife and increase our Faith bring into captivity every thought to thine obedience that thy servants and followers may submit to thee our Lord and Master resigning our Vnderstandings to the Truth our Wills to the Goodnesse our Affections to the holinesse of thy Precepts and by Hope depending for satisfaction on thy precious promises O Immortall and all-glorious Spirit sanctifie unto us all those means and methods which are the preparatives and Introductions of Faith that they may be Instrumentall to Principle us in wholesome Doctrine to beget in us a love of the truth and obedience to thy Laws unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead and advance us to further degrees of Knowledge and spirituall Wisedom to the spirit of obsignation the confidence of hope and the assurance of thine eternall love and favour O holy blessed and glorious Trinity to whom belongeth the Kingdom the Power and the Glory throughout all Ages World without end Amen MOSES his Choice Heb. 11.24.25.26 By Faith Moses when he was come to Years refused to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter c. MOses in his Infancy and Minority being saved and preserved by a miraculous mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in his Minority and riper Years preferred educated and advanced in Pharaohs Court when he had arrived at full maturity and strength of dayes he bethinks himself how to exercise his Princely perfections and accomplishments supposing God had been so good and gracious to him for some great and honourable ends and purposes of mercy and beleeving no better way to imploy those powers then in the service of God the interest and concerments of his Church and People and further conceiving God therefore had delivered him that he might be the Cheif and Principall Instrument of his glory in the Preservation of his Fathers House and the redemption of his Brethren according to the Flesh For By Faith c. The first Part. Q. But why should Moses desert and relinquish Pharaohs Court in which he was so Honourably Educated and Entertained Or why should he deny for so the Vulgar renders it the appellation and title of the Sonne of Pharaohs Daughter who by her tender care and liberall bounty had obliged him Was it not both grosse ingratitude and great incivility thus to sleight her and her high respect Could he not at once be called the Sonne of Pharaohs Daughter and be indeed the Child and Servant of God a Courtier and a Christian Did not Joseph the holy Patriarch before him live both magnificently and religiously in the same Egypt and enjoyed the dignities and wealth thereof And long after this was not Devout Esther Queen to Ahasuerus Daniel and his Associates Nobles to Nebuchadnezzar A. Doubtlesse had not Pharaoh and his Court been implacable and mercilesse Tyrants violent Persecutors of and incorrigible irreconcilable Enemies to the people of God Moses might still have resided in that Court and without any violence to his Religion possessed whatsoever Egypt afforded but in this juncture of time the case was otherwise to be stated then it was when Joseph Esther and Daniel had charge and command under Infidell Princes for these had liberty and opportunities to exercise their Religion to improve and manage their Royall Priviledges and immunities to the behoofe and advantage of their civill and sacred relations whereas Moses must either in a base and unworthy complyance joyn with the Egyptians to vex them whom God had wounded or in a dull sleepy security and Epicurean softnesse neglect the remembrance and afflictions of Joseph and stifle and choke that publike Spirit which God had endowed and enobled him withall for eminent and illustrious atcheivements for besides what is above mentioned Moses had sufficient Authority and Commission to enterprize and undertake the Deliverance of his Hebrew Brethren from the Egyptian Bondage a Command Call and Order from God the Lord of Lords the onely Supreme and so as Pharaohs cruelty did lessen Moses his Obligation of gratitude for he being a Publique Spirit and no pure self-lover every indignity and injury to his Brethren was so to him so Gods command did quite supersede all Obligations to Pharaoh his Daughter or Court both because they were but the Instruments of Gods providence who of Enemies made them Friends and Benefactors and so the highest Obligation was to the principall efficient God and also because a command from God to whom proud Pharaoh was but a mean Subject the Supreme of all doth null and voyd all Orders and Obedience to the Inferiour for though Religion doth not take away or disanull the tyes of Nature and Civility but rather enforce and perfect them yet where their Ruler and Offices are counter-checked by an expresse command or prohibition from God there it is Religion and Duty to wave them and observe the expresse The result then is this That if it come to this passe and point that our temporall preferments and possessions our naturall or civill
contemplative Heathen as 1. That there is a God ens entium an Eternall being of and from himself the being of all things 2. That this God is to be Worshipped as the Soveraigne Infinite Wise Good All-sufficient Creator 3. That because he is Infinitely Wise and Good therefore he is not to be Worshipped Formally but Devoutly and Piously Animadverto ipsos Deos Plin. in Pan. ad Traj Imp. non tam occuratis adorantium praecibus quam innocentia sanctitate laetari And he tells in the very beginning of that Oration That it was an Institution and thereupon a Custome among them Vt rerum agendarum initium à precationibus caperunt quod nihil rite c. And thus farr sober Reason and Nature may conduct us But then holy Religion and Faith super-adds 4. That the devout holy Worship of God is to Worship him according to his will and Word which is the Revelation of his will and that Part which concerns his Worship we usually terme his Ordinances and Institutions 5. That those Ordinances and Institutions the Observation whereof is the Worshipping of God according to his will being no dictates of Reason nor determinations of Nature but Decrees of Gods Wisedom we must not canvas nor dispute them but reverently and humbly performe them Rom. 9.20 6. That the Dutifull Reverend Devout and hamble observance of those Institutions God in his wisedom hath prescribed is a most proper act of Faith And it is observed of Moses here By Faith or through Faith he kept the Passe-over and the sprinkling of blood c. The first Part. Q. How did Moses evidence his Faith in this Ordinance and the observation of this rite A. The Answer is obvious and is branched into three resolves any of which will clear the Devotion and Faith of this service 1. Moses did what he had speciall warranty and strong Authority for he did what for the matter and how for the manner as he was commanded in which respect Moses is said to he faithfull in all his Masters house Heb. 3.2 as a trusty diligent servant what he had order for concerning either the Common-wealth or Church of the Hebrews their rites and offices of Religion or the duties of policy their sacred or civill affaires he proclaimed enacted celebrated observed and executed 2. Moses having sufficient security and good assurance from God that the Sprinkling of the Blood upon the Deoreposts would be a signall difference to the destroying Angell that he could not mistake in his designe staggered not through unbeleife that is disputed not the improbabilities of the attempt canvassed not the impotency of the means nor scrupled the successe but kept to his first hold and principles Gods promise and veracity 3. Moses in this rituall contemplated Christ the true Passe-over and this service was a Typicall representation of the Blood of Sprinkling the Lambe of God Jesus Christ who is our Passe-over 1 Cor. 5.7 This anser I rather approve for these Reasons 1. Because this sutes most with the Apostles designe which was To comfort the Hebrews in their sufferings for Christ And thus he seemeth to Argue à minore ad majus from the lesse to the greater If your former Fathers according to the Flesh of whom you are come by the killing of a Lambe and effusion of its Blood rested ascertained of Gods favour and their Deliverance from the Egyptian Captivity then much more ought you their Successors who have Christ the true Lambe of God Sacrificed for you and his Blood shed to be strong in faith and firmly resolved of Gods greater savour who hath supplyed you with greater assurance and of your Deliverance from your present pressures and future Enemies and from your last and worst Enemy Death and him who had the power of Death the Devill and so this corresponds perfectly with the more formall and direct argumentation Heb. 9.13.14 For if the Blood of Bulls and Geats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God 2. This Exposition seems to continue the Apostles allusion Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings where he represents Christ made perfect by sufferings as the first-born of the Israelites consecrated for the whole Succession and the Devill who had the power of Death to the destroying Angell And then makes the paralell and thus amplifies it As the miraculous preservation of the First-born was to your Progenitors an assurance of their after Deliverance so the perfecting of Christ by sufferings doth at once both sanctifie and enoble your present sufferings and secures you of an after Redemption and state of Glory So that the result from these premised suppositions is this You Hebrews have stronger grounds of consolation and greater expressions of mercy and grace then was indulged or licensed to your Predecessors even in Moses his time when God deals most powerfully and mercifully with them and was most free and full in the declarations of his mercy They had but the Sprinkling of Blood for a Testimony You have the blood of sprinkling given you for so this favour is called Heb. 12.24 they the blood of a Lambe out of the Flock You the Blood of the Lambe of God who is also the great Shepherd of your Soules They had Moses to Solemnize this You have Christ the Mediator Moses his Lord and Master in his own Person to sacrifice this Q. But what was this Passe-over A. That Feast or Solemnity so called or a memoriall of the Passe-over For at that Feast they did Eat the Lambe in memory of the Angells passing by the Hebrews in the fatall destruction of the First-born of Egypt and then also they departed thence So that it either Denotes the Lambe then Eaten or the whole Feast all the whole Sacramentall-action is the Passe-over Exod. 12.11 27. And thus shall ye eat it with your loynes girded your shooes on your feet and your staffe in your hand and ye shall cat it in hast it is the Lords Passeover And ye shall say It is the sacrifice of the Lords Passeover who passed over the Housee of the Children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our Houses And Ezod 13.9 ver And it shall be for a figne unto thee upon thine hand and for a memoriall between thine eyes that the Lords Law may be in thy mouth for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egyht Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he kept the Passeover and the sprinkling of Blood that Feast and Solemnity of the Passeover and that commemorative Rite or Sacraement of the Sprinkling of Blood Q. But how did Moses keep