for what is past when they consider they could not help it and then being listed into such a Party where all take themselves to be of the Elect added to this other comfortable consideration that the Elect cannot possibly fall away from Grace This makes them look not only without remorse but with satisfaction and pleasure upon the enormities of their past life they will repeat them and chew them with a Gusto as I have seen many of this sort of People do as being the unavoidable consequences of the beastly and as I may call with a great deal of reason the unnatural state of nature But now they tell you their pardon is seal'd and they are sure 't is impossible for them to miscarry which is Milk and Honey without Money and without Price a Calvinistical Dispensation at once more cheap and more effectual then any his Holiness can afford at Rome which was thought for many years to have been the only staple of that profitable Trade for it is profitable to the cause of Calvinism and to the interest of a separation that might be justifyed upon other grounds though it be more effectually promoted by this and though the Pope indeed in point of ready money have perhaps the start of the Doctours of Geneva Which brings me to the fifth thing and that is that this Doctrine of Election on the one hand and of absolute rejection and reprobation on the other is apt to fill men with insolence and pride with an high opinion of themselves and with a contempt and hatred of others and so is at once a natural cause of separation and of an obstinate and inveterate continuance in it Whether the grounds of such separation be reasonable or no which as it did confirm and strengthen the separation from the Church of Rome a thing that was otherwise necessary to be done without fancying any such eternal decrees to make themselves proud and to breed an hatred and contempt of those from whom they separate for justifyable reasons so I reckon likewise that it is the great Pillar of the Schisme from our Church at this day which as it pretends to greater purity so it proceeds upon an opinion that the Separatists for it are the Elect of God while we from being peaceable and sincerely honest without terms of art â—or being good Subjects without any reserve and for being good Christians without censuring all as Reprobates that differ from us are sometimes pityed and at other times despised as unregenerate Wretches being yet in our sins and in the state of nature that is in such a state in which there is no salvation and in which there is no other prospect but of Eternal death and a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to devour the Adversaries This if it be examined will be found to be the general Ear-mark and Characteristique of the Separation and I am of opinion that there cannot be a better service done to the Church or to Mankind then by exposing such pernicious doctrines so injurious to God and so destructive to the peace and quiet of the world to that disgrace and infamy which they deserve But sixthly and lastly the last thing which I shall mention as having given occasion and encouragement to so dangerous a doctrine is the overheated zeal of St. Austine St. Jerome and others of that age against Pelagius who though it neither can nor must be denyed that he was much to blame that he attributed too much to the Powers of Nature and too little to the helps and Assistances of Grace yet it is equally certain that those who opposed him both in that age and afterwards went too far into the other extreme it must likewise be acknowledged to the credit of our Country in which he had his birth that he was a very wise as well as virtuous person and that for the clearness of his reason he had incomparably the advantage of all his adversaries put together and upon supposition that his last concessions were not extorted from him by the violence of his opposers but by the evidence of truth and by a more serious enquiry into the sense of Scripture and into the nature of things for our belief of these divine assistances is founded in both I should make no very great scruple to affirm that he was a tolerably Orthodox Divine And thus much shall suffice to have written upon this weighty Subject concerning Freedom and Necessity and concerning their several bounds borderings and interfering mixtures together with the genuine causes and effects of the one and of the other FINIS THE CONTENTS of the Two SERMONS THat those places wherein God is said to have hardened the heart of Pharoah are to be understood in their naked and Grammatical sense that is that God did really harden the heart of Pharaoh as the Scripture affirms him to have done Pag. 1 2 A short and true survey of the behaviour of the Aegyptians towards the children of Israel from their first entrance into the Land of Aegypt till their departure out of it and the drowning of the Aegyptians in the Red Sea from p. 2 to 7 From whence a true account is given of the reason why God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and it is likewise shewn that this hardening is not to â—e looked upon under the notion of a sin but of a punishment for former sins from p. 7. to 10 God cannot with justice condemn a man to everlasting torments merely because be did not or could not understand his duty p. 10 11 Part of the ninth Chapter to the Romans relating to this matter explained and the true extent of Gods dominion over his Creatures assigned from p. 11 to 22 The hardening of obstinate and inveterate sinners is so far from being any injustice that it seems absolutely necessary to the due administration of the divine justice in the government of the world from p. 22 to 25 There is nothing in it for which a Sinner can justly expostulate with God as having suffered any wrong because it is a thing perfectly of his own choosing from p. 25 to 27 It is the same thing in effect with the taking away Sinners by untimely deaths before they have made their peace with God by repentance which no man denies but God may justly do p. 27 28 In what sence God may be said to be the cause of obduration or hardness in a Sinner p. 28 29 A Parallel of the Story of Nebuchadnezzar with that of Pharaoh from p. 30 to 35 The same was the case of the Builders of Babel and in what sense their Language may be said to have been confounded p. 35 36 37 The same notion confirmed from Deut. 28. p. 37 To the same cause must we refer all those divine or Panick terrors infused into the minds of men by a supernatural way by which the Philistines the Midianites the Ammonites Moabites inhabitants of Mountseir Canaanites c. were
Nebuchadnezari Sed poenae ejusmodi sunt admodum rarae extraordinariae quando Deus aliquem ad ejusmodi statum redegit id quod posteà committit non imputatur illi in peocatum non magis quà m brutis ratione destitutis nec supplicium ejus aggravat sed supplicium ipsum est quod absurdum foret tale esse ut aliud post se traheret that is God always affords men light enough to leave them inexcuseable that light which shines from the works of the Creation from whence his eternal power and Godhead is discerned Rom. 1. 20. Being sufficient to this purpose unless by a particular Judgment he deprive them of their Reason so as they degenerate into perfect Bruits which was the case of Nebuchadnezzar But punishments of this nature are very rare and unusual and when they are inflicted yet whatever a man shall do in such a Condition cannot properly be called a Sin any more than the same Action would be in a bruit Beast which hath no use of Reason nor any government of its passions neither doth it enhance or aggravate his punishment but is a punishment it self and it is absurd that that punishment in which we are perfectly passive should include in it the nature of guilt and draw an other Punishment after it Thus you see it is granted with much adoe by Curcelleus himself that God does sometimes harden infatuate and deceive men but this he says is a very rare a very unusual thing but by his favour that is not the question whether it be unusual or no but whether lawful and consistent with the justice of God to do it If it be not why did he do it And why does Curcelleus allow it to have been done in the instance of Nebuchadnezzar And if it be then why should we seek a thousand shifts and evasions to elude the force and evidence of other Texts that speak as plainly and as broadly as those wherein the story of Nebuchadnezzar is told Curcelleus having thus plainly declared himself it cannot be doubted but his Master and Predecessor Episcopius whom he does little else but Transcribe and Copy out will be found when as throughly examined to be of the same mind In the fourteenth Chapter Section the 4th Of the fourth Book of his Institutions he says thus I will repeat it although it be a very long Citation Verborum istorum ego indur abo cor Pharaonis ut non dimittat populum meum hanc sententiam esse ex iis quae hactenus dictae sunt Colligo Ego Pharaonem Tyrannum populi mei crudelissimum quanquam Jamdudum poenâ excidii dignum non tamen statim puniam sed primum signis portentis meis mirabilibus quibus similia Magi ejus praestare non poterunt de divinitate potentiâ meâ convictum longanimitate beneficentiâ meâ induratum pro malitiâ suâ ac contumaciâ quâ eum repletum esse scio quanquam eò usque eum adducturus sum ut populum meum retinere ampliùs non sit ausurus visâ primogenitorum omnium primogeniti etiam filii sui caede tamen quia invitò id facturus est animum retinendi ac reducendi dimissum à se aut extrusum potius populum non est depositurus uti eum non deposuisse legere est Exod. 14. 4. Occasionem ei dabo quam avide arripiet nimirum populum meum in angustias quasi redigendo ut mare rubrum ante se post se desertos montes habiturus sit absque ullâ si Pharaoh insequatur cum instructo exercitu contra inermes atque imbelles aut fuga aut evasionis aut resistendi potentiae spe ut eâ oblatâ non sit dubitaturus infracto atque indurato animo populum in istas angustias redactum insequi per ipsam usque maris abyssum quasi fugientem persequi ut eò perductus veluti in theatâ—um aliquod publicum supplicio illustri atque spectabili summaque ejus crudelitate pertinaciâ digno afficiam that is the sense of those words I will harden the heart of Pharaoh that he shall not let the people go is this I will not punish him till I have first convinced him by Miracles which his Magicians cannot imitate of my Divinity and Power and hardened him by my Mercy and forbearance with him And though I design to bring him to that pass by my Judgments that he shall not dare to detain my people any longer yet because it will be only by force and against his will that he will at last suffer them to depart Therefore I will give him an occasion of which he shall be sure to take hold that having the Israelites at a great advantage hem'd in on one side by the Mountains and on the other by the Red-Sea being undisciplin'd and unarm'd unable either to fly or to resist he shall pursue them with an obstinate and revengful mind through the Channel of the Red-Sea whither when I have brought him as it were into a Theatre upon a publick Stage I will make him a notorious example to all Mankind and will punish him with that severity which so much Cruelty and so much obstinate perversness have deserved This is all that Episcopius will be brought to say but if you consider how favourable he is in other parts of his writings to those who deny God's prescience of future Contingences it amounts in a manner to as much as if he had spoken as broadly as Curcelleus afterwards did Again he acknowledges that God gave an occasion which he knew before hand Pharaoh would be sure to embrace that is that he perswaded the Israelites to go by the way of the Red-Sea as he did Exod. 14. 2. On purpose and with a design that Pharaoh should follow after them and if he might justly lay such a design as this and contribute towards it by a positive Act of his will as to be sure he did by commanding the Israelites to march that way I cannot see why he might not as well harden him into a necessity of following them in order to his final overthrow and destruction The last Evidence I shall produce to corroborate what I have written shall be taken from the words of the late excellently learned and exemplarily pious Dr. Hammond in his little Tract concerning a Death-Bed Repentance where discoursing concerning this very instance of Pharaoh after much canvasing of the Business in favour of those who will not allow that Doctrine which I have laid down to be true he concludes thus p. 16. The result of all that I have laboured to lay down concerning Pharaoh is this that although his State were a long time but reversibly ill as long as he hardened his own heart yet when his own obdurations were come to the fulness of measure and he ripe and dropping into Hell as after the sixth Judgment he was then God exchanged the first part of that due
sufficient of themselves to withstand any danger and to resist any temptation how great soever not considering that humane Frailty is so far from being able to maintain so great a Combat by its own strength that setting aside the assistances of Grace without which no such Conflict can be successfully managed the very ordinary powers of Nature are at God's disposal and he may either permit or obstruct the use of them as he pleases himself all our Springs are in and all our Faculties are from him It is observable therefore that as the desertion of ten of them for Judas is not now to be reckoned and the denial of Peter was an effect of their presumption Though I should dye with thee said Peter yet will I not deny thee likewise also said all the Disciples Yet Peter was more positive more presumptuous than the rest and therefore he is made the greater example of the Infirmity of humane Nature the rest only forsook their Lord but Peter denied him which was much more for it is in some cases lawful to fly from Persecution but in none to make an express renunciation of Christ or of his Gospel Upon the whole matter I make no scruple to affirm That the denial of Peter three several times the Maidens and others giving him so many occasions by their Interrogatories to do it and the Cock's crowing just at the third time were all of them managed by a Divine fate Judas his case agrees in this with that of David and Peter that he was hurried on to what he did by a necessity not to be resisted for it is said That Satan entred into him as he did into David but yet as in the instance of David it was no less true that the Lord moved him to number the people by which it must be meant either that the Lord imployed Satan as his Instrument to harden the Heart and blind the Eyes of David or that there was a concurrence of the Divine and Diabolical Power together in order to this end So also in the business of Judas it is said That Satan entred into him but that was not 'till Christ had given him the Sop which seems to have been as it were the signal for Satan to begin to play his part and it is added from our Saviour's own mouth immediately after speaking to Judas as he was going out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That thou doest do quicklâ— John 13. 27. Which words what are they else but the Divine Will imbodied in an articulate sound and hurrying him on with an impatient madness to the execution of his treacherous Design For there is still this difference betwixt the case of Judas and that of Peter and of David already mentioned that the two latter had no foregoing design to do what they did of themselves but David on the contrary did express upon all occasions the utmoâ—â— trust and confidence in God and Peter was so far from any intention to deny his Master that he had made the most obstinate resolutions in the world never to be guilty of it But in Judas it is manifest that he had before-hand harboured such a wicked intention in his Heart that he had not only designed but that he had actually covenanted and agreed with the chief Priests about it which is but another instance added to those of Pharaoh and of Nebuchadnezzar of the concurrence of the free and the necessary principle together But now whereas I have affirmed that one Judas and that this very Judas Iscariot was beforehand designed and pitched upon by Divine providence to betray his Master I will now add that he was the rather pitched upon because he was of the Family of the Iscariots that is to say the Lepers because the Leprosie was an argument of guilt under the Law The Jewish Masters tell us it was the punishment of Pride and therefore the scarlet Wool Cedar Wood and Hyssop which were the Materials made use of in the lustration of it were to denote partly the heinousness of Sin in general which cannot be expiated but by Blood which was the meaning of the scarlet Wool and the reason of those Sacrifices which were enjoyned in this case by way of expiation partly that Pride or haughtiness of Mind of which the Cedar Tree by reason of its usual height was a very fit and proper Emblem which was the cause or occasion why this Disease was inflicted and partly that Humility that pious Meekness and equability of Spirit to which the diseased party was warned by this way of expiation to return the Hyssop being to a very Proverb the most humble and despicable of all kind of Plants whatsoever 1 King 4. 33. And he Solomon spake of Trees from the Cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even unto the Hyssop that springeth out of the Wall Neither was the Leprosie only an effect of Sin but it was also by its spottedness and deformity a Symbol of it and of its spreading and infectious nature Sicut grex totus in agris Unius Scabie cadit porrigine porci Uvaque conspectâ livorem ducit ab uvâ. What fitter name therefore could there be than this for him who was so black a Traytor to his Master and his Friend who was himself so bad a Man and was to dip his hands in the Blood of God And that this was the ture sense and meaning of his name I will now prove as plainly and as briefly as I can before I pass any farther Our Saviour was entertained at the House of one Simon who is by St. Luke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simon the Pharisee but by St. Matthew c. 26. v. 6. and by St. Mark c. 14. v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Leper which Epithetes it is manifest at first sight are consistent enough and do by no means exclude one another so as they might not both well enough be understood of the same person though other circumstances of the Story in all the Evangelists had not been so exactly the same as they are Now it is manifest that at this Entertainment Judas was present for it was he that made that envious or rather covetous and selfish Objection when the good Woman poured her precious Ointment upon the Head and Feet of our Lord John 12. 5. Why was not this Ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the Poor And he is called every where by St. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 6. 71. 12. 4. 13. 26. which is as I have said the same exactly with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the Sirname given to their Family as is probable some Ages before but upon what particular occasion cannot now be determined For Segirouth or Segiroutha in the Chaldee Dialect which was in those days much better understood than the present Hebrew signifies the Leprosie to which it is but adding the Greek Termination significative of a Person and you have without any more ado the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
destroyed from p. 37 to 47 This is the meaning of that Phrase the trembling of God that is a Panick terror seizing upon the hearts of men by the immediate judgment of God proved by the circumstances of the place it self and by Analogy of other interpretations in a short digression upon that subject from p. 41 to 47 It is all one when God hath absolutely decreed to destroy a People by what means soever he bâ—ing that destruction to pass from p. 47 to 49 The Phoenomenon of Obduration farther exemplified in other instances of Sihon Saul David Rehoboam Ahab the Sons of Eli and the whole Nation of the Aegyptians and the justice of it shewed particularly in all the Cases proposed from p. 49 to 67 An occasional digression concerning the inviolable sanctity of the Persons and the unaccountable authority of Kings from 56 to 63 The Objections of Episcopius and Curcelleus against the premises proposed and reducible to three beads First that they whom God is said to have hardened are also said to have hardened themselves p. 68. To which objection it is answered p. 69. that these two are by no means incompossible or inconsistent with each other p. 69 70 An enquiry whether the divine induration were of it self sufficient to necessitate the Aegyptian King to do what he did without the concurrence of the will of Pharoah and the difficulties attending each part of the Dilemma p. 70 71 First answer to the enquiry that Pharaoh would have been necessitated to do what he did by the divine induration without the concurrence of his own will but yet notwithstanding this does not excuse him from sin for two reasons first because the formality of sin consists in the choice of the mind secondly because freedom and necessity being both of them determined the same way are not inconsistent together from p. 71 to 74 The second Answer to the Dilemma proposed that Pharaohs hardening of his own heart may be understood only of the outward appearance because it seemed so to the standers by and this confirmed by the authority of Kimchi Grotius and Josephus from p. 74 to 77 Other Places produced by Curcelleus to prove that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was wholly and entirely owing to himself considered from p. 77 to 79 A second objection or elusion of this Hypothesis of the divine obduration framed from those words Exod. 8. 15. But when Pharaoh saw there was respite p. 79 80 81 The inconsistency of Episcopius with himself and the insufficiency of his solution demonstrated from p. 81 to 83 What Episcopius attributes to the intermission of Judgments that Curcelleus attributes to the lightness of them p. 83 The manifest unskilfulness and downright absurdity of the Curcellean expedient together with a reflection upon the power of prejudice and a further confirmation of the doctrine of Obduration from p. 83 to 87 The last Objection taken from Gods veracity considered and proved that in some cases it is not inconsistent with the divine nature and perfections to deceive nay that it is so far from it that the contrary is confessedly manifest by experience from p. 87 to 95 It is naturally impossible for God to be the Author of Sin together with the vanity of all scruples and objections that are founded upon that supposition Every action of a wicked and unreclaimable man being under the sentence of impenitence and final obduration is the effect of many necessities combined together Pag. 90 91 The Conclusion consisting of four very short observations tending further to demonstrate the truth innocence and usefulness of this Doctrine THE CONTENTS TO THE Apologetical Vindication THe Authors Apology for publishing his two Sermons Pag. 1 A Summary account given of the subject of the two Sermons viz. that it was an attempt to vindicate the literal and proper sense of Scripture in those Places where God is said to have hardened blinded or deceived men against two sorts of misinterpretations one of which will not allow any of these texts to be meant of any more then a Divine permission and the other is so bold as to expound them of a causeless or arbitrary obduration p. 2 The defect and inconvenience of the first way of interpretation and the impiety of the second demonstrated from p. 2 to 5 The usefulness and necessity of some expedient betwixt these two extremes for the vindication of the honour of God the credit of Religion and the Authority of the Scriptures p. 5 6 The expedient proposed as contained in the Discourse entituled the Middle way c. viz. that all these places are to be understood in their first and most proper sence of a positive act of the divine will whereby he hardens and blinds obstinate and inveterate Sinners by way of punishment for their past offences and make them publick Examples to the world p. 6 7 8 An appeal to experience whether some men do not seem to be hardened and blinded by a divine infatuation p. 8 The Author submits it to the judgment of his Reader whether that Hypothesis which he hath lay'd down be not very well fitted to salve the Phaenomena which he pretends to explain by it p. 9 10 The case of Pharaoh considered with an Appeal to the Reader whether the seeming inconsistency betwixt those places where God is said to have hardened Pharaoh's heart and where he is said to have hardened his own heart hath not been very fairly removed by thâ— Author in his Discourse of the Middle way p. 9 The concurrence of Josephus in his sentiments with him largely demonstrated from p. 9 to 18 Josephus is still more express in the Case of Rehoboam p. 18 19 20 Curcelleus and Episcopius when sifted to the bottom confess every whit as much as the Author of the Middle way hath asserted prov'd undeniably from their own Writings from p. 20 to 26 The Authors opinion confirmed by two plain citations out of Dr. Hammond to the same purpose together with his deserved gratulation of himself for having jumped so exactly in his sentiments of things with so famous and renowned a Champion of the Church of England p. 26 27 28 But yet Doctor Hammond is more cautious then needs must or then is consistent with his own concessions together with a further Vindication of the Doctrine of Obduration both as to it's Justice with respect to God and as to its usefulness with respect to men from p. 28 to 32 Two reasonâ— which have made many learned and pious persons cautious of admiting this doctrine of obduration First reason lâ—st God should be the Author of sin a thing in its own nature impossible and absurd as is largely demonstrated from p. 32 to 39 The second reason founded upon a too nice and scrupulâ—us detestation of Calvinistical Doctrines in answer to which it is shewn that this Doctrine of Obduration is so far from favouring the Calvinistical pretences that it perfectly overthrows them p. 39 Four instances made use of
of its expressions to the nature of the things intended to be signified by them and by the other from the horrid and detestable impiety of its Doctrines I say to discover such an expedient as this for the Cure of two such dangerous and destructive ills will I hope be thought a service done to true Religion and a further confirmation of the excellence of that Book upon whose Authority and Credit it relies and this is that which I have endeavoured to do in the ensuing Papers and the expedient which I propose is this That God though he be so far from governing his Creatures by arbitrary measures that his Justice is every where allay'd and temper'd with an infinite Goodness Pity and Compassion yet that when men have for a long time obstinately persisted in desperate and profligately wicked Courses being altogether insensible of the divine patience and forbearance with them or which is worse ungrateful under the sense of it and by a stubborn continuance in the same Courses bidding an open defyance to his Power having resisted all the convictions of their own Consciences the admonitions and advices of their Friends the gracious impressions of God's Holy Spirit being deaf to the voice of Reason secure in the midst of the most dismal fears and dangers wilfully refractory and disobedient against their truest interest nothing better'd or amended by all the troubles or inconveniences which former ill practices have brought upon them that in such case it is just with God to harden them by a particular and positive act of his will into a final impenitence to fix and rivet such degenerate habits into an utter impossibility of amendment to make their Sin one part of the punishment which is consequent upon it and to reserve them on this side the Grave in a supernatural frenzy to be the publick examples of his Justice and warning pieces to the world that in such cases as these there is no manner of harm nor any the least inconsistency with any of his attributes Psal 69. v. 27. If he add iniquity to their iniquity on purpose that they may not enter into his Righteousness Prov. 16 v. 4. Or if he that made all things for himself shall also make the wicked for the day of Evil that is make men persist obstinately in those courses which are to appearance wicked though indeed they be fatal for the day of Evil that is in order to their punishment as well in this life as in the next And truly if we reflect which in so bad an Age as this it is not difficult to do how obstinately some men are bent upon the most desperately wicked Courses to the destruction of their health to the ruin of their Interest in spite of the perswasions and admonitions of their most faithful friends a man can hardly think otherwise but that for some one or more very heinous and provoking Sins after a long course of impenitence which is in effect every minute a re-commission of the same Sins they are possessed and actuated by a divine infatuation How well I have proved my assertion and how suitable that Hypothesis which I have laid down is for the salving the Phaenomena which I pretend to explain by it must be left to the Judgment of every impartial reader But because it is objected among other things in the instance of Pharaoh which I may call the Master-instance since it is not only the first but the most frequently and the most expresly inculcated of any in the whole Bible that he is said to have hardened his own heart and to have sinned yet more and the like expressions which may seem at first sight very inconsistent with a fatal obduration therefore to remove this difficulty and render the sense of Scripture as easie and as intelligible as I can I have endeavoured to show that these two things are by no means incompetible with one another with what success must be left to others to determine I will now add that I find Josephus in the second of his Antiquities exactly concurring with me in this opinion For he plainly makes him to have acted freely in what he did having reasons and motives of his own to perswade him to it which was his Sin and yet to have been all the while possest by so strange a stupidity and sottish Madness as could not be otherwise than the effect of a divine Judgment and a fatality not to be resisted The grounds of reason assigned by Josephus by which the King of Egypt was induced not to suffer the people of Israel to depart are two First That which Moses uses in his own excuse to free himself from the delivery of a message which he thought would be to no purpose who though he there makes a very solemn profession of his devout acknowledgment and adoration of the divine power Yet he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I doubt notwithstanding saith he how I being a private man of no Authority or interest among them shall be able to perswade my Countrymen to leave that fertile Province of which they are now possessed and follow me thorough so many dangers into the Land of Canaan And then immediately sub joynes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I should be so happy continued he to perswade mine own Countrymen yet how shall the Egyptians and how shall Pharaoh be wrought upon to suffer them to depart by whose perpetual drudgery and daily toils they gain so much wealth and advantage to themselves This therefore was the first rational Inducement why he would not suffer them to depart because their stay was of so much use to enrich him and his people The second account to be given of this obstinacy so far as it was a voluntary thing is that sorcery and enchantments were so usual in those times and places among the Egyptians and Chaldeans that when Moses first gave him a specimen of that miraculous power with which he was endued as a Testimony of his divine Mission by changing Aaron's rod into a Serpent he looked upon this as no other than a magical delusion and therefore instead of letting the people go as he desired 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is He grew desperately displeased and angry calling him a base and wicked fellow who having fled himself into the Land of Midian to avoid the Egyptian Bondage was now returned from thence by sorcery and witchcraft to perswade the rest to follow his example and force the Egyptians to suffer it by his Enchantments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. fortasse 〈◊〉 i e. Which words he had no sooner spoken but he added immediately that you may not value your self too much upon your skill in Magick or think that you are the only person in the world who can make a counterfeit apperance of divine power you are to understand Moses if you do not know it already that there is nothing more common among the Egyptians than this and that all our Priests can
do the same at which immediately the Magicians threw down their Rods which were converted presently into Serpents like that of Aaron and gave new strength to the obstinacy of Pharaoh's heart These were the two rational motives upon which Pharaoh proceeded The First was properly a reason of State and interest why he should not suffer the Israelites to depart The Second was an argument with him and his people not to give that credit to the miracles of Moses which otherwise they might have done But this is not all the account Josephus gives he does manifestly suppose likewise the Concurrence of a necessary together with the voluntary and spontaneous principle without which it would have been impossible but so many and so great Plagues must needs have melted the Egyptian King into a compliance with the demands of Moses and into a final Resolution not any more to be recall'd of suffering the Israelites quietly to go their way For when the rod of Aaron had swallowed those of the Magicians which was a sufficient testimony of a Power superiour to theirs yet he makes the King of Egypt insensible of any such thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He was fill'd with rage but not with fear or admiration at what had happened And when Moses not at all discouraged by his former course Entertainment and contemptuous usage accosted him a fresh upon the same errant adding menaces of the utmost Plagues and Calamities to befall him and his people in case he still continued obstinate and refractory against the divine will and Message Yet Josephus makes him to take so little notice of it as if he had not heard what Moses had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again whereas I have compared this hardness of Pharaoh's heart to a Lethargick or Apoplectick fit which is awakened sometimes into some degree of sensation by the application of Caustick and painful Remedies but frequently upon the abatement of that Pain relapses into its former security and forgetful Slumber as Pharaoh was frequently of the mind to yield to the pressing importunity of Moses when it was backed with the dreadful sollicitation of the most dismal Plagues but yet upon the least relaxation or intermission of those Plagues was just the same insensible and stupid Creature that ever he was before I am in this likewise very strongly supported by the Authority of the same Josephus of the Rivers being turned into blood and of the removal of that Calamity he says thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The King being startled at this unexpected event and being perfectly at his wits end not knowing at this rate what would become of the Egyptians who must all perish if the Waters continued to be poisoned gave leave to the Hebrews immediately to depart but no sooner was the hand of God removed but he returned to his former mind and would by no means permit them to be gone So likewise when the Plague of Frogs was by the Mercy of God at the Prayer of Moses removed he makes him to have been so stupid that he was no more moved than if no such Judgment had ever been inflicted his words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is But Pharaoh was no sooner freed from this Judgment but he forgat the cause and would not dimiss the people Again when the Plague of Lice that loathsome and abominable Calamity had filled all Egypt with Terrour and deformity together he makes him then like a man between sleeping and waking to give his half consent that they should depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. Opinor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. At this horrible Calamity the. King of Egypt being affrightned and fearing at once the Destruction of his people and recounting with himself the shameful and ignominious manner by which they were about to perish was now half perswaded to lay aside his perversness and hearken to sober Counsels But the Concurrence of these two Causes is most plainly intimated by him at the close of that Chapter out of which the above mentioned Citations are taken in the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The aforesaid mischiefs must needs have been sufficient to bring him to a sense of what was equally his interest and his Duty if he had not lost the use of Reason together with the sense of Goodness but he not so much out of Ignorance as out of perfect Malice being sensible of the cause on which all these Judgments depended would yet notwithstanding set himself in opposition to God Almighty was a wilful betrayer of himself and his people to Destruction and did what he knew to be for the worse at that very time when he did it Neither is Josephus less favourable to my sentiments in the case of Rehoboam than in that of Pharaoh but rather more for he does not only attribute the infatuation of Rehoboam himself to a positive Act of the divine will but he makes his advisers to have been exactly in the same predicament with himself being all of them alike infatuated and deceived so that as he could not take so neither could they give any other Counsel than they did his words are these speaking first of Rehoboam's rejecting the Counsel of the old men Antiq. L. 8. c. 3. and then of his applying himself to the younger Fry for their opinion in the case proposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. fortasse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is But he Rehohoam neglected the Counsel of the old men how good soever in its self and how suitable soever to the present Circumstance of time wherein it was given God himself as I conceive making him to condemn and disallow that which was most for his advantage Wherefore assembling his young men and Camerades that had been bred up together with him he acquainted them with the advice of the old men desiring likewise their opinion of the matter but they partly from the heat and inconsiderate rashness of Youth and partly because God would not suffer them to discern any thing better advised him to give for answer that it was in vain to expect a redress of grievances from him for that he was so far from it that they should find his little finger heavier than his Father's loins Nay Curcelleus and Episcopius themselves who are my great opposers in this point yet when they are sifted to the bottom they confess the very same though at first they are mealy mouth'd and will not acknowledge so much So Curcelleus L. 6. c. 9. p. 382. Semper enim iis satis lucis relinquit ad omnem justam excusationem adimendum qualis vel illa sola est quae ex operibus Dei apparet ex quibus potentia ejus aeterna divinitas perspicitur Rom. 1. 20. Nisi fortè mentem iis eripiat obbrutescant ut olim contigit
punishment of his in another world that was instantly to have Commenced for a temporary cooler Hell here hardened his heart and obstructed all possibility of Repentance from him and so concluded him in this life in an irreversible Estate Which notion he afterwards improves to the same purposes that I have done and after some further discourse upon this occasion p. 18. He concludes thus All which being not only granted but proposed as necessary considerations to be taken along with this Doctrine it remains still clear and uncontrouled that God may if he will thus punish a hard heart with total and final substraction of Grace and so with hardening irreversibly either here which I only say he may but know not that he will or at the hour of Death at which time there is no doubt but he will thus proceed with every impepenitent I account my self very happy in having jumped so exactly in my sentiments of things with so famous and renowned a Champion of our Church and I was the more pleased in the first of these Citations to find not only the notion but the very words in which it is expressed to come so near to some of mine in the following Discourse though I had not the good fortune to see Dr. Hammond's Treatise till near two Months after I had written mine when upon showing what I had written to a worthy Friend to have his opinion of it he was pleased to communicate that piece of the Doctors to me which when I found it so agreeable to mine own thoughts you may well imagine I read it with abundance of satisfaction But still there is some small difference betwixt the learned Doctor and me He as I do humbly conceive out of a needless tenderness for the Honour of God and for the Glory of his attributes to make his patience and forbearance with us the more remarkable and conspicuous will not admit of this way of procedure till the last cast when the man is grown desperate and it is almost in vain to expect any amendment from him nay he will not positively determine whether ever God do visit men with final impenitence till the hour of Death But it is very clear that whatever God may lawfully do without any violence to his Justice that he may do at all times whenever there is a lawful or justifiable occasion since therefore it is confessed on all hands that God may and does oftentimes take away Sinners in the middest of their days by a particular Judgment the consequence of which without all question is inevitable Damnation why may he not as well harden and blind men sooner or later as he pleases himself into an irreversible Impenitence so as it shall be impossible for them to Repent that he may reserve them on this side the Grave to be the publick examples of his Justice to the world For no man can be any more than Damned and therefore with respect to the offender himself these are but two several instances of the same rightful dominion and Soveraignty over us which may take the forfeiture of our Sins either way and at what time it shall seem best to the supream Lord and uncontroulable proprietor of all things It is true indeed the common impressions which are so deeply rooted in us all concerning the divine nature and the daily experience we have of his infinite Goodness in the administration of this lower world will not permit us to think that God will do either of these without very great provocations but we are to consider that all men are not equally ripe for punishment at the same time or age there is great difference as to the frequent repetition of Sin as to the different enormity or heinousness of the Crimes committed and as to the different aggravation of those circumstances under which they are committed one man sins against greater convictions after greater Mercies under more powerful Influences of the holy Spirit than another and these things would make a vast difference as to the time of inflicting punishment though the divine Justice were always to be administred ad pondus and did always hold the same proportion to the Sins of men but then it is to be considered in the second place that God is not bound to extend the same patience to all nor indeed so much to any as he does but in some he may take the forfeiture of their Sins sooner in some later as he pleases himself which whoever shall seriously reflect upon will find it a Doctrine not only very reasonable in it self but in its Consequences so wholesome that nothing can be more For what greater Inducement can there possibly be to an holy and virtuous life to care and watchfulness in all our Conversation than to think that we are every moment upon our good behaviour and that God if we continue to provoke him any longer may the next minute seal our everlasting Doom and consign us over to eternal Flames may put us into an irrecoverable State of degeneracy and Apostacy in this life that we may be made a Spectacle of shame and horrour in this world and an eternal prey to infinite and everlasting Torments in the next Certainly if this one Consideration were but throughly impressed upon the minds of men there is nothing in the world that could have better effects or produce a more lasting or a more universal reformation in it And therefore as you cannot well if you reflect upon the Circumstances of most men enlarge this power of obduration in God so far as to make the exercise of it unjust so the farther you do extend it with consistency to reason and Justice the better effects it will produce and the greater advantages will be reaped from it There are indeed two things which have made many learned and pious Persons cautious of admitting so much as I have done First Lest God by this means should be looked upon as the Author of Sin and therefore as the only way in their opinion to avoid this inconvenience they generally interpret all those places only of a divine permission without which indeed it is impossible any Action should be done or any event come to pass because upon his will and power the very existence of all things does depend in him we live and move and have our being therefore if he did not sometimes permit at least and suffer bad things to be done no such thing could ever come to pass besides that a divine permission is of absolute necessity to the very being of virtue and true Religion in the world for if men could not Act otherwise than they do they could not be said to be either good or bad and therefore that men may use that freedom which is given them aright it is necessary they should also have a power of determining themselves another way To be sure with respect to this life this must be granted to be unavoidably true for what is our whole life
Sons of God The second Assertion I prove from those words of St. John's Gospel c. 13. v. 27. And after the Sop Satan entered into him that is he was actuated by an evil Spirit of Envy and Madness and immediately went forth in a turbulent and outragious humour to sell his Lord and Master to his Enemies the Jews that by Satan such a violent spirit of anger and revenge is signified will not I suppose by any be denyed or if you understand it of the person of that wicked Angel who is called in Scripture Satan and the Devil it comes to the same thing either way and it will seem either way very reasonable to believe that Judas was necessitated to what he did Therefore all the question will be by whom this necessity was imposed that it was immediately from the Devil is plain if you take the words in the latter sense but yet that hinders not but he might be commissioned or employed by God But I confess I am rather enclinable to interpret it in the former for Satan is from a word that signifies enmity and hatred and so may properly enough denote a malicious and revengeful temper from whomsoever it proceeds whether from the naughtiness of a man 's own heart or by the permission of God from the Devil or by his immediate Judgment from himself However St. John tells us expresly that our Saviour gave him that Sop after the eating of which Satan immediately entered into him which manifestly implies that he was at least more than consenting to it not that this Sop is to be looked upon in the nature of an efficient or instrumental cause any more than spittle was a cause of restoring the blind man to his sight but together with the delivery of this there was a concurrence of the Divine Power by which the Devil that is a Spirit of masterless and ungovernable rage immediately entered into him which is very agreeable to the Language of the Scripture very consonant to my Hypothesis and to reason to suppose if you consider how bad a man Judas had always been St. John's own Character of him is that he was a Thief John 12. 6. And you may add safely that he was an Hypocrite too otherwise he had never pretended to be a Disciple nay which is more than all this the Devil had already put it into his heart to betray his Master John 13. 2. And he had actually covenanted with the chief Priests for thirty pieces of Silver Matth. 26. 14 15. So that after all this it was no wonder if he were punished with a necessity of doing what he had so wickedly designed but was as yet under some kind of hesitancy betwixt resisting and yielding to the importunity of the Temptation Neither is it at all to be wondered if by Satan the Person of the great Apostate Angel or of one of his Missionaries be to be understood that the same effect should seem to be ascribed to God and to the Devil to Christ who gave the Sop and to Satan who immediately after it entered into him because in this case one may be considered as the impulsive cause the other as the immediate Instrument Satan necessitated Judas by God commissioned or employed Satan as it is said in the case of David 2 Sam. 24. 1. That the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say go number Israel and Judah and yet notwithstanding 1 Chron. 21. 1. Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel where by the way it is an unpardonable presumption in Junius and Tremellius who have inserted the word Adversarius into the body of their Translation of the former place to make it answer the more exactly with the latter The words of their Translation are these Perrexit autem ira Jehovae accendi in Israelitas quum incitasset Adversarius Davidem in eos dicendo age numera Israelem Jehudam I say it is an unpardonable presumption to take such a liberty of Translation as this is since these two things are so consistent together as I have shown them to be but it is still more unpardonable in them according to whose principles there is nothing which God cannot do or may not decree his power being the only bounds that can be set to his will and his power being infinite that is no boundary at all It is further observable in the instance of David that he had no sooner numbred the people But immediately his heart smote him And David said to the Lord I have sinned greatly in that I have done 2 Sam. 24. 10. that is when this necessity was off he was sensible that he had done amiss and he seemed to himself to have committed a great Sin as not being sensible of that necessity by which he was compelled to do it which is every man's case who is blinded or hardened by God and indeed without a supernatural Fatality it is impossible to suppose that David the man after God's own heart who was used to put so great confidence in his God and so little in the number or strength of his Armies who was used to overthrow multitudes with an handful of men and had done such incredible wonders by such despicable external means I say it is impossible to suppose that such an one so long as he had the use of his reason and the full exercise of the rational faculties of his mind should ever distrust so gracious or go about to disoblige so good a God so far as to measure his strength by his numbers as if he doubted the power of the Almighty for the future or had forgotten what signal deliverances had been wrought for him by such inconsiderable and weak Instruments as in which no humane expectation could be placed and all this notwithstanding the dissuasions of Joab and of the Captains of the Host who all unanimously addressed themselves to him to divert him from so fatal an intention 2 Sam. 24. 4. But it is said the King's word prevailed and notwithstanding the apparent unreasonableness and ingratitude of the thing yet there being no express law of God against it the King was of necessity to be obey'd I am afraid there are those in our days who would think a less reasonable pretence than this sufficient to excuse and justifie their disobedience What has been said of Davids numbering the people may be said of Pete'r denying his Master and of Judas his betraying him that at that time when they did it they were not sensible of what they did but were hurried on by an irresistible force which it was utterly impossible for them to withstand but afterwards when that impetus was abated and they came perfectly to themselves they both of them relented and being altogether insensible of that divine Judgment by which they were violently compelled to what they did they imputed the whole action entirely to themselves wherefore the one wept bitterly and the
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and besides a plain demonstration that Judas was the Son of that Simon who is called ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Leper which is nothing else but the Greek interpretation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Iscariot Mat. 10. 4. Mar. 3. 18. As likewise in the number of the Apostles we find mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simon the Cananite or rather the Cananite by the same way of Analogy that is by adding the Greek Termination Exod. 34. 14. Deut. 4. 24. 5. 9. 6. 15. Nahum 1. 2. which is expressive of a Person to the Hebrew word Kanna as appears from this that the same Disciple is by St. Luke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 1. 13. which is exactly the rendition of the Hebrew Kanna Exod. 20. 5. and in other places Which conjecture of mine concerning Judas Iscariot is strangely confirmed by Beza's excellent M. S. being the same that he afterwards bestowed upon the publick Library of the University of Cambridge which reads this Name all along through the Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke a little more near to the Chaldee Segirouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perhaps for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the same M. S. in all the five places of St. John it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the corruption arising from the extream likeness of Σ and K in the Majuscular Greek Character by which it happen'd that the K was twice repeated by some negligent Transcriber and afterwards by one who was more carefully mistaken one of them as being needless as indeed it was was left out wherefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Judas that was descended from the Scariot or Judas the Son of Simon the Leper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Thucydides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are those who descended from the Athenian Planters and so in that of Virgil Belus omnes A Belo orti That is Belus omnes Belidae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall conclude this matter with reflecting upon a Note of Drusius upon Joh. 6. 71. upon these words Judam Simonis Theophylactus saith he videtur legisse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nam alt Judam alio nomine Simonem appellatum fuisse falsum nam fuit Simonis Filius But Drusius was mistaken and so was Theophylact too whose words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not that this depended upon any corrupt reading of any place in the New Testament as Drusius imagines but it happened as I conceive thus Theophylact had read in some other History of those Times not now extant or in some other Author who had borrowed it from thence of one Simon Iscariot for that was his proper Name being the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Leper and then thinking with himself that Judas was always called in Scripture Iscariot and looking upon this as a name peculiar to his person not the Sirname of his Family as indeed it was he concluded that Judas Iscariot and this Simon must needs be the same or that Judas was otherwise called Simon which is so plain to every Eye so easie and familiar for every Man to conceive and is withall so strange a confirmation of that Etymon which I have given of the name Iscariot that I conclude without any more ado that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are certainly the same that it was the common name of his Family not proper to his Person and that Judas Iscariot was the Son of Simon the Leper Which conjecture or rather demonstration when I consider how natural and easie it is in its self how useful for explaining the History and by consequence for vindicating the Authority of the Scripture and when I compare it with the frigid and far-fetcht conceits of Zacharias Chrysopolitanus Theodore Beza Camero Drusius Caninius Grotius Dr. Lightfoot and others I can hardly forbear paying my acknowledgments to the Divine Goodness for so useful a Discovery in the same Language in which our Saviour did it in behalf of his Disciples a few contemptible Fishermen and Handicraft Mechanicks to whom God by him had revealed those Mysteries which were unknown to the Sages and Rabbins of the world Matth. 11. 25 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus much may suffice to have been spoken concerning those particular Instances which are most obnoxious to exception in the following Discourse but it is certain that what God may justly do to one Man that he may also do to a whole Nation which is but an aggregate of so many single Men if the cause for which a punishment is inflicted be as Epidemical as the punishment it self It is no wonder therefore when there were few or none of the Egyptians but what were more or less concerned in oppressing the Israelites and imposing those intolerable Burthens upon them it is no wonder I say if a divine or fatal Obduration were superadded to that which was spontaneous and owing to themselves and if the one were alike Epidemical with the other for the case being exactly the same with Pharaoh and with his Subjects or Servants for when Pharaoh saw that the Rain and the Hail and the Thunders were ceased he sinned yet more and hardened his Heart he and his Servants Gen. 9. 34. The way of dealing or proceeding with them must likewise in all reason and justice be the same And what hath been said of the Egyptians in the time of Moses is true in its proportion of the Jews in that of our Saviour and in all the succeeding Ages down to this very day they are the words of St. Paul Rom. 11. 25. I would not Brethren that ye should be ignorant of this Mystery lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in But yet we must not think that this was the only reason and that God out of no consideration but only his own Arbitrary choice did prefer the Gentiles before the Jews or that he was carried forth by something in his nature into a greater love for one than for the other for he is no respecter of persons and besides at this rate the Gentiles would have had some reason if not to be wise yet to be pufft up and exalted in their own conceits but it depended originally upon the wilful and voluntary Transgressions of the Jewish Nation on whom God had in vain bestowed the most particular and signal Marks of his favour Rom. 9. 4 5. Who were the Israelites to whom pertained the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises whose were the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came And when he did come he spent the time of his Sojourning upon Earth among his Countrymen the Jews it was among them he preached among them he wrought his Miracles among them he