and he made it his business to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named Rom. 15.20 24. lest he should build upon another mans foundation So that if one of these Itinerants could run over so great a part of the world we may well suppose that the other twelve might with ease divide the rest of the world among them And now what alas were we mad and desperate Idolaters that God should bring us hitherto That the Lord should say to us who were not his people You are my people and that we should say O Lord thou art our God O what a mercy is it that we the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blinde Mat. 22.9 Luk. 14.21 23. who abode in the streets and lanes of the City yea that we who wandred about in the high-wayes and amongst the hedges should be called to the Wedding-Feast of the King of heaven That unto us who sate in darkness and dwelt in the region and shadow of death Light should spring up Let therefore the name of the Lord be magnified by us poor sinners the Gentiles as the Prophet soretold it should from the rising of the Sun Mal. 1.11 unto the going down of the same And since we are through grace become children of Sion let us take the liberty here to sing one of the Songs of Sion so far as we may be concern'd therein O give Thanks unto the Lord for he is Good For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the God of gods For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the Lord of lords For his mercy endureth for ever To Him who alone doth great wonders For his mercy endureth for ever Who remembred us in our low estate For his mercy endureth for ever O give Thanks unto the God of heaven For his mercy endureth for ever Let the Redeemed of the Lord among the Gentiles say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered them out of all lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South not onely to dwell in the house of the Lord here and to see his goodness in the land of the Living but to sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdome of God to all Eternity And let us of this Nation among the rest and above the rest as it is our duty give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name acknowledging his great mercy in that his unchangeable love hath had an extraordinary measure reaching even first unto us Oh how hath the Lord been pleased to send his Gospel upon the wing unto this Nation So wonderfully here prevailing that England hath had this honour in an eminent manner to be the first-born of grace among the Nations Here reigned the first Christian King that ever was in the world King Lucius who submitted to the Law of Christ confirming it by a civil sanction From hence went the first Christian Emperour that put an end to the bloudy persecutions of the primitive Christians Constantine yea and after the general defection from the purity of the faith made by the Romish Church which like the tail of the Dragon threw down to the earth a great part of the Stars of Heaven Here the Reformation of the Christian Religion began first to be established by a Law by the first King that ever cast off the yoke of that Anti-Christian Usurper King Henry the 8. Wherein whether his design was to promote any sinister interest of his own as some imagine or to advance the Kingdom of Christ is not much material for us to know The arme of the Almighty hath hitherto been stretched out for the preservation thereof counter-working all the Machinations of Hell which have been and still are upon the Devil's forge against it Rejoyce therefore in the Lord O England and again I say rejoyce But as it is our bounden duty to ascribe unto the Lord the glory of this mercy and to rejoyce that we are no more strangers and forreiners as the Apostle tells the Ephesians but fellow-citizens with the Saints Eph. 2.19 that is the Jews and of the house-hold of God So we cannot but abhor the treachery of those false brethren among us called Anabaptists who like a brood of Vipers would if it lay in their power but that Gods mercy towards us triumphs over their falsehood disfranchise us of our liberties in the house of our God and rob us of those priviledges wherein the Lord Jesus Christ hath made us free giving us therein equal right with his Israel that was before us because he is still the Same I might instance in sundry of their Anti-Christian tenents tending hereunto But for brevities sake will make mention onely of one that is their Antipaedobaptisme not allowing the Infants of Believers to be admitted into the house-hold of faith by the Sacrament of Baptisme It is not my purpose here to dispute this point at large being out of my way enough hath been written of it already And it hath been found by experience to be a toylsome task to run the wilde-goose chase as a learned divine now with God once phrased it after a well breathed Opinionist they delight in Vitilitigation Mr. Nath. Ward It is an itch as he said that loves a life to be scrubb'd they desire not satisfaction but satisdiction whereof themselves must be judges I shall not therefore say much to this quarelsome people Let them consider how they will answer the Apostle here who avoucheth Jesus Christ to be thee Same to day which he was yesterday Certainly if the infants of the Jews were by virtue of Christs mediatory office to be received into the bosome of the Church and distinguished from those that were without by a Solemn Sacrament of initiation but the infants of Christian parents to whom belongeth the Kingdom of God as as well as to the Jews before must not be allowed to partake of a like priviledge but be reckoned still as dogs as the Scripture calls all that are without Jesus Christ is not the Same according to the Apostles word Neither is his office now of so much use unto his Church as it hath been formerly Of such blasphemy as this not to be mentioned without horrour must this cursed errour be the foundation But let me ask of these deceivers How came it to pass that Christ hath not obtained this priviledge for our Infants as well as he did for the Jews seeing God is not now the God of the Jews onely but of the Gentiles also Surely it must be either because he would not or because he could not To say he would not doth plainly demonstrate his love of us to be less then it was of the Jews which agreeth not with that abundant grace that hath been now revealed in the time of the Gospel To say he could not contradicteth that universal power which the father had given
but what saith the Answer of God unto him I will make all my Goodness pass before thee and I will proclaime the Name of the Lord before thee And what could a poor Creature in this World desire more Oh what admirable Honour is this that the Lord vouchsafeth unto his Beloved Favourite what an incomparable Priviledge is This Moses now partaker of above his Brethren But it is the Lord who may do what he pleaseth for so he saith I will be Gracious to whom I will be Gracious and I will shew Mercy on whom I will shew Mercy Nevertheless we may with Modesty enquire how and by what means this glorious Goodness came to be presented unto Moses and that we shall finde to be even by this good old Way which we have here been speaking of viz. the Mediation of Jesus Christ I go not about to wrest this excellent Scripture by forcing upon it a sense which may not agree with the minde of the Holy Ghost therein That be far from me what I have to say concerning it I shall leave to the Judgement of the Wise and Godly First I shall by the way take this for granted because it hath been already proved that Moses had to do with Jesus Christ as the rest of the people had while He and they were together in the Wilderness And it must be confessed that there was as much need of the help and interposition of a Mediatour in this matter that we are speaking of as in any thing els which I say was in great Mercy dispensed unto Moses as is manifest First by the Preparation that preceded this glorious Appearance Secondly by the Form and Method of the Proclamation of the Name of the Lord at the time of that appearance As for the Preparation which is mentioned in the three last Verses of this thirty third Chapter the particulars thereof are very remarkable viz. concerning the place that is said to be by the Lord Ex. 33.21 22 23. and the Lord 's putting Moses into the cleft of the Rock and covering it with his Hand which that we may the better understand and see how apposite they are to our present purpose it will be needful for us to take into Consideration that whole intercourse between the Lord and Moses First Moses prayeth unto the Lord V. 13. in these words Shew me now thy Way What is that Thy Way say some that thou meanest to take with this people in bringing them to the Land which thou didst promise to give unto their Fathers I will not deny but that this might be in the minde of Moses now when the Lord was pleased to admit him into his presence because he was ever zealous for the peoples good But there are some Circumstances which follow that do incline me to another sense at least to joyn another with this both which may be allowed together being not inconsistent each with other but tending both to one and the same end It seemeth unto me that Moses here prayeth that the Lord would reveal himself unto him out of the Cloud in some shape and form as he might be visible unto his bodily sight which he therefore calleth his Way because he had been wont to do so to the Patriarchs before him whom he likewise knew by Name And I do the rather conceive this to be the sense because of the ground and reason of his desire which is added by him in the words following Lord saith he Shew me thy way that I may know thee and that I may find grace in thy sight True it is the Lord promiseth him immediately after this that his Presence should go with him as being an Answer to his request in the behalf of the people the necessity whereof Moses also urgeth and insisteth upon V. 15 16. Yet doth the Lord give him a further Answer in the Words that follow V. 17. as to a thing somewhat differing from that which concerned the people I will saith he do this thing also that thou hast spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by Name Now since the Lord had before consented that his Presence should go along with him in the Conduct of the people and that Moses had given his Restipulation thereunto resting him fully satisfied with what the Lord had promised to what purpose is this other Consent now superadded and that with a note of difference from what had passed before if it be not this which I have here declared viz. that the Lord would according to his desire Visibly appear unto him out of the Cloud in a humane shape as he had been accustomed to do to others whom he knew by Name which sense being admitted how clear will the Circumstances following that are preparatory to the great discovery of God in the next Chapter be unto us which otherwise will prove very intricate and obscure Behold saith the Lord there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a Rock and it shall come to pass while my Glory passeth by that I will put the in a Cleft of the Rock Now what place upon Earth can be said to be neerer to the Lord then another seeing he filleth Heaven and Earth with his presence And what Rock or Cleft of a Rock could be able to secure Moses from the danger of being consumed by that excellent Glory which did appear seeing the Rocks are cloven to pieces Nah. 1.6 and thrown down before him How then could these things be It is in vain now to produce an Anthropopathy and so stretch it so far as to make it level with every Circumstance for doubtless there was a Reality in this matter and every particular of it was done and effected to Moses sense and to the full satisfaction of his expectation so far as might stand with the safety of his Life Granting therefore that Jesus Christ appeared unto Moses as a Man there might then be a place said to be according to the ordinary course of Nature neerer to him in that Mount where the Lord was wont to meet this his servant then another elsewhere he might also put Moses into the Rock and cover him with his Hand to preserve him from the imminent Danger and then take away his Hand that so Moses might see some glimpse of that Glory that passed by Yea more it is said Exod 34.5 that the Lord Descended in a Cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord and yet in the sixth verse it is said The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed to stand still with Moses proclaiming and to pass by before him proclaiming too seemeth in reason not to hold well together the true meaning therefore undoubtedly is this Jesus Christ who is Jehovah the Mediatour came down upon the Mount in a Cloud and then after he was descended appears visibly unto Moses according to his former Promise and stood with him there to protect him from Danger while
at all account it lawful and sit to be used in so solemn a matter as the service of God would have been more tolerable at those times when conceived prayer it self was dishonoured by the Plagiary super-inducements of other mens labours surreptitiously taken out of their printed Books and under a pretence of suddenness of Conception frequently and at large thrust into Publick prayers even by those that were the greatest enemies to common and publick forms Sundry other instances might here be reckoned up whereby it would appear that there was not any thing wherein the Beauty of Holiness had shined out in former times that was not wofully polluted in those dayes of Schism by our Changings and Counter-changings which were such that it might well be said of us notwithstanding all our vain-glorious pretensions to a glorious light surpassing all that had been seen in the Ages before that indeed and in truth we feared not God Alas our Glory was our shame and we like a foolish people and unwise loved to have it so accounting that which was indeed our shame to be our greatest glory But non fuit sic ab initio It was not wont to be thus We had left our first love and zeal for the truth of the Gospel and therefore did God in his just judgment give us up to strong delusions to follow after lies High time then was it for us to repent and do our first Works and to say with those in the Prophet we will go and return to our first husband for then was it better with us then now The streets of Romish Askelon possibly may ring of these our mis-doings and the rather because we are not quite gone over unto them when we were brought very near But they may spare their breath to remove their own stench if they can which is so noisome all the world over We will our selves give glory to God in confessing that our transgressions have been many and our back-slidings have encreased Our sinful compliancy with Anabaptisme Brownisme Familisme c. which in former times were judged by us according to their proper nature to be most abominable Errours hath been so notorious that it doth even fill our faces with shame and blushing when we sadly take it into our consideration that we whom God have made a Nation not to be despised but honourable in the eye of the World and a Church adorned with a glorious beauty surmounting other Churches even by their own confession yea terrible as an Army with Banners to Anti-Christ and his Adherents should make our selves thus naked and bare by entertaining such scurfe into our bosome which was fitter rather to be trod under foot Surely very unworthy have we hereby made our selves of that dignity which God hath put upon us True it is this mischeivous project was first hatched and afterwards fomented by some false brethren among us the spurious issue of John a Leyden and Knipperdolling yet because it did prevail and grew to such a height without any the least control from those that had power in their hands to suppress it to whom the Nation did generally in a manner submit the guilt therefore of a most shameful Apostacy might too justly we fear be imputed unto us But rejoyce not against us O our enemy though we have fallen we are through mercy risen again though our backslidings have been strong yet they are not blessed for ever and ever be the Name of our God either like unto those of Jerusalem or those of Rome perpetual If we have through the sly insinuations of Jesuitical Emissaries who have mingled themselves with us in the late Transactions of our nation and the cunning craftiness of Hypocritical self-seekers been too rash and heady in endeavouring to amend what was judged to be amiss in things pertaining to God we will not when God hath shewed us our Errour be pertinacious in it but return rather to our Obedience from which we have swerved and be better advised hereafter waiting upon the Lord in his own way for the propagating of his Gospel as his word and providence shall direct us In the mean time we will not spare to publish our sorrow for those deplorable wastes which our inadvertency hath brought upon this poor yet excellent Church of Christ Too excellent indeed to be the Mother of such unnatural foolish and disobedient Children as we have been unto her Who though she be comely in the eyes of her Beloved and in the eyes of all the daughters of his people in the world about her yet wo unto us we have blackned her with the spots of our Divisions and brought a cloud over all her excellencies Surely this is a Lamentation and must be for a Lamentation But what then would some say would you have us now to relinquish that glorious Cause which with a Solemn League and Covenant we have undertaken to maintain and return again to profaness and superstition what were this but to deal falsely in the Covenant of our God and to draw the guilt of odious inconstancy upon us It will become us rather according to your former admonition herein to be still the Same and to follow the example of those resolute and faithful Martyrs who of late to the very death persisted in the justifying of so good a cause Now unto this Objection it will be requisite to give a full and clear resolution to the end that it may be made evident who those are among us that come neerest to the pattern here presented in the Text in being still the same whether those that object these things accusing their brethren of I know not what sinful temporizing and tergiversation for not joyning with them in endeavouring to root up the foundation of this Change which the Divine Providence hath brought upon this Nation or those that are thus accused who upon convictions of Conscience are necessitated with the whole strength of their souls to promote and give furtherance unto it In the treating of this subject though I question not but some will be apt to quarrel at my plain dealing yet I shall without upbraiding any particular persons labour as in the presence of God to give satisfaction to those Consciences that in truth desire to be resolved concerning the warrantableness of submitting to this Change in returning to our obedience And shall insert nothing but for what I shall be willing to be responsal to any who shall rationally require an account of me To begin then with the Cause as it was called and a Glorious Cause What was it It was pretended at first that great matters should be done for the King People and Religion The King should be made a great and glorious Prince The People should have their just liberties restored unto them Religion should be established and set free from the invasion of all Heresies and Errours wherewith it was before corrupted All which being done we should finde our selves the happiest Nation upon