DISCOURSE III.

EXOD. XX. I, 2.

And God fpake all thefe Words, faying, I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage.

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AVING in fome measure clear'd our way, by fhewing the Obligation, the Excellence, and the Extent of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments; I proceed now to

The Preface with which God Almighty himself was pleas'd to ufher them in ; and this is contain'd in the words read, in which Mofes having declar'd God to be the Author and Publifher of the Commandments, he brings him in saying, I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, &c. Which words tho fpoken immediately to the Jews, and upon the occafion of a particular Deliverance wrought for them; yet both the Nature of the Commandments, and the Reafons by which they are urg'd, fhew them equally to concern and oblige all Mankind, as we fhall fee after.

In the words then we have two ftrong Arguments to enforce the Obfervance of the Ten Commandments.

The first is taken from the Sovereignty and Authority of the Lawgiver, in these words, I am the Lord thy God. The fecond from his Mercy and Goodness, in those words, That brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, &c.

The one is defign'd to awe, the other to allure us into Obedience; both which must be therefore fpoken to. And,

First, I am to begin with the Argument taken from the Sovereignty and Authority of the Law-giver, in those words, I am the Lord thy God: This is defign'd to work upon our Fear, and to awe Men into Obedience to God's Laws. Greatnefs, we know, is apt to ftrike Dread and

Terror

Part II. Terror into Offenders, it begets a Reverence to the Perfons, and adds Weight to the Words deliver'd by them; and therefore Princes are wont to affix their Name and Authority to their Laws, and to publifh their Titles with their Proclamations, to excite Attention, and enforce Obedience to them. For this reafon God Almighty, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, to gain the greater Attention and Veneration to his Laws, difplays his Greatnefs, proclaims his Glory, and prefaces his Commands, with this auguft and awful Saying, I am the Lord.

The firft Delivery of this Law on Mount Sinai was attended with many pompous Accents of Dread and Terror, with Thunder and Lightning, with the Sound of a Trumpet to alarm the Hearers, and make them afraid to tranfgrefs. After which, we find the Prophets often bringing in God Almighty urging and inculcating his Precepts with this Saying, I am the Lord: And when the People feem'd too backward to believe or confider it, he threatens fo to deal with them, as to make them know that I am the Lord. Indeed, the beft of us are but too apt to forget both God and ourselves, to be unmindful of the Greatness of the one and the Vilenefs of the other; and this occafions too great a neglect and carele fnefs of our Duty to both and therefore we have need of fomething to awaken and awe us to the obfervance of God's Laws, and to ftir up our Minds by way of Remembrance, that we do not fall into a forgetfulness and contempt of them. This was the defign of God's prefixing thefe Words as a Prologue to his Precepts, to ftrike our Minds with a due Senfe and Reverence of his Authority, and to awe us into Obedience to them.

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Now this Sovereignty or Authority of God is founded upon the Right of Creation; for he having made all things, hath the belt right to rule and govern them, and being the Author, is justly to be reckon'd the Lord of all: It is he that hath made us (faith the Pfalmift) and not we ourSelves; and therefore it is he that muft rule us, and not we ourselves. Hath not the Potter power over the Clay (faith the Apostle) which he hath made and form'd? and fhall not God have Dominion over the Works of his own Hands: Indeed, none else can, for none but he that made the World is fit and able to govern it; and the great Creator must be the fole Commander and Difpofer of all things. And as none may queftion his Right, fo neither

can

can any controul or refift his Power; he fpake all things into Being with a Word, and can speak them all back again into nothing when he pleafes: he holds this round World as a Ball in the Hollow of his Hand, and can tofs and turn it as he will. All the Nations unto him are but as the Drop of the Bucket, or the Small Duft of the Ballance; yea they are all nothing, less than nothing, and Vanity: Ifai. 40. 15, 17. His Voice shakes the Heavens, and his Word makes the Earth and the World to tremble.

This is he that delivers his Commandments to us, the fole Lord and Sovereign Maker of all things, who hath a juft Right to, and here challenges our Obedience. And that we might not forget or withhold it, this great Lawgiver himself, at the giving of his Law, hath thought fit to put us in mind of it, by ufhering in his Precepts with these words, I am the Lord.

But this is not all: To this Declaration of his Sovereignty and fupreme Authority, he is pleas'd to add another Term of Relation and Propriety, by ftyling himself the Lord our God; I am the Lord thy God. The words were firft and principally fpoken to the Jews, who were God's peculiar People, dignify'd and diftinguifh'd from all other Nations by many invaluable Favours and Privileges: for to them appertain❜d the Adoption, the Glory and the Covenants, the giving the Law and the Promises; Rom. 9. 4, 5. God enter'd into a particular Covenant with them, and vouchfaf'd in a peculiar manner to be ftyl'd their God: He admitted them to all the Privileges of the Temple, from which all others were excluded by a Partition- Wall; but now that Inclosure is broken down, and God hath enlarg'd his Church by the Call and coming in of the Gentiles: fo that now we are all by Baptifm admitted into Covenant with him, who is thereby become to us a God, and we to him a People; infomuch, that we are as much bound to keep his Commandments as the Ifraelites were, and fo are to look upon God as befpeaking us now, as he did them of old, I am the Lord thy God.

Thus I have confider'd the firft Argument here urg'd in the Preface, taken from the Sovereignty and Authority of God, together with his peculiar Right in us, and our Dependence on him, contain'd in those words, I am the Lord thy God. From whence I proceed to the

Second, Which is taken from his Mercy and Goodness, in those words; Who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, and out of the House of Bondage: where, as the foregoing Argument was intended to work upon our Fear, and to awe us into Obedience; fo this is defign'd to work upon our Love, and to allure us to the obfervance of his Laws.

But the Mercy here mention'd, of Deliverance from the Land of Egypt, was peculiar to the Jews only, who partook of it; and how can that be any Argument to us, who never were in that Houfe of Bondage, and fo could not be faid to be deliver'd from it? To this, two or three things will be neceffary to be spoken.

1. Before this folemn Delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai, God was known and celebrated by other Titles and Tokens of his Love. From the Creation of the World to the days of Abraham, he was ftyl'd the Creator of Heaven and Earth; and all the Motives to Obedience were fetch'd from his Power in making, and his Care in providing for the Sons of Men. From the days of Abraham to Mofes, he was call'd the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, from the Covenant he made with them ; and the encouragement to Obedience then was, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this good Land to inherit it, Gen. 15. 7. In the time of Mofes, when this great deliverance from Egypt was wrought, the Style was chang'd; and the Law being then given, the Argument to enforce it was, I am the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, &c.

2.

This Argument was very ftrong to the Jews to whom this Law was first given; for the Mifery and Bondage they underwent in Egypt was very fore and unfupportable; they groan'd under heavy Burdens and cruel Task-mafters, they were requir'd to work without Materials, and to make Brick without Straw: inftead of being rewarded, they were only whip'd and beaten for their Work; their Complaints added to their Servitude, and all their Endeavours to ease and help themfelves did but increase their Burdens. From this miferable Bondage they were deliver'd by a high Hand and an out-ftretch'd Arm; God himself appearing, in their Caufe, and refcuing them from the Tyranny of Pharaoh and the Oppreffion of his cruel Tafkmafters: for when that infolent and haughty Prince refus'd to obey his Maker's Call and Command to let his People go, he was follow'd with those repeated

repeated Plagues and Judgments, that made him glad to be rid of them, and caus'd him not only to confent and affit in their Deliverance, but to petition for his own.

Now this great Mercy being done for them not above fix Weeks before the giving of the Law, muft needs be fresh in their Memories, and could not but be a powerful Motive and Incentive to Obedience; for who that had been fo lately deliver'd from fo great a Thraldom, would not think himfelf oblig'd to hearken to fo mighty a Deliverer ?

For this reafon it was that God Almighty, in his firft Delivery of the Law to that People, befide the general Motives to Obedience from his being the Lord our God, which are common to all Mankind, made mention of this late memorable Deliverance from the Bondage of Egypt, which was peculiar to them, and could not in reafon but mightily prevail with them.

3. Tho God Almighty took the Opportunity of that mighty Deliverance to enforce his Law upon them; yet we find him afterward by the Prophets preffing the fame Precepts from other new and occafional Initances of his Mercy and Goodness wrought for them: Hence we find the Prophet Jeremy, from God's reducing his People from Captivity, foretelling, That the Days will come, that they hall no more fay, the Lord liveth which brought up the Children of Ifrael out of the Land of Egypt; but the Lord liveth that brought up the Houfe of Ifrael out of the North Country, and other Countrys where they had been carry'd captive: Jer. 23. 7. So that 'tis not fo much any one Inftance of God's Goodnefs, tho one memorable one be here mention'd, as the general courfe of the Divine Mercy and Bounty, that is here made the Motive of Obedience.

4. The Deliverance of the Ifraelites from the Bondage of Egypt, was but a faint Type and Refemblance of our far greater Deliverance from a worfe Thraldom to Ghostly Enemies; and therefore the Argument here us'd must hold much ftronger upon us, than ever it did upon the Jews: for their Deliverance was only corporal, from the Hardfhips they endur'd under Pharaoh and his Taskmasters; whereas ours is fpiritual, from a more vile Bondage we were in to Sin and Satan: theirs was but temporal, from fhort and momentary Evils; ours is eternal, from everlafting Mifery and Deftruction. And if to be refcu'd from the Land of Egypt, and the Cruelty of Pharaoh, hath been thought fo powerful an inducement to the keeping of God's

VOL. II.

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Command