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1. That it fhould be visible to all that knew them, that God had chofen Ifrael for his peculiar People.

2. That it should be as visible, that the God of Ifrael is the One Supreme God, the Maker and Sovereign Lord of the whole World.

3. That the Worfhip of the One Supreme God fhould be preferved entire among them ; or that if they did decline to Idolatry, they should be visibly punished for it.

4. That the Fame of this People, and of their God, fhould by Degrees be known over all the Earth.

Now not to take notice of the myftical Reafons of God's Providences towards Ifrael, which is a very large and nice Argument, and not fo proper to my present Defign; if moft of the remarkable Providences wherewith they were exercifed, did manifeftly ferve fome one or more of these Ends, we have a visible Reafon of them, not only fufficient to juftify Providence, but to give us a ravishing Profpect of the Divine Wif

dom.

I fhall begin with the Removal of Jacob and his Family into Egypt; the Occafion of which is well known,but the Reafon of it is not fo well confidered. For it may feem ftrange, that when God had promifed Abraham to bestow the Land of Canaan on his Pofterity for an Inheritance," he should remove them out of the Land of Canaan into Egypt, there to continue many Years under grievous Oppreffion, before he thought fit to deliver them, and to give them Poffeffion of the Promised Land.

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But to understand the wife Design of this, we muft remember, that God was to give a vifible Demonftration to the World, that he had chofen Ifrael for his peculiar People,and given them the Land of Canaan for their Inheritance; and it was not fo agreeable to this Defign, that they fhould increafe infenfibly in Canaan, and by Degrees difpoffefs the old Inhabitants; for there had been nothing Singular and Remarkable in this; and therefore they were to be a great Nation, before God fo publickly and visibly owned them for his People, and vifibly bestowed an Inheritance on them; and it was neceffary they fhould have fome Place to increase and multiply in, till God thought fit to transplant them into the Promised Land: For this Purpose God chofe the Land of Egypt, and fent Jofeph beforehand thither, and advanced him to Pharaoh's Throne, to prepare a Reception for them: And a very quiet and eafy Retreat they found there for many Years, till Jofeph was dead, and all the good Offices he had done both for King and People forgot, and the prodigious Increase of Ifrael made the Kings of Egypt jealous of their Numbers and Power; and then they began to opprefs that People with hard Labour and cruel Bondage, till the Time appointed for their Deliverance was come.

This Oppreffion of Ifrael may feem a very fevere Providence; but there were fome very wife Ends it ferved.

1. To make the People willing to leave Egypt, where they fuffered fuch hard Bondage; for whoever obferves how ready they were upon all Occasions to talk of returning into Egipt, how they longed after the Onions, and Garlick, and Flesh-Pots of Egypt, notwithstanding all

the

the Hardships they fuffer'd there, will be apt to think, that had they enjoyed Eafe and Profperity, all the Miracles which Mofes wrought would no more have perfuaded Ifrael to have left Egypt, than they could perfuade Pharaoh to let them go.

zdly, The Advantage Pharaob made of the Service of Ifrael, made him obftinately refolve not to part with them; and his cruel Oppreffion made it very juft for God to punish him, and all Egypt with him, and this occafioned all those Signs and Wonders which God wrought in Egypt by the Hands of Mofes, whereby he visibly owned Ifrael for his People, and made his own Power and Glory known.

3dly, The great Proneness of Ifrael to Idola try, even when God had delivered them out of Egypt, is too plain a Proof that they had learnt the Egyptian Idolatries while they lived there; the Golden Calf being, as fome learned Men, not without Reafon, conclude, an Imitation of the Egyptian Apis: And this made it very juft for God to punish their Egyptian Idolatry with an Egyptian Bondage; efpecially confider ing, that this was the moft likely Way to give check to their Idolatry, and to make them hate the Egyptian Gods like their Egyptian Task-Mafters, and to remember the God of their Fathers, and his Promife and Covenant to beftow the Land of Canaan on them.

4thly, The Oppreffion of Ifrael in Egypt was an effectual Means to keep them a diftinet and separate People. This was abfolutely neceffary, when God had chofen them for his peculiar People, that they fhould be preserved from incorporating with any other People; and this God took early Care of, by placing them by

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themselves in the Land of Gofhen; where they grew up into a diftinet Body from Egypt, which made Pharaoh so jealous of them, when 1. Exod. they began to multiply; and that made him opprefs them, and that Oppreffion preferved the Diftinction, which a kind. and friendly Ufage might in Time have deftroyed; for it is rarely feen that two People can live amicably together in the fame Countrey, and under the fame Prince, without mingling and incorporating with each other, till they forget all Diftinction between Nations and Families.

These are wife Reasons why God fuffered the hard Bondage of Ifrael in Egypt; and thofe mighty Signs and Wonders which God wrought in Egypt, were the moft effectual Means both to convince the Ifraelites of God's peculiar Care of them, and to convince the World, that Ifrael was God's peculiar People, and that the God of Ifrael was the Supreme Lord and Governor of the World. This Account God himfelf gives of it, 6. Exod 6, 7, 8. Wherefore fay unto the Children of Ifrael, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the Burthens of the EgyptiAnd I will take you to me for a People, and I will be to you a God: And ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the Burtbens of the Egyptians. And as for the Egyptians, God tells Mofes, I will harden Pha raoh's Heart, and multiply my Signs and my Wonders in the Land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not bearken unto you, that I may lay my Hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine Armies, and my People the Children of Ifrael, out of the Land of Egypt by great Fudgments. And the Egyptians fhall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my Hand upon Egypt, and

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bring out the Children of Ifrael from among them, 7. Exod. 3, 4, 5.

This is the first Time we read of fuch Signs and Wonders as thefe; and probably they are the firft Miracles of this Nature that ever were wrought; and it becomes us to contemplate the Wisdom of Providence in it; for the Wisdom of Miracles, and the Surprize and Wonder of them, are two very different Things. Miracles offer Violence to the Order of Nature, and would be no Commendation of the Wisdom of Providence, fhould we confider them as Causes, not as Signs: It would be a Reproach to the Wisdom of Providence to fay,that God wrought all thofe Miracles in Egypt, because he could not have punished the Egyptians, nor have delivered Ifrael without them; for it would argue a great Defect in the ordinary Methods of Government, if God could not at any time fave Good Men, and punish and deftroy the Wicked without a Miracle. God can do whatever he pleafes, by the wife Direction and Government of Natural and Moral Causes; and therefore does not work Miracles, because he needs them to fupply the Defects of Natural Powers; but to bear Teftimony to his own Being and Providence, and to give Authority to his Minifters and Prophets And we muft learn the Wisdom of this, from the State and Condition of the World at that Time.

Mankind at that time were fo far from being Atheists, that they would worship any Thing, the meaneft and moft contemptible Creatures, rather than have no God; and they were fo fenfible how much they stood in need of a Divine Providence, that One God would not ferve them, but they wanted as many Gods,

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