In this State of Things God thought proper to exert himself in fuch Acts of Power as fhould demonftrate his Superiority above all Gods of the Heathen, and to affume a Character of Diftinction, that the Hand might be certainly known from which the mighty Works proceeded: And it is very obfervable, that God did publickly affume fuch a Character, and work Miracles, at one and the fame Time. The first Miracles, of which we have any Account, were thofe wrought by Mofes in Egypt; and at the fame Time God declared himself to be the God of the Hebrews. And this was the first Declaration of himself to the World under fuch a Character: For we do not read he ever styled himself the God of Noah, or the God of Shem, or of any other Perfon, till after the Call of Abraham; for to him he appeared at first, and said, I am the Almighty God, Gen. xvii. 1. And, though in the Family of Abraham he was known by the Name of the God of Abraham, yet was not that Relation understood in the World, till Mofes had exprefs Command to make it known to Pharaoh and his People. And the Accuracy with which the Meffage was delivered, is obfervable: For, though God commanded Mofes in fpeaking to the Children Ꭲ 4

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of Ifrael to fay, The Lord God of your Fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, hath fent me; yet in speaking to the King of Egypt, who probably might know little of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, his Orders are to fay, The God of the Hebrews hath met us, &c, Exod iii. 15, 18. and v. 3.

It may appear strange to us to hear the great God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, affuming to himself a Character that feems to limit the Right of his Dominion: For why does He, who is God of all the World, ftyle himself the God of the Hebrews? Is he not the God of all Nations? Or, why does he appeal to Miracles wrought under the Character of God of the Hebrews, when the great Works of the Creation (of all Miracles the greatest) are a conftant and perpetual Evidence of his almighty Power and univerfal Dominion ?

To account for this, you must confider the State of Religion in the World at the Time when God affumed this Character, and fent Mofes to fhew Signs and Wonders in the Land of Egypt. All the Nations of the Earth had at that Time their feveral local Deities; and, as every Nation is naturally inclined to think their own the beft, a

Meffage

Meffage delivered in the Name of the Deity of any one People could have no Effect upon another. And therefore when Mofes delivered a Meffage to Pharaoh in the Name of the God of Ifrael, Pharoah's Answer was, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his Voice to let Ifrael go? I know not the Lord; neither will I let Ifrael go. Exod. v. 2. Now the Way which God made choice of to convince Pharaoh was by multiplying Signs and Wonders in the Land of Egypt, that the Egyptians might know that he was the Lord, when he stretched forth his Hand upon Egypt. Exod. vii. 3, 5.

Here the Question plainly was between God under the Character of the God of the Hebrews, and the God of the Egyptians, which of them was fupreme: And this Point could only be determined by a Superiority of Power fhewn in Miracles. And, if we attend to the Nature of the Miracles wrought by Mofes, they will appear to be such as plainly pointed out the Hand of the Almighty Creator. The Author of the Book of Wisdom, tells us, That the Egyptians, being deceived by the foolish Devices of their Wickedness, worfhiped Serpents void of Reafon, Wisd. xi. 15. And the moft antient Account we have of that People from profane Hiftory confirms the Obfervation. And therefore the first Miracle performed

performed by Mofes was a direct Conquest over the Deities of Pharaoh: For, when his Rod was changed into a Serpent, and devoured all the Serpents produced by the Magicians, what could Pharaoh reasonably conclude, but that the God, in whofe Name Mofes fpoke, was God of Gods, and Lord of Lords? And, when the Magicians were compelled to acknowledge the divine Power of Mofes, and openly to declare to Pharaoh that the Finger of God was in it, onę would imagine that this Triumph over the Deities and Magicians of Egypt should have furnished a complete Anfwer to that Demand of Pharaoh, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his Voice? But he continued obstinate.

But the Purpofe of God in fending Mofes to fhew his Wonders in the Land of Egypt was intended not only for the Deliverance of the Hebrews, but to make his Name known over all the Nations of the Earth: For, as Egypt was at that Time a great and flourishing Kingdom, and was notoriously the Seat of Superftition and Idolatry, from whence the Infection fpread to all the Nations round about, it was of all others the propereft Scene for God to exert his Power' and Authority for the Conviction of all People. And for this Reason God had connived

at

at the Wickedness and Idolatry of Egypt, and fuffered the Kingdom to grow very great, that their Punishment might be the more exemplary: In very deed for this Caufe have I raised thee up, for to fhew in thee my Power, and that my Name may be declared throughout all the Earth, Exod. ix. 16.

The Miracles wrought in Egypt were fuch as all the World had a Concern in: For they were fo near akin to the Works of the Creation, that by a juft Comparison they might be known to come from the fame Hand: For who but the Author of Nature could ftir up Things animate and inanimate to punish Offenders? When God flew all the Firstborn in Egypt in one Night, and preferved the People of Ifrael, in Safety; when he led the People of Ifrael through the Red Sea by commanding the Waters to open them a Paffage, and drowned Pharaoh and all his Hoft by bringing the Waters back upon them; did not God by thefe Signs plainly fpeak to them, and say, See now that I, even I am He, and there is no God with me. I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: Neither is there any that can deliver out of my Hand?

Deut. xxxii. 39.

This Ufe of Miracles appears throughout the History of the Jews. Thus, in the

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