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 fpeaking 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 ftrange 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, style 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 nclined to think their own the beft, a

Meffage

Meffage delivered in the Name of the Deity of any one People could havé no Effect upon another, And therefore, when Mofes delivered a Meffage to Pharaoh in the Name of the God of Ifrael, Pharaoh'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 ftretched 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, worShipped Serpents void of Reason, Wisd. xi. 15. And the most antient Account we have of that People from profane Hiftory confirms the Obfervation. And therefore the firft 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 whose 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, one would imagine that this Triumph over the Deities and Magicians of Egypt should have furnished a complete Answer to that Demand of Pharaoh, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his Voice? But he continued obftinate.

But the Purpose 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 Superstition and Idolatry, from whence the Infection spread 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 Reafon God had connived

at

at the Wickednefs and Idolatry of Egypt, and suffered the Kingdom to grow`very greit, that their Punishment might be the more exemplary: In very deed for this Caufe havel raifed thee up, for to fhew in thee my Power, and that my Name may be declared throughou all the Earth, Exod. ix. 16.

The Miracles wrought in Egypt were fuck as all the World had a Concern in: Fo 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 First-born in Egypt in one Night, and preserved 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 fay, 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 Use of Miracles appears throughout the History of the Jews. Thus, in the

Contest

Contest between Elijah and the Priefts of Bral, the Prophet laid before the People this Choice: If the Lord be God, follow him; but i Baal, then follow him, 1 Kings xviii. 21. The People were filent: The Difpute was eferred to be determined by Signs and Wonlers: And, when the People faw the Hand of God made manifeft, they fell on their Faces, and faid, The Lord he is the God! he Lord he is the God! Ver. 29.

The Cafe of the Deftruction of the Army f the Affyrians in the Reign of Hezekiah, when an hundred and fourfcore and five thousand Men were destroyed in one Night by the Angel of God, feems to carry with it a Severity hard to be accounted for. The King of Affyria with his great Host laid Siege to Jerufalem; and fo had other Princes done without falling under fo great Calamity: But the Cafe of Sennacherib had this peculiar in it, that he fent a Defiance to God, and boasted himself of many Victories obtained against him. Hear the Meffage he sent to Hezekiah: Thus faith the great King, the King of Affyria, What Confidence is this wherein thou trufteft? Hearken not unto Hezekiah: For thus faith the King of Affyria, Hath any of the Gods of the Nations delivered at all his Land out of the Hand of the King of Affyrla?

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