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THE FAMILIARITY OF GOD WITH MAN. 195

speak in ver. 6, 7?-Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Let us go down, and there confound their language, and that they may not understand one another's speech. Here the Lord speaks and acts after the manner of men. Again, in chap. xii. in what manner did the Lord appear to Abram, but as man speaking to man-Get thee out of thy coun try. Ver. 7-And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, unto thy seed will I give this land. In chap. xvii. it is said, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before ME, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between ME and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. Here the Lord condescends to talk with Abram, as man would talk to man. If you go on in the chapter, where the Lord saith, thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations I have made thee. And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt no more call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be; and I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her. Thus the Lord condescended to talk with Abraham, as man with man. In chap. xxii. He trieth Abraham, by ordering him to offer up his son; and when Abraham goes through, the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of Heaven, saying, (the second time) by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing, I will bless thee; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the * earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. It is fruitless to go through with all the condescension of the Lord with Abraham, and how He gave Abraham liberty to plead with HIM for Sodom and Gomorrah. Again how often the Lord appeared to Jacob, when he was distressed by his father-in-law. Chap. xxxi. 3-And the Lord said unto Jacob, return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. And He sent his angel through the journey with him and the Lord visited Jacob, throughout all his troubles. Now when we come to Exodus, we see how the Lord visited Moses, in chap. iii. where the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire-Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, which are in Egypt. Here the Lord goes all through, reasoning with Moses, as man reasons with mar. When he complained of his slowness of speech, did not the Lord send Aaron his brother to speak for him? And the Lord gave Moses a Covenant of spiritual things, which was his command, and he gave him a Law of temporal things, in every particular as the kings of the earth make their laws, and in what manner they are to be punished for every law they break. In Numbers xiv. 11-And the Lord said unto Moses, how long will this people provoke ME? and how long will it be ere they believe ME, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with a pestilence and disinherit them. And Moses said unto the Lord, and pleaded for the children of Israel, saying, the Egyptians shall hear of it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might, and they will tell it to the inhabitants: for they have heard that thou, Lord, art among this people, that thou, Lord, art seen face to face, that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, there

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fore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy-And the Lord said, I have pardoned, according to thy word; but as truely as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the GLORY of the LORD. Now if you go through all the books of Moses, you will find the Lord talked with Moses, as man with man. And in the book of Joshua, how the Lord visited Joshua. Chap. і. 1The Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I gave them. In chap. x. 12-Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until they had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Now if you go through the Bible, you will find that the Lord visited his people, to warn them, to direct them, to protect them, and to reprove them, throughout the Old Testament; there he appeared visibly throughout, either by HIMSELF, or his angels; making men prophets, as they had no knowledge of any inspiration of the HOLY GHOST, before our SAVIOUR came upon the earth. Now Our SAVIOUR's command is, to teach us to look for the HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, which is a SPIRIT within: for know what our Saviour saith-the wind bloweth where it listeth, ye hear the sound thereof, but ye cannot tell whence it come, or whither it goeth; so is every one that his born of the Spirit. Now the HOLY GHOST, which is called the COMFORTER, is to come in SPIRIT, and in POWER; but it is not said he is to come in person, like the visitation of the LORD to the people of old; for we do not read that the angels of the Lord were with the Apostles,

after our SAVIOUR's Death, as they were with the people of old; or that the LORD appeared to them after HIS ASCENSION TO GLORY, as he appeared throughout to Moses in the Wilderness. The Apostles were taught to look for the visitation of the LORD from his SPIRIT; therefore St. Paul saith, quench not the Spirit, despise not Prophecies. The New Testament as much affirmeth, that the Spirit of the Lord shall be given to prophesy, and to know the MIND and WILL Of God, by the POWER of his SPIRIT, by the influence of his SPIRIT, and by the visitation of his SPIRIT, as ever the people of old were taught by the visitation of the LORD, by his sending his angels visibly to the prophets; but our Saviour taught us, that the rOWER of his SPIRIT would be invisible. So he that denieth the one denieth the other; and how can men pretend to believe, that the Lord would condescend to shew such wondrous visitation to Moses, so many times as he came upon the Tabernacle in Fire, that the chil dren of Israel were afraid, and desired that Moses would speak to HIM; for if the Lord spoke to them, they should die? Then how can men be so ignorant, to think they can be fit for the Coming of Christ, and his Kingdom, before their hearts be prepared for his Coming, as the Lord prepared the heart of Moses to be able to bear HIS PRESENCE? The more I read the Bible, the more I am convinced that the visitation of the Lord must first come in the Spirit, to warn of his Coming, before HE cometh in MIGHT, MAJESTY, and GLORY, to act consistert with all the ways of God, throughout the BIBLE. How did the Lord try Pharoah, before he destroyed him! But some will say, the LORD himself hardened Pharoah's heart. I grant it. Now, before we pass judgment on these things, we must look at the beginning, lest we charge God foolishly. Consider what Pharoah did in the first place; by arts he tried to kill all the male children of the Hebrews, by conREASONS FOR VISIBLE JUDGMENTS ON EGYPT. 199 sulting with the midwives; but when private arts would not do, then he made a public decree, that every male child of the Hebrews should be destroyed. Here he put his bloody practices into execution; and the LORD preserved MOSES for his destruction. Now, as that Pharoah died, so you might say, it was not for his destruction, but for the destruction of the Pharoah that came after him; but we read that he was the same as the Pharoah before him, and the groanings of the children of Israel grew greater and greater. So the sin of one rested upon the head of the other, to work wickedness, and act with cruelty. Then why should we marvel at the Lord's hardening his heart, that he might shew his visible signs and judgments in the land of Egypt, to punish the king and the people, for their cruelty to the children of Israel, and to prove to them, that there was a GOD in POWER, whom the children of Israel were called to worship; and whom they theirselves ought to worship? Now remember what Pharoah said to Moses, Exodus v. 2-Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Now we see from this, that Pharoah had no idea of a GOD in POWER, to punish his iniquities; neither had the Egyptians, for they believed none were in greater power than their own wise men, the soothsayers and magicians, who had power to work by enchantments. Therefore the LORD wisely hardened Pharoah's heart, to shew them the difference between the Power of God and the Power of Men that worked by the Power of the Devil; therefore the Lord hardened on his heart, to let him know who he was, and to convince the Egyptians of the folly of the wise men, that they trusted in. But how could this be done, if Pharoah's heart had not been hardened, to contend with the Lord, to make him know and feel his POWER, that it might appear visibly here upon carth? Now men do allow that there is a punish

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