Simile.

Rom

thou mightest murmure against him, and aske him, why doeft thou fo? But what haft thou to do with the Lord? Shall the Clay say to him that maketh it,why doest thou so? This fimilitude of Clay doth not,by a thousand parts, expreffe that distance that is betweene God and us; and therefore we should doe thus,stand upon the shore(as it were) and behold his infinite Èffence,I am that Lam, and goe no further; as a man that stands upon the Sea-fhore, fees the vaftneffe of the Sea, but dares goe no further, for if he goes into the deepe, he is drowned: You may looke into Gods Effence,and fee and admire it, but to thinke that thou couldest comprehend God, is, as if a man fhould think to hold the whole Sea in the hollow of his hand: yea,there is a greater difproportion betweene them; or elfe the Apoftle would never have burst out into that patheticall expreffion, Rom.11. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of GOD; how unfearchable are his judgements, and his wayes past finding out! Onely remember this I fay, and make thus much ufe of it,when you beare this Name, I am that I am,that it is the Lords will to fet limits to us. When the Lord came downe from the Mount, hee fet limits to the people, and he gave this reafon of it, I will not have them ftand and gaze; fo it is in this cafe, it is a dangerous thing to goe too farre: You know what did come to the Bethfbemites, because they would be gazing, remember that fpeech of God to Manoah why dost thou as ke my Name, that is fecret? There is fomething that is fecret in God.

But

But, you will fay; I would faine fee a reafon of these things,

Object.

Ansiv.

Wee cannot of manythings give a reafon concerning God till death.

But thou must stay for this till mortality bee put off; and in the meane while ftand afarre off, and looke on God: And when thou feeft the vast workes of God, when thou feeft him grafpe the winds in his fift, and measure the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weigh the Mountaines in fcales,and the hils in a ballance, &c. it will be no great thing to thee if thou art ignorant of his counfels. This is made an argument why wee fhould not fearch into his fecrets, Pro. 30.4. Who Prov.30 4. hath afcended up to heaven, or defcended? who hath gathered the winds in his fift?rbo hath bounded the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, or what is his Sonnes name, if thou canst tell? As if he should fay; it is impoffible that thou fhouldest know this mightic Worke-man, he that did all this, or understard the ground of his counfels; you can fee but his backe-parts, you can fee no more and live, and you need fee no more, that you may live. Secondly,that which is the very scope and drift of the Lords revealing his name to Mofes; Goe and Toftrengthen tell the people, I AM THAT I AM hath sent encourage us me unto you, fhould ftrengthen our faith, and in- in our wants courage us; it should raise our minds,and ftir up stirup hope in us, in all wants, and in all diftreffes that In wants. wee fall into upon any occafion: for this is the fcope why the Lord reveales it here; 'he reveales it in a very feasonable time. A man would have thought it impoffible,that they should bedelive

Ve 2.

our faith, and

and croffes.

red from Pharoah, he being fo mighty, yet God bids Mofes goe, and tell them, that hee that IS, bath fent him unto them. He that IS,he that can make things to be,when they have no rudiments of being, he hath sent me.

Confider all the griefes and complaints that we have,they all arife from hence; there is fomething we would have, which is not; as it was the complaint of Rachel, fbee wept for her children, because they were not: now, confider what the Lord faith here,I am that I am: he is the Lord of being, he giveth being to what foever pleafeth him: As take your expreffions of your ordinary wants, you ufe to fay, oh, if that fuch a thing were; if an houfe had fuch and fuch a thing, it would bee a goodly house, fo in an Inftrument, as a Watch, if it had fuch and fuch a being, it were a perfect Watch: fo is it in the complaints that we make for our foules, or the foules of others; if you fee a man that you would have reclaimed, you fay if there were a fability of mind in him, a confideration of death, a right knowledge of things, a fenfe of finne, if there were grace in his heart to eftablish him, then he would be thus and thus. Confider that he who is the Lord of being,is able to make up these wants: fo if our complaints be for our felves, they all come from fome wants, but know that he who is the Almighty God, that makes all things to be, he can give thee conftaney,he can enable thee to doe all things,and firengthen the weake hands and feeble knees, Heb. 12. Hee that is full of being, as the Sunne is of light,and

the

the Sea of water, thinke with thy felfe that he alone is able to give being to every grace, and to make up every defect,and give that to thee which thou haft not, and to all whom thou haft to doe with; as thy wife, children, friends, &c. he can make things that were bad,good and ufefull, and fo make thy friend good alfo, as he did Onefimus for Paul; thinke with thy felfe that the Lord of being can doe it, and he only can doe it when as every creature elfe is at a ftand to make a being. Therefore goe to him and give him the praife and glory of this his Name.

And as it fhould move us to doe this in our wants; fo it fhould helpe us in all thofe great In croffes. croffes that affli&tus: for every croffe proceeds from that which is not; as Rachel wept for her children that were not: You fhall fee in Abraham he beleeved in GoD, even in God, who quickneth the dead, and calleth those things which bee not, as though they were, Rom. 4. 17. This was Abrahams cafe, Rom.4.17. he was to lofe his fonne, for ought that he knew, yet he comforted himselfe in this, that Iehovah, the mighty God,that is the Lord of being, he that calleth things that are not, as if they were, hee could either give him his fonne againe, or one that was as good as he. Thus hee did comfort himfelfe and fo may we upon all occafions, for God ftill can make things to be that are not. Take tob, when his houfes,his children,eftare,alwere gone and all were not, yet Iehovah, he that makes things to be that are not, did not he make all things to returne againe ? lo David, when things were not,

;

when

Exod 6.6.

when his Kingdome was not, when his good name was gone, as wee fee by Shimei's curfing, what a name he had,yetGod did make all to come againe:fo Naomi,when all was gone,her husband and her fonnes gone,and they were not, yet he that was the LORD of being gave her a fonne, and a daughter,that brought her in more comfort than her owne fons would. And this is the ufe that I would have you to make of it; when thou haft loft any thing, when thy fonnes or thy goods are gone,he can make upall: He who could make up the abfence of Chrift to the Disciples by fending the comforter,his holy Spirit, amongst them, fo that it was better with them than before,theyhad more comfort and knowledge,& could doe greater miracles, the fame God can furely make good any other loffe the most pinching to thee, for you muft remember that he is Iehovah, you shall find that name often used in Scripture on this occafion, I am Iehovah. But I will infift on a place that concernes the fubje&t in hand, where you fhall fee, what ground there is for this use wee now make of it, Chap.6.6. wherefore fay unto the children of Ifrael, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burthens of the Egyptians, &c. The meaning of it is this; Many objections were made by Moses, and therefore God reveales this Name to him. Alas, faith Mofes, who am I? Shall I go unto Pharoah,and bid him let the children of Ifrael goe? What am I to be sent on this errand? Saith the Lord, Goe, tell him; Iam, or Iehovah, hath fent thee unto him: and the ob

jections