Firft Commandment. 55 upon and crlmp the he~rts of Sinners, when the Lord !ball defcend from Heaven at th~ !aft Day with l Shout, with .the Voice of th~ Archang~l, and with the Tn,lmp • 1h'f ,. of God as the Apoftle defcnbes tt. When not a Mountam only, but the whole >6. World,fhall be burning, Heaven and Earth all on a light ftame about them; when they fhall hear the terrible Voice of the Majefty on hjgh calling to them, Awake ye Dead and come away to Judgment; when the·Earth !hall be univerfally !haken, and fuakc the dead Bodies out of their Graves, when wb,ole Crouds of t;~aked Nati~ ons !hall t\trong and clufter about the g;reat Trib~~a,J, n,o s tQ receive a Law, ~ut a Sentence, a Sentence that fhall determine their final and ctemal Efr~te: .cert<\mly, if the giving of the. Law were fo full of Terro.ur, much more ternble !hall be our being jud&ed according to that Law. , And thiS is another remlrkable Circumflance in tbe delivery of the Law. . • IV. Fourthly, When God hinifelf had with his Dread Voice fpciken to them thefe Ten Words, their affright and afl:onifhmcnt was fo great, that they intreat Mofos to be Ex~i. So, the Truchman and ln~erpreter between God and t~ern, They faid: unto Jfo{ts, . Spea_k 19. thou WJ"th m, and we Will hear: hut let not God [pMk W1th. U!, left we die. Netther IS this without a great Myfrery and excellent Signification; for it intimates that the Law, as it is difpenfed to us only from God, is in it fe\f the Miqiftradon of Death and Condemnation: but as it is delivered to us by"a Mediltor, by our Lord Jefus Chrift, (of whom Mo[es here was a Type) fo we may hear and obferye it, and obtain eter- G.! 3 ry. nal Life, not for, but through our Obedience to it. And therefore the Law is faid ~ to be ordained by Angels, in the hand of a Mediator; that is, it was folcmnly difpenfed by the M10iftery of Angels, and then delivered into the hand of Mo.fes, to be by him communicated to the PCople. Now this intimates unto us, that the Se- ·verity and Terrours of the Law were intended to drive us unto Chrill:, as here they drove the lfraelites unto Mo(cs, the Type of Chrift, from whofe ljlouth the Law fpake not fo dreadfully, as it did from God's. Fifthly, Upon this Intercellion and Requell: of the People, Alo[es is called up into V; the Mount, the Law depofited in his hands, engq.ven in :two Tables of Stone, ~y the Finger and lmprellion of God himfelf, the moft facred Re!ique that ever the World enjoyed; but at len~ttl. loft, together with the Ark t}]at contained it in the frequent Removes a~dc:apn~ities of tl~at People: Neither is this too without its Spiritual Myftery and SJ~mficatton; for 1t notes to us that our Hearts .arc naturally fo hard and ftony, that 1t is only the Finger of God that c1n rrtakc aJly imprellion of his Laws upon them. It is well known that the Ark was a moft famous Type and Reprefentation of Jefus Chrill:; and the keeping of the Tables of the L<!W in the Ark, what cloth it elfe mean, but to prefigure to us thlt the Law was to be kept and obfcrved in him who fu lfilled all R1ghteoufnefs? And when God <\oth again write his Laws upon our Hearts, we alfo keep them in Chrift our Ark, Whofe !;Ompleat Obedience fi;pplies all our Imperfetlions and Defet\s. Sixthly, Whereas this I..Jw of the Ten Commandments was twice written by' G~ V If himfclf; once before, and again after the Tables were in an holy Zeal broken by M•fes; this alfo is full of Myftery, and fignifies the twice writing of the Lavr upon the Hearts of Men: firft, by the creating Finger of God, when he Jllade us perfectly li ke himfelf; and then again, by his regenerating Power, givmg ~ s' a fJ.'ew Impreffion, and as ~t were fetting us forth in a new Edition, but yet co.ntaining the fame for fubftance, as when we came fonh at firft out of the Creating haf,ld of God; for Regeneration, and the new Birth is but a refto.ri!J.g u~ to the Image of God, which we defaced by our Fall in Adam, and as it we.re a new ftamping Qf thofe Charatlers of himfelf, in Righteoufnefs and Knowledge, which were oblitcra<e<;l· &venthly, and L.jlly, It is faid, that when Mofes came d9wn frolli the Mount after VII. his long Converfe with God, his Face fhoue with fuch a d.ivin.e and heavenly J.u)l:re, that the Ifraditts were dazled with the Brightnefs, and could not ftedfaflly look uj}- _ on him; and that there~ore he was fo~ced to put a Veil over his Face, tq allay and Extd. 31 ~ rt~mpcr thofc Beams wh1ch the refieXIon of God~s Face and >P.refence had call: upon 9· .him; but this Veil he laid a fide, when he turned,into ~he Tabernacle to Jpeak with God. Theflgnificancy of which Hiftory, the Apoflle eypreGy gives us, T.hat there, c... 1 . was a Vell upon the Heart of the 7nPs, fo as they could not fee to the end of the Law, IJ,I·h'6• whi<h
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