Owen - BS2775 O8 1668

VER.it2. Epiflle tor the FJSßREWS. L3,19 `11,1 [ ='J9, fact to face, Exnd. 33. rr. and MO '7te tee, mouth to mouth, Numb.12. 13. and this is mentioned as that which was peculiar to him above the Pro- phets which (hould fucceedhim in the Miniftryof that Church. But that Mofés faw theeffince ofGod, which the errs contend from thofe words, is exprefly denÿed in the Text it fell. For even then when it was (àid, that God fpake to him face to face, it is al Lo - affirmed that he didnot, nor could fee theface ofGod, Exod. 33. 20; See john 1. 17,18, Both thof exprellions intend only that God revealedhimfelf untohim in a m're clear and familiar may than he had done unto other Prophets, or would do, whileft that adminitration continued. For although the things which herevealed to, and by other Prophets, were more clear, evident and open to the underflanding of bdicvcrs, than they were in the Revelation made to Mojes, ( they being intended as Expoiitionsof it, ) yet in the way of the Revelation its felt, God dealt more clearly and familiarly with 'Mofer, than with any other Prophet of that Church what- ever. . The Second difference Aligned is vain. Of the times andfafona wherein the Prophets received their Vi iotas there can be no determinate rule aliigned. Matiy of them were at ordinary fèafons, whileft theywere waking, and Come about the employment of their Callings, asAmos, Chap. 7. v. 15. The Third alto about that conffernation of Spirit which .befell other Prophets i4 .groundlefs. Sometimes it was fo with them, as the inftance of Danielproves, Chap. 7.28. Chap. 1 o. v. 8. and fo it befell Mofés himfelf, Heb. 12.21. which ifwe attain to that place we (hall prove the Jews themfelves to acknowledge. Ordinarily it was otherwife, as with him, fo with them, as is manifell in the wholeRoby of the Prophets. There is thefame miftake in the la,'t difference Aligned. Mofes didnot fo receive the Spirit ofProphecy, as that he could athis own pleafure reveal thofethings which were not difcoverable but by that Spirit ; or [peak out the mind of God infallibly in any thingfor the ufe of the Church without a/lisal infpiration as to that particular which is evident from the *fake that he was under as to the manner of his Govern- ment whichhe reclined by the advife ofJetbro, Exod.18. 19. And likewife inother Inliances did he wait for particular Anfwers from God, Numb. 15.34. To have a comprehenfion at once of the whole Will ofGod concerningthe obedience and fal- vation of the Church, was a Priviledge referved for him who in all thing: was to have the preheminence. And it feems that Maimonides himfelf in his exaltation of Mofees excepted the Meah. For whereasin the Hebrew and Latin Copies ofMore ]Vi- buch. part. 2. cap. 45. there arethefe words, i3rt1tW> >yY' ruma p tea m, which Buxtorf. renders, eftgradua bic etiam prxliantif/imorum conftliariorum Ifraelir, this is the degree (in Prophecy ) of the Counfellorsof Ifrael; the Arabic or Original bath; And thin all; it thedegree of the Me f ah rflfrael, who goeth before, or excelletball others, that is, in point ofProphecy. Not to follow them in their imaginations , the pill priviledges of Mofes above all other Prophetslay in there three things. 1. Thathe war the Lam-giver, or Mediator by whom God gavethat Law, and re- vealed that Worfhip,in theobfervation whereof, the verybeing of theJudaical Church did confit. 2. That God in theRevelation madeunto him, dealt in a more familiar and clear manner, as to the wayof his outwarddealing, than withany other Prophets. 3. In that the Revelationmade unto him, eòncerned the ordering of the whole boufe of God, when the other Prophets wereemployed only about particulars built on his foundation. In thefe things confifted the juff and freepreheminence of Mofer, which whether it were fuels aswould warrant the Jews in their eb/finate adherence to his Inftitutions upon their own Principles (hall be enquired into. But before we manifefl that indeed it was not,the Revelation of the mind ofGod inand by the Son, which is compared with, andpreferredbeforeand above this ofMofts, mull beunfolded ; andthis we (hall do in the enfuing Obférvations. 1. The LordJefus Chrift by vertue of the Vnonof his Perfon, wasfrom the womb filledwith a perfeáion ofGracious Light and Knowledge of God and his Will. An aelual exercifi of that Principle of holy Wifdom wherewith he was endued , in his infancy, as afterwards, he had not, Luke 2.5a. Norhad he in his humane nature ,an abfolutely infinite comprehenfon of all individual things.patì, prefenr and to come, which

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