intimating his divine eternal existence; and the jews appear to have well understood him, for then took they up stones to cast at him, as a blasphemer, I am that I am, or, I will be what I will be, is equivalent to Jehovah the Alehim, or God of Israel, in the following verse, which is the incommunicable name, expressive of the incommunicable essence of God, and which the apostle John opens and expresses thus, "Which is, and which was, and which is to come." Rev. i. 4. And thus I am brought to the words of my text;

Verse 15. Which reads thus, " And God said, moreover, unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations." In my opening and explaining the subject of which these words treat, I will endeavor to set the same before you in the following manner.

First, the relation which subsists between the Lord God and his people, and how he sends his message to them by Moses, declaring himself to them, to be the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Secondly, his mindfulness of his promise to them, and of his being about to fulfil and most

graciously perform it to the Israelites, their seed and offspring. And,

Thirdly, the Lord glories in his covenant relation to these fathers and patriarchs, saying, "This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations."

I am, first, to open and explain the relation which subsists between the Lord God and his people, and how he sends his message to them by Moses, declaring himself to them to be the Lord God of their fathers, &c. "And God said, moreover, unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is any memorial to all generations." With regard to the union, relation, and interest, which subsists between the Lord God and his people, it is entirely founded on the sovereign will and good pleasure of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who having loved the elect with an everlasting love, have, by their mutual acts and transactions in the everlasting council and covenant, been pleased to take them into covenant union and relation with them, and are pleased to stand in this relation to them, as Jehovah their covenant God. Bound by the obligation of a covenant which obtained amongst them before all worlds, to save them with an everlasting salvation, and to bless them with an

everlasting blessing. This was to be realized and set forth in the incarnation of the Second Person in the essence, whose life and death was to contain the whole salvation of God, with all the blessings and benefits of eternal redemption from sin, the world, satan, death, and hell. He being a partaker of flesh and blood would be suitably disposed to feel for and sympathise with his church and people; his union, interest, and fellowship with them would hereby be most clearly proved. The cases and various circumstances that his church, from age to age, would be in, would serve to draw out his heart in love, and give proper occasion for the exercise of his mercy to his beloved people. And what befel them would, at particular seasons, serve as shadows to reflect on their minds what would befal him, their Head. As the co-equal Three in the One Jehovah, are the covenant God of the elect; so the Second in the essence, who at this time appeared to Moses in a flame of fire, and addressed him out of the bramble bush, speaks in the name and as the representative of each of the divine personalities, saying, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you." The declaration, "The Lord God of your fathers," is very expressive of the covenant relation between God and them, and also of his mindful

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ness of his various appearances to them, of the holy communion which he had held with them, and also of the promises which he had made unto them; so that these words were given forth to encourage faith and hope in the full and perfect accomplishment of them. The addition, "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you," points out that in consequence of his revelation of the everlasting covenant of the Eternal Three unto them, he stiles himself their God, the same who had appeared to Abraham, Gen. xviii. to Isaac, Gen. xxvi. and to Jacob, xxxi. and xxxii. and whom he calls both God and an angel, Gen. xlviii. and Hosea calls by the same titles, and adds, "The Lord is his memorial." Hosea xii. 2, 3, 4. The same appeared at this time to Mosés. Jehovah says of Moses, Numb. xii. 8. “ With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall be behold." What can this similitude of Jehovah be but the angel of his presence, Isa. Ixiii. 9. who was with Moses, at Horeb, who accompanied the people of Israel in the wilderness, and in whom was the name, i. e. the nature of Jehovah, Exod. xxiii. 21. Even the same angel who wrestled with Jacob in the form of a man, Gen. xxxii. 24-30. On which occasion Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, the face or presence of God, saying, “For I have

seen God face to face." And so Jehovah at this time spake to Moses face to face, as a man talketh with his friend.

It is most sweet and glorious to consider the Second Person in the essence, existing as acting in his office, character, and economy in the covenant, and revealing himself as the Head, the Purifier, the Redeemer, and Savior of his people. When we view him in the account given us in this chapter, as appearing on the behalf of his church, calling Moses to his office of being their typical savior, and hear him saying, I will be what I will be, God-man, the Head and Redeemer of my church, it is truly quickening to faith. The Angel Jehovah declaring himself to be the Lord God of their fathers, was in fact not only calling upon them to consider his past goodness and manifestations unto them; but it was also declaring that he would, to all spiritual ends and purposes, be the same to them. His mentioning their fathers by name, shewed how precious they were to him; and his declaring he was the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was to assure them he would fulfil all his covenant purposes and promises to them, both in time and eternity. His being their God, was the ground and foundation for their faith to exercise itself upon, and expect to receive all good from him, who is the fountain of essential