Unum necessarium awakenings for the unregenerate. Or, The nature and necessity of regeneration. Handled…

'Tis true, that Moses pleading for Sinful Israel, said, in Exod. 32.33. If thou wilt, Forgive their Sin, and if not, Blot me, I pray thee, out of this Book, which thou hast Written: I Insist not on that which many, and especially Jewish Interpreters, assign as the meaning of those words; That they refer to the Book of the Law, or the Pentateuch, where the Name of Moses does Live Renowned unto all Generations; q. d. I am willing it should never be Read or Known, that there was a man of my Name in the World. But it is possible, that the Man of God, might refer to the Book of Life Temporal, not the Book of Life Eternal; there is a Book of Providence, which has in it the Names of such as are to Out-Live the Wasting Plagues, that are to come upon their Neighbours; now says Moses, Let me rather now Die my self, than that thy Name should be Dishonoured in thy Blo••ing out the Names of all this people from the Number of the Living. This was the sense, by Jerome and others of the Ancients put upon those words of Moses; and it is a Sense which the Context smiles very much ⟨p. 110⟩upon. But suppose that the Book of Election was intended in the words of Moses; the Heroic Love and Zeal of that Saint, for the People of God, might passionately propound, an Impossible Thing, in the pursuance of a Possible. Our Lord Himself in His Agoni•• mentioned such a Thing, and added, Father, If it be possible. What if in the Efforts of his Ardours, Moses might say, Lord, rather than this People should perish, I could be content, if that were possible, to loose the Happiness, provided, I may not also Lose the Holiness, of my own Eternal Salvation! 'Tis but like the Carriage of a Charitable Brother, who Beseeching his Father to be Reconciled unto an Undutiful Son, should plead, Sir, Either pardon this my faulty Brother, or else Run me through with your Sword! a Thing which he knows will never be done. This, as to Moses.

'Tis true, that Moses pleading for Sinful Israel, said, in Exod. 32.33. If thou wilt, Forgive their Sin, and if not, Blot me, I pray thee, out of this Book, which thou hast Written: I Insist not on that which many, and especially Jewish Interpreters, assign as the meaning of those words; That they refer to the Book of the Law, or the Pentateuch, where the Name of Moses does Live Renowned unto all Generations; q. d. I am willing it should never be Read or Known, that there was a man of my Name in the World. But it is possible, that the Man of God, might refer to the Book of Life Temporal, not the Book of Life Eternal; there is a Book of Providence, which has in it the Names of such as are to Out-Live the Wasting Plagues, that are to come upon their Neighbours; now says Moses, Let me rather now Dy my self, than that thy Name should be Dishonoured in thy Bloing out the Names of all this people from the Number of the Living. This was the sense, by Jerom and others of the Ancients put upon those words of Moses; and it is a Sense which the Context smiles very much