The Election Sermon

Mr. Cooper's Election-SERMON.

THAT the Members for the Town of Boston, be directed to give the Thanks of this House to the Rev'd Mr. Samuel Cooper, for his Sermon preached Yesterday before the GENERAL Court; being the Anniversay for the Election of COUNCELLORS, and to desire a Copy thereof for the Press.

T. HUBBARD, Spkr.

AN Election SERMON.

By Faith Moses when he was come to Years, refused to be called the Son of Pharaoh's Daughter; choosing rather to suffer Affliction with the People of God, than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season: Esteeming the Reproach of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures in Egypt: for he had Respect to the Recompence of the Reward.

THE divine author of this epistle, designing to encourage the christian Hebrews to a stedfast profession of their faith, and a resolute discharge of their duty, in opposition to all worldly discouragements, propounds to them some eminent examples of piety, fortitude, and self-denial; among which, that of Moses appears with a distinguished lustre:—And p. 6as he was the renowned lawgiver of the Hebrew nation, the consideration of so great a character cannot be improper to the present occasion.

The Text leads us to consider in the first place, the public spirit of Moses; the services he performed, and the self-denials he endured for his own nation—and then, the principle of piety which cherished and supported his patriotic spirit, and co-operating with it, carried him thro' such a shining course of self-denial and public service.—After which, it may be proper to say something of the wisdom of Moses in following the dictates of his conscience, and answering his obligations to God, and to his brethren the Hebrews, in opposition to such great worldly motives.

SUCH was the public spirit of Moses, that he resigned the most tempting secular prospects, and voluntarily partook of the afflictions of the Hebrews, that he might become their deliverer. He refused, says the text, to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter; chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

p. 7At the time when the founder of their state was born, the Israelites were cruelly oppressed by the monarch of Egypt. The important services which Joseph had rendered that kingdom were now forgotten; and the posterity of the twelve patriarchs who had been invited to dwell in Egypt, upon the terms of friendship, were, without any provocation, treated with a barbarity which humanity forbids to the worst enemies. God saw and resented the oppression of his people, and the cruelties practised upon them by Pharoah and his officers. He, who has made of one blood all nations to dwell upon the face of the earth; who is the patron of the oppressed, and who delights to humble exalted wickedness, espoused the cause of this poor and injured nation, and opposed himself to the tyrant of Egypt: and as he had promised great and singular blessings to the seed of Jacob, he remembered his promise. I have seen, said the God of Abraham, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters, and am come down to deliver them.—God raised up Pharoah, or rather suffered him to rise, that he might be an illustrious example of his own power and justice; and in the plagues which soon after came upon that haughty oppressor and his people, the world was taught, p. 8what those potentates deserve, who harden their hearts against the most high, who divest themselves of the common sentiments of humanity, and who trample upon the rights of mankind.

p. 8Moses was the chosen instrument of that deliverance which Heaven had decreed to the posterity of Israel; and by him God gave them the most important blessings any people can enjoy;—a free government, and a divine religion. The Hebrew polity is not only one of the most antient, but one of the best civil constitutions that ever the world was blest with; a constitution worthy of it's divine Author, and nicely adapted to preserve the property, freedom, peace and safety of the people to whom it was given [The frivolous objections and gross calumnies, thrown out by some against the law of Moses, have been more than one answered and exposed, Mr. Lowman has treated this argument to the bottom, in his dissertation on the civil government of the Hebrews, in which, the justice, wisdom, and goodness of the mosaical constitutions, are fully vindicated.] : and had it been of a contrary nature and tendency; had it been calculated for the oppression, rather than the general happiness of the subject, no man would have been oblig'd to believe that it came from Heaven.

p. 9There is a close connection between civil liberty and true religion; Tyrants are commonly equal enemies, to the religious and civil rights of mankind; and having enslaved the bodies of their subjects, they affect also to enslave their consciences. The people of Israel were made free, in order to their being prepared for the service of the God of Israel; and without freedom, they would not have been happy, even in the land flowing with milk and honey. It was this that compleated their worldly felicity, and added a peculiar sweetness to all the fruits of Canaan, that they entered upon it as their own possession and inheritance, and not as the propriety of an absolute lord.

God had pronounced a blessing on the seed of Jacob, and nothing could hinder this blessing from taking effect. In vain did Pharoah attempt to weaken and destroy them; the people grew and multiplied under all their oppressions; and Pharoah himself, educates that child in his own court, who was designed to lead the Hebrews from their bondage, and to abase the pride of Egypt. So short is human fore-sight! so week is human power! and so certainly shall the divine decrees be accomplished!